[CNBCfix Fast Money Review Archive — November 2018]
[Friday, Nov. 30, 2018]
FilmStruck gone
A few weeks ago, this site started campaigning for people to get Randall Stephenson to come to his senses and save the historically important Time Warner subscription service called FilmStruck.
We lost. FilmStruck's cord was cut by the AT&T/Time Warner Debt Machine as promised on Nov. 30.
This is the time when folks say thanks to all who tried, such as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Alfonso Cuaron, Streisand ...
We'd like to count some CNBCers; unfortunately, we don't see any record of any of them doing a damn thing on this subject, blowing a golden opportunity for both a public service and a fascinating business profile.
Likely the biggest problem with FilmStruck was that many people we mentioned it to had never heard of it. If potential customers don't even know about your product, how can you expect them to subscribe?
But there are other great biz-school questions, one of them being, how much is old film content ... even the greatest old film content ... worth? It's possible that FilmStruck subscribers could look up their favorites for 3 months, then decide they've seen enough and cancel. We all have our "Casablanca," "The Godfather," "A Few Good Men" that we'll watch repeatedly, but it's often a different story with John Cassavetes and Jean-Luc Godard and Carl Dreyer. Today's cable options bundle current movies with greatest-hits selections typically no more than 50 years old and often make them available on-demand. That model appears to be safe, but maybe not.
Maybe the biggest question: Whether film, in the eyes of the public, really is an elevated, lasting art form ... or a cheap, disposable product with a sell-by date of less than 12 months.
FilmStruck tried to answer that question in favor of the former.
And now it's gone. To the detriment of anyone who cared.
People can accept the fact that maybe the product wasn't sustainable.
They have a harder time accepting that this service is the casualty for AT&T's grotesque appetite for debt, green-lighted by federal antitrust courts.
AT&T can't buy the Smithsonian.
Can it?
Jim predicts 5% in a week if 25% tariff is taken off the table
On Friday's (11/30) Halftime Report, Jim Lebenthal claimed that if the 25% tariff were taken off the table, the market would rally 5% in a week.
We'll see if that 5% happens, given the China-U.S. deal announced Saturday that (sorta) eliminates the 25%. (This review was posted over the weekend.) (Man, you wouldn't know what a chore it was to get through this show.)
Sounding a bit skeptical, Jim contended that if Powell hadn't walked back his Oct. 3 comments, "It would've been a lights-out disaster."
Judge asked Jim, "What do you want, another 400-point day?"
"Yeah. I do. I absolutely do," Jim said.
"I mean that seems a little greedy, no?" Judge said.
Jim called Lighthizer "the real deal."
Jon Najarian said a "non-negative" from the G-20 is all the market needs.
Tony Dwyer agreed with the "non-negative."
Tony thought it was important to say he "microfiched" some 1994-95 articles from Barron's and BusinessWeek to figure out what people were saying about the Fed back then.
Addressing the MoffettNathanson call on V, MA and PYPL, Josh Brown said a lot of the greatness might be in the current charts, and so even though they're great companies, they "could be in purgatory for a little while." Doc made the case for SQ creeping up into the 70s by the end of January. (This writer is long SQ.)
Tony Dwyer said he wants to overweight banks, only about the 5,000th time someone on the program has said that. Dwyer admitted, "I'm not out here saying that the gr- it's all glory. There's a reason Warren Buffett's buying 'em, there's a reason Jamie Dimon's telling you that the credit market's OK."
The reason is that those people are always calling the banks a buy.
Josh Brown likes the risk/reward in LULU.
"The multiple for me is just too high," said Brenda Vingiello, confusing effect with cause.
Judge says Powell blinked;
Pete thunders ‘absolutely not!’
Wednesday's (11/28) Halftime Report featured a lot of real-time assessment of Jerome Powell's remarks that hadn't yet been officially delivered.
Judge pointed to the Dow and said it sure looks like Powell "blinked." Pete Najarian thundered "absolutely not!" and then added something (not the exact words) about how "SOMEONE BOUGHT A BUNCH OF REALLY SHORT-DATED OPTIONS!!!!!!!!!!"
