CNBCfix - Fast Money Review

[CNBCfix Fast Money Review Archive — May 2018]
[Thursday, May 31, 2018]

‘A rolling bear market’

Judge gave nearly all of the first half-hour of Thursday's Halftime to Mike Wilson, and we quickly got tired of the b.s.

"This is not 2017 anymore ... we're not in Kansas anymore ... it's a tougher environment," Wilson explained.

Really. Is that true for Macy's shareholders? NFLX? The Russell 2000?

Wilson, who's been egging on a bad market for some reason since December, told the panel he had a "kinda provocative" point, which was, "I think we're in a cyclical bear market (snicker) ... I think we're in a rolling bear market ... It's fooling everybody at the index level ... I think it began in December with the peak in valuations ... I think it can last until the end of 2019."

The thing is, on Jan. 19, Wilson according to Judge was "throwin' around" the "euphoria" word. Wilson at that time told Steve Weiss (above) that Wilson's top 5 indicators for "euphoria" include the "AAII bull-bear spread." Weiss questioned if that's "relevant." Wilson said it is, for sentiment. We didn't hear anything about the AAII spread Thursday during a half-hour of commentary. #maybenotsorelevant

Evidently, we went from "euphoria" to "bear market" in a matter of days.

Interesting.

Joe Terranova told Wilson, "Clearly, you're talking about a time correction, not a price correction. You're not gonna get the flush." We wouldn't have put it that diplomatically.

Judge questioned how Wilson can recommend overweight financials while yields have fallen recently. Wilson said he has to "acknowledge" that financials haven't outperformed and may not make new highs in 2018.

Weiss unanimously and wrongly identified as the ‘peak auto’ pundit when it was actually Stephanie

Never one to shy away from recommending GM, Jim Lebenthal on Thursday's Halftime explained how the market is valuing GM's autonomous vehicle division, and "I think there's more room to run here."

Pete Najarian said he owns GM stock and calls because of everything Jim just said. (But wait a minute — aren't we in a "rolling bear market"?)

Jon Najarian said the "endorsement" from Softbank is "tantamount to when Warren Buffett decides to call from his bathtub and decides, 'You know what, Bank America (sic no "of"), I think I'll buy.'"

Judge quizzed the panel as to who said this week that auto sales are at "peak." Everyone chuckled that it was Weiss (who wasn't on the program); Joe Terranova suggested it "might've been Josh," and one of the Najarians said, "It was Josh." Actually it was none of the above; it was Stephanie. Brown merely said that auto sales might've peaked "for life" if just 10% of all the autonomous-driving and car-sharing predictions (snicker) come to pass (the econ model doesn't work on any level, repeating for all needing).

Facebook, Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Salesforce, etc., all trade lower than they would because everyone remembers 2000 and is afraid the rug could get pulled out again except that fear is what keeps these massive profit machines from reaching the levels of pulling out the rug ...

Judge's Call of the Day on Thursday's Halftime was MU being downgraded by Morgan Stanley to equal weight.

Pete Najarian said he's not so sure that DRAM prices are priced in to the stock. "I think this creates opportunity," Pete said, suggesting 75 as a "better price target" than 65.

Joe Terranova chuckled that WDC couldn't even move on the same analyst's recommendation.

Jim Lebenthal touted INTC. Pete endorsed PYPL and said he's long. (This writer is long PYPL.)

Meanwhile, Joe noted, "Facebook is back to 191." Pete chortled about the recent privacy controversy (this page chortled long ago, when the stock was in the 150s) but noted the stock has roared back and said, "I actually sold out of my position today in Facebook ... discipline, man. Take the money and run."

Judge asked how Pete will know when to get back in. "Somebody'll come up with some crazy thing, and the stock's gonna get hammered once again," and then he'll find the opportunity, Pete scoffed.

Pete was on the 5 p.m. show when Gene Munster called the stock "dead money" because of "engagement" issues in Europe. Pete said, "This thing's still growin'."

"Agreed," said Karen Finerman, saying the company likes to "tone down expectations."

Boy, sure was a great move by Congress to let 1 person dictate the price of every foreign good in America

Jon Najarian on Thursday's Halftime said "the RV guys" were taking the biggest hit from the latest tariff go-round.

Jim Lebenthal said if we get a mid-teens return over the next 12 months, it would be "fabulous."

Judge asked Joe Terranova if they should be talking more about European banks. Joe said they should be talking about "opportunity." Joe pointed out, "The Nasdaq is higher today."

Jim pointed out that emerging markets and the Russell are both risk-on plays.

We felt kind of badly, and surprised, when Karen Finerman on the 5 p.m. show said, "It was an awful day for me."

Kinda wonder why Judge didn’t ask Suzy to explain why Howard Schultz should call a day of race training and Bob Iger shouldn’t

Judge on Thursday's Halftime brought in Suzy Welch to talk about Jonathan Bush.

Suzy said athenahealth issued a "mamby-pamby, um, jargony" statement. (Maybe she thinks the company should've referred to Bush as a "s---head.")

After not really clarifying what she is driving at in this situation (then again, if it were Jeff Sonnenfeld, he'd say Bush deserves a D but is getting a C+), Welch called it "sort of a cautionary tale for all, uh, executives."

Jeff Kilburg told Jackie D that oil's "upwards (sic) track is, is still intact" because of geopolitical concerns. Jim Iuorio said he still thinks 70 is in the cards.

Jim Lebenthal said to wait for an uptrend in GLW before buying.

Jon Najarian said DG had a "not good" miss.

Joe Terranova said CMG has "momentum turning higher."

Jon Najarian said JILL and BURL were surging.

Pete Najarian said XOP July 44 calls were popular. Doc said XLNX July 70 calls look appealing.

Pete's final trade was WYNN. Doc said WEN. Jim said QCOM; "this is not a riskless call." Joe said Alphabet. (This writer is long GOOGL.)

Judge said of hockey, "I literally, my heart was like beating so fast the last 2 minutes of the game, I, I could barely even watch."

[Wednesday, May 30, 2018]

Mike Mayo always acts like anyone who’d sell a bank stock is projecting another Lehman Brothers

Mike Mayo turned up at the end of Wednesday's Halftime to (of course) talk about how great the banks really are despite Tuesday.

"We're simply saying that the U.S. banks can withstand a body blow," Mayo said, adding that whatever happens in Europe is "nowhere close" to the Fed's stress tests.

You know what?

We GET it.

We really do, Mike.

Because you've said the same thing for probably 5 years running.

Judge noted that MS was down 5 1/2% on the wealth management honcho's comments and twisted that into an observation on Italy. "People still have recency bias," Mayo said.

"Recency" ... of what?

Judge said we're "so scarred" by the financial crisis, that it takes little to get people worried. Really? Is anyone actually worried about another 2008 repeat?

Mayo's a smart guy; seems like a good bloke. He doesn't get it. And we're tired of listening to him demonstrate in every appearance how he doesn't get it. And now we're tired of Judge falling for Mayo's spiel hook, line and stinker. Just because a bank is not at risk of failing does NOT mean its stock is automatically a buy. Maybe, in fact, earnings are going to come in below estimates, and in that case, you don't want to be owning them into those earnings. Mayo's refrain is so ridiculous, he's really making the opposite argument that he purports to make, specifically, it sounds from what he says like the banks don't have enough leverage to really ride herd over what is supposed to be a great economy, rather, Mayo's arguments are the type you would want to hear for reassurance owning these names into a flat or down market as if they're utilities.

Next time Mayo's on the show, pass.

Bill’s bungle: Judge, Sully outline the difference between ‘Joe Blow’ and people who actually appear on their channel

Judge on Wednesday's Halftime stated that Bill Gross' fund is down 3% in a day on Tuesday; "almost unheard of."

Sully dialed in to explain, but his connection was weak, and we couldn't understand what he was saying, other than Gross probably stumbled over falling German yields.

For whatever reason, Sully felt compelled to announce, "I've got a close relationship with Bill; very good to me over the years. ... I think you've gotta give this trade time." (In other words, Bill, he's apparently advising that you don't cut all your losses just yet.)

Sully said if it were "Joe Blow" on the job for a few months instead of Gross down 3%, no one would care. Judge told Sully that if "Joe Blow" was down 3% in a day after 3 months on the job, "he wouldn't be Joe Blow on the job anymore."

Now that's a curious cross-section of commentary. On the one hand, Gross is only undergoing this humiliation because of his previous success; on the other hand, without that previous success, according to Judge, he'd be out on the street (lower case "s") as of Wednesday.

Joe Terranova for some reason brought up emerging market debt again, conceding to Judge, "Yes, I understand, most of our viewers don't care about emerging market debt," but explaining that if you're going to have bonds, "you need to have a fair understanding of what they are and the risks surrounding them in times where volatility rises."

Might’ve actually gone another entire episode without a mention of AAPL, AMZN and FB

Steve Liesman joined Wednesday's Halftime Report to point out a remarkable turnabout in expectations of a September and December hike by the Fed.

"It's Italy, I think, principally, is the main reason, along with the strength of the dollar," Liesman explained.

But Steve said he thinks the market has "overreacted" relative to how the Fed might (over)react.

He said the Friday jobs report could make Italy look like a "footnote."

Steve and Lori Calvasina agreed that the market is going nowhere and there's no reason to talk about it the Russell 2000 is actually "a safe haven from a dollar perspective."

Pete Najarian gushed about not being in Bill Gross' fund MU again and said some things were "really oversold" Tuesday but others sold "for the right reasons," such as energy.

But Jon Najarian said after Tuesday's shellacking, "I'm lookin' in energy."

Joe Terranova said, "I think there was opportunity on both sides yesterday," suggesting energy is in a "supportive state" with a lot of "paper demand," mentioning OXY.

But Joe said he also realized, "OK, I've got too much large bank exposure."

Judge questioned if he'd reach that conclusion because of a "one-day" event. Joe explained that MS had "a bit of a technical breakdown." Joe said he likes WTFC better and suggested it could get near 100.

Doc used a conversation about Tesla's Consumer Reports rating to tout FSLR as a play on rising oil prices.

Nothing to see here, move along

One of the more curious appearances recently on the Halftime Report was that of Lori Calvasina, who on Wednesday said she's concerned about elections but has a 2,890 S&P target; "arguably I think it's difficult to figure out what gets us there in the next couple of months."

Calvasina said valuations aren't a reason to buy and aren't a reason to sell. Which, honestly, kinda made us wonder why she was appearing on the show at this particular time.

Calvasina seems preoccupied with the election but admitted that, according to a survey, most investors don't care if Democrats take one house of Congress.

"I think the only real bear scenario for the market is if Democrats take both," Calvasina said.

Citing a Stephanie Link tweet (Twitter is just soooo useful), Joe Terranova actually asked Calvasina about value & growth & complacency & tech.

Calvasina curiously declared, "We've had a very big problem in the U.S. this year with crowding," specifically mega-caps and S&P 500 futures.

This just in: Some panelists like their own 15 stocks better than the market itself

Judge on Wednesday's Halftime said Stephen Tusa has an $11 target on GE. But Jon Najarian noted Pete Najarian's target is even lower.

Pete said, "Look at the massive amounts of debt," and that if the stock gets "near 11," then his single-digit prediction is "pretty close."

Judge said the Call of the Day was the XOM upgrade. Joe Terranova halfheartedly said there are "other places" to generate alpha besides XOM in the energy space; Pete though said he's long XOM with "room to a hundred" and touted the "Permian." Doc said "it's one you wanna hold onto" in the high 70s.

Doc said IGT July 26 calls and October 35 CMCSA calls were popular. Pete said MNST June 55 calls expiring June 29 were popular.

Leslie Picker said #MeToo has created a business boom for private investigators.

Leslie and Judge explained how Jonathan Bush's weekend has gone. Judge went to great pains to say, "We're not suggesting in- in any way shape or form that Elliott, uh, is the one that found this information or pushed it to a publication over in the U.K." (That's called backing into a story reported by someone else.)

Scott Nations said crude "absolutely" can get back to 70. Jim Iuorio said the move is "largely technical" and it's still in an upward trend.

Pete's final trade was NKE. Doc said TECK. Joe said PANW; it used to be one of his favorites, and he'd say it all the time.

[Tuesday, May 29, 2018]

Remember, this page predicted April 17 that FB will reach $300 before GS does (and GS had an $85 lead and FB was mired in Jeffrey Gundlach’s omg there’s gonna be regulation)

In a rare sign of dissatisfaction toward the nation's 5-6 biggest banks, Joe Terranova on Tuesday's Halftime said MS has been "a good name to trade" for a couple of years, but, "I do think it has broken down technically, uh, and I will probably be out of Morgan Stanley at the end of today."

Wow. Sounds like Joe needs a visit from Mike Mayo to rally him to keep those shares until they become the LeBron James of something or other.

Josh Brown bluntly said of GS, "I just think it's going lower," stating it looks "hell-bent" on revisiting 200.

Stephanie Link said of GS, "We know that they're kind of in disarray."

Judge said, "Disarray? Really?" Link didn't stop talking while expressing that GS is better than C.

"It is disarray," Brown said, adding it should be "feasting" in this type of economic climate, and it's not.

Joe Terranova said JPM is still above its 200-day, and the quants will be "wanting to participate" if it breaks below that.

Link likes STI and PRU.

While we agree with basically all the commentary, it's startling that nobody ever talks about what's really going on with the big banks, namely that they represent an industry that charges what most people consider ridiculous, reactionary fees (remember when it cost $50 to buy 10 shares of AT&T through Charles Schwab?) that are certain to fall and, by the way, today's 1,590 SAT scorers aren't interested in these places when they graduate from college, that most of the talent and most of the money are heading to the upper West Coast, which isn't just siphoning resources but also reinventing the financial space and would've already scooped up GS or MS for a small premium except that doing so would only create risks that would make the acquirers LESS powerful.

Joe: U.S. stocks are a ‘sideways market that’s in a time correction’

Tuesday's Halftime crew practically shrugged and yawn at the Italian crisis.

Leading the cheers was actually guest Savita Subramanian, who seemed annoyed at this apparent interruption to what she expects to be a parade higher in equities.

"I love the U.S. market," Savita said, stating her year-end S&P target is 3,000. "The noise-to-signal ratio is super high."

"The U.S. is actually this bright spot in a sea of pain right now," Savita chuckled.

Subramanian said financials are "probably overcapitalized" and not at all like 2008. Wilf Frost said the one way this could be systemic is if Italy has another election and certain parties gain.

Josh Brown touted PSCF, the small-cap financials ETF that he said hit a 52-week high last week. Brown also mentioned KRE and said people on the show 6 months ago called KRE "toxic waste" (that would be Kevin O'Leary).

Jon Najarian said the EUFN has been "decimated" in just the last few days.

Josh Brown pointed out that the Italian 10-year yield is still mispriced and hasn't moved much.

Stephanie Link said Italy has 11% unemployment.

