CNBCfix - Fast Money Review

[CNBCfix Fast Money Archive — May 2026]

DELL is not in Belski’s ETF

Leslie Picker was at the helm of Friday's (5/29) Halftime Report and opened with the Stock of the Day, DELL, which is a stock Bryn Talkington has talked about in the past.

Bryn said DELL had "crazy numbers" and the stock reacted "appropriately."

Bryn, the only panelist not at Post 9, said DELL is "clearly taking share from Super Micro." Leslie wondered about "peak margins" concerns. Bryn said the backlog grew; Bryn admitted selling half her DELL position 4 months ago to buy CRM. But Bryn said she thinks we're still in the "early days."

Kevin Simpson said the DELL P.E. "validates" the stock move. "I wouldn't be jumping off the ship today," Kevin said.

Kevin said figuring out ROI from AI is gonna take "1, 2 or 3 years," rather than quarters.

Kari Firestone stressed that DELL is "a great example" of being "in the right spot at the right time."

Bryn mentioned what's become the word of the month: "tokens."

Kari felt compelled to outline another difference between now and 1999, saying that back then, "to keep up with your index," you had to own companies that had no profit or even revenue.

Late in the show, Santoli said BlackBerry is up "50% in the last week or so," which is true, based on what we looked up. Santoli said the uncertainty that remains about Iran is preventing "silliness" in the market.

On Friday's Fast Money, Karen Finerman said DELL is her "biggest position," and she's going to cover the calls against it "but still keep a very substantial position." Karen said "it was an extraordinary quarter," and she thinks it's "light guidance."

Tim Seymour isn't bothered at all that NVDA had a "flat to sideways (sic basically redundant) week."

Tim Seymour at one point said, "The Robinhood clients have made a lot of money in this client (snicker). In this market."

Grandpa Weiss suggests credit cards ‘maxed out’ for 2/3 of the country

Guest host Leslie Picker put together an energetic Halftime Report on Friday (5/29), but there wasn't much for panelists to say except to gush about DELL, so most viewers were probably most entertained by how permabear Steve Weiss was going to describe Friday's installment of the 2026 stock market.

Weiss, as he's had to do for the last couple months, complained, "We're not in that market where there should be any concern about- where there is any concern about anything."

Making sure he got in some headwinds, Grandpa Weiss said "you have a large part of the country that are in default on a 90-day lookback on their credit card balances" and even mentioned that we have a presidential approval rating "that's lower than a visit to the dentist, and I apologize to my dentist."

Weiss said he "shaved" some MU, citing "position size." Weiss trimmed CAT, something he had been talking about doing for weeks, once his ownership hit the 1-year mark near the end of May.

Weiss also bought more DKS, which is always an interesting stock, just because it's a blast to buy stuff there. (This writer has no position in DKS.) Weiss said the quarter was "pretty good" and that the stock's reasonably valued if not cheap and there's a "moat" around the business. Moments later, Weiss cautioned about potential consumer sluggishness and warned about "credit cards maxed out for the 2/3 of the country that unfortunately have to live, uh, you know, paycheck to paycheck." But he said the World Cup is a "big buffer" for DKS that can offset consumer weakness.

Wonder if anyone’s planning a really incredible meal at Bamonte’s on Saturday

At the end of Friday's (5/29) Halftime Report, viewers heard a snippet of Morgan Brennan interviewing Jamie Dimon. We didn't heard the whole thing but we could pretty much predict what Jamie said or at least what "tone" he would've given about the market in what was surely a "wide-ranging" interview. But then Halftime guest host Leslie Picker revealed that Jamie actually said the exuberance in the market is "not that bad."

So we got that going for us.

Which is nice.

Kevin Simpson owns RKLB; Kevin said a Blue Origin explosion like the one that just happened "is to be expected" as the rocket industry emerges.

Bryn Talkington said SpaceX is "gonna open at a market cap bigger than Meta, which is unbelievable, but this is where we are," but she "definitely" thinks SpaceX can "pop."

CNBC's Kate Rooney, in chic sandals at Post 9, discussed Anthropic fundraising.

Kevin said he wrote a 985 call on COST that brought in $27 and he was able to close out the position for $5, so a net $22 gain "overnight." Kari Firestone said the COST chart is "kinda broken."

Bryn's Final Trade was IGV, an interesting choice. Kevin said NVDA, Kari said MSFT (after Leslie pronounced her name CAR-ree and then corrected herself) and Steve Weiss said BABA.

Late in Friday's Fast Money, Sharon Epperson explained how parents can use 529 accounts for themselves, something that apparently caught Mel by surprise.

Judge didn’t ask Brad if Stephanie’s 5% was correct

Judge on Thursday's (5/28) Halftime Report did an early commercial in the A Block apparently to match up the time with Brad Gerstner, who was literally pumping his fist about Trump Accounts.

Brad stated, without much prompting, some very helpful facts about the accounts. "Every child under 2 remember is gonna get a thousand dollars automatically funded on July 4th. Most kids between the age of 2 and 10 will get at least $250." Judge added, "On the state level, this has a chance to be pretty significant too."

Brad said he was in Durham and that he "adopted" Murray-Massenburg Elementary School, with 700 kids, and is "putting an extra $250 into all of their accounts."

(We're not math majors, but that sounds like $175,000. However, we have to wonder whether every student in the school is signed up for the program.)

Meanwhile, Judge asked Brad "what's goin' through your mind" when he sees SNOW's gain, as Judge recounted Brad's exact ownership position (which is personal only after his funds got out of it), a subject that tripped up Judge and Stephanie Link this week (see below).

Apparently trying to rewrite history regarding his skeptical comments about software, Brad first claimed he was talking about SNOW being in the "token flow" and it's a "very different story than software apps like for example Salesforce, that more directly compete with the AI model companies."

Brad said, "Snowflake continues to be a very very large personal holding, uh, for me." Brad pointed out what SNOW is doing this year vs. MU and ARM (the latter 2 have been much stronger), so selling SNOW in favor of the others "was the right thing for us to do."

Josh Brown noted some expected tech IPOs and asked Brad if the market can "support that much supply of new tech stock hitting the market at the same time." Brad said it's a great point but "there's gonna be enough capital" given the "grand scheme of things."

Usually someone marvels how UBER is part of the industrials index

Judge on Thursday's (5/28) Halftime Report said BTIG is pinning a $100 on UBER, not the first time we've heard that prediction. (Honestly, it happens about every few months.) (This writer has no position in UBER.)

Josh Brown said "I hope they're right; I don't see it happening in the near term." Josh said there's a "cloud" over UBER as the market assumes Waymo will be the autonomous winner-take-all of the ride-providing business.

But Josh said it's "not out of the ballpark" that UBER could one day have a gain like SNOW was having Thursday. (Yeah, we'll take the other side of that.)

Malcolm Ethridge shrugged that UBER is "more a transportation company than a tech company" that moves people from Point A to Point B, so he "might as well own FedEx or UPS, and I don't like either of those businesses either."

Wonder if anyone’s going to Bamonte’s on Saturday night

Judge on Thursday's (5/28) Halftime Report announced that the "parabolic tech stock du jour" was SNOW and, for dramatic effect, "Off. To. The. Races."

Judge quickly admitted "nobody owns it here," though Judge correctly explained Brad Gerstner's ownership (which this site pointed out this week after Judge and Stephanie struggled to nail down the details from Brad's recent appearance). (See above and below.)

Josh Brown said SNOW's move is "good for sentiment." Malcolm Ethridge said people were "offsides" on the name and that "it's going to survive the SAASpocalypse," but "look out for Databricks" ahead.

Judge said the SMH is "hated" (snicker) and Judge again mentioend the investor he spoke with again who was amazed by MU but bought calls regardless (see below).

Jimmy Lebenthal had a good line, saying they're all stock-pickers, but "right now, we probably have to be parabola-pickers." Jim stressed what he sees as differences between NVDA and a "cyclical stock like Micron" that is "highly commoditized."

Josh mentioned Dr. Ankur Crawford; Judge cut in, "frequently on Closing Bell by the way." Josh protested, "I'm more friends with her than you are."

Malcolm bought more ZS on the "complete overreaction" a day earlier, even suggesting it's like the reaction to the CRWD outage a couple years ago.

Josh said Barry launched a new strategy called Porterhouse, which, like all other strategies on the show, is designed to "own the best stocks in the market." The only hitch to that idea, as it is with the JOET or any other formula, is that its composition at any given time is telling you what the stocks have already done, not necessarily what they're going to do.

Josh told Jimmy it's a mix of both technicals and fundamentals. Josh admitted, "Obviously there's a lot of people running some sort of version of this."

Meanwhile, Josh talked up EW. Remember when Keith Meister was on the show a few years ago talking about how great all these life sciences stocks were going to be.

Jimmy's Final Trade was WYNN, saying it was 130 before the Iran war. He bought more Thursday. Malcolm said OKTA, and Josh said TTAN.

Josh picks JOBY over ACHR (a/k/a Joe apparently hasn’t been to Bamonte’s since Saturday night)

At the start of Wednesday's (5/27) Halftime Report, we thought we were going to get an hourlong speech from the president about drug prices.

Then Judge cut in and said they were going to talk about "the record run for stocks."

But beyond marveling at MU, basically nobody had anything to talk about.

Judge said MU is "meme-ish to say the least."

Josh Brown said A) chances are, you may already own MU in ETFs, 401(k), etc. and B) buying MU "may not be the smartest thing to do right now." Josh said if we hear Dario or Sam talk about 20% more efficient models, "this stock could be at 700 in 2 seconds."

Judge said he was "talking with a well-known investor this morning" who is "astounded" by MU's move "and was still buying calls." Joe Terranova called that the "right strategy" and noted the volume in MU trading these days.

Jenny ($12 Sundae) Harrington mentioned different investing thesises, then managed to occupy much of the show's remaining time, at least this time not talking about the unemployed 26-year-old who's gonna make really cool films and put the clamps on NFLX. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Liz Thomas said "the healthiest thing for this market to do would be to spread some of that love into other sectors and other industry groups," which would mean a "cooling off" for semis.

Josh said software companies can't "permanently dispel" the overhang of AI.

Judge asked about HOOD allowing AI agents to trade. Josh said, "This is gonna come to every brokerage," and it's "super cool" technology, though some will use it "recklessly." Joe said he would "absolutely never" have an AI agent run the JOET. Judge chuckled that he asked Joe a "totally preposterous" question.

Judge at one point actually apologized to Jenny for his "snarkiness."

During his semi-regular update on helicopter stocks, Josh said he sold ACHR and bought more JOBY; Josh has concluded that "JOBY is going to be, uh, the one to own." Josh also bought QXO, a "very small" position, of course it's about "Brad Jacobs." Josh said CSX is "breaking out."

Josh is "staying long" XOM. Joe told us (sorta) what ECL does without indicating whether it's a good stock or not.

Jenny's Final Trade was VTR. Liz said COWZ, Joe said F and Josh said QXO.

Judge implies that Jimmy’s market commentary doesn’t match his portfolio

Judge on Tuesday's (5/26) Halftime Report noted QCOM hit a "new (sic redundant) record high."

Longtime QCOM fan Jimmy Lebenthal said "this is a frothy market" and there's a "lot of hype" in QCOM and that earnings estimates actually have been going down.

That got Judge's attention, as Judge explained that he's "confused" that Jimmy hasn't "trimmed it already" given Jimmy's comments about the rest of the market.

Jimmy protested that he did trim QCOM 2 weeks ago when Frank Holland guest hosted. Jimmy happened to reveal to Judge, "I didn't know you weren't gonna be here," which suggests panelists aren't told about Judge's daily schedules. Jimmy though admitted "it was the wrong thing to do to trim it."

Pssst ... he owns it personally

(Sigh) It's fortunate that this page took note of Brad Gerstner's comments on the 5/14 Halftime Report, because Judge and Stephanie Link were having a lot of issues in that regard on Tuesday's (5/26) program.

Judge and Stephanie debated whether Brad owns SNOW. Judge said Brad "revealed that he no longer owns it in his, I guess in his hedge fund," which is actually true — but not the whole story.

Stephanie said, "Maybe I'm behind, because I thought he still owned a small position, like 5% position."

Judge said, "No, not 5% ... that's a big position."

Stephanie said, "No, relative to what the other names that he owns (sic grammar), much bigger, so, I don't know, we might be looking at different things."

Judge said, "I'm just recalling what he said when I asked him directly on the show."

Stephanie said, "I don't know why he would've sold it."

Well, we can clue 'em in. Brad said on 5/14 that he doesn't have SNOW in his "public funds." Judge said, "That's a big deal!," but evidently not a big enough deal for Judge to remember the specifics 2 weeks later.

As for Stephanie's 5%, Brad also said that day that he owns "a lot personally" of SNOW but has been "skeptical of software now for 2 years." Perhaps it's possible that Brad's personal position in SNOW is 5%, but that seems unlikely given how "skeptical" he claims to be.

Remember when Jimmy was saying the market would be fine if the Iran thing was settled before April?

Judge opened Tuesday's (5/26) Halftime Report talking about AAPL ripping.

Joe Terranova basically took a victory lap for having "conviction" enough to buy AAPL on March 24 at 252½, "and I've now executed 4 subsequent buys."

Jimmy Lebenthal boasted, "I doubled up on this stock about a year ago, right after Liberation Day, at 190." But Jimmy stressed that AAPL is "overvalued," so he's only riding it till the "momentum wears out."

Stephanie Link agrees with both Joe and Jimmy but finds the stock "not compelling."

Stephanie said MRVL "reminds me, Scott, of Broadcom 5 years ago." Joe said MRVL's 12-month price target is 163, so analysts have to "come up" on that one after earnings.

Joe stated, "Right now, this is a white-hot momentum market."

Joe sounds like he’s never had a restaurant meal before

Judge on Tuesday's (5/26) Halftime Report said Ed Yardeni is touting "FEMO" (Fabulous Earnings Momentum) as opposed to "FOMO."

Sounds like a market slogan that'll really catch on.

Joe Terranova talked about how tough it is to invest in consumer discretionary stocks; Stephanie Link of course rattled off all the ones that are putting up great numbers.

Joe said LLY is investing its cash flow in other areas that will "diversify the story." Joe said he sold the XBI probably "a little bit too soon." Joe also mentioned that Fish says that after making a mistake, you should spend on yourself.

Which prompted Joe to add, "I had a phenomenal meal at Bamonte's on Saturday night," something Judge couldn't stop talking about, as the 2 mentioned the pork chop parmesan and the ravioli.

Judge was again in NKE shoes at Post 9.

Stephanie said UNH beat and raised.

Late in the show, Oliver Renick said more calls than puts were being bought in GLD. But "one whale in GDX" bought a bunch of 85 puts expiring July 17.

Joe said "the fever broke" in precious metals on Jan. 29. Joe said he's not seeing "risk-on mentality" in gold and silver like in other sectors.

Jimmy Lebenthal's Final Trade was ABBV, though he admitted he has no "catalyst." Stephanie said DECK, and Joe said the parmesan pork chop GS.

Wendy hits one out of the park

It's hard to fill movie theaters these days.

For Wendy Finerman? No prob.

Word out of Hollywood on Memorial Day weekend is that "The Devil Wears Prada 2" has grossed $600 million internationally and $200 million domestically.

According to the movie's Wikipedia page, which cites a Variety article, "Prada 2" was produced for $100 million. There's probably marketing costs, etc., on top of that ... and around here, we can barely figure out 2+2 ... but given these numbers, we gotta think "Prada 2" is raking in a very healthy profit.

It was this page's opinion (see below) that "Prada 2" is a little underwhelming and not as good as the original movie.

But we've taken note that a lot of reviews have praised the movie's frank assessment of the news media. One newspaper columnist who is not a movie reviewer writes, "I appreciate a plot that refuses to ignore the realities of media consumption."

A lot of sequels are done simply because they're seen as easy money. That could've been the case for "Prada 2." It's not. And that's why people have headed to theaters throughout the month of May. The commentary of the movie put together by Wendy and the rest of the team delivers an important message: That in a very vulnerable media world, It's still possible to do the right thing.

Moviegoers want to be entertained. Sometimes they come away with a little more than they bargained for. That's a win-win for all.

The Halftime gang actually seems to think this appointment is about managing the economy

The first quarter of Friday's (5/22) Halftime Report was preempted by the White House ceremony installing Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chair.

Incredibly, Judge's Halftime Report panel analyzed this transformation at face value.

Judge welcomed CNBC's Matt Peterson to Post 9 for Peterson's first appearance on the show (Steve Liesman must've been unavailable); Matt called the swearing-in a "pretty historic transfer of power."

Panelists talked about all the noble things they think Kevin Warsh is going to have to do and how difficult it's going to be. The bigger part of the job may be whether the Fed can build a monument to the president or get the president's face on currency or whether it'll seem OK in banking circles to run around saying "Tariffs are the greatest thing since sliced bread!!!!!!!" None of that is particularly difficult, other than maybe the picture-on-money thing.

Another Kevin, Simpson, was on Judge's Committee on Friday and said he doesn't see a "path where the Fed can cut rates literally for the next year or 2." Yeah. Sure. How in the world does anyone envision a "path" for this process for the next 2 years?

Bryn Talkington's Final Trade was ABBV. Jenny Harrington said MRP and Stephanie Link said EL. Kevin apparently was allotted 2 Final Trades, saying ADM and GEV.

Judge on Closing Bell said Kevin (Warsh, not Simpson) didn't mention Ben Bernanke "in any way, shape or form."

The Texas Roadhouse baked potato is ‘out of this world’

Bill Baruch was on Thursday's (5/21) Halftime committee and used the opportunity to update Judge and viewers on his recent trades.

The trade that prompted the most conversation was Bill buying TXRH, a stock rarely mentioned on the show.

Bill said it's an "amazing" restaurant; he said "I frequent" the one in Bloomingdale, Illinois. Bill said the owners get a "portion of the profits," which apparently spurs them to run a great business (although we sorta think probably every franchisee of every restaurant chain gets some portion of the profits ... or why do it). Bill added, "They're much more than steak, too. I mean, that baked potato, fully loaded, is out of this world."

Bill sold the EEM but bought CQQQ, which he said is more infrastructure than the KWEB, which Bill said is just "internet China." Bill also bought SCCO and said he was going to be driving through Wisconsin to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and he's going to pass a data center that covers "670 acres."

SPOT claims to have ways to keep scalpers from getting the great tickets

CNBC's Julia Boorstin on Thursday (5/21) landed an interview with SPOT co-CEO Gustav Soderstrom (that is a great Sverige name). (This writer is long SPOT, but not hugely, and not particularly excited about it since unloading some shares a few months ago.)

In the most interesting part of the conversation, Gustav said SPOT has enough info on users that the "biggest fans," rather than scalpers, will get concert tickets. This has long been a pop culture conundrum; the more that artists offer ticket prices under fair market value, the more they're recruiting scalpers.

Gustav said he's "very excited" about the potential of AI while stressing that SPOT cracks down on fraud.

Malcolm Ethridge said SPOT has a "long way to go" to get back to the old high. No doubt about that.

On Fast Money, Guy Adami said the Doobie Brothers and the band Chicago "suck," and he's annoyed by SPOT recommending their songs. Steve Grasso said SPOT is the type of business that should be vulnerable to AI, so he'd sell the pop.

Judge says ‘hell’ on the air

NVDA, not surprisingly, took up the early minutes of Thursday's (5/21) Halftime Report.

"I still think it's goin' to 250," offered Josh Brown, who said the stock "pre-rallies" its earnings report. Josh predicted "A day or 2 of digestion, and then this thing can take off all over again."

Judge actually said "hell" on the air, mentioning a WSJ article about NVDA maybe being "underappreciated." Judge said, "People hear me say that, and I sit back like, 'What the hell is this guy talkin' about?'," given a $5 trillion market cap. But maybe NVDA isn't getting enough "credit" for its position in AI, Judge said.

Malcolm Ethridge suggested, "It's reasonable to think that the stock is probably going to continue to stagnate because they can't continue to impress us any more."

Josh suggested NVDA do some buybacks while the market may be "bored" with the stock.

Stephanie Link for some reason questioned who the incremental buyer is for NVDA and said it'll take a "cheaper multiple for the value players."

Bill Baruch said "Getting above 205, 210 is similar to that 170 level that- that I've been watching." Judge said "Baird goes to 500 bucks. ... I don't think that's a typo."

Judge still hasn’t addressed Dan Nathan’s contention that the Fast Money gang could beat the Halftime crew in basketball

On Thursday's (5/21) Halftime Report, CNBC's Leslie Picker said SpaceX's valuation might be $1.5 trillion on the "conservative side."

Judge's panelists basically agreed that SpaceX has a lot of reach and that there will be a bid for the stock, whatever the valuation turns out to be.

It was Judge, not Stephanie Link, who claimed SpaceX has a "28½ trillion-dollar total addressable market." Josh seemed skeptical of that number, stating, "The entire economy is 119 trillion." Stephanie apparently said she "absolutely" would invest in SpaceX "100%" (Josh was talking as Judge asked her the question). Stephanie said she'd take a "small position" and "just put it away."

Malcolm Ethridge said there's "no way" he'd buy SpaceX on the IPO.

Still waiting for Judge to ask the committee about the Kevin Hart roast

Stephanie Link on Thursday's (5/21) Halftime Report bought more TGT because of "traffic."

Judge tried to talk up IBM as a "quantum" stock. Stephanie called quantum "AI on steroids," but there's a "long way to go."

Stephanie sold SN and GAP.

Malcolm Ethridge sold D, suggesting it's "range-bound" for a while.

Josh Brown said MS, which coincidentally hit a 52-week high, is on his Best Stocks list. Malcolm called it a "great space to be allocating capital." Stephanie seized the opportunity to rattle off the recent metrics, prompting even Judge to say, "You're using a lot of acronyms."

Malcolm's Final Trade was IBM. Bill Baruch said NOW. Stephanie said AA and Josh said NFLX, citing a "higher low." (This writer is long NFLX.)

Jeff says not to worry about any bubble

Emphasizing CNBC's Big Story of the Day, Judge on Wednesday's (5/20) Halftime Report played a clip of Jeff Bezos telling Andrew Ross Sorkin, "even if it does turn out to be a bubble, you shouldn't worry about it."

Jeff explained that there are good ideas being funded and bad ideas being funded, and nobody knows at the moment which is which, but the good ideas will ultimately more than make up for the bad ones.

Josh Brown made an interesting point about how maybe having worked on Wall Street around 2000 isn't helpful for assessing the market ever since, as those people are "hopelessly anchored to" the 2000 bubble and see bubbles everywhere. Which is a great point. One or two of those "hopelessly anchored" people are on the show regularly.

Joe Terranova said "the momentum factor needs a correction," but he doesn't see it "anytime soon."

Steve Weiss said that big tech companies that are private now would've been public back in 2000. Weiss asserted, "OpenAI has too many stakeholders at this point to fail."

Leslie Picker said SpaceX has chosen GS to lead the IPO. Then Judge had to bring in MacKenzie to discuss the WSJ story on the "very soon" OpenAI IPO.

Judge should ask other panelists what they thought of The Roast of Kevin Hart

Judge opened Wednesday's (5/20) Halftime Report saying he didn't want to "go around the horn and say 'Hey, what are you expecting'" regarding NVDA.

Though that's kinda what he did anyway.

Josh Brown said NVDA is looking at 80% y-o-y revenue growth, and there's "no analog" to this ever happening.

Josh said "the road to 250 is easier than the road to 200" but that NVDA typically rallies on customers' earnings reported weeks earlier, not its own earnings. (This review was posted overnight Wed-Thurs, after NVDA results were released.)

Joe Terranova said that what you'll be able to take away from NVDA earnings is the "confidence that this is not gonna end anytime soon."

Judge referred to Steve Weiss as "Judge Smails" and said it's a "kinda obvious" reference; Weiss was wearing a light blue jacket and evidently Judge's comment was payback for Weiss jabbing Judge's tie a day ago. (See more below.)

Weiss said we get confirmation of NVDA's greatness on a "weekly basis" from Jensen. Weiss said for now, capex spending is still "party on."

Jimmy Lebenthal explained why it's OK that NVDA's multiple is so much higher than MU's.

Judge actually went to Oliver Renick in the 9th minute. Oliver said traders are paying "notably more" for NVDA calls than puts on Wednesday.

Josh tells us how cyber stocks are on the Best Stocks list but then indicates they’re too hot to buy now

Josh Brown on Wednesday's (5/20) Halftime Report brought up cybersecurity stocks for his Best Stocks in the Market list and started off mocking the "ludicrous" notion that the cybersecurity industry could be upended by people "vibe-coding their own security patches."

Josh said FTNT had a "parabolic move," so you have to go to a 50-day trailing stop; it's "not a great entry" right now, "give it a minute." Josh gave 215 as the "line in the sand" for PANW; "RSI almost 90." Josh noted CRWD was in the "low 300s" in the last 2 months.

Judge said the JOET had to "get out of these names." Joe Terranova said CRWD since April 30 "is up 44½%." Joe twice explained why he doesn't want to rebalance on a monthly basis.

Joe said TJX appears to want to hit its 165 all-time high. Joe said ROST is the "same narrative."

Santoli it's "twitchy" about whether to get into names such as MU.

Josh's Final Trade was NVDA. Jimmy Lebenthal, who had another quiet show, said DAL; Judge called Jimmy "Farmer Jim in the Atari tie," another clothing reference on Wednesday's show. And we're not going to bother showing Jimmy's tie here. (However, have to admit, it was kind of a funny description.) Judge also called Weiss "Mr. Caddyshack." Weiss' Final Trade apparently is GOOGL, he didn't say that specifically, but that's what the screen said. Joe said GS. No one on the show talked about Dan Nathan's assertion on Fast Money the night before that the Fast Money gang + Sully would beat the Halftime crew in basketball.

