Skip to main content

tv   Squawk Alley  CNBC  July 21, 2017 11:00am-12:00pm EDT

11:00 am
prices certainly a focus to day as oil prices are down 1.5% overall for the day. we'll see if that sticks around for the afternoon. that does it for this hour of "squawk on the street. let's send it back downtown for the start of "squawk alley." back to you. >> all right dom, thank you for the good work this morning it is 8:00 a.m. at microsoft headquarters in redmonday, washington it's 8:00 a.m. on wall street and qua and "squawk alley" is live ♪ >> good friday morning welcome to "squawk alley." we're at post 9 of the new york stock exchange joining us this morning from one
11:01 am
market out west, ethan kerzwhile and gene munster happy friday to everybody. talk some markets and tech here. the nasdaq extending the win streak to ten for the first time since 2015 the index posted the 41st record close of the year. last time the nasdaq had a win streak longer than 10 was a 12-day streak back in july of 2009 what a week it has been for tech, gene we had s&p 500 tech sector recovered that 2,000 record. we had the ad line, some argue, get a little extended here how are you feeling? >> still feeling good about certain names. i think some names will be displaced. the quick ones that we think will be the winners, if you look around ai, robotics, ar, that's google, tesla, apple, those are great plays. the ones i don't feel good about are ones that had a great week like netflix so to answer your question, generally good
11:02 am
but on a case by case. >> ethan, how are you feeling about microsoft's numbers last night? the stock was up sharply after hours until guidance came out. onest things that jumped out at me is the commercial bookings number just overall, office 365 in business now outpacing the traditional office product bookings up 30% on the back of what we saw from oracle. and their cloud growth are we entering a new era in which businesses are approaching the cloud? >> this is not steve ballmer's microsoft anymore. this is a total change in a deck add ago when people used to bat them around as a has been. i'd be feeling about g. about the strategy it's trite a trance formation to show that momentum in the cloud. i think to your other question, absolutely i think this is a new rear in terms of cloud computing reaching the mainstream. about five years ago when we started talking about cloud, it had sort of less the sub1%
11:03 am
adoption in the enterprise now most server resources are either moved to the cloud or in the process of evaluating that transition and the desktop computing stuff that we do, the stuff that microsoft makes money on that, is cloud based as well that is a lot of the momentum were those two segments, the server and office division they're migrating and that is propelling earnings growth >> gene, you know this whole trend, it's very clear it seems to have a lot of runway to it. the market is willing to place higher valuation onz this kind of revenue who are the net losers here? i don't even just from other enterprise tech companies that might actually have their type of business be disadvantaged but also the customers is it actually kind of truly a win-win or basically we seeing the cloud providers kind of take some of the economics of these relationships?
11:04 am
>> i think some of the hardware providers are going to be losers, obviously if, that shifts off premise into the cloud. a lot of these cloud providers are building their own hardware. i see that as a fundamental loser. i think other are professionals who help outside resources who help provision and maintain some of these on premise. obviously, if you look at the total cloud, we're talking about it for five years. it is still less than 20% of computing done on the cloud. if you fast forward that 15, 20 years from now, those type of industries are going to be negatively impacted. >> ethan, another potential loser i worry about is the i.t. worker i mean, services, organizations that haven't transitioned why using fewer workers and more software are certainly affected. the pitch i keep hearing from sales executives and ceos in the cloud is here's how you shift over to us you can get rid of all of this human cost that you have maintaining your data centers.
