CNBCfix - Fast Money Review

[CNBCfix Halftime Report/Fast Money Review Archive — Nov. 2025]

We thought we might get a (partial) week without hearing about how Joe was late to crypto, but he brought it up in the 52nd minute

Judge was off on Wednesday (11/26); on the Halftime Report, guest host Frank Holland at the start of the show kept saying "Happy holidays," but it's only one holiday this week.

Joe Terranova predicted the market will "screen out some of the participants" in the AI trade and "look at" the valuations. Liz Thomas predicted interest in health care will "continue."

Jason Snipe said what's happened to the market recently has been "healthy."

Joe said if you haven't already bought ORCL, it could be a "low risk trade" with a 185 stop. Jason Snipe said ORCL is at an "attractive point." (No one said anything about 5-6% debt.)

Steve Weiss said TSM is the company that works for all the AI, et al. plays. Weiss said the risk is "China wants to take over Taiwan, but realistically, I don't see that happening."

Joe said that CINF, GM, LVS, MDT, MNST, TJX, PLD and ROL are at 52-week highs.

Frank said TJX has "4 times the market cap of Target."

Joe retraced the path of ZM over the previous 24 hours and said he was "troubled" by how it fell back.

Weiss said he's getting "so many texts" about his jacket; he advised viewers to "email Frank Holland directly" to express their opinion. Even Kristina Partsinevelos mentioned Weiss' jacket during CNBC News Update.

Handsome Guys vs. Not As Photogenic — how important policy decisions are made these days

Judge said on Tuesday's (11/25) Halftime Report that he had quickly landed Richard Fisher for Closing Bell to discuss the Kevin Hassett report.

Indeed, Richard was on Closing Bell and told Judge that Hassett being the next Fed chair "would follow tradition," but as far as Kevin's prospects for getting the job, "the only drawback to Kevin Hassett is, he's not as photogenic as Kevin Warsh. You know the president likes good-looking people. And Kevin's (presumably Warsh) a handsome guy."

Judge doesn’t have to nominate Jim for the Hall of Fame just yet

Judge opened Tuesday's (11/25) Halftime Report gushing about "the biggest story," which is Alphabet adding, according to Judge, $2 trillion "in 6 months. That's unbelievable."

Judge even mentioned the "Eddy Cue selloff" in the first minute.

In the 10th minute, Judge decided to ladle on the credit to Jim Lebenthal (who wasn't on the show Tuesday; that's a file photo above), referring to Eddy Cue Day in May and stating, "I'll give him props again, when Lebenthal came out on this show and said 'I think this is way, way, way overdone.' Lord knows I've given that man enough grief about some of his, his positions in certain stocks, so I'll- I will cite him and that call as many times as it takes, um, to get, you know, back into his, uh, good graces."

It's nice that Judge is handing out compliments.

We get that Jim is a fine investor, and as always, we wish him the best in all of his trades.

But Judge is really laying it on thick — since Jim's "call" back in May wasn't even that good.

All Jim basically said was that he's not selling Alphabet and that the Eddy Cue reaction, which tripped Judge's hysteria switch, was overdone. Jim definitely did not say "See, they're going to get a favorable outcome from the Justice Department and then catch up on OpenAI and so today's market cap will double by November."

It's like, if you're on a street corner, and a buncha people jump into the street and play in traffic ... are you supposed to get a medal just because you remained on the sidewalk?

Jim wasn't even alone. Brian Belski on Tuesday's show even claimed, "We were very fortunate in April during the depths to double our position in, in Google, just because we did not believe in the demise of Google due to ChatGPT and OpenAI."

Carter, Guy think NFLX is a buy

On Tuesday's (11/25) Halftime Report, Josh Brown got sort of a victory lap with ZM and said that despite the gain Tuesday, "You have to ride it."

Later in the day on Fast Money, Carter Worth pointed out that back when ZM traded at $500-$600, it had net income of $20 million, and now the income is something like $2 billion but it trades under $100.

Carter curiously stated, "This is why valuation is known as a terrible timing tool." That's a statement we agree with. Except the ZM example Carter cited doesn't support that point. Anyone could argue that the pandemic valuation was out of whack, and that's why the stock fell.

Regardless, Guy Adami predicted ZM "goes higher."

Carter also advised viewers to "take advantage" of weakness in NFLX by buying. Guy Adami said it's at a "logical level" to bounce, though Guy said it's been "squishy" perhaps because the market wonders why it thinks it needs to buy Warner Bros. assets. Dan Nathan noted that SPOT has struggled in tandem with NFLX, as Joe Terranova used to note in late summer while Joe kept touting both stocks while they've been dogs. (This writer is long NFLX and SPOT.)

Weiss’ mention of Monday Night Football is the first time there’s been a buzz about a Panthers game under Tepper ownership

Judge opened Monday's (11/24) Halftime Report without exactly fresh news (then again, it's a holiday week) — he was re-reading Tony Pasquariello's note from Friday "pre-open."

Judge said Tony said "the primary trend remains intract- (sic) (snicker) intact." Tony also mentioned the market being not as "pristine" (snicker), but there's still favorable "interplay" (snicker), which sounds a lot like analyst-speak. #LikeMcGarrettsayson"HawaiiFive-O,""InEnglish,Doc"

Steve Weiss said "I think we're good," and it's "healthy to shake out the late-comers to the AI trade, to the tech trade." Weiss said the market got "overvalued, unquestionably, but we're in good shape now."

Later in the show, Joe Terranova said, "I can't see '26 not having more elevated volatility." Weiss said it's "far from certain" that inflation gets "taken care of."

Jim’s off; no mention of ORCL 5-6%

Judge on Monday's (11/24) Halftime Report announced that Larry Page just passed Larry Ellison as the world's 2nd-richest person.

Joe Terranova attributed GOOGL's success to a "confluence" of factors (basically he rattled off every business its got). Joe said only NVDA and Alphabet are "outperforming the S&P so far year to date."

Joe asserted, "Valuations in tech do matter."

Josh Brown said META and ORCL are in a "bucket" of concerns about spending. But Josh said "Google today is 56% above its 200-day moving average," making it "one of the most extended names in the whole S&P 500."

But Steve Weiss contended that Josh's lumping ORCL and META together is "off-base." Josh stressed that he's talking about "share prices." Weiss said META is "one of the most apt" to translate spending into revenues.

Weiss said big-tech investors are "unfamiliar" with the type of "financial enhancements" being done by some tech giants, but they're just a "pimple" in the overall balance sheet/market cap.

Judge cited a WSJ article suggesting META wants everyone else to pay for its giant data center. Weiss said it's getting "tougher and tougher" to secure energy for data centers, "so it's actually very smart what they're doing." Joe predicted "a lot of private debt deals."

Joe questioned, "If Gemini 3 is as credible, as, as strong, as- as effective as we believe it is, what does that mean for OpenAI." Weiss said if OpenAI were public, its valuation "would be a lot lower." Joe suggested it might be a $500 billion valuation.

Josh predicted NVDA goes "above 200 and stays." Rather than invoking the old standby of innings, Josh suggested NVDA is "Michael Jordan in 1997."

Weiss said names like PLTR were overvalued, and he doesn't think they go back to being overvalued, "and I sort of hope not," but he thinks they do "increase in value over time" when there's a "reason" besides multiple expansion.

If the ex-employee is a ‘complete moron,’ why did Weiss hire him?

Steve Weiss on Monday's (11/24) Halftime Report said he bought BABA, saying some ADR concern hasn't happened, but he mentioned "the invasion of Taiwan," as he's been doing off and on for about the last 10 years. (Oddly enough, the show included breaking news from Eamon Javers about Donald Trump and Xi Jinping arranging visits to each other's country.)

Joe Terranova said Chinese stocks are "very quietly" having a strong year. Judge said, "Not that quietly." Josh Brown kind of backed Joe, saying that on Halftime, they "used to have a segment for Chinese stocks, every show in 2014."

Joe said CVNA has to "prove itself to me," he's "skeptical." But Joe has "strong affection" for CMI. Josh said ZM expectations are "nonexistent." He mentioned again how they use the product at Barry's shop. Josh pointed to the chart on the screen and said "eventually" it'll break through 85.

Josh mentioned more of his Best Stocks; it was health care, and he touted MTD and TMO (he made the typical "no-sellers"-after-a-certain-level argument), and A. Joe mentioned owning a bunch of health care. Judge wondered why no one owns LLY. Weiss cited valuation.

On Fast Money, Tim Seymour suggested that Ukrainians were "the last people that were consulted" on the Russia-Ukraine peace plan.

Weiss says ex-employee downloaded proprietary information; it ended up on ‘his new employer’s server’

On Friday's (11/21) Halftime Report, Judge Scott Wapner was off, but we thought guest host Frank Holland might have to call in Judge Judy.

Josh Brown didn't seem to care that JOBY (Zzzz) is suing ACHR (Zzzz), though he owns both stocks, "but they're both small positions."

The subject prompted Steve Weiss to unleash a personal anecdote on alleged corporate espionage, referring to "the idiocy of these employees" and revealing "We're involved in a lawsuit where, uh, an employee downloaded all our proprietary information, and during discovery, we found it on his new employer's server. So, complete moron, you know, who doesn't realize there's a digital trail on both sides."

Rather than prejudge the case, Frank Holland said they can "let the lawyers handle this one."

Meanwhile, Josh said "Joby is in the lead here" but it's "very early." Josh said investors "have to be patient."

During Final Trades, Rob Sechan said he's got a "Pittsburgh accent." Weiss revealed, "I'm from Manhattan."

Josh would buy NVDA at 180

On Friday's (11/21) Halftime Report, Guest host Frank Holland and the crew took up the Stock of the Week, which is of course NVDA.

Josh Brown said, "I'd pull the trigger at 180," and he thinks 200 is "inevitable."

Rob Sechan said NVDA is at a "26 times forward P.E."

Rob thinks there have been "too many parallels" between NVDA and 1999 CSCO.

Kevin Simpson said he's not selling or "running away" from ORCL but there are "echoes of 2000" and even "2007."

Actually the new president (not ‘new’ if it’s Joe Biden) won’t take office until 2029

Bill Baruch joined Friday's (11/21) Halftime Report remotely to discuss exiting TSLA.

Bill began by saying he bought it in July of last year and was "up 100% on it." Bill's video partly froze at least 3 times when he was talking about recent technical flags. Guest host Frank Holland suggested Bill might've been using "Starlink Internet."

Kevin Simpson said Bill made a trade but investors such as Kevin are holding for a long time and selling calls against TSLA. Steve Weiss made one of his favorite long-standing (and admittedly correct) points, that robotaxis have to be serviced, whereas for UBER, the drivers have to maintain the cars. Josh Brown echoed the same point.

Josh touted MS as one of his Best Stocks in the Market, he predicted it "continues to beat expectations."

Weiss said MS has caught up with GS but Weiss owns enough of GS that buying MS is basically making the "same bet."

Kevin bought more MPC; he said it's "9 times forward earning." Kevin sold a 150 covered call on TJX expiring Friday for $1.50.

Josh said GE Vernova is booked till 2028; "we'll have a new president, maybe, uh, in- in the White House."

Weiss: No ‘major upside’ until next year, or late December

Guest host Frank Holland opened Friday's (11/21) Halftime Report asking Steve Weiss if earnings, or the Fed, are driving the market. "It depends on timing," Weiss said.

Weiss said Thursday had a "stark turnaround" for the market to open that high and close lower.

"The market should be OK right now, today, hopefully," Weiss said, but he doesn't see "major upside" until late December at the earliest, or next year.

Weiss said he doesn't see people "continuing to catch a falling knife in big-cap tech."

Josh Brown said, "We really haven't had a meaningful correction since April." Josh said he agrees with Weiss' commentary except Josh thinks big tech is "where they're gonna go."

Rob Sechan referred to "how frothy the markets got in September and October" and said the Santa Claus rally maybe got "pulled forward," but we're only 5% off the highs. Rob predicted this will be a "shallower correction vs. the deeper ones."

Kevin Simpson stressed that bitcoin is a "correlated asset." Frank asked how to trade bitcoin if the bottom was supposed to be $87,000; Weiss said it previously was $100,000. Rob said a lot of bitcoin levels are "flashing green." Weiss said picking the bottom in bitcoin is "even more of a fool's errand" than with stocks because there's "no tangible value."

Josh said Friday's market is "undoing some of the damage from yesterday." Josh said it's not exactly humans deciding that stocks aren't great; it's generally the machines vs. the machines.

Weiss said there's "more than enough liquidity in the market for any outcome."

On Friday's (11/21) Fast Money, Tim Seymour's blue shirt and blue tie clashed.

Joe’s intent on breaking the record for Most Times Making The Same Comment In A Month

Circumstances dictated that we had to blitz through Thursday's (11/20) Halftime Report ... but during that blitz, we actually heard Joe Terranova say "vomit" on national television.

Joe opened the show telling guest host Frank Holland, "It really relates to cryptocurrencies."

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with Nvidia," offered Stephanie Link, but it's "very overowned." Stephanie mentioned one of her favorite terms, Total Addressable Market.

Bryn Talkington said that 2 months ago, she sold NVDA 200 calls expiring Friday and closed them out "with about a 60% gain." Bryn also sold January 220 calls. Bryn said $200 is a "ceiling" for NVDA and she thinks the stock could trade "somewhat sideways."

Joe asked Frank for a platform to discuss crypto (even though it's the same thing he's been saying several times a week for several weeks). "Allow me a couple of seconds just to talk about this ... I believe our strategy was late to crypto holdings," Joe said. But then he added a new word: "When we added Strategy, I- I literally felt as though I wanted to vomit at that moment."

Judge on May 7 used the term ‘existential threat’

Judge on Wednesday's (11/19) Halftime Report announced that GOOGL hit a "new (sic redundant) record high today."

Bryn Talkington bought the stock, calling it the "juxtaposition to a- to an OpenAI." Bryn said "the market is coming around to their TPUs" and that Gemini, "from a retail perspective, is gaining share from OpenAI," and while Siri is "still this Trojan horse," it "makes sense" that there could be a "partnership," and also there's "Google shopping" where it finds you a Christmas tree.

Bryn reaffirmed, "I don't really pay attention to P.E.s. I think it's just a number. It still has a pretty moderate P.E. relative to its growth rate and margins." (Ah. When P.E.s are considered high, we dismiss them; when they're "moderate," we cite them as positives.)

Bryn basically mentioned 4 or 5 reasons to own Alphabet; had she initially said she had more than 3, we would've skipped.

Jim Lebenthal was on the desk; Judge told Jim, in a bit of hyperbole, referring to last May, "The call that you made on this name was nothing short of extraordinary."

Actually Judge is giving Jim a little too much credit. Jim was merely resisting the Eddy Cue hysteria. Jim didn't say back in May, "Once this Justice Department thing blows over, this will take off."

Jim told Judge Wednesday, "Thank you very much" and it "felt good" and said Monday's show on this subject, when he wasn't there but was given credit by Judge and Joe, was "frankly hilarious."

Jim said "if there's a lesson to be learned from it, it's the power of big," meaning Alphabet has several giant businesses that tend to deliver. Judge mentioned "Eddy Cue" (in the 9th minute) and said that in May, "Everybody sort of lost their minds for a moment."

But what exactly was everyone saying on that Wednesday, May 7 episode, about Eddy Cue's remarks, when Judge thinks folks were losing their minds?

Jim, long Alphabet then, only said he was inclined to "hold through this" and is "careful about knee-jerking one way or the other." Judge that day actually used the term "existential threat" (snicker). Joe Terranova called the revelation a "big deal" and said it's about the "cash cow." Josh Brown said it's "extremely significant" and "Joe is right" and "Jim will eventually come around to this point of view."

Joe admits he predicted a chase for performance (without saying he was predicting it for weeks)

Joe suggested at the start of Wednesday's (11/19) Halftime Report that right now, "You're more inclined to take off some risk," and Joe said "that's the place that I reside myself (snicker) right now."

Joe said, "I called for a chase for performance. Ultimately (sic redundant), the chase for performance began. Maybe it's gonna end a lot sooner than I expected it to. But it needs a catalyst," and perhaps that would be NVDA, which now seems like a good bet. (This review was posted overnight Wed-Thurs.)

Permabull Stephanie Link said that whatever NVDA says "bodes well for the overall market." Jim Lebenthal said he expects a "beat on all metrics."

Everyone loves to talk about how they were buying META in December 2022

Judge asked Stephanie Link on Wednesday's (11/19) Halftime Report if she's "mad" (snicker) at META for its spending. "Initially I was," Stephanie said, but not after she saw the results. Stephanie said, "It trades at 18 times forward estimates." Stephanie mentioned Everyone's Favorite Trade, buying META in December 2022.

Dee Bosa said the "true believers" in Silicon Valley that she talks to, "they will tell you, very quickly, that there's certainly a bubble in AI right now." The reason it's happening is because "they think the bigger risk is sitting it out."

Judge brought up OWL and brought in Leslie Picker to discuss whatever this credit-funds merger was about before it got called off.

Judge is not terribly impressed by Joe’s assessment of TGT

Stephanie Link on Wednesday's (11/19) Halftime Report said she'd "probably" sell the rest of her TGT stake because it's "dead money," though she called the 5% yield "safe and secure."

Joe Terranova got Judge's attention when questioning Stephanie if TGT should be working on "shipping times" rather than boosting capex for remodeling stores.

"There's a million things they have to work on," Stephanie explained, but after Joe persisted on capex spending, Stephanie said, "They have to, Joe." Stephanie said the stores don't have the "traffic."

That prompted Judge to mock Joe's question in a funny voice before declaring, "None of that matters. It's all irrelevant. They don't have the traffic. The stock can't go up because their sales continue to go down."

Joe said they still have to "work on the speed of delivery." Judge said "that's not gonna move the needle."

Joe insisted, "E-commerce moves the needle." Judge said, "I'm not saying digital isn't important."

Joe said, "You are saying!" Joe added, "If you order something from, from Walmart, you're getting it a heckuva lot quicker than if you order something from Target."

Steph said, "You need people in the stores." Judge said, "I'm with you."

Joe said TJX is at an "all-time high."

Bryn out of UBER, would buy in the 70s

Bryn Talkington on Wednesday's (11/19) Halftime Report said she unloaded UBER, saying it's hit $100 "about 5 times" but "keeps getting rejected." Bryn said it looks like it's going to the 200-day at 86. But she'd look to buy it if it gets to the 70s.

Stephanie Link said it's a "pretty attractive" stock at "16 times forward estimates."

Joe Terranova said of UBER, "I'm personally long at 36 from 2023," but he'd get out if it breaks 80. Joe said it's "running in place" since May.

Joe sold the remainder of his personal AAPL stake. He bought the GLD. Joe impressively articulated how the dollar, crypto and precious metals have moved recently; he likes the "resiliency" of the metals.

Santoli said the "market's not comfortable with bitcoin making new lows."

Joe said DASH could be a "falling knife." Stephanie said she'd "definitely" buy BA. Joe said he would own INCY.

Jim Lebenthal called CSCO a "Clydesdale of a stock."

Judge declares Jim’s recent argument that shutdown liquidity was the cause of the market selloff as ‘absurd’

In the 13th minute of Tuesday's (11/18) Halftime Report, Jim Lebenthal mentioned ORCL's "5 to 6%" debt. But he said he's seen credit swaps "more than double" in recent weeks, and there's no way such a risk assessment changed in that short of a time span. Judge explained that "markets react long before a potential event."

