The fed, maria. He didnt indicate theres a compromise coming in the fall on the budget. Two big things. He listened to the squawking from the u. S. Allies and Many Democrats over government eavesdropping. The other thing that stood out to me was how passionate he was about his Health Reform bill. Anybody who thinks obamacare may not start on october 1, i think, is mistaken. Okay. Amy walter, the political report, your thoughts . I think one of the big takeaways is going to be on healthcare. Look, where democrats really struggled in 2010 and quite frankly in 2012 is they were on defense. They were on their heels when it came to defending the law. Where the president has gone, though, he tried to talk a little about policy, but where he spent a lot of his time was on attacking republicans. It does seem like were going to be back where we were in 2010 with both sides now instead of just the republicans both sides now demagoguing the other. The president at one point saying basically republicans, they dont like obamacare, because they dont want people to get healthcare. Right. Ben white, isnt that really one of the main issues there, the fact that the two sides are readying to fight once again over the debt ceiling, and thats going to blow up, no doubt, in the next two months or so. Was this press conference basically leading up to what is bound to happen as amy just analyzed . I dont know if its bound to happen. President obama was clearly saying before he goes on vacation hes not in the mood to make any deals with the republicans this fall, certainly not where obamacare is concerned. I dont think hes really eager to make any deals on any new spending cuts. Hes telling republicans, look, raise the debt ceiling, no strings attached, cant be stupid and shut the government down and hurt the economy. On the fed, i thought it was interesting, he didnt make a lot of news there, but he had the opportunity to back off a little bit on the idea that Larry Summers is the leading candidate. He didnt do that. He didnt say, no, he isnt my leading candidate. He said i would defend anybody in my administration getting attacked. He could have backed off a little bit before he referred to mr. Yellen instead of ms. Yellen, before he got that wrong. He did list other names, broadened out the field. He said there are other names as well. Yeah, he did say there are other names as well. I didnt hear him actually mention any no, he didnt mention them. So its really down to those two. Could a third candidate come in late . Its possible. I think now its Larry Summers or janet yellen and will make the call while hes on the beach in marthas vineyard. Amy, whats your take in terms of that horse race for the fed chairman . It was interesting and theres been some remarking if you read twitter that the president chose to compare Larry Summers his personal defense of Larry Summers with the defense of susan rice. We know he put up a defense of susan rice and ultimately chose not to nominate her. I dont know if that was the best analogy to make here if youre Larry Summers and said, boy, the last time he went out and went to bat, she ended up getting the second job she wanted not the first. Yeah, interesting. Lets get to eamon who was in the room during that press conference. Eamon, what can you tell us . Reporter hi, maria, you heard the president talking today on a wide range of subjects. And this underscores for me the vastness of the presidency. Hes talking about everything from healthcare to drone strikes in yemen, the intelligence policy and, of course, the discussion youre talking about on what hes going to do in terms of the next chairman of the fed. Obviously, a wideranging discussion. The president is starting off, though, by saying he will announce some reforms here to the way the United StatesIntelligence Community conducts surveillance overseas and on the internet. Now, thats going to raise a question of a question that he did face here in the room about whether or not Edward Snowden is, in fact, a patriot for revealing some of the questions that hes now addressing with reforms. If the president is feeling like he has to reform the Intelligence Community as a result of these disclosures, why is it wrong that Edward Snowden made the disclosures in the first place . Thats a question you can expect the white house will hear in the days and weeks to come sfarlt of these as a result of the disclosures today about reforms that the president wants to make. Now, already, weve gotten some reaction from republicans up on capitol hill who said, hey, look, we dont want the president to do anything to the intelligence apparatus. We want him to defend the programs that exist, and we want him to keep them in place because theyre protecting american lives. So very controversial what the president is doing here. And obviously, a whole range of topics that the president discussed today. Yeah, interesting there. Its true, we will keep watching that and certainly there is more to come. Thanks, everybody. We appreciate that. Well keep watching the developments post the president s press conference. Meanwhile, the other soap opera talked about all day, jcpenney has taken odd turns today. A real war of words between activist investor and Hedge Fund Manager bill ackman and jcpenney. At the heart of this is ackmans desire to oust the ceo, jcpenney ceo, mike aldman, who has been on the job for only four months. Joining me is the chief executive officer of starbucks, and we have Howard Schulz to weigh in on this. Thank you very much for calling in. You know the story. You know the attacks on from bill ackman on mike allman. Whats your stance . Well, maria, let me give you