The dow, 20,792. Our Leslie Picard starts us off with the comments that have wall street talking. What did jeffrey oven have to say . Two words to describe the markets. They are bad stuff. He was speaking at a reuters event on activism and says he is disinvesting and sitting on 3 billion in cash. Ubben is focused on the risk of inflation. Everything about trump i think is inflationary. Its the last thing anybody is worried about. Interest rates are going up. There is no talk of fighting the fed at all. He did concede that tax reform would be positive. The devil is in the details. If there is a border tax, which is very inflationary. Trumps agenda has been a boom for his investments. He invested in Morgan Stanley and the stock has doubled since. He said he got super lucky because you didnt expect trump to win and all of the sudden, regulatory relief looks to be on the horizon. Rates are going up and volatility has returned. He still owns Morgan Stanley but sold some. He doesnt know how to make money that fast. Steve weiss, at extremes, the stock market is baiting you to do the wrong thing. Are investors making a mistake by chasing the trump rally. He is sitting at only 20 cash. He is still at 80 invested. He still things there is some up side. You buy position. You buy stocks. You dont buy markets. You are being baited somewhat. The market is diskoicounting everything positive without the fear of anything going wrong. Inflation is good. We are still at 2 or below and rates are still at alltime lows. Sure, they will go up but they are going up for the right reasons, because the economy is improving. I pose the same question to you. Are investors making a mistake by trying to chase this rally . I think there are better ways to play it. By playing it, judge, i mean to participate in the rally. We talk about options all the time. So for those that dont trade options, ill not go there. I think broad Market Participation at this point to steves point is exactly what i dont want. I want stocks specific exposure. I have talked about a number of them, talked about ralph lauren, restoration hardware, r. H. As it is called, some of these stocked that are so battered i think they have pretty good up side from here. Rather than chasing the broad market. The implication that ubben and seth clar man are making, it is going to end badly. They are value investors. Deep value. There is deep value out there and expensive stocks. The mistake is to talk about the market. Thank you very much. Talk about the market overall. What john was saying is absolutely right. Dont throw money at the market overall. Buy the cheap stocks and sell the expensive ones. They are easy to identify. Boeing is right in the squares of my eyes. It is up about 50 , 60 . It goes up every day. I will wait a couple of days for it to be down two days in a row and then it will lighten up. It is getting harder to discriminate . No, no. I will throw you two pages of in alltime highs at minimum. I will show you stocks that we have been talking about for several weeks. Look at the pharmaceuticals. They have been flat lined for three monds. Old line tech, intel, qualcomm. Cisco hit a 52week high. It is still cheaply priced. You can still buy that. Dont look at the market overall, individual stocks. You hear overbought, over exuberant, overbought. 20,800 on the dow. I totally agree on these guys. One of the things that we bring at the Halftime Report is that we are much more individualized. When we do talk some sectors, there are some sectors where i could broadly say, the financials. The financials had paused for quite a long period of time. Then, what did they do, scott . Even after earnings, they were still in that paused state, suddenly, it finally broke out to the up side. You look at the tech stocks. They are hitting the highs. I think they are going to hit a pause and as the pause and the consolidation occurs, then we take that next leg up. Tech has not had a down day the entire month of february. I know we have talked about it on the desk day in and day out. The earnings have been pretty phenomenal across the board. Look at sisco. This trades at a multiple under 15. They have incredible growth. The growth yar area of apple. Depending on where you look, you are going to be able to find growth and you are still finding value. Where you are overvalued, take a look at u. S. Steel. Take a look at what happened to you. That stock went up 100 to 40. It should have improved, yes. The restrictions on china dumping steel were already in place. Prices are a little better, sure. That stock shouldnt have doubled. Thats where the fluff is. It is up 380 in a year. The one thing i have to take issue is, it came up in that little tape, everybody talks about, there is so much volatility in the market. We are under 12, scott. When you look at the vix measure itself. There is a lack of volatility. There are individual names and thats always the case. It is low and there are times when it is high when it is low. The overall broad market volatility is very low, a great protective device you can use. I think that volatility is no longer as useful of a tool as it was. If you want to look at volatility, look at rotation. It is extremely useful. They are in 90 days. It was yesterday, i think. 90 days, we havent had one move down more than 1 . 