0:01

What's on the horizon for financial markets?

0:05

At P-GIM, it's a question

0:07

that over 1,400 investment professionals

0:09

relentlessly research in pursuit of

0:12

your long-term goals. Specialized

0:14

across asset classes, but united

0:16

in collaboration, our teams

0:19

provide global and local expertise.

0:21

Our investments shape tomorrow, Our investments shape

0:23

tomorrow, today. Pursue

0:25

your tomorrow with P-GIM, a

0:27

leading global asset manager. Bring

0:32

in show music, please. Hi,

0:36

I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer,

0:38

today on SquawkPod. Rebuilding

0:41

Baltimore's port after the Francis

0:43

Scott Key Bridge collapse. Maryland's

0:45

Governor Wes Moore has one

0:47

message to lawmakers voting on

0:49

aid. Maryland doesn't need favors.

0:52

What Maryland needs right now is for

0:54

us to have a coordinated and a

0:56

bipartisan response to something that is going

0:58

to have a cataclysmic impact on the

1:00

American economy. And

1:02

veteran venture capitalist Alan Patrokoff is

1:04

getting in on the next tech

1:06

revolution, AI. I

1:08

think this is the most significant inflection point.

1:11

At 89, he loves to work. I'm

1:14

going to live 214, remember. I know. And

1:16

he's investing in the longevity economy

1:18

for everyone else. I think

1:20

it's 55 million people over the age of

1:22

65 are still working, and

1:24

they're going to beat 80 million people in the

1:27

next 20 years that it can be over age

1:29

65. So the workforce has to

1:31

be different. Plus, strong

1:33

jobs growth in March and fending

1:35

off activist bugs in the boardroom

1:37

in any industry. There's

1:40

such a thing as corporate gadflies taking things a

1:42

bit too far. By the way, there's some people who would

1:44

think that Nelson Peltz is a gadfly. It's

1:47

Friday, April 5th, 2024.

1:49

SquawkPod begins right now. Stand

1:52

back, goodbye in three, two, one.

1:54

Kiela, please. Good

1:57

morning, everybody. Welcome to SquawkBox right

1:59

now. here on CNBC, we are live

2:01

from the Nasdaq Market Sight and Times

2:04

Square. I'm Becky Quick along with Andrew

2:06

Ross Sorkin. Joe is out today. First

2:12

up today on the podcast FedSpeak vs.

2:14

Jobs Day. This week an array of

2:16

Fed officials have said in public commentary

2:18

that maybe, just maybe, 2024 would not

2:20

see a change in interest

2:24

rate policy after all. We might not see

2:26

a cut in interest rates because

2:28

the I word, inflation, is

2:31

still overstaying its welcome. Last week the

2:33

Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, the

2:35

data point policymakers returned to over

2:38

and over again, the Personal Consumption

2:40

Expenditures Price Index, PCE, showed an

2:42

annualized rate of 2.5% for

2:45

February. Other inflation gauges are showing

2:48

more than 3%. Yep,

2:50

that's higher than the 2%

2:52

number, the goal number, that the Fed

2:55

wants. Chairman Jay Powell explained how tricky

2:57

this road is to travel. On inflation,

2:59

it is too soon to say whether

3:01

the recent readings represent more than just

3:03

a bunk. We do not expect that

3:05

it will be appropriate to lower our

3:07

policy rate until we have greater confidence

3:09

that inflation is moving sustainably down toward

3:17

2%. On our SquawkBoxTV broadcast

3:19

Wednesday, Atlanta Fed President Rafael

3:21

Bostic said that he expects maybe one

3:23

rate cut this year, but not for

3:25

a while. If the economy evolves as I

3:27

expect, and that's going to be seeing

3:30

continued robustness in GDP,

3:34

in employment, and a

3:36

slow decline of inflation through the course of the year,

3:38

I think it will be appropriate for

3:40

us to do start moving down

3:43

at the end of this year, the fourth quarter. Thursday,

3:45

Minneapolis Fed President Neil Koshkari was the

3:48

latest to say rate cuts may not

3:50

be needed at all if progress on

3:52

inflation stalls. Here are his comments at

3:55

a virtual event. In March,

3:57

I had jotted down two rate cuts this

3:59

year. If inflation continues

4:01

to fall back towards our 2%

4:03

target. But if we

4:05

continue to see inflation moving sideways, then that

4:07

would make me question whether we needed to

4:09

do those rate cuts at all. There's

4:12

a lot of momentum in the economy right now. If

4:15

you look at a chart of stock market performance

4:17

for Thursday during the day, you can actually

4:19

see the moment when the markets took

4:21

a turn after Kashkari made that comment.