some background sos there no misunderstanding. Im not a shareholder of jcpenney. I have never met bill ackman. But what i think we all witnessed over the last 24 hours is such a predictable act, something so irresponsible that a board member of an existing Public Company would release and leak an email without sharing it with the board or the ceo is beyond comprehension. But the story is worse than that. Heres the situation, and this is the truth. This is not fiction. Bill ackman was the primary engineer and architect of recruiting ron johnson to the company, and he and ron johnson strategy that strapped the company and ruined the lives of thousands of jcpenney employees and fractured shareholder value. [ audio difficulty ] came back to save the company, worked tirelessly, and given the time and the support from the board, im very confident he will do just that. And theres one other thing. Bill ackman released an email today that said that mike ullman is not communicating with him or the board. When mike decided to come back, i shared with him verbatim all of the things that i did during the transformation of starbucks, and he has used many of those communication tactics, including emails and communicating to the board weekly as well as the employees. So this is a tragic example of an irresponsible, despicable act. And its not its not about mike ullman for me. Its about Financial Engineering for their own benefit, and as a result of that, fracture the goodwill, shareholder value, and the lives of hardworking people. This is a tragic situation, and i just felt i couldnt sit by and watch it when i know mike ullman is a worldclass ceo and a fantastic leader. Yeah. You make a good point, howard. Particularly, you know this sort of timeline and story line well. You also left starbucks, came back to starbucks, and then oversaw a Real Recovery and arguably really Phenomenal Growth story, transformation growth story. And ullman left, came back. But ive got to push back on the performance, howard. You know, in one month, jcpenney is down 24 . Year to date, the stock is down 34 . One year, down 41 . A fiveyear timeframe, down 64 . Now, yes, ullman stepped in to what could have been a sinking ship or a very tough situation, but under his leadership, its down 16. 5 . And i recognize thats only since april so its a hard argument lets not forget that was a year and a half during the worst financial crisis where every retailer and Consumer Brand was under significant pressure. You know, one of the issues here is it doesnt really do anything for confidence, to see the backandforth drama going on. Thats another issue. Were going were going to take a short break and try to get howard back, because clearly hes on a cell phone, and he was going in and out there. He will hopefully come back in a few minutes. Well take a short break and then get into the Market Action and whats to come next week. We had a pretty good selloff at the end of the day, down 72 points on the dow. Well be back after this short break. Stay with us. 7 years of music is being streamed. Its been that way since the day you met. But your erectile dysfunction it could be a question of blood flow. Cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moments right. You can be more confident in your ability to be ready. And the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph like needing to go frequently or urgently. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. 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Back with us once again is howard. Howard, you were going in and out now. Can you hear me now . Im sorry. Yeah, what i was trying to say thanks very much. Okay. What i was trying to say, maria, is that mike ullman came back really to try to save the company, and whats so perverse here is hes trying to save the company that bill ackman has basically done Severe Damage to. And for ackman to do what hes done the last 24 hours is not only irresponsible, but its destructive behavior. And if i was sitting on that board, i would be asking for bill ackmans removal. Now, what what is most upsetting here . Youve called bill ackman a destroyer of companies. But when you look at the performance of jcpenney, howard, it is very dismal. Over fiveyear period, oneyear period, even under ullman, which is only a few months, i recognize. Well, what i was saying before was that when the two years that i think youre referring to was during the cataclysmic financial crisis and during the recession where every retailer and every Consumer Brand was under pressure. I have watched mike ullman very closely, and he is the kind of leader that will rebuild the trust and confidence with the employees, bring the customers back, if the board and shareholder gives him time, he will turn things around. And im very confident in that. Ive seen him firsthand. Theres no better person to run jcpenney than mike ullman. What kind of accountability do you think bill ackman should be having given the fact that he was there under ron johnson, ron johnson yeah. Of course, pushed out. Talk to us about what youd like to see in terms of accountability on bill ackmans part. Well, you know, as i said, im not a shareholder. Im not on that board. But if i was a board member of that company, a board can only exist with people who have likeminded values and theres trust and confidence in one another. Bill ackman over the last 48 hours has fractured the trust within that board. And id be asking very serious questions about whether or not he should maintain his fiduciary responsibility of being being on that board given what hes done the last 48 hours. So youd like to see ackman get pushed out himself . I dont