David Tepper, A State Banquet, Nvidia Invests in Intel 9/18/25

Summary

Squawk Pod – Episode Summary

Date: September 18, 2025
Main Hosts: Joe Kernan, Mike Santoli, Andrew Ross Sorkin
Featured Guests: Senator Elizabeth Warren, Matt Bellany (Puck Media), Walter Isaacson, David Tepper (Appaloosa Management), Jensen Huang (Nvidia, via coverage), Eamon Javers (CNBC)

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Overview

This supersized episode of Squawk Pod delivers a whirlwind of major headlines across business, politics, and media:

• The Federal Reserve’s pivotal rate cut
• Turbulence in late-night TV with Jimmy Kimmel’s ouster
• Nvidia’s investment in Intel, signaling new directions in the tech landscape
• A high profile US-UK state banquet with CEOs and President Trump
• Senator Elizabeth Warren on the Fed, the economy, and policy direction
• Investment insights from billionaire David Tepper

The episode is rich with breaking news, sharp debate, and candid assessments from top players in finance, tech, and politics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates

• Segment Start: 02:38
• Details: The Fed cuts its key interest rate by 0.25%, with signals of up to two more cuts possible this year.
• Host Commentary:
  • Joe Kernan underlines the unusual two-sided risk facing policymakers: “There’s no risk free pass. And so it’s quite a difficult situation for policymakers.” (03:28)
  • Discussion on the impact of “risk management” as Fed’s strategy.

Notable Quote

“I need to know what the hell is risk management?”
— Joe Kernan (14:03)

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2. Jimmy Kimmel Pulled Off the Air by Disney/ABC

• Segment Start: 05:25
• Guest: Matt Bellany (Puck Media)
• Context: Kimmel’s indefinite suspension followed controversial comments linking a criminal act to pro-Trump rhetoric, drawing FCC threats and affiliate backlash.
• Key Points:
  • Media-Political Pressure: Disney acted after FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened ABC’s license, rattling insiders and affiliates.
  • Kimmel’s Value: Despite declining late-night audiences, Kimmel brings considerable cross-platform revenue (“He hosts Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, the Oscars. His show does make money on YouTube...”). (08:28 – Matt Bellany)
  • Broader Free Speech and Regulatory Concerns: The FCC’s involvement unsettles the free speech landscape. Bellany remarked, “It’s very unusual for the FCC to all of a sudden decide that something is not in the public good... They were waiting for this kind of a situation to pounce.” (12:20)

Notable Quotes

“ABC was hearing from both affiliates and explicitly from the FCC chair who was threatening, saying, this is going to be the hard way or the easy way.”
— Matt Bellany (06:31)

"If there’s something false, you let him back on the air and he corrects it and apologizes... If we’re going by what's true on television, there’s stuff that ends up false on TV all the time."
— Matt Bellany (12:01)

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3. US-UK State Banquet: Geopolitics, Tech, and Business

• Segment Start: 04:09, main segment resumes at 20:41
• Reporters: Eamon Javers, with guest analysis by Walter Isaacson

Highlights:

• Banquet Details: President Trump, CEOs of Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, Apple, BlackRock, Blackstone, and others attend a high-profile UK state dinner.
• Major Investments Announced:
  • GSK: $30B in US R&D
  • BP: $5B/year into the US
  • Blackstone: $136B over 10 years in the UK
  • Microsoft: $30B into UK AI
  • Google: $6.8B UK data center
• Economic Diplomacy: Walter Isaacson describes the event as “pure economic diplomacy,” with CEOs traveling alongside the president and forging ties.
• State Capitalism and Industrial Policy Concerns:
  • Isaacson and hosts note the blurred line as the Trump administration takes an increasingly interventionist role—both “carrot and stick.”
  • Joe Kernan: “It certainly makes me uncomfortable that there’s a lot of what you could call state capitalism here.” (26:07)

Notable Quotes

“You’re seeing this mix of media, politics, and the Trump administration playing favorites.”
— Walter Isaacson (29:41)

“We don’t have kings... but it’s interesting to watch how Charles III actually now seems to have a role to play, especially when it comes to getting President Trump to Windsor Castle.”
— Walter Isaacson (25:02)

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4. Nvidia’s $5 Billion Investment in Intel

• Segment Start: 17:00
• Details: Nvidia’s $5B investment in Intel will focus on joint PC and data center chip development (not chip manufacturing).
• Insider View:
  • Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (via CNBC’s John Ford): “$5 billion is not a ton of money for the amount of investment Intel needs in its foundry business...” (18:01)
  • Discussion compares US industrial subsidies and state roles in tech with global competitors, as well as implications for chip supply chains and CHIPS Act effectiveness.

Notable Quote

“This isn’t what some people might have hoped for, which is an agreement between Nvidia and Intel for Intel Foundry to manufacture Nvidia’s leading AI chips... This appears to be an agreement for Intel to use its x86 computer CPU technologies to connect to what Nvidia makes.”
— Jensen Huang (paraphrased by CNBC) (17:59)

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5. Senator Elizabeth Warren on the Economy, Fed, and Policy

• Segment Start: 31:38
• Key Topics:
  • Warren expresses concern that the Fed’s rate cut was driven by economic weakness and Trump’s “chaotic” economic policies, not strength.
  • Warns of high consumer debt ($4T increase in 6 years) and working-class families’ struggles.
  • Calls for more equitable tax policy targeting billionaires, criticizes Trump's tariffs as inflationary and health care cuts as dangerous.
  • On divisive rhetoric: “Violence is never, ever, ever the right answer.” (40:14)

Notable Quotes

"I’m just concerned right now about the economy overall, and I recognize that rate cuts by themselves are not going to fix the problems that Donald Trump is causing."
— Senator Elizabeth Warren (31:44)

"We need an economy that’s working for small businesses, working for medium sized businesses, working for the people who do the work of keeping this economy going."
— Senator Elizabeth Warren (34:57)

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6. David Tepper: Markets, Fed, and Macro Risks

• Segment Start: 43:55
• Guest: David Tepper, Appaloosa Management
• Major Takeaways:
  • On Recent Performance: Having a very good year, up big in certain China names (Alibaba).
  • Outlook on Fed: Thinks additional interest rate cuts won’t have a huge impact; cautions not to “make things too hot to have the other side of the mountain, which was really frickin ugly... in 2000, 2001.” (47:15)
  • On China: Still sees “interesting” valuations in Chinese tech, but position size limited by geopolitical and economic risks.
  • On Tariffs & Industrial Policy: Tepper dislikes state intervention from either party but tolerates “mild tariffs” as possibly constructive. Opposed to heavy state-sponsored industry.
  • Markets: Cautious about valuations—concedes enthusiasm is muted (“I’m so miserable for having a really good year because I still own the market and I can’t stand that I own the market.” (58:12)) but not betting against an easy-money Fed.
  • On Free Speech/Media: Brief mention, echoing discomfort with government pressure in both markets and media.
  • Personal: Now also owns a record-setting Major League Soccer team.

Notable Quotes

“You got to be careful not to make things too hot to have the other side of the mountain, which was really frickin ugly... in 2000 and 2001.”
— David Tepper (47:15)

“A long time ago, when I was a young man, when I was 30, I thought I can control individual markets. I can’t control anything. Neither can the Fed. You can push it so far but you can’t push it beyond that.”
— David Tepper (54:02)

“I’m so miserable for having a really good year because I still own the market and I can’t stand that I own the market.”
— David Tepper (58:12)

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Memorable Moments

• Hosts Banter: Joe teases about the “best side” for the camera, and Andrew jokes about self-managing voices in his head. (13:29–14:09)
• Dining Etiquette at Windsor Castle: Fun discussion on the high society protocol for forks and drinks. (23:07)
• Kimmel Debate: Spirited exchange about the boundaries of comedy, culture wars, and the First Amendment.
• Tepper on Investing: Tepper’s mix of bravado and humility—famous for market calls, now openly uneasy about high valuations even as he profits.