92 days. Thats why the vix is as low as it is. Exactly right. We are not disagreeing. I am saying thats true in the top line averages. If you go to the sectors and look at financials, they got hit earlier, a couple of weeks ago. You look at biotech or health care, they got destroyed. Thats not reflective. You get lull nood this false sense of security. If ubben makes a suggestion it is not going to end well and we are going to get into an overly inflationary environment. If you are running his 3 billion and he is sitting in 3 billion in cash, where would you put it to work . You say there are still opportunities, individual stocks. You tell me where then. Most of the companies that have a lot of cash and a lot of dividends. If there is a market correction, and i think thats all that is going to happen, america ket correction, not a bear market, the companies that have the most cash on the balance sheet, the highest dividends, the safest places to be, pharmaceuticals, old line technology, intel, qualcomm, cisco. Thats some of the cyclicals. We will talk about g. M. Later, others that have plenty of cash that should resist a downturn. I agree with ubben, this is ahead of itself as far as the market goes. What i dont agree with is that you have to have that much cash right now. I agree with him. I am sitting in more cash than he is. I am happy where i am having that cash on the sideline when is these things fall apart. Intel has moved up quite a bit. It is on. It is off sgchlt will t. The problem is waiting for a pullback that you may not again. If i dont get it, great. If it keeps going, im participating. Are you in as much cash as you were. You and i sat here about 40 . Im a little bit less but not a lot less. One of the things that ubben pointed out was not so much where you can find value in the market but the markets reaction to certain events. For example, he looked at kraft heinz and its play for unilever, 150 billion deal. He pointed to that and said that is an example of something where you have got two companies with culture that is do not mesh well together and the market says, bravo, you are doing something good for you. He looked at that and says, thats a scary sign. Corporates are taking all this risk. He pointed to what private equity was do in 06 07 and compared it to that. He had a falloff in m a activity. It has picked up a little bit. I dont see that euphoria. I see one deal. The deals you have seen have been so large. They have skewed the number of deals. Kraft unilever is not just positive, anybodys view on the markets except for his. The deal fell apart. It is no longer. I am not worried about that. Leslie pick ard, we apprecia it. Manufacturing ceos meeting with President Trump a short time ago. We expect that to wrap. You will probably see some of the ceos at the microphones in a matter of moments. We will take you live to the white house as we do that. The conversation we have been having, stocks have gone virtually straight up since the election of donald trump. Becky quick asked Steve Mnuchin whether it is a report card for the president . Absolutely. In is america ket market to ma business. There are very attractive Investment Opportunities in the u. S. I think necessary reflective of the administrations goals and what the market thinks of it. Dangerous game. If you want to say the market going up is a report card for the president , you better own when it goes down, right . You do have to. What he outlined were regulatory relief. We have all talked about it here on the desk. I think universally, we believe it is going to happen. The tax and the implications of simplistic tax application for the middle class and also for business, over and over in the interview with becky, he talked about for the middle class. Thats my focus like a laser. That is huge in terms of driving the economy. Aman jabers at the white house. Reporter it appears a bunch of them have just come out the front door and are approaching the stakeout position here where we have some cameras set up. I see jeff immelt coming over. Im trying to get a sense of who else is coming over here behind these trees here. It looks like we are going to get some words from some of these ceos here momentarily, scott. One of the questions that i know a number of other reporters are going to want to ask, what specifics came out of today. They allowed some reporters to sit in and listen to the ceos and talk about infrastructure, trade, tax. All of that. What specific ideas are they going to take from this and include as policy here in the white house . Here we see some of the ceos coming out. Lets see if we can get a word in here while we are live on the air. Reporter mr. Emmelt, give us a sense of what happened . It was a great meeting. Reporter any specific takeaway . Well let the president talk about that. A lot to talk about, trade, education, reform, it was really great. Good discussion. Reporter there you hear, tax, trade, regulation, from mr. Immelt, a great discussion. Reporter a couple of the other ceos are coming by as well. They are going to let the president speak for this group. We expect some will come out momentarily and talk to the larnl larger group. It is chockfull of ceos here today. Love watching you do what you do outside there. This is the second such meeting for this manufacturing group. Immelt has been there before, doug oldman, andrew liverest of dow chemical. Reporter some of these ceos have been here four times. Elon musk may have met with the president five times since the election. Clearly, there are some people that are now regular visitor toss this white house. This is the west wing of the white house here. Some of the ceos are coming out. A little bit of an unusual procedure. Typically, they will just come out of that door. Thats why we are spinning around with the camera. I see Peter Navarro coming out there trying to see who else is with him. Clearly, some of the white house officials here now coming out as well. Here is mark fields. Well wait and see whether they have anything to say. Mark fields of ford. He is with some of the other officials. Let me see if i can talk to mr. Fields. Can you give us a little about what happened in the meeting. It was a very productive meeting. Reporter what specifics are coming out