Joe Terranova, who instead of just saying it's probably not a bad time to be buying got clipped by Pete as to whether he was talking about "low-hanging fruit" now or a day earlier, tried to insist there'll be some short covering.
Judge stated, "I patently disagree with, with all of you who suggest that Powell didn't blink."
Steve Weiss insisted, "It's not true because we don't know the answer."
Doc offered, "I say he didn't blink. I say he's the bigger man (snicker)."
Steve Liesman wondered what an investor could get out of the "blinked" notion and whether it's a "macho thing."
"It is what it is," Judge said twice.
Guy Adami actually believes that AAPL stock’s best days aren’t behind it
Well, it's hard to tell what was worse:
The Monday (11/26) Halftime Report's first 20 minutes on the state of the economy, or the 5 p.m. Fast Money's excruciating opening 15 minutes about whether AAPL is a buy.
On Halftime, Jenny Harrington, whose stunning red hair has lit up the program, contended, "I don't think it's a bear market."
Sensing the opportunity for ratings, Judge insisted, "If you look inside the S&P, it's a bear market."
Joe Terranova confidently proclaimed, "My risk is very measured," adding, "It's a trading environment right now."
Judge tried to make a splash over Morgan Stanley (not Mike Wilson this time according to Judge), which according to Judge calls the market correctly (yep, that 2,400-3,000 S&P target was right on), suggesting possible 4% earnings growth ahead.
Judge grimaced at this premise. But Steve Liesman yawned that this report also talked about an "earnings recession," and Rob Sechan shrugged that Morgan Stanley is merely identifiying a "definitive U.S. bias."
Steve Weiss insisted Europe is "tightening." Steve Liesman said that's incorrect, "Europe is a long way from anything that might even resemble" tightening. Weiss insisted that by whatever way he calculates this subject, it amounts to tightening.
Josh Brown warned of market impact if 25% tariffs happen. "I still think they find a way not to have 'em come in, or have 'em go in selectively," Weiss said.
Steve Liesman suggested the Trump-on trades have become the Trump-off trades.
Joe claimed that for 10 minutes, they were having a "very complicated macro conversation" (snicker).
On other matters, Weiss said he bought NBIX and ATNX and owns AGN.
Judge asked Weiss, and not Joe, about one of Joe's longtime favorite names, PANW. Weiss wrongly indicated that "if you're willing to hold onto Palo Alto for a long while," you can buy it, apparently he'd prefer to do so after earnings (he wasn't real clear about that).
What Weiss doesn't get is that the stock doesn't move based on whether you're a long- or short-term holder, and if it's going to go down, which he apparently thinks it might, you're a fool to buy it now.
Joe did get to address PANW and said, "It's a name that thankfully I got out of at the right time."
Weiss asserted that there's "too much excess capacity" in the hedge-fund industry. Josh Brown tried to make a few points, and seemed to do so, but nevertheless was unsatisfied; "I'm like trying to finish one sentence during this hour of television," Brown finally claimed, in a bit of irony. (Yes, that's debatably real irony.)
On the 5 p.m. show, we stared practically in disbelief as Guy Adami actually said of AAPL about 3 times, "In terms of the stock, I don't think the best days are behind it at all."
Karen Finerman lukewarmly said she likes AAPL at current price.
Karen suggested General Motors may have offered "a fair bit of cushion" in the numbers reported Monday that would allow it to sweeten some offers later.
Karen anticipates a year-end rally for retail stocks, but, "I probably would sell going into Christmas."
Joe Terranova on Halftime said to look at 169.23 for AAPL, it's "more of a support area than anything else."
Bank fines are ‘upside catalysts’
This page normally likes to point out how unimpressive the big-bank space is (since about 2008), but even this page isn't nearly as stark as some of the commentary on Wednesday's (11/21) pre-Thanksgiving Halftime Report.