Sully boasts that the Fast Money gang could beat Halftime crew in ‘everything’

At the top of Tuesday's (5/19) Fast Money, guest hosted by Sully, Dan Nathan stated, "I think we would take the Halftime Report panel with Sully" in a basketball game.

Sully said, "Honestly, respectfully, the Halftime? We'd take 'em in everything."

Just what the world needs, a new ETF (Google AI says there are 4,500 in the U.S.)

Brian Belski on Tuesday's (5/19) Halftime Report announced the HIS, a new ETF with a ticker reflecting Belski's Humilis Investment Strategies.

"It's really 45 to 50 stocks based on, on trying to beat the S&P 500," Belski said, and that's reassuring, because if it was trying to match or underperform the S&P, then ...

Belski said the portfolio represents every sector. The screen graphic showed what it labeled "top holdings," but it went through apparently "all holdings," and in alphabetic ticker symbol order: AAPL, AMD, AMZN, AVGO, BAC, BRK-B, COST, CVX, DAL, FCX, GILD, GOOGL, GS, HD, JNJ, JPM, LLY, LMT, MAR, MSFT, MS, NEE, NFLX, NI, NVDA, ORCL, PANW, PH, PLD, PLTR, PWR, SHOP, SO, SPOT, T, TJX, TMO, TSLA, UBER, UNH, V, WFC, WM, WMT.

Judge noted that it's "extremely, you know, weighted towards large-cap stocks."

Joe Terranova asked Belski, "What's the expense ratio on it."

Belski said, "Ah, I don't have that on the top of my head. You just got me right there."

Joe said, "OK. Sorry. I didn't mean to ask you a 'gotcha' question."

Belski said "that's OK; we're just excited to be live!"

Belski said his shop "partnered with an amazing company, ETF Architect."

Steve Weiss actually praised the concentrated nature of the HIS portfolio, stating that Buffett, Tepper and Weiss all find "diversification is the enemy of performance."

Responding to Joe's question earlier, Belski said "54 basis points" is the expense ratio. Weiss called that "low."

The stock market no longer seems to care about even the Strait of Hormuz

Judge opened Tuesday's (5/19) Halftime Report rattling off some market headwinds to Brian (New ETF) Belski.

Belski said the "most alarming thing" that Judge mentioned was the 30-year yield highest since July 2007, though Brian had an "at the end of the day" (he's about the only one on CNBC still saying it all the time) to deal with his "complex PTSD" at the memory: "Clearly this isn't 2007, but at the end of the day, the markets needed a refresh and need a bit of a pullback and we believe this is very, very healthy."

(If Belski watched other CNBC shows all day, he would've been hearing about the 30-year yield more times than he could count.)

Joe Terranova said to "be careful" with NVDA earnings Wednesday night. (We think that translates to, "Don't buy a ton of NVDA at 3:59 p.m. Wednesday.") (But only Joe knows for sure.)

By the 4th minute, Judge was quoting the B of A fund manager survey (Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz).

Steve Weiss said of the market, "I think it's purely relying on yields, how we go, whether we go up, whether we go down."

Weiss said Donald Trump had just talked about maybe nearing a deal with Iran, but "The market doesn't care anymore." Boy, is he right about that.

Judge, citing B of A's note on semis, asserted, "Gonna be choppy at- at best in the near term."

Jimmy Lebenthal said the kind of "melt-up" that he worries about "like in 2000, you get a multi-year decline," and "that is not the case" now. Judge persisted that from March 30, "it was nothing short of a melt-up."

Jimmy said semis have been "stretched" but the fundamentals are "very much intact." Jimmy even cited semi multiples (without telling us how the multiple indicates stock direction).

Jimmy then found himself tangling not with Weiss but Judge after Jimmy said semis haven't had a "melt-up to a degree that requires some dramatic, uh, bottom falling out in the market."

Judge said that's "debatable" to "many people," given "how much these stocks ran up," it's a "textbook definition of melt-up."

Weiss said BABA is a "leader in AI" but gets a penalty for not being an American company; "I like it quite a bit," Weiss said, calling it "low risk."

Nothing wrong with Judge’s tie

Joe Terranova on Tuesday's (5/19) Halftime Report said he sold the XBI; he first bought it Oct. 1 at 101, and then "continued to buy, um, higher."

Joe said biotech doesn't like rising yields.

Judge wondered how Joe can own GILD while selling XBI. Joe said that the XBI was a personal sale and GILD is in the JOET.

Out of the blue, Steve Weiss called Judge's tie a "blasphemous attempt at fashion." Joe said to Judge, referring to Weiss, "And I called him a gentleman yesterday; what a mistake." Judge told Joe, "Everybody knew that that was nonsense the minute you said it." (See below, it was, honestly, kind of a silly conversation.)

Weiss said he sold FTAI, saying "I hate losing money on trades," and he also sold VRT though he said he "made money" in that stock.

Brian Belski said people got carried away about LLY's weight loss in the last couple years; he likes it for other reasons. Joe said GEHC is a strong company that might be at a "good cyclical moment."

Joe claims Judge’s explanation for PLTR’s chart only strengthens Joe’s argument to Jimmy

Joe Terranova on Tuesday's (5/19) Halftime Report noted the cyber stocks hitting 52-week highs and again mentioned ZM having an Anthropic investment.

Joe said the JOET added DDOG in the last quarter.

Joe wondered, if software has bottomed, "why isn't Palantir rallying?" Judge said "because its valuation's much higher than the others," and Jimmy Lebenthal said "that's exactly why."

Judge then said PLTR in a rising-rate environment is going to go down more than others. Joe said Judge is "strengthening my argument to Jimmy" that you can't say the IGV and software "in totality" has "found its bottom."

Judge back in NKE shoes at Post 9

CNBC's new CBOE guy, Oliver Renick, reported on Tuesday's (5/19) Halftime that it's a "rough day for travel stocks."

Oliver said someone bought Jan. 15 330 calls in RCL. But someone sold Sept. 18 330 MAR calls. Joe Terranova admitted he used to trumpet MAR, but after the pandemic, "probably my attention was turned in other places."

Brian Belski's Final Trade was NEE. Jimmy Lebenthal, who had a quiet show, said RIG. Steve Weiss said BABA. Joe said MRK, but the screen listed WELL as the last Final Trade. (But at least the CNBC graphics crew got the 2 big options trades mentioned by Oliver correct for the first time in days.) (2 outta 3 ain't bad.)

Santoli noted the VIX being "still below 18."

Judge talked up Jeff Bezos' scheduled Wednesday morning interview with Sorkin with a bit of hyperbole; "tomorrow's an event in our business."

Speaking of events, on Fast Money, as MacKenzie Sigalos continued her daylong reports on whatever Google was doing, Sully demanded, "What was like the MacKenzie Sigalos Hot Take of the Day?"

This page will glady declare that any report from MacKenzie is a Hot Take of the Day.

Joe is totally wrong; the Kevin Hart roast was a massive bust

Judge on Monday's (5/18) Halftime Report said B of A thinks NFLX, some of the deadest of the stock market's dead money, is "goin' up 40% from here," or to 125. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Jason Snipe, as he always does, continues to like the stock "going forward." Jason thinks 125 is "possible."

Steve Weiss said he's trimmed NFLX but is hanging on to the rest; it needs a "big quarter."

Joe Terranova said he got long "88 and a quarter, May 6th," and that he agrees with "both of the gentlemen's remarks."

Weiss cracked, "What about me? Do you agree with me also?"

Amid chuckles, Judge said, "I'm glad you noticed the distinction that he was talking about Mr. Snipe and myself."

Even Shannon Saccocia said, "I thought he was talking about me."

Joe trumpeted ad revenue on NFL games. Weiss mentioned watching the "Rousey" (pronounced "Roosey") event.

Then Joe was heard to say, "If you've ever heard of Kevin Hart, it's a really good roast."

Oh my.

It was an incredibly weak, bloated, generally not particularly funny roast. For a short while, it looked like Chelsea Handler might save it. The Rock should stick to movies. If Kevin 1) didn't happen to be short and 2) didn't have an apparently dubious dad, there would've been about 3 jokes all night.

We haven’t heard the phrase ‘take away the punch bowl’ in a long time

Judge opened Monday's (5/18) Halftime Report saying rates are "the biggest deal." Judge said a December hike has a "51% probability."

Joe Terranova said rates are a "challenge" to the "Trump administration," but "first and foremost, it's a challenge to the momentum factor."

Shannon Saccocia thinks there's a "little bit of overreach" on short-term rate concerns.

Jason Snipe said narrowness of the market is an "increasing concern."

Judge said if the market starts believing a hike is coming, stocks won't be "hangin' around the hoop of record highs."

Steve Weiss said "the bond market is hiking itself."

Weiss said "I wouldn't be surprised to see a 5-10% posi- uh, correction." But Weiss added that it would be a "much bigger correction in the AI trade."

Joe predicted that the market will simply "rotate."

Still trying to figure out how you can not be chasing but still ‘lean in’

Joe Terranova on Monday's (5/18) Halftime Report said the expectation for NVDA is a "blockbuster" report that is "built into the stock price for sure."

Steve Weiss trimmed META, even though it's a "core position"; he said he doesn't see a lot of risk nor a lot of upside, at least in the short term. Judge said Morgan Stanley has a 775 target on META.

Weiss trimmed MU, he sold in the premarket and "came pretty damn close" to hitting the "top tick." Weiss said he's heard the story and seen the movie "many times before," calling it a "yada yada yada story," meaning it looks "very cheap next year" but he struggles to see how much the story could improve.

Judge said Melius just raised semi price targets all over the place.

In his late-show appearance, Santoli did little more than recap what semis did early in the day.

Joe said money's being "recaptured" in the cybersecurity trade, but he's not giving all of software the "all clear."

For the first time we can remember, Judge wears non-NKE sneakers to Post 9

Jason Snipe on Monday's (5/18) Halftime Report said DHI and homebuilders are "eventually" the names you want to own, and you'll want them (as in any trade, basically) "before the move happens."

Joe Terranova mentioned the HD chart and said he gets the notion of being ahead of the homebuilder trade, but "I just don't see it in front of us."

Judge likened getting ahead of the trade to "going out and buying a Raiders jersey now."

Meanwhile, Joe said the JOET bought REGN in January at 741. Joe said analysts still collectively have an 846 target, "so there still remains a tremendous amount of optisimism (sic pronunciation) (uncorrected)."

Joe said DAL is the "premier airline" with UAL a "close second." Joe said the JOET owns both.

Steve Weiss said he's still in UNH, which has become a very interesting stock (this writer has no position in UNH), though it had "gone perhaps farther than it should've in this period of time."

Joe said he bought UBER at 78, but there hasn't been a follow-through. Honestly, we wonder about that stock. For years, panelists have talked about this name far more effusively than they talk about NVDA. (This writer has no position in UBER or NVDA.) Josh Brown keeps claiming it's all about the platform, but it's hard not to see a permanent headwind on this space.

Weiss' Final Trade was BABA. Jason said NOW, Shannon Saccocia said IYM and Joe said ADM.

Thanks, Santoli, for mentioning a term we hadn’t used here

On Friday's (5/15) Halftime Report, Santoli referred to "Volmageddon" on Powell's first day as Fed chief.

We didn't remember hearing that term on the show, nor, in fact did we remember Powell's first day. #timeflieswhenyou'rehavingfun

"Volmageddon" actually happened on Feb. 5, 2018. We checked the archive; this page didn't use the term, at least that particular month. Still, the market shock was a big enough deal that the CNBC.com article from that day actually quotes Weiss: "This is scary. A lot of people made a ton of dough over the last 9 years. I think we've got some more to go. There's not a catalyst to step in."

Nowadays, he'll tell you that for the last 15 years, everyone's been trained to buy the selloffs.

CNBC having trouble putting graphics together for Options Action

On Friday's (5/15) Halftime Report, CNBC's new CBOE reporter guy, Oliver Renick, said "2 bearish trades stood out" on the XLF, one of them being that someone bought "5,800 contracts of the 46-strike put expiring in mid-September."

But the CNBC screen graphic said the trader was buying 46 calls. (CNBC has got some wrinkles to iron out regarding Options Action.) (See below.) Brian Belski went on to talk banks he likes; Judge mocked, "how about all of 'em."

Judge never does get Rob to explain the difference between not chasing and leaning in

Rob Sechan on Friday's (5/15) Halftime Report was making some semi-provocative market comments that didn't actualy make much of a ripple.

Rob said, "The tape was screaming 'overbought,'" and, "What the bulls won't say out loud is that this rally's been dangerously, dangerously narrow."

That part evidently was OK.

But then Rob said. "I don't think you should chase," but Rob himself is still "leaning in."

Judge stopped Rob and said Rob's talking about "conflicting things."

Rob said "Good point, good catch," but Rob is talking "longer time horizon."

Unconvinced, Judge said, "I still say you're conflicted though ... What's the difference between a 'chase' and a 'lean-in' if your time horizon is, uh, is- is long? I don't get that."

Rob's answer was that people "at the margin all the time" are either overweight or underweight stocks, and it's about the "incremental dollar," and he said the "playbook" rewards "patience."

Rob added that "you can stay constructive, but I'm saying be disciplined on how you add," which isn't about "selling everything."

Lean In, we think, is the title of a book by Sheryl Sandberg.

Jenny lets Judge have it for saying IBM instead of INTC

Jenny ($12 Sundae) Harrington recently was on the Halftime Report adamantly declaring that unemployed 28-year-olds are going to make "really cool" movies with AI and gradually chip away at NFLX; on Friday (5/15), Jenny found new tech targets to knock.

Jenny told Judge that "Cerebras and Intel have been my canaries in the coal mine." (Or put another way, CBRS and INTC are going to be the latest tech companies with outsized gains that Jenny uses to warn viewers against buying tech stocks as she's been doing for 15 years.)

Invoking one of the most dreaded stock market clichés, Jenny said she was telling a friend that CBRS "makes me wanna party like it's 1999," and she even added, "smells like teen spirit too."

Jenny actually insisted of INTC, "There's nothing behind it," as Judge cracked that the U.S. government "is behind it."

Rob Sechan chuckled that Jenny complained about the valuation and asked if she really thinks that's the "narrative."

Judge mentioned how Jenny exited INTC a while back before it got good. Judge said if Jenny "still owned it, I think we both know you'd be holding it."

Jenny responded, "Absolutely not!" Jenny said, "You know what I did last week? I sold it from my kids' UTMA accounts."

Kevin Simpson said he's got INTC 121 covered calls expiring today; "I don't think that we wanna be sellers here, because I don't think the enthusiasm for this trade is over."

Jenny (as often happens) couldn't stop talking, butting in that "I don't know," and went to talk about future cash flows. Jenny's going to hold CSCO though.

At one point, Judge was making a point to Jenny about INTC but mistakenly said "IBM," prompting Jenny to go off despite Judge's correction, which prompted Judge to throw his hands up and backpedal in his chair (above).

At one point, Judge suggested CBRS' big day Thursday was "a sign of sell the news." Kristina Partsinevelos and Kate Rooney discussed CBRS, as well as Anthropic's IPO plans. Judge asked Rob about a "parade" in the public markets. Rob said there's almost an "evangelical-style following" and there's "probably more runway even after they go public." Brian Belski assured it's all "very different than what we went through in the late '90s and early 2000s."

‘Where we are now doesn’t have a super strong foundation under it’

Jenny Harrington opened Friday's (5/15) Halftime Report saying that in the last few weeks, "There's been a sense of mania, and a sense of, um, euphoria, and a sense of, um, being totally disconnected with reality out there, so I think where we are now doesn't have a super strong foundation under it."

Jenny claimd "All we've had this year is strong earnings growth." Judge cracked 3 times, "That's pretty important."

Offering a different outlook than Jenny, Brian Belski said the "construct" of the market is "in the best position we've seen in decades."

Judge nevertheless said Hartnett sees "early June ripe for taking some off table" (that's what the screen text said, in quotes, but Judge quoted the grammar slightly differently). Belski agreed, "There's going to be a correction coming."

Jenny, who's now apparently the inflation warner, suggested that issue might create problems for the market. Kevin Simpson said, "The challenge is, where does this inflation go from here." Kevin said, "To Jenny's point specifically, if inflation is here, we can't cut rates, no matter how badly Warsh may want it." Judge said Warsh maybe will have to get his "feet on the ground in the Fed" and "take the temperature of what the room is like."

Judge notices that Rob’s home video cam is in a room with a bunch of white couches

Kevin Simpson on Friday's (5/15) Halftime Report said buyers will pounce on the tech stars having pullbacks Friday.

Judge at one point said Ackman's building a stake in MSFT. Judge pronounced "similarly" as "similarily" but corrected himself.

Rob Sechan claimed, "I think Microsoft's the highest-quality tech name in the world." Judge wondered, "Highest quality? Highest?" Rob repeated, "Highest-quality tech name in the world" and went on to explain Azure's potential, etc.

Judge said, "I'm not gonna argue with a guy who's got like 8 couches in his shot," prompting a grin (above) from Rob.

Kevin trimmed IBM to "free up some cash." He already had "extra cash" that he used to buy PANW, making the usual recent pro-cybersecurity argument, that it won't be "disintermediated" by AI but enhanced by it.

Brian Belski likes COP. Kevin said he thinks CVX can get to 220.

Judge said Morgan Stanley is bullish on NFLX and asked Rob about it. (This writer is long NFLX.) Rob said Judge "cut out" and "I didn't hear the call, sorry." Judge repeated the NFLX bull call and, as everyone chuckled about Rob, Judge said "probably saw a stain on one of the couches." Judge said, "I mean it's risky having like 8 white couches, right."

Jenny Harrington said, "I don't think they're real."

Rob explained, "It's a gathering space for the family, Scott." Rob said he sees "huge upside" for sports at NFLX (which is, to be honest, a bull case for the stock that's been made for about 2 years running) and agrees with Morgan Stanley that engagement fears are overblown.

Kevin Simpson bought FCX "yesterday at 63 and a half" and more Friday morning at "the open at 61 and a half."

Rob's Final Trade was EBAY. Kevin said PANW, Belski said IVZ and Jenny said MCHPP.

Bursting the bubble (talk)

On Thursday's (5/14) Halftime Report, Brad Gerstner, the show's special guest at Post 9, took up the notion that tech stocks might be overvalued.

"This is a radically different situation than what Cisco faced in 2002, and so, the people who have been, you know, propagating that myth over the last 2½ years have missed out on all of this upside," Brad asserted.

Judge said Bespoke is saying that the only "precedent" for the S&P being at record highs while fewer than 60% (nice arbitrary number) of stocks are above both the 50-day and 200-day is December 1998-March 2000. Bill Baruch brought up "gamma' (not the Incredible Hulk thing) and said that the "narrowness of this rally" has put it in a "unique spot."

Judge so eager to stick it to Bill, he casually misquotes him

Bill Baruch on Thursday's (5/14) Halftime Report mentioned some Mag 7 trims — and Judge didn't want to hear a word of it.

Right after the A Block, Judge gave a bit of a speech about his "pet peeve" and practically lodged a protest in advance of how, when panelists talk about selling positions and provide "portfolio management, uh, commentary," it's like, "No you know what" and more like an "excuse" for making a move.

Bill has trimmed AMZN and GOOGL and told Judge, "We outperform the S&P, very well, every year after year. And the reason we do it is because we're able to take some stuff off the top," though Bill's "not calling a top here," but he sees "some cyclical highs" ahead in June.

Bill chalked these sales up to "business cycle analysis."

Judge questioned the notion of "business cycle analysis."

Bill said it "overlays with wave analysis" and "proprietary indicators" and things like "breadth" and "it does line up that we have a pullback" and it's also "Year 2 of a presidential cycle."

Bill suggested "this could be a bit of a, not a blowoff but ... we may not do much for the rest of the year and we may bottom out to the end of the year and look at (sic grammar) for a low in February."

Judge said "blowoff top."

Bill correctly protested, "I'm not saying blowoff top."

Judge said, "You said, this could be a blowoff. You said that." (But he didn't say that.)

Bill said, "I don't think I say- I don't know if there's gonna be a blowoff but a run- a runup," so he's "trimming a little bit around the edges."

Josh Brown said the stocks Bill trimmed are "trading extremely well" though he doesn't disagree that "there could be a pullback," but Josh isn't selling AMZN. Malcolm Ethridge said AMZN is "spending more than their free cash flow." But Brad Gerstner recalled AMZN getting spending criticism back in 2010.

The obvious question many would ask about this dialogue would be, "Who peed in Judge's Cheerios?" But we're thinking it has something to do with the 5/5 discussion on TMO (see below), which Bill sold and Sarat Sethi was gladly holding, when Judge was trying to make a fair point about investing styles, only to grow frustrated when Bill's explanation, through no fault of Bill's, didn't support Judge's narrative. Instead of misquoting Bill, if Judge were to channel his annoyance toward a plausible theory that all of these panelists selling stocks (any stocks) for "portfolio management" reasons are actually serving as contraindicators, then we'd be getting somewhere.

What did we expect Mr. Xi to say, was he going to receive a U.S. president in Beijing and congratulate him on ‘your handling of Taiwan’?

Early on Thursday's (5/14) Halftime Report, Judge asked star guest Brad Gerstner (at Post 9 with the gang) about NVDA and Jensen's trip to China.

Brad said it's "actually been a drag from a performance perspective up until recently." Brad said China, for now, is "de minimis" to NVDA, but Jensen's trip is "a little bit of icing on top of the cake."

(Perhaps Joe Terranova, who wasn't on Thursday's show, at some point can clarify whether NVDA gets 0 or 13% of something or other from China. (See below.))

Josh Brown agreed NVDA "sat at 180 for 6 months. Anyone who wanted it could've had it." Yeah, but you could say that about ... basically any stock at any time ... "Hey, you can get HD for 300 bucks" "#Sorrynothanks" ... (This writer has no position in HD.)

Bill Baruch, though, said he trimmed NVDA, from an 8% position to a 6% position. (And NVDA stock could not care less how big the other positions in Bill's portfolio are, but whatever.)

How AI’s changing everything (cont’d): CNBC can’t even let people on one program talk on another program

Panelists on Thursday's (5/14) Halftime Report spent parts of the show speculating about Cerebras' pending IPO, which was due to have its first trade during the program.

Brad Gerstner reported seeing "retail" bids at "375, $400" for Cerebras and, apparently sensing that this is the wrong kind of buyer in his mind, asserted, "this is not a get-rich-quick scheme" but a "generational company" that will "compound much higher" over 2-3 years.

Brad said "instituational demand" is "probably" in the 250-275 range and "most of the demand over 300 is frankly retail."

Malcolm Ethridge said the premise of Cerebras making bigger chips, which means "we don't need as much data center space" as has been talked about, suggests that "Cerebras success flies in the face" of all the money being poured into building data centers and the stocks of those companies.

Josh Brown mentioned SNDK going from 250 to 1500 in "a couple of months," which seems like "insanity," but "they're gonna 8x their earnings over the next year."

Brad predicted Cerebras would have its first trade before the program ended. That may or may not have happened.

Judge noted the first Cerebras trade just as he was saying he would "toss it over" to Kelly on The Exchange. Kelly immediately said, "Hang on a second- stay right there. You and Brad. Do you mind Scott? Can you guys stay there for one second?"

Judge said, referring to Kelly's question about whether he minds staying on, "No, of course not, no, appreciate that." Nevertheless, the camera stayed on Kelly, who revealed, "They say we can't do that. Things behind the scenes are sometimes more complicated, with the equipment and everything."

Josh and Roundhill come up with an ETF concept — on dyslexia

Well into Thursday's (5/14) Halftime Report, Judge asked star Post 9 guest Brad Gerstner about software stocks.

Brad said he doesn't have SNOW in his "public funds." Judge said, "That's a big deal!"

Brad said he owns "a lot personally" of SNOW but has been "skeptical of software now for 2 years." Brad said software isn't cheap; in general it's "basically trading at a market multiple."

Meanwhile, Josh Brown said ALL is having a "breakout in progress."

Judge said Josh "first (sic redundant given that it was followed by 'coined') coined the term HALO back in February." Now, Roundhill has launched a "HALO" ETF, and Roundhill chieftain Dave Mazza, joining the show, said Josh's term "really resonated with us."

The odd thing is, the official name of this ETF apparently is "LOHA Co. Ltd" and the ticker is LOHA.

"They're probably all beneficiaries of AI," Josh stressed, rattling off some of the components.

CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos, not at Post 9, reported on the frayed relationship between AAPL and OpenAI.

Bill Baruch's Final Trade was LLY, saying he bought more. Malcolm Ethridge said D. Josh said AAPL.

On Closing Bell, we heard Steve Liesman say "soft landing," a term we haven't heard much in literally years, though it wasn't too long ago when Judge was saying it about every 10 minutes.

‘So what if it is a bubble. ... Why not enjoy it for a while?’

At the top of Wednesday's (5/13) Halftime Report, Judge actually said with a straight face that "there's a pretty good tension, I- I would say, in some corners of the market."

Steve Weiss said "it's clear" that the AI trade is "really driving everything."

Grandpa Weiss said the headwinds actually "outweigh" the valuations of stocks. "I don't know what to do," Weiss admitted. "I'm greedy, I want to stay with it. But, I've also put on some hedges," and "I think you've gotta prepare for a little bit of a drawdown."

