Transcripts For CNBC Squawk Alley 20160720

Welcome to squawk alley for a wednesday morning. Im carl kwinquintanilla. After a rocky start, donald trump named the republican nominee for the 2016 president ial race along with running mate indiana governor mike pence. Governor pence, the headline speaker tonight along with harold hamm of continental resources. Eric trump, speaker gingrich and others. A lot of unity coming together. The republicans argue as we had some members of trumps family speak last night. One thing to watch out for tonight, senator ted cruz and whether he has a fullthroated endorsement of trump. Primetime coverage on cnbc at 10 00 p. M. Eastern time on whats already a busy market day, too. Yes, indeed. Thank you, carl. Taking a look at the market. The dow is up about 44 points. S p up nearly 10 and microsoft certainly leading the dow, kayla, up 6. 3 . Cisco right behind it. Worth noting, the fact were currently set for nine Straight Days of gains on the dow. The nasdaq hit its record high one year ago. Its still about 3 shy of that one. Keeping an eye on that. The dow and s p continuing to notch records and march into positive territory. The dollar index, too, at a fourmonth high. Interestingly, the dollar is going up and stocks are also going up. Previously, in previous quarters, weve seen Companies Report earnings, they have been lambasting the fact theres a strong dollar hurting their exports and businesses. Thats not happening this time around. Not at all. Im surprised with both of those stats. The vix, boy, 11, 11. 49. Pretty low. Also facebook. Over 120 bucks a share. Pretty much at alltime highs. 121 for facebook. That stock has been doing extraordinarily well. All part of this social and cloud story thats increasingly starting to intersect. Microsoft planning to absorb linked in in just the next couple of months. Talking about what an important linkage it is between making people more productive and getting people connected at the same time. Certainly. Interesting to see facebook up about 0. 5 today. You mentioned microsoft is leading the market. Cloud revenues up more than 100 for that company. Of course after we saw ibm posting about 30 revenue gains for its cloud. Its hard to compare cloud apples to apples because Different Companies mean Different Things when they talk about cloud. When it comes to the part for microsoft that doubled it was azure, their infrastructure unit. Office 365 also did quite well up 59 on the commercial side. Consumer also added quite a bit for office 365. So microsoft having a nice story to tell when it comes to cloud. Another story, Morgan Stanley that were watching. Beating on the top and bottom line. David faber just wrapping an interview with james gorman, the ceo of that company. He saw a light at the end of the tunnel for fixed income which has been a troubled part of that bank. Didnt see the brexit trading boost that other banks did but certainly beat on the top and bottom line. 75 Cents Per Share where brexit is concerned, though, he did say that the bank will be looking for another european place to build a footprint outside of london. Though london will still remain central for the country. Lets get back to carl now in cleveland. He is joined by larry kudlow, an informal adviser to the trump campaign. Long gop strategist and ed rogers, a former adviser to mitt romney. Guys, good to have you with us. Ed, larry. Good to be here. Lets recap last night. Those who say the party is being coopted before our eyes. True or false . Coopted . I thought governor christie, his prosecutorial best, to be honest with you, with respect to mrs. Clinton. I thought it was absolutely incredible. I thought Rudy Giuliani has been good in this thing. I thought the kids were very good last night. I mean, im hearing a message of pro growth. Im hearing tax cuts, deregulation. Im hearing redo obamacare. To me, this is traditional reagan, kemp, kkudlow, rogers, moore. I hope its a pro growth message, and i hope they stay with it. Is that what you are hearing when you hear chants of lock her up, references to satan. Whats important to listen to. Larry is the economic guy. That message is going to matter. People are going to vote their pocketbooks. The progrowth message is still evolving. Still developing in the trump universe but its powerful. Theres a lot of other images, messages, words, phrases coming out of this convention that arent all about positive energy. This is my tenth convention. And conventions are about positive energy. Its a little lumpy right now. Its getting better. Last night was good. I thought the highlight was donald trump jr. What points and how articulate and what clear thinking. I wrote for the Washington Post if he would have said last night his father werent a nut, i might have believed him. Well see. Its getting better. At the journal breakfast this morning he answered questions about whether hed run one day. I knew that talk was going to start. He has such poise and presence. I want to assure you, honestly, you, my friend, down through the years, you are