I sawed this loud and clear to everybody. Rob portman back immediate up. Theres nobody more honorable than rob portman of ohio he called up, please let the money go i said rob i hate being the country thats always giving money when ukraine helps europe and the European Countries far more than they help us theyre like a wall between russia and europe. Theyre like a wall. Theyre a big, wide, beautiful wall and he said, you know what but its important in fact, he came out and he said that this was my only reason. Because i dont like being the sucker country we were the sucker country for years and years. Were not the sucker country anymore. But i gave the money because rob portman and others called me and asked. But i dont like to be the sucker and European Countries are helped far more than we are. And those countries should pay more to help ukraine ask a question. Thank you, sir. What did you want on biden . Biden and his son are stonecold crooked you know it. His son walks out with millions of dollars the kid knows nothing. You know it and so do we go ahead ask a question. The question, sir, was what did you want president zel sensyky to do about Vice President bideen and his son, hunter are you talking to me yeah. It was a followup of what i just asked you. Are you ready we have the president of finland. Ask him a question. I have one for him. I wanted to follow up on the one i asked you. Did you hear me did you hear me . Ask him a question. I will. Ive given you a long answer. Ask this gentleman a question. Dont be rude. No, sir, i dont want to be rude i wanted you to have a chance to answer the question i asked you. I answered everything its a whole hoax. Do you know who is playing into the hoax people like you and the Fake News Media that we have in this country. I say, in many cases the corrupt media because youre corrupt much of the media in this country is not just fake its corrupt and you have some very fine people, too. Great journalists, great reporters. But to a large extent, its corrupt and its fake. Ask the president of finland a question, please. Okay. Ill move on now mr. President , in your opening remarks, you said to President Trump that you had been to some museums today and that you respected the u. S. Democracy and encouraged him to continue it. Are you concerned that thats not happening . My second question to you, sir, is the wto rule to you today in favor of the United States saying that the United States can now impose tariffs on european goods because of illegal subsidies against airbus. That was a big win for the United States. Right . Never had wins with other president s, did you . But were having a lot of wins at the this was a case that started 10 or 15 years ago. Excuse me the wins are now because they think i dont like the wto and they want to make sure im happy. Because all of those countries were ripping off the United States for many years. They know that im wise to it. Weve had a lot of wins. This was a 7 billion win. Not bad. But i think the question is for me. The question, sir, is are you concerned that the president will impose those tariffs and the effect that may have on the country . Yes, first of all, when i refer to your democracy i just want to tell i am impressed, the American People have gained during these decades, hundreds of years, building up a very impressive democracy so, keep it going on to wto, i have a lot of respect to multilateralism and to International Institutions so wto has given now the decision which is, well, quite tough with europe. But ill just say that the wto has said its opinion, and thats that. And i just want to finish by saying its an honor to be with the president of finland he has done a fantastic job. Very popular, beloved over in finland. The wto has been much better to us since ive been president , because they understand they cant get away with what theyve been getting away with for so many years, which is ripping off the United States. And please remember the president s last remarks, that we are a great democracy we are a great the United States is a great democracy. And im airing what im airing because we are, in fact, a democracy. And if the press were straight and honest and forthright, and tough, we would be a far greater nation we would be far greater when we dont have the cnns of the world who are corrupt people thank you very much, everybody welcome to the closing bell. That was President Trump finishing up a press conference with the president of finland, president niinisto a lot of the questions having to do with the telephone call with the president of ukraine the markets are down sharply at this moment, down 482 points on the dow alone. Session was down 599 the high was down 135. We didnt really get any questions on that topic. Although, of course, earlier we did hear from the president to say all this impeachment nonsense is driving the stock market down. Lets get to eamon javers. This was an astonishing press conference the president of finland turned to the president and said you have a great democracy keep it going. Jeff mason of reuters asking whether he was sending any subtexts to the president about the state of the United States now. We saw the president of finland say simply no, hes impressed by the history of the United States you can bet there will be a lot read into that moment in that exchange there we also saw the president in an extremely aggressive mode here toward the press, something weve seen throughout this presidency but again today. This is a president who feels besieged on a lot of fronts, particularly by democrats on capitol hill, who have fired off subpoenas, who he says destroyed the lives of longtime republicans. And, guys, if you think about it, were only a week into the impeachment process. You can see his reaction is a very angry, firedup