of it . A lot of working level things to do. Reporter what did you tell the president about immigration, if anything . Sorry. We have to go. Reporter a lot of the ceos are on message in terms of it being a productive meeting, a good session. Thats pretty standard. You dont necessarily get a lot of detail from the ceos. We want to jump on them immediately and get a sense of what they have to say. Typically, you will get one or two ceos who are designated spokes people. With he we are waiting to see if andrew liverest will come out. You can tell that Peter Navarro, the fact that he is in the room, you have to believe that china and the issue of what to do about trade with china, not to mention currency, remains a front and center topic and was, perhaps, discussed at that table . Reporter this is a huge opportunity for a lot of these ceos. I believe that was ziado jackly, one of the top lobbyists for ford here in town. I will check the tape and see if that was him. It was an opportunity for some of the washington representatives to come into the bh white house and talk to some of these officials. This is a golden opportunity for them to speak to specific issues that has been pending for a long time n one time. In one of the breakout sessions, i heard one complaining about that he couldnt get clarity on whether this was coming in or not coming in. His investors were worried. He couldnt give them an estimate of how much it would cost his company. It could be 100 million. It could be 300 million. We cant give wall street any clear guidance on how much this is going to quocost us. Even if it is a bad answer, we just want an answer. This is an opportunity for the ceos to sound off. Regulatory that we have been talking about. We are going to let you keep an eye on the doors there and jump back to you as we need to. Doc, to the extent that the stock market is a report card of the president and his policies, do you agree with it . Should it be . It should be, yep. The former president , obama, he cited it time and time greagain. He was pounding his fifty st in press conference and at least three times cited how the stock market had performed and come up since march of 09. Every president looks at the market and try toss create growth. Thats what this president is trying to do. I think the policies will be successful. The investors are clearly giving this president a grade f a. The dow jones, above 20,800 for the first time ever. Well take a quick break. If Steven Mnuchin gets what he wants, the dow will jump 10 , s p almost 14 they say with energy, industrials outperforming bigtime. The stocks that have performed best are apple, united health, caterpillar, boeing and goldman sachs. For more on this, go to cnbc. Com pro. The Halftime Report is coming back in two minutes. Its not just a car, its your daily treat. Go ahead, spoil yourself. The es and es hybrid. Experience amazing. [he has a new business teaching lessons. Rodney wanted to know how his business was doing. So he got quickbooks. It organizes all his accounts, so he knows where he stands. Ahhh. Thats a profit. Way to grow, rodney visit quickbooks. Com. Thank you all for joining me today. Im assistant to the president. We assembled 24 of the leading manufacturing ceos in the country. Among them, they represent over 2 million employees, mostly american jobs and over 1 trillion of revenues. We broke the 24 ceos into four working groups, which were joined by white house senior staff, cabinet secretaries, and other thought leaders. We dove into the issues that are paramount to this president and the administration. Namely, what it takes, the details, to ensure that we bring back manufacturing in a substantial way to the u. S. Economy, that we help these companies unlock the power that they have and we were challenged by the president to make sure we come up with a program to ensure americans and the American Worker is freintrained for the manufacturing jobs of tomorrow. It is a holistic approach. It is an incredible focus of this administration and i am definitely encouraged and proud to say that by partnering and working with the private industry, the ceos that are here today and many others that we are working with, with the leadership of our cabinet secretaries and, of course, the president , that we are going to accomplish that goal in a very meaningful way. Now, im going to furn it ovtur to some of the ceos that are leading the effort on this way. Thank you, read, andrew liverest from dow chemical. It was very much a working session today following a month ago when we first met with the president. We in the manufacturing sector, all the ceos that were here today and in the last meeting are very encouraged by the pro business policies of President Trump and his cabinet. Some of us have said this is the most pro Business Administration since the founding fathers. There is no question that the language of business is occurring here at the white house. We had a couple hours. I think the working groups are going to hear a little bit about each of them. The working group are bringing back manufacturing jobs, all the way from basic manufacturing to advanced manufacturing. They are the type of jobs where technology and manufacturing have intersected. These sorts of discussions on tax, regulatory reform, one of the working groups, workforce for the future, a third and fourth infrastructure, i was in workforce for the future. We really brought back in a very robust conversations, the ceos in the room with the president listening very intently and making great comments on the notion that the supply side in stem and Vocational Training needs a National Systemic fix. Many Large Companies and even Small Companies are doing the right thing in trying to get training around their factories to try and put people into