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Timestamps - Key Segments

• Fed cuts rates, context and debate: 02:38 – 16:15
• Jimmy Kimmel, media and political consequences: 05:25 – 13:23, 27:47 – 30:24
• US-UK state dinner, CEO diplomacy: 20:41 – 25:27
• Nvidia invests in Intel, tech implications: 17:00 – 20:41, 26:07 – 27:47
• Walter Isaacson on state capitalism and tech: 23:52 – 29:49
• Senator Elizabeth Warren on economy: 31:38 – 41:10
• David Tepper on markets and policy: 43:55 – 62:59

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Tone and Language

The episode flows with CNBC’s trademark blend of financial gravitas, political edge, and unscripted humor. Hosts’ camaraderie and candor come through, especially in moments of banter with guests. Guests speak freely—David Tepper in particular offers unfiltered opinions and self-deprecating insight.

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For First-Time Listeners

This episode is a showcase of real-time financial news analysis, high-level political commentary, and the intersectionality of economics, policy, and media. Discussions are insightful yet accessible, often peppered with direct, sometimes irreverent language.

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Selected Quotes With Timestamps

• “[Fed policy is] quite a difficult situation for policymakers... there’s no risk free pass.”
  — Joe Kernan (03:28)

• “ABC was hearing from both affiliates and explicitly from the FCC chair who was threatening, saying this is going to be the hard way or the easy way.”
  — Matt Bellany (06:31)

• “It certainly makes me uncomfortable that there’s a lot of what you could call state capitalism here.”
  — Joe Kernan (26:07)

• “I’m just concerned right now about the economy overall, and I recognize that rate cuts by themselves are not going to fix the problems that Donald Trump is causing.”
  — Senator Elizabeth Warren (31:44)

• “You got to be careful not to make things too hot to have the other side of the mountain, which was really frickin ugly, you know, in 2000 and 2001.”
  — David Tepper (47:15)

• “I’m so miserable for having a really good year because I still own the market and I can’t stand that I own the market.”
  — David Tepper (58:12)

---

End of Summary

Transcript

[Joe Kernan]

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[Mike Santoli]

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[Joe Kernan]

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[Mike Santoli]

Bring in show music please.

[Katie Kramer]

Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on squawk pod, no shortage of news. Late night star Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air by Disney following his comments to the reaction to the death of Charlie Kirk. Media reporter Matt Bellany.

[Matt Bellany]

ABC was hearing from both affiliates and explicitly from the FCC chair who was threatening saying this is going to be the hard way or the easy way.

[Katie Kramer]

Nvidia is investing in erstwhile competitor intel and tech CEOs join President Trump on a state visit in the UK unpacking that cocktail of tech, geopolitics and economics with Walter Isaacson.

[Joe Kernan]

It certainly makes me uncomfortable that there's a lot of what you could call state capitalism here.

[Katie Kramer]

The Federal Reserve's long awaited rate cut is here. How American wallets are faring with Senator Elizabeth Warren.

[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

I'm just concerned right now about the economy overall and I recognize that rate cuts by themselves are not going to fix the problems that Donald Trump is causing.

[Katie Kramer]

And investor David Tepper markets. Watch his moves. Tepper on the Fed's role on sentiment.

[Mike Santoli]

You got to be careful not to make things too hot to have the other side of the mountain, which was really frickin ugly, you know, in 2000 and 2001.

[Katie Kramer]

And what he's learned from the front.

[Mike Santoli]

Lines a long time ago when I was a young man, when I was 30, I thought I can control individual markets. I can't control anything. Neither can the Fed. You can push it so far, but you can't push it beyond that.

[Katie Kramer]

It's Thursday, September 18, 2025. You've got Joe Kernan and Mike Santoli today. This super sized squawk pod begins right now.

[Mike Santoli]

Stand Joe. Bye in three, two, one.

[Joe Kernan]

Hugh Joe, good morning and welcome to Squawkbox here on cnbc. Live from the NASDAQ market site in Times Square, I'm Joe Kernan. Stec's here. Mike Steckerman, Becky, I think was scheduled in a little bit under the weather. Andrew was scheduled off. He'll be back tomorrow. So you're stuck. It's just me now, Mike Santoli, is that correct or is it Rick Santelli? Have I got that? It's Mike Santoli. He's going to join us in just a little bit. We rousted his sorry rear end out of a deep sleep and he's on his way, so. And the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by a quarter percentage point was interesting called Risk Management by Jay Powell. It was the first cut since late last year. The vote was 11 to 1 one new Fed governor Stephen Myron voting for a 50 basis point reduction. The Fed signaling two more cuts could be on the horizon before the end of the year. But there was a wide disparity among expectations. Ordinarily, when the labor market is weak, inflation is low. And when the labor market is really strong, that's when you be careful about inflation. So we have a situation where we have two sided risk and that means there's no risk free pass. And so it's quite a different difficult situation for policymakers. And it's not at all surprising to me that you have a range of views.

Mr. President, Mrs. Trump, it is with great pleasure that my wife and I.

[Mike Santoli]

Welcome you to Windsor Castle.

[Joe Kernan]

Your Majesty, Melania and I are deeply grateful to you and Queen Camilla for your extraordinary graciousness.

President Trump is meeting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer today and will celebrate the unveiling of $200 billion in US investments in to the UK economy. The deal covers energy, life sciences and technology and includes companies like Microsoft, Open Air and in video. In fact, the CEOs of those three companies as well as others like Apple's Tim Cook, top banking executives all attended a lavish state dinner yesterday at Windsor castle outside London. 51 yard long, beautiful table. President Trump special relationship between the US And Great Britain. Couple of nice toasts. The President will hold a press conference with the British Prime Minister today. I think that is at his estate in Checkers. No relation to Richard Nixon's dog.

[Mike Santoli]

You know, when you look at the.

[Joe Kernan]

Conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of.

[Mike Santoli]

The sickest conduct possible.

[Joe Kernan]

ABC pulling Jimmy Kimmel live off the air indefinitely over comments the host made following the murder of Charlie Kirk Kimmel linked Kirk's alleged killer to President Trump's Make America Great Again movement. SEC Chair Brendan Carr suggested ABC's broadcast license was at risk because of Kimmel's remarks. Joining us now is Puck's Matt Bellany. It's a big difference, Matt, between whether it was in response to Brendan Carr or the FCC or whether it was just in response to what could happen with the middle of the country. Nextstar has started. They have stations that are not maybe in New York, not in Los Angeles, not in Chicago, where people probably, they're probably hearing from people, from normal people. Not that they're not normal everywhere else, but they certainly have a different viewpoint, the rest of the country does, than those coastal cities or the big cities like Chicago.

[Matt Bellany]

That's true. And ABC owns those affiliates in the big major cities like Chicago and L. A in New York. But the, the difference here is that ABC was hearing from both affiliates and explicitly from the FCC chair who was threatening, saying, this is going to be the hard way or the easy way. And that is what really rattled people inside Disney. And they spent most of the day in yesterday trying to figure out how to respond to this and quell this, this sort of uprising over the comments. And Kimmel did not want to apologize. Kimmel had his own way that he wanted to respond on the air. Disney going all the way up to Dana Walden who runs the TV division. She very much wanted this to be a clear apology and something that would, would kind of put this and not make it worse. And they couldn't agree. So ultimately they just said, okay, we're going to put pause on the show, try to figure out a way forward. Question is, do they have a way forward?

[Joe Kernan]

He'll be back. That's my prediction. And it won't be long. Disney has feet of clay. They won't stick to this, though. The woke outrage will get to them quickly. I almost wish they had just left him on so that the ratings can dictate exactly what's happened instead of it looking like immediately looking like it's, you know, First Amendment freedom of speech. He's getting canceled by the government because that's what, that's what we're going to hear. You know, what, what do you think is going to happen when he shows up when he gets. Comes back in a week or whenever it is and he walks out on the stage? It's going to be, it's going to be like a standing ovation. It'll be like Colbert at the Emmys on steroids.

