MARIA-00
Service Celebrates 100th Anniversary; Markets Mixed after G7 Finance
Meeting Ended with No Action on Balancing Monetary Policy; Search for the
Black Box from EgyptAir Flight 804 Gets Help from a Submarine; New Polls
Show Clinton and Trump in Dead Heat; Summer Travel Season Approaching; Some
Financial Backers Declining to Fund Trump Campaign; Tom Brady Planning to
Ask for a Second Hearing on Deflategate Suspension - Part 1>
Miller, Stuart Varney, Jeremy Palmer>
Finance; Republicans; Travel; Bayer; Monsanto; Cheese; U.S. National Park
Service; Stock Market; G7; Donald Trump; Mark Cuban; Embargo; Vietnam;
EgyptAir; Mount Everest; Tom Brady >
MARIA BARTIROMO, FBN ANCHOR: Chemical company Monsanto -- billion dollars in cash.
The combination would create the world's largest agricultural chemical company. Monsanto shares rising on the news expected to rally about $10 this morning.
Oversupply has been a concern for the oil market, but now those fears and issue with cheese.
Every American would have to eat three more pounds of cheese this year to offset the glut that we're seeing in cheese.
We're going to tell you about it. Summer travel season fast approaching, meanwhile, the U.S. National Park Service celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and we will show you the top destinations here at home.
Markets this morning are mixed, mixed action in Asia overnight certainly after the G7 finance meeting ended with no action on balancing monetary policy.
In Europe, stocks are off of their lows of the morning, but nonetheless in the red, as you can see fractional declines for the FT, the CAC quarante and the Dax index in Germany.
And Futures in the U.S. also off of their lows, bouncing right now near the flat line, but we certainly did see a bounce from the lows over the last hour.
And now we're expecting a flat to better opening for the broader averages. All those stories coming up, and with me this morning, "Wall Street Week" host Anthony Scaramucci and Rhino Trading Partners Michael Block.
Great show so far you guys --
MICHAEL BLOCK, CHIEF STRATEGIST, RHINO TRADING PARTNERS: Oh, yes --
BARTIROMO: Lot to cover --
BLOCK: Got a lot going --
BARTIROMO: And we're going to -- we have a can't-miss lineup where we hope you'll stay with us for former Massachusetts Senator and Donald Trump supporter Scott Brown is with us.
"VARNEY & COMPANY" host Stuart Varney will weigh in shortly and former house Majority leader Tom DeLay, you don't want to miss a moment of it.
And we kick it off right now this hour with politics. Washington State Republicans snubbing Donald Trump in the presidential delegate election.
They chose to support Ted Cruz even after the Texas Senator dropped out of the race. Blake Burman standing by right now live with the latest there, Blake, good morning.
BLAKE BURMAN, FOX BUSINESS: Hi there, Maria, good morning to you. Even though Donald Trump has wrapped up the GOP race, Republicans in Washington state proved over the weekend that Trump still has much work to do, appeasing members within his own party.
According to the "Seattle Times", 40 of the 41 delegates at Washington state convention were awarded to Ted Cruz.
Now at this point, it is merely a symbolic giveaway as the delegates will be bound on who voters choose in Tuesday's election.
But it is a message to Trump nonetheless. Meantime, polls over the weekend show that should this become a Trump-Hillary Clinton race as expected, the two candidates would square off with record-high unfavorability ratings.
Trump's number as you see there in the "Abc News"-"Washington Post" poll hits as high as 60 percent, Clinton not much better at 53.
Clinton was asked about this on "Meet the Press" yesterday morning, and brushed it aside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK TODD, MODERATOR, MEET THE PRESS: You have an unfavorable rating that is almost as high as Donald Trump's. How do you do it?
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, it's not as high, and --
TODD: No --
CLINTON: I am --
TODD: But it --
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURMAN: However, Maria, the head-to-head matchups are becoming less of a laughing matter for Clinton.
