The Hantavirus Risk with Dr. Scott Gottlieb 5/11/26

Summary

Squawk Pod: "The Hantavirus Risk" with Dr. Scott Gottlieb (May 11, 2026)

CNBC’s Squawk Pod | Hosted by Joe Kernen, Becky Quick, Andrew Ross Sorkin | Guest: Dr. Scott Gottlieb
Date: May 11, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode focuses on three main themes:

• The Hantavirus Outbreak: Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb unpacks the risks and containment prospects after Hantavirus cases arrive in the U.S. via a cruise ship.
• Geopolitics and Markets: Market reaction to the ongoing war in Iran, President Trump’s diplomacy attempts, and how China fits into global negotiations.
• AI, Markets, and the Economy: Ed Yardeni discusses why stock markets are reaching record highs amidst global uncertainty, driven by AI and economic productivity.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Hantavirus Outbreak: What We Know So Far

Segment Start: 35:10

Origins and Status of the Outbreak

• 17 Americans and a British passenger have been evacuated to Nebraska after Hantavirus exposure on a Canary Islands cruise ship.
• A French passenger developed symptoms during a flight home ([36:02]).

Nature of the Disease and Containment

• Dr. Gottlieb reassures that, so far, all U.S. cases are from the ship, still within the incubation period—lasting up to 6 weeks post-exposure ([36:02]-[36:34]).
• Risk of Spread: "What we haven’t seen yet is forward spread—people from that cruise ship infecting others who weren’t on the ship." ([36:34], Gottlieb)
• On broader containment: “Net net, this is going to be something that public health officials can contain. They’re keeping an eye on all the people who are exposed to it...” ([36:34]-[37:18], Gottlieb)

Why This Outbreak is Alarming

• Incubation period: Up to six weeks; asymptomatic infected persons may still spread the virus ([37:18]-[37:34]).
• High mortality: 40–50% fatality rate. “The progression from symptoms to severe disease is very short.” ([37:34]-[38:27], Gottlieb)

Transmission and Treatment

• Primarily requires close contact; not generally airborne, but outlier cases exist where greater spread occurred ([38:27]-[38:49], Gottlieb).
• It can affect healthy individuals—leads to ‘cytokine storm’ and lung inflammation ([38:55]-[39:33]).
• Best care treatments include advanced supportive care, such as ECMO ([39:36]-[39:42]).
• No clear evidence for a vaccine approach, but therapies targeting cytokine storms may help ([41:43]-[42:36]).

Notable Quote

“Net net, this is going to be something that public health officials can contain. They’re keeping an eye on all the people who are exposed to it.” — Dr. Scott Gottlieb ([36:34])

---

2. Market Resilience Amid Global Tension

Segment Start: 2:12; Deep Dive from 18:39 onward

Record Highs Despite War and Energy Shocks

• Markets, including the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, hit record highs even as oil prices surge due to Middle East conflict ([2:40]-[3:16]).
• Brent at $103, WTI at $97 per barrel ([4:24]).

Ed Yardeni’s Bullish Take

• “I think the big story is productivity. And I’ve been talking about this being the roaring 2020s…tremendous technological innovation that led to enormous productivity.” ([1:31]; [23:01], Yardeni)
• Upgrades his S&P 500 target to 8,250 ([19:41], Yardeni).
• Attributes market strength to robust earnings, resilient consumer spending, and broad corporate profitability despite geopolitical shocks ([19:41]-[21:19]).

AI’s Role in the Economy

• Both productivity and job creation attributed to AI, debunking doomsday predictions of job loss—the example of radiologists and AI in medicine ([24:01]-[25:51]).
• “AI, on a net balance, is going to be creating jobs.” ([23:57], Yardeni)
• The labor market is adjusting, with equilibrium between supply and demand, hence no wage-price spiral despite rising costs ([24:40]-[26:25]).

Notable Exchange

“We’ve done remarkably well despite Washington.” — Ed Yardeni ([21:42])
“Maybe that’s the half-empty view of AI…people are just happy to have their jobs.” — Andrew Ross Sorkin ([23:48])

---

3. Geopolitical Flashpoints: Iran, China, and Energy Markets

Segment Start: 4:24 (Dan Murphy from Abu Dhabi)

Middle East Tensions

• President Trump rejected Iran’s counteroffer to end the war, leading to continued energy market volatility.
• Tehran demands war reparations, end to Israeli strikes, and control over the Strait of Hormuz—a nonstarter for the U.S. ([4:50]-[6:59])

China’s Influence

• President Trump landing in China to press President Xi on cutting Iranian oil purchases and leveraging Beijing’s influence to achieve nuclear concessions.
• “All eyes are going to be on exactly what Xi does and, of course, how Trump responds over the coming days.” — Dan Murphy ([8:12])

U.S.-China Business Ties

• Major CEOs (Boeing, Citigroup, Visa) joining Trump in China, seeking business agreements amidst geopolitical focus. Trade and business remain a top agenda despite Taiwan tensions ([13:10]-[16:01], Eunice Yoon).

---

4. FDA Turmoil and Vaping Policy

Segment Start: 39:44

Rumors of FDA Commissioner Firing

• Reports that President Trump planned to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, allegedly over controversial medical approvals, are denied for now ([8:53]; [39:44]-[41:04]).
• Dr. Gottlieb assesses that leadership instability at FDA is having negative ripple effects: “...he has run into obstacles because there’s been weak leadership in some of those medical product centers who've made bad decisions.” ([41:04], Gottlieb)

Gottlieb on FDA Policy & Succession

• Potential interim leadership mentioned, but Gottlieb stresses it’s “not the right time” for him to return to government ([45:39]).

Flavored Vapes

• New enforcement policy will allow hundreds of flavored vaping and nicotine pouch products to launch, bypassing full FDA review—criticized for lacking age verification safeguards ([43:33]-[44:52], Gottlieb).

---

5. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the pandemic cycle ([11:22], Andrew Ross Sorkin):
  “We had a pandemic in 1919, something like that…a hundred years of scares—bird flu, SARS, MERS…It wasn’t until Covid that the full-fledged pandemic happened.”

