Washington. Senator Jeff Sessions heads to judiciary. Futures are steady. The tenyear, around 2. 39 . Small Business Optimism at an alltime high. We begin with the sprint of confirmation hearings. In minutes, what investors should focusing on. Apple is breaking to an alltime high, but is it a sign of a stronger year ahead . Carl icon on the quote of idiocy of over regulation. How he is pushing the Trump Administration. Chipotle warns it is putting out preliminary results. It is making a reversal, now in positive territory in the premarket. Of course. First up, stocks are looking to bounce back from a mostly negative session on monday. Nasdaq was a bright spot, hitting fresh, alltime highs. Apple one of the catalysts, rising to a new 52week high. Nasdaq is up five straight. Interestingly, it started december, up six straight, jim. Right. This is kind of a reverse. Apple being the last to really go. Look, theres a stock, i call it repulsive today, realmoney. Com article, about a repulsive stock. Up 220 and had the spike of 118 and went down. Cse, which typically doesnt move things, talked about a lot of different devices that require a lot of chips. Semiconduct semiconductors. Texas instruments, good update yesterday. I see that group as still a laggard. Theres a piece today that is way too long. It is rigorous. Oh, my. I know. Im on page 20. This is war and peace. A lot of paper. It talks about the Tipping Point. And the Tipping Point is about facebook and alphabet. That, again, tells me these fang stocks and the broader tech have momentum. Apple is a battleground though. This is the siuper cycle. Then the back channel says, dont believe the super cycle. Dont believe this could be roaring. The issue with that is that, you know, if you think the trump agenda is going to happen, some sort of taxation, apple can do a lot. Yesterday was all about how apple hasnt kept up with siri or siri hasnt kept up with all these other devices. There is a story everyday about how apple hasnt kept up with this or that. If you take my apple away, ill kill ya. It is a battleground here. Elsewhere in fang, today, Facebook Facebook has a few things going on. Yeah. Ads going not preroll ads but the middle of video. Court case in dallas, 2 billion claim, alleging that oculus is built on stolen technology. Facebook, i was looking at facebook yesterday. Sells at i dont want to talk about the low multiple that some people are using in 2018. Talk about he bow mabelow marke. It requires a 2018 stretch number that wouldnt include oculus as having a patent challenge. I will say this, when you come out of cse and you have the level of excitement about virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and you think, who is playing in there . You always have facebook. Facebook is playing in a lot of places. Amazon is playing in a lot of places. Al alphabet, david, alphabet is getting serious about shedding divisions that crushed their numbers. Whether it is robotics or now satellites. Satellites. Making some decisions there to slim things down. The influence, one could argue, of the cfo, who has been there now a while. David, it is no longer an animal house. Drunk, fat and stupid is no way to go through life. Remember that. Theyre not on the sofa anymore. Knowledge is good. Knowledge is power. Yes. Anyway, i think the stocks are not expensive, with the exception of amazon, which is incredibly expensivexpensive. At the same time, when we see a report today, numbers that are horrendous, one retailer after another, we have to keep coming back to the notion that amazon is why the limited disappeared over the weekend. The relevance of the limited being questionable. The relevance of amazon being extraordinary. So youve got tech, nasdaq, fang, all doing well. At the same time, another sell rating on another down name, citi calling goldman to sell. That was a compelling argument. It basically said its done so much. How much more can you do . This is the same kind of thesis. Goldman had such a run versus the other financials and assumes a massive deregulation, including one of the things i found when i was working at goldman which is important. Can the partners use their own money to be able to position stock . One of the things theyve been afraid of is if they position for a customer, people might think they run a foul. Thats fine. But at a certain point, goldman deserves to sell at book value, not a discount. This has been a run. I dont know if goldman whenever goldman prints next week is good enough, i just dont know. Right. But it is all in the come, isnt it . It is about dereg and rising rates. We talk about it all the time. It is not a bad thing the names have stalled a bit, or as some of the guys that come on the air, consolidated. Theyre consolidating their gains. The stocks really havent moved that much in december. Its been since middecember. This is really a nasdaq rally. That does help. But i see the potential im going to distinguish goldman from the rest. Spent a lot of time between 15 and 17 and goes to 22. Wells fargo, bank of america, these are tremendous rate hike stories. Right. Yes, we have seen when weve seen a rate hike cycle remember when allan green span allowed the short rates to refinance during the 1991, you get a longer term move. Goldman is ahead of the others. Just to read from the note, uncertainty that the key drivers of the blue sky scenario, such as Corporate Tax cuts, deregulation and infrastructure spend, either do not play out or take longer to achieve. Thats exactly what youve been thats what im worried about. Tomorrow, rex till erson comes. Every day, there is something you dont hear about. That you didnt want in terms of being bullish. Look, jack ma appearing in the trump tower, talking about trade. Talking about jobs and trade. He said, i have to go. Cant let just the large shareholder be there. Thats part of the thesis. What isnt in the thesis is a multiday hearing about tillerson getting a medal from putin. It slows the agenda the stock market needs. Im not making a say about tillerson, yes or no, but you dont want to slow down. Particularly when it comes to tax reform and the timing of that, how important that is for so many