> i'm seema m)$( infá for sara eisen. >> good morning. >> good morning to y">
> i'm seema m)$( infá for sara eisen. >> good morning. >> good morning to y" property="og:description">
> i'm seema m)$( infá for sara eisen. >> good morning. >> good morning to y">
a warm welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. i'm wilfred frost. >> i'm seema m)$( infá for sara eisen. >> good morning. >> good morning to you >> great to have you with us let's get to the global market picture. it's an encouraging one. yesterday, record closes note just for all three main indices that you're looking at, but for the russell, for thel transpor as well. the nasdaq up 0.8% the s&p and dow up about 0.6%. the year for the w3ow that's roughly one every four trading sessions.e extraordinary statistics rp&r yesterday. utilities the worst. could be another positive set of record closes. the dow higher by 72 points, nasdaq by 10 s&p by 5 it was a risk-on day for the bond xdarket. we saw selling of bonds. yields rising. the ten-year pushed up to 2.39%, where it sits this morning as well >> global stocks have had an encouraging start to the week. let'se1 look at how asia perford overnight. mostly tof4ñpside.c the shanghai upqnearly 1%, hang seng up about 0.7% one event to watch this week will be the bank of japan polic meeting which kicks off tomorrow the japanese nikkei closing down 0.15%. let's look at early trade in europe european stocks yesterday breaking a three-day losing streak the french m"ityok index, the c 40 seeing gains of 1.2%. slightly lower on the day. mixed trade for europe, though still early. the economic data to watch is the uk gdp number which1 comes out friday >> let's look at broader markets. oil prices up about a half percent today. wti, 5 p gold prices are flat today 1266 is the price of gold. dollar board, which slipped a bit yesterday, not seeing much happening today. the euro did just turn around by 0.3% it was down a little up a little after we got the germanñ ifo business sentiment data, which was belowok expect+ts but very high. last month a record all-time high that boosted the euro fractionally the dollar markets, bitcoin to round things off, standing at 19,000 depending on which futures market you look at flat roughly speaking for the day. >> the ceo of one surging cryptocurrency stock is sounding the alarm on the crypt o craze. >> that's right. even the ceo of a cryptocurrency play does not think value is justified. shares of longfin have jumped 1,240% in two days after agreeing to buy another cryptocurrency zedo. they dropped 18% following comments that tceo and the te chairman said on fast money. he said longfin's $3 billion plus market cap is not a reality. >> it's not justified.cmcf1 o i'm developing a goodw31 count. this market cap is not justified. if you look at myñirevenues, i value my ip pricing at ok$5. >> longfin agreed to purchase w ziddu from another company meridian ziddu is a micro lending company that uses the same blockchain tmcnology as bitcoin, thei.eq% cryptocurrency itself has surged more than 1700% this year. he called the cryptocurrency phenomenonje as a euphoria e1a >> so he said compare it to myw earnings, this is not justified. this is different than saying a yptocurrency co overvalued or eundervalued, whe it's not based on earnings at all. this company has no revenue. his own company, the other company isxñ]oñ profitable. when you look at ziddu compared to longfin, it's not profitable. it has no>drevenue. their underpinnings is blockchain technology. when they put out the press and said blockchain technology, analysts say that's all it took to get the skyrocket in the price. >> another example of companies or coins doing well because they have blockchain or bitcoin in their title or even an announcement of them acquiring a company in the4ispace. you will see the stock surge on that news. >> the important thing here, the ceo of a company is talking it down now that doesn'to necessarilyl eq talking down bitcoin itself, where that's a differentj fact. this is not a cryptocurrency itself engage in transactions they use cryptocurrencies to do micro lending but not exactly a cryptocurrency as you would look at bitcoin or oethereum >> it's important to differentiate between the cryptocurrency space and the blockchain infrastructure that ) lives on. >> great stuff thank you very much. "fast money" continues to have the best guests broadly onko topic. there's a pair of economic reports on the wall street agenda november housing starts and third quarter currenti account are out. minneapolis fed president, kneel kashkari is speaking this afternoon, firste he will join "squawk box"ee at 7:10 a.m. eastern. he did not vote for a rate hike as well as continuing to have a where bank regulations should be heading to where the consensus is he wants it tot79 ase to softened. carnival and darden restaurants report before the open lp stocks to watch today include mcdermott and chicago bridge are merging the combined company will hav1 revenues of about $10 billion and a backlog of more than 14 billion activist investor starboard value bought a 10% stake in cars.com an s.e.c. filing shows the purchase was made earlier this month. starboard believes the shares are undervalued and sees the ÷zn8sold to a private equity fi. shares of roku are higher. an s.e.c. filing showse morgan stanley bought a 5.5% passive stake in the maker of streaming devices. wellç]p)o is expaendi ingh role of mary mack. she took over the business last year