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A different future is closer than you think, with Capella University. Learn more at Capella.edu. Good Friday morning. Welcome to another hour here of Squawk on the Street. I'm Sarah Eisen with Mike Santoli this hour. We are live from post nine at the New York Stock Exchange. Carl and David at the morning off stops are rallying this morning and it's the usual suspects right on top. Look at the Nasdaq. It's up 1%. Why? NVIDIA, Amazon, Tesla, Microsoft, Broadcom, Alphabet. They're working again. Palantir, Apple, interestingly, is left out of that group today. But overall, trying to stage a rally after several days in a row, five days in a row for the S&P and the Nasdaq. Lower consumer discretionary utilities, communication services, energy health care, industrial, real estate all higher in today's trade. Take a look at Treasuries. Lower yields may be playing into a little bit of the good mood on Wall Street today. 4.57, so we're off that 4/6 level where we were in the previous few sessions, perhaps acting as a headwind for stocks. Although we are seeing a little bit of selling in the short end of the curve with the two-year elevated at 4.25. 30 minutes here into the trading session. Here are the movers we're watching. President Biden officially blocking the $14.9 billion takeover of U.S. Steel by Japan's Nipon Steel saying the deal would quote, "create risk for our national security and critical supply chains." Chairs of Libyan soaring, the EV maker, meeting its 2024 vehicle production target after lowering projections. And then watch those alcohol-related stocks after America's Surgeon General called for cancer warnings on alcoholic beverages. According to the CDC, alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States after tobacco and obesity. Much more on the fallout coming up later on in the show. We do have some economic data crossing the tape right now. This is the ISM manufacturing number. Comes in at 49.3. That was actually a little bit better than expected. Consensus was 48 and is also the highest in nine months. December new orders, 52.5 versus 50.4 in November. So we're not quite at expansion level as far as the manufacturing industry. That would have to be a 50 or above number. We're at 49.3. But it's coming back in the right direction, Mike. And that's good news. It is. I mean, manufacturing has been at what normally in most cycles would be considering downturn readings for a long time. It's one of those sort of recession signals that was firing and really didn't play out. So definitely good news. I think the market does want reassurance that growth rates are pointing in the right direction. We're not looking for that kind of bad news as good news type dynamic, except for the impact on yields. And we actually do see yields perk up and turn higher on these numbers. So it's a little bit of a delicate balance here as we're trying to kind of find this equilibrium among equity valuations, what the Fed's going to do, market bond yields, the dollar, all this stuff kind of converging in new territory. Well, the manufacturing is turning up, which has been stuck in the mud on the results of higher interest rates. That signals that the Fed might not have to cut as much in the year. And that's sort of what's been the primary mover of yields. Just wanted to throw in another economic chart for you, which is the updated forecast for GDP for the fourth quarter. It comes from the Atlanta Fed. We follow it because they updated it in real time and put in place all these new inputs. And the latest is the private investment, which actually took the GDP number for the fourth quarter to 2.6. That's what we're tracking now from 3.1, which is what we were tracking on the last week or so, which is still higher than what Wall Street thinks. The blue chip consensus still is just hovering around that 2% level. But I highlight it because it's still pretty good. 2.6% growth in the fourth quarter. We're still coming off of a year where we just -- I mean, if you want to know why the market has had two back-to-back years of 20% plus returns, the first time we've seen that since the late '90s, right? You can look at growth becoming outperforming expectations. Far better than expected. I do wonder if we're setting up for another year like that. It's interesting. I mean, obviously, it's above trend growth, what people consider to be trend growth. A year ago, the economic consensus was that there was at least a 50% chance of a recession in 2024. Obviously, that was way too negative, way too skeptical. Now, currently, almost nobody expects a recession. You have it basically down at 20%, which is just your basic placeholder probability of a recession any given year. Are you saying that's too juvenile? I don't because I was looking back yesterday, and through the entire 2010s, there was not a high expectation of recession. I mean, didn't get a recession, so it's not purely contrary. But maybe it means the market's going to be a little bit tougher to please. The other thing is, and you and I have been out there pointing out the economic surprise index rolling over. So it's while the growth levels are strong based on Atlanta Fed, the data have not been coming in way ahead of estimates, and yet bond yields have been going up. So I think that's one of the reasons in December, the equity market was a little bit uncomfortable showing a lot of deferred profit-taking, showing the cyclical sectors struggling a little bit. What that means right now, market's oversold. Because is the Fed pivoting into cautious motives? That's exactly right. The trade is rolling over. That's exactly right. And when yields are going to make the housing market tougher to actually recover even more, and that's a big potential driver of the economy. Again, though, the average stock has struggled for a few weeks, which means we have the makings for relief bounce. I mean, we really should be bouncing here. The breath problem, yeah. But some people look at that and they say that that's-- There you go. That's the equal weight S&P rolling over relative to the market cap weighted estimates. It's a three-month