11:05 am
wh when are we going to see that show up in the numbers >> i think it's theoretical than a threat at this point i think it's maybe true if you fast forward out long term those of us that have adopted the early adoptors of cloud, there is still quite a bit of i.t. work to make that transition seamless and make that migration i think we're going to see the i.t. worker that segment driving a lot of activity for the near term as we make the cloud migrations hopefully over that period you hope that there's higher order application development, you know, platform efforts that rely on cloud computing that a lot of the workers could transition into i don't think we've seen the sort of i.t. worker as dead. it's now managed by four companies. vision, that perhaps the fear of a couple years ago, there's a lot to do to get from the state that we're in today, 20% less adoption as the other guest said, to where we're headed. there's a role for the i.t. worker in that transition, no question >> and we're all talking about
11:06 am
long term trends, gene but it's always fun to get your view as a former sell side guy wonder if you were in that chair now, if you would be writing some down grades on valuation or lowering targets over 12 months. >> i never covered netflix i spent more time looking at it today as a venture capitalist than i did as an analyst but i'd be negative on that. i would downgrade. that i still would be negative on paypal. i was negative as an analyst i still think structurally that they will be dismediated those are the two. i'm still equally positive on apple. i would have picked up coverage on tesla and been in the club this very polarizing story i would be in the positive camp. >> yeah. you need to wear kevlar as you walk around town that depends on your point of view it is a busy morning for amazon. now reports the ftc is investigating the dcompany's
11:07 am
pricing tra pricing practices. they're looking into accusation that's they mislead customers about the size of the discounts. this as new jersey senator cory booker says he thinks the u.s. government should keep an eye on amazon and google. in an interview with kara swisher this con sal dags happening all over the country is not a positive trend. he adds, the trump white house and the republican party are "really slacking" in terms of asserting consumer protections ethan, i wonder, we've seen some notes from analysts the past few days on their list of risks, you know, where we could be wrong. usually that part of the note. anti-trust scrutiny of mega cap tech is making appearances more and more often >> yeah, well, europe is leading the way. they did a very thorough, i thought, a reasonable investigation of some of google's practices and so i think senator booker is right. the u.s. has not led in that area lately. i don't think there is any different under obama, frankly
11:08 am
but we certainly could see more. we haven't seen any signals from this administration that they're planning to be particularly harsh other than some sort of off hand comments trump made about the at&t merger. so i wouldn't expect it. i'm not sure either what the theory, what the antitrust theory would be with respect to amazon either. they don't have a majority of -- they don't have a monopoly in online commerce yet that's, you know, less than 50% market share there. so it's not -- the laws we have don't -- they're not necessarily doing anything wrong from a monopoly stand point on the laws we have. and so you need more aggressive anti-trust enforcement to pull them back. we may see that. i wouldn't count on it i'm not betting on it. >> gene, i'm going to sneak a little plug for my podcast in my question here. this weekend i got microsoft president brad smith who, of course, led microsoft's anti-trust defense a generation ago and he says something interesting in our interview he said i think one of the lessons is if you change the
11:09 am
world, you're going to change the law. you're going to have to live with the law that emerges. i'm talking to him about lessons for amazon, google, facebook, the rest from what happened a generation ago i mean this could be a real issue because amazon has changed the world. is this something we should be more concerned about >> it's got to be on amazon's radar. i think over the next five years they have 18% online share today. it's not the 50% as we're talking about. but i think the law makers are going to get progressively more scrutiny on these big companies. consumers and importantly they're winning. they're getting better prices and more convenience and so the quick take away is, yes, i think the companies should be aware that there's going to be more legislative headache around them but at the end of the day, i think the technology companies win. they won't provide ultimately more value remember the ride sharing issue. when they go into cities, uber, lyft and they got a lot of push back
11:10 am
consumers wanted that to happen. and that's the key these companies are making our lives better >> that certainly true that it's definitely making better deals for consumers. although, ethan, microsoft was able to kind of say that when it had bundled explorer, the web browser, in with the office software basically, i wonder if the issue for amazon could be just exactly how much they stuff into the prime bundle and whether parts of that are considered to be anti-competitive >> this is a topic near and dear to me. i actually worked on that case as a young intern in washington. i think this is different though that case you had two very distinct, clearly different markets and microsoft took one that was absolutely a monopoly and leveraged it for the benefit of another maybe you could say that with respect to the prime bundle moving into media and some of the other things that amazon is bundling in there. i don't think they're a monopoly in any category. you need -- you need to
11:11 am
establish that they're clearly have market dominance somewhere that they're the only alternative for some particular thing. and i just don't think really near that threshold yet. that would be the argument that you would make there some of the other stuff that is happening, you mentioned the ftc inquiry that, is a different set of laws. that i think goes to your earlier point that just as they got bigger and as these companies impact more and more people are going to get more and more scrutiny. i agree with gene. i think generally speaking most people would agree that amazon is a good thing and that they're able to get more choices, have more options for making online purchases and the other industries they're in. i think they're going to get it. i'm not sure it will have any impact, not until they overstept lines as microsoft did in the late '90s. >> definitely going to take a crack at rewriting some antitrust textbooks. a friend of ours writes in and says, hint if, amazon were the all powerful destroyer, netflix
11:12 am
shares wouldn't trade where they do and can you say the same thing about google or apple. would you agree, gene? >> you are totally disagree. i think what we've seen is an appetite for bezos to be aggressive e talked about content being the next leg we're focused on whole foods this content thing is a core driver of where amazon is going to go over the next five years i think you're going to see a ramp up in the type of content they're putting out. then you add apple on top of that they need to get into that game. it's not going to be just a music service in the future. you're going to have a bundle video and music offering for one price. i think all of those end up having an impact >> this ftc thing though, i got to sashgs anybody ely, isn't tht department stores have done since time put a price on an item that you know nobody ever paid and then say oh, look at the markdown i mean come on if the ftc is going after amazon
11:13 am
on this, it seems like they're looking for anything to go after amazon on. >> yeah. one other thing, john, is that there's 1,000 items that were look looked at. statistically this may be relevant, there are 120 million skew onz amazon. there are different practice that's go on let's kind of keep everything in perspective here >> good discussion, guys there's going to be fodder for us to chew on for a while, i think. ethan and gene, have a geekweek. thanks again. >> thanks so much. >> when we come back, forget face-to-face how about screen to screen new data from comescore shows how millennials are choosing tointo interact with each other and who uber is thinking about for the new ceo. at fidelity, trades are now just $4.95.