Seema Mody, CNBC's designated ORCL Debt Reporter, joined the group to deliver the latest. Seema said ORCL's rating of BBB is "lower than the other hyperscalers."

Jim said that when ORCL had $12 billion in free cash flow a couple years ago, people wondered what it would do with it and didn't want a dividend, which for ORCL would "cement your legacy as a value stock." Rather, ORCL found "productive, uh, projects" for that money, Jim asserted.

Jim said Larry Ellison is "benefiting" from his ties to the president, regardless of what people think about it. Malcolm Ethridge said he's been looking to buy back the half-position in ORCL he sold in October, but the more he looks at it, "the more concerned I get."

Jim asked for the ORCL credit default swaps chart again and said the spike just "screams sentiment." Judge scoffed that Jim's argument of recent weeks that the shutdown was causing a market selloff was "absurd at that time" and "absurd today too."

Jenny Harrington doesn't own MSTR but said she's been watching it only because it's "interesting" (snicker). She's tried to identify who's selling and thinks it's the "lower-end investor" (we didn't know there was such a thing) who no longer has the "ability to take risk." Jenny said, "This inability to take risk is starting to trickle up."

MacKenzie Sigalos, dynamite in stripes, said technical analysts of bitcoin think "the bottom may not be in yet." Josh Brown suggested stocks tied to bitcoin are trading at premiums while they actually resemble "closed-end funds."

How CNBC spells ‘circular’

Judge opened Tuesday's (11/18) Halftime Report with the B of A survey (Zzzzzzzzzzz) finding more than 50% of fund managers think AI stocks are in a bubble. Malcolm Ethridge suggested those same fund managers would say they're still not selling.

Jim Lebenthal said there's a "correction going on in the markets" after thinking a week ago it was "just a little liquidity lightness."

Judge said Rothschild Redburn (try saying that 5 times fast) is downgrading MSFT and AMZN to neutral. Josh Brown said that's a "perfectly respectable" call.

Jim said the "quintessential bubble" was CSCO in 1999 at 120 times; Jim said AMZN and MSFT are at "30, 34 times forward." The screen text agreed with him on AMZN but actually said MSFT is only 29. (As always, it's whatever you want it to be.)

Judge asked Jim about whether "circular deals" in Big Tech are a cause for concern. Jim brought up fiber optics in 1999 and said there are "positive returns" now, unlike in 1999, and whether today's world turns out that way is "not gonna be known for 2 years." Malcolm said not all of the "circular" deals are the same.

Maybe the most telling comment about the market came when Santoli said at the end of the show, "The market peaked on October 29th. That was when the Fed cut rates and then said 'Don't- don't expect another one.'"

Boy, sure would be great if we could all go back and buy GOOGL in May

In the 20th minute of Tuesday's (11/18) Halftime Report, Judge mentioned "Eddy Cue" and questioned if Loop Capital's Alphabet upgrade to "buy" is too late given that it's had a hold since May 2023.

"The time to upgrade this stock is when sentiment got really bad," Judge declared, back in May when Jim Lebenthal "upgraded" it on Eddy Cue Day. Jim sighed that this is "the exact mirror image" of Baird downgrading ORCL after it's down 33% in a month.

Judge quoted Sundar Pichai as saying that everyone in AI will get hit if there is a bubble. Josh Brown said, "I don't think you get murdered in an Alphabet at a 27 forward multiple" (but whether 27 is an accurate "forward multiple" is anyone's guess). Judge said it's different with chips and even said "tap ya on the shoulder," a prominent line in the 2007-08 Eric Bolling days of Fast Money.

Judge makes his daily Burry quota

In the 24th minute of Tuesday's (11/18) Halftime Report, Judge mentioned Michael Burry. Judge said Burry posted a trade, long MOH stock and long PLTR puts, according to Burry, "like peanut butter and bananas."

Jenny Harrington boasted, "Every day that the market's had a terrible day, there has been a disproportionate amount of green on my screen," because of health care, real estate, utilities, energy, companies with "fair valuations." Jenny said she added AMCR. "I think Michael Burry's call is smart," Jenny said. Courtney Reagan on CNBC News Update said the U.K. is cracking down on ticket resellers; they're going to have to stick to face value (see if that works).

Josh Brown talked up ABBV and AMGN for his Best Stocks in the Market list.

Malcolm Ethridge said he likes the opportunity in ZS and cybersecurity.

Jenny talked up UBER; Josh said UBER has faced headwinds from narratives about Waymo and Tesla, "very reminiscent of when they said Netflix was dead because Disney+ was launching and, uh, all these other streaming services." Josh called UBER "ridiculously cheap."

Judge felt compelled to squeeze in, just before Final Trades, Jenny's sale of WPP. Jenny said it's "doing horribly compared to its 2 top peers" and she has a "huge tax loss," which is what some stock investors live for.

Actually it’s not too farfetched — Tim takes over DIS, and Iger can run AAPL

Judge on Monday's (11/17) Halftime Report said the FT was reporting on AAPL getting busy on a Tim Cook succession plan.

And, honestly, it's to Judge's credit that he brought this up, because it is an FT story, not a CNBC story. #scoops #let'sgetsome

Judge noted Joe Terranova personally trimmed AAPL. Joe said he owns it personally and in the ETF and it's "prudent" not to have it in both places. But Joe said "there's a lot of resiliency" in the stock.

Joe then bickered with Judge over Berkshire's AAPL sales, saying you can't "dismiss" the AAPL sales while getting excited about buying Alphabet. Judge said Berkshire trimming AAPL is "not new." Joe said, "They're selling more Apple than they're actually buying of, of Alphabet."

Judge didn't bring this up, but if Tim is really stepping aside from AAPL's CEO-ship possibly as early as next year, that might make him a prime recruit for Gorman/Iger. To a small extent, they're actually in the same business. We don't know ... we don't know anything about anything ... but we gotta think nobody at Disney and all its constituencies would have any problem with Tim Cook being named successor.

Weiss sees ‘no reason’ to buy crypto now

Joe Terranova on Monday's (11/17) Halftime Report said he wishes he had the "discretion" to keep MSTR out of the JOET.

Joe explained that we had the "peak in the market on October 6th," and these "macro momentum assets are rolling over."

Steve Weiss said of bitcoin, "There is no use case; it's strictly a trading vehicle." Weiss said he made a mistake not selling all of his IBIT when the momentum "died." Weiss added, "I see no reason to step in here."

Joe said this is the most pro-crypto administration, and yet bitcoin on the year is "basically unchanged," which indicates "it's goin' lower."

Later in the show, Tom Lee turned up, in all places, on ETF Edge, hosted by Leslie Picker. Tom said he remains bullish on ethereum because Wall Street wants to "tokenize assets, you know, bring stocks, bonds, real estate onto the blockchain (snicker)," and ethereum is the "neutral, 100% up-time blockchain." Tom conceded crypto is "hyper-volatile."

Tom suggested ethereum is "probably is bottoming this week."

Judge actually mentioned ‘Eddy Cue’ on Closing Bell

Joe Terranova on Monday's (11/17) Halftime Report was downplaying the importance of Berkshire's Alphabet stake, pointing out, "They sold about 9.4 billion worth of Apple ... they're still a net seller."

Judge insisted, "Yeah but, this is a big deal."

Judge prodded Joe to congratulate Jim Lebenthal on liking GOOGL back in May. Joe, who has promised a "chase for performance" for weeks/months, said GOOGL and the SMH are reasons "why you don't get too bearish."

As far as the capex fears that Judge talks about literally every day, Judge said it's "too soon" to know if tech is overspending; the answers will take "years, not months."

Steve Weiss agreed with Judge that it's too soon, and for now, "It doesn't matter." Because if they spend too much, they'll put the "brakes" on it. Weiss said, if you're a company in this space, "You can't wait to spend."

Somebody’s got another small position size in a stock that’s doing badly

In the 14th minute of Monday's (11/17) Halftime Report, Judge said "Michael Burry's back" and also said Chanos is making noise about capex too.

Steve Weiss said, "It's much ado about nothing." Weiss said it's "2 short sellers" and that Chanos is looking primarily at CRWV; Weiss said he himself looked at shorting CRWV, "but I just don't short really anymore." Weiss said the "coverage ratios" of 2 unnamed companies are "monstrous" and are what any companies want; so there's "no there there."

Addressing Morgan Stanley's double downgrade of DELL, Bryn Talkington said memory prices are "outperforming gold," and "memory is increasing exponentially," but short-term margin compression seems "very likely." Bryn said you can buy MU while waiting for DELL's issues to blow over.

Bryn said of NVDA, "the Q&A is gonna decide whether the stock trades up or down."

Sarat Sethi said biotech and pharma are coming back. Shannon Saccocia said there could be a bit of an "unwind" in the short term, then it would be a chance to add. Joe Terranova said he did a "bad job" of bailing on MRK, saying it seems to want to press toward a 52-week high.

Joe predicted a good quarter from CRWD. Joe said he could make the argument that CRWD and PANW are grabbing market share from the others.

Judge said CNBC Pro (they want you to subscribe) came up with a list of "most oversold" stocks that could make a comeback. Sarat said he'd buy the LW weakness. Joe said AXON still needs to work off its "extreme valuation," but that will happen a little "down the line."

Joe said SMCI's and XYZ's charts look "awful."

Judge asked Sarat about ORCL; Judge said when he brought up ORCL, Sarat looked like he "just put the tee shot in the water." Sarat said he brought down ORCL at 300 to "half a position size," now it's "the speculative play" in his portfolio. Judge, who could've brought up the half-position or "small position" point he made last week (see below) but didn't, went on to make a bunch of golf puns regarding ORCL and concluded with "good stuff."

Joe was going to mark the 5th anniversary of the JOET in a CNBC Pro chat with The Dominator, Dom Chu.

Monday's Fast Money welcomed Jim Cramer, who already has a show said he tries to watch Fast Money whenever he can and who has also got a new book for sale.

Judge says panelists only mention ‘small’ positions for stocks on the downside

Judge on Friday's (11/14) Halftime Report, to his credit, again brought up DIS (that's one of the Week's Greatest Hits) and asked Brian Belski about owning the shares.

Belski said he's been rolling back his shop's positions; he said he won't say it's "more of a value stock," rather, "it's becoming more of a concern."

Belski said he's only got a "relatively small position" in DIS. Judge carped, correctly, that nobody ever says they have a "small position" when a stock is surging; "It only happens on the downside."

Belski protested that his "premise" for buying was "because of Iger when he came back." He didn't go into why Bob was willing to exit the first time — cable being a melting iceberg, and streaming being a churn mess for everyone except NFLX. (This writer is long NFLX.) Nor did he opine on whether the stock would move higher (or not as low) if Bob is given a 10-year contract, or if Bob exits completely and two co-CEOs are chosen.

‘Powell doesn’t have the votes now for a cut’

Judge opened Friday's (11/14) Halftime Report talking about what this page would call the Week's Greatest Hits, which include ORCL giving "everything back" from September, "rate-cut rollback" and Burry's ... stuff.

Stephanie Link said it's all "totally overblown."

Malcolm Ethridge said it's "reasonable" for investors to question META making AI investments "to no end."

Judge and Stephanie joked about Stephanie taking up the whole A Block. While still in the A Block, Brian Belskki joked about the "Q Block" and said we're "nowhere near a bubble." (If he had said the opposite, it would lead the CNBC.com website all day.) Belski said comparisons to 1999 are "bunk."

Belski said he was worried a couple weeks ago that there were "too many bulls."

Malcolm said he's looking to buy back ORCL somewhere around Friday's price. He said the story is still strong but the market got "way too euphoric."

Steve Liesman told Judge, "Powell doesn't have the votes now for a cut." Steve bluntly declared, "The market has not been listening to what the Fed has been saying."

Steve joked about the "extended A Block." He said he heard "all of it" and he didn't hear "Fed funds" a single time, which signifies something.

Judge pointed out that the IBB is up. (That's another of the Week's Greatest Hits.)

MacKenzie Sigalos reported that "bitcoin has now erased all of its gains since President Trump's inauguration."

Judge brings up Jim Stewart’s bringing up that Iger could be chairman

Judge, to his credit, on Thursday's (11/13) Halftime Report took up his quite-significant conversation a day earlier about DIS with Jim Stewart on Closing Bell.

It started Thursday when Jenny Harrington said the market had a "stupid reaction" to DIS' results; Jenny of course mentioned the P.E. ratio.

Judge said, "Well their revenues missed, and you got nothing on succession either. I could- maybe people are just getting tired of waiting."

Jenny noted that DIS raised the dividend and announced a buyback.

Referring to the YouTube dispute, Josh Brown volunteered that "they're getting manhandled by Alphabet" in what Josh calls "Mag 7 platform risk." Josh said the length of the dispute calls into question the worth of that programming content. Jenny said "that's a much bigger conversation."

Judge referred to the Nelson Peltz board vote and asked Jenny if she has "regrets" that Nelson's not on the DIS board. Jenny indicated no, then said "I don't know."

As for CEO of this company: Jenny said, correctly, "There's not that many people available for the jobs ... I think this is a particularly difficult succession situation."

Kari Firestone didn't seem to think there's any news in the lack of succession, offering, "They said it would be this- uh, first quarter of next year."

But Judge pointed out that Jim Stewart said Wednesday there isn't "any, uh, insight" into who it might be. Judge noted that Jim suggested there's talk of co-CEOs with Iger as chairman (James Gorman is the current chairman). "He raised that, not me," Judge said.

Gold miners ‘can go up 150% easily from here’

Bill Baruch, whose call to be long gold miners a few months ago is a contender for Call of the Year (this writer is long one of those miners), is at it again.

Bill on Thursday's (11/13) Halftime Report bought CDE and said it bought a company called "New Gold"; Judge wondered if New Gold is a company or just finding new gold.

Bill also bought GROY and, in the day's most startling claim, said, "These things can go up 150% easily from here."

Judge, incredulous, asked, "150%; are you talking about the stock??? After a 200% gain year to date, another 150."

Bill said yes, if they "come to life," because "they're really being benchmarked to 3,200 gold, $35 silver right now."

Kari seems to think there’s a Fed leak every day, says market may drop 5% if no December cut

Judge at the top of Thursday's (11/13) Halftime Report suggested interest rates are the "culprit" for the day's market swoon.

Josh Brown said a portfolio manager he knows calls it "the ABC Market," which has nothing to do with Bob Iger or Jimmy Kimmel or David Muir but "Anything But Chips."

Kari Firestone curiously said, "We've been hearing for weeks now that there's a split at the Fed. And every single day, I- I feel the Fed leaks information, or the members are talking about it-"

Judge countered, "They don't leak it; they talk about it!"

Kari suggested if there's no Fed cut in December, the market may drop "5%," which seemed to make Judge incredulous.

Bill Baruch said the Fed needed to "balance" its opinions. Bill said he feels "pretty confident" we'll get a cut, but it's not a "necessary thing."

Judge suggested it's "necessary" for "certain parts of the market."

Jenny Harrington was describing the market and then reflected on her portfolios, stating, "What's the one thing I've got going for me — they're all profitable, they all have low valuations."

Josh pointed out, "The Dow is beating the S&P 500 over the last month and over the last 3 months ... the Dow has more exposure to Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar than it does to the entire Mag 7 combined."

Josh said in the AI scene, where profitability is an issue, "These guys won't stop doing podcasts and letting stupid things slip out of their mouths."

Judge said ORCL has "round-tripped it and then some."

Jenny talked about CSCO seemingly for no other reason than it's not ORCL.

Judge claims Michael Burry basically is saying ‘bubble’ even if he’s not literally saying ‘bubble’

Evidently unable to resist, Judge on Thursday's (11/13) Halftime Report said, "Again related to Michael Burry ... Um, he thinks we're in a bubble. I mean I think he's made that pretty clear from his postings on, on social media."

Leslie Picker reported that Burry has "deregistered" Scion Asset Management. Josh Brown said, "Family office? Or active ETF?" Judge chuckled, "I don't know."

Meanwhile, Bill Baruch bought more AMGN. Bill said you have to "lean into what's working right now." Kari Firestone said health care has been "oversold for years"; Kari said there are "4 reasons why the health care and biotech stocks are goin' up," but this page, as always, can't handle more than 3.

Jenny Harrington claimed pharma companies will be some of the "true AI beneficiaries," because they'll have "better research" from "fewer scientists." (That's just what the world needs — fewer scientists.)

Josh Brown said the best-performing S&P stock this year is HOOD.

Wonder what XOM’s forward P.E. is

Jenny Harrington on Thursday's (11/13) Halftime Report suggested VZ job cuts may be like UPS, which may be "super compelling" for a portfolio manager but very troubling from a "human perspective." Josh Brown said VZ has been 41 since 1998.

Kari Firestone said she still likes BKNG and it's done great and she's even trimmed a little bit, but it's "debatable" whether post-COVID travel can remain "fantastic." Josh shrugged that it looks like "every other travel stock," with a rounding top. Josh said "travel comps" going into next year are steep; "I'd be really careful."

Josh said names like RKT are stalled by a 10-year yield that is being very sluggish, but he thinks eventually RKT will "run away" with its "full funnel" housing purchase experience on 1 app.

Josh talked up XOM as one of the Best Stocks in the Market. Josh said 125 would be a "real trigger." Bill Baruch said he could potentially be "leaning into" this name by year-end.

Jenny said she's got 21% exposure to energy. She knows "for sure" it will benefit from the data center build. (But did anyone ask Jim Lebenthal if that buildout should be done with debt vs. equity?)

Santoli said there's "narrative static" (snicker) in several places in the market.

Iger might just be chairman with co-CEOs, Jim Stewart suggests

Surely the most curious bit of information heard on CNBC Wednesday (11/12) (no, not Howard Buffett's foundation getting more money from Warren) was Jim Stewart's revelation of DIS "successor" speculation on Judge's Closing Bell.

Um, basically, if you could bet on this subject at a casino — who's in charge at DIS in 2026 — the odds would say Iger -900 ... all others, +500.

But the key word there is "in charge." Because the formal titles include chairman, CEO and president. And in the roughly 1-century history of DIS, there has not been consistency as to which of those titles is actually running the company. (There is consistency on that subject this century, but not the previous one.)

So basically, someone "in charge" could simply change titles, have a "succession" declared ... but still remain "in charge."

Stewart first told Judge that this is "the first time Disney is all-in on streaming." Yeah, right. Every 3 months since about 2021, Jim Lebenthal tells Halftime Report viewers (not an actual quote), "They finally figured out streaming."

Anyway, Judge asked Stewart, "Are you tired of waiting for successor information?" Jim chuckled and said "Well we aren't getting much ... there's continuing speculation they might have co-CEOs. There's even, I've heard talk, that they'd have co-CEOs and Iger would stay as chairman ... None of this is completely implausible ... I have not heard any word of them going outside the company."

What Stewart did not say is that neither the DIS CEO nor board trusts anyone else in the world to run this company; that's the problem.

So it sounds like we're looking at a Putin/Medvedev thing.

Except DIS doesn't even have a Medvedev.

Stay tuned.

Weiss says he doesn’t know why proxy advisors exist, then immediately explains why they do

Judge on Wednesday's (11/12) Halftime Report said MoffettNathanson is saying it's time for NFLX to climb. (This writer is long NFLX.) Joe Terranova asked for a 6-month chart and repeated his refrain that it's done "nothing" since June 30. Joe said it's "consolidating the gains" and "marking time" and looking for a new catalyst. But Steve Weiss said, "It retook the 200-day." Weiss said the Netflix service is still "grossly underpriced," the strongest point of this or basically any NFLX conversation.

