Transcripts For CNBC Worldwide Exchange 20240713

Reopening. What is it like to go out to dinner well let you know. A buffett solomon breakup. Well focus on another berkshire breakup making waves ahead of the open. Tsa temperature checks and massive lines out of the industryway . Some of the ideas being floated with more than a dozen out there to get the American Economy and airports going again it is monday, may 18th and youre watching Worldwide Exchange right here on cnbc good monday morning, good afternoon or good evening and welcome from wherever in the world you may be watching us thank you for starting off your monday on cnbc im Brian Sullivan we have a fair amount of green on the screen and a little optimism to start your week. We can all use some of that. Certainly we can and the markets are reflecting it. Many countries are starting to reopen and there are some positive virus trends. Fewer cases and, more importantly, a slowdown in fatalities, at least around the world. Dow futures are up about 300 points right now perhaps the markets reflecting some of the positive health data we are starting to get both in the United States and globally investors this morning also trying to digest some new comments from fed chairman jay powell who told 60 minutes that the American Economy may not bounce back in full until there is a virus vaccine available. Listen in the long run and even in the medium run, you wouldnt want to bet against the American Economy. This economy will recover. It may take a while. It may take a period of time it could stretch inthrough the n of next were year. Could there be a recovery without a reasonably effective vak sneen. Assuming theres not a second wave of the coronavirus, i think youll see the economy recover steadily through the second half of this year so a little longerterm optimism from jay powell a little more warning in the short term as well but investors seem to be, perhaps, looking past those Powell Comments and looking at, perhaps, more encouraging signs from other companies beginning to reopen as well and case counts, perhaps, not spiking enough in certain american states that are opening up as well and releasing their lockdowns. Driving is back on the rise as well, helping oil, too oil back above 30 a barrel for the first time in weeks. Oil, if you do the math, from that crazy day with negative trades, oil has made 130 round trip in the last couple of weeks. Well get more on that in the show. Your single focus today is not an american name well, it is, as we focus on Goldman Sachs as we got that late day dump from Berkshire Hathaway announcesing it slashed the bulk of its holdings in Goldman Sachs during the first three months of the year that goldman investment for Warren Buffett dates back to the financial crisis and 2008. No doubt well hear more about this story throughout the day right here on cnbc. Lets get your global money check as well. Were seeing green not just here in our futures but around the world as well. Mostly solid day in asia we want to point out one major stock mover there. Shares of takaara bio on news that new saliva arebased test will be released in japan before the end of the month if that occurs, it will be the second major virus salivabased virus test after Rutgers University made one available recently all futures are higher across the board. Very solid games most countrys stock markets up 2 many countries are reporting in europe sop of their lowest fatalities and hospitalizations yet. Great news on so many Different Levels that is also helping spark some Global Optimism in the equity markets as well. Now lets get back to washington lawmakers casting doubts on, perhaps, any additional new economic stimulus. This after the democraticled house passed its own 3 trillion stimulus package late friday rahel solomon has more on that and so many of your other top monday headlines at cnbc hq. Good morning. Good morning. It looks like we may not see the next Coronavirus Relief package until june the house passed a 3 trillion stimulus bill on friday but Senate Republicans called the legislation dead on arrival. The Gopcontrolled Senate does not have plans to put forward an alternative before the memorial day recess. Changes could be coming to the paycheck protection program. This follows criticism from many who say that Business Owners cannot access the funds. Lawmakers and government officials are looking at adjustments, including giving businesses more flexibility on how they spend the month en. 75 of the funds had to be spent on worker pay for the loans to be forgiven. Changes also look to be coming to the nations airport tsa reportedly ready to check passenger temperatures at a dozen locations as soon as this week airlines have been urging the government to take steps in an attempt to keep potentially sick people off planes and also make travelers feel more comfortable flying again. And federal authorities suspect that fraudsters appear to be targeting u. S. Unemployment systems the New York Times reports an attack has already siphoned millions of dollars in payments. The fuadsters seem to be using information such as Social Security numbers that may have been obtained from previous cyber hacks. Brian, back to you. Thank you very much. Well, the