Transcripts For CNBC Power Lunch 20170515

And welcome to power lunch. Im melissa lee. Stocks keep surging. New records for the s p and nasdaq and the usual suspects keep hitting fresh new highs. Corning, electronic arts, nvi nvidia, the list goes on and on. On pace for its best day since march 3rd, snap has traded over 44 million shares today. That is more than double its 30day average volume. One of the key catalysts for had monday, the surge in the price of oil. Crude hitting nearly 50 a barrel. Lets get the latest from the y nyse floor and bob pisani. Reporter and thats the key. The market in the rotation. Lets put up the board. Whats been weak throughout the year is this energy, banks and retail. Whats leading today . Energy, banks, and retail. This is what i talk about this rotation. Consumer discretionary but theyre lagging today. Take a look at sectors in 2017. Yes, tech and Consumer Discretionary but, look, banks and energy have been laggards. Theyre leading. This is why the market keeps holding up near the top. Old stocks keep coming to the fore. New stocks go down a bit. Oil up nearly 2. Thats saudi arabia and russia announcing yet another ex tension to their supply cutback. Nice moves up on the big oil names here. Oil over the 200day moving average for the first time in a month. Melissa was mentioning new highs. Its mostly tech stocks and, again, four of the five at interday highs. Only facebook today among the five not at a new high. Why are we up there so much . Its not a mystery. Earnings guidance has been strong. I emphasize guidance. The Global Economy is improving, lower geopolitical risk, krcred remains strong overall. And, im sorry, folks, you might complain about the vix being around 10 but quiet periods tend to accompany above average market returns. Low volatility does not imply the markets are going down. Guys, back to you. Robert, thank you very much. The big question now is does this market have more room to run as we keep pinniging new records. This morning on squawk box glenn view capital ceo layrry robbins gave us his ideas. Well likely grind higher. We try to find have you underneath, and we certainly are finding lots of value with companies that are keeping focused on executing their own businesses growing and we think m as are an increasing driver in value per share. Were focused on a lot of internal growth stories that have an m a component. The Senior Market strategist with Voya Investment management and david with jpmorgan asset management. Karen, listening to Larry Robbins there, he didnt mention washington once. As you look at all the things on the investing horizon over the next, say, six minutes to a year, where does washington where does the trum you agenda fit . Is it number one, is it number ten . Its closer to number ten. What happens in the market usually does not depend on washington. It depends on earnings like bob pisani was saying. Its always earnings. Earnings are Getting Better in the United States. Theyre going to be good for the rest of the year and, also, outside of the United States in europe, in japan, in emerging markets. Were seeing Earnings Growth. So absolutely its all about earnings so washington makes a lot of noise. But that needs to be on the bottom of the list but its not affecting earnings. David, do you agree with that . I do agree. I think youve seen any optimism around policy change be priced out of the market over the past couple of months here. If look at earnings estimates coming back to the theme of earnings, theyve been relatively unchanged since election day last fall. So what i think were seeing is a much healthier, nominal growth story. Youre seeing that continued rebound in corporate profits and a fundamental reason for investors to bid up the price of equities. When Earnings Growth wasnt around from 2014 to 2016, it made sense that stocks didnt really go anywhere. Now that the profitability is back, there is room for this market to grind higher. As i listen to the two of you, two very smart people, weve spent most of the last week and when i say we, i mean us in the media, wringing our hands and rubbing our temples and going whats going to happen to the trump agenda . And i hear you both say dont worry so much about it. Karen . Right, absolutely. But weve been telling you that. Were seeing that global synchronized growth and earnings are respond iing accordingly. Even though washington does make a lot of noise, its not affecting these earnings. However, we do see when we do see tax cuts and we do see some regulations and some repatriation, were going to see earnings go even higher. Everybody sitting on the sidelines will be saying, gosh, i wish itches in the market as we see it continue to go higher. David, did i characterize that right . Are we paying too much attention, fretting too much about the trump agenda as it will affect my money . I think that there is a little bit too much of a focus on politics. Poll it particulars are inherently uncertain. We cant really predict with any real accuracy the way things are going to play out. So wed much prefer to focus on the things that we can predict with accuracy, the Economic Data or the earnings data. And i think the key thing here for investors is to focus on the signal and ignore the noise. Theres going to be plenty of noise. Theres going to be plenty of debate among politicians both here in the u. S. And around the world over the remainder of this year. But focus on the economic signal. Global Economic Activity is getting healthier, profits are rebounding around the world. And, frankly, i think this is the stage in the Business Cycle when theres one last pop in equity markets. Low volatility is not a reason to be fearful as bob mentioned earlier. The three times that they realized volatility has been this low the market has had a nice run over the subsequent years so this is the time to get invested rather than thinking of pulling out. I love, love, love, what im hearing, tyler. We sit next to each other. I dont have a lot of hair but ive been yanking it out over this trump agenda question. Ive questioned it, karen, and i like what youre saying. I put up a funny joke map on social media where its like d. C. And not d. C. The rest of america. I understand politics matter. I understand the media is all wound up about President Trump, you but the rest of the country is actually doing quite well on its own, is it not . Right. Maybe we just ignore the insanity inside the beltway as much as we can. Not completely. And go on with our investing lives. Right. You cant ignore it completely but think about this. Think about manufacturing numbers. Think about the consumer. Consumers are continuing to be strong. Were going to get housing numbers tomorrow, and the Housing Market continues to do well. We see that in some of the retailers that have to do with housing and building. We see inflation is still muted. The fed is still accommodative. Everything is going in the right way and people are worried theres a contrast between the hard and soft data. Not really. Its pretty darned good. Thats what you have to focus on. And with profits like weve been saying, profits continue to accelerate. Theres no reason to not be in the market. Karen and david, a pleasure. Good discussion. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Still ahead, new saber rattling from north korea, word that the white house is looking to, well, maybe clean house and, oh, yeah, a worldwide cyber attack playing havoc with thousands of computers all over the world. Todays press briefing, which is an empty podium, should be are interesting once its filled. Well bring it to you live once it begins. Cyber security stocks are on the move following that cyber attack. Many fear it is not done wreaking havoc just yet. We have the very latest in what could be coming next when power lunch rolls on. Made it through many marketade swings. Sure we could travel, take it easy. But weve never been the type to just sit back. Not when weve got so much more to give when you have the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant. Ameriprise where are mom and dad . saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico goin up the country. Love mom and dad im takin a nap. Dude, you just woke up im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. Welcome back, everybody. Cyber security stocks surging today as the virus is continuing to wreak havoc around the world, the massive cyber attack has hit 150 countries so far. To josh lipton live with the latest on this case. What is surprising many is the sheer scale. 200,000 computers affected in over 150 countries and new attacks. Cyber security stocks pushing higher, just take a look at fortinet, symantec and pro proofpoint. It demands unlocking files. Its not just government infrastructure under assault here but also Companies Including fedex and renault. As for the fallout here the department of Homeland Security telling me we are aware of a small number of potential victims in the u. S. , but there have not been significant disruptions to their operations. We are working with them to confirm and mitigate the threat. It uses old versions of microsoft discovered by the nsa. Analysts say theres plenty of blame to go around for developing windows without a Strong Security model for networking, also i. T. Managers that didnt stay up to date on critical security patches and then the role of the msa saying this attack provides yet another example of why the stockpiling is such a problem. The white house will be addressing this attack at its press briefing today. Back to you. Josh lipton, thanks so much. How serious is this attack . Should we expect more soon . Lets bring in the form earp cia officer expert and the cofound earp of the Cloud Security alliance and an expert. Gentlemen, great to have you with us. Nils, given how much it has spread since friday and what appears to be the diminishing number of case that is have come up over the weekend and through today, what can you tell us about whether or not this is going to die out or how bad it could actually get. Well, i think, you know, what we have seen is the first wave and theres plenty of vulnerabilities around that can be exploited. As we have seen a large number of systems globally that have not been maintained or patched that use outdated systems or software. And it really depends on how crafty and agile the attackers are here in updating the