getting a nice boost from earnings we'll talk to the ceo in a cnbc exclusive, coming up another day, another record for bitcoin. the cryptocurrency surpassing 15,000 for the first time ever bitcoin has more than doubled in the past month it's moving in thousand-dollar increments now every day at this pace, "the journal" this morning says the it would end the year above 2 million, at this pace. >> well, i think that people have to recognize that bitcoin is not created in huge amounts you can mine bitcoin using some nvidia chips or some advanced microchips but there's just not a lot of supply almost minimal at the same time, i have never seen a level of discipline of the buyers you obviously can't -- they must be afraid to short this thing. but the buyers are not letting things go. i mean, typically, you bring out sellers when you have this kind of parabolic move. where are the sellers? >> i don't know. if we're going to continue to have the same conversation every day, i think you and i and we're going to have to start making phone calls and finding some new things out to talk about bitcoin, is my sense there's got to be other implications here besides us just talking every day about how the darned thing keeps going up 10%. >> cftc has a statement out today warning investors about the unusual levels of risk and volatility jerry yang today talks about the difference between, again, the technology that we may be hope to develop later on and the price of bitcoin itself. take a listen. >> i think there is a high volatility associated to it that was probably similar to the early days of internet but in this case, i do think that bitcoin, as a digital currency, is not quite there yet. people are not using it to transact people are using it as an investable asset they're trying to buy gold, gold bars, if you will. i personally, am a believer in where digital currency can play a role in our society, especially in not only the front end of doing transactions, but also on the back end of creating a much more efficient system and much more verifiable system but for now, it seems like it's more driven by the hype of investing and getting a return than a transaction currency z p >> my respect, jerry, tremendously my quibble with him is, it's not investing. it has very little to do with investing. it has a lot to do with the -- actually, the poor mechanics of this instrument. because if you're going to do these different -- the futures or they can tell you how much risk there is, but the fact is, a market does not -- this market doesn't produce even more tulips let's say we use that analogy. you can't find supply. so they have to reach until supply is felt but that's not investment. that's just poor mechanics of an instrument >> right but this is a mania, is it not >> yes it is. but we could -- joe kernan was asking me about the whole size of it. and that's a problem i mean, one of the things you could say about this is it's going to be a -- a $1 trillion market and it's at $250 billion and it has to get to $1 trillion before people realize, you know what, i've made a huge amount of money and, you know, bears make money, bulls make money, but hogs get slaughtered there seems to be no element of piggishness among the buyers >> the level i mentioned earlier, ending the year at $2 million, at this rate and pace of gains, would exceed the value of all u.s. listed market cap. right? >> well -- >> it's ridiculous, is it not? >> it's absurd >> but are you going to give bitcoin for the holidays >> i don't have any to give. >> i thought about it. i thought about the idea, let's say you bought them for the holidays, would you flip them because you made so much money on that present, you really don't want to wait the 17 days >> can you give them ten tenthsd hundredths of a bitcoin? >> i think you can slice and dice a bitcoin >> what about the mining of bitcoin. what about these reports that it's going to use enormous amounts of electricity to mine all this -- >> yeah, the draining of the power grid a couple of years ago, we mined with john on set and the electricity required to keep the computers cool from all of this data mining is high. >> well, this is -- remember, it's a rivalry among lisa sue, at advanced micro, and jensen wong, at nvidia, really, they're like levi strauss, they're like arms merchants, they have the picks and the shovels -- >> well, they're selling to the block chain, the whole block chain infrastructure >> well, wivenezuela, there's a huge number of people using these cars to try to find more bitcoin. remember, this is one of the least functional markets i've ever seen. don't have a lot of supply, don't understand how supply comes in, everyone who's in it acts as if it's so secure. they act as if this is nothing other than launching of nuclear weapons, you know, zulu tango alpha and you have to have all of these -- nothing's more secure than this some people reached out to me about block chain for dummies. because all of the pa penumbra around gold, but there is a lot of gold around, so it can't have a parabolic move we're not finding 1% of bitcoin a year, apparently we're just not getting that new supply of bitcoin. >> ron paul, by the way, former congressman, had a twitter poll and asked his followers, if you had to invest in something, but you couldn't touch it for ten years, would you do federal reserve reserve notes, bonds, gold, or bitcoin you know what won. >> bitcoin but gold was his favor, and maybe still is his favor gold seems to be not a repository of worth. if you had to be on the run and you're from venezuela, do you want to line your jacket with -- nice -- >> gold is very heavy. gold is very, very heavy >> tor bitcoin >> i'm always amazed when they bring in a gold bar here, how heavy it is. >> bitcoin is very light and very transportable and because of block chain, it can work anywhere. >> it can. >> let's move on -- >> why >> because we've done 7 minutes on bitcoin, how much more can we do >> i have another 40 minutes on bitcoin. >> i'll leave then >> i want you to stick around, so i'm willing to shift to the theo theorem. >> let's talk a little disney/fox as we get closer to what's going to be this deal that's announced our parent, comcast, continues to be in the hunt, certainly wants people to know that. and the competing offers for these fox assets we've talked so often about are close in terms of their value, though the amount of debt assumption and the equity being contributed hard to exactly pinpoint where each offer is, though both above an enterprise value, as i said earlier this week, well above $60 billion for those fox assets yesterday's news involved bob iger it's a question that i've been asking a number of times here, as we've withbeen reporting on t namely, mr. iger's contract ends it will middle of 2018 if you are a fox holder right now and you're going to be getting a lot of disney shares, including the murdoch family, which will also be a significant owner of disney shares, would you be happy with the idea of this large deal happening in the integration really, just underway let's call it six months underway, if they announce the deal next week and it takes a year to close, right, he'd be leaving in july of '19 would you not want some continuity there well, they answered that by potentially having mr. iger stay longer and we're waiting to see if there's a filing involving his contract and an extension that would take place, should this deal go forward. that would, of course, also mean perhaps that mr. iger is abandoning his plans to potentially run for public office, including what have certainly been some efforts on his part to investigate the idea of running for president in 2020 >> did you just throw it out like that? >> i did he talked about it yesterday, too. there's no doubt about it. he's been thinking about it. >> thinking about running for president? >> oh, yeah. >> like in the sense that we all think about running for president? >> no, in a real way >> does he have a committee or -- >> i think he's done some work on it skpreand investigated the possibility of it and how he would appeal to voters and what the themes would be that he would emphasize as potentially an economic centrist, perhaps more liberal on the social side, do you run on the democratic platform, do you try to run as an independent what his appeal would be, outsider status. but all of that, most likely not going to happen when this deal happens, which seems more likely and he stays >> well, with the anti-trust, i listed some of the worries that i have last night. and i just think, okay, well, all these deals that we would have talked about as being, yeah, you know, in the case of a stock deal, it would take six months -- >> yeah -- >> no. it might be up to the election time -- >> yeah, this could take a year. let's assume it does >> is he going to have primaries? is he going to go to iowa? >> well, you'd have to start fund-raising right now -- >> go to new hampshire -- >> you would have to get started really soon. >> how does he feel about, say, ethanol? >> i don't know his position on that >> no? >> no. >> farm subsidies? >> -- get started early. do you see him lyieating corn ds in mississippi >> i don't know, you tell me mark cuban, howard schwarz, bob iger >> are those three baby kissers? >> not necessarily, but was donald trump a baby kisser >> no, with there were some babies that he actually asked -- >> well, so many other things to get to on this in terms of questions being asked, the tax ramifications. let me give you the latest on that more people who keep asking me mer mergeco would be where the tax liabilities are. and some benefits for spinco spinco are the fox assets that get left behind. mergeco is what disney is going to be exchanging all that stock and taking on that debt to gain control of and then we've got other questions. james murdoch, would he actually go and run some of these assets for disney is that a possibility? it seems like it might be. not that he would in any way be in line for the ceo job in the future, necessarily. so we'll see >> but you've got to answer a question for me, david, and it's really bugging me. >> yeah? >> when you're trying to buy something? >> yeah? >> why do you play your hand comcast, the parent company, never comes out and says, we'll be interested in "x. then fox goes up you've got the security and you keep talking about it as people want it and the stock kind of climbs a little bit. we got an updprad todgrade toda? i mean, shouldn't you just speak softly why would you bid up an asset that you want? why is it so -- why not play it more close to the vest, is what i'm saying >> that's a good question, however, when you're in a competitive auction and you're