Thats right, carl. President trump tweeting from his handle realdonaldtrump my daughter, ivanka, has been treated so unfairly by nordstrom. She is a great person, always pushing me to do the right thing. Terrible this is in response to nordstrom saying that they have pulled their merchandise, as every year, at 10 of the goods they sell and make decisions based on what is selling and what is not. Some read that as the impact of the boycott on donald trump and trump merchandise at a variety of retailers. That news came in the middle of last week. So, in some ways, its a bit surprising its taken the president this long to say anything, if he has at least chosen to Say Something at this point. Shares of nordstrom did fall initially and they have responded, sitting right about unchanged at this point. Carl . Courtney, were going to watch that, see if it hangs in there. Thank you very much. Spencer rascoff, i know we want to get to immigration and certainly your earnings, but how do you think nordstrom should respond . How much fear do ceos live in regarding these tweets . I can tell you people are scrambling at nordstrom headquarters in seattle right now. I mean, this is every management teams worst nightmare, to be singled out on a platform like twitter by the president. So im not quite sure what i would do, actually, if i were the ceo of twitter or the person running social media twitter. I guess you issue a statement that says we made this decision for business reasons, which is what they said last week when they announced they were going to discontinue the line, and you stick with that statement and you just hope that it passes within a couple of hours, which it probably will. Spencer, on zillow, some people disappointed with the guidance, and particularly with the fundamentals of the business, how just momentum in terms of usage was going. Are they overly concerned . The stocks down. Your stocks down, zillow group, about 7 this morning. Well, we recorded a great q4 in terms of revenue and profit ahead of expectation, but the stock reacts to forwardlooking guidance and the guidance we gave in 2017 was a strong number, over 1 billion in revenue, which for a company only 10 years old is impressive. But we said wed do around 200 million of ebitda this year and some shortterm investors would like us to be more profitable in the near term. Our perspective, of course, is that were making investments we think will pay off down the road. Were spending tens of millions buying Software Tools for Real Estate Agents that makes them more effective and efficient. The reason is, if theyre more efficient, we think theyll buy more ads from us. And were spending over 100 million advertising our brands, but those two investments have the effect of making 2017 profit lower than some would like. We think theyre the right decisions for the long term. How correlated is your business going to be with the Housing Market here, especially as we see Mortgage Rates start to tick up on the back of higher Interest Rates since the election, spencer . So, housing is slowing a little bit. Last year home values were up around 7 . This year we expect 3 to 4 appreciation and rents up 2 last year, this year about 1 . What tends to happen, though, when housing slows is theres a flight to quality in terms of selecting great agents and also a flight to quality in terms of how agents advertise. And because Online Advertising for real estate is measurable and its efficient, effective and scaleable and leads go into software, we do very, very well, actually. And you see this in our data from 2008 during the last housing recession. We do very well when housing actually slows down, because offline advertising tends to migrate online. All that having been said, were not actually forecasting any type of housing recession. In fact, we think that Mortgage Rates have a long way to go on the up side before it really impacts housing at all. We just think the rate of appreciation this year will be a little slower than it was last year. Interesting. Journal has a big piece this morning on commercial real estate. Some metrics declining for the First Time Since 09. Any worries that what were seeing in commercial might start to bleed into residential . Well, the dynamics in commercial and residential are the same in that its just simple supply and demand. What weve seen in residential is there just hasnt been enough supply. So new construction Housing Starts are finally picking up off the bottom, but were still a couple hundred thousand units per year light on new construction, and particularly on multifamily. So finally, were seeing apartment buildings come online that were permanent two or three years ago and thats why rents are moderating. The same dynamics in commercial its all about the rate of development, once shovels are in the ground. Two or three years later, the supply comes online and tends to moderate rents, or in the case of commercial, lease terms. Before we move on to immigration, spencer, i wanted to ask how you feel about ben carson leaving the department of housing and urban development. What do you think of that pick and what else do you think well get from the Trump Administration as far as it relates to housing . I dont know dr. Carson personally, although we