payload, the malware they push out. There could be other groups that after seeing the spread of this and how easy it actually was to more or less jump on this and create their own campaigns and infect machines. It seems a successful attack has emboldened other attacks. I want to focus in on a point josh brought up and that is this attack is based on a tool the nsa had developed and effectively stockpiled, one of many tools the government stockpiles in order to take advantage of digital vulnerabilities wherever in the world. How secure are these vulnerabilities from themselves being hacked into and then used . Well, what happens here is when Software Companies put out new products, there are flaws and problems in those products that they plan to fix up over time and it comes from the beginning of time. The internet was built around massive sharing of information and not heavily structured around security issues. So what the nsa and u. S. Intelligence agencies do like others is look for those vulnerabili vulnerabilities, zero day flaws. They use some to go after our enemies. If you want to know whats going on in north Korea Nuclear program, the Iranian Missile program, this might be a way for u. S. Intelligence to get in there. John, what seems to be happening here is that the software company, it could be microsoft, adobe, java, whatever, they are publishing versions of software that they know have vulnerabilities to cyber hacking of one sort or another and then intelligence agencies whether theyre the u. S. Or elsewhere discover these things and then, am i hearing you right, they sit on them . They then use those vulnerabilities to develop their own ways to breach and do their own work . They do use those vulnerabilities. There is a balance to be had here. Just using these type of things and not working with a private partnership, this causes a bigger problem. Theres a process in place where the Intelligence Community comes and said these are things we found, flaws we think we might be able to use. Some we should go back and tell the companies so they can fix them. Some we think because the targets theyre going after are particularly interesting that we want to it use. Who decides when the government goes back and says, hey, you have a vulnerability here and who decides when to conceal that vulnerability . Thats a process that is done and that discussion is taking place and i have to say that the nsa and others are careful. They dont try to stockpile things to use on their own. They understand the importance of the u. S. Commercial sector. We need to help them be patched. Certain cases are so important we want to use those for the short window that we can. Will we catch them . Im sorry, i understand. Who did it and will we catch them . For nils. For anybody actually, viewers, nils, john. I think perhaps we need to change the perspective slightly here. This wasnt necessarily a zero day exploit. The vulnerability was offered through patches for Newer Versions of windows by microsoft in march. What we see here is the spread because folks around the world are using software that is way outdated. W windows xp came up. It was created in 2001 and has been end of life for two years meaning no longer supported yet we see numbers but over 90 of the worlds atm machines to run on it. I want to make sure we look at the complete angle of who is to blame leer. Government does find zero days and so do a lot of researchers. In this case here a lot of the impact of this attack could have been minimized by folks just doing the right thing. And maybe upgrading, also. Running windows xp. John and nils, appreciate it. Lamborghini, a price tag to match. We will take you for a virtual spin plus talk the lambeau suv. I count on my dell Small Business advisor for tech advice. With one phone call, i get products that suit my needs and i get back to business. Welcome back. Zero to 60 in under three seconds in an suv. If you said that, youd be fake news. But not anymore. Lamb borghini continues to talkp the idea and develop an insane 600plus horsepower twin turbo v v8 family wagon. That is not all lambo has. The ceo of lamborghini. Roberto . Thank you. Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon. Thank you, robert. Thank you, brian. Good afternoon from las gatos. You will talk to stanford about the future of the car. Now we are talking a lot about autonomous vehicles, the fact that the Younger Generation of buyer they want to be in the urban environments. They dont like to own their own cars. How all that have affect demand for 200,000 and 400,000 super cars like the ones lambo builds . Well, of course we are talking about a car that is not only a car but something you look to for experience. I can guarantee our customer would love to drive the cars. It can be helpful to improve the skill and nature of our drivers. Lamborghini customer wants to drive and have fun with the cars. Will there be a fully autonomous lamborghini . I dont believe so. Its like going to a restaurant and having nothing to eat. You have to enjoy. You have to have passion. I dont think so. The challenge for brands like yourself is always between profits and production. How much do you produce to monetize . Ferrari got rid of the cap. Youre under 3,500 a year. So half of ferrari. Will you ever go beyond 3,500 . Yes, the answer to that is totally positive. This is the key point of making sure that dimension is able to invest money in the future technology and can be one of the aspects of our products. Ste fano, someone who still drives around with a car seat, is there a market for a 650 horsepower threesecond suv . Yes. I do believe so. You see its a super trend, a segment everyone is there. And when you are in the seg m y many, you want to be different. You find customers that want to be different from the others. I do believe well be able to in design and were going to given the chance to the lamborghini family approach or a daily driving usage that can be part of the lamborghini brand. This is important for us. People dont realize lamborghini did have an suv at one point. It didnt do that well. It is a bit of a collectors item. Whats changed that makes you think it will be successful this time . That was 1986. The brand was the first to try to think there was a possibility. I believe after that a lot of brand, Automotive Industries start to say, well, there is a chance for the segment. As always the market is the right answer. And if i remember correctly, robert, that car was, how do i say it, ugly . Not a beautiful lamborghini. It didnt look as good as this one. Expensive and slow. I would say it was unique. Thank you very much. When you get that youd better bring it here. I will put the car seat in, baby onboard and were going to go. Sounds good. Melissa. I hope not for the sake of your children. We are standing by for the White House Press briefing. A member of the National Security council expected to be there to address that massive global hack attack. Plus, is the white house looking to clean house . The d. C. Rumor mill in overdrive. We talk to someone who has run a white house. President bill clintons form earp chief of staff joins us live next. Hi, everybody. Im sue herera. Here is your cnbc news update this hour. The Trump Administration is accusing the Syrian Government of carrying out mass killings of thousands of prisoners and burning the bodies in a large crematorium outside the capital. The state department releasing these new declassified photos showing what it said is a building in the prison complex that houses the crematorium. Violent clashes breaking out between israelis and palestinians across the west bank and gaza. Palestinians commemorate the day which they say is the catastrophe of israels pounding in 1948 which left thousands of palestinians homeless. Her at home a charter bus carrying 26 children and three chaperones overturned in maryland forcing authorities to shut down interstate 95. At least three people were seriously injured and had to be airlifted to a hospital. The cdc says about 1,000 children die from drowning every year, but according to a survey from the university of michigan more than onethird of parents said they would allow their child to be in a home, hotel, or neighborhood pool without adult supervision. Thats the news update this hour. Ty, back to you. Thank you very much. John harwood with a news alert. Reporter tyler, Mitch Mcconnells office has announced that the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein who was a central figure in the firing of james comey, the fbi director, or at least was, if not an actual central figure, was used as a central figure, is going to conduct an all senators briefing on thursday afternoon at 2 30. This is in response to concern from democrats and also some republicans that the white house this used a memo written by rosenstein to justify a firing that President Trump had already by his own account decided to make and the firestorm postcomey has continued ever since that decision was made last tuesday. Now Rod Rosenstein will brief both members of congress as President Trump is considering the appointment of a new fbi director to replace james comey. Were waiting for the briefing from sean spicer at the white house. He is certain to be asked questions about this, tyler. This is a closed meeting. No press, nobody but the hundred members reporter this will not be on tv. And it wont leak, will it, john . Reporter this is the thing about closed meetings with senators. Some of them some of them like to talk to reporters. I think we will find out soon after that session about the tone, tenor and kcontent of the briefing. 