from garye tolstedt. this is expanding her role she has donee a lot to help the tidy up and being rewarded for that, i guess. forced reward, i guess, because they had to remove some people either way she's beent( for good work since. ñheicoe1 reporting better expected quarterly results the parts supplier attributes the growth to recent acquisitions the company says it will continue its aggressive acquisition strategy next year shares of extended stay ho ceo and is raising its full-year guidance getting more details into what may have caused yesterday's deadly amtrak train derailment in washington state. $eh the, tsb says the train was traveling over 50 miles per hour faster than it should have]v5@n at the time of the ] gderailmt three people were killed and 100 injured when the train derailed sending cars on to the interstate below we'll have a live report coming up later in the show this trainx was goingl frome1 seattle to portland, oregon. this derailment happened on the way in southern tacoma >> your home e1area. >> an area that i've been to i've been on that train many times. >> tragic story.q a live update from the scene coming up later in the show. ugz next, the dow is about 200 points away from the 25,000 mark we'll hit -- will we hit it before the end of the year that's a big question on everyone's mind. you information to help answer it when we come back.tc: let's begin. yes or no? do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet? do you want $4.95 commissions for stocks, $0.50 options contracts? $1.50 futures contracts? what about a dedicated service team of trading specialists? did you say yes? good, then it's time for power e*trade. the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. looks like we have a couple seconds left. let's do some card twirling twirling cards e*trade. the original place to invest online. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm seema mody let's get you up to speed on the market action. asia did have a positive session overnight. in china, the shanghai gaining 0.8% hang seng below 30,000 a gain of 203 points chinese tech stocks helping the hong kong equity index outperform overnight the nikkei slightly lower. we're looking ahead to the bank of japan two-day policy meeting kicking off in tokyo tomorrow. early trade in europe, a mixed day so far the dax, 13,303. down 8 points. ftse 100 higher by 21 points the uk gdp print comes out on friday french equity index slightly lower. let's look at futures. it was a record setting day on wall street. the nasdaq surpassing 7,000 for the first time ever. the dow has had 70 record closes for 2017 you can see early trade here, premarket trade, we are higher 61 points for the dow. nasdaq higher by 8 alex dryden from jpmorgan joins us the key factor given the u.s. market record highs that continue to arrive and deliver is tax reform. to what extent is that priced in already and will we get a further rally the day president trump puts pen to paper? >> i don't think it is fully yet priced in. when we talk to investors, there still remaining a slight skepticism about this bill making it over the final hurdle. if some investors are still in a holding pattern, though most of this is priced in i think what's interesting about this tax bill is over the last week it's changed in nature. go back one week, it was about corporate tax reform bringing down the headline rate from 35% closer to 20% as details have been nailed down, this has shifted away from corporate tax reform to focus more on the individual that changes the economic impact it increases the chance of inflationary pressure in 2018 by putting more money in the back pocket of the consumer in the u.s. that changes and boosts economic growth for next year. what about the fiscal deficit argument in terms of the national debt being high, can this sort of fiscal stimulus be afforded is that a question we need to tackle in 2019, 2020 that won't derail markets in 2018 >> i think the fiscal argument is very interesting. we are essentially taking out another credit card in the name of the u.s. taxpayer for a whopping amount of 1$1.5 trillion fiscal issues, they bubble along in the background. they affect long-term economic growth they don't weigh on short-term economic and market performance. i don't think this is something we worry about in 2018 or 2019 this is maybe a five, ten-year down the line issue. >> alex, the outperformance in markets in december with two weeks to go has been notable if you look at the s&p 500, nine out of 11 sectors are positive for this year. tech is up nearly 40% for 2017 if you think that tax reform is not fully priced into the market, where is there room to run? >> i think what we're looking at is a stronger global economic back drop. the tax reform bill will help boost growth, particularly going into next year that's why we continue to see momentum building behind some of the more growthier names going into next year we think the tech rally can rumble on considering the strong economic back drop in the u.s. and the strong backdrop in the global economy >> could there be opportunity in energy that's the worst performing sector, down nearly 8% so far this year. >> we've seen some stabilization in the oil price we'll be noting the deals being done with opec and whether they remain committed to the cuts that they have discussed if they can, that stabilization in oil allows energy companies to start finding a new equilibrium, planning around that new oil price, giving them an opportunity to dust themselves off and have a decent 2018 but we have to watch a fluctuating oil market in order to work out which way that sector will be moving. >> alex, thanks for joining us still ahead on "wall street journal," tax reform front and center on wall street today. we have the latest from washington when we return. building a website in under an hour is easy with gocentral... ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their... ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. build a better website - in under an hour. with gocentral from godaddy. trust #1 doctor recommended dulcolax. use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. suppositories for relief in minutes. and dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax. designed for dependable relief. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ what we do every night is like something out of a strange dream. except that the next morning... it all makes sense. fedex powers global commerce with vast, far-reaching networks... deep knowledge of industries... and, yes... maybe a little magic. ♪ welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm wilfred frost. the market action looking good today. record closes for all three of these yesterday. on top of that, the dow, transport and russell 2000 looks like a positive day again today. up 63 points for the dow, 5 points for the s&p, and the nasdaq 8 points. a good risk-on day yesterday shaping up the same way today. tax reform is taking center stage in washington as a massive overall plan nears the finish line the house is expected to hold its final vote on the bill today with the senate following soon, perhaps today or tomorrow. congressional republicans hope to have legislation on president trump's desk as soon as tomorrow let's bring in john harwood. good morning what do you expect today from the house and the senate tomorrow >> i think the tracks are greased for this thing and we'll see passage in the house today. and if they bring it up in the senate today, they'll pass it today. if not, they'll do it tomorrow we've seen all of the critical swing votes fall into line behind this legislation. republicans got the vote they can do what president trump asked, which is deliver this by christmas. >> susan collins, how much of a critical vote was that from her yesterday? >> from susan collins? >> yeah. >> she was one of the people who sank the effort to repeal obamacare. she had been on the fence on this bill, though she voted for it when it went through the senate she says that she is confident it will have positive growth effects, and that the bill is -- in return for her vote, she gets concessions on health policy and subsequent legislation to protect healthcare for some of her residents in maine there's a lot of dissent about this bill, a lot of criticism of collins for buying these arguments. if you look at how mainstream economists modeled this bill, they're saying it's not going to have the deficit neutral impact that republicans are advocating. i talked to mark warner, centrist democrat, he says this is mistimed for the economic cycle. and that because of that, because it's not deficit neutral, because it's not well targeted, it's not going to have the effects. he calls it the single worst piece of legislation he's seen in the senate. >> this is why economists from left to right have said we will not see the growth numbers that the republicans themselves have cooked up. what we're seeing now is a nation where we've already built up $20 trillion in debt you add that 2 trillion to the 20 trillion, now you have a level of debt that frankly, if interest rates simply go up 1%, you will see 1$160 billion a yea of additional debt payments, right off the top. >> now, that is one of the two main criticisms of this bill one is the deficit impact. the other is how it's targeted this bill, according to the tax policy center, by 2027 will deliver 83% of its benefits to the top 1% >> john, in terms of the fact that we're getting criticism from the democrats, that's not surprising in itself one confusing aspect is the deficit impact would traditionally be a republican argument against this stimulus as opposed to a democrat argument, but the way it's turning out it's almost the other way around >> in the past republicans have used deficit arguments to criticize democratic spending programs republicans favor smaller government, democrats tend to favor larger government what we've seen in practice is that democratic administrations, both clinton and obama have brought deficits down after republican tax cuts made them bigger. we could expect that cycle to continue but republican goal is not really deficit reduction for its own sake it's to have a smaller government they think lower taxes, freer markets, smaller government is the way to go. that's what they're indicating with this tax plan >> john, thank you very much we look forward to the next couple of days to see if it gets over the line. time for our top trending stories. president trump taking center stage at the disney hall of presidents disney parks presenting the latest addition to the magic kingdom attraction, an antronic president trump. and yes, it speaks >> a striking resemblance to actor jon voight, known for her performance in anaconda among other movies, and the father of angelina jolie that's what twitter has been talking about,how this animatronic version of donald trump a likeness to jon voight >> doesn't have much resemblance to president