Housing starts surge 2ging 22 n july countdown to a record. We are above it right now. But as we have said, we have been there before. 59 minutes until its official will today be the day . I dont know, mike san toll ji not here. If you missed out on the markets stunning rally, is it too late to jump in now . Well ask founder Mike Novogratz for his take and a world of difference. How much the Global Economy has been altered and the challenge thats remain with David Melpass. Lets get to the stories were watching bob pisani is marking the action sara has new details on one of the biggest earnings and bob, lets start off with you. Its technology. There is the tech on the upside. A little Consumer Discretionary. That is amazon and advance auto parts. This the he do very good retailers lagging behind here. Thats how important they are. Those are not typos. Apple, 42 the stocks all major reasons why were at new highs today as for the retailers, yeah, we are at new highs at the open at home depot and walmart not right now. The great samestore sales them. You see kohls, ross, gap. The problem is clear cautious commentary on the Third Quarter eastern back to school here walmart cfo said essentially what everybody was thinking about, concerned about here, consumers are spending money but not at a pace they were in the middle of the quarter. The back to School Season is off to a slower start than usual i think thats the reason were seeing such concerns in the retailers today. And if you look at the s p 500, dont be surprised if you see a little pullback. It is very typical, guys, to see 5 , 6 , 7 pull yakz after you hit new highs. That has been close to the norm. Back to you. Bob, how much of the traders you talk to focus on the u. S. Dollar i know traditionally the correlation is lower dollar, good for equities. But is there a level below which they dont want to see it fall, dont want to see it into free fall of course, the strong a weak dollar makes imports a lot better, exports more expensive there is a little bit of a tradeoff there but i think its a major driver of the Commodity Markets right now. Certainly been a major driver of gold, for example. Its not been a huge help for the oil markets. Still stuck around the 40 level. I think its a component particularly in the fact that emerging market sectors have been doing a bit better than expected recently. Bob pisani, thank you so much for that now shares of kohls are plum itting on the back of what looked like a Solid Earnings beat you caught up with the companys ceo. What are the key take aways . First, got to check out shares theyre absolutely plunging to day. Company also painted a grimmer outlook for the rest of the year saying back to School Season has started soft and is planning conservatively going into the Holiday Season the one bright spot i mentioned is Digital Sales are up 60 compared with a year earlier consumers stay at home and shop online i did just get off the phone with the ceo this afternoon. Here were some of the comments to me. She said this past quarter demonstrated how strong of an operator kohls is for instance, kohls stores were closed 25 of the time during the quarter. This was nonessential retail and sales were only down 23 which she shows shows the power of how they were able to offset the weakness with Digital Sales. The Balance Sheet is strong which does compare with a love the retailers. The july softness, that is really what seemed to hit the stock which the company laid out. She told me she is trying to be prudent to wall street and convey that back to school is off to a delayed and slow start. That she said, and they did see softness in texas and florida. In that half, were anticipating the Holiday Season will start earlier. There is this question she mentioned to me. That is still a huge question mark that is as early as ctober there is consumer ib sights into a Loyalty Program and just a lot of data from the consumers and lastly, i think this is an important point from a category perspective. They saw strength in home and active wear. Were all lounging at home those are areas that kohls has particularly invested in and they can continue to lean into forrest of the year we have a different picture about what the future of Department Stores really is with many of them going bankrupt and others really struggling financially. He made the point that kohls is not and does not think of itself as a Traditional Department store. 95 of the stores are outside the mall theyre not set up from a format perspective. And theyre not in the same categories as a Department Store like active and apparel. And this is in my words, its more of an in between. Like a walmart and target and full on Department Store and theyre transitioning business to keep up with permanent business theyre into categories like home and active wear and essentials and really exactly to that point, it kind of highlights how surprising, perhaps, maybe not quite the right word, but how different the share Price Performance is the big dufrns is the guidance and yet, youre seeing kohls struggle way more. Right that is different for one main reason it is forced to close down the stores like a walmart or a target or a home depot which were allowed to be open they had the sales grow by the same amount that coals lost. Thats a key distinction and theyre vulnerable to the stimulus with no stimulus deal in sight whereas the walmarts still have the groceries to depend on, for instance, is a huge chunk of the business thats more of a defensive play in this overall environment of uncertainty. Kohls down 14 as you can see. Walmart and home depot were down a little