2 30 on thursday well all be listening. John, thank you. All right. Lets get a check on the markets right now. We are sitting virtually at session highs. Of course the s p and the nasdaq both hitting new record highs in todays session. Being led by nvidia, Cisco Systems and caterpillar leading the dow. We are standing by for the White House Press briefing. As you might imagine a lot of developments over the weekend. You have north korea saber r rattling again that worldwide cyber attack. A member of the National Security council expected to be at the briefing because of that attack, plus there are reports out over the weekend about a possible White House House cleaning in the cabinet. It should make for another lively briefing when it begins well bring it to you in a few minutes we expect. All right. One man who knows what it is like to be in the eye of the storm inside the white house is president bill clintons first chief of staff and he joins us now. Always good to have you with us. We appreciate your time. Im glad to be here. You know, white houses have sometimes trouble in their first few months. When you think back to the Clinton White house i think you would probably be the first to say there was a learning curve, a steep learning curve, as the president and his Team Transition from being campaigners to being governors. The first days of the Clinton White house concerns about gay people in the military. Things hit you from all sides. You didnt have washington experience at that time particularly when you took over. Mr. Priebus does. Is this a problem that emanates from the chief of staff, the messaging issues that seem to be troubling this white house . Tyler, i think you made a couple relevant and important points. Number one, youre right to transition is a challenge when youre coming in new. Republicans held the white house for 12 years, as you noted. Donald trump ran as an outsider. So there is a learning curve. The key to it is to get your team in place. We had all our cabinet in place the day after the inaugural. President trump is still, frankly, working hard to get his team in place. Youre right about reince priebus. He had been chairman of the Republican National committee. I had been involved in politics. Its nothing like being in the chief javelin catchers seat in the white house. So there is a learning curve, but youve got to get things settled down. We were able to do that fairly quickly. We brought in david gergen and moved forward and kept on message with the economic and deficit reduction plan. And president clinton largely stepped on the world stage in a pretty seamless manner. You are going to get hit with ufos, unforeseen occurrences. In this case it seems like perhaps theres some selfinflicted wounds. Mack, its brian sullivan. One issue we talk about is trumps inability to fill the government, that theres just not a the lot of people out there. Im sure you have, tyler may have, melissa may have. I have personally spoken to people who have said that they would like to take a job but they will not because they are afraid that the media is going to get hold of them, theyre going to ruin their family, theyre going to ruin their potential job prospects and, basically, theyre afraid to take a job in the Trump Administration. Do you feel like that is a case right now that a lot of good people are sitting back because its simply too hot . You make a fair point. I dont think theres any question about it. But to be fair i think it has gotten more difficult in terms of serving in government. I think the price is pretty high. So you get a lot of very capable people who have an understandable reason to pause and think about whether this is the right decision for them, their career, and their family. Yes, i think today President Trump has been fairly divisive figure and i think that unsettles people. I watched an interview over the weekend from i think wbal, a baltimore station, john harwood just mentioned the guy has been in office 27 years. Widely respected by the republicans and democrats. To a letter sound, calm, rational. Then he writes this memo and everyones going after him. Isnt he the exact poster child for what im talking about . Peoples careers are being destroyed here for one or two things. Brian, to be fair, youre correct. But theres always the potential of having a controversy and a career being tarnished or destroyed. So thats not unusual. But i think it is more prevalent, so to speak, in the first 100 days and beyond in this administration than in past administrations. But again, to be fair, you have a lot of very capable people from secretary tillison, general mcmaster, people of real standing who have agreed to serve in this administration. But, still, i agree with your fundamental point at the end of the day. Something that was written by Christopher Whipple who has writ ann book on the chiefs of staff. The gatekeepers. You know him and theres a chapter about you and your work. He was quote d over the weekend in the Washington Post as saying this White House Office is, quote, completely dysfunctional, the most chaotic in modern history. Reince priebus made rookie mi mistake after rookie mistake. Ultimately it is fundamentally on donald trump. A chief of staff can do little to make the white house function if hes not empowered by his president and that hasnt happened. How do you react to that . I read the story. I like and respect chris whipple. He is a very knowledgeable journalist who has studied the chief of staff position. Hes written the book, the gatekeepers, as you noted. I think every chief of staff has to be in step and conform to the president that he or she serves. You serve at the pleasure of the president. So theres no question the president sets the tone. And, you know, there were concerns about going in to this administration where you had kind of more than one power center but, more importantly, theres always Power Centers in a white house. But more than one authority center. And thats one thing i must say, president clinton was very good about empowering me, giving me the authority and not really secondguessing me. Sure, he was at times difficult to kind of keep on schedule and those types of things. We certainly made some missteps. The key to any chief of staff and any successful presidency is to stay on message, stay focused on your agenda, whats important to the American People. And at the end of the day, at the end of the day, and i think President Trumps upcoming trip, hes taking his first foreign trip, it is really peace and security particularly after 9 11 and prosperity, i. E. , jobs. Thats what this president and this white house need to be functioning, focused on, and thats what the chief of staff needs to be driving home. Another article i read over the weekend said that the advice the president is getting now from confidants is that he has to go big, that he has nothing to lose. The question this quote says is how big and how bold. I had an editor when i worked in the magazine business who used to write in my copy more times than i would like to report here, what means . I dont understand what youre saying. What would it mean in this context to go big . Ive got it. I like that. Well, im not sure thats good counsel, number one. I think every president wants to do big things. Thats why they felt they were elected and, to some extent, that is true. But usually whether it be in business or politics, you get to big accomplishments by taking steps, and i think whats critical here is to bring the American People along, to unite the American People, not divide us. And i think youve got also the very important player of the congress youre going to have to get most of your major initiatives through the congress. You cant do it all by executive order and the more we can do that on a bipartisan basis i think the better it will be received by the American People. So i think you allude to the right point. I think you kind of go big. It sounds like youre behind in the game and have to throw a hail mary pass. Surely President Trump doesnt think thats where he is after 100plus days. All right, always great to have you with us. Thank you. Mack mclarty. Sean spicer will address the press. Well bring you the briefing as soon as it happens. But first, we get to Rick Santelli at the cme for todays bond report. Hey, rick. Reporter well, you thank you, melissa lee. Even though the empire moved in negative territory, markets are pretty sideways. If you look at interday its up one basis point. The entire curve is up one basis point. Interday on the dollar index, that seems to be the most proactive. Off the lows but down half a cent after a failure to hit a key technical level around 100 last week. And finally the whole idea that we moved a lot in november and up until the first two weeks in january and since then not many big moves. It fits a lot of markets not the least of which is the chinese currency as you see on this chart, the dollar versus the yuan. So in the end all markets seem to be correlating and theyre all correlating in a consolidation type fashion. Hey, dont touch that remote. Wheres jack . Hes on holiday. What do you need . I need the temperature for pipe five. Ask the new guy. The new guy . Jack trained him. Jacks guidance would be to maintain the temperature at negative 160 degrees celsius. That doesnt sound like jack. Actually, jack would say, hey mate, just cool it to minus 160 and were set. Good on ya. Oh yeah. Thats jack. All right, folks, we are standing by for the White House Press briefing. D see right there that while the press room has some individuals in it, the podium is emp empty. A lot of developments over the weekend. North korea, that cyber attack, a member of the National Security council is expected to be at the briefing to address the cyber attack presumably and the north korean actions over the weekend plus continued talk about a possible White House House cleaning of the white house staff. We will carry that press briefing with mr. Spicer as soon as it begins, maybe not surprisingly theyre running a few minutes behind and we expect it some time around the top of hour. Brian . I have 1 53 in my pool. Time for street talk, our dive into the key wall street calls of the day. Tesla, longtime Morgan Stanley bull down grading to an equal weight. Keeps the price target pat 3. 05. Management reiterating targets and model threes spotted in the wild or on the street being tested. Behind the bushes. Jonas had been the notion that ses las a Mobility Company says larger, well capitalized companies, apple, alphabet, et cetera, are jumping in here. He says china may not be as big of a market for tesla as previously thought. Price target is 10 below where the stock is now. And it was 3. 05 when it was an overweight. Second stock is johnson and johnson. Jpmorgan chase upgrades to an overweight following a lousy run for the name. Revenue should start to react sell rate in the second half of the year. They see top line growth moving up 4. 5 to 5 next year. They note this is a, quote, contrarian call, but says once this quarter is behind j j the comps should get easier. The potential for three new drugs to be approved in the next year and a half. About 12 upside even on top of todays 2. 