Leslie Picker reported on proxy advisors, which apparently have a dubious reputation. Judge questioned whether these services "make a difference for shareholders." Leslie said the "empirical" evidence is "pretty mixed."

Weiss said "I don't know why they exist," then said "They exist for insurance policies for mutual funds and other large institutional investors."

Forward P.E. sighting

Kari Firestone on Wednesday's (11/12) Halftime Report said she bought NVDA, and she was comparing it with previously buying AVGO.

Kari said NVDA is at "31 times" while AVGO is at "36 times." The screen graphic didn't show either stock's forward P.E., so we can only guess what other estimates of those P.E.s are. Then Steve Liesman talked about Rafael Bostic's comments. Then Judge went back to asking Kari about buying NVDA and trimming AVGO. Kari said it's "portfolio management" and what we're "supposed to do" is "buy low, sell high."

Joe Terranova said he can "reasonably see" AVGO and NVDA being fine in 12 months; right now, as for AVGO, NVDA, MSFT, META and TSLA, there's a "breakdown in their momentum score." Joe said he'd rather wait to buy NVDA at a new high over 208, 209, than buying it here.

Forward P.E. sighting II (a/k/a Judge says he owns no Ons)

Jim Lebenthal wasn't on Wednesday's (11/12) Halftime Report panel, but he dialed in to say ONON "should be up."

Jim said, "At 27 times next year's earnings (snicker), I think it's priced to go higher." However, Jim said there had to be "short covering" occurring Wednesday.

Judge asked why ONON was down 36% coming into the earnings. Jim said "it simply got too expensive"; he sold it in February with a forward multiple of "60, 6-zero."

Late on Wednesday's Closing Bell, Kristina Partsinevelos reported on several stocks and wagered $5 with Judge that he owns "at least 1 pair" of On shoes. Judge said, "You can Venmo me the 5 bucks, thank you very much." (This writer owns an On pair but not ONON stock.)

In the CNBC News Update, Kristina Partsinevelos calls Rep. Thomas Massie ‘Thomas Massive’ (sic) (snicker)

In a choppy opening to Wednesday's (11/12) Halftime Report, Joe Terranova observed, "That momentum factor continues to turn more towards quality."

Liz Thomas said this is "part of the chase that's ongoing." Liz sees a "catch-up trade" in pharma, biotech and small caps.

Steve Weiss thinks the rally's in a "pause" until we get past the Fed meeting; Weiss said health care is a "land mine." Weiss said the government will "cut back" on spending. Judge insisted, "This is what the bulls would- would have wanted," which is that the Dow is picking up the "slack" from the tech pause.

Kari Firestone said tech's been the "sole winners," but now we can talk about certain health care names or financials.

Joe talked about not shorting the market, how other winners would surface, and "It will continue into the end of the year."

Joe pointed out how AMD was on the outs in the AI world a couple years ago but now is a "new entry into the momentum category" with "room to go further."

Maybe Judge should ask the mentalist Oz Pearlman what Mike Burry is thinking

In the 18th minute of Wednesday's (11/12) Halftime Report, Judge brought up "hyperscaler debt." (Zzzzzzzz)

Judge said "it remains a big story (snicker); what can I tell you."

Judge said Michael Hartnett says that shorting hyperscaler bonds is a "top trade for 2026." (For all of those Halftime viewers who are planning to short bonds.)

Then Judge said, "Here we go with Michael Burry again," which was basically Burry posting a gratuitous shot of his character in "The Big Short."

Judge brought in Seema Mody, who appears to be CNBC's designated ORCL Debt Reporter. Joe Terranova said ORCL is a "battleground stock." Joe said he believes it's "different than '99," but the market is "sensitive" to debt funding. Joe said, "The debt to equity ratio on this company is nearly 550%. That's not something you should be comfortable with."

Turning to Steve Weiss, Judge said Weiss has said that hyperscaler debt issuance is "much ado about nothing." Weiss said that's true in some names, but he "never liked" CRWV and people are looking at the "real finances" of its deals, as well as with ORCL.

Weiss said "you can rifle-shot shorts," but it's "crazy" to go after META; "there's no there there." Judge said, "This is not a today problem," but people may have "paid more attention" to whatever Burry posted. Weiss said that's true for "certain names."

Liz Thomas claimed that these companies used to have big cash hordes but have "drained a lot of those cash positions." Judge said, "They haven't drained 'em. ... Let's not act like they spent it all the way down." Liz said, "Why do they need debt if they're sitting on the cash." Kari Firestone offered, "If it's cheap enough for them."

Joe again stressed to Kari that using debt "blunts the sentiment and confidence" of the story, a point he's now made probably 5 times in the last 3 days. (For those who only watch 5 minutes of the show at a time.)

The hyperscaler debt conversation ran 10 minutes at the end of the A Block.

Judge reports on the closest thing he heard in the previous 24 hours that sounds like ‘bubble’

Judge on Tuesday's (11/11) Halftime Report was back to talking about Michael Burry posts.

(Because any time a Wall Street figure uses, or gets close to using, the “b” word, Judge’s ears perk up.)

"He's been on a run lately of posting about, you know, potential bubbles (drink) in the old AI stratosphere," Judge revealed, stating that Burry "essentially says" that "the hyperscalers are overstating their earnings."

Judge said he wasn't going to read the whole post (but it was shown on the screen and asserts that the companies are underreporting depreciation).

Josh Brown said the conversation seems to be shifting from stocks in a "bubble" (drink) to these companies "doing something that is deceptive to investors," but "for most people, that's a bridge too far." Josh said most people recognize this tech era as having a "new paradigm."

Grandpa Joe Terranova said, "We've heard a lot in the last several weeks about AI stocks using the debt market." Joe said it "blunts the sentiment because we're so sensitive to what happened in the '90s."

Sounds like Joe’s walking back the ‘chase for performance’ a little bit

Judge opened Tuesday's (11/11) Halftime Report with a stumble right out of the gate, reading Tony Pasquariello's latest note but pronouncing "constitutes" as "constituates" (sic) (snicker).

Permabull Stephanie Link is ... bullish.

Joe Terranova suggested 2026 earnings forecasts may be "a little bit aggressive."

Joe said "The single most important exercise (snicker) you could be doing with your portfolio right now is understanding, Am I maybe a little bit too overweight or too long in the direction of technology?"

Josh Brown said the market is dividing Big Tech between those with "explicable" AI strategies and those whose strategies are "a little bit murkier." Josh rattled off a lot of non-AI stocks that are on or near his "Best Stocks in the Market" list.

Dee Bosa is back and reported on SoftBank selling NVDA. Joe has "no problem" with "ringing the register" but asserted that this move reflects his opening point about how tech positions could be sold as a means of gaining liquidity.

Joe said of NVDA and the space, "I would not chase these stocks here." Stephanie said she maybe wouldn't chase NVDA but is buying META and MSFT.

Whew — Joe doesn’t tell us what AXON’s forward P.E. is

Stephanie Link on Tuesday's (11/11) Halftime Report bought SBUX and mentioned Brian Niccol's track record and says it's a "great opportunity to get in now." Stephanie trimmed TGT.

Josh Brown suggested defense names as the Best Stocks in the Market, singling out LHX and GD and RTX. Joe Terranova said the JOET is in AXON, bought in July 2024 around $300, which is helpful to viewers now.

Joe said Judge greeted his buy of IBB with "skepticism" but is now "warming up" to it. Judge said, "Don't get over your skis." Joe said that it's a "5-year breakout" in progress.

Another screen graphic differs wildly with someone’s Make-Up-Your-Own-Forward-P.E.

Bill Baruch remotely joined Monday's (11/10) Halftime Report to tout buying AMZN, calling it a "breakout story" apparently largely on technicals and different than ORCL.

(Honestly, it seems like people all the time call AMZN a great buy; we don't know why it goes up or down when it does and doesn't.) #translation:peoplestrugglewithcatalystshere

Bill claimed AMZN is trading at "26.6 forward" with a "long-run average about 37."

Amy Raskin agreed that AMZN is a "different story." Amy said, "I think Amazon is better at robotics than Tesla."

Sarat Sethi backed AMZN too.

Then Judge asked, "What's the forward P.E. on, on Amazon?" Sarat said "it's 26 times forward earnings at this point," which is basically what Bill said.

But the screen graphic said "34.90 FWD," which Judge cited. (We could post a screen grab as proof, but Judge announced it regardless.)

Sarat didn't dispute that number for some reason but said the company is "firing on all cylinders" in multiple ways.

Meanwhile, Bill bought more UBER, calling it a "free cash flow story. "Bill said 85 is a "tremendous area of support," and it may never get there.

Bill also bought more COIN, suggesting there's a "lot of support" for bitcoin at $100,000, and he's seeing "data" (pronounced DAY-ta) that indicates crypto is "becoming a real asset (snicker) or a diversifier in portfolios."

Just what the Buffett children’s foundations need, more money

Warren Buffett's Thanksgiving letter is out, which means Becky Quick had to stay late to do some reporting, which occurred on Monday's (11/10) Halftime Report.

As Becky explained Warren's latest bequests, it reinforces the notion that wealthy people in general don't really have a lot of good options for what to do with their money (see our home page essay on this topic. Someone came up with The Giving Pledge in an attempt to remedy this problem. But it doesn't remedy the problem).

Quoting from the letter, Judge said Warren writes that, as far as future returns, "our size takes its toll." Becky said Warren (and Charlie) have talked often of the "law of big numbers," but Warren thinks of Berkshire as "safe."

We’re going to start a drinking game here, for every mention of either 1) ORCL issuing 5-6% debt or 2) the market momentum being intact no matter WHAT happens until Dec. 31 Nov. 30

Jim Lebenthal on Monday's (11/10) Halftime Report said he bought more ORCL and, like he always does, mentioned the "5 to 6%" rates on ORCL debt and said he doesn't want to sound "too blasé" (snicker) about the stock, as he takes his money management responsibility "very seriously."

In the 14th minute, Jim was still talking about government liquidity, as it relates to ORCL's slide.

Judge protested that Jim can't claim ORCL's drop from the mid-300s is all about government liquidity.

Jim said "we never know exactly what it is" and "it's not all 1 thing," but the "biggest factor in that slide from September is liquidity drying out."

Sarat said he still owns ORCL but "I trimmed a bunch of it in the 300s," believing it had gotten "way ahead of itself."

Steve Weiss said he finds it "very interesting" that Jim says we can't pinpoint a stock slide on "1 event" but he seems to be identifying "1 point that's driving the market down." Weiss said "Debt is not all created equal" and noted Sarat's point about ORCL having negative cash flow.

If the top 2 candidates are internal, why is it taking forever for DIS to anoint a ‘successor’? Years-long background checks?

Judge asked Steve Weiss on Monday's (11/10) Halftime Report if tech stocks are "back on track."

Weiss defended META's increased capex spending and said it's "extremely attractive" even though he bought some for a trade and "caught a falling knife." Weiss said it'll be "game back on," in tech, but he said the volatility in the sector isn't over.

Renewing his battle with Judge, Jim Lebenthal stated again, "I do think the swoon in the market in the AI sector in particular has been caused by liquidity issues that stem directly from the government shutdown."

Jim was trying to finish saying that these stocks got hit "simply because" of ... presumably the shutdown, but Judge cut in, "That's where you're gonna go off the rails ... the train has just lost a wheel."

Jim went on to say it was "institutions selling the stock market," and they're going to sell the "top 10 names, which is predominantly AI."

Judge said "understood, but you're making this assumption ... it's not like there was nothin' going on and the whole market came down because the- you know, they were all of a sudden concerned with the government shutdown. Right. Meta startled some people with their earnings report. ... Palantir startled some with the valuation question."

Jim said earnings should have been supportive of stocks.

Judge told Jim that META can't be called "idiosyncratic" when it doesn't fit a narrative. Jim insisted the "dial turn" of the last couple weeks has been about "liquidity flows."

Amy Raskin said we're getting tech spending from debt financing, so we're "closer to the D-Day" (snicker) of when we need to see AI results. Amy made a curious analogy of "giving away AI for free" to giving away cars for free. Amy said, "Almost all capex booms end badly; it's just a question of when."

Jim said in response to Amy, "We're a long way away from it."

Sarat Sethi said he agrees with Jim, but "in addition," the market is discounting slowing in the "K-shaped economy."

Tom Lee sees ‘a lot of chasing into year-end’

Judge brought in Phil LeBeau to Monday's (11/10) Halftime Report to discuss air traffic controller staffing; Phil outlined a lot of angles but basically concluded that, once the shutdown is officially done, it'll probably take "a day or 2" to get all the controllers back to work (although, since the end of the shutdown seems to be highly telegraphed at this point, it's kinda hard to see how anyone would be taken by surprise).

Judge referred to ORCL issuing debt at 5-6% the "nonsense that we're- we're- we're witnessing on a daily basis."

Sarat Sethi owns DAL and said international routes are not being canceled, and that airlines will "optimize" routes once this is settled. Jim Lebenthal said "this is a very temporary situation" for the airlines. Steve Weiss said "there's no moratorium on price increases."

Later in the day, the star guest on Closing Bell was Tom Lee, who said a lot of money managers probably would like to see the year's returns dip back to the level they're at, but Tom expects the typical "seasonal pattern" that will bring "a lot of chasing into year-end."

Weiss tells it ‘like it is,’ says he’s staying long bitcoin because he’s ‘following corruption’

On Friday's (11/7) Halftime Report, Judge asked about the stall in crypto; he started with Josh Brown.

Josh said some people have been buying it simply because it was going up, as happens with stocks, and when it stops going up, some people stop buying. Josh said he agrees with Cathie Wood's point this week about stablecoins.

Steve Weiss though made the boldest statement. Weiss said he trimmed IBIT and still doesn't see a "use case" for bitcoin.

Judge pointed out that Weiss is a "pure" momentum player in bitcoin. Weiss explained, "Here's what keeps me in it, OK, uh, and some people may not like this, but I'll tell it like it is: Trump's family allegedly has $7 billion in bitcoins, probably lower over this week, like it's lower with me. Trump just freed, uh, or just pardoned, uh, the head of, you know, the most influential person. Uh, and, I'm following corruption. And corruption will win to a certain point. And his stake in getting bitcoin higher, is very evident. So I'm following that trail. Pure and simple."

Weiss and Jim have an argument ... apparently over whether tech investors are ‘not used to seeing debt’

Jim Lebenthal and Steve Weiss used to have some great exchanges on the Halftime Report while stationed at Englewood Cliffs; it doesn't happen as much nowadays at Post 9, but Friday (11/7) was a major exception.

It kicked into high gear when Judge said a "tremendous amount" of debt was being raised for tech AI capex (or whatever it is they're buying); Jim insisted "it's not tremendous."

Judge displayed a hyperscaler "watch out" metric (snicker) showing bond spreads. Jim tried to opine but told Weiss "hang on a second," then said ORCL bonds are 5-6%, so they're not "distressed," but that tech investors are "not used to seeing debt," an observation that Weiss took issue with, saying Jim's point is "complete nonsense."

Jim insisted his is a "cogent thought pattern."

Weiss said AAPL has been in the credit markets "for a long time." Jim said "Apple's not part of the AI trade." But Jim and Weiss apparently do agree on how it's a no-brainer to use debt financing, evidenced by the follow-up conversation with Seema Mody, who joined the set to discuss ORCL.

Jim yet again explained that "I would rather they use debt as opposed to giving up precious equity."

Judge opined, "Debt financing is great. Until it isn't."

Judge insisted he's not being "alarmist (snicker)," but "it's what is being talked about on the Street."

Seema though asked Jim about whether there's "additional risk" of ORCL using its credit quality "to help developers obtain these construction loans at a favorable rate?" Jim said he's not claiming there's "no risk" to taking out debt. But he said it's not yet like the late 1990s. Weiss told Seema, "Yes, it adds an extra level of risk. But not one you should be concerned about." Weiss said credit investors are "not worried."

Jim claims the market’s stumble is because of the shutdown, accuses Judge of not letting him speak

Jim Lebenthal on Friday's (11/7) Halftime Report said, "I think the fundamentals support a continued rally in the AI trade," and then uncorked a theory: "What's happening is, liquidity is drying up. And I believe quite strongly that this is a result of the government shutdown."

Judge cut in, "You can't tell me that the Nasdaq down 5% on the week is related to the government shutdown."

"I can, because you're not letting me finish. If you'll let me finish, I absolutely can-" Jim protested.

"It sounds like so absurd," Judge concluded.

"No it's not absurd," Jim said, explaining that "all of this time, money is building in the Treasury general account at the Fed ... it's a 1.2 trillion dollars. That is money that should be in the commercial banking system."

Judge insisted, "Nvidia's down 10% this week because of the shutdown?"

"Yeah," Jim said.

Steve Weiss chuckled, and Judge told Jim, "Stop."

"I wouldn't guffaw it," Jim said, saying his reasoning is "far more believable" than the notion of "we're not gonna be spending on AI chips."

Judge said, "I think you're conflating a couple of things," saying people are "questioning exactly what's being spent." Jim said the product of this spending is, "at earliest, a 2027 result."

Weiss said it's "overly incorrect" to say the shutdown is causing the pullback, and Jim's theory "just doesn't make sense."

Weiss isn’t ‘worked up’ about the Nasdaq’s down week

Steve Weiss told Judge on Friday's (11/7) Halftime Report that "there's no one answer" for the market selloff, but we've continued "to hear the narrative increase that tech's in a bubble ... eventually that narrative lands."

Honestly, we have no idea if that "narrative lands," but there was a lot of conversation on the show Friday related to that particular angle.

Weiss said, "I'm not worked up about it. But I am concerned."

Josh Brown asserted, "Meta represents the first sign that there actually are consequences in terms of stock price for quote-unquote overspending on AI capex without having a coherent strategy that investors can understand or believe in."

Kevin Simpson stated, "Sometimes, markets themselves can become self-fulfilling prophecies."

Judge said Tom Lee advises, "Buy the dip."

Judge questioned why the OpenAI people are talking about a "government bailout or backstop." Weiss admitted, "That's scary," but he doesn't think there's anything to "backstop" that conversation.

Weiss suggests FAA is giving airlines a chance to drop some unprofitable flights

On Friday's (11/7) Halftime Report, CNBC's Phil LeBeau, reporting on the shutdown's impact on air travel, was kind of flummoxed at DFW, though he said "it's calm."

Jim Lebenthal said it's "bad across the board" but that with flights reduced, airfare will cost more, and "they're gonna recover a lot of it with price."

Steve Weiss said, "They may be cutting the flights that aren't profitable." Jim acknowledged that's a "good point" but said "the DOT is gonna tell them where they've gotta cut flights."

Judge demands a 1-year chart of a stock that apparently started trading Oct. 20

On a very quotable Halftime Report on Friday (11/7), Josh Brown may have had the Quote of the Day, mocking that companies will say, "At the lower end, the consumer is struggling. As if there's ever a time where, at the lower end, the consumer is, like, doing just peachy."

Josh said "SHAK is executing" and doing "much better" at retaining employees.

Josh touted WELL on his stocks list, as well as VTR, though he said they're not yield plays. Judge asked how many names are on the "best stocks" list. Josh said "north of 50," but the number is "falling." (Like this page always says, you can basically front-run Josh's info by checking out the 52-week high list.)