• On AI assistants ([28:09], Andrew Ross Sorkin):
  “No, I switched from Gemini to my man Claude. Oh, my God. … I’m scared at how great, what a cool guy Claude is and how quickly he picks things up.”

• Commencement Inspiration ([29:16]-[30:35], Andrew Ross Sorkin’s speech):
  “The world is going to reward whatever you are quietly trying to prove. And I promise you, it will reward it handsomely…But success and happiness, they are not the same project…At the top of one of those mountains…put down the binoculars…sit down on the summit, just for a little while and take in the view.”

---

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Intro & headlines: [1:00]-[2:12]
• Markets & record highs: [2:12]-[4:50]
• War in Iran and oil prices: [4:24]-[8:12]
• U.S. gas prices & FDA leadership rumors: [8:12]-[9:37]
• Hantavirus outbreak details, cruise ship, U.S. health response: [9:37]-[13:10]
• China trip & business focus: [13:10]-[16:01]
• Ed Yardeni on markets, productivity, AI: [18:39]-[28:08]
• Andrew Ross Sorkin’s AI assistant “Claude” chat: [28:09]-[28:47]
• Marquee motivational speech excerpt: [29:16]-[30:35]
• Dr. Gottlieb on Hantavirus and FDA matters: [35:10]-[43:14]
• Dr. Gottlieb on flavored vapes & FDA policy: [43:14]-[44:52]

---

Conclusion

This episode of Squawk Pod blends timely analysis of a new infectious disease threat with big-picture insights on market performance, artificial intelligence, and global politics. While the risk of a widespread Hantavirus outbreak is being managed, the hosts and experts emphasize both preparedness and perspective—in markets, health, and life. Listeners are left with actionable intelligence on economic resilience and a dose of balanced pragmatism amid headline risks.

---

Transcript

[Everpure Narrator]

Your data lives everywhere on prem in the cloud across apps. Bring it all together with Everpure, the platform that acts like a living system, delivering the latest in data, performance, security and innovation without ever slowing you down. Sophisticated enough to anticipate your ever changing data needs, yet simple enough to feel like second nature. Tame your data chaos with Everpure and make storage and data management the simplest part of your business. Visit everpuredata.com to learn more.

[Keith Lansford]

This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information packed daily market Preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and [e-mail] Market Update podcast or find Schwab Market Update. Wherever you get your podcasts, bring in show music please.

[Katie Kramer]

Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk Pod. Hantavirus patients have arrived in the United States. Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb explains how it's passed forward and how worried we should be.

[Scott Gottlieb]

Net net this is gonna be something that public health officials can't contain. They're keeping an eye on all the people who are exposed to it.

[Katie Kramer]

Markets hitting record highs despite stress from the war in Iran. Ed Yardeni says he's been bullish, but not bullish enough.

[Ed Yardeni]

I think the big story is productivity. And I've been talking about this being the roaring 2000s and the similarities with the 1920s is tremendous technological innovation that led to enormous productivity.

[Katie Kramer]

Plus, President Trump has rejected Iran's counteroffer to end the war. And CNBC's Eunice Yun on the ground in Beijing ahead of the president's visit with a number of CEOs in tow.

[Eunice Yoon]

The visit of tremendous symbolic significance.

[Katie Kramer]

It's Monday, May 11, 2026. Squawk Pod begins right now.

[Joe Kernan]

Stand Becky by in 3, 2, 1.

[Ed Yardeni]

Q please.

[Becky Quick]

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on cnbc. We are live from the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick along with Joe Kernan and Andrea Ross Sorkin. And Joe, welcome back.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Thank you. Yeah, should come back on a Tuesday.

[Becky Quick]

Mondays are rough, Particularly already rough.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

They're already rough. And then you. You know what, you guys did such a good job though on the S and P and related issues.

[Scott Gottlieb]

That worked hard.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Makes it a little 7,400.

[Becky Quick]

Yep. S&P 500. And the NASDAQ closing at new highs once again. Feels like a broken record saying this at this point on Friday, Dow's down, but only by about 1.8%.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

AI is powerful. I mean that's why intel is acting like a.

[Joe Kernan]

Well, you either believe that or you believe.

[Scott Gottlieb]

Right.

[Joe Kernan]

Yes, you have to believe that at this point.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

There's a lot.

[Becky Quick]

If you, if somebody were to tell you that 70 days ago, from 70 days ago, oil prices would go up more than 40%, where would you think the markets would go from that perspective? The NASDAQ's actually up the NASDAQ 1/ hundreds up by more than 17% over that period of time.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

The backwardation of the, of the, of the commodity explains that to some extent. We're thinking this is temporary.

[Becky Quick]

Temporary. Transitory, would you call it temperature temporary? Because I started to say temporary and

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

then I heard you say that's refugiate. That's good. Temporary. That should be a word. I like it.

[Becky Quick]

But would you, would you have guessed that that would be the case with oil prices up by more than 40%,

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

at least not unless there was more going on.

[Becky Quick]

And that's why the NASDAQ by 17%. The Dow's up by about 1.2%. You've got the S and P, that's up by about 8%. So it 10 again, the technology is

[Scott Gottlieb]

really where everything and rugs can be

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

pulled out, semiconductors at any time. We're always scared. Air pockets and things like that.

[Joe Kernan]

Everybody's worried.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But we have had a lot of people on here, you know, with 7,100, I won't mention any names, 7,000 price targets and we have support levels down at 56,100 on the S and P. That never happened. You know, everybody's going to be wrong from time to time, but, but sometimes they're just so wrong that it's like

[Becky Quick]

why even listen, we have certainly exceeded those expectations.

[Joe Kernan]

Meanwhile, President Trump dismissing Iran's counteroffer to end the war in the Middle east, would have thought that would have put more pressure on the markets this morning. It has not just yet. You do, you are seeing crude, by the way though, move higher. Brent right now 103 WTI crude at now at 97, both up about two and a half percent. CNBC's Dan Murphy is in Abu Dhabi this morning when we get the report from live on the ground. What's going on, Dan?

