And happy friday, welcome to power lunch. Aisle melissa three, three major averages all lower this hour the dow is on track for its second straight weekly gain. Investors, again, somehow shrugging off fears about north korea. Check out the movers were watching for you, first solar soaring hitting 52week highs. Reports the u. S. Trade commission is considering slapping tariffs on foreign imports of solar product the crazy moves on finish line retailer was down 11 earlier on its profit miss. Now up 9 , the big move looking more like a short squeeze. The stock has a 29 Short Interest phillips 66 partners rallying the company, buying pipeline, other asset from its Parent Company for 2. 5 billion carmax is surging on its earnings beat. We begin in the nations capital, wilbur ross this morning on squawk box dealing down on the needed changes to na nafta and allout push to get tax reform done. Kayla tausche joins us from washington. Reporter the white house doing fullcourt press, trade teams head to canada for a third round of nafta an opped by wilbur ross hit the Washington Post then a study showing the amount of americanmade parts, imported from mexico and canada is, quote, eroding especially in cars shipped to the u. S. The u. S. Could make some contentious proposals say aides briefed on the matter, stricter rules on content requirements in manufactured products for one, and a clause that makes the deal expire if countries dont renew it nontraditional ways to dispute resolutions. Senior Administration Officials tell me despite all the suggestions the white house plans to tamp down on hawkishish trade talk for now to keep votes on tax reform intact secretary ross acknowledged as much today what we dont want to do is things that will unnecessarily irritate the senate because we need the votes there and as was proven with health care, its a very fragile margin. So its a question of timing more than it is direction. Reporter in this time, the white house has stopped suggesting to ditch trade deals, marginalized trade hawk peter navarro. Its not dropping them all together sources say an announcement will still come before the president s china trip in november outside advisers note this is temporary, the shift is not going to be permanent. Trump will have to get tough on trade when he eventually makes the deal on Immigration Reform in a few months. So that he can say that hes given his base something that it voted for. Michelle all right, got it, thank you so much, kayla breaking news on the health care bill, eamon javers has the details on that. Reporter new word from the senate side right now little bit more difficulty for the president s Obamacare Repeal and replace effort which is moving ahead we expect next week. Senator Susan Collins, now, republican of maine, is leaning against voting for the republican bill, citing here Major Concerns on that bill. That makes it a little bit more of an uphill slog for Lindsey Graham pushing this proposal to in effect push block grants out to the states and repeal and replace obamacare in a way they havent envisioned before. That makes it difficult for Lindsey Graham hes not out of the woods in terms of getting the votes well wait and see whether the vote counting effort comes to fruition next week meanwhile, the war of words continues with north korea and the United States, last night we saw this statement from kim jongun, the north korean leader, blasting President Trump in the wake of new american sanctions on north korea and cooperation with the chinese regime kim saying, trump has rendered the world restless through threats and blackmail against all countries in the world he is unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country and surely a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire, rather than a politician. This morning, on twitter, the president of the United States firing back saying kim jongun of north korea who is obviously a madman who doesnt mind starving or killing his people will be tested like never before. So a war of words here, but no actual military action taking place at this time were waiting to see whether the north koreans might engage in another nuclear test or another missile flyover of japan as theyve been doing over the past several months to sort of put an exclamation point on the end of the rhetoric here. So far, no indication of that yet today, michelle. No. Got it thank you, eamon. You bet. All right. September historically is a bad month for stocks you got north korea threatening to drop bombs, and us calling them gangsters britain is arguing over brexit tax reform is seemingly no closer to getting done than it was six months ago yet stocks keep grinding higher it is the conundrum confounding investors everywhere lets try to figure it out samantha, Global Market strategist with jp morgan funds. Kirk, chief Investment Officer with Wells Fargo Asset Management samantha, how many of your clients call you, email, text, smoke signals, whatever if is, say i dont understand everything thats going on im sure theyre happy its going up, but are you getting these call of confusion . I think clients will find any reason to latch on to to not be invested jitters. Could be anything. Those are pretty good reasons. Auto loan data, north korea, this, that and the other we always say we have to bring it back to the big picture growth is still supportive the example i like to use, coming into this year, we thought trade was going to harm growth, we thought we were going to get trade embargoes export growth in the u. S. Is actually running north of 5 so if youre a multinational, youre exporting, you know, its way above expectations there are reasons to feel positi positive we kind of try to redirect clients to that, the fundamen l fundamentals. Earnings not so bad either. Earnings