Transcripts For CNBC Squawk On The Street 20240711

Cases, we talk about it every day. We need to im starting, i dont know what youre hearing, im starting to see anecdotal evidence that things are slowing down a bit in the economy. Im getting that too. Im getting people who are saying, i really would want to make a big spend, this is in terms of the big tech spend, for instance, i got to figure out what is going on or when are people coming back, are people ever going to come back . This stay at home versus go back to work, we thought it was resolved, we thought that things it was just a matter of time before you go back to work and those involve big Corporate Capital spending decisions and i think that those decisions are right now on the balance, because people dont know whether this thing is just going to continue to rage. I think we can expect it to continue to rage for the foreseeable future until the vaccine is widely available. There are people people are starting to curb their behavior thats what im referring to, and there are certainly some signs of that and decreased traffic in certain areas, and the decrease in Economic Activity that comes along with it, jim. And, of course, the backdrop is this treasury news and i know we want to get to that. Lets get right to mr. Secretary, thank you for coming on squawk on the street. Good to see you. Always good to be with you, jim. Im glad to be on to explain this i think it is really pretty straightforward and people are missing the issue. The treasury and fed worked incredibly close together and these programs have been enormously successful. And let me just remind people, you know, back in march when the markets were stuck, even before the c. A. R. E. S. Act was passed, the fed working with the treasury, we activated the commercial paper facility, the money market facility, we activated the primary dealer facility, these were all done with money that the treasury has in the Exchange Stabilization fund and then as part of the c. A. R. E. S. Act and, again, you know, we couldnt be happier, enormous bipartisan support on the c. A. R. E. S. Act, 960, 1000, congress entrusted treasury with 500 billion, it was really unprecedented, and that money could be used to work with the Federal Reserve, and with direct loans to airlines and National Security companies,and we announced a series of other facilities with the fed. And as you recall, i was in the room, i negotiated the documents, i worked very closely with mike crapo and pat toomey, we negotiated the specific language and on the fed facilities, the 450 billion that Congress Gave me, it was very clear that the congressional intent is it expires on december of this year it is very clear in the law. So chair powell an i have been discussing this for the last few weeks and in deference to the fed. I said the facilities that we funded with prec. A. R. E. S. Funding, the Exchange Stabilization fund, i would extend, so commercial paper, money markets, primary dealers, things like that, for the abundance of caution, even though theyre not being used, and the c. A. R. E. S. Money that expires at december 31st, that was merely simply following the intent of the law. So it wasnt a decision on whether we needed these or didnt need these. Let me just put this in perspective, all those other facilities, we only have about 25 billion of loans outstanding. And to the extent that we need to do more, we have over 750 billion of firepower between the what is in the Exchange Stabilization fund and what the Federal Reserve can do Going Forward. These can be reactivated so markets should be very comfortable that we have plenty of capacity left and mark meadows and i will be working with Mitch Mcconnell, and Kevin Mccarthy, and hopefully the speaker, there is 500 billion of money that congress appropriated, that is now expiring, we have 130 billion of ppp money sitting around, we need congress to reappropriate the funds. We could do 500 billion of fiscal response, immediately that wont cost taxpayers any more money and lets spend it on small business, ppp loans. There are a lot of people who are still struggling, although parts of the economy are roaring back, parts of the economy, Small Businesses, restaurants, travel and other, need more help and thats where we want to put this money but this was a very simple thing, were following the intent of congress well, if it is simple, sir, what i want to do is play just a bit of an interview with chicago fed president evans that we just had that Steve Liesman had that i think puts the issue in a different light and we can just listen to that, sir, it will really help things. I think our, you know, 13 3 facilities have been helpful they provide a back stop role for when markets find themselves in a more challenged situation, when main Street Lending could be impeded, banks have been important for helping out, there is a lot of design put in place and i think that backdrop role might be important, you know, for quite some time, so it is disappointing. So, sir, obviously, this is not necessarily speaking for the chairman, but is a very distinguished member of the fed and says this is disappointing how do we react to that . Well, nothing against him and i watched the interview when it was live, what i would say is, you know, i would ask him to go read the law, which is very clear, or ask him to call up, you know, the chair of the committee, it was very clear, now, i think what the fed has said and, again, chair powell and i have discussed this extensively, if it werent for the fact that these were expiring, you know, all of the things being equal, the fed always likes to keep their tools outstanding. But, again, this is not a political issue, this is very simple, and really the story is lets go reappropriate 500 billion. I mean, corporations dont need this money this has been a Great Success. We dont need to buy more Corporate Bonds. We, you know, kind of the Municipal Market is working. People are able to borrow lots of money in the market we have done 25 billion and to the extent these need to be reactivated, we have over 800 billion of capacity. So i consider that to be a pretty good bazooka, and congress trusted us with this money, and were going to follow the law and now were asking congress, please go reappropriate this money for areas of the economy and people that really need it. Right, so, headline New York Times this morning, mnuchin to end some fed aid programs, limiting bidens options, does it limit bidens options well, again, the options are the options. We have capacity whether it is myself or somebody else, these can be reactivated with Exchange Stabilization funds, and, you know, i just remind you, there were a lot of people on the democratic side who questioned giving me 500 billion that i could, quote, do with whatever i wanted, so i find it kind of ironic now that im being prudent and returning the money to Congress Like im supposed to that people are questioning that but, again, we Want Congress to reappropriate this money, and we got plenty of capacity left if we need to use it. And this has been a Great Success story. Look at where the markets were in march, look at where they are now, Companies Like boeing that we thought were going to be able to have to borrow from the government, went and borrowed tens of billions of dollars in the Public Markets secretary mnuchin, it is david faber. You know, youre making cogent arguments, many people would agree with but we live in a weird world now where there are quite a few who see anything done in your administration as an attempt to potentially to make life as difficult as possible for president trumps successor, while the president continues to fight the outcome of the election, what do you say to those people what is the upside here is it the return of the money you keep talking about and the reappropriation of it . Look, i think this has been a Great Success story. And what i want people to focus on is, you know, chair powell and i and the fed and the treasury, these have worked. And the best part of them working was the mere announcement that we had 500 billion that we could go do 5 trillion if we needed to, that opened the markets so the mere announcement, that was the bottom of the market and as the fed has always said these are emergency tools, when the emergency is over, lets put them away. Well, the medical emergency may not be over, but i think we would agree the financial conditions markets is the financial conditions are in great shape, Corporate Bonds have come in, mortgages have come in, the stock market has rebounded, and, you know, im hopeful because we have been a very good steward of this money and these tools that down the road, whether it is five, ten, 20, 30 years from now, that there is needs to use the tools that congress will have the same confidence in future treasury secretaries and fed chairs as they have had in us. And, again, i would highlight, the law is very clear, the intent was this part of it expires in december, lets go use this money for things and parts of the economy that need it we dont need this money to buy Corporate Bonds. We need this money to go help Small Businesses that are still closed or hurt, no fault of their own. Or people who are going to be on unemployment and unemployment is running out. Yeah. You know, this all was passed, of course, during a very dark moment, and when we were headed into a potentially what