Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk Pod, a couple of trips coming your way. We're taking off with United CEO Scott Kirby. He responds to President Trump who said right on CNBC that he would not support a merger between United and American Airlines.
We have not at United commented on all the I know there's lots of rumors, lots of stories about consolidation. We've not commented and I'm not going to start that today.
And when surging jet fuel prices could hit your ticket fares.
We are passing through right now about 40 to 50% of the increase in fuel. That's faster than I can ever remember in my career. And we expect to get to 100% by the end of the year. It does have some impact this year.
Then flying high in a metaphysical kind of way. An executive order from the president pushed psychedelic stocks a little higher. Investor Christian Angermeyer explains the opportunity.
Psychedelics are amazing and wonderful therapeutics, but they are very strong, positively strong. That's why they actually have a responder rate in the clinical trials for the worst cases of treatment-resistant depression, addiction, anxiety disorders, whatever, of up to 80%.
I grew up in the 70s. I'm not going to say anything more than that.
Plus the confirmation hearing for the next Fed chair and following President Trump's comments to us.
You can have some extra time if you want. You can even put Andrew on the phone.
Yes. All of us. That was you.
Yeah. Some guy, some CNBC host.
It is Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026. Squawk Pod begins right now.
Good morning everybody. Welcome to Squawkbox right here on CNBC. We are live from the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick along with Joe Kernan and Andrew Ross Sorkin. And this morning we are
Mr. Worsh. Any comment on Powell and the ongoing investigation?
This committee will come to order. Mr. Worsh, you're now recognized.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your consideration today. I've known you for quite
President Trump's big pick to be the next Fed chair facing some tough questions at his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday. Senators from both sides of the aisle question Kevin Worsh's finances. They also question his relationship to the president. Worsh emphasized the importance of Fed independence and said independence is not threatened when elected officials state their views on rates. He said he has reached an agreement with the Office of Government Ethics to sell nearly all of his investments before taking office if he's confirmed. And Worsh signaled a strong focus on the fight against inflation. Take a look.
This inflation risk is still something that's being talked about around kitchen tables and boardrooms. My preferred definition of stable prices is a little different than most academics. I believe that price stability should be a change in prices such that no one's talking about it. That's an old-fashioned definition, but I think it's still valid.
And of course, questions still remain about what Senator Tom Tillis will ultimately do and if there's some kind of back channel efforts to either try to end that investigation, move it into hearings as David McCormack tried to suggest. The president seemed yesterday with us saying that was not on the table. But
I have my disagreements with Chairman Powell and I think this project, this new Fed building looks to me like something that really did get wildly out of control, but I don't think there's any reason to believe there's criminal activity. So criminal misconduct on his part. So what I hope is going to happen and I'm optimistic it will is that we can find a way through this path. There's definitely things going on around the edges of this hearing trying to make this happen sooner rather than later.
A CNBC host, it says here in the journal in a call interview on CNBC before the hearing, the president rebuffed the television host's repeated suggestion to end the probe by letting the banking committee.
That was you. Yeah, some guy, some CNBC host who also we're going to talk to Dan Murphy who also I tried to keep telling him you'll delay this if there's any chance that the negotiations could bear fruit you probably delay the ceasefire right and he goes no I'm ready to bomb remember.
Said that yes. I think because sort of posturing.
That's part of if we're expending.
That's part of his art of the deal though he's trying to anchor it to the.
But instead of me thinking, 'Oh, we chickened out at Taco Tuesday.' I was like, 'Thank God he.'
You know, if you need to tread very lightly, you need to tread lightly. You don't, you know, cuz I don't know if you do that with Democrats are great. You know, it's going to be war crimes if you bomb bridges or power plants, but then when he doesn't do it, he's a chicken. So, it's damned if you do and damned if you don't. But let's get to President Trump extending the US ceasefire with Iran. He says the extension was warranted because nobody knows who's in charge because half of them are dead. Because Iran's government is seriously fractured. Let's get to Dan Murphy in Abu Dhabi. Dan, it could be the guy in Parliament. It could be this scary guy who heads up the IRGC. It could be the guy that we don't even know if he's woken up from a coma yet, the Ayatollah. And there's three or four other factions that weigh in as well. So, who are we negotiating with and how do you at some point get to an agreement that actually the people in charge are on the other end of it? How do you get there?
