Transcripts For CNBC Squawk Alley 20240712

Good tuesday morning. Welcome to squawk alley. Im Carl Quintanilla with jon fortt and Julia Boorstin on this election day markets are continuing the rally we got on monday were close to session highs right now. Dow is up 665. Best day since june 5th for the dow and s p 500. Best breadth since april 8th nasdaq and s p 500 erased their october loss, jon, as were seeing things like yields go higher as well and the dollar weaken which is another sign that some of the imbedding on emerging markets going out of this election. Yeah, carl. Looking at tech overall and particularly big tech, its interesting the gap between microsoft and amazon lagging behind apple, thats narrowing a bit. Remember, you had apple above 2 trillion in market cap and around 1. 5 trillion now thats come down apple is below 2 trillion those two are still around 1. 5 alphabet lagging all of those year to date so what is surging today tesla is up 5. 5 sales force, cisco, micron, dell, if you look at enterprise space, those are all up around 3 to 4 interestingly, when it comes to ecommerce and anticipating q4, shopify and square up 3 a little better than the broader market. Jon, i just want to point out those social stocks as we have alphabet with youtube as well as facebook and twitter all working so hard today to prevent manipulation around the election and also misinformation. I want to point out there that twitter shares are up 5. 5 twitter also getting a boost from jack dorsey getting that vote of confidence from elliott that news that he will remain ceo of the company and then alphabet up about 2 facebook shares up over 3 so, carl, of course, the pressure is on these Companies Even as dorsey gets that vote of confidence from elliott. The pressure is on the companies to prevent any of what we saw in the last president ial election that kind of manipulation happening again this time around carl yep and thats why were paying such close attention to their standards as well as we go into tonight, julia what about faang though for the next four years . Whats it going to bring lets bring in chief strategist over at wolf along with laura martin happy election day, guys good to see both of you. Thank you for having us good to be here laura, you normally bring a pretty critical eye to some of the names. I was impressed by the fact that both on apple and on amazon and i gose some degree google as well, you think the next four years could be fairly positive can you talk about why sure. I do i think what covid19 has done in the pandemic has done is actually enhanced the install base of apple, specifically through the tablets and through the macs as people learn from home and work from home. In the case of amazon, i think weve seen an acceleration by two years of adoption of the ecommerce and out of bricks and mortar that usage, Consumer Usage in new forms gets more and more cemented along the covid19 lockdowns persist. On the social side, i agree with julia. Google and facebook are which is Google Youtube are better off after elections. A lot of the scrutiny on them for Election Fraud lifts after the election so i think they will be less in the spotlight post election than they were last week. Chris, i wonder to what degree do you agree what happens i mean, why are they no longer would they be in the cross hairs still if there were the change in administration and with the vaccine if work from home were to dissipate largely, does that not leave the names liable somehow . Sure, carl. It leaves them liable. I mean, our general views, nasdaq is in a bubble. Its a fed fueled bubble and, you know, bubbles need fuel to keep moving along and building higher and higher i think the next stage of the bubble, once the market gets through the election is going to be the fed is going to come back into focus and be a lot more vocal about monday tiesing the deaf stits a deficits and stimulus that we do and that feeds the Software Stocks over the coming years i think the big next leg of the bubble will be m a activity aggressively picking up. Once we get through the vaccine, once were on this path to normalization. Laur yashgs ia, im curious, the Regulatory Environment, both for m a in it light of all the concerns about antitrust and then also in terms of just regulatory overhang, the ability for these platforms to target advertising with privacy regulations and how does that Regulatory Impact playout differently for say a google and a facebook right so i do think the Regulatory Oversight continues. We have a lot of on going lawsuits now but specifically on google and facebook i see less risk for apple and april do amazon what i expect for google and facebook is they have First Party Data facebook said they will, like, discontinue its third party ops where it takes your real name and extends it beyond the facebook walls but there is no law against using your First Party Data to target and we just saw the Facebook Family has 3. 