trying to exert pressure, you might hope that shareholders conceivably share your view of things in terms of your lack of risk on anti-trust, the value of the conversation that you'll be giving them, and perhaps hope that your own stock will be bid up, given that it is a fully stocked transaction. >> that is a great point, making comcast feel that ultimately the stock will go higher >> and guys, we'll have plenty of time. we'll see, again, late next week is what they're targeting, in terms of a potential deal here we'll see if they get there. and i'll obviously have a lot more updates between now and then >> what a story. a huge story >> amazing meanwhile, we've got these massive wildfires burning out of control in southern california our scott cohn is in ventura, california, with the latest. good morning, scott. >> reporter: good morning, carl. this is one of the neighborhoods that's been torched by the so-called thomas fire. it's the biggest of the fires that are burning in southern california 90,000 acres, that is an area roughly the size of the city of detroit. that gives you a sense of what's going on here. and this was already a historic fire season in california. this set of fires, itself, the conditions are being deemed historic by the people who follow these things and forecast these things not only do we have the santa ana winds that are blowing in and are expected to peak sometime today, but continue into the weekend, but we also have a great deal of fuel for these fires, it is very dry, it is the worst possible conditions and conditions that people that follow these things say they've never seen before. so, this fire, 90,000 acres, but it's one of about five fires that have been burning for the better part of this week, in southern california. the other one that's gotten a lot of attention is known as the skirball fire that's burned some of those very expensive homes in bel-air and caused those horrific scenes yesterday along the 405 freeway. they -- all of these fires, about 5% contained, according to the authorities, but that number, itself, the fluid and not necessarily -- it's not necessarily going to increase, because the concern is that as these winds pick up, they're in conditions that they can't fight the fires at all and they just have to look for the spot fires that means the containment could go down. in the meantime, a great deal of disruption in this area. hundreds of schools closed 200,000 people evacuated and no word on whether they will be able to get back home, when they will be able to get back home, that is, and when life will get back to normal. carl >> scott, we'll be coming back to you today for updates our scott cohn in ventura. >> i covered homicide in california for a couple of years and obviously had to cover a lot of fires too and i don't think people realize what a real fire is like you'll be sitting on one side of a major eight-lane highway and you'll think, well, i'm on the right side of it and the wind kicks in and the next thing you know, you're running for your life, because it jumps the highway it's not a barrier to fire >> also, in this case, where the evaluation changes so quickly, these hills, the fire, when it's going uphill, it's just a straight shot. >> yeah, read a book called "man of fire," about the gulch, the man gulch fire >> wasn't it the "young man and fire"? >> yeah. and what happens is, it's explosive. trees explode. and i think people are thinking about conventional fire. this is frightening. you have to understand how frightening it is. >> when we come back this morning, new developments regarding ge's turn around plan. its power division cutting about 12,000 jobs. lululemon getting a boost this morning. we'll have an exclusive interview with the ceo later on after earnings last night. take a look at futures more "squawk on the street" from post nine in a minute. keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicks, keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicking ] [ keyboard clacking ] ♪ good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. ronoh really?g's going on at schwab. thank you clients? well jd power did just rank them highest in investor satisfaction with full service brokerage firms... again. and online equity trades are only $4.95... i mean you can't have low cost and be full service. it's impossible. it's like having your cake and eating it too. ask your broker if they offer award-winning full service and low costs. how am i going to explain this? if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab. schwab, a modern approach to wealth management. let's get to the bond pits this morning rick santelli at the cme in chicago. good morning, rick >> good morning, carl. you know, the treasury complex is pretty tightly compressed and if you laook at one week of tens, there's a downward slide to it, if you open up the chart tee to early october, you want to see the high-yield charge. happens to be the sent m for 2015 at 227. we're sort of playing as we test that lower end of the range, and while that's going on, part of the reason it's going on is what's going on in bunds one week of bunds, looks very similar to one week of tens, until you open it up to a june start. there you see that is now closing at the lowest level since about the third week in june dollar index through all of this is actually trying to mount a bit of a rally, as you see on the one-week chart, getting up to around 93.80, just shy of 94. but when you open up the chart here for a little bit more macro view let's start it out in august what you see there is that we've been higher. as a matter of fact, thing range on that chart is 91.5 roughly to 95 midpoint is around 93.75, right? pretty darned close to the 93.66, 67 we're trading. a lot of midpoints coming into play a lot of times that manes markets are comfortable. mid-points of tens for the entire yield year is around 232, 233. but continue to watch the bunds and pay attention to europe. because as we go towards the end of the year, if we start to see more extremes there, it's hard not to imagine the arbitrage and relative values won't affect our markets as well. back to you. >> see you in a bit, rick santelli we'll get cramer's mad disturb and count down to the opening bell as "squawk on the street" continues on the nyse. i'm here to talk to you about how at&t gives you more. and so am i. like how when you buy the amazing new iphone 8 you get another one on us. see we give you more phones and more spokespeople. are you guys doing a spokesperson thing right now? yes. awesome, can i be in it? well, it's kind of like a two-phone deal. so two spokespeople. got it. k. thanks. at&t it's time for more. it's time for more. buy the amazing iphone 8 at at&t and get a second one to gift, on us. ♪ let out your inner child at the lexus december to remember sales event. lease the 2017 is turbo for $299 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. your insurance on time. tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? news flash: nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance. feel that? that's the beat of global markets, the rhythm of the world. but to us, it's the pace of tomorrow. with ingenuity, technologies, and markets expertise we create the possible. and when you do that, you don't chase the pace of tomorrow. you set it. nasdaq. rewrite tomorrow. all right. i think we've got to get to a very quick mad dash here given how short a time we have until the bell broadcom reported after the bell last night i know you want to go over the earnings of it >> if technology rallies today, it will be because of the broadcom conference call because while you're not allowed to mention apple and people have been worried about whether the apple 10 is doing well, the apple 8, broadcom has the most intellectual property in there >> qualcomm. >> of course they're trying to buy qualcomm, and business is booming. it's booming, and the 72% increase in the dividend was rather extraordinary the amount of cash the company generates is extraordinary remember, they've made a series of acquisitions. but david, it really basically said technology, data center, apple, alive and well. people have been worried about slowing data center, people have been worried about slowing apple. forget about it. that was the underlying theme -- >> that's the growth part of the business they do have other parts of the business that are not growing that quickly, although they did increase their net margin target, i believe. >> yes, they did >> and they came in above what had been their previous net margin target. >> huge, huge, much better cash flow and by the way, david, the business that you're talking about, they're saying has bottomed but people come out wireless >> which is the growth business. >> which is the growth business. and huck dan, the ceo, is just buying companies it bought brocade, a little higher value added but they said they wouldn't take questions on qualcomm. what did you think about the idea when the ceo said, it would take 12 months in a way that made you feel like it's going to happen >> yeah, i think there are differing opinions on the anti-trust timeline and the likelihood of any deal happening -- broadcom buying -- >> we'll to stay close to this, because it's the largest deal -- >> we will >> we're tag teaming this. get a call from qualcomm this morning? >> not yet it's early it's early >> we've got an opening bell coming up. we're getting a little late. weh we'll hit a break and be back after. and high-dividend strategies. sure, these are investments. but they're not what people really invest in. what people really invest in, is what they hope to get out of life. but helping them get there takes a pure focus. because when you invest their money without distraction, hidden agenda or competing interests, something wonderful can happen. they might just get what they wanted out of life, and maybe even more. ♪ well, it'sonce again.eason >>yeah. lot of tech companies are reporting today. and, how's it looking? >>i don't know. there's so many opinions out there, it's hard to make sense of it all. well, victor, do you have something for him? >>check this out. td ameritrade aggregates thousands of earnings estimates into a single data point. that way you can keep your eyes on the big picture. >>huh. feel better? >>much better. yeah, me too. wow, you really did a number on this thing. >>sorry about that. that's alright. i got a box of 'em. thousands of opinions. one estimate. the earnings tool from td ameritrade. something we all think about as we head into retirement. it's why brighthouse financial is committed to help protect what you've earned and ensure it lasts. introducing shield annuities, a