Guest host Sully noted Betsy Graseck cut her GS target to 226. Jim Lebenthal said he doesn't believe Betsy's worst-case scenario of a $1.2 billion fine will happen.
Josh Brown correctly pointed out that whenever businesses settle claims or litigation, the stocks go up. Then, Brown even called massive bank fines "upside catalysts," because "they almost expect to be implicated in international scandals on a regular basis."
Wow. That's a great recruiting pitch. "Come work for us, make money, try to dodge the regular international scandal."
Jim sounded a bit stuck in the past on GS, referring to his tenure there and actually stating, "The stock trades at just below book value, so you're kind of getting it for no risk."
GS for "no risk." Yeah, sure.
Jim asserted, "Still, moneymakers go to, and come from, Goldman Sachs." We're sure a lot of them do, but more of them now go to Silicon Valley.
Joe Terranova actually said, "I think Wall Street thinks of Goldman Sachs as the company from 15, 20 years ago," even though people have been saying on Joe's program for 10 years that it is not the same company as 20 years ago (for one thing, they don't have Jon Corzine anymore).
Joe added, "Goldeman (sic pronunciation) Sachs is not the, the mega-conglomerate trading firm that it once was previously (sic last word redundant)."
Sully said he just finished Billion Dollar Whale last week and said the book "makes Madoff look small time."
The stunning red hair of Jenny Harrington, who used to work at GS with Jim Lebenthal, lit up the show.
Why don’t they just cancel the show until S&P 2,532?
Josh Brown on Wednesday's (11/21) Halftime Report explained why he's not about to say "the coast is clear."
See, we'll explain it perfectly: All of the momentum traders really gotta see the big WHOOSH!!! that will tell them it's really safe to invest in the U.S. stock market.
Jim Lebenthal said you can't sound the "all clear," because (WHOOSH alert), "You just haven't had the capitulation selling."
Joe Terranova rehashed his "lot of different places" to "nowhere" theme for stock indexes. Joe said the market could "potentially" target the 2,603 recent low.
On the 5 p.m. Fast Money, Steve Grasso bemoaned, "You need to test 2,603 or 2,532."
Karen Finerman, looking great pre-holiday in black, said "I didn't love yesterday" and added, "It would be very positive to see them back off the January 1 tariff hikes."
Karen astutely kept asking Steve what the "towel" point is for AAPL. Steve kept trying to point out levels where people have previously bought. "It doesn't matter what price you paid for it! It is what it is right now," Karen said.
Joe: Oil market ‘manipulated’ more than any time in 30 years
Jim Lebenthal on Wednesday's (11/21) Halftime Report indicated that predicting oil prices should be the realm of carnival barkers.
Jim said, "Talking about the price of oil ... it's kinda like going up to one of those carnival booths saying, you know, one of these guys who says, 'Argue with me for a dollar. I'll argue with you about anything.'"
That sounds kinda fun. Get paid a dollar to argue.
Joe Terranova said the notion of a shift from growth to value isn't happening because energy is sliding, and that's the "ultimate value play." Joe said Donald Trump will have a "problem on his hands" if oil breaches 50. Joe said he'd avoid high-beta energy.
Then, Joe dropped a bombshell: "The last 5 weeks are as manipulated a market as I have witnessed in 30 years on Wall Street. It is a completely manipulated market in crude oil," Joe said.
"I agree, Joe," said Jenny Harrington.
We're just wondering where the federal investigations are, because in 2006 and 2007 and actually several years before, people demanded to know how speculators were jacking up the price of crude.
Karen Finerman made an impressive argument on the 5 p.m. Fast Money for how sliding oil should give often-packed airlines a big boost.
Karen: Zuck stays
Joe Terranova on Wednesday's (11/21) Halftime Report said he exited PYPL a day ago and put that money in SQ. (This writer is long SQ.)
Joe suggested, based on social media traffic, that SQ might've experienced a "washout" on Tuesday.
Guest host Sully botched "raising guidance" as "raiding guidance" regarding BJ but recovered with a good joke about it. Josh Brown doesn't like the stock because of private equity debt.