Judge asked Liz Thomas if the market is going to have "some level of comeuppance (snicker)." Liz said the "rate of growth in stock prices related to these earnings will have to slow," but it doesn't have to be a "comeuppance" with a "big drawdown."

Judge said "the bubble conversation" is happening "in all corners." Weiss said the stocks people are talking about now are "not at risk of going to zero as so many were in '99; that's the difference."

Liz at one point actually said, "So what if it is a bubble. So what. Why not enjoy it for a while?"

Liz said there's not "excessive risk-taking," maybe only pockets, and no credit spreads blowing out or leverage falling apart and "obvious insane moves."

Liz said "a couple weeks ago," she spoke to 600 people and asked who thinks we've hit the peak, and only "1 hand went up."

0, 13, whatever ...

Joe Terranova on Wednesday's (5/13) Halftime Report very confusingly said that Jensen said at the Citadel conference last year ("remember that?") that NVDA either got "effectively zero" or "13%" "data center revenue" from China, and maybe now Jensen gets "slightly more than zero" and maybe that's why NVDA is at a high.

Noting market momentum, Bryn Talkington stated, "This is Joe's market and we're just living in it." Bryn said there's a "high probability we get some good trade news" out of China, and you can't fight the momentum.

Joe said, despite what Bryn said, he wants to be "totally humble," but "I'm underperforming because I have the quality overlay. You can't have any overlay right now. It is all about specifically momentum in its purest single form."

Judge said the MTUM isn't just "exclusively tech names."

On MU, Steve Weiss said, "at some point it'll reset. I think it's early for a reset though."

Late in the show, Santoli said there's a "narrow avenue of high-conviction, capex-oriented companies are managing to support the index" and everything affected by oil prices is "suffering."

What Xi wants is
Hong Kong Part 2

On Wednesday's (5/13) Fast Money, Steve Grasso and Guy Adami pressed a guest to fulfill their predictions that China is going to do something about Taiwan.

But the guest said projections about China moving on Taiwan "are probably way, way too aggressive." He even suggested "they can strike some kind of a deal" involving "de facto reunification of sorts" that could be an "option" for Xi.

Grasso said that's an "interesting concept" but that he's never heard of a "non-aggressive takeover or reunification."

Neither have we. While we're tired of hearing this prediction from Guy and Steve, we have to say, the idea of the American government, in the 2020s, supporting handing over Taiwan like Britain and Portugal did with Hong Kong and Macau isn't really an "option" for Mr. Xi. At least without a groundswell of enthusiasm for this idea from the people of Taiwan, which we highly doubt.

Karen Finerman suggested Xi may sense a stronger position from not doing anything, suggesting perhaps "They have so much more leverage from not maybe" invading Taiwan.

Weiss ready to take the long-term capital gain

Bryn Talkington on Wednesday's (5/13) Halftime Report said IGV could hit $100 "with just a little bit of positive sentiment," but there's "no energy around buying these names and holding them long term."

Ahead of CSCO earnings, Joe Terranova said challenges with memory supply gave CSCO a "precipitious decline" after earnings last quarter. (This review was posted overnight Wed-Thurs, when CSCO had surged.)

Judge said B of A is touting HOOD on valuation. Bryn said the stock being down from a year ago isn't a catalyst; Bryn is selling 80 calls in HOOD, which she owns.

Steve Weiss said of CAT, "I'll own it a year on May 26th I believe," after that, he'd expect his position "to come down quite a bit." Joe noted that the JOET bought it April 30.

Joe said momentum in HEI is "deteriorating," even if Redburn initiated at buy.

Bryn very helpfully pointed out that ET (the stock, not the Steven Spielberg movie) involves a K-1, "but I love this name."

Oliver Renick said options action in the IWM is "a bit bearish." But he said BABA call-buying was having a "stampede." Weiss said cloud growth is the "engine" for the stock. Liz Thomas backed the KWEB. Joe said small caps are having even "more intense" momentum than what mid-cap and large-cap stocks are seeing.

B of A actually named ARES a top buy. Bryn likes the call and said ARES has "fee-related" visibility. Weiss said "returns are middling" now in the space, even though fundraising is doing well. Weiss said it's "OK" but there's "not any excitement" in this space.

Bryn's Final Trade was BA, Weiss said UNH and cited the 52-week high, Liz said KWEB and Joe said AAPL; he said "4th time since March 24th, I'm gonna buy Apple on the close."

Judge promised Brad Gerstner on Thursday's Halftime at Post 9 to discuss The Board Challenge the Cerebras IPO.

Judge’s afternoon at Sohn

Judge wasn't on Tuesday's (5/12) Halftime Report, but he was on Tuesday's Closing Bell, conducting 4 interviews at the Ira Sohn conference. (The 4 interviewees were seated so closely to Judge, they could've been in each other's laps.)

The lineup was Chanos, Marc Lasry, Einhorn and Orlando Bravo.

Judge asked Chanos if he's short TSLA "forever." Chanos said "it hasn't gone anywhere in 5 years." Marc Lasry suggested sports are going to be in bigger and bigger demand because it's AI-proof live action.

Judge asked Einhorn about his April letter to investors in which David made "pretty clear" that he thought stocks would have a "much bigger decline" when oil spiked at the beginning of the Iran war. Einhorn said he outlined why the markets didn't fall so much, that people have become "so conditioned" to wait for the "rapid and aggressive response by the authorities" in market declines and not sell; people are actually "very anxious to not sell into panics." Judge mentioned the "bubble basket" that Einhorn tried a few years ago; David assured he's got nothing "resembling" that now in his portfolio. David did draw a comparison to 2007.

Not at all surprisingly, Orlando Bravo suggested software stocks are "pretty close to a bottom." The CNBC graphics gremlins botched another spelling (above).

Basically as soon as Tuesday’s Halftime ended, MU took off

Bill Baruch joined Tuesday's (5/12) Halftime Report in progress to say he trimmed MU, first claiming he's been on the show "multiple times" hailing this stock in the last couple years, but it "trades like a commodity" and there's been "euphoria," so he sold a day earlier "about 809" as it was "close enough" to Bill's long-term target of $900.

The funny thing about that is that, strictly on Tuesday, MU bottomed around the end of the show at 706 ... only to surge through the rest of the day.

Bill's "looking forward" to sharing some new stock ideas on Thursday. He should've just told people on Tuesday to buy MU as soon as the show's over.

Josh Brown suggested the "next raft of headlines" will be companies saying they don't need as much computing as a few months ago. Jimmy Lebenthal agreed with Josh that semis are a "cyclical sector" and prices will come down, but right now it's the "hot product." Joe Terranova said memory is "the most volatile, uh, industry by far."

Joe talked up GLW and said "you want ownership" on corrections. Jimmy kind of shrugged off guest host Frank Holland's observation that a few months ago, Halftime panelists were "wringing our hands about the fact that Nvidia was investing in these other companies that were also customers."

Jim said he's taking off "half" of his QCOM position.

Ryan Cohen gave an interview to a YouTuber that was actually pretty good

Josh Brown on Tuesday's (5/12) Halftime Report said TOST has been "absolutely atrocious since reporting earnings," though he's "not quite sure why" and it's "sort of in a no-man's land." Josh thinks it's "in the wrong sector," as there's "utter futility" in buying SAAS now.

Guest host Frank Holland asked Josh about ACHR and suggested Josh "took a ride" on a New York helicopter. Josh said he "did not take a ride; I think there's a weight limit," to chuckles. Josh said he likes JOBY better but it's "so early" in this space, it's hard to know who the winner will be.

Joe Terranova said EBAY has been doing a "phenomenal job" and last week's GME offer was a "sideshow."

Josh joked, "Hear me out though: Half cash, half stock" to chuckles as Frank said "it was a fascinating interview ... you gotta watch it yourself."

Jimmy Lebenthal said, regarding GME-EBAY, "the rejection is part of the theater." Jim said "the interesting thing" is whether GME/TD Bank submit a "revised offer," and Jim even said, "I think they will."

Jim said, "To me, GameStop and TD look serious. They look serious." Joe said he just doesn't want people to buy EBAY for this reason.

We actually caught a Ryan Cohen interview with a YouTuber who sells on eBay. This one was much different than Ryan's interview on Squawk Box. Ryan took each question seriously — some weren't particularly good — and even elaborated on certain topics beyond the limited questions. He said he thinks it should be easier to sell on eBay, as collectors have all kinds of stuff sitting around that they'd be happy to unload.

‘We had some very crowded trades’

At the top of Tuesday's (5/12) Halftime Report, guest host Frank Holland noticed that tech stocks somehow weren't up 20% in the morning and asked Josh Brown, "What do you make of this?"

Josh said it's "so exciting" to be at Post 9; Frank called that "sarcasm off the bat," but Josh insisted, "no I'm serious." Josh said, "So what I find is, the market does what it's gonna do, and then we look backwards and say What was the reason. And, we can all come up with one. So, if we want to use CPI, let's use CPI. But in reality, we had some very crowded trades, and, uh, most of the damage right now seems to be- the heaviest damage, seems to be contained to the SMH names."

Josh added, "Obviously, in a perfect world, everyone sells at the top."

Joe Terranova cited a Goldman Sachs report in the prior week finding "positioning in the momentum factor" is in the "100th percentile."

Jason Snipe noted "yields are up across the curve." Jason said there's a "mixed bag" of data and the market's just "takin' a breather."

Jimmy Lebenthal agrees with Josh that "the post-facto analysis" is "quite often" what market observers do. Jimmy mentioned that the Strait of Hormuz is still closed and "the chances of a rate hike by the end of the year have crept up to 1 in 3."

Note to CNBC graphics crew: They were selling January GLD puts, not calls

Oliver Renick, a full-time CNBC options reporter who's basically picking up where the Najarians left off years ago, is gradually getting more hits.

Oliver was on Tuesday's (5/12) Halftime Report and said "there is indeed a dampening of what's been nonstop call-buying in tech," while there's upside call-buying in the VIX.

Oliver said someone sold January GLD 380 puts (the screen said they were calls) and bought January GLD 540 calls.

Meanwhile, speaking of options, Josh Brown got to talk about Best Stocks again. He mentioned the capital markets, stating, "the real standout here is CBOE" because of "activity in the options market." As always, Josh mentioned a stop ($300) more than a target. His "line in the sand" for IBKR is $75.

Josh also mentioned GS but said it's had a "lower high than the winter high." Guest host Frank Holland said CBOE wants to be called "C-boe" rather than "C.B.O.E." Jason Snipe said the market's still "constructive" for GS.

Frank said Wolfe was talking up health care. Joe Terranova said for health care to gain would take "a significant rotation away from the momentum factor." Jason said there's "opportunity" in ABBV. Joe said CVS has some of the strongest mometum in health care. Jimmy Lebenthal is concerned by "how much government exposure there is" for a stock like CVS. Jim does like ABBV, AZN and VRTX. Josh said health care stocks have been "terrible stocks."

Jimmy's Final Trade was XOM, Jason said NOW, Joe said AAPL and Josh said NFLX; "I do not believe it'll revisit the 70s," he said it "could be breaking a downtrend." (This writer is long NFLX.)

Joe said to expect a "record quarter" from CSCO, but he doesn't expect the stock to surge from here unless it has a "blow-it-out quarter." Jimmy said it's had a great run but he's "not trimming a share."

On Fast Money, INTC also surfaced as Julie Biel, who wasn't at the Nasdaq, said "low-waisted jeans" have made a comeback just like INTC and AMD, "and that's horrific too," which cracked up Karen Finerman at the Nasdaq.

Joe invokes clueless questioner as justification for Joe’s bullishness

Guest host Leslie Picker at the top of Monday's (5/11) Halftime Report asked Steve Weiss about the "sustainability" of the market.

Weiss said there's "no reason to doubt it." Weiss repeated from previous days that 60% of the country lives "paycheck to paycheck," one of his favorite expressions, and gas prices to that group are "devastating," but for the rest, "it's a nuisance and doesn't matter all that much."

Weiss said "it's mind-boggling" how certain tech stocks "keep going."

Sarat Sethi said we've got "the generals kinda leading," but can the rest of the market catch up. Sarat indicated that oil prices will "trickle through" into a market "so bifurcated."

Shannon Saccocia said you don't have to "bottom feed" in consumer names, but there are some bargains.

Joe Terranova said he "absolutely" believes that we'll have "a massive intraday unwind in the momentum."

Joe revealed, "Over the weekend, I was challenged by someone regarding my bullishness surrounding the momentum factor and the AI universe." Joe said he asked the "individual" whether the person was using Gemini, ChatGPT or Claude. And the person said, "Why would I use any of those?" Which Joe deemed, "Case made."

Weiss said he "shaved" 10% of his MU position. He bought it "at 330 on March 30th" and bought it up about 10% on April 9. Weiss insisted, "This stock should not have more than doubled in a month- less than a month and a half."

Joe said last July, the JOET had "35% allocation towards financials. We're down to 15% today."

Leslie's Call of the Day was Bernstein reiterating (Zzzzzz) FANG as a "top oil idea" (Zzzzzzzz). Joe mentioned the Permian need for drilling and said he's "always felt" like FANG is an "acquisition target" and is "an incredibly valuable company because of the position that they sit in." Joe said the refiners are the "must own in the energy industry."

Santoli said there's a view that "at some point, semis are gonna correct 20% in a blink, and it won't really matter for the uptrend."

Weiss' Final Trade was TSM. Sarat said FCX. Shannon said "industrials," which the screen text indicated means "IYJ." Joe said the XBI.

On Fast Money, Tim Seymour was asked about the disaster that is NFLX, which Mel said has fallen in 6 of the last 7 days. (This writer is long NFLX.) Tim suggested the next thing to move NFLX will have to be "new events" and not the "traditional sports model." Tim revealed, "I've been adding to weakness over the last couple weeks; it's not been a lot of fun." Katie Stockton said the chart is a "classic bearish reversal." Katie said "there's another 10% downside to the next support."

CNBCfix Movie of the Week:
‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’

Sometimes, movies give themselves an uphill battle.

"The Devil Wears Prada 2," like its predecessor, should be a smart, snappy office drama about an exciting industry.

It tends to be mostly about layoffs and corporate M&A.

Last Monday (see below), Fast Money viewers got a treat when "Prada" producer Wendy Finerman visited the set to talk about the movie, and Hollywood in general, for more than 6 minutes.

Wendy pointed out that the movie (which reportedly cost $100 million, though the cost wasn't revealed on Fast Money) was opening the summer season, which is usually opened by much more expensive superhero/action movies.

But "Prada" most likely opened on the first weekend of May not because it was intended to be the summer-season flagship but so that it could coincide with the Met Gala ... an event the movie actually resembles.

Characters walk around in all kinds of great outfits ... without appearing to have anything to actually do.

The problem ginned up for the characters is that their jobs could disappear — despite however great their work is — because media economics are in shambles. This is an easy concept to write about but a tough concept to show. Tough enough that the movie doesn't even try. It just has the characters tell each other (and us) about it. This movie is as much about journalism as "Project Hail Mary" is about physics.

An equally big problem is that "Prada" just isn't very funny. People get put in their place all the time, with wry humor. There are a few good fish-out-of-water sequences. Nor is there really any romance. There's far more time spent in hotel lobbies than in the office/afterhours space where people could be dating or zinging each other.

So is it a bust? Actually no. What saves it is the pace. It's lightning fast. A lot of scenes are shorter than 10 or even 5 seconds. Whenever you get bored, it'll move you right along. These are smart, savvy filmmakers, many of whom worked on the first film, who understand that as long as they're zipping to the next outfit or handbag, it's working.

Wendy on Monday labeled the movie an "escape." That's a good description. She also labeled it an "event." That's a stretch. Ambitious movies do take chances, and sometimes those chances fail. "Prada 2" is much more about the sure thing, to the point that Wendy and others obviously didn't even want to risk tinkering with the title beyond adding a number. In this instance, that's fine. Adults who want breezy grown-up entertainment, in under 2 hours, are going to get it. Financiers who want a reliable profit will too.

"The Enforcer" (1976) was the 2nd sequel of Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" series. It is not nearly as convincing as the original film. But after a strange first sequel, it's a successful return to formula. In the opening scenes, we get a startling crime, we get Harry being jerked around by the bureaucrats, and we get Harry blowing away the bad guys in a robbery, and within 10 minutes, viewers who bought a ticket have basically gotten their money's worth. Not a bad bargain.

Halftime Report doesn’t even take up Thursday’s tariff ruling

Steve Weiss on Friday's (5/8) Halftime Report said that "10 years ago," he'd be concerned that the market's "too easy." But now, "every dip has been a buying opportunity."

Weiss said that rising gas prices are "devastating for 60% of the country," that group is "always living on savings and paycheck to paycheck," but it's only a "nuisance" for the top 40%.

"I'm worried, but, um, I'm always worried," Weiss said, adding, "I think this is gonna be the case for the next year or 2." Weiss agreed with Judge's suggestion that that's the view of Paul Tudor Jones.

Judge noted MU seems like it goes up 10% a day, but the multiple isn't "historically egregious." Weiss said he bought MU at the end of March at 350 and in April at 425, and "it's doubled" in barely over a month, which raises the question of "lunacy" in the market. Rob Sechan said these companies are "blowing away rising earnings expectations."

Judge said RBC boosted its S&P target a whopping 150 points, from 7,750 to 7,900.

Jimmy Lebenthal said the other 493 stocks are "trading at 19 times earnings with an earnings growth rate through the rest of- of this year that's going to approach 20%. And I say, 'Hey that's fine.'"

Jimmy said he doesn't want to "front-run" the rest of the show, but he couldn't resist bringing up QCOM. Jim concluded, though, "There are some parts of this market that are pretty darn frothy."

Jason Snipe agreed "these stories are outearning" and the stocks "appear to be, uh, not expensive." Jason also stressed "position sizes" and that you're "actively rebalancing."

Jim says market’s in ‘silly time’ (but he’s not ready to trim yet)

Reflecting the astonishing gains this week in chip stocks, Judge on Friday's (5/8) Halftime Report noted the Bloomberg report on TSM sales growing the slowest in months, and "the market doesn't even care."

Steve Weiss said there are "lots of reasons," including that they've sold out their capacity. But Weiss said the AMD gain is "crazy."

Weiss said that for now, he agrees with Paul Tudor Jones, you don't have to pick "winners and losers," it's all about "the spend."

Rob Sechan suggested that software won't have an "enthusiastic multiple" expansion opportunity; it'll be about earnings.

Jimmy Lebenthal said to chuckles that he didn't want to get into the "yuk-yuks on Adobe."

Jimmy told Judge that CSCO and QCOM are "trim candidates," but "it might be early" for that.

Jason Snipe said "It wasn't even a great quarter for Qualcomm" that lifted the shares, rather, it's about "the Q4 story."

Judge sort of hectored Jimmy about continuing to ride QCOM. Jimmy said, "What you do is, you trim. You don't have to sell the whole thing." Judge said Jim isn't trimming. Jim said, "Because it's goin' up." Judge said, "You're making my point for me."

Steve Weiss said if this were "5 years ago," Weiss thinks Jimmy "would've been out" after moves like we've just seen. Jimmy said "I think I'm agreeing with you," and "let's call it silly time ... but that doesn't mean you shouldn't make money."

Jim suggested that if he were selling Friday, Judge would ask, "What are you DOING?"

A real exciting stock for this market: unprofitable scooters

On Friday's (5/8) Halftime Report, CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos said the pending Lime IPO has been "years in the making."

MacKenzie said revenue is up 70% over the last 2 years, but it's "still not profitable." Steve Weiss said "there's no real moat" to the business, and "I doubt if they would ever profitable," so he isn't participating. Weiss said the valuation "at one point was 5 times what it is now," and it's a "problem business," but he's sure some people will play the "mobility platform."

Judge suggested "the Soundbite of the Week" came from Brad Gerstner on Monday (see below) when Brad said OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic have "already IPOd" in the private market.

Weiss said it's "much easier" for retail investors to get in. Rob Sechan contended "it's not easy for all the viewers on this show Steve to get access to those things," though it's "easier" than it used to be if they have an "access point."

Judge said Leslie Picker talked "exclusively" with Jane Fraser; which to us seems like it was probably a move to lift enthusiasm after the Investor Day a day earlier because the market reax Friday wasn't big enough. Jane said she's going to China with Donald Trump's group.

Jimmy Lebenthal said "there's more to come" in C, but "the easy money has been made." Judge said Mike Mayo says C is only "part of the way there" through this great turnaround.

Rob sees ‘lot of room to run’ for NFLX

Friday's (5/8) Halftime Report included an interesting if short conversation about one of the market's most interesting, if obnoxious, stocks: NFLX. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Steve Weiss said he trimmed NFLX, calling it "dead money," which is an understatement. Judge said after dropping the WBD bid, it was "rip-roaring money." Weiss agreed but said the quarter was a disappointment.

Jason Snipe said sports will continue to be the story for NFLX. Rob Sechan affirmed that he bought NFLX and thinks "there's a lot of room to run here."

The U.S. government has gotten, what, a 5- or 6-fold return on INTC?

At the end of Friday's (5/8) Halftime Report, INTC was soaring again, as MacKenzie Sigalos said it has a deal with AAPL. Jason Snipe said he's not in INTC but he is in AAPL.

(If Kevin Simpson had been on Friday's show — he wasn't — he surely would've crowed something about "Sometimes the best trade is no trade at all!" and how he's getting some kind of 3% return annualized to 652% by selling out of the money calls.)

Judge told Santoli the market is "memeing." Santoli said clearly there's a "reflex" to grab these stocks.

CNBC's Oliver Renick reported on CSCO call options. Jimmy Lebenthal said the CSCO price action makes him "a little queasy." Jimmy said, "I've owned this for about 11 years, and during that time frame, it's nicely outperformed the S&P 500 with a beta less than one." (And how much of that 11-year outperformance occurred only in the last 2 months, or prior to late 2025?) (Lesson learned: If you own a stock, it might do nothing for 11 years, then gain enough in 6 months to outperform the S&P.)

Steve Weiss sold LDOS, saying the quarter was better than expected but it's facing software headwinds; "I'll be back," Weiss vowed, but it's "dead money" now.

Weiss bought back FTAI.

Rob's Final Trade was NVDA, Jason said CVS, Jim said RIG and Weiss said VRT.

Judge invokes Dallas to make the case this doesn’t feel like 1999

Judge opened Thursday's (5/7) Halftime Report airing a clip of Paul Tudor Jones from Squawk explaining what Paul thinks about females in trading saying he sees a "year or 2 to run up."

Josh Brown said, "The beaten-down software names are leading the rally" but that a "pause" in AI-capex names would be "OK."

Judge asked Kari Firestone if market gains are too concentrated in tech giants. Kari said over the years, we've seen instances where the market gets a jolt and those stocks sell off, but they're back to being "very very hot names."

Malcolm Ethridge said there's a lot hanging on OpenAI and Anthropic.

Rob Sechan said "you have to remain constructive" and "it's tough to fight an earnings boom."

Rob said the economy historically has been able to "redirect and re-rig and retrain" the labor force to meet the new economy.

For those basically like Jenny concerned about parallels to an infamous stock market, Josh said that in 1999, "we had multiple expansion!," and this year we actually have "multiple contraction." Kari said in 1999, there were "multiples that were obscene."

Judge recalled, "I was sitting in a newsroom, OK, before I came here, um, in Dallas, Texas, OK. A general newsroom, all right. And everybody was watching CNBC. And the topic of conversation every single day among producers of shows was about dot-com stocks. And who owned what as they were going straight up. I don't necessarily feel like we're in a same kind of euphoric feel where it's literally the topic of conversation everywhere."

Josh said when we get the OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic IPOs and "people in pop culture" are talking about how much Anthropic they've got, "this might need to chill out a little bit," but he doesn't think now is "that moment."

Josh added, "In '99, if you turned on CNBC and watched for 3 hours, you would see commercials with Anna Kournikova and Shaq and Jackie Chan and Phil Jackson and people from acting and movies and sports doing day-trading commercials."

Judge continues to push the narrative that Brad’s letter made META’s stock go up

Judge on Thursday's (5/7) Halftime Report said META "sticks out like a sore thumb" by only being up 7% since the March low.

Josh Brown said META is seen as a "user of compute" rather than a "provider of compute."

Rob Sechan claimed that META gets hit when it's high on capex, and "they do not care." Judge though said "they do care when their stock goes down."

Judge then mentioned "the last time their stock went down a bunch and- and Gerstner had to write 'em a letter saying 'get fit, what are you doing?'"

Rob though said he thinks the capex spending has to continue because this is an "arms race" and META will win with "eyeballs" ... uh-oh ... a term Jenny was harping on a day ago ... second day in a row we heard about the "eyeballs."

Malcolm Ethridge asserted that META is "trying to lay off enough employees to offset the debt-service coverage."

Malcolm and Rob quibbled over whether META pulling back on spending would jolt the market; Malcolm indicating yes.

Kari Firestone said META is "up 600% since the end of 2022."

Judge mentioned Brad's letter a 2nd time. (Which makes us think, this site should look up every 52-week low and post an open letter to each of those companies on this site demanding they make changes to get the stock going. And then after some of 'em go higher, Judge will give us credit for years.)

Rob said when people are predicting "the end," "that's when you wanna buy these names."

The most commonly ordered item at Shake Shack is the bathroom code

Josh Brown on Thursday's (5/7) Halftime Report admitted "It's a dark day in Shake Shack land" and cited the "shock loss" and admitted, "I'm not sure why there wasn't a preannouncement here," but Josh twice said that if you heard the call, you wouldn't or probably wouldn't be selling.

