Transcripts For CNBC Power Lunch 20170512

We are standing by for the White House Press briefing, sean spicer returns to the podium for the First Time Since the firing of james comey. The president shocking many this morning by tweeting, considering stopping having press briefings and issuing paper statements instead. America waiting to find it out if the president was just making a bad joke. That pressure expected live right here. When it begins, we will take you to it. To your top money news. Today, once again, the continued decimation of retailers and their investors money. Today jcpenney and nordstroms. Not impacting your Broader Market investments. Three major indexes are little changed. The dow down a scant 31 points. A little more good news for your money on this friday. Shares of apple and mcdonalds hitting new records. Owner of darden doing well as we bulk up on pasta. Right now lets get back to what appears to be the sad new retail re reality for investors. Jcpenney wiping out hundreds of millions as sales disappoint. Courtney reagan to take us more inside the numbers. Courtney . Department stores are struggling. This quarter just accelerated that trend. We knew that much already. Jcpenney rounds out the doll dro doldrums, they did post an earnings gain when a loss was expected due to a real estate sale and lower expenses. Jcpenney has lost more than 5 billion and is just now closing 138 underperforming stores. They still think it can hit its fullyear plans but investors are skeptical sending shares to record lows below 5 per share. Four or five Department Stores this week did Beat Estimates and three reiterated fullyear fx. None of the five turning in better than expected comps. Dillards was in line. The Department Stores have each shed 10 or more this week with dillards and macys losing more than 18 this week. But its important to point out that Department Store sales in this case are not representative of the health of the consumer. Consumers are spending. Theyre just spending less in Department Stores. Melissa . Courtney, thank you. Well see you next hour of power lunch. New numbers are out for april. What does the broader picture look like . Steve liesman joins us now with the details. The data within this report shows what courtney was talking about in terms of how consumers spend and where. Theyre spending whatever the individual retailers are reporting. The overall retail sales report Shows Consumers bounced back nicely from the weak First Quarter and started off in a spending mood. They bought cars, electronics, health and personal care items and, most of all, helped shake off the concern about a weakening economy. Retail sales up 0. 4 , a tenth lower than the expectation. Autos are doing well. Electronics are up 1. 3 . And theres that nonstore retailer internet. That is a month on month number not a year on year number. Revisions to the prior month, the effect of all of this on growth was to bump up First Quarter growth and keep the Second Quarter rebound story intact. Were running 0 3. 9 First Quarter. Bond markets focused on april inflation data. The rate has declined for the Third Straight month. Core inflation dropped below 2 since 2015. The overall retail report says consumers are spending where theyre spending, well, im sorry about the individual retailers. I love that hear. I posted this to my Facebook Page pretty much every single group, gasoline, restaurants, even clothing and electronics were up year over year, just what they call general merchandise, i. E. The Department Store, was down. So the numbers the stock Market Reaction doesnt necessarily tell the story of the retail consumer, correct . They are not responsible for where they spend. That they spend or not is my responsibility. When they say nonstore retail, though, is that specifically online . Not just online, theres mail order stuff as well. It would be not in stores. Sky mall. Steve, stick around. Lets switch gears. Billionaire investor and Dallas Mavericks own er mark cuban was on some show called fast money last night with melissa lee, and he predicted big changes coming for americas workforce. Ive been a big proponent of the impact of artificial intelligence, deep learning. Every fortune 50 company is going to be doing more with p potentially a third less employees. Thats the definition of a great opportunity for those companies. All right. A third fewer employees. So two questions. Is mark cuban right, and if so, guys, what does this mean . Steve, courtney, melissa, anybody . What do people do . They lose their jobs and dont get new ones . You are either an optimist or youre a pessimist. Please focus on the idea of overall. There is always going to be pain, people who are dislocated from those jobs. But overall i am an optimist the idea of this technical advancement will help man and woman kind and help all humans all over the world. And so i welcome it. I do not welcome the dislocation, the disruption and the other devastations that may happen as a result of it. In time, in theory, they will find new jobs. You want to focus on they will find new jobs and ultimately they should create jobs. They have to. We know not what jobs they will create. Dont be a pessimist about that. Ultimately if there is workers available, there will be work for them. Mining gold from underwater heat vents on mars. Could happen. Interesting your brain went right to that, brian. Who knows . Spend too much time near heat vents. When you look at the trajectory of these things, technology advances. It ultimately helps i hope. The overall economy. We all do better because of it and there are huge problems along the way. Stick around. Lets bring in your buddy usausn goolsbee hes a smart guy. Smarter than us. Thats why were bringing him in. Hes from the booth school of business. Lets talk about retail in general. Youre telling your students every day whats going on in the economy, what policies will be better for the economy. How do you read the u. S. Economy right now . Look, i think the economy, the First Quarter gdp was disappointingly low. From what ive seen the Second Quarter might look better but, overall, were still growing in the 2 , 2. 5 range. I dont think its gotten that much better or worse. Retail is in a tough spot but thats more the tradition of retail. Youve had the rise of online but there have been some economists that have shown the rise of costco and the Big Box Stores explain even more of the decline of the kind of traditional malls and retail than the Online Shopping does. Steve, in terms of the jobs numbers, though, we have seen declines when it comes to retail employment specifically, correct . Could we see a situation where retail is the job killer that oil and gas had been for the economy at one point . It could be. I mean, you had two months of declines prior to the last one and the small increase. What you do see is this increase in employment in transportation. So, i mean, obviously not maybe to get the stuff that retailers are selling online. The transportation. You have some increase in transportation and warehousing that takes advantage of that. That doesnt mean a dislocated walmart employee or other person like that, it shows the economy overall. Melissas point is a good one especially because we had talked about this a few months ago, i said that retail was the new oil. What i meant was for a couple of years there the jobs number every first friday of the month was pretty good but mining oil and gas would lose 20,000 or 30,000 jobs and so it skewed the overall picture of employment. It looks like were going that way with retail, 89,000 jobs lost in the last three reports. Will retail become the new oil, be the new anchor on the economy or can we rise above it . Im glad you finally explained it because i saw the headline where you said retail is the new oil. I was like, what is he talking about . Thanks for watching. On the jobs numbers. I think they could be a component like that. You know, the one difference being, and its a difference thats worse, with oil its a boom bust cycle. With this retail employment, i think its just down. Its unlikely to be the big job generator that it has been maybe in some other periods. Overall services i think you could still be quite strong. But i think retail is going to be the next oil, as you say, on the jobs front. When i first learned economics, the idea was very simple. Rise in productivity attracts capital, attracts labor, its all good. What are you teaching at the university of chicago now about Technical Development . Are you thinking again about this notion that this technical improvement, production it tivi to jobs or the old idea its good for jobs overall over time still intact . Yeah, i guess the question mark, and you hit it right on the head, which is it always was for 100plus year, went into wages so it made us rich. When the machines worked for us, you know, we were overall happy that the machines were coming n in. Part of thats tied to whats happening to skills and education. So if theres a race between skills and technology in those periods where we stop getting our workforce trained and it gets harder and harder for people to move from sector to sector, then the speed at which the machines come in there makes a big difference. I think the most notable thing that mark cuban said, you know, in the thing you spoke about there, is what is the speed at which thats going to happen . I think if you have in your mind theres a fixed number of jobs and once these ones are lost then were doomed, you kind of have to go look, as steve says, as 200year history to see thats clearly not true. But if 40 of the jobs or a third of them or whatever are done in the next three years, thats going to be tough thats going to be rioting in the streets. People without work, problems, so cietal problems, crime. We might have to regulate this at this point. I am not a fan of regulation. Austan goolsbee, thank you very much. Steve liesman, youre not a robot. Youre real. I work like one sometimes. You do. Youre a hardworking mean. We appreciate that. You still take sick days. Robots dont. Lets find out if america continues to add more oil rigs. Jackie d. Has that number. Good afternoon to you, brian. Yes, we saw nine more rigs added in the United States last week according to baker hughes. The total now is 717. Its up just shy of 400 rigs from a year ago. And this is why oil prices are stuck under 50 trading at 47. 64 right now. 17 straight weeks that were seeing this number go up. And in the data this week on wednesday we saw u. S. Production went over 9. 