Mind and leadership is not about being certain. Its about being willing to step back and rethink and ask the right questions, but a lot of leaders struggle with that. They think they got to know all the answers and i dont think they do. Absolute power corrupt, absolutely. I see it with ceos all the time and when we ask them hard questions, they look at you, like, what . Their employees never do. Well, the Great Companies, youll notice Great Companies have a culture where people are willing to speak up and great leaders cultivate those kinds of people. Robert, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Thank you. And thank you, everybody, for joining us this morning. Enjoy that long weekend. We will see you back here on tuesday. Right now, its time for squawk on the street. Welcome, live from the New York Stock Exchange. Jim cramer is off today. The u. S. Session here, we just had Empire State Manufacturing crossing, turning positive for the First Time Since july. We see futures hugging the flat line pretty much. The s p with a bias towards the green. In europe, the d20 meeting is underway in moscow. Your mixed bag as we have spain in the negative. Japans nikkei, thats one thats notable, dropping as yen strengthen for the fourth straight session. Hang seng is wup and kospi is flat. Our road map begins with a valentine that carl ichichan. Its the latest sell in the battle of the billionaires as the shorts feel the squeeze. Apple emerges as the battleground stock with the likes of einhorn and tsiros and low, getting out. They are off the boat. Passengers on the carnival triumph finally disembarked in mobile, alabama, but the trouble may be far from over which facing the public airing from passengers, pictures and potential lawsuits. And many Hedge Fund Managers seem to be abandoning the precious metal. Lets start with herbal life. That puts ikhan at odds with bill ackerman. Obviously, it happens on valentines day and the day before, ackman was thinking carl and the likes of dan with their involvement in the company, it brings more scrutiny and more of a spotlight on to the subject matter. He doesnt seem to want for turning up the heat. That is ackman. Lobe is never named him. Hes just called him the short seller. The story is just fascinating and we can all debate the fundamentals of herbal life. 76 years old, all his own money. Carl describes himself oftentimes as a poker player and if you take that analogy through and think about him sitting down at a table with bill to play Texas Hold Em or whatever it might be, his pilot shifts and his poker face is probably better. I just think the question here now is will there be a short squeeze and do you take your stock off borrow . Today, ackmans going to suffer some pain, but not that much. It could be a 160 million loss for him, but overall position, hes not losing that much. How are his investors feeling about it . Not to mention, herbal life hired david boise. And with the statements that ackman has been making, right or wrong, one would imagine there is a lawsuit coming as well. That is going to be pretty significant. So, ikhan was on halftime last month famously with ikhan and ackman and there was this discussion of a tender, which would be damaging to some degree to bill himself. It would be a biggest squeeze. How likely is that . Unclear. There was a speculation that the company could do a tender of course, again, this would just exacerbate a shortage of stock or force him to actually cover to tend er in. That, i dont know, is in the cards and carl here has filed a typical deed, but its not typical because one wonders, hes an economic animal. I wouldnt think he would do anything he would lose money on, even to settle a score. I know this is an important part of that, but he probably thinks he can make money on a position, also. Yeah, josh browns got a nice blog today called the new metric. The price to ego ratio. The thing about is you can do all sorts of rigorous analysis in this, but where are you model . Do you put in visit hatred and ego. In this trade, you have to layer that on. With the personalities involved here. You do. I think youre right. Listen, its been remarkable from the start in what bill ackman has been willing to say about this company, calling it a ponzi scheme. I think making a reference to Bernie Madoff the other day. He may be right, but thats not the point in this trade. You can be carried out on the stretcher even if you are right and thats the issue. Trade or not, it makes for a great story. Ackman is also fascinating. Hes willing to take a great deal of risk. Not just a 20 . A fairly significant capital commitment for roughly 10, 11 billion fund. But also, the risk that hes putting his business in to a certain extent by being so outspoken and in this very public fight with a guy who just doesnt stop. I mean, you could pick so many people to get in a fight with. The last youd want to go to the table with the carl ikhan. You have to think bill ackman thought about the possibility of a tender, so there must be some sort of protection. On that last fight, ackman was asked directly about the possibility of a tender. We didnt get any answers. You would think he is a smart guy and has thought about that. Heres a brief litsen. Ikhan and ackman on the halftime last month. This is not a nice guy and a guy who keeps his word. Its a guy who takes advantage of little people. A quintessential example that wall street, if you want a friend, get a dog. Again, ikhan on sometime between noon and 1 00 p. M. Eastern time. I dont know if ackmans going to be live as well. You never know with these two what theyre going to do, but i remember that the sound bite of ikhan saying dont tell me what to do and here we are. Yeah. Happy valentines day. A lot of people can