these jobs that are stembased in the main. Many of us are isolated islands. How can we leverage each others best practices on apprenticeship programs, how to put it back in the School System working with betsy devos and the president s team. The whole notion of what we can do with Community Colleges to retool them. So Vocational Training, the noble trades can be brought back to our kids so kids can see these as jobs for the future. We have half a million open stem jobs that we cant fill. We need to fill them with americans and we need to do that as a priority. The next several years, 3 million to 5 million new jobs even without the pro growth policies of President Trump. There will be more jobs to fulfill. Good afternoon, my name is ken frazier. I am from merck. I participated in the tax and trade working group. We are very early in our thinking about these issues but it is very clear that the president is very interested in listening the tax burden on americans, including middle class americans. He is also interested in lessoning the tax burden on those companies that employ workers in the United States that are innovators, job creators and ultimately creating more jobs in the United States. We spent time talking about trying to have a tax code that creates a level Playing Field for American Companies that doesnt Favor Companies that bring jobs outside the United States, that allows companies to invest in job creation in the United States, Capital Investment in the United States. We also spent time talking about trade. It is critically important that in our bilateral trade agreements we enforce intellectual property, that we enforce the rules of the road so that American Companies that are taking their products overseas and competing with Companies Overseas are actually not at a disadvantage. The president made it very clear that he is very interested in creating jobs, first and foremost. So, whatever policies we develop around tax and trade will have to be those kind of policies that allow great job creation, important job creation, manufacturing job creation. Thank you. Im marilyn houston with lockheed martin. I had the honor to participate in the regulatory reform. Having the opportunity to brief with the president and hear his thoughts was an encouraging and great meet forg all ing for all. As we think about regulatory reform, it is not just about our businesses. But the small and medium size businesses. When you consider thats the engine of innovation, thats where we want to develop jobs and generate growth in the whole supply chain, it is very important that we reduce and eliminate regulations that are burdensome and unnecessary. We had a good discussion. The president listened intently. He is ready to take quick action on executive orders that are burdensome and not adding value. How do we streamline the process of regulatory requirements so that we can increase our competitiveness around the world, so that we can increase jobs in manufacturing and so that we can lift the Economic Growth for this country. I am in the aerospace and defense industry. We have over 2 million job ns our industry and about 60 of them are in the small and medium size businesses. Those businesses we know are very much impacted by regulation. And overburdensome regulation. If we can lift that, we will generate jobs in america and be able to take this country forward. We are very excited about the meeting today. Look forward to working with my fellow leaders here in business along with the administration on how we can generate jobs and increase Economic Growth for the United States. Thank you. Good morning. Im mario luongo with u. S. Steel. I had the opportunity to participate with the group. We havent done anything seriously as far as infrastructure since president eisenhower. We would have countries such as china that were building about 100 airports all at the same time. At the same time, we have issues with water supply, the electric grid, transportation, you name it. So there was a robust discussion on how can we prioritize. The other thing is to have the ability to have the proper approvals that sometimes takes years. Infrastructure can very quickly generate an enormous amount of quality jobs. It is a piece of our national security. We are going to keep work tog find ways in which the council of governors is going to work on how do we get the funding to support these initiatives. It is encouraging to see that this administration is looking at big and Small Companies, which are truly the ones that can generate the quality job that is the country needs. Thank you very much. Question for mr. Frazier, if you dont mind z we have one more statement. Lee stis linger with altealtech inc. I participated in the o workforce for the future. Began focusing on workforce for the future, followed by deregulation, infrastructure and the commitment to tax and trade enhancements. This president and the administration is working together with the Business Community to focus on ways to create and enhance jobs. The workforce, the level of unemployment is still way too high. You the low Participation Rate we have in the workforce provides the opportunity for tens of millions of jobs. Working together with this administration and the leadership, were confident that we are going to be able to bring jobs back to america. Mr. Frazier, quick question. Mr. Frazier, can you talk about the those are manufacturing ceos just coming out of that meeting. You heard from lee styslinger, mario longhi, marllyn hewson. I continue to be struck by the fact that you, aman, have ceos one after the other publicly rallying around a president who they perceive is rallying around them. Reporter im struck by the sheer number of ceos we have seen. I feel like i have been stuck in this driveway chasing