5 move. The third stock, buffalo wild wings. Upgrading the company to a buy raising the price target to 1. 80. They believe the upcoming Board Meeting will give them the right people and time to implement necessary changes and cost cutting finish it if i was. Remember it has been in dispute with activist investor. And so we have it. Your smaller cap company, foundation medicine, fmi is your ticker. Cambridge, massachusetts, molecular information company. Upgrades to a buy says there are, quote, too many potential positives to remain on the sidelines. They dont like chasing the stock after big recent gains but continued strength in clinical test volumes and acceleration in sales growth should keep that stock moving. Establish a 39 target so not much more upside after the 7 move. Well call it the 3. 50, 4 a share. They threw in the towel and said lets get behind the name. Tiler . All right, folks. Stocks hitting session highs right about now this hour. The dow up triple digits though now just back below that 10 100point level. Whats fueling the gains . Well take a look at that, peel it back a little bit for you. Were waiting for the White House Press secretary, sean spicer, to begin his briefing. We will carry it live. I mean wish i had time to take care of my portfolio, but. Well, what are you doing tomorrow 10am . Staff meeting. Noon . Eating. 3 45 . Uh, compliance training. 6 30 . Sams baseball practice. 8 30 . Tai chi. Yeah, so sounds relaxing. Alright, 9 53 . I usually make their lunches then, and i have a little vegan so wow, you are busy. Wouldnt it be great if you had investments that worked as hard as you do . Yeah. Introducing essential portfolios. The automated investing solution that lets you focus on your life. Market flash. Seema. My melissa. The rally exceeding over jaes. The etf almost 1 and higher for 4 for the month of may. The outperformance in commodities is helping the emerging market index move higher today. Strategist pointing to a weaker dollar. This follows a lot of bullish calls on wall street. Brian. All right seema thank you very much. Also want to kaungs to serious holing, s hld, it is down nearly 10 . Heres the story, serioes use t run the craft man van. It started off with one world. The man one world is trying to get out of or reduce the number in power tools and craft mans tools that they have to sell to sears, and lamb port is saying were going to enforce the contract otherwise the flow of tool will get cut off. It almost is sears to me. What other product gets you to go into the store other than craftsman . If it is craftsman its trying to get out or renegotiate which could be a higher cost correct or no ship. This is a huge battle to watch for sears whether theyre going to fill their shelves with the tough tyler goes in for. All right. Tools. Stocks hitting session highs the dows up. Is nasdaq and s p 500 also hitting record highs. Heres the question, whats filling all the gains. Lets get the traders take, kari and gordan. Its amazing kenny, its like you ever see where they cut the leg and keep trying to fight, thats the mark right now. No matter what you throw at it its still trying to bite your ankle. And its confusing today because there was nothing out over the weekend that would cause some ex yet the mark is discrediting everything. Whether or not whos going to flush out the warehouse and start over again t mark seems to be unphased by any of it. The market is not phased by it. We rally just above 2400, the mark has ever reason to have sold off the last couple of weeks and it has not. This rally today theyre going to say its fuelled by the energy move. Its not really a sign that demand its any stronger than it is. So im a little bit offcenter with this move and trying to figure out why in fact the mark, the s p is almost up 12 points. Gore whats your take . Is it really that saudi arabia and russia says theyre going to extend tax cuts through 2018. Is that the reason behind this, is the flow and oil the reason we should bid higher . I think right now what were seeing in the vix and were not seeing a lot of the earnings season is just about over, not much to speak on the calendar. What youre continuing to see is the consolidation here and we cap to tighten the coil in terms of the bans. We trend in the bias still to the upside and were Still Holding 2400 on the s p. So long thats the trend and the general direction people are going to stay confidence on the mark and continue to buy bids and look for opportunities. Were at 2402 kenny, whats the next level we watch for . I think were here banging or heads. If you want to go above it theres nothing above it. What could be the next range, 24, 25 . You have to extrapolate to figure out where youre going to be. Even though were at 2402 it feels like its stalling, theres in energy in the market, no commitment. I think were going to hit our heads, back off and remain in this coil until we get a real catalyst. Gore is i gang rous were talking about somebody that doesnt have much confidence in whats going on. I think you can always like for reasons to be a nay sayer but in point of fact when you cant lie with the tape. Weve had a little bit of correction and added from the fiveday trend. If you go back to the end of month kenny i want to ask you this is it article over the week that head funners are getting nervous about the lack of volatility. I tend to agree theres something underlying and unhealthy about this do you think so . I feel a feeling at some point all the etf move, is the low quiddity going to be there . I am absolutely worried. Thats the side of the mark im on at the moment because item not getting the sense of real commitment right. If what gordon says is true the market hadnt corrected or backed off. Weve been stuck in a tight range and the markets already price in perfection. Weve already taken the mark where the we get anything we want this would be a good thing. Were not getting any of it. Im concerned about one day youre going to wake up the bottom will fall out and theres going to be much more of a connection. All right guys thank you. Homeowners pouring big money into home improvement. Were doomed got to go. Details at 7 00. Whos benefitting from the renovation nation boom . That storys coming up. The first stock index was created, as a benchmark for average. Yet a lot of people still build portfolios with strategies that just track the benchmarks. But investing isnt about achieving average. Its about achieving goals. And invesco believes doing that today requires the art and expertise of highconviction investing. Translation . Why invest in average . A 10speed directshift 5. 0transmission. Ine. A meticulously crafted interior. All of these are feats of engineering. Combining them with nearperfect weight distribution. Is a feat of amazing. Experience the firstever 471horsepower lexus lc 500 or the multistage hybrid lc 500h. Experience amazing. Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to the second hour of power lunch im tyler mathisen. Heres whats on the menu. Bulls in charge right now stocks around record highs, session highs as well, record for both the s p 500 and nasdaq. The hack attack working its way around the world its been compared to the u. S. Military having some of its tomahawk missiles stolen. What people are doing now to fight back. Homeowner pouring big money into home improvement, why . Whats changed . Whos benefitting and can you make money off the trend . Power lunch starts right now. And we are also standing by for the daily White House Press briefings. As tyler told you a lot of developments and news today. North korea that cyberattack, many members of the National Security counsel will be at the briefing to address the attack. Plus continued talk about the possible shakeup in the president s cabinet should make for what will be a lively briefing and well carry that as soon as it begins right now. Stocks at a session high, Nasdaq Record high same for the s p 50000, the dow is up triple digits posting its best oneday gain month of may. Small caps theyre best day of may. Oil rally and the cut deals between the russia and closing trades still ahead. Number of wellknown names hitting new highs. Its a long list. Well take a look at the pure fund cyber etf, the ticker hatch, hack, its more on its best day for year. Following the massive cyberattack. Keith wieis is an analyst over t morgan and stanley. When we see a cyberattack we see a knee jerk in the stocks do we see the commensurate rise in the avenue, et cetera business for these stocks after attack in. Weve definitely seen the story times where headline attacks once we get a lot of exposure what weve seen over the weekend do lead to increased spending. In 2004 2015 we saw a commensurate impact on the venders revenue. Is it hard to make an us crease to spend spending on cyberdefense . You cant prove this worked until an attack happen and nothing happen until it works so theres no real proof that it was worth the spending. To some extent its a insurance policy, if you will, trying to ensure against future loss. In this instance this is a specific case where a lot of these companies should have been better protected. What this what wannacry did is it exploited a known exploit, a known weakness in the microsoft system. Microsoft came without with a patch back in march. So if the company was keeping up to date on top of their defenses this shouldnt have happen. And there are tools in the marketplace that can help keep on top of the defenses. If youve been using one of the tools and patch management from a gender then this wouldnt have happened in your ecosystem or infrastructure. So aside from equal list do you also like set man tack as well as a vm ware . Is it because of the trend that wannacry is or the trend that weve seen recently . Right. The stocks have taken you through a live structure to think about potential impact and what people will do in response to an attack like this. The fist up is trying to limit your vulnerabilities to have Something Like walls in place, a management scan to make sure you have all the most latest patches, that you dont have those open doors left in your infrastructure. Part two is blocking these attacks. Using Something Like set manic on the end point, this is something thats known add an end point. If you were running set manic recently it wouldnt have found these attacks. Those updates were in place