[Dan Murphy]

Andrew, good morning to you. Well, we have been tracking that return to the wartime risk premium with Brent crude back above $100 a barrel as you just mentioned. President Trump also calling Iran's response to the U.S. peace plan, quote, totally unacceptable. And that seems to be what's driving the market today. Of course, Tehran has also fired back today as well. A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said this morning that Iran's proposal was, quote, not excessive and that Washington continues to make unreasonable demands. Iran's president possession also adding on X and I quote here we will never bow our heads before the enemy in terms of what Tehran is asking for. Well, the situation hasn't really shifted. Tehran is demanding war reparations from the United States. They want an end to Israeli strikes on their proxies in Lebanon and full sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. As you know, that last demand, control of the world's most critical energy chokepoint is not something Washington or allies here in the Gulf are going to accept. Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu also speaking on 60 Minutes and said the war is not over with Iran yet to surrender its enriched uranium or dismantle a single enrichment site. And Israel, of course, also struck Beirut last week targeting Hezbollah commanders, which is going to make Iran's demand for an end to Lebanon strikes even harder to deliver in any deal. So now taking a step back, all eyes really on Beijing this week. President Trump landing in China for a two day summit with President Xi Jinping. Washington wants China to stop buying Iranian oil and to use its financial and political leverage over Tehran to force nuclear concessions. Remember, a fifth of China's own energy imports actually transit the straits. So every day it stays shut is a day that China pays the price to. The question is what is President Xi's appetite to help? And that remains to be seen at this point. So that's where we stand. From the Gulf this morning, all eyes are on what type of diplomatic off ramp might be emerging towards the end of the week as we see the leaders of the world's two largest superpowers coming face to face.

[Joe Kernan]

Well, that was my question to you. Just how much pressure do you think China can apply? How does that work? What do you think would ultimately be on the table? And how big a chess piece is that for China at this point?

[Dan Murphy]

Well, I think this is certainly a big point of leverage for China. We're now 10 weeks into this war. The Strait of Hormuz remains functionally closed. We're no closer to a diplomatic exit. Both sides also publicly accusing each other of bad faith. And you really do get the sense that President Xi may be able to use that to his advantage. Now, President Trump is unlikely to let that happen. Of course, he definitely wants to see this war come to a close. His preference, as he has said, would be for a diplomatic exit. But of course, how much influence Xi will actually use that he can that how much influence he can actually use over the Iranians at this point also is a big question mark. Who exactly she would exert that leverage over inside Iran is another key question. And ultimately where the war is heading. Of course, still relatively unknown at this point as well. So look, asset market still hanging in the balance and all eyes are going to be on exactly what she does and of course, how Trump responds over the coming days.

[Joe Kernan]

Okay, Dan. And Abu Dhabi, thank you.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

U.S. gasoline prices topping 450 a gallon. Triple A says the average price around the country now sits at $4.52. U.S. energy Secretary Chris Wright says that the government is open to temporarily suspending the federal gas tax.

[Chris Wright]

All measures that can be taken to lower the price at the pump and lower the prices for Americans. This administration is in support of. We are working every day to offset this rise in prices because of a critical conflict in Iran to drive prices down. And we're open to all such ideas.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

NAA reports US gas prices are up about 40 cents just over the past month. President Trump is reportedly planning to fire. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary reports First surface on Friday. Late that day, President Trump said he would not be bringing in someone new at this point to lead the fda. So we'll see. Makari has faced a series of controversies that drew criticism from allies of President Trump. One fight is over a rejection of a melanoma therapy. And shares of the company behind that drug jumped more than 20% on Friday following reports of Makary's possible firing. We're going to speak about all this with former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb.

[Joe Kernan]

Also going to talk with Dr. Gottlieb about this.

[Unknown Speaker (possibly a guest or contributor)]

Are we pronouncing hantavirus?

[Joe Kernan]

Hantavirus. What's the.

[Becky Quick]

I think it's hunter, but I have

[Joe Kernan]

heard it pronounced the right way to say this. One of the American passengers evacuated from the cruise ship that suffered this outbreak of the disease has tested positive, but it's not showing any symptoms. That info coming from US Health officials. French woman taken to Paris has also tested positive. Seventeen American passengers were flown to Nebraska where they're going to be evaluated to see if they're at risk of spreading the virus. Now, passengers began flying home aboard military and government planes yesterday after the cruise ship anchored in the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

It's pretty skeevy. How they got it. Some guy would run to some stupid landfill or something.

[Becky Quick]

He went bird watching at. At a landfill at the like end of the earth, basically.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Who visits landfills?

[Becky Quick]

Bird watchers.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I don't want to see any bird that, that badly.

[Joe Kernan]

I don't want to see these people now. Yeah, keep them in Nebraska for a while.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Let's talk.

[Becky Quick]

Yeah, well, I don't know why they ship them to Nebraska. Why don't they test them and before they let them and send them to all points.

[Joe Kernan]

I don't know. I don't know where they're going.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Gene Hackman. People thought I was dead. Turned out I was just in Nebraska. I thought I was too.

[Becky Quick]

Gene Hackman's wife died from. From hantavirus.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Is that true?

[Becky Quick]

Yes, she died from the hantavirus. That's what they found later.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

That's right. I forgot that was before.

[Becky Quick]

That's why I thought you brought up.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

That was before the hantavirus came back and.

[Becky Quick]

But that was not the one that.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I don't know.

[Becky Quick]

That's an Andean version.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

They're usually not human to human.

[Becky Quick]

Right. This is a very rare.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

So we got to see with Gottlieb about whether rare symptom of this because

[Becky Quick]

it's only from the Andes and that's where these bird watchers original page.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

So I don't know what. As we were talking on break, I mean we. When was the. We had a pandemic in 1919, something like that. So 100 years of scares, bird flu, SARS, MERS. I can't. I mean I listed them all at one point but there were at least 10 that we were really worried about. And it wasn't. It wasn't until Covid that the full fledged pandemic happened. So we have had. But that's not to say we need to discount this but it'll be good to know to get Scott's.

[Becky Quick]

Well, we'll talk to Scott about all of these things. I mean the interesting things on this is it's six to eight week incubation period. You may be. Be. You may be potentially contagious without showing.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I don't like the mortality.

[Becky Quick]

The mortality is scary. Up to 40%.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Is it only. Oh yeah. We had Ebola scares as well.

