What Jobs Data, Greenspan Signal on Fed Tapering
Wait for it ... from Friday's highly anticipated jobs report and its impact on possible Fed tapering to the SodaStream smackdown straight from the source, this is "Talking Squawk." It's your ticket to the week that WAS and the week to COME on the greatest show on earth (forget the circus), "Squawk Box."
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
When is good, really good? Or bad, really bad? it seems like a simple enough question but when it comes to dissecting the monthly unemployment report, sometimes "good news" about job growth can often be "bad" for stocks while a "bad" report on jobs can be good news for your 401(k). The formula is complicated, of course, and has many variables, but the "investing for idiots" guide would break it down something like this: Bad can mean good and good can mean bad.
Of course guessing ahead of the number complicates the whole thing. And if you expected good and got really good, maybe that's not as bad as expecting good and only getting OK.
But if bad was not as bad as you thought, that can be very good or at least somewhat good for stocks. So FRIDAY MORNING, we were expecting a gain of 169,000 nonfarm jobs and got a gain of 175,000. This is a clear sign that slightly better may fall somewhere between good and bad.
But this is what makes a market: Two different people have different definitions.
Of course we here on "Squawk" try to use a different approach. We think whether good or bad, it's always good to hope for the best.
Greenspeak
He has a way with words. He somehow took the words "irrational" and "exuberance" and combined them to become THE market term of the 1990s. He would never shorten "quantitative easing" to "QE3." It's just not proper Greenspeak. And simple words like "taper" … please! Check out his Friday appearance (before the jobs report) to see how he's parsing the talk about when the Federal Reserve might scale back its $85 billion a month bond buying. (story and video)
21 Is No Fun
Remember last week when "Squawk" co-host Joe Kernen got mad at USA Today for putting the bull market rally on the front page? Well, sure enough, one week later our streak of 20 Tuesdays in a row with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing higher was broken. So when you get your quarterly 401(k) statement please blame them.
No Mojo?
Wait! Hold Everything! Before we blame USA Today ...
Eight days after the bull market story ran, the very same paper returns with this new headline on Thursday: "Have Stocks Lost Their Mojo?" Whew! That was a close one. Looks like clear sailing next week.
The New Market Guru?
Is JPMorgan Chase's Tom Lee quietly (and humbly) becoming Wall Street's next market guru? He may not be there just yet, but Joe is starting to sit up and take notice. Tom, this is a sign to run away! (story and video)
Straight From the Source
A financial newspaper in Tel Aviv had reported that PepsiCo was in talks to buy Israel-based SodaStream for $2 billion, or more. The stock of SodaStream spiked higher on the news in premarket trading Thursday.
So "Squawk" co-host Becky Quick emailed PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and she cut to the chase and skipped the normal corporate public relations crap by responding immediately: "Totally and completely untrue."
"Squawk's" resident M&A guy, Andrew Ross Sorkin, was duly impressed. Shares of SodaStream then pared those gains. Now that's how you knock down a rumor!
Jammin'
Bob Marley's son, Rohan (@RoMarley), came in to plug his family' new coffee line. Joe, of course, was curious if he would diversify into "other" naturally grown products (video). During the commercial break, Becky grabbed a quick photo with Rohan.
Econo-Rock
Our "Squawk" econo-nerd (aka @SteveLiesman) plays guitar in a band called The Stella Blues Band. They play Grateful Dead cover tunes. I need someone on the show who can occasionally translate Fedspeak babble so I have to plug his gigs to keep him happy. Every Wednesday in June, they will be here. And his other band The Mooncussers will play here.
Tweets of Note
@seemaCNBC wrote: Here it is. The#BlackberryQ10. Officially hit T-Mobile stores today. Are you a buyer? $BBRYpic. twitter.com/qrxlUqOh3t
(There it is Becky. A perfect collaboration of brand-new outdated mobile technology to replace your former already-very-outdated mobile technology with a physical keyboard. Have fun navigating the Internet. Searching, searching …)
Word Jumble
In Joe and Becky's continuing 7-year word jumble battle, Becky scores a second week of wins—blanking Joe four to nothing. Becky didn't stumble on any words this week, while Joe had trouble with KABREY (BAKERY) and DOVAK (VODKA).
Joe's bonus jumbled word of the week: CRPYKIL
Becky's bonus jumbled word of the week: ALSSEHLE
*Answers at the end
Hair Nation (courtesy of Director @pauldefabo and our "Twitterless" Technical Director Keith Falcone)
This week, S&P's David Blitzer was a guest. I'm sure he's regretting that decision now.
Overheard on the Set (anonymously quoted conversation)
"Wow see this Verizon wiretap of phone records story?"
"Yup."
"Does CNBC use Verizon for our wireless phones?"
"Yup."
"Uh-oh."
Mark Your Calendar (or Set Your DVR)
- Monday: Gordon Bethune, former Continental CEO, and Richard Smith, Realogy CEO
- Tuesday: The One, The Only, Jack Welch!
- Wednesday: Becky is live at the HP Discover Las Vegas conference with CEO Meg Whitman and Marc Andreessen!
- Thursday: Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae, and Bart Chilton, CTFC commissioner
- Friday: "Squawk Box" is live from the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.
—By CNBC's Matthew Quayle. Follow him on Twitter @matthew_quayle.
*Joe's jumble bonus word answer: CRPYKIL=prickly
*Becky's jumble bonus word answer: ALSSEHLE=seashell