ended up being a socalled lockdown for a bit as the virus raged out of control, but secretary mnuchin, unfortunately right now the virus is raging out of control as well. And i think the uncertainty we see now may be equal to some of the uncertainty we had in midmarch. And so some people wonder why not just extend it, what is the downside to just keeping things as they are, and at least being ready for unexpected occurrences given that this virus unfortunately is still with us and as bad as ever. Well, again, let me just clarify, the facilities that didnt use c. A. R. E. S. Money, we extended, and the abundance of caution, and the facilities that used c. A. R. E. S. Money that have a december 31st expiration were following the intent of the law, which we think was pretty clear. And were saying to congress, go spend this money and help Small Businesses and people that really need it now, as it relates to the virus, you know, i would say we are in a very different situation we have two companies that have vaccines that have been approved we have more in the works. Were going to have mass distribution of vaccines we have massive amount of testing, we have ready testing that can be done now in 15, 20 minutes, with very, very high certainty. So i think as a result of project warp speed and the president s commitment where we use c. A. R. E. S. Money to make Major Investments in health, were in a different situation there will be an end in sight of this virus because of the great progress that the administration has made. All true, but we had 197,000 cases yesterday and 2,000 deaths and it is only going one way right now with thanksgiving looming. I mean, you know, the next few weeks could be really ugly. Well, we hope it wont and, again, were working on mass distribution of the virus, and, again, to the extent that markets need support, we and the fed can Work Together in the future but as you said, the people that really need support right now are not the rich corporations, it is the Small Businesses, it is the people who are unemployed, those are the people we need to help for the next few months while we restore and reopen the entire economy and get the vaccine distributed. Mr. Secretary, why cant you just agree with the restaurant act, target other places that are hospitality, get this done in next month . You know as it gets colder, these institutions and these companies, Small Businesses, theyre all going to close, it is too cold. What can you do for them well, you know, i understand the democrats didnt want us to do anything before the election because they didnt want to do something that could be helpful to the president but i had hoped now that were past the election that the democrats would work with us again, during the c. A. R. E. S. Act, we had incredible bipartisan support and well be redoubling our efforts to sit down an try to get something done thats really whats important and what the economy needs is now more fiscal support, and, again, as it relates to these facilities, all were letting do is the ones that were supposed to expire at the end of the year will expire, the ones that dont were renewed and 500 billion, jim, we want to go spend that money for people who need it well, can you pledge that later today youll sit down or at least have a dialogue, courteous dialogue, with Speaker Pelosi about trying to get this done well, i can tell you mark meadows and i will be speaking with Mitch Mcconnell and Kevin Mccarthy this morning. And were going to come up with a plan to sit down with pelosi and schumer and try to get a targeted bill done for the people that really need it and hopefully the democrats will work with us and hopefully that will get done. Well, i echo your analysis of what happened with boeing. But it is interesting, i speak with all these executives of the airlines, they need a big thanksgiving, they need a big one. It has got to put in some money in their coffers theyre losing hundreds of millions of dollars per month. But the lead story in the journal, cdc calls on nation to avoid Holiday Travel what are we going to do if two weeks from now the Airlines Come back to you an say, you know what, it was we didnt make it, we need help jim, i will tell you, you know, when we were negotiating the deal, we have enormous bipartisan support for the Airline Workers. So we were going to spend more money for the Airline Workers to keep them employed it is no fault to the airlines that theyre shut down because of this, and the democrats refuse to bring that to the floor on a stand alone basis, we could have saved tens of thousands of jobs, and we could put those people back to work in using part of this 500 billion. Again, lots of Airline Workers lost jobs, no fault of their own, and i can tell you i have lots of calls from both democrats and republicans, urging us to pass that stand alone legislation. All right again, i want to just go back to what the New York Times is talking about, this is a notion that you are hindering president elect bidens ability to use the Central Banks vast powers to cushion the fallout from the virus i hate to play politics with you but thats what the New York Times says, that you are hindering the next president s powers. Not surprising from the New York Times, you know. Ive seen other misleading stories from them. It is unfortunate. Again, what i would say is read the letter that we sent to powell, it was very clear, again, were not trying to hinder anything. Were trying to follow the law as were supposed to, we extended the facilities, there has been a Great Success, lets reappropriate the money, lets get it done. Secretary mnuchin, were you surprised that powell responded not, you know, not in your favor in a sense and said, no, we dont want you to do that . Again, ill let chair powell speak for himself, and, again, we had lots of conversations again, i think what the fed has said is that the interpretation of the law is up to us they werent in the room, thats not their job. I think as it just relates to the facilities, again, they always would like to keep things open and thats why in deference to them, i kept four of the facilities open, even though nobody is going today to a commercial paper facility or money market facility. But theyre there in case the fed needs to use them and, again, we got a lot of firepower left if we need to reopen other facilities with nonc. A. R. E. S. Funding. The Municipal Liquidity facility in particular, i know those markets are working fine, but the new york mta needs 12 billion and they need it fast, otherwise theyre going to have huge service cuts in an area that contributes i think as much as 13 to gdp. That could be a little scary, couldnt it . How are we going to deal with getting the aid that is needed to these municipalities before there are massive cuts in terms of jobs, and or dislocations in the Municipal Bond market . Well, the mta has a real revenue problem, obviously and, you know, the mta would like to get grants from the government they really dont want more debt but, again, the mta can borrow in the market, they borrowed some money from the facilities they borrowed money outside the facilities the markets are open for them. And, again, i dont expect that to be a problem. But, again, let me just say, there is a big difference between grants and loans and the areas of the economy right now that are really hard hit, like the mta, you know, they need to work with the state and federal government on how theyre going to get grants to go forward. All right, lets go back to a statement that chairman powell put out earlier this week, the Federal Reserve would prefer this is in response to what you did. The Federal Reserve would prefer that the full suite of emergency facilities established during the coronavirus pandemic continue to serve the Important Role as a back stop for our still strained and vulnerable economy. When you spoke with chairman powell, did he not articulate this view and suggest that you are ill advised in the actions that youre taking hes never said im ill advised in the actions im taking we spoke extensively he understands my view of the congressional intent, and, again, ill let him speak for himself and claure prify his res we have a close working relationship, and, again, i think what people should be focused on, this has been an incredible success lets not focus on a couple of facilities that hardly were used, okay again, very small use in the main street facility, the municipal facility and main street Companies Need grants, they dont need more loans right now. Look, im going to say it was an incredibly successful policy. Ppp, yours, was amazing in how many jobs it reserved. There is no doubt about it you worked in a bipartisan way to do to save millions of jobs in this country. And that the money that was trapped with the fed was doing nothing but back stopping. But once again, phil lebeau, who is such a great such a great reporter for us, says right now airlines for america says the u. S. Airlines are collectively losing 180 million a day. Mr. Secretary, why would we think about getting rid of these programs when we know like with boeing, you saved boeing that sunday night by doing nothing, already back stopped it, why not keep the back stop, i dont want to single out in he particular airline, but that boeing move is brilliant. Dont you think we need to keep the same things for the airlines i want to clarify we have lent the