[Matt Bellany]

It will. And I Think a lot of those people that were upset by the comment got riled up on social media, weren't watching Jimmy Kimmel anyway.

[Joe Kernan]

Well, not many people are. Not many people.

[Matt Bellany]

Well, but, but it still does have millions of viewers and it's still, the videos from the show still have an audience. And unlike Colbert, Kimmel has value to that network. He hosts who Wants to Be a Millionaire, he does the Oscars, he does a lot of different things for Disney and ABC. And his show does make money on YouTube, whereas the Colbert situation was much different. These are not big revenue generators as they once were. But he does have value to the network. So I don't think it's the strict financial conversation that it was more with Colbert. This is, this is something where I think they want him to come back. But Kimmel, you know, I could see him saying thanks, but no thanks. I don't want to work in a network that doesn't have my back and is going to kowtow to, to the government when they don't like something I do.

[Joe Kernan]

We see how much Colbert wants to stay on the air. I don't see. Maybe that happens. Maybe you're right. I think he'd be happy to. You know, obscurity comes quickly to someone like that.

[Matt Bellany]

Although he's been talking about retirement for years.

[Joe Kernan]

Yeah, I haven't heard a non political joke. I don't think, I don't watch, but maybe it's just the clips that I see. But how long has it been where it's been, you know, twisting himself into a pretzel to try to get something funny about hating Trump or hating Republicans? It just, you see, you've seen Carson's comments. One thing he would never do is, you know, move into the political spectrum to try and make people laugh.

[Matt Bellany]

Yeah, but it's a different era. The media.

[Joe Kernan]

Are you sure? The media is a different area. So fractured. Used to be 8 million viewers, now it's a million and a half or whatever it is.

[Matt Bellany]

Yeah, but there used to be no options but three choices on the network and one late night host. I mean, now it's an entirely different environment. And Kibble does have an audience. ABC renewed him the last time he was up because they like his show and it does deliver an audience. So that's not the issue here. The issue is where what Disney is afraid of from the FCC and the government and that's why they acted here. The affiliates were upset by, but the FCC was very upset. And in this media environment, you see one media company after another bowing to what the administration wants because they're afraid of the power. I mean, look, even in the station group, you have, you have the Station Group, Nexstar wants to buy Tenga and merge. It's a $6 billion deal that has to be approved by the FCC. So they seem to have aligned themselves with what the Trump administration wants. Possibly because they want that deal to go through.

[Joe Kernan]

Yeah, I mean, the View has been on for how long and gets renewed again. And I guess it does have to do with where the affiliates that they own are in places where there's an audience for. For Kimmel and, and the View. But different audience, would you say? Different audience for Next Star.

[Matt Bellany]

Yeah, I mean, of course it's not Los Angeles or New York. But why did this particular comment caused the uproar? I think that the government's involvement here did matter.

[Joe Kernan]

Do you think that? I mean, I saw what the FCC chair was saying, that it's different than cable broadcast licenses and there is something in there about the public good and everything else. Can you make the argument that lying straight faced is actually violating some type of agreement to have that license?

[Matt Bellany]

Well, we can get into the specifics of what Kimmel didn't say and did say. I mean, somewhat misinterpreted by some. Not a great comment. I will agree with you there. But if it's, if there's something false, you let him back on the air and he corrects it and apologies.

[Joe Kernan]

Wouldn't apologize. Right?

[Matt Bellany]

Yeah, that. I mean, if there's an error on this show, then people correct it, apologize and move on. I mean, there, if we're going by what's true, true on, on television. I mean, there's stuff that ends up false on TV all the time. And remember, Kimmel is a comedy show. It's not the nightly news. And he does have an audience that wants to hear that particular kind of political comedy. So it's not like it's very unusual for the FCC to all of a sudden decide that something is not in the public good when this is a show that's been on for decades now. They were waiting. They were waiting for this kind of a situation to pounce.

[Joe Kernan]

Yeah, you've got a wide range of what you think is comedy, I guess, which is nice. You're very open to different ideas about that. A lot of things I think have changed since last week. I don't know. We'll see, Matt. We'll see. But good to have you on this morning. Thank you.

[Matt Bellany]

Thanks.

[Joe Kernan]

You just like showed up out of nowhere.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Well, not literally. Nowhere.

[Joe Kernan]

But we were going along. Come back from break and you're.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I know.

[Joe Kernan]

So both chairs were open.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Yes.

[Joe Kernan]

You chose that chair. Is that. Is there any. Should we read anything? It was gently guide. But do we read anything into that? Are you going to play just a center?

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I heard there was something about a good side or.

[Joe Kernan]

You know what? I thought that because when I look at Becky like this, I don't think this is my favorable side. So you know what? For the first part of the show, I've been talking to myself and arguing, which looks weird to people.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Yeah.

[Joe Kernan]

So I need to know what the hell is risk management?

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Not like the rest the other 21 hours of the day.

[Joe Kernan]

Exactly. I hear voices. What is risk management? Isn't what. Isn't that always what the Fed.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

You would hope that's. So what is first job. Yeah.

[Joe Kernan]

And then I also want to talk to you. They're playing music.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Yeah.

[Joe Kernan]

This is the best the stock market has ever been in the history of the world in terms of new highs. I mean, it's weird. Is it because of. Of our corporations doing great? Is it the Mag 7? Is it? Is it? Interest rates are coming down? Is it? Can we talk about that? When you think about your answer, absolutely. It's all the above.

[Eamon Javers]

Cheese will be next.

[Katie Kramer]

Stay tuned. Mike Santoli sticks with Joe for the rest of our podcast. And there's a lot still to come. The world's most valuable company, Nvidia, is investing in Intel Tech. CEOs and President Trump are in the UK. Author Walter Isaacson weighs in on both headlines.

[Joe Kernan]

You're seeing this mix of media, politics, and the Trump administration playing favorites.

[Katie Kramer]

And Senator Elizabeth Warren joins us.

[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

We need to have economic policies that are not just made for a handful of people who can afford to pay a million dollars for a dinner with Donald Trump or fly over to England and hobnob with the royals.

[Katie Kramer]

All that awaits after this break. Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter?

[Joe Kernan]

Right?

[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

And the best part? They accept Discover.

[Katie Kramer]

Accept Discover in a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer.

[Joe Kernan]

Oh, yeah.

Huh?

[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Discover is accepted where I like to shop.

[Mike Santoli]

Come on, baby.

[Katie Kramer]

Get with the times. Right?

[Joe Kernan]

So we shouldn't get the parachute pants.

[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

These are making a comeback, I think.

[Mike Santoli]

Discover is accepted at 99% of places.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

That take credit cards nationwide, based on.

[Mike Santoli]

The February 2025 Nielsen report.

[Katie Kramer]

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[Katie Kramer]

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[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

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[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

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Podcasts. You're listening to Squawk Pod from CNBC Today with Joe Kernan and Mike.

[Mike Santoli]

Santoli. Stand Joe by three, two.

[Joe Kernan]

Wipe. Up to him his mic Kip just happened moments ago. Nvidia making a $5 billion or agreeing to investment in Intel. A partnership. The deal does not include an agreement for intel to manufacture Nvidia chips. Nvidia and intel will however develop PC and data center chips, according to a news release. It's just. That was just out John Ford. Nan. Oh man. So at 7:14 he was in bed sleeping at 6:40. No, you're here for the.

[Jensen Huang]

IPO. These are my pajamas, Joe. Yeah, I'm here for the netscope ipo, but just happen to be here.

[Joe Kernan]

As this crosses, which is good. And my immediate question, Jensen Huang's over there right now at the state dinner, right? Yeah. Did the president, did the government. You see any of meddling here with this? Or is.

[Jensen Huang]

It. I don't know. I mean, of course we know that America is a shareholder going forward in intel, but you mentioned.

[Joe Kernan]

It. Passive.