trump rob lowe is thanking california firefighters with a home cooked meal the actor showing his appreciation for crews battling massive wildfires tearing through southern california with a spread of spaghetti and burgers. low eshg posting th lowe posting this photo to his instagram. >> doing phenomenal job. it looks like "the office" could be making a comeback nbc is in early talks to revive the beloved series steve carell would reportedly not be involved in the new installment. i have to say, i don't like the sound of this, based on the uk version, which inspired this initially. the later attempts to bring it back were not as good as the original and then the idea to me that they do that and not have ricky gervais in it is blasphemous if you're doing without steve carell and trying to milk it late in the day, it's a risk >> it will be interesting to see if it can be successful without steve carell also an interesting move after reviving "will & grace" and now doing with "the office." >> i'll have to see if i can get into the u.s. version. dunkin' donuts is offering more than coffee for the shortest day of the year the chain teamed up with a brewery in massachusetts to produce a coffee-flavored beer the release will be timed to coincide with the winter solstice at 11:28 a.m. on thursday, the shortest day of the year >> don't know about that coffee good. beer, good mixed? >> not so good >> like morning versus evening no thanks. >> still ahead on "worldwide exchange," a round up of the top headlines and a check on the global markets. plus pointing fingers. the white house calling t z oumk f north korea for a major hack attack what's team spirit worth? (cheers) what's it worth to talk to your mom? what's the value of a walk in the woods? the value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. morgan stanley this is not a cloud. this is a tomato tracked from farm to table on a blockchain, helping keep shoppers safe. this is a financial transaction secure from hacks and threats others can't see. this is a skyscraper whose elevators use iot data and ai to help thousands get to work safely and efficiently. this is not the cloud you know. this is the ibm cloud. the ibm cloud is the cloud for business. yours. ♪ ♪ on the hunt for 25,000 wall street set to open at record highs we are getting more details into what may have caused yesterday's deadly train derailment in washington state we're live on the scene with the latest. and not so cryptic the blunt comments from one crypto related company that is getting buzz today it's tuesday, december 19, 2017. you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. good morning very warm welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. i'm wilfred frost. >> i'm seema mody. good morning to you. >> good morning to you, too. >> let's check global markets. another record setting day for the dow, s&p and the nasdaq. the dow transports index hitting a new all-time high. we could be in for another set of gains with premarket trade indicating a higher open the dow up by 65 points. nasdaq by 7, s&p by 4. the house votes today and tomorrow the senate on tax reform it is the overhaul of the tax code sending stocks higher the question is how much higher can the market go. looking at the ten-year, where the yield has been 2.4%. let's see where it is at now 2.39% on the ten-year yield. >> mostly positive session in asia, but not resoundingly we have a bit of a decline for the nikkei hong kong and shanghai are higher in terms of european trade, significant gains yesterday. both germany and france up more than 1%. today, sort of mixed session, not too resounding in either direction. >> as for the broader markets, let's start with oil there hovering around 58, $57 a barrel wti crude, 57.42 ice brent crude at 63.67 never got above 70 in 2017, but it got up above 60 for brent crude. let's look at where gold has been trading 1,266. up just around 6 cents right now. the dollar board for you, as we wait for more details around tax reform and whether this vote will be passed, the euro at 1.18 against the dollar slightly higher. the dollar is higher against the japanese yen ahead of that bank of japan meeting tomorrow. bitcoin, the regulated group launching that bitcoin futures contract that was the talk over the weekend and yesterday. bitcoin did close lower or reacted lower to that news bitcoin futures on the regulated down 1.3% at 18,855. >> the co of one of the surging cryptocurrency stocks is sounding the alarm on the broad broader crypto craze >> even the ceo of a cryptocurrency play do not think the share price is justified longfin dropped more than 18% in after-hours trading following comments that the ceo made on "fast money. he said that longfin's $3 billion plus market cap is not a reality. >> it's not justified. it's insane. i'm developing good country, there are people dragging this market -- this market cap is not justified. if you look at my revenues, i valued my ipo pricing. i valued my ipo pricing at $5. >> longfin agreed to purchase ziddu from meridian. ziddu is a micro lending company that uses the same blockchain technology as bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that itself has surged more than 1700% this year he called the cryptocurrency phenomenon a euphoric mania. others compare it to the dotcom era and other bubbles of the past >> longfin joining a growing list of companies making acquisition in this space. >> so this is not a cryptocurrency in itself, it is a company that