line of products that allow you to take advantage of growth opportunities. while maintaining a level of protection in down markets. so you can head into retirement with confidence. talk with your advisor about shield annuities from brighthouse financial established by metlife. you're watching cnbc's "squawk on the street" live from the financial capital of the world. the opening bell in just over a minute a lot going on today we've talked about bitcoin we'll watch senator franken, now expected to give a speech at 11:45 on the senate floor. the wildfires, the conference regarding the tax bill overall, jim, s&p just barely down four days in a row. we haven't done that since march. have we put that week of rotation in some perspective yet? >> i think we have i think we re-valued very quickly. we'll speak to laroan at lulu, revalued very quickly the companies that are high taxpayers. and in the interim, some of them had some negative news the banks, we can go after that. but now we can come back and say, data center's not slowing that's a theme from when auto desk blew up and the cell phone's still selling well so you have to put in perspective, if you want earnings momentum, you want tech yes, tech companyies that don't generate profits are not helped by this. but how much can you really take up -- you can take up dollar engine, lulu, but you can't take up everything over and over again. [ cheers and applause >> let's get to the s&p at the bottom of your skrecreen and th opening bell here at the big board. celebrating its ipo, curo group holdings, an installer of payday loans to non-crime consumers, over at the nasdaq, b of a takes its target to 300 and adds it to the u.s. one list today. >> i think there's a great deal of misinformation about what happened yesterday with citi, one of the largest banks in the country. they have to take a write-down because they have a deferred tax asset -- >> huge deferred tax asset >> but if you're going to cut taxes -- >> so the value of the deferred tax asset goes down. >> i call it empty calories. it really doesn't matter in the meantime, they gave you a sense that, look, the business remains competitive. there's a big credit card war going on, sapphire credit and stuff. but i think the idea, and my charitable trust owns it the idea that something really big has happened is wrong. it's business as usual you get those federate hikes, you're going to wish you bought the group. let it come in, if you want to but it was not earth shaking, even though it said, when you take a $20 billion charge, it makes you stand up and take notice but it was in the cards to happen it just is mathematical. the denominator for their earnings, when you divide the price-to-earnings will go up -- i mean, go down. the earnings go up those who are selling citi, i think you're a little, let's say, ill advised to do so, because this was not some breakout call. >> we did not get to ge announcing those significant cuts at its power business head count reduction of 12,000 jobs as part of a plan of ge to take out $1 billion in structural costs and their effort to reduce structural costs overall by $3.5 billion, when you add in 2017 and 2018. that's 18% of the workforce. the stock not doing much and below 18 >> well, avid, they obviously paid too much. although, look, siemens is in that business. the business of power -- i'm going to use a strong term -- it's collapsed it's fossil fuel the world is rapidly going against fossil fuels we do not need more plants even in the united states where there was a sense that coal was going to be replaced by gnnat g, it's happening, but not fast enough and power was a business not unlike oil and gas where they bought at the peak >> a work in progress, in 2008, is what they called the power business >> so how do you have a dollar, dollar five number >> overall for the company's earnings in 2018 if power is a remaining work in progress we can expect market challenges to continue, but this plan will position us for 2019 and beyond. don't forget the "beyond." >> well, i just hope the earnings go to infinity. i want to point out, again, power's a business that's a second-rate business they sold out a first-rate business to go second rate and i think mr. flannery has been delivered one of the toughest hands i've ever seen. >> by the first rate, you mean financials you think they would have preferred to stay in financial and skip power >> look, these companies have just given you a brief on why citi's good. >> immelt's take with us a year or two ago that we don't regret -- >> immelt? >> yes, jeff no credibility -- >> i have nothing to say i've said, that's past, i want to look forward. so i have nothing to say >> into the great beyond >> yes but look, power -- i will say something positive about ge, which my charitable trust owns, it happened to everybody in the power business it's just that nobody doubled down in power -- >> why didn't you sell it out of the charitable trust at 20 or 21 what have you been waiting for >> the first amendment does not prohibit the notion of being stupid and i was stupid i believed -- i had a very important interview with jeff immelt in february, where he told me that the bears were all wrong. i believed him sometimes it's a question of belief i thought that when he basically said that mr. tusa, who's been the base credit -- when he was dead wrong, i looked jeff immelt squarely in the eye and i said, you know what, those guys are wrong. because this man told me they're wrong. so what i did was, i made a major misjudgment, not unlike my judgment of mr. stumpf at wells fargo. these are errors of judgment that i've made and i own those errors of judgment it was not jeff immelt's fault, it was my fault for believing in jeff immelt. >> understood. and you've made plenty of good decisions, jim but when something like that occurs and you decide to hold it and you don't want to be a seller, why wouldn't you buy more >> i'm going to buy more if you stop mentioning every day on air >> you bring it up every day too. >> it's not bitcoin. don't confuse ge with bitcoin. >> they look like nothing each other. >> it's like -- >> supply and demand >> it's a fibonacci situation. >> you've been busy this morning with boeing. >> wow, that is bitcoin, except for it's an investment and mr. muilenburg, the ceo, has taken a hand at mr. mcinerney gave him and augmented the hand and i think this stock has the ability to go to 400 over the next couple of years, because the demand is -- there are no companies that have a level of long-term demand 20 years worth of demand that boeing has. we go over that. we talk about our salesperson-in-chief president who's really helped it >> sneak peek? >> sure. >> let's listen to a quick piece of sand. >> who's going to get a man on mars first you or elon musk >> we are. we're working on that next generation rocket right now with our nasa customers it's called space launch system. this is a rocket that's about 36 stories tall we're in final assembly right now. down at machud down near new orleans. and we're going to take a first test flight in 2019. and we're going to do a slingshot mission around the moon eventually, we're going to go to mars and i firmly believe that the first person that sets foot on mars will get there on a boeing rocket >> fighting words. he's the first person that's really taken on elon musk. >> that was cool i didn't expect that >> wasn't it great it was like, mr. mcinerney, press secretary, i asked him, do you think the dreamliner will ever, given all the problem, ever come to fruition? he said, yes i think, do you think the problems of dreamliner are important? he says, no. i said, you're a man of few words? and he goes, no, i'm just right. i think that elon musk -- now, mr. musk, he's a talented fella. i'm going with mr. muilenburg. now -- >> okay. >> -- they do have nasa backing and musk is doing it on his own, so you could say it's an unfair advantage. >> it is nasa has a good deal of history and experience to use in these matters. >> i asked my wife before i did the interview, do you have any desire to go to mars and she said, why would i want to go to mars? that's a substantiative question do you want to be early on mars? >> well, with alalso, they don' way to get you back. >> musk has said, once you're there, you're going to stay. >> robinson crusoe on mars was a darned good movie. >> and so was "the martian." and he did get slingshoted back. >> but boeing is also talking about space taxes. kind of an uber to go to, i don't know, jupiter. it is -- this company is really coming to play and i am so excited about people watching this interview and i'm going to be thinking about it all day, because it was so -- just so thoughtful and mr. muilenburg is not going to lose to mr. musk. i'm putting my money on muilenbu muilenburg, not musk do you want to give you musk i'll give you two years of musk. >> two years lead? >> that was the opening line now it's a year and a half >> consider that >> i might go for musk >> really? >> maybe >> i'll bet you a hundred bitcoin. >> a hundred bitcoin a little pricey for me, my friend that's $1.5 million. >> listen, do you think i do things small >> i don't you could smell a house and, boom >> on a more pedestrian front, guys, retail is doing well is this a liulu halo or somethin else >> no, dollar general, there was a great interview, but home depot yesterday, we didn't talk enough about that. home depot's big selling season is obviously the spring, because they're doing a lot of planning, but in my speaking with them, they are having a great selling season, one of the largest companies. i thought the stock should have been up yesterday. i thought that was ill informed. 