MARIA-01
Mart Fights Back; Snapchat Plans IPO; Anti-Trump Protest Continue;
Walgreens Sues Theranos; United "No Frills" Flying; Economic Growth Under
Trump; Republicans' Call for Unity - Part 1>
Pecol, Scott Brown, Craig Dismuke >
Policies; Business; Donald Trump>
MARIA BARTIROMO, FBN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Wednesday, November 16th at 6:00a.m.- on the East Coast.
The dawn of a new ear. President Elect Donald Trump's Cabinet begins to take shape. Major names like Rudy Giuliani and Ted Cruz had are being floated for key roles in the country's leadership. The news coming as our current Commander-in-Chief President Obama makes his final appeal on the world stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People seem to think I did a real pretty good job and so there is a mismatch I think between frustration and anger, I still don't responsible for what the president-elect says or does, but I do feel responsibility as President of the United States to make sure that the fact resulted a good transition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: The very latest coming up as angry protesters continue to cloud the president's final international trip. Walmart fights back this morning where the company is telling workers not to download a Union backed app. And the Silicon Valley Darling maybe would even make its Wall Street debut. New report surrounding Snapchat initial public offering $25 billion deal there. And market this morning, well, we are beginning another record high this morning. A fourth straight day with the markets closed at record high. This morning we're looking at a slight pullback.
Dow Industrials pulling back from yesterday's record setting move down about 20 points. Nasdaq S&P 500 also in the negative column. In Europe, markets are slightly lower as you can see it's really fractional moves this morning, but nonetheless to the downside. And then in Asia overnight stocks were mixed with the Nikkei average top performer there up more than one percent as you see. Plus new airline fees set to hit your wallet. United plan that not only take away overhead space that could separate you from your travel companions.
The outrage coming up. All those stories coming up this morning. And joining me to talk about it, Fox News Correspondent Lea Gabrielle is with us. Recon Capital Partners Chief Investment Officer, Kevin Kelly and pollster Lee Carter. Good to see you.
LEE CARTER, POLLSTER: Great to be here. Good morning.
LEA GABRIELLE, CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: Hi.
KEVIN KELLY, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, RECON CAPITAL PARTNERS: Good morning.
CARTER: What a week.
BARTIROMO: A lot to talk about with the cabinet taking shape.
CARTER: It is so fascinating right now. And I -- and I think people are having trouble know what to believe right now. What's really going on and who is going to be? I think we just have to wait it out and see.
BARTIROMO: And Kellyanne Conway joined us yesterday and said, "We probably will have a good idea of who is in these leadership roles by Thanksgiving."
CARTER: Yes.
BARTIROMO: The cabinet.
GABRIELLE: I think what we can expect is people who there are a sense of loyalty, you know, like people talk about Donald Trump on how he's going to keep people around him who he know, who have been loyal throughout the campaign but also, I've heard the importance of unit cohesiveness among the people that he pick and how important will be to have a group that's really good team.
CARTER: Yes.
KELLY: And that's important because they have over 4000 positions to fill. So, that's a big deal so they need to get the key piece -- people in place to fill those extra vacancies underneath them.
BARTIROMO: Yes. Fascinating to watch to come together. Coming up this morning to talk all about it, Forbes Media Chairman Steve Forbes is with us. Kingdom Holding Company, Chairman Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, we will get the angle from Saudi Arabia coming up when we speak with the prince. California Congressman Darrell Issa is with us. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is here. And head coach for the University of Kentucky's basketball team, John Calipari is here. Don't miss the moment of it, big hour coming up this morning.
Speculation is mounting President-elect Donald Trump works to assemble his cabinet. One person no longer interested in serving, Dr. Ben Carson. Still in the running for Secretary of Staten is former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. And former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. Well, the Vice President-elect Mike Pence and Senator Ted Cruz visited Trump Tower yesterday. As you see they are here in camera walking to the elevators. Cruz now reported being considered for Attorney General.
Trump also tweeted this yesterday, "Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!" Throwing in a joke there which is very typical of Donald Trump. Joining us right now former Senator of Massachusetts and Fox News Contributor, Scott Brown. Senator good to see you.
SCOTT BROWN, FORMER SENATOR, MASSACHUSETTS: Hey, good morning, Maria. How are you?
BARTIROMO: Good. What's your reaction to what we are hearing so far in terms of the cabinet being put together?
BROWN: Well, I'm not seeing anything unusual having people kind of come and go, obviously folks are kind of posturing for those individual positions. But I kind of look at it as like the NBA or NFL draft where you have all the speculation who's going to go number one and who's going to be at the -- at the beginning of the second round. And then the actual draft happens and people are like, "Oh, my goodness. That person didn't even go in the first or second round." So, a lot of speculation.
