Two hosts of the CNBC show Squawk Box got into a heated argument over their reactions to the recent stock market bump.
A discussion between co-anchors Joe Kernen and Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday morning got heated after Kernen accused his colleague of being too pessimistic in his evaluation of the positive market turn. Sorkin defended his point by claiming that “a lot of smart people” are questioning how the market could be so high despite the coronavirus’s impact on the economy.
“Why is that the smart people?! They’ve been wrong for 35%!” Kernen said, referring to gains the Dow Jones Industrial Average has made since its free fall in March. “Why are they smart?! Just because they can see what’s right in front of their nose?! That doesn’t make them smart! It makes them not savvy about the market!”
“Joe! You missed it a 100% on the way down!” Sorkin shot back. “And you missed 100,000 deaths!”
After Kernen criticized him for raising his voice, the verbal confrontation began subsiding before it was quickly restarted when Kernen said, “I’m sorry?” in an apparent demonstration that he was taken aback by the conversation.
“No, you’re not!” Sorkin responded, reigniting the clash. “Go ahead with the news!”
“You panicked about the market, panicked about COVID, panicked about the ventilators, panicked about the PPE, panicked about ever going out again,” Kernen said.
“Joseph! Joseph! You didn’t panic about anything! Joseph, 100,000 people died! One hundred thousand people died, Joe! And all you did was try to help your friend, the president!” Sorkin rebuked. “That’s what you did! Every single morning on this show! Every single morning on this show! You used and abused your position, Joe!”
After plummeting during the coronavirus pandemic, stocks soared on Tuesday as enthusiasm rose about the reopening of the country and the development of a coronavirus vaccine.
