MARIA-00
Stock Updates Around the World; Calls for Unity in the Republican Party;
Developing Story of a Standoff in New York City; Forecasted Record Heat For
Most of the United States; Southwest Airline Passengers Grounded Due To
Technical Glitch; : Expectations For Tonight; The Evangelical Vote; Hamm:
It's A Trump Rally; Stocks Hit Record Highs - Part 5>
Cheryl Casone>
Cruz, Donald Trump; Cleveland; RNC; Stock Markets; Business>
But I think -- listen, I think the secretary is -- has to tell her -- tell everyone what her policies are going to be.
And I think, you know, we had a night that's called "Make America Work Again" and no one talked about the economy.
I think 19 of the first 25 speeches were anti-Hillary as opposed to saying anything about Trump.
So, like I said, I don't really understand how you broaden the appeal of your base, but certainly you threw a lot of red meat to the crowd.
KING: Well, Robert, and we'll say you do look pretty happy this morning, and I understand if you look at the Dow and makes anybody happy, poor, those statistics.
But what I didn't hear in the convention was nearly enough about our national security and foreign policy.
And I wanted to see -- I wanted to hear some strategic approach on how to defeat the ideology of radical Islamic Jihad.
And so up with that up on the table for tonight, I'm hopeful that Donald Trump will lay that out with details on how to defeat the ideology.
That's the most important thing out there that faces our national security, and we haven't been strong enough on that throughout this convention so far.
BARTIROMO: What's Hillary's plan on that, Robert?
WOLF: You know, Congressman, I would agree with you. I think that, we are -- we're getting away from the two most important issues because of a lot of the populist rhetoric by all sides.
And I would agree, foreign policy and the economy is still the most important things.
There's still the book ends that will drive voters, that's where the independents are going to make their decision on.
It's not going to be on, you know, who yells something anti-who? It's going to be who's pro something.
I think we've learned from the Kerry-Bush campaign in that, and anti-Bush campaign doesn't win, but a pro Bush does win.
I think that same win with Obama, you know, versus Romney. So, today, we have to really be clear on what the policies are to make us safe, both, you know, within our country as well as helping our allies.
I thought the words from Trump on not helping our allies in NATO were incredibly surprising today.
I'm surprised that didn't get a lot more airtime, and so, I would agree, I think it's important to hear what Trump has to say tonight.
I've heard that he's back tracking actually on that "New York Times" interview on NATO. But you know, I think we all agree that we have to stand strong with our allies.
SCARAMUCCI: Robert, you've got real wages down despite the president's approval ratings --
WOLF: Real what? --
SCARAMUCCI: Real wages for -- real wages for middle America, down about 9.2 percent, over the last eight to ten years. So, what's the plan, Robert, to make that better?
WOLF: You know, I think that, Anthony, you've been in business a long time. First, we had to pick up the slack, the average hour work week went down to 33-something.
We had to pick that up. You know, we had a lot of these companies made huge productivity and efficiency gains and we have this whole new technological revolution where bricks and mortars companies just are struggling.
Also the transferability of people because housing was down, was tough. I think right now, we have to really focus on making sure we start building in America, you know, obviously, I am for free trade.
I think it's incredibly important that we trade with all of the countries and we don't have barriers around that country.
I'm for smart and good free trade with right labor laws and right environmental laws.
But I think that the more we talk this incredibly protectionist tone, it does not help our manufacturing.
OK, we are at the lowest --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
WOLF: Exports as a part of GDP of all the developed countries. And we only have exports about 11 percent. I mean, Germany is up at 50 percent.
So, we have to make sure we get our hard workers and our hard laborers back again. And that will be the way wages pick up.
BARTIROMO: Yes, Robert, real quick, who do you think Hillary's VP is?
WOLF: You know, I think it's going to be either Senator Kaine or Governor Hickenlooper.
I don't think she will pick a senator that if -- that has a governor that's a Republican because we'll lose that seat in the Senate.
So, I think that -- I know a lot of people are talking about Warren(ph) and Sherrod Brown, but I don't think that she will pick someone in a government-run state.
So, I think it's going to be Kaine --
BARTIROMO: All right --
WOLF: Or maybe Hickenlooper.