3 Million Barrels a day getting closer to that peak. Back to you. Jackie deangelis. Any minute now sean spice r wil kick off his first White House Press Briefing Since james comey was fired. Well bring that you briefing live when it begins but first were taking the pulse of the consumer with the ceo of polaris. They make motorcycles here in the u. S. Well talk to them about doing business under President Trump as well. When this bell rings. It starts a chain reaction. Thats heard throughout the connected business world. At t Network Security helps protect business, from the largest Financial Markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyberattacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. Keeping the world of business connected and protected. Thats the power of and. Welcome back. The white house announcing the u. S. And china will expand trade in products like beef and chicken, and increase access for financial firms. Secretary ross appearing on squawk box saying the administration is getting things done despite what he called the sideshow. Every day there are foreign leaders coming in. Every day there are decisions to make. Every day theres progress towards the tax bill. Every day theres activity in my sector in trade. Theres a whole country that is running. Its not sitting there mostly all day worrying about what are the media going to say about this or that. Now to brian who is right outside cnbc headquarters. Brian . As you can see we have Something Special for you on this friday. A lot of serious news. Lets talk about the consumer, about big toys like the motorcycles behind us with the ceo. Scott, good to see you. Lets talk about the economy, the retail consumer. I would imagine the majority of polaris customers are trump voter types. The vast majority for sure. They want to ride bikes, to have fun, in the middle of the country. Are they spending more money . Is there a trump bump for poe layer sn polaris . People have optimism. You see it in the Consumer Confidence numbers. We are expecting the year to get better. Obviously were competing in a very competitive environment right now so its a bit of handtohand combat, but we havent seen Middle America really get the benefit from Lower Health Care and a tax reduction yet that we certainly expect to see. Of course were outside, cue the helicopter. Its not mine, by the way. Are you planning for a trump bump. Do you think this animal spirit will result in higher sales of motorcycles and snowmobiles . Were extremely optimistic, seeing the regulatory environment, seeing the Health Care Start to move through the house, optimistic something will happen in the senate. Were less worried about the negative aspects of tax reform. So were encouraged but weve increased our spending, up 17 year over year. Is that more jobs . Its certainly more jobs. We put the plant in huntsville, alabama. 700 employees there will continue to add there. Were going to add new products, new jobs, and expect to see a better u. S. Economy. We spoke about this before the show. Youre a bit Counter Cyclical. Weve had this thesis or ive had this thesis home and car sales are so good a lot of other stuff will get hurt. You noted most of our customers own trucks. Truck sales are doing well so they may not be able to take on two big purchases in a year. Were a little bit off cycle. Youre not Counter Cyclical . You may be late . Just off psycycle. When theyre buying a new truck theyre not necessarily buying a new ranger or razor. We did the transamerican autoparts to take advantage of some of those truck sales so were going to try to play both sides of it. We certainly expect as the truck sales slow down, it will be a benefit. We may have some of your dealers watching and you mentioned the t. A. P. Deal, a big chain of 4x4 products and deals is a big deal for you. Are you going to start selling polaris equipment through the it t. A. P. Dealerships . No, but what well do is have some of the after market parts available and be able to outfit them for the dealerships. Thats what theyve done for the jeep market. Take a jeep and outfit it in their store and send it back for sale. Lots of opportunities for us to enter their fourwheel drive after market space with our vehicle. All right. So weve talked about the serious stuff. Its friday. A lot of serious stuff in america right now. Tell us about these things and, can i have this . No, you cannot have that. We certainly when we launched in 2013 we expected to do well. Obviously with every single quarter gaining market share up 11 , really excited. This is our Chieftain Limited edition, just a little under 25,000. 25,000. 24,500. Not quite there. Friendship, 500 discount. The Thunder Stroke 111, we just got a wonderful bike that looks great and rides better. How many people are buying 25,000 motorcycles right now, though, scott . Youd be surprised. That one is how much . This one is 31,500 but its 25 hours of custom hand painted 25 hours of custom hand paint. Youve got it. Its drop dead gorgeous. So the industry is weak but were continuing. Were up 11 retail sales in the First Quarter. We expect to be at more than that in the Second Quarter. Do you think youre taking share from harley . Yes, were having a good run against them. Obviously theyre a great competitor and theyre looking to grow the market. And these are made in america. Iowa. Melissa, theyre going against harley and theyre competitors but they have one thing in common. Do you know what that is . What is it, brian . [ starts motorcycle ] nice. Sounds fan ttastic. All right. Keep playing with your toys, brian. Will do. As we wait for sean spicer at the white house, john harwood in washington with what we can expect. Certainly a lot to go over here potentially, john. Reporter well, its going to be a day for sean spicer to try to reconcile the conflicting accounts that he gave that Sarah Huckabee sanders gave and President Trump has given to lester holt last night about why and when he decided to fire james comey, the fbi director. He will have to deal with some of the blowback thats been coming from allies of jim comey who said, in fact, that jim comey had reluctantly gone to dinner with the president. That he was not lobbying to keep his job. And that, instead, President Trump was seeking a loyalty test. All of that raises questions about if those accounts are correct, why President Trump would seek a loyalty test from the fbi director, why he would have asked the fbi director if he were under investigation it just adds to the cloud over this administration at the moment and the statements coming from hyped the white house podium have been making things worse rather than better. Yeah, and of course im sure there would be a lot of questions among the press corps about the president s threats to end the press briefing. Reporter to end the press briefings and also his threat to james comey saying there had better not be tapes. Just seeing a tweet from one of our nbc colleagues who said one of comeys friends said comey is hoping that there are tapes because theyll vindicate his account. All right, john, thank you. John harwood. What you see on the left side of your screen a live shot of the press briefing room. When the briefing begins, well bring it to you. Dont go anywhere. Power lunch is back in two. Our goal is to start the process now and then next week bring the general back and given you a more detailed update as to what the president is going to be doing in each of the areas and some of the highlights from the trip. Well have background briefings for you as well to give the team that will be traveling from the press corps logistical updates. So general mcmaster. Will you take questions after him . Yes, jeff. If youd like you get to go first today. Thank you, sean. Good afternoon and happy mothers day weekend, everybody. As you all know in exactly one week the president will embark on his first trip abroad since taking office. Today id like to explain the president s objectives for his visits to the middle east and to europe and also preview a bit of the schedule. The trip has three core purposes. First, to reaffirm americas global leadership. Second, to continue building key relationships with World Leaders, and, third, to broadcast a message of unity to americas friends and to the faithful of the three of the worlds greatest religious. The president prioritizes building strong relationships as you see here every day with World Leaders as a way to strengthen our alliances. And hes been successful. You can see that in his diplomacy with a range of leaders from Prime Minister may to president xi. President trump understands that America First does not mean america alone. To the contrary. Prioritizing american interests means strengthening alliances and partnerships that help us extend our influence and improve the security of the American People. This trip is truly historic. No president has ever visited the homelands and holy sites of the jewish, christian, and muslim faiths all on one trip. And what President Trump is seeking is to unite peoples of all faiths around a common vision of peace, progress, and prosperity. He will bring a message of tolerance and of hope to billions including to millions of americans who profess these faiths. The president will focus on what unites us. The president s trip will begin in saudi arabia, home to the two holiest sites in islam. He will encourage our arab and muslim partners to take bold, new steps to promote peace and to confront those from isis to al qaeda to iran to the eye sad regime who perpetuate chaos and violence that has inmrikted so much suffering throughout the muslim world and beyond. He will lead the first steps toward a stronger, more capable and more robust Security Partnership with our gulf, arab and muslim partners. And he will develop a strong, respectful message that the United States and the entire civilized world expects our muslim allies to take a strong stand against radical islamist ideology, an ideology that uses a perverted interpretation of religion to justify crimes against all humanity. He will call for Muslim Leaders to promote a peaceful vision of islam. The president will then travel to israel with president rivlin and Prime Minister netanyahu, he will reaffirm americas unshakable bond to the jewish state. With president abbas, he will express his desire for dignity and selfdetermination for the palestinians. And to leaders and peoples alike across the entire trip he will demonstrate his hopes for just and lasting peace. In rom he, the president will be honored to accept an audience with pope francis. He looks forward to paying his respects and to discussing religious freedom, ways to combat religious persecution, human trafficking, and cooperating on humanitarian missions across the globe. He will also pay his respects to the italian people by meeting with president , the head of state of one of americas most treaty allies and trading partners. You also see, again, the Prime Minister who is hosting the g7 conference in sicily. From rome the president will continue to brussels for the nato leaders meeting. There he will reaffirm americas commitment to the alliance while stressing the need for members to pay their fair share. To shoulder responsibility, to share burdens, and for the institution to continue on the path of strengthening the alliance. President trump will end his trip in sicily for the g7 meeting. He will