[Jensen Huang]

Suppose. Yeah. What's interesting here is that how the stock, intel stock is moving on this. This is not what some people might have hoped for, which is an agreement between Nvidia and Intel for Intel Foundry to manufacture Nvidia's leading AI chips. Right. And intel really wants to have this leading edge foundry, much of it in America, manufacturing the most advanced chips. This isn't what this appears to be. This appears to be an agreement for intel to use its x86 computer CPU technologies to connect to what Nvidia makes. And both on the PC side and then on the data center side. That what some would consider older school PC and data center brain connecting to Nvidia's new school AI brains. But perhaps some of the enthusiasm is hope. Okay, well, if they're talking about this, maybe they'll talk about some of the other stuff. $5 billion is not a ton of money for the amount of investment intel needs in its foundry business if it's going to manufacture leading edge in the US so $5 billion doesn't particularly move the needle. We're talking tens of billions of dollars that intel needs invested.

[Joe Kernan]

There. But it was, they looked around during the CHIPS act and thinking about supply chain and security and oh my God, we need domestic foundries. And it was like, who do we have? I was like, oh, no, all we have is intel, right? At least maybe not at the.

[Jensen Huang]

Time. Samsung, tsmc, they've got some US manufacturing, but intel is on a whole different.

[Joe Kernan]

Scale. But Intel's fortunes even worsened since the CHIPS Act. Oh, for sure, for.

[Jensen Huang]

Sure. I think maybe people anticipated, arguably nobody anticipated how much Intel's core business of data center and PC chips would erode. Because, I mean, when you got open air showing up, driving people's imagination and expectation of what is going to do, and you've got the data center investment shifting so quickly to AI chips, that's money that intel is not.

[Joe Kernan]

Getting. Maybe we could sell our stake and intel to Nvidia and just get out of this whole.

[Jensen Huang]

State. I mean, it just popped right now. Can make tidy profit. Hopefully we're in it for a longer haul than.

[Joe Kernan]

That. Who was. Yeah, we don't want, we don't want the government in, do.

[Jensen Huang]

We? Nobody asked me. I'm just saying, if you're going to say America's behind Intel, it'd be.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I think, do we still have the warrants in the airlines we got in 2020 that we, when we bailed them out? We never made know stuff sitting around in the government. It's not material to the government's budget, but it's big for the.

[Joe Kernan]

Companies. It is President Trump attending last night's UK state dinner along with some business leaders and CEOs. Eamon Javors joins us now with more. Hey.

[Eamon Javers]

Eamon. Yeah. Good morning, Joe. King Charles of the United Kingdom hosted President Trump at a royal banquet in Windsor Castle's St George's hall last night. With a powerhouse group of American CEOs joining the President and the king for the white tie affair, including Larry Fink of BlackRock, Tim Cook of Apple, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Steven Schwartzman of the Blackstone Group, Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, Sam Altman from OpenAI. They've been hosting state banquets and official dinners in that room since Queen Victoria's reign. And it is an impressive venue. The long table runs 164ft across the whole length of that hall. But the serious business begins in just a short Time this morning with a business roundtable event with the CEOs who have traveled for this meeting. The UK government noted a long list of transatlantic investment announcements, including pharmaceutical giant GSK investing $30 billion in U.S. r&D, and manufacturing energy firm BP planning to invest $5 billion a year into the U.S. and on the American side, big announcements included Blackstone's pledging $136 billion over 10 years in the U.K. microsoft committing 30 billion into AI infrastructure, and Google announcing a new data center in Hertfordshire, if I'm pronouncing that right, as part of a $6.8 billion investment. And we'll keep an eye out throughout the morning for any other news or announcements that come out of the economic side of this state visit. Guys, that business roundtable set to begin just in the next couple of minutes. Back over to.

[Joe Kernan]

You. How close was Jensen Huang sitting to the president? I mean, could the president have said, you know, intel could really use $5 billion. Would you mind? And could that have happened last night.

[Eamon Javers]

Or. Absolutely. But you can see some of this.

[Joe Kernan]

Video. Yeah, go.

[Eamon Javers]

Ahead. I mean, Jensen Huang is at the president's side on a regular basis. Right. I mean, he's. He goes to all of these big set pieces. Work in the room last night, for sure. And look, this is a company that's made a business decision to get very, very close to this administration, and it seems to be paying off for.

[Joe Kernan]

Them. How many mistakes do you think you or I would have made picking up the right fork for the right thing? And I heard it took days to even suggest.

[Eamon Javers]

To. I would just go. I would just go from the outside in. Right. I mean, that's the lesson I was told as a.

[Joe Kernan]

Kid. Start on the left.

[Eamon Javers]

Hand. However many forks and spoons, you just start all the way on the outside and work your way in. So if there's like 12 spoons, you just take the tiniest one from the outside and keep.

[Joe Kernan]

Going. I.

[Eamon Javers]

Remember. But the drinks thing would confuse me because I would always pick up my neighbor's drink. And that. That could.

[Joe Kernan]

Be. That happens anyway, right? The butter thing, too. Yeah. I think on Downton Abbey, I think I learned that right. About starting. Do you know, you'd be a.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Mess. I assume that you allow the king to go first and you just follow whatever the king does. Like, let.

[Eamon Javers]

Him. Yeah, but we're Americans.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Mike. No.

[Eamon Javers]

Exactly. But we don't believe in that king.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Stuff. You know, they're all in his.

[Joe Kernan]

House. Right. Thanks for being our.

[Eamon Javers]

Friend. Good to be here with the king of SWAT squawk.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Box. Joining us now on the state visit and the Tech Prosperity deal is Walter Isaacson Perella Weinberg advisory partner, Tulane University history professor and a CNBC contributor. Walter, great to see you this morning. How are we to think about this, this new Mode, right, with CEOs are kind of flying around the world along with the president and obviously trying to stay in good favor and get behind what, what his priorities are. What does it mean for, for their execution of.

[Joe Kernan]

Business? Well, it's pretty interesting. I mean, you've had all sorts of diplomacy and military diplomacy over the years. And here is an example of pure economic diplomacy with a posse, a team going in. It's particularly interesting, interesting to me with Britain because Britain for the past five years, we've watched the whole Brexit thing and wondering how badly it was going to hurt the economy. I think this in some ways shows a real belief that Britain and the United States are going to continue the special relationship. I was particularly interested too. And you know, Charles the third we kind of figure out, well, we don't have kings. You just said it's interesting to watch how Charles III actually now seems to have a role to play, especially when it comes to, to getting President Trump to Windsor Castle convening. In a time when Britain has an incredibly unstable political system under Keir Starmer, the king has shown himself to be somebody who can be a stabilizing.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Force. The implications of that, though, of not just this type of diplomacy and maybe some, you know, nudges to invest in the UK and form stronger bonds, but also we talking about this Nvidia intel deal. We don't know, of course, what role, if there was a direct role the government might have played. But clearly intel has been now sanctioned by the government as, as, you know, sort of a national champion. And it was, it's Obvious in video, $5 billion for Nvidia, not a lot of money for Intel. It's a significant gesture. So we have the US Government having a claim potentially on some Nvidia and AMD revenue of sales to check China. I mean, how messy is that.

[Joe Kernan]

Get. I think it gets messy. I mean, we've always had a system of markets where we don't necessarily have the government choreographing investments between major companies. I think in President Trump, you have somebody who just loves making deals, loves being at the center of these things. But it certainly makes me uncomfortable that there's a lot of what you could call state capitalism.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Here. I mean, I guess there's one way of thinking about it, which is the administration has solidified the lower tax rates for companies. They've encouraged greater capital spending by making this accelerated depreciation out there. In other words, it preserved a lot of advantages for American companies. And yet on the other side want direct financial benefits coming out of. At the same time we're imposing tariffs. The administration brags about $300 billion in revenue from tariffs a year. That's taxes by another means. So it's kind of funny how, you know, it's sort of, it's not so much offsetting, but it's interesting how there's kind of carrot and stick out.