trade around. Dan lobe i assume still has a meaningful position, but dont assume everybody is where they were. Well, the nightmare cruise is over for thousands of weary passengers who finally disek barked the triumph last night. It docked in mobile, alabama after five days without power. Michelle carusocabrera is in mobile. The triumph sits behind me in defeat. The technicians and owl the folks who have been flown in to fix it. We flew with some of them last night. In the meantime, they started disem bar kags last night around 10 15, put the people on buses to send them to new orleans. Some of the folks who left late in the night arrived early this morning and they had a chance to talk with reporters who were waiting there. One woman jokingly handed a, one of the camera men the red bags that have now become so famous for whatever needs you might have had while on the ship. They were just extremely relieved and thrilled to be getting out of there. Once theyre in new orleans, they then have to fly to houston and then get transported to the port of galveston, where many people had their cars if they had driven to the ship. Take a listen to one woman as she got off the bus. We survived it. Were here. Were on land. Thank god. Being in the middle of the water without being able to see anything at all. Its not a thing. So, ccls going to reopen in half an our. Im curious to see how the stock trades. Now this thing is potentially over and theres not going to be a lot more bad news considering what weve seen. If youre not familiar with carnival, theyve got so many brands, not just carnival, but Holland America, 15 ships. Princess cruises, 16 ships. Sea born, p and o, and the costa ship from italy in january of last year. That was the most recent and dramatic and had the highest level of mortality. Guys, carl, back to you. Well come back to you live this morning for more on that. For more on the Health Concerns for the people who were aboard the ship, want to bring in a former Carnival Cruise lines doctor. An internist and cardiologist in the los angeles area. He was aboard for one week this past august. Good morning to you. Good morning. Tough to generalize when youre get iting 3 or 4,000 different human stories coming off of this boat, but in general, are these Health Concerns serious or is this more of a giant inconvene ens . It could be very serious. There was problems with water, toilets, theres from my reports, possible sewage issues and so, bacterial and viral infections are likely rampant. Im sure many cases of stomach flu or bacterial infections, so this could be potentially serious problem. You have to realize this is a captive audience. This is a closed environment. And many things could potentially go wrong. In general, carnival and all the other cruise lines are very good about dealing with these situations. I know youre a doctor and not an attorney, but im wondering if the illnesses that came as a result are real enough to where any kind of lawsuits would have a standing chance in court . Again, im definitely not an attorney, but in general, theres a possibility that they could prove a case. Anyone that flies or drives or gets in a ship knows there are a risks to that. This is kind of an unusual situation, but i would say the litigation would be handled appropriately. Doctor, while the passengers may have gotten off the ship, are there any sort of lingering concerns out there . Could there be illnesses or injuries that develop after theyve left the ship . Thats a great question. Potentially, i would be careful to look for bacterial infections, diarrhea. People could be very stressed about this afterwards. Posttraumatic stress disorderer. Anxiety. Even if thats the case, if people with heart conditions could potentially develop elevated Blood Pressure and even worsening Heart Disease from that, so potentially could be some lingering effects of the events that occurred. No wonder, the cleanups going to be very involved. Thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you. When we come back, wall street bracing for more economic data. Ahead of the bell, Industrial Production and an exclusive with walter robb, the outlook has taken the toll on the stock. Got a nice beat out of empire, but weal see what protection and confidence says later on this hour. Were back in a minute. Welcome back to squawk on the street. We have january Industrial Production coming in a little bit light. Were looking for up two tenths. On the utilization rates, 79. 1 . That is a little better than we were looking for. We were looking for a bit under 79 and last months was resifr 78. 8 originally released to 79. 3, so a split decision. A little light on production, on the utilization rates and we saw december tick day. The treasury and the National Capital flows come out better than anticipated as well. If you look at net, it was 25. 2 billion. Longterm net, that was 64 billion. Better than expect ed melissa le x back to you. We are watching gold, its heading for a six month low. Citi making some bearish comments about gold and if its in the process of peaking new, industries suggest gold could go into hibernation for a long time. Meantime, the g20 finance ministers in moscow also weighing on the metals markets, looking to see how they will deal with currency wars and in term of the pricing of the precious metal. We also saw a lot of Hedge Fund Managers and granted they are a snapshot of where they stood at the end of last quarter, but some notable moves in terms of gold, tsiros, pimco cutting their bets in gold. The citi notes interesting. They say if history is repeating itself and you had the bull market in the 70s followed by years in the 80s, we cannot look for gold to exceed 1950 in the next 20 years if it is peaking at the moment. They call it