Jobless claims, though, 4. 4 million, bringing the total to 26 million over the past five weeks. Oil bounces, and the european pmis remain historically low 16 in france no, 10 in france 16 in germany. Jim, though, your tone this morning is relatively hopeful. Look, i am a creature of who reports and what they say. And i can literally i find it hard to remember as Many Companies as saying good things, even as obviously were in nidest of a pandemic, and i dont think theyre all clockeyed optimists. These are large cap companies. These are not the companies that the government is trying to protect. These are arguably the winners the companies that are going to get stronger i listened to lee, and Lee Cooperman was talking about what its going to look like on the other side i look at my desk. I have reports everywhere here these are all companies that are going to come through with fewer competitors. And that may be bad for the u. S. Consumer, but its good for the stock market david, would you please offer some contrary view and say that im too optimistic please . Well, heres one, jim you made this point before on our air, that we cover large public well capitalized companies, and the story coming out of jobless claims today is a Small Business story its more difficult for us to cover. Its a little more granular. The data is not as fresh or as high frequency, but you cant look past that right lets look at the railroads. The railroads principle enemy are the truckers i think the truckers, the smaller truckers, are going to have a huge amount of problems here the larger ones, no. Union pacific is great versus u. P. S. But this is just the battle of titans and when the smoke clears, theyre all going to raise rates. Theres going to be very little competition. Its going to be great for these companies. Again, its going to be cataclysmic for people who want to ship, but the big are just getting bigger and the small, well, lets just say theyre trying to get a hand out from mnuchin. When they get it, it keeps them open for a little while, but this is the big this is the cataclysmic change between companies that have great Balance Sheets and companies that dont and i see Many Companies that have great Balance Sheets, and their stocks are worth owning, which is why we have a higher pe than Lee Cooperman would normally say we should have because i think these companies are winners. And maybe they shouldnt be and maybe its not right but theyre winners. But jim, im sure you go through the course of the day and have plenty of people questioning the valuation of the stock market given their expectations for the economy and where we stand, even if things do get better. You only need to listen to the likes of jon gray this morning, for example, from blackstone, the president of blackstone, which reported earnings. Talking about the fact that he doesnt see a vee recovery i think he yeah, i think he said its more like a nike swoosh take a listen and then lets discuss. I think were not in the camp of a vrecovery. We think it feels maybe a little more like a nike swoosh, which somebody gave me that line yesterday. It feels more gradual in nature. And thats because, you know, we dont have sort of a cureall for this virus right now its going to take time. We will the good news is we seem to be over the hump in terms of the peak in most of the u. S. And europe, and so parts of the economy will start to reopen, but it will happen gradually. It will be in certain sectors, certainly geographies. You know, i mean, guys, i have listened we all have interviewed so many leaders of businesses on the course of the program over the last few weeks. So many talking about a recovery like that. One in which they dont expect to see earnings come anywhere near where they were for last year, for at least another two or three years so yes to all of the things youre saying, jim, and then i come back to this idea of what can we really expect in terms of how the market is going to treat valuation, or are we simply in a new world where were willing to accept multiples which we have never seen before . I think this is great and the metaphor jon gray uses is nike lets take it as a double entendre first, yes y dont mind that shape because it does at least indicate theres a pulse second, lets take nike. This is company that went from being zero to 40 direct to the consumer its not host tooj the mall anymore. Its going higher. Its an International Market it sells at 37 times earnings. If its the only survivor, maybe it should sell at 50 times earnings there are a lot of things that happen in life that run fair its unfair nike should go to 50 it could go to 18 because theres a sentimentality about how stocks cant do this well. But if nike wipes out everyone else, nike will have a vrecovery Jonathan Gray did not say what i most fear, there will be no recovery dr. Fauci gave me a no recovery yesterday, in a very nice smile, and he does that thing he said, you know, and this is going to be even worse in the fall, and im thinking, well, there goes the nfl then i start thinking, well, nike is doing quite well and im watching this thing over the weekend, which is a nike ad. It also happened to be about Michael Jordan i come back and say nike winner, everyone else loser. Everyone and thats whats happening. Right thats a different world. We havent seen that every small and medium sized business that competes with Dollar General may not exist six months from now. Does that make Dollar General worth more or less i dont know the answer i think it makes it worth more i mean, theres two things here, jim. One is the difference in the way people in asian markets respond. You heard this in the Las Vegas Sands call last night. Theyre used to dealing with things in ways were not nike sells goods more than they sell services. And thats why these pmis today are going to be so important because the effect of the pandemic on services, our economy