look forward to working with him. Weve always had a very close working relationship at zillow group with hud, fha, fannie, freddie, the treasury and the white house, so well certainly be working with the hud staff, and hopefully, the secretary, once he gets confirmed. You know, the partnership between zillow group and housing experts in d. C. And in state capitols has always been important. Were an important voice on housing because of the size of our consumer audience, so its important for us to work with government to shape housing policy. Spencer, moving on to the immigration ban, temporary ban that the president has tried to put in place by executive order, is going through the courts right now. I know that seattle is a very diverse tech hub. A lot of the companies there have come out against this. What exactly is the objection from your perspective . I mean, i know lots of people say the rollout of this executive order was basically botched, but theres also an argument that congress has delegated this power to the executive to control who comes into and out of the country. How does this get fixed in your view . Forget about how it was executed in the first place. Well, zillow group has come out against this ban. We think its bad for business. We think its bad for the country. And frankly, i dont think it makes america safer. I think it makes us less safe. Our objection to it is it cuts at the very center of the culture of the country, which welcomes refugees, including my great grandparents, and it welcomes immigrants from all countries. So, i hope that our immigration policy can find a better way to balance the importance of keeping the country safe but also the importance of keeping this country one that welcomes immigrants. And the reason that you see tech leaders speaking out so passionately about this is because tech and immigration are inextricably intertwined. I mean, the innovation that immigrants bring to this country, the ingenuity, the entrepreneurialism, a lot of that is the lifeblood of the Tech Industry, and thats why people are so passionate about this within my tech community. Although, spencer, im sure youve heard, though, supporters of the president this is not a ban, this is a pause. Why do you not believe its worth taking a moment, 120 days or whatever, to reassess our protocol . Well, i mean, i dont think that you can single out individual countries, for starters. I think thats problematic. I think the other problem here is that the way the rest of the world is reporting this is the u. S. Has banned muslims from entering america, right . So, for better or for worse, thats what people in europe, thats what people in the middle east are hearing. That makes america less safe. So i think from a practical standpoint, its really endangered america by creating this propaganda bonanza for people outside of this country that would do us harm by giving them the opportunity to say that weve banned muslims from entering the United States. So, i wish that it had been done in a different way. And i know that were going to be working to create a more comprehensive immigration policy, potentially including h1b visas, which are also the lifeblood of the technology industry. And as i say, i hope we can do it in a way that balances the important needs of Public Safety with the importance of making america continue to be a place that immigrants feel welcome. But spencer, how, then, do you balance that . How do you make that calculation as an executive, to come out within two weeks of a new president to object to his new executive order . If we started off the segment talking about the tweet risk, the fact that nordstrom shares are down, without getting in his crosshairs . Well, ive decided that my litmus test, our companys litmus test will be that we only speak out on issues that directly affect our employees or our industry. Thats tech and housing. So youre not going to hear me speaking out around issues of abortion or gun control or other things that dont directly affect housing or tech. Immigration i believe directly affects tech, so thats why on this issue weve decided to speak out and make our opinion known. But there are other executives that have a different litmus test that are using their pulpit as an executive running a Public Company to express their views on all matters of things. For us, were going to focus on tech and housing and immigration is one of those issues that does affect us. At the beginning of this segment, spencer, you said wait a couple hours, maybe it will pass. Nordstrom shares are essentially flat, moments after that president ial tweet. Well see what happens later today. Its good to see you. Thanks. Thank you for having me. Spencer rascoff. And we want to check in on the Broader Market here because stocks have made a little bit of a comeback from some earlier declines. Right now the s p has just gone positive. So is the nasdaq. The dow is still off, way off the lows, down about 30 points. Some individual movers were keeping track of today btig upgrading twitter to buy from neutral, citing acceleration in daily active users in the u. S. As a catalyst. Notable call. Twitter up a bit. Also, facebook within striking distance of fresh alltime high. Bank of america this morning adding the stock