a long cycle metal. It tends to do that for a long time. Would disappoint a lot of people who still see inflation as a longer term challenge. Right and theres a surprising report from the World Gold Council finding the demand for gold in 2012 declined. So, that was a surprise given central bank, bankers wanting to purchase the precious metal, but it fell last year. That was a stretch for the market. Meantime, have you seen the pictures of the meteor shower already . Oh, my gosh. These pictures in russia, western siberia. Reports now that this meteor, which landed, has injured some 500 people, although the cars barely noticed. People just kept driving. Eyes on the road, theyre focused. The meteor shower created a 125 mile long sonic boom. Many of the injured were hurt by sonic glass. The ministry is urging people not to panic. The g20 is happening basically 1,000 miles away. Unrelated to the asteroid which is going to fly by closely today as well, which people are afraid could knock out some satellites. Only about like 19,000 miles in the air. Dont panic. If glass is going to shatter randomly in your home, thats a little panic worthy, but when we come back, is now the time the bet on bonds . Well hear from the man barren is calling the best around. Also, an exclusive with kevin plank. Hell explain how his Company Plans to score with its new concept score. We had a little tick up, but still, that Industrial Production number was a slight risk. More straight ahead. I know what youre thinking. 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[car alarm blaring] call now and also ask about our 24 7 support and service. Call. And lock in your rate for 12 months today. Liberty mutual insurance. Responsibility. Whats your policy . Minutes until the bell rings. Lets bring in and a cnbc markets angalystnalyst. This is the most boring rally high ive seen. I dont know with why you got to be like that. Come on. A rallys a rally. But theres no volume here. Well, then whats that tell you . Theres going to be some sell side. Short side squeeze performance capitulation. Youve got to think were going to see a move. A robust move. People cant afford to miss that move. Youve got comets going off in russia, the chinese and taiwan lunar new year. Its a far out market, melissa, what can i tell you . Duck the asteroids, i guess. Advice for your viewers. Sxwl is the g20 going to be a big deal . The leaders get together, take a photo, issue a statement. I dont think well see much coming out of it. People are looking at the numbers that came out recently. Britain came out with some retail numbers, so people focusing a little bit on that, too. Today, we have expiration, so theres going to be liquidity events in the open. But overall, seeing all this merger activity coming in here, people are getting off the sidelines, looking to put their money to work. Etf, the outflows is going into small stocks. People are trying to get. Its like a risk on type of trade. I would say that most of the indicators are indicating that we continue to trend higher. That theres going to be a sell off, but then a base and then were going to take off. Whats the catalyst for taking off . Do you think . I mean, were coming out to a point its happening so slow. Im speaking to the point you were talking about before, about seeing the volume coming into the building. Youre seeing that full scale embracement of the bull here right now. David, you look skeptical. He always looks this way. Skeptic skeptical, that is. I cant help it. Listen, i think your points are all good ones. I wonder as to whether well really see that volume come back. Just feels its been so long. Kind of hard to imagine. True enough. Could be a lot of things that could change. Some of the talk youre seeing on the hill about tax treatment of derivatives and stuff, so will equities be more involved. Its correct its hard to imagine. When you look at that long button, youve got to think about the risks. All those bond funds and everything else. All right. Gordon, good to see you. Have a good long weekend. When we come back, an exclusive with whole foods ceo, walter rob. Can the chain bounce back . It is the final trading day before the long weekend. And the opening bell is coming up next. [ indistinct shouting ] [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. Splitsecond stats. [ indistinct shouting ] its so close to the options floor. [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ]. Youll bust your brain box. All on thinkorswim from td ameritrade. Youre watching squawk on the street. We are live at the Financial Capital of the world where the opening bell is set to ring in about two minutes time here. Theres a lot of watch as we head into a long threeday weekend. We could expect Trading Volumes to be light, but what a week it has been in terms of mergers and acquisitions. What would have thought we would have this big week, the biggest i believe since 2008. I believe if you exclude debt since 2005 so far, so we are potentially back. Its funny, continuing to hear some precautionary words from ceos, but they have made a decision after a long time of waiting that it is better to put some capital to work. Now, weve talked a lot about the low rate environment. Saying weve got 11. 4 billion sitting there, not earning much. Lets put it to work. Lets buy the rest of nbcu. Heinz able to borrow at low levels and pay a nice 9 to Warren Buffett. Youve got a willingness on the part of the brazilians to put 4. 4 billion into buying heinz at 4. 4 times eeb ta and they feel comfortable with a longterm cash flow characteristics of that business in terms of offering memo returns. We just finished the year with the biggest corporate issuance on record. Whats it going to take to say were back . The bar is high for him.