uses blockchain technology >> they use crypt as collateral in making loans, which is a new space in the whole cryptocurrency space using that as collateral in finance, making loans against those cryptocurrencies and the viability there. >> not sure how safe that is could be a new model thank you very much. there are a pair of economic reports on today's wall street agenda november housing starts and third quarter current account are out. minneapolis fed president, neel kashkari is speaking this afternoon, first he will join "squawk box" at 7:10 a.m. eastern. carnival and darden restaurants report before the open after the close results from fedex, micron and stitch fix i'll state down with the ceo of carnival later today you can watch that interview at 3:00 p.m. eastern. talking about the cruise industry >> are you doing it on a cruise ship >> i wish. at some point we'll do that in 2018 that's an idea i have. this is from set >> i think you need an extra person to help you on that ship. >> i wonder who that can be. stocks to watch today, mcdermott and chicago bridge and iron plan merging in a $6 billion deal the tie up will create a company specializing in engineering, construction the combined company will have revenues of about $10 billion and a backlog of more than 14 billion activist investor starboard value bought a 10% stake in cars.com an s.e.c. filing shows the purchase was made earlier this month. starboard believes the shares are undervalued and sees the potential for cars.com to be sold to a private equity firm. that's up 7.5% shares of roku are higher. an s.e.c. filing shows morgan stanley bought a 5.5% passive stake in the maker of streaming devices. roku up 1.6% wells fargo is expanding the role of mary mack. mack is the head of the community banking operations she took over the business last year from gary tolstedt. he was a central figure in the wells fargo sales scandal. apple downgraded to neutral from buy instinet with a price target of $175 the firm suggests gains for the iphone x super cycle have largely been realized. shares of extended stay america are trading higher the hotel operator named a new ceo and is raising its full-year guidance we are getting new details in what may have caused the deadly amtrak train decrailment in washington state. the train was traveling over 50 miles per hour over the speed limit at the time of the derailment kirk hawkins has more. >> reporter: we are learning that new information from the ntsb, it's coming from a data recorder and now they're trying to figure out why. >> is everybody okay >> i'm still figuring that out we have cars everywhere. down on to the highway >> an amtrak train on the inaugural run of high speed train service to portland derailed and veered off an overpass 40 miles south of seattle. several cars crashed into the busy interstate 5 freeway in the middle of monday morning rush hour and smashed into a semi truck and several other cars now the investigation is focusing on the speed of the train, and the condition of the tracks >> preliminary indications are that the train was traveling 80 miles per hour in a 30-mile-per-hour track >> was supposed to be a day of celebration. more than 80 passengers and crew were on board for the first day of faster service, including alex rozer for king 5, who got off before the disaster. >> many of them were going t work they were heading to the office or they may have been heading home for the holidays. >> everybody comes in, oh, that's not going to happen here we are. it's exactly what happened >> the 1$180 million project wil been the target of critics raising concerns about safety. that debate may now be reignited. the ntsb investigation continues today as they try to find the other black book and determine the condition of the track >> back out here live a live look at the wreckage as workers scramible scramble to remove all of it later today the ntsb hopes to talk to members of the crew and it could be up to a year before they determine the cause of the crash. kirk hawkins, nbc news, back to you. >> thank you very much for that live report. coming up on the show, our must-reads why the white house is calling out north korea for a major hack attack the full details ahead. and as we head out, another check of futures pointing higher to add to yesterday's record closes some air fresheners are so overwhelming, they can... send you and your family running. introducing febreze one for fabric and air. no aerosols. no dyes. no heavy perfumes. it cleans away odors for a pure light freshness... so you can spray and stay. febreze one, breathe happy. the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." time for our must-reads. my pick is in the "wall street journal" titled "it's official, north korea is behind wannacry." i'd note before getting to the conclusion, though it says it's official, they don't give much evidence of why it's official. the author brings his own credibility to the conclusion. a line from the conclusion, i find relatively depressing if this is the big moment that we can prove wannacry attack is that of north korea, it's surprising we can't do more about it it says mr. trump has already pulled many levers of pressure to address north korea's unacceptable nuclear and missile developments, and we will continue to use our maximum pressure strategy to wush pyongyang's ability to mount attacks, cyber or otherwise. >> and denying any type of partnership with north korea or companies there. >> my pick is in the "washington