ceos, manufacturing, tech, retail, all the different groups coming to meet with the president of the United States. They feel there is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor, make their points heard behind the scenes and the administration will appreciate the kind words they had to say out here at the sticks at the west wing. There is a sim biotic range here. What a range of industries, everything from u. S. Steel to aerospace and defense to michael dell of Dell Computer was here as well today. A whole variety of folks, all expressing enter opinions behind the scenes. We will have to wait and see how that sifts out and into policy. You heard Harrell Lynn Hewson talking about executive orders that she would like to see. You did hear ken frazier of merck talk about lessening the tax murder and mario longhi of u. S. Steel mentioning infrastructure and taxes and trade and miss hewson as well. Reporter thats right. So many of those issues are perennials for this company. They feel this is an opportunity with the new administration to come in here and make their case. Maybe this is an administration that will hear them. A lot of frustration among some in business about the obama administration. We are seeing some of the ceos emerging here. They are being guided by the press staff here. I think we are going to hear with some of them with our sarah eisen here momentarily. You get a sense a lot of this is moving parts. One group that just left without talking, one group that, in fact, said a few words and one group that is going to go up to the west wing camera positions and do a little bit of talking on live television. A lot of different moving parts from this white house, scott. I thought it was also interesting during the meeting where you heard the president. Ible it was during an exchange with doug overhelman with caterpillar. When we lift the dollar. Implying when he would like the dollar to be stronger. Yet again the type of comments you dont necessarily hear often from a president of the United States speaking on the quurncur of the u. S. My take on that, scott, was that the press was saying he wants the doll ar to be a littl soft eart softer. I want to go back and check the tape. Thats an unusual thing for the president of the United States to say. Usually they say strong dollar, strong dollar, strong dollar. We are not necessarily hearing that from this administration which warnts nts to boots expord maybe tax imports and look at a way to limit a companys ability to do importing. A lot of the questions will be on the minds of the ceos. Some that operate Global Enterprises that operate transnationally. They are not just thinking about the United States but germany and latin america and asia and how all of those tariffs and trade wars could affect them. The Dow Jones Industrial average near the highs of the day, 20,829. John, you have a thought . Yes, mr. Andrew liveris at dow, it will be interesting to see how many Media Outlets cover that statement, cot. You have janet yellen talking about Business Sentiment and how much it has picked up in the most recent comments she had before congress a little over a week ago. Now, you have a number of these ceos saying something that is die metricaldiametrically oppos what we are fed a daily dose of. This administration doesnt know whats going on. We are not talking about other media. We are only talking about the way we frame the conversation. It affects consumer sentiment. If they are fed a steady dose of this administration doesnt know what its doing and all the Business Leaders come out and say, this is the most pro Business Administration that we can remember. I will make this quick. I think you are being charitable to say it was an administration that it didnt know it was doing. I think it was actively antibusiness. I think about miss hewson who came out and said she was focused on regulation or the reduction there of. She was so enthusiastic. Aerospace is an area where a lot of companies are opened up nonuni nonunionized plants. Those that stood in the way of any movement of production from unionized labor to nonunionized. Can you see that happen sng. I have heard directly from the ceos, one of the Largest Companies in the world. Obama had a point. Obama would always show up late, lecture them and leave, never heard of what they had to say. There was a decidedly antibusiness approach. Here you have ceos we have never heard. I dont think we are debating that particular point sxwchlt their thats whats positive. I am not going to get into a debate on what other media organizations are covering. No accident the market turned around as the ceos are talk. We have the dow up. The s p turned around. Speaking of one of the ceos in the room. One of the 24 is Andrew Liveris of dow, he is with sarah eisen on the lawn of the white house. Andrew actually organized the council for manufacturing. He is the chair of the group. You are the one that just made the statement everyone is talking b the most pro business presidency since our founding father sns. We study history and understand what great president s this country has had and in the context of business language and engagement, this meeting we just finished, the meeting of a month ago, it is the language of business. We have some work to do. The four work streams we have worked on all have issues that if we can get over some of these issues, collectively with the government, whats the growth in this country . Whats the growth in this country . Less than 3 . You are talking the 3 that Steven Mnuchin the treasury secretary mentioned is realistic . Realistic. One of the groups talked about multiagency purview of building a factory and how one agency looks at it, kicks the can to another agency, kicks the can to another agency, from federal to