[Ed Yardeni]

Right.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But we were pretty darn good at designing software vaccines. Zika virus software type vaccines.

[Becky Quick]

We are in fact that's why shares of Moderna are up so sharply in the pre market after a 12% gain on Friday. The company had been flagging that it has been researching vaccines to protect against hantaviruses. It said that the research began before the recent outbreak on that cruise ship. Moderna characterized the efforts as early stage. But you can see that stock is up another seven and a quarter percent again after a gain of better than 12%. On Friday, President Trump set for a high stakes meeting with China's leader later this week. Eunice Yoon joins us right now with more from Beijing. And Eunice, we were just talking about the implications from the Middle east on all of this, but obviously that's not the only point of discussion this week.

[Eunice Yoon]

Yeah, that's right, Becky. We have learned the details of President Trump's visit after he arrives on Wednesday. A White House official had described his trip as a visit of tremendous symbolic significance. On Thursday, President Trump and President Xi are going to take part in a welcome ceremony as well as a bilateral meeting. They're going to visit the Temple of Heaven and then take part in a state banquet. On Friday, the two are going to have discussions over a bilateral tea and also have a working lunch. Now, the White House official had said that President Trump is expected to raise the issue of China's support for Iran. That's in terms of revenue for that China provides as well as the potential of weapon exports. The US treasury had on Friday announced sanctions on several companies, including those from China as well as Hong Kong, allegedly to have aided Iran with securing some weapons. The Chinese Foreign Ministry today reacted to that, saying that the US Sanctions over Iran are illegal and unilateral. Secretary Besant is in the region. He's meeting with the Japanese prime minister and is expected tomorrow to meet with the Chinese vice premier, who has been his counterpart in the discussions ahead of President Trump's trip here. Now, in terms of the business implications, a lot of there's obviously a lot of tension over Iran, but it looks as though the primary focus is business deals as well as trade issues. So far, CNBC has been able to secure with sources that Boeing CEO is going to arrive. The Citigroup CEO told CNBC that she's going to be here and the visa CEO also is expected to be here. According to sources, a lot of this is around purchases, Chinese purchases and for visas. In terms of visa, the expectation is that they would be able to secure a license to be able to expand in the country.

[Becky Quick]

Guys, you know, as we didn't even mention the potential of Taiwan in all of these talks too, where, where would the request be on that front? Where would be kind of the push that would come from China on that front?

[Eunice Yoon]

Right. The expectation is that on the Chinese side, they would be looking for either a softening of language when it comes to Taiwan. So instead getting the Americans to be able to agree that that independence, that the US Is outright opposed to independence, that's not necessarily something that the Americans would want to see. And also the expectation is that President Xi is going to push against any arms sales. There's a belief that there's going to be a very large package in the like around $14 billion or so to Taiwan. And so from the Chinese side, that's something that they don't want to see.

[Becky Quick]

Eunice, Yun Yunus will be talking to you all week, I imagine. Thank you very much.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

This is not a new strain. That's the thing. It's the Andy strain. The only reason it got because of

[Becky Quick]

the cruise ship, because a cruise ship is not easily.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

It's not like we did any gain of function research on a virus that couldn't go human to human and actually gave it that ability.

[Becky Quick]

No, this has been around for forever, but it's rarely.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

It's on a cruise ship which you.

[Becky Quick]

It's a big petri dish.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

This is another reason for you go on a cruise.

[Becky Quick]

This is what I almost sent you last week.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I know, because you get skeeved out on that. Well, when all the water, all the water is in the same system.

[Katie Kramer]

Coming up on Squawk Pod. The US Stock markets continue to hit record highs even as challenging global and political headlines stack up. Veteran Wall street watcher Ed Yardeni joins us next on the business of boom times.

[Ed Yardeni]

I've been doing this for a while and kind of one of the things I've learned over the years is we pay too much attention to Washington and sometimes we don't.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

In spite of Washington, not because of Washington.

[Ed Yardeni]

That's exactly it.

[Keith Lansford]

This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information packed daily market Preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and [e-mail] MarketUpdatePodcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts.

[Indeed Advertiser]

Hiring isn't just filling a role. It's about finding people who can drive results. Indeed, Sponsored Jobs helps you match with the right candidates faster. Target candidates by skills, certifications or location. Join the 3.3 million employers worldwide that use indeed to connect with quality talent that fits their needs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves. Indeed.com podcast, terms and conditions apply. Hiring do it the right way with Indeed.

[Capella University Advertiser]

There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. Stand still. Not a chance. You're a lifelong learner who's come this far. Now we are here to help you keep going further. Capella University, what can't you do? Visit Capella. Edu to learn more.

[Katie Kramer]

This is squawk pod from CNBC. Here's Joe Kernan.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Welcome back to SquawkBox. Joining us now, Ed Yardeni. YARDENI RESEARCH President, frequent guest we have, we've been through a lot together, Ed, and remember Liberation Day? I needled you and said you briefly lost your nerve.

[Ed Yardeni]

Briefly.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And then you went right back to where did you, what was your 2025 target?

[Ed Yardeni]

7,000.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And you had gone down briefly. And then it, and then it came back this time you didn't, you didn't wait, you didn't waver, you didn't flinch, which, you know, tariffs are one thing, attacking Iran and, and, well, you live

[Ed Yardeni]

and learn, I guess.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Yeah, but 100, 110 $, Brent, a lot of reasons to maybe not stand firm. But, but you did and I think you were at, were you at 7700 for 2026.

[Ed Yardeni]

Right.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And you stuck with that. Now, that was manly.

[Ed Yardeni]

Yeah.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Personally, I don't know. Am I allowed to say manly? Anyway, it was manly. Now where are you going?

[Ed Yardeni]

Well, Now I'm using 8250. I've been bullish, but not bullish enough, as it turns out. The earnings estimates of analysts have been phenomenal. I've never seen anything like it. The first quarter earnings season that we're finishing up now has turned out to be gangbusters. Not only that, but the analysts are actually raising their estimates for the second, third and fourth quarters and the year as a whole. They're talking about something like 23%, which is extraordinary increase in an economy that's been growing all along. But I think the key to all this is, and I've been saying this for some time, that don't underestimate the resilience of the economy, the resilience of the consumer. And if that continues to be the case, and the same goes for earnings,

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

in the past, things have happened where, you know, it wasn't the wrong move to underestimate the strength of the consumer or the economy or businesses. You haven't explained to me. You say, don't underestimate it. You haven't asked. Explain to me why. And you know what? I'm going to give you your answer. For you, it's A, B, C, D and E. It's E. It's all of the above. It's AI it's the big beautiful bill.