airlines billions of dollars, every single one of the Major Airlines pretty much took direct loans that they have from the treasury, theyre sitting there, on stand by, havent drawn them down, theyre there in case they need to use them, that money is allocated, were not giving that money back and, again, right now, the airlines have plenty of liquidity, they dont need to borrow more money. The problem they have is there is no business, they need to let go of all these people, because people are telling people not to travel, and, again, enormous bipartisan support for more payroll support for the airlines thats what the airline ceos want none of the airline ceos wouldnt accessed any fed facilities Going Forward and Small Businesses, we have 130 billion of ppp money, i could send that out tomorrow, jim, you know how difficult the restaurants are having lets get congress to act, lets send out that 130 billion thats lots of jobs. Amen. Finally, mr. Secretary, the weeks ahead, as we know from here are going to be certainly momentous ones and important ones your successor may be announced very soon by president elect biden. Are you going to work with your successor . What can you tell us in terms for any plans of a transition . I think you know the media is not the ones who call it, there is a process to certify, and when this is certified and when the transition is certified, of course we will work with whoever is the appropriate people to work with. Okay, mr. Secretary, just just a pure political issue, were hearing that janet yellen may be in the ring for successor. If she did get if things are certified and she got that job, would you be happy again, it is not appropriate for me to comment on, you know, being happy or not being happy, in my own personal views of who potential treasury secretary should be. You know, again, if things get certified, well obviously work closely with whoever it is, and, you know, thats whats been done in the past so i apologize for the sake of the fed and treasury, we Want Congress to reappropriate this money. All right, mr. Secretary, it has been a great pleasure over the years to be able to get you to come on youre a straight shooter. Ppp, we owe you a great deal i know it has been a great program. And many others to help small and medium sized businesses. Thank you for joining us thank you, jim. Appreciate it. Bye. Excellent what do you think well, Andrew Ross Sorkin was speaking earlier about the notion of whether it is a charitable decision or not, and in the sense the read, the read of the last two paragraphs i read the last two paragraphs of mr. Secretarys letter as basically saying, look, come on, congress, lets Work Together again. Others could say thats in the going to happen. So what youre doing is putting out a straw man. I think intent matters if he does what he said hes going to do today, a lot of jobs will be saved. Provided that the republican and the democrats in congress with come to some agreement i think, david, you and i both know there were senators who believed in a v economy and there are numbers that have come out that are vlike. They feel nothing more should be done but i think you and are worried about the virus as is the fed chairman and the fed chairman is looking at the papers. He doesnt need a weatherman to know which way the covid virus is blowing. No, we know the numbers, we see them and they continue to get worse. Which, by the way, gets to our next story, pfizer and biontech are requesting emergency authorization from the fda for that covid19 vaccine. Joining us now is operation warp speed chief science adviser dr. Moncef sloui with our meg tirrell. Thank you for being here. Really historic day, walk us through what the process looks like from here, getting this vaccine to market, what the regulatory process looks like. Well, first of all, i mean, congratulations to pfizer for having done just extraordinary work over i believe the last 248 days based on what the ceo told me between the time they first spoke with biontech and took on the challenge and the time they have completed phase three trials, scale of the manufacturing, have demonstrated 95 efficacy and have prepared the file for the fda and also for the european agency, the uk, canada and for japan remarkable performance the process Going Forward is going to to be for the fda to review the file, which is very significant. These are thousands of pages and tables and data describing the manufacturing process, the characterization of the product, hundreds and hundreds of control essays that describe the product is consistent, well categorized and understood and is the same from the first dose to the 40 or 100 million dose, thats one aspect, and, of course, the other aspect is the description of all of the clinical data. The fda has announced that they may be having a meeting which is their Advisory Committee held in public, where everybody can listen, where the fda would describe after having spent about two weeks or ten days analyzing the data in depth,it is our take on the data, where pfizer will describe their take on the data, and then revert back, discuss the data, and their interpretation, and make a recommendation on an advice to the fda, which by the way, the fda may or may not go with that advice, usually they do, of course, and then the fda most likely will issue its decision, which we hope will be a positive decision very important at the same time, the cdc and its Advisory Committee for immui immunizatii immunization practices will analyze a period of time between the recommendations for how to prioritize the use of these vaccine. From the moment the eua is approved, it will be legal to move the vaccine doses from pfizer, they will be shipped to the immunization sites that the various states will have identified for those to go to. We have already sorry to interrupt you, i really want to hear about this process, but i want to ask you, pfizer was not technically under the umbrella of operation warp speed. They had support or a supply deal with them another company that is firmly under the umbrella of operation warp speed is moderna. We expect to hear from them about their application soon as well to you anticipate the vaccines might be being evaluated side by side and we could see them clerred fcler cleared for market at the same time clearly it was a different type of partnership, much more arms length where pfizer has given almost everything that was done we have participated and we continue as we speak providing priority vouchers for them to access Raw Materials and manufacturing, et cetera, et cetera and distribution of the vaccine. But, indeed, our partnership with moderna was 100 across all aspects of the work. And is the case with the other four companies, pfizer, sorry, j j, astrazeneca, novovax and so no sanofi they have to file within the month of november or extremely early in the month of december i think every day unfortunately 2,000 people, 1500 people die, almost 200,000 people are infected every day, every hour counts if the time difference in review of the file is over five or six days, the fda will hold a review of the pfizer v er vaccine and days later for the moderna vaccine. This will pan out as the reviews go on. At this stage, it is more likely they will make them a few days apart. Im completely baffled and confused were old enough to remember when we had to go get our polio shots, we went to our schools, there they were. And then we got our sugar cubes. And we were most grateful because before this, we were afraid to go outside, we would get polio. What a beautiful way to be able to do this it is not being done we had the military on 60 minutes say were ready to get this to everyone who needs it. We are so, so organized. Everyone is going to get it. We have u. P. S. Saying we have freezer farms, were ready, we have cvs, mckesson, walgreens saying were ready i want this in two weeks, why cant i get it you can get it. All the names you have cited are part of the process through which the vaccine doses will be shipped, will be warehoused, will be transported and will be inoculated we have localized and are localizing all the syringes, the, you know, alcohol, the masks, everything, that we are required to inoculate, to immunize is being moved. And as soon as the eua is approved within 24 hours the vaccines will be in the immunization sites and people will be immunized. The difference is we dont have 300 million doses. We will have as the month goes by within the month of december, up to 35 to 40 million doses enough to immunize more or less 20 million high risk individuals. And then i appreciate everything youre saying, but we can immunize on the monthly baseis let me give you my forecast, chaos. I deal with the corporations involved in this chain of command, no one knows what is going to happen. You think cvs knows what is going to happen. You go to cvs in two weeks and they say, listen, when we get the plan, were ready to roll. Ive done the homework on this, sir, you are not ready and it is not just you dont have enough vaccines, it is just because no one has a plan down there. I like to disagree with you i think i have attended many rehearsal and review meetings, and i think it is actually ready to the minute, and i guess exactly like people were saying six months ago, this will never happen, we will never have vaccines before the end of the year, we have them, i hope ill be able to prove you