reaction, who feels that his agenda is blocked by democrats on capitol hill. Saying im airing what i am airing because we are a great democracy. A number of factors are being pointed to in this market selloff today one of them is the wto ruling that will allow the u. S. Slap tariffs on european nations. You saw both president s talking about investment bilaterally in a number of business deals both president s stressing economic ties here between these two countries at a time when this president is eager to generate some economic progress. The dow is off just under 500 points, analysts are saying its more to do with the president s trade war than his impeachment the president tweeting out its because of his impeachment proce process. Eamon javers, thank you for wrapping that up for us. Lets look at whats driving the action in the market today hangover of weak data, private payroll coming in, essentially in line,but august was revised sharply lower and treasury yields are sinking once again, dipping below 1. 6 much more on this market selloff and renewed concerns about this economy plus how you should be protecting your portfolio amid all of this uncertainty when we hear more from Mohammed El Erian, david rosenberg, tony dwyer, Stephen Roach but first josh brown. We are now through the seventh straight quarter of zero progress on the dow jones. Seven straight quarter were into the eighth quarter now since the trade war started january of 2018. This is literally almost two full years with no progress in the dow jones. I remember a year ago, being on the air for cnbc you have the tenyear. Everyone has to shorten up diversified portfolio. Think of what that did for you the long bond this year, year to date, is up 22 total return 22 . So if you threw your fixed income out last september because you thought oh, no, rates are going to scream higher and we own too many bonds. S p 500 is not even up that much this year. You want to make sure you have enough humility to own the Asset Classes and respect the fact that on any given day, some will be down. Stocks right now, symptom will be up. Gold and bonds are up. Tactically speaking its not a great time ugly mis print, transports rolling over you dont want to see that russell 2000 rolling even harder you dont want to see that whats holding up the market has held up the market buy backs. Well have a lot this year, finish the year strong with buybacks other than that, theres no corporate capex that peaked in the quarter of 2018 nothing exciting going on. Cfos are pulling back. Its a tough time. Diversified portfolio is looking pretty good. Youre doing okay. Well talk to you more on this market selloff the next hour or so, covering all the angles today Courtney Reagan is tracking the nasdaq and deeper dive on the economic datea. Bob to you first. It was rough right from the outset, 51. Same now here. We saw transports week all day, energy retail. Lenar had fantastic numbers overall. Thats a new high for lennar and pulte even though its down late in the day even though General Motors numbers were better thats found as well. Housing strong, auto is not so strong difficult parts in the state of the consumer right now guys, back to you. Bob, thank you very much. Nasdaq on pace for its lowest close since august Courtney Reagan is watching the movers there hey, court. Hi there, wilf. Thats right if you look, technology has been fighting for the biggest loser spot at loost for the nasdaq composite. Were still down 1. 5 . If you take a look at that 2 hyundai moving average, though, for the nasdaq composite, at least were relatively down, far from breeching that right now at 7789 or so for the nasdaq composite. Semi conductors as a group, if you look at the etf, smh, that is weaker on the session only 10 or 11 names in the nasdaq 100 as bob was talking about that previously have been holding us up for the last several months lastly, of course, it makes sense that theres widely held tech names shaving the biggest points off the nasdaq 100. Youve got apple and nasdaq responsible for 20 points and 15 points to the downside on the nasdaq 100 back to you at the new york stock exchange. Courtney, thank you selling isnt just contained to here in the u. S. Weve seen big moves elsewhere. Ftse 100 had its worst day, falling 3. 2 , broader stocks europe fell 2. 7 uk construction pmi came in at 43. 3 versus an expectation of 45 it follows weak eurozone and chinese data earlier in the week also imposing tariffs on European Countries 0. 5 , europe down 3. 5 , s p 500 at the moment, morgan, 2. 8 down for the week. And were only into wednesday. Lets bring in our economic reporter Steve Liesman what spark this had selloff, second straight month of contraction. How dire was this reading . You know, you could kind of tell the manufacturing story by the spoke issues that were out there. You had a decline in the Oil Manufacturing sektder there. The trouble is, you know, this ism manufacturing number comes along yesterday and tells us only three of 18 sectors were growing. That means 15 were not growing or were actually contracting look, morgan, were not quite there yet when it comes to signaling a broader recession. When were actually in recession, so not a foregone conclusion right now hard data is suggesting were running 2 the concern is real, whats happening in manufacturing and what wilf just reported spread morse broadly to the u. S. Economy. Steve, last time we saw socalled industrial recession, last time manufacturing data contracting like this was in 2015, 2016. Right. It didnt roll out to the broader economy. Right. It spreads into the confidence figures if it spreads to the stock market well be watching for that and thats a good graphic you have up there, folks if you just look at that, off to your left, to the left of the current number is that