36% taxpayer, by the way dollar general is not the old dollar general i think people don't realize that that's where you get your holiday shopping a lot of holiday shopping there. and laurent talked about the new york city stores having big traffic. remember when tiffany used to talk about how foreigners aren't coming >> that weaker dollar has brought it back. there's a lot of elements that make me say, go buy macy's, that's a continual theme of mine and accept the fact that it's going to be one of the great holiday okay, i accept it. >> well, that was -- you don't have to be -- >> i haven't done one stitch of shopping >> i cleaned up on this. i found something really good for the wife >> did you >> yeah. plus, i'm not sure if you've seen those little amazon discs >> amazon discs? >> they talk to you and stuff? >> oh, the thing the dot? >> yeah, i got a bunch of those and act as if i bought them. they don't know the difference they don't watch the show. they never watch the show. recently, lisa asked me, you go in so early, and i said, i got a show and she said, tell me about it >> by the way, jim, while we have you, before we get to pisani, you created a list for dotcom about your top ten worries. >> because i just felt that mr. reubenstein came in with a black swap, and i thought it was better, once you acknowledge they will, they become white swans and easier to handle cyber tax was the one that was probably the most out there. bitcoin is about the notion of froth and what happens antitrust, david, is strictly you. i just owe you >> tax is twice? >> well, that's not the best way to play it, but, yes, i think that first tax is that it's got to go through and second is the state and local and what it will mean for the dislocate -- it will cause dislocations in the country, i believe you'll be in the wrong place now, california, when you have those fires in sonoma, they actually had net migration in. but texas is such a huge winner. i asked the ceo of u.s. concrete last night, a huge concrete company, where are people building headquarters. they're building them in texas now. because texas -- >> housing values in austin alone. >> have you thought about it maybe we should go down there. what is that >> okay, maybe >> i think that's a yes. we'll take that as a yes let's get to bob pisani. dow is up seven points to start the morning. hey, bob >> even on the advanced decline line, carl, important thing, s&p is down four points in a row, but not much, 0.6% we'll see if we can break that that hasn't happened since march. if you take a look at the sectors, that rotation we've been talking about, kind of stopping now so, remember, tech's been underperforming for the last couple of weeks, doing better today. generally, banks have been outperforming. it's kind of on the flat side. telecom and industrials, they've been doing well. and they're kind of flat here. so the question is, how much of this rotation story is really left we've been noting how well retail has been doing and the retail is doing well again today. banks, telecom, industrials, those are partly on the tax cut story, but that's kind of stopped already and tech has stopped underperforming in the last couple of days. so i think there's not as much juice left in this whole rotation story as they used to be if you look at some stocks, macy's, for example, macy's is up 40% in the last three weeks i know thanksgiving was good i know the earnings were a pleasant surprise, but 40%, that's quite a bit the bank stocks, most of the regional banks moved up about 10% in a four-day period so bb&t was up almost 10%. now, you can see they've come off of these highs these are still nice gains for the last week and a half or so, but big moves, really. how much more? you can't help but think we might be stealing a little bit from next area's gains here. here's the bigger question the whole market has been driven on tech momentum traders have had a chance to buy some of the big, beaten down names in the last couple of days and seem to be taking van e ing of it. facebook has been downdrafts 6, 7% in august, in september it just had another one a few days ago, down about 7%. and in the last couple of days, facebook is trading on the up side you move down 5, 6, 7% and all of a sudden you see a move to the upside same thing for nvidia and alibaba, these stocks downdraft 6, 7% and you get buyers in the last couple of days. today, keep an eye on curo therapeutics and denali tonight on the nasdaq. neurodege neurodegenerative diseases, really trying to get after this. dow jones industrial average up eight points >> when we come back, liululemon is among today's big gainers on earnings o,trghahan interview with the ce sait ead. dow's up nine points (news anchor) downtown traffic is still bad. expect massive delays. (radio channel changing) (news anchor 2) all lanes on highway 50 remain closed at this hour. (news anchor 3) the stats are in and this city leads with some of the worst traffic, with the average driver sitting in gridlock the equivalent of three days a year. for every hour that you're idling in your car, you're sending about half a gallon of gasoline up in the air. that amounts, over the course of the week, to about 10 pounds of carbon dioxide. growth is good, but when it starts impacting our quality of air and quality of life, that's a problem. so forward-thinking cities like sacramento are investing in streets that are smarter and greener. the solution was right under our feet. asphalt. or to be more precise, intelligent asphalt. by embedding sensors into the pavement, as well as installing cameras on traffic lights, we will be able to study and analyze the flow of traffic. then, we will take all of that data and we use it to optimize the timing of lights, so that traffic flows easier and travel times are shorter. and sacramento is just the beginning. with advances in cameras, sensors, and network speeds, we have the ability to make cities smarter, and happier. what excites me about this technology is that we're using some of the most cutting-edge machine-learning, and ai, to help solve the most fundamental challenges that cities face around the world. who knew asphalt could help save the environment? (lani) and the possibilities are endless. we often don't speak of what i regard as truly exciting retailers. retailers are pretty commoditized, but there's one that isn't lululemon reported an earnings beat, boosting its full-year outlook citing strong holiday momentum and joining us now on a cnbc exclusive is a true delight, lululemon's ceo, lauren. there's a tremendous increase in same-store sales, an obviously great black friday but i need you to talk about china and the love that china has with lulu and how that may be the next great growth engine for your company >> good morning, jim well, i was there -- i was there a couple of weeks ago, and it's incredible to see 415 million millennials in china, more and more like looking for experiences and living an active and mindful lifestyle, boosted by a government program that talks about, you know, every chinese individual practicing every day, something like 20, 30 s so we're really at the beginning of a movement in china, where we see people like really rallying towards an active and mindful lifestyle. and we recently had an offline, online event where we sold tickets to 250 people. it was pouring rain, 247 people showed up. it was live streamed to 125,000 people and we did $700,000 in sales as a result of that event. so it really speaks to the craving for human connection and the experiences that people are looking for. and right at the forefront of what's happening there >> we talk about black friday and you were very insistent that it's pretty good, but singles day turned out to be a total home run for you, too. >> yeah. singles day, 11/11 was pretty incredible we tripled our business this year from last year. and it's such an incredible way for us to not only have -- amplify who we are as a brand, because we're following a denseification strategy of where we put our stores in china, in key cities such as beijing, shanghai and 11/11 allows us to acquire guests at an intimate and personal level throughout china. those results, we're very, very proud of >> before i turn it over to my compad compadres, we've got to start the notion of what you started the call, you're the company of an active, mindful lifestyle you're a brand with a purpose that reflect who is people want to be, your commerce and who they are but laurent, why can you so-called get away with this, some people would say, or why are you able to talk about this and people don't regard it as a cynical way to describe good sales? >> well, i think if you -- i think you've got to step away from just like the product, but really what lululemon like created 20 years ago and you see that happen more and more you see people really being more and more conscious they want to live their life and attaching themselves to brands that have purpose. whether it's our social impact program that gives yoga and maybe attention to underserved communities or whether it's giving the tools to employees of really designing a life they love because we always said that when life works, work works. it's proving true. it's a big shoutout to our teams around the world it really speaks to our decentralized leadership we trust people to know they will do the right thing in our communities. >> laurent, effective tax rate of about 32% obviously the hill's talking about 20 or 22 have you been able to go through and see how the tax bill might affect lululemon >> i'm sorry i couldn't hear the question. >> it's a little loud on the floor as we have a new issue coming to post near us the tax bill, corporate rate of 20% would be 12 points lower than the one you effectively paid how would this legislation affect the company >> based on what we know right now and based on our current structure, it will have a marginal positive impact that's all we know right now. >> laurent, i want to go back to something you talked about in terms of your 2020 plan. a billion dollars in digital your line business is very, very strong a billion international. the one that took people's breath away, a billion in men's sales. how is this possible >> first of all, we're almost halfway there. in q4, we're acquiring the largest number of new guests ever in any single quarter and 21% of that acquisition is through males. and you know, abc franchise doubling in q3 over q3 last year, you look at our colocated stores where we have product for mens, and we see, you know, we see guys -- i have yet to see a guy try the product and say it's not for me we've got so much runway in that segment. we're very, very excited about it. >> i want to talk about new york for a second for years, we've been hearing about macy's suffering from tourism. we heard about tiffany not doing well your fifth avenue store became the number one in the chain very quickly. is this whole idea over or something specific to lulu as a destination for tourists when they come to new york city >> well, i think it is a destination. i think you see some of that in shanghai in london you see some of that in santa monica in los angeles and clearly on fifth avenue. what's fantasticing about fifth avenue is we've been able to open our number one store. it's performing incredibly well. we're acquiring new guests and allowing people from around the world to discover the brand. while we're doing that, we're doing that with little to no cannibal and iization to the rest of the stores in new york and in the first part of 2018, we'll be opening at time warner. the new york market still has i allot of upside for us. >> thank you so much, laurent. you blew numbers away probably the best quart that i've seen in retail. it's important to note that this is a company that is a lifestyle, not just a retail laurent potdevin, thank you so much >> with all of that, retail is leading the way this morning dow's up about 37 points we're back after a break nah. not gonna happen. that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. my name is ken. how may i help you? 