4:24

That leaves us now on track for

4:26

the market's worst week in a year

4:28

and investors closely watching these comments in

4:30

light of today's big number, the US

4:32

jobs data. Now the American economy created

4:34

303,000 jobs in the month of March. Better

4:39

than expected. But are we on strong

4:41

enough footing? We got into all of

4:43

that today with our Becky Quick, CNBC's

4:45

Steve Leisman and CNBC's Rick

4:47

Santelli. You'll hear them

4:50

all now. Labor force participation.

4:52

Wow. That

4:56

is a nice jump. We

4:58

heard 62.5 last month and 62.6 was expected. So

5:03

these numbers are definitely stronger than expected. Rick, stay

5:05

right there. Let's bring in the rest of

5:08

our jobs panel in this for some instant

5:10

reactions. Steve, let's start with you. Dig through

5:12

the numbers. Tell us where those jobs actually

5:14

were occurring. 303,000 versus the 200,000. That

5:19

was the estimate. Okay. So I was just able

5:21

to calculate on the fly. I did not double check my

5:23

numbers, but... Let's get

5:25

a calculator here. 98%

5:27

of the jobs coming from three sectors, if I'm not

5:29

mistaken here. You can guess what they

5:32

are, Becky, I bet. Doo, doo, doo,

5:34

doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. Electrons,

5:36

maybe, leisure. Leisure hospitality, that's 49. Government?

5:41

Government's 71. That's two for two. I'm going

5:43

to call you a winner because you got two out

5:45

of three. Yeah, tell me what's the third. Which ain't

5:47

bad according to some song. No,

5:49

I'm not going to get the third. Oh, education

5:51

and health services. Those have been the three.

5:53

68%, 203,000, I think, or 200 something thousand came from those three

5:55

sectors. I'm

5:59

not seeing a lot of strange... outside of those three

6:01

sectors here. This is a test right now

6:03

folks you are being tested in the market

6:05

of this theory that the headline

6:07

number doesn't matter as much as the inflationary

6:09

indicators inside. Now the payroll was a little

6:11

bit hot the reason why the year over

6:13

year comes down is you have some bigger

6:16

numbers dropping out of the calculation for probably

6:18

there were 0.4, 0.5s in the rearview

6:21

mirror those are dropping out and you place it with

6:23

a 0.35 I think if I'm

6:25

not mistaken was a little on the high side

6:28

but still your year over year comes down but

6:30

the big story of the day may

6:33

be the participation rate. Technically

6:36

theoretically as long as

6:38

the labor force is increasing in

6:40

size and you have bodies

6:42

to fill jobs without creating stress and

6:44

needing to bid up wages quite so

6:46

much that is not an inflationary development

6:49

it's okay to put as many people

6:51

to work as want to come to

6:53

work at a wage that is not

6:55

greater than the sum of as we

6:57

talked about the last hour inflation for

6:59

productivity I'll leave it there because there

7:01

may be people on the well

7:04

you disagree with just to dig into that a

7:06

little bit the the idea that we are bringing

7:08

more people back into the workforce this is what

7:10

we've been waiting for since the COVID pandemic broke

7:12

out the idea are you going to get these

7:14

bodies back into the workforce did they run out

7:16

of savings did they get forced to be brought

7:18

back are they looking at better job opportunities than

7:20

they had seen before I think all the above you

7:22

can't know it like you can you can have your glass half

7:24

empty and say people are only going

7:26

to work because they are they need

7:28

the jobs well when did jobs become

7:31

a welfare program it's not big jobs

7:33

are being offered and paid for because

7:35

employers have worked for people but if

7:37

you have run down your savings if you

7:39

had excess savings as I can as the American

7:41

public did during well then from a lot of

7:43

government handouts that came out from other places that

7:46

they were saving from maybe money they weren't spending

7:48

or traveling if what if

7:50

you can work from home and do two jobs

7:52

from home now that you can only do one before

7:54

because you were spending time commuting or what if you

7:56

were on the sidelines What is the

7:59

one? Lighting writ large. Why didn't you were

8:01

on the sidelines as a retiree and somebody said

8:03

you know what I think either your egg any

8:05

bucks to come back as you can't lie back

8:07

in the winter As and then there's the other

8:09

side of the six. oh it's net There's no

8:11

way to know is it one or the other?

8:13

One thing I could look at his web what

8:16

the participation rate is of seniors are older folks

8:18

that are they coming back into force but more

8:20

than just waiting to get back to the pandemic

8:22

of of we have exceeded the pandemic level. We're

8:24

gonna get more people back and was a lot

8:26

of old on a minute folks got too excited

8:28

the we had no. Business. Oh, really,

8:31

I do. I do that. Worth Sixty two

8:33

point eight, three ratings last year, and sixty

8:35

two point eight we have it in November.

8:37

three evidence of Tambor we added that August

8:40

last year. So even though it's important and

8:42

it's jumped from sixty two point five, it's

8:44

not like we haven't been there done that.

8:46

Rather average. Still, beloved. You're right, rec regard

8:49

I could see that what we're still about

8:51

a half a point below where we were.