Joe Terranova explained that since 2012, the EU has "far more safeguards to protect the system" from contagion. As for U.S. stocks; "it's a sideways market that's in a time correction," Joe asserted.

Judge told Wilf Frost something longtime viewers understand every day: "The folks around this desk continue to look for bright signs in the banks."

In a bit of a tangent, Josh Brown said, "You have to have been living on Mars to think that there was a future for transaction-based revenue within Wall Street wealth management."

On the 5 p.m. Fast Bitcoin, Karen Finerman admitted, "I own a lot of banks. It was a very, very painful day. Um, I don't think these bank crises tend to be one- or two-day things, so I think there'll probably be a little bit of follow-through. But I think some of these are just way-way-way overdone."

Josh hasn’t explained how a driverless car economy is feasible

Judge's Call of the Day on Tuesday's Halftime was Jefferies' upgrade of F (Zzzzzzzzz).

Joe Terranova said "a lot of bad news" regarding F has been priced in, then curiously said he'd be "blended" between GM and F but wouldn't be "very aggressive" in the space because of rising energy costs and rising consumer borrowing costs.

So, apparently you should only buy a little, not a lot, of both GM and F.

Stephanie Link said she owns nothing in autos. "Gosh, this stock has been cheap forever," Link said of F, adding auto sales have peaked.

Jon Najarian said Fitch just reported in the morning that rising used-car inventories will hurt all the automakers.

Josh Brown said he doesn't know why anyone gets excited over a 14 price target on F. Brown said auto sales might have peaked "for life" if "even 10%" of the predictions for sharing and autonomous cars come to pass.

Actually, we'll douse that a bit. We don't know what all of those predictions are, but we do know that the idea of the masses not actually owning their cars but waiting for a driverless Uber/Waymo/whatever to pick them up is bogus, and instead of just insisting certain things (like today's newborns never getting a driver's license) are going to happen, Brown should explain for once what kind of economic model works here. It's actually one that doesn't work on any level and simply isn't happening. There's a 100-year precedent for it. It's called a bus.

Boy, Twitter accounts are really helpful, add so much to public discourse; the stock is such a ‘unique property’ (a/k/a is Iger going to order DIS employees to get the sensitivity training of SBUX employees?)

Joe Terranova on Tuesday's Halftime said he likes the refiners and likes MPC.

But Joe got his Marathons mixed up when suggesting the Najarians reported unusual activity in the name (actually MRO) "a couple of weeks back."

Jon Najarian said SIG June 44 calls got bought by people selling 50s against it.

Doc said Credit Suisse has been correct on RL. Doc said he's in the calls and is sticking with it.

Judge said MKM raised its NFLX to 390, but for the first time in 5 years, it's no longer MKM's top pick. Josh Brown said the elevated target is nothing more than going from 35 to 39.

Stephanie Link said, "I actually added to JNJ this morning" (Zzzzzzz).

Brian Stutland said "the technicals line up perfect" for crude, and he'd buy at the 66.25 or 66 level.

Stephanie Link's final trade was AXP and KO. Doc's final trade was DSW. Josh Brown said JPM and somehow did NOT say TWTR. Joe said STOR. Karen Finerman on the 5 p.m. show said she doesn't think this is a DIS buying opportunity "at all," because "there's a lot to still shake out here." Steve Grasso said DIS is fundamentally and technically challenged, though "I'm not gonna say it's all she wrote for Disney." Tim Seymour described Roseanne Barr's body after Guy Adami mentioned Roseanne's "broad shoulders," explaining, "and they are broad."

Joe, Judge tangle over extent of emerging market debt exposure among Halftime Report viewers

Given what's happening in Italy, we started to get excited with the notion that Judge might possibly open Tuesday's Halftime with a Pauline Kael-style treatment of "L'Eclisse."

But no.

Joe Terranova opined that if you're a trader, "You have your expectations very low and your profit horizon short."

That sounds quite accurate and reasonable.

But Joe went on to add that, if you're an investor, you're looking at your exposure to ... emerging market debt.

Judge eventually interrupted, "I don't know how many of our, our, the typical person who watches this program or whoever right now is most concerned about emerging market debt in their portfolio, with all due respect."

Joe told Judge that "a larger majority of your viewers hold emerging market debt in their portfolios, uh, than we might suspect," although whatever that has to do with Italy's 2-year, we don't know.

Much more from Tuesday's Halftime later.

Barron’s claims Guy Adami ‘worked with’ Larry Kudlow at CNBC

At CNBCfix HQ around the holiday, we were catching up with some overdue reading, in particular, the May 21 edition of Barron's (that's correct, more than a week old; we're not always timely with this stuff, plus it costs 5 bucks and some days it's all we can do to secure a hot meal).

That edition caught our attention because it boasted a lengthy profile of former/future CNBCer Larry Kudlow, written by Mary Childs.

For folks who read (and write) this page, obviously, here's what matters in this type of article: A) Which people are being asked to comment on Larry Kudlow, and B) Which ones actually did so.

For the latter, in a bit of an eye-opener, we have Fast Money's Guy Adami, who according to Childs is "a trader who worked with Kudlow at CNBC."

Hmmmmm. Was Guy Adami ever on "Kudlow & Cramer" or "Kudlow & Co."?

Was Larry ever on "Fast Money"?

Of course, Guy has made numerous appearances on shows like Closing Bell and Power Lunch and probably whatever the morning thing was called that had Larry as the only guy among Sara, MCC, Trish, etc. No doubt Larry and Guy have crossed paths on TV over the years. But you'd think, in search of a CNBC associate, Childs might've come up with not CNBC "contributors" but someone such as ... Jim Cramer, who actually co-hosted a show with Larry for several years, or perhaps some of CNBC's most venerable names such as Sue Herera, Tyler Mathisen, David Faber, Bill Griffeth and (perhaps Larry's most ideologically allied colleague at CNBC) Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, or some famous ex-pats such as Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett.

In terms of connection between the parties, quoting a Fast Money trader in a Larry Kudlow profile is like asking the Patriots' strength coach about Tom Brady.

As far as we could count (snicker), there were a grand total of 3 people besides Larry quoted in this article: Guy Adami, Jimmy Pethokoukis (also a CNBC contributor) and David Stockman. (We looked up the CNBC contributor list; Stockman is NOT on it.)

Childs' article says Kudlow hangs out with John Catsimatidis, Robert Mercer and daughter Rebekah, and notes those individuals and Gary Cohn did not respond to requests for comment.

We'd have to think — but of course we don't know — that presumably, requests were also made of Jim Cramer, Joe Kernen, Tyler Mathisen, etc., and declined. If not requested, it seems a reporting lapse; if so, the obvious reasons those people wouldn't talk on the record are 1) because they don't want to risk saying anything that might get the attention of the White House (good or bad) and 2) they would, in full candor, almost certainly point out a few of Larry's faults ... we all have them, but not all of us demonstrate them on TV 5 days a week for decades ... namely that Larry, a fine gentleman, prefers to talk more than listen and is far more interested in general optimism than any economic theory, a concept that begins to wear thin on some of the more complicated issues of our time.

So instead we have Guy Adami apparently being asked a question that only a few people in the world named Jason Furman, Larry Lindsey or Lawrence Summers would care about, whether he is troubled that Larry does not have a Ph.D. (That's correct; this is the question Guy was actually asked.)

Guy explains that this "doesn't concern me," because, "A lot of times, things work in a classroom, in a textbook, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work in real life."

That is undoubtedly the first time we've ever heard the Fast Money/Halftime gang evaluate a CNBCer's academic credentials.

Note that Childs labeled Guy Adami "a trader." What exactly does he trade? Our impression, based on show disclosures for years, is that upon joining Fast Money in late 2006, Adami, once a head gold trader at Goldman Sachs, basically got out of the trading business in favor of a TV gig that, to his credit, he has proved to be quite skilled at. He's a person we'd gladly consult about gold moves, whether RRGB is a sudden buy as Jon Najarian stated, or anything to do with the Grateful Dead. Supply-side economists, however, don't seem like Guy's Sunday punch.

God bless Childs; it's a yeoman effort. Her article, unfortunately, reads as if the writer first heard of Larry Kudlow 2 weeks ago. The artwork (above) is rather generous in terms of illustrating Larry's hairline, age and general physique.

Around here, we keep it real. This page, this realm, is, as they say in "Road House," our town. You know it. We know it. We're here because you are. Reviewing television. Reviewing CNBC. Talking stocks. Doing it all in ways the mainstream media, with enormously larger resources, can't/won't. 100% free, no silly ads or registrations that just end up in some billionaire data collection server. 100% real. Welcoming mainstream media's encroachment on our turf and, whenever the occasion merits, showing 'em how it's done. Happy reading ... and happy trading!

[Friday, May 25, 2018]

Lee Cooperman actually spoke about Donald Trump walking on water

Unimpressed by the big story of Friday's financial markets, Erin Browne on the Halftime Report shrugged that the move in crude is merely a "blip in the bucket."

But Jon Najarian said of oil, "A 3.3% drop is not insignificant." Doc said it could be "manna from heaven" for truckers and airlines.

Sarat Sethi said that if you're trading oil now, the bet is that there is more downside. Sarat suggested transports and consumer discretionary.

Josh Brown said when crude stumbled in 2014, consumers didn't spend more; "what they actually did was pay down debt." (Sully used to say that they spent all the savings on convenience-store cigarettes.) Brown said the transports are showing strength.

Doc said XLE is a "no touch" until there's clarity from the OPEC meeting.

Mel questions if the Gap
needs to exist

Dana Telsey admitted on the phone during Friday's Halftime that "the Gap brand was a disappointment" for GPS, but she still thinks "the stock's attractive."

Telsey said the inventory levels are coming down but admitted there's "work to be done" at Gap brand.

Josh Brown said GPS is trading at the same levels as in 2000 and repeated what he said when this subject came up days ago; "I don't know why we even talk about it ... traders only."

Guest host Mel asked, "Is there a place in this world for the Gap? I mean, I'm asking that honestly ... Gap is what? What is the Gap?"

Brown explained, "Banana Republic should go away. Old Navy should be spun off as its own stock. And then J. Crew should just take Gap into its- under its wing, raise the price on everything, make it a boutique brand, get out of all the B malls."

Sarat Sethi said retail is "one of the hardest sectors to invest in."

Jon Najarian indicated he has never worn a pair of khakis.

Doc said FL has made a "tremendous move" without opining on whether anyone should buy it now.

Money manager is ‘always looking for losses’ to offset big capital gains

On Friday's Halftime, Sandy Pomeroy sat in with the desk and touted MXIM, citing autonomous driving and "the Internet of things." It yields nearly 3%, according to Google finance.

Mel noted Pomeroy has real estate and utility exposure. Pomeroy said those holdings are balanced out by the "cyclical exposure we have."

Pomeroy told Sarat Sethi that consumer staples look expensive.

We know the drill about the importance of taxes, how they create a long-term drain on returns. But we also kinda think that rich people sorta overrate this topic, even to the point of obsession.

Witness the conversation when Josh Brown asked Pomeroy about tax concerns.

Pomeroy said "we're pretty tax aware," and "Whenever we find ourselves taking a large capital gain from something we might have owned, you know, for several years, we're always looking for losses that we can take to offset that."

Really. So a money manager is actually "looking for losses." Shouldn't they be hoping everything they buy is a win?

Looking for offset losses sounds like what people did when selling FL around 30 (which, um, sorta applies to CNBCfix HQ); now it's 55.

Erin Browne said she doesn't want to be in the "dividend-heavy" sectors like REITs and utilities.

omg ... Greece is NEVER going to accept austerity!!!

Guest host Melissa Lee sort of skeptically said on Friday's Halftime that a lot of people come on air and talk about Europe stocks being cheap. "Maybe they're cheaper for a reason," Mel suggested.

Josh Brown shrugged that the market constantly has concerns over certain trouble spots. "We did Turkey and we did Italy this week. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves," Brown shrugged.

Brown even referred to the Greece crisis. (You remember, that time when CNBC sent MCC to Athens to report on angry Greeks flashing lasers at the parliament building ...)

Brown reiterated his positive approach to non-U.S. stocks, insisting it's not an approach just for this quarter. Sarat Sethi said, unlike Brown, you don't have to go abroad to find cheap stocks; for example, GM. Brown questioned Sarat's assertion that GM is "liquid" and "transparent" compared with emerging markets.

Actually went an entire episode without mentioning AMZN, AAPL, FB

Katie Shaw on Friday's Halftime described her style as "mostly positioned for companies that I think will continue to execute and win," as opposed to turnaround plays.

Shaw touted "off-price retail, discount retail, home improvement retail" as best in the consumer discretionary space. (That sort of encompasses GPS and sort of doesn't.)

Guest host Mel stumbled to ask Shaw a question about CMCSA. "There's a lot of uncertainty," Shaw said, explaining her underweight in media.

Josh Brown asked about video games. Shaw went on to give some sort of answer involving the possible explosion of sports betting in the gaming space (snicker). Brown said the sector is "ridiculous" in a good way; "I don't even know if it's gone up enough."

Ira Sohn champ thinks PYPL is still a short (though he never shorted it) because execs supposedly were calling the eBay business a loss leader

Josh Brown on Friday's Halftime mocked Donald Trump's interest in shoring up ZTE. Sarat Sethi said he thinks this "paves the way" for the QCOM-NXPI transaction.

Missy Lee's Call of the Day was Stifel upgrading PYPL with a 99 target. (This writer is long PYPL.) Jon Najarian said, "I'm still long it," having rolled his calls up "several times."

Doc said he bought a call spread in ADSK, long 140s and short 145s.

Sarat Sethi said DAL is the "best run" in airlines, but UAL has the biggest turnaround ahead.

Josh Brown said it's OK to try to trade HIBB, but investors should stay clear.

Erin Browne said to stay in industrials.

Doc said August 25 MRVL calls were popular.

Jeff Kilburg said he'd buy the dip in crude.

Doc's final trade was ROST. Erin Browne said MNA ETF. Sarat said QCOM.

[Thursday, May 24, 2018]

Perhaps INGN needs to commission a $100,000 profile of Andrew Left

Judge on Thursday's Halftime brought in Andrew Left to discuss Left's latest public short, INGN.

Left said the company has "no pipeline whatsoever" and only spends $5 million a year on R&D.

Pushing back, Judge said Needham sees INGN's revenue upside as "breathtaking" (yes, that's the word Judge quoted). Left responded, "Forget about me. The insiders in this company have sold over $200 million worth of stock in the past 4 years at an average price of $34" even though "nothing" has changed in the time the stock has reached 170.

Judge said the Needham analyst "literally" just published a rebuttal to Left, stating Left isn't comparing the company to the correct peers and that the bulk of insider selling was by venture capitalists within 18 months of the IPO.

Judge asked Left what to make of INGN only moving down 2% in the wake of his report. Left said he doesn't care what the stock does Thursday and indicated his MNK short wasn't an overnight success. Judge said "it seems to be moving up as we're having the conversation."