Jon Najarian suggested DE got a washout Wednesday.
Doc gushed about ADSK.
Josh Lipton claimed there is "big news here out of GameStop," which seems impossible.
Karen Finerman on the 5 p.m. show said, "I think Mark Zuckerberg is the right person to lead them out of this." Karen cited how Oscar Munoz pulled off a turnaround. (This writer is long FB.)
Halftime panelists offered nice and classy comments on what they're thankful for.
Scott still hasn’t explained how CEOs are secretly telling Jim Cramer and not everyone else that the economy sucks
Honestly, we nearly fell asleep during Tuesday's (11/20) Halftime Report.
See, part of the problem is that the pack of momentum traders has no idea when the bottom is in, hence, nobody on the show is telling people to unload their stock accounts, nor is anyone really advocating buying, except for a few select Najarii unusual activity plays.
Out of the blue, Steve Liesman decided that no one else on CNBC or any other business media decided as early as Scott Wapner that Donald Trump's trade war might have ramifications for the U.S. stock market.
"Hats off. You've been on this trade thing as a big negative for the market before I think the market was- was- it was conventional wisdom," Liesman said to Judge.
"I think it's the biggest storm cloud over the market," Judge explained.
That's quite a scoop. "You call the Wall Street Chronicle, tell 'em 'Blue Horseshoe loves ...'"
Joe Terranova made another rear view-mirror call on Q4: "That chase for performance has become a dash for the exits," Joe said.
Pete Najarian invoked Mike Wilson again. Judge said Wilson is "the man who day-trades the stock market called the drop" and said Wilson would be on the 5 p.m. Fast Money.
Wilson was indeed on that show. "Believe me, the economy is overheating," Wilson said.
Judge is now using the term ‘rolling bear market’ but first should learn the definition of ‘irony’
Monday's (11/19) Halftime Report opened with Judge and Pete Najarian crowning Mike Wilson something or other before Steve Weiss and Pete tangled annoyingly about AAPL, just the latest among the years of tiresome conversations this show has featured on this subject.
Panelists also gave Yana Barton a little guff about various calls. Fish was brought in to opine on oil and tout nat gas. "We're relatively near a bottom" in crude, Fish suggested.
Judge also delivered a bit of a mini-investment seminar from Joe Theismann. Judge claimed it's "a bit of cruel irony" that Alex Smith broke his leg on the same day as Theismann. Judge added, "There's irony, and then there's irony."
But what Judge cited is not "irony."
Voice of CNBC Jim Birdsall is a Chiefs fan; presumably he didn't like the outcome of Monday night's game, but hopefully, he stayed up for the whole thing.
Steve Liesman takes down Judge like Lambert vs. Cliff Harris in X
Judge on Friday's (11/16) Halftime Report finally got called to account for his recent supposed CEO refrain.
Judge, without any original reporting, started to imply to Steve Liesman that CEOs are quietly saying the economy sucks. "I listen to people like our own Jim Cramer, who says he's been speaking with CEOs who have told him-"
Liesman butted in, "I'm sorry Scott but why isn't that stuff on the record? Are CEOs violating Reg FD? ... I'm a little lost on that, Scott ... Jimmy talks to people on the record all the time. Do they tell him on the record everything is great but off the record, 'Hey Jimmy, things really suck'?"
(A figurative high-five to Steve.)
"You've heard what they've had to say in their conference calls," Judge feebly protested.
"We don't hear about this slowing of the U.S. economy," Liesman insisted, adding, "I've not seen red-hot become stone cold in a month."
Like Wade Garrett says in "Road House," Exxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxactly.
It wasn't until stocks started tumbling in October, and continued tumbling or doing little, that TV pundits started back-filling the narrative, which originally was "liquidity" (Mike Wilson) or "divergence between U.S. and foreign stocks" (Mike Wilson and others) or "the velocity of the rate rise" (Joe Terranova and a host of others) or "the stupid Fed" (Donald Trump).