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into that tonight. it's so breathtaking, i can't wait for people to see it. >> we'll see you at 6:00 when we come back, opposite ends of the spectrum on tax reform with the dow up 43 good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. your bbut as you get older,ing. it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. gglobal bonds, and high-dividend strategies. sure, these are investments. but they're not what people really invest in. what people really invest in, is what they hope to get out of life. but helping them get there takes a pure focus. because when you invest their money without distraction, hidden agenda or competing interests, something wonderful can happen. they might just get what they want out of life, and maybe even more. >> good thursday morning welcome back i dow is up 61 points building on early gains here subpoena up about 3 as we've got a lot to watch from the tax bill to bitcoin and more. our road map begins with bitcoin's $2,000 the cryptocurrency hits an all-time high. the word's biggest banks want to halt the launch of futures >> those wildfires in southern california are burning out of control. thousands fleeing their homes as forecasts call for high winds and extreme burn conditions into ramping up in washington the government preparing for a shutdown as the holiday season closes in. a look at he was to avoid it and push tax reform through before the end of the year. >> stocks are mixed at the open. dow now in the green coming off the second negative session in a row. attention still on bitcoin, up over 50% in the last week. for more on the markets we're joined by head of research stephen gallagher along with market strategist gabriella santos it's hard to start each hour with bitcoin yesterday we had a discussion how it's drawn money away from series a, early seed funding is it now drawing money away from technology or equities at large do you think >> that is not our view. look, there's still a lot, from the sidelines. when we think where we're advising our clients for it to go it's mostly equities, credit, international. it's not necessarily a very large proportion going to something like bitcoin at this point. >> initial coins in general, are they on your radar >> not enough. we're certainly watching them. there's a place for a cryptocurrency in the future what the valuation on that is, i have no idea i'm scared of these levels i think this is a bubble the one asset class that may be taking away from is gold i think that's the counterpart what's your safe haven, what's your value that's the attraction of the bitcoin as one of many cryptocurrency. >> can we use bitcoin as a barometer for the way investors are feeling with the markets near record high is there skepticism about the risk/return here people are willing to plow money into bitcoin does it tell you maybe people are skeptical about the next leg of this market >> i think so our outlook for 2018 is a difficult starting point because the market has gone up so much over the last nine years we're starting with valuations 10% bob achbl. the solution is much more thinking beneath the u.s. market and thinking globally, thinking about em and europe and cryptocurrencies are still a very small percentage of where that money should go. >> are we not getting warning sibs from abroad so many investors are looking at asia and europe. extra pan is a two-month low we're seeing a turn in the dax there's question marks here what is going on. you've got a copper rollover nickel is down sharply over the past month. >> china is probably our big center for that. we've seen since the national party congress you know, a lot of effort put in place to take out excess capacity. so we're looking for a slowdown in china and we don't know the global ramifications of that it would hurt the material sector first you're mentioning the copper rollover is certainly part of that story we're watching for on our 2018 horizon. >> what impact would that have on something the president said yesterday, and that is there's no reason the u.s. economy cabinet grow at 4, 5, or 6 which obviously -- i think a street high u.s. growth. >> that's extremely high, yes. one, you have to have population growth have it warrant such fast growth we're seeing working age population only up about half a percent. when you compare back to reagan years, women were entering the workforce. they were getting into their highly productive years. and we could get up to 3, 4 percent growth rates it's different today women are fully integrated productivity is softer the population growth is weaker. we can't do it on the workforce alone, not at 4.1 unemployment rate we've got to do it via greater productivity more output per worker i don't think we can doing that in one year's time. >> was this week's productivity number a step in that direction or a one off >> look, productivity had been extremely depressed for i few quarters there this was a little bit of a bounce back in the third quarter. it's still a bigger question of is there a long-term step up in productivity and hence u.s. growth it's too early to tell we are excited when we think about corporate taxes, when we think about smarter regulation that maybe that will help us get better productivity. it's a slow moving animal incremental change that happens here. >> where do i want to be positioned going into what could be a tough year for returns, 2018, at least the start do i believe the rotation we've seen go on over the past couple sessions >> i think so. i think the financial sector has been performing very well. and as you mentioned, the regulatory environment could be very conducive to that next year. >> is that going to be enough? i ask that because the yield curve is presenting difficulties we've had the heads of major banks say trading revenue is going to be down about 15%. >> that's the offset those -- you're framing it right. the regulation versus the yield curve. rising rates help. the flattening of the yield curve would be the one detraction we've seen years of underperformance in the financial sector i think we're breaking out a little bit i think the financials has room to run. >> for us it is still a very constructive outlook on the u.s. economy. we would encourage clients to make sure they have enough international exposure when we think china slowing down, commodities may be taking a breath but it's not changing the bigger picture of better global earnings and more runway when we think about global equities compared to the u.s >> which markets internationally? >> very high conviction on the euro zone. a ton you have conviction there as well as certain parts of emerging markets china, korea, as well as my home region of latin america, as well these are very positive stories for 2018. >> we're going to wrap up '17 first. thanks, good to see you. stephen gallagher and gabriel and so. >> several massive wildfires are burning out of control in southern california. dede roy has an update for us live in ventura, county. dede >> hi there, david look at the flames or the wall of smoke behind me on that hillside you're looking at the thomas fire it's the biggest one raging in this area. that's a wall of smoke back there. you might be able to make out some of the flames we're seeing. this is one of the hardest hit areas. the big culprit are winds. officials are estimating the wind gusts would be up to 80 miles per hour the state's top firefighter mentioned between the winds and the dry conditions, these fires are virtually impossible for them to fight. nonetheless, firefighters from nine states are tackling four major blazes in los angeles and the surrounding areas. so far, three of them are betweent contained they have destroyed 150 buildings. l.a. public schools have been closed today and tomorrow. ucla classes are canceled. over nef j. paul geddy museum, that museum is also under threat that's an iconic museum. mansions in bel air also are threatened including a property belonging to rupert murdoch. in the midst of all this, edison international, the utility company lost $3 billion in market cap yesterday as inve investors become concerned utility companies will be held liable for property losses associated with wildfires if their equipment is found responsible and contributing to those losses right now, there's no cause on any of these fires back to you. >> that's been a recurrent suspicion on some of the fires later. aditi roy in california. when we come back, an exclusive interview with avenue capital group ceo mark lazari and attempting to avoid a government shutdown jason furman will weigh in along with do you loss holtz-eakin dow led by retail and media. back in a minute at fidelity, trades are now just $4.95. we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. the street." let's send it over to scott wapner in new york city sitting down with a special guest. hi, scott. >> hey there thank you so much. that's right we're joined by marc lasry, chairman and ceo of afternoon capital. good to see you again. >> always a pleasure. >> especially with the markets where they are you were on cnbc almost a year ago to the day december 9th, 2016 you said of the rally and dow 20,000, it's almost like you're on a sugar high. the question is, how long does that continue. okay dow 24,000 what are we on now pounding red bulls >> no, we're actually i think part of it is all the news has been positive. right? when you take a look at the economy, the economy's doing well so everybody's taking all that positive news and just is continuing to buy equities so look, i think it could continue for another six months or a year because everything's good. >> howard barks has been speaking the last couple days. he was at this conference earlier today. at another yesterday he said the easy money has been made do you agree with that. >> easy money has always been made i think when you're in the market every day, you never think it's easy. you're trying to make money every single day i think my view is it's always hard what we try to find is situations where you get overpaid for the risk. >> what do you think the impact of the tax package is going to be, assuming it passes >> i think it will pass. i actually think it's great for corporations it's actually really bad for individuals. i don't understand why you've