8:53

Although. I gotta look

8:55

up a primate number which I tried have

8:57

a look at him a second but that

8:59

I say had already exceeded his group. We

9:01

have this issue of seniors actually having dropped

9:04

out of the workforce and is a weird

9:06

situation of them not coming back and as

9:08

part of the reason. Ah,

9:11

with says a But the other story

9:13

that helped spark yesterday's out market sell

9:15

off oil prices extending days a Brit

9:17

topping ninety one dollars a barrel with

9:20

the debris to I have real or

9:22

and eighty Seven Dollars is supported in

9:24

part by rising geopolitical tensions. Unfortunately

9:27

in the Middle East and Crude is on

9:29

track to gain more than from work for

9:31

Sansa after the said. Just as with this,

9:33

after. around bows or revenge

9:36

against israel for it's attack on the

9:38

embassy compound in syria still too high

9:40

ranking military commanders israel has not claimed

9:42

responsibility for the attack but reports say

9:44

the cia has warned that around could

9:47

retaliate against israel within the next forty

9:49

eight hours and it feels to me

9:51

the oil markets have moved on this

9:53

news but the equity markets him largely

9:56

not really moved in a meaningful way

9:58

if you believe and i

10:00

hope we're not on the brink of something you

10:02

know horrific and terrible but we seem to be

10:04

getting closer and closer to something what i will say

10:07

is if you were looking at the european

10:09

markets this morning there was some weakness in

10:11

those european markets and a lot of that

10:13

was from higher or higher oil prices it's

10:15

left on that and some of the other

10:18

done that big airlines that were suffering from

10:20

this as you look at higher prices across

10:22

the board with issues but yeah the question

10:24

of what happens uh... mean that if we're

10:26

in a if we're in a really bad place

10:28

you think it would be toppling lots of things

10:32

this week's other culmination of a month-long

10:34

proxy battle putting disney against trans nelson

10:37

pelt the two biggest players in that

10:39

fight spoke out on cnbc yesterday first

10:41

appears what disney c o bob eiger

10:44

said about the company's focus after winning

10:46

that proxy battle clearly

10:49

shareholders care about that you

10:52

know what the company's been through these last few

10:54

years yeah uh... as you'd expect they care about

10:57

what ends up being our top priorities

10:59

strategically they want to know about the

11:01

future of the s-p-n they want

11:03

to know about streaming and how that could be

11:05

profitable they care about the quality of our films

11:07

in a very interested in growing our parks and

11:10

resorts business where we said we're going to spend

11:12

sixty billion dollars over the next ten years shortly

11:15

after that interview nelson peltz joins squawk

11:17

on the street to respond i

11:20

hope bob can keep his promises

11:23

i hope they can do all the things

11:25

they assure us they were going

11:27

to do and will only watch

11:30

and wait if they do it they won't

11:32

hear from me again if they don't jim

11:34

you may be seeing me on your show

11:36

next year doing the same thing again shares

11:39

of disney fell by one point six percent

11:42

in yesterday's session now down four percent for

11:44

the week and and that's what you said

11:46

yesterday uh... you know

11:48

uh... away quite he may not go it quietly

11:50

and it's going to continue to be even without

11:52

him on the board is going to be continued

11:54

pressure beginning to be a pressure on the business

11:56

but just because of the challenges macro challenges and

11:58

because i think now

12:00

that it could go into some of the weathering

12:02

hold onto the stock or not uh... i think

12:04

the bigger person to pay attention to you're not

12:07

now is actually i promoter that i continue to

12:09

hold this told the shares if you get rid

12:11

of the shares uh... there's obviously had

12:13

a big chunk of the idea is wedged as

12:15

well to try and i mean he

12:17

is the nelson pelts proxy

12:20

vote if you will and you know that i don't think i

12:22

think of the front right from other but

12:24

almost if you really understand the uh...

12:27

the what was happening there so if

12:29

i come out of continues to own his shares and

12:31

then decide that he is like what's happening maybe a child

12:34

so great having spent time so what we have said that

12:37

clearly wasn't a winning strategy but again that's the

12:39

word is is going to be your plan why

12:41

when you say where did he is i

12:43

mean it's probably where the stock is right

12:46

i mean the stock has been up for

12:48

a while thirty percent year-to-date which is probably

12:50

why i'd hear was able to maintain control

12:52

of what happened delton went

12:54

away pelts went away first time

12:56

first time when i hear came back in

12:58

because the stop popped immediately on that news and

13:01

and delton came on with jim and say that

13:03

uh... well all good we're out of

13:05

here so i i think watch the stock pretty closely

13:07

and that will tell you what happens that uh...