promote American Economic leadership and also address unfair trade practices. He will remind them were eager to explore further ways to address threats to our mutual security from north korea to afghanistan to the broader middle east. Before leaving, the president will advice the Naval Air Station where he will thank our service men and women, allied personnel and family members for their sacrifices to keep us safe. And across the trip he will meet our diplomats, the staff in our embassies who represent us so well across the world. Lastly just a few words on how this all came together, the impetus for the trip came from the president himself and hes been fully engaged from the beginning setting objectives, overseeing the planning. The president s receiving regular briefings from his cabinet and from our senior staff here on the National Security side and on the economic side as well. Most of the lead eers the president will meet on this trip as you know hes already met in person or certainly by phone. These relationships are off to a very strong start and the trip is an opportunity to broaden and deepen those relationships. The administration continues to be in close contact and consultation with congress, and were drawing on the expertise across the senate and the house in preparation for the trip as well. And, finally, this really is a team effort, the white house and National Security council staffs, the National Economic council continue to work closely with our departments of state, treasury, defense, and others to fulfill the president as objectives and ensure smooth execution. On behalf of the president , i express the whole administrations thanks for all the hard work it takes to organize a trip of this scope and of this importance. So the president of all of us are look iing forward to the journey. And with that ill take a couple of questions. I defer to sean. How is this president viewed among our arab allies . He has been welcomed, welcomed enthusiastically. From the middle east in particular, and that disengagement coincided with this humanitarian and political catastrophe in the region. And so now theres a broad recognition among all of our partners in the region that american lead ership is necessay to help address this catastrophe and to begin to move the region towards peace, security, and stability that the people there so deserve. And so what youre seeing, i think, is a galvanizing effect of the president s leadership in bringing those leaders together across the region. Bringing them together for a positive agenda. Who is against ending this catastrophe . Who is against confronting these terrorists, the enemies of all civilized people, iran who is participating in this cycle of violence and to bring prosperity, peace to the region, the people who so richly deserve it. Thanks. General master, it is crucial, somebody who is leading the National Security counscil. This week in particular a lot of reports including from our network that intelligence officials are extremely concerned about how james comey was fired. Do you believe that threatens National Security right now . Well, i told sean that i would pass all those questions to him and hell be happy to answer that. [ inaudible ]. What i would like to do is focus on the trip, and ill come back next week with more details of the trip as well. You said the president was the impetus for the trip came from the president himself. Was it the president himself to decided to begin this trip in saudi arabia, the birthplace of islam, and is there symbolic significance to that . And how many of our muslim allies, how p countries, muslim majority countries, will be represented at the meetings in saudi arabia . Yes, well, this is the president s initiative to begin the trip in the middle east. Hosted by the king of saudi arabia. And the king is going to bring together partners from across the region to meet with the president. So the answer to your question is, and i can answer it in more detail next week because the final attendees are still coming in. Hell meet with a broad range of le leaders in the middle east. Of course many of whom, most of whom hes met already here or by phone certainly. And we have the crown prince is coming, for example, on monday as well. General mcmaster, at the beginning of this very long week, we were hearing speculation that the president was considering thousands more troops for afghanistan. When he goes to brussels on thursday of next week, what is the message to the nato partners with respect to their commitment in this long fight . The key is all of us have to be committed, to achieving our fundamental objectives in afghanistan. Americans know better than anybody because it originated with the safe haven with highly successful operations there that youll hear more about in a press conference at the department of defense in the near future. But what has happened in afghanistan is the afghan army is taking the brunt of the fight against these terrorists and the taliban. Were working with our allies to figure out what more we can do to have a more effective strategy in afghanistan, what options we can bring to the president to be more effective in afghanistan, and what more can we ask our alloies to do. This is going to be consistent with the president s guidance to us. Decided there should be thousands more the president has not made a decision yet on a course of action. What we have done which is what we have done in many cases on the north korea problem set, for example, weve consulted broad ly across our government and with allies. The president wants to hear from our allies as well. This is a president who listens to his allies and partners who have an opportunity to do so at the nato summit, who have an opportunity to do so at the g7 and so what well have at the end of the next few weeks here is an opportunity for a much more effective strategy for afghanistan, pakistan and the region broadly. Jessica . Thank you, sean. General, if you could talk first about the evolution from the way the president campaigned which is more unilateral Foreign Policy to this multilateral engagement youre emphasizing and the way youre rolling out this trip to explain that and second ly if you could talk abot the decision to send a delegation to the one belt, one road forum in china and what you hope to get out of that. Thank you. So America First didnt mean america alone ever, i dont think. And so what we have done is advance the president s agenda in National Security by strengthening alliances by burden sharing. Americans dont have to do everything. They he dont have to bankroll everything and our allies and partners are grateful for the president s leadership in asking them to do more. So its an alliance each of the members are doing their fair share who are shouldering the burden. We got stronger. So the president has done a great deal to strengthen our alliances. And America First didnt mean america not leading. For america to secure and advance its interests that requires american leader shship. And so the president s leadership has been welcomed in all of the places that hell be visiting on this trip. And his agenda, i think he laid out in the campaign is being operationalized and implemented by his cabinet, primarily with the assistance of our team here in the white house. Two questions. First, there were reports out of israel that President Trump may try to get Benjamin Netanyahu and abbas in the same room together while hes there. Is that, in fact, the case. And also to nbc news yesterday the president said general mattis and his other generals would be announcing something on isis next week. And so as one of the generals of the administration can you talk to that . Is there an announcement coming next week . The first part is whatever the president wants to do. A lot of what we do is try to keep up with the president. Are there plans to reach out to both of them to get them together . The final plans arent set yet. We can comment maybe more next week. Its up to the president and those leaders about how he wants to engage with them. Hell engage with both those leaders there as part of the trip. In terms of the campaign against transnational terrorist organizations and isis in particular, the president has asked us to do everything we can to defeat isis and, in particular, to ensure that we defeat isis in the socalled caliphate and terrain theyre endeavoring to hold on to in syria, iraq, and other areas. And what the president has also told us, he doesnt want to telegraph what hes doing tactically, daytoday. He wants the department of defense and our military commanders to be able to execute those campaigns consistent with his guidance, the policy and strategy hes approved. And so what next week will do will be an opportunity for our military leadership to lay out how they are executing the president s guidance, the progress theyve made in the campaign, and what remains to be done. And so thats the emphasis of the press conference next week. Thank you, general. Can we hear about russia and the agreements made this week with russias top diplomat . Youre going to the region to speak with arab allies. How are you going to explain the agreements youve made with russia allied with iran in syria, a place the president has said is now a priority for him . I would characterize the enga engagements by our secretary of state. The brief meeting that the president had with foreign minister lavrov, the phone conversations that weve had with russian leadership as engagements and not decisions or specific approaches. I think what the president has made clear is he will confront russian disruptive behavior such as the support for the murder of assad regime in syria and its enabling of iran and its disruptive policy and strategy that its executing across the middle east. What its done and continued to do in ukraine. Hell confront that disruptive behavior but the president is looking for areas of cooperation. There are a lot of very significant security problem sets across the world. All of them would get easier, right, if russia were to come to the conclusion it could best advance its interests through cooperating with the United States and others. Are there parties to those conflicts . The president said at the meeting with lavrov it was really good, he spoke in very positive terms that there was progress made. Are you saying there were no agreements . The president spoke in positive, affirmative, strong terms in his engagements with russian leaders. Thank you very much. Ill take one more. Can you tell us a little bit more about the America First po policy, about how it changed over time . Its not been very clear what it means and how other people would want to sign up for it. What it means the president is prioritizing the security and interests of the American People. You can see that with what secretary ross has done and the economic relationship with china to look for ways to advance american prosperity. Every theme of this trip is wholly consistent with the president s approach to prioritize american the American People, the american security, american jobs, american prosperity. And so youll see that with i think almost a refreshing, i would say, integration of what were doing in terms of Security Partnerships along with economic relationships, and the diplomatic engagement that the president s cabinet has been engaged with since hes taken over as president and this trip will be a tremendous way to solidify the gains already made and advance them further. Thanks very much. All right. Thank you, general mcmaster. Im going to go through a couple updates and schedule before i get to your questions and, jeff will get the first one. First off, secretary ross, i know, was up here last night to tell you about the developments that happened. The ten commitments that secretary ross announced yesterday are the initial results of the 100day action plan of the United States, china comprehensive economic dialogue which began with President Trump and president xis meeting in maralago. Under the secretaries of ross, mnuchin and chinese counterparts of the United States has reached consensus in it areas including agricultural trade, investment, and energy. One of the actions i want to point out in particular sets the stage for china to allow imports of american beef beginning no later than july 16 of this year. Its been 13 years since our Cattle Producers have been effectively locked out of the chinese market. China is the second largest beef importer in the world buying roughly 2. 