[Joe Kernan]

There. Well, I was interested in Joe's questioning of Kevin has it too, on this question of taking a cut from what Nvidia or tried to take a cut, maybe from what intel does all of these things. Especially if you're going to have chips trading to China, you got to figure out what are our national interests, our national strategic interests. And you don't necessarily want to mess that up by saying, oh, and let's make a little bit of a deal where we can get some money.

Here. Walter, I guess we'd be remiss if we didn't ask you about the overnight news of, of Jimmy Kimmel. I know that you're not familiar with him. You're, you're a great Gutfeld guy. I know you tune in every, every night on Fox, but what do you make of, of, of what happened.

There? You know, it's different. These are companies doing these things because they're feeling the pressure. We went through an era of cancel culture, you know, where people on the left tried pretty hard to cancel. And now we're going through a period of cancel culture. People on the right doing it. Obviously, I think you and I both feel this is not really the best way to have a sense of free speech and discussion in America. I think there are certain things that truly cross lines. I'm not going to get into the nuances of the Jimmy Kimmel one, but certainly if you're looking all across the board of what's happening here, we're starting to lose in a different way, a different flavor of our loss of free speech and our right to have comedy. And it comes at a time when there's been a lot of pressure. We saw the Paramount deal being put under pressure. We see Trump announcing lawsuits just randomly now against the Disney Corporation. So that's particularly interesting and gets to Elon Musk, by the way, who bought Twitter, turned it into X. And it's becomes a incredibly influential in changing the politics here. I think one thing to go back to or to connect these two things, I was somewhat surprised that Elon Musk has not been invited either to the Tech Patio dinner at the White House or into England because, and it may be because certainly he's been very strong, pushing Tommy Thompson, the populist right candidate in England against Keir Starmer. And so you're seeing this mix of media, politics and, and the Trump administration playing favorites in changing.

Favorites. I can see if, if Walter, if the FCC hadn't weighed in on Kimmel and it was only nexstar with all of its stations in the middle of this country that probably already weren't too enthralled with, with Jimmy Kimmel's brand of what I guess it's humor. I don't even know what you call it, but let's say it was just nextstar saying, look, this does not suit our viewers. He crossed the line here. It was, what if it was the companies? What if it had nothing to do with the Trump administration? Companies are allowed to say, absolutely.

Companies have the right to. I worked. You work at cnbc. I've worked at many media companies. We had the right to decide who to put on and we had the right to decide who served our audience best. But as you say, the FCC has kind of weighed in. Trump has kind of, I don't know if he weighed in exactly on Kimmel, but you know, we're seeing this pressure on government is the exact same thing that people were talking about where the Biden administration would sort of push and prod and try to get things done. As somebody who spent 40 years in the media, I kind of think that once again, it's not something where government should be choreographing it any more than they should be choreographing microchip sales and who gets which cut of.

Them. Forty years in the media. So this is your.

Fault. I think we can join together.

Joe. And I know we just celebrated, we just celebrated our 30 year anniversary. Maybe it's both our faults just from, from either side.

Walter. The fault is not in our stars. It's in us.

Joe. It's exactly. Who knows what lurks in the mind of men? Only the shadow. Walter, thank you. We do have a picture of Jensen Huang, I think. There you go. We want to.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Show. Yeah, it's kind of rare to see him without a leather.

[Joe Kernan]

Jacket. Senator Elizabeth Warren is saying the Fed had no choice but to cut rates to protect American jobs. And the senator joins us this Morning. She's the lead Democrat on the Banking Committee. And, Senator, welcome. It's good to have you on. I bet you you're probably glad about 25, but I know you've argued for four even bigger.

[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Cuts. Yeah, you know, look, I've been arguing for a couple of years for interest rate cuts, but there's a difference between interest rate cuts that come because the economy is strong, because the job market looks good, and because inflation is headed in the right direction, that is down and where we are right now, and that is that the job market is weak enough that the Fed felt like it had to go forward, even though the indications on inflation are headed in the wrong direction. You know, I'm reminded that the head of the Fed, Jerome Powell, said last month that the Fed would have cut interest rates back in February except for the concern over the chaos that Donald Trump was causing to the economy because of tariffs. And so that means we've had for seven months now families paying more on credit cards and car loans and payday loans. And I'm just concerned right now about the economy overall. And I recognize that rate cuts by themselves are not going to fix the problems that Donald Trump is.

[Joe Kernan]

Causing. We had, Senator, and I thought about it yesterday when I knew you were going to be on. I asked this question to the leader Jeffries when he was on. I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you a shot at the same question, and it'll take me about 30 seconds, but I'll be as quick as I can. The inflation rate of 2.9 is still above where the Fed would like it to be, but it was as high as 9% under Joe Biden. The labor market may be showing signs of weakness, but unemployment is still 4.3%. Real wages are finally growing. The Dow, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ are all hitting record highs. We've had major trade deals signed and hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment coming into the country while the southern border is now secure and Iran's nuclear ambitions have been sidetracked, likely for years. Where is the calamity? What would you point.

[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

To? So, look, I want to make two points here. The first one is the Fed and the rate cuts in the economy is all about direction. And yes, coming out of the pandemic, when Donald Trump was near the end of his first term, we had very high inflation. We had very high unemployment. And that was a problem. But it was down, down, down, down, down on the trend lines. Now, those trend lines have reversed again. And we are seeing more weakening in the job numbers and we are seeing prices tick back up. Plus, Donald Trump is claiming to have collected billions and billions and billions of dollars and in tariff money and that's going to keep pushing prices up. So the concern is the directionality. The point is the Fed is always trying to look at where the economy is going and trying to direct it. But there's a second point here too, and I appreciate that Wall street is doing very well, that we're watching incomes go up for a lot of folks at the top. But you really need to be looking at the numbers for what's happening to the rest of the America. Look how big the consumer debt load is right now and how it has grown by $4 trillion over the past six years. This is not pandemic money. This is coming out now. More and more families cannot make it to the end of the month without borrowing money. Look at what's happening right now with car loans. More people are in default, more people are seeing their cars taken away. And for a lot of people that means they can't go ahead and go to work. Look at what's happening to consumer sentiment, people who do the work every day. Not the folks who show up to hobnob with the King of England, but the people on the ground here in America who keep this country running. They are telling us that they are not safe seeing an economy that works. And we need to pay attention to that. We need to have economic policies that are not just made for a handful of people who can afford to pay $1 million for a dinner with Donald Trump or fly over to England and hobnob with the Royals. We need an economy that's working for small businesses, working for medium sized businesses, working for, working for people who do the work of keeping this economy going. And that's where the problem is, the age old.

[Joe Kernan]

Problem. And I agree with you. It's a cover of the Wall Street Journal today. There's, there really are two economies but at the same time that we think about what type of, what we should spend money on, additional money on. We, we, you just mentioned how we're at 37 or 38 trillion and I think we're at 24% of GDP on spending and 18% on revenues. That's unsustainable. But when we talk about when you want to raise taxes and maybe there's something to that, maybe a stepped up basis or something because we can't get at the billionaires taxes, but would we try to lower the, are There other things we can do. We throw so much money at so many problems and we don't seem to get a lot of return for it. What should we.

[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Do? Well, I don't know what you mean by we don't get a lot of return. Look, I think billionaires, yes. Ought to be paying more in taxes. I think that right now the idea that Jeff Bezos pays taxes at the same rate as a Boston public school teacher makes no sense at all. I think the idea that billionaires really, taxes are optional for many of them because they just borrow against their wealth and then use a stepped up basis when they die for their families. So money never, taxes never get paid on that. But remember what the Republicans are doing right now. A year ago, right now, Donald Trump was saying to everybody who would listen, he would lower costs for American families on day one. On day one. Those were his words. He didn't say was going to lower costs for billionaires. He said, I'm going to lower costs for your family on day one. And where are we? The cost of groceries is up, the cost of utilities is up. The cost of real estate is up. The cost of health care is up. And what's been the response of the Trump administration? Well, part of it has been the tariffs to drive up costs even more. But the other part, the big signature achievement has been that the Republicans and Donald Trump have cut health care from 15 million Americans and they are driving up costs in the health care system literally for everyone. Even if you don't have Medicaid, even if you don't have an ACA subsidy, if you have health insurance, starting next month, thanks to the Republicans, you will be paying more. And why did they do all that? So that they could give tax cuts to a handful of.