state. Thats all fixable if you do risk benefit analysis at the front end for multiple agencies have the thats not whats happening today. One of the ceos was talking about that related to one of their projects. There are hundreds of projects on the investment side, because it takes too long and we end up going to other countries where the bureaucracy is red carpet, not red tape. Reporter what did you get from the president on taxes and any sense on where he is in rolling out his plan and the border adjustment tax . The krechceos representing manufacturing are very pro a border adjustment tax. The president is thinking through. Obviously, his cabinet just formed. Reporter is he leaning one way or the other . I wouldnt say that. I am thinking he is thinking about how to make it fair. He said it is unfair now, tax regimens in one country and another, how china and mexico deals with us. Everyone has a v. A. T. Of some sort. Should we put in place a border adjustment tax, a. K. A. V. A. T. Reporter do you know when he is going to come out with his plan . He dchbt give idnt give us. My whole sense of this administration is urgency on the business side. They want to get the barriers out of the way. If it goes much beyond the fall, i would be staggered. The repeal of aca is probably a higher priority but tax reform, right up there. Reporter the president painted the u. S. As a loser in trade. He said we run deficits with all of our Major Trading partners. Do you guys agree with that . We are a large exporter, so we are a winner. There are many countries that are winners. As a country, what he is saying, we have made it easier for other countries to access our country and other countries make it harder for us to access theirs. Therefore, the deficits. There are some agee gis examples. We would agree there are subsidies in other countries. I wrote the book, make it in america. I compete against countries, not companies. The governments are involved. Why . For job creation. Has the u. S. Lost jobs as a result of unfair practices . Absolutely. Look at the data on manufacturing, 20 million years ago, to 11 million today. Most of us were investing elsewhere to take advantage of available subsidies, tax incentives, you name it, in companies that roll out the red carpet. I want to ask you about immigration, was there any discussion of how it might impact your companies and the economy atlarge . One thing i have noticed and im really pleased with this. I was given the job to help on the manufacturing sector. Its one of the president s top three priorities. We didnt get in to any other topics. We stayed true to manufacturing and those four work groups, frankly, on message and the whole time the president was engaged. Reporter do you have another meeting scheduled . He told us he wants to hear from us within two months. Reporter i am already getting something scheduled for a debrief tomorrow with his team to figure out what that is going to look at. Reporter thank you, andrew. Thats Andrew Liveris, the chairman for the council for the president s advisers here. Pete, why dont you join us in the conversation . Have you ever heard a ceo come out that bullish and that open in front of the public in front of sarah and the others. The two comments, the most pro business president since the founding fathers. Instead of they get a red carpet elsewhere rather than red tape here. Interesting commentary. It sounds like the meetings went well. The president was listening. Hopefully, that means something very good. A combination of regulations, some of them coming down and obviously tax reform, repatriation, all those type of things in the future. Going back to mnuchin, i talks about august during recess. Thats the target right now . They want to be done by now . Very aggressive target. We kick this around every day. When is this going to happen . Is it 2018. He put it out there today. It is in august. At some point, these things have to come to fruition to justify the move like the one you are seeing in the market today . There are two things to consider here. August was the date that secretary mnuchin put out there. Question one, is it retroactive to the beginning of this year . I dont believe so. He kind of hinted that wouldnt be the case. What you was saying, it was 2018 you are going to see the most effect. You might see something in 2017. The big wild card, we all know this, the border adjustment tax. Why . Because it is new and could spark some trade wars. It is going to delineate winners from losers in sector. The Retail Sector is fearing this like nothing else. There are other sectors out there. I am not so proon t on the bord adjustment tax. It is going to create winners and losers and it is not easy to tell who it is. There was an article in the journal this week ithink it was the journal, talking about the administrations business policies. The business policies, talking about recalculation of the export data. They focused on mexico specifically. What they said was we bring in so many goods here, dont do anything to them, then export them. With mexico, we have a deficit of 60 billion frmillion. That would increase the deficit with mexico to 150 billion. They could do quite a bit of good for our economy. Lets welcome in mario longhi, one of the 24 manufacturing ceos meeting with the president today. Mr. Longhi, nice to have you. Reporter good aft. Good afternoon. Good to be with you. I have to tell you that wall street certainly likes what happened. We are almost at the highs of the day as we have this conversation, sir. Well, i think we had a very open, honest and positive discussion on solutions. This administration recognizes the importance of manufacturing and the creation of good, sound jobs, and its value in helping the economy grow. The president wants you to make