Steve Weiss sided with Left, stating, "Forget about what the analysts say. They're momentum traders."

Left exited with kudos for Judge. "Congratulations on the book, Scott. It's a must-read for anyone who's short," Left said.

Jon Najarian impressively pointed out how the VCs sold INGN at 35 or whatever, and while they surely wished they had held to 170, of course they were going to sell; "They already had, you know, circled the bases 30 times before that happened," Doc said.

Nobody said a word about Trump’s chuckles over rolling back Dodd-Frank

The beginning of Thursday's Halftime was preempted by Donald Trump's remarks; Judge floated the notion of "no summit is better than a bad summit."

Steve Weiss said his "first observation" is that Donald Trump sounded "much more measured" and "much more presidential" than he's been "in a long time." (They always say that on the show about every 3 months; then something ludicrous will happen and they'll resume talking about President Mike Pence.)

Weiss said, "In terms of North Korea, frankly in terms of the markets, I don't care. I could (sic meant 'couldn't') care less."

Joe Terranova stated, "I think this is more about North Korea and maybe a lost opportunity on their part." Joe said that 30 years ago, "North Koreans were twice as wealthy as the Chinese."

Jon Najarian recapped the whole week in terms of Dow moves.

Mike Farr said "the real deal here" is trade with China, and as long as there's not an all-out trade war, this is "manageable."

Judge said maybe the noise might become "deafening" and overshadow strong market fundamentals.

Weiss grumbled about the Fed statement, saying the notion of letting inflation run "a little hot or past our target" is "pure folly."

Pete Najarian trumpeted semiconductors and financials.

Lee, Joe like their own stocks better than the market in general

Scott Nations on Thursday's Halftime said he's "not a fan" of gold and suggested it's mostly being bought by international traders. Anthony Grisanti said hedge funds don't believe gold is going higher and neither does he; he sees 1,280.

The Najarii reported on unusual activity, including September 38 JD calls, June 97 MSFT calls, June 23 MRO calls (screen said January) and July 150 VMW calls.

Judge said the Call of the Day was BABA being reiterated as the top pick at Raymond James and noted Steve Weiss used to be in the name and trumpeted it occasionally. Weiss explained, "I chose to put my money elsewhere. Google is where I went with that- those proceeds." Weiss questioned raising the price target 20% without increasing estimates, suggesting a "lack of conviction." But Weiss said the stock will work long term. Pete Najarian though said of the analyst, "He's been right the whole way." (This writer is long GOOGL.)

Joe Terranova's final trade was NFLX, "clearly headed to 400." Weiss said MCK, Doc said FOLD and Pete said MSFT and MU.

Asked on the 5 p.m. Fast Bitcoin about the most elite tech stocks, Karen Finerman, very sharp in black, once again trumpeted Alphabet (Zzzzz) (sigh), which hasn't done anything basically this year even though 2 or 3 people tout it on every show.

[Wednesday, May 23, 2018]

Joe affirms he actually believes his stock picks will outperform the market

Well, this one had us scratching our heads ...

Joe Terranova on Wednesday's Halftime brought up Lee Cooperman's "great observation" from a day ago, noting Lee said, "'I like the stocks that I have more than I like the market.' ... I look at myself, I have 15 stocks, I really like the 15 stocks that I have."

So, it's wonderful that Joe likes the 15 stocks he's got. (Frankly, we think some of our own flat-out suck, such as Albemarle and, to a lesser extent, supposedly awesome GOOGL.)

But ... if Joe somehow didn't like his stocks better than the market ... wouldn't he just be playing an S&P 500 index fund instead?

What are we missing here?

Joe again mentioned the "time correction since January." (We're not sure how time corrects, but on the other hand, we do know what Joe is driving at; basically he's saying that it may take a while for the market to go forward again.)

Meanwhile, Pete Najarian said he started the month "about 85% in the market," and "now I'm about 60% in the market."

Maybe that's wise, given that Kourtney Gibson said later that KKR believes there's a "100% chance" (snicker) of a recession in 2020.

"Their reasoning made sense," Gibson explained.

Josh Brown opened the show stating some sectors are working and others aren't.

Gibson said, "I hate to continue to sound like a broken record, but we entered a stock-picker's market here." (You can usually count on that expression surfacing about once a month on the Halftime Report.)

Jon Najarian mentioned the "rocket" move in Italian bond rates (Zzzzzzz).

Judge noted the mildly sunny outlook of Lee Cooperman and Carl Icahn on recent shows. Josh Brown pointed out, "Neither one of them is famous for market timing." Judge nevertheless later said that Carl Icahn being less hedged is a "big deal."

Pete said, "Being hedged would be a smart move right now." We suppose it would be, but then again, Pete says that about every 2 days.

Joe mentioned the "byproduct" of buybacks, that being, over a couple years, "there is a less share avilability (sic pronunciation) overall in the entire market (sic last 4 words redundant)."

Josh Brown noted Lee Cooperman's emphasis on valuation as some sort of measure of safety. "We are perfectly capable of crashing from today's valuation," Brown asserted.

Judge said "maybe people were a little euphoric in, in January."

Joe says he has no idea
what ‘low 50s’ means

Judge's Call of the Day on Wednesday's Halftime was Longbow's downgrade of SHAK.

Josh Brown called it a "clowngrade," suggesting it's little more than a stock hitting a price target.

Joe Terranova said it's "just unbelievable" that the Longbow analyst said to remain opportunistic if SHAK falls to the "low 50s" or high 40s. Joe demanded a definition of "low 50s," asking, "How do you define the low 50s? Is it 51, is it 52, 52 1/2? What's low 50s?"

Kourtney Gibson said she went to SHAK in Hong Kong; "I absolutely loved it," Gibson said, adding "the line was 45 minutes long ... all the way out the door and down the mall." (If that visit was at nighttime and everyone in that line was NOT intoxicated, great; if so, then, well, it's probably like any other Shake Shack.)

Pete Najarian had a different take. "I think sometimes it's refreshing to actually get an analyst out there who has some discipline," Pete said.

Jon Najarian offered this provocative call: "Judge, you buy Red Robin today. Slaughtered. Down $11. $45 a share. Run the tape on this one 3 months from now, folks." Josh Brown wasn't convinced, stating the chain has "overexpanded, and the food is terrible."

Judge knows what Bill ‘firmly believes,’ sounds like Judge might’ve commissioned a $100,000 personality profile

While CNBC's Leslie Picker was reporting on hedge fund developments on Wednesday's Halftime, Judge pounced on the news on the ticker from Dow Jones that Bill Ackman apparently took a $1 billion stake in LOW (Zzzzzzz).

Picker said LOW might be the position Bill was talking about last week on the conference call.

Pete Najarian owns HD and LOW; "I actually prefer Home Depot." Pete added, "I'll probably be out of Lowe's for a while pretty soon."

Saying "annuinely (sic pronunciation, corrected) (Note: not trying to zing everyone, but that one was kind of funny)," Judge said Ken Squire said the D.E. Shaw director at LOW reported that the first 2 questions from Squire's conference were from Bill Ackman.

Kourtney Gibson predicted LOW will be an "incredible story" (snicker) and lamented, "I had a number I wanted to get in at."

Josh Brown said fear that home improvement names suffer from higher mortgage rates is misplaced; it "actually works the other way."

Leslie said, "I think most important to Bill Ackman and Pershing Square right now is boosting returns." Hard to argue with that one.

Judge said, "I know that he's sort of relishing the fact that people have been betting against him for a long time now. Um, and he's told me ... that he's gonna make a comeback. I know he firmly believes that he's going to make a comeback."

Regarding Ackman, Joe Terranova said ADP "has been a win for him" even if Bill lost the board battle.

‘I still think single digits for GE at some point’

Dom Chu on Wednesday's Halftime reported on GE's latest slide.

"What a difference a few days make," Judge said, quite the original quip.

Judge claimed that "some" had the "notion" that "the worst is behind" GE.

Joe Terranova protested, "We never thought the worst was, was behind them, I don't think."

Jon Najarian said, "We've had nothing but big, aggressive put buyers" in GE.

Pete Najarian said, "I've been pretty consistent. Single digits. I still think single digits for GE at some point. When you look at the debt, you know why I think that."

Josh Brown said predicting when a troubled company's stock will rebound is "a hard game to play," but if you want to try it with GE, it can work, evidenced by VRX's rebounding stock price.

Joe insisted, "No one believes that the knife has hit the floor" in GE, although it wasn't clear that he had polled everyone present to reach unanimity on that subject.

Joe said HON "absolutely fits" as an alternative to GE.

Maybe CTA investors believe equity investing should be called ‘business market’ or just ‘companies’

Leslie Picker on Wednesday's Halftime said, "Hedge funds have been raking in money on a quarterly basis since the end of 2016."

Picker said the inflows were $17 billion in Q1, and — the key to her report — $13 billion of that was put in the "CTA" strategy (which presumably has nothing to do with the Chicago Transity Authority).

Picker said "industry experts" believe the high CTA levels suggest the market could be due for a "sustained downturn." (Wonder if CTA investors are known for market-timing calls as much as Lee Cooperman and Carl Icahn.)

The Najarii's latest unusual options activity involved NXST 80 calls and JD December 33 calls and July 40 calls and EEM August 51 calls.

Bob Iaccino said "there's a ways to go to the downside" in the euro. Anthony Grisanti said "116 even" is a key support level. He suggested even 112 before summer's end.

Joe Terranova's final trade was CHK. Josh Brown said TWTR. Kourtney Gibson said LGFa. Doc said GT. Pete said TGT.

[Tuesday, May 22, 2018]

Lee inadvertently makes
a remarkable reference
to ‘Being There’

The star guest of Tuesday's Halftime Report, Lee Cooperman, said he's "mildly constructive" on the stock market, and "I don't think there are many signs of euphoria."

Curiously, Lee added, "I like my stocks that I own better than I like the market." Isn't that the case for any person who owns a stock? Otherwise shouldn't he be in an S&P 500 index fund?

Lee predicted a range-bound market, offering that the high for the S&P 500 for the rest of the year will be "50 points higher than it was in January, at most, and the low would be 50 points lower than it was be in February, at worst."

Several times Lee mentioned how high that interest rates used to be. "Be alarmed if interest rates decline," Lee said.

Lee revealed how much he likes FB: "At 180, we have a buy order." (This writer is long FB.)

Jim Lebenthal pushed Lee to opine on whether the market's in the "final inning." Lee said, "Bull markets don't end from old age," so it would take something like a looming recession or a "hostile" Fed (snicker).

Joe Terranova squandered his lone soundbite with some lengthy windup on a question about risks from assets benefiting from low rates. (We listened to it like 2 or 3 times, and, well, whatever.) Same for Doc with his WFC query.

As he typically does in every appearance, Lee offered kudos to the president of the United States. "I'm just amazed when I watch certain networks how they find a reason to criticize the president," Lee said. "I remember reading something a while ago where if tonight, we all spotted the president walking across the Potomac River, tomorrow morning, we'd read an article about, 'President Trump can't swim.'"

The 5 p.m. Fast Bitcoin, needing a serious topic to begin the show before plunging into the pundits' observations on cryptogarbage that utterly no human being needs or uses, decided on the banks (Zzzzzzzz). Karen Finerman, in dazzling new sweater, said "I think there's upside in Citi" and even mentioned Citi's tangible book. Karen revealed she "wasn't so thrilled" with LOW's choice of new CEO.

Judge ridiculously overstaffs panel on day of Lee Cooperman, scheduled news developments

It wasn't until the 22nd minute of Tuesday's Halftime that Judge asked Lee Cooperman about "what I think is fair to say the most painful experience of your 50-plus-year career on Wall Street."

Lee indicated he hasn't warmed to the SEC in the course of the last year.

"In my humble opinion, the, um, acting director of the SEC violated our agreement the first day," Lee said. "When the Wall Street Journal ran a story about the settlement, he (sic) said the fine was based upon our misdeeds. And uh, wherever she went to college or law school, she didn't learn- learn the word 'alleged.' There was nothing, you know, we didn't agree to anything; we didn't agree to do anything wrong (sic)."

Lee contended again that "anybody that knows the facts of this case" would "scratch their head." That may very well be true, but all we know are the scant details in financial newspapers and the instant reactions of CNBC personalities over the last couple years when the developments in the case were reported on air.

Here's the WSJ article; the quote Lee is unhappy with is the one about how the settlement "protects against future violations while requiring Cooperman and Omega Advisors to pay significant fines for their misconduct."

The problem again with Lee's public defense is that perhaps his biggest gripe is that the SEC, for lack of better terminology, improved its offer. He told Judge Tuesday, "If they asked me for that originally, I would've given it to them to get rid of 'em." If the case was frivolous, why would he have accepted this outcome from the get-go?

"If we had losing party pays, I would've gone to trial," Lee asserted.

Lee mentioned the Giving Pledge in the 28th minute.

Jim Lebenthal told Cooperman, "I'm sorry to hear the story. I was aware of it. Your telling of it in detail, um, is- is really saddening to me. Uh, obviously, I think I can speak for all of us on the desk, your reputation is impeccable and is untarnished by this event. Um, I've- I've been in front of the SEC enforcement division. A much smaller case, uh, doesn't make headlines, but I, I know what you're talking about. It is a juggernaut. Um, you can't fight it, and, uh, settling is- is a way of dealing with it."

Jim added, "It's not just government regulators, it's also private lawsuits, that come up quite often, and a lot of times, they are frivolous."

[Monday, May 21, 2018]

Seema looked a bit tired, perhaps bored dealing with this subject

The star guest of Monday's Halftime was once again CNBC superfox Seema Mody, this time in glasses, brought in to talk about the rising dollar's effect on multinationals.

Jim Lebenthal said he doesn't think this development "disrupts" the 2018 profit picture because the dollar is notoriously unpredictable. (But Jim conceded to Judge that it doesn't feel like there's a lot of momentum on the sinking-dollar side right now.)

Josh Brown said growth multinationals are different than the "consumer packaged products things," the latter being in "much bigger trouble" from things besides the dollar.

Weiss suggests rally over
in 6 months

Steve Weiss on Monday's Halftime stated, "You have to be more cautious as you go out 6 months, because the Fed is going to be more aggressive in their tightening, so I think that that's gonna cause an end to the market rally as we've seen it, and in fact, the gains to be gotten are no greater than the risk."

On the other hand, Jim Lebenthal revealed, "I think the correction is ending ... I think we've got one glorious leg up in this market."

Jim said Weiss is "academically correct" but too early, despite Weiss' protest that he's talking about 6 months out.

Josh Brown mocked the notion of recalculating one's portfolio based on whatever "narrative" of the day comes out of the White House. Brown said to focus on the "big picture."

Jim took issue with the market's sigh of relief over Steve Mnuchin's comments. "If you're thinking that the trade war is over as of today, I think you're likely to be disappointed," said Jim, stating it's more likely an "olive branch to the Chinese in advance of the North Korea talks, which have gone off track."