The only one who really knows what is going are Donald Trump and his, obviously, his family members. And I know that you're going to get a good and qualified cabinet to move this country forward.
BARTIROMO: Do you think that we will see Ted Cruz in the line up? I mean, what -- OK, you just said we don't know, but what do you think the perception or the reception would be to Ted Cruz perhaps as Attorney General or --
BROWN: Sure.
BARTIROMO: -- maybe a supreme court justice seat.
BROWN: Well, certainly he has a tremendous amount of experience in that field, he's argued before the supreme court. He's a great lawyer, excellent orator, he knows the ins and outs obviously of Congress. It will be an interesting choice. And here's what Donald Trump I think needs to try to do, we have the majority in the senate. You can't take too many senators away from the pool or we're not going to have the majority and that's critically important in helping to move his agenda forward.
Attorney General Shirley would be whether qualified for that and we'll see what happens.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
CARTER: Senator, this is Lee Carter. How are you doing this morning?
BROWN: Hello, Lee, hi.
CARTER: One of the things I'm always curious about as the cabinet put together, there's always a few surprises, a few times that you have to say like, "Who is that? I've never heard of that?" But people then generally will get excited about it, is there anyone being considered that you think people don't know where you might like to see that is unexpected?
BROWN: I want to make sure that we have the most qualified, I don't care whether democrat, republican, independent, black, white, I don't care. I want the best people in the cabinet that going to help, not only unify the country, but move our country forward. And I'm sure you're going to see some out-of-the -- out-of-the-box thinking with Donald Trump as you know he's not an establishment guy, he has to have a relationship with the establishment so that he can push his agenda through. But I don't think he's -- I know he's not beholden to them.
So, I think it would be -- you're going to see some surprises.
KELLY: Senator, it's Kevin Kelly. My question to you --
BROWN: Hi, Kevin.
KELLY: -- is how is Donald going to manage the message that he's draining the swamp considering a lot of the people he is nominated are old establishment people and they have been in Washington for a very long time and they have long track records there. So, how is going to manage that message when putting these people in place?
BROWN: Well, he hasn't nominated anybody that I'm aware of except Reince Priebus and Bannon, you know, and then circle others right now are being considered. They need to be subjective to be embedded obviously and going through the usual and normal process of vetting which sometimes can be certainly tedious and troublesome for some folks, they may not want to go through that long process. But I'm hopeful that he'lll strike a good balance because whether you like it or not, they are congressmen and senators who work in Washington and we are a country of laws and you need to have laws to move this agenda forward.
You just can't do what this president has done. Well, I guess you could come use the phone and the pen to put through executive orders. Then you get in a situation where America is mad at you. So, it'll be an interesting balance and I believe he's up for the task.
GABRIELLE: Senator Brown, Lea Gabrielle here. Nice to see you.
BROWN: Hi, Lea, good to see you.
GABRIELLE: You know -- you know, it's so important in this time which so many national security threats around the world and at this time when a president takes office to have a good staff in place, what do you see is the most important point and consideration in picking a national security advisor?
BROWN: Well, putting somebody like you in that team --
GABRIELLE: I agree.
BROWN: -- obviously has a wealth of experience --
(LAUGHTER)
GABRIELLE: I accept your nomination.
BROWN: Well -- so, I hope he's watching right now. You would be fantastic with your military background. Having people of different generations who have different experiences in war and peacetime to be actually be there as advisors. You don't want to have folks from one generation or one branch. You want to have an amazing mix of mind not only intellectuals but actual warriors that can actually step forward and make a great presentation to the president so he can make -- he and his team can make ultimate life and death sometimes decisions.
I think that is the standard that should be met as well as fulfilling the mission. That's very, very important.
BARTIROMO: Scott, sources are telling Fox News that Vice President-elect Mike Pence is in the process of removing it is lobbyist from the official roles during this transition. Interesting development, what do you make of that?
BROWN: Well, listen, there's no love lost between, you know, K Street and obviously the Trump tense administration. A lot of them were not with them certainly. The lobbyist player are certainly player role they provide information but it's up to the individual to balance that information with folks who are not lobbyists. I mean, if you look at the Heart Association, Lung Association. You know, there are -- there are amazing charitable groups to lobby congress. So, there's a question of -- are they good lobbyists, are they bad lobbyists, there are some that we should keep and shouldn't keep.