before it game rampant over the weekend so you would have protected. And then what youre going to try to do further down the line is mitigate the damage. If you do get attack you want to limit the exposure lim damage area. And on the mark its something called micro seg men tags via soft working defining. Youre going to lim the data going from one machine to another throughout your infrastructure by cutting your networks into these smaller sections. We wrote a report about that this morning on how securitys bolstering a second wind to this Software Find Network effect, a piece i did on the networks side of the equation where cisco has a strong play in this as well. He updated the stock on a backing position for cisco in the security pace space. We have semantic that will join us shortly. That stock is up 9 over the last past month. What is the evaluation for salesman tic compared to others . Were looking for semantic to iron earnings in their upcoming calendar year. Its not one of these Growth Stocks that we see a lot of them mention players its really docking these guys more earning power going on an onforward basis. Theres a portion of this story thatll really about taking expenses out of the equation, becoming a much more efficient operation. So more stable improving Revenue Growth with better cost controls underneath that should yield better eps. And thats what we think has driven semantic and going to keep driving it as we see a potential upside to those numbers. Thanks for joining us. Our next guest ears must be burning. Its compacted more than 200 thou Computers Running annout dated version of microsoft system. Microsoft executive response today saying the attack should serve as a wakeup call for government and its like the u. S. Government having some of its hotomahawk missiles stolen. And our Cyber Service prepared for more attacks like this in the future. Greg clark is the semantic ceo joins us for an interview. Mr. Clark how are you . Im good thank you very much. Im sure you heard our prior guest loving your stock. Thats pretty nice right . Big thanks to keith. I think he does great work on the analysis and weve been business and its time to pay off. Couple quick questions, do you have any ideas whos behind this wannacry hack . At this point were looking to try to deliver an attribution, its a difficult topic. I think more important is the fact that this kind of mal ware in this case delivered a crypt toe lock, could have been delivered a couple things. Its about the trick we brought to that and happy to report the semantic customers were protected from it. So i take your answer as a very careful one. You did not say no we dont have any idea, you said tltd be premeditate preemptory in talking about it at this point . Are the good guys beating the bad guys or am i right at feeling were always playing cap up . I think its a cat and mouse game in cyber defense, we have organizations like ourselves and many other competitors that are good. In this case its about technical debt and impatching vulnerabilities in the time which a vulnerability is discovered and disclosed. Thats a very difficult situation. I think what happened from that this particular vulnerability disclosure was its very hard for organizations to get out and address the patching of that microsoft to make a very solid product, so does apple and android but that do have as a rule narcotics and occasionaling in like this get lose. Thats why we get a defense in depth and different cyber defenses available. I think in some cases they were effective in other cases they were not. This was really back tactic. In the last hour one of our guests said that what happened here was that microsoft has known vulnerabilities in its program. The nsa knew about those vulnerabilities and that when the government finds out about a vulnerability it will be in a microsoft product, in an ado beproduct so on and so forth, they did decide whether to tell the company about that as a rule narcotic or whether because of the value of the vulnerability in allowing intelligence agencies to use that vulnerability to do their work they keep it secret. Id like to hear your thoughts about that and the morale question about when its right to tell the company, hay yey yot a problem that we found, and when its right for a Government Agency to say, hey this is really valuable we and use it . So i think thats a very difficult debate of course. Its not a good idea to know something that could have,on, very profound effects on consumers or citizens, but i dont pretend to be able to comment on what people are defending any, you know, National Interests or may do in their deliberation around that. I do think that, you know, in this case the effect of that vulnerability being a worm which can prop katie may have been underestimated and you have folks that wrote this, they probably dont expect it to have gone that way. So, im not sure that the debate is really about if somebody finds a as a rule nablt in an Intelligence Agency should they disclose it i think thats a obvious debate had at the highest level. In our case, what we want to do is when its disclosed its what we want to do about it thats where i was kind of going greg. What do our viewers do about it besides saying buy Semantic Software . What can the viewers do to protect themselves and their information right now . The internets a way of life and i think what you have to do is make sure youre staying up to date with the patches. When microsoft has a skpurt update out take it. When google has i take it. Apple has it, take it. You also need to party senses. The various Security Technology that is come over the top of those operating systems so you cant get enough of that. This was a software vulnerability, digital safety and that whole concept is important. Greg, im curious from a business perspective how soon do you start seeing a pick up in contracts, whatnot, business because of an attack like this . There are definitely tail winds this brings attention to people do you start to see it today . You know, definitely pipelines are increasing at semantic right now for sure. All right greg thank you. Greg clark. Thank you everyone. Okay the Ransomware Attack putting a spotlight on what may be the securitys big buster. Morgan joining us. Thats right. The Cyber Insurance market is still small. As events like this Ransomware Attack occur its growing fast. Mu nic grief estimates Cyber Attacks could triple by 2020. There are dozens of other companies that are operating in this market as well. Most of these are state sides. Ion Risk Solutions is said many of these companies have been many effected by this ransomware most likely not covered. Beasley says its helping 5,000 clients manage such attacks and expect incidents to surge this year. Because the attackes are changing, Cyber Insurance can cover more than just data breaches and stilling much more conversation. You got Company Getting coverage for Business Interruption following a hack, thats something we seen happen in the last couple of days. More Manufacturing Companies starting to get coverage for small machines. Thats something a, g is focused on. This attack could cause Companies Hundreds of millions of in producktivity. You could be seeing hundreds of millions, if not billions of in Economic Cost and once more, you just ask the semantic ceo whether their seeing an uptake in demands. Insurers say theyre already seeing upday care demands. Because you dont have to worry about something break in your building just break into your computer. Morgan thanks. Heres whats coming up on purr lunch, infrastructure kicking off in d. C. The cio weighing in. Plus the tesla bull shifts to reverse and downgrades the stock. Well tell you why. Well be right back. [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. At crowne plaza we know Business Travel isnt just business. Theres this. a bit of this. Why not . Your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. Which is what we do. Crowne plaza. Were all business, mostly. Lets get to the white house where National Security tom boxer is speaking about the hack attack. Disrupted Telecommunication Companies hospital of organization and asked 48 of its organizations were effected and that resulted in in excessive computers and telephone service. But also disruption on healthcare. Computers at the spanish telecommunication company, telefound ka were comprised and a small u. S. Companies including fedex. Team is issuing twice daily situation reports, is holding multiple calls per day. Among expert and Operation Centers no response. As of today in federal systems are effected. Over all the u. S. Infection rate has been lower than many parts of world but we may still see some impact as these attacks change. Despite appearing to be criminal activity appearing to raise money it appearsless than 7,000 have been paid in ransoms and we have not led to payment that led to any data recovery. The Immigration Center is keeping us informed concerning the investigation into these hacks. Now, its important for our business and individuals to know three of this ransomware have reported and emerged. If you follow the mitigation advice ploushed by the dhs, microsoft and patch your system your protected. Its also important to know that pie rotted stolen or yoerz unlicensed version of effected software will not receive patches. If you use the software youll be subject to infection. Itll be staatisfying to hold responsible those responsible for this hack, something we are working on. The worm is in the wild and patching is the most Important Message as a result. Business and government have responded to upgrades and patches defense and mitigations and this has reduced the vulnerable population over the last three days so this needs to cap to be our focus. All organizations should be vigilant in updating their software and the only computers can be compromised are the one that does no have the latest security patches available from microsoft. So this is one episode of mal ware or ransomware, do you know from the documents and other side of macing tools were stolen from nsa if theres potential my more out there. So, theres a little bit of double question, part of that has today with jurn lying vulnerable. I think if i could instead of directly answering that i cant speak to how we do or dont do our business as a government in that regard. Id like to point out this was a vulnerability