13:10

let's talk about this though because a

13:12

small activist hedge fund that seeking to

13:14

force black rock to borrow our effect

13:16

from serving as both chairman and ceo

13:19

bluebell capital partners launching a shareholder proposal

13:21

split the roles and seeking an overhaul

13:23

of the board bluebell has been targeting

13:25

black rock now for about three years

13:27

is isn't really the first time they've

13:29

uh... gone through down this rodeo uh...

13:32

accusing it of taking contradictory inconsistent

13:34

approaches the yes g investing response

13:36

black rocks board saying the proposal

13:39

isn't in the shareholders best interest in

13:41

that having think in both roles is

13:43

the most appropriate and effective leadership structure

13:45

for the board and the company will

13:47

return report in the bluebell stake likely

13:49

less than point oh one percent of

13:52

black rocks one hundred twenty billion dollar market

13:54

cap and i still think that there needs

13:57

to be some kind of threshold rule that

13:59

the s SEC puts in place. I know we want

14:01

to make things, I

14:03

mean, on one side, you want to

14:05

make it more democratic, and I understand that

14:07

argument, and on the other side, you know,

14:09

it's sort of hard to have

14:12

a vote if you're at

14:14

that level. And then the distraction, the competition.

14:16

They own how much? 0.01

14:18

percent, by the way, it's 120... Larry Pink

14:20

owns, he's the largest individual shareholder. Right.

14:24

But it's a 120 billion dollar company. So look, you're not going

14:26

to find individual shareholders that are

14:28

going to own huge amounts of the company,

14:30

so maybe you do want them to have

14:32

a say, but again, this is a big

14:34

governance question, and we've also seen them, the governance question

14:36

of having a chairman and a CEO in the same

14:39

role, which I believe actually

14:41

a majority now. A company, though.

14:43

I don't know if the Fortune 100, if you're

14:45

in the Fortune 100, the

14:47

majority is both, but actually

14:50

if you're outside of that, it's not.

14:52

It's interesting. And then of course... But again,

14:54

he's the largest shareholder in the company. He probably owns

14:56

more shares than they do. Oh, of course. I

14:59

believe in democracy, but you also, there's such

15:01

a thing as corporate gadflies taking things a

15:03

bit too far and taking the focus

15:05

off what happens in the company. By

15:08

the way, there's some people who would think that Nelson

15:10

Telsa's a gadfly. Right? I

15:12

mean, that's the question.

15:15

Next on SquawkPod, we're headed to

15:17

Maryland where efforts to clear the

15:19

collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in

15:21

Baltimore and restore its shipping port

15:23

are underway. Maryland Governor Wes

15:25

Moore joins us. The Port of Baltimore

15:27

is responsible for $70 billion

15:29

of economic activity, employs tens

15:32

of thousands of people, 900

15:34

businesses rely on the Port of

15:36

Baltimore. And the governor's

15:39

message to members of Congress reluctant

15:41

to pass federal aid. This

15:43

is bigger than Baltimore. This is bigger than

15:45

the state of Maryland. Hello,

15:49

I'm Laura Castleton, U.S. head of

15:51

portfolio construction and strategy at Janis

15:53

Henderson Investors. Is a

15:55

brighter future possible? At Janis Henderson,

15:57

we think it is. years,

16:00

we've worked to help clients achieve superior

16:02

financial outcomes and fulfill our

16:04

purpose of investing in a brighter future

16:07

together. We know that this

16:09

means our thinking and our investments are helping

16:11

to shape millions of brighter futures for the

16:13

next 90 years and beyond. To

16:16

learn more, go to janicehenderson.com. Cars

16:20

say a lot about who we are. It

16:22

represents freedom for a lot of people. This

16:24

season on Drive, I'm going to talk

16:26

to all sorts of different people. I

16:28

looked at car names. Yes. And I

16:31

found all the car names that

16:33

have science or astronomically. It's crazy.

16:35

It's huge. Yes, I happen to

16:37

be CEO of Ford Motor Company.

16:39

For me, it's all about cars,

16:41

movement, and our mutual passion for

16:44

things to get us around. This

16:46

is Drive and I'm Jim Farley. This

16:53

is SquawkPod. Up in

16:55

Andrew Q. Welcome back to SquawkBox right here

16:57

on CNBC. We're live at the Nasdaq Market

16:59

Side and Times Square on this Friday morning.

17:01

I'm Andrew Awesorkin along with Becky Quick. Joe

17:03

is off today. President Biden preparing to visit

17:06

the site of the collapse of Francis Scott

17:08

Key Bridge in Baltimore today. Efforts

17:10

to rebuild are starting to get political. Emily

17:12

Wilkins joins us right now with

17:14

more on that. Well, good morning,

17:16

Andrew. Yeah, President Biden, he promised federal

17:19

funds to rebuild the Francis Scott Key

17:21

Bridge, but he is already facing pushback

17:23

from Congress. A group of three to

17:26

four dozen hardline conservatives, the House Freedom

17:28

Caucus, are out this morning with a

17:30

new statement saying that any funding for

17:32

the bridge needs to meet several conditions.