largely, is going to be reflected in nonmanufacturing indices. Not about making sneakers and shoes and clothes. But were not trading hair salons thank heavens were not because they would trade like oil did on monday this is not a barbershop economy. What this is is an economy of titans and losers. Now, we didnt used to have it like that. I think its terrible. My father was a Small Businessman. My fathers businesswould have been out of business probably february 22nd. Thats how quickly he would have gone under i look at nike and think they just get stronger and stronger and stronger and maybe its not fair. But you know, do we really sit there and say, you know what, im going to buy Union Pacific, no, its not fair to buy Union Pacific. No its just that theyre a survivor, even though they say business is going to be bad next quarter, the fact is Union Pacific is a winner because theres only a couple of rails and they dont need a bailout. Versus i listen to the airlines and i think, you know y would rather be i would rather be in a coal car going across the country than i would be in some of these airlines. Its kind of open air, you know, a hopper get some sun bring the coppertone the airlines are proving successful in raising capital, not just from the federal government but thats what theyre ucsisful at. Raising money . How about raising customers. All right, but yeah true, but im not quite sure how theyre supposed to do that in the current environment. By making it safe for them to fly. Okay, and i assume that they will because they are in business to try to make money. Why, because they wipe the seats down yeah, well, theyre going to have to do a lot of Different Things we talked a lot about it with the various executives well see whether theres a middle seat for a while, whether there wont be its unclear exactly what the experience is going to look like they have been able to raise capital. Many companies who are in a position to have gone oun and did what they have to do in terms of raising capital there will be plenty who are unable to. Expedia this morning, again, at the center of the storm when it comes to travel. The squawk crew talked to barry diller last week they announced that deal theyre going to raise 3. 2 billion of new capital thats debt, but they raise 1. 2 billion from private equity. Were talking about silver lake stepping in there, getting board seats, a significant stake in expedia. Liberty media this morning, ill be talking to greg next hour theyre doing what they call a reattribution, taking live nation and moving it from one entity, the formula one entity, to the siriusent entity. There are Companies Taking actions, jim, as much as they possibly can to try to strengthen their Balance Sheets to make it through the problem is we dont know how long we just dont know how long its going to take and where they have to get to if we get an antiviral, were not going to get a vaccine im in the vaccine 2022 committee. If we get an antiviral which makes us feel like this isnt a death sentence, the stocks and the valuations will be justified. We have a few more days before gilead reveals remdesivir. What happens if its good . I think what happens is we fly again. Theres a lot of hope on that, and obviously, that news article are leading some people in that direction. Well get more on that david mentions media we have a big call on media stocks, evercore goldman goes to a street high on amazon, and a lot more plus, watching the pmis come in ckn mitengg lo ba ia nu at t knows you have a lot of things on your mind. Staying connected shouldnt be one of them. Thats why were offering contactless delivery and setup on all devices. And for those experiencing Financial Hardship due to this crisis, well work with you to keep your service up and running. Hi because at at t, were always committed to keeping you connected. Oil prices are building on yesterdays gains, and of course, americas fracking boom is beginning to collapse our Brian Sullivan has more on that this morning. Hey, brian hey, carl good morning yeah, i mean, listen, its funny were talking about the price of oil soaring, but the price of oil still under 20 a barrel these times are pretty insane. And they are hitting the u. S. Fracking industry. And really theyre going to start the hit job market as well on a day with the unemployment number coming in the way it did. Lets talk about the potential slide. Thats the number of new major fracking wells its the biggest month over month drop in the history of the data set those are new wells, and you can see a steep drop almost nobody is going to drill a new well now what about existing pruoduction u. S. Production falling just about 900,000 barrels a day from last month still at 12. 2 Million Barrels a day, much higher than a few years ago, but down nearly a million. You have rig counts off nearly 500 from last year and you have refineries running at 67 thats a doubleedged sword, though, guys, because 67 means that they dont need oil, which means theyre going to store it, but still, youre starting to see this one sort of great fracking boom fueled in large part by hard work, sweat, and debt, start to come to a very creaking halt. Will it be fast enough to stop oils slide, i dont know, but its slowing is that wi at the time when the uso and the rookies who traded the uso knocked it down, is that why apache is up is that why occidental is up, why halliburton is up, why almost oil stock i follow is up, and one is gnaw true is it the oil futures and the uso or is it the oil stocks . Jim, oh, man. Listen, this is a harder question than who should the eagles pick in the third round tonight. Right . Maybe a linebacker, i dont know i think first round theyre going to go defense. I do think so too. I dont know the answer to that. Im trying to find out because i can tell you this much, jim. The way the uso has altered its prospectus, nobody is going to buy a onemonth contract they