CNBCfix - Fast Money Review

Dan Nathan on AI: ‘There’s no use case in my life right now’

Before we get into Friday's (6/28) Halftime Report (see below), we have to do a little rewind to Thursday.

That's when Fast Money viewers heard Dan Nathan make some interesting comments about where all this AI stuff is ... going.

"There's no use case in my life right now other than a little Perplexity here and there of summarizing something for work or whatever, and that's not doin' a whole heckuva lot, because I have to check all the facts-" Nathan stated, before Mel asked a redirect question.

"I'll take the other side," offered Rebecca Patterson, citing a Dallas Fed survey of 400 companies that found "40% of them already are using AI in a daily basis. ... I think there are a lot of users out there across lots of different industries."

It’s a Peacock thing, so that’s why Al was on the show

While Dan Nathan doesn't see an AI use case, NBC Universal apparently does — Paris Olympic highlights in Al Michaels’ voice.

Honestly, we've read a couple news stories about this, and we still don't get it. Except it sounds like what we're eventually moving towards in Sports, which is the AI Vin Scully announcing a current Dodgers game (in which the voice will say, around the 5th inning, that the line drive was speared by Davy Lopes).

Al joined Friday's (6/28) Halftime Report and said of this NBC gambit, "They came to me, they had this idea, I didn't understand it ... I said, 'Let me take a look at this thing' ... they showed me a sample ... and I said 'Whoa,' I was frightened and I was astonished at the same time."

Well, we're not going to be any more frightened or astonished than we were when Gekko was in the Hamptons showing off his robot that could push a tray of drinks around a cocktail party (and then claiming "Dick here's going to get me an exemption, aren'tcha Dick??").

Al joked, "Some articles have called me, uh, Neil Armstrong, the Neil Armstrong of what's going on right now. I just hope I don't crash into the far side of the moon." (Well, savvy sportscasters always have to prepare good lines.)

Meanwhile, Al chuckled that "Farmer Jim" Lebenthal is in AMZN now. Al also said Jim "got rid of his (cringeworthy) Cleveland Cliffs," which isn't accurate per disclosures at CNBC.com.

Al chided analysts who say we're living in "uncertain times."

"I know how to day trade," Al told Judge, but he didn't reveal what's in his portfolio. (This writer is long FAS only because Al used to often talk about owning it and holding it forever (which isn't exactly the recommended formula for this kind of ETF) and in fact, excepting the resets in 2020 and 2022, it's got some impressive long-term charting.)

Judge suggests presidential race could get ‘a little bit messy’

On Friday (6/28), the presidential debate of the night before was a hot topic on cable TV.

Except on CNBC, where Judge and his panel appeared nearly oblivious to the subject on the Halftime Report.

But not totally oblivious, we have to say.

In the 9th minute, Judge finally alluded to the presidential race. First Judge said Tony Pasquariello's latest is that it's a "good time to tap the brakes," and Judge said "fall's gonna bring the, uh, the election, next 4 months. Take last night into consideration, could be a little bit messy. who knows what's gonna happen on, on, on the Democratic side, uh, from here forward (sic last 3 words redundant)."

That was the last viewers heard about presidential politics.

On Fast Money, viewers didn't hear about the debate either, not even any Final Trades of "Gavin Newsom," as Karen Finerman revealed to guest host Tyler Mathisen, "I couldn't watch the debate. I just couldn't watch it." (Note: We think "couldn't" really means "didn't," as it was shown everywhere.)

Joe actually tries to claim that botched buy of Judge’s footwear maker was a ‘great’ experience

Joe Terranova wasn't a panelist on Friday's (6/28) Halftime Report but surfaced on the phone anyway during a discussion of NKE, a long trade Joe had just put on this week and one of the most ghastly of the year.

Judge pointed out that Joe "took a flier" this week on the stock. Joe dialed in and actually began by saying, in one of the most hard-to-believe comments on the show, "I feel great about everything."

Joe pointed out that he "defined the process" (snicker) on Monday in which he explained putting on half a position with plans to make it full over 100, or exit with a stop below 90.

Joe said he got stopped out in the afterhours. Joe said it was just a "technical trade" going into earnings. Joe shrugged that he'll "move on."

Judge said "it's a good lesson (snicker) for the viewer" (basically not to own this stock now), then praised Joe, "You protected your downside," without asking Joe where the stop actually was fulfilled.

"I'm not gonna buy it back," Joe said.

The more we think about it, the more we realized that Joe indeed may "feel great," given that a couple other panelists have recently indicated that clients don't want any capital gains; Joe surely will not have any from his NKE sale.

On Fast Money, Steve Grasso said he bought NKE after the plunge partly because of the Olympics and partly because "things overcorrect."

"I don't think I bought the bottom," but it's a "good start," Steve said. Karen Finerman said "the guidance was just awful," but she is going to think about her (somewhat modified) 3-day rule in regard to this name.

Jim actually thinks the economy needs rate cuts

Jim Lebenthal on Friday's (6/28) Halftime Report stated, "As much as I hate to say this ... I think this economy needs a couple of rate cuts."

Moments later, Stephanie Link told Jim, "2 rate cuts is not gonna help the economy."

"It's- Sentimentally, it will," Jim insisted.

Jim said the "concentration" in the market rally is just "too much."

Brian Belski echoed Joe Terranova (not on NKE, but This Year in the Stock Market), stating, "It's starting to feel more and more to me like this is a 1996, uh, redo."

Kevin Simpson offered this on the S&P: "6,000 sounds ridiculous to me to the high side. Because we're priced to perfection."

Jim claimed that he shares Judge's "vexation" over casino stocks. "Hey, I don't own the stocks, so I mean, I'm not vexed, I'm just like, What is up," Judge protested.

Judge has to discuss this debate performance on Friday’s Halftime

On some CNBC shows (um, think "Squawk" titles), politics are completely fair game. On others, such as Halftime Report and Fast Money, viewers tend to hear, "This is not a political show."

Maybe not. But when a leading presidential candidate is saying the solution to any economic issues this country may be experiencing is to soak the rich, while that candidate cannot even string together 2 consecutive sentences, it's time for Wall Street to weigh in on this issue of serious national importance.

(Note: We know how Lee Cooperman feels about that particular slogan, except Lee isn't on Halftime anymore.)

Your turn, Judge.

Jim admits that multiples can be ‘misstated’ ... if earnings are good

The top story of Thursday's (6/27) Halftime Report was Josh Brown buying more AMZN, which he said is having its "most meaningful breakout" since August 2020.

Brown said it's having a month of "substantial accumulation." Eventually, Brown's extensive case for the stock got into ... yes ... AI.

Jim Lebenthal said he'll "corroborate a lot of what Josh said."

Most interesting, though, was Jim's recollection of getting a "ribbing" back in February because the AMZN forward multiple was 40, and Judge and Josh wondered, "Are you still really a value investor?"

Jim said, "At the time, I said that the multiple was, was misstated versus where earnings are going. And that's clearly showing up right now."

Gotta admit, we were a bit surprised here at CNBCfix HQ, because we didn't recall this debate/discussion at all. But after checking the archive (just hit PgDn about 50 times), we did indeed find an entry on Feb. 22 summarizing that day's Jim-Josh clash.

But actually, Jim said on Feb. 22 that AMZN is "not an expensive stock." While Thursday, he seemed to be saying that it actually was expensive back then, just not to someone who saw bigger earnings ahead.

What was actually memorable from the Feb. 22 flap was that Josh twice clapped at Jim while stressing Josh's point that P.E. ratio is not a valid guide to where AMZN's shares are going.

Anyway, just as in February, Jim and Josh both like the stock.

Meanwhile, in kind of a strange trade update, Bill Baruch joined remotely to address his MU call spread trade (see below), which was buying August 155s and selling August 170s.

"It hasn't worked out," Bill said Thursday, revealing, "I'm down a little more than 50%." But he doesn't think "the trade overall is down." What he's doing now is buying back "half the 170s," which becomes a "more bullish play" on the 155s.

So, just 1 day into this trade that doesn't seem like anything more than a curious options gamble, Bill is basically saying he's still got most of it on.

Jenny Harrington said of Rio Tinto, "We've owned this since 2017; have a really nice return." (Well, anyone who has owned a stock since 2017 and has NOT had a nice return on it probably needs to think about their investing acumen.)

Discussing KO, Rob Sechan actually mentioned "the old Dr. J-Michael Cooper commercial: 'Ya can't beat the real thing. Ya can't beat the feeling.'"

Jim said DIS "has become a cheap stock." (But even if it were "expensive," maybe the earnings would go up and then it wouldn't be expensive.) Jim wondered rhetorically, "Could you actually re-create this company for anywhere near book value?" Hmmm, well, it would be kind of hard to re-create hundreds of movies, some of them decades old, without violating a copyright of some kind.

Josh talked up one of his holdings, IOT, which was also touted by Steve Grasso the previous day on Fast Money; Steve said it "bounced right where it should've bounced."

Judge reported that CLF is down 35% (we think that's 35% YTD, though it's even worse for just Q2). Jim explained, "Hot rolled coil is down 40% in pricing from the start of the year" and suggested maybe CLF is still hoping to buy X (the stock, not the social media company that generally sells for twice as much price as it's worth).

After Judge did a go-round with panelists on stocks that have been slumping, Rob told Judge, "Thanks for bringing up the, the blemishes on our face." Judge said it's "easy" just to talk about stocks that are up.

Jenny said INTC and BGS are the 2 stocks her clients "hate" to own more than any others.

On Thursday's Fast Money, Karen Finerman said WBA is a "melting ice cube" that's had the front of store hammered by AMZN for years and now the back of store is also being hammered by AMZN. Karen said WBA is cheap, but, "It wouldn't shock me at all if it gets cheaper."

Weiss disagrees with basically everything Joe says about NVDA

There was only about one thread of commentary worthy of a headline on Wednesday's (6/26) Halftime Report; frankly, we could've done it in half the time and space had Weiss only stopped talking.

Joe Terranova started off the show advising viewers, "If you do not own Nvidia, you need to get ownership of Nvidia through some form of an ETF that has a large weighting."

Hmmm, OK. But if you need to "get ownership," why not just buy shares of the stock? Joe explained why not.

"If you wanna go and buy the stock outright, I wanna do it in the options market. I don't wanna buy the stock right now, at this point," Joe said. "I just don't wanna go buy the pure equity right now," because there's an "acceleration in the intraday volatility," and Joe expects a "very significant roller coaster ride."

(Translation: Joe thinks the stock might go down. Which is fine. But suggesting a better choice is to try to time the NVDA trade with options seems to us like a reach to anyone not named "Najarian.")

Judge assured that they were going to "monitor" the Nvidia meeting that just started as the show did.

Then Judge aired a clip of Eric Jackson from a day earlier on Closing Bell (tip: If you miss Closing Bell, you can always catch the highlights the next day on the Halftime Report) predicting a "lofty" multiple for NVDA and maybe a $6 trillion market cap; "The euphoria hasn't yet caught up."

Steve Weiss said that's a "little bit" of crazy talk. Then he said, "There's no qualifier, it's crazy."

Weiss wondered how much of NVDA's gain has been "pulled forward" and, correctly in fact, questioned Joe's strategy: "If you have a long-term view of a stock, and it's going through a period of volatility, why would you buy the options? 'Cause you'll lose that premium, you know, unless you go further out. So you've gotta get the premium right, which means you've gotta get the time right in stock moves, and then, you've gotta get the direction right on a longer-term basis up to that date. So, I would not buy the options if I'm a believer. If I'm a believer long term, ride the volatility out and buy the stock."

Then, Weiss took issue with Joe's opening statement. "You don't have to own the stock. You don't have to own any stock," Weiss said. "You're playing with fire here. You're really playing with a pure momentum stock at this point where the share price in my view is not reflective of the actual fundamentals."

Joe responded to Weiss by stating that Weiss, in saying you don't have to own the stock, given what NVDA did in 2023 and 2024, "You're basically saying 'I'm gonna be satisfied underperforming the market.'"

But Weiss and Kari Firestone said what happened in the past isn't necessarily going to happen in the future.

So, "What you're basically both saying is that we're not gonna see the same type of strong performance from this company that we've seen to date," Joe concluded.

Weiss said he's not saying that, he's saying the stock price is "dissociated" from the fundamentals, but Joe's conclusion is still an "accurate statement."

Judge reiterated Eric Jackson's position and $6 trillion prediction for Weiss. "I'm not sayin' it won't get there," Weiss said, but Judge noted Weiss had just called that "crazy talk." Weiss insisted "it is crazy talk," then said, "Forget that I said that I don't doubt it'll get there. Strike that from the record ... What I'm saying is, it could get there," but for Weiss to buy, it'll take the fundamentals to "vastly improve."

Kari said lofty NVDA outlooks are becoming "part of the discourse," which has taken on "very extremist" forecasts.

Joe said it's really hard to find in other stocks the growth expected for the Mag 7. "If you have to answer to clients ... it's almost mandatory that you have to be in these names," Joe asserted. Joe pointed out that the Russell is underperforming every year, 2021, 2022, 2023 and this year even though rates were a lot lower in 2021 and 2022.

Joe offered NKE as evidence he's buying something besides Mag 7. He said he wouldn't be surprised if he got stopped out.

Weiss insisted he's got diversification through defense names but acknowledged, "My portfolio's gonna trade as the megacaps trade." Weiss shrugged that "Nike is to me no different than Starbucks."

Kari talked up HD (Zzzzzzzzz). (Talk about "no different than Starbucks.")

As Seema Mody and Judge provided updates of the Nvidia meeting, Joe said demand for NVDA products isn't in question, it's whether supply can meet it. But Weiss said demand should be questioned. Joe pressed Weiss, "I can't get a read on whether you're bullish or bearish on it."

Weiss said, "I own it. So overall, I'm bullish."

"Welcome to my world, dude," Judge said to Joe. Weiss said he's just "trying to throw cold water" on the euphoria, as he doesn't know when the momentum will stop.

Bill Baruch joined the show remotely in the last 5 minutes to discuss his personal options trade in MU, buying the 155 August calls for $8.20 and selling the August 170 calls for $4.80. Bill said the trade is "not for the faint of heart."

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said AI is still in the "early innings," but NVDA is bound to have pauses or pullbacks, the stock's not going straight up every day.

Josh says NVDA could be ‘dead money for a little while’

Once again, the prospect of accrued tax liability apparently seems to be weighing heavily on Rob Sechan's account management.

Rob on Tuesday's (6/25) Halftime Report explained that he bought AVGO "about a year ago." He said that "it's up 150% since we bought it" and went from being a third of a weighting to a triple weighting. So, he "trimmed that over the last month or so."

Right there, this page would probably take issue, as it often does, with the notion of selling stocks based on how much the other stocks in your portfolio are worth, but Rob actually opened up a different front.

"I will tell you that we got a little pushback on that because the tax consequences were relatively short term. So, our clients didn't obviously love that," Rob revealed.

Well, actually, if we understand that comment correctly, the clients are probably right to be unhappy with that sale. If the shares were bought "about a year ago," and they were just sold recently as short-term gains rather than waiting, say, a month or so for a long-term gain, the clients have a legit beef, although Rob has a legit counterargument if his opinion is that the stock is bound to pull back and negate more in gains than is saved by the difference between long and short term.

OK. But that wasn't all.

Discussing his trimming of MCD, Rob said, "Frankly, you can't kill people with capital gains when you manage taxable accounts."

Well, we did wonder about that one on a few levels. Taxes do kinda suck. On the other hand, if the goal is to never trigger a capital gain, then either 1) You'll never get to touch the fruits of those great calls you've made, or 2) You'll ride those great gains back to break-even or worse if you stick around long enough.

Meanwhile ... Bryn Talkington said of NVDA, "I think more volatility in the name is a good thing."

Josh Brown said NVDA was "amazingly overbought," so, "I could picture the stock being dead money for a little while."

Josh gushed about the MMM "breakout," even though it's "done nothing forever."

Josh said the prospect of ad revenues could be "a whole 'nother story" for UBER. (This writer is long UBER.)

On Tuesday's Fast Money, Grandpa Guy Adami said he thinks the unemployment rate "is gonna start to tick up in a meaningful way."

Judge and Weiss might as well wear track suits to Post 9

Gotta say, Monday's (6/24) Halftime Report wasn't exactly chock-full of stock tips.

The most noteworthy comment wasn't really on the program, as Judge explained to the panel that Ed Yardeni is all in on the market, not just now but even through 2026, with 8,000 on the S&P by the end of the decade. (Note: Neither Judge nor anyone else took a look back at what Ed was forecasting 6 years ago.)

Bryn Talkington offered, "History tells you we have a strong 2nd half," and, apparently referring to election years, said this is "the 2nd-strongest first half since World War II."

"Feels to me like 1996 all over again," said Joe Terranova. But Joe said he's not seeing the evidence yet of the market "broadening out."

Steve Weiss, who like Judge was again proudly in sneakers at the NYSE, said we're "without a doubt in a restrictive interest rate environment," and in that type of environment, "you don't get a growth multiple." So, "The market is overvalued at this level."

Judge suggested looking to "where the puck is going" and the "inescapable" prospect of lower interest rates down the road.

Weiss acknowledged that this time could be different because "we're much more reliant on technology than we are on labor."

Joe said there's been "easier monetary policy" because "QT has been pared back."

Judge said Tony Pasquariello said in his latest note that he was expecting a market breather, but stocks "declined the offramps," which wasn't really the most profound forecast of all time.

Weiss said those who came in last that "couldn't resist" the momentum in NVDA are the ones selling now.

Joe said we have to be "remarkably surprised about the resiliency of the market overall." (Why be surprised if, as panelists always say, "the market goes up 90% of the time.")

Weiss bought more AAPL. He said "the risk/reward is pretty attractive." Joe said Weiss and others are buying the stock "clearly" because of "the innovation of Apple intelligence (snicker)."

Judge said that Bernstein says to buy the "guac" — er, dip — of CMG. (Actually, that was a pretty good line.) Joe said the split is a "very positive thing," but not just for the market but employees because of the ability to do equity grants. Though Joe conceded it's "susceptible" to a correction but advised being prepared to step in.

Jason Snipe seconded Morgan Stanley calling UNH a top pick, he likes it as a 2nd-half play. He called $600 "reasonable." Joe said he can make a "purely technical" argument for NKE. He said it's moving toward its 200-day at $100; he'll take a "very small position" and add if it gets to the 200-day and he'll keep a $90 stop.

Bryn predicted "nice returns" in energy through year-end. Joe said he's been "exhausted" by energy stocks. Joe said he had dinner with Fish and they discussed the 67-95 crude price range.

Some people SOLD Nvidia!

We did catch Friday's (6/21) Halftime Report at CNBCfix HQ, but kind of wondered, what was the point (other than checking out Judge and Weiss' comfortable footwear).

Steve Weiss said he trimmed NVDA, because his position "got too big." (Tip: Stocks don't care about the size of other stocks' positions in Weiss' portfolio.) (Judge obviously has no issue with logos.)

"This is really on steroids," Weiss said.

Bill Baruch trimmed apparently for the same reason. (Zzzzzzzzz) "It's our No. 1 position," Bill said.

But Jason Snipe is "not quite yet" trimming NVDA.

Bill Baruch actually said, "I would never go against Dan Ives, especially in a name like Tesla."

Bill Baruch took a "starter position" in DELL with money that "came out of Micron."

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said that barely more than 24 hours earlier (Thursday morning), there was a feeling of "sort of frothiness" and even a "panic buying" in NVDA. Karen wouldn't be surprised by a "further pullback," although it wasn't clear to us whether she meant NVDA or stocks in general.

Karen Finerman kind of chuckled about the sudden emphasis on banks' living wills, including the letter addressed to "Mr. Dimon."

Uber (but not the car rides) — Judge kinda seems to be scripting the same show at 2 different times

At the 6th minute of Thursday's (6/20) Halftime Report, Judge said he saw a story, and "this is a big deal" and "this needs to be discussed."

Indeed. He needed to discuss it at least twice, actually. (Bear with us.)