Wonder if AFSI has considered a $100,000 profile of Weiss and Carl to better understand how to fend off this pressure

On Monday's Halftime Report, Carl Icahn dialed in to discuss investing with Keith Meister in EGN, telling Judge "lately more than usual," a lot of shareholders who feel like they're being taken advantage of by management (he said "abused" is too strong a term) are calling him up.

Icahn said he'd be interested in buying EGN outright, but he's not "the right buyer" because it has "such synergies" with other companies.

Carl said he hasn't talked to Paul Singer, who's also in the name.

As for XRX, "That story is sort of amazing," Carl said, suggesting it could be fodder for the TV show "Billions." (That's NOT the one that Meghan Markle was on, to the best of our knowledge.)

Obviously recognizing a friendly audience, Steve Weiss laid out his case against AFSI to Icahn, complaining the owners are "just so brazen." Carl said there's "a bit of a sham election going on."

Judge asked Carl about Carl's interest in VMW. Carl conceded, "We're right there against Dell again," and "As they say, one of those old westerns, they say, doin' good ain't got no end."

"Dell has got 42 billion in debt, and that's a lot for a country- a Third World country, let alone Michael Dell," Carl continued, predicting "some type of merger with, with, uh, VMWare."

Judge said it's "new news" that Carl bought the tracking stock in VMW.

Weiss closed by declaring AFSI "worth over 20 bucks a share ... minimally"; Carl chuckled, "You're preachin' to the choir."

Lee on Tuesday

Steve Weiss on Monday's Halftime said of CBS' Google report, "It was the greatest advertising you could possibly get for that company." (This writer is long GOOGL.)

Pete Najarian did the unusual options thing, including July 36 TWTR calls and June 190 FB calls and (big surprise) XLF June 28.50 calls. Josh Brown even got excited over a supposed 8-to-1 ratio of TWTR calls to puts in the morning.

With an impressive amount of analysis in a single soundbite, Jim Lebenthal said he likes SBUX.

Weiss said FITB's deal is a "good sign" for the larger banks.

Josh Brown said SNAP (snicker) "seems to have found buyers at, at around 10, 10 1/2" and said with a tight stop, "This is not the worst thing I've ever seen."

Pete gushed about MU, saying it's "goin' towards 60 soon."

Jim's final trade was AAPL. Weiss said AFSI (big surprise). Josh Brown said INTC (actually that was a big surprise; it wasn't TWTR). Judge promised Lee Cooperman on Tuesday's show.

[Friday, May 18, 2018]

Maybe AFSI should commission a $100,000 personality profile to learn how to fend off Carl Icahn

Steve Weiss, an AFSI shareholder, dialed in to Friday's Halftime Report to say "this is a great situation for Carl because this company is worth more than $20 a share."

Weiss said management is "taking minority shareholders to the cleaners."

Weiss made several arguments and outlined several stats, including that "this is going private at 1.1 times tangible book value. The comps trade up to 3 times book value."

Jon Najarian said he traded AMAT in the premarket. "But I'm out of it already."

Josh Brown said AMAT's fall is the type that he gets interested in; he asked guest host Missy Lee, "give me like 30 seconds."

Doc said David Tepper is in NVDA.

Doc said there's unusual activity in DO (June 22.50 calls) and TWX (buying July 92.50 calls, selling July 97.50 calls and selling 90 puts).

Jim: Consider RIG for excitement

Jim Lebenthal on Friday's Halftime opined that there can always be a pullback in oil, but "long-term fundamentals" support the price.

Josh Brown pointed out how analysts in 2014/2015 kept lowering oil targets in sort of a "cascade" — even all the way into the mid-teens — as oil kept falling, though it didn't get to the teens, but "the industry reacted to that reality," whatever that means.

Erin Browne is "really bullish" on energy.

Once the conversation got going, we knew Jim would tout Royal Dutch Shell, and he did, in the 4th minute. Jim also touted RIG, stating it's "a little more exciting" but cautioning it's "not for the faint of heart." (There was a time when Dan Dicker used to tout that stock about every other day, when he wasn't touting his book Oil's Endless Bid.)

But Jim said, "There's so many ways to play this, depending on your risk tolerance."

Erin Browne said, "OIH is a place that looks interesting." Josh Brown said, "XOP has been where the real juice is."

Doc mentioned BHGE and said Halliburton is "not so bad," and he also mentioned FSLR and SLCA as rising energy plays.

Josh Brown pointed to ITB and CPB as perhaps facing headwinds.

Erin Browne observed, "We do start to eat into the entire tax savings that we got from the Trump tax effect."

Doc struggled to pronounce ALB and said of the solar and car-battery space, "I think this is a sector that you wanna be on." (This writer is long ALB, which actually has shown signs of life recently for a change.)

Josh Brown noted "emerging markets are selling at the biggest discount to U.S. stocks in 15 years."

If everyone already knows what the P.E.s are, why ever mention them on the program?

Meg Tirrell on Friday's Halftime Report said she's seen 26 million reported as the number of Americans who experience migraines, and 10 million "might be the broad market overall" for new treatments such as Amgen's therapy.

Josh Brown cracked that he's a "migraine causer" but not a migraine sufferer.

Jim Lebenthal said "be careful" on BA, though it seems to be in a relief rally of possible U.S.-China thawing.

Josh Brown said DE raised guidance, giving the stock a big lift.

Jon Najarian said PYPL is up $10 in May; there have been "repeat buyers of upside calls." He said he has taken some profits, "but sticking with it." (This writer is long PYPL.)

Erin Browne said industrials are up on the week; she said it's a sector to own now.

Doc claimed that the World Cup is the "Super Bowl" for Nike and adidas. Josh Brown said NKE just broke out. Jim Lebenthal insisted, "30 times earnings is high for Nike." Brown asked Jim if buyers don't already "understand" that number.

"You cite a trailing P.E. like you're the only person on earth that's in possession of that knowledge," Brown told Jim.

Guest host Mel pointed out that hedge fund favorites include FB, GOOGL, MSFT, AMZN. (We thought we might actually get through a program without an Amazon reference.) (This writer is long FB and GOOGL.) Brown said he owns MA; Doc said he owns V.

Erin Browne's final trade was short utilities/short REITs. Doc said ESRX. Brown said NKE. Jim said QCOM, "it's breaking out."

[Thursday, May 17, 2018]

Weiss: ‘You’re gonna see inflation go through the roof’

No matter what happened on Thursday's Halftime, the show has to be considered a massive success given the extended time Seema Mody spent reporting on emerging markets and even sitting in with panelists.

"With rates rising in the U.S., income investors are pulling money out of emerging markets," Mody explained. But the yuan is "holding up relatively well."

Steve Weiss said of emerging markets, "I wouldn't touch it. ... A rising dollar, and rising rates, are not good for emerging markets." Weiss hesitated before saying "I wouldn't short it" because of all the "quant money out there."

Weiss contended, in the show's most provocative point, "In the U.S., you're gonna see inflation go through the roof." Kari Firestone, who's sorta surpassing Jim as Weiss' nemesis, said, "I don't agree." Weiss said, "I don't blame you for not agreeing, but you're gonna see it."

Jim nails it

The very beginning of Thursday's Halftime was impeded by the continuation of a David Faber report on ... National Amusements.

We're happy to inform CNBC that we don't give two (bleeps) about the stupid National Amusements story.

(That doesn't mean we're faulting the reporting or anything like that.)

(We just could not care less.)

Unfortunately, MCC, guest-hosting for Judge, decided to open her show asking panelists about this subject.

We managed to hear Jim Lebenthal say, correctly, that VIAB and CBS might be a case of "the classic 2 drunks holding each other up."

This discussion went on for the first 14 minutes.

Jim botch: On Friday predicted big quarter from CSCO based on Juniper report

Once Thursday's Halftime Report finally shrugged off the latest in National Amusements, Jon Najarian revealed, "I'm in large caps," adding "I'm overweight tech-heavy right now, and I'm in energy and tech for our clients."

Jim Lebenthal astutely pointed out that small caps tend to move individually only around earnings or significant events; as a group, they are a "clearly risk-on move."

Jim said, "I own Cisco; I'm not at all thrown by the price decline here. ... I just don't think the price decline is large enough to say the plan is off track."

Steve Weiss said "so many traders" piled into CSCO hoping for a "blowout quarter," and when they didn't get it, they hit the exits.

#justbuyFAANGinstead

Barclays' Lauren Lieberman, who is cute (if it's OK to say that), upgraded KO to buy; she told MCC on Thursday's Halftime that KO has been "incredibly proactive" to "really thrive in this new environment."

Lieberman said, "What's really growing is low- and no-sugar soda."

Pete Najarian said of KO, "They've got 21 brands, MCC, that are billion-dollar brands."

Joe Terranova asked Lauren if he could "extrapolate" that she has the same "degree of confidence" in PEP. "I wouldn't make that same, that same, that same leap," Lieberman said.

Actually WMT is still up since Joe touted it May 9

Joe Terranova on Thursday's Halftime said of WMT, "I bought the stock last week. I believe in the stock. ... The problem with this report today, it tells you that there's not going to be a rapid recovery in the stock price of Walmart."

Jon Najarian said a $16 billion acquisition even for a company as big as WMT "takes a little time" to absorb, which seems a bit of an understatement.

Steve Weiss said, "I don't think that's the issue." Rather, it's "fighting for its relevancy as big as they are," and its traditional investors are not necessarily interested in this kind of transition.

Weiss: Buy ‘longer-dated’ S&P puts

Guest host Michelle Caruso-Cabrera on Thursday's Halftime waited until the 41-minute mark (yeesh) to air a commercial.

The Najarii reported unusual options activity in RL (June 115 calls), ATVI (June 77.50 calls), CLF (October 9 calls) and AIG (November 60 calls).

Jeff Kilburg said crude is still on a trajectory higher. Anthony Grisanti said 73.30 and 69.00 are the next levels to watch, but "I wouldn't be surprised if this market didn't sell off after the Memorial Day holiday."

Doc's final trade was BP. Kari Firestone said BSX. Weiss said S&P puts, "longer dated." Jim said MSG. Joe said DDS.

[Wednesday, May 16, 2018]

Judge asks analyst to critique another analyst’s obviously wrong call

Onetime JCP-Ron-Johnson-turnaround defender Liz Dunn visited with Wednesday's Halftime and declared M has "done a lot to clean up its store base" (not really sure what that means; hiring custodians?) and "add better product" and "they're working on experience; they're working on convenience."

Judge and Dunn noted that Kimberly Greenberger put a sell on M last week (oops); Dunn said Kimberly is a "great analyst" who issued a "very thorough report."

Then Dunn curiously admitted, "I mean, even walking in the stores, it's difficult to get excited about the store."

But somehow, it's doing well in the "tenets of retail."

Dunn also touted KSS, "doing a lot right."

Kevin O'Leary wondered why he should be excited about a 1.7% comp at Macy's when HD was higher and the stock got hit. Dunn said M has a "decent setup" after raising guidance "modestly."

Dunn actually suggested this goal of Macy's shopping trips: "People begin to Instagram it, begin to, um, capture it as part of their daily experience that they want to communicate to the rest of the world, that's magic right there."

Hmmm.

Jon Najarian asked Dunn for an opinion on URBN. Dunn said specialty retailers are "more dicey," contingent on nailing fashion trends, and that she's not sure she's "fully bought in" to URBN's strategy.

Pete Najarian asked about TGT. Dunn said there's "margin contraction" ahead in the short term, and that should pay off eventually, but "there's a lot of heavy lifting ahead of them."

Dunn predicted "intense focus" on WMT's online growth as far as how the stock goes.

Rising rates, Zzzzzzzzzz (maybe if Herbalife would commission a psychological profile of Federal Reserve members, it would know how to thrive in a rate-pressure situation)

We could barely hear Kevin O'Leary at the top of Wednesday's Halftime (must've been mike issues), but as far as rising rates, he apparently suggested the TINA environment for stocks is over.

Rob Sechan said, "Investors need to digest the change. ... I think the pain trade now is actually higher."

Sechan, who had a quiet show, then got Pete Najarian's attention by saying investors have been "hiding in tech."

Pete bashed that notion, "absolutely not" ... NOT because he thinks people aren't in tech but that the fundamentals are so great. "It's not for hiding reasons," Pete asserted.

Pete shrugged that only the "velocity" of rate moves matters, and because of that, he's still not concerned.

Jon Najarian said this isn't a 2013-esque taper tantrum.

Judge claimed that at the Fed, "The doves are basically gone at this point; um, if rates continue to rise, the possibility of a Fed error is real."

Panelists raised a ruckus about whatever Kevin O'Leary was talking about regarding corporate bonds and alternatives to stocks. Steve Liesman said, "I think that the slam-dunk play is gone," referring to green slopes, blue slopes and black slopes.

Righting the ship: Joe pronounces ‘Chipotle’ correctly

Judge on Wednesday's Halftime said the Call of the Day was Argus' upgrade of CMG to buy and 540 target.

Pete Najarian said there's "probably more room" to the upside in CMG but that the P.E. of 38 "seems pretty high."

Joe Terranova said CMG has gone to DoorDash and offered it "in 1,500 stores," so weekly orders are up "667%." Joe said DoorDash is probably low margin for CMG, but "it reintroduces the customer back (sic redundant) into the store once again (sic double redundant)." Joe said he's missed the run but isn't sure he'd chase but wouldn't bet against it.

Kevin O'Leary said, "I'm struggling with the metrics" of the call. O'Leary said the cash flow isn't going to double and the P.E. isn't going to double, so maybe the call is "crazy."

"I don't get this call," O'Leary said.

Jon Najarian stressed the gains from "repeat customers."

Joe trumpeted DPZ and MCD as alternate names in the space.

How much progress has Jana-CALSTRS made on getting AAPL to child-proof some of those features?

In one of those great trades that has already happened (unless you've got a time machine), Jon Najarian on Wednesday's Halftime touted what HEAR has done this year. Judge noted it's "a pretty small market cap" ($250 million).

Doc said CLF June 7 (snicker) calls were popular. Pete said August 90 XOM calls and June 42 EWZ calls were popular.

Kevin O'Leary touted the Russell 2000 once again but warned about REITs in the Russell once again and thus touted his own ETF that zaps out the RETIs (again). (That was also his final trade (again).)

Joe Terranova said O'Leary did a "fantastic job" talking about the Russell. Joe cited "lifting of regulation" as giving the small caps a boost. Rob Sechan predicted "the tailwinds get stronger."

Scott Nations said as long as rates head higher, "Gold's gonna have a really tough time." Anthony Grisanti predicted 1,276 "and possibly lower."

Joe took some musical ribbing for his fine blue suit. (Great suit, Joe; don't listen to 'em.) Joe's final trade was TWLO. Rob Sechan said ITB. Doc said SU. Pete said NRG.