charge. So we were great through November. Is that bullish or bearish, though, that growth has been bad? It's on a forward-going basis, it actually could be positive, because it means that most of the market has had its pullback. We've reset expectations. I think you've taken some froth out of the market in December. You had a lot of speculative stuff going on. So some of that has corrected itself. The problem is, if what that means is it's sending a message from the stock market that the economic fundamentals are tricky, or that the Fed is in the wrong spot, and that yields maybe cannot easily be absorbed at the level, then maybe it's going to be covered abroad now. That's all. But again, what it does mean is we should be getting a little bit of a broader bounce in here. And actually, more stocks are up and down. We are seeing that today. I was going to say that every sector is now positive in the S&P 500, and we're up 8/10 of a percent. It's funny, today's the last day of that so-called Santa Claus rally that didn't happen. We'd have to make up a lot of ground for that to happen. You get it to be up about a percent from here. Yeah, it's 59.74 is the level that is the mark of whether we're up or down over that period. 59.15. Obviously, it's not a make or break number, but it is unusual for the market to be down five days in a row around the turn of a year. You're basically a very hard time finding that. Is that a problem for January in the year? I guess it just puts the market on alert. You keep it on a shorter leash. The market is a little something to prove, which means this first bounce probably should try to be sustainable for you to believe it. The 50-day moving average of the S&P is 59.40. It's exactly where the sellers showed up yesterday. So just for tactical benchmarking purposes, we keep that stuff in mind. Well, as we mentioned, it's been a volatile start to 2025 on an intraday basis anyway with the S&P and NASDAQ on pace. They're longest daily losing streaks since April here with their market outlooks. Kathy Jones, Charles Schwab, chief fixed income strategist, alongside Jeremiah Buckley, Janice Henderson, equities portfolio manager. They join us now and it's great to have you. Well, Kathy, way in here on maybe what your interpretation of the bond market's message has been with the surging yields since the Fed's actually since September, but also since the December meeting. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a combination of factors. One is the growth expectations have ramped up because we saw growth outperformed, particularly if you go back to last phone, they got those big revisions to GDP and employment data. So we have the growth picking up more than expected. We have the shift in the Fed's outlook, and then we have all this uncertainty about policy going forward, whether fiscal policy will be stimulative on top of an economy that's already running at a pretty healthy pace. That would prevent inflation from getting back down to 2%, which is the Fed's target. So you throw all that together and you get the rise in the term premium and the 10-year yield. So it's gone from negative about 50 basis points, to positive about 10 basis points. And that's really accounted for most of the increase in long-term yields. Which means then that it's not simply that the market is suddenly panicked about inflation going forward because that component of yields maybe is not the principal driver. Does that mean that bonds are a pretty good deal at these levels? In other words, you're getting compensated for buying them here with yields roughly where they are? Well, I would say inflation expectations are a component of it. But I think when you look at the bond market, what looks attractive is like, say, tips. So real yields are to an quarter to two and a half percent. If you are a buy and hold investor looking to lock in positive real yields, it's the highest real yields we've seen in about 15 years. So in that way, tips look pretty attractive. In terms of where we would invest in the Treasury market or in a VSA investment grade corporate bonds, and we like kind of keeping duration on average or a little bit below benchmark because we see some room for yields to move up some more. But I do think that if you are an investor looking for income, you can get bored 5% maybe higher in income locked in over the next five to 10 years. It's not a bad proposition for a balanced portfolio. So there are opportunities that just want to be a little bit cautious because we see room for yields to move up a little bit more from here. And Jeremiah, I guess the big question among equity investors coming into this year is, do you bet on the clear winners of 2024 and we still have this mega cap driven market with the dominant growth stocks leading? Or are there other maybe more neglected themes that you would emphasize now? Yeah, so I think it's a mix of both. So I think the secular growth drivers that have been driving earnings growth and market gains over the last two years, I think they're still in strong footing and will continue to drive those earnings gains. But we have seen different volatility within sectors and within different parts of the market based on whether they were viewed as favorable as a result of the new administration or not. And so there are some opportunities in the market that have retraced in Q4 that we think are positive opportunities. But we also continue to believe in the secular themes of AI and software. But there are other themes like capital markets and travel that we think will continue to provide attractive opportunities as well. Yeah, we just showed on the screen, I think Royal Caribbean, Goldman Sachs, you like both have been big winners last year. Yeah, so we think the outlook for capital markets is positive. We're well under normal levels of equity IPOs as well as M&A. Goldman Sachs is obviously extremely well positioned in that recovery. They also have a strong asset and wealth management business. And it's still only trading at 13 times 25. So we're excited there. We also think travel data continues to be very positive in Q4. We heard a lot of positive data points from the