going to hear from pence and then trump a very strong optimistic, Economic Growth message. Pence has got it, no question. Dont ask me how i know but im just going to tell you. I hope you were part of it. Youll see substantial tax cuts, lower regulation. Youre going to see trade, which is free but they will want to have playing by the news. Trump is right. Im a free trader. But you have to play by the rules. And youre going to see an immigration message. Look. The country cannot take all the illegals right now. Particularly in a war time. But mr. Trump has dropped his deportation. Now hes just focussing on border security, getting rid of sanctuary cities, for example. Good idea. If youre caught at the border, instead of catch and release, its going to be catch and deport. I find that reasonable. Thats compelling. Thank you. I think pence and trump are going to deliver those messages. And i agree. This is the moment of truth for them. Going to look at the whole country, the whole world. They have to persuade people that they can get the job done. Im just saying on a message basis, on the issues, im very confidence that they will. Message and issues with any precision hasnt been trumps strong suit so far. But thats what the convention is for. So well see. Theres no question pence has got it, and i think expectations are good for him. I think its teed up nice for him to really add a lot of clarity and a lot of this positive energy that i think the party needs coming out of here. Is that aimed at undecideds . Is it aimed at people that need to be convinced out of a hillary . Its some of both. Theres still a unity factor thats incomplete. The party is some of it is going to be managed, not solved. Im not sure its ever going to be completely. Its a part of being coopted, no. But the party is changing. No question about it. It does matter. With respect to my friend republicans, first, is how you win it. Theres another issue thats going to crop up, particularly regarding mr. Trumps speech. He is an agent of change. No question. The country is not doing well. People are unhappy. What hes going to say is, if you elect me, im going to washington. Im going to upset the apple cart. A lot of things need changing. And what hes going to say is, we can do this. When i was with reagan, nobody thought the country would ever get back on its feet. Nobody thought government was manageable. Trump is going to say what reagan said. Hes going to say, we can change this. We can do this. And i intend to be the agent of change. In many respects, carl, that idea of the outsider coming in to shake up the apple cart is more important. This is a change election. Yes. Trump has that tail wind. He is not more of the same. Right. Whether or not its too much. Youre going to run me over here. Coming out of carter, its not the vix at a oneyear low and s p record highs and Asa Hutchison talking about record low unemployment. Does that make it more difficult to argue . Wel well, look, people think were in a recession. People dont buy the statistics that can be parsed and rolled out. The political the economy is a net negative for the democrats. Am i wrong . Is this the trump rally . Thats what harold hamm says. We can argue this the whole nine yards. Save some for tonight. The other thing is, the Unemployment Rate is low. The problem with this story all along has been the tens of millions of people that have dropped out of the labor market. Lowest ever. I think thats an issue. Even those working, carl, have not had a true wage increase since 2000. Bush years, obama years. Thats what they want. And they want to have policies that are going to help get the jobs back, help raise their wages. But i think the broader thing, i just dont know how to explain this properly perhaps. Trump is saying, if you go with me, im going to break some eggs in washington, d. C. With the crony capitalism, with the chamber of commerce, with a lot of Government Policies that arent helping anybody. And im going to give you, Carl Quintanilla, im going to give you your own store in some place in cleveland, ohio, but were going to have fewer expensive licenses, lower regulations and a whole lot lower taxes as a Small Business and then youre going to hire me because there will be more money to go around. I think trump needs to make that case. Youre right. Ive been saying that what kudlow says, what gingrich says and attribute to trump is powerful and positive and a good republican message. We need to hear it from trump. Thats right. Look, theres a few hope hes listening to you. Im the first guy to admit, theres been a few off the cuff statements that have made everybody cringe, including me. I get that. Hes a rookie candidate. Hes learning the ropes now. Hes much more issues and message focussed than he was. Hell be reading off the teleprompter. I think what im begging for is just listen to what his message is. By the way, declare war against isis, go and blow them up in the middle east, which is what kissinger and George Schultz are saying. Do the same thing at home. Back the cops. Trump has