2 billion unduplicated family members using their Services Every month. So no one no one else on earth will be able to target ads as accurately as facebook. Similarly with google, its had a tough year because travel advertising is 10 of the revenue in 19 and movies were 5 and those are shut off during most of this year. I expect it to rebound to be the most aggressive next year as advertising si advertising silohs come back i expect the scrutiny continuing, not so much privacy because they have a lot of First Party Data but definitely the dominance and monopoly position and ability to affect democracies and be a referee for news news that gets into your hands right chris, give us your perspective on stimulus and its potential impact on tech, maybe the consumer names, maybe e commerce the anticipation of that no matter which way thing goes tonight. Yes and so, you know, i think the market has seen the price action today. The market is moving beyond the election even though we may not know the results until later this week or even longer in anticipating whether its a trump regime or biden regime that next step which is a large 2 to 3 trillion stimulus package. We like Consumer Tech from now into the year end. You know, there is a video game cycle coming it seems like, you know, things that people are still working from home and doing and then, you know, i think as we look over the longer term, i think those will take a breather and i think people will be going back to home, you know, about a being to work stocks and favoring those over internet. The near term, stick with whats been working stick with what the fed is inflating. Those are the other stocks that benefit from folks having more money in their pockets over the coming months from the stimulus bill laura, whats your response to that . Do you agree what is your long term outlook depending on the outcome of the election nope, i dont agree i think that these platforms have gotten more entrenched during usage is up all the social networking is up. All the use cases are up a lot for the platforms. Xpikt th i expect them to come out of covid19 stronger with huge cash flows and pivot them towards the faangs i like google best in an advertising recover rifrnlt the install base of the apple device and amazon User Behavior changes will not dissipate post covid19 laur yashgs one last one for you. I know you believe that the pieces of google are worth more apart than together. If we were to see some division of those units either by force or not, would that set a tone that would be replicated in other big tech giants down the road yeah. I think maybe so like julia asked me about acquisitions and i think that game is over. I dont think these big tech stocks are going to be able to buy anything they have to build it. So i think thats the future and i do think that they will i mean, did you see them copy like you see both snap and facebook copying tiktok with reels. The i think what youre going to see is fast following other innovators in the marketplace to try to leverage their user base over new content but i just think that makes the regulatory case even harder. You know, regulatory scrutiny harder i expect them to just gain power post covid19. Chris and laura, thats a good take. Something were going to talk about a lot more once this election day is out of the way appreciate it. Thank you moving on one battleground state in focus this hour is arizona the grand canyon state only gone blue once in almost 70 years polls suggest it could happen again this year. Jane wells is live in phoenix with more. Jane hey, jon, yeah, were talking about Small Businesses here. As you noted, this states gone republican since eisenhower except for clinton in 96. Polls show its a statistical dead heat between biden and trump. And in the 90degree plus heat of an arizona autumn, we talked to two Small Businesses voting two different ways, both suffering economically how much money have you lost weve lost over a couple hundred thousand dollars misch and dylan own a phoenix restaurant and coffee hut behind me business is about a third of what was they applied for ppp never got it h to let go most of the staff. Theyre voting for biden they say getting a handle on covid19 is more important for business than any tax policy ultimately, having an environment where you can survive and you know your business can continue, thats more important than whether or not i save 1,000 or 2,000 or 5,000 on taxes. That doesnt make any sense at all. I want to have a viable business have everybody in the country on the same page so we can get past the pandemic my tax bracket is really not the first thing on my mind. Who you voting for and why . Im voting for trump. Jason is a retired Police Detective who now leases spaces to those in the Beauty Industry during the shutdown he gave some tenants a break on rent even though dent qualify for ppp. His biggest fear of a biden win also has nothing to do with taxes. I know that biden said hes open to another shutdown and im not sure if the med ffe mandated a shutdown if we would survive that one we probably wouldnt you know, its fascinating. And these two cases at least, the Business Owners are concerned about covid19 one insisting on a National Policy, the other afraid of National Policy will lead to another shutdown but, guys, they actually still get along. Jason sometimes comes to this restaurant back to you. Jane wells with a look at that tight race in arizona meantime, the Shanghai Stock Exchange has halted the record breaking ipos citing major issues we have more on this developing story. Thanks so much, julia the Shanghai