Im michelle carusocabrera. We have a new trading month under way. Its been a narrow mixed session and then some volatility here in the last few minutes because of what President Trump said. Nasdaq outperforming the dow and the s p 500 again hitting another record interday high. Speaking of highs, check out these names. Price line trading at an alltime high back to its i po in march 1999. Yes, that would be an alltime high. Electronic arts alltime high in 1989. Dales force, ditto, ipo june of 2004. Ceo marc benioff will join jim from San Francisco tonight on mad money. Jim cramer, of course. Melissa, check out shares of tesla up more than 3 today. So far the stock is up this year, get this, more than 50 . First, though, to dom chu with breaking news. What we are watching now is a move in the financial stocks, big bankrelated ones on the heels of bloomberg headlines saying that President Trump is weighing possibly a revival of the 1933 act, xheshgs banking operations. He told reporters in the White House Oval Office at bloomberg, quote, im looking at that right now, referring to a possible breakup of the big banks. There are some people that want to go back to the old system. So were going to look at that. Those are the headlines. We did notice that in the spider financial etf, the xlf, the ticker, that was probably dropped around 20, 25 cents on the heels of those comments. We are seeing at least a pushback towards some of the levels. Weve gotten back some of the losses. Still, though, its something to watch for as we see what will happen on those trump comments. Now send it out to the conference where Brian Sullivan is standing by. We will be watching the banks and financials on that. We are live at the global conference in los angeles, california, and have a stacked couple of hours n. A few minutes we will be joined first by the ceo of celgene. Well talk about drug prices, something the president he has referenced, the biotech boom, and what is in his companys pipeline as well. Well be joined by transportation secretary and real estate titan and trump infrastructure adviser Richard Lefrak. We have an interview with the ceo of chevron and the ceo of blackberry john chen. Another big newsmaker speaking to cnbc, david faber sat down with treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin earlier today. David faber joins us. A very interesting conversation, and you tried to get him on what loopholes, what specifics on the tax plan, what did we learn . I wish i could say we learned a great deal but were still waiting on the details that we asked secretary mnuchin about, brian, because the plan itself is one page long. And beyond telling us that all of the deductions that are going to be contribute to making it a possibility of not adding to the deficit. We dont know much. What we do know is that the administration continues to say its all about growth. Our focus is really on creating middleincome tax cut and simplifications. And as i said, a lot of the reduction on the high end is going to be paid for by eliminating deductions. Peoples effective tax rate wont go down. This is about creating jobs. This is about creating Economic Growth. People wonder, including ben bernanke, whether you can create as much as 3 growth the way mr. Mnuchin is saying will be the case from rough by 2 . Not one administration took over for another since 1981 that was able to get that much of an increase in gdp growth. Why such a limited proposal, if you will, as opposed to more details being presented from the administration. I asked the secretary when were going to get those details and how he sees the time line playing out. As fast as we can. We are meeting weekly at the leadership level, daily at the staff level at times. Were all committed. We share similar views of what were trying to accomplish and are committed to work iing as ft as we can. Of course, brian, its not clear what that means in terms of timing but theres a lot to come here and not a lot of meat on the bone, as you know. I know their tax plan is not going to be one and a half plans when its done but the current plan is over 70,000 pages long. Do you think they have the understanding of the true complex at thity of getting it h congress . They have it staffed up, they have the office of tax policy. They have a lot of people who spend nothing but their time looking at that. They did make an attempt and failed, not individual as much. Well see. Its not clear either they know or want to share what their true views are on how to address the main criticism of what we saw last week, on the face of it it will contribute massively to the National Debt as opposed to creating the growth. Taxes are in focus because the president saying he would be open to raising the federal gas tax to infrastructure. Gas taxes are focused. Great interview. Thank you. The full thing is leading cnbc. Com. Well ask the ceo of chevron what he thinks about increasing a gas tax. Thats coming up at the top of the next hour. The ceo of celgene will join us in a few minutes. To the former chairman of the federal reserve, ben bernanke sat down exclusively with squawk box weighing in on the president as first 100 days, t chances for 3 growth and the critics. Our Steve Liesman was there. He joins us here with more. Wide ranging and interesting interview. Ben bernanke just out with the paper back edition of his book courage to act. Expressed his doubts President Trumps tax plan can make the economy hit 3 growth and sustain it. On a sustained basis, its certainly possible but not that likely. I think if theres a big tax cut that lowers tack rates you might have a bump because of increased demand. It gets you over 3 ps . Probably not. I would take the under on that. Bernanke agreed its useful to try some of the things