wrong and, you know, facts will speak i want my shot. Im sorry i want my shot. Tell us about go ahead, meg, im sorry. You may be prioritized behind some healthcare workers, but talk to us about what that zrbs is distribution is going to look like pfizer, as you said, was part of operation warp speed but is doing the distribution by itself it has to be left so cold. Are there things about the logistics of this that have you worried at all so, the packaging takes care of the cold chain, they have done an extraordinary job to make sure they are able to ship the product, the vaccine wherever in the cities, or in the country side, in a way that sustained the cold chain for a period of with weeks and they have also ensured that they will be able to replenish the dry ice that is nedd needed to keep the temperature in the packages, and that goes on each time for 15 days the trays allow for a shipment of a minimum of 975 doses of vaccine and they need to be used within a period of five days so and kept at refrigerator temperature. I think thats really a very clear process, again, it is all worked out and, you know, when immunization happens, over a period of five days, up to a thousand people are immunized and i think thats pretty clear. Likewise, for moderna, we will be shipping there the minimum amount of vaccine doses to be shipped is 100, so there is a little bit more flexibility, cold chain is less cold, and that uses freezer, like we have in your home, minus 20 degrees celsius, more flexibility there, and, depend, as described many times the vaccines will be distributed throughout the population to every state, it is the state that will tell us we want the vaccines here, and et cetera and they will be there. I know my coleader for the operation is just doing an amazing job, frankly, to the minute, planning everything. Dr. Slaoui, thank you, well stay in touch as this process unfolds. Thank you again. My pleasure, thank you, meg we look forward to demonstrating that things will go much better than than jims forecast jim and david, back over to you. Thank you, jim. He has a different view than you do thank you, meg and dr. Slaoui. Lets say i have great relations with cvs, not just the company, but my pharmacist, and same thing with walgreens . I give them a jingle i just show up i have to tell you, that when we had polio raging in this country, i got the letter. My parents got the letter. We into exactly what it go and when to go that was in the darn 50s when we didnt have the internet i dont know what to do. Maybe i should i got a mini clinic i go to, ready clinic i do testing on long island, should i go there . Maybe they got it. Youre asking important questions, jim, and the there is a federal allocation plan and Distribution Plan at the federal level, but then the decisions about how we get our vaccines personally are going to be made within our states. And so it is going to be 50 different states it going to be, you know, every sort of local Health Department figuring this out and ive been seeing communications from state Health Departments about their vaccine plans, but there are a lot of people with a lot of questions where will we get these things, who should get them, when, all of that is going to be worked out. In the states, some of them argue they dont have enough funding to get this done the federal government would say thats in the true secretary azar told me that when i asked him. He said the states have enough money. But this is going to get worked out over the coming weeks and, jim, we are going to be starting to see this around the holiday sn season if this gets approved middecember the one thing is, healthcare workers are prioritized at the top, probably, so that say very unique group of people, you know who have different access. As they need to be, particularly right now, meg, so many of them are under stress and dealing with the situation they hoped they wouldnt see again. Meg, thank you as always. David yeah, jim does it go to the super spreaders . No. Why not it is not going to. Who would you give it to i dont know. Should it go to the super spreaders. Uk ta youre talking about kids coming home from college very soon. Is this an issue we should say, hey, new jersey, you bankrupt state we need the federal plan, of course and dr. Slaoui seemed to disagree with you when you said there wasnt one i thought it was a suboptimal answer, but at the same time, it was cordial. It was. We had a lot of news in the first 37 minutes of the show secretary mnuchin, you heard from dr. Slaoui, the markets, not much to tell you about mixed bag. S p down a little over. 14 . Nasdaq is also down. There is the cramer covid index, by the way, up 60 year to date. Smoking. Not bad jim, of course, we did spend a good amount of time with secretary mnuchin, talking about his decision to return money is the way he wants to put it to Congress Take a listen to what he said to critics who say why are you stopping this fed program now. There are a lot of people, you know, on the democratic side who questioned giving me 500 billion that i could, quote, do with whatever i want i find it ironic now this im being prudent and returning the money to Congress Like im supposed to that people are questioning that but, again, we Want Congress to reappropriate this money, and we got plenty of capacity left if we need to use it. And this has been a Great Success story. Jim, the only thing is i dont think when is Congress Going to reappropriate that money, the question you asked, we kind of asked, didnt really get an answer. No. I know that the secretary has repeatedly sided on the idea that money must be given, almost Business Interruption insurance, hes called on our show, to these the institution were talking about the restaurants, david it is an industry people say some people say 10 million, some say 14 million, but that has to happen he didnt seem averse to that. But, david, the bank index is barely down. When i first heard about the spat, i said, uhoh, it is going to be about back stopping the banks, back stopping money, david, i got the treasury secretary is right in the letter, he actually go over how the spreads he does, he talks about spreads and how they closed and some closed far beyond where they were before they put the programs in when there was concern about it and also most of the money sitti inting there back stop. 25 bills all thats been used. Junk bonds, by the way why the u. S. Government or the treasury fed need to own bonds of apple or mcdonalds is beyond me. And many people. But like, why . The federal always wants more money. Right. I thought that was is that true . Well, i dont know. President evans, 45 minutes ago, would say no yeah. In the interview with Steve Liesman. Basically said this is just a frankly a to use the word disappointment, obviously, david, the headlines in the papers are indicative. Headlines in the papers are about limiting bidens options. Thatsbecause that has been a strategy it would seem at this point as the president obviously fights the outcome of the issue, losing in court, losing in front of judges many times, but now trying to influence the state electors as you know. Right michigan so, david, ive got the edge on you vaccine wise only time that youth doesnt have the edge over the elderly youll be first youll be before me. Which is fine. Which is fine. We can hang out again. You wont worry as much when i get within seven feet of you all right, when we come back right here, well have an exclusive, changing things up a little bit sirius xms incoming ceo, jennifer witz. First a look at the bond market. We have been getting a wrapup of the week here look at how treasury yields are moving this morning. Jim mentioned the banks, not too bad. Tenyear,. 847 there is the german bund by the way as well, which is falling to lows not seen in about two weeks. Thats of course over concerns about a spike in covid cases and the stimulus battle between the u. S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve and lets finish with a look at the dollar index. There you have it. Yesterday, of course, john malone saying over time, all this money, it is going to have a devaluing effect hes buying hard assets, you can see where we stand right now squawk on the street coming right back sirius xm in september announced that jim myer will retire at the end of the year. His replacement is the first female ceo of the company. Joining us now on a cnbc exclusive is jennifer witz, the president and incoming ceo of sirius xm. Great to have you. And you will be taking over, of course, basically the first of the year most important asset of your company, many would say, is a gentleman named howard stern and where and when hes going to decide whether to stay, given his contract is up very soon is an issue of great consequence and focus. He ended his show on wednesday, i think last live show of the saying the following, we enjoy the people at sirius xm and we love working with them and its a wonderful experience after talking it over with my wife and talking it over with robin, decided were going to and then soprano style, they cut. Jennifer, what was he going to tell us . Well, first of all, thank you for having me, david it is great to be here i think were just going to have to wait and see. Howard did what he does best, and closed out his show with a great ending and hell be back after thanksgiving to share more with us. And, you know, like ive