6 billion of beef every year. In a Statement Last night, the National Cattlemens beef association, the nations largest association of cattle farmers said, and i quote, its impossible to overstate how beneficial this will be for americas Cattle Producers and how the Trump Administration deserves a lot of credit for getting this achieved, end quote. This announcement came on the same day that secretary purdue visited a barge loading facility in the ohio river and announced he will appoint the first ever under secretary for trade and Foreign Agriculture Affairs at the u. S. Department of agriculture. This is further proof of the seriousness of which the administration is approaching the promotion of u. S. Agriculture products abroad, and thats just one part of the deal that was reached. Here are some of the other highlights we have worked with china. Eight pending biotech patents will be evaluated in a meeting of Biosafety Committee by the end of may. We welcome china to receive imported liquefied natural gas with companies allowed to proceed at any time to negotiate contracts. China will allow foreignowned Financial Services firms in china to provide Credit Rating services and credit investigations. By july 16th, china will issue furd guidance to allow americanowned suppliers of Electronic Payment Services to operate in china. And china will allow two American Financial institutios s to issue underwriting and settlement licenses no later than july 16th. As we continue to make progress within the 100day framework including discussion of a oneyear plan to solidify action that will benefit both of our countries. Moving on this morning attorney general sessions issued a memo that restores flexibility to prosecutors so that they can most effectively combat the crisis of illegal Drug Trafficking that is polluting our cities and destroying our communities and families. This policy was formulated after extensive consultation with the prosecutors that handle these cases each and every day around the kcountry. With these additional options available to them, they now have the leverage they need to get at the root of Drug Trafficking and the Violent Crime that surrounds it. As the attorney general said this morning, this will take the handcuffs off our nations prosecutors. And if i can add, it frankly puts the handcuffs on the drug traffickers who threaten the safety of our communities. The Trump Administration is signaling to the worst of the worst the drug traffickers who violate our laws to move these substances around our border and into our communities the United States department of justice will no longer look the other way. This week the administration has been busy engaging with senators and their staffs now that the American Health care act and relief it promises for the American People is in the senates hands. I know sarah talked to you yesterday about how aetna has pulled out of Obamacare Exchanges completely leaving only one insurer in some markets. Another report out from ehealth shows the average premium has spiked 39 since 2014. In some cases insurance premiums and out of pocket expenses have become families most significant expenses. It becomes clear er and clearer we cant wait any longer to repeal and replace this failing system. Until we enact reforms of the Health Care System the American People will continue to suffer under the quons consequences. The president will deliver a commencement address at liberty. He is looking forward to meeting with students and faculty who gave him such a warm welcome last year. He can be expected to note to the graduates his own change in status since they were last together. Liberty is the largest Christian School and has made remarkable strides forward in its academic, academic endeavors. Besides taking note of these achievements, the president will be congratulating the graduates on their accomplishments and encouraging them to be a force for good in the world by standing up for their values that liberty has taught them. Hell be offering congratulations, thanks, and praise and encouragement on a day of optimism and new beginnings for the graduates as well as the nation. In terms of the rundown for next week, the president has a very packed schedule before we depart on his first foreign trip. On monday hes host iing the crn prince of the united arab emirates. Tuesday hell welcome the president of turkey. On wednesday the president will travel to new london, connecticut, to deliver the commencement address at the United States coast guard academy. On thursday the president of columbia will be there for an official visit. We set off on a trip, the first stop being saudi arabia. In hohn orp of mothers day the first lady will host a reception in honor of military mothers in the residence followed by the army chorus and marine band. Beyond all of the activity here, this is the official reminder to everyone to get your flowers and cards before its too late. And with that, jeff mason. Thank you for that reminder, sean. Youre welcome. Moving on to the news of the week and the day, did President Trump record his conversations with former fbi director comey . I assume youre referring to the tweet, and ive talked to the president. The president has nothing further to add on that. Why did he say that . Why did he tweet that . What should we interpret from th that . The president has nothing further to add. Are there recording devices in the oval office . As ive said, for the third time, nothing further to add on that. Does he think its appropriate to threaten someone like mr. Comey not to speak. I dont think thats a threat. The tweet speaks for itself. Im moving on. John . Another of the president s tweets this morning, he said russia must be laughing up their sleeves watching as the u. S. Tears itself apart over the excuse for losing the election. What did the president mean by that . How is the u. S. Tearing it self apart overall on this . I think the president s comments about russia and collusion have been very clear with respect to some of the charges made. Hes been very clear that its one thing that he believes that the notion theres collusion is a hoax. Its been reaffirmed by several people including senator grassley and others who have spoken to him. And that he wants to make sure hes focused every day on doing whats best for the American People. I understand all that. How is the u. S. Tearing itself apart . Obviously this has been a subject that comes up over and over again when its been very clearly stated on multiple occasions that theres no collusion that occurred and yet this narrative continues to be perpetuated. Do you think this what the russians wanted all along in interfere being the election . I dont, i have no idea. What im telling you we made it clear at the podium several times and the president has too on what his feelings are on this. Sean, in the dinner that the president had with james comey earlier in january, did the president implore him to pledge his loyal to the president is that true . No. How important is it that the fbi director be loyal to the president . Is that quality the president wants to see in anyone particularly whos fbi . I think the president wants loyalty to this country and to the rule of law. Tray. On the dinner with james comey does anyone in this white house have the equal of recording of what unfolded during the january 27th dinner between the former fbi director and the president of the United States . Im not aware of that. I have one followup question for you. What can the administration do better when it comes to communication . Today the president tweeted out that he felt from behind that podium its not always possible to present the information with perfect accuracy. So, look i think we come out here every day and try to do the best job we can communicating with the president s done and the accomplishments hes making on the American People. We get here early, we work beyond being here at this podium. We get here early and work pretty late. The president is an active president he keeps a very robust schedule as many of you are very well aware. As you can tell by the activities of next week alone. Sometimes we dont have that opportunity to get in to see him to get his thul thinking. In those cases we do our best to followup with you. I think there are times when you more than not read a story where someones trying to pull apart one word, one sentence and make it a, i got you think. We work very hard to get you the upto date information. We dont get in to see the president. In most cases we do a good job in following up and getting you the information after the briefing. Thats exactly what he meant. Is the president considering cancelling the Daily Press Briefings . I think hes a little dismayed as well as a lot of people and we come out and do the best we can the American People with what hes doing on your behalf and grow jobs, and yet we see time and time again an team to parse every little word and mick it a game of, got you, as oppose to figuring out what the policies are. I think thats where theres a lot of dismay and i dont think thats something just alone the president feels. One final. On the original question i had about the dinner on january 27th with james comey. Right. The president wasnt clear dug the nbc interview who invited the fbi director to the white house at that time. How many invitations did the white house send to director jaime comey after january 20th and before