Stock Exchange noted that billionaire jack ma who is a described assent groups controller along with otherant executives had met with the top financialregulators here they were summoned in a move that is seen as quite a rare one. And the exchange had said that in that conversation with the regulators,ant reported significant issues such as the changes in Financial Technology Regulatory Environment and these issues may result in your company not meeting the conditions for listing or meeting the information disclosure requirements. Now the lack of specificity in this statement has been sparking a lot of speculation here about what this all means. And there has been quite a bit of an articles, quite a few articles in the state press recently and over the weekend including in one that is backed by the Chinese Central Bank about the concerns of Systemic Risk that could be involved in a company of this size there have been over the weekend in fact there were other regulations that were put into effect up to try to bring more oversight over companies that kind of bridge this financial and Technology Realm and so thats really what people have been concerned about. And jack ma was at a meeting, a final forum on friday and was asked about this concern about Systemic Risk. And he was seen as dismissing that concern by joking that chinas economy wouldnt have Systemic Risk because it doesnt have a system in place so thats been bringing about a lot of chatter and, in fact, another set of regulations on monday were brought up in a draft. The banking regulator posted a in it you draft rules that would require a company likant to pk ant to put up more money on the platform theyre involved in giving loans and credit to people and for the most part it actually doesnt have to front the money. Its done because theyre matching a lot of different banks with a whole lot of consumers. But if these draft regulations are put in place and require say, for example, 30 as these draft regulations say for the company, then that would really change the financial equation. And also bring a lot more regulation to ant group. So thats one of the main things and ant now is apparently accord doing sources trying to figure out whether or not, you know, just has to disclose more information to the Shanghai Stock Exchange or if this means the ipo is off altogether. And the company says hong kong is also off the table. Thank you fascinating story. And the alibaba shares down 6. 5 plenty of implications for tech on the ballot this morning from the rights of gig workers to data privacy to facial recognition. We break them all down next and tell what you each outcome means for your money so stay with us. Hey, our workers comp insurance is expiring. Should i just renew it . Yeah, sure. Hey there, Small Business owner. Pie insurance here with some sweet advice to stop you from overpaying on workers comp. Try pie instead and save up to 30 . Thirty percent . Really . Sure get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie. Com. That is easy. So, need another reminder . No, im good. Reminder for what . Oh. Ho ho, yeah need workers comp insurance . Get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie. Com. Some of the most pressing tech issues this year are going straight to the voters through bat l Ballot Initiatives today you break down the ballot for tech john, as you know, tech scrutiny, that will stick around regardless who have wins the white house. The but while nearly everyone agrees regulation is needed, there is a long way to go to actually get there so some states are actually taking matters into their own hands with ballots on issues ranging from gig workers rights to facial technology to data privacy and more this could shape future debate at the national level. Thats why we care proposition 22 in california is one such initiative that we have spent time on. Its outcome could exempt Gig Companies from complying with state law that requires drivers to be classified as employees. Not contractors. Uber, lyft, doordash and other Gig Companies have spent now more than 200 million to support prop 22. Making it the most expensive Ballot Initiative in the states history. Uber and lyft shares have been soaring this week. Investors expect california voters to pass prop 22 unclear where that confidence is coming from. The poll thats im looking at are still tight in terms of other techology the ballot, also in california, prop 24 could codify online data and privacy protection, create a new agency tasks with enforcement a michigan Ballot Initiative is asking voters whether Law Enforcement should need a search warrant. Chicago and denver, they will tackle access to broadband with referendums that make it easier for the cities to use tax dollars to bring the internet to underserved communities. Well be tracking all the results and what they mean for tech at large. Back to you. Thank you lets stick with prop 22 and bring in craig j. Lewis, he is founder and ceo of gig wage that provides payroll thank you for joining us im curious for your stance on prop 22. As a company that provides services to all those Companies Like lyft and uber that have been trying to get that exemption and be able to treat their workers as contractors im curious where you fall here. Thank you for having