Josh said "when you piss (sic live television) the analysts off, um, you're probably in the penalty box for a minimum of 2 quarters," so he expects traders to "abandon" the stock. Judge said "the punch line" (sic) (it wasn't actually a joke) is that even so, Josh bought more. (Which doesn't actually make sense, if Josh thinks it might fall farther in the next 6 months, unless he's just trying to reassure folks he still believes in it.)

(Actually, this is an interesting subject. SHAK has, on occasion, provided meals for CNBCfix HQ. The burgers, fries, hot dogs, shakes are all good. You can get beer too. The in-store experience isn't always that great. You tend to get all kinds of strangers reaching over each other at the ketchup/napkin/straw table. People who aren't paying customers are constantly asking what the bathroom code is. You may have to order exclusively from a kiosk, and we've never seen a place with so many broken kiosks at any given time. The wait for the food can be kind of long. And finally, it's expensive. It's fine to do once in a while. The food isn't really that great to justify doing it all the time.)

Josh said Mark Mahaney "reiterated" a 150 on UBER, which Josh agrees with; Josh thinks "the stock belongs" at 100. Josh predicted UBER will be "an everything app," an argument he's made numerous times.

Rob Sechan said "our patience has paid off" in FTNT.

Malcolm Ethridge sold CG, stating, "I give up on this space."

Josh suggested DVN for the Best Stocks list but qualified that it needs to break through 50. Rob said he bought in December, and "it's up 25% since we bought it."

Malcolm questioned whether anything RKT says on the call matters; it's all about interest rates.

Rob said "the bar is low" for GILD.

Rob's Final Trade was QCOM. Malcolm said BUG, Kari said APO and Josh said CRWD.

Jenny claims unemployed 28-year-olds are going to post ‘really cool’ movies to YouTube and erode NFLX

Oh my.

We kinda figured Wednesday (5/6) would be a simple day about marveling about chip stocks on the Halftime Report, ring it up and move on.

Then Joe Terranova brought Jenny ($12 Sundae) Harrington into the NFLX conversation.

Judge had actually asked Jenny about DIS' move; Jenny said "there's nothing changed" about her investment thesis, which has been bullish on the stock/company for many many years no matter what is going on there, who's the CEO, what the movies or streaming service is, etc.

Jenny claimed that at 14 times earnings, "you've got a huge margin of safety," a rather dubious assertion.

But that was only the beginning.

Joe for reasons we can't fathom actually bought NFLX; "I believe in the Netflix story," and he wishes Jenny in fact had mentioned streaming value for Disney, and he thinks the same matters for NFLX. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Jenny explained that she doesn't care about streaming at DIS because parks and experiences are "over 50% of their profit."

Jenny, now apparently a tech analyst, then claimed, "AI is destructive to Netflix" because "competitive barriers are lower," whereas DIS parks revenue is "impenetrable" by AI.

Judge wondered if "AI-generated content is gonna, is gonna compete with content that Netflix has."

Jenny said, "Absolutely."

Judge wondered, "How do they have the pricing power that they do."

Jenny continued, "Not AI-generated content. People will be able to cre- create new content more easily, more cheaply, thanks to AI."

Judge said, "What are they gonna do, start their own streaming services."

Jenny said, "Who knows what they're gonna start."

Judge said, "Jenny Harrington+ is like a new streaming service, you're gonna do this? What are you gonna charge for that?"

Jenny said, "Scott, you know as well as I do. If you're a 28-year-old kid and you're out of work and you are a film major and you want to make a film and you want to do something really cool, you have a much higher ability to do that now."

Judge said, "And you're gonna compete with Netflix by doing that?"

Jenny continued, "You can sell it to Netflix. You can create content. Maybe you're gonna put something up on YouTube, and someone's gonna say, 'Hey, there's this really cool movie someone just made for a fraction of the price-'"

Judge said, "But if you sell it to Netflix ... and they pay a fraction of the price that they're paying for other content-"

Jenny cut in, "Scott. ... This is like the sneaker conversation. Guys, there are competitive barriers to entry that are now made lower, not gone. That are now made lower and easier to compete with because of AI."

Judge wondered, "How's that a negative for Netflix?"

Jenny said, "Because now they have more competition."

Judge said, "From who??? The Average Joe making a film????"

Jenny said, "No. No. From anyone who actually has skills, who actually wants to create a movie, today, they can do that more easily and more cheaply."

Judge wondered, "How is that a competitor to Netflix."

Jenny said, "Because now, what does Netflix do. All Netflix wants is your eyeballs, Right? They're getting competition for your eyeballs. Now there's more competition for your eyeballs. If you're a young kid, or like a, whatever, any person-"

Judge said, "Like I said, so they're gonna- this young kid who creates this thing through AI is gonna then start a streaming service-"

Jenny cut in, "Scott. You're missing the point. They're going to take your eyeballs. It doesn't matter where they put it. They' don't- they're not, they're not- they don't need to start a streaming service, they don't need to create their own Netflix, but-"

Judge said, "They're gonna take eyeballs from Netflix?"

Bryn Talkington cut in, "Netflix just bought Ben Affleck's AI toolmaking kit." Jenny exlaimed something we couldn't discern. Judge told Jenny, "That doesn't hurt Netflix."

Bryn continued, "Ultimately, AI's gonna be amazing for Netflix ... if you have $20 to spend, are you gonna have Netflix over Disney? You're gonna have Netflix. Netflix has without a doubt the best platform."

Jenny insisted AI "decreases competitive barriers." Jenny said "back in the day, right, when we were all growing up 'cause we're old now, we had ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS. We had a few channels. Think about this show alone. We are competing with eyeballs for in this moment. We're competing with YouTube. We're competing with all the game apps. We're competing with everything."

Joe, a little too serious for what this conversation had become, stated, "Jenny, the mistake you're making is believing that both can't succeed in streaming."

Jenny said, "I believe they CAN. It's just going to be harder."

Joe continued, "Be excited about the fact that streaming was a strength in the Disney report, that's a reason to own it, but that doesn't mean that Netflix is going to lose their streaming strength as a result of that. Both can win."

Jenny insisted, "It's going to be corroded. The competitive barriers are lowering."

It seemed like it might be over as Judge openly chatted with EP Kevin Flynn about how to proceed, and Josh Brown was queued up on the phone. It wasn't.

Josh called in to talk about the huge gains in FLEX but started off, "My brain is broken from listening to Jenny tell me that, um, Net-, um, AI is gonna re-create the NFL-"

Judge cut in, "Please."

Jenny cut in, "No, that's not what I said."

Judge implored, "Please. Please. Just keep the train on track, OK."

Josh went on to say that "FLEX is making a huge announcement," which is that it's spinning off units related to "electrification of data centers" after reporting "insane numbers today."

But that still wasn't the end of Jenny/NFLX.

Joe mentioned buying UBER after he said he got out of it "in the mid-80s" (that means share price in the $80s, not that Joe owned it during the 1980s and finally got back in).

This time Judge, who moments earlier requested everyone "keep the train on the track," cracked, "AI just gave me a business plan for a rideshare thing, I'm launching it, and we're gonna compete with Uber."

As Bryn chuckled, Joe said, "I've gotta sell my position."

Jenny said, "You know, that's a ridiculous thing to say."

Judge agreed, "It is. It is."

Jenny said, "Yes. Because the barriers to entry ... you know perfectly well, the barriers to entry on creating an Uber, are very different."

Judge said, "Why? I have a car and I have AI?"

Jenny said, "Well then, you know what, you should go drive for Uber."

Judge said, "Why, I just said I'm gonna start a business that's gonna compete-"

Jenny cut in, "You said, no, but if you have a car, you should drive. ... To replicate the Uber platform is very difficult."

Judge said, "As is, replicating the Netflix platform."

Jenny said, "I didn't say, 'replicate the Netflix platform.'"

Judge said, while motioning with his arms, "Dig."

Jenny said, "I said it's easier to make a movie-"

Judge said, "Dig."

Jenny continued, "It's easier to make a movie-"

Judge said, "Dig."

Jenny said, "You're digging your own hole."

Judge said, "No. No, I'm digging yours."

Jenny said, "It's easier to make a movie that's gonna steal some eyeballs. And you steal a bunch of eyeballs here and a bunch of eyeballs there, and the incremental eyeballs add up. It's hard to create an Uber."

Judge said, "I just got Kev- Kevin Flynn, our EP, he's- now he's driving for me. My AI plan."

Jenny said, "Kevin would never drive for you Scott."

Joe remained way too serious, telling Jenny, "Your thesis of disruption is most going to be felt right here. Financial services industry. Look at the stocks of FactSet, look at S&P Global, look at Moody's, exactly what you're speaking towards, it's not happening in a Netflix ... I'm not arguing Netflix again."

Jenny asked Joe if he wants to "join the Jenny-Josh bet because so far by the way, I'm 20% ahead on that bet."

Joe said he has "less than zero interest."

CNBC thought so highly of this 20-minute conversation, it didn't bother to post the video on the Halftime Report portal.

If ‘Groundhog Day’ were real, Joe and everyone else could keep buying it at 109

Before she got into NFLX (see above), Jenny Harrington on Wednesday's (5/6) Halftime Report was trying to convince Judge of the same argument she's been making for probably 15 years, that the best days for tech stocks are behind us, even as the QQQ has (virtually certainly) outperformed any of Jenny's funds over any time period.

Jenny questioned how all this AI spending can continue, how it's already a big component of GDP, and then she curiously stated that she's "read 3 times in the past week" that GOOGL and META and AMZN are trying to get data centers into space or on boats, a bid to get "more efficient," which Jenny extrapolated to "fewer chips, lower chips, lower energy costs."

So somehow, someone who's been bearish on tech stocks for literally more than a decade has just somehow read a new story that validates the thesis.

Timely.

OK.

Judge mentioned NVDA's deal with GLW. Joe Terranova said, "Without question, Corning is in the sweet spot." Joe said he bought GLW on Feb. 2 (that's Groundhog Day) at 109," and he sold it Wednesday morning. He said it's in the JOET, and he's "not advocating" anyone sell it.

Joe bought more AAPL on Wednesday at 285 and recapped his previous buys.

Late in the show, despite Judge's indulgence of Jenny's NFLX tirade, Leslie Picker squeezed in ETF Edge.

Judge went to Jenny first for Final Trade; Jenny said TMO, which actually was a source of debate among different people a day earlier (see below). Shannon Saccocia said IYE, Bryn Talkington said OTF and Joe said MS.

‘Maybe we’re in 1997, 1998’

Bryn Talkington on Wednesday's (5/6) Halftime Report said "the risk remains to the upside" and that there's going to be a ceasefire with Iran because much of the world needs that oil.

Permabear But Always Fully Invested Jenny ($12 Sundae) Harrington, warming up for her latest harangue against tech stocks (see above), stated, "I'm not a believer in the continuation of the pace of growth and, um, upside to this market."

Shannon Saccocia said her shop sees "a broadening out of the acceleration of earnings growth" (Zzzzzzzzz).

Judge said the story of the market is "chips gone wild" and noted that Goldman "almost doubled their price target" for AMD. Joe Terranova said the JOET added it in October at 256. Joe again harped on PLTR's selloff related to $9 million in revenue and cited a "powerful force called sentiment" (snicker); which is basically an effect mistaken as cause.

Judge said Krinsky is talking about "blowoff action in the semis," which is "underway now." Joe said we might be in a parabolic move signaling the peak, but "be careful with that today on May 6th, because you haven't heard from Nvidia," so "I'm not necessarily sure I wanna take action in front of those 2" reports.

Judge said, "Oh, I don't think anybody is even suggesting taking any action." Joe said "a lot of people out there" apparently are.

Bryn admitted "I read Jonathan's note twice" and said people should "heed" some similarities, but it's only a "basket of names," not all stocks.

Joe said there's "excessive speculation" in the memory trade; "it almost feels like crypto when it was marching to 125,000." Bryn said Brad Gerstner thinks MU is "still cheap" and "a lot of people think Micron can double from here."

Judge said the conversation isn't "at all" about "trying to call a top."

Bryn explained how people will use agentic AI personally and at work; "maybe we're in 1997, 1998."

Judge tries to make a point about investing styles, gets tripped up by Bill’s facts on the ground

Bill Baruch joined Tuesday's (5/5) Halftime Report remotely and said he sold TMO, which he said "looks pretty ugly."

Sarat Sethi, one of the day's panelists who was at Post 9 but had a quiet day, is long TMO and said he disagrees with Bill's move; he expects things to "turn around" and this is the time to own such a high-quality company.

Judge proclaimed that the differing approaches to this stock by Bill and Sarat reflect a "difference in investing styles."

Judge, noting he "teed it up that way," asked Sarat how long he holds stocks for, on average, and Sarat said 3-5 years. Judge asked Bill the same question; Bill said he doesn't buy any stocks expecting to sell in less than 3 years, but if it doesn't work out, he'll move on.

Judge asked how long Bill owned TMO. Bill said he's owned it "on and off for 3 to 4 years." Judge sort of scowled and asked how long Bill owned it "this time." Bill said, "6 months." Judge said, "That's what I was getting at."

So basically, the difference between Sarat holding TMO and Bill selling TMO doesn't have anything to do with different "styles." It's a matter of Bill, quite frankly, thinking the stock sucks.

Bill also trimmed AMGN and bought LLY; he thinks LLY can rally into June.

Andrew struggled with whether to call GME’s offer ‘hostile’

Judge on Tuesday's (5/5) Halftime Report asked for Josh Brown's take on the curious Ryan Cohen Squawk Box interview of a day earlier.

"I thought it was hilarious," Josh said, revealing, "I sent an email to, uh, uh, Andrew Sorkin and Becky. I said 'It's half cash, half stock, half vibes. What don't you understand?'"

Josh added, "If this were 2021, this might've worked," but this market environment isn't as "memey." Josh praised Cohen's business acumen but said "the reality" is that EBAY is "gigantic" and for GME to buy it would be "way too much dilution." Josh said the $20 billion TD letter is "kind of a throwback to the junk bond guys in the '80s."

While Cohen's demeanor during the interview was certainly unusual, and questionable, he was actually refreshingly straightforward in the latter half. He actually sounded kind of like, we think, private equity. His argument is that he has run GameStop better than people expected, and that eBay is not being run as well as it could be.

He might have a point. His bid, though, seems a long shot.

Anyhow, Josh said EBAY is on his Best Stocks in the Market list and he thinks it "works from here."

Taking a victory lap, Josh said CASY is still on the Best Stocks list and "off to the races."

People are texting Judge that chip stocks have entered ‘theater of the absurd’

It might as well have been Stacy Rasgon Day on Tuesday's (5/5) Halftime Report. Except Stacy wasn't even on the show.

Judge's crew pretty much spent the whole A Block admitting that nobody knows when the chip surge is going to end.

Judge noted MU's gain as well as INTC; "It's like every. Single. Day." Josh Brown said it's a "freak show."

Judge wondered if these moves should be "time-stamped" (snicker), because, "I've got people who are messaging me saying 'This is now the theater of the absurd, and it's not gonna end well.'"

Joe Terranova said we can "clearly identify areas of the market where that's an accurate statement." But, seeking to dispel 1999 comparisons, Joe said the Mag 7 companies are "incredibly cash-rich, which was a much different situation than you saw in the '90s."

Joe admitted of The Strategy, "I wish we had more momentum," rather than 50/50 momentum/quality. Permabull Stephanie Link referred to AI/data centers/power, which "I feel like I say every single day," and insisted that "this is in the 2nd inning."

Josh Brown noted why these AI/chip stocks have surged, conceding, "Ultimately it will look absurd to have bought a stock that went up 4,000%. We just don't know what the trigger and what the tipping point is."

Judge cut in, "We never do, right. We never do. That's- that's- that's the point. We never do."

Josh started talking about people who decide they "can't miss" the memory rally who are saying, "I don't care how much it's up," then the mike went silent and Josh briefly did a Shields & Yarnell. Joe said, "People get intoxicated by the return."

Stephanie said it's not just tech rallying but "other stocks too." Stephanie said, "The Atlanta Fed tracker now is running at 3.7%."

Joe stated, "We're getting some relief from oil" and that's helping out "value as a factor" and "consumer discretionary."

Late in the show, Santoli said, "Parts of this market want to bubble."

But it was Josh Brown who had the greatest quote/reference, revealing, "one of my favorite quotes" is from "Cocktail," specifically, "Elisabeth Shue telling Tom Cruise, 'I don't want this to end badly.' And his comment is, 'Everything ends badly. Otherwise it wouldn't end.'"

Honestly, we haven't seen "Cocktail" in years, somehow. Have to plan a movie night soon. (After we get done with "Devil Wears Prada 2.")

Josh said (regarding the financial markets, not the movies), "of course" this will end badly, the question is "the degree of how badly."

Doc sounds like Marc Chaikin’s agent (a/k/a you never know which color kangaroo hat it’ll be in the commercials)

On Tuesday's (5/5) Halftime Report, Joe Terranova said the JOET for the first time owns DIS without also owning NFLX. (This writer is long NFLX.) (Joe didn't mention that Josh is getting pummeled in his wager with Jenny about whether NFLX or DIS is the first to reach 120.)

Permabull Stephanie Link said of COIN layoffs, "Maybe they overhired." Stephanie's fine with COIN getting "skinnier," but it's "at the expense of people." (Unfortunately, that's generally how it works.)

Stephanie touted ROK, "even up 11%."

Judge mentioned Katy Huberty; Pete Najarian (remember him?) used to mention her AAPL research notes every other day.

Joe said it was "bearish sentiment" that was sinking PLTR. Judge suggested it might be related to a "forward P.E. of 101 times."

Sarat Sethi said LOW has "2 headwinds," one being oil prices and the other being the 10-year rate.

Stephanie said TGT's gains have "surprised me for sure," but the stock is "still pretty attractive."

Josh Brown said LYV is in a "great place," and it was his Final Trade. Sarat said TDG, Stephanie said UNH and Joe said IBKR.

Wendy says ‘Prada 2’ is an ‘event,’ admits movie business is ‘most challenging’ of her career (a/k/a Melissa should’ve asked ...)

It was likely the most anticipated Fast Money episode in months.

Viewers of Monday's (5/4) show got a treat when Hollywood mover & shaker Wendy Finerman — who happens to be related to one of the show's panelists — joined the set at the Nasdaq to discuss "The Devil Wears Prada 2."

(Actually, this site a week ago reported on Wendy being producer of "The Devil Wears Prada 2" and included comments from Wendy's premiere interview in London. That's called "Scooping Mel.")

Mel first curiously asked about "Prada" not costing a ton (as if the majority of the viewers were Hollywood accountants). Wendy said "Prada 2" is not a huge-budget film for what you'd expect to kick off the summer season, it typically would be what Wendy calls "cape movies" (translation: superhero junk).

It definitely cost less than a superhero blockbuster. However, it's still a healthy amount for an office drama. The budget is as high as it is because of the success of the first film and the belief that the sequel can hold its own.

Wendy stressed several times that the film business is viewed "globally" now.

Mel said of the first movie, "I can remember watching it" and, "this is it," for those viwers who "stay away from politics ... don't want something violent."

Wendy said she's gotten feedback along the lines of, "This is like what we need right now. We need to escape."

Wendy said there's a group element to "Prada 2," explaining that friends of hers from Boston saw it; "30 women, went together."

"People are dressing up. It's become an event," Wendy said.

Mel asked, "How tough is the movie business" now. That's a decent question, would've helped if she specifically asked about theaters.

Wendy said it's "probably the most challenging, at least in my career, I've ever seen. ... The way people view things ... We had the pandemic. People really kind of never fully came back to those numbers." Wendy mentioned strikes of recent years and said there's been a "reduction in the amount of studios," though not all mergers are approved yet.

Wendy said this is her first movie with DIS, and "Never in my life have I seen a machine"; she used the term "machine" several times. "My hat is off to them," Wendy said, praising how prepared DIS is for the marketing of a film.

It has to be noted that Hollywood figures basically don't do TV interviews for no reason; Wendy has a film to promote.

Usually that is the job of the actors.

But this is sort of a friendly audience. (Wendy was introduced to applause.)

During this interview, which went more than 6 minutes, we kept an eye on Karen Finerman, the Fast Money panelist who happens to be Wendy's sister, and Karen's body language.

Karen did not ask Wendy any questions nor take part in the interview.

Perhaps that was agreed in advance. Years ago, Wendy brought her Oscar to the set but didn't sit in for an interview. This might be her first on the show. A lot of folks may crack up at interviewing a sibling on TV. We doubt that was a concern here; Karen interviewed Wendy on Karen's "How She Does It" podcast, which was reviewed a while ago on this page.

This page has to think Karen, through family connections and perhaps other reasons, knows much more about the Hollywood business than Mel and the other panelist, Tim Seymour, and probably found several of Wendy's comments follow-up-able.

Among any siblings, there's a dynamic as to how each reacts to the other. Birth order has a lot to do with that. But there's everyday life, too. Where our relatives live. How often we keep in touch. Wendy has an Oscar. Karen doesn't. But Karen has a regular TV gig. Most adult siblings, when they get together, share stories about Bill who used to live down the street. Not many can talk about Hollywood budgets and Wall Street IPOs.

Karen's reaction here was a little different than when her husband has appeared on the show.

Mel came up a little short in the Questions Dept. One thing we've wondered here, What exactly does the title "Devil Wears Prada" mean? Is Prada evil or something? Does this title keep males, who otherwise might watch it, from going to see it? (The Associated Press reported that 76% of ticket buyers were female.)

Also, Mel didn't ask Wendy about just tacking on a "2" to the original title. Was something more creative considered. Does it imply that the new movie is more of the same.

Mel didn't ask Wendy whether creatively, doing something like "Prada 2" brings more satisfaction than trying an original idea.

We wouldn't have minded if Mel had asked Wendy to explain, in general terms, how to determine how much a film needs to gross at the box office to make a profit; is it double the reported cost, triple, less than double, etc.

Mel pronounced "biopic" as "buy-OP-ic" rather than "BUY-oh-pic."

Mel sort of mocked the slogan "May the 4th be with you."

We wish Mel had asked Wendy, "What's the greatest movie ever made?"

More than anything, Brad seems to talk up NVDA

Brad Gerstner, the star guest of Monday's (5/4) Halftime Report, said Monday is his 55th birthday and it's "great to be here" at the Milken conference, from where he joined the Halftime Report remotely.

Brad said the conversation at Milken has been "terrific."

Brad said there's still a "wall of worry" about tech that's preventing a "bubble" and "super-high" multiples.

As for optimism, Brad said, "I've said before, I think Nvidia will be the first $10 trillion company."

Brad said at "13 or 14 times fully taxed earnings," it's hard to say NVDA is in "bubble territory" and in fact it's "terribly, uh, underowned."

Brad allowed that a couple years ago, he said he thought "Google is suspect," but it grew search revenues in the face of the AI onslaught. Brad said his shop had the "mental flexibility" to own it regardless. But he said "you'll get whipsawed" if you try to day-trade it.

Judge mentioned Yogi Berra and actually said "it's like deja vu all over again," while someone on the panel was heard to groan; Judge said it sounds like Brad wants to "draft another letter" to META, though his position size isn't as large as it was during the original letter that Judge credits for curing cancer and saving the world.

On AI companies, Judge asked Brad to name some favorites, but Brad said there are "3 or 4 horses in this race ... they're all great ... Team America is winning."

Joe Terranova asked Brad if there should be concern about AI companies entering the public markets; "where does the capital come from." (Honestly, the answer to that is, the same place it comes from for everything else.) Brad said "They've already IPO'd. They were just private IPOs."

Brad said it's "unlikely" that people can successfully trade the IPO of an AI giant; you should be looking for 20-30% annual compounding over the long term.

Judge said Brad not owning MSFT is a "statement." Brad said he owned it before and will own it again, "but you have to make choices in this market."

Judge asked Brad about the Trump Accounts and "how big" Brad thinks they can be. Brad recapped the process for getting the Trump Accounts into law and did make quite a spirited case for them.

Bryn said META is ‘way more suspect than Microsoft’

It happened to be Brad Gerstner Day on Monday's (5/4) Halftime Report, or else viewers would've gotten a heap of the latest additions and subtractions to the JOET.

Not that we DON'T want to hear it. But it's basically the SAME explanation for every move. We're talking about an ALGORITHM. And Judge usually spreads out the discussion over DAYS. As always, we hope the JOET and Joe do well.

Near the top of the show, Amy Raskin brought up a subject you don't hear much about on the Halftime Report: accounting treatment.

Amy made an interesting comment about "3 reasons" for concern about "people hanging their hat on earnings revisions." Amy said first, "it's narrow," then second (this was the good part), "a lot of AI spending which is counted as revenue for the recipients of that spending but is being capitalized for over a longer period of time for the spenders. So you're having a disproportionate increase in revenue vs. expense. That will catch up with you at some point."

Hmmmm, that's an interesting assertion. We get the math (although sometimes, we hardly know 2 + 2) ... but we can't see how this element of earnings revisions is going to shake the stock market.

Finally, the "most important reason" that Amy is "worried about earnings revisions" as a market driver is that "they're a lagging indicator."

Joe Terranova said, "Right now, the momentum is speaking to you," which is (in some way or another) basically what he's always saying.

The JOET, or "strategy," as it's called, bought AAPL, META, AMZN and now holds 6 of the Mag 7.

On META, Joe repeated from recent days, "I'm not sure why they're even spending the amount that they are," because it has such a "stranglehold" on ad spending.