to its us1 buy list, saying in the wake of snapchats ipo filing, facebook will face less Competitive Pressure than expected. Facebook also announcing its doubling its bereavement leave for employees, on an unrelated note, but obviously a personal one for coo sheryl sandberg. The stock is getting a boost after earnings and after this call from b of a. I also think, you know, on the bereavement lot calls, its interesting to watch these policies come from Silicon Valley in the absence of government policies. Its not a law, for instance, that they have to pay their employees to take time off after an immediate Family Member has deceased. But well continue to watch for that. It does speak to the tight job market, the tight labor market in tech. Theyve got to compete for engineers especially, but talent across the board, across any number of different not just immigrants. Yeah. Thats part of the reason why they argue so much for h1b visas, is because they have that tightness. Interesting to see twitter pop so much on a lot of people attributing it to these antiharassment policies that they are putting in place. It speaks a lot to the need for retention in social media right now. Facebook has clearly demonstrated that. Were going to see more from snap. Weve got their s1, finally, but theyre making a strong argument for not just overall retention, but retaining users in developed markets who actually pull in the advertising dollars. Certainly for twitter, it is about north america that moves the needle more than anything else. When we come back, steve forbes this morning calling the house border tax proposal insane, but what are investors thinking . The answers next. Bob iger of disney talks to Julia Boorstin on everything from espn to immigration. Later, why jeff bezos says someones source at the New York Post mixed up their meds. Dow is in the red as oil has gone back green. Back in a minute. Your Insurance Company wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong Insurance Company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. And if you have more than one Liberty Mutual policy, you qualify for a multipolicy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. A new market risk unfolding before our eyes this morning. The president of the United States targeting individual companies on his social media account and in rhetoric. Nordstrom just the latest example, as the president just tweeted out, my daughter, ivanka, has been treated so unfairly from nordstrom. Terrible. Lets bring in the chief investment strategist at wisdomtree investments and kim wallace, managing director and ahead of washington policy research at Renaissance Macro research. Thanks for joining us. Luciano, it does speak to the fact that there is a lot of headline risk right now, whether its coming from twitter. I just wonder how much of it is algorithms looking to pick up this stuff affecting the Broader Market right now . Well, the president , donald trump has shown this last 18 months, if you hit him or you hit his brand, hes going to hit back twice as hard. Were going to need to get used to this. This is a new style of governing. Its a combination of a affirmative campaign and a calculated way about how you create incent and an ability to get your agenda done, targeting a relatively small part of the population. The president won. He won the electoral mandate, and he has a congress thats there willing to work with him, so were going to have to see, you know, how do we adjust in a world where he has a great deal of power and different levers he can use to push through his agenda, and tweeting is one of them. Kim, how do you tell investors to adjust to this new reality, from the twitter targets to the fact that the ceos are more engaged than weve seen in a very long time at white house with all those photo ops and policy advice . Ceos are usually engaged in the white house. Its a more public exercise than it has been in the past, and i dont expect that to change the outcomes very much. But in terms of the president s style of communication over the last two months, people have grown accustomed to it, and i think discounting those temporary hits to stock prices because it has become very customary. Luciano, lets talk about the tpp. I know youve put a lot of thought into this. When it comes to how it affects u. S. Trade in asia, which is clearly an area where theres a lot of growth, companies are very interested in doing better there, and even when it comes to how its going to affect relationships and the trade balance with mexico, which is now perhaps looking more toward china with its trade relationship with the u. S. More uncertain. Which of those relationships or maybe another one do you view as most interesting as we track the progress from here . Luciano. Oh, its addressed to me. Well, i would say the market i think is starting to take a look at whats going to happen with trade. You know, the market has swelled up about 2 trillion in market value since the election, and a lot of that was discounting the potential for tax cuts, tax reform, some type of infrastructure spend and regulatory relief. All of those things could be good for the economy and could justify how our stock price is. I think what the market is looking at now is what