Judge, who paired his suit with white tennis shoes on Thursday, reported that Morgan Stanley Wealth Management boosted its tech holdings in its model portfolio. (Zzzzzzzzzzz.)

Judge said it's a "big deal," because "unless you're like an uber, a high-net-worth client of private wealth management at these places, you generally get put in model portfolios, right. Pre-designed portfolios. They're not personalized."

Judge wondered if there's a potential "risk" from increasing exposure to tech.

Josh Brown said this is happening because of "client demand." Josh added, "These moves, typically when they happen, are closer to the end of something than they are to the beginning."

"OK. That. Is. My. Point," Judge said, adding it's not a "shot at Morgan Stanley" or other wealth managers.

OK. Fast forward a few hours. On Closing Bell, Judge mentioned to Santoli — and note the terminology — that Morgan Stanley Wealth Management boosted its tech holdings in its model portfolios. "Pre-designed portfolios ... unless you are a (sic not 'an') uber high-net-worth person, uh, who is getting super-specialized and personalized portfolio construction, many of our viewers who are clients of whatever firm are getting put in a so-called model portfolio."

Judge then echoed Josh Brown (attributing it to Josh), saying people are "callin' up their advisors" and demanding more tech. Then Judge echoed Josh again, stating, "This type of stuff doesn't necessarily happen at the beginning."

‘Zero snark’ — Only 1 person seems to think NVDA 2024 really is like CSCO 2000

Judge opened Thursday's (6/20) Halftime Report by asking Josh Brown if NVDA's gains are "gettin' silly."

Josh responded, "It might be justified, but it might be happening too soon. And the pace of this has definitely gotten silly."

Josh said if you just bought NVDA 5 minutes ago, "Don't write emails," because he's not saying you'll lose money. Brown said he's been long NVDA for 8 years, and "it's a hundred-bagger."

Sarat Sethi said he has taken profits in NVDA "twice in the last year," but it's still 6% of his portfolio, which is "really high," so he's "about ready to do it again." (Tip: Stocks do not care what Sarat's basis is.)

But Josh suggested NVDA has a "magnet" to 150.

Judge thought he was airing a clip of Keith "Life Sciences" Meister saying Tuesday on Closing Bell that NVDA's multiple may be deservedly high. Instead, viewers heard Keith say, "I think rate cuts will actually be a negative for the market," because cuts would happen if things are "rolling over." Judge said, "Well, that wasn't it." But Judge said Keith said that if NVDA is "not overearning," it deserves a "really high multiple."

(Keith's comments on rate cuts apparently were supposed to air during Closing Bell, when they did re-air; someone jumped the gun. Keith's comments on NVDA also re-aired later.)

Jenny Harrington, as she always says about tech gains, said, "I think things have gone too far."

Jenny said WSJ had an article about the last time a computing infrastructure company was the biggest market cap; it was CSCO in 2000, just after it passed MSFT.

Jenny said that eventually, "competition" and "maturity" set in and pointed to potential signs of toppiness. Josh said, "Except we could've said that 5 years ago. And it would've been right, to say, but very wrong" for investing.

Jenny again mentioned her 2 clients who called her wanting to be in bitcoin. Judge told Jenny that he's "honestly" asking with "zero snark" (snicker), "What is it like to be outside the window looking in." Jenny admitted, "It feels like I'm in a bear market."

But Jenny said, "I know I'm not alone in this. I don't know anyone who's up as much as the S&P 500."

Jim Lebenthal, who had a quiet show, said NVDA is going higher, not because of P.E., but because "everybody wants to own it." Josh said Jensen is talking about "sovereigns" loading up on NVDA equipment.

Josh said that CSCO had the benefit of companies spending because of Y2K fears ... and the "same phenomenon is starting to develop" with companies afraid of being at the back of the line for NVDA chip orders, which might be pulling forward future demand.

As Judge discussed the "big deal" of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management upping its model portfolio tech exposure, Josh contended that money managers will hear the ducks "quacking" about tech and will feed the ducks with what they want. Sarat said, "In that world, it's called closet indexing, right. You will not lose your job if you closet index."

Josh said it's actually young investors who flooded 5% money market accounts, so if you're recruiting young investors, you have to entice them with tech.

On Closing Bell, Joe Terranova cautioned that "there's gonna be a day where Nvidia's down 10%." On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said NVDA "absolutely" could pull back 20%.

Steve Grasso said on Fast Money that the first 15 days of July "are the best 2-week period going back to 1928," and, "the last time the Nasdaq was down in July was 2007."

Josh actually endorses a stock touted by Jenny

In a rare moment of agreement, Josh Brown on Thursday's (6/20) Halftime Report seconded Jenny Harrington's touting of WMB.

Judge said an obscure stock, IOT, was initiated buy by B of A. Josh said IOT "one day will be discovered" and has a "really interesting niche," but the technicals don't look great.

Sarat Sethi said TDG is in the "sweet spot of demand" for plane upgrades.

Josh Brown said he expects he'll get stopped out of WBD at a small loss.

Josh said that after being a "huge home run," CMG seems to be trading "in line" with other large-cap Nasdaq stocks.

Judge aired a clip of Keith "Life Sciences" Meister calling utilities a "good investment" (Zzzzzzz). The panel seemed to agree that an assortment of names are good plays.

On Fast Money, Guy Adami mentioned, as he does about every day, that the president's approval ratings are at "historic lows."

Steve Grasso: Boeing may have to ‘ditch’ the 737 Max

Judge opened Tuesday's (6/18) Halftime Report citing B of A's fund manager survey that's the most bullish since November 2021.

Joe Terranova assured viewers that the bullishness of today is "completely different" than that of November 2021.

Back then, Joe said, bullishness "surrounded Peloton non-profitable companies."

Citing surveys, Judge said the Mag 7 is "one of the most crowded trades of all time," though it doesn't seem to be "dissipating." Josh Brown made a lengthy argument about differing Wall Street perceptions and concluded, "The historic relationships between P.E. ratio, and, and short-term rates, Fed funds rate, and 10-year Treasury — throw them out the window. They're not helping your investment process."

Joe is somehow already trimming the XLG after touting it as recently as a day earlier. Joe said he's "selling half" because he "captured 7% profit in 2 weeks." (Tip: Stocks don't care what someone's cost basis is.)

Bill Baruch wasn't on the panel but remotely explained that he trimmed MU and bought DELL.

A lot of the show involved people trumpeting how much certain stocks were up. (So let's see exactly how these portfolios are doing.)

On Tuesday's Fast Money, Karen Finerman said she bought NVDA puts, which have lost value: "I do really believe we're still in early innings of AI."

Steve Grasso said BA may have to "ditch" the 737 Max. "There's NO light at the end of the tunnel," Steve said.

Josh suggests Judge’s observation about PFE might be ‘misleading’

Judge on Tuesday's (6/18) Halftime Report said PFE (snicker) had just recorded 8 straight days of losses. (It actually closed up on Tuesday.) (This review was posted overnight Tuesday/Wednesday.)

Recent PFE fan Josh Brown suggested Judge was being "misleading" about "8 days in a row," given that it's only fallen from "29 to 27 and a quarter." Judge said it's "noteworthy" and "we're just noting streaks like we do."

Josh said the GLW story "is just so sexy."

Meanwhile, Josh said that "politically, it is impossible to oppose, um, the, the crypto lobby, and just regular people who own crypto."

That prompted Jenny Harrington to actually say she has "2 clients" who "carved out part of their portfolios like on their own, to dedicate to bitcoin and bitcoin ETFs." (So much for the Dividend Growth Strategy.)

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman sold NFLX 750 calls against her long position; "that's not gonna protect me that much to be honest but I felt like, oh my God, this has been quite a run, I gotta do something." (This writer is long NFLX, which is undercharging customers by a serious margin, making us wonder why Karen Finerman is trying to trade around this stock.)

Analyst actually had a 4,750 S&P target

The A Block of Monday's (6/17) Halftime Report, guest hosted by Frank Holland, didn't really break any ground in terms of anyone having a new stock market outlook, but Frank kept a crisp discussion going nonetheless.

Frank started off by saying "fresh (sic 1st word basically redundant but passable) record high" about 4-5 times just in his intro, in which Frank said Julian Emanuel of Evercore is taking a "pretty big swing" in changing his S&P target from 4,750 "all the way up to 6,000."

Joe Terranova stated, "We will get to 6,000 at a certain point in time," which is not exactly a groundbreaking prediction, but "it's very difficult to forecast an S&P price target ... by a specific period of time." (So in other words, all or nearly all of the Street's targets are going to be wrong, so ... who cares.)

Anastasia Amoroso said the Fed isn't certain about when the rate cut will happen, but markets will "take it, you know, in stride."

Steve Weiss said the market "drove past what I think is reasonable valuation levels, but it doesn't mean it's gonna correct." But Weiss said small caps "should be down."

Jim Lebenthal, once again jousting with Weiss over the health of the consumer, said the Fed last week got "incrementally more hawkish."

Jim started making data predictions of "continued increases in retail sales." Anastasia too predicted "better than expected retail sales." We wonder how anyone has some sort of insight as to how that number is going to come in. Have they been counting cars in parking lots?

Weiss asked Anastasia if it's her call that credit card delinquencies "won't go higher than what has been normal." Anastasia indicated it would "pick up" for the "lower-income cohort." Weiss cut in that "60% of the consumer lives paycheck to paycheck. That's a pretty big lower-end cohort, right?" (And what official survey actually defined 60% of people living under the term "paycheck to paycheck.")

Weiss said the "firehose effect" of people apparently cutting loose with their wallets because they were cooped up in the pandemic is "starting to peter out."

Frank told Jim that just 5 stocks are "60% of the gains" in the market and wondered if that's troubling to Jim. "Not so far," Jim said.

Anastasia said she doesn't expect "megacap leadership to fall apart, but I do expect that outperformance to come down."

Joe again decided to "share my experience" of running an "equal-weighted strategy," which now is "not the strategy that is working in the marketplace (sic last 3 words redundant)." So he bought the XLG.

If Taco Bell starts serving an AI taco, watch YUM take off

Joe Terranova, fresh off his red-hot AAPL post-earnings call that has catapulted him into the lead for Call of the Year, was sort of waffling like L'eggo my egg'o on Monday's (6/17) Halftime Report.

Guest host Frank Holland said DDOG was reiterated "sell" at Monness. Joe said it "peaked out" in February and that the AI networking angle is a "future story" and "quite candidly," he has to admit he's not sure whether it's a buy or sell at the moment.

At another point, Joe 3 times said "Elliott" (he meant "Starboard"; Frank corrected him) is in ADSK; Joe said ADSK has a "governance issue that has to be addressed." But he doesn't think that's the reason "Starboard" is in the name.

Frank said Dan Ives hiked his MSFT target to 550. Joe said MSFT has a "rich" valuation, but just try to find another company with this kind of offense as well as a "defensive nature" (sounds a little like the '78 Steelers).

Jim Lebenthal actually claimed, "What you got from last week's Adobe results is clear indication that Adobe has figured out very well how to monetize AI." Jim said it's at a "very attractive entry point."

Jim again touted ORCL, as he does about every appearance, again citing the multiple.

Jim said "as long as GDP grows," which sounds like a significant qualifier for a lot of stocks, UNP is "a good stock to own at this price."

Kate Rooney provided an update on the bare-bones, rescheduled GME meeting in which people actually thought they might hear a turnaround plan. "We did not get any specifics on that plan," Kate said.

Rob says tech hasn’t been this expensive ‘since the tech bubble’

It's probably not a contender for Call of the Year, but make of it what you will. Rob Sechan on Friday's (6/14) Halftime Report explained the market this way: "Any dip that is not met with a growth scare is a dip to buy."

Rob, though, cautioned, "Markets, specifically growth and technology, have not been this expensive since the tech bubble. Period. Full stop."

Judge hasn't read a Tony Pasquariello note in days; on Friday, Judge said Tony's latest is "secular winners the weapon of choice: megacap tech," or in other words, buy the "highest conviction/highest quality names."

Judge asked Jim about the week's bifurcation between tech and cyclicals. Jim conceded, "The cyclical trade is in question because of the question about the durability of the earnings growth there."

Jim again stressed his belief that the businesses are fine, even "fantastic" in some cases, it's just the stocks that are stumbling, and if he's correct, either the stocks will catch fire, or the buybacks will pile up.

Jim said to viewers, "If you disagree, and you think the economy is goin' down the tank, do not own these stocks."

Judge couldn't resist a counterargument. "But see here's the thing. It doesn't have to be so binary as you present it. ... Many people believe that the economy is durable, and yet, this month, financials ... industrials ... materials ... energy ... over a month are down at least 3%. ... These stocks are not working right now," Judge said.

"Factually correct. You'll get no disagreement from me," Jim said.

Jim more than anyone correctly talked up the boost from NVDA’s split

In an interesting segment, Bob Pisani on Friday's (6/14) Halftime Report took up the comeback of stock splits, noting they're "far less common than 20 or 30 years ago," because they fell out of favor after the dot-com crash, and the institutional base has come to dominate the market.

Bob indicated the recent splits are occurring because of "absurd levels" of nominal stock prices and interest in "appealing to retail investors." Bob said that while in theory, splits don't affect market cap, things like higher trading volumes and wider shareholder base provide a "subtle but beneficial effect on the stock."

Bob said the "over-1,000 club" might be split candidates.

Kevin Simpson noted that people selling covered calls need 100 shares of the stock, so splits are welcome. Bryn Talkington said splits are just an indication of the health of the company.

Who is actually buying 3-week AAPL 240 calls?

Kevin Simpson opened Friday's (6/14) Halftime Report saying he sold covered calls on his "entire position" in AAPL. He said his shop was trying to "harvest volatility" with the 3-week 240 strike, so they sold the calls for $1 of premium, which he said "annualizes out at an 8% capital return on principal."

Sounds like a lucrative trade. The thing is, this page knows nothing about options other than what comes from the Najarii commercials, but it seems hard to believe that AAPL in that short of a time span could continue its rocket ride past 240.

Judge told Bryn Talkington that AAPL had a "new (sic redundant) record high this week." Bryn said, "I think the market's saying, 'We will get an upgrade cycle.'" Bryn said she loves the options trade put on by Kevin.

Jim Lebenthal, though, said "I would not" buy AAPL, because he thinks the market cap increase is more than the upgrade cycle merits.

Judge silent on presidential politics as big debate looms

For either the 2nd or 3rd day this week, Bryn Talkington on Friday's (6/14) Halftime Report addressed TSLA, stating, "Technically, the stock looks to be building a base between 170 and 180. The stock really has been broken all year."

Bryn said the China story is the key to the stock. Bryn suggested selling the September 200 calls for $11.70 for a 6½% yield in 3 months, not even annualized.

Bryn said PLTR, which was touted by Joe Terranova this week, "is like the ultimate AI company, right, before AI was cool, right." Bryn thinks the company is "building a massive moat."

Judge mentioned the big day by ADBE, which Kari Firestone touted this week but Joe Terranova did not (he was due for a miss).

Judge again aired a clip of Brad Gerstner this week suggesting software stocks have bottomed. "I totally agree, uh, uh, with Brad," said Jim Lebenthal. "Adobe looks pretty tasty here."

Kevin Simpson sold calls on TJX.

Jim defended AMZN vs. WMT, he's "not that jazzed up" about WMT and doesn't own it, but he doesn't see the 2 companies as a pairs trade. Kevin Simpson agreed that "it's not an either (pronounced EYE-ther)/or trade." He said he likes both stocks.

For the 2nd day in a row, Bryn got to talk up RBLX. Bryn said it's a "sticky company" and again said she added at 31 after the recent market "overreaction."

Jim said he doesn't think 75 is agressive for C. Jim said, "There is no good reason why Citi trades at a discount to tangible book value." (Other than the fact it always trades that way.)

Rob Sechan said "a lot of people were hoping the yield curve would start to steepen and take pressure off net interest margins, pulling money from money funds and back into deposits, and that's just not happened."

Judge actually asked Bryn when everyone will start buying PYPL (snicker) again. Josh Brown was the last to try, probably last year. Bryn acknowledged "Venmo is such a juggernaut," but "there's no interest in the stock." Bryn thinks people view it as "somewhat of a commodity," and she doesn't want to own something that other people don't seem to want to buy.

Judge said B of A reinstated a buy in COP, a move cheered by Kevin Simpson. Bryn said we'll continue to see M&A in energy.

Kate Rooney joined the crew at Post 9 to relate how the dollar strength and some ETF arbitraging have been a headwind for bitcoin.

Kate said Keith Gill "appears to have increased his position in GameStop," by selling calls.

Karen: Elon deserves the money but is ‘kind of’ holding a gun to shareholders’ heads

On Thursday's (6/13) Halftime Report, CNBC's Phil LeBeau talked about Elon's projections on the shareholder vote.

"It's triggering a relief rally," Phil said.

"I think everyone's ready for this to be over," said Bryn Talkington, who said what's "frustrating" to Musk supporters is that he took this compensation in options.

"I do think it's absurd. Um, I think it will pass," and people can "move on," Bryn said.

Josh Brown said it sounds like "an outrageous amount of money," but you have to "weigh it against the market cap growth." Josh said it initially passed "without a lot of kerfuffle."

Jim Lebenthal, though, suggested that this pay controversy is actually good for TSLA. "I suspect you actually don't wanna get back to focusing on the fundamentals," Jim said, because it's trading at "56 times next year's earnings" and estimates "have been coming down massively."

Jim and Bryn discussed whether TSLA is a "car company" or a "growth company," a long-running conversation on CNBC for a decade.

On Fast Money, Guy Adami said TSLA is a "challenged company at best" and that if the stock bounces on the pay package, he'd fade.

Bonawyn Eison said TSLA would have an "existential crisis" if Musk didn't get this pay package.

Karen Finerman said "I think he should get it," but "I hate the dynamic of him sort of, you know, holding a, holding a gun to shareholders' head."

Jim says time of rate cut ‘doesn’t matter’ to markets (a/k/a elongating our bond yields)

Jim Lebenthal started off Thursday's (6/13) Halftime Report saying "I'm not sure I'm gonna place really any importance at all on what the Fed said yesterday."

Jim said the Fed will just be data dependent, and "Nobody that I know, including me, thinks that there's gonna be a rate cut before September. Or in June. That's a long, long runway."

Jim concluded, "I think, and my firm thinks, we're gonna get 1 cut in September, another in December, and then we're gonna do alternating meetings from there."

Jason Snipe offered, "I don't necessarily believe that the economy needs cuts."

Josh Brown said "it's very simple" what professionals should be advising: "Get out of cash."

Jim actually said of rate cuts, "The markets really don't care at this point in time. September, December. Doesn't matter. This economy is strong."

Guest host Frank Holland brought up cyclicals; Jim complained about how "I feel like Mr. Cyclical." Then Jim brought up "TSA passenger counts ... people are traveling like crazy."

Bryn Talkington's remote connection had a lot of trouble; once she got going, Bryn advised being "really careful" about cyclicals and not employing a "rifle shot approach"; Bryn predicted the economy would be "slowing later on in the year."

Bryn said, "The clear trend still is in tech. That's just like as clear as the day is long."

Apparently agreeing with Bryn, Jim suggested the Mag 7 is up 10% in the last week and has a market cap of about $12 trillion, so that $1.2 trillion increase "has to come from somewhere."

Josh Brown questioned, "You don't think that could just be money coming out of the $6 trillion that went into money market funds last year." Jim said, "Of course, it could be." Frank said money market totals are "actually growing."

Josh said, "If they start to drop rates, you're gonna see a rush into certain types of bonds where people say, 'OK, let me elongate (snicker) the 4½ percent that I can get and not, you know, worry so much about the 5½ that's on offer right now. Let me lock in."

Kristina Partsinevelos reported on AVGO's split and market cap and AVGO's conservative guidance. Jason Snipe cited the capex in the AI space and said "we're in the very early innings of this trend." Bryn Talkington said the QQQ is "such a great way to play AI at this point (sic last 3 words redundant)." (This writer is long QQQ.)