got this huge transfer of wealth from individuals to corporations it doesn't make sense. i think it's going to end up hurting had the economy later on. >> are you as concerned about the state and local tax deductions, the so-called salt as so many of your colleagues seem to be larry fink on the stage a short time ago was lamenting the ekes, it's going to have a real impact on dynamic cities, new york, and states like new jersey and california and elsewhere. >> obviously it's going to have an impact. everybody's an economic animal if all of a sudden now, you know, everybody pays 39% let's make it 40 now if you're in new york city and new york state you're paying 54, an extra 20% more for the luxury of living in new york that's going to have april packet the same thing in california obviously it's going to have an impact the question is, will people want to leave new york to go to florida and other states. >> do you think they will? >> you'll have a number of people who will. it costs you too much money. >> in the current environment that we're in, dow 24,000. new highs all the time where is the opportunity hen for a guy like you >> i think for us, it's not in the equity markets it's going to be in situations where you're getting overpaid. for us it's going to be in asia right now where we can do direct lending. we're making 15, 20% on those loans. aviation we're buying end of life planes and you're going to make 20% plus on that. it's going to be in the energy sector it's trying to find areas where other people are not competing and where the liquidity or the demand for liquidity is not as high but the demand for capital is very high. >> on the other side of equity though, the environment is such that distressed opportunities are limited. aren't they? there isn't that much distress out there. >> not here in the u.s it's more for special situations what there is is there's a real need for capital that's where we're investing is more in special situations as as opposed to distress. >> the area that id think that you are taking a look at is the one that we talk about all the time, relative to amazon that is retail are you currently active in retail either on the debt or the equity side? >> we're active on the debt side neiman markus would be one where we actually own the bonds. you know, we've been involved in jc penny and a couple others it's an area we're looking at it pretty hard especially on the debt side. and i think you're going to find after the holidays, depending on what happens with brick and mortar, i think there will be more opportunities on the debt side for firms like ours. >> so we've seen a jump in retail stocks. you think the same thing that could unwind retail stocks is the seasonal boost maybe they've gotten. >> it is. >> is going to create greater opportunity on the debt side ooh. >> it is going to become cheaper. >> we hope so. if an not, it's fine we're trying to find things at a price where we think we can't get hurt if there's a liquidation, we'll get our money out. >> you mentioned penny are you looking once again at jc penny? >> we're looking at it pretty hard again the bonds are down to about 70 cents on the dollar. you're generating sort of double digit yield which in this environment is good but we'd like to get involved in those bonds hopefully if they get down to the 50, 60 level. >> let me ask you about harvey weinstein. you were on the board of the weinstein company for a year or so you were named yesterday in a class action suit against harvey weinstein, the board and other of his companies what did you know? >> didn't know anything. i joined the board as soon as i found out, which was a couple days before everybody else, i then resigned the following day. so look, i understand and i think what ended up happening just wasn't what he did was wrong. but as far as for me, i had no knowledge of it. >> yeah. how couldn't you have known as a board? i think people would hear that answer and say, if seemingly there was this reputation of this guy for 30 years in hollywood, you know, ben affleck tells the "today" show everybody knew that he was a she's and kind of a bully. how didn't the board knew? >> if everybody knew, why did nobody tell me nobody said by the way, you should know that it's nice that everybody says that at the end of the day, a lot of board members didn't know and everybody can say today was an open secret. if it was so open, it would have been nice if somebody had said anything. >> have you talked to him at all recently. >> no, not at all. >> let me ask you about bitcoin. switch gears back to the market. 15,000 that make sense to you. >> you know, the only thick i'm upset about is why didn't i buy it when it was at 300 or 500 in the back of my mind, i'm like why didn't i buy that thing. i wanted to buy it when it hit 9,000, 10,000. i thought i'll wait for it to take a dip it hasn't taken a dip. i don't understand it. i looked at it and said it seems like a new currency is being created. therefore it might make sense to try to participate in it i can't give you any analysis why it makes sense or not. >> right amid the commentary on both sides, whether it's real or it's a fraud as jamie dimon has now famously said, you don't have an opinion one way -- do you think it's real? >> i think it's real i think the reason you're seeing this huge run-up in it over the course of the last couple weeks is just more and more people now are starting to buy it whereas before it may have been more techies now what you're seeing it's coming to the mainstream as it comes into the mainstream, more and more people are starting to get involved in it i do think it's real when it's got a possibility of being worth 20,000 or 40,000, i can see that as it become morz mainstream. >> let me wrap it up by asking you to react to something larry fink said on the stage as you look ahead to what the markets are going to look like next year, he said we've never had a time where the fed has been on this aggressive tightening path while at the same time unloading the balance sheet while at the same time doing such a sizable fiscal stimulus and he doesn't know what the impact of all that is going to be do you in. >> i don't i do think what's happening is consumer confidence is high. people are spending money. i think the economy is doing well and because of that, you'll find that the markets will continue to do well and that's why rates are going to move up right? so if consumer confidence is high, the environment is good, the market will go up. >> appreciate your time. >> thank you >> marc lasry is the chairman and ceo of avenue capital. david, back to you. >> thank you very much, scott wapner when we come back, more developments on the potential deal between disney and fox or even our parent company comcast still in the mix we'll give youetls a dais we watch the stocks this morning after the break. the moment a fish is pulled out from the water, it's a race against time. and keeping it in the right conditions is the best way to get that fish to your plate safely. bacteria can multiply to high enough levels that even cooking it will not destroy all of them. it's definitely the most important thing in my business. how fresh is the fish? where it comes from? how it gets here. the more i know, the better. sometimes the product arrives and the cold chain has been interrupted, and we need to be able to identify where in the cold chain that occurred. we took our world class network and we developed devices to track environmental conditions. this device allows people to understand what's happening not only with the location of that asset, but also if it's too hot, if it's too cold, if it's been dropped... it's completely unique. we ship fish, beef, poultry, vaccines, insulin. this is about monitoring and protecting everything we ship. i catch all this amazing, beautiful fish and then once it's out of my hands, i have no control over what happens to it. if you have a sensor that can keep track of your product, it keeps everybody kind of honest that way. it's really all about the network. you are looking at trillions of transactions a year. not too many companies in the world can even scale to that type of volume. who knew a tiny sensor could help keep the food chain safe? food has to be fresh. it's that simple. run! >> where to begin on those continued talks between fox and disney perhaps with the fact they are moving closer to a potential deal that could be announced as soon as the latter half of next week still some details to deal with between now and then and fox's board will have to meet and decide whether they want to accept that bid. they also are in continued conversations with our parent company comcast over a very similar deal that would involve as we've said so many times, the sale of the studio of the nat geo and fx networks, the ownership of star, hulu and regional sports networks i think i encompassed most of them of course, the consideration which also also include the assumption of debt by disney will exceed some $60 billion making fox shareholders significant holder in the combination ifin fact it occurs yesterday late in the day, we got news we also reported it, as well that disney's ceo bob iger will potentially stay on at that company beyond the end of his current contract in the middle of 2019 if the deal goes forward as seems more likely than not at this point again, negotiations still continuing between disney and, of course, rupert murdoch, the main man spearheading negotiations a lot of questions on specs. i've tried to relate the structure as i understand it thus far so-called spin cowould be receiving a new share of what be the remaining assets of fox, namely its broadcast network, its sports network, fox news and business channels. those alone ebit a that could produce millions a year. there's a number that you can potentially use to determine what an appropriate multiple is and an appropriate value also may have less debt on it because it will be off loading on what appears to be a decent amount of debt with this deal itself tax considerations as i've said so many times, it is taxable but that's going to stay with the merge co or the remain co what disney will be doing the exchange offer for it gets complex there. i'm not sure where the tax liability will fully lie, whether disney will assume it in some way or not. and the sky deal is another one a lot of people have been asking me about, what will happen there. both comcast and disney have made it clear to fox they would be interested in owning all of sky. pox currently has al offer to acquire the 61% of sky it doesn't already own but that may not get past british regulators if the deal gets sign up, the regulators will still be deciden