You know, that's the questions. So, when you just say lobbyist it really is everybody who has a cause that needs to get some type of funding or law passed to help people in this country. And I am hopeful they will strike a balance. Obviously the charitable groups as I referenced, you know, the Cancer Society. I mean, they all have lobbyists.
BARTIROMO: Right.
BROWN: So, I want to make sure that -- I want make sure we have -- we have good information and I think Mike Pence is taking a good stand. And I can -- I think we all know, you know, the wink wink nod nod, who the folks that shouldn't have any influence in Washington are and hopefully they'll make a good stand.
BARTIROMO: Yes. And this was something that was very important to Donald Trump as he was campaigning in terms of this whole draining the swamp idea. Let me -- let me ask you about Mayor Giuliani because the former New York City Mayor as well as Trump's Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway she was with us yesterday, she talked about the possible Secretary of State position. Here's what she told me yesterday.
BROWN: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, REPUBLICAN: He is -- I think actively thinking about Secretary of State. That decision is ultimately Donald Trump's. But we know he made incredible Secretary of State.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR, NEW YORK CITY: I'd be very honored to serve. He's going to put together an extraordinary administration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: So, it looks like based on the body language that Rudy Giuliani will get Secretary of State. One of your former colleagues Ryan Paul said that neither Giuliani nor Bolton would get his vote for Secretary of State. So, since debate going on since everybody expected Giuliani to get AG. What is your take on Secretary of State for Giuliani?
BROWN: Well, he is America's mayor. We all know what he did during 9/11. He -- we all know what he did and you know when we spoke about it for New York, he's a great guy, he's more than qualified. He has knowledge of the world affairs and those people in the world. So, yes, certainly, I'd certainly vote for him without even blinking and that's what the offensive consensus for. I'm hope Rand would give this president an opportunity have his cabinet move and forward so we don't have to rely on the democratic votes to actually get this done. Remember Harry Reid passed the rules.
Cabinet secretaries, ambassadors, federal judges need 51 votes. So, Harry Reid did do a good thing for this country. And that's the same thing.
KELLY: Senator, it's Kevin. Senator Rand Paul's problem with Giuliani as well as Bolton is that they didn't have it repudiated the Iraq war and he sees that as a prerequisite for being the top statesmen as Secretary of State especially considering how fragile the world is right now. So, do you think that is a good prerequisite for him to have?
BROWN: Listen, it's great to Monday morning quarterback. You know, one time --
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BROWN: -- when you have the facts, you're voting on something and then -- and here we are years later and just like, "Oh, you've got to say -- or against the war." I think we need to focus on, like, what's happening right now and what's the scenario right now and then forward and not worry about the Monday morning quarterbacking.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BROWN: Listen, I know Rand. I like Rand. I'm hopeful that he'll give the president opportunity to move his cabinet picks forward and so we can start to change the direction of this country.
BARTIROMO: I tell you Harry Reid is not doing anybody favors, right?
GABRIELLE: Yes.
BARTIROMO: He keeps attacking Trump every --
BROWN: Oh, he's got a great job.
BARTIROMO: -- at every moment.
BROWN: It doesn't matter, Maria because he is -- will get out (INAUDIBLE)
BARTIROMO: Well, it does matter because he's incite -- I mean, he's inciting and empowered protesters, no?
BROWN: Yes. No, no. They are being paid. Listen to me, you know, that - - you know, a planned parenthood spending up to $1500 a week for protesters.
BARTIROMO: Wow.
BROWN: Yes, the president could certainly do something. Hillary could do something. But when -- they're not -- you know, listen, they have nothing else to really complain about. I would actually hope that they would protest the DNC and the fact they completely rigged --
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BROWN: -- the system against Bernie Sanders. Why are they they protesting Donald Trump? He --
BARTIROMO: Right.
BROWN: -- didn't run any battle to anyone.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BROWN: Go after the DNC, to the people that kind of, you know, really -- you know --
BARTIROMO: And you would think that --
BROWN: (INAUDIBLE)
BARTIROMO: -- the Bernie Sanders supporters want that because they have to be enraged by what they learned about how they treated Bernie Sanders. You make a great point.
BROWN: Well, some of them are actually protesting. So -- well, those are the protesters.
BARTIROMO: Senator, good to see you. Thank you so much (INAUDIBLE)
BROWN: Good to see you guys. Thank you. Thank you.