happens if you actually start to get some tariffs, particularly if you start with china, because theres a 500 billion trade deficit. Chinas about 350 billion of it. And the president s been very outspoken about that economic threat coming from china. And you can just look at Peter Navarro and the work that hes done, death by china. Theres definitely an agenda there that will look to be very aggressive and view china through an economic lens going forward. One of those could come in the form of Corporate Tax reform that border adjustment tax being hotly debated by republicans right now. Steve forbes was on squawk box earlier this morning. He came out swinging against it. Listen. The republicans are now proposing this crazy tax. Theyre going to punish American Consumers over 100 billion a year, give subsidies to boeing and ge, so were going to help foreign consumers in china and iran, punish American Consumers. Its insane thats one viewpoint on it, kim. What are you telling your clients about how likely this border adjustment tax is to pass . Well, were telling clients its unlikely to pass in its current form, and the current form is really a concept. The earlier piece you ran demonstrates some of the pushback against it. My view is that both sides, proponents and opponents, have overplayed their hand in terms of the rhetoric. Well wait until a draft comes out. Chairman brady says that will be in june. Well take a look at it. But in terms of how you frame this discussion, i do think the previous speaker had a point it will come down to whether or not, in rhetoric, at least, whether you support ge or whether you support walmart, and that will have an effect politically. On your earlier point on trade, the transpacific partnership, and a lot of trade deals, have a lot more to do with geopolitical relationship than economics with the u. S. Thats the loss of walking away from tpp, in my judgment. Luciano, really broadly before we go, on the markets. We talk about these policy complications. Weve got bullish sentiment at a 12year high. Weve seen some anecdotal insider selling. Are you still looking out for a sort of januaryfebruary dip, even one that can be bought . Yeah, there might be a buying opportunity coming up. This can be typically a period of seasonal weakness in the dollar the next six to eight weeks, but i would say big picture, the market needs to get not just earnings growth, but lower corporate rates that start to feel like theyre going to happen, either later this year or next year. If you get focus on trade and immigration, those are the type of things that can spook the markets, particularly the multinationals that depend much more on multinational agreements all around the world, and the framework, frankly, that the u. S. Has built over the last 70 years. Well leave it there, gentlemen. Thank you so much for joining us. Luciano s yoo siracusano, and k wallace. As we head to break it appears intel Ceo Brian Krzanich is going to meet with the president , donald trump, at the white house later today. We know that krzanich has talked to us about the importance of immigration to intel. Its a big part of their story, so well see what, if anything, he has to say after that meeting. And still to come on squawk alley, a lot of investors might have left apple for dead months ago, but its been creeping back toward an alltime high. Policy risks, though, from washington could put the rally on hold. But first, disneys ceo, bob iger, goes on the record with cnbc, weighing in on everything from espn to china. An allout trade war with china would be damaging i think to our business, to disneys business and to business in general, and something i think we have to be careful about. Hey gary, whatd you got here . This bad boy is a mobile trading desk so that i can take my Trading Platform wherever i go. You know that thinkorswim seamlessly syncs across all your devices, right . Oh, so my custom studies will go with me . Anywhere you want to go the markets hot sync your platform on any device with thinkorswim. Only at Td Ameritrade disney, as you probably know by now, had mixed results after the close, sales coming in below estimates. Julia boorstin caught up with bob iger and asked him about everything from espn to immigration. Good morning, julia. Reporter good morning, carl. Disney shares turned around, trading at over 1 after bob iger said hes open to extending its contract and is open to espn benefiting from digital tv packages. I think theres way too much pessimism about espn, because espn is still in demand from three constituents you want to be in demand the most from one, distributors, two, consumers, and three, advertisers. And the reason its in demand is the brand is still strong, the product is still good. Reporter with disneys new shanghai park lifting the theme park divisions results, iger says hes focused on policies that will benefit disney and other companies. The relationship this company has with china is certainly important, both from a movie perspective, from a parks perspective, from a Consumer Products perspective. An allout trade war with china i think would be damaging to our business, disneys business, and to business in general. Reporter iger also saying he opposes the president s ban on immigrants and he