[Tuesday, May 15, 2018]

Jeff Sonnenfeld predicted a C- performance but nevertheless a grade of B+

Stephanie Link said at the top of Tuesday's Halftime, "I think rates are going up for the right reasons," but she doesn't see them getting out of control.

Judge said Bill Gross says the economy can't handle 3.25% (snicker). Joe Terranova pointed out the 10-year made a "large move" of 6 basis points Tuesday and said when big moves like that happen, stocks won't rise. Joe again mentioned the 30-day thing that he started bringing up a few weeks ago.

Josh Brown noted that as rates climb, "You actually could earn something on your fixed income."

Jon Najarian said the fact the VIX (snicker) is struggling to get to 14.40 "should tell you everything you need to know about how much real fear there is in the marketplace." (Or how much lack of buying there is in the marketplace.)

Judge said to Pete Najarian, "Pete, you were givin' me a look when we were talkin' about rates." Pete explained that this is only "one day" of a rate move.

Stephanie said, "Today, actually value is outperforming (snicker); so are small caps over large caps."

Judge said he's looking at the BofA fund managers survey, and "Long FAANG is the most crowded trade yet again for the 4th straight ..."

As Wade Garrett says in "Road House," "Exxxxxxxxactly." #catchingon

"People always chase the winners," explained Joe Terranova, before saying that high yield isn't showing any stress.

"Joe nails it," said Josh Brown, noting there's no "signs of stress" with credit yields (for anyone who thought Tuesday's market activity was October 1987).

Brown noted college-degree unemployment is "sub-2%."

Josh said we won't see another 16 straight Greenspan-esque Fed hikes "just in time to blow everything up in the following year" that "escapes the notice" of the White House.

What happened to that great transfer of wealth from insurers to Houston car owners

Judge on Tuesday's Halftime said "influential analyst" Adam Jonas cut his TSLA target 90 bucks down to 291.

Josh Brown said that because of Jonas' stature, that's "notable." Judge said Toni Sacconaghi was on CNBC in the previous hour (#bookingrivalries) and stated, "Vision can only drive a company for so long."

Josh Brown noted that Jonas said in the 2nd paragraph of his note that even if Tesla hit its targets (which it won't), the cars will be "a lot less profitable," a point Doc already made last week (#analystscatchingupwiththeshow). Joe mentioned the "executive exits."

Judge didn’t ask Dana if she felt ‘sympathetic’ to Elon Musk during Elon’s conference call

Dana Telsey, who upgraded GPS, told Judge on Tuesday's Halftime, "We've an apparel cycle and a fashion cycle that we haven't had in years."

Noting what retail was doing a year ago, Judge actually said, "Oh what a difference a year makes."

Telsey said her 39 target "only requires a 13 times multiple" and rattled off GPS financials that didn't sound interesting. (Just let us know, do they have a hot new product, or not.)

Joe Terranova opined halfheartedly, "Old Navy seems to be where the strength is," but he's "not necessarily very confident" that the stock's recovery continues.

Stephanie Link said she prefers "the secular stories within retail."

Pete Najarian trumpeted TJX (for the first time in months, probably first time this year, but there have been about 50 mentions over the last 8 years) but admitted he's not in the name.

Pete said Under Armour "finally had an insider buy."

Jon Najarian said "I'm not in a single retailer right here, but I am in Square and, uh, Visa, and they've been killin' it."

Josh Brown said GPS is at the same level as 1999 and said precisely what we were thinking while this segment aired; "I have no idea why anyone is even talking about this name."

Wow — Judge actually didn’t mention his book during the Pershing Square conversation

Leslie Picker on Tuesday's Halftime reported on Pershing Square's year-to-date performance, stating that according to Bill's comments, performance "actually appears to be turning around."

Picker said Bill mentioned adding "opportunistically" to positions in CMG, FNMA and FMCC. Judge noted Bill made a "really nice profit" in NKE before flipping.

Stephanie Link said NKE is a "secular winner" and is at "the cusp of a whole new product-innovation cycle story for the company."

Joe Terranova made a joke about CMG having a "technology strategy."

Josh Brown said NKE has "probed" 70 a couple times, and "there is no such thing on Wall Street as a triple top," so be ready for the breakout.

Added to BAC, bought some more Citi, etc.

Jon Najarian on Tuesday's Halftime gushed that someone was buying December 270 NFLX calls. Doc said June 38 MAS calls were popular.

Pete Najarian said BAC July 31 calls were popular; Pete said he already owns BAC calls, but "I added more stock to this."

Pete said he thinks HD numbers were "fabulous" and blamed the weather (snicker) for affecting results.

Judge derailed whatever Doc was saying about WYNN with a Laffalympics about people jumping on tables at the meeting.

Josh Brown said that in tech, A is "not the right pond to fish in."

Stephanie Link said she likes the ULTA story but wouldn't buy it at Tuesday's level.

Joe suggested COF would reach 100.

Jim Iuorio said the most important factor in gold's price is rates. Brian Stutland suggested 1,280 and 1,210 as possible look-out-below scenarios.

Stephanie Link's final trade was NOC. Joe actually said BKE. "My daughter's the online model, you know," Pete said (he has said that several times before on the program, so yes, we know). Pete said HSY. Doc said NYCB. Josh Brown said SCHW.

[Monday, May 14, 2018]

Sports gambling is one of the dumbest things you can do

Judge on Monday's Halftime turned to Eric Chemi for an update on what's going on with sports gambling.

Josh Brown noted CHDN was rallying and suggested maybe "dying" racetracks could be saved by sports gambling.

Judge tried to claim "even people talk about Disney" as getting a "boon" via ESPN from sports betting. (Snicker.) Jim Lebenthal said he owns MSG for reasons that have nothing to do with betting.

Jim demanded Josh and Joe "relax" while Jim was trying to make some sort of point about the proliferation of gambling.

Jim said he's not selling MSG, but he notes "it's up over 60% in 2 years."

Nobody mentioned what might be a positive development (but probably isn't happening), which is that human beings might be getting less dumb and less interested in gambling. Nothing is dumber than sports betting. At least with lotteries, everyone knows it's nothing more than getting lucky when not wasting money. Sports betting attracts all these chuckleheads (some of them, above, even get CNBC shows) who watch 5 football games a week and actually believe they've got some inside "edge" on next week's point spread. Instead of spending your money on sports wagering, buy the FAANGs. Mel on the 5 p.m. show mentioned that she asked Brent Musburger (feeling compelled to explain who Musburger is) on Power Lunch if people will watch more sports if there's betting; Brent said "absolutely."

What in the world is keeping
Victoria’s Secret down?

Judge on Monday's Halftime brought in Matt Boss to opine on some of the retail juggernauts (snicker).

"I think Macy's has some ammunition (snicker) here," Boss said, predicting a "decent quarter."

Jim Lebenthal asked, "Does this quarter really matter?" Boss said he wants to see "stability" in this quarter.

There's no need to worry about the shoppers. "The general tone is that the underlying (sic redundant) consumer is pretty strong," Boss said.

Joe Terranova asked Boss what LB needs to do to right the ship. Boss conceded there's "a lot of heavy lifting" that needs to happen here and said others have made inroads in intimates.

Judge noted ROST, LULU, TJX and KSS are all overweight by Boss; Judge asked which is best. "I think Lulu still has a long way to go," Boss said.

Credit Judge for sparing us anything about National Amusements, a company last exciting in the 1980s

In an absolutely slumber-worthy edition of the Halftime Report on Monday, Josh Brown stuck it to naysayers who grumble about internals not matching the gains; "what are you gonna say now."

Joe Terranova said, "I'm decreasing a little bit of the leverage I have to technology" (Why? Who knows; we just report what they say), but he's increasing health care, financials and energy (Snicker across the board) (#buytheFAANGs).

Jim Lebenthal said ValueAct gave financials a boost; Pete Najarian touted the sector (snicker).

Pete again pointed out that a VIX over 20 is "very difficult to sustain" (Zzzzzzzz) (what he really means is that markets tend to right themselves shortly after buyers get scared and temporarily stop buying).

Impressively, Judge did not waste any time on his show talking about Viacom; he left that drivel to David Faber, who delivered the ins and outs seemingly every 10 minutes on CNBC.

Pete: GE will see single digit

Judge on Monday's Halftime said Gabelli Co. is calling GE a buy with a $20 target for end of 2019.

Stephanie Link said if GE's businesses start to accelerate, other companies in those sectors will do well. Joe Terranova mentioned HON stumbling since late January.

Josh Brown speculated that maybe GE was "never a great business to begin with." Pete Najarian said he still thinks it'll be a single-digit stock; "all we ever see paper-wise in here is buying puts."

Josh and Stephanie bickered over whether stock valuations have peaked. Pete bluntly told Judge the stock market will see new highs, "Yes."

Referring to some commentary that had to be so uninteresting we didn't even notice, Jim Lebenthal insisted, "I was labeled earlier, it sounds like I'm a seller of this market. I am fully invested," predicting another 10% this year.

Judge said the Call of the Day is JPMorgan pinning 120 on WDC.

Joe Terranova said WDC has "a lot of volatility" and that the cash position "was a little bit weak." Jim said the stock can't get a "sustained rally," and while he agrees with the call, it's just a trade. "I'd rather be in Cisco," Jim said, not surprisingly. Pete Najarian said he's in MU and not STX.

Pete must've had a helluva trade in MRO, because he can't stop talking about those calls, as was the case Monday, when he said someone "rolled up" to the May 42 calls in DVN. Pete also mentioned October 14 calls in AMD.

Pete Najarian's final trade was (Zzzzzz) XLF. Josh Brown once again said TWTR (Zzzzzzzz) (what about all the regulation that's coming to social media?). Jim Lebenthal said QCOM (Zzzzzzzzzzzz). Stephanie Link said PM. Joe Terranova said TMO.

[Friday, May 11, 2018]

CNBCfix review: Scott Wapner’s
When the Wolves Bite could stand a protein shake

It's a curious profile of dueling parties who recruit others to work for them and achieve possibly dubious results. And it's a bit of a timeline. We finally get a crack at Judge's much-ballyhooed book; check out our review right here.

Seema Mody unfathomably
devastating on Halftime set

It's some of the best acting we've ever seen.

Friday's Halftime gang managed to conduct a normal-sounding discussion on tech stocks even while everyone's knees had to be buckling in the presence of gorjus CNBC superfox Seema Mody.

Mody is on fire- er, noted that the tech sector is on fire and that the S&P tech valuation is suddenly now 33 vs. the S&P 500's 21.

Jon Najarian bragged that he was "pounding" the table for FB when it fell to 149. Doc noted that Jeffrey Gundlach shorted FB. (How's that working out?) (You know, that was the "terrible" chart as of April 23 and the idea that "equity bubbles pop by regulation.") Doc noted that PYPL was "under 71 bucks the 3rd of May." (This writer is long FB and PYPL.)

Later in the show, Doc lost his voice explaining what was happening to SYMC. Josh Brown said of NVDA, "I can't understand who would be selling it."

Sarat Sethi said he's been accumulating YELP and called it "a good stock to own" despite the day's tumble.

Jim Lebenthal said he's looking for a good report from CSCO, based on JNPR's report a couple weeks ago.

Josh Brown said JD has been a "very treacherous stock this year" and that he'd prefer to use KWEB for the space rather than individual names.

Analyst somehow felt ‘sympathetic’ for Elon Musk during conference call, trumpets that the price of Musk’s product is coming drastically down

In one of the strangest interviews in weeks, Judge on Friday's Halftime, referring to a research report's terminology, asked Nomura's Romit Shah, who has a 2-year, 500 target on TSLA, "who you callin' a bonehead."

Shah said he's referring to the "community" that makes up the 30% short interest in TSLA.

Judge said the short thesis has been "emboldened recently." Shah said he disagrees, asserting that the short thesis "just keeps shifting."

As far as management assertions, Judge asked Shah, "why do you trust what they say." Shah said, "From their results, you're seeing real progress."

Shah said he thinks TSLA can raise cash "later this year or next year."

Judge asked about Elon Musk's recent call and asserted, "If nothing else, it was a really bad look."

Shah stammered, "Look, he's- he's a genius, and like we've seen with other geniuses like Steve Jobs, they can be eccentric. I actually felt sympathetic for him."

Jon Najarian asked a great question about buyers' interest in Tesla being diminished without the federal credit that "very few people qualify for," specifically the Model 3 with the price around $50,000-$55,000.

Eventually, after a slightly clumsy dialogue, Shah said, "As you go through the year, the price of the vehicle is gonna come down. They're gonna offer that same vehicle at a 35 or $40,000 price point" with even "more options available."

Shah said he's "really optimistic" about the Model 3 regardless of the tax credit.

Doc responded moments later when Shah was no longer on the air, "What happens to your profit margin if you take a vehicle from 50 to 35?"

Jim Lebenthal said of Elon Musk, "He can't issue more debt without getting into a death spiral on the debt."

Tim Cook said he wouldn’t be in Facebook’s position (cont’d)

Jim Lebenthal at the top of Friday's Halftime Report said that he checked the 10Q and found AAPL's share count went from 5.1 billion shares a year ago to 4.9 billion now.

"Every quarter, we're gonna have to look at what that share count is," Jim explained. (Some of us just let Yahoo Finance calculate the market cap for us.)

In a dig at a colleague who wasn't present (and who is basically right about this subject), Josh Brown said of AAPL, "Can you imagine if only they could innovate where this thing would be."

But Jim Lebenthal said services "can be an antidote, an offset, to this, uh, somewhat boring lack of innovation in the iPhone."

And Brown even conceded later, "They have not succeeded at many of the large-scale products they've attempted, starting with TV, um, and then they've been talking about the cars forever, and then we heard about health; the speaker for the home is, is an also-ran, uh, to be charitable."

Sarat Sethi said he's not gonna chase AAPL, he "took the capital" of a gain earlier and admittedly "took it earlier than we should have."

Josh Brown said there's a case to be made that Waymo, if it were a separate company, could be worth as much as Tesla. The only problem with that, as far as we know, is that Waymo doesn't actually sell any cars. (This writer is long GOOGL.)

Jon Najarian said AAPL and PYPL and FB haven't skipped a beat since earnings. (This writer is long PYPL and FB.)

Repealing Obamacare (cont’d)

Meg Tirrell on Friday's Halftime Report said health-care investors are breathing a "sigh of relief" about whatever the White House is doing.

Sarat Sethi trumpeted health care valuations and tried to convince Doc that "this is what I think we need to get into." But Jim Lebenthal said "these have been value traps" and that investing so far has been "catching a falling knife"; he said there'll be a time to buy, but "it's a little early to do it today."

Meg said it doesn't sound like there's "anything on the table" in terms of PFE-AGN.

Jim sticks it to Weiss on CAT

Jim Lebenthal on Friday's Halftime said the problem for M, JWN and JCP is that this is a "dud quarter" (snicker). Jim affirmed that regarding JCP, "I'm not in the name."