markets look poised to extend fridays little move higher and make up last weeks losses. This morning dow futures are up 300 points we showed you the global markets. Everything is up lets dig into whats starting the week welcome in ben amons from medley advisers we look at the data around europe, hospitalization trends, new case counts, fatalities, thankfully, are down some states here like tennessee that have partially reopened they are not seeing the kind of spikes that many people, at least right now, its early, had feared is health data driving some of the optimism this monday morning or do you it think its Something Else morning, brian. Thank you for having us again. It certainly is that people feel more comfortable to go out there because of this data improving even though there are restrictions, generally people want to go out there so, i think its that combination of having confidence and the willingness to go out. We will see in spending data showing up unsurprising in that way because reopenings should start activity the data coming out this week will reflect and extend that as well as come around globally the expectation has been rising. Theres been i think the back drop for the stronger market i think ultimately as the market is showing this morning, too, well break a little higher from here because reopening means reacceleration of activity yeah, i mean, you look at some mobility trends from around the world. Well show our viewers some here in the United States in a bit. They look certainly more positive nobody is saying were out of the woods yet. We have a long, hard slog in the United States. Certainly in parts of europe as well but, i guess, policymakers, despite the fact that the u. S. Congress may not pass that second round of stimulus until june, if at all, ben, policymakers have the markets back markets back, as well as the set idea that the down side is limited from here in the sense that the bulk of response has been very aggressive and substantive. So, this additional stimulus package that theyre negotiating, some of it will come to fruition its clear the economy needs more sport for those on the central bank side, its more to go. Qe is here but a lot more lending programs that have yet to kick in i think that too will play a role because implementing lending is affecting the employment picture much more directly than, say, Interest Rate cuts or negative Interest Rates. I think this combination of the policy stimulus just will show in the second quarter. If you put on top of that that the confidence is picking up for people to go out and do something out there, then, yeah, it reflects in the market. I think were staying in the stronger market here and at the same time, we dont see much of a picture changing on bonds and Interest Rates. That staying relatively low. Ben emons, a good day to start the week here, kicking us off on a monday. See you soon thank you very much. On deck, get ready for a different kind of office when you go back to work. How companies are going to change the workplace and what stocks may benefit from it. Plus, softbank making a big jump as they make a major sale well get you the latest on the softbank saga. Later, could Consumer Spending, even in this environment, actually be better than the economic numbers suggest . Well, maybe at least for some stores former ceo of walmart u. S. Will join us as well. Futures are up 300 points. Good monday morning. We have a lot more to do americas oldest lighthouse has weathered many storms. Seeing the break in the clouds before anyone else. Together, well weather this storm. There are times when our need to connect really matters. To keep customers and employees in the know. To keep business moving. Comcast business is prepared for times like these. Powered by the nations largest gigspeed network. To help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. Tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. And a team of experts here for you 24 7. Weve always believed in the power of working together. Thats why, when every connection counts. You can count on us. Snoou welcome back good monday morning. While many states economies may begin to reopen, some of you may be asked to go back to an office some time soon when you go back, that office is likely to look different than the office you left behind that open office trend of the past decade, that is clearly toast. At least for now in many spots, which Means Companies that make all that gear that is going to change the office could benefit. Lets talk about some of those names. Now with katherine thompson, ceo of Thompson Research group, focusing on infrastructure and architecture its great to have you back on cnbc thank you for joining us on a optimistic tone on a monday morning. When we go back to an office, whenever that is, for the majority of us, what do you think that office is going to look like . How will it shift, according to the research and the companies that you are speaking to every day . Well, the first thing you have to take into consideration is employees arent going to come back until they feel safe so, from the get go, its going to be a staggered reentry, very slow walk back into work from a practical standpoint, youre already seeing companies, Companies