pipeline here in the United States. He has made that quite clear on numerous occasions. Can you do that . We have been making pipe in this country since the early stages of the past sent tricht the industry is certainly capable of produce teeing here. One of the problems that we have had over here is that with the significant amount of dumping that has been taking place, we have lost the opportunity to have a fair Playing Field to compete. The capability is certainly there. We certainly noticed Peter Navarro was a part of those meetings today. Because we are on the issue of dumping and i know specifically you are referencing china or you must be, do you think we should have a fullfledged trade war with china, rip the bandaid off as some have suggested and just get it over with . My view is that what we need is a fair Playing Field. I dont consider a trade war when you are going trying to make sure that everybody plays by the same rules. In many cases, what happens is that we compete against countries that are unfairly twisting what should be a market force driven environment into their own benefit and we dont have a chance to compete in that regard. They use our markets to send their products and we have a hard time sending our products over there. So i think the level of the Playing Field is what the solution is. How do you achieve that . More strong arming tactics needed from the United States . Last year, if you recall, we woshed ve wo worked very hard on the definition of injury when it comes to trade. It is very clear that the process of analysis today should not require that a company suffers damage profoundly for several years and then when you come to a trade case, you are almost in a position of no recovery. So with the new legislation that is in place, we can have a condition to more quickly address the behavior that is inadequate and out of the rules performed by other countries and companies. So in that environment, i guarantee you, we can compete and win against anyone. The president makes it quite clear he wants to bring manufacturing jobs back. I am wondering if you think that is even realistic or that the train has already left the station as some others have suggested . It is totally realistic to bring jobs back. If you look at the regulatory system that we have today, it takes us years sometimes to get some approvals. We have a pipeline of projects just sitting out there to be executed on. I think if you look at our ability to innovate, that there is no other country that can do this like that. In a fair Playing Field for every great idea or Innovative Solution that comes to place, you need a physical device to bring it to fruition so the full value can be captured. It is totally viable, it is needed and can be done. Back to the issue of the pipes. You are saying you can make the pipes in this country needed for these new pipelines which the president clearly wants to see come to fruition. The capability is in there for us to make everything that is needed. It is all sorts of pipes. It is pipelines that go into distribution. It is pipe that is go into extraction, production, the whole scope that is there. We are going to become energy dependant not too far down the road. Therefore, the capacity to explore, produce, extract, and transmit is something that our industry is capable of delivering. It is interesting. We have had conversations on this very Program Within the last week about the future of manufacturing, how realistic it truly is to bring these jobs back. Some suggest the genie is already out of the bottle regardless of what the president thinks or want. Mark cuban said, Companies Like yours may build factories but they are not going to produce any jobs because auto make and robotics are the wave of the future. How do you respond to that . If you go back in history, the same comments were put in place. I go back to the innovation level in the ability to create new activities that are going to be required as the world moves forward. I also say that if you add a good dimension of our Economic Growth, 3 plus percent a year, that is going to require a significant amount of labor as we go into the new industries. If we talk about robots, robots robust, robots have to be made somewhere. It is key, and i believe common growth creates it. If the president turned to you, mr. Longi and said, tell me your opinion of the border tax, what would you tell him . Well, i think one of the good things that came out of the conversation that we had had was that, for example, this is the only country that does not have some kind of border adjustment tax. Every other country in the world pretty much has it. I think there is an analysis made where what are the taxes, what are the types and sizes of taxes that the other countries have on the borders, and i think it may lead to a condition where how, then, do we have an e quill l lib yum . If the Playing Field established that in regard, we have a solution. You are in favor of a border adjustment tax . Im suggesting we have to create a fair Playing Field between countries when it comes to taxation and products across the board. Lastly, sir, Steve Mnuchin, our anchor asked if the stock markets performance is a report card for the president . He said, absolutely, its a market to market business. Your stock is up nearly 400 in a year. Clearly, you feel like youre getting an aplus. Well, thank you for noting that, the vast growth that weve had actually is consequence of the terrific job our people have done. I think, you know, now, you add on dimension of optimism that is coming out of the discussion, its more of a probusiness environment, so i think that, yes, were more encouraged. Are you surprised, though, at the unbelievable move you witnessed in your stock market price . I am satisfied that