the director was fired . I dont know ill try to get back with you. I have a question. The president , next week recently called for muslims to rush the temple mount, considering the president has sent a meed area for piece between palestinians what is his response to that and then i have another question . So i think what youve seen with the president s meetings with these leaders is he engages privately in a lot of these things. I think to a large degree hes been able to achieve large success whether agaze see in that particular case working behind the scenes whether its the progress he made with china. The president s behind the scenes dip maysy has paid dividends to the United States. Its that kind ofdy low maysy thats asserted. [inaudible]. I know i think theres a difference katy if we can get out here and i think what the president believes is that behind the scenes pays did did he understand in terms of effectiving behavior and outcomes and furthering the goals of the United States. Thats as much i want to say to that. My other question is isnt the discussion about the refugees crises thats having problems in europe and the president s talked about refugees about a problem in the United States, and terrorist hiding refugees, is he going to talk about that with leaders specifically when he visit saudi arabia or is that not something hes going to bring up . Hes talked about safe zones with the foreign minister earlier this week rather saudi arabia im not going to get ahead of the conversations hes going to have. I think the president s been clear about his desire to address that situation in some of the solutions that exist. But hes in a lot of the read out we had thats part of it because he believes that has to be part of the solution. John. Thank so much. In an interview that the president conducted yesterday with nbc he indicated and confirmed that on three separate occasions, asked the director of the fbi and received assurances from the fbi that he was not under investigation from the fbi. Why was the president seeming so but the situation to answer that question on three separate occasions . Because the narrative continues hes perpetuated and he wanted clarity to make sure. Again, i havent spoken to him about the reason but i think he answered it yesterday clearly and i can get back to you. But thats the answer. I would appreciate you getting back to me. Sarchs asking that question did the president ask the white House Counsel whether it would be appropriate to ask such a question given that it was against generally Justice Department guidelines to indicate whether or not investigations are ongoing against any individual let alone at the warehouse . I dont know. I will tell you i know several legal scholars have said there was nothing inappropriate about that. Dave. Did the warehouse i dont know. Okay thank you. Day. The president mentioned on the trip the president is going to be raising religious persecution. Id like to ask you about a case last week in in doe niesha where Christian Governor was in prison for two years for blaspheming the you ran. Does the president fine that case troubling . I dont have any updates on that particular case. I would ask you to check with the state department. Thanks sean. I want to confirm a point on jeffs question. Is the president of the United States currently reporting conversations taking place in the i think the point i made with respect to the tweet the president has no further comment. You were involved in this on as well [inaudible] it was all regarding rod rosen stein, why did you come out with information that was later contradicted by the president later . Could you explain when were you brought in, who else was involved and why were the American People given in correct information that might . I dont necessarily believe that thats true zeke. There was a Decision Making months, the president explained it in the interview poerocess. The bottom line the director of the fbi serves the pleasure of the president. The president is now focused on making sure that he finds a replacement that have the Leadership Qualities to lead the fbi. Thats it plain and simple. I want to follow up on that briefly. What you said tuesday doesnt match what the president was laying out yesterday. He walked through quite a discrepancy in terms of whos decision this was. Well its always the president s decision. Thats it final. [inaudible]. As i mentioned zeke, this is ultimately the president s db always going to be the president s decision. Everyone who serves at the pleasure of the president its going to be his decision to hire or fire someone. He made a decision, in part based on the recommendation and hes focused on making sure we have a replacement at the fbi to in still the proper leadership they need. Blake. [inaudible] where does that process stand right now . How many people have been interviewed . Does the president hope to wrap this up before he goes overseas . On the typing i think as soon as he finds a candidate that fits and who he feels is necessary to lead the fbi. I know the justice has begun to create that list and if they have it already are going to be starting the process of interviewing people either today or through the weekend. The president wants to make sure we got the right person and that process is being headed by the department of justice. Sean [inaudible]. Someone not necessarily being political in that role, if somebody has been a member of congress past or present does that count as aut mask disqualifier. I have not asked the president but i dont believe he stated an in and out. The Justice Department is screening candidates and im sure as they feel they got a list of finals theyll share that with the president and hell make a decision. The president [inaudible] someone asked was the president s confident with mccabe after the testimony on capitol hill yesterday is that still the case . I have not asked him about that. Ive not asked him about his generally i dont go through the list of employees and asked him so i have not asked hip about that. Yesterday sarah hold us the president expects the fbi investigati investigation wrapped up with integrity thats the way the white house want. Today the president tweeted and call it a witch hunt. How does tweeting and calling it a witch hunt wraps it up with integrity . The president no one wants this done. He wants to know specifically theres two pieces of this right, what was the russians vochl. The president is concern about any entities to i think the second this seminar wroe that we continue to fight every day that has been debunked by intelligence individuals, members of congress who have been briefed over and over again. Thats where i think hes concern, as well as a number of American People who are grown in concern theres a false narrative out there. Thats i think is the nut of this. We talked to a former fbi official today who said the president indicates that the president in his words are simply out of control. Id like to get your respond to that . Is he . Thats frankly offensive. John. Thank you sean. Two questions about the fbi director selection process. You said the names are coming from the Justice Department right now, is the president consulting with Democratic Congressional leaders as well or republican congressional leaders on this or is he just getting names out of doj . Thats a good question. I know hes going to take in put from them, i dont know what specific conversations hes had so id be glak to back on who hes spoken to or maybe speaking to. Im sorry i forget you too. I got confused. Now i know that, you know you said youre not disqualifying anyone on this, you also know there has been considerable mention in the last 24 hours of former House Intelligence Committee chairman mike rodgers as the new fbi director. Does the president have a meeting planned this weekend with congressman rodgers . Im not aware of anything of that nature on his schedule. But well put out if theres a meeting, well put it out for you. Right now theres nothing that im aware of on the schedule but generalliwy put out the next day schedule lair in the evening and well do that as well. Christian. You already called. Im sorry. Thank you. I had a couple questions about president s remarks in nbc about general flynn. He said that it wasnt an emergency or he didnt think it was an emergency thats why the firing dismissal didnt happen right away so couple questions about that. Is it why didnt he think it wouldnt an merge and was it because of the the message was it the information that came through sally yates whom you call i think a political opponent of the president or downplay the information. Can you explain what he meant . I cant specifically say what he men but what i can tell you is again, look at the time line thats happened. We went over this the other day and this is asked and answered mumble times. The acting attorney general said i want to give you a heads up on something. They informed the president , they asked for the the documents and materials she referred to, i forget now, took five or six days to get those. He reviewed them and he was asked to resign shortly thereafter. I think there is a different, there was a review process, that was the review process in this case. As the president noted yesterday during his interview he had been thinking about this for a long time, the Justice Department had done a review. Again, im not really sure, in both cases so then since you just no no you just asked. Justice is that what youre talking about . No im saying youre asking why it wasnt an emergency. Its not a question of emergency he took the time to do due process. Someone comes to you with an allegation i think everyone deserves due process to make sure that allegation someone coming and giving you a heads 00. We did exactly what was necessary. The president made the right decision and he continues to stand by it. Okay so two follow ups. Why did it take so long for the white house to get those documents . I dont know. Why you couldnt go get the documents . With all due republican its n respect its not how it works. Theyre the ones that possess the documents they have it in their position [inaudible]. No i think part of it some of these thing dont happen in terms of where theyre stored. I dont know the answer but i think in the course of action if you look at the intervening case thats a question you should ask the department of justice. Okay and then i have a follow up. Explain to us a bit when you prepare the two generations with general flynn and the director comey. The memo came one day and he was fired that day. That was the review process and general flynn was 18 days. Thats a huge difference. Why was one so fast and one was 18 days . Well first of all, they both had a review, they both came and the president looked at the information in the reviews and make a decision. Thats his job hes the decider. Helpful he had the information necessary in beau cases to act and he did. Fabian. Sean in the tweet