credit card companies, from airlines about consumers continue to spend on travel. We think the outlook for discretionary spending next year is still positive. And Royal Caribbean and the cruise line industry in general, we think is well positioned. They've done a great job differentiating their products, appealing to more demographics. And Royal Caribbean is only at 16 times. They've started, restarted the dividend and are returning capital back to shareholders. And so that's another name that we think is attractive for 2025. Yeah, lots changed in four or five years for that business. They're returning capital to shareholders. Kathy and Jeremy, I'm afraid we've got to leave it there. Thanks so much. Thanks a lot. As we have to break, here's our roadmap for the rest of the hour. Alcohol stocks falling after a major warning about cancer risks. The fall outs trade ahead. Plus in video, one of two MAG7 names to close out the first week of 2025 in the green. Can the gains continue for that stock? And the semis will discuss. And an exclusive you do not want to miss. The CEO of car rental app Turo, responding after news that both trucks involved in those New Year's Day attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, were rented on the car company's app. We're going to talk safety, security, get the details on the investigations and more. Big show still ahead. Walk on the street. We'll be right back. Don't go away. At Mayo Clinic in Arizona, we're treating the untreatable. 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At Capella University, learning the right skills could make a difference. That's why our business programs teach you relevant skills you can take from the course room to the workplace. A different future is closer than you think. With Capella University, learn more at Capella.edu. Welcome back to Squawk on the Street. The alcohol related stocks are following today, following a warning from America's Surgeon General. Let's get to Brandon Gomez with those details and what it actually means for the stocks. Brandon, good morning. Hey, Sarah, good morning. Yeah, a cancer warning to be specific. Shares of spirit makers under pressure. After the US Surgeon General issued a new advisory linking alcohols, the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the US behind obesity and tobacco. Placing a causal link between alcohol consumption and increased risk for at least seven types of cancer, including liver, mouth, and throat, regardless of alcohol type, beer, wine, or spirits. Now, the report finds alcohol contributes to nearly 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 cancer deaths each year in the US, greater than the nearly 14,000 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities annually there. For breast cancer specifically, though, nearly one-fifth of cases attributable to alcohol consumption, the report finds. So how does the Surgeon General want to address this? Well, first he's calling for new labels on alcohol warning of cancer risks. Reassessment of guideline limits for alcohol consumption and advising public health professionals and health care providers to educate the general public about alcohol as a, quote, "modifiable cancer risk factor." Now, Sarah, I reached out to the alcohol makers for their response, still waiting to hear back from some. Anheuser-Busch offering no comment, pointing to trade organizations, the Beer Institute. I also reached out to the Distilled Spirits Council for comment. When it comes to labeling, it can be a lengthy process. And this industry already faces several headwinds, so stocks remain lower this morning, but it's one we'll continue to follow. Do we know if who has the power to impose rules like this? Does it have to be from Congress, from the FDA? Yeah, so I did reach out to those trade organizations that have more of a presence in DC, still waiting to hear back from them in terms of the Distilled Spirits Council, who represents, obviously, the Spirits Makers and the Beer Institute, who represents the Brewers. But that is the process that it would have to go through, right? I mean, you saw the process that Tobacco went through over the last couple of decades in order to have labeling on those types of products. One analyst I spoke to said you can't really draw a direct parallel between Tobacco and Alcohol in this case, but it would have to go through, as we said, a lengthy process to get those warning labels onto packaging. And hopefully more I can have for the network throughout the day. Yeah, and as you mentioned, I mean, obviously, the declining consumption trends among younger people already were weighing on this group, and this pushes in a similar direction, Brandon. Thanks very much. As we head to break, check out the biggest laggards on the S&P this week. Tesla, so far the worst performer. And speaking of laggards, see it down 11% week to date. Healthcare, an underperformer in 2024 as a sector, top picks for those willing to quote, "Love in the dark" at its next Back to Month. Now taxes is 100% free when you file in a TurboTax app if you didn't file with us last year. Oh, yeah? Yeah, just do your own taxes in the app by 218. What if I have lots of forms? All good, all 100% free. What if I had three jobs? Still 100% free. What if I once saw Bigfoot? That has nothing to do with taxes, so still 100% free. Now that's what I'm talking about. Now this is taxes. See if you qualify in the TurboTax app. Excludes TurboTax Live must start and file an app by 218. Is it time to reimagine your future? The right business skills may make a difference in your career. At Capelli University, we offer a relevant education that's designed to focus on what you need to know in the business world. We'll teach professional skills to help you pursue your goals, like business management, strategic planning, and effective communication. And you can apply these skills right away. A different future is closer than you think with Capelli University. Learn more at Capella.edu. Ford out with its auto sales figures for December. Fillebo with the numbers. Hi, Bill. Hi, Sarah. We're going to talk about Q4 here, not just December, for Q4. Ford