Jim said of NWSA, "Honestly, I don't think you should hold this stock."

Jon Najarian said AKRX September 22.50 calls were getting bought apparently in anticipation of straightening out some issues.

Scott Nations said there's been buying in oil December options at 90 and 100 strikes. Brian Stutland said crude is probably due for a bit of a pullback, but he'd buy under 70.

Sarat Sethi said he wants to see "how soft" Q1 is for HD and others in the space.

Josh Brown said the revelation of WMT's stake in Flipkart was "one of the strangest things that happened this week." (But not as strange as the TSLA-to-500-because-shorts-are-dorks conversation earlier.)

Jim's final trade was CAT, gloating about trumping Steve Weiss on the name in a recent debate. Josh Brown said GOOGL or GOOG. (This writer is long GOOGL.) Doc said DVN. Sarat said QCOM.

[Thursday, May 10, 2018]

Judge needs to work on his mock voice slightly, didn’t quite nail it with ‘the Caterpillar guy’

In the most extensive debate from Thursday's Halftime, Joe Terranova got Judge's attention in contending, "If you are long Nvidia, I almost think you want this to be a yawn tonight."

Judge asked if "ho hum" really "gets it done" for NVDA. Joe told Judge, "I think ho hum does get- does (sic grammar)."

After a lengthy debate involving Josh Brown, Joe finally told Judge and Josh, "You're both misunderstanding me. I'm not saying a ho-hum earnings report. I'm saying 'ho-hum' in the terms of volatility (sic effect mistaken as cause) itself."

Judge retorted, "You said it. I mean, it's like the Caterpillar guy now saying, 'Well, the high-water mark wasn't really what I meant.'"

JJ Kinahan contended that retail earnings could be a problem "if they truly miss badly." (Well, we gotta agree, if they "truly miss badly," that could be a problem.)

But Pete Najarian interrupted, "Nah, people won't care."

Joe said if the 10-year goes to 3.30% in the next 30 days, then the S&P appreciation "gets halted."

JJ Kinahan also suggested that something that could slow the market is "crude going to 80." Erin Browne said she disagrees "a little bit" that 80 crude is a "magical number." Browne said "energy is the place to be right now."

JJ suggested Amazon raised the price of Prime because "it's gonna work as an energy hedge for them."

Judge summoned "Mike Santelli (sic pronunciation, not corrected)" at the NYSE for market commentary. During this dialogue, Judge suggested volatility as a cause rather than effect.

Joe disagrees with Kimberly Greenberger's M downgrade, stating the company's real estate "buffers the downside." JJ Kinahan said one of the things the new Macy's CEO is doing is making the stores a "compact place to shop."

Jon Najarian suggested Judge drives a BMW. Doc said July 155 calls in VMW were getting bought. Pete said May 33.50 MGM calls were popular, as were MU 54.50 calls that expire May 25.

Josh Brown said he just bought NOW in the cloud space. Pete suggested RHT, "a really well-oiled machine."

Joe said the reaction to ROKU's earnings was "a little bit underwhelming" and mentioned compressed margins. (This writer is long ROKU.)

Josh Brown said he's sticking with ALB even though it's going to have volatility. (This writer is long ALB.)

Pete said to look for a pullback in AMCX rather than jump aboard.

Doc said there's a rumor that Pfizer was "kicking the tires" of AGN.

Erin Browne said she's a buyer of industrials.

Pete said he's long HD calls and touted growth from online. JJ Kinahan said "however," he thinks the company will have trouble meeting expectations and that its margins will decrease. JJ said he's actually short.

Pete's final trade was EEM, though he's "not in it yet." Doc said JNPR. Erin Browne said XLE. JJ Kinahan said KO. Judge, whose accent has never been discerned, accused JJ of calling Coca-Cola "pop" as a "Midwestern guy." Josh Brown said TWTR, like he always does. Joe said PANW, like he almost always does. (When it's not LPX.)

Karen Finerman, in gray on the 5 p.m. show, explained that the VIX was below 13. "That to me says, 'Ya gotta buy more puts,'" Karen said.

[Wednesday, May 9, 2018]

Joe on fire — stampeding the field for Call of the Year, and it’s only early May

Joe Terranova on Wednesday's Halftime Report graciously accepted congratulations for what has been, in what we'd call an intermediate-term trade, an undeniably jaw-dropping call.

The stock is TWLO, up $8 on the day to $52. (Judge mistakenly said "the stock is at $8" before correcting.)

Incredibly, Joe touted this stock on the first trading day of the year, the Jan. 2 show, as his final trade. It was $25 then.

The stock treaded water for a month, then surged to $30 on Feb. 14; Joe made it his final trade Feb. 15.

The biggie came March 2, when Joe again made TWLO his final trade at $37, predicting it "doubles by the end of 2018."

Again on April 18, it was Joe's final trade. On April 26, Joe offered TWLO for CNBC's "Stock Drafters."

The only thing we might quibble with is that Joe might be too modest. On Wednesday's show, he told Judge he got into the stock "somewhere around 34, 35 dollars." But back on April 5, Joe revealed, "Candidly, I didn't buy enough at 25."

Wednesday, Joe pointed to 71 and even 80 and said he thinks that "is where this stock is going."

Judge called it a "monster win today" and said "Congrats, Joe."

Joe noted Marc Benioff owns some of the name. Jon Najarian said it's a "nibble" for someone like Marc Benioff or IBM. Doc said TWLO is a "big part of cloud."

Kari Firestone mentioned getting messages from doctors and dentists about whether you're coming to the appointment as an example of TWLO technology.

Joe said TWLO grew its customer base from 40,000 to 53,000.

Doc several times says DIS goes to 110 if it doesn’t buy the Fox assets

Pete Najarian on Wednesday's Halftime said he doesn't own DIS anymore, grumbling about how the focus is always on ESPN.

In what seems an understatement, Kari Firestone said, "What Disney has become to some extent, is a conglomerate," suggesting even the huge haul from "Black Panther" isn't "moving the dial."

Jon Najarian said the worry now is that DIS "might have to overpay" for the Fox assets in the wake of Comcast's interest.

Doc said if Comcast makes "such an outrageous bid" that Iger has to back off, "this stock goes to 110 very quickly." A couple times later, he predicted that if Comcast indeed gets the Fox assets, DIS is 110 within a quarter.

Joe Terranova said DIS has "no momentum" and "doesn't get me excited."

But Steve Weiss said, "Every asset they've acquired has tremendous synergies." He said he doesn't think you lose money buying it now.

Pete grumbled, "How late they are to the streaming world." Weiss said even if DIS doesn't get Fox, there are other things to buy.

Actually according to the unusual activity segment, sounds like ‘everything’ in the options market was EWZ and AKAM

Joe Terranova on Wednesday's Halftime Report contended "higher oil pricing is good" and that in the energy space, "We're seeing an avalanche of debt that's going to be maturing here in 2008 (sic uncorrected)." (Uh oh. We've still got 2008 ahead of us?)

Pete Najarian said "everything once again is energy" in the options world.

Pete said he's got a bunch of energy longs in stock and options; he took off MRO because "it hit so well," then he re-explained that to everyone later in the show.

Kari Firestone said energy stocks should keep rallying because they "dramatically underperformed" in the last year and a half.

Doc bought RIG calls Wednesday, citing November 16 volume.

Steve Weiss said it's not just energy but other commodity prices that are rising. Weiss said it's "already a nervous market in terms of credit" and that commodity prices are "close to being an issue."

Joe said, "Generally the refiners telegraph when the demand is going to uh begin to decelerate from the consumer," but right now, "The refiners are rising right along with oil." Weiss said it's a "seasonal refining trade right now also."

Pete said energy stocks can keep going even if oil stays "stagnant."

Weiss pointed out that airlines "don't hedge anymore" against rising oil, and he said of Ford, "What are they thinking" in getting rid of sedans in favor of gas-guzzling trucks. Pete thundered, "The efficiencies of these big trucks is so much different now, 5 years later, than it was 5 years ago, 10 years ago." Pete said his "pretty beefed-up big truck" averages 16-18 mpg.

In the most interesting comment of the energy discussion, Doc suggested looking at FSLR, SLCA and HAL and CJ.

Kari shrugged that "energy is 5% of the market" and then proceeded to spar with Weiss over how much of an impact rising commodities will have on other parts of the economy.

Joe said "energy is a sentiment trade" and asserted that the market story is going to be about technology.

Weiss said ValueAct "opened eyes" about the value that can be "unlocked" in banks (snicker).

Weiss said for now, rising energy stocks are good for the market because it's a sign of "economic health," providing commodity prices don't "run away."

Judge said Jeffrey Gundlach made a "damn good call" on commodities. Joe said "tethered," not this time in regard to HES and oil but how rates and energy are linked to consumer behavior.

Doc said if gasoline rises 50 cents, the typical gasoline consumer is only paying an extra $300 a year, which is "probably not gonna moderate behavior."

Joe said lumber is going "higher and higher."

Judge opened with a stumble in the intro, referring to "high-al" oil prices.

Did Jeffrey make a ‘damn good call’ to short FB?

Sue Herera on Wednesday's Halftime reported that Novartis disclosed paying $100,000 a month to Michael Cohen, up to $1.2 million, for advice on "how the Trump administration might approach certain health care policy matters."

Judge scoffed, "$100,000 a month, Sue, to learn that the president didn't like high drug prices."

Joe Terranova said he doesn't understand why WMT is lower on the Flipkart news; he saw the story and "was excited to get back into Walmart."

Jon Najarian said AKAM May 76.50 calls were popular. Doc said KNX June 40 calls were getting bought.

Pete Najarian said "nearly a hundred thousand" EWZ July 43 calls got bought "all in a single print," even though supposedly "everything" going on in the options market was energy-related.

Pete recapped all the recent call-buying in MRO; now "I'm completely out" after the "great run."

Kari Firestone said she still likes EA.

Doc said TRIP increased its market cap by a billion dollars; also there was May 1 call activity around the 37 strike.

Steve Weiss, who had a quiet show, offered sarcasm about PZZA and said he'd rather be on the sidelines.

Pete likes STZ over MNST.

Anthony Grisanti told Seema Mody (picture above from Power Lunch, not from Halftime Report) that if the 10-year falls through the double bottom of 118.31, then "yields are going higher." Jeff Kilburg said "we'll be OK" in stocks, including emerging markets, as long as the velocity of the 10-year move "stays under control."

Joe's final trade was IBKR. Weiss said MCK. Kari said STZ. Doc said BOX. Pete said LNG.

[Tuesday, May 8, 2018]

Basically ValueAct could just buy the FAANGs instead, do far better

It's a conversation everyone has heard way too many times before:

Citi's a buy!!!!

Leslie Picker on Tuesday's Halftime reported on ValueAct's interest in financials, including a $1.2 billion stake in Citigroup (snicker).

Picker pointed out that MS is up 80% since ValueAct's announced stake in August 2016. She didn't point out that those are past-tense, catch-up, relief-over-no-more-1.5%-10-year gains and that the talent and money that used to go to that sector that used to be free to trade generously are now drifting West to Silicon Valley and reinventing the financial space and other spaces, which generally means improving consumer convenience and lowering fees.

Guest host Sully questioned how receptive a company like C is to an investor telling it what it should do. Josh Brown said, "You can like the assets and not like the way that they're being managed." Jon Najarian pointed out that the stake is only "about 6/10 of a percent."

Stephanie Link didn't sound terribly optimistic. "It does have a lot of fat and overhead that they can cut," Link said. "But it's gonna be fits and starts."

Mike Mayo brought a megaphone and first stated that "a billion-dollar investment is significant, especially when it's Citigroup."

"Now, Citigroup is no longer too big to engage," Mayo said, adding 3 facts that might've compelled ValueAct to jump aboard: The first being that "chairman Mike O'Neill must step down at the end of the year" and the position is "in play," the second that C has "worst in class returns vs. its U.S. bank peers," and finally that it has "worst in class valuation," which really seems more like an extension of the 2nd fact, but whatever.

Joe Terranova observed that with its MS stake, ValueAct "didn't even have to really fire the shots." Joe asserted that at C, "There's a tremendous amount of fat that this company can cut" and that ValueAct has the "levers to pull" if it wants to.

Mayo said without ValueAct's push, he thinks C can double on its own plan in 4 years. "If Citigroup's stock is at this price a year from now, then ... our perspective would be that ValueAct would pull levers," Mayo explained.

Josh Brown asked what if Citi never performs with its peers because it doesn't have "the single most important line of business that they all are thriving on, which is wealth management." Mayo said he would "pull the lens back," which is that the view used to be C was always half-full and now since the financial crisis, "The glass is always half-empty," but while the glass hasn't really changed, the perception has ... which never answered Brown's question.

Picker stressed that ValueAct "very very rarely runs proxy contests ... they're not really proposing much in the way of changes."

Stephanie Link, in smashing blue by the way, admitted to being a "frustrated shareholder" in C; "It seems like it's always cheap."

In maybe the best observation of the conversation because it dealt with something specific (unlike the stuff Mayo always talks about), Link also said she's concerned that C has gotten "very aggressive" in its credit-card portfolio. Mayo said he did a "deep dive" on teaser rates and studied whether consumers who get "free money" for transferring balances for up to 2 years tend to keep the card when the real rates kick in. He said the company claims it keeps "a little bit less than half" of those customers. Indicating Stephanie's concern is a non-concern, Mayo said, "I sleep fine at night because the credit quality is so much better."

Mayo noted C's price is "well below its pre-crisis peak."

Donald Trump waiting for Iran to invite him to a summit, continue his rapprochement tour

It was an unfortunate issue of timing that Tuesday's Halftime Report aired barely an hour before Donald Trump's Iran announcement.

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, citing a New York Times report, said it looks like Donald Trump would be nixing the deal.

Guest host Brian Sullivan suggested to Jon Najarian that, if the U.S. ends the deal, oil could actually fall if Iran starts dumping; Doc said that's "certainly the way it looks."

Joe Terranova wasn't going to predict a direction in energy prices. "This is a complicated story, Brian," Joe said. "I do think it's the beginning of a longer negotiation." But Joe said there is "finally stability once again" in the energy investment space.

Stephanie Link reasoned, "You kinda can't get caught up in this short-term, day-to-day thing."

Josh Brown curiously stated, "Chevron and Hess aren't one-to-one correlated, um, in terms of earnings and revenues with whether or not oil is up or down," even though one of Joe's historic lines is that HES' share price is "tethered" to the price of oil.

Brown grumbled correctly that the market is waiting for the end of the bluster in which Donald Trump plays to his base only to negotiate back to "pretty much where we were. It's no different than the trade drama."

Later, Jim Iuorio said Tuesday's weakness suggests to him that oil is going down to 64.

How much regulation did the government enact today regarding Facebook’s link to someone who supported Donald Trump?

Bob Pisani during Tuesday's Halftime talked to Shaq at BTIG Charity Day. Shaq complimented Bob's "sharp" look. Bob said Shaq is "sort of the brand ambassador" for the event.