[Ed Yardeni]

It's the consumers. You know, know we've got a lot of retiring baby boomers and they're rich. They're rich. They're $89 trillion in net worth and a lot of them paid off their mortgages. They're, they're spending money.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Why are corporations doing so well?

[Ed Yardeni]

Well, corporations cash flows at an all time record high. Corporate profits at all time record high.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

You're not. Tell me why.

[Ed Yardeni]

I think it's because the US Economy is strong. And not only that, but the global economy is strong.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I still want reasons because it doesn't always. It's not always like that.

[Ed Yardeni]

Yeah. You know, I've been doing this for a while and kind of one of the things I've learned over the years is we pay too much attention to Washington and sometimes we don't. Really? Really.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Spite of Washington.

[Ed Yardeni]

That's exactly it. We've done remarkably well despite Washington. And I think the same thing can be said globally, more and more countries around the world that, you know, entrepreneurs, business people, consumers are just continuing to do what they want to do.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Washington doesn't kill it. If Washington, you're saying in spite of. So if they're not actually going out of their way to make it difficult for businesses, then the US Is going to flourish.

[Ed Yardeni]

Well, I think clearly we've got an administration that's deregulating, that's trying to stimulate the economy. I mean, the reality is under Biden, a lot of money was spent to build infrastructure in manufacturing for semiconductors. And now under the current administration, we're seeing the same kind of push to, you know, if nothing else, for national security reasons, to bring the supply chains back to the United States. So it's all extremely stimulative. We also have the big beautiful bill which is stimulative not just for the consumers with tax refunds, but also with 100% depreciation.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Right. 100%. When does input costs because of $110? Brent oil, let's say that goes on. Let's say it goes on for another six months.

[Ed Yardeni]

Well, I think one of the things that's different between now and what happened in 2022 when we had a big spike in inflation and a big spike in energy, is we're not seeing a wage price spiral. Wage Inflation really took off in 21:22. Remember, there's a big shortage of, of labor now. That's just not the case. And wage inflation's moderated quite a bit. I think the big story is productivity and I've been talking about this being the roaring 2020 and the similarities with the 1920s is tremendous technological innovation that led to enormous productivity. And productivity is fairy deaths. It makes everything better, it makes growth better, inflation lower, it's great for corporate profits and it's, it actually boosts wages relative to prices.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Maybe that's the half empty view of, of AI is that people are just happy to have their jobs. They're not asking, well, money.

[Ed Yardeni]

Yeah, I think AI and a net balance is going to be creating jobs.

[Keith Lansford]

Come on.

[Ed Yardeni]

Instead, instead of coders, we need prompters. I mean we need people to actually monitor these systems. You can't just kind of leave them on their own in this.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But at this point, even though we're steady at 4.3% unemployment, you're not seeing a lot of, of hiring and therefore you can people ask for raises.

[Ed Yardeni]

Right now I think there's already indications the labor market is improving. We've seen the past two employment numbers have been very strong.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Why no wage price spiral though? That's what your suppliers are.

[Ed Yardeni]

Again, I think a big difference is that the labor market is in equilibrium. Supply is equal to demand. So we're not seeing a lot of upward pressure or down or downward pressure.

[Joe Kernan]

Here's the question about jobs that I often think about. So the best example of, and we haven't, we haven't talked about this, Joe, since I haven't seen you in a week. The best example I think right now about AI creating jobs in an industry that people thought that was going to lose jobs is actually radiologists around mammograms. I don't know if you follow the story, but everybody thought that mammograms were going to be read by computers and radiologists were all going to lose their jobs.

[Ed Yardeni]

Correct.

[Joe Kernan]

AI has helped make mammograms so much cheaper. More women happily are getting mammograms as a result, they need more radiologists to actually look at this stuff and communicate back with the patient to explain what's going on. The question though that I have about that is, is that a short term blip right now until we get to a point where you could use less radiologists to either communicate it or get

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

the original communicated or what's going on.

[Unknown Speaker (possibly a guest or contributor)]

So in the moment I get it

[Joe Kernan]

and I go, oh, that's an interesting example because it's sort of completely antithetical to what people thought. But I don't know what that looks like long term.

[Ed Yardeni]

Well, you know what's really odd is everybody knows that coders, software programmers are losing jobs except for one anomaly here and that is if you look at indeed job posting for software programmers is going up. So maybe it's there's some software programmers that you don't need anymore and others that you do need. I think a lot of people are losing jobs. You're going to find them pretty rapidly. And, and we've seen in the latest employment report the duration of unemployment is going down. Continuing claims which we get every single week has been coming down.

[Becky Quick]

But Wheeler Richardson did say last week that the new jobs that are being added are not necessarily great jobs, that often they're part time jobs, often they pay less. It's smaller businesses that are hiring. They don't always come with all the benefits of the big companies jobs. And that was just what the last.

[Ed Yardeni]

Well, you know a lot of the job creation has been obviously in health care and health care is, you know, they pay pretty well there for various kinds of.

[Joe Kernan]

Rationally, don't you think to yourself that a company that's going to go spend, you name the number on a, you know, sort of redoing all their tech around. I think to themselves I'm only spending this money if I'm going to get it back plus plus or that I'm going to somehow save it in some other way. And therefore they have to be thinking

[Ed Yardeni]

that they think we've had a hiring freeze for really since the beginning of last year. And I think a lot of companies said, you know, what we have to figure out how to say works and what we can do with it. And so they looked all around their firms, which is a great way to increase your productivity is to actually see where this kind of technology might work. And what they found is that in some instances AI can be used augment productivity of workers so you don't have to get rid of workers. Some areas they did let go of workers but I think in other areas they've concluded, you know, AIR is not really relevant to what we're doing in this division. But again the labor market numbers themselves speak to the point that I'm making here. I don't know why that is, things

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

that are improving, why everyone's in such a bad mood about the economy. But thank you, thank you Ed. And I switched again.