17:35

They include making sure that any spending

17:37

on the bridge is offset to keep

17:39

government spending in check. They also want

17:41

to end the current limits on liquid

17:44

natural gas exports and ease federal regulations

17:46

around the bridge's reconstruction to speed

17:48

up that rebuild. But in

17:50

meanwhile, it's expected to ask for the federal

17:52

government to cover 100 percent of the cost

17:54

for repairing the bridge. And that's similar to

17:56

what happened back in 2007 when a bridge

17:58

is broken. Minnesota collapsed. Of course,

18:01

then Congress approved $250 million to repair the

18:03

bridge in

18:05

five days. We're expecting it to take

18:07

longer this time, both because of the

18:09

politics around this and its lawmakers are

18:11

grappling with whether to approve billions in

18:13

funding for Ukraine and Israel. And of

18:16

course, guys, we are still waiting for

18:18

Biden to actually request a price tag

18:20

on exactly how much funding is going

18:22

to be needed to rebuild that bridge.

18:24

Becky. Emily, thank you very much. Right

18:26

now we want to bring in a

18:28

special guest to talk about the bridge collapse

18:30

and the efforts to rebuild. Maryland

18:33

Governor Wes Moore. Governor

18:35

Moore, first of our condolences, this has

18:37

been a national calamity. We've watched from

18:39

afar. Can you bring us up to

18:41

speed on what the situation is there?

18:44

Thank you so much. And the

18:46

state is still very much mourning because you're right.

18:48

We lost

18:51

six individuals during that time,

18:53

six Marylanders. And we have told

18:55

the families and we will continue to tell them that

18:57

we will do anything that we can do to bring

18:59

them not just a sense of closure, but

19:01

a sense of comfort. But we also know

19:03

that the calamity was not just

19:06

human. It was also economic. You

19:08

know, this is one of the most important ports

19:10

in the entire country, one of the most important

19:13

maritime vehicles that

19:15

America has. The Port of Baltimore

19:17

is responsible for $70 billion of

19:20

economic activity, employs tens of

19:22

thousands of people, 900 businesses

19:25

rely on the Port of Baltimore.

19:27

And so when you're seeing now

19:29

an unprecedented maritime disaster where you

19:31

have a ship that is the

19:33

size of the Eiffel Tower and

19:36

the weight of the Washington Monument that

19:38

is now sitting in the middle of the Patapsco

19:40

River with a bridge on top of

19:43

it and about 27,000 tons of debris in

19:45

the water,

19:47

this is not just dangerous. It's

19:50

not just a complicated operation, but it's one

19:52

that we know doesn't just have an impact

19:54

on Maryland, but has an impact on the

19:56

larger American economy as well. factors

20:00

that you mentioned, the ship with the bridge on

20:02

top of it in the water, which by the

20:04

way deals with tidal

20:07

waters. So changing tides constantly.

20:10

How long do you anticipate that this is

20:12

going to take just to clean up the

20:15

disaster and then move beyond that to try and

20:17

rebuild the bridge? You're

20:19

absolutely right. When you add on complications of

20:22

not just debris and wreckage that is in

20:24

the water, I mean, our divers cannot see

20:26

any further than a foot or two in

20:28

front of them because of the amount of

20:31

debris in the water. But you also have

20:33

the issue of weather and wind, which also

20:35

complicates it. Now we have been working, this

20:37

has been an operation and a unified command

20:39

that's been working literally 24 seven, working

20:42

with the US Coast Guard, the

20:44

Army Corps of Engineers, the Navy

20:46

Suptsolve and also local leaders and

20:48

local elected officials, the Maryland

20:50

State Police. And we just received word

20:52

from the Army Corps of Engineers that

20:55

they believe that within a month we can open up

20:57

at least a channel of a 35 foot depth, which

21:01

is a significant milestone because that's what's necessary

21:04

for things like new cars and heavy trucks,

21:06

where the Port of Baltimore is the largest

21:08

port for new cars and heavy trucks in

21:11

this country. And then hopefully within

21:13

a month after that, we'll be able to open up

21:15

to the full 50 foot depth. But we know that

21:17

is going to be an all hands on deck 24

21:19

seven operation for us to be able to hit those type

21:22

of timelines. But it's one that we're prepared to take on.

21:24

The ship's owner and management company went

21:26

to court to try and limit their

21:29

liability to something like $43 million.

21:31

That comes as a surprise or concern.

21:34

It's not a surprise. We were expecting it. We're prepared

21:37

for it. I know there needs

21:39

to be a full and a thorough investigation, but

21:41

I also know this. If people will need to

21:43

be held to account for what happened on that

21:45

day, they need to be held to account and

21:47

they need to be responsible for it. So we

21:50

know it's an active investigation. We would like to

21:52

see a speedy, a speedy process with that investigation.