about director comey he said the president says he better be careful before he goes leaking to the press. Yesterday on nbc news the president called him a show boat and grandstander. Does the house recognized comey has the right to speak to the press if he chosed to . Of course everyone in this country has a firstamendment right. The difference, you heard the president echo this many times, is sharing information thats not meant to be is concerning. I think the president s been very clear over and over again of his concern with respect to information that gets put in the public demane thats not meant to be. But i i dont think that those are everyone in this country has every right to speak their mind and express themselves in accordance with the constitution. Okay follow up. In terms of the fbi being in disarray, also the president s comments, if he concern if he continues like this it could jeopardize morality with the fbi instead of krking a problem that he obviously observed . I think one of the reasons he wants to go through the prose of finding an individual who can lead the fbi, and the men and women who serve there bravely is to make sure that morale and the moe focus is where its supposed to be and you have a leader that can do that. As he mentioned its the kround jewel of law enforcement. I think the reason he wants to go through this process and chose a leader that can be restore leadership and ensure that morale stays where it needs to be and thats a focus. Thats why he is conducting the process that he has. Jessica. My question to whats that. You called on her first so i wanted to give her the question that you promised her before. Thank you. I just want to i want to ask i want to ask you, President Trump seems to rely on when he tweeted the version he and everyone was acknowledged the witch hundred and there is no collusion. James told it himself i dont know if theres collusion owner. Whenasked a similar question he said to my knowledge. So can you describe the discrepancy and explain that . I actually think that thats a great question that you should ask director clap per. Director clapper response to President Trump. Why is he leaning on clapper when he said i have no knowledge. I think on several occasions clapper has said he has no knowledge of collusion. Thats it. Thats the point that he wouldnt know because he havent been breached. He was dni until january 20th. Crest he was very forward today, should i have in this particular context. Hes made it clear hes fair enough. Hes the director of national intelligence. On multiple occasions prior to today he made it clear he was unaware of any collusion. The point is he wouldnt know. Theres been no final conclusions. I understand that. So the question i would ask themcrithem christian then why did he say what he said before . His testimony and comments on multiple occasions prior to today was i have no evidence that there was any collusions right. So, to suddenly today ship his story i believe the question should be asked to him. You were the director of national intelligence. You said multiple times including the testimony in front of congress under oath that there was no conclusion. I believe that was a question for him. The final conclusion right theres an ongoing investigation. Hes not making that argue. I understand. But my point is all were able to do at this point is that the people who are aware of the former director of analysis intelligence, the head of nations agencies, intelligence agencies make ls multiple statements as others, talking about the in involvement, making it very clear that there was none. We took them at their word then and we cap to believe [inaudible]. Again i think but the question christian before you move on is then why did he make the statements that he did when he did. To turn around now months later and say well, even though i made the comments on mumble occasions i wouldnt briefed. [inaudible] i proosh. Its not surprising or abnormal that i wouldnt have known about the investigation. Ultimately theres been several very quickly on the accuracy . Okay can i in the story of this case its interesting how it changed. He made the comments several times and to state that and now suddenly is saying i wasnt sure about it, the burden seems to be on him not us. What he said wasnt true. But moving on to the accuracy. Okay a clapper spokesman. No but im interested in the zprepsy and drawing. I think thats a best thing to ask. On the president drawing conclusio conclusions about the representation. As far as the tweet should we take that tweet to mean you dont have the full picture as you stand at the podium . As i said we come here to the podium were here early in the morning and late at night through the the day answering your questions on the variety of sungts and things happening in the government. We workday and night to make sure were getting to the Accurate Information at all times. With respect to the president , hes an activist president. He keeps a busy and robust schedule. There are times we give you the information we have at the time and we seek to give you an update and i believe you and others will attest to when we dont have an answer we try really hard to update you. But we work really hard every day to do that. I think the president s point that i pointed out earlier is if there are times when when were asked a question, we do our best to give you the answer and every word is picked apart to try to figure out how to make an issue out of it as oppose to allow us to talk to the president , get his current thinking and updates if we havent had an opportunity to do that tip. Jennifer, jennifer. Shaean can i actually im sorry jessica, the js. So i want to ask you about the summit that starts on sunday. Youll announced yesterday or sara are did, that youre going to send a delegation to that summit. Can you talk about how you came to that conclusion and how its important for the u. S. To be represented . As you point its a Major Trading issue. Theres a lot of ports and infrastructure theyre looking to do. And through those discussions that secretary ross and many mnuchin had. Were going to cap working with them, obviously trade is a issue for us. What theyre looking to do is of great importance to our economic and National Security and that i have asked us to send people to that. And we have them attend things that were doing as well. I think thats as the president has shown in terms of the relationship that he built with president xi and the rest of team with that delegation. Jennifer. The u. S. Is going to participate in that i think well have a read out. At this point thats all we have on one belt one road. The fist question, on royalty. So this president does value royalty. When you were hired were there any sort of request or hint that you pledge loyalty to him at all before you were hired . No i pledge my loyal to the restitution and the American People. Is it true the president was warned that he might not be wellreceived at the fbi headquarter it is he was to visit . Im no not that im aware of. Thank you guys have a great weekend. See you monday. Thank you byebye. Did you ask the president devices in the house. All right you been listening to a wide ranging press conference with sean spicer. The majority of the questions were around the firing of james comey. Spicer largely refusing to comment on many of them saying the president has already said all hell say on the matter. Most of focus was on a tweet that the president sent out saying quote, james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversation before he start leaking to the press. A number of questions asking about tapes and possible recordings. One question directed at sean spicer asked for a yes or no answer as to whether the president is recording conversations in the oval office. Spicer saying he will not comment on that. Also eamon ja verse calling the investigation a witch hundred. Spicer not answering that question directly. Employable lee and Courtney Reagan joining us for the remainder of this hour. This is wide ranging and at times confusing and somewhat rambling. Yes. But there are a lot of pointed questions by the press corp and what did not seem to come up was the notion that the president has entertained the idea or thrown out the idea that perhaps it will end the White House Press briefings entirely. That was a tweet sent out this morning. Exactly. To me one would hope that was just a joke gone wrong. Right. Its not that funny though. Jokes are supposed to be funny. It wasnt directly addressed there as well. Courtney welcome. Thank you. Its good to be here. I want to give us a check on the margts. The doe and s p 50000 are lower but only slightly. The nasdaq is in positive territory by only positive. The retail continuing, kohls, macys gap theyre down too. One of the Big Questions this week in the wake of the fire storm in the firing of director jaime comey is well this and the other strikes in washington derail the president s agenda. And lets bring in brian stayly. Claire hartley, cnbc ron joins us. Ron ill start off with you, why does the market barely sneeze when all this is going on . Im not sure. The vix below ten, lowest level sin 1993. Whether you go back to the lauder gate crises and look at the behavior of the stock market from january 74 until january 74 after nixon resigned in that year. Embargo you had eninflation and weakening of the dollar. I think the mark is to come place sent about what might ultimately i know up being a constitutional crisis in the United States. Im weary of comparing this to the water gate. I would argue if its true its worse. What is true . If members of the trump team concluded with our principal advair. Trying five investigations of six months found nothing. Im not defending it but six months on the mark they found zero. You dont know that. Who told you that. Who told us the opposite ron . No no im saying do you know . No i dont. Im simply saying the marks not going to react because theres been nothing to react to other than an investigation. If you go back to the way water gate came out the first story occurred during campaign in 1972. It was more than two years before Richard Nixon was ultimately forced to resign. I happen to be in the kafrm that do not think donald trump will serve four years as candidate. Thats where my mind set is. Having done this for 33 years i think the drip is very much like what we saw 40 years ago. So, i mean claire all this is going on, theres a lot of opinions as to how this is going to turn out. In terms of the trump agenda how does that inform your in Investment Strategy at all . If we said healthcare and toks reform is not going to pass does it change the way you look at your portfolio . It doesnt change the way i look at my portfolio. I have a lens that i look at the market. So quite frankly if there is some disruption in the argument, i dont want to be a jerk here but if there is disruption in the market that works for me because the kinds of