For example, the "Nbc News"-"Wall Street Journal" poll released over the weekend as well as the only national poll in the last four to show Clinton leading Trump but her 11-point lead at one point as you can see there has dropped down to just 3 points.
And that is within the margin of error. Maria, back to you.
BARTIROMO: Pretty amazing stuff here, Blake --
BURMAN: Yes --
BARTIROMO: What an election, Blake Burman, thank you. Joining us right now --
BURMAN: Thanks --
BARTIROMO: Is former Massachusetts Senator and Donald Trump supporter Scott Brown. Hello senator, good to see you.
SCOTT BROWN, FORMER UNITED STATES SENATOR: Hey, good morning to everybody.
BARTIROMO: We were just laughing about Hillary Clinton laughing when --
BROWN: Yes --
BARTIROMO: Asked about this. But look, she could never have expected what's going on right now for her. Whether it'd be Donald Trump as well as Bernie Sanders.
BROWN: No, of course, not. She was basically -- had this anointed with Debbie Wasserman Schultz basically rigging the system, all the super delegates, 400 of them plus before she even stepped into the race.
No, she is -- she's reeling, and that's evidenced by the fact that Bernie is winning all of these primaries still.
He's still in the race, he's still raising money, he's going all the way to the end, and then you have her favorabilities getting just as high as Donald Trump.
So, yes, she's in trouble.
BARTIROMO: Do you think Anthony Scaramucci, that the super delegates are having (INAUDIBLE) remorse?
It's true, I mean, we've asked Debbie Wasserman Schultz about this, she'll deny it, but it was pretty much a coronation.
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FOUNDER & CO-MANAGING PARTNER, SKYBRIDGE CAPITAL: Well, they broke for Barack Obama in 2008, but --
BARTIROMO: It's true --
SCARAMUCCI: I don't think so. I think that the super delegates probably think that she is the more moderate of the two and the most likely to be the best challenger for Donald Trump, even though the polls say otherwise, what do you think, Scott?
BROWN: Well, I think that Bernie is right when he says it's rigged, it's rigged. We know what the system is with that regard.
Calling her more moderate with respect -- it's not JFK's party any more, it's moveon.org black lives matter.
The radical environmentalists, so she's not the same candidate as she was when she came in.
She is far to the left than where she was and really has to keep up with Bernie being that far left.
BLOCK: And Senator Brown, you know, let's move back over to the Republican side here.
You know, looking what's going on in Washington State, you know, Donald Trump is obviously has been reaching out to more of the establishment.
What does he need to do and what's the time frame for him to bring in more people into the tent so to speak?
BROWN: Well, you see it happening now, what I have been doing and others have been doing behind the scenes.
I have been speaking a lot to my former colleagues, asking them to reach out and vice versa. Would they be willing to take the call, aka Bob Corker, John Thune.
Others who are -- just don't know him and they're relying on sound bites. So, I think he is doing the right thing.
Obviously, the RNC agreement when it comes to finances is great, and he's going to have the appropriate amount of money to battle.
And the Republicans have a choice, they can either have Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. They can have Donald Trump, aka, have the vice president if it's a tied Senate.
They have the deciding vote. We get the Supreme Court picks as Donald put out which I think was a brilliant move.
And then you look at the ambassadors, the secretary positions, and that's the reality.
You can have Hillary Clinton and what she's going to do with the second amendment and a whole host of other issues or you can have Donald Trump and at least have the opportunity to get in there and mold them, and guide them and help them be the best president he can be.
SCARAMUCCI: Senator, what's taking so long for the establishment? I mean, you and I are already there, but I'm just wondering, you know, I had lunch with speaker Ryan, with a group of guys on Friday.
And it does seem like you're -- we're polling people as opposed to them getting pushed. So, what do you think is taking so long?
BROWN: Well, obviously, he is the new guy in town, he's been doing a what? Ten or eleven months, he's ruffled a lot of feathers, he's not a traditional candidate.
And quite frankly, that's why people really like him. That's why they're compelled because they look at Washington, and they see that it's broken and they're not doing the people's business and they want something down there like I do and like you do, Anthony.