been at sirius a long time, i remember when howard first came and joined us at sirius and he just still has a massive fan base so were excited to continue to work with howard, we dont have anything specific to announce today. But, you know, im really encouraged and confident that we will have something to say soon, youve seen some of his, you know, pretty phenomenal interviews over the last several months, as you know we launched video with howard two years ago. Hes had over a billion and a half views of his video across our platforms, and across social so, again, were just were thrilled to continue to work with howard and hope we will continue to do that for many years to come. All right, judging from your comments im going to look forward to his announcement as im sure many of his fans will that hes staying on sirius xm, even though you dont say it and he hasnt yet. Were hopeful. Understood, you are hopeful jennifer, he does great interviews, does mr. Stern podcasts have become over the last lets call it five years such an important component of so many businesses, including your business model. The a acquisition of pandora, podcasting, how important is that to the future of sirius well, were really excited about podcasting and the opportunities it brings. And sirius xm has been, you know in premium talk audio for nearly 20 years and podcasting is a natural extension for that it is the Fastest Growing segment of audio, and so it is a natural place for us to have a position, you saw yesterday we announced that were launching podcasts on sirius xm, we teamed up as we always do with a great set of brands and talent and including marvel, and kevin hart, and, you know, our strategy for sirius xm is to continue to enhance the value of our bundle, and youll see us offer a highly curated set of podcasts, but, david, outside of sirius xm, across all our audio platforms, we reach over 150 million listeners with pandora and our investment in include and stitcher and we offer just a really unique opportunity for podcast creators, publishers and advertisers, of course, to come to our platform. We have ad sales capabilities and tech capabilities with our acquisitions and we even did a deal with your Parent Company this week, well continue to bring msnbc, cnbc and theed itted it today show to our listeners and a Technology Platform for a broad set of broadcasts across nbc news, msnbc and cnbc. Jim cramer. Ive been long a supporter from the very beginning i remember. Yes and you know a lot of friends there and what i always have been surprised at and my friends are both surprised at is why the stock isnt much higher. And one thing i think of is that i thin why arent you charging much more for your product . Well, jim we think we offer a lot of value for our subscribers. Well continue to play with different price points at the low end and the high end i believe we do have more room to capture consumer demand in those areas. Youll see us do Different Things with packaging. Our main focus is to deliver value to subscribers weve been making progress inside and outside of the car prices it is something you realize auto dealers should be looking at and it is built in we have great relationships with franchise dealers and are in place with virtually all of them the vast majority anyway usage is for longterm growth. New car penetration rates should reach 80 given all exceptions that will translate to used car sales that does create an opportunity Going Forward. The new car rates also come with the availability to stream from devices and to the automobile isnt that a continued concern for you and as people fall off as they dont see the value in Overall Service . We are always concerned and thats why we continue to add to our bundle our bundle of con tnd and the ease of use we bring to consumers in the car is unmatched. For us, we are launching 360 l which is next generation auto, where we combine satellite with ip in using the modem in the car, so we have the same access in connectivity in the car every other service has but a much easier patch for consumers to consume our content. We believe the path is really strong we are launching a number today. Gm, ford, audi and bmw the numbers of 360 l vehicles on the road will grow to Something Like 104 million this year and next year it will just continue to grow in years to come. You are taking over for jim meyer who has been in the job quite some time. Many things wont change but what will change under the Leadership Team at sirius . Well focus on executing on growth thats what im committed to doing. Ive worked with jim for a really long time he has set us up really well we are in a strong position today. Thats my goal to continue to follow in legacy thank you for following up in your first interview with us jennifer, thank you. Thank you we have a lot more ahead on the media front, by the way. The Liberty Media twoday virtual. Tom rutledge will join us later on the program as well charter. Keep it here i made a business out of my passion. I mean, who doesnt love obsessing over Network Security . All our techs are pros. They know exactly which parking lots have the strongest signal. I just dont have the bandwidth for more business. Seriously, i dont have the bandwidth. Glitchy video calls with regional offices . Yeah, thats my thing. With at t business, you do the things you love. Our people and network will help do the things you dont. Lets take care of business. At t. Not in a bad way but we didnt get to stocks at all. Talking General Electric this morning. Amazing. Made an acquisition. Buying a startup in health care so that it is further ct, which they dominate. Further product that will establish care it will help to make personalization of health care go further ge was one of his favorite stocks this is almost at 10 it was at six when he bought it. Somebody is making money young people believe in larry kulp if they know what he does. They had all those homes in bulgaria poland. Central europe. Jim, anything else you are focused on just the stay at home, work at home dont forget west elm. And huge number of ventilators. I wonder if we should have cpap machines at home, everyone why do you think they are able to automate those amazon 65 is it back i mentioned how cases are unfortunately catapulting, jim we are starting to get more orders of people, at least dont go out if you can. Dont have thanksgiving. Dont travel do we have a real impact do we see it impacted in the stock market at all . 9 today. We are seeing it again basically whats happened, the longer we go without going to the Central Office, the more we realize the Central Office is something irrelevant tiff and expensive. I think it is here to stay zoom is up over 2. 5 . What are you doing this weekend . You going to hide j some outdoor dining. Getting it done before we cant anymore. We are all in this together going to the next hour of sqwawk on the street. Carl has the morning off joining us in the last hour, jim automan who said people are misunderstanding this fed decision and there is plenty of fire power left. This is not a political issue. This is really simple. The story is, lets go reappropriate 500 million corporations dont need this money. We dont need to buy more Corporate Bonds. The Municipal Market is working. People are able to borrow a lot of money in the markets. Weve only done 25 billion. We have over 800 billion of capacity i consider that a pretty good bazooka. Congress trusted us with this money and we followed the law. We are asking congress, please reappropriate the money for areas of the economy and people that really need it. Lets get to steve. You spoke to evans as well this morning where do you come down or what do you think on all of this i did not misunderstand the issue here we reported yesterday that the treasury can spend as part of our spending that report, two major differences from fed chair powell now broken out to the open mnuchin said they could not be extended his own lender to the fed where they are able to unveil them to the fund they are able to have the power and the funds which brings us to more substantial difference here he thinks markets have returned to normal. The fed doesnt dispute that one of the programs on stand by for the risk for the resurgence of the pandemic and in case there was another financial shock. I do worry about you know, we are moving into the indoor season there is a whole bunch of sectors that have been a challenge throughout the year. Travel and leisure, hospitality. It would be good to have more support coming from all directions weighing in on this issue on twitter saying, quote, we cannot predict when or if a panicky cascade will happen after shocks and earthquakes are not uncommon moving to respond as mnuchin would not respond. Asking me now, under what circumstances they would agree knowing that answer would give them more comfort that the secretary would agree to buy backstops if they were needed. Asking that question of the treasury and waiting the response specifically to this idea of the spread rapidly right now and what will be available coming soon also a little bit of difference on that turning to the economist of Public Health folks that say, hey, several grim months ahead of the United States as you know, and you quoted. Some of the numbers we needed and economists that we believe could potentially, some smart forecasters i follow that say we could have negative numbers in