investment decisions. Not to mention its transformative power for industries, depending on what we end up with. It is certainly not going to be until the summer that we i mean, ways of means, when are they going to introduce the bill . When is the senate going to weigh in . Where is the Trump Administration going to be . How involved with they going to be . Right. Theres a lot of questions. Right. Even looking at that scenario, especially with pence talking about the aca, repeal and replace, as opposed to any mention of tax reform, though last night, ryan and trump did meet about it, you have to wonder, are we talking about 18 before we see it . Especially if you link individual and corporate the way ryan wants to. Right. So what you have to do is say, okay, can i get out of goldman at 240 with the idea of getting back in at 220 . Bank of america, 22, can i get in at 20 . I think traders can play that game. I think people at home are saying, what are you trying to churn me, churning me in bank of america . Things are going to be better next year with the rate hikes, i should stay with it. Icon was on fast money last night and talked about the future of dpe reguleregulation. Take a listen. I think he is smart and one of the few people that can really shake up the establishment and stop, what i consider to be, almost idiocy with this overregulation. Now, there was some very good regulations. In fact, i do believe that you need wall street regulations to some extent. Im not as much antidodd frank as a lot of people. But i think some of them, weve run amuck. Talk about a guy who has trumps ear. Yes. And i think what were talking about is two things. The tone of how to regulate. Remember, you can have regulators choose to not be aggressive. And then this notion of lending. If you kind of let up and not be lending on some sort of weird ratio, but just lending, i think there would be more Small Businesses that are optimistic and get loans. So idiocy, carl icahn is a man of hyperbole. If youre jamie diamond, there are too many compliance people and theres not enough freedom to lend the way theyd like. In a responsible way. Speaking of Small Business, we mentioned nfib at a 12year high. Trump and the gop congress have the momentum but maintaining it will be a challenge as the political process takes on, is what they say. I hear that, he has the momentum but dont count on it. If you have the level of optimism, i was going to put it in my game plan friday. Maybe there is going to be a change. No, how can it be noticeable . 2004, buy another ford f150. It means perhaps you want to hire a few more people. Maybe youre less confused about obamacare because youre less worried about it. Less worried about running a foul of regulators. I have two Small Businesses and the government is the only thing that puts you out of business. If the government itself is going to be a little less active, then i think what happens, you feel a little more bullish. You do love your Small Businesses. I do. But i have to tell you, avocado costs are up big. Well get to that in a second. When we come back, other news, yahoo planning on a board shake up. Lulu is up. Well talk about the ceo about the road ahead. Take another look at the premarket. S p hasnt raided at a 1 range for 16 days. Fourth time weve had a streak like that since august. More squawk on the street in a minute. G nts stowing away the time you gathering up the tears major changes in store at yahoo once it completes the sale of internet assets to verizon. Meyers will no longer be on the board. Itll change the name to altaba, reflecting the stake in alibaba, though widely reri lly derided change it to verizon. Altaba baba. Its funny when you see these things. Did they think about what we would talk about on squawk on the street . Have a problem with altaba . Altaba, yeah. I had it on my menu the other night. We compiled a list of other classics. There we go. Where is allegiant . Oh, my. I actually like agilent as a takeout candidate. All right, enough. We wanted venator. The symbol is acn but the spellcheck makes it can. Beyond the name, the facts as they stand now for yahoo of course, is there continues to be some concern that verizon wont go ahead with the purchase of yahoo s core business because of the two huge hacks that took place. Im told right now theyre still gathering information on usage. That is on the yahoo side. And going to present it to ver rye ryeson, saying here is where things stand. Can we see decline in usage as a result of the hacks . Thatll be evaluated. The likelihood seems to be this deal occurs. Will verizon try to get a price cut . Why wouldnt they give it a shot . Will they be able to . Well see. Youll have a new proxy being filed in the next couple of weeks, i guess. Question as to whether you want to resolve this prior to that or not. So we may hear something more. Theres been talk also about being able to indemnify verizon against the fees s accrued as a result of the hack. The stake in alibaba, stake in japan and 10 billion in cash. It is an Investment Company. That is what it is going to be. Think of it as a mutual fund with big cash position, big stake in alibaba and stake in yahoo japan. There is Tim Armstrong merging the old yahoo before it was altaba, with aol and what he has there . Yeah. Thats more than just a holding company, no . Wait, im saying what is left of what altaba will be just the altaba. Is an Investment Company with the stake in alibaba, stake in yahoo japan and 10 billion in cash. Most likely ends up at verizon and run by armstrong. Verizon is a huge company. Is that a needle mover like how directv was a needle mover . Theyre following a different strategy there at verizon. Theyre not taking certainly not as big of bets on content and going for the ad strategy. Right. And the Technology Behind delivering ads and that part of things. Its sort of one of their core competencies, the go 90 network, also. I was excited about the netwone emergency. Merge. I like armstrong. This deal will close if they get past the hacking problems. I think they get it closed, and i think yahoo could be revitalized. I think there is a lot of people around the table who say