taken the high road in defending the thin blue line. Mrs. Clinton is on the wrong side of that issue, on taxes and regulation similar. So its a question of, i say, just listen to what trump is saying on the issues. And then listen to his temperament. I am going to be an agent of change. Im not beholden to anybody. Listen to a trump treasury secretary right now here today . You listen to a cnbc contributor. Very, very happy in what hes doing right now. I wont settle for that. I demand more. At the end of the day, i really believe this will be an issues Oriented Campaign because things are not good. And we can do better. And i hope mr. Trump says, i can fix it. Im an optimist. Optimism counts for a lot, carl. Were about to find out. Ed, larry, thanks guys. Thanks, carl. Dont miss our live coverage of the rnc tonight at 10 00 p. M. Eastern time. Another story were following, the saga, 21st century fox. Fox news chairman and founder roger ailes. Lets get to Julia Boorstin for the latest on that. Sources tell us roger ailes and 21st century fox are in negotiations over the terms of his exit in the wake of a Sexual Harassment suit filed by anchor Gretchen Carlson and more allegations surfacing. Ailes who is 76 is a major force in the media conglomerates business. Hes chairman and ceo of fox news, including fox business news. The Fox News Division generates about 20 of 21st century foxs revenue as well as earnings before interest, taxes, appreciation and amortization. Ailes is also chairman of the 28 fox tv stations. This is the first big move ceo and chairman james and Lachlan Murdoch have made since they took the helm of the company last july. Its a move which sources say is more evidence of the generational shift theyre driving at the company. Now lachlin and James Murdoch have replaced jim genopolos with stacey snyder, organized International Tv business and pushed for more direct to tv distribution. As for fox news next chapter, they are looking at internal and external candidates. Bill shine is one of those who is being considered as a replacement for ailes. Kayla . Thanks, julie. Were watching 21st century fox shares down about 2 today. Dow and the s p have continually been launching fresh intraday highs. The s p trading up about 9 points. The nasdaq is in positive territory but still about 2. 5 from its record that it hit exactly a year ago. U. S. Traded shares of unilever edging higher. Acquiring Dollar Shave Club for a reported 1 billion. Dollar shave club is not profitable, but it is on track to post more than 200 million in sales this year. That is according to unilever. Shares of nintendo losing ground after delaying the pokemon go launch in japan. Where the game originated. Still the stock is up better than 80 since the game launched earlier this month. Certainly that is, carl, taking some air out of what had been an 85 run for the stock in just the last year in the last month, rather. What a run. When we come back, our continuing coverage of day three of the Republican National Convention Continues right here in cleveland, ohio. Plus, shares of microsoft riding high on the cloud. How its planned aqcquisition of linked in could push it higher next. And twitters ceo manager of government, election and news adam sharp is going to join us with a look at the top tweeted moments thus far in cleveland when squawk alley continues. [announcer] is it a force of nature . Or a sales event . The summer of audi sales event is here. Get up to a 5,000 bonus on select audi models. Youre here to b great time for a shiny floor wax, no . Not if you just put the finishing touches on your latest masterpiece. Timings important. Comcast business knows that. Thats why you can schedule an installation at a time that works for you. Even late at night, or on the weekend, if thats what you need. Because you have enough to worry about. I did not see that coming. Dont deal with disruptions. Get Better Internet installed on your schedule. Comcast business. Built for business. Shares of microsoft getting a big boost up more than 6 after showing strong growth in its Cloud Business and beating earnings expectations. But with a bigger cloud competitor in amazon and a tough pc business, can microsoft keep the good times rolling from one market, walter price and ubs analyst brett phil join us. Walt eie walter, what one metric most impressed you out of the quarter and certainly as something that concerned you, let us know. Was it maybe the 108 Constant Currency growth in azure . The 59 growth in office 365 commercial . What was most impressive . Jon, you put your finger on the numbers most impressive. I think microsoft is showing that its a solid number two in the cloud with office 365 and they are now, by our estimates, running at about a 2 billion run rate. So i think, you know, they are moving to the cloud. And they are growing really rapidly. Thats impressive. How do you handicap microsofts likelihood of succeeding in areas like dynamics, like the linked in integration where there are a lot of question marks, not a lot of track record of microsoft