the First Quarter depending how expensive the lockdowns get. This comes to the Risk Management and raises the question as to whether or not there were some political reasons for this in which in a different world they might have agreed on the need for Risk Management to come in place with they are saying the returning should be reappropriatated it is unclear how and when that might actually occur david, thats a contradiction i have to point out in the comments if you could fund them not with c. A. R. E. S. Act money the issue is using that money. The question is why not extend them if there is no damage by the way, there is no benefit he talked about which is getting this other money he could have used it to extend the programs if he wanted to do this and why not do it remains the question a fast moving story thank you. Turning to the coronavirus news of the day announcing it will request the first vaccine to apply for emergency use. Some americans could get their first dose in about a month. Going to the hospital ceo. Good to have you on. The vaccine couldnt come soon enough for iowa. Third highest infection rate in the nation how are you planning for the eventual arrival and cold storage you will need to use and to solve the crisis that is unfolding in your state right now . Sure. Good to be with you. Weve been preparing for the vaccine for months we were one of the partners to pfizer in offering Clinical Trials here in iowa. Months ago, we placed in orders for large scale freezers that have the ability to store the vaccine between negative 60 and negative 80 degrees celsius. Weve worked on multiple protocols to ensure we can deploy to Health Care Workers who will likely be the first set of eligible participants we know in iowa, not all Health Care Systems will be able to take advantage of this. To make sure we follow with cdc guidelines and partner across the state to get the vaccine deployed to those that are as high priority as possible how critical could the next week be . Families making the big decision should they travel to see family, host a small dinner or stay at home for this season, staying at home is probably the best decision each family is going to have to make that on a personal basis. Ultimately what we see now, not one region of the United States that is high for infection when each individual person has a one or two chance based on the positivity of their community. When you get 10 or 15 people together, the risk goes up to 30 to 40 some what in that gathering could be positive. I really think that this season, it would make a lot of sense for families to make a different decision and postpone gathering until the spring in terms of Hospital Capacity and the ability to absorb the cases and hospitalizations what have you learned . Weve learned a lot make the hospital bed capacity available before the surgeons get to you here, we made a plan two weeks ago to increase our icu beds and the staff available to do this we moved them from other parts and reduced elective surgery to have the staff in place. When we saw the number double, we were ready for it we might need another place in it we are hoping. In iowa, most hospitals Work Together when they are ready to transfer patients to the university we have been working with cooperation from other hospitals in the state to see how we can coordinate between so no individual hospitals gets overwhelmed. A lot of the planning we did over the summer we hoped we wouldnt have to use is now coming into play recommending against the use of remdesivir. This antiviral drug squarely against what the fda is recommending for patients that have covid19 in the icu, are you using remdesivir and do you find it to be effective it is something we give on a casebycase basis how bad are things in the hospital. How things are increasing and whether there is any room for optimism at all . Hard to tell but i can be factual with you we are seeing double the number now with covid than we did a week ago today, we have open beds in the icu and in other areas of the hospital. In some areas, we surged. What im really worried about. The trend continues and every week that volume will increase by a third at some point, well run out of beds i am not worried about it this week but i am worried about it next month a lot of changes and some of them will help with our hospitalization. The surge you are seeing in iowa, the third highest infection rate behind north and south dakota, how much do you think that was on behalf of your governor not taking swifter action just this week she said masks are now mandated one of the things well look at is different states throughout the pandemic have been at the forefront. We looked at the data in iowa, it has been consistently declining. Not one Public Health measure. It is a series it gets harder especially with a distraction around an election and other pandemic fatigue factors in p y play i think what the governor was able to do this week was an important thing but local government and businesses have taken steps. It is a whole approach to take this seriously we are all exhausted from how long this is been going on all of us have been going back to restaurants and sporting events even though this vaccine is around the corner, we have to commit ourselvesto one last round of restrictions and behavior more than anything else to get through this. If states are not taking action, businesses and hospitals really step up to get out there. We appreciate your time today coming from iowa sqwawk on the street has another great lineup for you glen view capital founder and ceo. Hes got a spac and a deal and well talk goldmans and why he sees growth in the spring and tom rutledge join ises us. Thats a cnbc exclusive you wont want to miss stay with us this is decision tech. Find a stock based on your interests or whats trending. Get realtime insights in your customized view of the market. Its smarter Trading Technology for smarter trading decisions. Fidelity. See yourself. Welcome back to the mirror. And know youre not alone because this. Come on jessie one more. Is the reflection of an Unstoppable Community in the mirror. To Steve Liesman with breaking news from jp morgan on the economy. I had just gotten off air when i got this email. Jp morgan now forecasting negative numbers for the First Quarter saying the economy will contract by 1 in the First Quarter. The possibility of a vaccine makes them more optimistic about brisk growth in the spring going 4. 5 in the Third Quarter and 6. 5 in the Fourth Quarter. The growing trend im seeing on the negative growth in the First Quarter off results of the virus. All right, steve. Thank you. Moving on to spacs Butterfly Networks announced theyll be Going Forward giving the handheld ultrasound maker a valuation of about 1. 5 billion joining us now, the founder of Butterfly Network which was on cnbc disruptor 50 list this year dr. Ruthberg, ive read a lot about you to get ready for this. You have a very successful career with a lot of different companies. 454 and reliance and covid tests you can take home. Given all that, larry robins is an impressive guy, you would have had a lot of options. Why do a spac . Ive been lucky ive been in the fork in history. The key thing is to own the fork in history you create. Larry is the partner i need to make sure our probe goes to parts of the world that has no access to medical imaging. So larry is the perfect partner. Now we can have the resources and the help to make sure 40 million doctors around the world have access to a window into the human body all right. He is the perfect partner why . I have a personality that motivates scientists to do things that have never been done before larry is the perfect partner because he spent the last 30 years investing in health care and helping Companies Achieve their objective. I need that compliment it is great to be a dreamer but we have to deliver our probes. As im speaking to you, we have 30,000 out there, many helping Covid Patients now we need to get them to the 40 Million Health care practitioners that wear a stej scope. Larry knows the market and customers. We can go from selling to individual doctors and 20 websites around the world to Health Care Systems and ultimately of course to the home that was kind of a nice intro. I know you well as viewers know. We all know you in many ways as a Value Investor this is not that, larry. Why the diversion here and why do a spac with dr. Rothberg. Appreciate the question we all do want to acknowledge and shout out to Health Care Professionals in the battle the last nine months watching your show, we are all acutely aware, there are many month months ahead with glen view, weve been on the Health Care Services guide connecting providers those three communities will be instrumental in being partners one Reason Companies might think about a spac merger other than an ipo a spac merger like weve done here today merging long view with butterfly is about capital and connectivity with the Customer Base with collaboration as we drive the company over and drive the option tell me, larry. What does that mean . What are you going to do running a hedge fund that he wouldnt otherwise be able to do . First of all, i think youd see it in our pipeline not only 14 million coming from the trust that would be vested in the technology but also 175 million pipe like most pipes that are purely financial. These in pittsburgh that is called payer