Well, Joe, this seems to be part of the problem and I think one of the questions being asked in Washington right now is who in Iran is actually in a position to say yes. And clearly that was part of the reason we saw the ceasefire talks planned for Islamabad essentially ending before they even began. Meanwhile, the ceasefire is in effect. It's fair to say. But in the Strait of Hormuz, it seems like the war is far from over. Iran actually fired on two ships in the strait this morning. The UK Maritime Trade Operations Center confirming two separate incidents involving a container ship and a cargo ship. Iran saying those vessels ignored warnings, but the British military says an Iranian gunboat opened fire without warning. Iran is likely responding here after we saw US forces boarding a tanker linked to Iran's oil trade this week and seized an Iranian ship last weekend. Of course, the strait remains functionally closed right now and that is keeping oil prices well bid. And then on the diplomatic front as well, President Trump moving to extend the ceasefire just hours after his interview right here on Squawkbox. The president saying he expected to be bombing if Iran didn't meet his conditions. But ultimately, he chose diplomacy. So, as it stands right now, we still don't know how long this ceasefire is going to last or if there is still a chance for a diplomatic off-ramp. We are almost two months into this conflict. The messaging that I'm hearing from the Gulf this morning is that given the fact we have no deal on Iran's nuclear program, no deal on its missiles, its drones or its proxies, and a ceasefire with no off-ramp, there's a lot of concern about which way this goes from here. And in fact, one former US ambassador actually told me today, 'The longer this drags on, the harder it is to put to an end.' It's back over to you.
Right. Well, sooner or later there's going to be no place for the oil to go on Iran and they're going to have to shut it down and then it takes a long time to open it up again. So, the blockade is in effect and that's going to continue. But we could hear anytime Vance is headed back there or I don't know. We'll watch for Truth Social. This morning I saw Babylon Bee thing said Trump jails man for not paying attention to this matter. It's a joke. You know, he always says, 'Thank you for your attention to this matter.' Dan, thanks. One other thing about the hearing, I mean, Elizabeth Warren comes on here, she can be very tough and I think she was.
She can be very, but do you guys remember, and you probably won't cop to it, but her letters to Jay for years all wanted him to do the same thing, cut rates.
Rates, right? So now she and this is pointed out in the journal now she's absolutely grilling Kevin Worsh that he might do what she's been arguing for Jay Powell to do for years because now it's something Trump wants. So if Trump wants now she doesn't want it anymore. I know what I know. I saw I was watching.
And he's made clear that you are his sock puppet saying last week that interest rates will drop quote when Kevin gets in.
Yeah, I think they do. Not when economic conditions change, we'll get lower rates. Not when the economy needs it. Nope. He said, 'When my guy Kevin Walsh is in there, we'll get the interest rates that I, Donald Trump, wants.' Name one aspect of President Trump's economic agenda with which you disagree.
Well, Senator, the Federal Reserve in recent years has wandered outside of its remit, wandered into other.
Donald Trump on. Confirm the Federal Reserve should stay in its lane.
I don't think it mattered who was going to nominate. She would have.
Is he a horrible person? Do you have to assume he's a horrible person?
No, but I don't think it mattered. I watch I did. I don't think it mattered.
Were you not just going, 'Oh my god.'
Well, yeah, because the assumption that he's a guilty guy and he's a bad guy because he's wealthy and because he's you know, she kind of berated him for bringing up Stan Duck Miller as somebody he was thanking in his opening comment. She used a nasty word for drunken law too.
Yeah. Well, she called him a billionaire.
No, she there was a it was like a Trump name for drug.
But look, I think it doesn't matter because Elizabeth Warren's concern is that whoever is nominated under this Trump administration is going to be a sock puppet in her words. That's basically it didn't matter who was sitting there. She would have asked the same questions on some of these things. And it's not a surprise that he got a tough grilling. We kind of knew that was coming because.
Because of his personal wealth.
Because anybody who would accept the appointment from Trump supposedly has an agreement with him to do what he wants.
And that's the way the president has kind of seen this. So it wouldn't have mattered which of the four leading names was up there. She would have asked the same questions of this. Now that doesn't mean that these aren't valid questions to ask about independence, but she did ask it in a particularly.
Scott Kirby's going to be on.
In a little bit we'll talk airlines.
We'll talk him into that.
You're going to talk We're going to talk him into the merger.
We'll see about that. I mean, you heard what the president said. I don't think talking him into the mergers.
I'm going to talk him into it, too. I can talk him into a lot of things, even letting you.
Oh, you're going to talk the president into it?
I had to. I had to. And then he said that was classic. I do one-on-ones with him all the time. That's what I do. And I could have done that yesterday, but went to great lengths to make it an all-play and then to, you know, which is classic. It's just really funny how clueless the what are they? The nattering neighbors of media. What do we call that?