Kevin Simpson, who had a quiet show but is constantly buying stuff and talks about it, bought MPC and sold PG. He also sold SOLS, which we'd never heard of. Kevin explained how it was a HON spinoff. Judge requested a 1-year chart, and Kevin had to point out that because it's a spinoff, there probably isn't a 1-year chart. From what we could tell from Google Finance, SOLS started trading in mid-October.

Kevin said he sold DASH because of the earnings miss, calling it "depressing," which seems a little harsh. Kevin said he's not selling DKNG but indicated it's on a short leash.

Cathie Wood lowers her
2020 bitcoin forecast

Guest host Frank Holland on Thursday's (11/6) Halftime Report aired a clip of Cathie Wood on Squawk Box explaining how Stablecoins are apparently muscling in on bitcoin, so she's taking $300,000 off her "bullish forecast" for bitcoin by 2030, from $1.5 million to $1.2 million.

Bryn Talkington acknowledged, "Stablecoins, everyone's using them ... if she's right, 1.2 million, that's still well over a 10x in the next 5 years of bitcoin."

Joe Terranova, apparently again lamenting the JOET's crypto exposure, stated, "I think we're a little bit late to the crypto story."

Bryn suggests ‘very little correlation in the short term’ between earnings and stock movement

We were excited about hearing Liz Ann Sonders' comments on valuation and breadth a day earlier (see below), but Bryn Talkington amped things up on Thursday's (11/6) Halftime Report declaring, "There's actually very little correlation in the short term that- that earnings drive a particular stock or a market."

Well, yes and no.

Yes, earnings in the past tense probably don't drive much in the way of stocks. But a change to earnings expectations, that would drive some stock movement.

Jason Snipe opined that "there's a lot of good things" in recent earnings reports. Jason said the market's in a "bit of digestion."

Joe Terranova had opened the show stating, "The battleship (snicker) of momentum is turning." Joe pointed out when the dollar bottomed and when crypto and gold peaked, all in the last 2 months.

Jenny Harrington suggested, "I think you should take a little bit off the table." Jenny was starting to talk about the "derisking" conversation when guest host Frank Holland cut away to Donald Trump's Oval Office remarks about Eli Lilly and weight loss drugs.

After this news event, Jenny said, while trying to speak over the gonging at the NYSE, that she met with clients in Indiana. Eventually Jenny revealed, "I'm nervous."

Jenny asserted, "The consumer's weak."

Jenny stated, "My bet's on that the government shutdown ends sooner rather than later."

Sully was doing the CNBC News Update.

Joe apparently warns against shorting the market

In a bit of an understatement on Thursday's (11/6) Halftime Report, Joe Terranova said of DDOG, "Obviously you're being rewarded here if you're long." Joe said if long, he'd use a 165 stop.

As always, Bryn Talkington was asked about TSLA. Bryn said the pay package thing is a "very positive clearing event."

Jason Snipe said COST's Kirkland business is $80 billion, which is a lot more than KO's $47 billion revenue for the whole company.

Jenny Harrington said the acquisition by SCHW is so much smaller than SCHW's total operation that it adds "not even a drop" to earnings.

In Final Trades, Joe curiously began with a statement: "Just to wrap the show, I want to be clear here. I don't think that you should be tempted here to go short thinking this is a much larger move. Look at Apple. Apple's higher. The market doesn't want the liquidity, it just wants to work off some of the extreme sentiment and bullishness." Joe predicted the shutdown "probably ends by Monday or Tuesday."

Liz Ann says valuation and breadth are only ‘gauges of temperature’ and have nothing to do with short-term timing

We always like it whenever someone on the Halftime Report takes a crack at the meaning of "valuation," and such was the case on Wednesday's (11/5) show.

Judge was in Denver for the Schwab conference and asked longtime Schwab front person Liz Ann Sonders about the market having bad breadth.

Liz Ann explained, "None of the breadth statistics, much like valuation, they're, they're gauges of temperature, not of timing. They don't serve as anything resembling short-term timing indicators."

That's an interesting way to put it. What Liz Ann is really saying is that they're effects of the buying and selling, not causes of it.

The funny thing is, many folks on the Halftime Report crew will still tell us every day how important valuation is.

(What's really amusing is how they talk up forward P.E.) (#fantasyland)

CNBC doesn’t mention the Story of the Day: Liz Ann wows Schwab conference with chic new outfit

Carl Quintanilla introduced Wednesday's (11/5) Halftime Report referring to Judge as "Rocky Mountain Wapner," as Judge was live from the Schwab Impact conference in Denver.

Early into the show, Liz Ann joined the Denver set and welcomed Judge back to their "quaint little gathering" and stated "the message" about the markets being delivered by advisors is "incredibly optimistic."

"The one thing I worry about a little bit is, is that gambling mentality," Liz Ann admitted. (She must not've noticed that the Chargers are only giving 3 points this Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.)

In a question from Judge's panel (not in Denver but in New York or elsewhere) to Liz Ann about the narrowing of the market, Joe Terranova quoted Steve Weiss (not by name) (Weiss wasn't on Wednesday's show) in saying, "Some will say the enemy of performance is con- is, diversification. Others will say the concentration risk is real, and it's sending an ominous message."

Liz Ann said NVDA is the best Mag 7 performer but stated, "There's 39 stocks in the S&P outperforming Nvidia on a year-to-date basis." Liz Ann said individual investors don't have to take "the same concentration risk" as institutions marking against cap-weighted indexes.

Later in the show, Judge asked Schwab's Omar Aguilar several good questions about the TSLA pay package vote. Aguilar said they have a "very systematic process" for arriving at a decision and said the package aligns with shareholder interests and Schwab wasn't swayed by those demanding it vote in favor.

Maybe the stock market should buy some Listerine for its bad-breadth problem

Out in Denver, before conducting interviews with Schwab folks, Judge at the top of Wednesday's (11/5) Halftime Report revealed Tony Pasquariello's thoughts on the market's jolt this week; Tony finds "the tension is not entirely unhealthy," and the correct approach is being "responsibly bullish." Judge asked Joe Terranova about that assessment. Joe said it was "perfectly articulated once again by Tony."

Joe said the market has "skittishness" about "valuation." (See above about valuation.)

"I think the retail investors are still in charge," offered Bryn Talkington, though they got "beat up a bit" this week. Malcolm Ethridge agreed, stating, "Retail is still in charge."

Joe thinks it might be late for the crypto trade

Pointing to PLTR and then ANET, Joe Terranova on Wednesday's (11/5) Halftime Report said he doesn't think this is an "unloved market," though "Tom Lee has said that, so I'll disagree on air with saying that with Tom. But I think we're in a moment where valuation is going to matter as we move forward." (See above for relevance of valuation.)

Judge said the ANET guidance was "somewhat questionable."

Bryn Talkington said she "originally" bought PLTR at 28, as everyone delivers their PLTR cost-basis victory lap. Bryn said she sold it at 50, 70 and 100. Bryn said, "At $100, I couldn't get my arms around the valuation." (See above for relevance of valuation.)

Joe said it was only a "legal charge" that concerned UBER holders a day earlier. But Bryn quite bluntly stated, "The stock just can't get above a hundred. A hundred is like this outer-Earth orbit."

Malcolm Ethridge said SPOT is "going through a little bit of a remaking" and will "take a little while" to get the stock going, but he wants to "continue owning" the stock. (This writer is long SPOT.)

Joe said he's not "applauding" the JOET adding PINS, stating "the AI effect I think is real here" and is it being "cannibalized" like ADBE.

Shannon Saccocia said there's clearly a "divergence" between higher income and lower income consumers.

Bryn said that a 20% selloff for bitcoin is "somewhat mild." Joe said "Bryn knows way more about the fundamentals of crypto than I do," while Joe is "tracking momentum," and, singling out MSTR, he fears the JOET showed up in crypto "a little bit late."

Another phantom P.E. ratio on the Halftime Report

Josh Brown on Tuesday's (11/4) Halftime Report trumpeted UBER, asserting the "cross-pollination" between Eats and rides is what sets the stock apart and declaring that its forward P.E. is 15 times.

Guest host Frank Holland, to his credit, said "our system" shows the UBER forward P.E. is "almost 30 times." (Or, if we're doing our math correctly, actually about double.)

Josh wondered if Frank was "looking at trailing." Frank said it was "forward." Josh shrugged that "they are literally crushing it."

(This page asked Gemini AI exactly what the UBER forward P.E. is and got back "23.20.")

Joe crows about buying PLTR in January 2024 at $16

Seema Mody reported on PLTR on Tuesday's (11/4) Halftime and aired a clip of Alex Karp earlier on "Squawx Box," which was interesting commentary but included the goofball on the street outside the Nasdaq mugging for the camera that CNBC can't seem to avoid.

Joe Terranova chuckled that he said yesterday that "valuation was the impediment" to PLTR.

Joe said the JOET's huge gain in PLTR wasn't because of his stock-picking, but simply "momentum." (Which is masquerading an effect as a cause, but whatever.)

Joe said PLTR is a "battleground stock," but that doesn't mean you have to "engage" in one direction or the other, in fact a smart approach is to stay away.

Josh Brown said the company is "obviously on fire" and the issue is how much has been pulled forward in the stock.

Frank said Michael Burry appears to have puts on PLTR but isn't shorting it, according to Twitter comments.

Josh said Burry is very responsible in that he discourages people from following his trades. Josh said Burry is not people's "financial advisor" and that he's not always correct and that Burry had "puts on Nvidia in January." Guest host Frank Holland said Burry apparently has puts on NVDA now. (But what do Whitney Tilson and Marc Chaikin have?)

Jim can’t get enough of ORCL borrowing money

Guest host Frank Holland opened Tuesday's (11/4) Halftime Report saying markets are "not as low as we were" in the premarket, and Jim Lebenthal said it's a sign that every dip is "likely to be bought" through year-end.

"There is a lot of cash on the sidelines," Jim asserted, stating some institutional managers are looking for a "Hail Mary" to make their year.

Joe Terranova, who was in that pandemic-era room of the whiteboard and numbers on the wall, said it's "healthy" to have corrections and the "secular tailwinds" are in place; he thinks Tuesday is about "valuation" (snicker).

Josh Brown said it's "more than 1 day" that we're having a "marketwide correction," but it's not being felt in the Mag 7.

Josh said the rally hasn't been very broad recently, and 6½% of the S&P are actually at 52-week lows.

Jim brought up ORCL's debt financing and stated again how it's much more lucrative to borrow at 5-6% in the debt markets than dilute the stock. It's "kind of a no-brainer ... Corporate Finance 101," Jim said.

Josh is more enthusiastic about gold than Joe is

Josh Brown on Tuesday's (11/4) Halftime Report said for those waiting for an NEM dip, here you go.

Josh said some "froth" is coming out of gold miners, but NEM and AU and SCCO are "strong stocks in big uptrends."

Joe Terranova seemed unexcited and advised being "prepared" for the possibility that the "correction can continue." Joe said the dollar rally is having an "effect" on commodities and metals. Joe said Daniel Fisher, a trader friend of his, said a report that Joe forwarded to Daniel mentioned commodity-trading companies are looking to hire gold traders, and Joe said Daniel suggested maybe that's the "sign of a top." (Or maybe the top is AEM actually airing a commercial during the program touting the company's "superior leverage to gold." (This writer is long AEM.))

Joe starting to throw in the towel on SPOT

CNBC's Emily Wilkins reported on Tuesday's (11/4) Halftime that a shutdown vote failed again, but apparently senators are having more talks.

Joe Terranova said AMD was up 58% in October. Josh Brown chuckled that after the gain it's had, AMD will have a great quarter, but the stock will pull back, and websites will say it "disappoints," which Josh said is "so moronic."

The JOET bought LVS. Jim Lebenthal wondered about WYNN. Joe said there's "too much of a fluctuation" in return on equity for WYNN. Jim pointed out LVS' Macau emphasis while saying WYNN's Vegas exposure is undervalued, but "both of these stocks are going to make money."

Addressing RCL, Joe said a lot of consumer discretionary names are "challenged."

At the end of the show, guest host Frank Holland asked Joe about SPOT, a stock Joe used to trumpet this year but has been a dog in the 2nd half of the year. Joe said "it's important to talk about this ... many people own this name." Joe said the response to SPOT earnings was "not good," and it broke its 200-day, and if it doesn't climb back, "you have to reduce your positioning."

Joe's Final Trade was PODD; we don't think we've heard that one on the show before.

Joe says PLTR 12-month valuation is 85; screen text says forward P.E. is 275

It's quite a gap.

Joe Terranova on Monday's (11/3) Halftime Report asserted that the "next 12 months" valuation of PLTR is an "impediment" but is only "85 times" and actually lower than that of BA and ALB.

Joe said that personally, he would've sold this stock several times, but the rules-based JOET formula has smartly stuck with it, and Joe predicted it will "deliver again." (This review was actually posted BEFORE the PLTR Monday earnings report.)

Steve Weiss said BA and ALB are at trough earnings but acknowledged PLTR is an "important part of our defense complex," but "it's valuation, though" even as Joe questioned whether 85 was actually "bad."

The thing is, while Weiss spoke, the screen text said the forward P.E. is 275.

We don't really know anything about anything, but it seems to us like "next 12 months" should be synonymous with "forward P.E." Maybe it's not. We tried to find some answers using AI, but AI wouldn't give us a "next 12 months" P.E. (only the last 12 months). It did give us 217 for a "forward P.E."

Which all reinforced the notion, often stated on this page, that while Halftime Report viewers may hear often about "forward P.E.," best not to make any decisions that way, because commentators can apparently make that number anything they want.

Weiss says Versant should announce ‘a deal with OpenAI’ in order to be ‘worth a lot more’

Guest host Frank Holland on Monday's (11/3) Halftime Report asked Joe Terranova about the JOET rebalance. Joe noted that the JOET started building up exposure to financials in July 2023, and just now, for the first time, there's a "significant reduction in financials."

As you might expect, the JOET bought a bunch of tech stocks.

Steve Weiss cracked, "If Versant Media, CNBC, comes out and announces a deal with OpenAI, doesn't have to give any details, uh the company would be worth a lot more." Frank said Weiss was being "a bit sarcastic."

Joe said the JOET unloaded TSLA; "I'm sure it makes a new all-time high." Weiss faulted TSLA for its "poor governance."

Judge turns up on Closing Bell, talks about Sam Altman’s response to Brad Gerstner’s question about revenue/spending

Joe Terranova claimed on Monday's (11/3) Halftime Report, "It is now a much more difficult environment than it was 30 days ago."

Joe again mentioned equal-weight struggles. Kate Moore, who hasn't been on the show in ages and doesn't really recommend specific trades, said equal-weight has been lagging for a while, so you have to "stay really focused on the large-cap, free-cash generators."

But Kari Firestone said Megacap Tech cash flow is "not as great as it was," that they're using debt now. Nevertheless, Kari said the broadening of a few months ago "just disappeared."

Steve Weiss took issue with those lamenting the lagging of equal weight, quoting Warren Buffett, as he often has, "'Diversification is the enemy of performance.' We've seen that time and time again. And perhaps that's why 75% of portfolio managers underperform the S&P every single year. And it's not the same 75%. So I prefer a concentrated portfolio."

Weiss went on to add, "I'm a fan of debt on a balance sheet for companies that can afford to pay it. And, I don't look at it as a weakness."

Joe protested, "My opening remarks are not to suggest I think the market's going down. ... You will get the continued chase for performance." (Jim Lebenthal, who wasn't on Monday's show, calls it "chase to performance," which doesn't make sense.)

Frank Holland was the guest host of Halftime on Monday, but Judge was on hand for Closing Bell.

Jim’s comment on financing was apparently more notable than we realized

Joe Terranova on Monday's (11/3) Halftime Report again insisted to Steve Weiss that UBER's doing great, saying its all-time high of 101.99 was just set Sept. 22.

Weiss shrugged that it's been "flat for 6 months," then cracked that he's "greedy" and wants more.

Joe said homebuilder stocks haven't responded to the supposed "healing medicine" of anticipated rate cuts.

Guest host Frank Holland claimed early in the show that Jim Lebenthal (who wasn't on the show Monday) last week, during a discussion about Big Tech capex, made a reference to "financial engineering." At the end of the A Block, Frank had to "make amends" with a retraction, stating, "He did not say 'financial engineering' ... He actually said 'textbook corporate financing.'"

We'll take Frank's word for it. That comment didn't show up in our review (see below).

Kari Firestone said NVO and AMGN are "attractive" stocks.

Joe said COST survived the JOET rebalance "barely"; Joe said it has "1 more quarter to really prove itself."

Joe admitted he's been wrong in the latter part of this year trumpeting SPOT and said it can't afford to deliver "flat margins" in earnings Tuesday. (This writer is long SPOT.)

Jenny indicates that your move on FI depends on your cost basis

The bottom line is that she basically claims the stock has bottomed.

But Jenny Harrington offered up a curious blueprint for handling shares of FI on Friday's (10/31) Halftime Report.

In the last 5 minutes of the program, Judge asked Jenny about FI having its "worst week ever."

Jenny first recapped how she has TER in the same portfolio(s) and TER looked great this week, then FI reported, and "you just get slapped, so you can't even enjoy the victory. I always think it's like, being a portfolio manager is like being a parent; you're only as happy as your least happy kid. So this is pretty unhappy."

Jenny then said she's owned FI "going back 10 years" and her apparently lowest cost basis is $25, so "we still have a really big gain" and "your starting point is today" and the new CEO has "kitchen-sinked it all."

The new CEO is "terrific," Jenny continued, and has a "really good management team." Jenny said the stock is now at "8 times earnings."

Then, viewers got interesting transactional advice. Jenny suggested taking a tax loss in FI if you have one and maybe even reloading in a month, but "if you have a big gain, I think you keep holding it."

Jenny then clarified that some accountholders have big gains and "newer clients have a big loss," so "it depends on what your cost basis is."

So we gotta ask ... if it's such great management and they've "kitchen-sinked it" and the multiple is low, why should anyone sell it now? (Unless, as we often suspect, account holders are actually more concerned about their taxes than the value of the account.)

Judge may have asked Jenny about FI, but he didn't ask Kevin Simpson about EME, a stock Kevin touted 10/10 when it was in the 660s and DID go up $100 in a few weeks (and become a contender for Call of the Year), only to get slammed on Thursday. (This writer is long EME.)

Humilis.
Investment.
Strategies.

Brian Belski joined Friday's (10/31) Halftime Report to announce the launch of his own firm, Humilis Investment Strategies.

Belski claimed, "We're just gonna try to keep it simple." (Which would, um, mean putting all clients in nothing more than the QQQ.) Brian mentioned his former associations and said he plans to provide "the same type of portfolios."

Belski conceded that he wondered about "starting a new company at the market top; are we a market signal here" (that's a nod to the Ron Insana hedge fund launch in 2006), but, "We don't think it's the market top." Belski predicted "more normalization" ahead.

Belski's also got a 7,000 S&P target. Belski sees "more of a broadening out," and when do people on Halftime ever predict less broadening.

Belski's new shop has a curious name, which prompted Judge to chuckle. Still, it's a bold and impressive move.

Michael Burry checks a box for Halftime producers

Judge, whose ears are well-tuned to the chance of any figure in finance uttering anything about the word "bubble" or "1999," on Friday's (10/31) Halftime Report said Michael Burry put out a "cryptic as usual" social media post about "bubbles" and how sometimes the response is to do nothing.