11:14 am
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. won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.
11:15 am
11:16 am
or a little internet machine? [ phone ringing ] hi mom. it makes you wonder... shouldn't we get our phones and internet from the same company? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. [ laughing ] so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. call or go to xfinitymobile.com introducing xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. millennials spending more time in front of screens on facebook, snapchat and instagram. we all are, let's be honest.
11:17 am
they ran the numbers to look into millennials and what apps they are joining us most joining us now is co-founder and ceo of comscore. welcome. >> thank you >> so a couple things in your numbers that i think investors are going to really want to take note of. it looks like snapchat, though it's really popular among millennials with about two out of three using it, not only are instagram and facebook more popular, but they're getting higher engage mement as well >> it penetrated the younger millennials. as around 80% of them now use it it is growing within the older segment as well. it's going to be interesting to see what happens as we go forward in time here especially as the millennials age into the next segment which is beginning
11:18 am
to happen. >> but i couldn't help but notice that the same time though that engagement for facebook which the line on facebook is it's only old people staying on facebook 95% of millennials on it but engagement is much higher than you see on some of the other apps is your take that there is something that snapchat can do or needs to do to raise engagement versus powerful competitors based on the numbers? >> well, they are in the challenging situation with facebook who seems to be copying some of the more popular features of snapchat i think there is room for a lot of apps in this world today when you look at the number that's are being used so i suspect that they'll carve out a nice niche for themselves. >> youtube is ranking highly, appetite for first stop for mobile video i wonder what that says about the potential and reception of
11:19 am
folks using youtube for a subscription based services or as some kind of a portal or if it's just kind of a let's grab a video on the fly >> yeah, that's a really good question the viewing patterns of video for millennials are dra mat matl different. millennials spend 60% more time on the internet. a lot of that on video, than they do watching live tv within the 55 plus segment, it's the exact opposite they spend twice as much time watching live tv as they do watching content online. and an interesting piece of research that cbs recently did where they were tracking millennials as they age into the next segment which is now beginning to happen. and they found that while there was a slight change in their behavior patterns back towards live tv, it was nowhere near enough to suggest that their
11:20 am
behavior patterns are going to represent at any time the patterns of the older people today. so i think we are looking at a funnel fundamental shift in how video is consumed. it's going to have a dramatic effect on a lot of different businesses >> i wonder if you can drill down on that just a bit. we're talking about video which i think everybody understands. but when it comes to live video, right, periscope, facebook live, they evolved with a lot of promise. some people don't believe that even millennials have the patience to sit and wait to see what's going to happen if they're not promised it in advance. are there numbers to back that up >> yeah. it does look like the length of time of an episode, if you will, or a viewing period is really important and it's got to be short. otherwise, just won't keep the attention of millennials which, again, has some major
11:21 am
implications for advertising it's now being suggested that you have to run far shorter ads online with video and the thinking seems to be that's going to be around 5 or 6 seconds. and if that's in fact the case, the designer of the ads is going to have to change dramatically it's a tote aly different world zbhchlt we have people watching full episodes of "game of thrones" and "glow," so is it just that perhaps this medium of social media isn't suited to this type of content and thus is not as much of a final opportunity as some people had hoped? >> i can't imagine that people are not going to be looking at monday he tiesing these services with advertising i think if that doesn't happen, i think a lot of the internet
11:22 am
services just won't be able to survive. so i expect that there will be a lot of effort put behind figuring out how to communicate a brand's message in a short period of time i think they just have to. they just got to do that >> all right thank you. >> and when we come back, take a look at the f.a.n.g. stocks. mostly under pressure, netflix is the one to the upside right now. the nasdaq looks perhaps to notch an 11th straight day of gains. also, taking a look at shares of ebay on the nasdaq they're under pressure after warning on profits of the current quarter saying it's going to fall short of estimates as the company looks to revamp the marketing and platform strategy they did report after the close yesterday. and then overseas, watching the dax in germany on pace for the worst day since september. more details on that coming up your muscles look good, but we should be seeing more range of motion. i'm fine. okay, well let's see you get up from the couch. i'm sorry, what?