post." it is titled "bitcoin is big, but fedcoin is bigger. if the federal reserve does adopt its own cryptocurrency some day, it will become a major and far less volatile competitor to bitcoin and other digital currencies it's not clear whether fedcoin would want that competition, and the fed is in a position to impose a regulatory environment that tilts the playing field, so watch out bitcoin. we've been trying to understand the role that the federal reserve will play in this new emerging asset class if they launch their own digital coin, it may have much more credible behind it you wonder whether that will actually pose a significant headwind for these cryptocurrencies >> 100%. if any major central bank launched one, it would undermine the idea of any cryptocurrency janet yellen was asked about it. s she said some central banks are considering a digital currency but not a cryptocurrency and even the fed was not actively considering either. that was a slightly negative comment for cryptocurrencies, and differentiating between a digital and cryptocurrency again, i think if the fed adopted their own, it would be bad for any of these non-central bank backed currencies around the world. >> no form plal plan from the federal reserve. though we have seen more regulatory action in the cryptocurrency space the s.e.c. has a new task force in the cyberunit looking at initial coin offerings, many of which they say are fake and basically a way for people to steal money. we'll have to see what type of regulation we further see in 2018, as more people, investors and retail investors get in on the action still ahead on "worldwide exchange," we're on dow 25,000 watch. the blue chips about 200 points away from another major milestone. first, as we head to break, here's today's national weather forecast from nbc's bill karins. >> good tuesday morning to you watching a cross-country storm as we trek towards the holidays. the storm system today will be on the west coast. doesn't make it to the middle of the country until thursday now we have airport problems leading up towards christmas minneapolis to denver, chance of snow, minor delays on friday, we watch the storm system in the great lakes. we have to watch detroit airport, o'hare, lexington, louisville memphis. saturday, this rainmaker will be on the east coast. the big cities on 95 have a minor problem on saturday. by sunday, the system is gone. watch out for heavy rains from dallas to san antonio today. foggy in the south this morning. a mild day d.c. all the way through boston and new york. that's your sissbune travel forecast more "worldwide exchange" when we come back ♪ when you have a really traumatic injury, we have a short amount of time to get our patient to the hospital with good results. we call that, the golden hour. evaluating patients remotely, is where i think we have a potential to make a difference. we would save a lot of lives if we could bring the doctor to the patient. verizon is racing to build the first and most powerful 5g network, with ultra low-latency that will enable things like precision robotic surgery from thousands of miles away. as we get faster wireless connections, it'll be possible to be able to operate on a patient in a way that was just not possible before. when i move my hand, the robot on the other side will mimic the movement, with almost no delay. who knew a scalpel could work thousands of miles away? ♪ welcome back to "worldwide exchange," i'm seema mody alongside wilfred frost. we're approaching the top of the hour the team is getting ready for "squawk box. becky quick has a look at what's coming up. >> good morning. we will be talking about a lot of things, the market drive ton new highs yesterday by all of this talk and expectation that the tax bill will be passed as early as today by the house and potentially the senate we'll be joined by senator dave purdue, republican from georgia. he will tell us what he sees in the tax bill and what his expectations are he's a former business leader, so he will talk about what this means for businesses also what to expect from interest rates for that, we have neel kashkari who will be joining us at 7:10 a.m. what he sees out there, what the growth expectations are and what he thinks the federal reserve will do with interest rates in 2018 this morning, we have a disruptor joining us you have seen the ads for away luggage, supposed to be great luggage, you can plug in your phone, indestructible and you can take it anywhere with you. the creator and co-founder, steph cory, will be joining us today to talk about that does it fit in the overhead bins >> my guess is one of them must fit in the overhead bins because it charges your phone t has a battery inside of it -- >> if it's indestructible, it will take up more inside space >> if the battery is not removable, you can't fly on planes anymore i think the battery is removable. we'll talk about all of those things >> we'll get all of those answers, thank you very much looking forward to it. let's get you up to speed on the market action on "worldwide exchange." asia is mixed, but in general a bit higher we had japan down a half percent. less than that down 15 basis points hong kong and shanghai nicely higher the better part of a percent european trade, very strong yesterday, we saw germany and france up over a percent mixed today. those declines for germany and france small ftse 100 up 0.2% german ifo business sentiment data this morning, which was below expectations, but still strong in the grand scheme of things if we look at u.s. futures, they're pointing higher again today. 