Like Herman Miller, hmi, coming up with physical bear withiers between your traditional desking space. What youre going to see more in the long term are a couple Different Things back to the future youll see cubicles, youll see more space per employee, which has been dropping since 2000 and youre going to see more offices, too something you and i are dealing with right now, youll see a lot more working from home so, when you look at a variety of different companies, some companies have already made the decision, hey, were going to shift a huge percentage of our employees to work from home. Others, it may be more of a staggered office visit i would argue that probably many of the people who do work in an office are probably sitting on a chair or a desk made by steelcase or Herman Miller i would assume they have already begun to adjust their Product Offerings to meet these new demands. What are they doing and what could the business look like thats a great point. A stat you can look at is a Company Called hni theyve had 120 increase in their ecommerce business, targeted to the small office and home office. Steelcase is one of the Largest Global manufacturers and theyre going to be working with partners like jpmorgan or apple and google to help accommodate both the work and home, so essentially giving employees the option, if you want to work from home, this is your workstation if you want to work in the office, this is your choice. Herman miller also has design within reach, so it also has an upscale version to be able to get products finally knoll with full acquisition has options working from home and from the office. Very quickly, is your Research Showing we may be more spread out, instead of 1,000 people at a building we could have three separate buildings with a couple hundred in it each and a few working at home and that will ultimately require more desks, more shares chairs, and ironically, more space yeah. The number one thing youre going to see more of, chairs i can guarantee you everyone sitting at home is realizing their home office chair isnt that great youll see a significant increase in demand for good chairs at a reasonable price and youre exactly right to the point. Youll see more office space the counter intuitive is the office is dead we dont think its dead it will look different and it could benefit office manufacturers. Yeah, watching steelcase, Herman Miller and hni, 120 drop i like you start off with cherriness which is a carefully preserved state. That might define the office of the future have a great day, a great week thank you very much. Interesting thoughts. Still on deck, first shanghai, now florida. The house of mouse is looking to reopen parts of its attractions in florida well talk more about that as stock futures are up 266 points. First announcer todays big number 68 . Thats how much of u. S. Gdp comes from Consumer Spending investors will begin to see how much state lockdowns damaged that spending as retailers report First Quarter earnings this week. I came across sofi and it was the best decision of my life. Were getting a super competitive Interest Rate on our money. Were able to invest through the same exact platform. I got approved for a loan and it was a gamechanger. Truly sofi, thank you for helping me prepare for whatever the future has in store. Welcome back to Worldwide Exchange. As new jersey residents flock to the beaches across the state this weekend, the death toll continues to rise. 10,366 people have died of coronavirus in the garden state while the total cases neared 149,000. Meanwhile, new hospitalizations dropped to a sixweek low. Authorities in los angeles say they have launched a criminal probe into a warehouse explosion that injured at least 11 firefighters. Officials say it happened at a commercial building in the citys toy district that housed highly flammable butane. Eight firefighters are still hospitalized all are expected to survive. The cause is under investigation. This seasons first named Tropical Storm is churning off the coast of north carolina. Tropical storm arthur has maximum sustained winds of 45 miles an hour. Its expected to turn east into the atlantic finally, a pair of Michael Jordans autographed gameworn sneakers sold at auction, the price tag, 560,000. They were losed up during jordans rookie year in 1985 and first in his sneaker line with nike those are the iconic jordan 1s still classic. I have a feeling the last dance documentary may have helped those a smidge. Good to see you, buddy thank you very much. By the way, around new jersey, today could be the first sevenday stretch in new jersey where new case growth is under 1 good news if it happens. Fingers crossed. Certainly for that excellent news. Still ahead, first it was live nation, now new filings show one of the worlds biggest Sovereign Wealth Funds went shopping for a number of bigname american stocks in a very big way well show you the names that are getting bought. First, disney saying it will partially reopen Disney Springs entertainment and Shopping Complex at walt disney florida this wednesday after reaching an agreement with Union Leaders on safeguards for the workers of course, due to the coronavirus as well. A little positive economic data. Translating