Anyway, it was great that all of us got.
Be involved. All right, speaking of United Airlines reporting better than expected earnings and revenue, but the company did slash its 2026 forecast in part because of high jet fuel prices. For the second quarter, it expects earnings in the range of $1 to $2 a share, and that is below what the Wall Street consensus of $2.80 is. United CEO Scott Kirby will be joining us. This is a first on CNBC interview. Phil is going to be leading that up. The stock this morning is up by better than 2.4%. United CEO Scott Kirby is up next.
Demand has remained strong. We do anticipate that will turn into some kind of elasticity effect. If there's a 15 to 20% increase in fares, that is going to at some point drive less demand. We frankly haven't seen it in our bookings yet.
Squawk Pod will be right back.
Welcome back to Squawk Pod from CNBC. Here's Joe Kernan.
As promised, let's get to Phil LeBeau now with United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. Hey, Phil.
Hey, Joe. Thank you very much. Scott, thank you for joining us today from United Airlines headquarters in Chicago. I want to start with Q1 results. You beat on the top and the bottom line, but it's more the guidance I want to talk about. You've cut your full-year guidance in large part because of the uncertainty about jet fuel prices. We pretty much know what's expected for the industry in the second quarter. What should we expect for the rest of the year? Are we looking at higher for longer jet fuel prices?
Yeah. So, you know, first I'm incredibly proud of the United team and I think our first quarter results and frankly our full-year guidance is indicative of it's another proof point of what we've done at United to build a great brand loyal airline that has a resiliency to get through the inevitable, you know, crises and shocks that hit the industry. You know, we've had a doubling of fuel prices as we got to through the end of the quarter and to still be solidly profitable, grow earnings year-over-year is a pretty remarkable achievement. But I think the bigger point is really about as you look forward that we are passing through right now about 40 to 50% of the increase in fuel. That's faster than I can ever remember in my career. And we expect to get to 100% by the end of the year. It does have some impact this year. It's not realistic to get it all passed through this year, but we think we'll be by 100% by the end of the year. So feel really good about the strategy and the setup that United had to get into this that we can be delivering still delivering solid results even with the rapid increase in fuel prices.
And you're passing those through in the terms of airfare increases. We'll talk a little bit more about that in a bit, but I want to get to the elephant in the room, Scott, which is what the comments were yesterday from the president of the United States when he was talking on Squawkbox and this idea of you potentially buying American Airlines, which you discussed with a White House official in February. We asked him about this. Joe asked him about it and here's what he had to say and then I'd like to get your reaction afterwards.
I don't like it. No, I don't mind mergers. I think I'd love somebody to buy Spirit as an example. You know, Spirit's in trouble and I'd love somebody to buy Spirit. It's 14,000 jobs and maybe the federal government should help that one out. You know, I told my people, but with American, it's doing fine. And United's doing very well. I know the United people, they're doing very well. I don't like having them merge. It's just like all of these aerospace defense companies and aerospace.
All right, Scott, what's your reaction to what the president says? He doesn't like the idea of you potentially buying American.
Well, I love the fact that the president knows that United is doing very well. Which he's right. We are doing very well and I'm really proud of the team for doing that. We have not at United commented on all the I know there's lots of rumors, lots of stories about consolidation. We've not commented and I'm not going to start that today. But what I will do is repeat some of the things that I've said in the past. And we've been on a mission here at United to build, you know, a great airline for customers that creates value to customers and we win customers because we provide a great product, a great value for those customers. And we've been talking about the fact that we want to create a truly globally competitive airline for the United States. And today we have a big trade deficit with international carriers. Many of them are, you know, effectively state-owned and state-subsidized. And they fly 65% of the long haul seats into the US and only about 40% of the customers are from those countries. And that's bad for United Airlines. That's bad for US Aviation. That's bad for US workers. We create some of the best jobs and careers at United Airlines of anywhere in the country and that's bad for the country. And so, yeah, I've been thinking about ways for the last couple years, how can we solve that and create a great US airline that all US citizens can be proud of that competes on every facet around the globe.
Well, Scott, wait. I have to go back at you on this. You say you don't want to comment on rumors. If this is not true, if you never brought the idea of buying American up to somebody at the White House, why don't you just come out and say, 'Wait a second, that's a bunch of malarkey.' What you're saying here is here's the case for us to be a bigger, more global airline, but you're not commenting on whether or not you actually have proposed this idea to somebody at the White House. And I think people are entitled to know if did you actually bring up this idea to somebody at the White House and said, 'Look, it would make sense for United to buy American.'