Jimmy Lebenthal said the economy is "slowly picking up speed" and there's "increasing strength in the labor market."

Bryn Talkington said tech earnings are "really strong" despite factoring out tech companies marking up their investments.

Bryn bought MSFT, which Judge curiously called "without question the most suspect" of Mag 7 names. Bryn pushed back that META is "way more suspect than Microsoft." Bryn said Copilot is "actually starting to work," it can create a "brand new Excel."

Amy said the market's in an "up phase right now in terms of optimism."

Joe is "pretty sure" that OpenAI is "gonna make a little bit of a comeback here."

Joe called PLTR's pending report "incredibly important."

Jimmy insists GME offer for EBAY ‘actually could happen’

On Monday's (5/4) Halftime Report, Judge said Bryn Talkington sold GEV while the JOET bought it.

Bryn said she sold GEV around 1100 after buying in February in the "low 700s," and had "close to a 50% gain in 3 months"; Bryn thought the chart was looking "a little bit parabolic."

Joe admitted he's "chasing, uh, the momentum," but "rightfully so."

Jimmy Lebenthal said that, as far as BRK options for its never-ending cash hoard, "optically," Greg Abel "has to wait a second" to buy back shares because Warren isn't a fan of that kind of strategy.

In probably the show's most interesting discussion, Judge asked Jimmy about the supposed GME offer for EBAY. Jimmy said GME and the bankers, TD, "are scrappy upstarts here" and that it "may be the same thing" as PSKY and WBD, with "one key difference" in that GME "doesn't have Larry Ellison."

Jim said 125 is "way too cheap." But Jim said he thinks it's a "credible" offer.

But Joe Terranova said people aren't buying EBAY for this offer, but only for the improving fundamentals.

Jim insisted "the deal is credible" and "actually could happen." However, Jim said he'd be "hard-pressed" to hold GME shares.

Bryn's Final Trade was UBER, suggesting $85 could happen "easily." (Weren't people talking up $100 in the past year?) Jim said XOM, Amy said ILMN and Joe said FANG.

Tony Pasquariello, who was on Closing Bell with Permabull Stephanie Link, said "most of the big dynamics" for the market are "net positive," starting with the economy "doing fine."

Judge basically mocks Jimmy’s idea of an AAPL acquisition

Friday's (5/1) Halftime Report spent a good deal of time on AAPL, basically gushing about everything.

Kevin Simpson said the fact that iPhone sales took a "backseat" to other AAPL news is "incredibly exciting."

Jimmy Lebenthal floated the possibility of an "acquisition" by AAPL. Judge practically scoffed; "I can't imagine that," Judge won't say "zero chance," but "what product are they gonna go out and buy."

Jim said it's "appropriate to talk me down" from a "dream fever for a moment."

Judge wondered why a shareholder would "want them to go do a deal ... rather than just, you know, get it right with AI."

Jim said "the issue is, what do you do with all this cash and all this cash generation."

Judge said, "Pump it in to your AI story."

Jim said they "don't need to" spend like the others on AI.

"This is not the time to trim" AAPL, Jim concluded.

There’s another company, in the media business, that’s being strong talked

Judge on Friday's (5/1) Halftime Report cited the Financial Times story on oil majors resisting Donald Trump's pressure to drill.

Judge said the president can "strong talk these companies all he wants," but the execs apparently have other ideas.

Jimmy Lebenthal said that in the mid-2010s, oil majors decided they would be shareholder-friendly. "I think you should be buying Exxon here," Jim said.

Judge said the oil giants "saw the writing on the wall" and realized they had fallen out of favor years ago with a "large swath" of investors and realized, "we have to be more shareholder friendly."

Kevin Simpson agreed they're showing "fiscal responsibility."

Jimmy says buy in May

Opening what proved to be a fairly sleepy Halftime Report on Friday (5/1), Malcolm Ethridge said it's a "reasonable question" whether to actually "buy in May," pointing to the strength in bitcoin, which hasn't been mentioned often on the program.

Kevin Simpson said right now it's "absolutely about earnings," but inflation and rates are looming as potential factors.

Jimmy Lebenthal bluntly said to "buy" in May.

Judge said the earnings growth number, "28.8%," is "crazy" and makes people do a "triple take."

Late in the show, Santoli previewed the Berkshire meeting and noted the stock's "year of underperformance," but it's now "pretty reasonably valued."

Tom Lee, Adam Parker disagree on software

Judge on Friday's (5/1) Halftime Report previewed the Kentucky Derby with Mike Tirico. Judge noted, "The favorite hasn't won since Justified in 2018." Mike said no horse in the 1 position has won since 1986.

Meanwhile, Kevin Simpson bought more HOOD, explaining he bought more before earnings, wrote calls, closed out the calls at a big gain, "and then went long again at 72 dollars."

Kevin said the "greatest trade" he did in INTC this week was "to not trade it at all." Kevin recapped again how he bought it at 40 after it had already doubled from 20. Kevin said it may be due for an "air pocket," but if he sells, it would only be a "trim."

Jimmy Lebenthal said EBAY has "a lot of drivers" and the stock only traded up because it's up 50% in a year.

Judge asked Kevin about all the CAT target hikes. Kevin said, "Havin' a good week, Scott." (Yes. Because he didn't sell INTC.)

Malcolm Ethridge somehow claimed there's a "tremendous, uh, amount of opportunity" in SOFI.

Judge on Closing Bell had Tom Lee, Adam Parker and Bryn Talkington and at one point said "Yada yada yada." Tom said something about software bottoming. But Adam said he continues to think software will "materially underperform" and actually advised not buying the ones that are cheap but only buying "the ones that are expensive or fast-growing." Adam also said, "I'm gettin' a lot of questions now about like inflation."

Josh thinks META is little more than selling ads

Judge opened Thursday's (4/30) Halftime Report discussing Trian's letter to Solventum's board.

Don't worry, it got better.

Especially when Judge brought in Steve Weiss remotely while Weiss was staring at walls, prompting chuckles on the desk.

Weiss bought more META; he said the quarter was "phenomenal" and the selloff was tied to capex.

Judge countered, "I don't feel like the Street necessarily trusts Meta spending."

Weiss said its "missteps" in spending have been "few and far between," and Weiss wants the company to have a "founder, early-stage company mentality." Weiss even said Zuck has been a "pretty good steward of capital."

Josh Brown wondered "what else" is the business getting besides ads, and "what is Meta's AI strategy besides making Reels more addictive."

Weiss said, "I think that's a question you can put out to all of 'em." Weiss said he's got "faith in Zuckerberg, the management," and "it's a cheap stock."

Joe Terranova said of META, "I don't even understand why they spend the amount of money that they spend."

Joe pins a $300 on AAPL

Thursday's (4/30) Halftime Report gave the tech earnings the full monty.

Jimmy Lebenthal called Alphabet a "must-own." Josh Brown said that instead of AI companies eating into search, "Gemini is the threat to everyone else in the AI ecosystem that can't seem to keep up." Joe Terranova said, "You have the visibility that they are monetizing."

Judge observed that Sundar is "not a self-promoter ... but he's killin' it." Josh stated, in a reference to another star CEO, "You will not see him sign anyone's bra."

Jimmy sees a "lot more positives than negatives" at MSFT. Josh presented a chart showing GOOGL and AMZN outperforming MSFT and META. "What the market is basically saying is, We like vertical integration. We don't like hyperscalers that are reliant on 3rd parties," Josh explained.

Josh talked of having a big position in AMZN and said it has a "coherent strategy" and "all they have to do is execute." Jason Snipe, who had a quiet show, said AMZN "beat across the board" and he likes the stock.

Joe said if AAPL is lower on Friday, "I will buy more, because I am telling you, over the next 6 to 12 months, this stock is going north of $300."

Josh said on AAPL, he has advised, "Close your eyes and buy."

Jimmy agrees with "Close your eyes and buy" and on Joe's 300; "I agree with everything that these 2 gentlemen just said." But Jim admitted that AAPL is not in the "top 5" of stocks that get him excited in the morning.

As a result, Judge and Josh jabbed Jim about liking QCOM. "Give me Qualcomm," Jim demanded, adding that QCOM trades at "14, 15 times" while AAPL trades at "30 times."

Josh promises to reveal whether NFLX has bottomed

Josh Brown on Thursday's (4/30) Halftime recalled recommending FLEX recently and discussed moving stops up as the stock rallies. (Translation: Victory lap.) Judge noted it's up 26% since April 9. Josh said analyzing charts is "not witchcraft" but "actual realized behavior of buyers and sellers at a specific level."

Josh pinned a 120 on SBUX, "a breakout in progress."

Joe Terranova said LLY was getting a "modest lift" from its earnings report, he said to hang on to the stock. Joe said MRK in the near term is reliant too much on 1 drug. Jimmy Lebenthal said of ABBV, "Buy it right now frankly." Addressing VLO, Joe said if you want energy exposure, it's "mandatory" to own gasoline refiners.

Jason Snipe explained the metrics CL needs to hit in earnings. Josh indicated XOM is one of the most "strategically important positions I have in my portfolio."

CNBC's Pippa Stevens pronounced "legislature" as "legislator."

Jimmy's Final Trade was CSCO. Jason said ABBV. Joe said ZM. Josh actually said NFLX; "Did Netflix bottom? Tune in next week. We'll find out." (This writer is long NFLX.)

Wendy is the producer of
‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’

CNBC's Fast Money and Halftime Report have talked about Mag 7 earnings and Federal Reserve decisions this week.

That's fine.

We'd get more excited if they talked about Hollywood — specifically, the fact that Oscar winner Wendy Finerman (Karen's sister) is the sole "producer" of "The Devil Wears Prada 2." (There are four executive producers and one line producer in the credits at IMDb.) (And we'd also like to talk about Anne Hathaway too.)

It is Wendy's first producer credit in 9 years and first film credit since 2012.

Wendy was the sole producer for the first "Prada" film, released in 2006. According to Wikipedia (these aren't always reliable numbers), that film was made for up to $41 million and grossed $326 million.

That's a pretty good ROI.

It was also a critical hit with fantastic stars and highly watchable.

Wendy said this past week in London that as far as doing a sequel to "Prada," the crew was "really good" with standing pat on the original. "And then we started to look, and the times started to change."

Sequels can be tricky. Some have been outstanding. Most of the good ones, however, were probably done within a few years of the original film.

Maintaining the same magic 20 years later is not easy.

We'd have to think the odds are against "2" having a similar reception as "The Devil Wears Prada." For example, while "Wall Street" is the Official CNBCfix HQ Favorite Movie of All Time, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" is, sadly, abominable dreck. We wish it wasn't. We've tried to purge it from consciousness. Still lingers.

Also, recently we kinda got our Manhattan-go-getter fix by watching the JFK Jr./Carolyn "Love Story" streaming series (which neither Mel nor Judge ever talked about). Honestly, Carolyn kind of had that "Prada" type of career going.

Early reviews we've seen of "Prada 2" are underwhelming. However, the writers seem to have an enthusiasm about critiquing it that suggests they were kind of into it.

And they freely admit that a movie with Meryl Streep and a fantastic cast has something going for it.

We're not betting against Anne Hathaway. And we wouldn't bet against Wendy either.

Bill unloads UBER, LDOS

Wednesday's (4/29) Halftime Report was basically riding an exercise bike on tech earnings and Fed press conferences to happen later in the day (this review was posted overnight Wed-Thurs).

Judge opened asking Joe Terranova and Kari Firestone about whether Wednesday is "make or break" (Zzzzzz) for stocks; Judge said they'd determine what subject is "most front and center" (snicker) on this apparently momentous day.

Steve Weiss said the Fed meeting "doesn't matter," which is unusual, but what matters is the post-market earnings reports.

Weiss said for Alphabet, things to "worry about" include META having the "No. 1 position in ad spend" and YouTube results.

Malcolm Ethridge said the market will have to deal with the "overhang of OpenAI."

Joe said he bought AAPL "at the end of March" at 252 and a half. He's buying more because he thinks "it's the next megacap that makes a new high." Joe suggested the timing of the CEO announcement was separated from the quarter because they've got a good quarter coming. Malcolm said he likes AAPL but doesn't want to buy into earnings.

Malcolm bought more SPOT (this writer is long SPOT) and mentioned the service being like a "utility."

Bill Baruch wasn't on Wednesday's panel but dialed in to say, in the biggest news of the show, he sold UBER; Bill said it "doesn't seem to have a secular catalyst." Weiss said UBER is in a "difficult spot" in the robotaxi environment.

Bill also sold LDOS, he said it's had a "technical breakdown" and will have a "tough time getting back above 150 to 155." Weiss said he doesn't disagree.

Bill made some buys in CDNS, ETN and VST.

Malcolm said "If you're patient, Visa's a good one to own." Regarding ALL, Joe said "the comps are gonna be particularly good for the entirety of the property insurance industry." Weiss said he's owned CAT for "almost a year" (tip: that means capital gains tax threshold approaching) and it's been a "moonshot" and that any "slight miss," and the stock could "take it on the chin."

Malcolm's Final Trade was AMZN. Weiss said QXO, Kari said UNH, an interesting choice, she said it can go farther, and Joe said PSX.

‘Claude is kicking their asses’
(a/k/a Judge returns)

As CNBC shows spent the day Tuesday (4/28) analyzing the Wall Street Journal report on OpenAI, Judge returned to the Halftime Report.

Joe Terranova told Judge, "First of all, Scott, great to have you back with us. We missed you."

Joe said OpenAI is a "big story." Joe thinks the theme is, "Are you monetizing the spend." Joe said he's going to "maintain" his "bullish perspective" on semis and Big Tech. Joe suggested the OpenAI story may be about OpenAI's own issues and not a "major inflection point" for technology.

Josh Brown said the news "casts some doubt" about the "race" for AI; Josh asserted "Claude is kicking their asses in the enterprise." Josh said, "In March of 2026, Claude's monthly active users almost doubled. 88% growth. This is unbelievable momentum for Claude."

Permabull Stephanie Link highlighted Andy Jassy's "shareholder article" from a couple weeks ago on capex spending. "There's still such a tailwind in terms of the spend that's going to happen," Stephanie said.

As Judge and Stephanie quibbled for some reason over year to date vs. month to date returns on semis and other Big Tech, Stephanie suggested these stocks could be a "little bit of a blowoff top."

Brian Belski said the "arms race" in AI "isn't just 2 companies." As it pertains to ORCL, he said "at the end of the day," ORCL's got a big balance sheet and knows what it's doing.

Joe said what's "critical" for ORCL is whether we hear about ORCL "going back to those debt markets."

Josh opined on the OpenAI news coverage, stating, "We have Sarah Friar, uh, on a biweekly bas- is at this point either being completely libeled, or there- there is smoke here. Like, they keep saying, they keep saying, 'Oh no, how could that be true, that's not true, it's full speed ahead.' But why is it always colleagues of Sarah Friar talking to the Journal, talking to Bloomberg."

Judge explained, "She is the one with undoubtedly the most Wall Street cred, uh, in the room. In the room."

Judge noted NVDA's "straight up" direction in April. Josh said the whole space is "overextended," and NVDA is only the "least" overextended of those names. Josh advised, "Let things cool off. You don't wanna be the last person in after a stock goes up 80% in a month."

Been at least a few days since we’ve heard ‘K-shaped’

Permabull Stephanie Link on Tuesday's (4/28) Halftime Report said she sold WFC; "I'm up 70% in the position and I was buying it when everybody hated it."

Stephanie added to TFC. Stephanie stressed to Judge that WFC "missed" when "no one else was missing." Stephanie also sold ZTS, saying "some consumers ... are a bit stretched, and they're not spending on their pets like they did."

Stephanie bought PEP. Brian Belski said it's "still a great value proposition."

Stephanie bought more GE, "took advantage of the 10% decline." Stephanie gushed that PWR expanded their TOTAL. ADDRESSABLE. MARKET.

Joe Terranova said of GLW, "The guide was the challenge."

Joe owns FAST but said he's "not as excited" as he is about a bunch of other industrials; Joe mentioned "Cummings" (sic added "g").

Judge asked Josh about the JOBY demonstration in Manhattan. Josh said it's a "tough sector because it's so early," but JOBY is his "favorite" of the group.

Belski gave a perfectly good description of BXP; Judge still jabbed, "Is that all you got?"

Addressing EIX, Joe said "utility fever" from 2025 has "kind of dissipated somewhat." Joe mentioned all the subjects HOOD will talk about on its call; Josh Brown said "crypto, crypto, crypto, crypto."

Stephanie said "expectations are really high" for SBUX.

Josh's Final Trade was AAPL. Belski said WCN; "we like garbage." Stephanie said SNPS. Joe said KO.

Jenny got ‘really ticked off’ by someone on Twitter correctly noting she’s a permabear

Joe Terranova on Monday's (4/27) Halftime Report asserted that "growth over value" has been the "dominant factor force in the month of (sic last 3 words redundant) April."

Joe said the tendency may be to take the other side in May, but he'd "continue to ride the momentum" unless there's a "paradigm shift."

Jenny ($12 Sundae) Harrington said "we're going to start to get nuance (snicker) in the conversation," and that the market reaching new highs "basically says 'all-clear'" despite the fact Jenny says we're going to get "aftershocks." Jenny said, "I think we're leaning more now towards inflation."

Liz Thomas actually claimed "this is one of the biggest weeks that I can remember honestly in my career."

Guest host Frank Holland said Julian Emanuel says that the recent S&P V-shaped recovery (one of Steve Weiss' favorite subjects) is "only comparable to 1982," and Frank asked Weiss if he sees any "comparisons" to 1982. Weiss said "it doesn't matter if I- if, if I see a similarity to '82 because the market's changed so much, it just doesn't matter." (Translation: Weiss is a permabear and so whenever the market is going up 90% of the time, it isn't justified.)

After a speech that included "the already damaged credibility of the Fed," Weiss said, "Push comes to shove, I think you stay long, because nothing seems to matter. The market just seems to want to go up."

Jenny revealed she spends too much time on social media. "I actually got really ticked off on Friday because someone on Twitter was like, 'Oh, Jenny Harrington's been negative for the last 2,500 points or something.' Like, yeah. I'm cynical. I'm also a smart investor. So I stay fully invested," Jenny said, adding, "I think that we still have broadening this year."

Liz said we need "decisive deescalation in this war" to get the "broadening out," which could be "months out." Liz said despite complaints about elevated P.E. ratios, earnings have actually been growing faster than prices "in a lot of places."

DIS is actually crushing NFLX in Josh’s wager with Jenny

The Dominator, Dom Chu, hosted ETF Edge during Monday's (4/27) Halftime Report (guest hosted by Frank Holland) and actually brought in Mike Khouw, a Fast Money regular who probably was making his first appearance on the Halftime Report.

Mike said the biggest activity in options is in semis.

Meanwhile, Joe Terranova again said Claude is "far better than what I could find in a ChatGPT."

Jenny Harrington gave a speech about energy stocks, saying, "We need to get used to the idea that oil isn't going back to the 50-60 range."

Joe said "surprisingly," nat gas has stayed under $3. Joe said "the refiners are really the sweet spot in this entire energy trade." But Jenny said, "The refiners make me nervous," because "I worry about the valuations" (Zzzzzzzz).

Joe said DASH is fine if you have long-term "visibility," but "in the near term, there's clear challenges in front of this stock."

Joe said he likes the ROL earnings report. Steve Weiss said GEV has had a "meteoric run" and is "not cheap," but someone will raise the price target to 1,500. He said as long as the momentum continues, "I'll be there."

Joe said LLY is down 18% YTD and is "flat over the last 12 months."

Santoli said the market seems "sideways" for the last week or so.

Liz Thomas said health care was one of her calls for 2026 partly because it tends to do well in a "midterm election year." But she doesn't expect "quite as much volatility" in the space this year, though there's opportunity in the "growthy parts."

Weiss' Final Trade was GS. Liz said EEM, Jenny said VZ and Joe said NTRS before complimenting everyone else's picks.

On Power Lunch, Sully wondered if AMZN's retail business matters at all. "I don't think we ever mention" it when talking about the stock, Sully said.

Jim gets a chance to mention book

MacKenzie Sigalos on Friday's (4/24) Halftime reported on Google's investment in Anthropic that could reach $40 billion.

Jimmy Lebenthal pointed out that a year ago, there was talk of an "existential threat" to Google from AI, but now look at Alphabet, which Jim said is a reason not to believe in "efficient theory" for stocks.

Kevin Simpson said that with Alphabet getting the investment at a reduced valuation, he "can't think of a better use of capital."

Jenny ($12 Sundae) Harrington said the benefits of tech capex spending need to start becoming "visible."

Kristina Partsinevelos reported on INTC's quarter. Kevin gave a speech about why he got into INTC around December, he thought it "a turnaround story that might work." But, he said, "I would not be a buyer here" and in fact, he might even trim a little.

Jimmy said he's not in INTC, but Friday's move "validates the idea of being a long-term investor." Jim said, "I actually wrote about this in my book: Just be patient."

Jenny said, "No one's taken more abuse" on owning INTC than she has. Jenny said she had to sell it under strategy rules after Pat Gelsinger stepped down. Despite the big pop, "I think there is a disconnect here," Jenny said, calling earnings "really lackluster compared to their peers." Jenny called it a "speculative trade" and "I absolutely wouldn't buy it on the air pocket."

Kevin wondered if the INTC pop is due to a short squeeze. Jimmy suggested it's the "government's involvement."

Jenny says what’s happening in the Strait could be ‘wildly inflationary’

Jimmy Lebenthal on Friday's (4/24) Halftime Report called the apparent end of the Fed investigation "exceedingly positive."

Jim said as a country, "we've got work to do," and "to waste time on a nonsense investigation that is purely political, um, is a waste of time." (Which is, like, self-evident or something; wasting time is a waste of time.)

Jimmy stressed that Warsh has a "pretty tall bar to clear" in terms of convincing the committee to cut rates. Jim asserted that the economy "doesn't need rate cuts right now."

Steve Liesman read the Pirro statement and noted it says "I will not hesitate to restart."

Jenny Harrington said, "I'm surprised, that in our 6 minutes so far we haven't started talking about this yet ... the Strait of Hormuz and the reverberations and aftershocks that are coming- that may come, may come to the supply chains from that, are v- have really high potential to be wildly inflationary ... a reasonably high probability that we need to- that we need to think about." Jenny said we haven't "begun to see the problem of a thousand ships still being stuck there."

Kevin Simpson said, "I don't think we're in a position where we can be thinking about rate cuts at this point."

Not sure if Leslie would’ve guessed EBAY higher or lower

Kevin Simpson on Friday's (4/24) Halftime Report said he bought more NSC and FDX, the latter a "turnaround story that I think has turned around."

Jenny Harrington explained trimming XPO because of its big gain and how UPS is riding on what happens in the Strait.

Kevin Simpson said you can "hide out in" SLB. Jenny said WU has about a 10% yield and trades at "5 times earnings." Jenny said it's "dirt cheap" and "you're OK to buy it here."

Jimmy Lebenthal said "it's the nature of the beast" that defense stocks, despite fundamentals, can swing on "something that happens."

Kevin trimmed MDT, saying his timing "wasn't that great." Kevin bought HOOD in the "low 80s" and also bought ADM for his dividend portfolio.

Jim "just recently" bought EBAY, he just wants to see a "nice beat." Leslie said, "I learned today it has a 46 billion-dollar market cap, who knew?" Jim's Final Trade was CSCO. Jenny said HTGC and Kevin said AMZN.

NFLX ‘looks like a dead horse right now’

Julia Boorstin on Thursday's (4/23) Halftime Report outlined the types of acquisitions NFLX might make. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Those apparently would be smaller acquisitions that excite no one.

Bill Baruch said he "cut NFLX" because he said he needed money for his ARM buy. Bill said NFLX couldn't rally on buyback news and it's "at least another earnings report away" from rallying. (Or, we might add, another earnings report away from yet another pullback.)

Josh Brown said the NFLX buyback is "great," but there's "flexibility" in when they do it, in other words, they may not immediately be pumping gobs of money into the stock. Josh admitted, "It looks like a dead horse right now," but he's a "long-term believer."

Josh said buying podcasts won't move the needle for NFLX, but what would move the needle is "if they can accelerate the ad business." Malcolm Ethridge, though, suggested that podcasts are a way to get "younger subscribers."

Bill was buying NOW at 99

Thursday's (4/23) Halftime Report was rather humdrum, but at least Bill Baruch brought a sense of humor.

Guest host Leslie Picker, who did a great job, said NOW kicked off software earnings, which, given NOW's tumble Thursday, are "not off to a great start."

Josh Brown asserted, "They actually had a good report."

Bill claimed there's "a lot of value" in NOW and said he "added" at 99 and 90 and predicted "insider buying" will follow. Josh chuckled that "they blamed the Middle East ... for the conservative guidance." Bill claimed, not totally convincingly, that the bottom's a "process" and not a "point."

Meanwhile, Bill chuckled that the huge move in URI helps make up for his NOW buy. He still thinks there's "a lot of upside." However, Bill's long TMO, which flopped.

Josh talks Bill into TT

Malcolm Ethridge on Thursday's (4/23) Halftime Report, guest hosted by Leslie Picker, said he trimmed NVDA, first saying he bought before Liberation Day "somewhere around the $100 mark."

He said it's "more about risk management" than anything else.

Bill Baruch said he sees NVDA in a "value space." Bill bought ARM, "gonna trust it here."

Malcolm sold ASML.

Panelists talked about CPUs and GPUs (Zzzzzzzz).

Josh Brown said GFS went from "40 to 60 in a week."

Bill bought ENTG.