Josh Brown once again talked up GLW, he said "the stock's barely down" after a downgrade.

How much money did Tim Cook spend on a video telling rich people that new AAPL products will be a tiny bit better than current ones; couldn’t that cash have helped out some struggling families?

Guest host Frank Holland on Thursday's (6/13) Halftime Report called PARA's deal situation a "major Hollywood drama," when there's no drama in it.

Jim Lebenthal said he's "glad the SkyDance deal went away," calling it an "incredibly hare-brained scheme." Jim admitted PARA has been a "terrible stock" and it's "my fault" for staying in it. Jim even said Shari Redstone "doesn't seem to be acting rationally." But he'll "stick around for a little bit longer."

Jim talked up GM buybacks and said the "5 times" multiple should at the very least be "7 times."

Josh Brown predicted "expanding margins" and a "larger store footprint" now that SHAK has hired the guy who was running Papa John's.

Josh said at Sweetgreen, "you have to ask them for a napkin ... it's a very weird situation."

Jason Snipe said he still likes NFLX, and "I think it takes out 700." (This writer is long NFLX.)

Frank tried to reach Bryn Talkington on RBLX but, as happened earlier in the show, Bryn was disconnected. Minutes later, Bryn connected and said that in the last quarter, RBLX tumbled from 42 to 30 when the market "overreacted." Bryn said she added at 31 and expects to see it get back to 42. Frank questioned the RBLX business model of kids having to ask their parents for money to buy the games.

Joe Terranova, utterly dominant this week with his spectacular AAPL post-earnings call, was on Closing Bell guest hosted by Santoli. Joe said he doesn't think the Fed is the risk to markets; the risk is that "the AI and tech story falls apart."

Suddenly, it’s Joe vs. Andrew for Call of the Year

On Monday, this page indicated we wanted to hear more from Andrew Left, who took part in the Halftime Report last week.

Long after that suggestion was posted, we realized we forgot to include exactly why we want to hear more from Andrew. (Yes, he's a humorous fellow, but that's not the whole reason.)

And it has nothing to do with GME.

It's because Left on Friday (6/7) (see below) was asked by Judge to "assess" the stock market and responded, "Everything's just fine. The economy's great, the stock market's great."

That's an extraordinary answer. Incredibly simply put. And quite possibly, an absolutely correct outlook for owning stocks in 2024.

About 99% of the time, panelists or guests on the show parse their response like Hank Kimball, you know, "Oh Broadcom's inventories were down 3% and the return on equity was 7% above the year over year quarter and oh by the way the multiple is such and such so ... I think you should be cautiously optimistic".

What if Andrew's comment — rather than the trading-the-RSI-or-Mag-7-P.E.-ratio-every-10-days mumbo jumbo we often hear — is exactly how retail investors should view the markets? Just be long, it'll be a good year, don't overthink it.

We're thinking, Left's throwaway comment may just be the Call of the Year.

Except that within 2 business days, it was somehow superseded by Joe Terranova's 2nd spectacular post-earnings trading call on a tech giant, a move that seems to be cementing this market as another potentially narrow Mag 7 type of year.

The technical accuracy of Joe's post-earnings predictions for AAPL and NVDA are astonishing. But more important seems to be the notion that the market can't help but look to these stocks as the leaders.

2024 is about halfway over. We'll see how this plays out.

Weiss says it’s ‘crazy’ that the market ‘keeps going up’

As Judge was hanging out in The Golden State on Wednesday (6/12) preparing for his post-Fed chat with Jeffrey Gundlach on Closing Bell, Frank Holland guest hosted Wednesday's Halftime Report and asked the panel for predictions.

Anastasia Amoroso, who hasn't been on the show for a while but whose super-sharp shoes put on a show at Post 9 (Judge and Weiss always wear sneakers), said the rally is "looking quite exuberant" as we're hitting some "overbought technical levels." Anastasia said Powell comments may be "more constructive" this time, but we're "certainly not" going to hear a cut announcement at this meeting.

Steve Weiss said there's "crazy stuff going on in the market right now," which is that it "just keeps going up."

First Weiss said it's "all multiple expansion," then he said, "It's really not just multiple expansion."

Weiss suggested there could be election risk of some kind brewing.

Kari Firestone said the market loves that inflation is cooling even "a little bit."

Joe Terranova said he's "always" believed that we'd get "a cut" with a "real" possibility of a 2nd cut. "There's a clear disinflationary trend that's in place," Joe said.

Joe said that assessing the market is about "respecting the prevailing trend." Joe also said the '70s is the "wrong analogy" for inflation; rather, this is 94-96. "This feels so much, 2024, to me like '96," Joe said.

Steve Liesman said Jerome Powell will be "happy about this morning's report." Steve said the Fed will tick down the expectations of rate cuts in 2024 from 3 to 2, something Frank Holland clarified.

Jeffrey Gundlach says ‘our institutions are falling apart’

A couple hours after Wednesday's (6/12) Halftime Report, Jeffrey Gundlach, hosting Judge in L.A., said Jay Powell was "remarkably vague" in the Q&A session. "He used the word 'balanced' a lot of times," Jeffrey said. (This review was posted overnight Wednesday/Thursday.)

Jeffrey stated "Implicitly, what we have here, is a growing acceptance of a higher baseline inflation rate."

He said he is "less confident" of 1 cut this year.

At the end of their conversation, Jeffrey delved into politics. He said of the Biden administration, "When you glue constituents together, they're not monolithic. And they don't always agree with each other," citing the war in Gaza.

Jeffrey continued: "How many times do you read, 'Our institutions are falling apart'?" Jeffrey said he was talking about it 15 years ago, but now people are talking about it "out in the open."

"People don't believe in churches anymore. People don't believe in the Justice Department to the extent that they used to. ... I don't think there's any one source of this ... so much wealth inequality ... people are starting to realize that they're being ignored by what they used to think was the establishment. It's just a lot like 1968," Jeffrey said.

Back to the Fed, Steve Liesman on Wednesday's Fast Money said "it was a dovish morning followed by what you might call a hawkish afternoon." Karen Finerman asked Steve whether the CPI print or Powell's hawkish tone was "more meaningful." Steve utterly punted on that one.

Steve joked about the "shelf life of a Scaramucci" when discussing the Fed's dot plots.

Weiss implies the market doesn’t really understand how bad the consumer is

The big trade on Wednesday's (6/12) Halftime Report was that Steve Weiss bought more NVDA.

Weiss said it's "extremely liquid" (snicker) and it's an opportunity for "exposure on a trading basis."

Weiss said it was an "easy one to get into." Guest host Frank Holland questioned how it's "easy" given that Weiss minutes earlier was complaining about multiple expansion leading the market.

Frank also said Torsten Slok is warning that if NVDA declines, the market will take a hit. Joe Terranova said the difference between the S&P and equal weight performance is the widest in "nearly 30 years."

Anastasia Amoroso claimed there's "a lot of broadening" happening globally and the market would be "OK" if NVDA hadn't delivered.

Kari Firestone bought AVGO without really saying anything new about the company that isn't heard on the show about twice a week.

Weiss has also rebought UBER. (This writer is long UBER.) Weiss again said the UBER downdraft was because of the loss. Weiss admitted "I am concerned about the consumer" but he bought the stock because "it doesn't matter what shape the consumer is in. It matters what the market thinks the shape of the consumer (sic grammar)." And if it's "a more dovish Fed" on Wednesday, then consumer stocks will rise, Weiss said.

Joe said Weiss' UBER buy is a "great" trade and that the selloff was because of "the loss of profitability" (translation: not the Elon nonsense that Brad Gerstner was talking about a day ago). Joe said, "I think Uber goes a lot higher."

Frank brought up Brad Gerstner's pro-software call. Anastasia said, "I couldn't agree more," explaining, "Software relative to semis is just extremely cheap." Joe cast doubt on ADBE but suggested PLTR "first and foremost," plus MSFT and CDNS, though Joe admitted "I missed it" in CDNS. Kari said she disagrees with Joe on ADBE. Kari likes CRM.

Joe affirmed that the JOET has exposure to LEN, DHI and NVR, but "you have to accept interest rate volatility" in that space. Kari said NEE is "very attractive."

Santoli told Frank the market was having a "rational tension release trade (snicker)."

Anastasia said there are opportunities in the big banks. Joe said the JOET added 3 regional banks in April. Joe said the strength in financials has been in insurance and private equity, he mentioned KKR and Apollo.

Terranova on fire! Joe nails AAPL $200 weeks after NVDA $1,000

Judge's Halftime Report Tuesday (6/11) was so chock-full of material, we couldn't stop typing — and yet the biggest news actually happened a day earlier.

Joe Terranova on Monday said AAPL has "the type of momentum that most likely propels the stock above $200 at some point this afternoon or in the coming days."

It didn't happen that afternoon — but it sure happened on Tuesday.

With his pair of sensational and jaw-droppingly accurate post-earnings-trade calls recently in NVDA and AAPL, 2 stocks that are quite possibly defining the 2024 trade right at this moment, Joe has rocketed to the top of the Call of the Year list.

On Fast Money, Guy Adami admitted that on Monday he sensed "a bit of a double-top" in AAPL, but "that clearly wasn't the case."

Guy's colleagues were mostly in the disbelief camp. Dan Nathan shrugged that "I did not see a buncha analysts come up and upgrade the stock."

Karen Finerman said she was "kind of underwhelmed" by the WWDC and stated, "now we have a hardware multiple, a software multiple and I guess an AI multiple." Karen said she has a "tiny position" in AAPL that is "so small, it's effectively short."

Steve Grasso predicted next week or the week after for AAPL, "a bunch of analysts upgrading their, their sales numbers, their numbers on upgrade cycle, and they'll chase it."

CLF is trading for $15 a share

Speaking of AAPL, Josh Brown, touting D.A. Davidson's slogan that "AI now stands for Apple Intelligence (snicker)," said at the top of Tuesday's (6/11) Halftime Report that AAPL "grasped what was necessary" and "seized the opportunity," though the WWDC video "had a higher budget than some Netflix shows."

Brown did claim that AAPL is "supercharging (snicker) Siri."

Brenda Vingiello said AAPL has the "whole picture" of people's data that other tech giants don't have.

Steve Weiss, who Judge said bought AAPL at 190 in May, shrugged, saying he didn't hear from Judge that anyone is upgrading AAPL, rather, "they've all had buys on it."

Weiss said the issue for the stock is that "you're paying a premium" for gains that are coming from "financial engineering."

Judge said D.A. Davidson "did upgrade the stock" and was previously "neutral."

Weiss said he'll stay in the stock even though "it's still expensive." After trying a joke about Apple's innovation, Weiss said it's the company's "installed base that's worth a premium."

Josh said he agrees that during a recent slump, AAPL kept itself afloat with buybacks, but Josh seemed to think Weiss was underestimating the "first true i- iPhone upgrade cycle in years" that will require newer models. Weiss said he was making that point himself and agrees, "Yes, it will drive a new upgrade cycle across their devices."

Josh touted the presentation on "on-device compute" that will allow AAPL users to avoid having data warehoused with a 3rd-party; "I forget what the guy's name was, the one that looked like Bill Ackman jumping down staircases."

Asked, basically, whether AAPL's event was a big deal, Brad Gerstner, who was at the studio with Judge at 1 Market in San Francisco, said it was a "natural step in the evolution" of AI. But Brad noted the head starts of other tech giants in this field.

Brad observed, "Noticeably absent was everybody but OpenAI," so he suspects the "integration going on with OpenAI is deeper than what we heard about yesterday."

Brad said he added to his AAPL position.

Weiss questions why Brad can fault Meta’s governance while praising Tesla’s

A real donnybrook got underway on Tuesday's (6/11) Halftime Report when star guest Brad Gerstner, who joined Judge at 1 Market in San Francisco, said TSLA shareholders "want Elon to get paid" and decried people "Monday morning quarterbacking" to use to the courts rather than shareholders to "undo" Musk's compensation.

Brad didn't seem to care as much as Judge did that Nelson Peltz supports the Musk pay package, but Brad said it's a "travesty" that the pay package is even at risk.

Steve Weiss took part in the conversation remotely and immediately took issue with Brad's assessment of the subject. Weiss said shareholders are free to approve the pay package. Then Weiss brought up one of Brad's previous topics.

Weiss said it's "interesting" that Mark Zuckerberg would "get called out for overspending and poor governance," yet "somebody who practices poor governance, who has a board in the back pocket, you know, it's OK to own that stock." (Note: Brad sometimes cares about certain things at certain times, and not as much as at other times.)

Weiss also defended the Delaware judge (lower case "judge"), saying "there's a rule of law" in these matters and "it's not political." Weiss added, "She just said, 'Do it the right way.' So it's not disgraceful. That's what America's about."

Brad told Weiss, "It's well-documented, the conflict the judge had here ... I don't believe it's the rule of law," and the judge needed the "art of gymnastics frankly to come up with this ruling ... totally disagree with your opinion."

Weiss insisted on telling Judge that Nelson Peltz is still "biased" toward Musk even though Peltz doesn't own the shares.

Weiss disagrees with Brad on reason for UBER’s selloff

Brad Gerstner, in San Francisco with Judge at 1 Market for Tuesday's (6/11) Halftime Report, took issue with maybe Judge's favorite subject of the last year, that Brad is a "Google naysayer" (Brad's term Tuesday), while Brad protested "It was my largest position for like over a decade."

Regarding other tech giants, Brad said Andy Jassy is in "animal mode" in terms of running things efficiently.

Brad said of UBER, "I think the reason the stock sold down is because Elon said he was gonna launch robotaxi, uh, you know, in August of this year." Brad said UBER would be over 80 "but for that announcement by Elon." (This writer is long UBER.)

Steve Weiss sold UBER on May 23, he said it was for several reasons, that it's "pretty well" correlated with other tech names and also levered to the consumer.

Weiss repeated what he said days ago, that UBER sold down because of the quarterly loss. (He didn't mention options this time.) Brad told Weiss that "100% with certainty," the reason UBER is under pressure is because of Elon's robotaxi. Weiss said "we're gonna have to disagree," saying the "big gap down" came from the earnings report.

Weiss and Josh Brown for some reason were quibbling over whether UBER is "cheap" and at one point said each other's name a bunch of times, "Josh, Josh, Josh"; "Steve, Steve, Steve."

Liz joins Closing Bell set just days after wedding

Late into Tuesday's (6/11) Halftime Report, Brad Gerstner told Judge that the "smart money" is buying software.

Citing tax cuts from 2017, Brad said the election will have "huge consequences" on stock market direction.

Josh Brown bought more GLW and mentioned a "breakout in progress."

Days after getting married, Liz Young Thomas showed up on Closing Bell with an adjusted last name.

David Faber turned up on Tuesday's Fast Money to talk about what should be one of everyone's least favorite subjects, National Amusements and Paramount Plus. Guy Adami said David is "iconic" and one of the 4 on some kind of "Mount Rushmore."

We. Want. Left.
We. Want. Left.
We. Want ... (a/k/a actually had a day without CNBC reporting the GME price)

On Monday (6/10), Judge stationed himself at Cupertino to ... interview everyone else remotely in the greater New York City area.

Well, OK, that's not quite what happened. (But it's not like Judge's location enabled him any scoops.)

Josh Brown said at the top of a sleepy Halftime Report episode that what AAPL watchers were hoping to see is a "new source of growth"; if not, Josh predicted a stock "yawn" or "correction."

(In fact, Dan Nathan on Fast Money called it a "snoozefest.")

(Guy Adami likened WWDC to a "Happy Days" first-season episode in which Richie and Potsie learn that the buildup to a party might be bigger than the event itself, which "really sucks.")

(Tim Seymour proclaimed, "Apple jumped the shark 2 years ago.")

Dan Ives, also in Cupertino (he kinda has to be, to maintain his street cred), actually told Judge this is a "Top 3 (snicker) moment" in the history of AAPL.

Ives even predicted Monday's event would be a "jaw-dropper" (snicker).

Amy Raskin said she wants to hear how AAPL as the "gatekeeper" of all this wealthy client base can monetize AI.

Joe Terranova, making a prediction that so far has yet to come true, said AAPL has "the type of momentum that most likely propels the stock above $200 at some point this afternoon or in the coming days."

We were thinking that the guy Judge should've had on was Andrew Left, a humorous fellow who refreshingly returned to the show last week to do battle with the GME kingpin (at least, Judge suggested Mr. Kitty was watching the show and wondered what Left would say to him directly); quite frankly, Judge should be begging Mr. Left to come on the show and tell a few jokes.

So Josh is basically saying that the more customers are on one security platform, the less likely they are to be hacked

While Dan Ives may have been carried away with AAPL's naptime presentation, Josh Brown on Monday's (6/10) Halftime Report gushed about how CRWD's "network" in which the company supposedly can prevent other customers from spillover hacks once one customer is attacked is somehow like the platform of "Facebook" or "Google." (Wonder if Ticketmaster is also on the platform and can prevent people from being late to the Yankee game if they bring a laptop.)

Joe Terranova owns CRWD both "personally" and in the ETF, according to Judge, who didn't mention whether either one was "equal weight.". Joe said it's "one of the better trades I've had in the last several years," he got it "around $120." (Tip: Joe's cost basis has no affect on direction of the stock.)

PANW fan Dan Ives shrugged that this is only a "pit stop for Palo Alto" in what's going to be "an F1 race they win."

Josh Brown said cybersecurity is in a "guaranteed secular bull market."

‘Superman II,’ by the way, was better than ‘Superman’

Much of Monday's (6/10) Halftime Report centered on AAPL (Zzzzzzz). Josh Brown opined that he really knows the NVDA split doesn't actually accomplish anything ... but ... "The smartest people realize that if enough people care about splits, it is a tailwind for a stock even if it shouldn't be."

Joe Terranova said people have been drawing comparisons to other Big Tech splits (that would be Jim Lebenthal, who wasn't on Monday's show), but, "I don't think there is one that you can really compare this stock to," because NVDA is in a unique place.

Joe said "the expectations are remarkably high" for AMD. Joe said he'd rank "Avago" No. 2 behind NVDA. Moments later, Amy Raskin said she's going to buy AVGO soon, probably by trimming NVDA.

Amy said she's holding SNOW, "I'm not anxious to sell it," even though "it's not working" and "the whole space isn't working."

"I think it's goin' to a hundred," Brown said of UBER. (This writer is long UBER.)

Joe said LUV is down 47% in the last 3 years. "Southwest is doing something clearly wrong," Joe said.

Other than ‘The Godfather,’ not many (Some say ‘Star Wars,’ but that’s incorrect)

Judge's Halftime Report session on Friday (6/7) with Andrew Left, who hasn't been on the show in ages, included an unexpected treat.

Usually, CNBCers parse their market outlooks with more qualifiers than Hank Kimball. Left, though, breezily told Judge, "Everything's just fine. The economy's great, the stock market's great."

Left apparently only has an issue with 1 stock, GME. "They made the stock into a motion picture. How many movies has Part II been as good as Part I? Not many, but we'll see," Left told Judge.

Gambler nation: Greg Zuckerman and Andrew Left have the same take on Roaring Kitty’s livestream

Judge actually opened Friday's (6/7) Halftime with a Roaring Kitty update, supplied by Dom Chu.

But then Judge in the 4th minute brought in Andrew Left, who hasn't been on the show in years, and immediately ran into a clarification.

Judge introduced Left as saying Left shorted GME in 2021 and took a "100% loss." Left immediately protested, "I didn't have a hundred percent loss. I was asked if I lost, and I said to the reporter, 'Yes, a hundred percent, I lost.' It was not a hundred-percent loss."

"Oh, OK, I got you, OK, so a hundred percent, you lost," Judge said, before bringing up the "angry mob" that "harassed" Left; Judge wondered why Left would short the stock again.

Left joked, "After my first marriage, I said, I'll never do that again. And, uh, certainly I'm happy with the 2nd." He said "sometimes you go back in" and said his current GME short is a "trade" and "not a big position." Left also said "the dynamic is different this time than it was back in, uh, 2021."