into dow futures up 271 to start your monday were back right after this. Across america, Business Owners are figuring things out. Finding new ways to serve customers. Connect employees. And work with partners. Comcast business is right there with you. With a network that helps give you speed, reliability and security. And enough bandwidth to handle all your connected devices. Voice Solutions Like remote Call Forwarding and readable voicemail. And safe, convenient installation. When every connection counts, you can count on us. Get the connectivity your business needs. Call today. Comcast business. Monday optimism. Some positive health trend sending a positive note throughout the stock market this morning. New case growth in the new york area is way down and fed chair jay powell says the American Economy will recover. Could Consumer Spending be better than some of the most economic dire headlines suggest . Bill simon is here to talk about that and preview bigtime earnings out this week. And you can go out to dinner now in South Carolina. Well speak with one of the areas leading restaurateurs about the challenges of reopening and just how many customers he saw this weekend. It is monday, may 18th and this is Worldwide Exchange right here on cnbc welcome back welcome, good monday morning i am Brian Sullivan. Thank you for joining us here is how your monday markets are looking to start the week. Dow futures are up nice. We are off our highs when i came in i should say, when we started the show, because im always in, dow futures were up 400 points they are up 272 points right now, capping off a modest, very modest rally on friday of course, what was largely a week to forget in the equity markets last week. Dow futures are up 270 points. Nasdaq and s p futures are higher as well some fairly positive health data trends for the new york area as well as the newly reopened states, perhaps, helping some of that tone today. Also, you got to keep an eye on the price of oil. A leading Economic Indicator in its own right in many ways and crude oil this morning, wow, what a roundtrip it has had lately its back above 30 a barrel for the first time in weeks. Certainly not a high number. If you think about it, based on where we were to start the year, negative 40, back up to 30, crude oil has actually had 130 roundtrip already in the year 2020, which of course we know is 932 dayslong already well keep an eye on oil all day long on cnbc. Low Global Oil Prices not enough to keep saudis Sovereign Wealth Fund from aggressively stepping into the market we got a late day friday data dump according to new s. E. C. Be filings out of the pif, the Public Investment fund, the saudis unveiling a bunch of bigname investments starting with this one boeing, perhaps one of the most beaten up stocks in the world, down from 400 to just under 100 and back up saudis unveiling 713 million stake in boeing, bought in the last quarter they were also big buyers of many big banks citigroup and bank of america, taking nearly 500 million stakes in each the pif also buying more than 500 million of facebook and nearly 500 million worth of walt disney. They also invested in marriott and cisco systems. So, a number of bigname stocks being bought by the saudi pension fund, according to s. E. C. Filings that adds to other investments they have already made, including in Carnival Cruise lines and livenation, the big concert promoter so, if you look at it, boeing, carnival and livenation, kind of an optimistic play on the u. S. Consumer coming from the saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund. They also took big stakes in four Global Oil Companies as well there are some names at the pif was buying big time into it is not just here where we are seeing some green on the screen lets go down to Julianna Tatelbaum in our london news room with more on those markets, which are all up pretty nicely to kick off their week as well thats right, brian european markets are bouncing back strongly this morning more than 2 gain for the german, british and french markets. The italian market lagging just slightly this comes after last week the stoxx 600 dropped about 3. 8 taking a look at the sectors, were seeing a strong bid for the cyclical parts of the market within travel and leisure, which is up 2. 7 , ryan air is sharply in focus they delivered their numbers, a decent set of numbers. We had a chance to speak to the ceo, Michael Oleary this morning, who was very vocal about his criticism of the uk governments handling of the outbreak, in particular their plan to institute a 14day quarantine rule for international travelers. Take a listen. The industry can last very long, the industry wont go back flying with those restrictions in place governments have no idea what theyre talking about. As you can see, ryanair shares are trading more than 9 higher this morning. Very strong surge there. Overall we are seeing very Strong Demand for european equities to start out the week back to you. Julianna tatelbaum in london, thank you very much. Now to the increasing tensions between beijing and the United States government over the weekend the Chinese Government arguing over the weekend that president Donald Trumps new restrictions on exports targeting Companies Like