company i want to buy dont go on sale. Sa im assuming healthcare reform is something that takes place. I buy companies that control their own destiny. Im trying to avoid companies that buy binary stocks. I want to buy the company that is can sort of look at the situation and naf date it. Tax reform is a lit difference because i think there is some sentiment in the market where people are expecting tax reform. You look at consumer and business confidence. I know people will kick around numbers as to how much analyst added to their earnings estimates in terms of that but i dont think the issue for me is confidence. If theres not tax reform this year, if they stop talking about it. For some reason they say actually, we changed our mine were not going to do tax reform were going to do Something Else i think youll see that impact on the mark. If they push it out next year i dont think its a disaster. As long as people know its coming and be patient. Dan we know youre there too. We want to make sure your share your voice here. Are the markets are getting comfortable with being uncomfortable . Is that the way were going to live through this Trump Presidency . That may be part of it. Two points, the first is were exiting a period of eight years where we had very little fiscal action. Thats the reality, we had Monetary Policy be the only game in town for a long period of time. These niche tifrs were never going to get done overnight. Morgan stanleys base case was we get it done in 18. We need a bit of patience. The second point ill make is related to overall earnings. The fact of the matter is you have these types of daytoday. Monthtomonth influxes. We saw 14 Earnings Growth in the s p and that was off of 7 sales growth. Why thats important, the s p is a large cap index and reflects global trends. 30 of earnings of the s p is coming from overseas. The fact that were seeing the earnings corroborate the economic economy is why the markets arent selling off. I guess ron, my point of view is different. Theres an expectation that the mark has gone up since the election because of donald trump and i think its more the gop. I dont disagree with that. Lets flip it and say that youre scenario trump does not complete for years for whatever reason occurs, wasnt that a be a positive for the the market . Yeah absolutely. Does donald trump may be the factor, then you have pence, lets be clear a lot of what donald trump has done has not been a traditional gop platform. Thats what i argue in my piece this week. If indeed we have a disruption that would lead to a change in the oval office that would be jarring to the markets but mike pence would be in line with the gop agenda of deregulation, tax retomorrow, healthcare reform Infrastructure Spending and military spending, yes. But you have to get from here to there first and disruptions can be disruptive. Maybe for a buying opportunity. That too absolutely. All right guys thank you dan, claire and ron. We are nowhere near being done. Its been a rough recent run for the Media Companies to say the least, viacom down more than 20 in one month. Plus voting, bulling and billiards baby. Were going to talk exclusive with the ceo brunswick about how the consumer on the higher end is holding up. Plus the best mark for first time home buyers, can you guess where they are. When power lunch returns. Cnbc is about to unvail or new decision runner list. Julia joins us now. The companies on the list are bigger and more mature especially the companies that have been named the disrunner list all three years. Ab and b, drop box, and uber. Combined their worth more than 120 billion. Uber alon worth nearlily 70 billion. Investors are looking to see which unicorn will go public next. Katherine smith say, quote were in the best markets if youre not moving forwards you need to have your head examined. Some companies are pushed to go public wb cs pulling back. Drop box has already selected its banks so it could be the next interrupt for 50 company to go to market. Foregoing a trillion ipo in the power quarter of this year r early next year. Air b b which is profitable and expected to go public in 2018. Renaissance warns that snap recent drop on the earnings could spook other unicorns. Melissa. Julia thank you. The list will be unfailed veile tuesday. Shares of brunswick is so that ceo should have a pretty good ideas of how the consumer is feeling and spending. Him in an interview next on power lunch. Stay with me, mr. Parker. When a critical patient is far from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. Stay with me, mr. Parker. The at t network is helping First Responders connect with medical teams in near real time. Stay with me, mr. Parker. Saving time when it matters most. Stay with me, mrs. Parker. Thats the power of and. Hi there im Contessa Brewer and hes your cnbc update for this hour. Attorney general Jeff Sessions received a award at the Justice Deputy where he outlined screening new guidelines for federal prosecutors. Prosecute to defend tougher charges as seriousness for defenders who commit tough crimes. Our responsible is to fill our role in a way that accords with law, safety and most respect for and consistency in our legal system and in the work that we all do. Charging and sentencing recommendations are bedrock responsibility of any prosecutor. Pope francis arrived in portugal. His first event will be a private meeting with portuguese with the president there. Melissa captured on cell phone footage in new york as White House Press secretary sean spicer. Thats the cnbc update at this hour. Back to you courtney. Thank you very much contessa. We are 90 monies from the closing bell on wall street. The doe done and the nasdaq barely in the green this friday. This could be the fourth close for the dow if we head in the red. Accountinger report says fourth earnings was overstated by 23 million. The stock is down by 22 in one month. More on viacom coming up. The oil market is closing today so we have to head over to jackie at the commodity desk. It was a volatile day back and forth we ended a hair higher, 47. 44. Oil for the week was up more than 3 , for the month it was down roughly 10 . All eyes on the big opec meeting, thats thursday the 25th of tomato see whether theyre going to ek tine these cuts, go deeper or back off of them, they havent had the effect othey wanted to keep that price over 50. Back over to you guys. Thank you very much jackie. Big jump today for wynn resorts its up three or so. I spoke with steve wynn yesterday on fast money he says la las vegas is enjoying robust that sense of optimism among people, not done just businessmen but my customers who are people who are able to afford the better thing in life, much more positive. Right. And we felt it was it happened right away in november. All right well youre next guest may have the single best pulse of the consumer of any company in america, its a big statement. We say that because he runs Brunswick Corp which makes everything from boat engines to fitness equipment. Investors making more than 20 on their investment over the last six months. Mark good to see you. Good afternoon brian. The boat business has been good, boat sales up up, 20 jump in sales so thats positive. You also got a lot of competitors in europe. Are you seeing any competition as the euro is falling, lower price, cheap european boats flooding the markets and herring your sales at all . I wouldnt say cheap europeans flooding it flooding and boat in the same sentence. Yeah thats probably a good one. But i think we are seeing a lit more exceptive with currency. Probably the bigger issue would be our in able to export which weve been able to do in the past with a little weaker dollar. Putting in perspective big boats are less than 15 of our boat business which makes it less than 4 of brawnswick in total. Yeah and you got a little billiards business and big boat business so they all add up to a big business overall. Your engine busy i would imagine is doing fantastic. Are you worried that theres any keep of sort of a peek you think this the consumer will get stronger from here . I think our engine business has been necessary nomal with new production, its growing share and kpeets on a worldwide basis. Its element inside on our engine business that were also growing. Which also has entirely different elements around sickly cattle or downturn at all. Going back to the sound bite we played of mr. Wynn talking about his business and the change in tone he saw right away with the election of the president. Have you seen that at all in terms of sale and optimism of customers reaching for a bigger boat or how you ordinary perspe business . As you come out of id say going into the election we saw trepidation, as we come out of it weve its offseason. First part of the year is only 17 of the retail but its early but id tell you Consumer Sentiments are good. The Equity Research has said, get rv dealers and marine dealers are very bullish. So all those thing continued to say we should have a good year. We talk a lot about consumers pulling back in some areas of retails, their buys less clothes and spending on experiences. You guys sell boots i can do with my friends and have fun. Is this a friend thank you the helping you or do you see a beginning of it at any point . I think it is a big at butte of business were in. Almost all the thing we do are activity based or experimental. People fish, people toast people are in running exercises and fitness. So theres clearly thing, you bring more and more technology around those areas as well and all the of those go very well for us. Are you getting millennial customers . Oh absolutely. Millennials are participating in the boating side of the business at about the percentage the pop lag group did in the past. On the second part the fitness side where were clearly im going to get wonky and go to the fun stuff of voting for your Balance Sheet. Analyst say Balance Sheet is strong. Theyre wondering what are you going to do with all that cash . Increase your share buy backs or make a big deal . Theyre waiting for you to put that Balance Sheet to use. One of thing we do, its probably unusual, every two years we come to new york and present or 3year plan. Every two years you present a 3 year plan. Yeah in 15 we did 16 and 17. In 17 well do 18 through 20. Weve got Investment Grade back through all the agencies. Weve buying 100 million of share buy back, we increased dividends were invested in the business and doing acquisitions. I think when we look at the threeyear period as we talk about in november therell be a different look at capital stratd ji. Mark its a pleasure. Steve lease man has a boat and he asked me to ask you why anybody would need three engines in a boat. And ill and you because theyre faster. And the only thing theyre missing is five. We have boats with five. Boat engine maker. Mark pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. All right did you get that least man. Apple, google, microsoft, facebook, just