ot fate of the deal but perhaps will change their opinion if it's against fox to in favor because disney would be the owner of sky disney would step into the deal but not the current contract if it were stopped, disney could reconsider down the road whether it wants to exchange a new offer for that 61% so had a lot to come on this deal fox shares continuing their surge. now up 22.7% for the year. most of that has been over this last month since we first reported news of these talks. >> comcast shares today down by 1.7% when we say they continue to pursue assets, is it assumed an the pursuit of these assets is necessarily entails raising a price of some sort >> raising. >> raising a bid i mean raising the bid obviously if they want to keep somebody engaged they've got to offer something. >> from fox's perspective, they're very happy the idea there are two bidders for this asset. if you're cop cast, you're making arguments to try to defeat worries about anti-trust that are there and perhaps the most significant roadblock to why they're not a favored bidder international assets are what is most attractive comcast, given star and sky, the latin american assets, as well which comcast doesn't have largely being a domestic company other than nbcuniversal having some international distribution so that's where that lies. but do you try to argue as to why your currency would be better the anti-trust risk would be less doesn't appear that that argument has won the day. >> all right david, thanks. jc penny is opening a holiday pop up shop called jac penne. the shop will be open to the public this friday and saturday and an online virtual store starting today to january 7th. it's featuring eight specially curated collections including picks by nicole richie and it will most key influencers like fashion bloggers and such. think tar-j. jac penne. >> surprise to the upside, we'll attribute it to this play on words. when we come back, a busy final few weeks of the year in washington as congress prepares to make a final push on the tax bill and attempt to avoid a government shutdown. we'll talk to the former chairman of council of economic advisers jason fmaurn and douglas holtz-eakin when squawk on the street continues in a moment what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool? eh, i'm not really a pool guy. what's the hesitation? it's just complicated. step-by-step options trading support from td ameritrade my name is jamir dixon and i'm a locafor pg&e.rk fieldman most people in the community recognize the blue trucks as pg&e. my truck is something new... it's an 811 truck. when you call 811, i come out to your house and i mark out our gas lines and our electric lines to make sure that you don't hit them when you're digging. 811 is a free service. i'm passionate about it because every time i go on the street i think about my own kids. they're the reason that i want to protect our community and our environment, and if me driving a that truck means that somebody gets to go home safer, then i'll drive it every day of the week. together, we're building a better california. good morning, everyone i'm sue herera here's your news update at this hour israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu praising president trump's recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital. he claimed other countries are considering following washington's lead. he spoke at the israeli foreign ministry >> yesterday was a momentous day. an important one yesterday's statement by president trump i think is such a milestone. >> however, the top leader of hamas calling for a new uprising against israel he spoke to his followers in the gaza strip advocating december 8th as a day of rage there were widespread casualty during the last armed uprying in the early towels and israeli security forces firing tear gas and praying water cannon at demonstrators during clashes in the city of bethlehem. had factions went on a general strike to protest the u.s. recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital a story we'll be following for you all day here that is the news update at this hour melissa, back downtown to you. >> sue, thank you. taxes in focus as the year end closes in and kong greggs, we to past the long awaited tax overhaul steve liesman joins us to talk about eliminating the deductibility of state and local taxes a flash point for a lot of people. >> anxiety levels are running high about this. the possible economic fallout in the high taxed states especially from ending the ability to deduct state and local taxes, call them salt deductions. there isn't a lot of data on the specific economic impact any deduction is the single biggest revenue racer in the tax bill expect it to bring it from 800 to a trillion dollars to offset tax cuts elsewhere in the economy. it's going to hit states with high taxes the hardest the tax policy center says by self it will hike taxes by $2500 or upwards it doesn't include other offsets like the effects of lower tax brackets or higher standard deduction. it would hit high income earners hardest. that wrote bridgewater who wrote any deductions will prompt more people in high salt locations to move that col undermine local state finances over at the tax policy center, they worry states could reduce education or other services and fitch worries many states won't lower taxes in response and there's concern about local property value both versions of the bill right now allow for a $10,000 property tax deduction and there's talk of increasing that or allowing income taxes to be included. howard gleckman fellow at thetach policy center says "it's real money when you compare it to the size of the overall economy, it's hard 0 move needle the issue is more about the distribution of it and how it hurts residents in those states compared to others." most data shows people don't move because of higher taxes they move because of the weather, melissa >> i can name a lot of people who move because of higher taxes. in addition to -- look at david tepper he left and went to florida. >> that's the problem, melissa. >> you have those marquise names who move but there's been a lot of research on in that happens either after they raisetachs in a certain state and don't find people moving because of that and don't find people moving in especially when they lower taxes either that's what the data shows >> steve, it's only 37,000 people who pay 50% of the income tax in the city of new york. it doesn't take too many of them to choose to move to have an impact. >> that's a potential concern, as well. the trouble is, where is the business of those people there's an example that was put out if you have a person who owns six mvdonald's franchises in new jersey. that person could move to florida. i think the mcdonald's franchises will stay in new jersey you know, there was a guy here over on the deck who said maybe i'll move to alabama i said great but how are you going to commute back to your job in new jersey. there is the issue of mobility and whether or not that makes sense. some jobs are mobile some rich people are mobile, some people are not. >> thank you, steve liesman. joining us now jason furman former white house council economic adviser and doug holtz-eakin, former ceo director let's pick up the conversation where we left off with steve ya jason, could there be unintended consequences to eliminating a salt deduction in terms of the states that pay the highest taxes now and what happens to those populations? >> yeah, you certainly would see some people move because of taxes and some people not move because of taxes that would put downward pressure on taxes in those states those who like downward pressure on taxes think that's a good thing. i'd be much more concerned what it means for education, opportunity, upward mobility all of which are crucial to our economic growth. i think this would undermine those aspects of our economic growth and hurt our economy. >> education opportunity because the tax base in those states become eroded temporarily and we can't pay for the schools in that state through taxes >> exactly i think this would come at the expense of k through 12 education, at the expense of college, at the expense of training programs, all the types of things that the tax base in these states is currently serving. i think it's penny wise and pound foolish and would hurt the economy over the long run. >> doug, i'd love to get your take from sort of the more right side of this "the wall street journal" takes a shot at this and comes out and says lower the overall rate and give more of a break on state and local because you're going to affect a lot of republican voters given many of them are the high income earners in these states. >> yeah, if you take the partisan element out of it, lower rates broader bases, the recipe for basic tax reform. this is part of broadening the base it makes sense from that perspective. jason is correct to be concerned about the provision of services in states. that's absolutely the fundamental thing to look at in that regard, i think the most interesting thing is there's been a lot of research done by in particular metcalf at tufts and martin feldstein at harvard that looked at the impact of deductibility on the structure of state finances. broadly speaking they find the deductibility causes those states to useless deductible fees and taxes eliminating deductible would change the mix how they raise revenue but doesn't affect services concerns over schooling going away, training programs going away seem overblown in light of that research. >> what about the economies themselves though in california or new york? which are not insignificant. it's hard to imagine businesses would want to move any of these states it would seem to be a disincentive to having economic growth in these states. >> i think that's certainly the case that you have lots of margins for adjustment it's not just in the structure of the taxes but i do think it's important to look at the overall impact of the entire tax bill and not just one provision. the businesses are going to look at the overall impact. is the economy growing more rapidly or not, what's the opportunity for capital investment they won't just look at a single provision. everyone should look at the whole reform, decide what it does for them directly and with indirect effect on growth and make the decision on those grounds. >> speaking of conference, it's been said this is not a typical conference in some of ways this bill is still being written. we continue to hear about 20 versus 22. that's a lot of money over ten years. how m malleable do you think this still is >> i can say economically the benefit of the extra points of the rate