huawei may jeopardize the Global Supply chain lets get more from eunice yoon live from beijing. Good morning. Reporter good morning, brian. No surprise the chinese goth would come out fiercely defending what they see as the rights of chinese company, including national champion, tech giant huawei. The Commerce Ministry had said the u. S. Is abusing expert controls to unfairly contain countries Specialized Industries and says its a threat to global production. Huawei a couple minutes condemned the u. S. s actions at the end of the day making it difficult for the company to source u. S. Designed chips, even if theyre made by nonu. S. Companies. So, in a statement huawei said it categorically opposes the amendments this is a move that targets huawei specifically and says u. S. Ignores the concerns of companies and industry players now, the Tech Industry on the whole has been concerned about these tensions between the u. S. And china and what it can mean for them Morgan Stanley says it believes other u. S. Companies like applied materials, texas instruments, micron could be negatively affected. Tsmc for one has been very much challenged, reportedlystopping new orders from huawei in response to washingtons move. The japanese paper the nikkei quotes sources saying prior orders wont be impacted now, taiwan is where tsmc is based is set to become a point of contention this week. In fact, today the world health assembly, which is the decisionmaking body of the world health organization, is going to be convening, brian, to talk about the oronavirus. But what are the items theyre going to discuss is whether or not taiwan should have observer status taiwan, from beijings perspective, isnt a country and shouldnt be there the u. S. Has been pushing this idea taiwan has been doing quite a good job in containing the coronavirus. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, especially with tensions already so high between the u. S. And china. The global tension there cannot be ignored. Big stuff. Appreciate that. Also topping your headlines today, new comments from fed chair jay powell speaking to 60 minutes he addressed the real risks to the u. S. Economy and what he calls the u. S. Job creation machine. That if people are out of work for long periods of time, that their skills atrophy a little bit and they lose course with the workforce it tends to leave damage to peoples careers the small and medium sized businesses so important to this country, if they have to go through a wave of avoidable insolvencies, you have youve lost something there thats more than just a few businesses you know, its really the job creation machine all of this as the economy, particularly retail, comes into focus this week. A flurry of big names set to release their numbers. You have home depot, target, tj maxx and walmart releasing their numbers and guidance lets welcome in former walmart ceo bill simon who joins us on Worldwide Exchange. Its great to have you on the program. Im going to ask you a question, which you think is crazy, which i havent put baileys in my coffee the headlines are horrific any economic headline goes from bad to worse although the eyeball test you drive around parking lots, particularly home depot and walmart, these big companies, retail sales may be better than the headlines suggest . Good morning, brian yeah, i think retail sales for the guys that are open are going to be strong, relatively strong, i should say i think the challenge and what im going to be looking for is how theyre able to translate that into operating income and maybe thats not what we need to be looking at right now. But the challenge, i think, for a lot of the retailers that have stayed open, the big bocks, in particular, is can they continue to go on the way theyre going on i think the top line will be very strong. But the cost they had to put in place in order to stay open will be their challenge so, how does that how is that all going to look . Is it really, you think, a measure of the fact that nobody else is open again, Small Business, theyre suffering. That is a totally different anim animal but we forget 120 million Americans Still are working. I would imagine that a great number of them are saving a lot of money theyre not commuting, theyre not spending on lunch at the office, theyre not taking discretionary vacations. Lets be clear, many of them, many of us, are getting a little pent up and exert the energy by doing home projects. Yeah. Im sold. I think youre right. I think were in a scenario where a good percentage of people arent working. The ones that are working are working from home. Everybody almost everybody got a stimulus check a lot of the people that have lost their jobs are getting unemployment, enhanced unemployment some of them making more money than they were when they were working. Kids are at home so you have time, cash in your hand and only a few retailers open so, i think youre seeing this funnel of energy into the places that are open. Yeah, we often forget that side of the story. Im sure more on that will be told throughout the next couple of weeks, months and quarters ahead. What do you expect to hear from walmart . You addressed it at the top, in that they had to change the way they do business dramatically. How