He's going to go out and kick some -- kick some butt and take some numbers and get them to do the people's business again.
And that's very attractive, so you having to drag him along, but ultimately, they're going to realize, hey, this is what's at stake.
And you know, when it -- when it comes to the voting booth and actually walking in, I know the people that you're talking to, they're not going to vote for Hillary Clinton, they're just not.
BARTIROMO: What about the VP talk? I mean, there's all this talk about the possible vice presidential pick on both sides over the weekend.
One of the names thrown out for both sides includes billionaire Mark Cuban. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CUBAN, BUSINESSMAN: Absolutely. But the key would be that she'd have to go more to center.
I think, you know, I like the fact that Senator Clinton has thought out proposals, that's a good thing because at least we get to see exactly where she stands.
If she's willing to listen, if she's willing to, you know, hear other sides of things, then I'm wide open to discussing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Wide open to discussing, Mark Cuban as Hillary Clinton's vice presidential pick. What do you make of that?
BROWN: Yes, well, it's not -- I guess you could balance off like the TV experience. Listen, I know Mark, we were with him at the SALT Conference, he's not a big Donald Trump fan.
And obviously, running for political office, somebody like that who hasn't been vetted, there's a lot of potential scrutiny that's going to come out, you don't realize how intense it is until you're actually there doing it.
Yes, he would make obviously a good choice, but she -- he said it himself, she's too far left, she's got to come back to the center.
He is not a liberal, he's not an environmentalist liberal, and so it would be an interesting balance.
There are some good choices on both sides of the host, you know, I've mentioned Senator obviously, Thune, you've got obviously Senator Sessions.
You know, you can go on and on, the deep bench on the Republican side. And on the Democratic side, they are so far left.
You've got, you know, Bernie Sanders, he's not going to do it, I'd be shocked. And then you have Elizabeth Warren, she's been attacking Wall Street, attacking the very things that Hillary Clinton is basically embraced by Wall Street.
She hasn't released the speech, she's got so many --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
BROWN: Conflicts, I can't see those two getting together either --
BARTIROMO: Yes, but you know what?
BROWN: So, it's going to be --
BARTIROMO: You see the Peggy Noonan op-ed --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --
BARTIROMO: Over the weekend. And she basically claimed the ticket, maybe Bernie Sanders, Hillary, you know, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders as her running mate.
What do you think about that, will that help her or hurt her in the general? --
BROWN: Yes, of course, that makes a lot of sense. But Bernie Sanders is - - with respect, I worked for them for three years, no one liked him in the Senate.
And he didn't like anybody in the Senate either, he's kind of a lone wolf and he was there forever.
He's a career politician, and when he's talking about all the things, the income inequality and the fair pay and this and that.
He was there when they had the super majority for two years and did not lead one charge in those issues.
So, you know, ultimately, yes, it would help, I think that would probably be the strongest ticket, but, you know, they need to work together and Bernie has got his own thing that he is doing.
And he's feeling very strongly about it, and I --
(CROSSTALK)
Don't think the American people want a socialist being number two.
BARTIROMO: Oh, yes, I --
BROWN: Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know.
BARTIROMO: Anthony, this is --
BLOCK: It's great --
BARTIROMO: Something to think about.
SCARAMUCCI: I mean, but I think this guy, you were early on Donald Trump, I think you were the first establishment --
BROWN: Yes --
SCARAMUCCI: Candidate to support and endorse him right before the New Hampshire primary. So, what did you see --
BROWN: Right --
SCARAMUCCI: That other people did not see?
BROWN: I like the fact that he is not like the others, he doesn't owe anybody anything.
And regardless of what type of money he's raising now, you, Anthony, you and I both know that he is not going to be influenced by anybody. He --
SCARAMUCCI: No, we know that --
BROWN: He says what he wants and he does what he wants --
SCARAMUCCI: I've spent enough time with him to know that.
BROWN: But he's going to -- he's going to surround himself with really good people, I agree with him on the veterans.