Judge said that GME backers years ago, according to Left, "hacked into your personal accounts" and "ordered pizza to your house late at night."

But Left actually claimed Friday that "traders have evolved (snicker) over the past 3 years" and actually "understand (snicker) short selling" and there isn't going to be the same "jihad" as a few years ago.

Judge noted Left is going "public" and asked if Left thought about keeping it quiet. Left explained that it was a "complete mistake" and that he got a call from a reporter "from Bloomberg, maybe" who asked him about the GME move, and Left "casually" told the reporter, "Yeah I sold some." Then he had lunch and 3 hours later, someone told him, "You're short GameStop?" (Um, all he really had to do was say "Sorry, I have to decline to comment." But whatever.)

Judge asked Left about Left's skepticism that Roaring Kitty is self-financing his own trade. "I'm hoping to be wrong. But, this does not pass the smell test. ... I don't know where he would get the $200 million or $160 million ... something about it, something that just doesn't smell right," Left said.

Left said Keith Gill was "likable" in 2021 but now is "not that same person."

Judge said some people will say "it's rich" that Judge is having a conversation about potential market manipulation with a noted short seller "who with a group of short sellers was said to be investigated, um, by the feds for- for- for the issue."

Left said that in 20 years, he's never listed a position "without a reason behind it." Left said the current trade is all about Roaring Kitty posting an "unusually large position."

Judge asked for the status of any investigatory cloud "that was hanging over you and some other short sellers." Left said, "Obviously, you know, with anything, I can't discuss, you know, I don't discuss any of that."

Judge persisted, asking Left if he's "worried, though, about being charged in, in whatever probe was, was front and center a couple or few years ago?"

Left said, "Anyone who goes and puts their opinions out in the public, uh, should be worried," because of "nebulous laws" about "people who comment on stocks."

Left a couple of times explained interest in GME as, "We have a nation of gamblers."

For a few moments while waiting for Mr. Kitty to start talking on YouTube, Judge turned to his panelists. "GameStop is total speculation," asserted Stephanie Link.

Jim Lebenthal said his concern with current GME trading is "the high potentiality that a lot of people are gonna lose money." Jim added, "There's something funny going on here."

Jason Snipe did say he appreciates the "interest" generated by the GME trade.

After Mr. Kitty started talking on YouTube, Judge asked Left for reax.

"It's an insult to your viewers' ears, it's an insult to the market," Left explained. "Whatever my bar was of expectations, he was lower than the bar."

Left said "In Ryan we trust" is Gill's premise.

"Maybe that'll be good enough. We'll have to see," Judge said.

On Fast Money, business reporter Greg Zuckerman echoed Left's assessment nearly word for word, observing that Gill "didn't really suggest what the turnaround play is. It's just a play on, on Cohen, who runs the company now."

Zuckerman even said, "We are a nation of gamblers."

But Zuckerman added, "It's kind of difficult to short GameStop."

Karen Finerman said she "watched some of it" and was "fascinated," but then, "I just couldn't believe what I was watching."

Liz is getting married!

Piling on to a stock that Josh Brown (who wasn't on Friday's show) has been touting recently, Jim Lebenthal on Friday's (6/7) Halftime Report said he's bought 3 tranches of AMZN since February, and, "This has now become a very big position for me."

Stephanie Link has been "taking profits" in AMZN, not because she thinks it's going down, but, as always, "because I'm up a lot." (Tip to viewers: Stocks don't care what someone's basis is.)

Citing the QQQ (this writer is long QQQ), Jason Snipe said of tech, "Clearly we're getting very close to overbought territory."

Judge said LYFT is getting upgrades, though he sounded skeptical about this being a "turning point week" for ride-share. Jason Snipe said, "I think Uber clearly has a lot more levers to pull."

Judge in Final Trades started with Liz Young. "Congratulations Liz Young! Big weekend! Liz is getting married this weekend," Judge explained.

Karen Finerman on Fast Money said of Siri, "It's so bad, it's unbelievable ... It is beyond an embarrassment."

No updates on what Carl really intends to do about his CZR stock

Jim Lebenthal, who for some reason has been expressing some kind of skepticism about NVDA for weeks, on Thursday's (6/6) Halftime Report advised people who don't own NVDA to just buy a small "toehold" position (he said "toehold" about 5 times), as he's been doing for 10 months.

Judge noted Jim wasn't buying at $1,200. Jim admitted "it was $423."

Judge opened the program airing a clip of Dean of Valuation (not sure how anyone earns that nickname) Aswath Damodaran saying a day ago on Closing Bell that "if you were designing the perfect momentum company from scratch, Nvidia would be it ... you're seeing one of the great momentum plays of all time."

Bill Baruch said he's continuing to manage his NVDA position "around that 7% mark." (Translation: Bill trims as it gets higher.)

Bill said the stock split is not "the only reason" NVDA is soaring, but when you see a $120 price vs. a $1,200 price, "it's much easier to buy it."

Bill bought more CRWD. He said it's "best of breed" and there could be "consolidation" in the space.

Addressing Elon Musk's wages, Bill actually said, "I wanna see him get paid." Bill said he's long TSLA from about 190 but he may be adding as he thinks it's "bottoming out."

Bill said UBER's slide is an "opportunity" and he's buying August 75 calls and selling August 85 calls. (This writer is long UBER.) We were surprised that someone is paying 70 cents for UBER 85 calls that Bill is selling that expire in a couple months. (You know what they say about being involved in options: IT'S. NOT. AN OPTION.) Judge said the stock is down 5% in a month. No one had an update on Weiss' claim a day ago that "insider trading is alive and well" based on UBER's price action ahead of earnings.

Bill sold CRM, "bad timing last week, I wanted to get rid of it."

Kevin Simpson said some people think AAPL's WWDC will be a sell-the-news event, but Kevin thinks it'll be the "beginning of a runway." Judge said KeyBanc is calling WWDC a sell-the-news event. Bill agrees with Kevin and sees AAPL having momentum "after" the event.

Bill explained how he's playing AAPL August 210 calls.

‘Wall of money’ on the way

Judge on Thursday's (6/6) Halftime Report said Savita has issued a "Read. My. Lips." note (snicker) and is touting large cap "value" (snicker).

"I think that she's got a point," said Kari Firestone, but Kari says that sector (if that's the right term) won't "turn" until money comes out of the AI trade.

Judge also said Goldman Sachs is talking about a "wall of money" (snicker) entering the market in the 2nd half. Jim Lebenthal said Savita's value names have been doing fine as companies, but the stocks have "sputtered" in the last couple months, and so, "I think what the market is trying to say is that these softer economic numbers may be something worse than that."

But Jim said Atlanta Fed GDP was boosted to 2.6.

Kevin Simpson bought more FCX and jumped on the weakness Tuesday.

Kevin said VZ has been "probably our worst performer for quite a few years" and isn't sure anyone should follow him in, but he's buying more, citing dividend in part.

Judge demanded to know why Kevin trimmed GS. Kevin said it's profit taking of a stock that's been "on fire."

Judge said WMT is a top pick at Oppenheimer. Kevin said it's "hitting on every single cylinder."

Kevin trimmed CSCO. Jim said he agrees with those concerns but suggested that a 2nd good earnings report could lift the stock.

Jim said DIS is in a "lull" but it's only "18 times forward earnings" and has "long-term catalysts in terms of streaming (snicker), in terms of ESPN and sports in general." Jim predicted 120 is "well within the next 12 months."

Virtu chief Doug Cifu suggests ‘woke’-ness from financial exchanges is wearing thin

Virtu chief Doug Cifu, the star guest of Wednesday's (6/5) Halftime Report who was interviewed in person by Bob Pisani for ETF Edge and also fielded questions from Judge, told Judge that Virtu opted against investing in the new Texas exchange, though Cifu called it a "good thing ultimately" despite the fact "it's gonna be a tough road to hoe in terms of listings" and there's been "a long line of competitors" who have tried it. (Sure. Remember when Brad Katsuyama was on "60 Minutes"?) (Remember when Frances Haugen was on "60 Minutes"? How's your META since then?)

Judge described Cifu's answer as "suggesting that you don't think this could be a viable alternative to either (pronounced EYE-ther, not EE-ther) the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq."

"Now Scott I didn't exactly say that," Cifu protested, explaining the Texas folks will have to "innovate" as a trading venue, but "as a listings venue, it's gonna be a challenge."

Judge said that apparently fueling the Texas venture is that NYSE and Nasdaq regulations are considered "too onerous." Cifu said, "Yeah I mean I think there was a certain, uh, uh, sense that maybe Nasdaq went a little overboard in some of the, I'll call it woke-type of suggestions that they had for corporate boards and whatnot and perhaps the worm has, has turned."

Bob suggested "this may not be so much about wokeness as it is about competing for the very lucrative listing business."

Weiss didn’t note that AAPL also could’ve bought Paramount Global or Snapchat

Steve Weiss on Wednesday's (6/5) Halftime Report said he's immersed in tech now because "this is where the fundamentals continue to be the best."

Weiss rattled off tech winners such as ASML but suggested the "Achilles heel potentially" is that "valuation just doesn't matter." (Translation: Their sales might not be as good as some hope.)

Joe Terranova's got a new buy, the XLG. "I'm buying this because I have to (snicker) buy this," Joe said, citing the "narrowing in performance" of the stock market and the "simple fact" that the "megacaps are outperforming."

Joe once again lamented (as he's done a few times in the last year or two) that he's "equally weighted" either in his own portfolio or the JOET.

Kari Firestone stated, "Everybody was talking about the broadening of the market ... That has changed in the 2nd quarter. Part of that is the weakness in manufacturing."

Joe touted the AAPL buyback. Weiss told Joe that the size is historically big in terms of dollars but not "in terms of the percent of the company."

Judge wasn't impressed by that observation, telling Weiss that "the bottom line is they continue to buy back a lot of stock. We don't need to cut through the why, this, that, or percent vs. whatever."

Weiss suggested AAPL could've been better "stewards" of their capital by buying NFLX at $50 billion or possibly even NVDA a while back.

Weiss gushed that Jensen Huang keeps coming up with something new, "and I don't think it's expensive at all." Judge wondered if that means viewers can buy NVDA at $1,200. Weiss said he'd "wait" and advised, "I would not buy it here on the highs."

Kari Firestone "very much" likes META and suggests it might get dollars from people who "can't stomach (snicker) buying Nvidia."

Joe said, "The stock split is working for Nvidia. The stock split is working for Chipotle," and suggested META and MSFT might "follow suit."

Judge asked Weiss, "What are people supposed to buy?" if they're not in AI names. (That's a better question for Jenny Harrington, who's got all kinds of answers "under the surface" of the market.)

Joe pronounced CRWD "the clear leader in terms of cybersecurity holdings that you have (sic last 3 words redundant)."

Judge has been hearing worries about the consumer ‘for the last year’ (and markets are at all-time highs)

Judge on Wednesday's (6/5) Halftime Report said Oppenheimer is reaffirming UBER. (This writer is long UBER.)

Joe Terranova said he owns UBER personally and in the JOET and believes "the profitability comes back." Weiss said Dara could surprise again and the stock could climb, but he cautioned about the consumer; "Household credit card debt is at a high."

Judge shrugged, "I've heard about, you know, consumer concerns for the last year."

"But sometime they become reality," Weiss said.

"Maybe," Judge said.

Kari said the issue with UBER is whether it can maintain price hikes.

Weiss stated, out of the blue, "Insider trading is alive and well. Uber started trading down way in advance of the quarter being reported. And the only reason, as we know, is because it came with the negative number. So I'd like- you know Gensler was on before, why don't you take a look at something like that?" (See, if Steve were plugged into the options scene like the Najarians are (IT'S. NOT. AN. OPTION!!!!!!!!!), he would know whether there was any "unusual activity" (snicker) in that name.)

Joe affirmed Judge's assessment that Joe is buying MCK "high," one of the apparently numerous stocks he's buying because they didn't make it into the ETF. Joe said it's "never really gonna be a candidate for the quality-momentum strategy because it kind of has weak ROE and debt-to-equity scores." But he said revenue growth is "remarkably attractive."

Joe said LULU used to be "impervious" to consumer setbacks but now, "There's something clearly that's going on with the company." But Joe said analysts are still "completely in love" with LULU.

Not over yet: Josh accuses Jenny of ‘gaslighting’ the panel in fresh argument over SWK

When we tuned in to Tuesday's (6/4) Halftime Report, one thing we didn't count on was a fresh chapter in the famous SWK donnybrook between Josh Brown and Jenny Harrington.

Jenny on Tuesday talked about holding SWK but said not to expect a "home run."

Josh Brown, also on Tuesday's panel, tried to cut in, but then Jenny said, "Are you gonna apologize, Josh?"

"For what?" Josh wondered.

Jenny told Josh "I was right" about SWK back when they had a "major fight" over it. (That was in May 2023; top photo above is from that exchange.)

Josh replied, "You were wrong on things and so was I. Let's, let's, let's agree to disagree."

Jenny noted that when she mentioned buying SWK, Josh called it "the worst chart you'd ever seen." Brown said "it still is."

(For the record, a year ago, they were also talking about WHR, which Brown called "the worst chart I've ever seen in my life," then he said, "The good news is Stanley Black & Decker is actually worse than Whirlpool.")

Jenny on Tuesday said, "I have 11% return in a year." Josh said, "You're braggin' on 11%? Do you understand that the Nasdaq went up 50% last year and the S&P went up 25%? Why are you gaslighting us?"

(Jenny's "11%" claim is curious, because she touted the stock on May 18, 2023, when it was actually $83 — or same price as now. It does pay a dividend. As this page reported at year-end, SWK did surge last July and last December near 100, only to pull back.)

Josh wondered why SWK is trading below its 2018 levels and added, "This literally is the worst chart I've ever seen."

"Oh my God," Jenny said.

Jenny said SWK will pick up with a recovery in housing once rates are cut. Steve Weiss said Jenny and Josh should "dial it back a little bit."

Josh (partly) bails on LYV a couple weeks after shrugging off the Justice Dept. suit

Another debate barely took place on Tuesday's (6/4) Halftime Report as Jim Lebenthal protested Josh Brown's citing of falling oil prices as a market tailwind.

"Oil prices falling is not good," Jim said.

"Demand is not falling. Supply is increasing," Josh said.

Jim said "OPEC just held supply constant" and added, "Demand is not coming in anywhere near as expected globally, I mean that's just factual."

Josh is buying KDP. Josh said he and one of his research guys keep a list of "the best stocks in the market." He said KDP has done nothing for a long time and is now challenging resistance at 34-35 and Josh thinks it will break through.

Jenny Harrington has been holding off on consumer staples, including makers of soft drinks and snacks, because the GLP-1 drugs have given her "pause" about consumption. Josh responded that "the market prices them in," and "relatively quickly."

Brown sold TOST. Judge asked why. Brown cited "a huge rally after the earnings" but a "very disappointing" investor day last week.

Josh trimmed LYV, he said he bought in the 70s and sold half in the mid-90s, he can see "dead money" until a legal resolution nears, also he noticed "all the concert cancellations."

Brown said maybe J. Lo canceled her tour because of "stuff going on" in her relationship with Ben Affleck but "there also was almost no demand in some cities."

Jim feels ‘uneasy’ about the markets

It was a muted opening to what proved a fairly interesting show.

Josh Brown on Tuesday's (6/4) Halftime Report said he doubled his position in AMZN, a stock he has been talking up for weeks.

Citing the ever-popular enterprise value to EBITDA metric, Brown said it's far cheaper than it's been in "quite some time." He thinks it might be a leader in the 2nd half and wants to be well-positioned.

Steve Weiss responded, "I think you have time; I don't think you have to rush in to buy Amazon or anything here," again citing possible consumer headwinds.

Judge wondered why stocks are "weak" if yields are falling.

"Because the economy is, is showing cracks," said Jim Lebenthal. As a result, "I'm not buying anything right now," Jim said, though he touted Brown's AMZN purchase.

"I'm gettin' an uneasy feeling," Jim admitted. Probably because he's still waiting for that April correction to be as deep as he thought it was supposed to be.

Judge said Wolfe says tech earnings are too strong to be bearish. For an opinion on that view, Judge asked Jenny Harrington, "What do you think?"

Jenny said, "Well, I mean, you know what I think, right." Judge said, "Well, what you thought last week may not be what you think today."

Jenny said she was at a Digital Realty Trust presentation, and "the room was overflowing." Jenny downplayed stocks being up 10% this year as "superficially nothing" and claimed "beneath the surface, there's all sorts of opportunities being created." (Translation: How to rationalize not buying very many if any of Megacap Tech.)

Judge told Josh that B of A is reporting there's been "near record tech outflows" among clients and there have been "net sellers of U.S. equities for a 5th week." Josh shrugged, "I don't know, part of me feels like there's really no signal there, that data changes on a dime."

Judge said they're using the term of stock "fragility" (snicker) and asked Josh this time, "What do you think?" Instead of saying Judge already knows what he thinks, Brown said "most stocks in the market (sic last 3 words redundant) are extremely sensitive to interest rates" and if Megacap Tech doesn't deliver, it could be a "rocky ride."

Brown also said "all of the data is now pointing to a confirmation of 1 rate hike (sic) (uncorrected by Judge), and now we're back to debating if there's gonna be 2."

Judge said that's the "cut-on environment" that Brown was talking up a couple months ago.

Making an argument for tech, his new favorite thing, Weiss said "The Nasdaq (sic) is up 10-fold in the last 30 years, but the- I'm sorry, the S&P is up 10-fold, Nasdaq is up more than 20-fold in the last 30 years."

Even so, "Your gains are defined by your point of entry," Weiss said once again, ignoring they are equally defined by point of exit; for example, Weiss' gains in Dick's Sporting Goods would've been a LOT higher if he'd held on till now rather than unloading a couple times last year.

Joe & Adam seem to have trouble agreeing on things on Closing Bell

Bill Baruch joined Tuesday's (6/4) Halftime Report remotely, as he does about every couple of days, to tout his new buy of MTZ (Zzzzzzzz). He said we're seeing EPS guidance "lift up."

Bill also bought CB; Judge wondered if that's a "Berkshire thing." Bill said he wants insurance exposure, and "the name has broken out."

Judge said he finds Bill's sells more interesting but he had to talk about the buys first. One of the sells was MS; Bill said there's a "question now" about which sector will lead the business in the leadership transition.

(Later on Fast Money, Karen Finerman said she "got out of Morgan Stanley" and increased her "Citibank bet.")

Steve Weiss said the IPO market may not take off until "mid-2025." But Weiss said there's a "huge, huge pipeline" waiting to go.

Bill also sold CAT and TGT.

Judge said AXP is the best Dow stock this year. Jenny Harrington said it's a stock you can own "forever."

Weiss, who opines on NFLX about every other day, said it could be a "recession-resistant play." (This writer is long NFLX.)

Josh Brown said the "big question" for CRWD is whether it's ready for the $100 billion club. He doesn't quite think so, though he calls it the "acknowledged leader in cybersecurity."

Adam Parker at the top of Tuesday's Closing Bell told Judge that he had a "debate" with Joe Terranova a couple weeks earlier (no, not the one in February about underweighting/equal weighting Megacap Tech) about whether the "vacuum of information would be bearish or bullish." It sounds like Joe was on the bearish side (we didn't see this debate), but Adam thinks we might go higher.

Karen Finerman on Fast Money cited LULU's valuation and said she's "getting tempted" to buy. "This deserves a premium multiple," Karen said.

Weiss makes one of the best arguments against portfolio ‘diversifying’ we’ve heard on CNBC

Joe Terranova started off Monday's (6/3) Halftime Report predicting portfolio managers and speculators in June will "get a little bit more defensive, get a little bit more risk-adverse (sic meant 'averse')."

Joe suggested a "pivot" from more cyclical sectors and said people should think about health care.

Steve Weiss sold CAT, one of those stocks like DE that he's constantly buying or selling. He said he got into it as a trade to "broaden out the portfolio a little bit" while he's "very tech heavy," but then he wondered, what's the point of broadening out if he's already got the winners. (Which is basically what this page always says — if you've already chosen the best stock(s), why are you buying other ones just to boast about being "diversified"?)