[Joe Kernan]

What are you doing now?

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

No, I switched from Gemini to my man Claude.

[Joe Kernan]

Claude's your man now.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Oh, my God. Like head and shoulders. You're right. And the US government cannot just save the tape.

[Joe Kernan]

Say that again.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

You were right. Claude is. I mean, I don't do any fancy camera on him.

[Joe Kernan]

Say it again.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

No, but. Okay, but you were right back. I don't do any fancy stuff like you do. Like just in general. It's mind boggling. I mean, I'm scared. I'm scared at how great, what a cool guy Claude is and how quickly he picks things up. My daughter is the one who convinced me now.

[Joe Kernan]

Oh. So it wasn't really my doing, but

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I thought about you as I was just marveling at how much better it is. And I guess I'm a fanboy of Dario now. You have to be.

[Joe Kernan]

Yeah.

[Scott Gottlieb]

Do you not?

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But I use it in the lights dim in my house, so that must take a lot of.

[Joe Kernan]

A lot of power.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker (possibly a guest or contributor)]

So here's what I want to leave you with. Chips on shoulders do create chips in pockets.

[Joe Kernan]

My friend is right.

[Unknown Speaker (possibly a guest or contributor)]

The world is going to reward whatever you are quietly trying to prove. And I promise you it will reward it handsomely.

[Joe Kernan]

Use that.

[Unknown Speaker (possibly a guest or contributor)]

Let it carry you up the mountain. But success and happiness, they're not the same project. They use the same tools, they sometimes point in the same direction, but they are not the same thing. And the engine that builds one will not on its own, build the other. The most successful people I've ever met do not stop climbing. And that is a gift. But it is also a trap. So I'm not going to ask you not to climb. Every person in this room has already proven you know how to climb. I'm going to ask you to use it.

[Joe Kernan]

Well.

[Unknown Speaker (possibly a guest or contributor)]

Use it to get up the mountain. Use it to do the work that no one else will do. Use it to stay in the room with people that you think are smarter than you. Use it to call the Stuart Elliot in your life every day at lunch until he picks up. But somewhere along the way, at the top of one of those mountains, when the air is thin and the view is wide and you have a moment to yourself. Put down the binoculars. Stop scanning the horizon. Sit down on the summit, just for a little while and take in the view. Because this morning you are on top

[Joe Kernan]

of one of those mountains. So enjoy it.

[Becky Quick]

That was Andrew on Friday giving the commencement address at American University's Business school in Washington, D.C. he was awarded an honorary degree. And that's some pretty sage advice.

[Scott Gottlieb]

It was.

[Joe Kernan]

Let me just say to those students, it Was very cool to be with them. And the energy you get on a day like that. Look, I hardly. I can't even believe I was up there, frankly, because you think to yourself, you hardly graduated the first time. But it was really, really, really great to talk to them. And basically the message of what I was trying to say to them is, and I think it's true, we get to spend a lot of time with some of the most successful people who sort of shot the moon, if you will. And I was sort of arguing to them that a lot of that comes from a place, for better or worse, of insecurity. It's often driven by. I have a friend, Josh Wolf, who has this great phrase, chips on shoulders, great chips in pockets. And I think that's true in many ways, but you got to do it with some semblance of balance. And that was really the line about get out the binoculars when you get up there. Because most. I think a lot of the people that we know who get to the top, they just keep looking for the next. The next peak.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Pretty well written. Andrew. Was that. Is that you?

[Joe Kernan]

No, that was me. I happen to be a writer, you know.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I know. Oh, it's no AI involved with. See, if I do a commencement, I guarantee I'll have a good one. But it. I'm asking my man Claude.

[Becky Quick]

Claude.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I'm asking my buddy write one for me.

[Joe Kernan]

Thank you. Thank you for that vote of confidence.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

It was so good. That's why I said, wow, that sounded like cloth.

[Joe Kernan]

Have you read any of my books yet?

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I'm. I'm getting to them. I told you know my problem?

[Joe Kernan]

What's that?

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I have Netflix. I have net books.

[Joe Kernan]

Complicated.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Yeah, thanks.

[Becky Quick]

Congratulations, Andrew. It's really great to see.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

What's the honorary degree do I. Are you like Jill Biden? I gotta call you like Dr. Andrews?

[Joe Kernan]

I don't know about that.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Maybe you should just start calling me Doctor.

[Joe Kernan]

I don't think it's a doctor, but

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

maybe I'd like to play doctor with you. But I don't know if I'm gonna call. Okay.

[Joe Kernan]

I don't know. Now things have gone very, very peculiar.

[Katie Kramer]

Tease will be next still to come on squawk pod. Scott Gottlieb, the former FDA commissioner explains the risks of the concerning hantavirus. And he weighs in on the rumored potential departure of the sitting commissioner, Dr. Marty Makari.

[Scott Gottlieb]

He's done some good things at the agency. He got a lot of non synthetic food dyes approved. He also implemented or started to implement reforms to the phase one development process. But I think ultimately he has run into obstacles and the agency has run into obstacles because there's been weak leadership in some of those medical product centers who've made bad decisions.

[Fidelity Advertiser]

Introducing Fidelity Trader plus, the next generation of advanced trading from Fidelity. Customize your tools and charts and access them seamlessly across desktop, web and mobile for faster trades anywhere you go. Try the all new Fidelity Trader Plus. Learn more about our most powerful trading platform [e-mail] TraderPlus investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC Member NYSE SIPC

[Prolon Advertiser]

Struggling with your weight? Prolon's five Day Fasting Mimicking Diet is a clinically developed nutrition program designed to promote fat loss while protecting lean body mass. Developed at USC's Longevity Institute, it assists the body in entering a fasting like state that helps reset metabolism and target visceral fat when paired with proper diet and exercise. In just five days, Prolon offers a structured, science backed approach to weight loss without extreme restriction or guesswork. Get 15% off plus a $40 bonus gift when you [e-mail] Parents have you

[Mathnasium Advertiser]

heard your kids say I'm not a math kid? Well, with Mathnasium, every kid can be a math kid. They customize their math instructions so kids who are struggling are to catch up and get ahead. And advanced kids are challenged to reach higher. Mathnasium makes math fun, so kids learn to love it. Parents say that Mathnasium has not only improved their kids grades, it's given them a new level of confidence in math and in school overall. Visit mathnasium.com to find a location near you.