me on. Yeah i think prop 22 is an interesting proposition. Back in january just for the viewers, ab 5 is the bill passed to force these workers to be considered employees and the only reason the bill was actually passed in january was because Governor Newsom didnt have an alternative or a koucoue view the gig economy has done where we were caught flatfooted in january, prop 22 is a step in the right direction to allow workers to be able to maintain their freedom and flexibility. But also start to receive benefits that they also deserve and need i dont think prop 22 is perfect. But it is a step in the right direction. But so, craig, if prop 22 is not passed, what would that mean for you as a company that is serving these gig employers and what would it mean for those partners like lyft good question so for us, at gig wage, we help all types of businesses and platforms pay, manage and support what we call independent contractors or the broader 1099 economy. So were not already exposed in any particular one area. So most people are thinking about drivers and delivery which we do do a lot in that space we help all types of businesses pay all types of contractors, right . And so the 1099 economy has been around for quite a long time its not going anywhere. This is just a particular kind of macro, the in you had sexy thing is the gig economy and so gig wage will be fine either way. Although we do think everything is trending towards allowing the workers to still maintain their freedom and flexibility. And as far as our customers, you know, call is our second largest market to date we do have exposure to delivery and drivers there. But i think everyone is confident that if you look at the Market Trends and consumer behavior, allowing these workers to maintain their freedom and flexibility is important but i do think its also important to make sure they get access to the social safety net of services and benefits they need you know, craig, its so interesting. If the polls are to be believed, first of all, prop 22 has to hit 51 in order to pass the yes votes dont just have to be beat the no votes it could depend on republican turnout. In the polling, republicans support prop 22 71 . A majority of democrats were opposed. Traditionally, a lot of republicans in california felt like well, my vote doesnt matter on 22, it does do you think the Tech Companies have turned out the republican vote as much as they need to get this thing passed . Yeah. Listen, i think if youre going to build an amazing company, you have to build it under both administrations and work with republicans and democrats. You know, i always laugh its not a tech company. But my mom works for a Company Called lynix industries. Theyve been around since 1895 they have seen both sides of the aisle, right i think Tech Companies have done a decent job of navigating both sides. You know, if you go with the national narrative, i think, you know, democrats have showed up early to vote this year and republicans have traditionally shown up the day of. So it should be really interesting how it plays out i dont think is a political issue though i think is an issue of people needing to have access to work, having access to earn capital. And having the freedom and flexibility to choose how and when they do that. So its going to be its definitely, you know, there is a lot of anxiety and adrenaline. But i think ultimately we have to look at this as, you know, what does the market really want to happen . Craig, im curious to get your perspective on the Broader Consumer economy right now you must have a pretty broad sense of things based on the types of payments the volume of payments being made through your system after things slow down so much earlier this year, where are things nou things now and where do you see things zbh things going weve seen a net positive impact from covid19 you think about the gig economy and the independent contractors, freelancers, contingent workers. The opportunities for them to get more work has definitely increased as unemployment rates skyrocketed throughout the year. People were looking for opportunities to earn income kind of make ends meet, feed their families and the gig economy is right there waiting on them in april to provide work. And so gig wage, weve seen a tremendous uptick because of covid19 which is it sounds weird saying because such a tough time during a pandemic but essential workers oftentimes fall under the 1099 status for us, weve seen independent workers earning more money, getting more work which, you know, obviously is stimulating the economy from a Consumer Spending perspective if you tie that into the stimulus, i think, you know, right now were operating in a pretty good place when you think about independent workers. Craig, thanks so much for joining us to talk about these issues today craig j. Lewis, founder and ceo of gigwage meanwhile, julia, dow is up 666. There is a reassuring number all components are green all sectors are green. Well keep an eye on that even though were on the lookout for air pockets. By the way, our election coverage on squawk alley continues next be sure to catch our special programming tonight as well beginning at 7 00 p. M. Eastern time rba iju aomyour vote. Wee ckn st ment. Dont go anywhere. Hi, my name is sam davis