Now, according to Judge, it's CEOs whispering to Jim Cramer that the economy actually sucks.
Jim Lebenthal stressed his own view that the Fed won't be making a mistake if it raises in December and that it needs to follow through on its signals.
On the other hand, "I think the market would go up if the Fed didn't, uh, if the Fed didn't hike," said Steve Weiss, suggesting the Fed will move in December but "think twice" about next year.
Rebecca Patterson said 25% across-the-board tariffs on Jan. 1 would be a "big binary event" and have a "huge impact on sentiment."
Josh Brown, who even though he says he doesn't "recommend" stocks tends to talk certain names (ALB, AMD, NVDA, those 3-D printer names a while back, TWTR at various times though not recently) (this writer is long ALB) all the way up with these companies' supposedly unlimited good stories and supposedly "no sellers at these levels" technicals only to ride some of them down to crash-landings, pointed out that NVDA on Oct. 1 was up 50% YTD, and now it's down 13% YTD.
Brown, Weiss and apparently Jim Cramer believe the atrocious miss on guidance was the worst part of NVDA's report.
Jim said of NVDA, "I wouldn't buy it here ... maybe in a week."
Josh Brown said the big problem with FB is not politicians but the "engagement issue" of people "losing interest." We heard that all over the place in 2012 and 2013. We'd say the big problem is that Donald Trump won an election in 2016. (This writer is long FB.)
By the way, here's a real interesting sentence from the New York Times story: "Democrats, long allied with Silicon Valley on issues including immigration and gay rights, now blamed Mr. Trump's win partly on Facebook's tolerance for fraud and disinformation."
And we thought it was James Comey.
(Translation: People in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania were brainwashed; the rest of the country was not. Except in 2018, it was North Dakotans, Missourians and Indianans who were brainwashed but NOT Arizonans.)
Is this for real? The New York Times believes this?
Brown tried to single out the departure of Instagram's founders as a Facebook inflection point, but Weiss suggested it's not a big deal, saying "very often" founders of acquired companies leave because they no longer feel "entrepreneurial."
Jim finally tangles with Weiss, but seating-chart bungle saps the drama
Judge's extended conversation about AAPL on Wednesday's (11/14) Halftime Report sparked a much-anticipated renewed battle between Jim Lebenthal and Steve Weiss, only this time, Jim was sorta the one playing offense.
"Margins are under pressure," Weiss asserted. "That's undeniable."
"That's categorically deniable," Jim said. "The problem is volume, Steve."
Weiss demanded, "Did Tim Cook lower his margin guidance or not?"
"You gotta think this through, baby," Jim crowed. "If he lowered it for one quarter, I don't care."
Jim declared AAPL a "falling knife." (Translation: Regardless of whether they claim to be "value" investors or "chartists," they're all basically a pack of momentum traders evaluating stocks in the rear-view mirror.) (This writer has no position in AAPL.)
Andrew Left is a great guest of the show, in part because he's funny, and if we ever wanted the Halftime gang to start doing standup (snicker) (hee hee), Left would probably be our top choice, although it would be tempting to go with Weiss, whose routine wouldn't be understood by 75% of the audience, which makes it all the funnier. Anyway, Left said he can't gain an edge on AAPL either direction but made a case for being long TSLA, insisting to Kevin O'Leary that Tesla not only has desirable cars, it has a better way of selling them. "The dealer network is a ridiculous concept," Left said. That's an interesting point; we haven't thought much about that one for a while.
Left mocked fads among financial watchers. "Tom Lee, bitcoin's going to 35,000 (snicker), maybe here," Left said.
Amy Raskin said "no capacity" has come out of the financial sector, and she finds the banks "value traps."
On the 5 p.m. Fast Money, Karen Finerman again seemed at a loss as to why no one's buying banks. "I feel the valuations (snicker) are attractive," Finerman said. (Once again ... valuations are not a catalyst; they're not a cause but an effect.)
Guy Adami referred to "Maxine Walters (sic)."