BARTIROMO: We will leave it there, Steve King, good to see you, Congressman --
WOLF: Thanks for having me --
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Robert Wolf, always a pleasure, we'll see you --
WOLF: Nice seeing you all --
BARTIROMO: Next week, Robert, thank you --
WOLF: I look forward to it, take care, Anthony.
BARTIROMO: OK, us too --
WOLF: Hi, Robert --
BARTIROMO: Don't miss our live prime time coverage tonight of the convention.
It's the biggest night of the convention including Donald Trump's speech.
It all kicks off at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, join me, as we kick off the prime time schedule tonight live from the arena right here on the Fox Business Network.
Coming up, major pick ups coming to Wall Street. Why some of the biggest banks are hitting their employees where it hurts -- their wallets.
And then forget Tinder or Match.com, there's brand new enemy, your significant other.
We will tell you about a dating website that's taking Pokemon Go fans by storm. Back in a minute.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Breaking news, a six-hour standoff between New York City police and a suspect now over.
Here's Cheryl Casone with the details.
CHERYL CASONE, FOX BUSINESS: Yes, Maria, good morning. This just ending about within the last 15 minutes or so.
We just got this tweet from the NYPD's special operations division.
Here it is, it says "Breaking Columbus Circle. Hashtag ESU placed man in the SUV into custody without incident.
Great job by all and no injuries." Now police say that they believe the suspect threw a suspicious package described as a fake bomb in a police car near Times Square late last night.
The six-hour standoff caused the closure of several streets in and around the New York's Columbus Circle here in Mid-town Manhattan, also and halting subway service in the area.
Well, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley have cut their first half compensation pools for employees by the most and at least four years.
Data compiled by "Bloomberg" showing that the three banks reduced the amount of money they set aside for employee pay in the first and the second quarters by a total of 17 percent, $19 billion.
The reason for the cuts to boost profits at the banks. Well, some milestone at Facebook to tell you about.
Messenger now crossing the $1 billion user mark if you like that service.
And then Facebook also saying, there's been 1.2 billion games of basketball and 250 million games of soccer played in that same app.
Users also sent 300 million flower stickers on Mother's Day.
Facebook, another investment platform house WhatsApp has crossed the 1 billion threshold earlier this year as well.
Those are some big news at Facebook. And finally this, Maria, the search for true love, courtesy of Pokemon Go.
Runaway hit game inspiring the world's first Pokemon Go dating service.
It's called Poke Dates, you sign up on the website, answer some questions about what you're looking for in a partner, and then you indicate when you're free to start playing Pokemon.
Poke Dates will then find you a match and send both players a time and location to meet up.
Actually, Poke Date isn't a brand new venture, it's built on an existing dating site called Project Fixer, Maria.
But let's just tie to Pokemon, and call it Pokemon dating. There you go, those are your headlines --
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: It's very funny --
CASONE: I don't know, back to you.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Cheryl, thank you. Coming up, business tycoons coming together for the greater good of the economy.
The details on their proposed changes and what it means for your money.
We're talking corporate governance right now in a letter, CEO sent to the top leaders in business.
Then, will he act presidential? That is the big question as Donald Trump takes center stage tonight for his big speech and acceptance of the nomination.
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross will join us with a preview of the big moment, we're live at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Keep it right here, MORNINGS WITH MARIA continues.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back, seeking change in corporate America starting at the top.
One group of business leaders out with a public letter calling for companies to affect how publicly-traded companies are run.
Among the heavy rates in the group, Warren Buffett, Larry Fink, head of BlackRock, Mary Barra, head of GM.
Jeffrey Immelt, head of GE and Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan.
My next guest also saw in the letter and she oversees $2.3 trillion in client assets.
Joining me right now is JPMorgan Asset Management CEO Mary Callahan Erdoes. Mary, great to see you, thanks so much for joining us.
MARY CALLAHAN ERDOES, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, JPMORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT: Happy to be here, good morning, Maria.
BARTIROMO: So, we're looking at this letter in the "Wall Street Journal", the "New York Times", a number of other newspapers where you and your colleagues outline a number of things that you'd like companies to adopt in order to change corporate governance.
What are you trying to achieve?
ERDOES: You know, this all started with the heightened debate around short-termism.
And short-termism really goes against the grain of what all Americans are looking for when they think about investing their profits, their savings for the future so that they can have a proper next day for retirement.
And when you think about short-termism, that goes against everything that they are -- they are seeking to achieve, which is long-term growth in the stock market where they invest.