and im going to tell you about exciting plans available to anyone with medicare. Many plans provide broad coverage and still may save you money on monthly premiums and Prescription Drugs. With original medicare youre covered for hospital stays and Doctor Office visits, but you have to meet a deductible for each and then, youre still responsible for 20 percent of the cost. Next, lets look at a Medicare Supplement plan. As you can see they cover the same things as original medicare, and they also cover your medicare deductibles and coinsurance, but they often have higher monthly premiums and no Prescription Drug coverage. Now, lets take a look a humanas Medicare Advantage plans. With a humana medicare plan, hospital stays, Doctor Office visits, and medicare deductibles are covered. And, of course, most humana Medicare Advantage plans include Prescription Drug coverage. In fact, in 2019, humana Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plan members saved and estimated 7,800 dollars on average on their prescription costs. Most humana Medicare Advantage plans include a Silver Sneakers Fitness Program at no extra cost. Dental and vision coverage is now included with most humana Medicare Advantage plans, and you get telehealth coverage with a zero dollar copay. You get all this for as low as a zero dollar monthly plan premium in many areas, and your doctor and hospital may already be a part of humanas large network. If you want the facts, call right now for the free decision guide from humana. There is no obligation, so call the number on your screen right now to see if your doctor is in our network, to find out if you can save on your prescriptions, and to get our free decision guide. Humana a more human way to healthcare. Facebook, youtube were used to manipulate voters years ago now their preventing misinformation that could spark civil unrest after the polls close. Facebook is removing post thats insight violence and labelling those from politicians claiming victory and it will notify users that no winner has been chosen until results are verified then after the election, facebook is suspending political ads to reduce misinformation about results. Twitter will label and hide tweets with false claims by politicians and influencers. Users have to click past warnings to see them then after the election they will label or remove tweets claiming victory before a race is called by authoritative sources. And youtube will pull down videos that interfere with the voting process and promote news from established outlets then following the election, youtube is also halting political advertising. It will promote a fact check above election related search results. We have more on how social media is handling this election on cnbc. Com sidelkll iba itw minutes. Ckn o hello, im sue herrera this is your cnbc update the man in charge of the Home Land Security Department visited the Government Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency this morning where they are monitoring the election systems of all 50 states watching for any hacking attempts chad wolf says americans should feel confident let me be clear our election infrastructure is resilient and we have no indications that a foreign actor succeeded in compromising or affecting the actual votes cast in this election austrias leaders honored the victims of yesterdays shootings around a vienna synagogue as that city observed a minute of silence. Police now believe there was only one attacker who killed four and injured 22. A young man who had tried to join the laislamic state. After seven months, first tourists are visiting the citadel in peru. The site had been shut down due to the covid19 pandemic but it is now reopened and it has strong rules limiting the number of people who can be there. Little progress on that point. Youre up to date. That is the news update, carl. Back to you. All right good to see. Thank you very much, sue as sue mentioned, federal and state officials have implemented lots of measures to prevent Cyber Attacks or foreign influence on todays election. No one knows more about that than our own eamon javers. Thats right, you heard from the federal officials as sue pointed out. Theyre on high alert. They have not seen anything concerning so far during the course of the day today. But they are monitoring this they say that china, russia and iran all have the ability to try to interfere in these elections. So theyre going to watch that carefully through the rest of the day. Weve been talking to cybersecurity experts in the private sector getting a sense of what their biggest concerns are and one of the things that comes up is this access to u. S. Election infrastructure. Foreign hackers could access this infrastructure. With he know they got Voter Registration data already. Another concern is these hack and leak attacks much thats what he saw in 2016 with the hacking of emails from democratic operatives and leaking them out to the media. That it teams were a little late for that in this election cycle. Seems like were probably out of the woods for anything like that this year. And then the big one though are the perception hacks on social media. That is the idea of making it appear that something is happening thats not actually happening by hacking into prominent social