sales up 8.8 percent with internal combustion engine vehicle sales up 6.8 percent. Hybrids, and that's really where Ford has been growing aggressively over the last several quarters. Up 26.5 percent, EV sales up 16.3 percent. For all of 2024, Ford sales up 4.2 percent. Sarah, I will send it back to you. We get GM in just a couple of minutes. All right. Not doing much for the stock down 6/10s of 1 percent. Thank you, Phil. Despite all the craze about GLP1, obesity drugs, the health care sector was a big laggard last year. And while our next guest expects another year of underperformance, he also writes, quote, "It's been so bad. Maybe it's going to be good." His top picks in the space. United Health Group, Abbott, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Bristol Myers-Squib. Jared Holtz, Mazzujo Securities America. Health care sector strategist joins us here at Post 9. Welcome. It's good to have you. You've been very quotable lately. Talked about how you wrote about how much the sector has sucked, but that there are opportunities. And United Health Care is an interesting one because it's down what? 15 percent over the last month on the bad headlines. You think it's a buy? Why? I think it's a buy. I feel like the negativity is kind of in the stock. Obviously, the headlines have been super bad for the last month, unfortunately. There is a lot of political risk, but I feel like the stock-- Just because it's been a poster child of what's wrong with our health care system after the brutal murder of the CEO. I think it's a decent time to buy it. It's the cheapest it's been in a while. Think if you're going to take a shot at managed care, that's the one you want to buy. You think it's cheap because of the sell-off we've had in the stock? Yeah, and the fundamentals are sound? And they've also guided for next year, so you've got it that out of the way. Seems like numbers are pretty conservative. So I think a lot of the things that they've tried to do to get the stock back on track will eventually work. And again, I think that there are slim pickings in health care. And so this is a decent large company. What about the fight for market share? How competitive is it? And what typically happens when we see bad headlines around an insurance company like this? Well, the market share dynamics, I think, for United are good. I think that in the very least, the whole share may be gained a little bit. They have better economics as a result of how big they are. So I don't feel there's that much risk around that aspect of the company and the stock. Obviously, we need to see procedure volumes plateau a little bit, maybe dip. They're actually guiding their numbers suggest we see an uptick. So if we see anything other than that, I think the stock can be OK. It's kind of remarkable to say there are slim pickings in health care, given it's such a vast and diverse sector. And usually, there's something thematically working. What about medical devices? It seems like GOP ones is the clear winner. And then everything else is a net loser. And we have bipartisan agreement that we want to keep costs down. Right. So therefore, the industry is wanting. Yeah, it's a calamity for sure. I mean, there aren't that many easy spaces. I mean, we talk about other industry verticals all the time, technology, financials. Those seem so well set up. Health care seems like there are so many variables that play. Most of them not positive. I do like medical devices, as you mentioned, relatively. I think out of the fray in terms of most of the political rhetoric, we're going to hear not health care services, not pharma. So I think you do have a little bit of a safety net around med tech. And that's why I think Abbott has a stock that has underperformed Boston scientific intuitive striker. Might be the fourth horseman in that kind of race. But time will tell. We'll see. I mean, what about the AI trade? Just to dive into it further, I cited earlier the study in nature about the amazing gen AI capabilities and things like ultrasounds and finding ovarian cancer and how it was more effective than the techs, the experts and the non-experts administering the ultrasounds. If we get a story like that every day, who does that help? I'm not really sure who it helps. I think that helps the software companies more than it helps anyone in health care specifically. I think you've had whole logic on in the past, a company in kind of that tangential space. And they've mentioned AI as a capability that could help read out diagnostics better over time. I think there's some interesting corollaries there. But I think it helps the technology space better. We also talk about AI all the time as it impacts drug development and clinical trials. We really haven't seen that impact. I mean, so many of these trials recently have failed. High placebo rates, clinical trial design, where they're getting the patients from, all these things are major factors. So even though it seems like the science and technology behind the scenes are getting better, it hasn't translated necessarily into better drug development, leading to approvals, et cetera. But we hope that will come. We expect that to come, don't we? I think it will come. I just think it's a little bit too early to kind of make generalizations that the AI craze is going to lead to better results for biotech or pharma, at least over the near term. What about M&A? Isn't there hope building for that to happen in the new administration? That is the number one conversation. That's the number one topic that comes up. I mean, when you've got a sector that's underperformed the market by over 20% two years in a row, I think we're all kind of like scouring the universe for what these could actually look. Oh, and you have some cash-rich, slow-growth incumbents who should be buying things. For sure. I mean, the loss of exclusivity for pharma is going to be as dire as it's ever been in 2025 through 2030. So I would expect a lot more. But I think everyone's already positioned for more. It's incredibly trite as a theme, I think, as far as the way the cell size articulating it, everyone's view of healthcare is positive on M&A. If we don't