11:23 am
grandpa come. at cognizant, we're uniting doctors, insurers and patients on a collaborative care platform, making it easier to do what's best for everyone's health, every step of the way. you may need more physical therapy. ugh... am i covered for that? yep. look. grandpa catch! grandpa duck! woah! ha! there you go grandpa. keep doing that. get ready, because we're helping leading companies lead with digital.
11:24 am
11:25 am
the s&p 500 set more record closes on friday this is year than any other day of the week but so far not today ine s&p 500 is down almost six dow 78 back in a minute , what are you doing? oh hey john, i'm connecting our brains so we can share our amazing trading knowledge. that's a great idea, but why don't you just go to thinkorswim's chat rooms where you can share strategies, ideas, even actual trades with market professionals and thousands of other traders? i know. your brain told my brain before you told my face.
11:26 am
mmm, blueberry? tap into the knowledge of other traders on thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade.
11:27 am
a used car, to keep our community safe. before you do any project big or small, pg&e will come out and mark your gas and electric lines so you don't hit them when you dig. call 811 before you dig, and make sure that you and your neighbors are safe. 811 is available to any business our or homeownerfe.
11:28 am
to make sure that you identify where your utilities are if you are gonna do any kind of excavation no matter how small or large before you dig, call 811. keep yourself safe. what a friday for european equities seema has that >> absolutely. a rough day for european stocks ending lower exporters taking a hit as the euro continues to appreciate the currency rising to a two-year high one day after ecb president mario draghi said the sen drcen bank will discuss steps to take in the fall. euro 1.16 against the green back on track for the worst day in ten months auto transport related stocks that have been beneficiaries of a lower euro as it makes the goods more competitive overseas. you can see they're under pressure take a look at continental, volkswagen, dmw, daimler, down
11:29 am
sharply. not helping matters are reports saying that vw, bmw, audi and porsc porch colluded to fix diesel problems now the selloff not confined to just germany valeo lower in france after reporting weaker than expected sales growth in the first half of the year. peugeot, renault other big losers in france let's talk earnings. phillips lighting participating in this european selloff that we're it withing to day after posting weak second quarter sales. that stock down almost 8%. but there are some bright spots. vo vodafone rising and help by strength in spain, italy and turkey that stock up just fractionally on the day and then there is paysafe. they made a $3.7 billion bid for the uk-based payment processing
11:30 am
company. and that stock is higher overall, a very tough day for european equities. carl >> all right seema, thank you for that, seema mody let's get back to hq for a news update happy friday happy friday thanks so much here's what's happening at this hour, everybody. secretary of state rex tillerson is meeting with qatar's foreign minister at the state department today. he says the u.s. is satisfied with the efforts to implement an agreement aimed at combatting terror financing which was signed last week he urged other arab states to lift a land blockade on the country of qatar transgender people in north carolina are still prevented from using rest rooms matching their jengender identity under new bathroom bill. this is according to a new lawsuit which was filed today and that suit alleges the new law violates equal protection rights a make shift memorial has been set up outside the home of chester bennington, the late lead singer of the band linkin
11:31 am
park, they led behind flowers and other mementos the 41-year-old's body was found thursday morning in the southern california home. and dez bryant hosted a barbecue feast for his fans, his friends, and his family. in lufkin, texas, the event allowed fans to meet and greet the hometown star. he spent about $16,000 on the feast. looks like it was a lot of fun that's the news update this hour back downtown. john, back to you. >> all right thank you, sue the nasdaq coming in to today with a 10-day win streak it's first since 2015. for more on which tech stocks are going to continue to stay hot, we're joined now by piper jaffray's michael olson and pivotal's brian weezer happy friday brian, i'm wondering, i look at the fang stocks. netflix is up 89% year to date amazon and facebook 20, google 15%. should we be looking at those or include the likes of apple and
11:32 am
microsoft which are up just as much as the others >> you know, i covered the advertising themes specifically. i count adobe as among the companies i look at. there is too much of a run up. so i find it hard to find value. frankly, i have one company out of 17 that i have a buy on and that is fox. everything else is either a hold or a sell at this point. so really it's more about where the down side protection is that you want to look at. so snap is still clearly a sell. there is relative value in that google feels like or alphabet feels like it is relatively better valued than facebook. big fan of the company. the stock had too good of a run. >> brian, much respect for just one buy. rare to see that among analysts especially in tech michael, are you similarly concerned about valuations and tech overall >> i cover a different slate of