specifically succeeding in those areas. And how important is success in those areas to a continued run in the stock . Success in dynamics which is their application suite is really important. We think in financials and crm, they are doing well. Sales force. Com is obviously the runaway Freight Train here. We think microsoft is a close second. Wed like to see microsoft pick up the pace a little more. Dynamics. We think theres a handful of acquisitions they can do that are really important. Linked in is critical. They have to nail this. This is their biggest deal theyve done. Three times larger than the last acquisition. And clearly theres no overlap with linked in. They are the largest professional data graph out there. We think theres some great Things Microsoft can do. But again, it does continue to be skeptical given the failure of large acquisitions that microsoft has had in the past. Theyve not been a good acquirer of big assets. This is the first big deal under nadella. He understands what it takes to preserve the culture of linked in and create synergies so he doesnt rock the boat as he brings in the linked in employee base. Early on the strategy looks good. Well see if they can execute it. To that end, the company is now going to be focused on digesting that massive linked in acquisition as brent just mentioned. Its p e ratio is 43 times. And the stock is up 20 in the last year. At what point would you say we still feel positively about microsoft but you should hold off on buying for now . I think a lot of people have been holding off on buying, after the last quarters results. There was a lot of concern about a transition and their server business and whether the cloud would offset that. I think this quarter shows the cloud is offsetting it and this transition is resulting in higher revenues to microsoft. So i grant that the stock has appreciated a lot, but i think when youre looking at the cloud and a several hundred billion dollar opportunity, the fact you are a solid number two, i think, means you have a lot of runway ahead of you and a lot of potential for appreciation if you execute. I want to go back to something you said about the dynamics business and applications from microsoft. You feel like there are a couple of tuckin acquisitions thats would be good for microsoft. Can you give us a couple of names and how essential you think it is for microsoft to acquire in order to grow that busine business . If you look at linked in, what they opened up was the pathway to human resources. So if you look at the dynamics product line today, they acquire great plans in that vision which were the foundation for the product line. Theyve had their product which theyve been building with small acquisitions. With linked in they open up all the employee records in the base. We think that community is a great community, but then you have to on board train, learn these employees, off board them, promote them. I think everyone is saying, hey, look. The natural extension here is in hr. Theres an opportunity here. I cant speculate on names. Thats against our firms policy but i would say the hr space in general we say is really attractive and its an area they dont have any footprint in right today. You cant say it, but i will. Work gate is in that space. Walter and bill, thanks for joining us. Thanks. When we come back, cybersecurity fears in cleveland. Why hackers are fighting to break into what is expected to be one of the most watched events in the world this week. Then we say goodbye to film and tv legend garry marshall. Squawk alley will be right back. Welcome back. Live from day three of the Republican National convention in cleveland, ohio. Its not just the protests worrying event organizers but hackers also targeting the event and state delegates. Were joined by eamon javers and what to watch. Obviously they know theyre under cyberattack here at the Republican National convention. I talked to the head of cybersecurity. Even before the convention started, they were already getting cyberattacks. He said they were seeing spearfishing emails, attempts to get peoples emails. They know there are hackers that want to disrupt the network. Theyre on high alert for that. On the political side, so much to watch as well. Including mike pences big speech tonight. This is the Vice President ial inaugural really. A coming out party for mike pence. And a lot to paper over here in terms of the differences between mike pence politically and donald trump politically. Papering over is what you do at a national convention. Bring all the different wings and pieces of the party together. Well see differences between pence and trump on things like the Transpacific Partnership which pence has supported and trump has not. Immigration. The muslim ban which pence was not comfortable with initially. Gay rights. Pence is an evangelical christian. Donald trump a lot warmer on gay rights issues than you might think. A couple of others that are just dividing lines between these two men. Abortion. Foreign policy. Iraq war that pence voted for that donald