Weiss said stocks are going down with yields going down; he thinks the consumer is pressured, "so I think it's time to be a little cautious."

Meanwhile, Brian Belski said "the trend is your friend" and the more talk of a June swoon, the more likely it doesn't happen. He does see a "secondary rotation" from Megacap Tech to the "next tier" such as AMD, AVGO and ORCL. Belski bought SPOT, DASH and PLTR and bailed on CRM.

Joe questioned Belski buying DASH. Belski said it's one of the "great concepts (snicker) within retail."

Amy Raskin said this is a market for "tactical trades" and said she agrees with Weiss on the consumer.

Judge said Krinsky says Mag 7 is vulnerable to a "catch-down" (snicker).

Weiss pays $250 for a ride home from the airport

Brian Belski on Monday's (6/3) Halftime Report revealed he sold HON but has bought UBER. (This writer is long UBER.)

Belski said that in the last couple years, when UBER's down, it's been a good time to buy.

Joe Terranova agreed and said "it's a perfect spot to buy."

Yet Steve Weiss doesn't own UBER and said it's because the consumer doesn't look great and Uber prices are too high. Weiss said he paid $250 for an Uber ride from JFK to New Jersey on Sunday night. Judge chuckled that he's seen on "social" that "JFK to the city is like 350," so it almost seems like Weiss got a good deal. Weiss said his flight got in "pretty late."

Meanwhile, Weiss sold VRT at 103, a "great sale," given where it's at Monday. But he bought more GXO, "the right kind of retail exposure."

Judge rattled off a bunch of software slumpers to Amy Raskin; Amy said she's not "jumping in" now because the charts look "very broken."

Joe said he'll stay with CRWD despite "very high" expectations, because "that's where the business investment is in cybersecurity."

Guy says meme stocks making ‘somewhat of a mockery of the market’

Dom Chu joined Monday's (6/3) Halftime Report to talk about the 49 stocks affected by a "trading glitch."

It reminded us of the time Judge was on air around the time of the Flash Crash and then spent months asking panelists if they can trust the market because of the Flash Crash. (How long ago was that.)

Dom said things are "fixed" and "resolved" before reading a laborious press release verbatim.

Dom said "these kinds of things can happen" when nearly all trading is electronic. (As if it's going back to open outcry.)

Brian Belski bought SBUX because everybody hates it and it's "really beaten up."

Amy Raskin owns and loves COST but noted "it's very expensive." Joe Terranova said it "needs a correction."

Judge said Mike Mayo raised his C target from 80 all the way up to 85. "We love the stock," Belski said.

Weiss said he bought India ETFs (INDY and SMIN) sometime last year when Jeffrey Gundlach was talking it up. Weiss said he's "surprised" India hasn't done better given that it's picking up supply lines from China.

Amy Raskin owns NTLA, she said it had good data over the weekend. Joe said "momentum is clearly lost" in ADSK and he wouldn't get excited about the pop.

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said she'd like to buy DELL but will abide by the "3-day rule."

Guy Adami opined on GME/Roaring Kitty and said "it's extraordinarily unsavory" and "makes somewhat of a mockery of the market."

CNBC sics 2 staffers on fairly uninteresting Carl news

Judge waited 5 minutes into Friday's (5/31) Halftime Report to deliver his own scoop, that Carl Icahn owns "some stock" in CZR, that Carl likes the company and has no plans for activism.

Then Judge turned to Contessa Brewer, who said she had just been "playing phone tag" with Carl. (Why Judge and Contessa were each calling Carl at the same time, like 2 wide receivers ending up in the same pattern, we have no idea.) "When I got hold of him- and I just have a (sic) hung up with him Scott following your phone call with him," Contessa said, she found that her "takeaway" is that Carl thinks CZR is "undervalued" and "on fire."

Contessa suggested CZR and other casinos just might be "good value" right now.

Contessa said Carl said he's not in PENN.

Jim Lebenthal touted WYNN and expressed frustration about the stock and said casino managers including CZR are "killing it," even though the stock market doesn't "give a whit."

KSS a ‘disaster in a weird way’

Judge on Friday's (5/31) Halftime Report told Jenny Harrington that "Kohl's was a disaster" without noting that just a week ago (see below), Jenny announced that she put it in all the client accounts that didn't already have it.

Jenny on Friday responded, "I think Kohl's was a disaster in a weird way, similar to what- the way Dell was a disaster. Which is that the expectations were just too great."

Jenny said she's "OK" with KSS and is holding and will give it "2 more quarters." (As Jenny said a week ago, anyone who doesn't get "wishy washy" and doesn't bet against the consumer can put up long-term stock gains against literally anyone.)

Judge said KSS is down about 25% YTD; "looks bad until you look at LULU."

Rob Sechan said his LULU buy was "ill-timed." He said "we would be kidding ourselves" if his shop wasn't "entertaining" a tax-loss sale. Rob suggested "the competitive landscape has changed," citing Vuori. Nevertheless, Rob made LULU his Final Trade.

Sounds like grounds for liability with office door manufacturers

Rob Sechan opened Friday's (5/31) Halftime Report stating "I would expect volatility to continue" and that "there's fading momentum; there's fading breadth."

But, "We are certainly not bearish," Rob said, adding he's staying in buy-the-dip mentality.

Jenny Harrington suggested the market is like a person who unknowingly walks into a closed glass door, which she said she's done at her own office "an unfortunate amount of times."

Jim Lebenthal said "there are cross-currents all over the place" and that breadth, as Rob noted, has narrowed. But Jim said he's got faith (as he basically always does) that "the broadening will occur."

Brenda Vingiello said, "I think the case for bonds has become more attractive."

Rob says price hikes ‘behind’ MCD

Judge and Dee Bosa on Friday's (5/31) Halftime Report talked up the "nuclear winter" in enterprise software; Dee said it turned into an "apocalypse," and now it could be creeping into hardware such as DELL.

Jim Lebenthal shrugged off the impact of CRM on ORCL. "What's happening in the tech sector this week feels more like a giveback after a kind of blowoff top here," Jim said.

Jim said he added to ORCL a week ago Friday, "so yeah, I wish I had waited a week."

Judge said Bill Baruch put his CRM proceeds into COP. Bill joined remotely and praised the COP deal and said his energy exposure is just 9% and he wants to boost it. But Bill sold NUE.

Judge said JPM cut its SCHW target to 81. Jenny Harrington said that still suggests "14% upside."

Rob said he'd be "careful" with MCD; "everything has been driven- performance has been driven by price increases," and "we think those days are behind them."

Rob said he thinks consumers will continue to buy DECK. Another May winner for Rob was VST. Jim said any downdraft in GPC, a stock that's always recommended by Mario Gabelli (who doesn't come on the show anymore), is creating "great value."

Josh says Nelson is bragging on the golf course about his DIS trade

Taking up Judge's late-Wednesday scoop on Nelson Peltz, Josh Brown on Thursday's (5/30) Halftime Report said that Nelson on the golf course is telling people that the stock has fallen from 130 because he lost the proxy battle and the reason it ran from 85 to 130 is because he demanded cost cuts and that the company be "more serious" about content.

"This is gonna take years to fix," Stephanie Link asserted, adding that the $5.5 billion cost-cutting will climb to $8-$9 billion.

(Actually, we'd argue with the word "fix" ... what is Iger going to "fix"? Disney+? The only way to "fix" Disney+ is to drop it and instead license all the content to Netflix.) (This writer is long NFLX.)

"He has to spend a ton of money on streaming," Stephanie said. Judge noted "they expect streaming to be profitable (snicker) later this year."

Brenda Vingiello is long DIS. She's staying with it, explaining "Bob Iger's plan has yet to play out."

Kevin Simpson said if DIS gets back to 85 or 90, he'll buy it and so will Peltz.

Jenny was buying KSS a week ago for the portfolios that didn’t already have it

Thursday's (5/30) Halftime Report curiously gave a soundbite mention to KSS.

Curious, because Jenny Harrington was trying to talk it up less than a week earlier.

Stephanie Link on Thursday called the stock a "no touch" that she wouldn't buy.

Yet on Friday May 24, Jenny said, "Thinking about Kohl's, right, and I actually added it to the portfolios that didn't already own it, so thinking about Kohl's and thinking about what kind of consumer that is, it's really hard ... "

Jenny went on to say that by focusing on the long term and not betting against the consumer and not getting "wishy washy," she'll put her returns up against ANY investor.

Josh is lukewarm on the Mag 7

Brenda Vingiello opened Thursday's (5/30) Halftime Report saying CRM was experiencing "a little bit of an overreaction on the downside, honestly."

Brenda even said the profit margin improvement was "phenomenal," but it's reflective of how high tech expectations are.

Brenda said "we are sticking with our position here" in CRM and indicated she might be interested in buying if it drops more.

Bill Baruch joined remotely to say he sold CRM because it's potentially "dead money" for weeks or months.

Josh Brown said Brenda is right about expectations and that the fear with the CRM report is that the headwinds extend everywhere in enterprise software.

Stephanie Link talked about how semiconductor companies are going gangbusters with AI but software companies are not. Josh then wondered, "If the software companies aren't making money from this though, doesn't that put future semiconductor sales at risk?" Stephanie somehow said "No."

Soberly assessing the stock market's high fliers, Josh said, "The forward tech P.E. is definitely a concern. The last time it was 30 was like, uh, 2002."

Even pointing to NVDA and AAPL, Brown said, "I'm not looking for these stocks to lead the next leg higher. ... It's just hard for me to understand how Nvidia's gonna add another half a trillion in valuation, for example. Um, or why Apple is gonna blow through 200, for example."

But, on the lookout for the next big gainer, Josh pointed out DELL and GLW are names that have taken off in the enthusiasm for the cloud/data center space.

Judge promised "good guests" from WWDC on June 10.

Santoli can be more candid about the Fed than Liesman can

Steve Liesman delivered breaking news on Thursday's (5/30) Halftime Report, stating John Williams offered a "pretty benign outlook" about inflation.

Judge said it sounds like "Williams is making the case for cuts sometime this year."

The sharp assessment came much later though from Santoli, who said Williams was "almost explicitly going after his predecessor, Bill Dudley, who is out there on the tape saying, you know, 'Policy's not restrictive right now,' and 'maybe the neutral rate is 5% or, you know, including inflation.'"

Josh says WBD could rally if it loses NBA rights

Kevin Simpson on Thursday's (5/30) Halftime Report said he is trimming MCD and said Josh Brown was right to sell it a month ago.

"Fast food isn't as cheap as it used to be," Simpson said, citing the company's recent revelation of price increases since 2019. Josh said the company is sticking franchisees with a $5 value meal that some franchisees will lose money on.

Meanwhile, Josh suggested WBD might have a "relief rally" if it loses NBA rights, which would be a "shame," but it's a single-digit stock price and they have to care about costs. (Perhaps Disney+ can bid for it.)

Kevin Simpson bought more JPM. He thought there was a market "overreaction" to Jamie Dimon's comments. Kevin also bought HON and FCX and MRK, which Joe T. (maybe personally or maybe ETF-y) has also been talking up.

Kevin would look for "bigger pullbacks" before buying UNH.

Brenda Vingiello bought a "small position" in LLY on a "slight pullback" in April.

Brenda bought PLD, citing companies' need for warehouses related to ecommerce. Brenda trimmed WM.

Josh said PFE is "getting really good" at cost-cutting.

Judge actually calls in to Fast Money to deliver Nelson Peltz/DIS scoop

On Wednesday's (5/29) Halftime Report, Joe Terranova said the COP acquisition of MRO is a "good deal."

Jim Lebenthal offered that oil is "consistently" around $80, and Jim once again touted the price of nat gas.

But Joe said that relying on the spot price of oil for making energy investments is "the wrong thesis to have." Joe, in fact, suggested energy's direction is contingent on the election. Joe said a Republican outcome would provide "far more incentive to increase production, lowering the price of oil itself."

Jim countered that "energy stocks did poorly under the Trump administration." Joe said yes, "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Jim is still wondering when DIS is going to wrap up the Hulu (snicker) thing. Jim indicated there doesn't seem to be a DIS catalyst until earnings (which, Jim didn't say, probably won't be a catalyst either).

Hours later on Fast Money, Judge dialed in with news of Nelson Peltz's DIS sale and said Peltz may be out of the picture for the company, but the DIS succession (snicker) issue "remains unresolved."

Joe opened his MRK commentary saying (as all CNBCers tend to do) "it's about 4½ percent off the all-time high."

Jim says only the NVDA blowout is keeping the market up

Even with market indexes near record highs, not everyone's convinced.

Early on Wednesday's (5/29) Halftime Report, Jim Lebenthal said "rates are weighing on the market right now" and then stated, "Let's face it, if we hadn't had the Nvidia blowout earnings last week, um, the whole market would be down."

"This is not a very healthy market right now," Jim said, adding it's a "wait-it-out period."

Even Nvidia's strength was being questioned. Judge said Josh Brown (who wasn't on Wednesday's show) is saying in a note (he apparently has to do notes as well as TV appearances) that NVDA's gains are "starting to seem way overdone."

Jim said of NVDA, "I've seen nothing like this in my lifetime," a stock going up 800% in 2 years with the multiple going down. He's staying long because of the split. Jim even made NVDA his Final Trade, prompting Judge to mock Jim's pre-earnings suggestion that the gains were already priced in.

Joe Terranova at the top of the show said he made "personal sales" in MS, V and MA; he said it's not really about the companies but the "macro conditions and the overall exposure that I have (Zzzzzzz)."

However Joe isn't selling GS; it has "further appreciation ahead."

Stephanie Link owns FTNT (but not NVDA).

Judge said Closing Bell will be live at WWDC on June 10.

Weiss’ instincts were correct on DKS; he shouldn’t have bailed last year after one bad earnings report

Judge on Wednesday's (5/29) Halftime Report noted the bad day of AAL.

Jim Lebenthal said he thinks it's an "American Airlines-specific problem" and cited passenger traffic. "The airlines look good," Jim asserted.

But Joe Terranova suggested AAL is a "read-through on the bifurcation that's going on in the economy right now," stating DAL and UAL cater to affluent or business travelers, while AAL's "core" base is a "budget-conscious flyer."

Jim said if that's true, "that actually says that the economy is doing pretty well," at least the "premium economy."

Jim said he doesn't want to be in Frontier or Spirit, not in the stocks and not on the planes, but decided not to elaborate. Moments later, he said he might've been having a "bad flashback" from a Spirit flight.

Then Jim told Judge, "You know what it is by the way," while Judge protested he has nothing to do with what Jim is saying. Jim then said Spirit charges for peanuts and carry-ons and "it's an unpleasant experience."

Judge said last Friday "was the busiest airline travel day ever" and wondered why Jim didn't bring that up; it's true that it would've bolstered Jim's AAL point. Jim said it's "exquisite (snicker) data" that anyone can look up to track the health of airlines.

Jim said it's "very easy" to own BRK-B even though it's hard for him to value all the parts. Joe said the JOET owns BRK-B, but he wouldn't buy it personally. Joe said the high was in February and it "might have a degree of difficulty (snicker) advancing further."

The JOET owns COST, but Joe doesn't own it ... personally. Joe said he would buy it here and would buy more on a decline. Stephanie Link wouldn't buy it, citing P.E.

Joe said the JOET owns NFLX and that he would be buying NFLX ... personally ... by the end of the day. (This writer is long NFLX.) On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said NFLX has had a lot of success recently in a number of endeavors, but, "At this level, I think I gotta sell some upside calls."

Karen took note of CRM afterhours trading. "This doesn't look as terrible as the reaction," Karen said.

Joe stiff-arms Jim’s ‘priced in’ call on NVDA last week

A curious revelation was heard on Tuesday's (5/28) Halftime Report when Stephanie Link admitted, "On the margin, I've been adding to technology. I don't own Nvidia unfortunately."

So, someone who's bought a bunch of tech stocks apparently doesn't think NVDA is as good as other stocks?

In this market??

What does that tell us.

(This writer has no position in NVDA.)

Joe Terranova crowed a little bit on his NVDA-$1,000-afterhours call of a week ago (which is one of the early contenders for Call of the Year, although it's a pretty short-term call so we're not sure it's "big" enough for the grand prize) and how Jim Lebenthal (who wasn't on Tuesday's show) thought all the growth was already priced in.

Judge started in on tech and specifically AAPL; the first thing Stephanie Link said was, "The stock is still down 4% from its high," a favorite metric of CNBCers. (Ah, that's the problem for NVDA. It's not down off its high.)

Bryn Talkington said AAPL looks "quite overbought." Josh Brown questioned how AAPL is going to sell a lot more phones. Link said that "the sentiment is so negative" because, between Link, Bryn and Josh, 2 out of 3 panelists aren't high on the stock.

Josh cut in, "Sorry, it's 28 times earnings, the sentiment is not bad."

Stephanie thinks AI is "going to be good" for AAPL, though we have "no idea" what it will mean. Judge suggested Stephanie is basing a bull case on "hope."

Joe hailed the market's resilience, saying that it's "void of a 10% correction."

Whew! Josh didn’t retell the story about the guy with a laptop who had to go to the lockers at Yankee Stadium and the Ticketmaster app prevented everyone from being late (or something like that)

Judge on Tuesday's (5/28) Halftime Report said Tony Pasquariello thinks the Mag 7 is both the "sword" and the "shield" of investing. (Judge was so impressed by this assessment, he brought it up at the beginning of Closing Bell too.)

Michelle Ross joined the set at Post 9 to talk biotech and ISNM, one of those binary-outcome stocks that had a good study (talk about gambling). (By the way, Judge hasn't mentioned in a long time Keith Meister's life-sciences ventures, which had Judge buzzing a couple years ago.) Ross also discussed MRUS and IDYA.

Judge said Northcoast moved LYV to the "penalty box." Josh Brown noted the stock was up on Tuesday. Josh said the government's case was "very general" and not highly specific, which Brown said will benefit the company. Brown said short-timers in LYV may not want this kind of "cloud," but long-term investors "can weather these types of things."

Joe Terranova agreed with Mark Mahaney's $700 target on NFLX, "easily." (This writer is long NFLX.)

Josh Brown's Final Trade was AMZN, saying under $200 is a "gift."

Jenny is either saying she matches/outperforms Dave Tepper ... or just buy the S&P index

Every now and then, Halftime Report episodes include pronouncements that really deserve one of those "fact checks" that they do after presidential debates.

On Friday (5/24), Jenny Harrington told Steve Weiss, "You (people in general, not Weiss) make a lot of money by being bullish ... You know what you learn when you're a long-term investor? Sticking with it for the long term because there's 2 truisms: You do not bet in the long term against the U.S. consumer, and the market goes up over time. So if you bet in line with the consumer and stick with it for the long term, and do not get wishy-washy and stick with a long-term earnings trajectory, I'm gonna put up market returns of anybody out there who just stays a long-term course trajectory, I'll put up their returns vs. anyone else's in that-"

Note that phrase: "I'm gonna put up market returns of anybody out there."

Weiss was having none of it. "I will bet you a hundred thousand dollars on that. I will put up Steve Cohn, I will put up Ken Griffin, I will put up Dave Tepper on their track record of the last 20 years. Against Buffett. Against Buffett," Weiss said.

"On their portfolio returns or on like other ways that they made money ... on carry from their clients, on their 2 and 20 fee schemes?" Jenny wondered.

"On their returns! No, on their portfolio returns!" Weiss said. "It's not even close Jenny ... 75% of long-only managers underperform every year. And you know what? It's not the same 25 that outperform?"

Judge, who didn't have the brass to analyze this discussion, abruptly ended it, but as they cut to break, the conservation continued, as Weiss told Jenny "You're so-" before the commercial kicked in.

Because Judge didn't analyze it, this page will.

Jenny is basically saying that "market returns" will match or beat anyone over time.

Yet Jenny, who didn't say a word about what her "long term" returns are, recommends single stocks, which means Jenny is arguing that she has superior ability to remain basically fully invested in the "market" over time while correctly predicting which components will outperform in shorter-term time frames.