yahoo was run down. She is going to continue to run the company . One report suggests she could stay at verizon. Within the merged unit. That was unexpected. I dont know it to be true, but i did see the same reports. Live in the cave, one of our most loyal viewers, says altaba is lagging. We should have taken microsofts 40 billion in 08. Amen. Right. That is a true statement. Should have taken the money. When we come back, well get cramers mad dash, count down to the opening bell. Look at the premarket on this busy tuesday morning. Health care, consumer, tech, and of course our eye is on the Senate Judiciary. Back in a minute. S suri ye÷ ch scoul m s s yo 9f thclclrun uallyro honudth all right. Time for mad dash on this tuesday with little less than eight minutes until the opening bell. Well talk about a stock that has ruined many a portfolio, whether value act, which had huge gains embedded there, or p pershing square. We could go on and on. This is the first time weve had genuinely positive news of late from valpant. Three skin care businesses that arent important. A business id given up for dead, they sell close to the Chinese Company for 820 million. Positive first step, i dont know what youre hearing in terms of whether there is more to it, but 30 billion in debt. Anything that cuts it makes it more investable. Obviously, they failed in the agreeing to terms there. Joe talked about the willingness to do that. Right. 30 billion in debt going down to what is the question mark. Well, you know what about growth . Can you get any growth . Yes, you they put through price increases. I believe scott will ask about the price increases when he appears in the hedge fund reports. That will be dispositive. I think valeant was talking about rolling back some prices. Id like to hear which drugs are being rolled back in price. Thats what i want to know from joe papa, not just the fact that it was sold. Loreal is a smart company. Why did they pay that enough . I dont know the answer. What is going to move the stock . Joe did tell me they had a very positive pipeline when he was on mad moneym mad money. Pipeline, whats in there, youre looking at the somewhat skeptical. A bit. I was looking up at hilton, and that grand vacations. I started to think about that pool and nice, warm weather. Sorry. The mind wanderings. It is okay. It is cold out. It is pipeline and joe is going to talk about the greatness of the pipeline. I am the greatness of the pipe lynn. Give me a break. The greatness of the pipel e pipeline. Its what he said on air. David, i take people theres like, what am i going to say, joe, will you give me a break . Come on, man. I mean, it is not nfl. It is not espn. Come on, man. No, talk about talked about miami, warm and rested and couldnt catch a no did you make another reference to the giants . Let you live that down . The opening bell is five minutes away. Enough. E llomhier thtkts om 5 veth guhe is sykemo ankim. Tdtdtrtpoununpgh youre watching cnbc squawk on the street, live from the Financial Capital of the world. The opening bell in a couple minutes on this tuesday as we watch both the Senate Judiciary committee, as the confirmation hearings begin their process. Going to be a long few days as we get this week and next. Along with corporate guidance and chipotle at the top of the menu. Lets talk about chipotle. They were down 16 when they came out with the just talking about how the last month was. I couldnt believe that people bought into the downside. Youve got a down 4. 8 comp. People should recognize this is the beginning of the easier comps. Some people were saying the estimate was down 3. 7 and that is not true. People thought the comp numbers secretly would be down much more. The earnings, 58 cents versus 98 cents, a lot is cost of avocado, which i can confirm. But i will say that, remember, they put out safety rules and changed a lot of things. 18 months is the is when people forget. They are buying back another 100 million because they have a lot of cash. I want to emphasize a lot of analysts got negative on chipotle in the last eight weeks, and i think theyll regret that. This is a better number for comp. I dont know if that has much to do with chipotle on air but as youre talking, pictures of capitol hill, of course. Various protests ahead of the sessions hearing. Widely reported and talked about. Hell be asked about allegations of antagonism to civil rights. In his past, hes been will ever the committee 30 years ago and denied a federal judgeship. Weve seen khizr khan from the dnc over the summer invited by the democrats. It is going to be heated. Lets get to the opening bell. S p at the bottom of your screen. Big board, grand vacations celebrating its spinoff from hilton. [ bell ringing ] were doing really well. The stock we often hear about stocks and weather and how they have perfect information. All stocks are correctly valued. I think one of the things thats happened in the last since the election, is if you thought stocks were valued perfectly, the trump election really changed the way we value a lot of stocks. Bank of america, we looked at as a book value situation. Suddenly, it is an earnings situation. There is conversion about rerating of stocks, particularly in the oil. Been in the financials and also the industrials. Wait a second, i didnt think that company would get a premium multiple. Bank of america has great earnings power. It is very much an earning story. Matters, changing the way we look at things. Theres been some reports about increasing friction, say, with the aca. There was a moment to delay the deadline for repeal. Theres been leaders of the house, Freedom Caucus, say we want to see a replacement before a vote for repeal. Are you beginning to see the dust kicked up here . Is it a problem . I saw an interview with the current president , president obama, and he talked about how the changes may not be that stark. This is all very murky. We dont want murky. We want, hey, business, heres the big break you needed for Affordable Care act. Were not getting that level of clarity. Now, the 26yearolds, whether theyll still be covered, preexisting. But what matters here is, again, if youre a bull on stoc