trump has made his opposition to a centerpiece of his campaign and guns. Smaller differences there. Iraq is really one of the key things donald trump has built his campaign on, and thats a big disagreement with mike pence and hillary clinton. Coming off that 60 minutes interview, this will be a moment thats his and his alone. A lot of criticism between the dynamic. Was it warm and fuzzy . Was it a real marriage or an arranged marriage . In politics, a lot of these are arranged marriages. They have to Work Together and get through it and get to the point they can appear together on the stage and have it feel like a team. And elements of surprise, potential surprises out of cruz . A lot of people are waiting to see if we get the cruz endorsement officially. Where he goes with that. A lot of people think that cruz has some ambitions in the future politically. How does he position himself for that . And then the other thing to watch is all the gossip in the hall. Were just hearing all kinds of interesting stuff. A lot of reporting by the media about the Melania Trump speech. Who was responsible for that . Does someone have to take a fall for that . A lot about the Vice President ial selection. Did someone else get the offer. Pence was always his first choice. Is that in fact the case. All that gossip swirling around in the hallways and the bars in Freedom Plaza as well. A lot to watch. Eamon javers. Garry marshall has passed away. Marshall was one of the most influential directors, writers, producers in hollywood. He created happy days Laverne Shirley and the odd couple. Directed pretty woman and the princess diaries. He sat down with us for binge just six weeks ago. You understand, so much of business evolves. Nobody sits down and says, oh, ive got a brilliant idea. I have an idea of a family, richie cunningham. Suddenly i put in this kid fonzie who had no lines. Suddenly he became the star of the show. We made a quick switch. If you can pinpoint the moment where you decide im going to take a gamble and make that part bigger, right . Is it winkler in rehearsarehear . Winkler in an audition . Was winkler not even there yet . You dont need a genius to do this work. You have to make sure you listen. Ive had this kid robin williams. Nobody ever heard of him. I brought him on as a guest on happy days. Nobody knew who he was but after the show, henry winkler, lets hear it for them. I could see, i could hear. I said this could be something. And thats when i immediately tried to create something. Garry marshall was 81 years old. Narrator the best place to find adventure. Kubo come on, this way. Narrator . Is in the forest. Kubo wow. Narrator so grab your loved ones monkey dont even. Narrator and explore a world of possibilities. Kubo its beautiful. Narrator visit discovertheforest. Org to find the closest forest or park to you. Good morning. Im sue herera. Heres your cnbc news update. Health officials in florida are investigating a possible case of the zika virus that was not carried into the u. S. From abroad. They are work with the cdc to conduct more lab testing. If confirmed, it would be the first case that originated in the continental united states. A prominent journalist was killed in ukraines capital by a car bomb. He died in an explosion as he got into his car to drive to work. He had irked officials in belarus and russia with his independent reporting before he moved to ukraine. He was 44 years old. Vice President Joe Biden arriving in new zealand with his granddaughters in tow. He landed in auckland where he assured leaders the u. S. Would not retreat from the asiapacific strategy no matter who the next president might be. And pepper, the humanoid robot making its fashion debut in tokyo. Pepper hit the market in 2015 with sales nearing 10,000. Its maker is softbank robotics. They hope this new duds hes wearing and the applications tailored to corporate customers will increase sales. Nice bow tie. Thats the cnbc news update this hour. Back down to you, kayla. Thanks, sue. Europe closed just a few minutes ago. Lets bring in simon with that. Tomorrow is ecb day. You can see the markets have risen in europe on the back of the strength of earnings. There are two key names at the top of the leaderboard. One is oracles main competitor s. A. P. And we can Design Systems to deal with your brexit, however you have to rejig your businesses. In effect its the higher margin prepackaged Software Sales that have boosted the result there. So you see that s. A. P. Is a top gainer. Volkswagen preannounced today. Came out with operating profits down 22 and its taking another 2 billion euro charge for the scandal. But still, better than people expected. See the stock has risen. On the down side today, electrolux has fallen. The appliancemaker in sweden beat expectations but its slowing sales in this country that seem to be worrying people. And then Anglo American reducing its fullyear. And bhp billiton. You see that negative complex. During the course of the next half hour or so, brexit becomes center stage again. Here you see theresa may in