like spur business invest many, spend on infrastructure, make the tax system and the economy more efficient. He says the administration should focus on policies that boost productivity growth. Bernanke is generally upbeat about the feds ability to ease from the Monetary Policy saying its critics have been proven wrong in the past. It wasnt long ago people on shows like this were saying we would have super inflation and Dollar Collapse and all kinds of terrible things were going to come. Its gone pretty smoothly. The fed is in the process of easing money. The unemployment rate, inflation is close to the feds target. All those things are on track. The atlanta fed is out with its first estimates looking at growth, a strong rebound, guys, from the First Quarter. Bernanke says maybe not 3 of the. Sustained were talking about. You do the rapid update. Historically who is more accurate . We get the actual numbers, the atlanta fed . Were a little bit ahead of them. Weve prepared a chart for this. If you look at the average rate the last three quarters theyve been about 76 basis points. Weve been 23. We dont go off and go off only actual data that feeds in the gdp. Well get that tomorrow when we get car sales. Richard fisher now Senior Adviser at barclays. Welcome back to power lunch. Thank you. Two big topics to talk to you about, President Trump saying he might return to glass steagall. The atlanta fed is saying 4 this quarter. The atlanta fed index moves almost daily. Steve will remember they were up in the mid 2s and ended up 0. 7. I wouldnt put a lot of faith in that now. I think chairman bernanke, former chairman bernanke, is closer to where i see things going. Maybe a 2 channel. This new administration offers hope to break out of the secular stagnation which we seem to have been bound by for many years now. We have Monetary Policy driving the ship and now there is high optimism and expectation that well see some fiscal policy that will complement the cheap money and lead to more capex, more employment and further top line growth and growth. But we have to see if it can be delivered and weve seen a lot of promise. We havent seen any real action, and thats what the market, i think, is priced in, hoping for. It has to be delivered and thus far has not. Do you believe this new comment thats come out in the last few minutes where hes thinking about breaking up the big banks and maybe some new version of glasssteagall, would that help or hurt . Secretary mnuchin has mentioned this before. Its tough to stuff the genie back in the battle. An enormous amount of change in terms of the way banks and Financial Institutions are regulated. So well have it to have this articulated. At the same time today he said he would sit down if it could be done with the leader of north korea. A lot of stuff has been thrown out there. Its very enthusiastic but i think we have to be careful to go on what is said. Im just worried im focused on Monetary Policy and Economic Growth here and the financial market. Its a nice lane to stay in. If there is a modern version brought back, that would, steve, favor a bank like goldmansachs. If we can unpack that, separate trading and investment banking. You have to remember Goldman Sachs came to us at the fed when times were tough and hid under our skirts and became a bank holding company. Theyre subject to the same regulations, commercial banks. If indeed its achievable im highly skeptical that it is achievable but this is the second time weve heard this declaration, again, secretary mnuchin said it first. Now the president of the United States will have to see where they take this. Steve, do you have a different view . What i was going to say is youre the artist when it comes to metaphors out there. What i would come up with is that horse has left the barn and left the barn a long time ago, that its way too late to put the current the existing structure of the financial system. What you can do is regulate it and separate it and, by the way, i dont think the lack of separation is blamed by any serious historian of the financial crisis with being a major cause. Dont you feel theres conflation here so a new version of glass steagall is different than breaking up the big banks. Jpmorgan has to be smaller and you have to be much more regional. They have to change the way they are regulating now, and i think thats the declared intention of the administration. Theyre not going to take away dodd frank or the volcker rule. Its how they implement things and i think it will be a softer touch. The vice chairmanship or regulation, its a very good choice, a very knowledgeable individual. If he decides not to take it, you could go to an existing governor, particularly one that will likely be there, powell. They understand how markets work and impacts the economy. Theyve been in the real world. I think this is what theyre looking for. I wouldnt just say glass steagall and scare the hell out of people. Theyre looking to make more effective the way the Capital Markets work, the Credit System works, and if they do that, my hats off to them. I want to go back to this it growth story real quickly. I think bernanke is technically right. 