The soft touch: Larry Culp says ‘David’ about 500 times during CNBC interview
Note: This page is definitely not taking pleasure in anyone losing money in GE shares. Goodness knows, we've got plenty of dogs of our own. Unfortunately, talking about the disasters is often the most fun, hence, we were eager to hear the commentary on this company on Monday's (11/12) Halftime Report.
Most of it was little more than (Judge's crutch) Jim Cramer gushing, "Tusa's more powerful than any analyst I have ever seen," a ridiculous conclusion, even though we agree Tusa's done a great job; basically, he has outdueled Bill Nygren.
Joe Terranova suggested investors might've overdone it in the C-suite. "He's a fantastic executive," said Joe, "but we should've changed the ticker symbol of GE to CULP. Because that's why everyone bought the stock."
Culp, in a curious choice of clothing (see our home page), spoke with David Faber for about 20 minutes and basically kept insisting "this time it's really gonna work" (not the exact words).
Meanwhile, Joe asserted, "The market can't advance without technology."
Doc kept making a big deal about 54 Republican senators or less than 54 Republican senators.
Judge correctly took a dig, frankly, at a CNBC legend's all-too-frequent attempts to prop up Donald Trump's presidency, stating, "At some point, the administration will have cashed in all of its Send-Larry-Kudlow-out-to-say-Hey-everything-there's-a-meeting-there's-been-developments-there's-positive-this-positive-that (sic grammar), market's gonna have a boy-who-cried-wolf kind of attitude at some point and say, Nonsense."
Pete claimed Mike "day-trader" or "2,400 or 3,000 or somewhere in between" Wilson has been "dead on" about predicting tech would drag the market down. Pete didn't assess whether Mike's other 30 predictions have been "dead on," such as, that thing about people selling U.S. stocks so they can buy the foreign stocks, which are going to play catch-up.
The CPB-Dan Loeb conversation was sluggish if not downright excruciating.
Joe said UAL over 100 but said JBLU is the puzzling airline. The Najarians said someone is "callin' a bottom" on YELP in the options market.
The contingent at CNBCfix HQ practically swooned upon seeing Seema Mody at CNBC's energy desk for Futures Now and other hits on Monday. (Once again, see our home page for more on this important subject.)
Judge took sort of a victory lap for his Veterans Day show Friday; it was indeed a fine show. Joe Kernen guest-hosted the Monday 5 p.m. Fast Money.
Why is Mario Gabelli so fascinated by old-media companies?
The star guest of Thursday's (11/8) Halftime Report was Mario Gabelli, but Judge got tripped up with panelists over FANG semantics.
Judge asked with a straight face, "Who thought they would recover in the magnitude in which they have so quickly?"
Josh Brown correctly pointed out that it's not really a recovery for all the FANG and asked if Judge calls FB's move a "recovery." Judge said "Facebook has its own issues" and demanded to know, "You wanna parse every word?" (Brown didn't answer that question, but the answer is, "People should parse statements by the host that don't really hold water.")
Judge queried the panel as to whether we're going to make Tom Lee's 3,025 this year (notice Mike Wilson wasn't around).
Joe Terranova bluntly stated, "You're not gonna reach Tom Lee's target. There's no trend in the market right now."
On political spending, Josh Brown said, "Probably nobody really cares about the deficit."
Judge asked Gabelli if he watched Donald Trump's press conference. "I was more interested in other things," Mario said.
Mario stressed that China and the U.S. both want to deal.
Gabelli made an elongated defense of DIS that includes a 160 target over 2 years. Kari Firestone astutely asked, "Where do you see the upside" in Disney's businesses. Gabelli first said "there's a lot of synergies," then said there's "7.5 billion people in the world," then said "the number of iPhones, whatever they call those, are growing," none of which seems to have anything to do with Disney's businesses.
Gabelli also mentioned for the umpteenth time that goofy Atlanta Braves tracking stock.
Phil LeBeau chided anyone who thought TSLA would actually bring in a "rock star" chairman.