her first prime ministers question time earlier today in london where she defended her partys desire to have a party surplus over the long term but vague on migration. She moved to berlin for her first meeting with Angela Merkel as prime minister. We have a News Conference in half an hour. Simon, thank you. From Melania Trumps controversial speech to celebrity appearances and Chris Christies mock prosecution of hillary clinton, the rnc is home to very tweetable moments. Lets dig in to whats resinating most. Adam sharp is the head of news, government and elections for twitter. And he joins us at the rnc in cleveland. Good to have you back. Good morning. Whats resonated the most . No surprise here the trump family has driven a lot of this conversation. Monday night Melania Trump. Last night the trump children were Big Conversation starters. N then also the allies from the new york area. Rudy giuliani, Chris Christies speech is driving a lot of conversation this week. Any question that the speech and the controversy surrounding melanias speech was number one . Absolutely. And its funny. Weve sat here many times before and the charts when we look at these tweets are always the same. That one big spike during the speech. Thats usually it for the night. This week we saw something unique. A little after midnight. A reporter sitting in a starbucks said that sounds familiar and sent a tweet comparing it to the speech by Michelle Obama and a whole new arc and story developed overnight setting the agenda. Here we are on day three. Donald trump tweets again, good news is, melanias speech got more publicity than any in the history of politics, especially if you believe that all press is good press. I guess the saying goes, as long as they spell your name write. Twitter is elongating some of these new cycles. Although its criticized for shortening some news psyche elgs. Its setting the news cycle. This story developed after midnight on the east coast. After all the networks had gone off the air for the night. All the framework youd expect to set the news agenda for the next morning had already turned the lights off. Here a conversation started on twitter overnight. The video developed overnight from a reporter in new york. By morning this was all people were talking about. This was the community of viewers and voters on twitter that set the agenda for the next day. You guys have been busy. We pointed this out many times with elections. But wimbledon now, were going to be getting football this fall. Just got this nba original content deal signed this week. Are we going to recognize twitter in six months, in 12 months . I think twitter in six, 12 months is going to be the twitter that its been from the start. A place for people to connect quickly with live events everybody is talking about. The differences are going to be how do we make that experience better . From the starkts people have been turning to twitter around Major Political events. Sports games. Awards shows and so on. Now its all on one screen. Watch the Convention Live on video at the top of your screen while still tweeting and following the tweets below it. Its a great integrated experience you can take with you anywhere. Now weve got this controversy this week regarding comedian leslie jones who said she was leaving twitter after deal with trolls that were tweeting some racist content. Twitter took a response, for, some argue, the first time. What is twitter trying to do about it . Nobody should be the target of direct abuse on the platform. Every user should feel safe. Weve clearly not done enough to address that. Were taking several steps right now. Weve suspended a lot of accounts this week where there had been a rampup of activity. Were also going to be rolling out policy changes to make it easier for reporters to take action. Are you going to clamp down more on the right or the left . How do you avoid that problem . The rules are publicly stated and we enforce them equally. Looking at this convention with thousands of conservative voices coming out of this hallwait ttw convention and nominee. Adam sharp joining us from twitter. Controversy in Silicon Valley over peter thiel speaking at the rnc. A hotly debated topic. First, Rick Santelli, what are you watching today . I changed everything i was watching after i heard you and larry kudlow talking. You know what . Heres what i want to know. Is the economy really rocking and rolling . Or is it just a central bankinduced fantasy . Were going to talk about that after the break. Coming up, another record for stocks. Are there more buy signals or warning signs for investors . Plus, you wont believe what what analyst says could give apple a monster boost. Well speak to laura martin life. And cape kelly on what bill ackman is telling investors today on a Conference Call going on live as we speak. John, see you in about 15. Looking forward to it. Lets get to the cme group. Rick santelli has the santelli exchange. Of course, this is the week of the gop convention. Of course, philadelphia will be the home of the democratic