believes serving on the president S Advisory Council is a great opportunity to be the sole representative of the media industry. This nation was founded by immigrants, and i think where we are as a nation is due to having an openness to the people of the world. Its incredibly important. And i happen to firmly believe that we cannot shut our borders to immigrants. Reporter you can find more from my interview with disney ceo bob iger on cnbc. Com. Carl . Ill take it, julia, thank you. And we will look for that. Up next on squawk alley, Walt Mossberg weighing in on the debate between President Trump and big tech over immigration. Plus, is the apple rally at risk of slowing down . Details next. Dows down about 30 points. Good morning, everybody. Im sue herera. Here is your cnbc news update at this hour. Thousands of families in louisiana are picking up the pieces of their lives after several tornadoes touched down late yesterday. Some in east new orleans say the destruction they suffered is worse than hurricane katrina. No deaths reported, but about 40 people were injured. Voting started in somalias groundbreaking president ial election amid a security lockdown that has closed the capitals International Airport and cleared major streets. And reuters just reporting that the former prime minister, Mohammed Abdullah pharfarmajao won. There were threats of attacks by al shabaab that limited the elections of legislators. Pope francis appealing to the word to build bridges and not walls during his weekly audience with the faithful. The pope has been critical in the past of President Trumps plan to build a wall on the mexican border. And a survey by creditcards. Com reveals about 12 million americans have concealed a bank or a credit card account from their spouse or partner. Baby boomers were found to be nearly four times as likely than millennials to have that secret account. That is the news update at this hour. Lets get back downtown to squawk alley. Thats not very good news, i dont think. I dont know. A lot of raised eyebrows on that one, sue. Yes, indeed. Thank you. Sue herera back at hq. Another mixed close in europe. Seema mody is at hq as well. The conversation continues around the upcoming french election. Intelligence today put out a note saying theres a 20 chance populist Leader Marine Le Pen wins the presidency. A mix of red and green here after the close, but it is the Political Risk in europe that continues to push investors into german bonds and yields creeping up in italy and france. So, that divergence in the bond market is a story that continues into wednesday as well. Meantime, a lot of stocks are on the move, particularly in the auto sector. Europes carmaker association today forecasting that eu car sales will only increase by around 1 this year. Thats a sharp slowdown from what we saw last year when we saw growth of around 6 . The association citing uncertainty around macroeconomic conditions and political developments. Auto stocks are down in todays trade. Cardinalsbe carlsberg declining. And if we look at shares, a sizable quarterly net loss. It had its dividend. This is the danish shipping giant. They are in the process of breaking its business, one into shipping and the other on oilrelated entities. And the uk oil exporter, Quarterly Earnings disappointed, saying costcutting will be a focus in 2018. So, while oil numbers have rebounded from last year, many of the shipping players have yet to recover. Thank you, seema. Seema, thank you very much. Weve got the s p going positive to flat. Oil has gone positive, but the dow remains in the red, tune of about 34 points. Jpmorgan and goldman are the laggards, as the 10year remains close to two, three, four. Only at t offers you all your live channels and dvr on your devices, datafree. Its entertainment. Your way. Knows how it feels to seees your numbers go up, despite your best efforts. But what if you could turn things around . What if you could love your numbers . Discover oncedaily invokana®. Its the 1 prescribed sglt2 inhibitor that works to lower a1c. 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See you in a few. Good to have you in the house again, scott. Thank you very much. Lets get to Rick Santelli earlier than usual for the santelli exchange. Hey, rick. Oh, early, late, its all fine with me. Lets see, what do we want to talk about . I know what we can talk about today, one of the big threads as of late, very late, is the notion, can stocks survive and survive meaning to the up side when rates are moving lower, and can they survive supermodels . Im not talking about the type of supermodel, of course, thats married to the quarterback that won the super bowl. Im talking more about trading models. And well get to all of that in a second. Lets take it in order. There have been plenty of times in history where weve seen both correlation and anti or noncorrelated activity between stock Market Pricing and Interest Rates. Just to take a walk through history, the biggest and one of my most vivid memories being a trader in the fixed income treasury futures and options arena in the 80s was the 1987 crash. We all know how that played out. It was the stock markets down side that ultimately put so much buying in the treasuries as the only true hedge at that time during