long do will that continue do you see a, quote, back to normal any time in 2020 . I think were going to find what normal looks like and its probably not the way it was and the way it was before the pandemic and its probably not the way it was at the peak of the pandemic. The real challenge, i think, and what we need to look for in walmarts numbers is two things happened to their business model. The first is the huge, massive push towards food and consumables that occurred, poi let paper and grocery. Those are not the margin drivers of their business. The margin drivers of their business are the general merchandise side they always need a healthy balance of food and gm in order to put together a p l where the fire hose went off on the food and consumable side and it was pretty quiet on the general merchandise side i think theyll have a mixed problem. It is go ahead. Go ahead. I worry, bill, i want to jump in were running out of time. I worry about Small Business do you think the winners were seeing now, the home depots, the walmarts of the world, amazon obviously is a separate beast. That the winners of today will continue to be the big winners theyre the only ones open right now. Do you see structural shifts in the way that we shop ultimately coming from this i think we saw an acceleration of the consumer to digital or online sales and i believe that that will back off from where it was at the peak but it will be increased from where it was when we went into the pandemic Small Businesses, i think as they reopen, will be successful. Theyre going to have to figure out a way to serve the Digital Consumer and i think a lot of them have and a lot will continue. The food and consumables it drove, the big box walmart, the home repair because we were all pent up that drove depot and lowes, that will back off some. A lot of the stock up we did on grocery, on toilet paper, on things like that, thats going to take time to work through the system so, the guys that did well in the beginning probably wont do well in the next quarter i think theres an opportunity for Small Business to recover during that time frame. Yeah, lets certainly hope. We all have the clorox and toilet paper we need we can go back to Small Businesses once theyre open a real pleasure to have you on Worldwide Exchange. Youre welcome back any time thank you for joining us. You bet coming up, speaking of working from home, how do you feel about it . Do you love it do you hate it you love your family but maybe want to go back to the office a little bit coming up, the new results on the latest survey on how all of us feel about the new normal and Work Environment in an exclusive cnbc survey. Apple releasing new guidelines as it prepares to reopen 25 American Stores this week apple will now require customers to submit to temperature checks and wear masks before stores if you dont have a mask, dont worry, apple says it will supply some to any customers who dont have one dow futures up 250 Worldwide Exchange rolls on right after this welcome back and good monday morning. Dow futures are up nicely. Dow indicated up about 250 points at the open all the major indices, nasdaq, s p, their futures indicating 1. 5 up at the open. Likely positive trending data on both health and reopening and the movement of the American People helping some sentiment this morning what are we talking about with movement apple making available some mobility data. How much all of us around the country are simply moving around, going to work, going to stores where they are open and look at these positive trends. This is your daily hopium, if you want to call it that you can see with the exception of mass transit, which remains very depressed in many metropolitan areas many people are nervous to get on a train or subway you can see that driving trends and walking trends have reincreased well off their lows from when the pandemic and the lockdowns began in march we are not back to normal by any means, but that trend, along with some very positive health data trend in the new York New Jersey metropolitan areas perhaps lifting our spirits and some Market Sentiment this morning. Positive data there. Well, many of us are getting behind the wheel more, as we just saw, Many Americans are still of course stuck at home. And roughly two months after Many Companies rolled outtheir workfromhome orders a new survey from cnbc and survey monkey are gauging how we feel about this move two months in. Rahel solomon back at hq with the results. We surveyed 9,000 working americans and found that workers are happier or more satisfied with their jobs now than they were before coronavirus. With a number of americans filing for unemployment in the millions every week, perhaps it should come as no surprise that many people appear to be grateful to have a job when it came to job security or how confident people felt about actually holding onto their position or keeping their hours, while those those answers varied significantly based on race and industry take a look. So, 61 of asian workers described feeling very or somewhat worried about losing their job. Next was hispanic workers at 57 . And africanamerican workers came in at 49 so, we do know that, according to the april jobs report, the Unemployment Rate for africanamerican and hispanic workers was higher than the overall Unemployment Rate. But heres the interesting thing. The Unemployment Rate for asians at 14. A5 was slightly better than the average, which is 14. 