convention. As much as i dont like wading in the pool of politics, its impossible not to when you cover the markets. This morning we had our lawrence of america, larry kudlow, talking to Carl Quintanilla in cleveland on the Convention Floor about a very important topic. Everybody needs to understand. On one hand you talk to the average guy out there, they just dont feel the love of the economy. But yet if you look at the numbers, it seems as though there is some love there. The Unemployment Rate, obviously, its pretty low. And many of the statistics arent great, but they are sustainable 2 . So heres the issue as i see it. And if you look at the Unemployment Rate, its a loaded, a jaded statistic. We all know that it. It was brought up in that conversation when you look at participation, percentage of population. All of it leads you to roads that dont really seem to demonstrate a certain strength in the economy. But heres the real crux of the matter. Its about janet, janet yellin and the fed and the middle class. Because heres what it boils down to. Lets keep this simple, shall we . If you look at Socio Economic barometer of our country, the top and the bottom most likely seem to be pay more attention to whats going to happen in philadelphia. It seems to be the middle that is moving brexit votes, moving some of the polls, created a candidate in the form of donald trump. So what is it exactly . Heres my rationale. If the economy was good, then why cant they raise rates . Its a simple question. And you cant have it both ways. And i think that when you look at the middle class and you especially think about the middle class and all the numbers of potential voters that just dont show up, probably dont show up in many of the polls, i think that is a dynamic that were witnessing firsthand. And i really think that when janet yellin and group meet in july, theyre going to talk about all the good things theyve always talked about. But either its good or it isnt. Theres only one way to prove it. If you arent tighten, its not really that good. Thanks Rick Santelli in chicago. When we come back, our next guest drawing some heat from an article he published this morning on the Silicon Valley trump supporter as an endangered species. More squawk alley up next. Youre here to buy your Business Needs Better Technology to drive better performance. So you need it to be reliable and fast. Really fast. Introducing the comcast business Summer Savings event. Fast Internet Speed to drive performance, plus cutting edge wifi for your employees and customers, and voice mobility so your calls find you wherever you are. Get some of our most advanced products at a great price with over 500 in savings. Call today and ask how to get these savings plus a 250 prepaid card. Comcast business. Built for business. Keeping the power lines clear,my job to protect public safety, while also protecting the environment. The Natural World is a beautiful thing, the work that we do helps us protect it. Public education is definitely a big part of our job, to teach our customers about the best type of trees to plant around the power lines. We want to keep the power on for our customers. We want to keep our community safe. This is our community, this is where we live. We need to make sure that we have a beautiful place for our children to live. Together, were building a better california. The Tech Industry will be represented at the Republican Convention tomorrow. Billionaire tech investor and paypal cofounder peter thiel Takes Center Stage just before the republican nominee, donald trump, is set to speak. After letters from technology leaders, highlighting serious concerns with trumps policies. Joining us now, a New York Times columnist, whose new article says peter thiels embrace of trump has Silicon Valley squirming and joining us also a Senior Writer from fortune. You call this appearance high beta. What do you mean by that . I mean hes doing a risky thing, basically. He is an outlier in the valley. His views are sort of not representative of most people here, and as you said, most people here basically not only dont support trump but have been sort of vociferously against him. Peter is threading the needle. Trying to espouse his views at the convention, and if trump wins, hell have, you know, a seat at the table in a way most other people in the Tech Industry wont. Its a canny strategy, but it sort of risks, you know, like altering the perception of Silicon Valley as being supporters of trump which they really arent. And theres a piece in the journal today titled trumps mum supporters exploring social risks associated with voting for donald trump. People dont want to admit theyre voting for him but admit to a ground swell of support. Do you think there are trump supporter, people not willing to share that view publicly . If there are, they are being very, very quiet, because we have not heard from them. Like was said, thiel has been a lone voice and has followers. Not only on the financial side and investment side but on the political side, too, and there is a growing