all the confusion and emotion, that even Options Markets that were out of the money in three or four trading sessions were many, many, many points deep in the money. I remember some calls that i bought for 12 or 13, the 60 force, and ended up getting out of them for many full points. All right, the most probably familiar model as of late is post crisis, of course, when the federal reserve, their strategy was to keep Interest Rates low and buy the Interest Rate products that they couldnt keep low, meaning on the short end overnight rate and buying various points on the curve, especially long maturities, to keep rates low. We all know how that turned out, of course. It did put a bottom in stocks and put a bottom in many Financial Assets as well. Now it comes to the current time, post election. We all know what has occurred. Weve seen big moves up in rates, big moves up in stocks. And heres where the supermodels come in. Since thats the most recent memory the market has, it takes a while to extinguish. My own personal feeling is theres more pushing rates down via culprits overseas that i do think that this chapter is not going to only afford potentially better ins on a long stock position, but i think it opens the door for a bit of a correction on Interest Rates that may have nothing to do with the potential for future growth under some of the policies Current Administration promises to put into legislation. Jon fortt, back to you. Thank you, Rick Santelli. Now, if you got apple in your christmas stocking, congratulations. Its up about 14 year to date, very strong start in 2017. The stocks now approaching alltime highs, but as always, skeptics are raising red flags. Josh liptons in San Francisco with that story. Josh. Reporter well, jon, apples stock just a few bucks shy of reaching its alltime intraday high of 134. 54, which remember it hit back in april of 2015. When i recently spoke to tim cook, the ceo sounding a bullish tone the health and future of his flagship product, the iphone. He pointed to Strong Demand for the 7 and 7 plus as well as success in emerging markets like brazil and russia. Investors appear equally optimistic. Apple is now up some 13 this year in 2017, and its up about 8 since reporting earnings just last week. That run since that Earnings Report can be traced back in part to the iphones performance. We had that surprise, and the stock has continued moving higher. Cook telling me that apple saw the highest number of android switchers ever in the quarter. And analysts say that q2 guide does look conservative. Now investors are looking ahead to the march quarter, and details on a new capital return program. Bernsteins tony sack naggie says repatriation tax return could trigger a share repurchase, noting a 75 billion accelerated buyback would boost forward earnings by 13 . Sakinagi also points out that apple stock usually outperforms before introductions. But there are skeptics. Barclays points to nixing down by iphone users and longer cycles. And tariffs would prove a headache for cooks company. Right now the street is focused on the good news. Nearly 80 of analysts rate apple a buy. Jon, back to you. All right. Thank you, josh. And with more on techs recent run and apple, lets bring in Walt Mossberg, executive editor at the verge, and megan quinn, general partner with smart capital. Good morning to you both. Good morning, jon. Walter, i want to start with you. It seems emotions are running higher than usual on apple in the investor community. People hated it, now they love it, it seems to follow the stock. But when i look at apple right now and what people expect for the next iphone, the bar is set higher than ive ever seen it set. Are you comfortable with that in terms of the pacing and what youre expecting to see from apple this year . Well, i couldnt agree with you more. I mean, they need a spectacular iphone release this year. I think the iphone 7 and 7 plus, you know, certainly sold remarkably well in the Fourth Quarter in a market where its very hard to eke out the kind of growth they used to have, and they certainly didnt. They have less growth. Still, its an amazing number, 78 million phones in 90 days or so. But people are anticipating something special, something really special, for the tenyear anniversary of the iphone, which is later this year. And as we just heard, the replacement cycle seems to be stretching out. So, i think there are people waiting. There are people sitting and waiting to see what they can do with this now pretty mature device. Right. And megan, what are vcs doing in terms of investment . The smartphone has gotten pretty mature on growth has tapered off. But often when that happens in a product cycle, theres opportunity for the applicationmakers, for others who want to capitalize on that. Where are you seeing opportunity . Absolutely. We continue to think that the iphone and the app platform will generate meaningful revenue for developers, startups, and apple itself. I think theres an important point to look at with their earnings last quarter. They did 7. 