21:55

And while we're not surprised on the, on the

21:57

ask for the limited liability, I know the thing

21:59

that we urge is there needs to be accountability

22:01

for what happened that night. I'm

22:04

sure you just heard the report from

22:06

Emily Wilkinson about that group of three

22:08

to four dozen hardline conservatives who want

22:10

any federal funds to go through several

22:12

hoops before they will approve it. You

22:14

have any thoughts on that? The

22:17

thing I would just remind people is this is

22:19

bigger than Baltimore. This is

22:21

bigger than the state of Maryland. The

22:23

Port of Baltimore is one of the

22:26

largest and most efficient ports that

22:28

we have in this country, a real leader in

22:30

the entire maritime industry. When

22:33

we're talking about how does this impact Maryland, this

22:35

doesn't just impact Marylanders. This

22:38

is impacting the farmer in Kentucky because

22:40

the largest port in this country for

22:42

agricultural equipment is the Port of Baltimore.

22:46

This impacts the auto worker

22:48

in Ohio because the largest

22:51

port in this country for new cars,

22:53

heavy trucks, is the Port of Baltimore.

22:55

This impacts the restaurant owner in Tennessee

22:57

because the largest port in this country

22:59

for spices and sugars is the Port

23:02

of Baltimore. If you're working in coal,

23:04

you rely on the Port of Baltimore.

23:06

The Port of Baltimore is not a

23:08

Maryland issue. People need to rally around

23:10

support for this industry and support for

23:12

this port, not because you're doing Maryland

23:15

a favor. Maryland doesn't need favors.

23:17

What Maryland needs right now is for us to

23:20

have a coordinated and a bipartisan response

23:22

to something that is going to have

23:24

a cataclysmic impact on the American economy.

23:27

Have you spoken with congressional leaders in

23:29

Washington? We have. We've

23:31

spoken with congressional leaders and frankly, congressional

23:34

leaders and state leaders, chief

23:36

executives and governors from both sides of

23:38

the aisle. I'm encouraged

23:40

because I think the things that we continue

23:43

to hear is that there has to be

23:45

a bipartisan approach to be able to deal

23:47

with not just the human tragedy, but also

23:49

the economic tragedy. I can tell you, if

23:51

you look at the state of Maryland and

23:54

how we are moving in a unified fashion

23:56

with both local, state and federal leaders, our

23:58

federal delegation, both Democrats and

24:00

Republicans in our federal delegation are all united

24:02

on this. So I think Maryland is continuing

24:04

to lead in that and I think helping

24:06

to show an example for the rest of

24:09

the country that in times like this, it's

24:11

important to put the politics aside and it's

24:13

important to focus on what is going to

24:15

be best for the people, for the businesses

24:17

and for the industries that continue to drive

24:19

our country. Wes, I guess this

24:21

really lands in the House. Have you spoken

24:23

with the House Speaker Johnson on this? I

24:26

personally have not spoken with Speaker Johnson yet. I

24:28

know our congressional delegation has, in

24:31

fact I was just speaking yesterday with

24:33

Congressman Kwesi Infume, who actually represents the

24:35

district that was impacted by this and

24:37

I know he has said he's had

24:40

a few very good conversations with the

24:42

Speaker. So we're hopeful. We're hopeful that

24:44

we'll be able to come with a

24:46

coordinated response and one that doesn't just

24:48

meet the moment, but one that honors

24:50

the foundation of this country and what

24:52

it is that we're trying to accomplish

24:54

together. Wes Moore, the Governor

24:56

of Maryland, Governor, thank you for your

24:59

time. Again, we send our condolences and

25:02

speedy wishes for everything you all are dealing

25:04

with there right now. God bless you. Thank

25:06

you. The

25:08

issues will be next. Coming

25:11

up on SquawkPod, long time tech

25:13

investor Alan Patrokoff on the AI

25:15

revolution. I've been through every one

25:17

of them. The PC revolution, the cell phone

25:19

revolution, the internet revolution. Nothing

25:21

is comfortable with it. He's

25:24

89 and nowhere near retired. The

25:26

veteran venture capitalist is now focused

25:28

on investing in the longevity economy

25:30

and he says it's time to

25:32

rethink aging. They fought feminism,

25:34

they fought racism. Now we

25:36

have to fight ageism because there could be

25:38

a lot more people who are living longer

25:40

and who are going to be active and

25:42

we've got to think about older people in

25:45

a more constructive manner. Cars

25:48

say a lot about who we are. It

25:50

represents freedom for a lot of people. This

25:52

season on Drive, I'm going to talk to

25:54

all sorts of different people. I looked at

25:57

car names and I found

25:59

all the cars. names that have science

26:01

or astronomically acquired. It's crazy.