On TSLA earnings, Josh said Elon was "circumspect" on the call and likened it to seeing your "favorite band" in concert and they announce an "acoustic set" and "half the audience walks out the door."

Josh said CBRE is somehow caught up in the "SAASpocalypse."

Malcolm said he's "a little bit surprised by today's response" in AXP.

After the A Block, Josh went to the 52-week high list, er, the "Best Stocks in the Market" list, and found TT. Bill said he'd be interested if there's "strong volume" in the name.

Josh's Final Trade was SBUX. Malcolm said DLR and Bill said TT.

So far, Jenny is crushing Josh in the DIS-vs.-NFLX wager

Joe Terranova on Wednesday's (4/22) Halftime Report said that personally, he sold NFLX "to save the shareholders in America of Netflix in the mid-70s" around the time of the bottom.

Joe said he's getting an "opportunity" again with the pullback, and he expects to "reestablish" a position. Guest host Frank Holland said NFLX is "negative year to date."

Frank said Wolfe says banks' rebound may be fading, but Anastasia Amoroso sees IPO volumes up "nicely" and "the capital markets are wide open" and there's not "systemic exposure" to private credit.

Frank said despite what Anastasia said, "little things pop up" in financials like COF doing a small provision. Joe again repeated his slogan that financials came into 2026 with all kinds of positive sentiment and pointed out "people are just too bullish on Capital One."

Steve Weiss said he's positioned for the long term in GS and is not going to respond to a "short-term pullback" in GS, he looks for "enduring trends."

Weiss demands Frank provide and justify a ‘view’ about AAPL’s new CEO

Steve Weiss had obviously prepared several speeches about AAPL for use during Wednesday's (4/22) Halftime Report.

Weiss called Tim Cook a "good steward of capital" though "he hasn't been innovative," Tim's strengths are more about the "supply chain" and "politically."

Weiss said, "This is purely gonna be ... a stock that you buy to express your market view" but that there's potential "for a much more creative CEO right now."

Guest host Frank Holland told Weiss, "You seem a bit non-committal about the new CEO." Frank said Weiss "usually" has "a lot of conviction" about such a prominent business topic.

Weiss protested to Frank, "How can anybody be committal (sic) about the new CEO?"

Frank said, "Well we know who he is, we know where he's been."

Weiss told Frank, "You tell me, what's your view, new CEO. And justify it."

Frank said, "I think the question is, is Apple gonna be an AI company, or is it gonna remain a hardware company, I think almost everybody thinks it's gonna be a hardware company."

Weiss said of Ternus, "You don't know what he's gonna do when he goes in the seat," he's got a "broad mandate." Weiss said AAPL isn't "broken," but it's "not a technology leader."

Joe Terranova said AAPL has "aggressively" bought back stock.

Weiss restated a point he has been making for literally at least 10-15 years about AAPL: "They've got 1 customer. Now, it's 3 different telcos. But they subsidize it." Weiss wondered "what happens" if those telcos decide "we're tired of trading like utilities" and "we're gonna cut back our subsidies of the phones, right, because all we do is trade customers ... That risk is nowhere in the share price and it should be."

‘We’re probably gonna say we won’

Warming up for a mini-speech about chip stocks, Joe Terranova on Wednesday's (4/22) Halftime Report said the market is "gravitating" toward semis because "the market wants growth."

Steve Weiss asked for a 5-year chart showing growth outperforming value.

Guest host Frank Holland asked Weiss if he's "worried about chips being overbought." Weiss claimed, "This market, you know, goes up for, for any headline, positive or negative." Weiss said the market "could be" getting a little frothy, but "what's going to upset it?"

Weiss explained that "We know we're in a war where there's no real strategy to exiting, so we're probably gonna say we won, like they've said there's new regime change and there isn't, and we'll get out of it."

Weiss said, "So, it's going to come down to inflation, which people are willing to write it off right now (sic grammar), as a short-term phenom, but that could be the canary in the coal mine going forward." Weiss said, "When you get nothing in return for extending the ceasefire, it shows that it's TACO all over again."

Joe offered, "The market could live in an environment where oil is between 90 and 95 dollars ... but it's back to chips." Joe said chips are to today's economy "what oil was to the economy in the '70s and the '80s." Joe said chips may look a little "overextended," but "good luck moving away from that story."

Joe says ‘infer’ when he probably means ‘imply’

Anastasia Amoroso on Wednesday's (4/22) Halftime Report declared, "The growth is clearly happening in artificial intelligence."

MacKenzie Sigalos reported on Google's AI chips. Steve Weiss talked up again how TSM is "the winner of it all." Joe talked up again how great Claude is.

Joe said while the S&P hit a new high, "not one of those Mag 7 names has made a 52-week high," and "what I'm trying to infer (sic)" is that as the Mag 7 reaches new highs, they'll unleash a "new powerful force" from "trend-following funds" buying the shares.

Joe said AMZN has the "highest potential" to achieve an all-time high.

Weiss points out that health care is ‘politically charged’

Steve Weiss on Wednesday's (4/22) Halftime Report said Hemsley at UNH is "doing what he has to do." Weiss thinks the stock has "upside," but there will be "bumps along the way for sure because health care is very politically charged."

Anastasia Amoroso said the cybersecurity space, at least in publicly traded stocks, is "quite crowded."

Guest host Frank Holland said the EEM has been "more than tripling" the S&P 500 YTD. Joe Terranova again said he's in the EIS. Weiss said he's expecting 150 for BABA.

Weiss' Final Trade was VRT, saying it "sold off for no reason." Anastasia said AMLP and Joe said NTRS.

Karen suggests Tim might’ve been happiest if AAPL dropped 7%

Tuesday's (4/21) Halftime was mostly preempted by Kevin Warsh (more on that below), but a statement was being made by the market on Tuesday about AAPL.

At their lowest, shares were down around 2.8%.

Late afternoon on Monday, as AAPL dipped about 1% in afterhours trading, Karen Finerman on Fast Money explained, "If you're the CEO and your- you announce that news, for your ego, what's the right amount that you want the stock to trade down? I sort of came up with 7%."

Karen said Tim Cook was the "right CEO for the right time."

Wait a minute ... there are actually people in government who want deficit reduction??

More than half of Tuesday's (4/21) Halftime Report was preempted by Kevin Warsh hearings, which included a senator citing a WSJ article and the senator implying either Kevin or Donald was lying about whether Donald has pressured Kevin on rates as a prerequisite for taking the job and Kevin suggesting that maybe the article needed better sources or better journalism.

In the latter half of the hour, as the hearing adjourned, Steve Liesman told guest host Frank Holland, "Warsh did do quite a dance to make sure he was not criticizing the president or anything he said. I thought Frank that he under ... stated the challenge that the president has meant to the Federal Reserve."

Frank had a full panel regardless. Joe Terranova said Kevin is "more than qualified" and "he is disruptive" to the current state of the Fed; Joe said that's "a needed dynamic." Citing the investigation of Powell/Fed, Joe said "everyone ultimately" wants Kevin confirmed, but "the only way you get there is by removing that criminal court impediment that's in front of us."

Joe said Kevin did an "adequate job" presenting himself as an "independent thinker" and that the bond market is "validating that perspective."

Josh Brown said "there's no surprise in here at all" and that Kevin will be "confirmed."

Rob Sechan observed, "He certainly had a tightrope to walk," and Rob concluded, "I think he came across about as well as he could to all the constituent audiences, including the Republicans who want to see deficit reduction." Rob said "he's incredibly articulate."

Jason Snipe said there were "no surprises" and agreed that Kevin did "as well of a job as he possibly could."

In the other big business news of the week (so far), Josh said John Ternus is "the right guy" for AAPL and had been seen as the "central candidate" to succeed Tim Cook. "He tends to be more decisive" than Tim, Josh said.

Jason said he'll be curious about "how do they interact with a new, agentic AI world."

Joe said Ternus' hardware expertise is "important" because he's the "best bridge" to put a "tangible product" of some kind of gee-whiz technology including AI in people's hands. But Joe said there's a question as to whether Ternus can keep the White House relations that Tim has.

Rob said Ternus "knows what he's doing" and is the "right guy" and you never want to bet against AAPL.

For Final Trades, Josh said he "took profits" in EBAY, a stock he's touted in the past week, "no position currently." Rob said NOW, Jason said AMZN and Joe said ZM but predicted "all-time highs" for AMZN.

In her (virtually daily) CNBC appearance, Permabull Stephanie Link was on Closing Bell, guest hosted by Frank, and asserted "the economy is hangin' in" and, as she always says, if you wait for certainty, it's too late. Stephanie boasted, "I was buying in March, buying in April," and would buy more on a pullback, perhaps in the GE earnings reaction. Stephanie said Kevin Warsh "said all the right things" but the "biggest job" is to "corral the entire group," and it won't be "easy."

Joe actually thinks Kevin can find himself in a situation with no pressure

Steve Liesman on Monday's (4/20) Halftime Report previewed Kevin (More Handsome Than Rick Rieder) Warsh's remarks to some committee or another.

Guest host Frank Holland asked Steve about Kevin's comments related to inflation and independence, which apparently has something to do with Kevin's thinking that if the Fed does its job right, it will have independence.

Which is an interesting premise. Because we always figured that the Fed has been (sorta) granted forced "independence" simply because everyone will assume it's not doing the right thing, but it probably is the right thing, it's just not the right thing we want them to be doing, so we have to grant them independence to supposedly do the right thing.

Pehaps Kevin is going to be a hipster on this subject. Jay kinda is, being a Deadhead and everything. But the president doesn't like it anyway.

Rob Sechan said, "The Fed's job right now simply is not to make it worse."

Joe Terranova actually said with a straight face, "That's a perfect statement on Kevin's behalf. Kevin's basically saying, 'Get inflation right, and all the pressure comes off.'"

Steve Weiss said "It's a dual mandate though."

Weiss said, "Trump's gonna be in his ear every single day unless rates come down."

Kelly’s middle name is Noreen

Permabull Stephanie Link made her (virtually daily) CNBC appearance on Power Lunch on Monday (4/20).

"I'm actually surprised that we're not down more ... We are seeing a broadening out in the, uh, in the markets," Stephanie said, which of course is "very healthy."

Stephanie said she "lost count" as to how many bank execs said the consumer is "resilient."

Stephanie said you can't wait for "certainty" or you'll miss the market move. Still, Stephanie indicated she wasn't chasing and said to buy on pullbacks.

Also on that program, Sully asked Kelly Evans what her middle name is but said "Don't answer that." Kelly answered anyway that it's "Noreen" (this site is unsure of spelling).

Sully also stated, "My haters" claim he's "so negative all the time," but "the other half" think he's "too positive."

Weiss seems offended that people are calling March a ‘pullback’

Joe Terranova on Monday's (4/20) Halftime Report observed, "It's tough to be a bear."

Joe said the tech pause Monday was "normal."

Bryn Talkington said the 10-year staying at current levels is "very constructive for stocks."

But Bryn at one point suggested earnings growth excitement may be getting ahead of itself. "We have an incredibly, incredibly narrow earnings growth market, which is based on 2 companies," which are MU and NVDA, Bryn said.

Steve Weiss insisted the "pullback" (he took issue with the term with guest host Frank Holland) is "nothing" and said this is the "quickest move from oversold to overbought in 40 years, and this is nothing. ... This is not a pullback."

But Weiss said markets are "appropriately ignoring" commentary from D.C. and Tehran.

Rob Sechan said, "The market is telling us that you wanna buy these bottoms" and went on to gush about being in the Mag 7 and semis.

Rob said he'd buy pullbacks in semis "all day long" until we see signs of a slowdown.

Joe said, "position and sentiment" (Zzzzzzzz) are "2 very important powerful forces."

Rob said he's happy to be long LMT. Weiss said LDOS, which he's talked about numerous times, is "on sale." Weiss also mentioned CAT, indicating it's overvalued, which he mentions for some reason in every appearance. But he's staying in it.

Santoli said the market actually had a "13-day win streak" in March 2000.

Frank doesn’t offer Weiss any flow show data this time

Joe Terranova on Monday's (4/20) Halftime Report noted that UBER's "valuation" (Zzzzzzz) is "mid-teens."

Steve Weiss asserted, "They've got some issues ... The robotaxi model will not be as profitable for them as the driver model," pointing out, for probably the dozenth time, that the drivers pay the insurance and upkeep on their own cars.

Rob Sechan said CRM isn't having a great year but "did re-rate (one of his favorite terms) to a 14 times forward."

Rob claimed that, "Legacy software is not standing still."

Bryn Talkington suggested the stocks in BUG will use AI enough to be the winners in cybersecurity. Weiss though offered that CRM is contingent on general tech employment and selling a license for each employee. Weiss added, "We may not even know who the winner is in cyber at this point."

BRK about a year from a high

Bryn Talkington on Monday's (4/20) Halftime said she wouldn't add new positions to HOOD but would sell calls; "it's got a lot of resistance at a hundred dollars."

QXO is buying TopBuild, which Steve Weiss of course calls a "phenomenal acquisition," mentioning "Brad" and his great "playbook."

Rob Sechan said there's "opportunity" in LLY at these levels, though it's not cheap.

In his best observation of the day, Joe Terranova said BRK-B's 52-week high was May 2, 2025, and it's "12% off" that level. Joe observed, "380 billion in cash, that's a problem."

Joe said we need "rates lower" for the homebuilders to get going.

Bryn's Final Trade was COF, Rob said AVGO, Weiss said BABA and Joe said VLO.

On Fast Money, the news of the hour was Tim Cook (eventually) stepping down as CEO. Karen Finerman said she doesn't see a trade in this move and noted that Steve Jobs would probably not have handled the Washington scene as well as Tim has.

They’ve stopped talking about the Brazil currency thing (but still talk about the WBD bid)

Friday's (4/17) Halftime Report crew, guest-hosted by Frank Holland, took up NFLX. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Longtime NFLX bull Steve Weiss said he's "got no issues" with Reed Hastings stepping away from the company, though Reed's a "genius." Weiss said, "He's long ago ceded responsibilities for the day to day."

As for the stock, Weiss said "it's feast or famine each quarter," but "if you hold it for the long term, you're gonna do quite well."

Hmmmm, that's a comment we gotta question. We can't imagine too many people who have held this name for more than a quarter looking forward to yet another quarter, in July, with some kind of post-earnings slam possibly based on some headline that nobody will even be talking about in a month or two.

Weiss bought it in the 80s and wants to "see it settle for a little bit," but he likes the stock, he says it has "software margins."

Jason Snipe said his positive view of NFLX hasn't changed and predicts "smooth sailing going forward" despite the "tough price action response." Frank asked Jason if he'd be inclined to buy more. Jason indicated yes, but Frank concluded, "I didn't hear a lot of conviction though."

Weiss' Final Trade was NFLX, saying his conviction in the name is "very strong."

On Fast Money, Mel said NFLX shares were "buffering" on Friday. Tim Seymour said the market "probably didn't want to hear the Reed Hastings news," but it's "business as usual" for the company. Karen Finerman said "some of it was guidance, right, and Netflix has never beem good at guidance." Mel said they're "always sandbagging." Karen is "staying long."

Steve Grasso, whose February suggestion of buying NFLX at 75 remains the front-runner for Call of the Year, on Friday mentioned the technicals and advised, "If you're going to be long it, use a 95 stop. But you're OK to take a risk here."

Market’s Strait flush (which Weiss says ‘makes no sense’) (a/k/a Karen meant ‘2009’ but wasn’t corrected)

Friday's (4/17) Halftime Report was without Judge, but Frank Holland ran a crisp show, even if it was a little odd at the beginning when Frank emphatically tried convincing Jenny ($12 Sundae) Harrington that everything is already priced in to the market.

Jenny asserted, "We are not even close to dealing with reverberations that may or may not come from supply-chain disruptions."

(Um, OK ... that's maybe somewhat true, but ... this ain't COVID, Jen, sorry.)

Jason Snipe conceded, "Too far too fast is definitely a big deal for me." But Jason said, "The earnings picture is very strong."

Amy Raskin offered, "I wouldn't necessarily chase here."

Steve Weiss bluntly stated that the market "makes no sense" and is "too easy," and "that's when trouble starts brewing," and by the way, "you can't believe the headlines."

Frank mentioned B of A's "flow show" data. Weiss said he'd like to see those numbers correlated with market activity; he doesn't find that data "particularly helpful."

Late in the show, Santoli said, "We're on this mad sprint higher."

On Friday's Fast Money, Karen Finerman said she hears people talking about the "all clear," while the "all clear" was actually "March 9th in 2008 (sic)."

Jason indicates your cost basis should dictate whether you sell ORCL

Jason Snipe on Friday's (4/17) Halftime Report said ORCL is down "7 or 8%" YTD, even though it's had a ridiculous week.

Which prompted an expected question from guest host Frank Holland, who asked, "Is now maybe the time to take some profits on a name like Oracle?"

Jason's answer was rather curious.

"Definitely depends on where you're in. ... I would say, definitely," Jason said.

Well, actually, where the stock is going — which is all that matters — does not depend in the slightest on what your basis is.

Of course, Jason is really avoiding making a call saying what panelists say all the time to "couch" their stock opinions, which is that (not an actual quote) "It all depends on your time frame and risk tolerance," etc.

Is this couching legit? They will explain (not an actual quote), "It might be due for a pullback, but longer-term, it'll go higher." So any decision is the correct one.

All Frank was asking is whether ORCL is going higher or lower. He didn't get a straight answer.

What did Jason mean? When a panelist says "depends on where you're in," it's a lot different than "This one's going higher."

Weiss accuses AAPL of gouging (which Frank calls ‘a fair point’)

Jenny Harrington on Friday's (4/17) Halftime Report called the tech trade "dicey," which is nicer than what she usually calls it.

Amy Raskin revealed, "We're very underweight tech."

Jason Snipe said he likes semis. Steve Weiss said he "can't figure out" why TSMC sold off; "think of the monster growth they're experiencing."

Weiss said he bought BABA in the 150s, which was a "mistake," and then in the 120s, which has worked.

Jenny said software is a space where you shouldn't "at all go there broadly."

Jenny said software companies have "gouged clients" and "acted like monopolies," which will prove a "huge headwind" going forward, while "Apple hasn't gouged their customers the same way."

Weiss countered, "How much more gouging do you need than 1,500 dollars for a phone."

As Jenny protested, guest host Frank Holland said, "I gotta be honest, I think Steve's makin' a fair point." Weiss explained, "The phone companies subsidize the purchase," which was an argument he constantly made against owning AAPL a decade ago.

Jenny said META has "had their tobacco moment (snicker)," but it still has "stupefying" free cash flow. Weiss said META has already secured its data center space, so if there's a "moratorium driven by municipalities (snicker)," they've got a "moat." Amy Raskin questioned, "How are they gonna monetize that?" Weiss said META is "reportedly going to surpass Google as the No. 1 seller of ads."

Amy bought more ILMN, which was also her Final Trade.

Analyst calls keep getting mentioned on the Halftime Report (even if the panelists seem to think they’re worthless)

Guest host Frank Holland on Friday's (4/17) Halftime Report said GS got ousted from B of A's "US1 List."

Amy Raskin trimmed GS, citing a "lot of good news baked in." But Jason Snipe said he continues to like the stock.

Frank said he wanted to "paint this the right way," B of A is still rating GS as a buy, "just takin' it off the US1 list."

Steve Weiss said, "That means a lot to me" as the panel chuckled. Weiss said he bought GS on the post-earnings dip.

Frank doesn’t take issue with anyone’s sugar high

Steve Weiss on Friday's (4/17) Halftime Report said UNH already has had a "huge" run from roughly 250 to where it is now; he doesn't like seeing that ahead of a quarter, and you have to be cautious about developments in health care pricing, but he's confident in the CEO but said it's still the "early innings of a turnaround."

Jenny Harrington said "there is an opportunity" for consumer stocks. Guest host Frank Holland asked Weiss if he's concerned about owning DKS because it's not a place where you buy staples. Weiss agreed, "Dick's is not a place you go because you need things. It's a place you go to because you want things."

Weiss said DKS is basically the "only player" in terms of some of its offerings. Weiss touted DKS as, "You'd spend anything that you can on your kids and your pets. And this is largely for the youth of America."

Amy Raskin though said "We're generally underweight the consumer."

Jason Snipe said DHI is a "tough story" with mortgage rates above 6%, but it's still "a nice stock to own."

Jason's Final Trade was BLK, while Jenny said UPS.

Judge calls Jim from the ‘bullpen’ only to hector him about ‘sugar highs’ (a/k/a Josh had just praised Jim for listening to the market and ditching the value investor thing)

Judge, who said at the top of Thursday's (4/16) Halftime Report that Malcolm Ethridge may or may not make the show (Malcolm didn't), shortly into the program made a show (tapping his right arm) of how Judge had called Jimmy Lebenthal from the "bullpen" to join remotely and fill out a panel.

Jim repeated his point that the market has said "Enough is enough" about software, pointing to bottoms in MSFT and ORCL. "The size of the moves is telling me this is more than a dead-cat bounce," Jim asserted.

Judge noted ORCL is "almost 50% off of its high." Jim said ORCL's high was a "little bit of a sugar high," a comment noticed by Judge, and, "The fears that OpenAI is not gonna pay them seem to be falling by the wayside."

Josh Brown stressed that MSFT and ORCL are different than "the rest of the IGV, which is mostly SAAS." Josh mentioned a UBS Monday morning note talking to 12 CTOs of Fortune 500 companies who listed reasons why the SAAS bottom isn't in, and one of them was they were regularly hearing the term "containment," meaning "cost containment."

Jim said those are "great points," then pivoted to asset managers and Blue Owl and again stated, "Maybe we just got way too negative in software." Jim asserted, "I don't think you're gonna retest those lows in the software stocks or in Apollo."

Judge rattled off how much CRM, SNOW and NOW are off their highs and mentioned "the distance that these stocks still have to go" and questioned Jim's description of "sugar high" (using Judge's funny mock voice) for ORCL and said "all of these stocks investors have judged were all on sugar highs" and have "come home to roost."

Jim said he's "questioned the valuation of many of these companies," specifically SNOW. Jim said, repeating the theory we're going to hear forever that is his answer to every software-company question, "I do think the reckoning went too far" and "I think the bottom is in."

Jim said, "Adobe's cheaper than Delta, frankly, I mean that's- that's telling you something." Judge said, "What is it telling you??? Don't you think at some point, price speaks??"

Josh wondered, "Is Adobe's guidance gonna be as bullish as Delta's was, in your wildest dreams?"

Jim insisted, yet again, "I think the market's getting it wrong."

Josh said that companies aren't just getting the same old automatic re-enrollments that they used to get.

Jim claimed he and Josh are "agreeing on the premise." Judge said they're "disagreeing on the price" and that the market is "a lot smarter" than Jim's giving it "credit for."

Judge said, "At some point, maybe the market is actually correct. You can't just say, 'Well on this name, well, the market's wrong. And this name, well the market's wrong. And on that name in this space, the market's wrong.' At some point, the market votes, and the market's right."

Jim said, "I can't argue with that" (even though he does) and "I'm not crying over this" and he's gonna "stick with this flier on Adobe."

Judge, exasperated, said, "You made that point. ... You know, whatever. I don't know what to tell you on that one."

Adam Parker evidently doesn’t want to agree with Tom, but does

Judge opened Thursday's (4/16) Halftime Report trumpeting Tom Lee saying a day earlier on Closing Bell that the market's in a "better position today" than when it last made a high.

(It's not exactly a deep or controversial opinion, but whatever.)

Josh Brown said the market bottomed March 30, and he noted, "The SMH, the semiconductors, are still outperforming the IGV since that March 30th bottom."

Josh said, "The primary trend is still HALO tech."

Judge chuckled that the IGV "is up 13% this week" and it's only Thursday.

Kari Firestone stands by MSFT in that it "still owns the way we communicate" and is the leader of a "very very big vertical." Judge asked for a 1-year chart while Josh pointed out to Kari, "You could've said everything that you just said, uh, 25% higher. That's the problem."

Later on Closing Bell, Permabull Stephanie Link talked about how great bank results are. Judge asked Adam Parker about Tom Lee's market comments. Adam protested that he wasn't going to take up Tom's view and complained that Tom is "always bullish" (even though the person sitting next to Adam is actually always even bullisher), but Adam basically agreed that this high is better than the January high, which is what Tom said.

Josh’s Final Trade is a bust

Judge on Thursday's (4/16) Halftime brought up NFLX (and mentioned the WBD bid) and asked for a 3-month chart and got a 1-year. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Josh Brown said NFLX was "70" (actually in the 70s) when it lost WBD and chuckled about not having the debt. Josh said "it's extremely sticky" and "not under threat from AI, uh, at least not at the moment."

For a Final Trade, Josh said "riding Netflix into the earnings; God help us all." Actually, that wasn't a very good Final Trade. (This review was posted overnight Thurs-Fri.)

On Fast Money, Guy Adami said of NFLX, "I think it's a sandbag in terms of the guide, and I think you buy the stock." Dan Nathan allowed "it might be a little bit of sandbagging" but he doesn't find it "interesting" down 10% afterhours as it maybe is "not using" AI very well and "maybe there will be some disruption."

Rich Greenfield opined that there's "no doubt" that news of Reed Hastings' departure "is spooking investors." Rich added, "There is definitely investor fear of what growth looks like ahead."

Guy asked Rich if NFLX needs a "re-rating." Rich said if it continues to grow revenue in the "low to mid-teens," it'll continue to "command a premium multiple," and the company is "gushing cash."