see it, what does that mean? Yes, we'll get more of it. There are a couple dozen deals a year. I don't think this year will be any different. Wow, really. Not buying into the hype. Jared, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks, Sarah. Appreciate it. From Jeffries, Jared Holtz. After the break, car rental app Turro in the spotlight after news that both trucks in the New Year's Day attacks across New Orleans and Las Vegas were rented on their app. The CEO joins us to talk safety next, back in a moment. Welcome back. I'm Pippa Stevens with your CNBC News Update. The Biden administration announced a $306 million push to ready the nation for a potential bird flu outbreak. The money will go toward hospital preparedness, research on vaccines and drugs, and helping track and test people exposed to infected animals. The CDC says the current risk to humans remains low. A New York judge will decide today whether former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani should be held in contempt of court. Lawyers for the two former Georgia poll workers say he has disregarded court orders to turn over his assets to pay his $148 million defamation judgment. The judge could find or even jail Giuliani if he finds him in contempt. And the Transportation Department find JetBlue Airways $2 million today over repeated delays. The agency says flights on four JetBlue routes were delayed at least 145 times between June 2022 and November 2023, and claims JetBlue failed to adjust the flight times to avoid unrealistic scheduling. JetBlue said in a statement, "It has invested tens of millions of dollars over the past two years to reduce delays." -Mike, I'll send it back to you. -All right, Pippa, thanks. We are learning more about the tragic attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas on New Year's Day, and new intelligence warnings about the risk for copycat attacks. Let's get to New Orleans. NBC News reported George Solis with the latest their morning Georgia. -Hey, good morning, Mike. So you can see Bourbon Street, Israel Open. You actually see some vehicles coming down here. Street sleepers have been cleaning up the road here. So there is a sense of normalcy, but I can tell you it is far from normal for the families of those victims who lost loved ones here. Those that are still in the hospital. This is still very fresh in their minds. We've heard from a number of those families and some of the survivors as well who are just reliving those harrowing moments. As far as the investigation, the main headline you've heard from the federal authorities. They now believe that this individual, the suspect acted alone. They have three of his cell phones, two of his laptops. They are working on learning as much as they can about this individual and why he may have chosen Bourbon Street for this heinous attack. The other part of this is the failures, if you will, of what wasn't in place during the attack. One of the points that we have been uncovering is these archer barriers, these yellow large barriers that are now on the sidewalks here on the streets were not deployed during the New Year's Eve, New Year's Day celebration. Raising questions as to why they weren't if the city knew that they had them. We're also now learning from the White House that President Biden and the First Lady planned to come to New Orleans to meet with some of the families of the victims here as well. And again, here on Bourbon Street, while things have a sense of returning to normal again, you can still see it on the faces of people, those that are still here, those that have left since the Sugar Bowl. There are still sorrow, there are a number of memorials here that are also on the ground. We've heard of individuals that are going to be planned here throughout the weekend as well. And on the subject of the Sugar Bowl, just looking at some of the numbers for attendance, it was not a sellout game. Now, whether that was because people couldn't rework their reservations with their hotels or because they just simply didn't want to stay remains to be seen, but it gives you a sense that again, while things were sort of in the midst of kind of trying to get back to a routine here, the tragedy here is still very fresh on the lines of so many. Mike. Very sad, George. Thank you very much for that report, George Solis from NBC News. Well, the truck used in the New Orleans attack on New Year's and that Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Vegas were both rented on the car sharing app Truro. The company says it's actively partnering with law enforcement and the ongoing investigation and says it's now their main focus as a company. Joining us now in a CNBC exclusive is Truro CEO Andre Hadad. Andre, thank you for joining us. Thank you, Sarah. So where are we in the investigation right now of both? Well, listen, it's been a really stressful last 48 hours for all of us. You know, we've been working around the clock to investigate and partner with law enforcement. You know, my first thoughts are for the family's victims. We are really heartbroken for them. This feels so unfair. And second, in terms of our status, of our investigation, thinking about what happened, you know, what we've uncovered so far is that, you know, both individuals who rented trucks on Truro in New Orleans and in Las Vegas, you know, were individuals with, you know, clean criminal backgrounds. They were, they had valid US driver's licenses. In fact, they were decorated servicemen. They, you know, they could have boarded any flight. They could have rented any other car in any traditional car rental chain. They could have checked into any hotel. And there were no red flags. No one would have flagged them as a security risk. So it's a very challenging situation to deal with. So investigators have so far said no definitive connection between the two incidents. Are you looking for that? We have looked for it. As far as we can tell, we couldn't see any connection between the two. We've, you know, been thoroughly investigating all of the data that we have around these individuals and their trips and all of the, you know, messaging that's happened on our platform