26:03

It's huge. Yes, I

26:06

happen to be CEO of Ford Motor

26:08

Company. For me, it's all about cars,

26:10

movement, and our mutual passion for things

26:12

that get us around. This

26:14

is Drive and I'm Jim Farley. This

26:21

is Squawk Pod, today with Becky

26:23

Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Here's

26:26

Andrew. I want to talk

26:28

tech and AI. I want to welcome Aghul and

26:30

Patrick Roth, co-founder and chairman of Primetime Partners to

26:32

the table. Good morning to you, one of the

26:34

great veteran venture capitalists in the

26:37

world. We're all trying to figure out what's

26:39

make of AI and where the investment opportunities

26:41

really are or maybe really aren't. What do

26:44

you think? Well, you know, I've been through these

26:46

cycles so many times and I'm in the camp

26:48

that says, you know, be cautious.

26:51

I mean, I've seen these run ups.

26:53

Everybody gets excited. Business

26:56

get driven up, particularly the private market. There's

26:59

no basis for actually determining what

27:02

something is worth. So

27:05

a lot of people are going to make money, but there's going to be a lot

27:07

of... But we were talking to Steve

27:09

Cohen about this earlier this week, this idea of

27:11

sort of, are we in an AI bubble? He doesn't

27:13

think so. He doesn't think so. Yeah. But

27:17

then I said to him, you know, are we in 1996? I'm

27:21

curious, if you were to try to put

27:23

a date on where this is comparable to

27:25

some time in history when there's been a

27:27

major inflection point in technology, is this that?

27:30

I think this is the most significant inflection

27:32

point. And you know, Andrew, I've

27:34

been through every one of them. The PC

27:36

revolution, the cell phone revolution, the internet revolution,

27:39

nothing is comparable to this because it affects

27:42

every aspect of business. I mean, even

27:44

our area, which, you

27:46

know, I'm selfish in telling you,

27:48

you know, I focus on now

27:51

investing in anything, product services, technologies,

27:53

experiences for older people. And

27:56

when AI became so hot last year,

27:58

particularly, I said, you know, where's it

28:00

going to affect our audience because you know

28:02

I couldn't see it right

28:05

away but already I can

28:07

see it I mean I can tell you

28:09

four or five companies that were in that

28:12

I wouldn't have thought had you know

28:14

this had any implications. I'll give

28:16

you one we have a company

28:18

called SaveFried which does what they

28:20

call an NEMT, non-emergency transportation. Okay.

28:23

They are picking up people it

28:25

sounds like Uber or

28:27

Lyft which by the way

28:29

always tells you one minute and they're seven minutes

28:31

they can't afford it so they have to be

28:33

exactly one time to live you to a doctor

28:36

or a hospital one time not ambivalent

28:38

they're not ambibles and pick you up exactly what

28:40

right and they have a 99%

28:42

reliability. How do they do it? With

28:45

very sophisticated internal technology.