I looked at him in the eye and asked him for a good hour, his position on the military and the veterans and being for someone who served for 35 years, I believe him a 100 percent.
The border security issues, you know, ISIS, you know, our standing in the world, having our allies, trust, our foes, fears, absolutely.
And I want people like you and others, Anthony, these people who are going to do it for the flag come in and look at the economy.
And actually do it differently than the last 30, 40, 50 years to find a way to get us out of this almost $20 trillion national debt.
Those are the things that I want, and I think are very important. And I think he can -- he can shake it up.
And I think Washington needs to be shaken up unfortunately -- I hate to say that there are some great people there.
But there are also people that are just getting a paycheck and looking for their own petty, personal partisan interests, and I --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
BROWN: Think he is the guy to kind of bring people together.
BARTIROMO: Scott, great to see you as always, thanks so much.
BROWN: Thank you, thank you --
BARTIROMO: Senator Scott Brown joining us there. Still to come, President Obama makes a historic trip to southeast Asia, lifting a decade's old weapons embargo, the fallout next.
Plus, say cheese, Cheddar, Mozzarella, Cesar's, Swiss, why the price of these dairy staples are falling to record lows, we'll tell you why, back in a minute.
(MUSIC)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. The U.S. lifting a half century old arms embargo on Vietnam. Here is Cheryl Casone with the details. Cheryl.
CHERYL CASONE, FOX BUSINESS: That's right, Maria. President Obama announcing that Washington is removing the ban on selling arms to Vietnam.
The President making the announcement while visiting Vietnam as part of his week-long trip to Asia. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This change will ensure that Vietnam has access to the equipment it needs to defend itself and remove a lingering vestige of the cold war.
It also underscores the commitment of the United States to a fully normalize relationship with Vietnam.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASONE: Right, later this week, the President plans to visit Hiroshima, Japan. He's going to be the first U.S. president to visit the city since the atomic bomb was dropped on that city 70 years ago.
Well, the search for the black box from EgyptAir flight 804 getting a help from a submarine.
They could reveal what caused the crash of the plane that disappeared from radar last week on a flight from Paris to Cairo, killing all 66 aboard.
So far about 100 pieces of debris that you are seeing on your screen, and some body parts have been found.
Fox News is reporting more analysis of automatic data from messages from the plane shows a 4-minute series of events that starts with a window sensor going off in the cockpit, that's followed by smoke detectors in a forward bathroom and the electronics bay.
A lot of theories about what this means, Maria, but analysts have said all of this happened too slowly for a massive terror explosion too fast for a fire or a technical or a mechanical failure.
So, there's more questions than answers right now for that plane. And also, following some developments out of Nepal, there has been a -- it's been a rough weekend on Mount Everest.
Four climbers have died in four days including one sherpa, two other climbers in addition are missing today.
More than 200 people have died trying to ascend the world's tallest peak.
But these recent deaths really rattling the community because they happened so quickly, one after the other.
Well, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady planning to ask for a second hearing in regard to his four-game deflategate suspension imposed by the NFL.
An attorney for the NFL Players Association says that he plans to file the appeal later today.
This after a federal appeals court panel ruled last month that Brady must serve the suspension for the use of under inflated football at the AFC championship game back in January in 2015.
And finally, these shares of Monsanto soaring in pre-market trading right now, this after a German drug and chemical company buyer made a $62 billion offer to buy U.S. based crops and seeds specialist Monsanto.
The all cash offer values Monsanto shares at about $102 apiece, that's a 20 percent premium to Monsanto's close on Friday and the merger would create the largest agricultural supplier in the world expected to trigger.
And you're talking about -- with Gasparino earlier, heavy scrutiny from anti-trust regulators. Maria, back to you.
BARTIROMO: All right, thank you so much. Latest sign I guess, businesses are looking to acquire growth.
Well, we've been talking about this for a long time, Michael, in terms of the slow economy, slow growth numbers, you don't have it in the U.S., you acquire growth.