bit as well a in you surprising candidate for the race to buy the companys u. S. Operations. Josh lipton has the story for us hi, josh so the reaction from many to this news was shock. Why in the world would oracle want to acquire tiktoks u. S. Operations theyre a Business Software giant. That is a potential suitor here. I checked in with evercore he said this might not be as far fetched an idea as some might think. They have the financial strength to make a bid with another firm. And kirk says perhaps oracle can see this as of an investment meaning larry oechllarry elison up the business. Storing and protecting all that user data. Elison is that rare executive near Silicon Valley that does openly support trump even reportedly thoeg a fundraiser for the president. Guys, back to you. Thank you for that. Sara, the key thing that comes to mind for me when we hear of these new entrants in this race is where more intrants makes it less or more likely that a deal gets done in time before the president s ban comes into play. Its a big hurdle to see all the necessary Regulatory Approvals go through and the separation you need from the Parent Company. I just think that facebook has to be seeing this and welcoming it as they breaux their produgr meantime. For sure. It does appear that Trump Administration wants to get this sold i dont know how long its going to take from a regulatory perspective and approval perspective. I wouldnt see it as a traditional kind of buyout just because its in their interest to keep it american. And to get it sold by an American Company which is why the link from oracle to the Trump Administration is so interesting. Dont forget this is also for the canadian, australian and new zealand assets i never quite know why the uk and europe is not included as well or whether this should be the global exchinl assets i think there is a lot of little hurdles to get over. Its never as simple as that. And give us a piece of the deal so well see story that keeps on giving always more developments on that particular one we are, by the way, still in record close territory after the break, walmart warning the Consumer Spending levels had dropped off since stimulus checks had expired well speak with an economist about whether he brought economic reckonning on the horizon. We made usaa insurance for veterans like liz and mike. An army family who is always at the ready. So when they got a little surprise. Two . They didnt panic. They got a bigger car for their soontobebigger family. After shopping around for insurance, they called usaa who helped find the right coverage for them and even some muchneeded savings. That was the easy part. Usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it easy. That helps you master your backhand. Then you should be able to get a bank account that helps you master your budget. Virtual wallet® is so much more than a checking account. Clearly see the big picture of your finances. And easily manage and grow your savings. Did you see that . Virtual wallet® for Digital Banking from pnc. Its time to get more from your bank. New numbers show assets in the Trading Volume hi, fidelity reporting record customer asset thanks to the boom in retail trading the boston based company had 3. 3 trillion in discretionary assets at the end of june. That includes mutual funds, etfs and other managed accounts which saw a 15 increase from a year earlier. Customers opened 1. 2 million new retail accounts in that quarter. That was a new high and trading more than doubled with an average 2. 3 million back to you. Kate rooney, thank you very much latest Economic Data showing some signs of strengthening for the u. S. Economy july Housing Starts topping estimates surging by 22. 6 of retailers like home depot and walmart seeing strong consumer demand as well walmart did note that sales growth slowed down in july as stimulus began to taper off. Joining us for more on whats going on in the economy is lisa cook, economics and International Relations p professor the Amichigan State University she along with other economic advisors met with joe biden and Kamala Harris last week to discuss the economic fallout from the pandemic. Professor cook, thank you so much for joining us. So what is happening there with the economy and how do you reconcile the fact that the Consumer Spending so strongly on housing and essential retailers at a time where unemployment is so high. Ill take your last question first. It seems as though the recovery has largely been completed for high income households that means theres demand for products, for renovations, that will make their homes more palatable to work from so these are the people who havent been affected, devastated by covid19 so theyre investing in the houses or theyre moving houses. And the Housing Starts are going up its indicative of that. So thats currently what is happening. But thats a certain segment of the economy. There is still a large segment of the economy that has been deemed essential and is delivering all those groceries, is providing health care for example, is packing meat, for example. So we are looking at different parts of the occupation distribution to assess what is happening with the economy so thats the first thing. So thats how we can see Housing Starts going up. But with he can also see rises in the stock market. Thats where the recovery is for high income households as well and this is just 2008 recovery where the stock market recovered a lot faster than the overall economy. In this recession, its the sectors that are a small share of the s p 500 so that seems to be part of the explanation. Another part of the