OK.

Weiss admits his point isn’t clear

Things on Friday's (5/24) Halftime Report took a curious turn when the subject of "the consumer" came up in the A block.

Steve Weiss took issue with Tony Pasquariello's call on the consumer defying the bears; Weiss said "you can't group all consumers one way."

Jim Lebenthal and Weiss then clashed for some reason when Jim merely said "it's clear what you believe; you don't have to say it again."

"What do I believe? What's so clear?" Weiss interrupted.

Jim went on to make his own point, "The consumer is healthy."

Weiss then told Judge, "In terms of jobs, OK, we are seeing that the jobless claims are increasing. So he's talking about yesterday, and my job is to look at tomorrow."

"You cannot be serious! You cannot be serious!" Jim protested.

"You know what? Honestly? That's my thought. Is you cannot be serious," Judge told Weiss.

"One of us can be long and short and can look out. One of us gets paid to be bullish all the time," Weiss shrugged.

"No I don't. No I don't," Jim said. But even Jenny Harrington cut in, "No you do, because you make a lot of money by being bullish, because the right bets."

"He was also bullish in '22," Weiss said.

So much for Jim’s pre-earnings claim that NVDA growth was ‘all priced in’

Steve Weisss opened Friday's (5/24) Halftime Report saying "I'm not putting new money into the market now, but I'm pretty well loaded with the market."

But he would "take some off" because he sees "higher for longer" in rates, and the market hasn't "fully come to grips with that."

Weiss then triggered our Spider Sense (or whatever it should be called) when, like so many others recently, he used taxes as the reason for not trying to follow his own market-timing advice and "take some off" as he just indicated. Weiss said he's "more likely to hedge" positions than sell, because, "I don't want to pay taxes, you know, on nice gains that I'll only come back and redeploy."

That's basically what Karen Finerman said a day ago (see below). It all makes us wonder, given that stock gains (in taxable accounts) accrue a constant tax liability, what kind of strategy out there allows you to use the money/value from a stock that goes up and not have to pay the taxes until you're 100 years old?

Jim Lebenthal said he's having a "terrible day" because he agrees with Weiss on the market meandering without a crystal clear direction. Jim then complained that NVDA "sucked all the air out of the room" on Thursday. But Jim thinks that will continue, so he actually bought more NVDA after declaring Wednesday before the earnings report that "it's probably all priced in."

Obviously, whatever panelists are saying about stocks today might be a lot different in a day or 2.

"Intellectually, it leaves me very cold," Jim admitted.

Jim did say he can get intellectually excited about ORCL, which he bought more of.

‘This time is different,’ Weiss says

Bill Baruch dialed in to Friday's (5/24) Halftime Report to say he bought SPY put spreads.

Bill said he didn't like the market reaction on Thursday's opening bell. After Bill's audio briefly went out, Judge did do a good job of getting Bill to restate the trade, which is an SPY 520/500 put spread.

Bill also sold AMD. Bill said it hasn't recovered since April 4.

Weiss said everyone had been thinking "the market is entirely dependent upon Nvidia." But yesterday showed "the market is entirely dependent upon the Fed and monetary policy." Weiss said that means you want to be in Megacap Tech, because "they're the best story in equities."

Then, viewers got a major pronouncement.

"This is a new paradigm," Weiss said, adding he hates to say "this time is different," but "it is different." But he hasn't bought more NVDA because he can see a "10% drawdown" any time, so "why not wait" to buy it when that happens. (But he's not going to sell ahead of that 10% drawdown because he doesn't want to pay the tax.)

Weiss said sometimes "JOMO" (Joy Of Missing Out) trumps the FOMO, and he'd rather play the JOMO trade now. Jim Lebenthal said he likes NVDA for the split, citing TSLA and AAPL activity years ago.

"Idiosyncratic" was heard about 15 times.

Weiss got it on Judge Smails

Jim Lebenthal on Friday's (5/24) Halftime Report again made the "average age of cars on the road" argument in favor of GPC, whose performance he calls "perplexing." (Jim's argument that car parts stocks are going to surge because the average age of cars is about the same as it's been for 10-15 years is like the "people gotta eat" argument for fertilizer stocks in the early days of Fast Money.)

Even Judge said this time, "You've been talking about that for years."

After Jenny Harrington defended MMM saying there's "no good reason" for a selloff, Judge impressively pointed out, "You guys can't say when these things are having long losing streaks, 'Ah there's no good reason for it,' but when the stocks are up, you guys finding the reasons for it."

Judge asked about renewed headwinds in commercial real estate. Jenny Harrington of course said her stocks are fine even though some REITs are having troubles.

Steve Weiss said "there is a big problem" in commercial real estate and said the risk doesn't justify the reward.

Jenny was talking about adding the exciting company of KSS.

Judge called Weiss "Judge Smails" during Final Trade even though Weiss' gray jacket is a great one. Judge asked Weiss, "Did you get it?" Weiss said "I got it," then, as they cut to Kelly Evans, Weiss could be heard mocking Judge's question, "Did I get it."

From 161st & Jerome lockers to Delta Sky Club: Josh’s story about how Ticketmaster’s app helped him out at the Yankee game didn’t make any sense

Judge on Thurday's (5/23) Halftime Report asked LYV fan Josh Brown about the Justice Department's move.

Josh said "everyone knew something was coming," though Wall Street didn't expect a move to break up the company. Brown said there's a lot of political interest in targeting "things that young people are into."

Josh stressed that prices are set by the artists and that most of the fees in ticket prices go to the venues.

Josh told a story about how well the Ticketmaster app worked at the Yankee game on Wednesday when a friend brought a laptop that had to be put in a locker all the way around the stadium. "I had to share his ticket out of the 5," Josh explained, and a few years ago, this would've been an "insurmountable" problem in which Josh "would've missed the first inning." Josh said he's not a seller of LYV.

On Fast Money, Tim Seymour complained that concert tickets are still sold the same way they were sold 20 years ago. "I think they should be broken up, and I think they will be," Tim said.

Julie Biel, who obviously didn't hear Josh on Halftime, said "there's really no one that's gonna defend Ticketmaster at this point" and that "we can kind of all agree it's not a good service."

Steve Grasso said he "might not be the guy" to defend Ticketmaster, but he thinks "they're taking on a lot of flak" while "it really is the artists that are setting prices to a large extent" and this suit feels "a little more political" than just being about fees.

Back on Halftime, Steve Weiss revealed he sold UBER, stating "the rich are trading down" to shop at WMT (snicker). (This writer is long UBER.) He said UBER's high prices for a lot of people are an "affordability issue." Josh Brown said there's a "real problem in the economy."

Judge said Bernstein views TOST as a "great company but not a good stock." Josh Brown seemed puzzled and said they "literally have it backwards."

Josh says he wouldn’t start a new position in NVDA (even though Karen says going home long is the same thing)

Of course, Thursday's (5/23) Halftime Report had to open with NVDA.

Josh Brown said of the earnings predictions, "Were we bullish enough? ... They keep doing this." Brown said the 10-for-1 split was the "surprise" of the earnings call.

Josh said he's had the stock for a long time and can deal with the downturns, and maybe not everyone can, but he sees a "decadelong story."

Steve Weiss said "normally," the kind of "euphoria" associated with NVDA's earnings is reminiscent of the "tulip bulb" euphoria, but "I don't think that's the case here," though Weiss conceded "there's a lot of momentum in it."

Josh said if you looked at Big Tech charts without any context, "your assumption would be tulips," but the charts are justified by earnings, "it's not a multiple expansion story."

However, Brown said, "Is today the day you want to establish a brand-new position? My personal opinion, I don't think so."

Weiss said NVDA has an "80% share" of the market, and other companies won't want to rely on that, so "they can't sustain that share level," meaning market share, not share price (we think).

Weiss, like Josh apparently timing the trade, said there's "too much euphoria here right now," and NVDA will pull back, "and that's when you buy it."

On Fast Money, Steve Grasso tried his luck at that endeavor, suggesting NVDA may have a "selloff late June," just a "quick dip" before a bounce-back. Karen Finerman said NVDA had a "pretty impressive" day of trading Thursday given what the market did. Karen said she "did nothing" with the stock on Thursday; she has a "much lower basis" and said it would be really hard to correctly predict when and where the stock might fall and then sell the shares, and catch the rebound and make more on the rebound than she's paying in taxes. (Honestly, we don't have a Ph.D. in anything, but we think there are mathematical reasons why that argument doesn't really hold water.)

Liz Young on Halftime said, "So far, so good. I do think that as the year moves on, investors have to be careful about risk management," because people who have been in NVDA or other names a long time, "you're probably quite overweight."

No one credited Terranova (who wasn't on Wednesday's show) for his $1,000-in-afterhours call on Wednesday (see below).

Joe nails the NVDA reax

At the top of Wednesday's (5/22) Halftime Report, Joe Terranova expressed doubt that people would unload NVDA from portfolios if it happens to miss on the quarter.

Judge said "I do think though that if they miss, this stock could go down a lot. And the Nasdaq could, could go down 2%."

Well, they didn't miss. (This review was posted overnight Wednesday/Thursday.)

In one of the great, albeit short-term, calls this year, Joe said NVDA is "set up the right way" where it keeps moving higher and tops $1,000 in afterhours.

Jason Snipe said if NVDA comes close to a revenue guide of 26, it'll be a "blowout"; he thinks that's "likely to happen."

Jim Lebenthal, lukewarm on this name recently despite owning it at least Jim doesn't feel "handcuffed," as Rob Sechan does with some of his names, predicted NVDA will "beat" and "raise guidance." But he said "everybody" is expecting that, so "it's probably all priced in." So Jim is "not buying it here today."

Joe countered, "When people say it's already priced in, it's not already priced in."

However, Joe indicated a possible issue if indeed NVDA posted a great quarter/outlook. Joe said his "concern" is that it would add fuel to the prospect of a "return to 2023" with a "very narrow set of stocks" leading the market higher.

Joe even referred to his debate with Adam Parker on Closing Bell a couple months ago in which Joe said he's underweight the Mag 7. (That debate was at the end of February. Joe disagreed with Adam's call to have "at least" 25% exposure to the Mag 7. (Adam in recent weeks, as Judge has noted, has backpedaled on that tech trade a bit.) Joe explained to Judge back in February, "What I said to you yesterday was that you can have an equal-weighted strategy and outperform." Evidently Joe is wondering about that one.)

On Wednesday's Fast Money, Karen Finerman said of NVDA, "The bar was really high, and they did a nice job of stepping over the bar." Tim Seymour sorta bungled a double reference to Dick Fosbury. Moments later, Karen mentioned Dwight Stones.

Joe actually thinks Ackman hasn’t gotten enough credit

Judge on Wednesday's (5/22) Halftime reported on XOM facing a "shareholder uprising" over climate change policies.

Jim Lebenthal is long XOM and said shareholders aren't going to support the climate suit and stated, "If you want to get to green new energy, you're gonna have to use fossil fuel to get there. Better to partner with the Exxons of the world than to vilify them."

Then Jim talked up his new favorite subject, nat gas spot price.

Joe Terranova said Wall Street will cast the votes on XOM's policies; Judge indicated "we know which way they tend to" vote on these matters. Joe agreed but said "Engine 1 (sic no 'Number')" a couple years ago got 3 directors on the board.

Judge noted Matt Boss is bullish on LULU. Joe said you don't have to be "seriously concerned" if you own the stock, but you may have to "bide your time" with this one. "It could potentially be dead money over the coming quarters," Joe said. Jim said Joe is right, "This is guilty until proven innocent."

Every 2-3 days, Judge asks panelists about GS, and everyone always says the same thing. Jason Snipe said it's "prudent" to take a position and ride the "continued momentum."

Joe said TJX is evidence that low- and middle-income consumers are "buckling" under higher interest rates.

Joe talked up ISRG and questioned Citi removing it from its "Focus List."

In a helpful bit of information not often heard on the program, Joe said CMG's 50-1 split is set for holders of record on June 18 and takes effect June 25. Joe actually said Bill Ackman "doesn't get enough credit for the winners" but that CMG is one of the best trades Ackman has had.

Jim said ORCL's strength seems "so obvious" that he's surprised it "doesn't have more of a following."

Joe mentioned "Mercado Leeblay- (sic) er, Mercado Libre."

Steve Eisman predicts Trump win

On Tuesday's (5/21) Fast Money, famed investor Steve Eisman opined on the presidential election.

"My call is, that, with as much certainty as I could possibly have, I think Trump wins every single swing state and becomes president. Um, and, I don't think that has much implications for the market at all," Eisman said.

Bryn calls NVDA ‘underappreciated’

Bryn Talkington cued up the drama on Tuesday's (5/21) Halftime Report when she stated early in the program, "I think the earnings Oscars are tomorrow. And best picture will go to Nvidia."

Bryn actually said NVDA "continues to be somewhat underappreciated," which brought chuckles from Judge. Bryn said Dan Niles said on CNBC a day earlier that NVDA is trading 15% below its 5-year P.E. average. (Ah. Another indication of P.E. ratio predicting ... nothing.)

Jim Lebenthal, long NVDA (but only mildly enthusiastic about that fact; on the other hand, he didn't say he was "handcuffed" by the trade like Rob Sechan has experienced with other stocks), said estimates are up "a lot" from last year, and he wouldn't be surprised if the stock "popped in the afterhours" after earnings but "trailed off a little bit" by the end of the week.

Stephanie Link bought more FTNT. (So much for that conversation between Rob and Joe a day earlier.) (See below.)

Judge said Adam Jonas reiterated an "overweight" on TSLA. Bryn said 187 seems like resistance; she's selling calls and thinks the stock is in a "downward trend" for a couple quarters before it recovers.

Josh Brown, who curiously wore a scarf, opened the program discussing his GLW buy. Though GLW "might be a little bit short-term overbought," he said it's the kind of "technical situation" he looks for.

Josh noted that GLW was a hot name for fiber optics (snicker) during the dot-com era; "that whole thing is happening again, but now with AI."

Josh also bought SN, which he called "more of a flyer."

Then he said, "I definitely wouldn't touch it right at this price; I'm in it, uh, lower than here."

That's interesting, because as Karen Finerman always says on Fast Money, if you go home long a stock, it's like you bought it today.

Brown said SN is "one of the hottest brands in American appliances."

Josh said TOST has cooled off a bit, and it would be fine to take a "breather."

We were a bit surprised by how much time Leslie Picker and Judge spent at the Ares Management Investor Day. (The response to the question about NFL-private equity wasn't headline-making.)

During Final Trades, referring to Josh's scarf, Judge said, "I've been biting my tongue for the last 59 minutes and 30 seconds. ... The Jolly Rancher, that's your new nickname."

Josh shrugged it off and curiously offered MRNA as a Final Trade; that was the one Weiss talked about all the time in the 400s but stopped talking about it in the 100s.

Rob says he’s ‘handcuffed’ by stocks that make ‘no sense’ to sell

On Monday's (5/20) Halftime Report, taxes were apparently tying one of the panelists in knots. (No, it had nothing to do with Joe Biden's grandiose "fair share" thing that was heard during the State of the Union.) (Boy, that address sure had a lot of staying power.) (We're sure Lee Cooperman would have something to say about it, but he's not on the show anymore.)

Rather, it involved Rob Sechan's exposure to the consumer via AZO, DECK, HD, LULU, LOW, MCD, ORLY and RACE.

"It's a case of haves and have-nots," Rob told Judge, but then, it sounded like Rob was having Burger King for lunch, because he uncorked this whopper: "Some of those names are names that we're kind of handcuffed in. We've owned them for a very long period of time. And from a tax standpoint, it would make absolutely no sense for up- us to sell."

Now, we don't have a Ph.D. in anything, let alone stock-picking or "risk management"; around here, we can barely calculate a P.E. ratio.

So it's probably no surprise that we're scratching our heads trying to figure out Rob's long-term strategy here.

If it makes "absolutely no sense" to sell, how/when is he ever going to cash in on these stocks?

Or is the point to never sell, that our goal as stock investors is to pick something that over time either makes a lot of money that we can never ... use ... or hope that something with a long-term gain declines back to our basis so that we don't have to owe taxes on it?

We'll keep trying to figure it out.

In a sentence or two, Joe basically points out that P.E. ratio is perhaps, at best, a contra-indicator

In the 27th minute of Monday's (5/20) Halftime Report, Joe Terranova was talking about "Palo Alto," one of his longtime favorite names, as Judge brought up the cybersecurity sector.

Invoking show panelists' favorite statistic, Joe said "It's still well below where it was before it reported earnings." Joe further asserted that PANW will not get "the benefit of the doubt" in its earnings report. He likes CRWD better, "because it's performing a lot better."

So then Judge asked Rob Sechan about owning FTNT and not CRWD. Rob said he should own CRWD but it always felt like a stock he'd be "chasing," whereas FTNT was "a little cheaper."

Judge didn't have the brass to address that statement, but Joe did, stating FTNT is a "great example" against the "valuation argument"; that in the cybersecurity space, "the cheapest stock is the one that's actually underperforming the most."

Rob’s actually worried
about a ‘growth scare’

Joe Terranova got things rolling on Monday's (5/20) Halftime Report, stating at the opening that "it's obviously a very important week because of Nvidia," and that the bar is "incredibly high" for that stock.

Judge wondered about the notion of an "everything (snicker) rally." Shannon Saccocia said, "You want to be in the equity complex (snicker)," and she suggested "outside of the Mag 5."

Sarat Sethi observed, "The 2nd half of the year, comps are going to be really hard for the Big Tech companies."

Judge said, "I feel like the easy money has been made in Big Cap Tech."

Rob Sechan said "Seasonality's in a good place" but that the worry is a "growth scare (snicker)."

Rob mentioned Rick Rieder talking about how a rate cut would "slow down the economy a bit."

Joe reiterated his "firm landing" prediction but allowed, "I do see pockets of weakness as it relates to the consumer."

Sarat touted STZ actually as a "post-COVID" drinking play. (As if drinking wasn't available in March 2020.)

In what seemed like an endorsement for LULU, Rob asked Joe why LULU is trading at a "big discount" to its previous multiple. Joe said "the revenue growth has been the problem." Rob questioned how many times we've heard that about NKE "in the last hundred years."

Judge wondered about Jamie Dimon sounding "cautiously pessimistic." Sarat said Jamie does a great job of managing expectations, though he added, "You gotta take what he's saying with a grain of salt."

Sarat said demand for TDG's products/services is "through the roof."

Judge should be analyzing
the Tom Brady Roast

Judge on Friday's (5/17) Halftime Report asked Steve Weiss about NFLX, as Judge does about every other day. (This writer is long NFLX.)

Totally missing the trees through the forest here, Weiss said the stock is up a lot recently but had declined before that.

"I still think it's got room," Weiss said, adding that NFLX is not only the acknowledged leader (note to Weiss: "Streaming" isn't a sector) but has the money to finance deals, and there's "too many streaming options out there."

Fair enough. What Judge really should've thought about doing was adding some comedy to the show by discussing the Tom Brady Roast that aired on NFLX last weekend.

Important note: Roasts can be controversial, and this page does NOT take any stance on whether certain topics broached at the Brady Roast are out of bounds. On the one hand, great comedy should tiptoe around the envelope; on the other hand, people tuning in to be entertained for a couple hours shouldn't be traumatized. Make of that, and it, what you will.

But reviewing television is fair game. And the truth, which Judge and Weiss left out Friday, is that NFLX is a singular entity in pop culture that in fact is only gaining presence with events such as the Brady gathering.

OK, so how'd it go. It worked for a couple reasons — one of them being the teenager-like giddiness of a buncha 30- and 40-somethings who realized they could swear into a microphone and not be fined by Roger Goodell.

It was almost like pro wrestling theatrics, a bunch of guys racing for the mike to trash talk each other.

Now, is that giddiness stoopid? Yeah, but, admittedly, it was kinda funny.