3 billion in services revenue, which is up significantly year over year, and yet, still only represents 9 of their overall revenue. So, as they continue to potentially invest in things like content, as has been more frequent in recent days, theres a lot of head room for apple within the Services Part of their business. Walt, josh mentioned some of the pros and cons that could come from a Trump Administration for an apple, the pros being a cash repatriation of foreign earnings, tax reform. The cons, obviously, on trade tariffs and on opposition to some policies like immigration. How do you weigh those, and which one do you think will end up helping or hurting apple during trump . Well, you know, i think apple has, even before President Trump took office, we all know that apple planted a very strong flag in the ground over privacy and security of the iphone, and actually, all of its products, but particularly the iphone, and had that big public fight with the fbi. I think that fight is much harder under President Trump. And to the extent customers here and abroad actually see it as less of a privacyprotecting product, thats going to hurt them. I also think the immigration thing is a huge issue for not just apple but everyone in tech. And you can see that by the way theyve begun to come together in a very strong way on these legal briefs and letters and things like that. And its not because of the very limited h1b visa program we hear about, which certainly could be reformed and certainly could be tied to better education and training for Domestic Workers its because its just in the culture. So many Tech Companies are run by immigrants. I mean, at apple, tim cook is not an immigrant, but johnny eid is a brit, and he designs everything. But its just google, microsoft, tesla. Its just on and on through tech. So, yeah, i think to the if we watch how this immigration thing goes, not just this executive order, but particularly if it broadens out, thats a big problem for tech. Yeah. You know, megan, people who are not in Silicon Valley, they have some signposts as to how the valley is responding. It seems like on one poll you have uber who leads the tech altogether, ibm perhaps on the other pole and somewhere in the middle there is a muskian compromise where you stay on the council, try to change it to any degree you can. Is there a consensus anywhere on the spectrum . I dont think so, but i think the ceos of the Tech Companies have to walk a very fine line. On one part, they have to work with the government, either for compliance reasons, regulatory reasons, or in some cases, the governments even a customer. But at the same time, they have to work for their employees. They have to work for their shareholders, and they have to work for their other companies. And so, theres a fine line that theyre seeing here. If youre a ceo at one of these companies and youre looking around at your team, in Silicon Valley, nearly 40 of all workers are foreignborn. So youre seeing that your innovation, that your company is being driven by immigrants, and this is a critical matter for your business. And so, weve seen ceos take different positions and different paths to influence, but its certainly top of mind for everyone here these days. Walt, just as quickly as you can, you say in your column that the trump action carries with it the unmistakable scent of nativism, the idea that immigration is a bad idea, and that is just unamerican and bad for innovation to boot. Supporters of the president say, well, thats not what hes saying. How much of this is about the details of the executive order, and how much of it is just about the very idea that Silicon Valley is reacting to here . Well, i think the very idea is theyre both important, but i think the very idea is the much bigger deal here. The administrations only a couple of weeks old, but this America First rhetoric and some of the historical rhetoric from people like steve bannon is not friendly to immigration. And of course, the United States has always been open to immigration, but sometimes more and sometimes less historically, and it feels like we might be heading toward a period where theres a sort of negative feeling or a clampdown on immigration, beyond just this temporary stuff, and i expect the Tech Industry to be very disturbed by that. Well, well leave it there. The courts have some work to do on this. Walt, megan, thanks for joining us today. Squawk alleys back right after this. Alley. Check out shares of tesaro. They received interest from several potential inquires. They are a maker of cancer drugs and a promising one for ovarian cancer. Up more than 10 . Check out shares of clovis oncology, working in the same space. Rising in sympathy on this reuters report. All of these takeover rumors and speculation has been fueled by pfizers 14 billion takeout last year which had one of the similar drugs in the pipeline. Both clovis and tesaro up. Thank you, meg. President trump taking to twitter again this morning to criticize yet another u. S. Company, this time its about his daughter ivanka. Robert frank, this is the First Time Since the inauguration i can remember President Trump taking on a company. Its not about politics. Its not about made in the usa or government contract. This is personal. Exactly right, john. Its not about jobs. Its about the Trump Organization, his private company, his daughter ivanka. Check this out. Donald trump just tweeting this hour, quote, my daughter ivanka has been treated so