a little start ups. Its no surprise that as the mark goes the whole mark follow. Does it mean that second is the only sector moving higher this month. Well find out on trading nation. You wont see these folks at the post office. They have businesses to run. They have passions to pursue. How do they avoid trips to the post office . Stamps. Com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. Get a 4 week trial, plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. Go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. What if we could bring you by having better values . At blue apron, we work directly with more than a hundred family farms. So instead of spending on costly middlemen and supermarkets, we can invest in the things that matter most making farmland healthier. Cutting down on food waste. And bringing you higher quality, fresher ingredients for less than you pay at the store. Because food is better when you start from scratch. Get 30 off at blueapron. Com cook with all the things youll never learn from a book. Expedia. Everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. Welcome back to power lunch. Privately Held Clothing Company Brooks brothers is the latest to be hit by a credit card, at least virus or some kind of Malicious Software attack. Brooks brothers is noted by his customers payment or credit card. It reflects payments made between april of last and march of this year for retail location only for brooks brother and Brooks Brothers outlet. No Sensitive Information for Social Security numbers were stolen but it could involve name, credit card numbers and card verification codes. They do say they contained the incident they aware and confirmed the issue has been resolved. That you do encounter their customers who may have made purchases in that time frame to look at their credit card reports and statement to look for any suspicious activities. Brooks brothers the latest to be hit. Thank you dahm. If you are in the mark for homes diana and update you. Home prices are rising fast but new buyers today are more mobile thanks to technology in the work force so choosing that entry level mark is key. Zillow looked for five methods to determine which housing mark will serve firsttime home buyers best. They used inventory, the number of listings with tax cut and the break for miami ro his of buying over renting. Leading the list, orlando florida, blow entry price so less competition. Same with atlanta and las vegas. Dallas got in on short time to beat the buy. Cleveland and detroit has low entry prices. Seven of the top ten are lower priced than the National Median but entry price is not everything. Downpayment is the biggest challenge for firsttime buyers. Not only does it determined how much house you can buy but also the mortgage rate. A first time payment for in San Francisco area is bigger than 20 youre going to put down for firsttime buyer. Go to cnbc so you can check out your mark and where it stands. Why dont we stay with housing but flip it a bit. If you think your neighborhood is expensive check this out. A Record Number of homes sold last year for 100 million or more. Can this super home boom continue . Who else by rob frank, joining us now. Its a whole mark now. Its a whole mark now. Use to just about a handful of homes. Last year ten homes sold for more than 100 million, the previous record was only five back in 2013. Only 33 properties have ever sold for nine figures. The most expensive homes sole last year all in hong kong and china. 270 million pick in hong kong. A mansion went for 150 million. In the sail in the u. S. East hamilton that was for 102 million. And the playboy mansion that went for 105 million. Ninefigure sales may be slowing a bit. There have been only been two this year both in hong kong. One was 360 million theyre down, thor went for 139 million. The number of homes listed for 100 million is more. A mansion in the south of france, 35 acres listed for 1 with a b, billion euros. Why is that 1 billion yew yoes. What could you possibly give petitioner me 1 billion you roes . Its probably some of the best dirt on the planet. 35 acres on that part which is the prime part of south of france. People are lucky to get a quarter of an acre there. Gorgeous beautiful med train style houses. It had been offered to be purchase on russian for 6 million. The logic is now up to 1 billion. How could you buy a billion dollars home. With a lot of suitcases full of cash. Theres not that many billionaires,in for a billionaire, 1 billion is a lot of money. To this point if you were 10 million and you spent 1 million. The reason were see g this become a mark its over 2200 billionaires in the world who could afford 100 million homes. Thats double than ten years ago. The number of people that can afford billion dollars home its less 500. All it takes is one. Thank you robert. Its time for trading nation. Thats the only s p 500 sector that is positive so far. Stacey gilbert, and matt. Matt are you the buyer of that billion dollars home yes or no . No. I just lost out on trying to buy the playboy mansion so i havent been doing well on that. Makes two of us. Lets talk technology, its the big dogs, the amazon, apples, facebook and goggles. Theyve been running the show, do you think that will cap as big cap tech still a good place for our viewers to put their money . Well, it certainly a dicey role right now. You look at the stocks, sin we hit the highs on march 1st, the mark cap of those stocks is up over 250 billion. Yet the stock market has done nothing its back at the same level. That means the other 495 s p stocks have lost 250 million market cap. So if it gets that narrow it can stay for a while. Again, its hard to i wouldnt go out in shore any of these names but it seems to me thing are getting extended and we ought to take a breather. From think is a word we understand. Stacey do do you think big cap tech is from think. I wouldnt say that. We need to take a step back when we talk about whats driving this rally. First and foremost lets go back to the arguments in november. You can make the argument that cap is making a catch up here. The conversations really changed over the last six weeks and its started to talk more been tax reform. Tax companies have the potential to benefit from this. They have the most untaxed foreign earnings of the sector abroad. If you which i about the xlk which is the s p 500 tax stocks thats almost more than 10 in cash over seas. If that money comes back that has the potential to be imported here between buy backs and dividends. I think at the ends of the day this mark is driven by the Trump Administration and there are different areas where we may see one sector outperform versus another. We have to see the clarity there and thats where youre going to get your tail mousse. For more trading nation head to our website, trading nation cnbc. Com. Shares down more than 20 in the past month. What do giants need to do to keep up with the changing way in way people watch t. V. That next on power lunch. [vo] when it comes to investing, looking from a fresh perspective can make all the difference. It can provide what we call an unlock a realization that often reveals a better path forward. At wells fargo, its our expertise in finding this kind of insight that has lead us to become one of the largest investment and Wealth Management firms in the country. Discover how we can help find your unlock. Welcome back to power lunch shares of global stock up up to 30 . The company is working with possibly Financial Advisers on a potential sale, potential buyers could be major wireless in cable companies. The move comes with bidding, one by verizon. Global star won approve to use its satellite air ways for mobile broad band service. Keep it here with power lunch well be back after the break. On a trademarked trade platform that has all the. Get off the computer traitor i wont. cannon sound mobility is very important to me. Thats why i use e trade mobile. Its on all my mobile devices, so it suits my mobile lifestyle and it keeps my investments fully mobile. Even when im on the move. Sign up at etrade. Com and get up to six hundred dollars. Ltry align probiotic. N your digestive system . For a nonstop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. Get 24 7 digestive support, with align. The 1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. Now in kids chewables. You totanobodys hurt, new car. But there will still be pain. It comes when your Insurance Company says theyll only pay threequarters of what it takes to replace it. What are you supposed to do . Drive threequarters of a car . Now if you had Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, youd get your whole car back. I guess they dont want you driving around on three wheels. Smart. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Its been a rough month with viacom with shares down 20 . Whack can company do to turn this around . Lets bring in brian crockett. Why is viacom really been taken to the wood shed much more so than its competitors like a cbs or disney . I think everyones nervous about this t. V. Network group thats because were seeing whats happening in retail and newspaper and people are worried t. V. Networkings will be the next to drop. Theyre worried about the cable net woshs, the guys who dont have mework channels are in the huh lue and t. V. Offers from ju tube. That means the stocks are very su acceptable and viacom got whacked when they revealed they had a dispute can charter. And that raised it had deal these guys kinds of ends up on the out. Is that an overstated fear barton . Is that an fear here people are consuming the worst . I think the t. V. Network group you have to be careful, so no. You should stick with the strongest players. My favorite play is cbs. I think you can buy time warner on merger. If you go beyond that to my mark performs i prefer disney and a fox to a viacom because theyre in the skinny bundle. Its like hunger games in t. V. And up the stronger guys because theyre going to win and the other guys i think are at risk of losing side. So you sleep easy at night. All right barton were going to leave it there thanks so much for your time. Great thank. Courtney reagan it was a pleasure for having you on. Thank you for letting me join. The retail has been a massive story. Theres more to come. We got walmart, target, dicks sporting goods. And more. The sentiment that pin points of how its changed since the president was elected. He said its tangible like a flip of a switch. Thank for watching power lunch and thank courtney for joining us. Closing bell on a friday starts now. Have a great weekend everybody. Hello welcome to the closing bell everybody im kelly evans at the new york stock exchange. This is fun to read by the way. Did you know sherry land sit is about my height. Im bill graffiti. Well get to that in just a second because im a huge movie fan. Mark cuban you may have heard, amazon he considers to be the ultimate start up and its still under