explanation is probably that Market Participants are waiting on the package. Theyre betting there is stimulus to come the stimulus is running out. Thats just where i want to go i know you cant and dont want to discuss details of your conversation with joe biden and Kamala Harris. As far as policy prescriptions right now, given the stimulus debate, its at a stand still. What do you think are the most important aces so that money reaches consumers and Small Businesses that need it most i told them the same thing ive been telling congress i toll congress and the various hearings that we need aid to state and local governments. Thats where the real carnage came from and the longevity of the recovery came from the protracted nature of the recovery came from in 2008 so they need a lot of help thats schools and universities and health care workers, all of them depended on state and local dollars. So thats one of the places where i would continue to advocate for help. But certainly extension of ui. The direct federal payments of 1200 for adults and the ppp program has been helpful all of those things need to be extended and they need to be extended with urgency all of those are secondary as opposed to a National Strategy to address the coronavirus because we wouldnt be here talking about a recession if there were not a coronavirus so i really states need to be working together and there needs to be a mechanism for the markets that have arisen because of the coronavirus you need a National Testing strategy in college towns, we definitely need policies. Our students come from every many the world and country lisa, what about Going Forward into 2021 . Even if if tax increases are warranted for fairness, for equality based on the unequal economic recovery that you already eluded to, is now the right time for tax increases when were early in an economic recovery which will have the least negative impact on growth in the u. S. So i really think that theres got to be realignment. That is certainly true we are in it an age grounded in inequality and were going to see the social fabric fray more. It is already frayed you would probably see it frayed more if the kind of inequality that has been exposed by the coronavirus is allowed to continue so i think that i am not in Public Finance expert. But i would say that theres got to be some sort of realignment we saw that kind of realignment in the Great Depression that this is where the middle class started growing more and we do need a much greater focus on the middle class. The middle class is suffering and those who are earning less income than those in the middle class are also suffering and suffering dimensions and we need policies that will help both groups. Lisa cook, thank you so much for joining us today we appreciate your insight pleasure is all mine. Thank you. Talk to you soon weve got just under 40 minutes 37 minutes left of trade. Check at why were at. If we can close here, that will be a record high 3386 is the number youre watching were at 3393. The were about to hit a record high, i will tell you the breadth for the s p 500 is 32 negative that narrow market is looking even more narrow as we flirt with the record levels the nasdaq higher by about. 9 still ahead, Galaxy Digital will join us with his take on whether it is too late to jump into the market our Retirement Plan with voya gives us confidence. We can spend a bit now, knowing were prepared for the future. Surprise we renovated the guest room, so you can live with us. Im good at my condo. Well planned, well invested, well protected. Voya. Be confident to and through retirement. Tnchts lets go to our coronavirus tracker. Cases in the u. S. Appear to be ticking low wert seven day average of newly reported infections falling below 50,000 for the first time in a month. We have a chart here from bank of america showing the sharp declines in hospitalizations in arizona, california and florida. Sharply down from the peak eight states have an increase of over 10 in their seven day average hospitalization indicating trends are moving in the wrong direction overall. Vermont, hawaii, south and north dakota, wisconsin, montana, iowa, and West Virginia all ones to watch in terms of rising hospitalizations and test manufacturer Quest Diagnostics announcing they cut the turn around time for test results to one to two days for all patients down from more than seven days which is where they were a month ago. Slow turn around times of a week or month hampered testing in the u. S. Rendering results effectively useless. So moving in the right direction. And also that Yale University saliva test getting approval is a big deal and big game changer. Hopef hopefully they can ramp that up that would be sewaghuge it is a game change. Great chart, sara. I think you had a hand in coming up with that one i tweeted it earlier. I found it in a research note. Its nice to see improvement like that. In terms of hospitalizations and not just a bar chart in revenues that were used to putting up. There you go, down 66 for a state like arizona so we are set by the way for another for a record close. Weve got an intraday close or intraday high already set for record close as we stand with the s p 500. Coming up, shares of tesla now at more than 30 since the stock split announcement and popping goen day after the break, well discuss that move and how gm can capitalize on the buzz as we head to break, heres a check in on bonds. Yields went from ten year, well above 0. 7 slipping down to 0. 669 were back in a couple minutes well get a cnbc update with sue herrera. Hello, everybody. Heres whats happening at this hour post