BLOCK: Organic growth is dead and size really matters in this ag chemical space. Now, we have Dow and DuPont doing a deal, whether they're going to -- they're going to combine, split into a few companies.
There's been a lot of deals in the chemical space, a lot of people are viewing this as end game.
Again, there's all sorts of issues. If there are -- there are anti-trust concerns, and there will be scrutiny mainly because people just do not like Monsanto and this administration does not like Monsanto.
So, there's going to be talk about that. You know, who are the -- who are the buyers after the disaster?
It's like I said, Dow and DuPont are busy, will Chinese buyers be willing and acceptable?
There's a lot of questions that remain here including, will the perspective shareholders like this deal?
BARTIROMO: John Williams, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve on with me yesterday on "SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES" basically saying interest rates are moving higher.
He's giving a speech right now, saying essentially the same thing. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN WILLIAMS, PRESIDENT, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF SAN FRANCISCO: I think we do, we will in my view be appropriate to start raising rates, again, later this year.
Whether it's June or a later meeting will depend on the data, we still got another month to go, we'll be watching that data carefully and see what it tells us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: And remember, he's coming from a situation where he's looking at California, he's looking at technology and a boom, he used the word boom, Anthony and Michael.
SCARAMUCCI: And he's got -- he's got the St. Louis Fed President Bullard also in his camp as well as Stanley Fischer.
So, it's likely that it's going to start to happen soon, Maria, and that will slow down the economy.
If he wants to see a boom, he should -- they should try raising rates in June and see what it does to volatility in the markets.
You're going to hear a lot of booms if that happens.
BARTIROMO: The other thing -- the other thing he said is that forget about politics, take it off the table, but this is not going to be a deterrent for us at all.
He said it doesn't matter that the elections in November, yes, we will as the economy continues to strengthen rates in September --
SCARAMUCCI: OK, so, that --
BARTIROMO: As well --
SCARAMUCCI: That hurts Secretary Clinton.
BARTIROMO: You think so?
SCARAMUCCI: I do --
BLOCK: Yes --
SCARAMUCCI: The same way that George Herbert Walker Bush was hurt by the rate increases by Alan Greenspan in 1992.
Because your -- the economy starts to falter, the opponent can then say, well, it's the Obama-Clinton legacy economically.
BLOCK: Well, it hurts if they actually do it. You know, he is there saying, we're not politically influenced.
Why are you even telling us that? The lady does protest too much --
BARTIROMO: No, I asked him. Are you -- are you going to not do it because of the election? That's why --
BLOCK: Look, I don't --
BARTIROMO: I asked him --
BLOCK: Think these guys are data dependent. I think a cherry-picking data, I've heard this chess-talk before, we're going to raise rates, we're going to raise rates.
We heard it last Summer going into September, and then we had the August selloff, and suddenly everyone was afraid of what was going to happen next and they backed off.
BARTIROMO: Well, we'll see if it's on the table for June, you think it's - - you think we could see a rate hike in June?
BLOCK: They're trying to talk themselves into it.
BARTIROMO: Oh, yes, they're trying to talk themselves into it.
SCARAMUCCI: Yes --
BARTIROMO: I don't believe that --
SCARAMUCCI: I don't think we're going to see it.
BARTIROMO: I agree with you.
SCARAMUCCI: But I think --
BLOCK: Even --
SCARAMUCCI: Towards the end of the Summer, I do think you're going to get at least one rate --
BARTIROMO: Before the -- before the election.
SCARAMUCCI: I do.
BARTIROMO: All right, we'll take a short break. Forget the recession jitters, we have a whole new prices on our hands.
This time, it's edible, why recent oversupply is causing cheese prices to plummet to new lows.
We've got the details next.
(MUSIC)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome. You heard America is in the middle of a cheese crisis, a record-setting 1.2 billion pounds of cheese currently stored in freezers across the country.
The strong dollar and expanded production have only added to the oversupply. Fox Business Network's Adam Shapiro is at Murray's Cheese shop in lower Manhattan right now. Good morning, Adam.