11:33 am
companies. i would say in general when we look at tech overall, i still feel confident i think you want to own apple in particular into the launch we did just within the last half an hour lower our estimates for the september quarter given we do think that there is hay high likelihood that the iphone does get delayed from september quarter to december quarter. with that being said, i don't think that will phase investors. i think there is enough chatter around that from component suppliers that shouldn't be a big surprise for investors i think netflix is one to continue to own. had a huge quarter obviously it's one that we like because of the international growth potential. u.s. are at 50% market share and we're still scratching in the single digits for international. there's a long runway on that front. >> brian, do you feel as if this segment of the market got a little bit too stretched from your perspective or a little too crowded mostly because, you know, nontech specialists are just craving growth and momentum or whatever is working now
11:34 am
or do you think, you know, people are mindfulst very big picture trends and willing to tolerate that you have to pay up for them right now >> you know, both. i think that there is a bit of a crowded trade, yes i think that even among those who are specialists in the sector who understand it or claim to understand it, i think there is a lot of willful optimism just take the advertising space, for example, where some simple math, if you see the digital advertising sustained growth rate that they experienced over the last couple years for the next five years, all advertising is digital facebook and going rl 100% of advertising and you're all out of business. that's not realistic expectations -- >> we do have a digital operation. >> yeah, that's true but the point is that investors i think are looking at the numbers unrealistically. there is an sum that is perhaps they k. you know, capture all of marketing spin, not just advertising spend and there is much more room to grow that is not realistic. >> michael, some might also -- you say the same thing about
11:35 am
amazon and retail. this notion that, i mean, making arguments that if you look at stock performance that there will be no need for any retailer beyond amazon. we know that similarly unrealistic. >> unrealistic there is a lot of aggregation that can happen amongst verticals within e- commerce i think amazon is obviously off and running to get the verticals with grocery and large items and things they're doing for fulfillment on that front. there is a rollup of vertical that's amazon is going to benefit. from and obviously they have a huge advantage with everything that they're doing with their existing pull fillment resources as well as all the data that they're collecting on us every day. >> brian, i want to go back to the fact that you got so many holds and sells in the space that you cover i'm wondering what you expect to happen in this environment of cord cutting and consolidation won't there be certain winners
11:36 am
who are perhaps undervalued today or do you think that even the potential winners are fairly valued >> yeah. no one says that the value of market has to gouto goup in ters of spending ts not a given that happens necessaryly. i think the reality is consumers don't need to spend more money to be fully entertained. the pos biflt the skinny bundle, it's more about cord shaving is a real thing and so what i see happening especially in the video centric space is there can be growth in consumer spending. the media owns have to spend more on content. i guess that's good for everyone there in terms of production budgets because you're going to have to spend more on content to keep up with the next flictflixf the world. that's not good from a valuation perspective. >> michael, just to zero in on one of the names that is under pressure today, ebay what is your stance on the stock at this point? and do you think there is anything to be concerned about
11:37 am
with the quarter was it a one time setback? >> we have a neutral on ebay and we have a $34 price target that is below where the stock is currently. i think our issue there is really just that ebay has a solidified kind of position within the internet but, you know, unfortunately for them consumers still think of it as an option site and not a site where you can get kind of new products on a fixed price basis. and so they have a branding issue. they're working on that by doing a lot of tv brand marketing and other brand campaigns. but ultimately it always proves hard to kind of change consumer behavior and consumer thinking about an existing brand. >> i did buy a camera on ebay though maybe they can do it guys, michael, brian, have a good weekend thank you for joining us >> thank you let's send it over to dom chu for a quick market flash nge. >> all right good morning one of the biggest losers in the dow so far again, general electric they're down 3% after reporting
11:38 am