media accounts. Weve seen hacks like that in the past something on election day could be perhaps dangerous again, officials are not telling us theyre seeing any of this we talk to the folks over at fire eye, the Cybersecurity Firm and over the paragraph couple days to get their sense of what the worst Case Scenario there is heres what we were told it could be any number of Cyber Threats that could certainly come into fruition to me the worst Case Scenario is that the u. S. Population loses faith in the democratic process and doesnt respect the results of the election. So, jon, the concern here is not that hackers could get in and actually change a significant amount of the vote here but that hackers could change our perception of what the vote is and, in fact, americas very belief in democracy itself as having been executed today will we believe the results if there is a massive disruption on social media thats what they say theyre worried about more so than actually flipping the liefers and changing the votes. Some may have to do with how close the vote appears to be in a lot of these swing states. Well see. Thank you. For more on the cyber risk, lets bring in the founder and ceo of Cybersecurity Firm the hershovek show he is also an investor on shark tank. Robert, good to see you. I want to break this into two areas to start hacking threat from interfering with preparation to vote through ininformation and interfering with confidence in the process which is sort of does society embrace the process after the vote start with the preparation it seems like were almost half way through or at least a third of the way through the process on the east coast at least so far, this doesnt look like 2016, does it . No, it doesnt. I thought that he did a really good job of breaking it down there are three issues at play here the whole purpose of cybersecurity is confidentiality, integrity, and availability and to the first point, do we trust and are we confident in the results . I feel pretty confident about that the u. S. Government has come a long way you would have to hack into the actual scanning machines in order to alter that. Thats extremely difficult and requires a physical presence to do that im pretty confident about that the integrity part of it goes back to the point if social media makes people believe that something has happened, people lose sense of the integrity of the election and im optimistic that government has done a good job, facebook, twitter, you know, even zoom is really limiting the kind of stuff that is going out there. So i think thats certainly better than it was before. But the third issue that i think is probably the one we worry about the most is availability what we didnt have in 2016 that we have today is massive attacks of ransomware. We operate these five virtual we call them secure Operation Centers or war rooms across the world for our customers. And we worry about the availability a large scale Ransomware Attack could take down some of the state election booths, they could take down the availability to get the votes and as you said earlier, the worst Case Scenario here is we dont know who won three days from now. Or even if we do know, a lot of people dont trust it this is jon, by the way. Carl is us with too. I want to zoom in on that second part interfering with confidence in the process. That doesnt have to happen through hacking machines it can happen through making people doubt that the numbers that theyre seeing that perhaps are accurate that they actually are accurate are we defending enough against that i feel very good about the amount of work that the governments done, jon and i think that i dont worry about the actual results themselves as you said but i worry about the perceptive nature of it you know, there is a lot of accounts out there that we all know there is a lot of fake media there is a lot of fake social media posts. But, you know, facebook, google, twitter, theyve all set up the virtual war rooms. People are ready and im confident that america can trust the votes that were going to see we worry more about availability as i said and randomware robert, this is carl. I wonder, you know, we talk about terror we divide it between domestic terror and International Terror threats. When it comes to Cyber Threats, you are more worried about something generating within the country or externally . Were fundamentally worried about the election proa foreign par from a Foreign Party and making america believe something has happened but hasnt happened or creating a lot of deception what were warning all our customers and all our enterprises that we manage and the napeople that were watching is the sleight of hand everyone is focused on the election but this is a great time to attack an enterprise so were a complete high alert because we think attackers internal and external are going to try to take advantage of this time for basic stuff like stealing money, stealing credentials, and as you reported last week, look at the attacks on health care last week. Those arent going away. Its about where you focus today. Fascinating, robert, to think about the idea of the election being the ultimate distraction a question when you think about how different the voting plo ros is, there are a dozen states that use