are great, too even if theyre weaker in the second half which is a little bit of a risk because of weak year over year comps, theyre still strong wed take high single is this a case where, you know, dare i say the media is highlighting some of the things that are bad and there are bad things, but yet to samanthas point, the guts of it, the economy, everything underneath the hood is good hey, the Financial Markets are the best theyve ever been the bond market is terrific, and the dudley, the Financial Services indices, is at an alltime high. You have to remember were talking about tax cuts as well so borrowers can get money whenever they want it and extremely accommodative market notwithstanding a fed that may be tightening a little bit. That all sounds very happy. Are there any risks that worry you, kirk . Always worry about korea, thats always something you have to Pay Attention to. I also worry about the dollar. I think Multinational Companies in the s p 500 has benefited tremendously from a weaker dollar when you raise Interest Rates, you always worry that the dollar could become stronger, which i think would slow things down but the fed has indicated its going to be very slow and i dont think the dollar is going to move that much. I think, again, to my point, i think the financial conditions continue to be very strong. So, therefore, youre not worried about Interest Rates spiking at all in the notes as i understood it, youre worried more about the bond market instead of the stock market, maybe they should stay clear of pare their exposure to bonds. Are Interest Rates going to i dont think theyre going to go that much higher i do worry about oversupply. Theres been a tremendous market you know, the fed is going to be on u unwinding which is going to put some more supply pressures on the market. You have to remember, as well, tax cuts, while down the road may be very good for the economy, in the near term, increase the deficit so you saw the Trump Administration just strike a deal to raise the debt ceiling, and tax cuts are only going to contribute to more deficits. So i worry about that down the road you saw chinas debt was downgraded while were nowhere near china, the u. S. Has a debt problem. I think thats going to rear its angry head at some point. Weve had a debt problem for a long time, though. Quickly, whats the next biggest thing on your radar, the next biggest thing for our viewers to watch and Pay Attention to its going to sound boring wut but its gdp growth. Can this expansion really continue are there risks, something out there were not quite seeing we dont see overheating we think Growth Continues on and actually picks up in the latter half of the year if growth is churning in the background, markets can grind higher. Okay. We appreciate it quick check on shares of moving the stock, the intraday spike higher, 1. 8 well continue to watch this as the session progresses. This would be nordstroms move, basically, right exactly. From the u. S. Markets to the big election this weekend in germany, when its over, its likely that the far right will have seats in the German Parliament for the First Time Since the 1930s and that is because of immigration here are the latest poll numbers. Angelina merkel likely to win her fourth term as chancellor of germany, polling in second place, martin sculzs party. Most striking, on the right, running in third place now, a alternative for germany headed by alice weidel and alexander g gauland. Lately whats helped them is Angela Merkels decision in 20125 at the height of the refugee crisis to allow in more than 1 million migrants from countries like syria and iraq. It was orange fally thought the immigrants would help the countrys shrinking labor force. The vast majority have turned tout b out to be unskilled and unemp y unemployed likely we maremain unemployed f years. Sharp increase in violent crime. One example, a 48 increase in rapes, large increase in the number of formers accused. The immigration issue has pushed nearly every party further to the right than they have before, in fact, Angela Merkels gone back on some positions on immigration which has helped her in the polls okay. When do we get results sunday night. Sunday night. Going to have an Election Party . No. If you did, could i come . Sure. Last time i deliver your mail, melissa lee. I delivered her mail from christmas yesterday. Its friday. That means the reit counts are too late Jackie Deangelis has the numbers. Reporting that the u. S. Took five oil rigs offline in the past week bringing the total down to 744, the number up from 326 a year ago remember, oil prices over 50, the concern now is that shale production will i crease, but this shows that the efforts to rebalance are still a work in progress didnt really move the price trading at 50. 40 thank you very much, Jackie Deangelis. Apples latest products hitting stores today well have to wait and see if theyre flying off the shelves meantime, well get a look at the new phone and watch after the break. Why investors soured on this stock since the 8 and x were stock since the 8 and x were revealed real estate, infrastructure, and emerging markets. Partner with pgim, the Global Investment management businesses of prudential. For years, at t has been promising fast internet to Small Businesses. But for many businesses, its out of reach. Why promise something you cant deliver . Comcast business is different. We deliver superfast internet with speeds of 150 megabits per second across our entire network, to more companies, in more locations, than at t. We do business where you do business. Welcome back to power lunch. Apples latest products hitting the stores today including iphone 8, 8 plus and new watch josh lipton is live at apples Flagship Store in palo alto, where the buzz is, its