After panelists had some more AI discussion, Judge pointed again to Burry's comment and noted there has been "borrowing to build" the data centers. Jim Lebenthal explained that it's much cheaper for ORCL to do a data center with debt financing rather than using equity, though we're not sure how that eases anyone's bubble concerns.

Josh says NFLX never actually buys Hollywood assets that it’s reported to be interested in

Josh Brown on Friday's (10/31) Halftime Report recapped how he's liked NFLX for a while and thought the Brazil-dispute earnings selloff was an overreaction, but as far as the stock's bounce-back, "I don't trust it yet," and he'd take a look maybe on Monday or Tuesday. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Addressing reports about supposed NFLX interest in Warner Bros., though, Josh noted "Netflix is always in the conversation" about Hollywood assets for sale but "they never seem to actually do it."

Judge pointed out David Faber's reporting about NFLX being "on the list" of interested companies. Josh agreed that the Warner Bros. library is "one of the crown jewels of, of Hollywood." But Josh said it sounds "fantastical" for NFLX to go from basically doing no deals to doing an $80 billion WBD deal.

Jim Lebenthal was not asked to opine on whether WBD/NFLX reports amount to anything more than a "rumor." #TheInformation

5 restructurings in a year

Josh Brown opened Friday's (10/31) Halftime Report saying the Investment Committee was saying early in the year that one of the 2 risks to the market (besides trade wars) was the possibility of AI spending fizzling. But if anything, it's gotten stronger.

Judge declared, "Josh is right, you know — it's all about capex acceleration." Jenny Harrington then talked up what has to be her favorite stock of all time, META in December 2022, a trade she'll be reciting forever. But Jenny said that in the AI race, it'll be a "fine line between who overspends severely; who spends correctly."

Kevin Simpson said AMZN was his "Pick of the Week." He's surprised that META sold off to the degree it has and suggested this is an opportunity to buy.

Josh again conceded that his trumpeting of AMZN this year hasn't really paid off, though he said it made a "statement quarter" on Thursday night. Josh also asserted, "The Street is not convinced that Zuckerberg's strategy has a payoff," and he cited "5 restructurings of their AI, um, initiative in the last year. That's like unheard of."

Jim Lebenthal said we're in the "backstretch" of the AI horse race but "haven't even hit Turn 3 yet." Jim said there's a "lot of legs ahead," and this isn't the time to sell GOOGL or META. Jim said January may be an "obvious candidate" for a correction. (In previous years, we should note, Jim has predicted a "crescendo" into early January before a selloff.)

Josh credited Jim for being right about Alphabet on Eddy Cue Day and said the AI scene is not a "horse race" but a "baseball season."

Josh said to Judge, "You're wearing the hell out of that sweater vest."

Wonder if Josh’s Best Stocks in the Market list is a bigger deal than Cramer’s Investing Club

Santoli on Friday's (10/31) Halftime Report suggested that, during strong years, the S&P perhaps peaking in October "doesn't tend to happen."

Judge noted IBM's recent gains. Kevin Simpson said it languished for a while, but it's had "one of the best turnaround stories" in recent memory; he bought more. Kevin also bought more COR, ALL, HD and WMT. Kevin said ALL has a 7½ forward P.E.

Josh Brown somehow has GM and F on his Best Stocks list (which, in general, can sorta be front-run if you simply check the 52-week high list every day). Josh suggested looking for a "low-volume pullback" to get into GM.

Jim Lebenthal said he trimmed WYNN at 126. Jim made CLF his Final Trade.

No one mentioned Things They Don't Like About Chipotle.

Joe suggests CMG’s results may indicate the economy is ‘beginning to contract’

The dreadful day of CMG on Thursday (10/30) gave rise to an interesting discussion on the Halftime Report, although it wasn't as interesting as the last time this stock got a go-round on Fast Money and Steve Grasso pointed out that if you order more than one thing at Chipotle, the system doesn't really handle it very well.

On Thursday, Stephanie Link said she sold CMG and said "mea culpa." In the earnings report, "There was not anything to be positive," Stephanie admitted. "I'm not sure this leadership team is the right leadership team," they've "done nothing but miss."

"I apologize to anyone who followed me into it," Stephanie said, but as a matter of fact, she's "quite tempted" by SBUX as the turnaround there seems to be "starting."

Joe Terranova questioned if CMG's results are "idiosyncratic" or an ominous warning sign of "the economy, the real economy beginning to contract." Joe said RCL, ULTA and GRMN have "all been punished this week." Stephanie said that's the "low and medium area of consumer."

Joe said "boots on the ground, my kids and my kids' friends, they'll tell you the experience is different," the food "doesn't taste as good," and the "environment" at Chipotle restaurants isn't as good. Jim Lebenthal actually suggested the government shutdown has an "effect" on, apparently, places that consumers go, but at least it "should be temporary."

On Fast Money, Guy Adami complained about a Chipotle order delivered to his home that went into the wastebasket because it included beans when the order was specifically made without beans. Guy even mentioned the restaurant location because he said the corporate types would be watching.

Despite all the talk about NFLX on Halftime this year, we don’t think we’ve heard anyone suggest a split

Joe Terranova at the top of Thursday's (10/30) Halftime Report was not seeing a sudden change in the stock market, rather, "I do not believe that this is an inflection point," but just a "return to a degree of normalcy."

Permabull Stephanie Link of course was finding reasons to buy, namely MSFT because (as always) of a bunch of different growth metrics in the earnings report.

Stephanie also added to META because the 12% pullback was "absolutely silly." Stephanie insisted, "The spend is working." Guest host Frank Holland, who must not've done this often enough, marveled that Stephanie "had all the metrics" with META.

Joe, though, questioned META raising debt and noted ORCL has "not traded higher" since the day its stock skyrocketed.

Jim Lebenthal in the 6th minute mentioned Eddy Cue (snicker). Jim noted that Google issued a press release after Eddy's remarks, and he's still unable to "square" how Eddy's assessment of search clicks on Safari differed from GOOGL's. Joe suggested the valuation of YouTube alone is "probably right now rivaling Netflix."

Joe was talking about equal-weight again. Jim stressed that stocks don't go up every day, "We were due for a little bit of a rotation. ... These stocks are up so much."

Jim predicts ‘uptrend’ for CLF

Joe Terranova on Thursday's (10/30) Halftime Report proclaimed AMZN the "weak link in the Mag 7" and "the disappointment of 2025."

Josh Brown previously admitted this week that AMZN didn't have the year he expected.

Joe on Thursday pointed out that AMZN has a "relationship with Anthropic," but not OpenAI.

Jim Lebenthal seemed unfazed by AMZN's lackluster year and asked for long-term charts of AMZN, which the producers provided, and shrugged that it rises and consolidates and it "goes higher over long periods of time."

Meanwhile, Joe suggested that Tim Cook "in the Oval Office" may have been the catalyst for AAPL. Jim said because of AAPL's valuation, he finds it "hard to put new money to work at this price."

Stephanie Link sold DECk but said she might look at it in January.

Guest host Frank Holland asked Jim about CLF's share offering. Jim said, of course, "I think it makes sense" and "nobody should be surprised by this" and the stock is up "33% year to date." Jim predicted of course "it will resume the uptrend."

Joe said the hope is for NOW to be at an "inflection point."

Joe said TT, his Final Trade, hit an "inflection point."

Weiss seems to be reverting to predicting doom and gloom in the intermediate term

Steve Weiss declared on Wednesday's (10/29) Halftime Report that it's "sort of lunacy," but companies that "commit to AI" are getting a "halo effect," which will "broaden out" the stock market.

But Weiss suggested "massive unemployment" ahead.

Later in the show, Weiss said there's a "disconnect" in that execs and even middle management of companies "don't see things being as good in the economy" as apparently the stock market does. Weiss said this has been happening for "months and months." Judge chimed in, "If you're not levered to AI, the economy doesn't look good to you."

Joe Terranova agreed, "We have 2 distinctive economies."

Then Weiss really got our attention when he said there's a "real host of issues" that are going to manifest themselves in "maybe 6 months, maybe it's a year, so you really gotta party now, while you can."

(Ah. OK. We're still wondering the status of Weiss' April predictions for a recession in the "intermediate term.") (It's been 6 months, if our math is correct.)

Judge said Piper Sandler is wondering what would cause the next 10% correction. Weiss said unemployment is a "wild card." Weiss admitted he sounds like an "AI evangelist ... because I am. Because this is not like the internet. This is actually massively increasing productivity of companies."

In even more stark commentary, Weiss said we'll be seeing a "reeducation of the white-collar labor force," pointing to a WSJ article about someone in technology who "had to find a job selling cars," an article also seen by Kari Firestone.

Happy Birthday, Joe

Wednesday (10/29), Halftime Report viewers learned, was Joe Terranova's birthday, according to Liz Thomas, reminding this page of the old days, when we used to trumpet Fast Money/Halftime birthdays, except it just got a little too hard to remember, etc.

But "birthday" wasn't the Word of the Day on Wednesday's show. Rather, it was "perplexing," courtesy of Joe.

Joe opened the program stating, "It's somewhat perplexing. It's perplexing, because the performance that we're seeing is being driven once again by this narrow, concentrated set of equity names."

(Honestly, we don't know why a narrow band of stocks leading the market is "perplexing," but whatever.)

Joe predicted this will "extenuate this chase for (sic not 'to' as Jim says) performance through the month of November." (He's apparently limiting it to November.)

As far as market breadth, or the amount of actual winners vs. losers, "Today's probably worse than yesterday," offered Kari Firestone. Kari said money managers can't diversify beyond the big names without "losing ground to the S&P."

Liz said she'll "take a little issue with the 'perplexing' comment." Then Liz said "Happy birthday, Joe." Joe said, "Thank you very much Liz, continue please."

Liz mentioned "late cycle." Judge said, "I've been hearin' this a lot over the last year or so, if not longer. Are we really that 'late cycle'? How could we be 'late cycle' if people say we're in like the 2nd inning of the whole AI spend and the AI boom. That doesn't match up in my mind." (Bet that Oz Pearlman would know that it doesn't match up in Judge's mind.) (See below.)

(Actually, Judge makes an excellent point.)

"Somebody's wrong. We don't know who yet," Liz responded, explaining why it might feel more late cycle in certain ways. Judge noted, "We're cutting rates." Liz said, "If we have to pause that ..." Judge said, "That seems a lot of 'if' ... We play probabilities too moreso than ifs, right? Isn't that what you all do?"

Joe won’t use the term ‘meme’ stocks, says home traders are do-it-yourselfers

Harping on Joe Terranova's opening comments of "perplexing" on Wednesday's (10/29) Halftime Report (see above), Steve Weiss said that for whatever reason, UBER has stalled, and Judge agreed.

Joe questioned why anyone thinks UBER has stalled and said it's $5 off an all-time high; Judge and Weiss asserted it's basically flat since May.

As Joe mentioned DNUT and BYND and used the term "do it yourself," Judge demanded Joe explain whether "do it yourself" is Joe's term of "meme stocks." Joe explained that he just means "do it yourself" in terms of people picking stocks at home without an advisor.

After the A Block, Judge had to admit he wronged Joe in some way about mentioning the stock VEEV.

Kari Firestone trumpeted that UNH is up "55% I think from the bottom" of not too long ago and said the company is supplying health care while trying to control costs. Weiss said he's staying in the name, but "Health care is in such trouble broadly" that he thinks it's a "minefield."

Joe said insurance stocks have lost momentum.

Weiss said FTAI was having a follow-through selloff, but he's still thinking $200. He made it his Final Trade.

Weiss said CAT is benefiting from the "halo effect" of AI. Weiss called CAT "the tool belt for AI."

Judge is entertained by mentalist on Closing Bell

The best guest of the day on CNBC on Tuesday (10/28) had to be Oz (Judge pronounced the first name as "Owes") Pearlman, who joined Judge on the Closing Bell to tout his new book, Read Your Mind. Oz explained that he's not teaching readers to become mentalists but rather to "read people more effectively."

As expected, Pearlman performed a couple of feats, correctly guessing that Brandon, also seated at Post 9 and who's running a marathon, was thinking of I-72 (the interstate in central Illinois) on a bingo card, and sort of correctly guessing that the stock Judge was thinking of was ORCL (he first guessed INTC, and Judge said "No," but Judge admitted that INTC was the 2nd stock he was thinking of).

"I don't know," Brandon concluded.

Judge told Pearlman, "I lose the ability after a while to be so crazily wowed because everything you do has that effect on people ... It's just impossible ... I just don't get it. No one else gets it either."

We had to zip through Tuesday's Halftime Report, featuring Joe Terranova, Josh Brown, Anastasia Amoroso and Rich Saperstein. Joe talked up how Megacap Tech was front and center. Judge pressed Josh on the Berkshire downgrade. Josh said it's "disingenuous" to do an "armchair quarterback" about BRK selling AAPL in hindsight. But Josh said the KBW analyst "raises legitimate issues" and that 2026 won't be as good for Berkshire as 2025.

Joe bought more XBI and hung a 125 on the target.

Guy informs Tim and Karen about the 3 things that can happen when passing

In the 8th minute of Monday's (10/27) Fast Money, Guy Adami was discussing Megacap Tech earnings when he delved into football cliches.

"It's the old saying in football," Guy said. "If you throw a forward pass, 3 things can happen; 2 of 'em are bad. In this case, 3 things can happen, 2 of 'em are good. The bad I think would be 'We're cutting back on capex,' but I don't see that happening."

Karen Finerman started outlining what are the things that can happen when a pass is thrown in a football game. Guy affirmed the list (which is historically incomplete because it doesn't account for sacks, which works against passing, nor the REALLY important factor, the chance of getting a defensive penalty, which makes passing VERY appealing). Tim Seymour apparently hadn't heard of the slogan, often attributed to Woody Hayes.

Tim noted, "An incomplete pass isn't the end of the world."

Tim's correct. Old-school football, most popularized by the Green Bay Packers of the 1960s but practiced well into the 1990s, says "Throw to score, run to win," and that football comes down to running the ball and stopping the run, and teams that emphasize passing aren't strong enough in the trenches.

The truth is that, since passing was instituted, the rules have always kind of favored passing. It's true that until the late '70s, defenders had far more latitude and offensive linemen had far more restraint, meaning it was legal to hit receivers all over the field and it was a lot easier to rush the passer, 2 factors that discouraged passing.

But the secret to passing is that after an incompletion, the ball reverts to the line of scrimmage, not the mark where the quarterback released it. And passing plays deliver far more yardage in general than rushing plays, so there's no reason not to keep doing them.

Don’t anyone dare tell Joe that the market might NOT rally through Dec. 31 (as Jim wrongly accuses Judge of raising the specter of ‘game over’)

Judge said at the top of Monday's (10/27) Halftime Report that he didn't want to be "too hyperbolic" (snicker), but it feels like a "good portion" of the market rally "is at stake this week," given megacap earnings.

Joe Terranova would have none of it. "This is a resilient market, it continues to recover from everything," Joe explained.

Joe credited anyone who stuck with the market at the start of the month; "You didn't fall into the permabears who've been out there screaming for the last 12 years about valuation and time to short the market." (Actually it's been about 16 years.)

Joe said the market's fueled by numerous things, including "inflation that never showed up from the tariffs." Joe also mentioned "chase for performance."

Judge asked Jim Lebenthal if he's as sanguine as Joe about the market being able to shrug off Megacap Tech disappointments. Jim said "chase to (sic) performance" was the "exact term" Joe used, and Joe even (incorrectly) agreed.

Jim said "there probably will be a chase to performance through the next 2 months of the year." But Jim said the market multiple of 22.5 rests on the "fulcrum" of 14% EPS growth.

Sarat Sethi and Jim said there could be "cracks" in consumer spending or advertising that would be headwinds that make the market "reassess." Joe questioned if the rally actually ends if the megacaps "miss."

Jim said it's about "the math." Joe wondered if that's the "inflection point for the market, game over?" Jim said it's not "game over," and he again said "chase to (sic) performance," but said if megacap did stumble, it'll be an "ugly day" with "contagion."

Joe insisted "the market will recover" and continue its bull path. Jim said "I don't think it's 'game over' to use the term Scott just used."

Judge cut in, correctly protesting, "I didn't use- I didn't use 'game over.'"

Jim wrongly claimed, "You actually did, but it's OK. It's OK. All right, then I used it, fine." (Neither of those statements was correct; it was Joe who used the term.)

Joe insisted that the market can "absorb" a stumble.

Bryn Talkington said the Megacap Tech earnings won't disappoint, but if they did, it "definitely would change the narrative around AI."

Jim said the Monday gain in QCOM, one of his favorite longtime stocks, is "too much."

Jim calls BRK a buy

Judge at the end of the A Block on Monday's (10/27) Halftime said KBW downgraded BRK (B or A apparently) to "sell."

Judge asked Joe Terranova if that call is "justified" (snicker). (As if upgrades/downgrades have to be "justified.")

Joe said "I don't think it's justified," but you're "better served" determining why the stock has underperformed. Joe said BRK is "biding its time" while it finds a new catalyst, which kinda sounds like a sell rating is justified.

Jim Lebenthal though said "it is a buy today" because it's an "incredible combination" of underlying businesses. Judge said KBW points to GEICO margins and rail tariffs. Jim said there's been a "heavy mood on this stock for several months." Judge said, "Because of the announcement," referring to Buffett/CEO. Jim said that explains "a month or two," not the last several months, and insurers have been trading "like garbage." Joe wondered if Berkshire trimming AAPL is part of the reason.

‘The LSU coach has 95 million for nothing’

After the A Block on Monday's (10/27) Halftime Report, Judge asked Bryn Talkington about the proposed Elon pay package.

Bryn said she voted yes and first said that the package is dependent on the stock being worth "8 and a 1/2 trillion dollars," prompting Judge to interrupt (and apologize) to show a chart of the tranches.

Bryn also said "you have to trust the board." Bryn predicted it would "definitely be a clearing event on the stock."

Judge questioned trusting the board; "not if the board is rubber-stamping something," and questioned if Bryn was making a "carte-blanche statement."

Bryn said, "We are in an environment where CEOs, you know, get these huge pay packages based on nothing; the LSU coach has 95 million for nothing. ... To me it's like aligning exactly what a board should be doing. ... To me it's very pragmatic and sensical (interesting, because most people say 'sensible' and there's debate as to whether 'sensical' is a word)."

Joe Terranova said Musk deserves the pay package if he's able to "change transportation forever." Joe quoted Sartre, er, Adam Jonas: "It is our long-standing opinion that if you solve autonomy for cars, you solve autonomy for many other form factors of AI-enabled robotics (snicker)."

Judge again pointed out that the $1 trillion is a common headline number, but it's actually a "long road" to get to $8.5 trillion on the market cap. Jim Lebenthal said, "Honestly, I think if he can do that, he's worth it."

Meanwhile, Joe was asked about NEM. Joe said, in the gold-stock trade, "You really are relying on technicals right now." Joe said NEM is between the 50- and 100-day. Joe said $3,797 is the 50-day for gold. Joe said, "It's gonna take something significant to reverse the near-term downward pressure on precious metals right now. Um, understand that, over the course of time, particularly in January, I think it comes strongly back into favor."