And, 3 comedians — Nikki Glaser, Andrew Schulz and Tony Hinchcliffe — absolutely killed it. They easily made up for the Busts of the Night, a group led by Ben Affleck (by a wide margin) that included Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura, Bill Belichick (a lot seemed to be promised there, with little delivered, and others couldn't stop making the same Bill Belichick joke over and over), Dana White, Julian Edelman and (mostly) Kevin Hart, who stumbled out of the gate and either really was laughing hysterically at weak material or practicing performance art but did gain a little momentum in the latter half.

Will Ferrell and Peyton Manning and Drew Bledsoe, we're going to charitably pronounce mediocre. Randy Moss was flat as a pancake and almost seemed like too nice of a guy to be taking part in something like this.

It seems ridiculous to believe, given that his own spiel wasn't great, but we actually started wondering if Tom Brady, as the one who evidently engineered this production, might actually be an All-Pro at comedy. #notgoingthereyet

It's worth stating again: Did watching this event make you feel like you are 14 years old? Honestly, yes.

And that's kinda funny.

‘For the last 15 years, always a V-shaped recovery’

An argument (that's a stretch) nearly got started on Friday's (5/17) Halftime Report when Judge served up a preview of NVDA earnings.

Steve Weiss contended that "the earnings report will not be a proxy for earnings- for the AI movement. That's going to continue. Even if they miss."

"I think that's debatable," Judge countered.

Judge had opened the show talking about "The Everything Rally." Judge aired Josh Brown's comments from a day earlier (see below) about earnings surprising the bears.

Weiss on Friday wasn't too impressed, stating, "He's right, but guess what — that's the same view you could've had for the- since the buttonwood tree. Because markets go up 90% of the time."

Weiss asserted something that he occasionally brings up, that "for the last 15 years, always a V-shaped recovery," so people are conditioned to it, a fair point.

Weiss said, "Even '08, not quite a V-shape, but pretty close."

That one got our attention, because '08 is sort of the tipping point. The dot-com bubble is hated by everyone, who wishes they sold on Y2K. The March 2020 bottom is hated by no one, who wishes they had backed up the truck. In between is 2008, in which hatred of the September-October disaster is sort of outweighed by the joy of being long in March 2009.

Meanwhile, Kevin Simpson bought more AMGN. He said he wants to "look for things that haven't moved."

Judge said Kevin had DUK energy "called away," not something you tend to hear very often. Kevin noted utilities have been "trading like AI stocks" and shrugged off having the stock called away.

Weiss yet again harped on how some people are living "paycheck to paycheck."

Judge said, "Now everybody, literally (sic), is talking about utilities as AI plays." Jenny Harrington said NEE "is still way way way way off its highs," a popular measuring stick of Halftime panelists.

Jason Snipe bought more GS and basically touted most or all of the company's business units. Weiss endorsed GS and said "the pipelines are huge," but he doesn't see the IPO market heating up until "next year."

Contessa punts on Josh’s question about ‘innuendo’ related to Warren Buffett’s regulatory interests

In the latter half of Thursday's (5/16) Halftime Report, Contessa Brewer joined the panel at Post 9 to discuss Berkshire's (extremely exciting) investment in CB.

Judge pointed out that Josh Brown, one of the panelists, had guessed that AMZN might've been the new BRK.A buy. Josh wondered if he could ask Contessa a "crazy question."

"Sure," Contessa said.

Josh asked if Evan Greenberg is Hank Greenberg's son (yes, said Contessa), "and wasn't there some innuendo back in the day that Warren Buffett may have been partially responsible for the troubles that AIG had from a regulatory perspective. But, like, maybe that was all fake and made up on the internet."

"That's a very in-the-weeds ques- question going back, like, way longer than I have been (unintelligible)," Contessa said.

"You can punt on that one. I- I give you permission," Judge assured Contessa.

Meanwhile, Bill Baruch bought some more UBER, citing a "partnership with Costco" and shuttle business at concerts. (This writer is long UBER.) Josh said UBER is "9% below its 50-day. It is not trading well," but he shrugged that it seems to be "part of a, a stock in an uptrend."

Jim’s looking over his shoulder (at least until the big whoosh down)

Most people on Thursday's (5/16) Halftime Report were optimistic about the stock market, so it was a bit curious to hear Jim Lebenthal of all people expressing fears.

(Then again, it's not that curious, as Jim is obviously still lamenting that April's pullback wasn't as big as he hoped and he never got the "big. Whoosh. Down.")

Citing Loretta Mester's fresh comments, Steve Liesman told Judge it sounds like key Fed figures believe the current rate "is enough to bring down inflation."

Jim offered, "You would be a fool to not be nervous and be long here."

Judge wondered, "How the hell can you be nervous if you're long small caps and adding to them recently."

Jim said, "Bravery is not the absence of fear. Bravery is action in the face of fear. It is wise to be looking over your shoulder."

Josh Brown said the bears have gotten the macro right, what they missed was "the unbelievable earnings power at the 500 best companies in the world."

Judge said technology is the best sector since the April 19 close, which Judge said was the "April lows."

Bill Baruch said "there's some tailwinds that haven't- we haven't seen yet from Apple as they start to spend on AI."

Judge said energy is "the only sector that's negative" since April 19. Jim protested that since the October lows, "energy has been a wonderful place to be." Jim said to look not at oil but nat gas and stated, "That's where the puck's going, Scott."

Jim and Bill noted that farmers are dealing with slumping crop prices, which is a headwind for DE.

At one point, Jim said he listens to earnings calls rather than just reading the analyst reports a day later, "because you listen to what the analysts are questioning, and it kind of figures things out."

Jim said he's going to give CSCO "another quarter," after which it could be "off to the races."

Much later in the program, Josh advised Jim to "blow out the Cisco" and put the money in QCOM. "Thank you, my brother. I love ya," Jim said. Judge said, "I thought the response was a little patronizing." "I didn't mean it patronizingly!" Jim said, adding, "What do you want me to say?" Jim said he's "got a lot of Qualcomm."

Karen reveals the 3 worst names of all time in retail

In Wednesday's (5/15) Fast Money intros, guest host Joe Kernen (he usually doesn't do afternoon appearances) said he wants to pronounce Steve Grasso's surname as "Grosso." Steve confirmed, "It's pronounced 'Grosso.'"

Steve reiterated his forecast for 2024 rate cuts: "I'm still at 3."

On inflation, Karen Finerman opined, "I think a 2-handle is enough to declare victory."

Joe kept complaining about the "mess" of the "Drudgington Post" website. Steve "Grosso" said "I haven't looked at it in a very long time."

Karen told Joe that Fifth Third bank is one of the "3 really dumb names." The other two are "The Athlete's Foot" and "Dress Barn." Karen stated, "If you're a woman, would you wanna shop at 'Dress Barn'?"

We've heard Karen make this observation previously, but honestly, we thought "Dress Barn" was kinda cute (but apparently not).

Joe actually asked guest Michael Pugliese, "Is everyone FOS?" (Different FCC standards in the afternoon than morning.)

Joe says AAPL management ‘punished’ the nonbeliever investors (a/k/a How’s MRNA doing)

CNBC's gorjus Kate Rooney interviewed Visa CEO Ryan McInerny about midway through Wednesday's (5/15) Halftime Report. McInerny said people are looking for weakness in the consumer, but Visa is seeing "consistent, resilient stability."

Steve Weiss, though, who was late to Post 9 for Wednesday's show and had just barely taken a seat, warned afterwards about the "consumers who are stretched," then claimed that's what Jane Fraser has been talking about.

Joe Terranova personally bought AMGN and MRK. The curious thing about that is, how come nobody talks about MRNA anymore (Weiss was still talking it up when it was in the 400s). (Works until it doesn't, apparently.)

Weiss, joining in progress (he cited "New York traffic"), bought more CAT, citing "inexpensive" (Zzzzzzz).

Joe declared again that AAPL is "going higher."

Then Joe bluntly claimed that "Tim Cook and the executive management team punished the investors" who had expected underperformance all year; Joe said it was because of AAPL's "capital allocation strategy."

Judge said Weiss has "dumped on it a lot" but just bought AAPL for a trade. Weiss started to downplay the buyback as "relatively small" but admitted it's "accretive to earnings." Weiss said the stock's trading up in advance of its usual September refresh.

"I bought it as a pure momentum trade," Weiss said, protesting, "The valuation relative to their growth rate is way out of line."

Judge wondered why Weiss doesn't own FCX any more. "Since time memoriam (sic), uh, commodities are a trade," Weiss said, "and when everybody's going one way, it's time to go the other way."

Belski would’ve gotten more headlines with an even 6,000

Judge opened Wednesday's (5/15) Halftime Report by saying "what, uh, an incredible (snicker) morning it's been" and that "we have big news today from one of our own."

That news was that Brian Belski has raised his S&P target "to the highest on the Street," or 5,600.

Brian wasn't a panelist but joined remotely. "I think the market is gonna correct from a higher level," Belski said, and "there's no point in, in trying to time this."

Belski continued, "I think this is the final unwind quite frankly of 'stocks only go up if interest rates go down.'"

Judge said Tom Lee on Tuesday's Closing Bell is also "more bullish" (not an unusual event); Tom said on that program that May figures to get better than it already is.

Kari Firestone, on Judge's panel Wednesday, said, "You have to in this environment go with the momentum and the trend."

Judge noted that the "correction" in April wasn't what some regard as your "typical flush." (Translation: You always know you're in a bull market when you hear CNBC panelists clamoring for the "big whoosh down" so they can start buying again.) Joe Terranova said the reason we didn't get that flush is "because the eco-data (sic) is in the perfect spot," which Joe said is in between hard and soft landing, "it's the firm landing, it's the right landing."

Judge said there are indications that PCE is "cooperating." Joe concluded, "This is a bull market. We're in the middle of it."

Jim claims ‘traders are awesome,’ then sorta indicates why they’re not

Tuesday's (5/14) Halftime Report actually didn't have much news going on, but Judge, to his credit and his panelists' credit, ran a crisp show, one of his best in weeks, chock-full of rapid-fire stock calls and some informative disagreements.

Amy Raskin opened things by saying she's "had it" with NKE and sold it. Judge said the company "blamed remote work" (snicker) for its "innovation slowdown."

Josh Brown lumped in SBUX with NKE and said "what's plaguing these companies I think is just fatigue on the part of the consumer," and according to Brown, it typically takes "more than 1 quarter" for companies like these to get going again.

Amy also sold CVS; "the execution is just terrible," though she admitted, "I might be selling at the bottom." Sarat Sethi though called CVS a "deep value" play and said he'll be "doubling up on taxable positions" and that investors "could see something happen" in terms of a catalyst.

Sarat bought LW, which he said sells fries to MCD and has been stung by GLP-1 "noise." Amy's buying more VRTX.

Jim Lebenthal sold CPT, saying on the one hand everyone wants inflation to go down, but owning this company means hoping that rents go up, which Jim said is one of those "intellectual conflicts." Josh Brown though said "it's a hedge."

Jim crowed about the capex spending of ORCL supposedly paying off. "I'm not putting down traders. Traders are awesome. But Sarat and I invest. We look at things like that capex and we say it's gonna pay off, and here it is," Jim said.

(Note: We'd prefer the photo above show Jim smiling; but despite generally upbeat commentary on Tuesday, the look above is how Jim generally looked during good camera angle shots, so hey, we just had to grab one. If any gripes, this one's on Jim.)

Josh said ORCL is nearing "taking out a new valuation level, but it's not overbought at all." Josh predicted $150 on ORCL.

Jason Snipe, who wasn't a panelist Tuesday but briefly joined remotely, said he is buying UBER on the pullback, acknowledging "slight misses on delivery and freight," but he expects those to be "temporary." (This writer is long UBER.) Josh Brown called it a "smart buy." Sarat cautioned, "The question is the cash flow growth."

Amy Raskin said it's "a little scary" that people sound "bulled up" like there's "no downside" to the stock market, but Amy admitted, "As long as we're pending rate cuts, it's hard for the market to go down a lot."

Josh pins a 250 on AMZN

Dee Bosa on Tuesday's (5/14) Halftime Report previewed the big Google event at Alphabet on Tuesday.

Jim Lebenthal stressed that every selloff of Alphabet on AI reasons has been a buying opportunity. Amy Raskin sort of waffled like L'Eggo my egg'o on owning Alphabet; Jim questioned why there's "dissonance" (snicker) in Amy's statement and eventually said, "I can't tell if you wanna own it or not."

Amy said, "I do own it, so I do wanna own it, because I do own it, but it's not a huge bet for us."

Judge asked Josh Brown to settle it regarding Alphabet, but Josh also kind of waffled like L'Eggo my egg'o.

But Josh did say he doesn't understand why people in the market a long time may "not see" that AMZN is going to 250.

Judge asked Sarat Sethi about his "speculative" (Sarat's term) position in RBLX. "I like the business they're in," Sarat said, though "their execution has not been good." Sarat asserted though that "the stock's gonna do well." Sarat qualified/couched his answer to Judge's question as to whether he's a "long-term holder."

Sarat talked up EIX, an interesting trade that he said got caught in California wildfire concerns. However, we checked the chart, and it seems like kind of a constant yo-yo.

Bob Pisani discussed some of the top ETFs of the last 5 years. Judge said he's "pretty surprised" that the XME "would be up every year double digits for the past 5." Bob said that ETF is "probably 30% gold stocks."

Judge noted Josh Brown's recent buy of WBD is on a 4-day win streak. "I think I got lucky on the timing," Brown said.

Weiss hasn’t had anything new to say about NFLX in weeks months years but keeps getting asked about it anyway

Fairly early into Monday's (5/13) Halftime Report, we heard Jenny Harrington state, "It's just as easy for me to use bing search on my phone as it is Google search."

Well, that's true.

On the other hand, more than a year ago, the computers at CNBCfix HQ actually switched over search pages from Google to bing, for at least a month.

And frankly, it seemed like bing sucks.

Just too many fringe or obscure results than are expected from Google, and nowhere close in image searching.

But whatever Jenny wants to do.

Giddy just last week about owning stocks, Steve Weiss was Mr. Cool on Monday's Halftime.

Judge started the show asking Weiss about trimming Alphabet and selling the QQQ. (This writer is long GOOGL and QQQ.)

Weiss said that when Alphabet (we're guessing GOOGL but not sure) was in the 130s with all the "noise," he thought there was "no there there" to the complaints and he started to "supersize the position," now he's just trimming it back. He said selling the QQQ is just "risk management."

Weiss said he "will lighten up" on META because it's just too big of a position.

Moments later, Joe Terranova offered, "I'll tell you the risk in selling the Q's right now — Apple's going higher." And, Joe said there could be another "parabolic move" in NVDA post-earnings.

Joe tried to explain to Weiss how hard it is to outperform when not owning AAPL while it's going up, as Joe says it is now.

Weiss said he didn't want Joe to take it personally, but it's "gettin' old that you gotta own Apple." Weiss said the earnings growth is driven by buybacks, not fundamentals.

Jenny said AAPL "can't" use its pile of cash to do deals. Judge asked, "What do you mean they 'can't'?" Jenny said, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

Weiss admited that he keeps calling NFLX the "leader" in streaming. (This writer is long NFLX.) "No sense repeating it, but I will," Weiss said. Then he compared Netflix to Secretariat. "You're datin' yourself, Weiss," Judge said. Joe said NFLX is still 15% below its all-time high. Joe did NOT say that any stock is guaranteed to go back to its all-time high. #howfarisPelotonofftheall-timehigh

Weiss yet again predicted AMD will take a "steady march back up to 80."

On GME, Weiss suggested that Roaring Kitty may have "tapped the kitty too much" and "is broke" and now needs to get it "roarin' again." Weiss said he thought everybody "tapped out of this one the last time."

Judge referred to the text at the bottom of the screen as the "deco, as we call it."

Karen says iPad ad is ‘terrible’
(a/k/a every bracket is better off)

The crew on Friday's (5/10) Fast Money took up the controversial iPad ad, with mixed reviews.

Tim Seymour said he's not offended at all by the ad; "there's social media outrage on almost anything."

However, Karen Finerman stated, "I actually thought it was terrible." Karen questioned what Steve Jobs would've thought of such a destruction of creative tools

Steve Grasso offered that this is how technology improves things, and "Ford never apologized to horse and buggies," and in AAPL's case, "It shouldn't have been an apology; it should've been a rephrase of what they're exactly trying to get to with the ad."

Meanwhile, Karen said some upper-income people shop at COST because they find great value and find it "totally fun."

Grasso stated, "Every income bracket is doing better off than they were pre-pandemic. Every one." Steve said that's based on "net worth" and the "amount of debt that they're carrying."

Weiss is ‘longest in memory’

Judge opened Friday's (5/10) Halftime Report saying "the big news" (snicker) is that the S&P is within 1% of a record.

Get ready to pop the corks.

Judge said Tom Lee and Jonathan Krinsky, who hasn't been on the show for a while, see more gains. Steve Weiss revealed, "I'm on that page for now," before sounding giddy about virtually every stock on the program.

Weiss said Jay Powell "put a floor under the market" by indicating "no more rate increases."

"I'm the longest I've been in, in, in memory, actually," Weiss revealed, catching Judge's attention.

Weiss told Judge he's surprised at the market's long-term resilience. But Weiss said there's "even more pressure" now on those living "paycheck to paycheck."

Not quite as giddy as Weiss, Jim Lebenthal said he had to note that "every time the rally has broadened, it has reversed seemingly a week or two later." Jim said the market is "hinging on" next week's PPI and CPI, and while it "may seem counterintuitive," Jim wouldn't be surprised if inflation is soft and the market still goes down because it might be near or in full-value territory.

Jim explained, "The correction we had in April didn't seem deep enough." (The funny thing is, we remember Jim saying the same thing all through April 2020, that the late March bounce-back couldn't be trusted because obviously the market still has farther to go lower.)

Bill Baruch, though, happily declared, "Buy in May, and this bull market is here to stay." Bill said other sectors have taken leadership, but he thinks the "thrust" is still coming from tech.

Hard to find a stock that Weiss doesn’t like

It only took 10 minutes on Friday's (5/10) Halftime for Judge to get to another Tony Pasquariello note, which basically just observed that Megacap Tech giants earn more money than other companies.

Steve Weiss said that you might think MSFT or AMZN is "overvalued," but "it's only a moment in time they're overvalued."

Weiss is back in ASML with a smaller position; "I was clearly wrong in selling it."

Weiss doesn't own C but Jim Lebenthal does; Weiss nevertheless said Jane Fraser has done a "phenomenal job" and praised Fraser for moving into the "high end of wealth management."

Weiss congratulated Bill Baruch (who was on the show) and Kevin Simpson (who wasn't) for recent buy-CAT calls. Weiss has added a small position.

Weiss bought more NFLX and said "you have to buy this one when it's down." (This writer is long NFLX.) He said Netflix is "No. 1" but the "Disney-Hulu combination" will be among the "2 leaders."

Weiss said once ADM clears its restatement hurdle, "the stock should go back to 80."

Weiss said DKS works because people spend on their pets and their kids, and he regrets selling it a lot lower.

Steve Liesman said Michelle Bowman doesn't see rate cuts being "warranted" this year. Steve isn't sure that's any kind of change in Bowman's position.

Bill Baruch said a lot of the "spend" is already in for T and he thinks it could start expanding margins. Weiss questioned if the stock's rally is tied to rates.

Bill said MCD's promotion plans aren't enough to get him "excited" about the stock, but he is interested in the digital marketing initiative.

Bill actually mentioned "BRICS," first time we've heard that term on the show in maybe years; Bill said those central banks are "buying gold hand over fist right now."

Dom Chu reported late in the show that Jim Simons has died at 86. Judge, Santoli and Weiss discussed Simons' legacy and impact on quant investing. "It was mathematical, it was statistical arbitrage," Santoli said.

Josh says utilities ‘caught fire’ as AI trade, but it will ‘end in tears’

Josh Brown opened Thursday's (5/9) Halftime Report saying SHOP and ABNB are "fine," but the outlook just wasn't as great as people hoped.

Liz Young said if we could "parse out" how much the rise in some of these tech stocks was multiple expansion vs. fundamentals, we'd find that what they're "giving back" is just multiple expansion.