BARTIROMO: Have a great day, senator. Coming up, President Obama did not get a warm welcome from the people of Athens yesterday. Why violent protesters broke out there on the final international trip for President Obama? Plus Snapshot looks for permanent place on Wall Stret reports on its plans to go public and what could be one of the biggest technology IPOs of the year. We will tell you about it next. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. President Obama trip to Greece sparking firey protest across Athens yesterday. Cheryl Casone with headlines right now. Hi Cheryl.
CHERYL CASONE, ANCHOR, FOX NEWS: Hey, good morning, Maria. Yes, the crowd tried to enter an area off-limits to demonstrators. Right. Police said they used teargas and stun grenades to drive back about 3,000 left-wing marchers protesting President Obama's visit. He was attending a dinner with Greece's leader when the violence broke out. Police arrested at least four demonstrators. Only one person was hurt in the chaos. President Obama will visit the Acropolis today and give a speech in Athens, a democratic values before departing for Germany.
Well, since hearing new details in Walgreens legal fight with Theranos, the drugstore giant claims the Silicon Valley lab firm voided over 11 percent of all blood tests provided to its customers. That's about 31,000 reports. The two companies are former partners, Walgreens provided Theranos' fingerprint, blood test of 40 of its wellness centers throughout Arizona and California in the $140 million breach of contract that Walgreens claims it was constantly misled by Theranos. Meanwhile, sources say the Snapchat has confidentially filed for its IPO, much anticipated company (INAUDIBLE) billion dollars in revenue contest investor confidence by secretly filing for an IPO.
The social network could go public as soon as March but the valuation upwards get this 25 billion. That would make it the largest IPO since Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba went public. And United bring in a whole new meaning to no-frills flying. (INAUDIBLE) of this, airline had a basic economy frills yesterday. They are trying to fend off competition for people like Spirit and Frontier. Basic economy is for anybody who doesn't -- basically if you can leave with a knapsack, a backpack and that's it? You want to fly by yourself? This is for you.
United automatically assign you a seat at check-in. No choices for you. Carry-ons are limited to one personal item and you can't check anything. You can't put anything in the overhead bin. If you go basic economy (INAUDIBLE) there's no turning back. You can get economy plus, you can't get premium upgrades, nothing.
BARTIROMO: but you get the cheap ticket.
CASONE: You get a cheap ticket.
BARTIROMO: That's all you want.
CASONE: And bring a sandwich.
BARTIROMO: There you go.
CASONE: And that's it.
BARTIROMO: Done and done.
GABRIELLE: In military, I could do an eight dollar flight to Germany if I sat on a cargo net and I did it three times.
BARTIROMO: Eight dollars.
(LAUGHTER)
BARTIROMO: (INAUDIBLE) Germany from where?
KELLY: (INAUDIBLE)
GABRIELLE: Yes.
KELLY: (INAUDIBLE) there we go.
GABRIELLE: Military --
KELLY: I like that (INAUDIBLE)
GABRIELLE: It's the way to travel.
BARTIROMO: Good stuff. We'll take short break. And businesses looking to president-elect economic plan to track their course of action next. What CEOs think of the Trump administration and how they are planning? Now that we know the news. Plus one app causing clashes why Walmart is telling its employees not to download this new Union backed app. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Americans looking for economic growth in a Trump economy. The Wall Street Journal reporting that businesses are waiting to see what Trump's policy will mean for them. Joining us right now is Vining Sparks Chief Economist, Craig Dismuke. Craig, good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us.
CRAIG DISMUKE, CHIEF ECONOMIST, VINING SPARKS: Good morning.
BARTIROMO: So, look back last week or so. We got the market that is reacting to Donald Trump's economic plan, lower taxes, rollback of regulations. As an economist, what are you expecting from Trump's plan and the impact on the economy?
DISMUKE: Well, so I think it's certainly is a positive. Regulations have been one of the biggest challenges for businesses that we've seen for the previous administration, the tenure of that. And so I think that's -- there's a positive outlook for business leaders, CEOs across the board been optimistic about that and almost every industry. So, that is good news. We still have some challenges in the economy. We have an aging population. We have slower population growth. We have a large debt overhang.
So, there a lot of big challenges that are still out there then I think will make it difficult to get the economy really growing significantly faster. But at the very least it's an improvement for where we've been I think.
BARTIROMO: Let me ask you this because Steve Moore said that he thinks we could see a double in growth, we're at two percent. He's expecting four percent. In a short period of time, is that doable?
DISMUKE: For a quarter or two.
BARTIROMO: OK.
DISMUKE: But it's hard to do that long-term.
BARTIROMO: Why? You tell us why?