reduction i think are quite small. once you're allowing businesses to expense their investments already, you cut the effective marginal tax rate on equipment to zero. when you cut rates above and beyond that for some businesses you actually can create problems so i don't know why they went as low as 20% when the brt, the main advocacy organization for large businesses was asking for 25% rate going into this i think going to 22, going to 25 using that money to ace a lot of the other problems in this bill, the corporate amt, not having anything for low income households, the amt for individuals which is a very screwy thing, there's a whole bunch of problems in these bills that could be alleviated and made i think more pro growth and pro fairness if they were willing to move off what had been the president's red line, a red line he seems to have moved off of himself of that 20% rate into doug, is that what you see happening? is that why you theoretically the president kept the sweetener in his pocket? >> one can only guess. it's a plausible scenario. i don't doubt that it strikes me as very odd to have tax reform that doesn't get rid of the alternative minimum tax by individuals or corporations the idea is not to need an alternative. those are real issues. i think the main point in favor of the 20% rate has been that it gets the u.s. to just below the average in the oecd and given history, typically when the u.s. gets its rates down, everyone else cuts. nine countries have already announced they're going to cut their rate we won't be below the average, we'll be above the average once again. position yourself where you'll be competing in the years to come. >> jason, doug, thanks so much for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. when we come back, a deadly holiday gift an inside look at an operation where gift cards are used to fuel the opioid crisis we'll tell you what the business community is doing to combat it. a quick check on stocks, dow 5ga a son to a 42% innd&p up.25. >> this is a terrible fiscal situation we got ourselves into. we're about to go from stagnation to stagflation. >> i think one of the president's priorities was to simplify the tax code. so i think that we do have a preference of trying to get it down it a smaller number. >> this tax bill is a once in a lifetime opportunity to find domestic companies that are going to increase their cash flows by up to 20% thank you, mr. president, thank you. >> which sector is blackstone's byron wien calling his top pick right now? you'll find out if you go to trading nation more "squawk on the street" coming it's that time of year when many americans decide the best gift is a gift card that is easily available to every major retailer in the country. a cnbc investigation involves a shadowy world where these cards are fueling the opioid epidemic and the retailers are dealing with what has become a deadly gift. >> every addict i talk to nationwide tells me that this scheme is widely known and now some of the nation's biggest retailers are some of the biggest targets because of relaxed return policies. here's what we know. a shoplifter steals an item from a store and returns it to a different store location without a receipt. no problem customer service issues a gift card or store merchandise merchandise card for the value of the item plus sales tax never paid in the first place. the shoplifter takes that card to a corner store or pawnshop, and else is it at a discount for cash which can then be used to buy drugs. tennessee is grappling with a huge problem third highest per capita opioid prescriptions in the nation. investigators in knoxville tied 85% of recent overdoses in a three-month period to gift cards. >> what was your reaction when you saw that correlation >> absolute shock. it would be no different than if there was a rock lying there and you lifted it up and this horrible smell came out and this monster came out we had no idea that the organized retail theft was related to intimately with the opiate and drug trade in general in appalachia. >> state senator briggs sponsored legislation to track the purchase and sale of gift cards and now new legislation to beef up enforcement. meanwhile the national retail federation estimates return fraud costs as much as 15 billion dollars a year the chains got back to me, target, walgreens, walmart all grappling with the problem home depot told me it has changed its return policy so merchandise cards given in exchange for nonreceipted return can no longer be sold, no longer redeemed online. they are nontransferable they ask for identification when you return an item when you redeem the card in the store, they're asked for that id. >> there's a balancing act in terms of convenience for the consumer >> it's one reason why you don't see the retailers en masse beefing up their return policies because they want to keep loyal consumers shopping at those stores but exchanging the merchandise cards is one way another way is they have software retail analysis has software that tracks gift cards in use in florida and tennessee. what it does is it identifies people who are returning massive amounts of products for gift cards. so investigators could take a closer look. >> we always hear after the holidays what percentage of sales ended up being through a gift card. any idea how this arbitrage began? >> it probably is not identifiable at this point we know a university in florida is going to look at the actual link between opioids and gift card abuse we also know, every law enforcement agency i talk to knows that there's a problem and organization called clear which is an al xwhags of law enforcement across the nation say they're looking into it. they're going to start tracking it think about this a patrol cop on duty makes a bust for drugs he may not recognize a stack of gift cards is related to the opioid problem there's still a disconnect there that may change. furthermore, when you're talking about all of these retailers trying to do a lot of the christmas business, a lot of holiday business, grandmas and grandpas don't know if they have a loved one struggling with addiction and you buy them a grocery store gift card, that can be used for products, some dealers accept the cards directly >> i assume there's more on dotcom. >> yes, if you want more information if the story is interesting to you, we have a long investigative piece on cnbc.com appreciate your watching it. >> thank you for bringing it to us contessa brewer here we'll get a quick stocks here. dow is up 45 points and media and retail not doing too bad "squawk alley" will begin in a "squawk alley" will begin in a few minutes. i think we should do that meeting tomorrow. "squawk alley" will begin in a few minutes. well wait. what did you think about her? it's definitely a new idea, but there's no business track record. well, have you seen her work? no. is it good? good? at cognizant, we're helping today's leading banks make better lending decisions with new sources of data- so, multiply that by her followers, speaking engagements, work experience... credit history. that more accurately assess a business' chances of success. this is a good investment. she's a good investment. get ready, because we're helping leading companies see it- and see it through-with digital. let's get to the group with the san tetelli exchange >> mark, thanks for taking the time today >> my pleasure merry christmas. glad to be with you. >> merry christmas you refer to the tear that the stock market has been on since november 8th you called it the trump rally and it started around the election and many stock markets had a delayed reaction, it made sense. why do you think it is a trump rally and can it continue? >> i think the best way to do this is to quote sir john templeton who said that bull markets really are born on pessimism and they grow on skepticism and they mature on optimism and die on. we did have some sectors euphoric bit coin is one of them. technology is another. but in general, i think we're between stages two and three and this has been the most questioned stock market rally in history. you know, the first 11 months of this year were all up and i don't think that's ever happened in history and if it goes on until next year, it's the longest bull market in history. so, why is doing that, i think, tax reform and especially cutting the taxes on corporations business spending -- >> let me stop you there, mark i agree with much of what you said, although the dow didn't have a very good month of march. maybe it wasn't higher i don't know what indaes you're looking at of any legislation passing i think it's more than just policy let's look at tax policy now that it's going to conference, do you think there is an after rally once it gets worked out between both changes and gets signed by the president? >> i think they're making an assumption there buy on the rumor, sell on the news kind of situation but long term this is extremely positive you know, i have the gross out put statistic. go demonstrates that business spending is 60% of the economy so, the big issue here is the tax cut for corporations that is what's driving this market higher. it's not, it's not individual tax breaks or anything like that it's the corporate tax rate and the lower they get that, the better so, i'm extremely optimistic that this bull market. >> let me stop you there, also almost out of time bitcoin. let's save a little for bitcoin. there was a time when throwing dice and playing crap was a back alley event and then the big casinos in las vegas did it legitimize the game exchanges see the interest and make a lot of transition costs in the end i like block chain but bitcoin has some form of success and bring many other forms. what do you think about the fate of bitcoin >> i'll quote from my book which has all these quotes in it that you would really appreciate. one is nobody is more bearish than a sold out bull maybe you sold all your bitcoin position i don't know i think it's real. certainly block chain is very real and we need to jump onboard on this because it is going to, it is revolutionary. >> mark, i see your point and it is real. you can cash it in i just don't know what makes it more real with regard to a fundamental but, hey, i guess i'm picky. thank you for your time. >> thank you >> carl, back to you. >> all right, rick, thank you very much. when we come back, we are going to watch bitcoin continuing to surge. prices kind of all over the map this morning, but we do know it more than doubled in a month and climbing to all-time highs we'll talk about that next on "squawk alley. "squawk alley. don't go away. acquawk alley. don't go away. 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