unfairly by nordstrom. She is a great person, always pushing me to do the right thing. Terrible. Now, why is this happening . This follows nordstroms announcement last week that they were dropping ivanka trumps namesake clothing label. The company saying they make buying decisions based on performance and that based on the brands performance they decided not to buy or this season. We dont have a response yet from nordstrom from trumps tweet but an online protest against donald trump and ivanka called grab your wallet has been boycotting her products and targeting retailers. Neimanmarcus also dropped the brand recently. Her clothing and jewelry brand still sells at lots of other outlets including case sis, zappos, saks off fifth and bon ton. She stepped down in january to advise her fat there in the white house. Her brand does not release financials. In 2015, the brand did one 00 million. Thats a company who makes the clothing line in asia. That is not the first time he has criticized the company but, john, as you mentioned, its the first time hes used the presidency to support his Daughters Companies and companies that dont do what the Trump Organization may want them to do. Guys, back to you. Yeah, which raises all sorts of questions. Robert frank, thank you. Joining us now on the phone to react to this is analyst richard jaffe. Were not going to ask you to speak on potential conflict of interest. Is he right that he spoke unfairly . I cant speak to the president. I know nordstrom well and they make very cool and rational decisions. Its about product and about sales through and about profitability. Its not personal. Its product. Is that a function of what some have tried to put together as boycott or is this just part of normal turn . This is normal turn. Nordstrom changes their product seasonally. They change their brand seasonally. It makes it a more exciting place to shop and more profitable business for shareholders. As an investor and analyst i wouldnt have it any other way. They need to call the lesser brands and bring in new fresh brands. Richard, hard to look at tweet from the president thats negative as being potentially positive for a company. But based on who nordstroms core customer is and political atmosphere here, is there much risk for nordstrom or might it work the other way . If the president is seen as being somehow against nordstrom could that help them with certain segments of their Customer Base . I will turn that over to your political analyst. I do know as a retail analyst the consumer is in the store to be inspired, to find exciting new fashions. Thats nordstroms job, to provide that. And if theyre doing it by switching ivanka out for something new and more exciting, then theyll win. But, richard, havent we seen an impact . Remember when Michelle Obama was wearing j. Crew and outfits sold out. Isnt it usually a positive impact when someone on the world stage like that in the white house is promoting their own line . Why hasnt it been a hot seller . To cite the specific example you used, Michelle Obama and twin set which she called out on national tv that color, that twin set did sell out but the affect lasted about a week. That is to say Michelle Obama excitement didnt carry the brand for the season or even for the month. And, you know, thats been publicly cited by crew management. The president ial effect is less powerful than it appears. Well see what happens. This is double president ial effect here on the ivanka line. Richard, thank you for jumping on the phone. Hes got a hold rating on nordstrom. When we come back, more on bezos versus the nrk post. Were drowning in information. Where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters . The stakes are so high, your finances, your future. How do you solve this . You dont. You partner with a firm that advises governments and the fortune 500, and, can deliver insight person to person, on what matters to you. Morgan stanley. Amazons Ceo Jeff Bezos taking on twitter saying detailing their plans to build supermarkets run by robots. New york post, whoever your Anonymous Sources are on the story they mixed up their meds and on the New York Post article, if anybody knows how to get 20 margins in groceries, call me. I dont even know if bezos could do that. No. Notoriously operating margins on groceries are very low. 1 , 2 maybe, 3 for kroger. Whole foods is out with earnings after the bell. Organic grocers get a little bit higher, 5 hrs, 6 margins but theyre all competing on price now so those have been coming down. Yes. 20 would be very hard. Speaks to the myth of bezos growing so big that people think he can break the laws of economics. Although its cool hes tweeting. Another big high profile user. Lets get over to the judge and the half. Guy, thanks so much. Welcome to the Halftime Report. Im scott wapner. Top trade this hour, apples alltime high. Shares getting close to that major milestone. One recent critic of the company may be about to buy the stock. With us for the hour today, stevenwise, josh brown, jon najarian. Lets get with apple. Lets go right to the sound. I want you to hear this and then talk about it on the other side. Its a hardware company. And you just said its a Services Company now. Its not. Money comes from hardware. Yes, it