[Joe Kernan]

Billionaires.

[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

They. That's not how we make this country work.

[Joe Kernan]

Better. I think everyone in the original tax cut, everyone did get a cut, maybe more. Crews, can I ask you about some of your comments last week? It had to do with, I don't know what we should do with, with the country right now as divided as it is and both sides, I guess you would argue, share some of the blame. But if, if we just hear constantly from your side of the aisle, fascist dictators, rapist, just on and on and on this incendiary language, don't both sides have to take some of the blame for this environment that we're in in terms of, I mean, I don't know what you'd call this, where we are in terms of political violence and even assassinations. But do you think it didn't sound like you wanted to cool the rhetoric when I heard your comments last.

[Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Week. I'm always glad for, for people to speak calmly, to speak about facts. I'm very much in favor of that. But the key thing, I just, I want to say it, I can't say it enough. Violence is never the answer. And no one does make any difference what your political views are. No one should be encouraging violence because violence is never, ever, ever the right.

[Joe Kernan]

Answer. Senator, I'm going to have to cut you off in a second. Not quite yet, but I think President Trump is going to be speaking in Checkers, which is apparently a pretty nice place where Keir Starmer hangs his hat. And we are going to listen in. But let me ask you one more question because you have lobbied the Fed a lot about and you're very passionate about it. Oh, he is going to start actually right now. Thank you and hopefully we'll see.

You. It's an honor to have all of these great leaders, really an honor. But I'm sincerely grateful to Prime Minister Starmer and Lady Starmer for welcoming us to this very special home, this beautiful place. The ties between our countries are priceless and it's really an inheritance, beautiful inheritance. Today we're making those ties closer than ever before. We've and some things that financially are great for both countries and we work together and it keeps us together. And I think it's an unbreakable bond we have. Regardless of what we're doing today. I think it's unbreakable. But this is very big. And I want to thank all of the incredibly talented business leaders, the best in the world, biggest in the world here this afternoon for investing in the Anglo American alliance and you.

[Katie Kramer]

Personify. Next on Squawk pod, hedge fund billionaire David.

[Joe Kernan]

Tepper. The Tepper Tantrum. There was a time where you said buy everything because of qe, of qe. And they were unbelievable calls. So that's who you.

[Katie Kramer]

Are. One year ago, he joined us with a massive call to go all in investing in China. He said buy everything. So where does he stand now in the market around the world and.

[Mike Santoli]

Here in the US we're having a really good year and I'm so miserable for having a really good year because I still own the market and I can't stand that I own the market. Martha listens to her favorite band all the time in the car, gym, even sleeping. So when they finally went on tour, Martha bundled her flight and hotel on Expedia to see them live. She Saved so much she got a seat close enough to actually see and hear them. Sort of. You were made to scream from the front row. We were made to quietly save you. More Expedia made to travel. Savings vary and subject to availability. Flight inclusive packages are atoll.

[Joe Kernan]

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Attributes. Your business loan may be issued by Ondeck or Celtic Bank On Deck does not lend to North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval. It's all good stuff. It's like, it's like the squawk pod. It says it's the best of squawk pod. It's like could be three hours because it's all good. You know who's here? Someone who never comes in.

[Mike Santoli]

Studio.

[Joe Kernan]

Tepper. We're now joined here at the table to discuss a lot of things. Fed decision markets and more. David Tepper, founder and president of Appaloosa Management. He's also the owner of the Carolina Panthers. I got to give some background on you. When one of the great investors of all time, we both know him, what he did like 30% for 30 years. I don't know exactly what, but he said you're the guy now that that has the big intestines to take the big bets and he admires you for taking huge swings and it's paid off. You were at our 30 year anniversary. You were not at.

[Mike Santoli]

That. No, I wasn't at your 30. That's why I decided to pop in today because I wasn't at your 30th.

[Joe Kernan]

Anniversary. So you felt.

[Mike Santoli]

Bad. I felt a little.

[Joe Kernan]

Bad. The reason I brought it up is because in the tape that we ran, some of your big moments on the show were highlighted. The Tepper tantrum. There was a time where you said buy everything because of qe. Of qe. And they were unbelievable calls. So that's who you are. I just want to let everybody know. It's great to have you.

[Mike Santoli]

On. Thanks for.

[Joe Kernan]

Joining. Have you been killing it the last couple years? It's been so long since you've been on. Would you say you have been able to repeat your great success again and again and again? You've been killing it.

[Mike Santoli]

First. I do want to Congratulate you guys on 30 years. And Mike's here instead of Andrew. He looks like kind of like a buffed Andrew. So make like that Becky's not.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Here. So, you know, it's actually my social media.

[Joe Kernan]

Handle. You look nothing like. You look nothing like.

[Mike Santoli]

Her. Yeah, no, I look nothing like. No, you.

[Joe Kernan]

Don'T. A wig wouldn't help if nothing would.

[Mike Santoli]

Help. Nothing would help and nothing would help. Yeah, I mean we're having a pretty good year. I mean I actually was here last year, I guess, you know, talking about.

[Joe Kernan]

China. China.

[Mike Santoli]

Thing. Yeah. Which turned out to be half.

[Joe Kernan]

Decently good at the beginning and then maybe not so good later. Right. But who knows how long we're up big.

[Mike Santoli]

Now. We're pretty well. I mean it worked kind of. Yeah, it's been big. I mean like Alibaba is up a lot. So it worked pretty well. So I mean we're having a pretty good.

[Joe Kernan]

Year. Where are we? And it's a good day for you. Why did you want to come in.

[Mike Santoli]

Today? Because I just came in because.

[Joe Kernan]

I felt bad about.

[Mike Santoli]

Missing. I'm in New York, the whole city. And I felt bad about missing your 30th.

[Joe Kernan]

Anniversary.

[Mike Santoli]

Okay. Which is a big.

[Joe Kernan]

Deal. But it is a fed. The Fed cut yesterday first at the beginning of it. I noticed that you were watching this morning watch Frank Holland talk about did. Is it the beginning of an easing.

[Mike Santoli]

Cycle? Well, look, I mean they eased yesterday and you know, I think the market knows there's another ease coming. Could be two more east coming. That's what. What's in. I don't know what's in there this morning. But you know, and you're. You're easing at least those eases are into a. As you just saw numbers out. Not in a bad economy. And look, I don't know how long that lasts. And we're not at, you know, we're not at cheap levels in this market. On the other hand, you know, when they used after long term capital and then they used to get into Y2K, I mean we weren't in a bad economy that and the market was. Went a little bit nuts. I'm not saying the market's going to be nuts now but. And by the way the other side of that was a disaster. Okay So I mean, you know, I don't think another ease matters. You know, as far as being too easy, this is going to be a little bit restrictive. I don't know if they do too. Beyond that, it's going to be a little tricky. I think because you've got to be careful not to make things too hot to have the other side of the mountain, which was really frustrating, fricking ugly, you know, in 2000, 2001, et.

[Joe Kernan]

Cetera. You haven't been on since Trump got elected for.

[Mike Santoli]

This. That's not true. I was on last year talking about.

[Joe Kernan]

China. Was that after Trump got.

[Mike Santoli]

Elected? That was his last.

[Joe Kernan]

Year. Last.

[Mike Santoli]

Year. Was it last year after Trump? I can't remember when he got elected. It might have been before Trump got elected.