better than expected quarterly results. but profits fell on weaker sale of the oil equipment business. this is also the last earnings report from its ceo current one who is leaving after 16 years on the job. now on the conference call he said he expects 2017 profit and cash flow at the lower end of forecasts. management did decline to provide guidance for next year saying analysts and investors have to wait for mid november for the incoming ceo john flappery to discuss his outlook. he'll spend the next couple months giving some -- taking stock in the businesses. this uncertainty is propel the stol stock lower they're at the lowest levels in 19 months. certainly a stock we are watching as we head to afternoon trading. back to you. >> thanks, dom in case you missed it, jeff bezos finally joined instagram it's a fly over preview of the new rocket factory with bezos himself sitting on the roof with
11:39 am
a sign that says rocket factory coming soon. he has the rockets he lacked the guns he put those away this time. >> kept them covered >> yes >> when we come back, new reports on just who uber is looking to to fill the shoes of travis kalonic how they're trying to wipe out the most dangerous diseases and the insects that carry it. and we're looking at the worst outwwes.or the major indexes i back in a minute your insurance company
11:40 am
11:41 am
won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.
11:42 am
we're heading into a very volatile week for stocks key earnings reports europe falling and potentially market moving hearings in d.c. we'll get you and your money ahead of the game. a long list of analysts are doing something they rarely do we'll have a list of stocks being impacted and the contrarian call from one of wall street's most bullish strategist we'll have you taking another look at this sector.
11:43 am
we'll see new 15 thank you very much. got new details in uber search for a ceo. according to axios, multiple individuals close to the board have reached out to bank of america vice chairman anne finucane about the role. she leads customer an lit ticks, global marketing she also serves on the u.s. state department's foreign affairs policy board finucane is intrigued by the opportunity as you might know travis you could enstepped down from uber in june. customer analytics something that could help. >> there is plenty there i think people are connecting the dots in terms of obviously it's been suggested they want a female ceo, somebody that has well connected and sort of within a big organization a lot of experience running it my wife did work for anne for a while at b of a. i also question, you know, is somebody who's been inside a very large bank for decades, is it a good fit with the culture of ub you are republicaning 100 miles an hour or growing fast?
11:44 am
taking over the world. >> it also goes to show, i think, what kind of reputational peril uber must be in if they're looking at banking executives to come in and fix stuff. >> i don't know. >> we'll watch obviously, highly one of the maybe most anticipated executive appointments of a private company i ever can remember. >> google has a new project called debug it's not about software. our meg terelle is in key west, florida, with one of tech company's fight against mosquitos. hey, meg >> hey, carl here on the block in key west, florida, scientists are releasing thousands of male mosquitos all in an effort to suppress the kind of mosquito that trans mitts diseases like zika and other diseases. what they're doing is release thousands of male mosquitos infected with a bacteria which essentially means when they release thousands of guys, they mate with the females in the wild the offspring cannot hatch they've been doing that three
11:45 am
times a week we accompanied them yesterday. they fly into the little areas hopefully mate with females and then hoping that after this trial ends the population will be suppressed. now a similar trial on much larger scale is going on in fresno, california that's where google come in. through the health subsidiary, they're doing the debug fresno trial. they're releasing a million of the male mosquitos per week. it's important that they're male it's only the mosquitos that bite this is where the technology can really help. >> we've developed automation that can automatically rear mosquitos, separate the males from the females and then release them in the field. and so we lowered the cost of being able to do this tremendously >> so it's only the female mosquitos i should say that bite, not male it's very important they're only releasing those. going sl barely using robots and computer vision to do this more efficiently. really where technology meets biology, guys. really, trying to suppress
11:46 am
mosquitos by releasing more. carl >> wow that is a fascinating real life look at what we sometimes call other bets, guys, in a wall street sense but talk about long term problems like diabetes and glucose monitor that's they're trying to put in contact lenses. this is so episodic and dramatic when it happens. >> and such a fast mobilization. people from various different angles on how to solve the problem. >> mosquitos a huge threat in a tiny package >> meg, great story. good to see you. hope you get to enjoy some of key west when we come back, a lot of questions, not many answers around elan musk's verbal approval to dig that tunnel connecting new york and washington, d.c. and then we're going to pit blue apron against amon n ml az'sewea kits when "squawk alley" comes back
11:47 am
where to get in... where to get out. if only the signs were as obvious when you trade. fidelity's active trader pro can help you find smarter entry and exit points and can help protect your potential profits. fidelity -- where smarter investors will always be.