[Becky Quick]

Welcome back to Squawk, Pot up and Andrew Q.

[Joe Kernan]

You're watching Squawk Box right here on cnbc. I'm Andrew Ross Sorkin on this Monday morning along with Joe Kernan and Becky Quick.

[Becky Quick]

A blank airing 17Americans and a British passenger who resides in the US landing in Omaha earlier this morning after being evacuated from the cruise ship at the center of the hantavirus outbreak. Our next guest says that the risk of a wider outbreak is low. Joining us right now is former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who is also a CNBC contributor and serves on the boards of illumina, Pfizer and UnitedHealth. And Scott, thanks for coming in today.

[Scott Gottlieb]

Thanks a lot.

[Becky Quick]

I don't think we've talked about hantavirus at all on this show before this morning. We've been watching this cruise ship kind of keeping an eye on it. But now there's the point where they're bringing passengers back to the United States, back to other countries. In France overnight, a passenger there did develop symptoms on the plane on her way back. And I believe those conditions worsened in the hospital overnight. How do you look at this? How do you try and figure out what comes next?

[Scott Gottlieb]

Look, these cases probably are from the initial infection on that cruise ship. The last death on that cruise ship was May 2. That patient developed symptoms on April 28. So the people who are coming back are still within the incubation window. Probably they'll be in that window through mid May. So we're not out of the woods for the initial cases on that cruise ship. And it's possible that you're going to see more cases among the people who are brought off that cruise ship develop. And I think that's what we've seen overnight with these two. Two Americans not confirmed yet, but suspected cases among these two passengers. There could be others. What we haven't seen yet is forward spread people from that cruise ship infecting others who weren't on the ship. There were a couple circumstances where that might have happened, particularly the flight to Johannesburg from one of the patients who died shortly after disembarking from that flight. People on that flight probably are at risk. So they need to follow those people closely. They're doing that. Public health is doing that. We could see some forward spread. I think net, net. This is going to be something that public health officials can contain. They're keeping an eye on all the people who are exposed to it, certainly from the cruise ship and the secondary potential infection. So I don't think this is going to get out of control. But we could see some additional cases, particularly from the passengers who are disembarking.

[Becky Quick]

I think the two maybe scariest points on this are a, the six to eight week incubation period where you may not have any symptoms. We don't know what happens over that period of time. The second is the mortality rate. It's 40%, is that right?

[Scott Gottlieb]

40 to 50% case fatality rate. You know, the incubation period could last up to six weeks. Typically it's shorter than that. So I think if you're looking at people from that cruise ship who are exposed, you probably date it to mid May. That's going to be the peak period when they might contract symptoms. The typically what we believe about this particular strain is you're not infectious until you develop symptoms. There's some outlier cases based on past precedent where people did seem to be contagious even before they had symptoms. We also believe that it requires close contact. Again, there's some outlier cases historically from the outbreaks that we've had where people seem to have spread it over longer distances. So we need to have some humility here. There are these outlier cases, but the vast majority of cases look like they require close contact. It looks like you're not infectious until you develop symptoms. And the progression from symptoms to severe disease is very short. Respiratory droplets or no respiratory droplets.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Is that how you do. That's how.

[Scott Gottlieb]

It doesn't appear to be in most cases, airborne. I say most cases not airborne because if you look back at that 2020 New England Journal of Medicine article which documented one of the outbreaks in Argentina, there were some cases where it appeared to be spread over longer distances. Now that those are outlier cases. But we don't know what happens when this gets into a cruise like setting where there is. It's an easier environment.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

So 40% mortality for someone 80 or for someone 40?

[Scott Gottlieb]

Yeah, look, this. This does have a predilection for people who have underlying diseases like any other virus. But people who are otherwise healthy seem to succumb to the virus as well. It creates what we call a cytokine storm. So it's an overwhelming immune reaction from the virus that causes death, like what you see with. Like what you saw with SARS CoV2. In severe cases, there are drugs that could be potentially effective. They haven't been used before. I suspect they may try them in these settings, but it's not respiratory. It has trettlection for the lungs. It causes overwhelming inflammation in the lungs that leads to this overwhelming immune reaction. So it targets the microvasculature in the lungs.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

You wouldn't have intubators like we did, but.

[Scott Gottlieb]

Or what is people, typically people who become severely ill or treated with ecmo, which is a form of cardiopulmonary support.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I see.

[Becky Quick]

Scott, while you're here, let's talk about some other issues too. We've been talking this morning about Marty Makary, the head of the FDA at this point, and some reports last week and then over the weekend that the President was going to relieve him of his duties. The president himself did not go along with that on Friday in the Oval Office when he was answering some questions, said he'd heard about it, but was not anyone behind any on this. What do you hear? What do you know if anything?

[Scott Gottlieb]

Yeah, look, someone was putting that out to all the press on Friday and someone senior enough that the report is recovering. I don't think people would have put that into the press, multiple outlets, unless they had some substantiation. I don't know the latest status of what's going on at fda. There's been speculation about potential people who could act in that position. Look, Marty's a friend. I think he's done some admirable things in that role. I think the continued upheaval at that agency is having a detrimental effect. You know, from my perspective, part of the challenge that he faced was the people he put into positions. People like Vinay Prasad at Sieber. He put a political appointee in charge of the drug center. When I was there, I had the benefit of strong career leadership in those medical product centers who solved problems and were able to get things done. I think Marty has not had that benefit and he's had some stumbles as

[Becky Quick]

a result, has not had that benefit. Meaning these were political appointees with an agenda, not somebody who was just going to follow the science.

[Scott Gottlieb]

Basically, you know, look, he appointed them and I think again he's done some good things at the agency. He got a lot of non synthetic food dyes approved. He also implemented or started to implement reforms to the phase one development process. But I think ultimately he has run into obstacles and the agency has run into obstacles because there's been weak leadership in some of those medical product centers who've made bad decisions. One of them is now gone. Vinay Prasad, the Cedar center director is still someone who doesn't have prior experience in that role. And I think that that's been an obstacle inside the agency.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

So Moderna's up a lot. The stock, they're working on it. Why can't they just.