ADAM SHAPIRO, FOX BUSINESS: And a good morning to you, Maria. You know, when we say cheese, we're not talking about photographs.
We're talking about the fact that Americans eat 36 pounds of cheese a year, where does it all go? Pizza, parties, that kind of stuff.
And I want to introduce you to Steve Miller. He is the vice president of merchandising here at Murray's Cheese shop.
A lot of Americans know Murray's not only from the online store, but also at Kroger because they're in over 200 stores.
But it would take, Steve, 3 pounds of cheese, Americans would have to eat each of us, eat 3 pounds of cheese to catch up with the glut, show me what that looks like.
STEVE MILLER, PRESIDENT OF MERCHANDISE, MURRAY'S CHEESE SHOP: Right here is 3 pounds, as you can see really not a lot.
SHAPIRO: Not a lot, but --
MILLER: For entire year.
SHAPIRO: But 36 pounds of cheese, we love cheese, why?
MILLER: We love cheese, you know, it's really healthy and it's got really great taste, you know, it's a really great part of your diet.
You know, we say you should eat a lot more cheese, enjoy it.
SHAPIRO: And this price drop, it -- I was reading -- part of it has to do with the fact that milk producers are producing a huge amount of milk, over 200 billion pounds this year.
Is that going to bring the price down for a long time, do you think?
MILLER: It will be chuckling down, I think you'll see prices of cheese coming down, it's already happening, you will see it definitely coming into the Fall.
SHAPIRO: All right, and is there a most popular cheese among Americans as I wrap up?
MILLER: Cheddar, oh, better --
SHAPIRO: Cheddar Cheese, all right, well, you mentioned Cheddar, Maria, as I throw back to you. Cheddar prices at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are down 45 percent at the wholesale.
I mean, this is the block price, down 45 percent two years, it's a retail price.
You and I, we are paying what -- about 4 percent less for cheese and it makes sense because I don't know if you've been to Grace's lately, but they're pushing Cheddar, they want you to buy Cheddar.
BARTIROMO: Yes, but --
SHAPIRO: Back to you --
BARTIROMO: So, I mean, Adam, all these prices that are going down, are they passing it on to the consumer?
I mean, when we go into the grocery store, we've got some cheese's here right now.
Are these cheeses going to be cheaper for people to buy it going into the holiday weekend?
SHAPIRO: Let me ask Steve real quick. Do you --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
SHAPIRO: Think that you know, those wholesale kinds of cheeses, will we see the prices drop as we go into the holiday?
You know, into the holiday weekend, will people be paying less for cheese or has it already happened?
MILLER: It's already happening, for all day, yes, the prices are already coming down.
SHAPIRO: All right --
BARTIROMO: OK --
SHAPIRO: So, yes, you're going to get a break on those, you know, staples like Cheddar, the high-end cheeses, especially cheese that they import, not much of a price drop there.
BARTIROMO: OK, thank you so much --
SCARAMUCCI: Just giving a shout-out to my kids, you're just going to be eating cheese all Summer long, OK?
(LAUGHTER)
Just getting ready for the cheese --
BARTIROMO: Yes, because it --
SCARAMUCCI: OK?
SHAPIRO: We're going from 36 --
SCARAMUCCI: That's it --
SHAPIRO: Pounds to 40 pounds in America --
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
SCARAMUCCI: Just letting you know there's going to be cheese --
BARTIROMO: And get some burgers --
SCARAMUCCI: Without --
BARTIROMO: It's cheese --
SCARAMUCCI: The burger, how about that?
BARTIROMO: One is cheese, I mean, how great is that? What's your favorite cheese?
SCARAMUCCI: Couldn't be happier --
BARTIROMO: We have cheeses right on set.
SCARAMUCCI: I'm sort of digging this one, although --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
SCARAMUCCI: I can never name anything, Maria, because I'm not a great --
BARTIROMO: Well, he said, I think one of the cheese is down better than 40 percent.
SCARAMUCCI: Well, that's the one that's my favorite then.
(LAUGHTER)
And let me tell you something, OK --