And so, trying to think about how to get the dialogue back to corporate governance that gears everyone towards the right long-term goals was the -- was the goal for this.
And very importantly, it's the goal for America. You know, there are 28 million companies in America.
But there's only 5,000 public companies you can invest in. But those 5,000 public companies, they represent a third of private-sector hiring and they represent half of the Capex in the United States of America.
And so, to get that, to be geared towards long-term growth is really the goal.
And so we brought a group of people together, starting with the real asset managers that govern and invest in these companies: Vanguard, BlackRock, T- Roll(ph), Capital Group, JPMorgan Asset Management, State Street.
And then we gathered together some leading CEOs that we also thought were very important for the dialogue who run great companies.
So, General Electric, General Motors, Verizon --
BARTIROMO: Right --
ERDOES: And then, of course, two of who the people we think are the greatest thought leaders in the United States, Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon.
And together we had a dialogue around what it means to be good long-term governance for both companies, the boards that oversee the companies and the shareholders --
BARTIROMO: Right --
ERDOES: That the boards report to. And so what are --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
ERDOES: Those kinds of things? Yes --
BARTIROMO: So, and I'm glad you mentioned the asset managers really as the starting point because you are the owners of the companies, the owners is on you, in fact, to sort of dictate change and help CEOs through this.
Tell us about the changes that you're calling for, Mary?
ERDOES: Yes, well, it's not so much changes, it's just clarifying the things that we think are most important in corporate governance.
So, what's the role of the board? The role of the board is to oversee the company and not be beholden to the CEO.
To be independent, to meet away from the CEO when you have board meetings. To be able to make sure that the right things are happening in the company.
To know management, to have independent thought on the board, to have diversity of thinking, background experience. Those things are super important for our proper and well-functioning board.
What are the right things for the shareholders? The companies like us that oversee the mutual funds that hold these assets?
The most important thing is that we're active, that we're there, that we're prodding, that we're poking, that we're making sure that we know that the right things are happening in the company.
And very importantly that we're actively voting on those issues. All right, JPMorgan Asset --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
ERDOES: Management, we own 10,000 companies around the world.
We vote on a hundred thousand ballot items a year. We meet with about ten different company management teams or boards of directors on a daily basis.
And every time we do that, we're looking for, are you thinking about the shareholder? Are you investing for the long-term? Are the right checks and balances in place?
So that those at the companies that are people who want to invest for the future for their retirement are getting the most out of what they can when they put their money to work.
BARTIROMO: Yes, you make a great point, no board should beholden to the CEO, and they should have meetings regularly without the CEO present, you're right.
Diverse boards make that decision, so make sure the board has complementary, diverse skills, backgrounds and experiences. And you say companies should not feel obligated to provide earnings guidance.
That really speaks to the short-term as some -- and should only be so if they believe that providing such guidance is beneficial to shareholders.
All of these things make a lot of sense. Do you need all of the companies to follow it or are you doing some of this yourself already at JPMorgan?
ERDOES: I mean, it very much follows what many of us already do on a daily basis. But if we thought it was important that we shared our collective thoughts.
When we got together, we had lots of discussion, we had lots of debate, we generally agreed on most things.
Some things we had small differences on and the findings are something we thought was important to publish. Publish for those who wanted to see what some of us who we spend a lot of time doing this.
This is our -- this is our life quest is to get this right for the people that invest and trust us to put their money to work.
And so we thought it was best that we share it. They're not -- they're not principles that other people have to share. There are best practices. There are things that we think should engender a debate.
The companies should read that, the boards of directors, people who act as directors on any kind of board should read it, and should just think about, are these the kinds of questions I'm asking?
When I'm sitting at the board, does our board function like this? Are there things we could --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
ERDOES: Be doing to make it better?
BARTIROMO: You make great points, Mary. Let me ask you this, because I was having a discussion earlier with Ed Rensi; former CEO of McDonald's USA.
And he said, look, if you want to affect growth, and it sounds like this is one of the ultimate goals growth, you also have to deal with regulation, something about Dodd-Frank reform.
I know this is sort of apples and oranges, it's not exactly in the letter.
But how do you feel about regulatory reform, and is that needed in order to move the needle on growth, Mary?
ERDOES: Well, regulatory reform hits all companies across America and across the world.