Kevin gets a haircut

Steve Weiss on Friday's (10/24) Halftime Report tried yet again to thread the needle on his market outlook (which basically means explaining why it's overpriced but indicating he's still fully invested), clarifying to Judge that he's been trimming his market exposure because he's got "large positions" in lots of cloud or Big Tech stocks that "all trade alike."

Weiss said it continues to be a "half-full market" but "a couple" Fed cuts are "in the market" and 3% inflation is "way above the Fed target."

Weiss said he's got "more cash than I've had before" but that it's only a 3-4% cash position.

Weiss insisted he's "not bearish" but just "repositioning" (snicker).

Rob Sechan though argued that "the chase is on until the end of the year."

And Jim Lebenthal said he gets Weiss' points, but, "Anytime the market goes down, it doesn't even get 2% down off the high before it gets bought."

Kevin Simpson said the reason the market was higher Friday is that there's a "green light for another cut in December," and "this could be the last 3 handle we see on the CPI."

Judge tried to convince panelists that AAPL's growth has "come way down" while the valuation's gone up.

After a lengthy go-round on why AMD is doing so great, Weiss said he bought GEV, citing a "very, very good quarter."

Judge mentions private credit/asset managers in the 25th minute

Once again discussing ADBE, Jim Lebenthal on Friday's (10/24) Halftime Report said he thinks it could get "mauled into the ground" late in the year from tax-loss selling. But Jim's giving it another earnings report before unloading the shares.

Jim said he bought APOL.

Kevin Simpson bought VST. Kevin also bought MLM and admitted it's a "boring business." He also bought WMT.

Kevin also bought more MRK. Kevin said, "The sector's been out of favor for a long time," which is a curious rationale for buying; does that mean sectors that are in favor should be avoided?

Rob Sechan sold MMM and moved the cash into QCOM and ABBV, which he thinks have "a little more promise." Rob went on to mention ABBV products that you hear about in commercials during the evening news.

Steve Weiss declared that we're in the "most extended down cycle for biotech stocks that we've ever seen."

Weiss sees "no reason" to sell UBER, but he'd like to see $100 become a support level.

Kevin predicted $1.66 per share earnings for AEM and said last week was a chance to pick up some shares on the pullback.

Judge said at the end of the show that Kevin was "finely coiffed."

Josh unable to convince colleagues that ZM is a promising stock

On Thursday's (10/23) Halftime Report, Josh Brown gave a speech about again buying ZM, a company "we use" at Ritholtz Wealth.

Josh cited an "SEC regulation" in which advisers can't use personal cellphones to exchange messages with clients, and according to Josh, during the pandemic, "a lot of Wall Street firms got in big trouble for using their personal communication." Josh said of ZM, "They give you phone numbers that you can use; it's an app."

There's a growth industry — companies who supply phone numbers to financial people so they don't have to use their "personal communication" to recommend Broadcom.

Josh said Ritholtz has added another product, "Zoom Revenue Accelerator." Josh predicted "an inflection point where finally, they're able to show some growth away from just the video calling." Josh said the risk with the stock is "minimal" compared with the upside.

Stephanie Link demanded, "Why haven't you seen the growth then? ... Why are you gonna pay 18 times for no growth?" Josh said, "I'll explain it to you: Because if and when the growth shows up, the stock will get a re-rating."

Josh went on to say that ZM's "stock option compensation problem" has been an "overhang" on the stock.

Stephanie said ZM has a "terrible" chart. Malcolm Ethridge said he's not sold "unless they change their name to Zoom.AI," and Malcolm wondered, "What does Sam Altman think about it? That will change my perspective completely."

Later in the show, Stephanie rattled off all the metrics of IBM, a stock she likes. Josh asked about its 25 forward multiple and said he has the "same question" Stephanie asked him about ZM. Stephanie admitted IBM's historical multiple is 18 but asserted it deserves higher now because 74% of the revenue is "software and services." Eventually we got an "oh by the way." Malcolm said he agrees "wholeheartedly" with Stephanie's argument; he found the selloff "absurd" and bought more in the morning.

470 ‘ceiling’ for TSLA in 2025

Judge on Thursday's (10/23) Halftime Report said a Barron's money manager survey finds that 47% anticipate higher stock prices over the next 12 months, vs. just 28% in the spring. But 57% think stocks are overvalued.

Bryn Talkington, a remote panelist Thursday, explained, "The market goes up 75% of the time," and that playing for the 25% down times is a "fool's errand."

Bryn discussed TSLA and said 460-470 will be the "ceiling for the rest of the year," and 400, 390 is a "great spot," apparently to buy. Bryn suggested buying Thursday at 434 and selling the January 470 for $30.

Stephanie Link bought more VRT, which was up Thursday after a tough day Wednesday. Josh Brown for some reason jabbed Stephanie for saying VRT was down on Wednesday "6 7%."

Josh said he wanted to fade the "very strange earnings reaction" to NFLX, so he bought more. Josh said it's testing its 200-day, and he thinks the "buyers will show up here." (This writer is long NFLX.)

Judge and Eamon Javers talked about the possibility of the government taking equity stakes in quantum computing companies. Bryn reiterated she sold IONQ at 70. Later in the day on Closing Bell, Amy Raskin told Judge she bought IONQ a year ago at 13 and has "trimmed it 3 times," including a couple weeks ago at 66. Amy said it's a small position.

Bill: More gains left in gold

After the A Block on Thursday's (10/23) Halftime Report, Judge called gold a "stock" and quickly corrected himself and said it's having a "rebound."

Judge brought in Bill Baruch via phone. Bill said $4,000 is a "huge level" for gold that was tested a day earlier, but it "didn't even get quite to 4,000." Bill said it made a "382 Fibonacci retracement" back to the July 31 low, which Bill called "very significant."

Bill suggested sanctions on Russia is a tailwind, as it "forces money away from the dollar." Bill bought more NEM, AEM and CDE. (This writer is long AEM.) Bill said there's "really good news around these names" and there could be significant buybacks and dividends.

Josh offered IBKR as one of the Best Stocks in the Market. He said the multiple is a 50% discount to HOOD, though it's in all the same spaces. Josh said the IBKR founder, Thomas Peterffy, is 81 and owns 67% of the stock, and "I think ultimately, this is a company that's going to get acquired." Josh predicted it "breaks into the 70s."

CNBC is still relentlessly promoting the Dec. 11 "Fast Money Live — Trading the Holidays," which makes us think there are still tickets available.

Another NFLX ‘roller coaster’

In a troubling day for markets that only got worse after the Halftime Report aired on Wednesday (10/22), Judge led off Halftime with NFLX. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Joe Terranova gave a speech ("You have to tell the story") about how NFLX has been consolidating since the end of June, and there was no "catalyst" Tuesday to break out of that.

Joe retraced the NFLX stakes taken by the JOET and Joe personally in 2024 (congrats) at much lower prices than Tuesday's. Joe insisted those cost basises are relevant because "it gives me a degree of flexibility in terms of my positioning" (translation: No matter what happens, we made money in this name).

Joe said NFLX fell to $1,114 in the morning, which is "probably too perfect" (it looks like the low for the day was $1,112, and it closed at $1,116). (This review was posted overnight Wednesday-Thursday.) Joe's going to watch NFLX's reaction to the 200-day. Basically he wants it to get above 1,150.

Judge presented some price target changes for NFLX. Steve Weiss, who has often been asked to opine on the stock in the last couple of years, said he's going to "ignore" those. Weiss said he's staying with NFLX and that Joe's momentum strategy is different from Weiss' "bottoms-up fundamental" approach. Weiss thinks NFLX "delivered in the quarter, and they still have a, an amazing amount of levers to pull."

Weiss correctly pointed out that with NFLX, "Every quarter is a roller coaster," and those who have gotten out in the past have made a mistake.

Eddy Cue in the 10th minute

Judge devoted part of Wednesday's (10/22) Halftime Report to kind of a tiresome discussion of Alphabet, which really wasn't that much different than the Alphabet conversation in May.

Steve Weiss trimmed GOOG (according to Halftime disclosures, he owns GOOG and not GOOGL), saying he's concerned about search. Weiss said he's hearing Google search could be down 25% this year. Judge joked about Weiss talking to Sergey Brin "at the diner (snicker)." Weiss says his sources are "informed," though Judge "can make light of them." Judge went on to mention Eddy Cue.

Sarat Sethi said Alphabet will be "dominant" in search for a while.

Later in the show, Judge pointed out the reversal in VRT. Judge and Weiss discussed nuclear plays, including OKLO, the subject of a big FT article. Weiss said he did research on it recently and determined, "There's no reason to own this stock now at these levels. It's too high for a speculative bet." Judge said Brian Belski (not on Wednesday's show) is in the name. Weiss said if you think the market's going higher, maybe you stay with it, and Brian is "somewhat a perennial bull."

Kristina Partsinevelos dubbed BYND's move a "classic short squeeze."

Joe Terranova took up TSLA, saying he's "just being candid," but he has "no idea" why the stock is going up.

Sarat said BX and others in the private equity/asset management space will probably have "bumpiness" in the short term, but longer term, they'll do well.

Contessa Brewer reported on the NHL getting into "prediction markets." Judge said his "first look" was that DKNG has "gotta be down" on this news. But DKNG was up. Judge wondered if prediction markets may be viewed as "complementary." Contessa said it depends on who you ask and pointed out the terminology being used. Judge actually brought up the Paul Tudor Jones "talks like a duck" (sic we think he said "quacks like a duck"). Contessa then actually said, "It depends on what the definition of 'is' is."

Weiss made VRT his Final Trade. Sarat offered TMO.

Steve Grasso: NFLX could ‘break a thousand’

Tuesday's (10/21) Fast Money immediately took up the NFLX earnings report. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Guy Adami observed, "You're starting to see a deterioration in the margins, even in the guide." Guy noted the possibility of a Warner Bros. Discovery bid and said it suggests "maybe this growth story is slowing out; now they need to start to grow by acquisition." Guy said 1,150 is a "huge level."

Karen Finerman said she's long NFLX and claimed the momentum is "tremendous." Karen said there's "a lot to like here," though it's not cheap.

Steve Grasso questioned what happens if AI infringement (a concern that we don't think we've heard expressed about NFLX) is a "huge deal" for NFLX. Steve said, "I would rather be a seller" and said it could "break a thousand," down to 850, though he admitted he thought it was "running out of steam" before breaking out above 850 a while ago; he just thinks the trade is "really long in the tooth."

Piling on, Bonawyn Eison said the "concern" is that "incremental growth" will have to come outside of the U.S., which means higher content spending. But Karen Finerman pushed back that NFLX "can make content cheaper outside of the U.S."

Later, Mel asked Rich Greenfield, "Why is it down?" Rich shrugged, "Investors wanted faster growth," and the "whisper was faster growth in Q4 ... this thing is just an execution story. ... The stock was at this level 12 days ago." Rich said everyone's trying to figure out whether NFLX is actually bidding for WBD assets. Rich said NFLX wouldn't want HBO but the "IP trove of Warner Bros." Rich mentioned Jeff Bewkes' famous "Albanian army" comment.

Earlier on the Halftime Report, pre-earnings, Joe Terranova said he's looking forward to NFLX actually spending less on content because of AI. Jason Snipe mentioned several reasons he still likes the stock.

Jim refuses to opine on whether the country needs a national, strategic stockpile of electrical steel

Judge on Tuesday's (10/21) Halftime Report asked Jim Lebenthal to explain what The Information is about CLF, explaining that critics think it only surged on Monday because of the rare earths mention.

Jim said rare earths is "not what excites me," but that "the narrative is changing." Jim said auto demand is "picking up," and CLF has an MOU with an "international steel company." Jim claimed he's buying more for himself.

Joe Terranova wondered why CLF "keeps reporting negative gross margin." Jim's answer was that EBITDA is positive.

Jim said the country is keeping a "national, strategic stockpile" of electrical steel. Joe questioned, "Do we need that?" Jim insisted whether we need it is "irrevelant," what matters is that we're doing it.

Meanwhile, Joe mentioned the "healthy" pullback in precious metals and said what's happening in gold is "exactly what you want to see happen." Joe said the bull market in precious metals "remains in place."

Jason Snipe has gone from overweight to market weight in AAPL.

Bill Baruch bought more AMZN and joined remotely to explain why, saying it "tested the 200-day moving average on Friday." Bill predicted a lot of "chase" if it gets over $230. Bill said he wouldn't be surprised to see it up 10-15% on the year. Joe noted that he has said recently that AMZN is a 2026 story.

Jim once again talked about GOOGL and search (but not regarding Eddy Cue this time); Jim said there is competition to search, but Jim "emphatically" doesn't think AI/search will be a "pervasive weakness" for the stock.

In a rare Halftime appearance, David Faber discussed the Warner Bros. Discovery revelations.

Nearly a whole A Block about AAPL (but nothing about Eddy Cue)

It somehow took Judge 22 minutes on Monday's (10/20) Halftime Report to get to his new favorite subject, the "credit-related stocks," citing the "worry list" of Carlyle's CEO.

But about all the way up until then, the gang was talking about AAPL.

Joe Terranova pointed out that AAPL and GOOGL were "negative" in 2024. It "carried forward into 2025," Joe said, then there was "that 1 spark," maybe Tim Cook in the Oval Office.

Jenny Harrington couldn't contain herself, complaining, "I feel like I'm sitting on another planet here," calling it "crazy" that panelists are so excited about AAPL being up "1% on the year."

Jenny claimed AAPL has the "worst setup" of the Mag 7. Jenny claimed she could find "tons of things" with more promising stories.

"It's up 30% since the beginning of August!" Joe declared twice, saying that's when "we highlighted it."

Jenny questioned, "Why should it go higher from here." Judge then turned to Josh Brown; Jenny complained, regarding Josh, "You're Team Joe, you're Team Joe."

Josh didn't say that Joe was right but did say there's a "buzzing like wildfire" in Silicon Valley about AAPL's "secret project" that is something called Veritas, an employee-only chatbot that is "probably the early stages of what Apple's AI is actually going to be."

But CNBC's Steve Kovach said later that Veritas won't be for the public but will be "baked right into Siri" (snicker).

Steve Kovach said there's a "China rebound" for AAPL.

Amy Raskin said she's holding AAPL and views it as "the ultimate staple," and 30 times for such a stock is "OK," compared with COST at 50.

Jenny wondered if Amy would put any "fresh new cash" into AAPL, or is it such a prominent holding because a bunch of clients have had it forever and don't want to pay the taxes. Amy said she doesn't have "any problems" owning it at 30 times given the market's at 23.

Joe predicted AMZN will be a "2026 story" now.

Joe insisted the "chase for performance" is real. Joe said the VIX is about 18. Jenny protested, "I don't think this is binary — you don't need to be bullish, and you don't need to be bearish. It's OK right now to be cautious."

Jenny suggests "you can incrementally de-risk (snicker)." Judge said Jenny is "constantly citing the fact, well we're only up this year to date or we're up- it's skewed by the events post-Liberation Day," and what happened in April was an "artificial bottom ... unforced error ..."

As for those credit-related stocks, Jenny said she bought TSLX in January after a "super, super intense" research process and found it's "different than the rest." Judge said Wells Fargo sees regional banks as a buy. Joe said he's not sure he'd buy here, he'd "pause."

Starting points have gotta start somewhere

Judge on Monday's (10/20) Halftime Report asked Josh Brown whether utilities, health care and staples leading this month is a warning sign for the market.

Josh said it's "the ultimate example of cherry-picking starting points." Josh said those aren't the only leaders, and that utilities for example are in a "bull market in electricity."

Judge said "I think people understand that," but what about staples and health care. Josh said "doom and gloom" in health care is lifting because fears about what RFK Jr. is going to do are getting quashed.

Meanwhile, Josh trumpeted the technicals for AXP, a stock that forever should have the symbol AMEX. Josh said there's "no natural sellers left." Josh said it's the best chart in financial services.

Josh talked up ACHR as well as JOBY and said they trade on headlines, and the Dubai Air show is coming up. Jenny Harrington said she's "delighted" that Jeff Smith is focused on TRIP.

Judge said Rick Rieder, his guest on Monday's Closing Bell, is in the "Final 5" for Fed chief.

When the tide goes out, um, you find out who’s been swimming, uh, ...

Friday's (10/17) Halftime Report crew basically shrugged off whatever's going on in private markets as someone else's problem.

Judge opened saying, "We do have these credit issues which are hanging over the markets" (Zzzzzzzzzz). But Judge said the question is whether they are "idiosyncratic and overblown," or "something more widespread" (Zzzzzzzzzz).

Judge even mentioned in the opening minute Jamie bringing up the "cockroach issue" (Zzzzzzzzzzz).

Jason Snipe would note we've had "Jamie Dimon's comments on loop."

Judge pointed out how BDCs and alt managers are down.

Bryn Talkington revealed she's an investor in the "private company" of Blue Owl and that she bought ARCC.

Bryn said you can look up exactly what Blue Owl and ARCC own and that the "transparency" issues in general are getting painted with a "very broad brush."

Judge in the 5th minute even mentioned the "bathing suit" and the "tide."

Steve Weiss said he doesn't see a 2008-like situation, but private credit is "not regulated" like the big banks.

Weiss pointed out the difference in rates between prime and what private credit's been lending at.

Joe Terranova, joining from that pandemic-era room with the numbers on the walls, said the JOET has 7 midcap banks and 2 superregionals. Joe said the momentum from those kinds of financials in 2024 is "coming to the end of the road." Joe said what we heard Friday from the regional banks was "somewhat comforting."

Judge pointed out that the JOET can't do anything until the next rebalancing, which is still a couple weeks away, so Joe just has to "sit there and watch this movie unfold" (snicker). (The question is, is the movie going to be "Apocalypse Now," or "Adaptation"?) (#Sadly,Judgedoesn'tdomoviecriticism)

Bryn pointed out that high yield is "showing no signs of stress."

In the 27th minute, Judge admitted, "I think we surrounded that, uh, story."

‘Still pretty fully invested’

Bryn Talkington on Friday's (10/17) Halftime Report said she sold IONQ, saying it's a research company that's one of the momentum plays talked up on X, but it will take a long time to make money.

"I bought it in the 30s; I sold it at 70," Bryn boasted, arguing that "these stocks make no sense on any valuation metric."

Judge said that while Bryn made money in IONQ, Amy Raskin's (who wasn't on Friday's show) ownership trajectory in the name is "unbelievable."

Bryn is standing pat on crypto plays despite the volatility in the "asset class." Steve Weiss is sticking with his crypto position (apparently the IBIT), though "I still don't know what the use case is."

Bryn said until we get "clarity" on the Indonesia mine, FCX won't break above 45.

Weiss explained selling BAC (Zzzzzzzz); he wants to reduce his exposure "overall to the market," even though he's "still pretty fully invested."

Jason Snipe trimmed AAPL (Zzzzzzz). Jason bought more IBB, predicting M&A in biotechs.

Santoli said the market just wants to "escape." Santoli said we're getting "bumps in October."

Bryn's Final Trade was BMNR while selling November 55 calls for $5.

Dan Nathan: ‘Too early’ to get ‘hyperbolic’ about regional banks

Judge in the 23rd minute of Thursday's (10/16) Halftime Report aired a clip of Glenn August in Beverly Hills, where Judge this week made a trip that was kind of a reporting bust, talking about Judge's favorite subject nowadays, whether there are "cracks" in private credit.

Then Judge played the Jamie Dimon "cockroach" clip, which is maybe No. 2 or 3 in the recent poll of Judge's Favorite Comments This Month.