and all the history. We haven't seen any, you know, any connection between these individuals. I do wonder about the scrutiny around your, your company and why, why you would be vulnerable to something like this happening. You know, there, there have been articles, including on NBC, that Turo is no stranger to safety concerns. And for years, these peer-to-peer platforms have been faced with criticism about stolen, about stolen cars used for nefarious purposes. What is it about the business? You know, we're very, feel very good about the trust and safety track record of Turo. Let me just give you a few kind of numbers to retrace sort of our operating history as a company. We've been around for 13 years, so we're not new. We've facilitated over 90 million book days, 27 million trips to date. And the rate of serious incidents on our platform over that whole period across all of these trips is less than 0.1%. So our safety track record is very strong. Unfortunately, when I look back at, you know, the history of terrorist attacks over the last 20 years in the U.S. and abroad, many of those have been associated with cars that were, or trucks that were rented through rental car. I believe that, you know, Turo happened to be chosen this time instead of others because we have become a really large player in this market. Andre, have you seen any pattern in terms of car owners reducing their listings, canceling the availability of their cars on the platform or any other business impact as people now perhaps pay more attention to some of the the risks of certain renters who I gather, you know, there's not a provision where an owner of a car can refuse a rental. Is that right? No, you can always cancel a rental if you don't feel comfortable and we allow those cancellations and then we re-book our guests. You know, we haven't seen any changes in our platform in the short term. You know, obviously, we care deeply about our hosts who've been impacted, so we've been very focused on supporting our hosts that have been impacted by these horrific attacks with their cars and, you know, we're helping them file their claims and get cars back for them. And I think our hosts understand that, you know, we strive for zero risk. You know, we have a very strong safety track record with a 0.1% serious incident rate only, which I think is industry leading. And I think when you look at these two attacks, there was really nothing that was a red flag. You know, these individuals had clean criminal backgrounds. They had valid U.S. drivers' licenses. They were decorated in the army. I mean, who would have thought? Yeah, it's confusing. Is there anything about the process? I mean, just it's a peer-to-peer kind of Airbnb-like service versus a Hertz or an Avis. So is there anything about the process that makes that different, that you're renting from an owner than renting for the company as far as the checks and what has to happen to get that car? You're right. It's different from traditional rental car. You know, everything is intermediated through our technology, in the case of Turo. Let me tell you what we do. You know, we've taken trust and safety seriously from day one, and we've invested a lot of technology and people in trust and safety. Every renter that goes through Turo is actually screened through a multi-layered data science-based algorithms that detect trust and safety issues. So we call this the Turo risk score. And this innovation in technology has enabled us to really raise the bar, in fact, versus traditional rental car and how we're doing screening. And of course, we also have invested in a very large team. Many of them are former law enforcement officials themselves who are part of our trust and safety organization. So we believe that our approach to trust and safety is actually industry leading and leverages the power of the technology and the data. As I mentioned, you know, we've facilitated over 90 million days, so that gives us a lot of data. And that creates a more effective approach in delivering very strong signals for trust and safety. How does the potential liability, even for accidents and things, fall with regard to the host and their own insurance, things like that? Well, you know, we stand behind our host and guests, and ultimately, you know, we bear the costs of any such incidents, whether it's a more mundane kind of repair of a fender bender to something horrific like what's just happened. Our insurance is actually the primary provider of coverage for our host, so they'll be finding a claim with our insurance and we will be taking care of our hosts that way. How many of your cars get stolen? Well, as I mentioned, you know, the serious incident rate is less than 0.1% across all of these trips, and that includes cases of theft of vehicles, so it's very infrequent. And when you do look at even within that 0.1% where there are cases of theft, we recover over 95% of these vehicles. You know, we've got an outstanding team that is very experienced and have honed their trade over the last 12 years. And you mentioned the sort of data science that you use and attempting to have these filters and being able to flag potentially problematic customers' renters. On what basis are you implementing those screens? I guess what are you really looking for in terms of patterns of prior behavior? That's a great question. We ingest over 50 data points in these data science models and algorithms. That includes everything from the characteristics of the vehicle. You know, a high horsepower vehicle, for example, is a bit more risky than a low horsepower to characteristics of the guests. You know, who is booking this car? As well as characteristics of the location and the trip, you know, where is this car located? When is it booked? What's the lead time? What's the duration? So it's a very comprehensive view of all of the data, both internal and external that allows us to calculate this to a risk score that has been the anchor of our very strong safety tracker good over the last 12 years. So Andre, where do you go from here? Your company is getting a lot of attention, but not necessarily for the right reasons. I think you've been in the