and provider included Tenant Health care. You know weve been a large share holder in 2012 and the last three years has had new management and advances in both hospital and Specialty Care and surgery centers. Bringing Companies Like that to the table, offering true partnerships and connectivity will be necessary. This is a story about a product that has tremendous clinical benefit. That needs to be done in partnership with our Health Systems to effect more lives so you said this will replace the stethescope. So theyll use it to do what right now, an ultrasound costs 100,000 and uses six of these probes and two years of training my son within six minutes hooked it to his iphone and used august meanted reality to scan the heart of all his counsins and Artificial Intelligence to assess their heart function. This changes everything. Instead of a cart, you have this in the pocket of every doctor. It is being used now to diagnose covid lung it can look at your thyroid, your heart the worlds first and only whole body scanner the reason we can do that is again when you put something on a chip, it democrat eyes it. This is equivalent to a 50,000 cart shown in publications but we are just getting started. Over the next few years, youll go from a probe to a patch to a pill we all lived this with commuting. We saw this with digital photography. I personally benefitted from it and sow did therm owe fisher and putting dna sequencing on a chip weve taken something that used to be hard to use, made it smart and a 50th of the cost larry a quick take on the markets. It has been a tough year for glen view at least initially take us from where you are and in value which youve played for so many years. So weve had a very strong recovery the back half of the year one of the things we see out there is of course, people talking the k economy and some have benefitted from stay at home in health care, weve seen the drop of hospitalizations that have gone down and surgical has gone down 80 . That has come back down to which ratio you are looking at the peoples medical needs have not diminished we do see number one, vaccines about the society. We see the vestable themes in the market number two, we are bullish about the fact that can reconnect with patients there is only so much telemedicine can do. One of the things we are so excited about butterfly and bringing to the Imaging Center that brings to the patient we think that connectivity will drive it across the board. Finally, you made the point im more known about vesting we should point out that butterfly should be taking part in the Growth Companies based upon the 2022 growth multiple. That doesnt include the fact that wearable market we believe would be the bigger market to monitor doesnt come into the Financial Model until 2023 and beyond doctor, youve got a rapid home nasal swap test when are we going to see it . In Clinical Trials right now working beautifully. We are looking for fda approval before the end of the year the idea is to bring that cold standard Clinical Laboratory right into your home thats our goal. Keeping our fingers crossed. Well be there for all of you. Well bring you back to that. You are a guy i want to bring back larry, you too etf spotlight. Ticker clou, up more than 60 as Cloud Companies continue to benefit. One name in that index is moving this morning workday on the top and bottom lines. The revenue outlook for 2021 the Company Warning that the covid19 pandemic would continue to have a lingering impact on its results. Checking on the Broader Market down 130 points. Sqwawk on the street we are back in two, stay with us. Shall i put her in snow mode . Nope what about offroad mode . Nah. Sport mode it is. Lets see what this baby can do. Or. We could check out that Farmers Market . No you know what . Ill be in chill mode. button click if anyone needs me. Propilot assist with navilink. Available on the allnew nissan rogue. The men have been taken wheres guy . I think im his new pet. [ whimpering ] we have to save them. Thunder sisters. Thunder sisters thunder sisters [ gibberish ] [ gasps ] [ suspenseful music playing ] [ screaming ] welcome back georgias secretary of state says he will certificate joe biden won that states election. He says as a trump supporter, he is sad about the results but that numbers dont lie as secretary of state, i believe that the numbers we have presented today are correct. The numbers reflect the verdict of the people, not a decision by the secretary of States Office or of courts or of either campaigns. In wisconsin, the recount in two counties are getting under way. Ballots have been under tight security from local sheriffs members of the public can watch in person or streamed on line. Senator rick scott has tested positive the second republican senator this week to announce he has become infected. Go to cnbc. Com to see how he describes his symptoms you are up to date this hour back to you. Thank you, sqwawk on the street spoke with secretary mnuchin this morning hitting stimulus, airlines and the markets and what he said investors should be focused on what i want people to focus on is that chair powell and i, the fed and the treasury, these a have worked. Weve had 500 trillion. That we could go do 500 trillion if we needed to as the fed has always said, these are emergency tools when the emergency is over, lets put them away. Medical emergency may not be over but i think wed agree, the financial conditions market. Boards have come in, mortgages have come in, mortgages have rebounded. Bringing in chief economist this morning good to see you, i know youve got an update. You are calling it a vaccineshaped update. How sensitive is that to what you were looking at before the lack or presence of any stimulus right now. We saw maybe a negative gdp the increase of infections continuing at a rapid pace starting to see restrictions so far havent been as notable as in the Fourth Quarter already on the stimulus side, you are right. I think the near term is more mixed. Well see a strong recovery. Partly because of vaccine and because temperature is a head wind in terms of infections and learning how important temperature is for the virus and because the fiscal policy in support. And the latest move for the emergency backstop funds for the fed play into this idea in doing what it has to do. Do you think it is relative and markets will be given pause about all of this . I think the fed has flexibility in terms of what they do. It is important with a policy. That is important because the central outlook is negative. You do want to have the backstop incase we were to see the deterioration in financial conditions at the moment, you dont want that having said that, i suspect that is not going to derail the improvement as we get to the spring next year encouraging news. Do you think the market has overestimated how effective. Just given challenges with distribution and getting that not just with hospitals but to the end consumer that continues to be on the back of 2021 and by the Third Quarter we have sufficient amount of immunity i dont think it is optimistic that doesnt mean there are unknowns in terms of how quickly it works, how many different vaccines we will have available. It looks like there are two p that are very promising. Well have others. There are unknowns around this but the baseline view of a rapid vaccination is unusual well see a sharp rebound not just getting back to work, retail, travel what gives you confidence the consumer will come back strongly given what you are seeing first in and out of the pandemic in some ways back to prepandemic levels i think the expectation is that sectors of the economy that are still deeply depressed are going to come back strongly in 2021 when the virus is no longer an issue thats not all Consumer Spending consumer good spending is already above previrus levels. Travel, entertain, restaurants, personal services. About 8 or 9 of the economy above roughly 3 gdp we think that will be the part of the economy coming back strongly i would say in china china managed to get back to previrus levels by surprising the virus in the context of the vaccine. They managed to bring down infections and mostly normalized the activity theyve done it in a different way in the west and well be doing it on the back of a vaccine which will have a positive impact by Something Like 2 in our estimates feeding into that 5. 