7 . It really makes you wonder whats prompting asian workers to fear job security in the midst of this pandemic those in advertising and marketing were the most concerned about losing their job ahead of automotive workers and those in hospitality and tourism. Of course, brian, what is the conversation about employees today without a mention of those working from home, like you, 44 of them say they are happier now than they were before the pandemic thats just 32 of nonremote workers who feel that way. Brian, back to you i work from home sometimes, and i obviously come into the office sometimes. I guess consider me in between those two groups im pretty happy. I will say, the commute, rahel, is a lot better were not burning all that gas, were not paying all those tolls. You know, there are i love my family there of course. Most of the time. I mean, were like your work family, so i feel slighted a little bit ill see you at some point listen, i didnt say my family loves me. I said i love my family. And i do myself my work family, i must say tell everybody there i say hello, especially all the folks in the cafeteria i look forward to getting back there at some point. Good to see you. Speaking of going back to work, more workers in South Carolina are expected to be back on their job today as that state pushes to reopen just a little more every single day. Businesses including hair salons, tattoo parlors and gyms will be among those open following the lead of restaurants. Restaurants were given the okay a couple of days ago albeit with pretty tough conditions, including limiting that to 50 capacity for more, lets go right to the source were joined by tommy hall, owner. Very well known to the charleston business community. Tommy, its great to see you good to have you on Worldwide Exchange. Look forward to getting back to one of your places as well you had the weekend. Im sure people were nervous im sure people were excited both sides i want to hear from the source how did it go . You know, it went phenomenal. I have to be honest with you, people were antsy to get out the weather was great throughout the whole state of South Carolina i was in greenville, columbia, somerville and downtown charleston people are out, they want to be out and it was a special weekend. Thats really good to hear. It sounds like youre one of the mobility trend increases driving across the palmetto state. How did the employees react to the new environment and how did the diners react to the new environment, tommy you know, so theres so many new kind of new normal were doing. All our staff, were requiring them to wear masks right now were sanitation stations out throughout the restaurant. Were at 50 occupiancy indoors. We took the time to train on it and they felt comfortable. Customerwise, you know, it was funny, all age groups, too, young, old, everybody was here they just want to be out they wanted to get back to life, back to normal and they felt good i didnt see one guest with a mask on. But they appreciated us for what we were doing to make them feel safe does it worry you about the masks . I understand its become this political hotbutton issue as well you know, its become in new jersey the normal. You have a mask in your glove box and everywhere you go you have to put it on by law are your your workers comfortable with that . South carolina its not required but recommended and were just asking them right now, until we feel comfortable, till they feel comfortable, to put one on its definitely hot. Its hot working with a mask on. But you with do it you can do your job and give a guest a great hospitality, great experience at a restaurant with a mask on. Its okay. As far as guest concerns, i think they wanted to get out and feel normal again. We have indoor dining, Outdoor Dining they wanted to be indoors. That was a great thing to see. That is surprising because we knew outdoors tends to be a little better from a safety perspective. I would imagine people are saying, lets sit outside. I know its hot and sticky down there in charleston, but lets sit outside. Talking to a lot of restaurant owners, obviously, they say i cant make it financially at 50 capacity or 25 capacity it doesnt work. Are you able to stay in business for any length of time with that or is this opening just to get people comfortable for the return to 75 and 100 eventually definitely. Im optimistic its good. Its a good way to start start slow weve been off for two months so its nice to start slow. We can work on our craft, get better at it you can do it. If you really want to as a restaurateur, you can do it. Guests were coming in earlier, we opened up 30 minutes earlier to give extra seating. Theyre coming in later, too you can make it work i do agree, yes, right now 50 , if we behave and we do the right thing and were not packing the restaurants in, you know, maybe next month or two weeks down the line well be back at 75 to 100 . Look forward to it. Tommy hall, appreciate you for joining us for the ontheground feel we need join in every couple