middle of a big growth spurt, 350,000 vehicle listings and more than 16,000 cities. What are you focused on next? To be honest with you, my only focus and my team's only focus for the foreseeable future is, you know, dealing with the aftermath of these horrific acts. We want to complete our investigation. We want to continue to be a thoughtful and valuable partner to law enforcement. And we're eager to see them complete their investigations. I was listening to the program earlier and hearing some new data that they were able to uncover. And so we want to see that investigation completed and until that's completed and until we learn what they recommend that we should consider, because listen, we feel that our track record is strong in terms of trust and safety, but we want to hear the recommendations. How can we get even better? You know, we want to do everything in our power to help contribute to reducing such horrific acts in the future. Has there been any near term impact on the business just in the last, I don't know, 24-48 hours since the attacks? There hasn't been as far as I could tell, but frankly, I haven't been looking at our metrics that much. I've been very focused on the investigation of our team has rallied around supporting law enforcement and getting to the bottom of what happened. So, but as far as I could tell, superficially, there hasn't been any noticeable impact. Well, Andre, we certainly appreciate you coming on and taking the questions and clearing a lot of this up for us. Keep us those days. Thanks for having me. Andre Anad, thank you. Thank you, Turo C, yeah. NVIDIA, the only MAG7 name in the green over the last one week. It's having a good day today. We're going to talk top picks and if there's more room to rally for these big winners already in the new year, stay with us. Mike Johnson's fight to keep the Speakers' gavel finally coming to a head today in the House of Representatives and his fate could be decided in just a few hours. Emily Wilkins joins us now with the latest. Hi, Emily. Hey, Mike. We have all members are present today. It's only going to take two Republicans voting for a candidate other than Johnson to deny him the gavel, at least on the first round. Johnson is projecting confidence. He told reporters this morning that he thinks he can win on the first ballot, but he's not offering to make deals for votes, at least not with individual members, no quid pro quo. This morning, Trump wished Johnson good luck onto social, calling him quote, a fine man of great ability who is very close to having 100% support. Trump went on to say that a win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican party. Yet at this point, it's still not clear that Trump's backing is going to be enough. There are about a dozen undecided members. Many of them say that they really want to see promises to cut federal spending, plus you have some hard lying conservative members that want to have a bigger say in the process throughout the year. Congressman Tim Burchit said on Squawkbox that he wants to see a serious commitment to reducing the national debt. Of course, I'm concerned about some fiscal sanity in Washington. We talk about it. Everybody runs on it and then nobody does anything about it. They make little cuts and then and then it goes to the Senate and they make little cuts and we don't agree on it and nothing happens and we go home and beat our chest and then get reelected. And I'm just time has passed for that. We are running off a fiscal cliff. If Johnson loses on the first ballot, we could see him go on to a second or back to the negotiating table with the holdouts. It's not clear at this point how involved Trump is going to get in this process. But Johnson will absolutely need to continue to have his backing if he wants to ultimately win. Guys? Yeah, Emily, I guess it's it's all well and good at the outset of the process for Speaker Johnson to say no prick quote, quote, you know, I'm not going to negotiate on this basis, but the incentive among those, those kind of holdouts would seem to be vote against it and see what you can get in the negotiation. Exactly. I mean, the more rounds that you go through without having a speaker named, the more pressure there's going to be on Johnson, which means the more likely he might be to meet them with the negotiating table. Yeah, and I guess there's really no way in the in the near term to handicap handicap, whether this adds friction to the potential policy making prospect. But what's like, what immediately needs to be done here in the house that we need a speaker for? So, I mean, nothing can happen until we have a speaker on Monday. Lawmakers are basically supposed to certify Donald Trump's win. And if they don't if they don't have a speaker by that point, you don't have lawmakers, you can't certify Trump's win. Plus, they have a very ambitious agenda. It basically means they need to hit the ground running. They wanted to things with energy policy, border security. And again, any day that they have is just another day wasted to having an internal debate when they really want to be going forward, securing some wins, and especially in the aftermath of that election, show the American people that they are delivering for them. Okay, Emily, thank you very much. Emily Wilkins in Washington, we are just getting a statement from U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel in reaction to President Biden officially terminating the deal, which was his right after Siphias was deadlocked on what to do over national security. And it's a feisty statement here. They're shooting back. We are dismayed by President Biden's decision to block this deal, which reflects, they say, a clear violation of due process and the law governing Siphias. Instead of abiding by the law, the process was manipulated to advance President Biden's political agenda. The president's statement in order do not present any credible evidence of national security issues, making clear that this was a political decision. So, they are accusing President Biden of blocking this deal on political grounds. Following President Biden's decision, according to the companies, we