wireless enabled voting equipment. And the fact that so many people have been voting early in this president ial election cycle with all of that in mind, how do you think the voting process should change to make it less hackable, more reliable, easier to count if you could give advice for two and four years out yeah. You know, julia, im a tech guy. Im a Firm Believer of making it easy for the consumer and in this case the voter. I want to see this country move to a complete electronic Voting System the technology is available today and something we call identity so identity and access is a way for me to prove that julia is julia regardsless of how youre voting and theres been tremendous progress in that area. And trhe traditional idea of perimeter security, meaning being at your computer is going away people are using wireless. People are using all kinds of devices, especially as we learned with covid19. And i think four years from now were going to see the acceleration of electronic voting 20 years from now people will look back and say you got to be kidding me you had to stand in line to vote thats crazy all right more legitimate verifiable voting sounds good to me and for democracy. Robert, thank you. Thank you very much still ahead, why the results in pennsylvania is so important to this years election outcome. Well explain next so stay with us. [narrator] at Southern New Hampshire university, were committed to making college more accessible by making it more affordable, thats why were keeping our tuition the same through the year 2021. I knew snhu was the place for me when i saw how affordable it was. I ran to my husband with my computer and i said, look, we can do this. [narrator] take advantage of some of the lowest online tuition rates in the nation. Find your degree at snhu. Edu. Pennsylvania could be the most important swing state in this years election Frank Holland is on the ground there with the why frank . Julia, its all about the 20 electoral votes that can put a candidate over the top both campaigns have been very focused on the voters you see right here behind me lined up to vote suburban voters, especially in the counties around philadelphia, and very specifically suburban women voters both campaigns making a big push over the weekend and even yesterday to try to secure these votes. Right now joe biden has a four point lead in pennsylvania according to the latest poll, as we poll, we continue to see that covid19 is a central issue in this race. Pennsylvania has at least 217,000 cases of covid19. This Battle Ground state experiencing a mortality rate above the National Average back to those four counties around philadelphia. Which are again seen as key to winning the state, cases are increasing and the mortality rate is above the National Average. Now, 68 of pennsylvania voters say they have serious covid19 concerns the number declining from 90 back in april even as we experience what appears to be a second wave. Voters say the pandemic and the economy are their top issues in this election. 53 have a negative view of the u. S. Economy 47 say it is excellent to good. Back in march again before the pandemic, nearly 60 of voters believe the economy is excellent to good. But when it comes to personal finances, really a much different take 69 of pa voters say the personal finances are excellent to good. More than flthree quarters feel excellent to good about their job security carl, back to you. Thats interesting numbers, frank, on what is probably one of the most important Battle Grounds this cycle Frank Holland in pennsylvania. Ferrari speeding to a new all time high today after posting some strong earnings and a rise in sales of one of the most powerful models. The stock is up 7 today up 50 from the march lows the s p 500 is on pace at the moment anyway for the second best election day rally since 1984 were back in a minute lan with a gives us confidence. They help us with achievable steps along the way. So we can spend a bit now, knowing were prepared for the future. Surprise we renovated the guest room, so you can live with us. Oooh, well. Im good at my condo. Oh. I love her condo. Nana throws the best parties. Well planned, well invested, well protected. Voya. Be confident to and through retirement. The lions share of our r d and lions share of manufacturing is in the u. S. But 80 come from other markets so global trade is imperative to Global Markets and thats one where industry and government i think have to Work Together this year but also going forward. That is intel ceo bob swann on the importance of collaboration between industry and government after the votes are counted. For more of my election exclusive with bob and an exclusive with jen tejada, tune hi, my name is sam davis and im goin tune in later. For now dont go anywhere squawk valley continues in two. Save you money on monthly premiums and Prescription Drugs. With original medicare youre covered for hospital stays and Doctor Office visits, but you have to meet a deductible for each and then, youre still responsible for 20 percent of the cost. Next, lets look at a Medicare Supplement plan. As you can see they cover the same things as original medicare, and they also cover your medicare deductibles and coinsurance, but they often have higher monthly premiums and