Judge shut out by Donald Trump’s press conference
Wednesday's (11/7) Halftime Report was basically canceled, as the entire hour was turned over to Donald Trump's combative post-election news conference.
So we turned our attention to the 5 p.m. Fast Money. At the top of the show, Mel actually suggested to Eamon Javers the "possibility of constitutional crisis."
"We're not at a constitutional crisis right now, right. The president has the authority to remove the attorney general," Javers explained.
Steve Grasso said he thought Wednesday's rally was "too far, too fast."
Karen Finerman agreed, "I thought it was too much. ... I kinda thought it was overdone."
So, guess this is how it works: too much selling, not enough selling, always cautious, always defensive, etc. Sounds like investing is a lot of fun.
Normally rock-solid on the grammar, Steve Grasso said "otherwise would've went" instead of "otherwise would've gone."
Rebecca Patterson suggested the market is picking up where it left off and called October "completely overdone." We have a simpler word for October's trading: "stoooopid."
Been a few days since
we’ve heard from ‘The Truth Trio’
Monday's (11/5) Halftime Report and Fast Money were both, quite frankly, a bit sleepy.
Judge hosted both shows and elicited the most interesting answers when querying the 5 p.m. crew as to whether the correction's over.
"I kinda think it's somewhat- I think it's over," said Karen Finerman, who had chic new hairstyle. "I'm not selling anything into this."
Super-cute Savita Subramanian agreed. Guy Adami said he still has doubts, but then again, he said he has had doubts a bunch of times that haven't panned out.
Karen said the way AAPL announced its new disclosure policy was "terrible" and "disappointing," but "this will be in the rear-view mirror in 6 months."
The Halftime crew wrestled with AAPL. Jon Najarian waffled like l'eggo my egg'o, suggesting it could go lower but that he wouldn't be a seller.
Jim Lebenthal announced several times that AAPL is in the "penalty box," and Kevin O'Leary cast doubt about the disclosure decision. Steve Weiss claims he predicted everything that AAPL has done recently (OK that wasn't the exact quote but not far off).
Lori Calvasina said that in pullbacks, you want to buy what gets cheaper, so she likes FAANG ... energy and financials (Zzzzzzzzz).
Doc, in a sluggish performance, questioned Mizuho's suggestion that SBUX get "leaner and meaner," suggesting the brand would lose its luxury veneer if there's an "issue" in the bathroom.
Weiss suggested that it's not SBUX's revival that's impressive but that of a onetime short seller: "Bill Ackman, that's the big comeback," Weiss said, explaining that they have to give him credit for his successes.
CNBCers need to voice outrage
about demolition of FilmStruck
Visitors to this site will have noticed a few headlines on our home page recently detailing a monstrosity in the artistic world.
AT&T is shutting down FilmStruck, which is part of Turner Classic Movies/which is part of WarnerMedia/which is part of Time Warner/which is now part of AT&T.
This site can and will run this issue up the flagpole until the castaways get off of Gilligan's Island. What would quickly reverse this travesty is the outrage of prominent individuals such as those on CNBC, who should unite with the serious film community to show Randall Stephenson who's boss.
FilmStruck, which is basically a $10.99-a-month streaming service combining the Criterion Collection with the Turner/Warner library, is easily the world's preeminent option for anyone who wants access to most of the greatest films ever made, global treasures.
Many of those films are in black-and-white, or in a foreign language, or are more than 40 years old. More people in 2018 are going to spend money to see Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's "Baywatch" than Alain Resnais' "Hiroshima Mon Amour." We get that. That's economics.
People want to fly in today's spectacular aircraft, and they should. That doesn't mean we put The Spirit of St. Louis on Craigslist. FilmStruck's status as one of the few guardians of cinematic greatness is appreciated by not only tens of thousands of subscribers but eventually all of the 10-year-olds right now who have never heard of Akira Kurosawa but someday are going to say, '"High and Low' is a phenomenal movie."
According to AT&T/Time Warner, FilmStruck isn't profitable. OK, we get that too. Why should any business be forced to offer a service that is not profitable?