export as one part of a larger tool pout together by the culpable parties and not the u. S. Government. This was not a tool developed by the nsa to hold ransom data. It was developmented by culpable parties that have put it together in such a way such as delivering fishing emails and causing infection, encryption and looking. I think i said this morning, the underlying vulnerability is little less of a direct upon for me. Is there more out there that you worry about that leads to more attack in the future . I think the United States more than probably any other country is careful with their process cease about how they handle any vulnerability theyre aware of. I think thats a key distinction between us and other countries and other adversaries that dont provide any such consideration to their people, customers or industry. You mentioned your british counter parts are feeling a sense of control, is there any time as you monitor this here in the states where you felt there was any lack of control, this could get out of hand here and if not what is it about what was here that was protected that didnt exist for example, in europe or other parts, and obviously youre taking a bigger hit . No comparative lack of control but my conversation today led me to believe he felt quite comfortable where they stood today was there any time you felt here things could spiral out of control . Well as we were gaining more informing that was important for us to determine the parameters of this. One we got our hands around the parameters, thats of course in the beginning moments what youre trying to get ahold of. Determine what happened. You dont file entirely in control but searching for information. Once we got it and realize what the situation was we realized there was patching available and have been since march. From the british perspective i thought it was important to pass along from them two point, one they thought it was an extremely small number of patients that might have been in convenienced, not necessarily a disruption to their clinical care. And two, they felt some of the reports may have been misstated or overblown given to how theyve gotten themselves into patching. Well do the analysis later why certain systems were effected more than the other. The bottom lean for average consumer and what are you going to do to make sure it doesnt get out in the hope . Bottom line is patch your software. Provide automated patch support if you can. Make sure your it folk information your organizations are patching your software. Thats the bottom line, and this particular mal ware and this three reported variances weve seen since are all fix bl with patch. Thats something you can get from microsoft. Thats the bottom line. If i could with that maybe i have one more question, shane okay . Who did it . We dont know. Thats what were after right now. Itll be very satisfies for me and all of our viewers i think if we find them itll bring them to justice. Sometimes attribution can be difficult here, i dont want to say we have no clues as i stand here today, i feel the best the working on that. Thank you very much. Ill let you know. Thank you very much. Thank you thomas. The president was pleased to see this morning the National Association of hold builders and wells fargo announce earlier that home and congress continue to rise with numbers now the strongest in housing bust. According to the chairman, quote, this report shows that builders optimism in the Housing Market is solid fieing. Weve seen growth in the economy in the pop of president s agenda. Manufacturing job openings are higher than theyve ever been since 2006 and by merely every the future of the economy looks very bright. The president also glad to see businesses making significant investment in america from intel to general motors, to walmart to apple who announced earlier this month well start a 1 million fund to advance manufacturing jobs here in the United States. Its not just the president s economic policies that are generating optimism, last week we announced the first ten agreement as par of the 100day action plan. As i noted last week the arrangements are major wins for American Companies across any different agencies and saerkts sectors. No natural gas to importers who will now have access to the mark. We look forward to sharing future developments with you as this process continue to unfold. The morning the president and Vice President joins tense of thousands of officers and friends of Law Enforcement at the answerall peace officer Memorial Service at the United States capital. This is the 36th year that the fraternal order of police have honor it had brave men and women who lost their lives in the line of duty with a ceremony. In the Vice President s opening remarks he indicated quote without apology. And the president says these men and women are quote the thin blue line between chaos. He hopes the actions of this administration will show our men and women in blue quote, how deeply we care and how strongly we feel about protecting those who protect us always. End quote. The president had the pleasure of meeting with officers and guest from Police Officers who suffered a lost from the Phoenix Police department and new jersey state troopers. He also signed a proclamation in honor of Police Officers memorial day and National Police week. The president was honored to just welcome recently in the last few minutes the crowned prince to the white house for an official visit. His highness is a strong pattern in the United States and a leader in the middle east. The United States and the uae recently concluded a defense Cooperation Agreement that will allow us to work more closely together to address Common Security threats. The president hopes to Work Together more closely to resolve conflicts that wage across the region for too long. This is the president and his high necessaries first meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting well make sure to have a readout. Later this afternoon the Vice President will scare in Robert Lighthouser as the United States trade representative. Ambassador lighthouser has spent decades working at the american trade policy. The president was glad to finally have an unquestionably qualified individual in place as we fight for ber trade deals that will put the American Worker first. Now that hes on board this afternoon ambassador lighthouser is getting straight to work. Tomorrow hell have a series of meetings on capitol hill and tomorrow hell travel to vietnam for the asian cooperation meetings. With ambassador lighthouser swearing in, the president will now have his entire cabinet in place, able to fully implement the president s americas first agenda. Another news secretary child kicked off account u. S. Congress of morning noting the newly reopened i 85 bridge head in atlanta as an example of whack be better accomplished with federal and local state traveling together. Secretary perry is in texas today as part of Va Research Week to announce the vets project, a joint effort between the Veterans Administration with the department of energy to help data mat Veterans Health records. This partnership, part of the Trump Administration system partly to modernize bring together vas healthcare. With the department of energy, World Class Technology to include healthcare and equal of life for our veterans. Secretary show ken of the va will be traveling this week to comment rate va week. This event brings together public and private experts in research, treatments, process thet ticks, it and other specialties to focus on new ways with veterans recooperating from injuries. The Trump Administration believes syrias political feature should be decided by syrians in a free, credible and transparent process. We also believe in a free process its unimaginable what the syrians will cap under assads leadership. Syria will never be stable and secure as long as assad is in power. For these reasons we continue to support the political transition process contained in u. N. Security resolution 2254 and support the political process taking place in u. N. Oversight in geneva. As we said before the United States is gamed to working with russia and iran but in order to working to, russia and iran need to kmoij the atrocities and use their influence to stop them. As you can see its going to be a busy week, the cabinet and staff leading up to the president s first foreign friendships that launches this friday. We take off for saudi arabia on friday and i plan to have general macmaster here hopefully tomorrow to walk through the trip with further detail. With that your questions. Thank you sean. Addressing china, senior director says the u. S. Is forming a working group and the u. S. Company has much to offer. Whats the prospective of the u. S. Future collaboration in this [inaudible] . Yeah as i mentioned with respect to the 100day plan i think theres a lot of areas that were going to continue to work with china to develop a way forward. I think the relationship that the president established with president xi down in maralago continue to play dividends for our country, and whether its this policy or trade or Market Access were going to continue to see all of those individuals from the president s cabinet that were down in maralago continue to work with the count r parts in china to find a path for it. John. Couple topic. Back to what you said about syria. Is this official policy of this Administration Regime claim with syria . I think i made its clear what our policy intends to be. Over the weekend democrats about replacement process. First of all the Jeff Sessions is leading the search and a lot of democrats thought he had recused himself from the Russian Investigation and should not be in that position. Second some democrats are saying before they consider the president s next nominee they want a special prosecute to look into the investigation. Can you respond to that . I think this is a process thats running completely as it should as being headed by the Deputy Attorney general and attorney general. As you noted in the past the fib fbi reports to the Deputy Attorney general. This is a huge priority for the president to make sure we have somebody that has the ability to administer the proper leadership to the fbi. Special prosecutor . I think theres no need for a special prosecutor. Weve discussed this before, you have two Senate Committees that are looking this. The fbis is