dip right there. A lot of that, morgan, accompanied a recession in the oil patch when Oil Prices Fell thats a big part of what caused it to decline. A couple of months in a row below 50 to the left of that is when it really plunged doesnt give you a whole lot of warning theyre going to be watching closely that Services Number whats happening in manufacturing spreads to services, the bulk of u. S. Economic activity. Then there will be a reason for real concern. Hi, steve its josh brown. Aim curious what your thoughts are on the bull case, whats happening with these manufacturing measures is that theyre lapping the incredible juicing. And now were facing a situation where the comps are way harder than they normally are because that have spike in activity. Well get through that and its possible that these numbers are not poised to take a new leg down as we get through those tougher comps. Whats your thoughts on that im going to throw half of that question back to you in a second, josh to the extent were seeing it in the earnings, thats where we would be lapping were look at a monthly number, for example, when the number is above 50, manufacturing is expanding. Thats been true more or less since 1948 when its down at 43, almost all the time the economy is contracting. Nothing to do with what happened last year. It could be that were measuring relevant confidence to a year ago. Im not sure when the survey is being asked, being asked that way. I will say this. Its soft data, confidence data. You mentioned ceo survey data. Thats not real dollars and cents being spent. Are you seeing the lapping that youre talking about in the industrial earnings numbers . No. Most doesnt have to do with the u. S. Economy the World Economy is in a substantially worse place if you remember the story in 2017, can you throw that out and arguably the effects of the trade war have been worse for europe than they have for us so far. Developed asia, emergesing markets and developed europe its having an impact on how u. S. Economies are thinking about the future i dont think anyone would deny that at this point the only question is if its temporary. Well have to leave it there. Thank you very much, Steve Liesman at hq there. We have improved a little bit over the course of the last hour lets bring in jack caffery. Are you buying anything today or are you feeling very bearish im not feeling very bearish. We have these moments of indigestion. In fact, if we think back, Fourth Quarter last year, it felt miserable up 20 on the year and i dont remember anyone in the Fourth Quarter saying we have the prospect of a 20 year we could have a year with the bond being a positive, dollars being positive but ultimately its been an environment where no one thought the economy would accelerate Central Banks are being more proactive, trying to be helpful and weve seen that finding its way through in terms of valuations. So were not accelerating, though gdp growth, were closer to 2. 5 . Much closer to trend growth that winds up being ultimately healthier and allows Central Banks to be helpful, the fact that we dont have inflation effectively comes back to this idea that Central Banks can be friendly rather than contract ing and causing problems. On a day like today, we have major indices down. As an investor you always want to be thinking about how can i upgrade my portfolio diversification is how one stays wealthy in the long run. Twersification helps to keep you there and ultimately quality matters. One thinks about today we certainly have a lot more policy uncertainty today than we had a year ago, whether its trade, brexit, german policy from that, one comes back to what are good businesses and what are good misses that pay cash and ultimately to give you good cushion and quality. Jack caffery, good to see you. Thank you. 35 minutes left of trade. Lets send it over to mike sant santoli for todays dashboard. Mike nowhere fast is where well start. Key sectors that give a read on the metabolism of this market. Passive aggressive stock versus bond relationship alone together is the corporate appetite so nowhere fast. Dow jones transports this is a fouryear chart. Want to get a couple of significa significant. We bottomed there in the high 8000s. We have some room. Let alone last december, much more dramatic drop there Home Builders etf relative to the Consumer Discretionary etf this is essentially the best looking part of consumer right now. Over the past year, out performance of the Home Builders has been 18 the part of consumer discretion ry essentially playing on demographics if i showed you a tenyear version of this chart, though, its only recouped half of the relative losses. Thats why housing is not in step with the rest our Economic Cycle right now, guys. To mikes point weve seen way worse out of the transports. Very high data, Cyclical Companies and a lot of companies arent really high credit quality. When people get nervous they sell them doubly so than they would but you Pay Attention to these things in the context of other things that you see. I mentioned the russell 2000 in the same breath. I think you look at these things in concert with each other and its not that they are right when they sell off or right when they rally, theyre a signal of what people are starting to feel. 34 minutes left of the trade and down 430 point ons the dow Mohammed El Erian joins us on the phone. Thank you for joining us since you and i were talking monday morning before the market open has the data in the period between then and now justified such a big trade down . Thanks, wilfred remember you had me on and said what would you do here i said i would take some risk off. That was due to two reasons. One is that the Global Economy was slowing much faster than some people anticipated and secondly, the hope for a policy ha