We figured it would be like a typical celeb interview, but then we heard Shaq say he's a shareholder in JCP; "it's a beautiful brand."

Shaq said he's "always in Google, Apple ... the big stuff." (This writer is long GOOGL.)

With a visual aid of ripping a piece of paper, Shaq gave a wonderful demonstration about saving money that is 100% true for every income level: Live within your means. (Sully did make a good joke, that if you're rich, you could tear part of the paper for Uncle Sam.)

A day without a ‘Chipultee’ pronunciation

Guest host Brian Sullivan on Tuesday's Halftime said the Call of the Day was NOC being added to Goldman Sachs' Conviction Buy list.

Stephanie Link said she likes NOC but prefers TXT.

Link suggested the easing of Korean tensions might've hurt defense stocks, and maybe the sector got "so overowned" with "so much momentum money." Joe Terranova said he agrees with the Goldman call and is "inclined" to get back in NOC after owning it much of 2017. Joe said it's a "great point to get in."

Jon Najarian said, "Defense is all high-tech." (As opposed to fast food, according to Jim Lebenthal.)

Doc said July 60 calls in SQ were popular. Doc said DAL May 54 calls were popular.

Sully turned to CNBC's Seema Mody for a report on the dollar's impact on emerging markets. Stephanie Link said she likes Brazil. Josh Brown said there's basically no correlation between the dollar and U.S. stocks; "it's meaningless" on a 30-day basis. But he conceded there's an effect on emerging markets.

Joe's final trade was PANW; he said he's long and buying more. Josh Brown said TWTR. Stephanie Link said DXC. Doc said HDP, probably the first time we've heard that one on the show.

[Monday, May 7, 2018]

While Jim stumbles through losing debate, Judge fails to give Joe a chance

It somehow hasn't spread to bank-stock discussions yet, but CNBC's Halftime crew on Monday took a giant step toward recognizing the unfolding impact of technology on far more industries than just newspapers.

Such as, burgers.

Judge said the Call of the Day was Goldman Sachs putting MCD on the Conviction Buy list. Joe Terranova affirmed he thinks it's "fairly valued" in the upper 160s, but he likes it in the mid-150s.

Josh Brown said people are buying MCD not just for yield but for "elevated growth potential."

Jim Lebenthal stated that the multiple is not a defensive multiple, and MCD is supposed to be a defensive name. Kevin O'Leary called the P.E. "insane."

All of that was typical, run-of-the-mill conversation ... until Steve Weiss said he doubts that MCD "lends itself the same way to technology as Panera is."

"Oh come on; enough with the food companies being technology companies; they're not," Jim stated.

Jim insisted that everyone's got technology. Judge protested that SBUX has struggled with its "mosh pit" technology.

Jim explained, "If you want a Subway cheesesteak, you're not gonna change your decision about what you're gonna eat because of the technology."

"You're wrong," said Josh Brown.

"Jim, Jim, you're missing the point," Weiss said. "It leads to a catering business ... I'm talking about Panera."

"I thought we were talking about McDonald's," Jim said.

Weiss and Brown noted that Domino's "crushed it" with phone ordering to gain market share. "What we're saying is that these companies, in these highly competitive industries, can take a substantial amount of market share by making the right tech investments and executing it," Brown said, an absolutely correct and articulate statement.

Jim insisted that if MCD is going to grow, "it's gonna be because people want Big Macs. It doesn't matter whether they're ordering on their phone. It doesn't matter whether it's drive-thru."

Partly true ... but that's only half the story. As the public gets more and more comfortable with mobile ordering and mobile paying, dinnertime decisions are going to be based as much on the convenience of ordering as the special sauce.

After considerable chatter among Jim, Brown and Weiss, Joe finally asked Judge, "Can I raise my hand ... I've been patiently waiting."

Judge sorta dabbled in condescension, explaining, "That's fine ... if you talk over anybody else, then it doesn't work well."

Then Joe took his long-awaited opportunity and asked Jim: "What has it done for Chipulte (sic pronunciation) in the last 2 months? The technology."

Jim insisted, "That's a totally different story."

"It's a technology story!" Joe insisted.

After an awkward moment of dead air, Josh Brown said, "Queso is a form of technology."

"We're gonna leave it there," Judge said, taking a page from Mel's playbook.

Josh Brown even suggested they should cut to "Money in Motion."

Before everything went haywire and Joe started getting shut out, Brown thought he was uncorking the line of the day, stating "seasoned fries" could be "a whole new lever" for MCD.

Wonder when’s Toni’s
next earnings call

Kevin O'Leary announced on Monday's Halftime, "I don't feel very good about the market right now," saying virtually "everything else" besides tech is "punk," noting financials have been "decimated."

O'Leary said 2,700 on the S&P will be "tough to break through."

Kevin suggested we might be locked in to a range "for quite a while." Steve Weiss said it's about the moves in rates and inflation; he agrees with Kevin but sees "one last push" ahead for stocks.

Josh Brown told Judge that he doesn't think market sentiment has changed, rather, it's just a bounce from tech.

Joe Terranova revealed that he watched the Halftime Report from Toronto on Friday and impressively rattled off the stocks that were talked about (we probably would've flunked such a pop quiz, and we've got all the answers below). Joe then invoked one of his favorite terms from February, stating the market is "still in a time correction from late January" but that people are talking about tech again.

Judge suggested to Weiss that as AAPL goes, so goes the market. Weiss said that's just "short-term." Weiss said the last few days give "comfort," but he doesn't think it necessarily means the market is "off to new highs."

Jim Lebenthal said to "look at where the cash is." He said tech is where there's "a heckuva lot of cash." Inserting his own opinion, Judge told Jim that CSCO and INTC don't have the ability to "lift the market," while "Apple is different."

Jim said the S&P chart is "still Charlie Brown's shirt." Jim said it has to cross 2,710 to break out. Joe suggested maybe instead of looking at the S&P, look at the Nasdaq.

Josh Brown said over the last 5 years, when the 2-year/10-year spread gets tighter, growth tends outperform value.

Brown said the best charts are "anything to do with credit cards, anything to do with online payments," mentioning SQ, V, MA, AXP and PYPL (this writer is long PYPL).

Weiss said there's a "secular change" about using cards even for tiny, $3 purchases at Starbucks; "cash is a nuisance."

Joe Terranova said there's nothing "wrong" with owning financials but that they won't deliver tech-like returns.

Josh Brown indicates Kevin O’Leary all wrong about REIT exposure

Mike Santoli on Monday's Halftime said people can make the case that rates are approaching a "make or break moment."

Santoli suggested parallels between today's market and 1994.

Kevin O'Leary was allowed to make a lengthy speech about a portfolio of small caps, minus REITs, outperforming amid trade-war tension. Josh Brown asked how long that portfolio would outperform; O'Leary said 2 years.

"Oh, I'll take the other side," Brown said, asserting "REITs benefit from higher inflation because landlords have the ability to pass on higher rents."

Brown called REITs a "superior inflation hedge" over just about anything. O'Leary said, "I'm sure if you're in a strip mall, that's great."

Weiss adds to Alphabet

Dom Chu on Monday's Halftime introduced CNBC's Warren Buffett Archive. "It's not just an archive, it is THE archive," Dom said.

Joe Terranova said there's "something comforting" listening to Satya Nadella talk about privacy. Joe called MSFT a "fantastically diversified company."

Steve Weiss touted MSFT and GOOGL and said he added to the latter in the morning (this writer is long GOOGL). Pete Najarian touted 18% growth in MSFT gaming and 30-plus% in Surface. "AI is where Microsoft is moving," Pete said.

Jon Najarian said TEVA June 20 calls were popular. Pete said August 18 calls in COTY were getting bought.

Pete delivered a trade update, that someone rolled up to May 21.50 calls in MRO. Nobody offered any trade update in those SNAP calls.

Jim Lebenthal's final trade was CSCO. Joe said FLS, Brown said TWTR, Weiss said JD.

Josh Brown said he wanted to "clarify" his Friday comments about late-night Shake Shack at Penn Station. Brown said he doesn't actually go to burger joints every day. "It's not a treat if you do it every day," he said.

[Friday, May 4, 2018]

Rob Sechan draws parallels of today’s market to March 2009

It was a crisp, solid edition of the Halftime Report on Friday, in part because the show — and the markets — had Rob Sechan on hand to liven things up.

Mike Farr offered, "I'm feeling a shift in the animal spirits," pointing to Kenny Polcari's observation about stocks' bounce off the support line.

Steve Weiss said he would "bring some reason in here," explaining, "I don't think this calls the end to anything or the beginning to anything. This is one day."

But Rob Sechan went back to March 2009 and actually said, "Think David Tepper in March of '09."

"That market was down 50%," Weiss said. Sechan protested that earnings growth is on track for 23% in Q1. "But who doesn't know it," Weiss said.

"I think earnings are probably near peak," Farr said.

"Volatility (also known as 'fewer buyers') is here to stay for now," Weiss said, suggesting the Dow could be down 220 on Monday.

Sechan then doubled down on his provocative commentary, claiming, "When earnings growth is above 5% ... and it's 16% right now, value (snicker) has outperformed growth by a meaningful margin."

Judge, not impressed, asked if anyone thinks financials "are primed and poised" to take over some of the market leadership. Weiss bluntly claimed that financials are "a damaged asset class." Josh Brown said banks are "fine" but "not great." Mike Farr said "Don't count 'em out yet."

Weiss said financials are like energy was until recently; "you get bored of it."

Sechan said that energy prices rose, and, "Ultimately, the stocks caught up to the energy prices."

Sechan said energy stocks are trading at a 40-year low in terms of price/book. Weiss asked, "How many periods in the last 40 years was the U.S. the largest producer of oil?" Sechan responded that Weiss a while back got into MLPs when they were "gettin' smoked," and it worked out. Weiss indicated that was short-term. "I got out, 40% up, I got out, 3 months later, 4 months later," Weiss said.

Rob Sechan contends that Buffett’s AAPL stake is sign that value investors are going to win

Steve Weiss in the opening of Friday's Halftime claimed "the theme of the entire market" is that buybacks can't continue, but "guess what, they are."

Josh Brown said, "I disagree."

Weiss said, "You can disagree; those are the facts, that's been the theme."

Weiss said of AAPL, "I still think it's goin' higher."

Rob Sechan curiously proclaimed that Warren Buffett's AAPL news is "an example of value investors, a different style of investing, coming back. Active management."

Judge and Mike Farr said there's a "concrete" floor under AAPL thanks to Buffett. Weiss said, "That concrete on IBM, which he announced that he sold all of, and that stock's up today as well, that concrete fell right on top of shareholders."

"Yeah but these are, these are 2 entirely different stories," Judge mumbled.

Late in the show, panelists said they wouldn't be surprised if Buffett disclosed a GOOGL stake, but they would be surprised if he disclosed an AMZN stake. (This writer is long GOOGL.)

Judge cut in with Becky Quick in Omaha and Warren Buffett and Buffett's sister riding the golf cart. Warren explained how his sister built up his confidence playing Monopoly.

Judge had some mike issues at the opening, sounding a bit like he was in a cavern, then thanked someone for straightening it out.

"It was so much better when we couldn't hear you," Weiss joked.

Distinct from Facebook, distinct from Google, distinct from monetization ...

Judge on Friday's Halftime said the Call of the Day was Credit Suisse's "top pick" of CRM with a 150 target.

Josh Brown said he wishes he owned it, "they are so good at coming up with new things."

Steve Weiss said "the company is extremely impressive," and he too wishes he owned it.

Mike Farr said, "54 times earnings, I can't." Brown said that the stock has never traded near a market multiple, and once it does, you don't want to own it.

Jon Najarian said July 35 TWTR calls were getting bought, so he's got another TWTR position. (Hopefully those will work out better for him than his SNAP calls.) Judge noted Steven Ballmer said he's out of TWTR. Doc said he "can't blame him."

Josh Brown said, "There is a desire to be in this name because it is an asset distinct from Facebook, distinct from Google." (This writer is long FB and GOOGL.)

Doc also touted RLGY June 27.50 calls.

Pete Najarian said someone was rolling up May 12 RIG calls and buying August 13 calls and selling August 15 calls.

Josh Brown said he's still in ALB and insisted that there's still a long runway for "battery-grade" lithium. (This writer is long ALB.)

Mike Farr likes DIS. Pete said he's "no longer in this name" though he still likes it, then tried to turn the conversation into something about AAPL wearables and services.

Judge and Weiss scoffed that if iPhone sales weren't so hot, AAPL wouldn't be doing anything. Weiss said "my daughter works for Marvel."

After lots of chuckling, Josh Brown got to tout the usual strengths of NVDA.

Brown: Shake Shack is hoppin’ at 11 p.m.

In the day's best joke, Josh Brown on Friday's Halftime called himself a "monthly active user" of SHAK, then fought through the chuckles to explain that the 36% short interest in the name is "way too aggressive."

Mike Farr said of FB, "I don't think you can bet against it"; he owns it. (This writer is long FB.)

Pete Najarian said he likes ATVI a lot; he mentioned the early release of earnings that Judge said was the fault of Dow Jones, not the company.

Steve Weiss said P was gaining on short covering and that all the names in the space won't survive.

Rob Sechan likes the valuations in materials.

Jon Najarian said NWL had a boost in operating margins from 10% to 13%; he's not in it.

Oddly enough, Al Michaels (we've got months, unfortunately, before Sunday Night Football returns) felt compelled to email Judge about why Josh is out of BOX. Brown said he got out "right around the time that Dropbox came public." He said he's getting more interested in the latter but isn't in it yet.

Weiss said BABA should get a boost from listing in Hong Kong.

Farr's final trade was DHR. Sechan said ITB. Weiss said MCK and ABC. Josh Brown agrees on ITB.

[Thursday, May 3, 2018]

Who knew that Toni Sacconaghi apparently covers TSLA

In general, in a seeming contradiction, it's almost like Toni Sacconaghi goes to whatever lengths possible to avoid making headlines from his (frequent) television appearances.

Elon Musk made sure that wouldn't be the case Wednesday night by cutting off Toni on the now-famous Tesla earnings call.

Jim Cramer of all people jumped on that and upped the ante Thursday morning, stating (according to Judge) that Jim said it's the "best call I've heard in a long time" because "everyone wants to cut off Toni Sacconaghi, he's too negative, most of the CEOs say that guy, that guy, that guy, all he does is talk negative."

So on Thursday's Halftime, when Toni dialed in, Judge offered Toni "a chance to defend yourself" from Cramer's criticism. "I don't read this out loud to embarrass you in any way, I just want to give you the chance to react to it, and maybe you've already heard it, but our viewers may not have," Judge explained.

Toni said his rating has been "neutral" and not a "sell" and said his perspective simply is to "try and gather as much information uh from executives uh for investors to make better decisions."