0.8% gain for the nasdaq 0.6% for the dow and s&p record closes for all three. record closes for the russell and for the dow transports positive day yesterday looks like it will start as a positive day today dow higher by 51 points. nasdaq by 7. s&p by 4 joining us is michael purves from weeden and company. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> tax reform having a big effect is that the main driver of markets this week? do you think when we get the bill signed that we get a further boost or is that all priced in? >> you can look at the tax as icing on the cake. global markets have been quite strong, not just throughout the year but also recently that's a testament to what i would call global togoldilocks condition, you're seeing it across the world, europe, japan, china stlesh china, they have shown signs of acceleration so tax reform is clearly helpful. you can see that in the small cap and high tax indexes you have seen them rally and outperform the last two, three weeks. i think it's icing on the cake as we look at this ram lly, we'e up almost 20%. >> what part of the tax reform bill are you most excited about? the reduction in the corporate tax rate talk about the repatriation? the standard deduction which part excites you >> as a strategist where you have to -- where you're challenged to come up with earnings estimates for the s&p 500 from a top-down basis, i think it's clear there's a boost to earnings. it's a material one. it may not be quite what one might have hoped earlier in the year, but clearly it's strong. in terms of whether it's really -- that will roll into a nominal gdp boost next year, i think the jury is out on that. i think you're seeing signs from the market about that. you're not seeing the dollar rally off this you're not seeing rates rise off that which would be a reflection of incremental hire and nominal gdp. but it is a one-time and for the foreseeable future a boost to earnings >> the small caps a more attractive relative buy at the moment >> that's a great question i would say the large companies, they are also high taxpayers and will be out-performers over the small caps it's interesting deutsche bank has the high tax paying index that has really outperformed the small caps over the last three weeks. once that tax got legs, it was seei seeing them outperform, and that's a question do you get a material gdp hiccup from this. >> another high for the russell 2000 >> indeed. in terms of equity markets around the world, are you long those? >> yeah. when you have the global goldilocks on, the question is not -- it's not a zero sum game. the question is where is the best risk return where i've been for the last several months is -- for the year has been em will continue to be a great out-performer. we're in the third or fourth inning of that game. japan, from a developmental market point of view, it's one of the most exciting places. where you see the nikkei break away from the shackles of the yen. the yen has been strong. the nikkei has been fighting through that you're going through -- the nikkei has come through a two and a half decade lull it's finally breaking out thanks to interesting developments ain the economic metrics but they're almost inflation less metrics i think this sort of inflation-light growth acceleration is exciting for japanese equities. >> michael, thank you very much for joining us michael purves of weeden and company. general motors upgraded from outperform to sector perform the price target increased to $52. and starboard value bought a 10% stake in cars.com. the purchase was made earlier this month starboard believes the shares are undervalued and sees the potential for cars.com to be sold to a private equity firm. shares of apple downgrade ed d o neutral from buy gains for the iphone x super cycle are said to be largely realized >> coming up, i'm looking forward to neel kashkari on "squawk box. and then, carnival ceo >> arnold donald talking about carnival in 2018 because of the aging demographic, more people are cruising that's not important for just carnival but royal caribbean as well futures pointing higher. this is my last show before chsts. rimall see you on the other side of christmas >> enjoy safe travels >> "squawk box" comes up next. good morning a trifecta of records, the dow, s&p and nasdaq opening at new highs. gi . and another big food deal could be on the menu belgium's green yard in talks to buy dole foods. and if it seems like you're getting more spam phone calls, i get at least five a day. i'm in new jersey. it's because you are getting more spam phone calls than ever. most of the data, according to robo called states, doesn't look good for new jersey residents. i can tell you this through experience, it does not help to press take me off the list it makes them call you more. "squawk box" begins now. ♪ live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box. good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" on cnbc. we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. let's look at the u.s. equity futures. yesterday the dow, the s&p 500, the nasdaq, russell 2000, dow transports all closed at record levels for the dow that was the 7 0th record close of the year that's the most of any year on record if you want to break it out, one out of every four sessions this year has been a record close for the dow and s&p 500. the nasdaq yesterday crossed 7,000 fo