It just depends on what jurisdiction you're in, and regulations are there to try and make a fair level playing field for people to operate and protect all the constituents as best they can.
And so, the most important thing is to work within those regulations and to find a way to make sure that the products and services that you're delivering out to the end client are the ones that are the best for the client.
And the regulators try and help to do that. I think the challenge comes when different regulators have competing issues and/or they conflict with one another and/or if you're dealing with international markets where you might have local regulations that don't necessarily match with your home country regulations.
And so those -- that's where things can become challenging and you work through them.
And I think that, you know, regulations can get to a point where if they're not well thought through they can stymie growth.
And so, you don't want that, you want very smart regulators to sit with very smart CEOs and think about how do we make good products, good services and grow.
So that we can help the economy to continue to flourish and not to slow down or to move backwards.
BARTIROMO: Mary, before we go, let me ask you a couple of questions on what's happening in the world today.
Obviously Britain leaving the EU, are you expecting to make major changes or any changes in terms of moving people out of London and into the continental European area?
ERDOES: Right, you know, it's very early days on Brexit and what that means for European issues, passporting of how money is managed and flows of funds.
And so, that's very important. From a markets perspective, I think it's -- I think it's just a very important to recognize, number one, it wasn't traumatic on the markets.
Yes, there was a lot of volatility, but things came out, you know, very smoothly on the end, both the companies that were moving the money around as well for the markets in general.
And so it will be a long time to tell, but it's also important to remember that while there are many, very scary and terrible things that are happening in the world today, you have to separate that from how it affects the actual economy and the stock markets, the people investing.
And generally speaking --
BARTIROMO: Yes --
ERDOES: Aside from, you know, major world wars or the 1973 Israeli-Arab embargo that caused, you know, oil prices to quadruple.
Very few wars, the Korean war, the U.S. invasion of Kuwait or Iraq or Russia issues that they have locally. None of those things actually have long term impact on the stock market. They can have short-term impact but generally reverses course. So, I think it's important to separate those two issues when you think about investing in long-term markets.
BARTIROMO: Are you allocating capital in any particular way right now? Seven straight days of record highs, how do you allocate capital when you're talking about $2.3 trillion in client's assets, Mary, you want to buy this rally?
ERDOES: Well, our clients are in for the long-term, and I continue to invest and think about what the life is going to look like in 5 to 10 years from now. So, short term issues don't drastically affect asset allocation. In fact, post the days of Brexit we actually saw net inflows in to our European Mutual Funds. And so, I think people are thinking long-term, and they're trying to take advantage on when they see short-term disruptions in the marketplace, and that's why we're here help them with.
BARTIROMO: Which is exactly the point of your letter, not go short term, so we appreciate that. Mary, thank you so much for weighing on this important issues. We appreciate it. Good to see you.
ERDOES: Thank you. You too, Maria.
BARTIROMO: Mary Callahan Erdoes there, head of JP Morgan Asset Management. Up next, Donald Trump has come a long way since he announced his presidential run over a year ago, more on this big transformation as he gears up to take the stage tonight in a big way. Then eBay on its rise after earnings beat the streak expectations, more of what's driving the company success following it split from PayPal. Stay with us.
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UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Live from the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Once again, here's Maria Bartiromo.
BARTIROMO: Good Thursday morning, everybody. Welcome back. I'm Maria Bartiromo. It is Thursday, July 21st, and we are coming to you live from the Republican National Convention here in Cleveland, Ohio. Here are your top stories right now, 8:34 on the East Coast. Today is the main event. Donald Trump will formally accept the Republican nomination for president. It was a different story last night though, as the man who came in second to Trump stole the headlines, not in a good way. Senator Ted Cruz booed by the crowd, amid his refusal to endorse Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED CRUZ, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Stand, and speak and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom, and to be faithful to the constitution.
(END VIDEO)
BARTIROMO: Trump's son, Eric, rallied the crowd last night, reminding them why his father is in this race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC TRUMP: Thirteen months ago my father sat my family down and told us the time to come. He could no longer sit idly by and watch our beloved country, the country that had given our family so much success, so much opportunity, crumbles before our very eyes. He confirmed to us that he was prepared to announce his candidacy for president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Meanwhile, protests erupting outside of the convention last night, including a group that burned the American flag. The latest on the security concerns as Donald Trump prepares to take the stage and the spotlight tonight. In business, we're watching shares of Qualcomm this morning surging after big earnings beat, how the company plans to keep the momentum, stocks is looking much higher this morning. The overall markets, well, they're searching for direction after the Dow Industrials closed at record high for the seventh straight session yesterday. We're watching earnings today, that's really driving the action, big names like General Motors which beat on both top and bottom lines with its quarterly numbers.