3 is a hard number to achieve. At the same time the economic models used by the economists doesnt have an input for a president who is more pro growth than the past president or a president with an upper limit how much taxation, a president that wants to deregulate more than regulate. I think theres an x factor here but i think theres an upper limit to the extent the economy can grow. Yours is a good point, steve. Look, we have whether you survey the National Federation of independent businesses or the roundtable, they will tell you they felt constrained over the last many moons, decades at least the last decade in particular, by too much regulation and also by an uncertain fiscal policy. Look at what the Congress Just did. Big deal. Theyve reached agreement to fund us through september. Wow. Yeah, wow. How do you plan your capex, the expenditu expenditure, et cetera, that you have to do if youre a Large Corporation or a Small Corporation if you dont know what the government is going to ask of you, take from you, and what theyre going to spend. The nice thing is theres an opportunity to go just beyond Monetary Policy, the fed has been carrying the economy only on its own back, maybe gets some fiscal reform, cut back on regulation or restructure for growth and thats a positive. That would be a great recipe to improve that gdp number. We appreciate it. Thank you. You, too, steve. Lets get to bob pisani tracking the drop, momentary drop, in banks following comments from President Trump. Bob . Reporter were just about back right now. Highs for the day, just off the highs for the day, light volume. Take a look at the s p 500. Melissa is referring to that little drop in the middle of the day as the president made a comment he was going to be interested in going back and breaking up the big banks. I do want to point out the big money banks dropped but take a look at citi group. I want to point out the regional banks didnt have that drop for a good reason. They wouldnt be as affected by it. Vice president pence made a comment under President Trump, dodd franks days are numbered. Lower taxes, infrastructure spending, and less regulations. Here he went right to that trump trade and you can see zions not down as much. Sun trust essentially dropped a little bit, didnt move much. A different kind of situation here. Banks are still leading and some of the Energy Stocks are down and, guys, were hitting 52week lows on big energy names like petroleum. More on that later on. Back to you. That is a really good segway to our next person, bob. Lets get to brian in Beverly Hills at the milken conference. You have the ceo coming up. The ceo of chevron will join us at the top of the 2 00 p. M. Hour. Another hot the Company Stock up 20 in the past 12 months, celgene, marc alles is the ceo. He will join us and talk about drug price transparency, probably about the president a little bit. Are you ready . I am ready. Hes ready. Were ready. Ready. Most etfs only track a benchmark. Flexshares etfs are built around the Way Investors think. With objectives like building capital for the future, managing Portfolio Risk and liquidity and generating income. Thats real etf innovation. Flexshares. Built by investors, for investors. Before investing consider the Funds Investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Go to flexshares. Com for a prospectus containing this information. Read it carefully. Whether its connecting one of or bringing wifi to 65,000 fans. Campuses. Businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. Hey youve gotta see this. Cno. N. Alright, see you down there. Mmm, fine. Okay, what do we got . Okay, watch this. Do the thing we talked about. What do we say . Its going to be great. Watch. Remember what we were just saying . Go irish see that . Yes im gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. Find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. Welcome back to power lunch. Amazon helping to push the stocks to new highs. On track for its best day since early january. Only a couple bucks off its own record high. Now lets head back to brian in Beverly Hills. Brian . Melissa, thank you very much. Were here live at the Milken Institute global conference in Beverly Hills with the ceo of celgene marc alles. Its great to be here. Theres a lot of political focus here because about half of the trump cabinet is at this conference right now. We sat down with treasury secretary mnuchin. The president himself has said we need to bring down drug prices. Your main drug is one of the more expensive drugs. Has trump contacted you . Were part of the big trade associations and weve been in touch with the white house many, many times, and we applaud what the administration is trying to do with Health Care Reform because it is going to structurally provide access and affordability to millions of americans and in that framework of access and affordability we think drugs like some of the cancer drugs that have been called out as being expensive, the true value can be on better display in a reform system. So the idea that we would use a drug and if the outcomes were far superior to anything else that would happen for a patient the reimbursement would follow that kind of a model of the pricing model is under assault. Its under discussion. And shouldnt it be . Some say you want more access. In our interviews with the pharmacy ben the fit managers have really come into focus, come out of the shadows. Are they a part of the problem . The issue of access shared across the whole system. At the end of last year we decided three of very large pbms in the country to go into manage the care agreements with them to create whats called step free access, patients dont have to go through one therapy before they have access to our drug. That lowers in our net revenue. In the plan itself, the insurer will establish the copay. So the affordability is set by the Insurance Scheme that sets the copay for the patient. What would you do if your phone rings one day and its President Trump and he says, marc, you have to cut the price. If the president called you directly, what would you say . Mr. President , thanks for calling. Were happy to talk about the topic. The second thing, the value of our medicines is price d into hw we sell the product in the market. We have a cancer drug, has drugs in the cancer space that have improved outcomes includin