decide were going to change the basis of our investment fund. Could you imagine, you know, the qqq deciding, you know what, were just not going to own microsoft. Were going to buy a bunch of shares of whatever im trying to understand that very point he did a great job this morning. I thought you were fabulous on the five this morning. I loved it i thought it was a great analysis congratulations. Im not kidding. It was really good it means a lot because nobody knows more about it than you and i appreciate that. Listen, im trying to figure it out because theres something funky going on on the tas futures. The short answer is i dont know, but man, i tell you, when somebody figures it out, its going to be something because theres Something Weird going on well, brian, youre going to find it out before anyone else because youre working 24 7 on it i cant thank you enough for what youre trying to do i go back to david now how are you doing there . Im doing all right, item are you yeah. Im going to come over and give you a hawaiian punch you know y would take it. Anything for some contact would be nice. Even if it means a punch in the face from you, jim Liberty Media this morning, we mentioned it, announces what theyre calling a reattribution. Theyre moving live nation from formula one to sirius. Of course, the atlanta braves, live nation, formula one all of these companies caught to a certain extent in the difficulties we find ourselves in greg maffei is going to join me late toor discuss all of that. We have a lot more squawk on the street straight ahead life isnt a straight line. And sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. But when youre with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, theres nothing to stop you from moving forward. Gains at the open, adding to yesterdays gains as well, as the picture from Corporate America continues to fill in, well get to target and unilever and dominos and discover and a lot more when squawk on the street continues in a moment. Welcome back to squawk on the street. Time to get in a mad dash. Jims going to cover Las Vegas Sands, the company, of course, reporting earnings, i believe it was after the bell, jim. The china part, of course, which is macao, so important a net loss of 166 million for the First Quarter. That compared with a 557 million gain or net income, as we used to call it, a year ago but theyre looking to open there. They are opening and the question is will they come there was a really kind of an amazing thing that happened. Its a short sellers nightmare. The other day, Las Vegas Sands suspended its dividend you figure it had to be the worst. Last night, they came out and said the pentup demand for gambling is incredible, so therefore, you have to buy they gave a schedule of debt, and theres no big maturities for a couple years they certainly have the opportunity to make it happen. If you really believe in this, i suggest you thing about wynn mike maddux sent me his Health Care Plan of how to open literally, theyre describing about how the air conditioners have to be the Gambling Companies have really thought a lot about how to entice people in a safe way, and theres also tremendous optimism in china, david this may be one to buy alibaba, frankly. The chinese, theyre celebrating as if, you know what, we have conquered a lot. And yes, i know you show the gym that was closed yesterday, the governor of georgia should look at what happened to the gyms there. There is a notion that while theyre not covidfree, they somehow triumphed over covid, and our notion, i think, sorry to be a bearer of what i see is gloom, is we have been beaten by covid. And i think its a shame that our narrative is so different from theirs. Yeah. Well, theres a larger story there, which is the emergence of china in a way, what the relationship between our countries is going to be like following this, of course, given that their economy is certainly rebounding more quickly than ours is planned to but back to Las Vegas Sands. I mean, macao is closed for a couple weeks in february, but its not like the traffic came back in any meaningful way in march, jim not at all, but this notion of pentup gambling is interesting because it presumes theres this element of people have not been able to have any vice, but they cant stay away from vice for too long death, taxes, vice i read it, and i say, you know, at least theyre optimistic. So if you want to have a kind of a belief that maybe things can turn around, read the Las Vegas Sands note and youll have tremendous faith in the ability of people to want to lose money at the table okay. Well do that. Are we headed to a break now, guys thats up to you, david you have been away for a couple days what do you think, break, no break . Its your call no break. No break, jim. Were going to go straight through. Yeah carl involved as well. If thats the case, we have to talk about lam research theres a company that people are negative on because they cant meet the demand. This is the kind of negativity im getting used to. Netflix, you know, they had to suppress demand. You know what, when you have too much demand, thats called good. Im getting angry. Typically, it is that way until here. What are you getting angry about . Fit people are so negative. David, they ought to just give someone a hug. We have 26 Million People filing for claims. I mean, we have an employment rate implied at 17 we have Companies Like target saying that in the 1930s even target saying their margins are being dinged by the shifts, which are benefitting certain elements of the operation like digital. But that comes with a cost target is crushing everybody else and doing at that low prices im not saying its happy days are here again im saying that the companies themselves are doing well. The Unemployment Rate is horrendous and it is 1930s like, and believe me, if they could burn oil like they burned like they burned grain under the a