DISMUKE: Well, because you have the -- you still have these big structural factors and you have -- the biggest factor right now affecting the U.S. economy is the aging population. And as people age, there a couple of things that tend to happen, number one, you have fewer people there in the production cycle producing goods and services. Number two, they spend lest, people over the age of 75 tend to spend at .8 X of the -- of the national median (INAUDIBLE)
BARTIROMO: Right.
DISMUKE: And then they don't borrow as much. And so, when you have less leverage in the system, then you have less economic growth generally. So, there -- this is a -- is a structural chain, a factor that monetary policy, even fiscal policy -- fiscal policy will help.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
DISMUKE: (INAUDIBLE)
BARTIROMO: So, usually the long-term.
DISMUKE: Long term.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
DISMUKE: Right.
KELLY: And I think one of the biggest issues that investors are overlooking right now is what is the impact of the strong GDP growth and how long can that be? Given that it will actually have its effects on making the dollar stronger which could impede growth especially overseas as well as strengthening rates. Rates can go up. We've seen this deepening of the yield curve especially on the long and that will impede growth as well because the cost of capital is more. So, do you -- which one of those factors you think will have a harder impact on the economy and growth?
Will it be the stronger dollar that we should worry about or the strengthening in rates?
DISMUKE: So, it's both. So, we saw last year the stronger dollar as the dollar went up 24 percent, we saw exports declined 13 percent, we saw manufacturing completely flat line. So, it's certainly would be a big (INAUDIBLE) would be a big challenge for exporters and manufacturers. On the flipside if rates tend to go up -- or begin -- keep rising, which I think this is one of the limiting factors on interest rates. Is -- this isn't 2004 where as they're -- as they start raising rates the stock market a year later was, you know, they -- started racing June 2004, a year later stock prices are up six percent.
But corporate profits were up 14 percent during that time. So, they were over -- they were able to overcome the P/E compression in 2004. This cycle is different, corporate profits are down to the last three quarters we're down three percent from where we were when the fed started raising rates. And so, if you see rates rising, I think you see stock prices start to come back down, this isn't 2004, I don't think they're both going to go up like they did then and that will hurt consumer confidence. It'll --
BARTIROMO: How fast could rates rise though? I mean, look, we just got the lowest number by the way (INAUDIBLE) OK? So, here's the first number we've been waiting for today for retail. Low reports earning (INAUDIBLE) 88 cents versus 96 cents estimate. How soon will rates really skyrocket?
DISMUKE: Yes. Well, remember the tenure was in the middle of the year we're down at 140, a little bit below 140, we hit 137.
BARTIROMO: But now we're at quarter percent, what's the problem?
DISMUKE: Yes. So, we're almost a 100 basis points higher. So, then it can happen quickly.
BARTIROMO: OK.
DISMUKE: And we are up 40 basis points closer election so it can happen quickly. We are still at very low levels.
BARTIROMO: Yes, that's I'm saying.
DISMUKE: Only at 10 point, 225, we are still low and we are still (INAUDIBLE)
KELLY: And it does affect those lowest numbers that you're talking about and it's going to affect corporate guidance. So not only will it hurt the profits guidance from these corporations going forward we heard and we saw that actually Home Depot's numbers were great yesterday.
BARTIROMO: Yes, yes, yes.
KELLY: And then the --
BARTIROMO: And the stock traded down.
KELLY: Then the stock traded down, that was based off of the (INAUDIBLE) and this 100 basis point (INAUDIBLE) regardless does hurt the consumer because the consumer over leverage. So, maybe you can touch base on how even -- not only corporate balance sheet, a personal balance sheets are impediment.
DISMUKE: Well, as a -- the personal balance sheets have really been the beneficiaries of lower rate. I mean, treasury obviously their interest payments have been a big beneficiary. But (INAUDIBLE)
BARTIROMO: Everybody's raising cash.
DISMUKE: Right, exactly.
BARTIROMO: Hmm.
DISMUKE: Households they produce their mortgage payments by $282 billion a year refinancing from five and 5.5 to 3.9. There have been big beneficiaries of that. One thing that is really interesting to note that is when you talk about the consumer and higher rates. In 2013 we saw this mortgage rate rose one percent, it went from 350 to 450. Housing sales fell 10.8 percent during that time you. Housing today is more rates since then it's ever been.
BARTIROMO: Hmm.
DISMUKE: And that's because we have more people that are -- that are renting. So, more of the purchases are from investors. They're buying using leverage money which means an increase in rates has a bigger impact on their -- on their activity. Now we are already postelection, we've seen mortgage rates of 40 basis points. We've gone from 350 to 390. If that continues, it's going to be, you know, self-governing --