[Joe Kernan]

Actually. Yeah. I don't think you, you haven't talked about tariffs, industrial policy, the big beautiful bill. Do any of, any of those go into your calculus for what you.

[Mike Santoli]

Do? Look, I'm not like a lot of, you know, classically trained honors and economics and college economists. I don't love terrorists. On the other hand, I don't think 10% terrorists, at least at that level, make a.

[Joe Kernan]

Difference.

[Mike Santoli]

Okay. And there's something to be said for having a little bit of, you know, in the, in the, in an AI sort of world where you may have, you know, a little less employment, have little protection, or having people protecting people here. And the same thing with immigration policy. You could argue that if you, if you do have eventual layoffs because of AI. So I can, I can be fine with it. I don't love the, the 25% or the 50% tariffs. I think they're a little bit destructive, but quite frankly, you know, 5 or 10%, you know, which are a little bit higher. I understand that. You know, I don't think it really makes a difference and it may be kind of constructive. Where we are right now, you.

[Joe Kernan]

Think it's a slippery slope to some type of state sponsored industry by taking a stake in intel and having Nvidia, you know, pay royalties on stuff we let them sell to China or any of those things bother you or I.

[Mike Santoli]

Don'T love it when it comes from. And either do you because you've made comments in the past when it comes from Democrats and I don't love it when it comes from.

[Joe Kernan]

Republicans.

[Mike Santoli]

Right. I mean, does it matter if it's not done widespread again? No. So it's, you know, to be consistent about it, I don't love it on either side when it happens because you take away from the natural kind.

[Joe Kernan]

Of, you know, process does a great American economy and it's the greatest ever in the world, does that and AI. Do those two things just sum up why you. I'm not going to put words in your mouth, but are you, are you excited about the stock market for, for the next couple of.

[Mike Santoli]

Years. I'm look excited. I'm not like, you know, there was a phrase I used, you know, about. I guess it was. You said it was a term used in the Navy balls to the walls in.

[Joe Kernan]

2010. It's actually fine to use that because it's a throttle. It has nothing to do.

[Mike Santoli]

With. I know. So we decided was you said that word. Who told you to say that word is a medical term.

[Joe Kernan]

Anyway. So it's a medical term.

[Mike Santoli]

Anyways. No, look, I'm constructed because of the easing right now, but I'm also miserable because of the levels. Does that make sense? So, so is it just seven.

[Joe Kernan]

Stocks though and everything else is.

[Mike Santoli]

Cheap? What's.

[Joe Kernan]

That? Is it just seven stocks and everything else is cheap when they do these.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Weighted. It's not though. I mean everything's cheap anymore. The other 470, 493 or 20.

[Joe Kernan]

Times. They're 20.

[Mike Santoli]

Times. Maybe a little lower than that. But they're not, they're not cheap by, by historical standards. Now they're cheap pockets. I mean if we do get rates lower, some of the housing related stocks are maybe cheap, but they're not showing up in earnings right now because they've had tough quarters and they're still having tough quarters. So depending where the 10 year goes and you know, where mortgage rates go, you know, they could be interesting. But then again, if it just continues on the same way, they may not be.

[Joe Kernan]

Interested. So you're not here to pass something down from on high that it's time to.

[Mike Santoli]

Just. I am here because I just want to congratulate you and Becky and.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Andrew. You guys have to have like a big party every year and have come.

[Mike Santoli]

In. I know that won't come every.

[Joe Kernan]

Year. I know you don't. I can't remember the last time you're in studio either. I mean this.

[Mike Santoli]

Is. I was in a studio last.

[Joe Kernan]

Time. All.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Right. Joe's been joking about. Okay, not really joking, but 3%, a new target, right? The Fed, the average CPI for 30 years back. I mean it's like 29 or something like that. Like in other words, 2% is not magic. The market, the stock market seems to be kind of OK where we are if the bond market's not going to rebel against it. So how do we, how do we.

[Mike Santoli]

Think. My view has been that one easing or two easings or even three easings just are not. Just don't matter. Yeah, don't matter because we're still in a little restrictive territory. With looks like, you know, a little bit too high inflation even without the tariff induced inflation. So they should be a little bit restrictive beyond that. I think it can, you know, then you're really risking a lot of things, a weaker dollar, more inflation and those sort of things. So we, you know, I, and I don't. It doesn't matter what happens. If you really want to play with mortgage just a little bit, you know, the Wall Street Journal had a thing at what Pimco said about, you know, not reducing the balance sheet with mortgages. Right. That may be something you do. But to go too much more on interest rates, depending what happens with the economy, you know, is it gets into the danger territory right now to go another 25 basis points or another 50 basis points, does it really matter? You know, one way or another, it probably keeps the stock market a little buoyant. You know, you have to be careful because we're like you said, where the average stock isn't cheap, the big stocks are not cheap. I mean, so you don't have cheapness here, but you do have a constructive, you know, like, you know, I'm not fighting the Fed, I'm not going to do that, at least in the near term. And then it's what happens on the.

[Joe Kernan]

Flip.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Right. Presumably though, the composition of the Fed is going to get more dovish push in the next several.

[Joe Kernan]

Months.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Right. I mean, so therefore maybe they're going to push it more than just a couple of little, a couple of.

[Mike Santoli]

Eases. You know, it's an interesting thing when you say that because just what we're talking about here, if you push it, are you pushing the things you want to push? And the things you really want to push is, you know, probably the housing market and you know, the pent up demand there. So that can be counterproductive. So I don't think at the end of the day that, you know, you do have people like Besson in there and I think they understand that and they also understand that, you know, like the same thing I just said, the 25 to 50 to 75, you know, maybe if you go that far, does it really make that much difference? Okay, so. But if you push it too far, well, you know, at that point, you know, the old Joe would be going nuts. Okay. I mean, you know, at that point it just doesn't make a lot of economic sense. And you can't. A long time ago, when I was a young man, when I was 30, I thought I can control individual markets, I can't control anything. And either can either can the Fed or either can people there. So you can push it so far but you can't push it beyond that. And I think hopefully they understand.

[Joe Kernan]

That. So anyways, update us on China. There's not a day doesn't go by when we don't say the way the President said China. But update on your call on have we replaced security concerns with economic concerns? Is that the right thing to do? Do you have long term worries as an American about.

[Mike Santoli]

About. Well, I do. I mean listen, I always, it's what keeps my position from being too large because of worried about different things that can be there. On the other hand, look you, you do have the same AI drivers there. You've had some movement in that market because people are realizing you have the same sort of things with AI there. And you know, some of the stocks like Baba and I guess Baidu yesterday, you know, with also making chips now and they've been pushing it so they're doing it right and not maybe they're like the H20 Nvidia chip or something like that, you know that quality. So I mean I think the move has been good and the earnings unlike here are still relatively low. I mean, you know, you're talking, you know, low teens versus where we are. So it's like that. So I understand. You know, it's not like it was, it was ridiculous when you know last year, year it was single digits. So you're not a single digits now but you're, you know, you're not given what the growth rate is in multiples, you're still relatively interesting levels if, if you didn't have those other concerns, certainly. So yeah, I don't, I think.

[Joe Kernan]

That. Have you been, have you been holding in video all the.

[Mike Santoli]

Way? I've, I've, I haven't held it all the way. I do own Nvidia, but I go back and forth and back and forth a little bit because I do, you know, I will trade a little bit. We've always had some Nvidia position but not the same size. So anyways, the market seems to.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Want to look for the, you know, the next highly torqued play to the same.

[Joe Kernan]

Trends.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Right. I mean you had Broadcom gets its run, Oracle gets its run. Is there enough to go around do you think, for, for everybody that's.

[Mike Santoli]

Now looking, like I said before, for, if you didn't believe you had the other China issues you had now the Chinese can do whatever they want with their own stock market. That would be, that would be the one that you already Had a big move. Right, okay. But you know, on an earnings basis, which referred to before, you can make an argument that you still have a lot more there. But it's not easy for. It's easy for a small investment. It's not big to have too much your book there because of the concerns you.