28:48

Let me ask you this when you think of

28:50

a making investment in AI

28:53

today there's these large language models

28:55

there's really call it three or four large language

28:57

models and the thing that I can't figure out

28:59

is over time as they get

29:01

better it seems to me that

29:03

there's a likelihood that a lot of the stuff they can

29:05

do will usurp some

29:08

of the apps and other kinds of

29:10

software that's being developed to

29:12

sort of serve them meaning

29:14

that as the large language models get better

29:17

they may actually be able to do whatever

29:19

but what everybody else is trying to build

29:22

which would then sort of upend the entire thing

29:24

there's no moat to any of these business. Well

29:26

that is the last thing. Your business the business

29:28

you just mentioned seems like it would likely have

29:30

a moat there's a physical component

29:33

to it. Well AI is going to have its

29:35

biggest in my opinion place I

29:37

would be putting my bets if they

29:39

were investing specifically AI is AI words

29:42

applications in particular industries not

29:44

necessary for platforms I mean

29:47

I you know a

29:49

chat GPTs it's

29:51

obviously taken over the world including me

29:53

and probably both of you but I

29:57

worry about how many more

30:00

Of course, I've got share of mind at the moment. This

30:04

is ubiquitous across everything. I'd be more

30:06

interested as a long-term investor in how

30:09

an AI application affects the medical industry

30:11

or the... How it makes it more

30:13

productive. I mean, we were just talking

30:16

about this conversation about productivity. Do

30:18

you think we're on the verge of

30:20

a supercharged productivity? Absolutely. Absolutely

30:23

dramatic. It's going to be overwhelming. I mean, I

30:25

see it. I say

30:27

to all the areas. I mean, we have another company,

30:29

Sheer Health. I'm promoted, but I'm going to

30:31

tell you what they're doing. I

30:33

would never have thought of it. We all get

30:36

our medical bills and we never know what we

30:38

got and why we got it and why we

30:40

have co-pays. Right. They've developed AI using AI, being

30:43

able to take your medical bills

30:45

and actually finding out where you

30:47

got the right charge, where you didn't, and get every

30:49

cover. Can they tell you before you

30:51

get services done? Because you usually find out six months after

30:54

that. Well, if you know what they're going to charge

30:56

you. Yeah. Perhaps they

30:58

should because they know what services you're going to

31:00

get. They should be able to tell you what

31:02

the appropriate is from whatever coverage you've got. I

31:04

mean, that is where the applications are and using

31:07

AI is going to accelerate things. I mean, you

31:09

know, get answers so much faster and it's going

31:11

to put a lot of people out of work,

31:13

but it'll employ new people. I got a different

31:16

one for you. I want to talk about retirement,

31:18

though you are hardly retiring. You're 89

31:20

years old. Am I right? I'll

31:22

be 90 this year. My kids are trying to

31:24

figure out how to celebrate. Just got married again.

31:28

Remarkable. So you are not in the retirement. You're

31:31

never going to retire, but it's going to be a lot of

31:33

people who are going to have to retire at some point in

31:35

life. And you read my book. Yeah. I'm

31:37

going to live to 114. I know. But I'm

31:39

curious if you think the private markets that

31:41

you know, Larry's saying, Larry's think this whole

31:43

thing about retirement and the problems of the

31:45

city. And the question is whether

31:48

the private markets or the public markets or some

31:50

kind of new system has to be developed. And

31:52

I'm curious where you land on that. New

31:54

system for older people? Yeah. New

31:57

system for building up retirement funds. Oh,

32:00

yeah, listen, the first message ever would invest

32:02

as much as you can in your 401k

32:05

That's the first message that goes to anyone whether

32:07

18 or or maybe

32:09

too late if you're 65 But we're

32:11

you know the population of working people for

32:13

example now They're like I think it's 55

32:16

million people over the age of 65

32:18

is still working and they're going to

32:21

beat 80 million people in The

32:23

next 20 years that it can

32:25

be over a 65 so the workforce has

32:27

to be different right at the same time

32:30

Companies have to plan More

32:32

because you're sending people in the workforce What

32:34

do you what should happen to

32:36

those people after they do want

32:38

to retire should you try to keep them?

32:40

Should you try to find something for them

32:42

to do should you be helpful to them?

32:44

Should you have systems installed that prepare them

32:46

for retirement? I mean, it's a it's a

32:48

big thing I I think you'll be amused

32:50

I spoke at a conference last week call

32:52

up front out in California the title of

32:54

the section I spoke on with two other

32:57

Veteran venture capitalists is why the F

32:59

are we still doing this right? I

33:01

mean people do what they are here

33:04

Well, you love the business and you I love

33:07

the startups and young companies And

33:09

I love this particular area because

33:11

you know everyone's forte a human a fort

33:14

feminism They put racism now We have to

33:16

fight ageism because they give you a lot

33:18

more people who are living longer and they're

33:20

going to be active And we've got to

33:23

think about older people at a more constructive

33:25

matter. We got to find things and we

33:27

have to find things People

33:30

that develop things and keep them busy And

33:34

how to take care of the ones that get

33:36

sick, right? You know, there are 55

33:38

million people according to the government who

33:40

are non non paid Caregivers

33:42

for someone in their family I don't

33:44

know if you have any of those

33:47

problems But almost everybody has someone and

33:49

their people have to give up their

33:51

work or cut their job their time

33:53

at the office in order to Take

33:55

the government. It was in Biden State

33:57

of the Union message. We got him

33:59

do more about caregiving. So these are all

34:01

great great areas. The one and only Alan Patrick.

34:03

Thank you for joining us this morning. It's great

34:05

to see you. It's always fun to be with

34:07

you. Always. That's

34:10

Squawk Pod for today and for the

34:12

week. Thank goodness it's Friday. Squawk

34:14

Box is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky

34:17

Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Tune in

34:19

weekday mornings on CNBC at 6 Eastern.

34:21

Get the best of that show in

34:23

this podcast. Follow Squawk Pod wherever you

34:26

are listening now and let us know

34:28

what you think. If you listen on

34:30

Apple Podcast, do me a favor. Great

34:33

for review Squawk Pod right on

34:35

that platform. That will help other listeners

34:37

find us. We'll meet you right back here

34:39

on Monday. Have a great weekend. We

34:43

are clear. Thanks guys. Car

34:52

a lot about who we are. It

34:54

represents freedom for a lot of people. This

34:57

season on Drive I'm going to talk

34:59

to all sorts of different people. I

35:01

looked at current aims. yeah and yeah,

35:03

I found all the car names that

35:06

have science or astronomically agree. I agree

35:08

that have you get it? Yes, I

35:10

happen to be Ceo Ford Motor Company.

35:13

For me, it's all about cars, movement

35:15

and our mutual passion for things to

35:17

get us around. This is Drive and

35:19

I'm Jim Farley.