conducting their own review and i think if you look at what acting director mccabe said last week, we made it clear they have the resources that they need with the work continues. The bottom line again, theres a difference of what we talked about in that and its been made very clear theres been, with respect to the president himself both senator schumer, snaer fien stein and everybody have been briefed on this issue. Let me pick up about the Ransomware Attack. In the shortterm is it the advice of the administration, should somebody be have their commuter system infected that to pay the rain sm . As i said what we have seen so far that is the must effective if people take the necessary proper steps in advance and use the patches that are available to ensure it doesnt happen. So prevention is right now the key that were stressing. As it relates to the long term, at the end of the day this is extortion from likely hostile foreign actions, might the administration set some sort of guidelines and policy as it relates to u. S. Individuals, u. S. Companies, should they be approached as what to do and maybe whatnot to do . Yeah, i think our immediate goal is to make sure were protecting beau or commercial enterprises. The steps weve taken have proven to be fruitful. Right now thats the number one priority. He mentioned fedex, do you know if that was something specific happened to fedex . I dont. Ill have tom follow up. Jim . Brad im sorry. Yeah i wanted to ask about the election in texas. Is this the is the primary goal of this going to be looking for recommending reforms to possible or looking at cleaning the holes or is it going to be more of an audit of 2016 . The executive order that the president signed and the Vice President and secretary state koe vac on leading is a Bipartisan Commission of the state of state election officials. Theyre going to lock at all aspect of Election Integrity including voter fraud, theyre looking at this whole liskly. Okay one more. As far as north korea goes, does advise against their reaching out or outstretched hand that they had toward north korea regime . Im sorry say that again. The new sork yan government. Is the administration advising in south korea reaching out to north korea after this miss lg test . I think the president looks forward to having a conversation with the new president and discussing that. Im not going to get ahead of that discussion at this point. John. On the search for new fbi director the president said its moving rapidly. One thing that was put forward over the course of the past 24 hours, the Senate Majority leader is garland. Is that a name that the president would possibly consider in the move to name the new fbi director . The search for a new fbi director is being handled by the department of justice. My expectation would be that once theyve conducted that search theyll present names for consideration of the president. They are the ones leading that. Sean can i comment on the tape question last week. You have several republicans join democrats in seeking Additional Information from the white house in writing about the existence of any tapes, producing the tapes and any further information about the potential taping of conversations. Is the white house intending to cooperate with those requests and give information . I think i made it clear last week the president has nurgt nothing further on that. Wait does that mean the had the president will deny the q. I was clear the president had nothing further on that. Wouldnt that defy the administrative request. I made it clear what the president s position was on that issue. Hunter. People still have concerns about the president s role in russia even though the president says theres nothing to it. If there is nothing to hide why not back a special prosecutor to set it beyond any doubt . Its not a question of its at what point you have a house committee, senate committee, the fbi, i dont know why you need Additional Resources when you already have three entities. We saw paulene this weekend from nbc news. 80 of people want this and they dont have confidence about this. With all due republican which i think the bottom line is you have three entities looking boo this matter. I think the president s position has been clear that theres two issues at hand. One is the involvement of russia potentially with respect to an election and the president s vochl. The fbi directors and others have made it clear the president is not a subject of anything. Two questions for you. On north korea is there a new sense of urgency for President Trump to act the successful missile test over the weekend . I think theres no question that north korea continues to threaten the United States, our allies, japan and southeast neighbors including china and russia. I think were calling on all those folks in the region, particular klein and russia to do everything they can in terms of zengs to help resolve the issue. On that domestic issue what characteristics is trump looking for in an fbi director . I think he wants someone with High Integrity and the leadership skills to lead but i have not specifically discuss it had qualities with him. Richard. Thank you sean two questions. First one, you told us over and over that for nafta we were weighting for light houser. Lighthouser confirmed now hes going to be sworn in. Can you give us a better idea on the pace of the renegotiation now that we have a representative . Well i think i have ho check his calendar but hes got an hour or two perform hes sworn in. So you might want to give him a little bit of time. Can we say i dont because until he sworn in and assumes position, as i mentioned hes going to immediately go up to capitol hill then off to aphek in vietnam. Im sure well get around to it but right now he still need to go through the process of getting him sworn in. Jim. Last week, quickly the topic was touched when the president will be with nay know allies. Is he going to ask for a larger bigger vochl in afghanistan with troops on the grown from the members . Item not going to get into what he will and will not say. Hell have an opportunity to make his position clear. But the allies missile again i dont think we havent announced the afghan strategy yet. I think hes been clear with respect to nato. Hed like to see a greater effort placed on terrorism and two is to see more of the countries live up to their financial obligation that they groed to. Jim. Sorry. Twopart question. Is President Trump still committed to his 15 Corporate Tax rate . Hes still under pressure to keep some existing loopholes such as the state income tax right off in california. So he committed to the 15 tax rate and is he head on getting rid of the tax write off . Secretary mnuchin and director cohen outlined the principles of his tack reform plan, we continue to meet with stake holders in capitol hill. That conversation continues and those are part of those talks. His plan has been pretty clear from the beginning as far as what he wants the see in the framework and where its being guided. Shouldnt places like florida and tennessee cant write off zero income tax. Again im not going to get ahead of that debate. The principles are outlined, explain where had the president s starting point is. Amon. On the search for the new fbi director theres been critics who said in this particular climb who ever it it is shouldnt be a politician does the president have a feeling on whether or not having held Elective Office on holding that job . Again i have not talked to hip i know the department of justice continue to meet with these individuals so well see what they put fort. Alley. I was looking for clarity on one of my colleagues questions, why wont you explain whether or not there are recordings. The president made it clear what his position is. Not my question why wont you answer me question. The president s made it clear what his position is. Even if the kon gref lawmakers im answered the same question in a different way. One of the like of questioning is why hasnt the president not disavowed his muslim ban. Will he do that. The executive order is fully lawful and will be upheld. Theres been no question in fact the arguments in the previous cases its been made clear if anyone was to oppose this its been held it is legally sound. Its based on the law and authority that the president rightfully has my question is will he disavow . Hes never said it in the words that he did say he never has. The point is that the ban the measures he took in that executive order are fully lawful and compliant and make it sure they keep this country safe thats it. Is there any points where the president will come out and say yes, i disavow. Were making sure we make the appropriate arguments to get the ban in place. Thank you. Considering in contrast to much of the expression during french president ial election, and that has been reported in france especially, there may be a lot more in common with President Trump and the new president Emmanuel Maron in france. Both are leaders of the biggest countries and two of the allies going basically. Knowing this, would the president look forward to an opportunity to bring this young president closely to him . Maybe meeting on the borders at the g 7 or maybe inviting him here in the next few months . If we have updates to share on additional individual leaders that he will be meeting with or meetings hell have during his trip well be sure to give you an update on that. But burden of proof to whether its the french president or any other head of government the president looks forth to reasserting americas role in the world and reestablishing some of the relationship. I think what youve seen so far whether its president xi or other individuals you can see with the week were having, the president has made it clear hes going to do everything he can to reestablish relationships around the globe to help protect and advance our national interest. This is a special one . I agree i understand, there is a lot of relationship it is president wants to strike for the good of this country. John. Thank you sean, two brief questions. First, it may be confirmed but now that melissa beginning ridge maybe the first woman of nothings official until it announced. Has her name been vetted with the vatican . Nice back try but im not going to the answer is we have no personnel announcements. The other question is not related to personnel but process with