Mel asked Rich if NFLX may have "another target" besides WBD. Rich said "as currently constructed, I don't think so," but David Zaslav split his company into 2 pieces, one of which was "far more attractive" and would draw interest, and Rich could see future such opportunities that may work for NFLX.

Carter Worth said he's "pleased" with his Friday call to "fade Netflix into this print" (which doesn't do anyone any good on Thursday evening).

What’s the point of a Best Stocks list if you’re not talking about the best stocks?

Kari Firestone on Thursday's (4/16) Halftime Report trimmed AMAT because it's been "an incredible stock" and gotten to be a large position. She's owned it "slightly more than a year" (ding-ding-ding) (magic capital gains rate) (nobility of 1-year ownership).

Kari also trimmed WAB; "it was up 59%," another "oversized" position.

Josh Brown said CAT has been on the Best Stocks list for a long time, but he hasn't talked it up; "I owe everyone a mea culpa." Josh said, "It might be an opportunity for new trading longs. As an investor, I probably wouldn't buy it here. But as a trader, it might be perfect."

Late in the show, Josh also talked up another trade-not-investment, EBAY. Judge apparently declared that Josh's prediction this week of a breakout had already come true. Josh said if you're long, "roll up your stops, play with the house's money, let it ride." He said he remains long. Jimmy Lebenthal said he agrees with Josh but actually sees EBAY as a long-term investment and not simply a trade.

Kari said industrials probably are "a little bit overbought."

Judge mocked Jimmy for not owning DE or its equipment.

Emily Wilkins reported that Liz Warren isn't happy with Kevin (More Handsome Than Rick Rieder) Warsh's financial disclosures. Judge sorta used his funny voice in describing Liz seeking more info on Kevin's "richness."

AXP airport lounges popular

Late into Thursday's (4/16) Halftime Report, Josh Brown said he "certainly would not be a seller" on the LYV news. Josh even said, "A lot of the quote 'high prices of tickets,' that's the artist, hiding behind the ticketing companies, really making that money. I know the fans don't want to hear that. Sorry. Your hero likes money."

Josh asked Judge, "How'd I do?"

Judge said, "Well."

(We think LYV was the stock Josh was referencing last year when he told that complicated story about Yankee Stadium.)

Judge mentioned the hooting and cheering at the NYSE about the Madison Air IPO. Josh said it's "the biggest industrial stock to go public in 27 years."

Kari Firestone said V was "hit by AI concerns," but she doubts we'll all create our own "network" with a chatbot, and the stock is "very attractive" at this price.

Kari also backed AXP. Josh said "there's a line for the line" at AmEx lounges at airports.

Josh backed XOM, saying when oil spikes, pump prices ride an "elevator up but a feather floating down."

Jim said there's room in gaming stocks such as WYNN for "upside surprises."

Jim's Final Trade was QCOM, and Kari said AMZN.

Weiss suggests he’ll cash in CAT as soon as the long-term rate kicks in

Steve Weiss on Wednesday's (4/15) Halftime Report said he bought CAT May 25, 2025, and "it's up about 140%, which is insane."

So there's a "good chance" he'll sell after May 25; "I think it's overvalued here."

Judge could've spent some time on this subject like with many subjects, except Judge can't wait to dash ahead to the MoffettNathanson note or the Best Stocks in the Market (i.e., 52-week high) list but didn't. What Weiss described is a common and very frustrating/annoying problem: You've held a stock for a while, you think it might fall from its current level, but you're still months/weeks away from hitting the 1-year anniversary.

Which provides (sometimes significant) tax relief.

Becaause there's something noble about owning a share of stock for 366 consecutive days.

Anyway, Weiss bought more GS and said "analysts were nit-picking."

Kari Firestone predicts SPGI will "continue" its run. Judge suggested "that move in February" in which SPGI tumbled was related to Anthropic. Joe Terranova said the JOET owns SPGI, but "I use Claude all the time" and "I think the disruption for a lot of these financial research companies is real." Kari said "some of it is."

Weiss said UNH is "another battleground stock" (3rd of the day, we think) and hailed the CEO and mentioned positives but noted "bipartisan, uh, targeting" in Congress.

Joe said APH is "the 1 name" that has been in the JOET since inception. Joe said it's fairly valued but it needs "a new revenue growth acceleration."

Joe thinks UBER is "kind of sideways."

Joe's "not particularly excited" about FSLR.

Weiss claims that all you have to do is ‘show up’ to make money in this market

Judge said at the top of Wednesday's (4/15) fairly lighthearted Halftime Report that you don't have to be a "genius" to determine that it's a matter of "when not if" the market hits new highs, a point he'd emphasize later in the show with Santoli.

Joe Terranova predicted that we'll "establish a higher range" (Zzzzzzz) if "growth is leading the charge."

Joe had to pivot, literally, because his earpiece was "falling out" of his right ear.

Kari Firestone explained, "The market had become sort of obsessed with the anti-Mag 7 trade ... and that ran its course nicely."

Liz Thomas, who predicted a "mini-FOMO," asserted that market trends that were in place pre-war are "gone."

Liz said, "I think we're back to this sort of Befriend the Tech Bubble, because it's gonna keep inflating again."

Grandpa Steve Weiss observed that "over the last decade," the market has been "the battle of the old vs. the new."

Weiss said "the latter cohort" has found that they've "only seen V-shaped recoveries since 2008."

Weiss again stressed that "Markets go up 90% of the time," which he always says when the market's rallying and his typical permabear outlook isn't working. But, "What's a bit troubling is that, all you have to do is show up in this market." Weiss said that down the road, not today, that "leads to too much froth."

Late in the show, Santoli cautioned, "There is a risk that you're kinda running into the old highs pretty hot."

Wednesday's show apparently was so much fun, Judge was chuckling after commercial breaks about things said off-camera without explaining what those things were.

Kari quotes somebody, not sure who, as calling OpenAi a ‘has been’

The software trade has caught fire this week, and one of those trying it is none other than the Halftime Report's Steve Weiss.

Weiss bought more MSFT, saying Wednesday (4/15) he's "playing momentum at this point."

Judge and Weiss agreed that MSFT is a "battleground stock," as Weiss put it.

Kari Firestone said MSFT has had a "huge move" off the recent bottom, and "to say that OpenAI is sort of a has been" isn't correct, it's "one of the most valuable companies on earth." Judge wondered "who said that" about AI as a "has been." Kari didn't provide an answer but mentioned complaints that MSFT should've backed something else. (She must be reading her X feed.)

Joe Terranova said you can make the argument that software valuations are better (Zzzzzzzzz).

Bill Baruch wasn't on the panel but joined remotely to report buying more MSFT, TSLA, META and NOW. Bill said, "What a bear trap on Friday" for the IGV.

"Going into Monday is when we started buying," Bill revealed, saying MSFT has "a lot of support around that 350 area."

Bill said "Tesla's starting to get a lot of momentum" and that "Meta's been making deals." Bill said META could keep going if it would "walk back some capex."

Joe gushed about AVGO and said the JOET has owned it "for the last 5 years."

Weiss bought more MU, which Judge called a "battleground" over its valuation. Weiss acknowledged it was down 18 bucks on Wednesday but said "I'm still happy with it." Joe said "there's something about the derivative trade that I don't like though," which apparently is that memory names "are now trading as Micron trades on a daily basis."

Whenever someone makes a joke about Weiss, he always fires back with a dig

CNBC's gorjus MacKenzie Sigalos reported during Wednesday's (4/15) Halftime on how HOOD was having a big week, starting with the SEC killing the $25,000 day trading minimum rule.

Joe Terranova said the JOET has owned HOOD since last July at 103. Joe noted that it may have gotten "ahead of itself" around 150.

Joe talked up FCX and said the JOET has "6 names" in the materials space. Kari Firestone said it's a good time to add to positions. Liz Thomas said materials was one of her calls for 2026, "and I stand by that." Judge joked that Steve Weiss' "favorite material is polyester," drawing laughs. Weiss said, "And it is, because you wear it so well."

Kari said ABT has been a "terrible stock" but it's in a "good" business, so she's "positive" on the stock. Joe said SCHW and IBKR should continue success.

Weiss said the NFLX earnings report is a "wild card," but the stock is "still undervalued." (This writer is long NFLX.) Weiss made NFLX his Final Trade. Liz said QQQ, Kari said APO and Joe said ZM, his play on Anthropic.

Halftime panelist actually buys VSNT

Brian Belski on Tuesday's (4/14) Halftime Report acknowledged he bought VSNT. Judge said it feels "self-serving" to talk about that one, but nevertheless, Belski said, "I love the communications services sector."

Belski also bought MBLY, RVLV, CGNX, GTES.

Belski sold WBD now that the deal is apparently done; "we think it's gonna go through."

But then it was back to VSNT.

Belski added, "We like this Versant company, in terms of where it's goin' and where the content is."

"We do too," Judge said.

VSNT is up significantly since its mid-February low. However, no one has been pounding the table, and it's still below its IPO/spinoff price.

Belski included an "at the end of the day."

Josh says he has seen a ‘character turn’ in Jimmy

Tuesday's (4/14) Halftime Report viewers heard a panelist providing an interesting assessment of another panelist.

It occurred after Jimmy Lebenthal said people have to "listen to the markets."

Josh Brown said one of the great things about being on the Halftime Report is observing a "character turn" in Jimmy.

"When I first met him, he was this dyed-in-the-wool value investor, um, 'The market is wrong, the stock is cheap,'" Josh explained. "And now I'm hearing all the right things. I'm hearing, uh, 'Listen to what the market is telling me. Watch what the market is saying.' And I absolutely love it. It's like, I met him as young Anakin. And he is full-on Darth Vader. And I'm so- I'm just so thrilled that we- that we got him there."

Jim continues to talk about P.E. ratios.

‘Project Hail Mary’ makes no sense about what the characters fear or how they’re getting home, but it’s entertaining

Jimmy Lebenthal on Tuesday's (4/14) Halftime Report said he bought more WYNN after taking a "chunk" out in August.

Judge told Josh Brown that AMZN is "not that far away from new highs." Josh said it's had an "island reversal."

Josh said within the Mag 7, AMZN is his "No. 1 favorite chart."

Joe Terranova said "I'm with Josh" and predicted it and Alphabet will "exceed" an all-time high soon.

Jim said AMZN has a history of acquisitions that are "a little bit afield" but end up making money and revealed, "I was in the movie theater this Saturday, I watched 'Project Hail Mary,' and that is an Amazon movie."

Hoo boy ... THAT'S something we need to talk about ...

"Project Hail Mary" is a good movie. But it's not great. Way too long. Its description of the problem is so cumbersome and confusing, we had no idea what the characters were really afraid of or what they were trying to accomplish (AND it's pretty clear that if this problem were as bad as advertised, the people in charge of the world wouldn't trust it to these misfits), and the AI-fueled English language conversion looked like something from "Back to the Future" and wouldn't possibly work ... but it was somewhat entertaining. (Also, it's kind of odd that Ryan Gosling also was sort of a bored teacher in "Half Nelson," but his character was not exactly interested in saving the world in that movie.)

Judge didn't have the brass to ask Jimmy to offer even a soundbite about the quality of this film.

Bill Ford of General Atlantic spoke with Leslie Picker on Halftime at a New York investment conference. Bill suggested AI belongs in the same league as "railroads, electricity, the PC and the internet."

DIS tries to gain ground in Josh-Jenny wager, but NFLX has strong day too

Tuesday's (4/14) Halftime Report panelists basically took the Permabull baton from Stephanie Link (who was on Monday's show but not Tuesday's).

"We are rebuilding the growth trade," said Joe Terranova, while sort of giving a Stephanie-type speech.

Brian Belski, who's about as much Permabull as Stephanie, said "we're fully invested in tech and communication services."

Judge asked Jimmy Lebenthal why Jim was "negative" and "worried" last week. Jim actually used the term "locus" (snicker) and said he was "listening to the market on On Holdings."

Jimmy admitted he was "a little worried" last week but stiff-armed Judge's notion that he was jittery about being in the stock market.

Josh Brown shrugged, "It's nice to get the snapback in IGV names. We get one once a week. I don't know if anyone's paying attention. It fades pretty quickly. So if you're, if you're in those names and you've been wanting to sell, this is your chance."

Josh recommended a stock to Al Michaels that was a bust

Josh Brown on Tuesday's (4/14) Halftime Report talked up buying EBAY but struggled to get a lengthy enough chart of the stock that shows its previous attempts at crossing $100.

"I'm in it at 98 as of this morning," Josh said, and he'll "stay for as long as the ride continues."

Joe Terranova said EBAY doesn't quite have the momentum yet but it does have a fundamental tailwind of a META partnership.

Jimmy Lebenthal said "eBay is becoming a marketplace for collectibles" (that's true but it's mostly Pokemon stuff, which we have no clue about), which are a "really big growth driver," and it's also a place for "second-hand goods, for thrifting."

Judge asked Josh, "This was a stock you recommended to Al Michaels, wasn't it, in real time in which he bought it on the program." Josh said he's traded the stock "a lot" over "15, 20 years," but the suggestion to Al occurred when it was making "one of those failed attempts above a hundred."

Apparently receiving a text from Michaels, Judge reported that "Al got out too" and "he's watchin' in real-time too."

Judge asked Josh about FLEX's run in the last few days since Josh mentioned it. Josh said, if he were a long-term investor in the name, he'd roll a stop up to 68, but trading it is a different strategy.

Josh said he "wrote up" KLAC and LRCX on the first trading of the year, and "a lot of people were mad about it," because those stocks were up so much in 2025, but "by the way, it's up 40% since then."

Brian Belski sold TXN from his dividend growth portfolio because "there's other areas to buy." Belski also trimmed ORCL in his dividend portfolio only; Judge mocked "1 out of the 33 portfolios that you have."

Josh's Final Trade was UBER, "hiding in plain sight." Belski said WFC. Jimmy said APO, and Joe said EIS.

SBUX closed Dec. 31 at $84.21; the only way Stephanie could’ve bought it down for the year is if she bought it in the first 2 trading days of January

Judge on Monday's (4/13) Halftime Report noted a lot of software names were surging.

Jimmy Lebenthal said, to put it bluntly, "Enough is enough" in the sector's meltdown.

Judge pushed back that it'll take "more than 1 day's activity" to convince others that "enough is enough," citing Wolfe claiming "the downtrend is alive and well."

Judge asked Bryn Talkington about PLTR. Bryn first said stocks in IGV get "lumped together" even if there are big differences. Then Bryn said the narrative that Anthropic is a competitor to PLTR "doesn't make any sense whatsoever," but she allows that PLTR is very expensive.

Joe Terranova suggested CDNS for Stephanie Link, but Stephanie scoffed and said she owns "cheaper" SNPS. Joe said he "liquidated" ZM but he'd "love to get back in" because "it is the play on Anthropic." Joe said demand for Claude is "insatiable."

Meanwhile, regarding old-fashioned names, Joe said he's personally owned GS since April 2024 and will keep owning it.

Joe and Stephanie sounded flummoxed that GS was down on Monday; apparently the market was being FICC-le.

Stephanie said SBUX was down on the year when she bought it (apparently "mid-80s") and now is up 14%.

Stephanie said EL is down 25% since talk of a potential merger; she's "sticking with" the stock. (This writer is long EL.)

Bryn said NKE has been a "complete disaster" and a "tough name to own" and suggested people hanging on should "move on."

The Dominator, Dom Chu, handled ETF Edge. Dom told Judge he saw some of the Masters "in person" and "it is as billed ... even more beautiful in person than on TV."

Stephanie is always buying

Monday's (4/13) Halftime Report was fairly humdrum, other than Permabull Stephanie Link giving several different speeches about how great the economy is and how great the market is.

Stephanie said, "I've been buying since the- since March, beginning of March, to be fair, not the bottom for sure, better to be lucky than smart."

Stephanie gushed that the labor market has "calmed down."

Stephanie said rather paradoxically of earnings, "I expect them to be better than expected."

Judge said there's a "plethora of notes" out Monday and those notes are "90% skewed positive."

Joe Terranova said people still have to "rebuild positioning," which "bodes well" for a move to the upside.

Judge called Jimmy Lebenthal "jittery," citing Jim's recent sale of ONON. Jim said he mentioned Friday he bought BLK, and if he found things "worrisome," he wouldn't make a move like that.

Jim said the "esoteria" (snicker) in the oil markets is saying, "The flows of oil and energy products through the Strait of Hormuz don't matter as much as they did 2 weeks ago." Jim gave a speech almost as long as Stephanie about how great things are.

Judge surmised that "a few people" who might be listening to the show will think panelists are "too complacent" or even "in denial."

Bryn Talkington said, "History shows us ... that markets adapt very quickly to the fogs (sic plural) of war." Bryn said blockading the Strait is "very smart tactically because China buys 85-90% of Iranian oil."

Bryn said the Mag 7's in a "really good setup."

Joe kind of bragged about the JOET buying TT in October 2023.

Bryn's Final Trade was CBRE, Jim said C, Stephanie said MS and Joe said XBI.

Miami Herbert Business School was named for Allan and Patti Herbert

Friday's (4/10) Halftime in a moment.

On Thursday (4/9), Josh Brown took part in an episode of the Halftime Report in full "U" gear (see below), explaining that Miami Herbert Business School just broke into "the Top 40 business schools in America for the first time."

Because we're committed to checking things out, we looked it up. (Not the Top 40 part.)

Miami Herbert Business School was actually founded in 1929, but it didn't get the name "Herbert" until 90 years later.

The "Herbert" comes from Allan and Patti Herbert, a couple who met at the U in 1954 and made significant donations in the 2000s.

Allan Herbert died in 2025. According to his obituary from Miami, Allan was an insurance company president for Teledyne. Patti worked at commercial realty firm Grubb and Ellis. They also owned the Richmond Hotel in Miami Beach.

Albert was born in Brooklyn in 1935. His grandfather emigrated from Russia to escape the revolution. The grandfather did not speak English but was a millionaire during the Great Depression. "My grandfather was all the inspiration I ever needed," Allan said.

If a couple meets at a college and becomes wealthy, they have to be very likely to donate to the college.

According to the obituary, the Herberts' gifts included "$8 million to name the Patti and Allan Herbert Wellness Center on the Coral Gables Campus, which made possible the renovation and expansion of the facility's fitness room." They also "established in 2004 an endowment for the Love Bridge outside the center, with proceeds from the sale of personalized bricks on the bridge benefiting a fitness assessment program for students."

Donations were spread around. The Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Frost School of Music, the School of Nursing and Health Studies, the School of Law, the School of Education and Human Development, the Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas, the Department of Athletics, the Lowe Art Museum, Student Affairs and Alumni Relations all received Herbert donations.

The Herberts should be lauded for their extensive philanthropy.

This site believes that philanthropy — or simply deciding who to leave 500 bucks to — is maybe the most underrated, underexplored and perhaps unfulfilling issue of wealth management.

Because determining who either 1) "most deserves" or 2) can "most use" a financial gift is extremely difficult and debatable. And some supersmart folks have, to be frank, failed at finding answers here, which is why so much of the money gets punted to become the kids' problem.

As a result, very generous donors such as the Herberts keep coming back to the same places. Others, such as MacKenzie Scott, conduct secret reconnaissance to hand out dollars to unsuspecting folks who don't even ask for it.

Perhaps, for the Herberts, every gift to the U felt right. Perhaps they made equally or nearly equally large donations to other entities.

It's a lot of generosity for one place.

Bill invokes the 2nd year of a presidency

On Friday's (4/10) Halftime Report, guest-hosted by Frank Holland, Bryn Talkington said "we think the bottom's in" and that the S&P being above the 200-day is a "very positive sign."

Jimmy Lebenthal said the market bottoming is contingent on whether "we have seen the peak in hostilities," and there's still "doubt" about that.

Jim admitted, "Nobody really knows."

Bill Baruch said he's been "fairly bullish over the past week since that low on Monday." Bill said to remain bullish, he didn't want to see anything "bad happen" at the end of Friday's trading.

In the Warning of the Day, Bill noted that this is the "2nd year of a presidential cycle; we may not really go anywhere until the end of the year."

Kevin Simpson said there's been an "emotional shift" in that the "worst possible geopolitical outcome" in Iran didn't happen. (Well, it was going to be something about ending civilization, then it might be something about a joint partnership in charging Strait tolls.)

Jimmy said "there's just no way we're going back to 60, 50 dollars a barrel oil anytime soon," though he hopes he's wrong and "jinxing it."

Bryn agrees with Jim in that she can't "remotely" see a "6 or 7 handle" on oil.

Jim asserted, "Inflation is keeping them from cutting rates." Jim said in the Fed minutes this week, "there was more chatter about rate hikes."

Bryn said, "I still think we're gonna get a rate cut."

Bill said the inflation report actually had some "really good bright spots."

NFLX up, DIS down in Day 1 of Josh-Jenny wager (a/k/a 2 folks mentioned the WBD bid)

Late into Friday's (4/10) Halftime Report, Kevin Simpson said it's "by no means calling a top in metals," but on Wednesday, he wrote a 245 call on AEM that brought in $3.50, which doesn't sound like much, but Kevin said the shares won't get called away because it's a 1-month option, and $3.50 may not sound like much, but it's a "20% annualized option premium." (This writer is long AEM.)

Bill Baruch said he's liked FAST for a while, but it's getting "a little overpriced." Kevin wasn't too excited about PEP's upcoming earnings report.

Kevin said there's "room to run" for NFLX because it's "far below" where it was at the start of the WBD bid. (Check.) Bill said "105's a big level" for NFLX and that earnings "were sort of getting watered down."

Hours later on Fast Money, Steve Grasso said NFLX not getting WBD was a "blessing in disguise" (Check 2) and, in a curious metric, also claimed "it actually is the cheapest streaming play that you can buy on an hourly basis," but instead of comparing it with other streamers, Steve mentioned the "huge" contrast in paying for one movie vs. paying for a month of NFLX.

Bryn’s ditching Copilot

Kevin Simpson on Friday's (4/10) Halftime Report said he bought AAPL and MSFT and mentioned MSFT's multiple falling from 27½ to 21.

Bill Baruch thinks AAPL has "a lot of upside."

Bryn Talkington said she owns MSFT, but "we're taking out Copilot, putting in Claude Copilot. It's (sic) just feels- their Copilot feels like Teams. You just don't wanna use it."

CNBC's Kate Rooney reported on how Powell and Bessent discussed Mythos' risk to big banks. Kevin said he added to PANW this week and that the market is "getting this wrong" on cyber stocks and the Mythos news "validates the cybersecurity argument."

Bill suggested software maybe had a "last panic sell this morning." Hmmmm, that would be significant.

Bryn said PLTR isn't so vulnerable to AI, but it's still trading at "somewhat of a nosebleed level." Bryn said she wants to own BUG but, for now, "It really is catching a falling knife."

Jensen perhaps is too great of a communicator

Kevin Simpson on Friday's (4/10) Halftime Report predicted GS will "crush it" in earnings.

Jimmy Lebenthal said there's "a lot to like" in financials, but everyone's looking forward to an IPO boom. Jim contends that C is the "best name in the space."

Jim bought more BLK, bringing it up to a "full position." Jim said it's "been a sleeper," but he expects to be talking about it more during the year.

Bill Baruch said 280 is a "huge level" for JPM, which could be "off to the races."

Kevin gushed about how MPC, which he bought late November around 180, has "boomed," but now he trimmed at 251.

Guest host Frank Holland said Morgan Stanley is sticking with its 415 TSLA target. Bryn Talkington noted that a JPMorgan analyst is at 125; you can drive a TSLA between those numbers. Bryn said the market "really got it wrong" regarding Jensen's GTC remarks in which people assumed other car companies will "self-drive."

Frank said Wolfe upped its UBER target to 105. Bill said the market has "not reacted well" to UBER and he'd like the stock to see a "show of life."

Kevin likes the 362 Morgan Stanley target for CME and explained the robust dividend situation.

Jim said he likes VRTX, Kevin backed LLY for building out its pipeline, and Bill gave a humdrum defense of AMGN. Jim doesn't own ISRG or the "devices" names.

Bryn Talkington's Final Trade was COF, Kevin said AMZN, Bill said "SLV" even though the screen graphic said SLB before Frank got them to change it, and Jim said NVDA, saying it's "marching towards $200 a share."

Sully stumps the Fast crew

We heard Sully on Thursday's (4/9) Power Lunch suggest Google/Alphabet (actually we're not sure which term Sully used but we think it was just "Google" then) buying YouTube is "the best deal of all time."

Sully added that Facebook buying Instagram was "probably 2nd."

This page does not necessarily disagree and planned to post those assessments here, as they are interesting comments.

Sully evidently thinks it's interesting, because while guest-hosting Fast Money a couple hours later, he asked the panel, "Does anybody around this table know what happened 14 years ago today?" Tim Seymour was heard to say "No." Guy Adami said, "How would I know these things?" We couldn't discern any answer from Dan Nathan. Karen Finerman started to say something in the form of a question about "Facebook went?," presumably attempting to say that Facebook went public, before Sully revealed the answer.

Sully went on to ask the crew "would you rather" be Google buying YouTube, or Facebook buying Instagram. Guy and Tim and Dan all said Google buying YouTube, and Karen appeared to agree. Dan offered this assessment: that if Google hadn't bought YouTube, it wouldn't have affected Google that much, whereas if Facebook hadn't bought Instagram, "It would've been existential."

Hmmmm. Actually, we doubt that. Facebook would still be a force and would probably have bought something else (besides WhatsApp and that ridiculous VR company that was supposed to be a crowdfunding thing).