[Joe Kernan]

Raise. Are you boning up on. Is that going to be part of your investment thesis in the.

[Mike Santoli]

Future? Well, we have, we have a.

[Joe Kernan]

Big. Is there any way not to.

[Mike Santoli]

Be? No, I mean if you look at, if you look at our 13F filings, I mean we're big in the energy names there. We were pretty early there. You know, we do own Nvidia, we own some of the.

[Joe Kernan]

Other. Why do we have to look at your filings? Can't you just tell us what's that? Why do we have to look into your 13F filings? Can't you just tell us. Is it going to kill.

[Mike Santoli]

You? I can tell you what's in the 13F.

[Joe Kernan]

Filings. Why can't you just tell us what's there instead of, of what's in.

[Mike Santoli]

The. I can. I mean we own the energy names like, I'm not saying they're good right now or bad right now, but we own VSD and.

[Joe Kernan]

Nrg. What is good right.

[Mike Santoli]

Now? It's a tough market, like I said, because of the valuations for us. You know, on the other hand, we own, we own these stocks because they're moving because of the Fed and we lived. You lived. How old are you?

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I'm. I lived.

[Mike Santoli]

It. You lived in the bubble.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

90S? Yeah, I'm just about.

[Joe Kernan]

50. You didn't see Neil.

[Mike Santoli]

Armstrong? I don't, yeah, I'm sorry. He did not see no Armstrong. So, you know, we do have those stocks and we do, obviously we're, we're well known to being inch on and that's. If you really were, look that our easing is a big deal for them because it gives them more room to ease. So that would be the other reason our easing is their easing. So that makes it pretty interesting from that perspective. So. But you have moved a lot there. But you could make the argument that if you were going to look at one thing that classically.

[Joe Kernan]

Cheap.

[Mike Santoli]

Sure. But there's, listen, there's a lot of hair out there, you know, as it goes up from eight times to 13 times, it becomes.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Harder. And at some point, I mean we've had these cycles in the past where all of a sudden the word goes out, we don't like people getting too rich. You know, domestic investors.

[Mike Santoli]

And. Well, that's the, that's the problem there. Right. So there's a little bit of a different sort of issue there. So there's nothing, Look, I, I, we're having a really good year and I'm so miserable for having a really good year because I still own the market and I can't stand that I own the market. You understand what I'm saying? I don't love the multiples, but how do I not earning own it with an easy, you know, I'm not ever fighting this Fed, especially when the market's telling me I don't know what it is today, but one and three quarter more cuts, you know, before the end of the year. So that's, that's a of ton tough thing not to own. But you are at these, you pointed out the.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Average. Well, and when people go down the list of, you know, reasons that this kind of valuation gets supported, one of the things they'll say is credit spreads are incredibly.

[Joe Kernan]

Tight.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Right. In other words, there's no macro signal that you should be worried about there. But on the other hand, that means there's not a lot of cushion, I imagine, in.

[Mike Santoli]

Credit. Yeah, no, I mean, if you, I mean, I'm an old credit, I know, but yeah, I, I mean they're very tight and there's, there's some, there's the private credit right now that probably results in that. You know, I'm not, I don't own.

[Joe Kernan]

It.

[Mike Santoli]

Right. I can't own it. I can own, you know, I own the market a little bit. Listen, if I, you know, I don't know, you know, we had a big run because we have had such savings because of COVID savings. If you want to make a bull case on China still, their excess savings are still humongous because they haven't spent it, they haven't invested it. I mean they're huge. I mean we looked at the other day, I don't know if it's true or not, like $7 trillion excess saving versus a normal trend over there. So this is on the other hand again, the markets move so much. You know what? I have nothing. I can't just say I have anything. There's no other side to an investment right now. I can tell you why. It may be cheap, but look where it went. Or in the other case, look where we are. And then on the other hand, how do you not stay around for some of this party? I don't have to be as big, but you got to stay for some of the Party because the punch bowl is still there. They haven't taken it away yet. But when they take it away, that's what gets tough.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

For. They don't always give much.

[Mike Santoli]

Warning. Yeah, listen, if I had a small fund and I can flip it, you have a larger fund, it's hard to move, you know, so that's, that's the challenge for, you know, guys that are a little bit larger in size. How do you position. You can't be that big because you can't get out, you know. And listen, having lived through that, the other side of the 98, 99, early 2000 game, you can't get out, you know, at least if you're big, you know, so it's really, you know, so that's a little bit tricky right now, I think. But look, they're still going to use again, I think.

[Joe Kernan]

Right?

[Mike Santoli]

Yeah. And so there you.

[Joe Kernan]

Are. Do you ever look out more than like one or two years? I mean, do you worry about 38 trillion in debt? You worry about political divide, you worry about.

[Mike Santoli]

That? I'm an American, of course I worry about that.

[Joe Kernan]

Stuff. In terms of your investments, do you worry about, do taxes need to go up? Does spending need to come down? Can we grow our way out of this? Do we have the right policies to grow our way out of this? Do you think of any of.

[Mike Santoli]

These? Of course. I mean, look, the one thing about the tariffs, if they do help some of the deficit, that was passed by the beautiful bill. So you kind of need it to balance things out a little bit and they don't really score it. So but it's, you know, you kind of need that in there. So I do worry about those things. I don't love. You know, nobody does the divisiveness here. You know, I'm, I'm a middle. Look, I've been a middle of the road sort of guy forever and you know, people will say, people on the right will say, well, he's, he's, yeah, it's a.

[Joe Kernan]

Liberal. I think you're people, I think you're.

[Mike Santoli]

Left. Yeah, People who are liberal say I'm a.

[Joe Kernan]

Conservative. Nobody says that. Well, they look.

[Mike Santoli]

Nobody. So they look who I've supported in the past, you know, so. But I'm not, I'm neither. Okay. I'm an American. All right, so anyways, you're a great American.

[Joe Kernan]

Then. Thanks.

[Mike Santoli]

For. Happy 30th anniversary.

[Joe Kernan]

Again. Thank.

[Mike Santoli]

You. That was the main reason to stopping by and.

[Joe Kernan]

Entered. It's been a year, it's been here enough time. It's been since September 26th. And I think most of the things that you were talking about are up either they're 40, 45, 46%. So all the averages in China, maybe we're talking about. Yeah.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Maybe. When are you so miserable for being in the.

[Mike Santoli]

Market? You know.

[Joe Kernan]

What? It's. He is kind of. There are times you're a little bit troubled about things, are you not? Are you ever really happy? I mean, you own the Panthers. You can't be that.

[Mike Santoli]

Happy. Well, you know, I also own a team, an MLS team. You know this. I own a Major League Soccer team. And we actually set the all time longest winning streak record for that league. We tied.

[Joe Kernan]

It. You.

[Mike Santoli]

Did. Last week. And we're going.

[Joe Kernan]

To. What do you call the.

[Mike Santoli]

Streak? The Charlotte.

[Joe Kernan]

Fc. So what do you call football? Both.

[Mike Santoli]

Football. Football and.

[Joe Kernan]

Football. Football. All.

[Mike Santoli]

Right. See you.

[Joe Kernan]

Later. Hey, congrats. Thank you. Don't just move your chair. We're going to break. Okay. I'm going to walk in front of the.

[Katie Kramer]

Camera. That is Squawk Pod for today. Thanks for listening. Squawk Box is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky Kwek and Andrew Ross Sorkin most days. Tune in weekday mornings on CNBC at 6 Eastern to get the smartest takes and analysis from our TV show the Best of It, really right into your ears. Please follow Squawkpod wherever you like to get your podcasts and check out our show notes for links to further details on the stories we cover on the podcast and also we include timing guides for all of our guests. So you know just where to go in any given episode to find the spirit start of interviews. Check it out. We'll meet you right back here.

[Mike Santoli]

Tomorrow. We are clear. Thanks.

[Katie Kramer]

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