no Prescription Drug coverage. Now, lets take a look a humanas Medicare Advantage plans. With a humana medicare plan, hospital stays, Doctor Office visits, and medicare deductibles are covered. And, of course, most humana Medicare Advantage plans include Prescription Drug coverage. In fact, in 2019, humana Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plan members saved and estimated 7,800 dollars on average on their prescription costs. Most humana Medicare Advantage plans include a Silver Sneakers Fitness Program at no extra cost. Dental and vision coverage is now included with most humana Medicare Advantage plans, and you get telehealth coverage with a zero dollar copay. You get all this for as low as a zero dollar monthly plan premium in many areas, and your doctor and hospital may already be a part of humanas large network. If you want the facts, call right now for the free decision guide from humana. There is no obligation, so call the number on your screen right now to see if your doctor is in our network, to find out if you can save on your prescriptions, and to get our free decision guide. Humana a more human way to healthcare. Investors spend a fair amount of time paying attention to tech billionaires and how they spend their time and money. What about how theyre donating this election sykeslcycle. One thing we know about this cohort is they tend to lean a little bit blue. All elections over the last couple of decades, youve seen a heavy tech focus on the democrat being candidates this one more than ever. Youre looking a the 98 of the money coming from tech employees going to Democratic Candidates in groups this cycle so, ari, beyond the obvious ones, the president ial candidates and then some of the bigger other races, where else are they putting their money these are such smart billionaires do they have any savvy ways theyre trying to influence the outcome . Julia, really what youve seen is the huge super pacs that have been formed in the wake of the Citizens United back in 2010, theyre very focused on democratic control whether its winning back the senate majority, thats a huge one, targeting the swing states, the closest races and putting money in very targeted Advertising Campaigns and disabilities they think they can swing, house campaigns across the country that remain winnable, even after 2018 and then also targeting particular groups of voters that may not be targeted by other campaigns. So you actually, you know, are finding new ways to try and bring new people into the pack ari, this seems to me to be a new level of i guess fire power that tech billionaires and tech employees are bringing to the democratic party, particularly when it comes to this idea of a blue wave. I was reading your story and the amount of money going to that senatefocused pac is remarkab remarkable to two degree if there is a blue wave will the democrats in the senate have tech to either thank or be beholden to for it yeah, these are very savvy executives ive talked to jeff lawson a little bit about politics. Hes not been shy about his views and some of his vcs, theyre very well aware if biden becomes president and the Senate Remains in republican hands, its a neutered presidency from the beginning. So where can they spend their dollars . Some of these Senate Campaigns that have less cash and can do more targeted advertising in their states the last question you ask is a difficult one to answer. To what degree will biden or the senators be beholden to the Tech Industry perhaps well find that out soon they would make the claim that look at some of the actions weve taken on big tech and look how were analyzing the Tech Industry from a policy perspective. Really quick, ari, theyre the giants of our economy to some degree. They have huge Customers Satisfaction numbers, americans love their product, but theyve taken it on the chin on privacy and and some allegation of political bias is there a stigma, do you think, from taking money from this c cohort . I have not heard that theres a stigma from taking money always and the influence of money in politics is a problem that a lot of candidates talk about you know, if you ask them, they would probably say, look at the Citizens United ruling and maybe we need to address the broader concern about big money in politics until we do that, these rules have been made and were just playing by them. Yeah. Its a fascinating look. Obviously a lot of the names that we put up on the screen with you, ari, are names that investors in our audience know very well. Good stuff thanks, good to see you. John and julia, the market is holding in there as the dow is up more than 2 . We have heard some market commentary about liquidity being thin, spreads being wide its not to say the market is not susceptible to an air paroce later on in the session. Its time for the half lets get to the judge carl, thanks welcome to the halftime report, im scott wapner our Investment Committee votes on where your money will work best in the years ahead. Joining me are steph anyway lake, josh bron, john najibullah and bryn we begin with stocks they are higher again. Its the best backtoback days in the market since june, the best day for breadth in the market since april, the s p on pace for its second biggest president ial election day rally