Here's a better question that Sully did not ask: Should the YouTube founders have sold to Google. They are possibly better off for having done so, benefiting from Google's enormous reach and talent. On the other hand, they could've done their own thing and possibly become Reed Hastings before Reed Hastings ... or at a minimum, Jack Dorsey.

Tough call.

The Fast Money crew has been bringing up the Jim Backus-"Brady Bunch" Grand Canyon episode all week.

Josh wins (but Judge should’ve asked, What Should D’Amaro buy?)

After the A Block on Thursday's (4/9) Halftime Report, Judge reported on DIS' new leader cutting 1,000 jobs (that Iger of course wasn't willing to cut), and it launched a very interesting stock conversation.

Jenny Harrington chuckled that DIS has "231,000 employees, so 1,000 layoffs isn't that big a deal."

Jenny said it looks like the layoffs are about being "more efficient" rather than stemming from a "shortfall in demand."

But here's the key argument: Jenny claimed DIS is a "cheap stock" that "deserves a premium" and is "worth more than 14 times."

Josh Brown asserted that NFLX is "same price as Disney. Way cleaner story." (This writer is long NFLX.)

Josh told Jenny he'd bet NFLX will get to 120 before DIS does. (Apparently, that is the wager — he didn't quite fully outline the objective, but he did mention 120.)

Jenny and Josh agreed to wager Van Leeuwen ice cream vs. "a double cheeseburger." Josh said "I'm even gonna spot you the dividend." (Van Leeuwen, by the way is expensive ... $12 for a sundae ... talk about K-shape.

Jimmy Lebenthal, who halfheartedly recommends DIS a couple times a month, for the last 15 years running, unsurprisingly said "I'm on Jenny's side on this."

Judge framed the debate as who has the better return by year-end, or "8 months-ish," and asked Jim why he thinks it'll be DIS.

Jim claimed DIS is "too cheap" (Zzzzzzzz) and it's about "what's making it cheap" (Zzzzzzzzz), suggesting gas price (snicker) is one overhang.

Josh scoffed that "Disney actually makes more profit on selling churros then- then they do on selling content and entertainment." Josh noted NFLX raised prices last week, and "nobody" complained.

Judge asked for a 1-year chart of DIS and said it's "at best, done nothing," while everyone talks "all the time" about the "resilient" economy, and over 10 years, "the stock has done next to nothing."

Jenny said "they had to get out of cable, they had to get out of linear (and with a straight face even), they had all these management challenges." Jenny asked for a chart of the last 3 months. Jenny backed Jim's point about oil prices decreasing as a "catalyst."

Malcolm Ethridge didn't hesitate to say, "Oh it's Netflix."

So basically, Jim and Jenny have nothing but the same old "valuation" argument. Jim didn't even bother with the old standby, (not an actual quote), "Next quarter they're going to start printing money in streaming!!!!!" If the new CEO is so great, (why wasn't he hired 7 years ago) what are his ideas, what is going to change the melting ice cube of cable TV.

This page will side with Josh. (Remember, this writer is long NFLX.) However, stock comparisons are tricky. NFLX could slump for unforeseen reasons.

As to a very important question of What Gets DIS to 120? ... The thought here is it either 1) would take months or years of a strong economy and a slow, plodding climb, or 2) some kind of announcement of a breakup.

Is there any kind of DIS acquisition that the market would love? Great question. We don't know of any contenders. There may be some. Unfortunately, there aren't any or many independent juggernauts like LucasFilm and Marvel left. And with Iger "retired" (snicker), it's no guarantee that anyone who did have a great franchise would accept a lower price to entrust it to DIS' caretaking via D'Amaro, the same question as to whether businesspeople will sell to Greg Abel as eagerly as they would to Warren Buffett.

The bigger problem is, the DIS market cap has gradually been dwarfed by all sorts of tech giants. If there's an appealing creative property, media property or technical property, other companies are likely to notice and outbid DIS. DIS could buy a refinery and produce gasoline. Who knows.

Fast Money also took up DIS; Sully said "streaming is a hard business" and actually asked the panel, "Should they dump the media side." Neither Tim Seymour nor anyone else answered that question but Tim claimed "ESPN is intrinsically more valuable than the market gives it credit for."

Even so, Tim admitted, "This has been dead money for 15 years."

Karen Finerman unenthusiastically suggested getting the layoffs out of the way is a good move for D'Amaro; "Better to just do it" and then "hopefully," the remaining employees can "focus" on work.

Back on Halftime, ahead of Final Trades, Judge said his X poll found 82.8% think Josh/NFLX will win vs. 17.2% Jenny/DIS.

It was just an offhand mention, but Josh Brown did mock the bid for WBD, continuing the streak of The Observation About Netflix That Every Halftime Report Panelist Will Make For The Next 6 Months.

Josh challenges Jenny’s numbers that supposedly support Jenny’s endless claim that non-tech stocks are better than tech stocks

Judge on Thursday's (4/9) Halftime Report said JPMorgan detected that retail investors are actually selling into the rally, except for Mag 7, which they've been buying, and boy did that stir up a debate.

Jenny Harrington tried making an argument that even though the Mag 7 has "amazing earnings growth," it's only "3% acceleration" and "trading at about 30 times." And if you look at the other 493, you have "also 3% acceleration" but "almost 12 point multi-point discount."

Josh Brown cut in, "I don't have the same numbers as you do."

Jenny said, "OK, fine, I'm looking at JPMorgan's Guide to the Markets right now, Josh, so, so let me finish my argument."

Josh nevertheless continued, "I have 21% year over year earnings growth for an equal-weighted basket of the Mag 7, and forecasted revenue growth of 13%. So maybe it's the equal-weight that's doing that, and you're looking at a market-cap weight-"

Jenny said, "I'm literally looking at like JPMorgan's Page 9-"

Josh cut in, "26 times forward. Not 30." Jenny continued, "OK. So. The argument remains the same. You have a huge valuation premium. And a roughly the same earnings growth acceleration."

Jenny added, "We really need to adjust to the Mag 7 going from being cash cows to cash burners."

Malcolm Ethridge said "We might be in danger of giving the Mag 7 too much credit," because "it's really the semis" that are providing the earnings growth while the others are committing dollars to capex.

Josh carried on, stating, "Meta and Nvidia have a P.E.G. ratio in the BOTTOM quintile for the S&P 500," or "20% cheapest" of the S&P.

Jenny defended META and said it's "19 and a half times earnings."

Jimmy Lebenthal admitted he likes ORCL more than META but conceded ORCL is "higher risk" and is "around 19 times forward." Jim admitted, "There's a lot of esoteric (sic) (probably not the correct word) stuff with Oracle," citing the "Paramount bid." (But we thought the White House supported everything ORCL does.)

Josh said ORCL's situation is "so messy" and suggested AMZN is a "much cleaner story" regarding data centers and also could get in the chip business.

Judge jabbed Jim about ADBE; Jim admits he's "hypersensitive" about that stock.

When was the last time Judge mentioned the Flash Crash and whether people can trust the financial markets?

Judge opened Thursday's (4/9) Halftime Report saying Josh Brown was "doing his best Rodney Dangerfield 'Back to School' moment at the University of Miami."

Josh said Miami's Herbert School of Business (actually the university website calls it "Miami Herbert Business School") just broke into "the Top 40 business schools in America for the first time," for anyone keeping tabs on those rankings.

Josh said he wouldn't declare the market bottom is "definitely" in, but if he "had to bet one way or the other," he'd bet we've "substantially digested a lot of the negatives." (Or in other words, he basically thinks the bottom is in.)

Judge marveled that "the S&P is only 2½% away from its all-time high." (On Fast Money, Karen Finerman generally marvels about how the VIX isn't sky-high, but we actually think we did NOT hear anything from Karen on Thursday about the VIX.)

Jenny Harrington admitted she thinks Tom Lee is "right" but said, "I bet on President Trump's self-preservation to- uh, tactics. And, um, and instincts."

Jenny concluded, "Even I'm not that dark in this moment. Wow!"

Jenny mentioned "K-shaped" in the 6th minute.

Malcolm Ethridge said, "Frankly, I think it's just the FOMO trade. ... We learned our lesson with Liberation Day."

Jimmy Lebenthal said, "I think we can say the bottom's in, because hostilities have gone down," though it won't be a "perfect ceasefire."

Jim said to keep "dry powder" handy for the volatility.

Jim said that down the road, we'll "look back" at AMZN at "28 times forward earnings" and MSFT at "20 times earnings" and wonder why we weren't buying them "hand over fist." Jim said he has been buying them, as a matter of fact.

Santoli said the S&P closed "6,878 on the day before the Iran conflict started."

When was the last time Judge mentioned FANG/FAANG? (a/k/a, KEE-osk, or KAI-osk?)

Jenny Harrington on Thursday's (4/9) Halftime Report chuckled about dueling price targets for URI. Jenny said, as basically everybody has ever said, for centuries, when asked this question, "We all know that the infrastructure in the United States is pretty- pretty rotten," and you see URI equipment "everywhere you go," and the company has "infinite demand."

Josh Brown said FLEX is on the Best Stocks list. He said you can put stops at 64 or 59. Jenny suggested BBY. Jimmy Lebenthal said he likes FLEX but likes CSCO even more.

Malcolm Ethridge said he likes DLR as a "much cleaner" play on data centers than ORCL. Judge asked Jenny about FI, which used to be one of Jenny's favorite stocks (she kept defending it after the plunge). Jenny stressed "7 times earnings" and the "new management team."

Josh said of KNSL (which is not a radio station), "This is just not the right market environment for these names," in fact it's "ice cold."

Jim indicated it's hard to know what DAL will do this year but the multiple isn't high. Malcolm said SPOT has "retrenched quite a bit" and is even "more interesting" than NFLX right now.

Sully asked how to pronounce "kiosk" on Fast Money and was told "KEE-osk" by the panel.

Tom Lee: ‘I think the bottom’s in’

Wednesday's (4/8) Halftime Report panelists were kind of circumspect (snicker), but on Closing Bell, Judge had Tom Lee, who announced, "I think the bottom's in" (not Sam Bottoms, below, but the market bottom) and "maybe" we get to 7,300. Tom said the Iran war "pulled for- forward a lot of repositioning."

Ed invokes the movie that got beat by ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’

Judge opened Wednesday's (4/8) Halftime Report stating that Ed Yardeni is "reiterating" his 7,700 target and that Ed declares, "Apocalypse Now — not" (snicker).

Steve Weiss said Donald Trump is "clearly looking for an off-ramp" and "got the off-ramp." Weiss doesn't think the market will go back to the "depths of worries" and basically has an "all-clear."

Joe Terranova predicted "continued elevated volatility for sure" (Zzzzzzz), citing exchange stocks, and said he'd buy on the dip of those names. Joe said the outperformance Wednesday in growth was "significant." Joe said Alphabet is the Mag 7 stock that is actually higher for 2026.

Jason Snipe hadn't been on since 3/11, according to our records. (We wish Jason would clash more often with Weiss and maybe a few others, but regardless, Jason's a class act and we want to see him on the show.) Jason on Wednesday said the "postwar playbook" is what's important. Jason compared the multiple of the Mag 7 with staples and said the former looks like an "opportunity."

Judge tried to pin down Joe on CF's chart; Joe sold CF. Joe insisted that he said a day ago to reduce or take off your "hedges."

Jason Snipe suggested "offloading" some energy exposure; he'd be "less than market weight." Joe talked up SLB. Weiss mentioned HON.

Shannon Saccocia, who doesn't pick individual stocks, apparently thinks broadening (Zzzzzz) is happening.

Late in the show, Judge asked Santoli if the market rally is "believable" (snicker). Santoli said it's got "a little bit to prove."

Joe thinks every airline should be in the refinery business

Jason Snipe on Wednesday's (4/8) Halftime Report said he sold UNH, saying that for 6-9 months, "this is dead money for me." Shannon Saccocia disagrees, saying the reimbursement rates are a "supportive sign for the government" and that this is a "managed-care story." Steve Weiss said he's "riding it out" because Hemsley is back and "fully engaged."

Jason actually called Skyrizie "one of my favorite drugs" and saying JNJ competition was "overhanging" for ABBV.

Julia Boorstin said META's got a new AI (Zzzzzzzzz) model.

Jason Snipe said he likes AMZN, with the "multiple coming in."

Jason bought more PANW, conceding the "software slide" but citing the "harmonious story" of software and AI.

Weiss sold FTAI. Joe said, though it seems like defense names should be doing great now, GD "actually peaked in January."

Jason said he still likes ETN. Joe backed TRV.

Joe said you should have a "cautious outlook" with all travel names. Joe said "every airline" should do a refinery like DAL did. (How come Joe hasn't been making that pronouncement in the previous 10 years.) Steve Grasso on Wednesday's Fast Money suggested that DAL is the best of the airline stocks.

Joe said RCL is "idiosyncratic" in the travel space.

In the final minutes of the show, Judge said HOOD got a "big pop" on Wednesday. Weiss advised holding gold, predicting it will move "back up to where the highs were." Joe said gold is a "risk-on" trade.

Weiss' Final Trade was LDOS. Jason said GS, Joe said GLW and Shannon said IYC (Zzzzzz).

On Wednesday's Fast Money, Steve Grasso said the situation involving the Strait of Hormuz is better than it was a day earlier.

Joe says Donald Trump tends to announce the good news during market hours

As Tuesday (4/7) Halftime panelists grappled with Donald Trump's Iran deadline (this review wasn't posted until early Thursday 4/9 because of the internet infrastructure clods) (#ithappens,eventositessuchasthisone), Joe Terranova said "the pattern going all the way back to COVID" is Donald Trump giving good news during the "middle" of the market session and saving the bad news for when the market's "closed."

Josh Brown said that whatever the Gulf resolution, earnings will be the story.

Permabull Stephanie said "tax receipts year to date are up 4%."

Stephanie sold CVX; "made 33% in- year to date in Chevron," and energy is "overextended." Stephanie bought MRVL and NOW; the latter hit a 52-week low on Wednesday. (This review was posted early Thursday 4/9.) Stephanie said software is in "no-man's land."

Viking River Cruises are apparently nearly sold out for this year

Judge on Tuesday's (4/7) Halftime Report took up the AAPL foldable phone headline and resulting stock action.

Joe Terranova said he bought AAPL on March 24 at "252 and a half" when he thought it had the "all clear." Joe said you can "lean against" the 243.42 level from late January.

Josh Brown bluntly said of AAPL, "Close your eyes and buy it," calling the foldable phone story a "stupid headline." Josh predicted AAPL "ends the year closer to 300 than 200."

Sarat Sethi shrugged that MSFT is just a "multiple compression story," but Joe admitted the momentum "does not look good."

Judge said Seaport is downgrading homebuilders. Stephanie Link said "we have to wait for time; we have to wait for rates." Joe said if there's not a drop in rates, PHM is "not gonna look good at all."

Josh offered 3 stocks in the travel space as among the Best Stocks in the Market. One was HLT, another was MAR and VIK, "the fancy river cruises in Europe." Josh said VIK has already booked "86% of 2026 capacity" and "the whole year is booked out already."

MacKenzie Sigalos reported that Elon Musk did "opposition research" (snicker) on Sam Altman.

Santoli said the market's "antsy" and looking for an "excuse" to "move on" from Iran.

Josh said his Final Trade was NFLX "under a hundred," even though it wasn't shown on the screen graphic. Joe said HSY. Sarat said MS and Stephanie said PEP.

‘It’s hard to see things getting worse’

Heated rhetoric may be taking place regarding the globe's hot spots, but Judge opened Monday's (4/6) Halftime Report saying that Mike Wilson says, "We remain in a bull market."

Joe Terranova said the markets have "worked off" a lot of bullish positioning and sentiment. Joe recommended exchange stocks.

Joe said he doesn't want to hear even "talk" of a rate hike.

Steve Weiss said that if Iran's oil infrastructure is hit, it would "put a floor under oil at a much higher level."

Jimmy Lebenthal opined that "the real danger to this market" is a disappointment from tech.

Judge demanded, "What are the chances of that, honestly ... Let's just not state it as throwing it out there in the wind."

Jim said he doesn't think tech will collectively disappoint, but there are situations.

Jim also said, "It's hard to see things getting worse. Like, do we think that the Strait of Hormuz is gonna be more closed?"

Judge observed, "People are afraid of being too negative ... missing out on a post."

Bryn Talkington stressed the importance of getting above the 200-day.

Bryn said tech earnings is "all Micron and Nvidia," and she doesn't like the "breadth."

Weiss admitted, "I don't really know what 'value' is anymore," saying "the waters have gotten murky." Weiss complained that CAT is "still overvalued."

Joe said he bought AAPL last week at "252 and a half," one of his "tactical opportunities," which include refineries and fertilizer and exchange stocks that can bring "a little alpha."

A resort on the
Strait of Hormuz

Judge on Monday's (4/6) Halftime Report said JPMorgan hung a "145" on TSLA.

Bryn Talkington, who will always tell you about selling calls in this name, joked that it sounded like "Steve's Report." Bryn said it would take a "complete re-rating" to get TSLA with a "1-handle," though the stock is in a "really strong downtrend" and could get to the "315s, 320s."

Discussing RCL, Judge demanded Joe Terranova make a call on fuel prices in 6-12 months. Joe said he does think they'll be lower but "elevated" from where they had been in the last 6-9 months.

Jimmy Lebenthal shrugged that the WYNN Al-Marjan resort that's planned for "literally on the Strait of Hormuz" isn't to open until next year, and "presumably we're gonna get the end of hostilities" before that happens.

Judge demanded to know whether that project gets "pushed back."

Jim said, "Maybe a little bit," like a "month."

Judge mocked that no one is going to say, "Honey, let's go play some blackjack in the Strait." Jim though insisted "memories are gonna be pretty short in that regard."

Goldman Sachs upgraded NFLX. Weiss said NFLX still needs some "washing out," for some reason.

Bryn says ‘juice squeezed’ from SpaceX already

Judge on Monday's (4/6) Halftime Report asked Bryn Talkington if she'll be buying the SpaceX IPO.

Bryn pointed out the market cap of this company upon its IPO and concluded, "The juice has been squeezed from this orange."

Bryn offered that TSLA has its "own issues" separate from people perhaps being more interested in SpaceX.

Steve Weiss affirmed what Bryn said, explaining that "one big reason they're going public" is to hand out public stock to employees. Weiss wondered, "How much return can you generate off a $2 trillion company?"

Joe Terranova mentioned ZM investing in Anthropic as Judge asked for definitions of "Zoom."

Bryn's Final Trade was GOOGL. Weiss said DKS, Jim said JPM and Joe said EBAY.

Judge asks Mikaela Shiffrin ‘what’s that like’ being the ‘GOAT’ (a/k/a should’ve asked for Mikaela’s opinion of Wednesday night’s speech)

On Closing Bell, a "totally overstimulated" (by her own description) Mikaela Shiffrin joined Judge for a quick chat on Thursday (4/2).

Judge called Mikaela the "GOAT" and said she's the "most decorated American skiier" and then ... uh oh ... actually asked Mikaela one of the worst questions in the world, "What's that like?"

Imagine being able to interview Judge and stating "You're the GOAT of financial TV and host of a Halftime Report where people make stock picks, what is that like?"

"What is that like?" How did Judge go down that route?

Mikaela's reponse was that the term GOAT "always makes me laugh," and that her recent skiing events have given her a "pretty incredible feeling."

Judge has asked many great questions on CNBC.

This was not one of them.

Judge is ‘not exactly sure’ what the point of Wednesday’s speech was

Judge admitted at the top of Thursday's (4/2) Halftime Report that, regarding Donald Trump's Wednesday night speech, "I'm not exactly sure what- what the intent was."

Judge tries to give Jim regrets about unloading ONON

Malcolm Ethridge suggested on Thursday's (4/2) Halftime Report that Tuesday's market was a "really good dress rehearsal" for when we get the "all clear."

The show didn't have a ton of provocative calls, but the panel of Malcolm, Jimmy Lebenthal and Josh Brown put together a crisp and highly informative hour with a lot of cogent stock discussion about the consumer, restaurants, oil and private credit, a nice treat for viewers ahead of a holiday weekend.

Jimmy said he'd be "Debby Downer" (we haven't heard that one on CNBC for a while) and predicted a "selloff into the close," given the 3-day weekend ahead.

Josh Brown suggested the market could be "pre-panicking" about bad things that could happen over the weekend.

Judge introduced Jim's sale of ONON, because of gas prices, and sounded a "little bit incredulous," according to Jim. Jim said his sale makes "perfect sense," as he's been "scratching my head" as to whether there's "something bigger afoot" that explains the stock's response to the CEO change being "way outsized."

Judge pushed back that NKE's issues seem "idiosyncratic" and it doesn't seem like people have stopped buying athletic gear.

Jim and Josh speculated as to who owns New Balance. Josh said, "It must be private equity-owned."

Malcolm bought AXP, seeing a "huge opportunity" to bet on the consumer. Jim asked Malcolm about COF; Malcolm said at the time, he wants the "top end of this consumer space."

DAL bought the Trainer Refinery in June 2012

Josh Brown on Thursday's (4/2) Halftime Report said he bought DAL and made the kind of effusive case for it normally heard from Jimmy Lebenthal.

Josh also referred to DAL's refinery as a "built-in hedge on crack spreads." Judge noted they haven't talked about the refinery "hardly at all" recently.

Judge said it feels like DAL bought that refinery "8, 10 years ago."

Actually, it was longer ago than that. And Pete Najarian (who's not on CNBC anymore) talked about it. All. The. Time.

Josh suggests Blue Owl’s issues are a ‘PR marketing problem’

Judge on Thursday's (4/2) Halftime Report said it took "almost 20 minutes" to get to the "huge story" of "continued redemption issues with Blue Owl," and CNBC's Leslie Picker did the reporting honors of the day's redemption news.

Josh Brown said he wouldn't "quite" call the private credit thing "a crisis," but a "PR marketing problem."

Malcolm Ethridge pointed out "how confusing it is" for viewers to know exactly which Blue Owl funds are subject to what when even Halftime panelists have trouble straightening it out.

Josh predicted "multiple share classes" for SpaceX, and he doubts shareholders will have "any say whatsoever."

Later on Fast Money, Karen Finerman offered, "SpaceX is- seems far more interesting than Tesla to me right here."

Back on Halftime, Josh said QSR is on the Best Stocks list.

Jimmy Lebenthal called AZN a "dream stock" that has "a lot of new drugs."

Malcolm backed Stifel's positive opinion of NOW.

Jim's Final Trade was CSCO. Malcolm said DLR and Josh said CIEN.

Timeline/agenda for war with Iran got so much clearer

Joe Terranova on Wednesday's (4/1) Halftime Report said we've had "8 consecutive closes" below the 200-day.

Joe predicted a lot of short-covering on Wednesday as on Tuesday.

Liz Thomas said the market's in a "weird range" of technicals. "The risks have not gone away, as far as the war is concerned," Liz said.

Jenny Harrington said we're still in a "fog of war."

Steve Weiss tried to make a lengthy speech about purported goals of regime change and not getting it and finding an "off-ramp." Weiss said of the market, "I'm surprised at the carry-through today, but that's based upon what happens in the speech tonight, where he's gonna reiterate, 'I'm tired of this.'" (This review was posted overnight Wed-Thurs.)

Jenny said this is a "super-ambiguous time period."

Judge and Jenny basically agreed that Donald Trump's control over the Iran situation is less than his control over Liberation Day.

Apparently if you own oil for a certain reason, you should sell, but if you own it for a different reason, you should hold

Joe Terranova on Wednesday's (4/1) Halftime Report said there hasn't really been a place to hide during this geopolitical situation except for oil and energy stocks.

If we understood Joe correctly (and we might not've), he said to reduce energy if you're using it as a hedge, but otherwise, you want to maintain positions.

Liz Thomas said she "absolutely" agrees with "everything that Joe said" and that those using oil as a "trade to play the war" should probably start "unwinding." But she doesn't expect oil to slip to pre-war levels, and discretionary will have headwinds from oil through the year.

Steve Weiss said predictions about what Donald Trump would say Wednesday night could be "written in invisible ink" because Donald Trump could change his mind "while he's giving the speech." (This review was posted overnight Wed-Thurs.)

Jenny mentions LYB at least 3 times

Steve Weiss on Wednesday's (4/1) Halftime Report predicted "a lot of tax refunds" are on the way. Judge though said it's been in "many many notes" that refunds "aren't as big as people were expecting them to be."

Joe Terranova said the market is indicating that it doesn't believe "the broadening-out narrative ... plays out here."

Weiss said "The market goes up 90% of the time." (Translation: Whenever anyone else makes money, it's the law of averages.)

Weiss bought more META, saying he "didn't understand" why it fell so much on the court decision, which will "take a long time to play out."

Weiss bought MU. Judge twice said it's been a "hedge fund hotel" name. Weiss and Jenny Harrington apparently agreed on MU's forward P.E.

Weiss bought DKS, and pointing to NKE's report, he said "there's nothing here that's bad" for DKS.

Joe said PWR is "one of the better trades" of the JOET. Joe mentioned Weiss' "comical comments" during the commercial break, which Judge and Weiss clarified had something to do about the market cap of PWR when the JOET bought the stock.

Jenny said DIS has a 14 P.E. But the screen graphic said 13.85 "FWD." Jenny said it should be "a lot higher."

Everyone on the panel seemed to like health care.

Jenny at the end of the show talked up REITs and mentioned LYB for the 3rd/4th time during the program.

Weiss' final trade was FTAI. Jenny said ETD, Liz Thomas said QQQ and Joe said TER.

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