months or weeks if you can and let us know how its going best to you and yours. On deck, some positive on health data trends helping stocks pop this morning. Oppenheimer will weigh in on that fed chair jay powells latest comments. Dow futures are up 260 a good morning on cnbc if you are one of those people venturing out, youre not in front of the tv, dont worry, you can check us out live on the go from anywhere download the cnbc app. Feed a healthy lifestyle, with pure protein. High protein. Low sugar. Tastes great high protein. Low sugar. So good. High protein. Low sugar. Mmm, birthday cake. And try pure protein shakes, with 24 vitamins and minerals. You picked a fine monday morning to join us because stock futures indicating a nice rally. Dow futures up 250 points. The european markets all up about 2 as well you had some positive health data trends over the weekend, particularly in the new York New Jersey area and some positive longer term comments from fed chair jay powell lets join in john stoltzfus, chief Market Strategist for oppenheimer funds. I know things can change one day does not a trend make, but do you feel some of the more positive health data trends we are getting from around the country, particularly states that are reopening, not seeing, not yet, seeing some big surge, is that helping power futures, or is it all jay powell or Something Else i have to say, brian, what weve got is we have a combination of all of the above. I think the market is certainly signaling where it wants to go is higher. It believes in whats occurring in states outside of the epicenter of the illness and even we are were coming out of it. When we talk to people throughout the country, we find anybody who is in some distance of new york or long island or new jersey really is looking forward to getting moving. Theyre happy theyre seeing people beginning to move around and the indication is that we can make a comeback from this. If not a vshape, perhaps a ushaped economic recovery likely, i think the market is indicating it wants to do a vshape. It doesnt mean every day is up but we think the overall effect is we move higher. I track the data every single day from the reopen states as well you look at georgia, a couple days trend does not a trend make and things could make a turn for the worse, we hope not but tennessee and georgia, their growth rate has not been that significant. Tennessee was less than 1 georgia, 1. 3 . And their testing rates are about online with other states, aside from new york and new jersey it feels like theres sort of a bifurcated geographic economy in the United States right now, john. Brian, once again weve got this bifurcation the thing about this is it crosses political lines. We talked to republicans who want to keep their masks on, we talked to other republicans who are taking their masks off similarly with democrats we find democrats who want to go without masks, others are putting on masks we think we have to be careful coming out of this thing, but we think the fact that weve got substantial support from the Federal Reserve as well as the administration and congress financially coming here, we think we got a good chance to turn this around thats good news. Dow futures are turning around, up 270 points right now, positive health data trends, positive comments from powell longer term, john stoltzfus, we appreciate your reviews to kick it off on a big monday morning appreciate it. Folks, thank you for joining us on Worldwide Exchange. I will see you tomorrow. Squawk and the gang picking it up on a big market monday. Well see you tomorrow so, no more tossing and turning. Or trouble falling asleep. Because only tempurpedic uses proprietary tempur® material. That continuously adapts and responds to your body, to relieve pressure. So you get deep, uninterrupted sleep. All night. Every night. The tempurpedic summer of sleep starts now, with all tempurpedic mattresses on sale, and savings up to 500 on adjustable sets. With all tempurpedic mattresses on sale, there are times when our need to connect really matters. To keep customers and employees in the know. To keep business moving. Comcast business is prepared for times like these. Powered by the nations largest gigspeed network. To help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. Tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. And a team of experts here for you 24 7. Weve always believed in the power of working together. Thats why, when every connection counts. You can count on us. Good morning futures pointing to solid gains at the open despite a new warning about the economy from fed chair jay powell a key departure from softbanks chair, jack ma leaving the company after the Company Reported a record quarterly loss plus, new plans to protect customers as states are reopening. Well tell you how apple and how airports are preparing for people to return its monday, may 18th, 2020. Squawk box begins right now. Good monday morning, everybody. Welcome to squawk box on cnbc. Im becky quick with Andrew Ross Sorkin last week the s p ended the worst week in two months but the dow managed to end on friday even higher after it was down 270 points this morning things are looking up dow futures indicated up by 260 points s p futures up