Well, here's the deal with this particular entity: AT&T was just granted (in a manner of speaking) antitrust approval to complete this controversial merger with Time Warner ... and usually when that happens, corporations are required to PROMISE certain things for public benefit ... not DRAIN the resources it's purchasing Gekko-style to fatten paychecks and ease monstrous levels of debt accumulated over time by inept management.
Ted Turner is a maverick and occasionally controversial. Colorization didn't go over particularly well. But this gentleman is absolutely a guardian of artistic independence with reverence for cinematic greatness. Turner Classic Movies cable channel, which will probably be next on AT&T's hit list, airs arthouse legends without commercials. (AMC originally did so, then quickly gave up the commercial-free notion in the early 2000s.) Unfortunately, what was once in the hands of a brilliant maverick is now in the hands of debt-laden telco. If Time Warner wants to drop or revamp an unprofitable product, fine. If Time Warner wants to be bought by AT&T and gain all sorts of regulatory advantages for the obvious price hikes to come, it should have to return something in the public interest.
Randall Stephenson, according to AT&T filings, has earned 28 million dollars in each of the last 2 years. Of course, this site believes that CEOs should be paid the market rate for the results they produce. Cutting fat is one thing. Cutting international treasures is another. Should we be green-lighting a regulatory magic carpet to a controversial transaction AND handing this fellow a bonus for slashing a valuable public service? Where in the world is Donald Trump on this subject??
The mainstream media is catching on to this. An L.A. Times writer notes that "AT&T's defense of the Time Warner merger evolved over time. The rationale changed from serving the consumer better to saving AT&T’s life," and Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday observes, "What's at stake isn't the arcane purview of a handful of film buffs, but a nation's legacy, an industry's institutional memory and an art form's creative future."
CNBCers have a platform. These are intelligent, articulate, influential people who can easily explain on-air what's happening here. Some have political or Hollywood connections and even have Oscar-winning siblings. Yet we've never heard this subject discussed on-air, and a search of "FilmStruck" at cnbc.com returns no hits. If you've stumbled across this page more than once, then 1) you're part of the greatest, most well-informed audience on the Web, and 2) you know exactly what we're talking about in regard to the need to honor artistic treasures the way they should be honored.
No one should be prodded for something like this. Just check out the FilmStruck catalog online and pick a couple to watch (via FilmStruck or some other distributor). Do yourself a favor and expand your mind, in an unbelievably healthy way.
AT&T claims the FilmStruck decision was made by WarnerMedia people a while back. Of course that's what they say. Now's the time for Stephenson to do the right thing, commit to maintaining FilmStruck for 2 more years while bringing in business people and film scholars to study how to make the service sustainable.
Judge: ‘I’m not cynical’
The star guest of Friday's (11/2) Halftime Report was Larry Kudlow, who soundbited several economic/trade ideas of President Donald Trump that of course could easily change direction in a matter of days or hours. (But it is interesting, we have to admit, how the Democratic Party has no clue what to say about the migrant caravan.)
Late into the interview, Kudlow seemed to think Judge wasn't being positive enough for a subset edition of "Kudlow & Co."
"Don't be so cynical, Scott," Larry said. "Ya gotta believe here, America's on the way back. We're the hottest economy in the world. We're crushin'- we're crushing it right now."
Judge chuckled, "I'm not cynical- I'm not cynical- I'm just, I'm just asking you to, to react and respond to some of the statements you made yourself. That's all I'm doin'."
Otherwise on the show, Rich Saperstein opened with some parsing about "peak earnings" vs. "peak growth." (He thinks it's the latter, not former.)
Jim Lebenthal said the S&P multiple is "cheap" though he's "not gonna slam the table and say it's cheap."
Josh Brown said the Fed is a "battleship" that can't make "hairpin turns" on the basis of a "tweet" or something else.
On the 5 p.m. Fast Money, Karen Finerman said, "I do think that if they do have a trade deal, that the Fed is freer to keep raising."