Libertarian Movement in Silicon Valley. So i wouldnt be surprised if there are some other, you know, key people out there who are going to support trump, but they have certainly not been vocal about it, like peter thiel has. The other side of this. Maybe in a way low beta for Silicon Valley. Many have it in their heads they have it to nin for conservative. Maybe peter thiel at Republican Convention being protrump is good for Silicon Valleys image making them look evenhanded. Look, maybe half of actually in favor of republicans, though we know thats not true. What do you say to that . Its possible. I get the sense, though, most people outside the valley have a perception that its sort of full of libertarians and full of people like peter thiel and thats totally wrong, and so i think that theres a danger that hes going to sort of give the country this view of the valley that i think it doesnt it really doesnt want to have. I mean, if you look at how people are here, like, their views tend to align mostly with those of democrats and barack obama did really well here. Hillary clinton has raised a lot of money here and trump hasnt. So i think but theyre not hanging out with the semiconductor folks and the networking folks. Some of those people down in the south bay can get a little bit more conservative. But even even theyve backed down. You know, we had brian, the ceo of intel, that was supposed to host a fundraiser. He says it was just supposed to be a conversation with trump at his home in Silicon Valley, and that raised such an uproar he basically backed down and cancelled the event. So i dont know if he is a trump supporter. But he obviously doesnt want to be perceived as one. That says a lot. There is a hazard, though, guys, of using the sentiment of executives, and from that extrapolating the views of the entire country. You cant judge based on the way the firstclass section thinks that everyone in economy feels the same way. I wonder if theres a sense the rank and file tech workers feel any different than their leaders do on this . Youve got to remember, like, the kinds of people who work in Silicon Valley. A multicultural place. Its a High Education place. Its sort of just demographically not the kind of place that is, you would expect to find a lot of trump supporters, and you notice it in voting patterns. Like barack obama did very well here. Like, sort of better here than, like, the average in the country. It would be surprising if thats the case. Its possible. As you said, there are social costs to admitting that youre a trump voter. Its possible that people are being very quiet about it. Quickly, you agree . Absolutely. I live in Silicon Valley, in the heart of Silicon Valley and say i talk to more kind of rank and file Bernie Sanders supporters still. Than trump. That says something. We did have a partner from gray lock weigh in. I like your piece, but not the same at Silicon Valley anymore than youre the same as just, quote unquote, journalism as a whole. Certainly interesting to yeah. Thats what i was trying to say. Like, the theres a, theres a worry, i think among people here that thiels views will be taken as the views of the valley and i was trying to say theyre not. Check san jose, walnut creek, suburbs in the east bay. Plenty of conservatives. Maybe dispatch you there. Ive been there. Dont have to go back. Appreciate both of your insights and will hear what thiel has to say when he takes the stage tomorrow. Carl, out to you. All right. Guys. Coming up, yet another milestone for facebook. Stocks at an alltime high. Talk about has it when squawk alley continues. Facebook crossing a milestone. Over 1 billion user are on Facebook Messenger around the world. The messaging platform primarily allowing you to send messages and extends to functions like eventually payments, more shopping, talking to businesses, games, emojis. Doing more and more of that stuff, kayla, and this is 1 billion, a landmark that facebook definitely shoots for as a sign of scale. They talk about monetizing these platforms when they hit 1 billion users. Now thats the question for messenger now. As well as whatsapp. And back to carl in cleveland. Hey, guys. Interesting market day shaping up. S p 7174. Numbers we, a lot of people probably didnt think we would see prior to brexit. Now up 7 plus, postbrexit. Of course, tonight, cnbcs coverage of the rnc begins, 10 00 p. M. Eastern time. Nominee, mike pence, speaking. That does it for us in squawk alley at headquarters. Now up to scott wapner and the half. Guys, thanks so much. Welcome to the halftime report. Im scott wapner on a day where the markets are hitting record highs again. Well debate whether there are more warning signs or buy signals for investors, but first, new at noon today, bill ackman fighting back this hour on the state of his firm. The herbalife settlement and a lot more. Kate kelly joins us with the latest. Just jumped off of the Pershing Square quarterly investors call, responding in characteristic detail to an ftc settlement late last week with herbal lyfe over charges they