are left with no choice, but to take all appropriate action to protect our legal rights. They don't go into any details about what that entails, but they promise this fight is not over and that there are legal actions. Then there's a few paragraphs about why the deal makes sense, as they have both defended it, and also about Nipon's efforts to try to engage with Siphias, which is the committee that was set to decide whether this was legal on national security grounds. And the commitments made by Nipon's deal to strengthen national security, those they say that would have been highly enforceable by the law, and then continue to go after the decision. And I just would end finally by saying that they're going to do everything and continue to believe that the partnership is the best way to ensure that US deal and its union represented employees will be able to compete and thrive well into the future. Again, just a reference to protect our legal rights and secure that future. So, expect this to continue a legal battle here. And it's obviously hard to argue against the point that obviously this is largely driven by political concerns. However, in a bipartisan way, President-elect Trump is also against the Nipon acquisition of US deal, has been on the record. Yeah, sure. Which, you know, also political kind of issue. Meghan Cassella from Washington has been covering this case from the D.C. side. I mean, they're taking a shot at President Biden, and the politics involved here, because they say they have the economic grounds, and they have national security grounds for doing this deal, and it protects US workers. Absolutely. The politics here have been really fascinating because President Biden and President yet today, though, it reached out tomorrow. I'll go to see if he has any updated thoughts on this. But then today we are seeing some Democrats, Jason Furman, for example, an economic official in the Obama administration coming out and calling this sort of a craven move and really criticizing it, saying that Japan is an ally, that this investment would have been good for the company. And then there's been some back and forth there. What I think is going to be interesting here, and you noted some of this, Sarah, is that the companies say they're going to pursue all legal options that are available to them, but there's not a lot that it seems clear that they can do. Siphias, this national security review process, doesn't really have a formal appeals process, so it would simply be, I think, looking for ways to contest this on procedural grounds. But remember, part of the reason some people think that this took so long, there were several delays in this process is because Siphias and the committees involved wanted to ensure that there were no procedural issues here. So it's possible that even if they try to make some sort of a claim on a procedural move that a court would sort of dismiss it outright, a sort of summary judgment, that's the kind of thing to watch for. The other thing to watch is if President Trump comes into the White House next month and suddenly says he doesn't see a national security issue here, then maybe it can move forward, although that would be a 180 from where he has been, so we don't exactly expect that to happen. Yeah, and just the reason for Siphias being deadlocked in this, because they're ultimately the committee that's supposed to decide on whether this should have moved forward on national security. What was the arguments against it? The arguments against it, we know that the office of the U.S. Trade Representative Catherine Thai was sort of leading the administration's opposition against it. She's a member of Siphias. A big part of this has been that this isn't good for labor. U.S. steelworkers union, a huge union, very powerful. Politically, in particular, they've been really against this and U.S.TR is very labor friendly. They've been saying it isn't good for workers. On the other hand, the companies have been arguing that this is the best way for U.S. steel to remain open and to keep these facilities running and to keep people employed. So a lot of this has been over labor. President Biden, of course, coming out today and saying that it's a national security move that U.S. steel needs to remain in American hands. But I would note that this is sort of an issue with President Biden's trade agenda is that while he says he wants to encourage or improve our relationships with our allies, you would think investment from a company, from a close ally, like Japan would be a good thing into a company like U.S. steel. But he's rejecting this because on a political level, it's not good for workers. That's what the companies have been arguing. You have a close ally in Japan, French-oriented, but have to stand up against China, especially on steel where they've been dumping. Megan, thank you very much for joining us. Megan Cassella with some color on that statement that we just got from U.S. and Nippon Steel, which promises to go through their legal actions here after President Biden blocks the deal for the takeover. Money movers begins after a quick break. Stay with us. All opinions expressed by the squawk on the street participants are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC, Universal, or their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet, or another medium. You should not treat any opinion expressed on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of an opinion. Such opinions are based upon information squawk on the street participants consider reliable, but neither CNBC nor its affiliates and/or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy and it should not be relied upon as such. To view the full squawk on the street disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com/squawkonthestreetdisclaimer. At Capella University, learning the right skills could make a difference. That's why our business programs teach you relevant skills you can take from the course room to the workplace. A different future is closer than you think. With Capella University, learn more at Capella.edu. [BLANK_AUDIO]
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