2 . Thank you for your time this morning. Thank you Charter Communications chairman and ceo tom rutledge joins us right after this break. The curated collection you cant find anywhere else. And how she sets aside those pieces she knows are so you. The small details are a big reason to come back and shop your favorite Small Businesses. We know them. We love them. So lets go shop small. With american express. The Holiday Season is upon us a warning the consumer may not be feeling so festive this year. R nd out what that could mean fothe economy on trading nation on cnbc. Com more sqwawk on the street coming up. Before we talk about taxsmart investing, whats new . Well, audreys expecting. Twins grandparents we want to put money aside for them, so. Change in plans. Alright, lets see what we can adjust. Wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. Okay. Mom, are you painting again . You could sell these. Lemme guess, change in plans . At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. Welcome back shares of Charter Communications are up 35 year to date with coronavirus cases ticking higher again. Work from home and the need for higher internet speeds, will that drive demand for providers. Charter communications ceo, tom. Great to see you what are you seeing in terms of demand, broadband in particular . How many more people are you delivering 1 gig to this year than last year we had a great growth year this year. Weve grown by 3 billion ahead of the growth rate track we were on prior to the current situation. What about speeds what are you delivering now and is it more than you were previously i assume the demand given all the stuff we are doing these days has grown dramatically. The average customer is using over 600 gigs of data a month. Significantly higher than previous it has gone down a little as people have gone back to work. It is still at least 20 greater than prior to the pandemic weve been on a growth rate anyway of data capacity usage by customers. The pandemic accelerated it. But, you know, it is the longrun trend anyway. Yes, it speeds up the longrun trend but where do we go many are going to go back to work the majority this could become a way of life. People who work at home. Not just work at home all the applications people use in their daily life. In security, in gaming, working from home, or education from home or telemedicine from home, which a lot of people are doing. All of those things use more data the future products that we have, ip streaming video that have been launched all use broad ba band and data capacity the longrun trends are growth and providing that growth both in demand per customer and in terms of access to the network itself we have good penetration growth as a result of the quality of our products and good demand growth how people are using them weve believed that talking about chord cutting. You added 67 million subs in the last quarter how do you view it at this appointment . Is it done going down . I always thought we could grow that if it was fast enough thats what weve done. That big content continue to go up a lot of pressure where they continue with the erosion of expensive video packages still valuable the one place you can get quality of t av and sports it may slow down a bit they are all above 65 a month. Everybody priced below 65 was actually losing money. Our average cost per customer exceeds 65 just in content costs. I want to move on to wireless 5g is here how do you view 5g right now you are buying spectrum, you have the mvno with verizon you said you found the way to use cband traffic to move to you. So perhaps you dont need to buy a wireless carrier a year later, how are you thinking about that competitive threat, tom . Obviously everybody is a potential competitor the Wireless Companies are competitors. We now have over 2 million wireless customers ourselves we have 400 million devices connected to our Network Today those are ip devices most connected by wifi. Many are connected to mobil platforms as well. We look at our ability to continue to build customer relationships with the quality we have. Our average customer dataonly Customers Using over 60 gigs a month. The average mobil customer using about 10 you have a tremendous difference in utilization most mobil customers get the data out of wifi. Fcc yesterday just opened up the spectrum for us. We have the additional spectrum we granted earlier this year all of those capabilities allow tous off load traffic on to our own network and make the cost of that data lower to customer. You mention the fcc, tom. A short amount of time left. It is going to change. Biden administration coming in youve dealt with the last democratic, with wheeler when it was the Obama Administration any expectations what a regime will look like and how it affect your industry . I think it will look like previous democratic administrations which weve been able to work with. Weve been here a long time. P emcome and go. We have a great product. We are doing great things with it i think well be successful in managing the Regulatory Environment and well be responsive to the needs of the community. It is going to change, i assume. It always changes finally, speaking of changes. Youve been in this job for some is time. Youve hit all or many of your targets. Ive talked about your options. I will talk to one of your large shareholders john malone and said youre worth every nickel is what he said. I wonder how much longer do you see yourself in this job i just signed a new deal a new employment agreement so i like this work. Ive been doing it since actually i was in my teens i started as a technician at 3. 24 an hour, by the way. Ive done well in the business its true. But i like it. And i think its got tremendous potential. We have 10 g in front of us which is real High Capacity Networks in our future and i would hope to build them. We look forward to talking about it in the future but appreciate your time now tom, thank you thank you tom rutledge. As we head to break, kohls, macys and norstrom are in rally mode even as the pandemic continues to weigh on sailles. Were going to continue to watch those names. Squawk on the street back in tw o. Im 53. But in my mind im still 35. Thats why i take osteo biflex, to keep me moving the way i was made to. It nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long term. While helping with occasional joint stiffness. Osteo biflex. I feel like were forglet me check. Ing. Xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored Home Security built around you. No, i think were good. Good. So when youre away, you dont have to worry. The tent. We forgot. The tent. Except about that. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Hey look, i found the tent get xfinity home with no Term Contract required. Click or call today. Lets get a check on the markets. The dow is down 130 points, 145. S p 500 lower by 10. The nasdaq actually in the green, up by 14 as the market tries to digest the latest news from the treasury allowing certain lending programs to expire perhaps, mike, not prompting the market response one would expect yeah. Its pretty muted. You wouldnt say necessarily came as a big jolt at least not yet some of the Corporate Bonds are selling off very modestly. If you look at the mix there, nasdaq outperforming a lot of the cyclical reopening stocks are sliding back after the big rally. So its a familiar pattern we were here in the summer when it was essentially the market taking shelter in some of the names that are insulated and benefit from stay at hoechlt you lo home you look at etsy, take 2 interactive, all the video game stocks and lab corps and the other diagnostic companies are doing well they moved the chips over to that bet on the down side, you see the stimulus gear plays like materials and volken materials are down i think its a modest rethink of this idea that we can position for a rapid acceleration in the economy. Maybe it gets deferred maybe its just ran ahead of itself in the short term i do think that is one of the patterns you see in the bond market rally treasury yields are down and banks are giving back gains as well apple and facebook locking horns over data privacy. Well get you the details on squawk alley next. Sales are down from last quarter but we are hoping things will pick up by q3. Yeah. Uh. Boss doug . Sorry about that. Umm. What. Its. Um. Boss you alright . [sigh] [ding] never settle with power e trade. It has powerful, easytouse tools to help you find opportunities, 24 7 support when you need answers plus some of the lowest options and futures Contract Prices around. Dont get mad. Get e trade and start trading today. Welcome back not quite done here yet are we we see the s p 500 down. 28 you were talking about how far ahead the market is looking. Of course, Steve Liesman told us earlier and we have it here, j. P. Morgan, u. S. Economic outlook. Talking about negative gdp for the First Quarter. You know, does that gain any currency in this current market . Or is it being overlooked because after that when the vaccine hopefully is really around, they see meaningful increases . Yeah, i think were going to test the markets ability to look through the tough stuff i think when you have to keep in mind is the s p 500 ramped up 13 in november in the first couple of weeks. And it was very much led by the companies that were supposed to benefit from the vaccine from the reopening. Now we have this noisy period here we had an uptick in jobless claims yesterday not very welcome and now i dont know about this treasury fed move being a driver of things, but treasury yields back down. It seems like we have to moderate our views in terms of how fast that takeoff takes place. Also, david, you know, investors got positioned pretty aggressively you see the Goldman Sachs hedge fund there is a lot of leverage and year end rally a lot of it also is people having to adjust the expectations for what is already baked in and whats to come in the rest of the year one of the key things we worry about, i refr back to the interview the secretary is will there or could there possibly be any aid coming before president elect Biden Takes Office we dont know. J. P. Morgan says some lasting scar tissue can be found in higher business dead and hobbled state and local governments. Dafrdvid, thank you it is 8 00 a. M. At facebook headquarters in california and 11 00 a. M. On wall street. Squawk alley is live good friday morning welcome to squawkll