the fbi director. Sarah spoke last week about an interim or acting director of the fbi, but with the interviews that you described with the department of justice, can we expect that the name who is nominated from the position from that podium will be for permanent director and promptly submitted to the senate . Thats what i believe the president s expectation is. No interim or act well you have an acting now until someones elected. The reason the president s team is going through this process to select the next director. The healthcare question, as it goes to the senate im wondering if the president s negotiating strategy will change. Does he want to get involve earlier or wait until the senate comes up with something, does he have anything in particular we wants them to keep or get rid from the house bill . Whats his new reproach in this process. I think he feels very strong about the product that came out of the house, he recognizes that the senate has a duty to review it and to come up with ideas and if it can be made stronger then great. Hes continued to have conversations with members of senate, his staff has had them as well. Our allege layoff team and others are in communication with the senate. They have a right to go through their own process. If we can make the bill stronger in any particular way, thats something that hell support. He kind of came in at the dwrnd and closed the deal of the house or does he want to get involved with the early stages in the process of senate or stick with the same i think the team has been involved in the process quite sometime and the president by several accounts was you know involved in a way that people hadnt seen on capitol hill in a long long time. Jill. Two things going back to the fbi director search. Should we expect the president to begin interviewing personally the shore short list before he leave on the trip . I think thats going to be driven by the department of justice. As soon as the department of justice has a recommendation for the president well move on. Tip i dont have theres no update on where that is. You start off with syria there, the state department of course they announced the Syrian Government has apparently been carrying out mass killings, burning thousands of police prisoners. Im wondering that cross as red line from the president and who were we expect to see a military force for that . The president s been clear hes not going to telegraph any actions he make. Its what the state department did today, enumerate the atrocities and Human Rights Violations committed, and further ask the World Community to join with us to put pressure on syria. And can we expect any direct action by the president . Again, the president made clear over and over again, he does not telegraph actions. Hes going to continue to raise the issue, but when hes ready to act, hell let everyone know. Jenn . When it comes to vetting the fbi director, after the experience with michael flynn, is the white house recommending doing anything differently with vetting the fbi director . Are you already doing Something Different . Im not going to get into internal processes that exist, but, obviously, you know, well youd have full resources of the fbi, so im not going to get into how that process is handled. Im not going to get into the processes of how thats being done. Sean . Yeah. Okay. Few questions. One is a followup. How has the president made his position clear i answered that several times. So thats his position. He said he has nothing further to add. I understand theres nothing further to add. Second question, any other inquiries on the russia investigation to other fbi officials . I asked about that, but im not aware of anything. A small followup, you were going to get back to us between dinner requests. I apologize, ill follow up on that today. One of the things thats important with respect to that to clear it up. I think there was clearly bipartisan support that jim comey was not up to the job. The president has every right to fire a person because he believed director comey lacked judgment and Decision Making cities and was not up to the job. The president s reaction to this, to what his position has been completely misrepresented. You think about what he said to nbc news. He said, one, he didnt care this action would make matters worse for him. That, quote, might lengthen out the investigation because he would take action against jim comey in firing him. He wants the investigation to be done, quote, absolutely properly, and might confuse people hes taking this action making matters worse for him. The actions he took, he knew could be detrimental to himself, but none of those things mattered because the president had to do the right thing for the American People because he believes that jim comey was the wrong man for that position. I think that weve got to be very clear as to the reason that the president took the actions that he did. He knew that what he did could be detrimental to himself. It could length the investigation, but he knew it was the right thing to get to the bottom of this. How was he wrong for the American People . Didnt have the leadership skills necessary to lead that institution. As he said in the statement at the time, the fbis the crown jewel of Law Enforcement and deserve a leader that properly leads the institution. Thank you, guys, very much. See you later. And on that note, sean spicer ends the White House Press briefing, called the Daily Press Briefing for as long as its daily, well continue to call it the Daily Press Briefing. A wide ranging discussion, syria to a trip to the middle east to questions of who might be the representative to the he took a lot of questions as expected about the firing of comey, why he did it, and, also, about the possibility of their be recording devices in the white house that may have recorded parts of his conversations with mr. Comey over the past several months, and at any rate, that was the sum of it there. A quick break and come back from the remainder of power lunch. Year a in taxes and fees for your unlimited plan . Only tmobile gives you unlimited data with taxes and fees included. Thatll save you hundreds. Get two lines for a hundred dollars. Thats right. Two lines of unlimited data. A hundred bucks. All in. And right now, were giving you even more. For a limited time, get a free Samsung Galaxy s8 when you buy one. Thats two galaxy s8s for the price one plus, two lines of unlimited data for a hundred bucks. Taxes and fees included. Only at tmobile. Whether youre after supreme performance. Advanced intelligence. Or breathtaking style. Theres a cclass just for you. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Lease the c300 sedan for 399 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Welcome to holiday inn thank you wait, i have something for you making every stay a special stay. Holiday inn, smiles ahead. Whether for big meetings or little getaways, member always save more at holidayinn. Com sflnchs ta talking about home builder optimism, and why americans pour money into remodelling, di . Reporter sentiment bounced back in may, up two points on an industry index, and they base on the mimt on future sales, the component rose four points to 79. Of the other two, Current Conditions rose two points to 76, but buyer traffic fell to 51 p. Builders are getting a boost from this, moment remodelling. Fast rising home prices and tight supply of homes for sale have sellers staying put and renovate instead. Not only are homeowners doing projects this year with broth up 7 , that according to Harvard Joint Center for housing, but they are spending more, 60 more on the average project than they did just a year ago, and thats according to home adviser. That may be because home equitys doubled in the past four years, and homeowners are ready to tap into it again. Demographics are also behind the growth with downsizing baby boomers in the lead. They can age in place, but they dont they have standards. They want to move into a place thats ready for them, so a lot of times well fix up before they move in. Reporter fixing condos downtown . A lot of condos. Reporter kitchen and baths top the list of most pop paw lar remodels, but as the Housing Stock ages, more structural renovations, roof, siding, system upgrades, all the boring stuff. Back to you guys. All right, thank you. One company thats reaping the benefits of this, home depot, the stock up over 17 year to date. Set to report earnings tomorrow. This is the managing director of btig, home depot the top pick, if there is a concern out there, what would that be . It would be valuation. I mean, fundamentally this company is hitting on all cylinders, and we think its again proven tomorrow reporting a strong quarter. How important is the renovation theme to home depot specifically and how much a dent could Rising Interest Rates put in that . Renovation theme is important to home depot, they and lowes are certainly somewhat dependent on it. We think, you know, the companies are poised to both put up good results. Interest rates are important, but, you know, with the tenyear backing offer a little bit in the last 60 days, we think Interest Rates are not a real concern right now. What are your channel checks indicate about spring planting season, how thats going because thats the black friday for home depot . It is the black friday. This is the very busy season for both home depot and lowes and think after a slow start in february, where it counts for marginally positive, business picked up for both companies, particularly home depot in the april and early days of may. All right, allen, appreciate time, thank you so much. Thank you. 175 dollar price target. By the way, on fast tonight, steve eisen, known from the big short fame, shorted u. S. Sub prime during the crisis and made a bundle from that. The next big short. Waited and waited and waited until that short came in. Absolutely. What a story. Dpl thank you for watching power lunch. Closing bell starts right now. Welcome to the closing bell. You are wondering whos birthday. Not yours. Not mine. Not yours . Not mine. Im kelly evans. Im billy gr griffeth. Your birthday . I wish. 20 years ago today that amazons stock became public, and well tell you how much you would have made if you invest the day one. Oh, boy. You you had a little longer than just day one. Yeah. Could have gotten in anywhere along the way. Talking about other companies