believe that you can have a board of directors in which there is a rogue boardman doing things like this, destructive to the company, the employees and the shareholders. What is most destructive . The uncertainty surrounding it or just the public upset no. Whereas theyre taking the fight in the publics face . Well, i have never seen in my over 20 years of being a ceo of a public of my company or any other company that i am aware of where a board member would leak an email to the press, not share it with the board, not share it with the ceo, and do the things hes done for his selfinterests. And the irony here is that bill ackman has the blood on his hands for being the architect and the recruiter of ron john n johnson, and then the coauthor of the strategy. This thing is beyond comprehension. Hes blaming mike ullman for what he himself is responsible for. So what should be the accountability . What is the solution, then, just getting bill ackman off the board . He still owns the stock, though, howard. Well, theres a lot of shareholders who own a lot of stock that are not members of a board and do not have destructive behavior. And im just im saying an an outsider who knows this kind of business, who understands what it means to rebuild and reinstill confidence and trust with employees and customers that mike ullman is up to this job and is the best qualified person to turn jcpenney around. And if the board and the shareholders give him the chance, he will do just that. Now, there is there is another, i guess, hedge fund out today, perry capital, that owns about 7. 25 of jcpenney. Theyre backing ackman and theyre basically saying well the Market Reaction is alarming given the companys meaningful improvement in liquidity. However, we would be supportive of the return to the company by allen questrum, the former ceo. Well, i think these people are round and theyre not sitting in the seats every single day and understand what it means to run this kind of company. Im just telling you. Ive seen mike ullman side by side for ten years. Hes a worldclass ceo, a worldclass leader, and he can turn this thing around. And final question here, howard, in terms of this activism that were seeing and were seeing a lot of it lately has this become harmful to shareholders at this point . Well, i think its you know, youve got to look specifically on to what company were referring to. But clearly, i think the level of activism this kind of situation in which an activist shareholder is doing things that are not in the companys best interests and the shareholders best interests, but in the individual hedge funds best interests, is inconsistent with building longterm value, and it just you know, i looked at the situation over the last couple of days, and i was just disgusted by the behavior. I really was. Howard, thank you so much for speaking out. Thank you. The viewership, the Investment Community really needs to hear that. We appreciate your time. Howard shulz, chairman and ceo of starbuck, chairman of the board of which mike ullman sits, ullman is a member of the board, and is topic du jour for bill ackman, pushing him out. And the dow snapping a sixweek winning streak. Bob, what happened today . First off, high drama there. I was riveted. People were watching it down here, maria. Look at the dow. We had a similar pattern to yesterday where we dropped immediately right at the open, and then tried to make a recovery in the middle of the day. The difference here, the dow didnt get into positive territory. Just sort of quietly petered out towards the end of the day. Let me show you where we are in the stock market. A couple of comes. First, the japan and u. S. Seem stretched. Most traders dont want to make conclusions based on the thin volume that weve seen. But for the moment, it looks a little stretched. Big story in the week, china is improving. Economic data better across the board. Europe in the sweet spot. Its cheaper, its bottomed out, an its been outperforming. How about whats going on with Home Building stocks . This group has now officially fallen apart. Look at this week. Big numbers to the downside. Some of them were on the upside here. I think whats going on here right now is the s p 500 is up big time for the year and Home Building stocks are no longer in favor. Theyre only up about 2 , if you look at the s p 500 versus the major group for the year. I think the big concern higher Mortgage Rates and concerns that theres waning Government Support for housing, including the winding down of fannie and freddie mac. Those are the issues weighing on them. Overall today, the big story, the ipos. Six ipos today, maria, including software in the cloud company, cvent. Still at 32 and mix tel, software in the cloud, Fleet Management software, priced 16, the high end of the 14 to 16 range, you see it closed well above that. For the week, take a look at the marks here, the dow transports the big losers, as you can see, down 2. 6 . Maria, next week, a lot of global gdp data. Well get german. Well get france. Well get hong kong. Well get a lot more information where the Global Economy is at. Thats what well be focused on. Ooh, i like that, bob. That will be great. Reporter have a good weekend. You, too, bob. Have a good one. Lets drive down this road further and wrap up the week for the stocks. Stephanie link with me from the street, daniel and mark. Good to see everybody. Thank you very much for joining us. So next week we get another window into global gdp. I find it interesting that people have been nibbling on europe. Youve been buying europe. Weve been buying europe. We own japan. And i actually think the data from this week from china was e