Josh Brown mentioned "First Brands" a couple of times.

Late in the show, Judge was talking about the 10-year under 4.0 and the 2-year being "lowest since 2022," then Judge filled time with more about private credit.

Fast Money talked up the yield and banks at the top of the show. Dan Nathan said it's "probably a bit too early" to get "hyperbolic" about regional banks. Steve Grasso pronounced the yield activity "all normal." Grandpa Guy Adami said rates are going lower "because people are scared of something."

Josh calls NEM ‘way too extended,’ but Bill says there’s a ‘long runway’ for gold miners

Josh Brown on Thursday's (10/16) Halftime Report said this is the best year ever for gold and silver miners.

"The run is probably not over," Josh said, because gold is still gaining; however, he called NEM "way too extended." But he thinks AU has a "special situation" that's appealing. Josh said it "easily could go to a hundred" if gold gets to $5,000. (This writer has no position in NEM or AU but does own a couple gold-mining stocks.)

Bill Baruch owns NEM and seemed to think it's less extended than Josh thinks, saying it's made "a lot of great acquisitions." Bill pointed out that energy or "input" costs are lower for these companies, and they have a "long runway" that's maybe in the "1st quarter," he doesn't think you need to chase it but he's not sure how big of a pullback there will be.

Judge said "they put up a lot of points in the 1st quarter."

Judge provides a long-overdue movie quote

On Thursday's (10/16) Halftime Report, Bill Baruch said he bought more SPY as well as the IJR; Bill cited in part no "follow through" Monday from the Friday meltdown and on Tuesday, Jerome Powell mentioning an "endgame to QT."

Out of the blue, to our happy shock, Judge said the "no follow through" observation reminds him of the scene in "Airplane!" where the guy shuts off the runway lights and is like, "Just kidding."

(We're taking Judge's word for it — honestly, we've seen that one a few times, and it's hilarious, but it's been literally decades, and we don't recall that scene specifically.)

Kari Firestone said people's concerns seem to be about valuation and AI, but she's "not as worried" about those things now as some people are.

Malcolm Ethridge sold some ORCL, stating it's a "great place to be trimming."

Bill bought TDG because it's a stock he has liked, but we didn't really get what the catalyst is supposed to be.

Kari bought ROP, a stock maybe never mentioned on the show. She trimmed BKNG because it got to be a "really big" position.

Kari bought more UNH.

Kari said we're entering a "new era" in biotech. But Judge noted that Kari only owns AMGN, and only in her charitable trust. Kari said this is getting to be the time to own them and talked of owning companies that are "tangential."

We heard ‘cooking oil’ and thought they were going to discuss Mark Sanchez

Judge was apparently taking a travel day from the less-than-scintillating (based on what we saw on TV) Beverly Hills CAIS conference, so guest host Frank Holland opened Wednesday's (10/15) Halftime Report saying "I don't think (hosts of the 11 a.m. show) Carl and Leslie know their mikes are still on." But viewers didn't hear anything, so we don't know what Frank was talking about.

Frank mentioned "cooking oil" with Joe Terranova.

Joe said of this week's market, "It's about the Fin 5," which delivered something "historic." Joe said he's "not particularly sure" (snicker) if it's time to reduce his bank holdings given the results.

Permabull Stephanie Link was most impressed by MS' "ROTCE at 24%."

Jim Lebenthal in the 6th minute brought up "First Brands" and also "cockroach" (snicker) (apparently the word of the week, after last week's Paul Tudor Jones' quacking like a duck) and mentioned watching credit spreads.

Joe affirmed that the chase for performance this year "ultimately will happen." Stephanie said, "You don't fight the Fed. ... You do not fade the- this rally. You actually do chase."

On Fast Money, Guy Adami suggested C could get to 1.2, 1.5 tangible book (snicker) "in this new order."

Whew — Jim wasn’t asked about any more ‘rumors’ in The Information

Guest host Frank Holland on Wednesday's (10/15) Halftime Report said Stephen Miran, who might be the most entertaining Federal Reserve figure in decades (this page is taking no position on Miran's policy views, only entertainment potential) claimed there's "consensus" on the neutral rate.

But Liz Thomas said she's not so sure there's a consensus on neutral rate. Permabull Stephanie said you want to own cyclicals; "I don't care where the neutral rate is."

Frank insisted on talking about small caps (Zzzzzzzz); Liz took up the subject, saying "We're looking at a very dovish Fed in 2026."

Joe suggested XBI and IBB and said Jason Snipe (who wasn't on Wednesday's show) is a fan of the latter.

As usual, Stephanie did get into Total Addressable Market, with the hyperscalers and cybersecurity this time.

Joe said the "thematic" approach to utilities is "very real."

Joe said PGR had a "miss on every front" and implied the JOET would be kicking it out on Halloween.

Joe said DASH is a "verb" and its partnership gave DPZ a boost. Jim Lebenthal said DAL earnings will be "better than expected," and the multiple of course is too low, which is basically what he always says about DAL. Like Jim with DAL, Stephanie trumpeted GEV.

Robert Frank was back for another wealth report, something CNBC is obviously emphasizing. #Versant

Joe said COST is "troubling" to him because it has "not delivered."

Stephanie said the new TGT CEO could do things "quicker" than an outsider, but the downside is that "they needed someone from the outside." Stephanie said it's a "show-me story."

Discussing ONON, Jim actually said with a straight face, "There's only so long that the consumer can keep spending like this."

Stephanie Link's Final Trade was VSCO, always an exciting name.

Judge was dressed quite warmly for an indoor Beverly Hills event

Unfortunately, Judge's trip to Beverly Hills seems like — at least based on what CNBC viewers got Tuesday — kind of a bust. (Aside from the fact he flew to California to talk to Robert Frank back East about alternative investments.)

Early on Tuesday's (10/14) Halftime Report, and right at the top of Tuesday's Closing Bell, Judge asked about Paul Tudor Jones' comments (Judge didn't mentions Paul's quack like a duck garbage, at least not at Halftime).

On Halftime, Joe Terranova, who was broadcasting from that COVID-era room with the numbers on the walls, again was concerned about "what positions do you hold that could be a source of liquidity."

Josh Brown said Jamie Dimon mentioned the "cockroach" slogan. Josh said the "big risk in the 4th quarter is if people get nervous about the First Brands situation."

Judge said B of A's fund manager survey found the most bullishness it's reported since February. Shannon Saccocia, who was on location in Beverly Hills, said the market needs to see if some of the concentrated capex dollars get spread around.

Joe said Friday was a "very stark reminder to all of us to look at what you hold" and determine if those positions can be a "source of liquidity."

Joe again made the point he likes making to Jenny Harrington (who wasn't on Tuesday's show), stating, "This hasn't been a quality rally in 2025. This has been a momentum rally, this has been a crypto rally, this has been an AI-adjacent rally, and in some areas of the market, it's a junk rally."

During the show, Steve Liesman recapped the comments of Jay Powell, who wasn't in Beverly Hills, but Philadelphia. Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson spoke to Judge in Beverly Hills about market reaction to Jay Powell. Jenny brought up employment equilibrium and productivity and concluded, "It actually feels like the labor market is OK." Jenny affirmed, "I'm pretty bullish."

"I believe we are in early innings of what AI is doing," Jenny said.

Also in Beverly Hills, Glenn August of Oak Hill stated, "I do not see a bubble in private credit." Glenn and Judge also took up Jamie's cockroaches. Glenn said, "I don't see a recession anytime soon." But he did predict lower returns for private equity.

Robert Frank said remotely during his discussion about alts that the amount of money going to private equity has gone up tenfold since the financial crisis.

Halftime Report programming goes 83 minutes without a commercial break

Joe Terranova on Monday's (10/13) Halftime Report predicted to guest host Frank Holland that "the secular bull market trend remains in place" and there will be "a little bit of a chase for performance," but you can't "dismiss and ignore" what happened Friday — and be careful if the market starts using your type of stocks as a source of funds.

Jenny Harrington said the lessons from Friday are "tune out the noise" but also that "there's fragility out there." Jenny even mentioned "priced for perfection."

Steve Weiss chalked up Friday's market meltdown less to a tariff "tantrum" about China and more to "sensitivity to where the market is." Weiss said the market's in a "tentative position."

Nevertheless, Weiss is "pretty much fully invested." (So much for the tentative market.)

Jim Lebenthal claimed "there are some serious concerns in terms of leverage." Jim even mentioned the Bear Stearns hedge funds of June 2007. (Which reminds us of when Eric Bolling declared on Fast Money in August 2007 that (maybe not the exact quote) "I think we've bottomed!") (The quote was true for a couple months, but by October ...)

Jenny said "today" is the time to think about repositioning your portfolio (for all those who need a project).

In the 23rd minute, Frank ended the A Block and went to commercial — the first during the Halftime Report since Thursday (see below).

For the 3rd time in a couple months, Joe tells Jenny his comments are ‘not personal’

Steve Weiss on Monday's (10/13) Halftime Report mentioned BDCs having "issues" such as First Brands, but it's not "enough at this point to derail the market."

But Jim Lebenthal said "we want more information" about creditworthiness.

During a discussion about the day's winners, Joe Terranova told Jenny Harrington, "You know this — quality hasn't worked in 2025."

Jenny chuckled, "No offense Jenny, you know this."

Joe said, "It's not personal to your portfolio."

Joe explained that "Quality's not bouncing back today; momentum's bouncing back today."

Joe said he "wouldn't touch" BDCs now.

Jenny said "we all know out there that there is a huge bifurcation in the top end of the consumer and that they're still healthy, and in the lower end of the consumer."

On Monday, we didn't catch an update from CNBC as to whether Adam Parker was able to "grind" some trades over the weekend (see below).

Joe’s ‘perplexed’ by market euphoria over the Wiki-scraping outfit

Right after the A Block of Monday's (10/13) Halftime Report, guest host Frank Holland said Goldman upgraded NEM to buy (which seems kinda overdue), even though the screen text/chart was trying to tell us something about AVGO.

Joe Terranova again talked about how strong precious metals are. Frank then tried to go to "headlines with our Kate Rogers. Kate." But nothing happened, so Frank said, "Oh, sorry, not just yet."

Jim Lebenthal said "gold's had a heckuva rally" but it feels like a "melt-up phase," and he wouldn't "dive in" now.

Joe said the JOET added PYPL at the end of July at 68.76, so it's "literally a break-even."

Jim said he trimmed WYNN at 126 and he'd like to add back. He thinks the pullback is "tariff-related."

Eventually Joe took up AVGO's Chart of the Day and deal with OpenAI; Joe said "it is somewhat perplexing to me that we are becoming more and more reliant on this one private company's ability to keep spending." (Actually, it doesn't seem "perplexing" at all to this page.) Jenny Harrington said that when she saw the news earlier in the day, it reminded her of Oprah handing out cars.

Santoli said he wonders if Friday's trade was the end of a stretch of "unusually subdued volatility."

Jenny sold NEE; she explained how she owned the convertible preferred and that the multiple had gotten kind of high at 23.

Late in the show, Joe said, "I don't think the market needs the rate cuts" and the Fed would rescue any "wobble" in the labor market. Steve Weiss questioned if Joe thinks the market, or economy, doesn't need the rate cuts. Joe affirmed that he doesn't think the market needs the cuts. Weiss wondered if the market would hold its level if the Fed made such an announcement. Joe said the market would "wobble to a certain extent" but would recover if earnings are strong. Jim Lebenthal predicted a 25-point cut.

Jenny gave a lengthy explanation for her Final Trade of TSLX.

Frank said Judge is going to have a "big lineup" Tuesday from the CAIS conference in Beverly Hills.

Bryn predicts Monday ‘washout’ (and Adam is going to ‘grind’ a few trades)

Well into the day's selloff on Friday's (10/10) Closing Bell, Judge brought in Halftime Report regular Bryn Talkington, who asserted the selloff is "way more than China."

Bryn also pointed out, "Trump has never said 'let's decouple.'"

But those weren't the headline comments. Bryn also said, "Markets don't typically bottom on a Friday. And so I think maybe, maybe Monday we get a washout."

Adam Parker, also on Closing Bell, said, "I didn't know that," then curiously added, "I'm gonna go back to the office and gr- grind a little to 'The market doesn't bottom on Friday.' Thanks for the idea. I'm gonna go grind on a, on the weekend, uh, so that's always a good, good to learn stuff."

Oh my — Judge goes a full hour without a commercial or news break

By the end of the show, we were practically in disbelief.

Judge went an entire hour on Friday's (10/10) Halftime Report without a commercial, or even a news break.

If you're thinking, as we were, "must've been some big breaking news," well ... if you consider a Truth Social post to be big breaking news, then ...

We think part of the reason was that Judge was expecting an Eamon Javers update around the time of the typical end of the A Block, but that update didn't come until later, and also that Leslie Picker was set up to deliver a lengthy report on BDCs in the latter half of the show.

(Whatever. Seems like lost revenue for Versant, but what do we know.)

One annoying thing about the telecast was the screen text with one line a lot longer than the other telling us that Trump is the "pres."

It’s Peter Navarro Day in the markets

On Friday's (10/10) elongated Halftime Report, Rob Sechan opined, "I think the sharp reaction to this news shows how priced for perfection markets have become."

Rob even mentioned AAII surveys (snicker).

Rob claimed, "Markets have become solely focused on the good news around AI."

Permabull Stephanie Link said, "We're only down 1.3% on this news," which ie "encouraging."

Jason Snipe bluntly stated, "This is an absolute buying opportunity."

Kevin Simpson said rate cuts and AI enthusiasm are "in tandem," so there's "opportunity" in Friday's pullback, but if we "lose the AI enthusiasm" or the Fed "backs off" rate cuts, that's a "reset" that would make Kevin "a little bit nervous." Judge said that would be a "game-changer scenario."

Kara Swisher evidently is in the ‘Tron’ movie (not in the picture above)

Eventually on Friday's (10/10) Halftime Report, Judge returned to the day's planned topic, which was the 3-year anniversary of the bull market. Judge stated, "When bull markets go 3, they usually go longer."

"The average bull market is 51 months," agreed Jason Snipe.

Judge also said of the shutdown, "The market hasn't seemed to care about it." Jason predicted it gets resolved "shortly."

Kevin Simpson bought EME a week ago at 647; "there's still plenty of upside here."

Judge and the panel acknowledged the homebuilders have been in a recent slump. Permabull Stephanie Link insisted they're at the "trough."

Kevin wrote a 520 call on CAT expiring next week, annualizing an 8% premium.

Rob Sechan said he said a week ago that RACE is "far too pricey," but you can "own this long term" for its "software-type margins."

Kevin again talked up AEM; "I don't think the trade's going away." (This writer is long AEM.) Rob said there's been a "retail uptick in ownership of gold."

Kevin bought CPNG. But he got stopped out of RBLX; there are "more and more states coming after them."

Rob touted LMT.

Kevin bought ASTS and RKLB last week.

In a discussion that took a long time, Leslie Picker reported on some issue related to BDCs. Then Steve Liesman and Judge assessed where Fed members are leaning.

Judge actually says some surveys show a ‘pretty nasty picture’ of the economy (wonder if they show an AI bubble too)

Judge opened Thursday's (10/9) Halftime Report saying the 3-year anniversary of the bull market was Oct. 12. Josh Brown pointed out to viewers that "It's very expensive to miss a bull market."

Josh said the average gain of Year 4 of a bull market is "16.2%," so you don't have to feel like bailing.

Bill Baruch observed, "Right now we're only at 15% ... There's still a lot of runway here this year." But Bill said there is "concentration" in the biggest stocks and "some deterioration in momentum in the near term."

Jim "Gangbusters" Lebenthal offered reasons "not to be bearish," which include a good earnings outlook, the economy being "very far from a recession" and the fact the Fed is cutting. Judge actually countered that there's non-government surveys showing a "pretty nasty picture" of the economy. Jim insisted "there isn't a lot of firing," though he conceded there's not a lot of hiring either.

Josh predicted "explosive" bank earnings starting next week.

Jim said of C, "I see absolutely no reason why this should trade at a discount to tangible book value (snicker)." Jim claimed Jane Fraser "hasn't gotten full credit for it yet."

Judge said, "C'mon, look at the stock, what do you mean she hasn't gotten full credit for it."

Jim said, "Because it trades at less than 10 times earnings, as I said, just a hair under tangible book value."

Shoes as an alt investment?

Judge on Thursday's (10/9) Halftime Report said JPMorgan is calling SHAK a top short idea.

Josh Brown said it's "not the first time" SHAK has gotten a downgrade, and "nothing they're saying is new to the market," it's more like they want to "press their bet." Josh noted SG and CMG are slumping too.

Judge said AMD is up "43% in 3 days." Bill Baruch said it had almost been "left for dead" and it got an "absolute repricing." But Josh asked for a 1-year chart and questioned who's buying the stock now, other than someone who absolutely for whatever reason must own this name.

Leslie Picker reported that millennials are more into alternative investments than stocks. Josh said it's "nonsense," that "if you were born in 1996, you should have a hundred percent stocks."

Josh added that "You do not need alts at 27 years old" and noted it's just a survey and questioned if the numbers are really accurate. Shannon Saccocia said "It's not just private equity," and Bill suggested "they might be 25% crypto." Shannon even said "shoes." Everyone agreed that the "alt" bucket includes a lot of stuff.

Reporting from Macau, Contessa Brewer said "Macau's booming."

Late in the show, Josh said he's long NFLX and "expectations are not terribly high" and it bounced off the 200-day. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Jim Lebenthal mentioned "Bud Fox" when making ORCL his Final Trade; Josh brought up the "abyss." Jim called that "a little obscure."

Branding issues: Jim obviously doesn’t know what The Information is (and he thinks legit news scoops are ‘not far’ from rumors)

Viewers of Wednesday's (10/8) Halftime Report learned that Jim Lebenthal's buying more ORCL, as it has slid a little since its recent meteoric rise.

Jim even brought up "Eddy Cue" (snicker) in explaining why he's not necessarily believing the "rumor" (snicker) about ORCL.

Judge rightly wondered, "What rumor are you talking about?"

Jim said it was yesterday's story on margins.

"It wasn't a rumor. What do you mean a 'rumor.' It was- it was a report," Judge said.

"Who did it come from?" Jim asked.

"The Information," Judge said.

"Who did it come from?" Jim repeated, before saying, "OK, it came from a news report that suppose- supposedly, they saw an internal document. It was not a release by Oracle."

"That's far different than a rumor," Judge correctly said.

"It's not far different. It's not far different from a rumor," Jim protested.

(Ah. OK. So The Pentagon Papers were just a "rumor.")

(Got it.)

"A news organization seeing an internal document is not that far different than a rumor?" Judge asked in disbelief.

Jim stated, "It is unsubstantiated!" Then Jim mentioned Eddy Cue (snicker) 2 more times.

Judge said, "What Eddy Cue said was a factual statement too ... he didn't make it up. What are you talking about?"

Jim said, "I'll tell you exactly what I'm talking about. And I said I'm not impugning him ... Yes, there was an inference that Alphabet's search volume was declining. That turned out not to be the case."

(So, in other words, what Jim was actually trying to say is that the market overreacted to those reports, not that those reports were wrong, even though he hopes they are.) (We're happy to help any time.)

Weiss joined in to discuss how business investments are always studied for "payback period" (Zzzzzzz.)