just not that buzzsy, is it, josh reporter well, michelle, at least at this store behind me here, on university avenue, i would say it kind of ebbs and flows. We got here around 4 30 a. M. Local. There was just one guy in line extremely dedicated apple fan. Actually had been camping out here since last night. At 8 00 a. M. Local when the store opened, it actually really filled up. Woo well see how it goes throughout the rest of the day here i had a chance to catch up briefly with apple ceo tim cook in attendance, a tradition out here for cook to show up at this store and welcome customer in. I asked cook about at least the early signs of demand hes seeing for some of those products, 8, 8 plus, that new watch. Heres what he had to say. I am thrilled heres what were seeing right now. The watch with lte, were sold out in so many places around the world. And were working really hard to meet demand. Weve solds o s ouout of iphone plus in some stores. We got good supply there you can see whats going on here this morning i couldnt be happier. Reporter now, i know you guys have been debating the iphone 8 and 8 plus all week we had those reviews hit this week some of them were tough. You know, the wall street journal saying their opinion, the 8 was really just a slight improvement over the 7, which costs about 150 less. Others were much more bullish. I talked to some analysts who thought as the next few quarters shake out, it could prove more popular than the 10. Michelle, you also mentioned the watch. That is available today, too im actually wearing it right here this is the version with its own Cellular Connection , going to g on sale for 399 there were wellknown reviewers including those at the verge who said they were going to recommend the device because at least as they experimented with it, they had some real connectivity issues. I did ask tim cook how much of an issue sthis that, is he concerned that could crimp demand, cook saying the issue is in his words, very minor, it will be fixed in a software update, it has to do with the handoff between wifi and cellular and will fix that, that it only happens in a rare number of cases guys, back to you. Josh, we cant let you go, buddy. You spoke with tim cook, that was great. You also spoke with tim cook about Something Else you recently got married hope you dont mind us telling the audience that. Youre off the market. Apparently tim cook brought you a wedding pastry reporter yeah. You know, its very thank you for bringing that up it was very kind of him. We were in the store we were going to do an interview there. We were surrounded by a lot of people and mr. Cook was kind enough and gracious enough to bring me a cupcake with a little bride and groom on it. So, exceptionally generous of him. That was the cupcake x or the cupcake 8. Get it ate. Where is said cupcake now, josh . He ate it. Reporter that cupcake, you know, honestly, were going hit to hit here, store to store, i havent had time to sample it. I will ill bring you that review. When you sample said cupcake, please put it on video, it will be the ate cupcake yes. Congrats josh lipton, congrats, buddy very cool for mr. Cook to do that as well see you soon. The question is why isnt this same phone getting the same old love from the apple faithful lines, josh mentioned theyre small, social buzz is a lot less lets ask a man whos been using the products now for close for a week josh is the senioreditor at cnet, scott, welcome thanks. You have them right there. Whats your verdict you know, theyre better but theyre under the hood better. And thats the thing you get that year over year with phones, and so when you have a product like the x thats still coming out thats supposed to be the flagship phone, you want to wait and see how it compares, we havent used that phone to any degree beyond a couple of minutes. So youre spending 700, but theres nothing here that youre really going to show off you know, thats the problem if youre waiting on line, want to do something to stay, hey, i got the new phone. Its faster, takes better know t photos, theres nothing dramatic about it. If somebody had a 6 out there, thinking about upgrading, is a viable choice going for the 7 which is now lower in price . Versus going for the 8 its very viable. I mean, the Technology Keeps increasing year over year so drastically. Youre talking about sometimes doubling with speeds or the photos keep Getting Better and better. Doesnt always happen with laptops. You might want to get off at an earlier stop and think thats fine people think photos and old phones, think its fine. Professionals might not like that thats the problem id say if youre spending that much on a phone and not upgrading every single year, youre hanging onto it, i like to get the newest model to keep yourself a little more futureproof its a matter the fact its 150 versus 100 on the upgrade is a difference maker. Can i see it . Yeah. To your point, it looks kind of the same as the other phones, right . Doesnt look that digit. Thats the thing, in the landscape of phones continually improving you have lot of other companies coming up with whole new designs, whereas this is a very throwback look now. So if you want to look at samsung phones, or, you know, look at any other Android Phone now on the market samsung loyalists, scott, will say, well, weve had these for a couple years, wireless charging, waterproof i get it but youre either probably android or iphone at this point. Its going to be hard to change. Apple knows that right . But to michelles point, i actually upgraded to the 7 from the 6 because they heavily discounted not heavily, but they discount the 7s it was the latest and greatest last year. Its fine. Im a year behind. Is this a bad thing for apple . As long as we upgrade, do they care what we go to