In Europe, stocks are mostly lower, investors reacting to the European Central Bank's decision to leave interest rates unchanged. We are waiting for any more guidance from Mario Draghi as he speaks right now. In Asia overnight stocks are mostly higher led by Japan, the Nikkei average in Japan up two-thirds of 1 percent. Continuing recent momentum on the upside there. We are hours away for Donald Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention tonight. Amid all the ups and downs throughout this campaign, one question remains, will we see a different Donald Trump tonight? Our next guest, Wilbur Ross, WL Ross and Co. chairman and chief strategy officer, says there's another side to the Republican presidential nominee. Here's what he told us on this program just a few weeks ago.
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WILBUR ROSS, WL ROSS AND CO. CHAIRMAN: He never came to one meeting unprepared, never used any profanity or any vulgarities, was always very, very well-organized, a tough negotiator, but not weird, not strange, not off the chart at all, very, very on message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Wilbur Ross joins us right now with more on that, Wilbur, good to see you.
ROSS: Good to see you, Maria.
BARTIROMO: Thank you so much for joining us. What are you expecting tonight from Donald Trump?
ROSS: Well, I think it will be a wonderful speech. I think he will be well-organized. I think he will be on message. I don't think there'll be any shockers, any big rabbits out of the hat. I don't think he needs them.
BARTIROMO: We've been talking a lot about fund raising, and the fact that Hillary Clinton has been able to raise a lot more money than Donald Trump. I want to get your take on his vice-presidential pick, Mike Pence, because he is a sitting governor, and doesn't that limit what folks like your self can actually donate because of a SEC rule?
ROSS: Yes, it does. There's a so-called pay to play rule, and it's strange because it's very unequally applied. People like our selves who manage some money for the state of Indiana, cannot contribute to the campaign of someone who is a sitting governor running for higher office. But the unions who are employed by that same state have no such limitation, it seems to be a very in-balance situation.
BARTIROMO: So, that's a disappointment for you, you can't give more money?
ROSS: Well, someone who is as good, we might get more jewelry.
(LAUGHTER)
BARTIROMO: That's very funny, Dagen.
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: Wilbur, how's the money that is being raised by the Trump campaign, how do you think they should be spending it?
ROSS: Well, I think on the ground game because he's -- the media part is pretty well under control. I don't think he needs the kind of money that Hillary Clinton needs for media. They are beefing up the ground game, and I think that's probably the money best spent. You do need foot soldiers in any kind of a war of this sort.
ED RENSI, FORMER MCDONALD'S CEO: I think that's absolutely right. Donald is a presence, he's a businessman. He's out there. People know who he is now. He's a very good executive, and I think we've got to get the people on the street understanding what's going on and get to know him.
ROSS: Well, I think the other thing that's a task that it's unfortunate that Ted Cruz indulged in ego mania rather than any kind of sensible politics. I think the other thing is to get the lingering Republicans on board. Nonsensical, if you want a two party system, people must be grown- ups and say, well, maybe this fellow wasn't my first choice, he is the party's choice. I'll support him.
BARTIROMO: And they also made a pledge, I mean, you know like a John Kasich, the governor of the state where they're holding the convention, he held an event just across the street the other night at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but will not step foot in this convention.
ROSS: Yeah. I think it's very sad that people like Governor Kasich and like Senator Cruz signed a pledge, they hold themselves out to be very morally responsible people, and yet, they violated their own written pledge. That speaks volumes about them.
MCDOWELL: Yeah. Bitterness is an awful cologne, right?
BARTIROMO: Yeah.
MCDOWELL: And that's what came across. It doesn't hurt Trump though. It helps him.
ROSS: I think it helps Trump in many ways. But, you know, you can build a life around greed, you can build a life around a lot of things. You can't build around envy. You can't build it around negativism, and I think that's a trap that Cruz -- Cruz has fallen into.
BARTIROMO: That's a great way to put it. Wilbur, real quick, as a business guy and Ed Rensi is a business guy, what's the most important policy do you think that Trump can bring to the table?