How come Judge doesn’t revisit the ‘intermediate term’ warnings Weiss was making every day in April

Judge opened Wednesday's (10/8) Halftime Report saying we're 6 months past the market's "Trump tariff tantrum," when the S&P low was 4,835.

Joe Terranova pointed out that the China tariff arrangement (ugh) will need to be extended again in November. (Which city is going to host the Scott Bessent meeting this time.)

Judge said the Nasdaq low during the tariff tantrum was 14,784.

Steve Weiss pointed out how it's not all about AI, how CAT is at an all-time high and how it was "under 300" back in early April. But Weiss still wants to be in Megacap Tech. In a strong endorsement of a colleague, Weiss said the JOET is "perfectly geared" for this environment.

Bryn Talkington talked up DELL and compared Michael Dell to Larry Ellison.

Judge brought in Kristina Partsinevelos, who Judge said coined the term of Nvidia becoming "the new First National Bank of AI." Joe said the "circular financing" today is delivering "tangible products," unlike in 1999. Joe said AMAT is "joining the party" and has a "green light on momentum." Weiss said TSM "continues to be explosive." Jim Lebenthal was chuckling because he apparently got out of AMAT.

‘This reminds me of Tesla’

Judge on Wednesday's (10/8) Halftime Report wondered if there's a "level of complacency" given the "unabated" rise of gold. Jim Lebenthal said there are "esoteric reasons" (snicker) that gold needs to be discussed.

Much later in the day, on Fast Money, guest host Sully suggested the market suddenly "woke up" and decided FCX's copper will be in big demand. Karen Finerman, in chic blue, again talked about owning bitcoin instead of gold. Steve Grasso predicted, "the same people that have been buying gold will wind up buying cryptocurrencies." Even so, Steve predicted $5,000 gold.

Back on Halftime, Santoli said gold and the Mag 7 ETF are "neck and neck" on a 2-year chart.

Bryn Talkington got deep into the details on private credit (Zzzzzzz) but suggested this is the time to add to KKR or APO; she'd buy those over private equity itself. Joe Terranova noted a lot of those stocks haven't traded that well recently.

Josh Brown, who wasn't on the day's panel, dialed in to discuss the JOBY offering. Josh said the stock is actually higher than the offering price, and (this seems quite a stretch), "This reminds me of Tesla," when bears warned of dilution, but the stock would go up "20%" after a "massive secondary." Josh said the fact JOBY can do a secondary is the bullish part. Joe said it has to be looked at as a "form of a clearing event."

Joe is already buying more XBI. "You buy high, and you sell higher," particularly with a breakout, Joe explained. Judge questioned if such a breakout determination can be made "in 24 hours." Joe said, "When you get that type of a breakout, yeah ... automatic buy signal."

Steve Weiss said health care is moving on momentum, not fundamentals as the industry is facing changes that will reshape business models. Joe admitted his MRK buy has been "disappointing."

Weiss in Final Trades offered NFLX, claiming it "finally bottomed." (This writer is long NFLX.) Judge twice told Jim he was "sorry" not to bring up CLF during the show.

Steve Grasso on Fast Money called the Commerce Secretary Howard "Lutkin" (sic) before asking for and receiving clarification on the name. (At least Steve wasn't asked what The Information is.)

Judge claims he wonders whether he woke up on another planet

Jim Lebenthal on Tuesday's (10/7) Halftime Report said he's still in ADBE basically "because it hasn't gone down" and didn't get "slaughtered" after its last earnings report.

After Jim's speech, Judge said, "You're waiting until the stock goes down to sell it?"

Jenny Harrington advised Jim, "You should just sell it, buddy."

Judge wondered, "Did I wake up like in, on another planet today; what's happening here." Jim returned to the multiple and other metrics. Jim said "I may indeed sell this as a tax-loss harvest (sic last 5 words basically redundant)."

‘Rhymes with the late 1990s but not with 1999 or with 1997’

Judge opened the Halftime Report yet again Tuesday (10/7) with the only subject he's cared about for weeks, the possible "AI bubble."

Josh Brown pointed out, "A lot of the people who are saying 'bubble' today were also saying it in 2023 when Nvidia quadrupled." (Honestly, we don't know if Josh is right about that; he'd have to supply statements from "a lot" of these people.)

Judge cut in to Josh's commentary to mention ORCL's reaction to the Information story (Zzzzzzzzz).

Discussing ORCL, Joe Terranova observed, "The spending here is being done by debt."

Jim Lebenthal said this market feels "a little bit like it rhymes with the late 1990s but not with 1999 or with 1997." (Which means either 1998 exclusively, or some combination of the 3.)

Jenny Harrington bought MRP, saying it's a "complex structure" but a "land bank."

Jenny bought KMB (Zzzzzzzzz).

Judge aired a clip of Josh interviewing Peter Lynch this week. Josh said Peter is kind of sticking with his decades-old advice. Judge noted that Lynch pointed out that just because a stock has already moved doesn't mean it's done moving.

Judge said Ray Dalio is recommending 15% gold exposure.

Late in the show, Jenny said she sold DEA, a stock she's mentioned previously. "I lost 50% on the share price; I made 25% on the dividends, so net loss overall," Jenny said.

As promised, Joe bought the XBI.

Josh's Final Trade was VEEV. Judge admitted, "We've talked about Veeva a lot this week."

Getting tired of ‘quacks like a duck’ (By the way, when is Carl’s Day of Reckoning coming?)

Like anyone, this page believes that financial legends opining on market conditions is a helpful thing for the financial world.

Sometimes, that opining sounds a lot like wisdom-dispensing.

Such was the case Monday (10/6), when CNBC relentlessly aired Paul Tudor Jones' Squawk Box commentary about how right now seems like October 1999 (that part was fine) and "So it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck. It's probably not a chicken, right?" (that part was obnoxious and we're sick of hearing it).

Steve Weiss on Halftime told Judge we've been in FOMO "for a while," then made a very constructive observation about the current AI market vs. the 1999 market, that anyone in 1999 could claim a dotcom something or other, but being an AI player takes cash.

Weiss predicted this ends "the same way" as the 1999 market but will "extend longer" than October 1999 to March 2000 because this time, you "need capital."

Weiss said he's "super pumped" about MSFT, GOOGL, AMZN because he thinks they're "undervalued."

Anastasia Amoroso wonders if investors will begin to question the "trajectory" of the AI trade.

Joe Terranova seemed to think that we've got room before March 2000, opening with, "The calendar is the enemy for those that (sic should've been 'who') are bearish (as if anyone is). Because in fact you are gonna see portfolio managers begin to chase."

Anastasia said, "I think the semiconductor trade may be running out of steam in not-too-distant future." Joe said the key is what does "distant future" mean, asserting the "dramatic spending" right now should help the semicondutor industry.

Very late in the show, Santoli made a great observation, saying that before we get to 1999, we have to get to 2021 and the "truly speculative IPO stuff, SPAC stuff."

Judge helps Weiss with a time-machine trade

Steve Weiss on Monday's (10/6) Halftime Report said his personal "debate" is whether to start a new position in C or buy more BAC.

Judge said the C chart shows "You should've done that many many many months ago, right."

Weiss agreed, "Without a doubt." Everyone agreed they should've listened to Farmer Jim (who wasn't on the show) about C. (The question is, when. Farmer Jim and Weiss both have talked up buying C many times over the last 15 years. It's the broken-clock thing.)

Joe gets his daily mention of NFLX and SPOT being similar stocks

Judge, who sort of grumbles about all the analyst notes on NFLX but then vigorously reports them anyway, asked Steve Weiss on Monday's (10/6) Halftime about the latest positive assessment of the stock from some shop or another. (Honestly, does it really matter?)

Weiss noted perceived risks to the company, but "I just don't think there's a there there," Weiss said. "I just don't understand the concerns franky."

Joe Terranova for the umpteenth time mentioned NFLX and SPOT together (this writer is long NFLX and SPOT) and said it's "a little bit frustrating" because there's a "breakdown in the momentum" of NFLX and said it's "uncomfortably close" to the 200-day. (He's right about that; NFLX the stock has sucked for months.)

Joe says he’ll buy the XBI

In a very fine (but overlooked by Judge) demonstration of the ultimate in stock market ethics, Joe Terranova explained why he still personally owns a nonperforming stock such as ZM.

Joe said ZM hasn't done anything this year and bluntly stated it's "not a growth story." (It's not the worst chart we've ever seen, but Joe's basically right.) Joe indicated that Judge should stay tuned for October rebalancing as to whether it stays in the JOET. Judge noted Joe owns it "personally." Joe then said he'd rather wait for it to get "liquidated" from the ETF before selling it personally, for how that might look.

Meanwhile, Joe said his hockey-playing son in Danbury, Conn., orderd a vacuum the previous night and DASH delivered it in 45 minutes. Joe explained, "I ordered the vacuum, and then he had to call me to ask how to put it together."

ETF Edge was actually handled by Seema Mody. Seema's guest suggested silver and its miners have more upside than gold.

Judge said Krinsky thinks health care (Zzzzzzzz) might be breaking out. Joe vowed he would buy the XBI "on the close today" with a "very wide stop."

"I personally think health care's broken," Steve Weiss said, adding that "Veeva" is the type of tech company that will thrive. (That's yet another mention of VEEV after Josh Brown claimed last week that it never gets mentioned on the show.)

Joe has mentioned VEEV 3 times this year

Josh Brown on Friday's (10/3) Halftime Report actually said his mention of VEEV might be "like the only time" it's been mentioned on the "network" (sic) (it's really a "channel").

But Joe Terranova talked about the stock on June 4, Aug. 18 and Sept. 8. (Hit PgDn a bunch of times.)

Josh said $300 has been resistance for VEEV, and if it can get above it and stay there, it'd be a "new leg of the bull market." He'd put a stop at 260, 265.

Judge declared at the 48-minute mark, "Final Trades coming up," which seems an awful lot of minutes to be conceding to ads. But Judge did return in a few minutes to have Amy Raskin talk about Chevy Chase Trust making the CNBC FA 100 list; Judge suggested scanning the QR code on the screen to see the whole list.

Finally, in an elongated Final Trade session, Stephanie Link said CMG has been "absolutely horrible" this year, but it's always been a 2nd-half type of stock.

Judge cuts off Amy for suggesting ChatGPT might not be a $1 trillion IPO (a/k/a inflating ‘very big’ heads)

Judge led off Friday's (10/3) Halftime Report with "AI bubble talk" (snicker) and mentioned David Solomon's and Jeff Bezos' comments.

Rob Sechan said leadership will move the application of the technology, but we're "not there yet."

Rob said there's "really no signs of capex slowing."

Stephanie Link of course doesn't see a bubble because the investment is "across every different industry."

This type of conversation doesn't happen without an "innings" reference; Judge then said that Morgan Stanley's Lisa Shalett says market discounting of AI is in the "7th" inning.

Josh Brown said he doesn't know which inning we're in but asserted "there's going to be a correction" regardless of whether we're in the 1st inning or late innings.

Josh said "the only thing" that will keep the rally going "is if the rally keeps going, and I know that's a tautology."

Rob said Josh is "spot on," though "I hate to inflate a very big head already."

Amy Raskin said the "central question" is whether AI is a "natural monopoly" like "search" and "social," but maybe AI won't be, and if so, "ChatGPT might not end up being a trillion-dollar company." Judge immediately cut in, "Oh, it's on the way there."

The use case for all 240 is ...

Josh Brown on Friday's (10/3) Halftime Report revealed, "I talk to people in bars and taverns," which is how he knows how people keep waiting during the summer and early fall for an NVDA pullback and don't get it and eventually just buy anyway.

Amy Raskin shrugged that she's owned AAPL "forever" and "I'm not buying it here."

Judge said Chanos is harping on supposed cracks in private equity and suggesting it's like "packaging of subprime." Josh said the junk bond market is a lot stronger than in past cycles; the issue now would be BDCs. Judge and Rob Sechan got tangled in an insider conversation about private credit, private equity and alternative assets at the end of the A Block.

Josh said Musk's tweet about NFLX is every media company's "worst nightmare," and the impact can be significant, so he "wouldn't completely dismiss out of hand" NFLX having a couple rough weeks, but he doesn't see a "lasting effect" on the stock price, nor does he think NFLX maanagement will "make it worse."

Stephanie Link bought COIN a week ago. Stephanie said COIN has "240 different kinds of cryptocurrencies."

‘An everything rally’

Jim "Gangbusters" Lebenthal got to hold court at the top of Thursday's (10/2) Halftime Report, telling guest host Frank Holland, "History shows that, uh, government shutdowns are indeed a non-event, both for the economy and for the markets."

Jim said he doesn't like to "engage in the banal, trite sayings," but "the trend is your friend." Jim said that means "the equity markets" are the place to stay. (The trend is your friend is basically what Jeremy Siegel said, almost verbatim, later on Closing Bell Overtime.)

"Any dip in the markets is highly likely to be bought," Jim asserted.

"The trend really is towards an everything rally here," Jim said.

Jason Snipe said the S&P was up 10% during the 35-day shutdown in 2018 and said we've had "14 shutdowns since 1981."

Jason said Jim's right, that "The chase is real." Jason said he'd reallocate to sectors that have "not grown."

Frank said Tom Lee is pinning a 7,000 on year-end and says he'd buy the dip.

"The dip is buyable right now," Jim repeated, saying Tom Lee's notes are "always worth reading."

Jim said the factor of people chasing is "not to be trivialized."

AI bubble ‘overdone’

Jason Snipe bluntly addressed bubble talk on Thursday's (10/2) Halftime Report, explaining, "Maybe this, this, this story of an AI bubble, um, is a little bit overdone. Right, I think at least in the tactical, in the short run."

Jason likes BLK, which has a new AI tool.

Jim Lebenthal admitted, "I'm getting my face rearranged in Adobe."

Jason suggested "a lot of the bad news is, is priced in" to UNH. Shannon Saccocia said health care is "cheap."

Jim called the Berkshire-OXY deal "intriguing." Jim called it a "tuck-in acquisition" and said it's just a small part of BRK's cash pile.

Jason said CL has been in the "penalty box" this year but will get some earnings recovery next year.

Early in the show, Shannon Saccocia said a lot of small cap companies (Zzzzzzzzz) aren't that great; she'd caution "not to move too early on this" because the better small caps figure to gain in 2026, but after listening a couple times, we honestly don't know if she meant not to trim "too early," or buy "too early."

Late in the show, guest host Frank Holland AGAIN asked Shannon about small caps as far as Q4. Shannon said you want to be "selective."

But Shannon's Final Trade was to stay with small caps if you're in the trade, though she doesn't know if she made a "strong enough case" for it earlier in the show. (Zzzzzzzzzz)

Jason said SNOW is hitting on "all strides." (Kinda odd buying a company called "Snowflake" in 80-degree weather, but whatever.)

Jason and Jim both said they don't want to trim ORCL. Jim predicted it "bottoms and goes higher."

Jim yet again touted WYNN. Jim said you can actually make money in energy and also mentioned RIG but admitted it won't do well if oil prices sink.

Jim's Final Trade was VRTX. Frank flummoxed Jim noting Jim owns it and wondering if he's "buying more." Jim stated, "It's a Final Trade, I mean ..." Frank chuckled, "I'm just asking, Jim." Jason Snipe's Final Trade was NOW.

Judge admits he got overzealous about Eddy Cue’s remarks

Judge mentioned "Eddy Cue" (snicker) in the 16th minute of Wednesday's (10/1) Halftime Report.

Judge said the GOOGL stock move since then "surprised a lot of people" and there was a "tremendous overreaction in the market that day" and even "maybe we overreacted about it that day."

Well, true. Among other things, Judge on that day (5/7) warned Jim Lebenthal not to be too "flippant" about the gravity of Eddy's statement.

But it wasn't only Judge. Joe Terranova that day said the Eddy Cue revelation is a "big deal" as it's about the "cash cow." Josh Brown said it's "extremely significant" and "Joe is right" and "Jim will eventually come around to this point of view."

OK.

On Wednesday, Joe admitted to Judge, "I was one that overreacted." But Joe said the stock really only took off with the "regulatory clearing moment." (Jim wasn't on the show.)

Judge said Tony Pasquariello points out that since ChatGPT's launch, the Mag 7 has gone from $7.1 trillion to $18.6 trillion.

Judge said Tony says about the Nasdaq in general, "a lot is in the price."

Riding a boat of tech stocks

On Wednesday's (10/1) Halftime Report, Liz Thomas said a rally into year-end is a "possibility" but maybe not "unabated," as the market may be "due for a pause."

Joe Terranova predicted a "strong" Q4 but said not to be surprised by a "little bit of a rotation." Joe said the "Fin 5" hasn't been performing in recent days.

Steve Weiss said "everybody seems to be on the same side of the boat."

Weiss said in a couple weeks, "we're gonna really hear for the first time the impact of tariffs." (Weiss also claimed months ago that in the "intermediate term," things are going to get rough; where are these rough times and recession?) (Judge hasn't asked.)

Weiss again brought up "paycheck to paycheck" but now it's "tougher" for them. Weiss said there's "2 levels of consumers here and the gap's widening." (Ah. It's John Edwards' Two Americas time.)

Judge said consumer finance names haven't been performing well and rattled off recent results of a bunch of them.

Joe said maybe instead of a "bigger boat," the market will get "another boat."

Joe said, "The economy is clearly, right now, deteriorating" (snicker).

Joe said airlines are trading as though leisure travel will be more challenged. Judge said "restaurant stocks haven't traded that well."

Joe said NVDA is "not reliant on the economy" (snicker) and that APPL looks like it "wants to break out above last December's high."

Liz indicated that Mag 7 "sentiment" is different than sentiment about the consumer.

"I think the consumer is in fine shape," Liz said, no "alarm bells." In fact, "Credit spreads have not budged."

Judge pointed out how much GEV is up and said it got a downgrade on valuation. Joe said the power names are a "well-known tailwind for the market."

Weiss said "AI names" don't have to go up but just need to hold their "pole position."

Late in the show Judge said China tech stocks made a big comeback in Q3. Weiss said he thinks there's more to go, "I'm pretty sure there is," but he's going to wait for a pullback that might not happen. Rounding out his Greatest Hits from earlier in the show, Weiss said one of the risks to BABA is that "China does go after Taiwan."

Joe says airlines may have peaked in Q1

Jim Cramer joined the crew of Wednesday's (10/1) Halftime Report at Post 9 to tout his new book (Zzzzzzzz).

Joe Terranova bought MRK, saying it had a "clearing event," which Judge finally clarified involves drug import pricing. Judge said it's already "moved a lot" on that news. Joe said the stock's gotten a "restart."

Hours later, on a sleepy episode of Fast Money, Karen Finerman said she bought PPH and said "maybe, you know, the target is off the back of this industry."

Back on Halftime, Joe doesn't like the Jefferies upgrade of DAL. Joe thinks there's a "pretty good chance that the airlines peaked in the first quarter of 2025."

Steve Weiss said "Brad" is being "very, very disciplined" at QXO.

Joe said WELL is a play on the "exponential growth" in senior housing.

John Mullen of Parsons Capital in Providence joined the crew to disucss the firm's No. 1 ranking (up from 2 last year) in CNBC's "7th annual" financial advisor 100 list sponsored by Franklin Templeton.

In Final Trades, Weiss said NFLX's tumble based on a Musk tweet is a "buying opportunity." (This writer is long NFLX.) (Joe did NOT chime in that SPOT kind of trades the same way.)

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