11:48 am
11:49 am
it all started with a tweet. elan musk received a verbal approval to build an underground hyper loop between d.c. and new york our next guests are in new york and d.c. at this moment f this company project could go through, they could see each other in less than a half hour joining us this morning, chairman of the industry of advisory board for the nyu civil engineering department as well as the former mta capital construction company president and jim is an economic analyst at the american enterprise institute. gentlemen, good to see you both. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> michael, let's set aside the
11:50 am
discussion for now about what verbal approval really means just from an engineering standpoint, how is 29 minutes possible >> well, if you fly, it's possible, that's for for sure. but the thing to look at is that we are talking about the 250 miles, maybe 230 miles so to do it in half an hour, you will have to travel quite fast, approaching 500 miles an hour. that's something that is yet to be achieved. the fastest maglev trains are right now doing about 350 miles an hour. and that assumes no stops, that assumes lots and lots of things. so 29 minutes is a great thing, but it will take a long time to achieve that just because the technology is
11:51 am
yet to the point that i think it can be deployed. in theory, people are talking about achieving speeds on the maglev of 3,500 miles an hour. that's great, but that's not in, you know, not something that you will see anytime soon. >> jim -- >> the other part that is very cumbersome and complicated is the needed approvals to go these 230 to 250 miles to connect with the cities and that's going to be a very cumbersome -- >> that may be more challenging than the technology itself anybody says no between here and d.c. and there, they have a problem, for any reason. first of all, it's not going to be 30 minutes, because there's also going to have to be stops in delaware and new jersey it's going to be just like the acela. everyone's going to want to have
11:52 am
a stop and hetaven forbid if there's a endangered species gopher somewhere between here and there, that can hold it up, too. >> you also have to compound that by the fact that you're going across five different states you're going, maryland, delaware, pennsylvania, new jersey, and new york plus, probably, hundreds of municipalities and that will be a further impediment in actually trying to achieve -- >> there's a lot of detail -- >> are we seeing the limits of this idea that you can take a stack of paper, representing regulations, and just toss it off the table? when we enter the idea, we love talking about what elon musk might be able to do, but he can get verbal approval and that means something to do a project like this? >> it doesn't really mean anything because there's nobody to give approval there are lots of peel who theoretically would have to give
11:53 am
approval listen, i am -- i have a feeling that just from the regulatory point of view, it would be easier for him to build his city on mars that he also wants to build than it would be to build this 225-mile underground 700-mile-an-hour vacuum tube although i do like the idea, in theory >> the idea in theory, is great. but we have to remember, also, that the cost to do that in today's dollars and cents is prohibitive. the only maglev that is operational today, you'll find it in shanghai, that connects the center of the city with the airport. it was built there, it is 20 miles long, and it was built at the cost of about $1 billion and that's in china. our costs does not even approach -- i mean, the chinese cost does not approach even close to what it costs hear to build. and we have -- >> we're talking a $300 billion
11:54 am
project, probably minimum. >> probably. probably $300 to $400 billion. if we start today. >> and if we're talking about those kinds of dollar amounts, $300 to $400 billion, wouldn't you obviously say, well, what else could we do that might be able to get us somewhere near this rather than, you know, digging two tunnels across five states could you just really improve the times on amtrak. could you increase airline capacity i mean, it seems like the list would be pretty along. >> rate, listight, listen, if tl going to be privately financed, that's one thing but if there's going to be taxpayer money, listen, we have a president who won an election on helping sort of the left-behind parts of the united states and are we going to spend $300 billion to $400 billion on a project that will benefit people who probably have been doing pretty well over the past decade that seems to me to be problematic. >> yeah. and i'm not particularly claustrophobic, but there is no way i'm getting into an underground tunnel in a car with
11:55 am
a bunch of other people going that far i'm just not going to do it. >> i would i kind of conceptually love this idea so much hey, when we're done with this, then we can build our space elevator >> you know, whoopi goldberg of the next couple of decades who won't get on a plane and takes a bus everywhere. >> it's going to be fascinating, whether it's that or the base on the moon michael, james, thanks so much >> you're welcome. we do have some news this morning concerning some business in the white house our eamon javers will be covering that. >> i want to give you a flavor of what's going on here at the white house. it is a very unsettled moment right now. there have been these reports that anthony scaramucci, the wall street financier, would be brought in as the communications director here at the white house. two sources are telling nbc that that is, in fact, a done deal. however, scaramucci himself just passed an nbc reporter in the west wing and shrugged his shoulders when asked if he was coming onboard as the