Herb Greenberg, whose shop is called Pacific Square Research (perhaps he's raking in business from the unknowing who think they're actually investing with Ackman) (that's a joke, but maybe not a complete joke), was taking part in the interview via video and explained that Toni is "the guy who always asks the questions."

Toni said Musk is a "visionary," so it's understandable how some analyst questions might seem to Musk as "myopic." And Toni suggested that if Musk doesn't like these kinds of questions, then he "shouldn't be on."

Herb said he agreed with Toni, if Musk doesn't want to do this, "Don't have conference calls."

Herb said Musk's call "was the most bizarre call since Overstock CEO Patrick Byrnes' Sith Lord conference call a number of years ago which still has people shaking their heads this many years later (sic last 4 words redundant)."

Herb said Musk has had a "change in behavior" and that this was "off the charts."

Josh Brown a couple times said Musk is "almost Trumpian" in that the followers love him regardless of his doubters.

Toni said when CEOs are "evasive" around number questions, "that's worrisome," and that people are going to be "incrementally worried" about the type of dodging Musk did.

Steve Weiss, who had just showed up late to the program, noted Musk's recent "bankrupt" tweet and said "he's sorta goin' off the rails a little bit." But Weiss said whoever owns TSLA has already "bought into" Musk's story and isn't going away because of this.

Late in the show, Weiss said TSLA is "egregiously overvalued," so he believes the short thesis "will play out."

Ironic vs. funny: Jim, Weiss get revved up a bit, still unable to create friction given Weiss’ tardy arrival and lack of side-by-side seating

Judge's Call of the Day on Thursday's Halftime was the Bank of America downgrade of CAT to neutral (Zzzzzzz).

Pete Najarian said it's about "decelerating" numbers but not "slow" numbers.

Steve Weiss said, "I bought it on the dip after the selloff and owned it for about 2 minutes. ... I think we've seen the best there is from Cat."

But Jim Lebenthal countered, "This is too negative of a call by far ... a lot of the bad news has been priced into it."

Judge chuckled about whether CAT could go from trough to peak so quickly. Weiss pointed to the "high-water mark" comment.

"The whole sector peaked in January," said Josh Brown.

Jim said that "with all of this negativity," he's "seriously considering" getting long CAT, noting the raised guidance.

Weiss said, "This is not a growth stock. This is a highly cyclical company."

Jim said, "You just made a good point. It is a highly cyclical company."

Weiss asked Jim why he believes IBM's CEO while he doesn't believe CAT's CEO. Jim said, "Stevie, you're comparing apples to oranges just to make a funny point here." Weiss protested, "I'm making an ironic point."

‘President Trump
is in the news again’

Jim Lebenthal on Thursday's Halftime said it's a "heavy tape," but he thinks it's because of China and not rates.

Then, in the understatement of the month, Jim offered, "President Trump is in the news again ... the news surrounding the president is not good."

Judge noted, "70% of the Dow is in correction territory. Part of this market feels sick."

Invoking semantics, Josh Brown said it's not "rising" rates but "risen" rates that have stung markets, stating staples are in a "massive correction."

Pete Najarian claimed energy is the "one spot" you can point to as working. But Pete said the market hasn't gotten "clarity."

Jim insisted it's hard to get to a bear market with earnings growing like this. Yeah, but it's apparently not hard to get a market that simply sucks, "bear" or not.

"We are still in correction from January 26th," said Brown.

Herb was on, but we didn’t hear anything about the BABA exec who lives down the street but won’t answer Herb’s questions

Lori Calvasina on Thursday's Halftime mentioned something that might sorta get the Contrarian Spider Sense tingling.

Calvasina said, "We have reined in our enthusiasm a bit," noting her year-end target is now 2,890.

But it's not like Calvasina has turned bearish, rather, she's predicting companies "come through" on buybacks.

Calvasina curiously said she has an "underweight" in tech; Josh Brown said tech is most highly correlated with the S&P and questioned Calvasina's notion of financials picking up the slack. Calvasina said financials have been "very very underowned" by hedge funds, whereas tech is "very crowded."

Pete Najarian asked Calvasina about energy and got nowhere.

"To be honest, when I talk to growth investors, they feel like they can ignore energy," Calvasina responded. "It's been so decimated, it's a tiny weight in their benchmark, they literally tell me that, 'I don't have to worry about it, I can ignore it.'"

Calvasina also said "energy is the new biotech" for value investors.

Judge contended that names such as INTC and CSCO are "not likely" to drive the market higher.

Steve Ballmer sure was giddy about unloading TWTR at 33

Leslie Picker on Thursday's Halftime chatted up Carson Block of Muddy Waters in an empty restaurant; Block said it's "encouraging" for short sellers that "we're seeing QE unwind."

Jeff Kilburg said he thinks gold goes "a little bit higher" because "the trade war conversation is lit." Anthony Grisanti said he has 1,327 and 1,331 on the upside, but on the downside, he has 1,302.90, and with the strengthening dollar, he expects a test of the low and finally a breakthrough.

Pete Najarian said MRO was up on great numbers, pointing to buying in May 20 calls.

Steve Weiss offered a pair of final trades, MCK ("phenomenal buying opportunity") and DATA, though he's not sure he'd chase the latter. Pete said PYPL (this writer is long PYPL). Josh Brown said he would not buy FIT. Jim said MSG.

Judge decided to give viewers hardly any commercials.

[Wednesday, May 2, 2018]

Jim, Weiss suddenly struggling to find topics to disagree on

Judge on Wednesday's Halftime Report brought in Gordon Johnson of Vertical Research to explain Johnson's 109 target on TSLA.

Johnson said the cash burn will be important and that people need to start considering "this accounting change," which Johnson said involves listing more leases "as direct auto sales."

He also predicted a "disappointment coming on the margin lines." Judge noted the stock is still around $300. Johnson said competition will cause people to "start to fade the stock."

Johnson admitted he didn't see Chanos' recent interview on CNBC, but "I heard about it." Johnson said he thinks Tesla is Musk's "darling," and he doesn't see Musk leaving in the short term.

Steve Weiss made a joke about Solar City and told Johnson, "I don't think you're being harsh enough."

Pete Najarian brought up the old is it a car company/is it a tech company thing again.

Kevin O'Leary said, "If you offered me the stock today at 109, I wouldn't buy it. ... At some point, it's going to have a massive correction down to 30 or 40 dollars where it belongs ... Now every time I say this, I can't believe the hate mail I get."

Funny how they talk about the phone and services and wearables but not about the risk to children cited by Jana/CALSTRS/Psychic Tax Prof

The top subject on Wednesday's Halftime was of course AAPL, an undeniably sleepy conversation.

Pete Najarian stated, "Tim Cook reassured everybody just how strong the X is, for Apple (sic last 2 words redundant)."

"Keep an eye on wearables," Pete added.

Steve Weiss, who maintains this curious long-the-stock/short-the-management routine, said, "Tell me where the innovation is."

Weiss said Tim Cook is "great with hyperbole" but that the phone is a "mature market."

Kevin O'Leary told Weiss, "You can't beat them up on the old not-innovating story. ... There's never been a company like this."

Jim Lebenthal said "we can put to bed the idea" that any Asian suppliers "have any predictive power whatsoever about iPhone sales."

Jim also said there's "no indication" that the iPhone X was "mispriced." Jim predicted the stock does a "slow burn higher."

O'Leary said he doesn't know if the "extraordinary" Apple services growth is sustainable. But he said he'd prefer a higher dividend than the big buyback.

Weiss declared that a buyback is preferred "because dividends force me to pay taxes right away."

O'Leary pointed out that you can announce a $100 billion buyback but don't have to do it.

"They're going to execute on that," Pete Najarian asserted.

Toni Sacconaghi, who's No. 1 at something or other, insisted the phone and services are not "decoupled businesses," so "the principal fortunes of Apple today are tied to the iPhone."

Judge noted Toni took down his iPhone numbers before the report. Toni conceded that was "clearly a poor call by us coming in."

Doc bungle: Touted SNAP calls on April 25 and said he liked the stock to ‘pop’

Kevin O'Leary on Wednesday's Halftime Report disagreed with Jim Lebenthal as to how much of an overhang China is.

Kevin claimed to be explaining why the tape is so bad, but he didn't have a good answer, suggesting corporate debt is getting more appealing.

Jim somehow called it a "valid argument," but given what the 10-year has done, he doesn't see the connection in terms of timeliness.

Steve Weiss opined, "I just think there's a general malaise with the market."

Pete Najarian said someone sold May 37 calls in DVN and bought the 39s. Pete said July 238 calls in STZ were pricey at $8, but someone put on a trade.

Pete said of GILD, "Thank goodness I'm not in this name."

Jim said SNAP's "daily average uners (sic, corrected)" disappointed and said not to be in it. Kevin O'Leary hilariously called the stock "radioactive waste."

Steve Weiss said he sold ABC to put more in MCK, his "preferred play."

Kevin O'Leary said MA will "continue to perform" while the banks are not.

Brian Stutland predicted a higher dollar in 6-9 months. Jim Iuorio predicted the upward move continues; he's looking for 94.

Kevin O'Leary's final trade was BA. Pete mentioned puts (that's correct, puts) in the XLI. Weiss said XLF. Jim said QRVO.

Looking absolutely not a day older than her 28 years in sharp black on the 5 p.m. show, Karen Finerman said, "I've been surprised and wrong about how badly the market's trading on good earnings."

[Tuesday, May 1, 2018]

Steven Ballmer calls
the top in TWTR (maybe)

Tuesday's Halftime saved the best for last, a rather entertaining chat with Steve Ballmer at the Milken conference in which both Sully (on location) and Missy (guest hosting) took part.

Ballmer told Mel he doesn't own TWTR any more after his publicized purchase oh, way back when. "I sold at a good time. Verrrrrry good time. I sold right near the high. Uh, recent high. 33, 34, 35, right in there," Ballmer said.

We're not making a call on the stock ... but the way this was presented, it seems as though Steve finds 35 to be a gift for these shares. (As if he needs the money.)

Sully asked a few frankly boring questions about regulation; as for how it affects FB, Ballmer said, "it'll depend on their response." (This writer is long FB and GOOGL.)

Ballmer told Josh Brown and Sully that a company such as AMZN should try to deal with government cases up front rather than protesting for as long as MSFT did. But nobody mentioned that AMZN/GOOGL/FB are far more popular than MSFT was in the 1990s.

Presumably disappointing Mel, Ballmer said of cryptocurrency, "You're not gonna find me speculating in the stuff."

Ballmer started off the interview rattling off a bunch of things that leave him "shocked," such as people's wealth/lack of wealth and education spending. He tried to hand Sully some forms and told Sully, "C'mon, man, this is CNBC!"

Jim Lebenthal assessed Ballmer's TWTR sale. "I think he got a good price for it," Jim said.

Nothing at all about Gen. Kelly

Tuesday's Halftime Report brought in former/perhaps future CNBC contributor Anthony Scaramucci, for whatever reason NOT to talk about the White House chief of staff situation but strictly to discuss his return to SkyBridge after the Chinese group apparently bailed.

"I actually think there could've been a path to getting the deal done," Anthony said, praising how well the firm's been run while he was in/out of government land.

Asking Scaramucci to correct the numbers in case the media is getting it wrong (seriously), guest host Mel noted SkyBridge had a 17% decline in AUM from Nov. 16 through February while Barclay's fund-of-fund index had actually been rising.

Scaramucci conceded a "knee-jerk" reaction is for people to "redeem and sit on the sidelines" when there's been a change of ownership in asset management with "some uncertainty."

Mel actually suggested that, given that Scaramucci said SkyBridge has been well-run in his absence, maybe Anthony's return might "detract" from the firm's success. Scaramucci said, "Clearly, I'm not indispensible ... maybe politically, there's a few people that don't like me," but there will be "no whining" as SkyBridge focuses on the next 12-36 months.

Jim: Markets suffering
China overhang

Sarat Sethi opened Tuesday's fairly flat Halftime Report saying he wasn't expecting "any real bad news" from AAPL, but he's not sure it's the driver of a stock market recovery.

"It's cheap, for a reason," said Stephanie Link, one of 2 or 3 times she mentioned "cheap."

Jim Lebenthal noted so many stocks, especially INTC and CAT, have had great earnings but just slid.

Jim said, "The downside potential in this report is if they give any hint of average selling prices going down."

Jim added, "If this is just a capital-return story, I'm not that interested."

Jim also said he thinks the market is trading on "the potential that things get a little uglier before they get better with China."

Josh Brown said maybe AAPL needs to get "very serious about the next level of, of the Internet, which is going to be voice. They're not serious."

Tom Forte said if AAPL "can sustain a mid-single-digit top-line growth rate ... the stock will be more than OK."

Forte, like the panelists, said he'd like to see a "transformative" acquisition. "It's gotta be something that complements their hardware," he said, suggesting "to the extent that Apple can improve the content that's going on their devices" as well as something in the home pod.

Josh Brown scoffed. "Content is a terrible idea," Brown said.

Mel said, "He sort of dispelled that," though not only did he not dispel it, it's one of his 2 ideas.

Brown said content's multiple is so low, "That's why the phone companies are buying content."

"It depends on what kind of content," Mel said, pointing to Netflix's multiple. "He's not talking about Netflix," Brown said.

Someone’s actually buying puts (but we’re not sure if it’s absolutely incredible)

Steve Liesman on Tuesday's Halftime reported on the CNBC Fed survey, which seemingly always involve heightened caution about stocks or increased odds of more Fed hikes (or something like that).

Regarding PFE, Jim Lebenthal said, "What I am hopeful for is that Ian Read is sandbagging us," complaining the stock has been "doodling around."

Stephanie Link said HMOs and medtech are places to be in health care.

Stephanie Link has been adding to ZBH with "a lot of confidence" and also has been buying LVS and ULTA. But, "I sold Bristol," Link said, citing "too much reliance on this one cancer drug."

Josh Brown said UAA is a "tough stock" that is "no longer killing people who were in it," but "there's absolutely no upward momentum whatsoever."

Sarat Sethi said you can own FB, though he wouldn't be "too aggressive."

Stephanie said TPR had very high expectations. Josh Brown suggested one problem with an "amalgamation" of brands such as this is that one will always be "ice cold." Mel asked if there were synergies among the brands. "Not so much," Link said.

Jim said he still sees "a lot of value" in THC.

Pete Najarian said May 95 MSFT calls were "very active."

Pete said May 71 XLI puts (that's correct, puts) were popular.

Bob Iaccino said he thinks another 0.75% (Zzzzzzz) is the top for the dollar index. Jim Iuorio said "that old range is gone, and there's a new range now," which is 91.5 to 95 (Zzzzzzz). He's "dollar positive now."

Steph Link said she has sold ORCL and is putting more money in CSCO.

Jim Lebenthal said CSCO is like (his favorite analogy) MSFT of 5 years ago.

Jim's final trade was INTC. Josh Brown said TWTR. Stephanie Link said to take profits in TJX. Sarat said MRK.

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