finally some level of recognition is being given to a terrific performance that our company has had. Mr. Longhi, a pleasure. Thank you so much for the time. Thank you. Take care. Mario longhi. The ceo of u. S. Steel, performed well, jim. Steel is a hot button issue in terms of u. S. China relations for years. Theres clearly a lot of dumping going on affecting steel and iron ore prices. For the Steel Companies to feel as good as they do about this president ial administration indicates donald trump as we knew is going to take the chinese head on. Lets bring in jackie. This is the dollar zipping a little bit this morning, gold rising alongside stocks this year. What do you think of that . How high can we go . Well, we are seeing a break on above 1250, this is exciting. We have been coil for quite some time. This is the share of the f1c not hawkish. Buying treasuries as well as gold. Theres anxiety, and we continue to see the s p 500 finding highs, but yellen is talking about flipflopping. They are being very measured and dovish, as historically has been, and, therefore, people are buying gold with a chance to go up to 1300 we see on the chart. Jim, do you feel strongly about that, too, moving to 1300 level after the strides weve made . My objective as well, but jeff is missing a point here too. The yield near all time lows yesterday and the day before. There is worry about the French Election coming up in april. As we approach it, theres more worry. Gold and the dollar have rallied somewhat together this month. Its clearly not as much a dollar issue as people think it is. Thats what i pin it on. Yes mep, see you on the online show to talk more about gold, and were talking stocks also with mark faber of the gloom, doom, and boom report. Dennis gartman talks commoditi s commodities. More halftime after the break. Hey nicole. Hey i just wanted to thank your support team for walking me through my First Options trade. We only do it for everyone gary. Well, i feel pretty smart. Well, were all about educating people on options strategies. Well, dont worry, i wont let this accomplishment go to my head. Im still the same old gary. Wait, you forgot your french dictionary. Oh, mucho gracias. Get help on options trading with thinkorswim, only at td ameritrade. With e trade you see things your way. You have access to the right information at the right moment. And when you filter out the noise, its easy to turn your vision into action. Its your trade. E trade. I love to see businesses that just started from ground up grow into further success. It just feels good to know that im helping someone else. My first goal is to learn about their business, what theyre currently doing in their advertising. Pull some research, create a great story. Trying to figure out some way of building some kind of trust in a very quick moment. You have to love to work with people. Our goal, without a doubt, is that all customers are satisfied before they leave. We are back on the Halftime Report, unusual activity where . Yes, scott, biggest unusual activity in the iwm in months. Small cap stocks, russell 2,000. Bought a put spread, covers for 2. 5 million shares of the iwm, downside, 135s bought, sold 120 underneath it and sold upside calls against it. It is most probably a hedge fund or somebody big judge that has the position they are trying to protect. I say that because, again, selling a naked call upside 25,000 times, 2. 5 million share equivalent is not what you see every day, especially on the naked side. Theres probably somebody with the asset selling calls against it butmen wants protection unti april. To become more hedged . Yes. To become more hedged, but stick with the position, and they sold 155 calls, which are 12 out of the money, so they are giving it a lot of upside room until september. I i bought the 135 puts if you recall going back, and lost a lot of money on them. I made money in the portfolio, too. Buying them at hedge, though rather than i was hoping to lose money, actually. Right, yep. Dow jones up 45 points. I said crossed 20,800 for the first time ever. Lets do final trades. Tech. Unusual, quickly, oracle buying upside out in june. I think oracles ready to break further upside. Scott, the numbers are incredible, and the ceo is great. Speaking of tech, the fact that tech sector at large has not had a a down day the entire month of february lifting today as you know, especially during after that conference Everything Else with the president just now, you see the teches coming back. Thatll come. Within the s p. There will be a down day, for sure. November. With all the introductions, you know, coverage, all that, buys, its going to happen. Remember in november it was totally unloved. It was the one sector that did not participate in the postelection rally. You got a final say . The Vectors Semiconductor smh, the symbol there, judge, buying the 84 calls with the index around 77. 7 of upside. I like that optimism. What weiss alluded to with the initiations yesterday or the day before. Right. Almost two handfuls of chip stocks initiated. You buy, you know, micron, corvo, skyworks. Broadcom. Yeah. Final trade, i sxl, 8 yield, pretty fat, theres a merger out there hanging over it. A compelling buy. Jcpenney reports tomorrow, a stock ive been in for a long time. Well talk it tomorrow. Thats all for us. Power lunch starts right now. Im melissa lee, washington again the center of the universe for your money today. President wrapping up a meeting with the Top Manufacturing ceos at the white house the same day treasury secretary gave first major interview since taking the job here. Plus, the bean town blues, boston baked stocks having a wicked rough day, and, later, out with the inbox. Productivity sore if we stopped using email . That debate ahead. Power lunch starts right