11:56 am
communications director here there's a lot of uncertainty the white house is not officially confirming this news just yet in fact, i can tell you that abc news reporter jonathan carl just went in to talk to sean spicer and says that spicer slammed the door in his face so there might be some tension behind the scenes about this appointment. we know there are others in the white house who are resisting the anthony scaramucci appointment, partly because scaramucci would be an independent power base here in the white house with his own direct lain ine to the president trump and an ongoing friendship with the president that might circumvent some of the existing power structures inside the white house. it might be that some of those existing power structures are trying to resist this appointment. we'll try to get to the bottom of this and tell you exactly what's going on as soon as we know, as soon as all of those officials emerge from a meeting that we believe, but are not sure is happening right now in spicer's office. there was an earlier meeting that broke up a little while ago inside the oval office with the president.
11:57 am
where all of this lands, unclear as of this moment, but we might get confirmation any minute now from some of the principles. also, the white house also saying that it's going to have an executive order, ordering a whole of government study with the industrial defense base, there were some concerns that there's too much outsourcing inside the defense industrial base and too much resources being brought in from overseas manufacturers. that leaves the u.s. military unable to totally secure its supply line. so they'll conduct that study. it's a 200-plus day deadline we'll see where they land on that one, as well. carl >> eamon, as you're talking, "the new york times" out with the lead that spicer, the white house press secretary, has resigned, telling the president that he vehemently disagreed with the appointment of scaramucci as communications director times said that the president offered scaramuccithe job at 10:00 a.m. this morning, requested that spicer stay on,
11:58 am
but spicer told the president that he believed the appointment was a major mistake. this is according to a person with direct knowledge of that exchange that will mark a turn in the white house communications strategy >> reporter: carl, that would explain the intensity of the emotion that we just saw in the upper press. i was just standing there a moment ago aides issued me out of the upper press area, just asked me to leave, and come back in a few moments. normally, reporters are allowed to hang around up there. it would also explain why spicer might have been in a huff here with jonathan carl of abc, slamming the door, extreme frustration on the part of some who are on the losing end of this this marks a sea change internally for this white house, which has been guided to date, despite the fact that the president today is an outsider, this white house has been guided largely by veteran hands at the republican national committee and longtime washington insiders anthony scaramucci, certainly not that he is a free-talking new york
11:59 am
financier by background. he's somebody who has a closeness with the president he's somebody who would probably see himself as a principle, not just sort of staff, the way press secretaries traditionally see themselves and i think we can expect that anthony scaramucci will bring in his own team of people with professional washington expertise. but who would report to him directly, not the other way around spicer had argued that he is the one who should be in charge of the communications director, as the press secretary. obviously, that would have been untenable with anthony scaramucci, who would have wanted to bring in his own people so a spicer resignation, i can't confirm it stand wing where i'm standing and i'm standing down to the west wing to see if we see any reporters gathering there now and we don't see them yet, but that would not be unexpected as a result of the scaramucci pilot sean spicer somebody who very much values his independence and his experience and would look askance, really, at a scaramucci appointment as somebody who does not know how washington works, who doesn't have communications experience, hasn't been inside the bubble here in washington
12:00 pm
for a long time. on the other hand, that could be exactly what president trump is looking for here >> spicer clearly used to run running his own shop, to some degree, whether it's with the rnc prior to the administration or not we'll see if this changes the way the white house communicates with the street, over time >> yeah, it would seem to be reflective of this split the new york finance guys and the republican kind of regulars in the national committee. >> busy week for earnings and senate intel hearings next week. so get some rest over the weekend. let's get to wapner and the half all right, guys, thanks so much we'll continue to follow developments in that big and breaking story i'm scott woman flapnewapner, we half our top story, a slew of market-moving earnings, key hearings on the hill, not to mention a fed meeting. we'll let you know how to trade all of it. with us, jos

89 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on