[Scott Gottlieb]

Yeah, look, I don't.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

They can't just make it quickly.

[Scott Gottlieb]

I will say I don't think a vaccine is the right approach to this because there's not going to be enough spread to support a vaccine.

[Joe Kernan]

There were because not enough money in it.

[Scott Gottlieb]

It's not, it's.

[Joe Kernan]

That's what we're always going back to, money.

[Scott Gottlieb]

You wouldn't, you wouldn't mass deploy a vaccine. Maybe you would use a vaccine to ring fence an outbreak in China. They actually have vaccines for this? They have, but they have a different strain. They have upwards of 10,000 cases a year, but it's a much different strain. I think what would be effective here is a therapeutic. So you could see companies like Lilly or Regeneron who developed antibodies against viruses in the past, perhaps being able to develop something here. I think there's also drugs on the market. That could intervene on that cytokine storm. We were talking about drugs like tocilizumab, which aren't used in this setting but potentially could be. So there are therapeutics that might be available, and I think the optimal circumstance would be if a company could develop an antibody that directly targets the vaccine, the virus that could be used as a therapeutic, not a vaccine.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Can we handle sepsis now? Remember how hard we tried to.

[Scott Gottlieb]

To find.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I remember cenergen and cytokine? Yeah.

[Scott Gottlieb]

It's not sepsis, it's cytokine storm. So it's no volume.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Sepsis can cause cytokine storm.

[Scott Gottlieb]

Right. So there are interventions to treat cytokine storms. So, for example, patients who receive CAR T therapy will sometimes develop a cytokine storm in that setting. They use anti IL6 drugs like tocilizumab to mitigate that. So could that be effective here? Typically, it's not used. ECMO is used supportive therapy. If patients get into good care settings, the survival rate's upwards of 80% at this Nebraska facility where they're being taken. They'll know how to handle this.

[Becky Quick]

Can we talk about flavored vapes? That's been another area that.

[Joe Kernan]

Flavored vapes.

[Becky Quick]

Yeah. Marty Makary's come under pressure for not doing it as quickly, Bringing these products to market as quickly as some of these vaping advocates would like. You're somebody who looked at that and said, wait a second, we should not be doing any of these things because it's marketed to kids.

[Scott Gottlieb]

Yeah. Look, the concern was the marketing, the kids and Juul at the time. These could be good products for currently addicted adult smokers to help them quit tobacco. It also could be good products for adults who want to get access to nicotine but don't want to consume the products of combustion. Because after all, the death and disease from tobacco comes from the products of combustion, not the nicotine itself. On Friday, they announced a policy of enforcement discretion that's going to allow all the vaping products and the nicotine pouches that are currently under review at FDA to come to market. That's going to be hundreds of new vaping products. This was announced late in the day Friday. I think it wasn't widely covered because people were chasing the story about Marty's potential departure. This is going to be very profound. You're going to see companies put dozens, individual companies put dozens of new vaping products onto the market as a result of this policy. I think the right thing, if there were applications sitting with the agency for a long time. So they needed to resolve that if they were going to use an enforcement discretion policy to allow those products to come to the market. While those applications, I think there should have been some governing principles, like they should have allowed products that had age verification on the devices, and there are some of those being developed, not allow the full panoply of products to come onto the market that haven't been reviewed by the agency. That's where we are right now. I think you're going to start to see these things show up at convenience stores and other kinds of places that sell tobacco products.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Do you ever go back, put your name up?

[Joe Kernan]

Have you been invited back?

[Scott Gottlieb]

Look, I think there are some good candidates for this job, potentially. They talk about Kyle Diamantes, who is the head of the Food center, who's done a good job. He's well respected in the agency, I think would go over, you know, very well there's a couple other people there who are. Grace Graham, who's been a longtime staffer on a Hill, knows FDA very well, is now deputy commissioner. So there are names that have been talked about in the press as potential acting commissioners and then they would need to initiate a search. Look, I hope Marty is able to persist in this job. He's a friend. I think he's done some good things. I think he understands the role better now. He's learned a lot since he's been in this position.

[Joe Kernan]

Maybe we should ask it more directly. If you get the call, would you do it?

[Scott Gottlieb]

Look, it's not the right time for me to go back into a government role. I would look to support them in any way I can.

[Joe Kernan]

Have you gotten the call?

[Scott Gottlieb]

Any discussion I had was early on this administration. Nothing. Nothing recent? No.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

This administrator, not the last. He's only been, what, 400 days or something?

[Scott Gottlieb]

Yeah, but president's been in office for almost two years now, right? So there was vetting done early on.

[Becky Quick]

Oh, since the election, right.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Time flies when you're having fun. Has it been two years?

[Scott Gottlieb]

I'm having fun.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Becky Quick]

Okay, Dr. Gottlieb, thank you.

[Scott Gottlieb]

Thanks a lot.

[Katie Kramer]

That's Squawk Pod for today. Thanks for listening. Squawkbox is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Don't they make a great team?

[Joe Kernan]

Just save the tape. Say that again.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

You were right.

[Katie Kramer]

Tune in weekday mornings on CNBC at 6 Eastern to get the smartest takes and analysis from our TV show right into your ears. Follow Squawkpod wherever you get your podcasts if you like what you hear. Or have suggestions, please leave us a rating or write a brief review on Apple Podcasts. We read them. We love to hear from you. That's it. Have a great Monday. We'll meet you right back here tomorrow.

[Ed Yardeni]

We are clear.

[Joe Kernan]

Thanks guys.

[Schwab Advertiser]

Trading at Schwab is powered by Ameritrade, giving you even more specialized support than ever before, like access to the trade desktop. Our team of passionate traders ready to tackle anything from the most complex trading questions to a simple strategy gut check. Need assistance? No problem. Get 24. 7 professional answers and live help. And access support by phone, email and in platform chat. That's how Schwab is here for you to help you trade brilliantly. Learn [e-mail] trading.