Jim Lebenthal said the problem with chasing tech stocks is that "you lose sight of the fact that outside of technology, there's a lot (snicker) of areas of this economy and the stock market that are actually doing really well right now."

Josh said you have to decide if you're an "investor" or a "trader," and if you're a trader, are you a "momentum player" or something else. "If you're a momentum trader, you're in the utitlities right now," Josh said. He said "utilities caught fire as like an AI play," however, he said, "That's gonna end in tears by the way."

In what may have been the show's most intriguing suggestion/observation, Josh noted AMZN is at an all-time high; "this is the new Apple" and the name everyone is "chasing."

AMZN does seem a little bulletproof. (This writer has no position in AMZN.) And we wondered about Brown's comment when Bryn Talkington dialed in to discuss the "overreaction" to RBLX's guidance, suggesting she "will be adding" on Monday after giving it 3 days to cool off. Bryn said it's trading like a "Snapchat quarter." Honestly, we don't quite get why Bryn is so plugged in to this stock, especially as Josh noted, she can just buy AMZN and probably expect to do better.

Josh said the problem with RBLX is that it's "very lumpy."

Kevin Simpson sold some calls on AAPL, saying "we were purchasing it 164 2 weeks ago." He said "it gives us a little bit of a hedge to the downside," and he wouldn't "lose any sleep" if it got called at 195.

Kevin sold AVGO, calling it "fully valued."

Jim elucidates another argument for small caps

Judge on Thursday's (5/9) Halftime Report said Jeff DeGraaf is touting small caps, and Judge asked small-cap fan Jim Lebenthal for an opinion.

Jim said "I think it's right" and said he wanted to "elucidate" (snicker) that thesis a little more. Jim said the argument against small caps most often is higher rates, but it's a "trite phrase" because interest expense is not a big cost for these companies, it's really what rates might do to the broader economy.

Josh Brown said he was "drinking margaritas" with DeGraaf the day before Cinco de Mayo and that Jeff is looking for areas where "there's really no one left to sell."

However, Josh said the issue with small caps is that "the best companies in the index get promoted and leave," which means "over time, the small caps are actually some of the worst companies."

How many people has Jim encountered who told him they’re eager to buy a GM product

In a trade he wasn't too interested in defending, Josh Brown on Thursday's (5/9) Halftime Report discussed buying WBD, but with a stop loss, citing the no-one-left-to-sell argument.

We did hear Brown say "Now they're making money though on the streaming platform" (uh oh) and even mention "Hulu" (uh oh). Anyway, he thinks "the reward outweighs the risk."

Jim Lebenthal said he bought more DIS, claiming with a straight face that "streaming is the future (snicker) of this business." Jim acknowledged the linear headwinds but said linear companies are transitioning to streaming; "It's not the newspaper business" of the 1990s.

Jim actually suggested $70 for GM. (And once again, he just mentions "results" and buybacks and not any specific product that people are dying to get.)

TOST hit a 52-week high; Josh suggested maybe fears of competition are overblown.

Josh said the big success of the Berkshire meeting was showing that the "next generation" of company leaders are "ready, willing and able" (NOT a pun on Greg Abel's name) (then again, maybe it was) (have to think about the spelling of "able" there) to continue the work of Warren and Charlie.

Jim said RIG has regained all of its earnings knockdown; Jim said the stock is fairly valued until the "cold-stacked idle rigs" ... do something or other; then the stock will climb, Jim said.

Judge said PFE "hired a sell-side analyst," but it's not "the most bullish person on their stock," but rather the "opposite." Josh said "that's so gangster" and praised the company for adding a voice that may have helpful criticisms that can improve the leadership.

Bertha Coombs reported on News Update that Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are "stepbrothers" of Barron Trump, and that Tiffany Trump is Barron's "stepsister." (Just because someone writes this copy doesn't mean the presenter has to say it.)

So much for all-day breakfast — people have ‘never heard’ McD’s make these kinds of comments about the consumer

Joe Terranova on Wednesday's (5/8) Halftime Report waffled as to whether there's concern about discretionary spending.

Joe said there's a correlation between "off price" names such as TJX and ROST and yields.

Kari Firestone said DIS "raised price too much" at the parks. (But it's got a streaming platform that according to Weiss is going to be a "winner.")

Hours later on Fast Money, Grandpa Guy Adami, who's been complaining about the Fed/warning about the economy since Kiner was leading the Senior Circuit in home runs, said that while they've been doing the show 17 years, they've "never heard McDonald's say the things they've said over the last couple months in terms of their consumer."

Karen Finerman pointed out that in contrast to MCD, CMG is surging, "doing something right every single time."

"I'll say again," Guy said moments later. "The revisions (snicker) that we conin- continue to see with these job numbers, it's gonna catch up at some point."

Joe apologizes for something he needn’t apologize for, doesn’t know why his own ETF found SHOP a compelling buy

Judge on Wednesday's (5/8) Halftime noted that SHOP is in the JOET.

Joe declared, "This stock is technically and fundamentally broken." (The term used to be "penalty box," but since the JOET, Joe doesn't refer to "penalty box" anymore.)

(Note: We would say "sorry about the glum picture above," but that's exactly how Joe greeted viewers during the intros at the beginning of the show; this one's on Joe.)

Joe said the "larger question" for him is why "the rules" put it in the JOET. Joe said he found there's been a "reawakening" in emerging software companies including ZM, but this "reawakening" has a success rate that's actually "very low."

Joe said he probably wouldn't buy DDOG at 116, though he might if it moved higher.

Bill Baruch joined remotely to talk about his AAPL buy. Bill said there could be a "tailwind" into the Worldwide Developers Conference that lifts the stock past 190 in the next month.

Bill also added AMGN, which launched the group into a discussion about the diet drugs and whether users/insurers can keep paying for them forever, whether they be weekly shots or monthly, as AMGN's is. Kari Firestone said if AMGN's drug works, people wouldn't have to take it for the entire rest of their lives.

Joe said "the comps get easier for health care," and, "I'll apologize to the viewers: I fell asleep on this one. Merck." He said he got out "around 110 last year," now it's 130, and he hasn't yet gotten back in. (Yowza. He actually did not invest in a stock that's up less than 20% in 6 months.)

Kari says Belski might be ‘a little early’ on real estate

Kari Firestone on Wednesday's (5/8) Halftime Report talked up CNX, suggesting nat gas has "bottomed." (We've heard that before.)

Kari bought AFHTF, a stock that surely has never been mentioned on the show before; it's the top rival to URI, Kari said.

Joe Terranova again talked about how $65-$85 oil is the "sweet spot" for energy stocks.

Kari owns SHW and loves the Evercore upgrade. Joe said the JOET just added SQ, which Judge said is "increasingly likely" to join the S&P 500, according to Barclays. Joe lumped in SQ with his "reawakening" names he mentioned earlier.

ODFL got an upgrade from Baird; Joe said it's in the JOET, "and truckload is in a bad position right now," even though "the group trades at a premium to the S&P 500," or 12% above its 1-year average.

Kari said "TripAdvisor is a company in chaos."

Judge said Brian Belski has a new note claiming real estate is "oversold." Kari Firestone said that call "could be a little early." Shannon Saccocia said "you can be selective in this space."

Joe praised ANET. Kari said she sold ALGN when she was "starting to worry about China." Joe said the JOET unloaded ALGN at the end of April.

The Fast Money crew chuckled about Brian Chesky apparently blaming ABNB results on the "timing of Easter."

Pulling his leg: We forgot to post images last Friday from Bill Murray enjoying Santoli’s Midday Word at Berkshire meeting in Omaha

At the top of Wednesday's (5/8) Halftime Report, Judge wondered if the growth trade has headwinds.

Joe Terranova called the UBER reax "a great example of a measurement for sentiment and positioning (Zzzzzzz)." Joe said 92% of the analyst community has UBER as a buy. (This writer is long UBER.)

Much later in the show, Mike Santoli described UBER as a "supercrowded" hedge fund name that is spending gobs each quarter "on legal stuff."

Kari Firestone said it's not about whether the growth trade is "tired," it's whether stocks have run so much that "they're getting a little tired just of the ascent."

Kari noted that megacap earnings are up 39% while "the rest of the S&P" is at -3%, "so they are still pulling their weight."

Joe said if NVDA misses, "The market's going down."

Karen Finerman wonders about the timing of DIS’ good and bad quarters (as well as Howard’s letter ...)

It appeared during Tuesday's (5/7) Fast Money that you can count Karen Finerman among those wondering how lucky it was for DIS management to post a great quarter ahead of the proxy fight while saving the bad quarter for after the proxy fight was settled.

"I can't help but wonder, the timing of this release relative to the proxy fight ... now that it's over, not such a strong quarter." Karen said, chuckling that she might just be "overly, you know, conspiracy theorist or something."

Karen said there "could be some more downside" in the stock.

Tim Seymour asserted that "the streaming losses dynamic is still the most important part of this story." (But Steve Weiss claimed recently that DIS will be a "winner" in streaming. How many more years does it need.) (See below.)

Tim said Disney's linear business "sucks," then said "sorry for that."

But Karen wasn't done. Karen pointed out that these DIS results are for the quarter ended March 31, while the annual meeting was April 2, "so they had to have some sense of how this current quarter was going."

Karen also said it was "sort of odd" that Howard Schultz made his SBUX gripes public, explaining that it "certainly serves to undermine the CEO."

Adam Parker actually claims that investing in Megacap Tech carries ‘increasing risk’ (a/k/a Dinner with Dan Ives)

Judge said on Tuesday's (5/7) Halftime Report that Adam Parker issued a note about "increasing risk" in Megacap Tech investments, citing beta.

Jason Snipe said there could be something to it, but right now, "they're a safe haven."

Josh Brown said Adam "absolutely has a point" (snicker) but that beta issues matter differently to different investors.

Judge opened the show announcing that Bill Baruch (who wasn't one of the day's panelists) bought CRWD.

Bill connected remotely and said he had "stayed away from traditional cybersecurity" out of fear that "hyperscalers" would dominate. But Bill said he had a conversation with Dan Ives at dinner in February. Bill said Dan said, "I've been getting that question ever since Tom Brady was playing football at Michigan." Bill said that "spoke a lot to me" and convinced him he needed CRWD exposure.

Joe Terranova brought up PANW (the stock he loves to mention) and noted its "significant decline" in February, but he said CRWD has had a good recovery and recently was added to JOET, so Joe is "all in on the cybersecurity trade."

Joe outlined the difference between PLTR and DDOG. Joe said the JOET added PLTR at $16 in January. Joe said the free cash flow generation took a significant drop, and you'll have to be "patient." Joe said he'd be less excited about buying DDOG.

Josh hung a $200 on AMZN in Final Trades. Joe said there's "no stronger case" for momentum than in GRMN.

Brad Gerstner expects a ‘negotiated settlement’ over TikTok

Brad Gerstner, the star guest of Tuesday's (5/7) Halftime Report who was live from the Milken conference, actually brought up Larry Summers' opinion (snicker) on interest rates while describing pretty much the entire stock market/AI backdrop.

It was 24 minutes into the interview when Brad finally brought up his Invest America idea, the "401(k) from birth," the congressional prospects of which this page has already outlined (see below) (spoiler alert: Don't count on this passing either house of Congress). (There was nothing about The Board Challenge, which apparently is now defunct.)

Brad said it "makes sense" if someone wants to trim from AI-related names because of how great the stocks have already done year to date.

Judge asked Brad about META and its bad April. Brad pronounced META as "the single greatest benficiary of the AI boom" and pointed out its revenue growth since 2022.

Judge asked Brad, a recent critic of Alphabet, about that company. Brad said he actually bought Alphabet around $130 because of its declaration about making "structural changes." However, Brad said it needs to "get fit" and deal with competition.

Brad said his expectation is increasing that there will be "some negotiated settlement" with TikTok.

Jim says he doesn’t want an ‘inane conversation,’ but Judge insists it’s not inane

Shortly into Monday's (5/6) Halftime Report, Jim Lebenthal started talking up owning the IJR; Judge seemed to think Jim was claiming he bought it in December (he apparently did) when in fact, "You bought small caps recently," Judge insisted.

Jim clarified that he started in December, and "I did add to it recently."

Jim said he chose the IJR because it "purposely excludes the non-earning companies, because I didn't want to have this inane conversation which is what people throw at me every time I try to say this is a good- a good place-"

"My first time!" Rob Sechan cut in, for some reason.

"It's not an inane conversation," Judge cut in, saying that "every time" Jim argues that small caps are "the place to be," it's "not necessarily been the case."

Joe Terranova protested that "if we're prioritizing quality, the IJR should be outperforming the Russell."

Joe bluntly asserted, "The problem with small caps is they don't have the exposure to artificial intelligence." (We think that's a major reach, but it is an interesting argument.)

Jim shrugged, noting, "Artificial intelligence has been talked about now for 18 months, I mean, that could be a little long in the tooth at this point in time."

Steve Grasso still sees 3 rate cuts

Judge opened Monday's (5/6) Halftime Report asking Rob Sechan about the catalyst for the next rally.

Rob said "Momentum is with us here for now," but beyond that, it's about GDP revisions and earnings delivering. But he thinks we're in a "good spot" in the short term.

Jim Lebenthal contended that what Powell said last week "really pushes off the idea of the recession."

Jim conceded CVS had an "awful" report and the company's a "mess."

Judge asked Rob about selling CMCSA; Rob called it a "tax loss" to offset portfolio gains.

Bryn Talkington, participating remotely, said AAPL has just had an "extreme shift" in technicals.

In a point that wasn't made with enough completeness, Joe Terranova said Warren Buffett was just questioning if people would choose between "getting rid of their iPhone or maybe having 2 personal vehicles." Joe said Warren said people would get rid of the vehicle over the iPhone, one of the reasons being the existence of UBER.

If we understand that question correctly, it sounds like Warren Buffett is asking people with 2 cars (presumably households of 2 or more people), if they had to get rid of either one of the cars or their iPhone, they'd choose the car. We're not sure why anyone would be faced with that decision, and we're not sure how the answer would be any different than the answer from 80 years ago.

Judge did break his streak of mentioning that Toni Sacconaghi says to "buy the fear" in AAPL that, had it occurred Monday, would've been about the 5th or 6th day in a row.

After the A Block, Judge was jabbing Jim about BRK.A selling PARA and calling it a "dud"; Judge told Jim, "At least they sold it," prompting chuckles around the table.

Judge noted that Jim, Rob and Joe all own VRTX. Rob and Jim wouldn't explain why it's underperforming. Joe told Judge the stock is underperforming "because of the potential $5 billion deal with Alpine." Jim insisted the stock's been a "home run" prior to 2024.

Briefly discussing DIS, Jim brought up, once again, Hulu (Zzzzzzzzzz).

Tyler Mathisen on The Exchange praised Judge for the "quickest Final Trades ever."

On Fast Money, Steve Grasso said he still expects rate cuts in 2024. "I'm still betting we're gonna have 3," Steve said.

Judge yet again says that Toni Sacconaghi (who hadn’t been mentioned on the show prior to this week in probably more than a year) says ‘buy the fear’ in AAPL

The Legend of Tony Pasquariello surfaced again on Friday's (5/3) Halftime Report. Tony, whose notes have become a daily soundbite for Judge like Santoli's Midday Wrap, apparently thinks the market is in "choppy waters" and recommends "simplify your portfolio" and own Megacap Tech and other obvious choices.

Steve Weiss said he appreciates how Tony arrives at his conclusions; Weiss said "there's no point in getting over your skis here," he doesn't see the market "running away to the upside."

Weiss said the market multiple is the type of multiple you get during easy monetary policy.

Judge had opened the show declaring the market got "a perfect jobs report for the bulls and for the Fed." Weiss agreed it's not any more complicated than that. Weiss said Powell gave a "very dovish" press conference.

Kevin Simpson said that in the morning at the open, "We wrote a covered call in Apple." Weiss said, "You know, Apple would have no earnings growth without their buybacks. It's all financial engineering."

Judge claimed with a straight face that for AAPL, "AI may very well be what leads to the next great refresh cycle."

Late in the show, Judge called Mike Tirico an "NBC Sports legend." When Mike reported from Churchill Downs, Mike impressively pointed out one reason why Bob Baffert may not be at the Derby this year (it's the 150th anniversary and they don't want controversy).

Weiss said he bought more GS on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Judge opened the latter half of the show returning from a commercial and stating, "Berkshire Hathaway's annhole (sic) share- annual shareholder meeting kicking off less than 24 hours from now ..."

‘I don’t think the correction’s over’

Honestly, this page really couldn't discern a headline from Thursday's (5/2) Halftime Report, so we're basically just going to report it chronologically.

Judge opened asking Josh Brown, "Did a more dovish Fed chair just settle the market for another leg up?" Judge quoted Powell, "I don't see the stag — or the flation."

Josh said "the Fed doubled down" on the outlook being 1 or 2 or zero cuts.

Liz Young said "we're either getting a hold, or a cut."

Brian Belski said "we are transitioning to normality" (snicker) and said he was "completely confused" about the chatter of raising rates heading into the meeting.

However, "I don't think the correction's over, by the way. I think we have a little bit more to go," Belski said, saying calls for just a 5% drop are "too cutesy."

Judge aired a clip of Jeffrey Gundlach bringing up a common slogan a day earlier on Closing Bell: "I don't like really risk- risky stuff, because I think higher for longer is gonna start takin'- taking some of the bodies out." (Sounds like more of Steve Weiss' lag effect.)

As for the day's big earnings report that was yet to happen, Josh Brown said the market just has to realize that companies as big as AAPL can't grow as fast as smaller companies.

Judge even mentioned that Toni Sacconaghi advised earlier this week to "buy the fear," the 2nd reference to Toni this week after seemingly years without one. Belski said he's focused on AAPL tailwinds, not headwinds, said AAPL is "humble" about AI and predicted AAPL will "crush it."

As for reasons to upgrade a phone, Josh joked, "I need a 5th lens like I need a 3rd nipple. ... Am I in trouble now?"

(Later, Closing Bell featured Joe Terranova and Bryn Talkington. Judge brought up the rebalancing in the 2nd minute. Joe again explained (for different viewers, apparently) why the JOET ditched AAPL. Joe said he can't remember quarterly expectations for AAPL being so low. Bryn said 172 has been support for AAPL. Judge mentioned Toni's "buy the fear" yet again (for those who haven't already heard it). Joe said he'd be "surprised" if AAPL delivers a "weak quarter" and the stock sells. Joe was correct; the stock rose.) (This review was posted overnight Thursday-Friday.)

Meanwhile, Josh declared PFE "one of the most mispriced securities in the market right now." Belski said "I think it's dead money." Belski said PFE needs an "entire year" to right the ship.

Right after the A Block, Josh said he sold EBAY because "earnings were weak" and the stock is "basically sitting on support."

Belski talked up REGN. Josh said SHAK is "one of my biggest winners ever personally."

Judge hailed Josh's start-of-the-year contrarian Trade of KWEB, which Brown doesn't even own. Josh cited Jim Grant, "Good things happen to cheap assets." Josh said he still thinks it's a contrarian play and China thinks those stocks need to work. Liz Young said her concern is that it goes "nowhere."

Brian Belski noted, "The whole energy sector is 3% of the S&P, that's uh, about half the size of Apple." Josh Brown touted IEO. Liz said, "I like energy a lot."

Judge wished Belski a happy birthday during Final Trades.

Steve Liesman basically declares that inflation is a free-market issue, not a government/Federal Reserve issue

Every day, there is lots of commentary on CNBC about the Federal Reserve and inflation. (And some of it's bogus.)

So we were practically astounded to hear CNBC's Steve Liesman during Wednesday's (5/1) Halftime Report telling Judge what is basically the absolute truth about inflation.

"What is supposed to happen? Well maybe this is what's happening: Companies raise prices, prices get too high, too hot, and people back off buying it, and that causes companies to eventually reduce their prices or compress their margins. ... That's a process that normally happens."

And we thought it was Jay Powell who makes people buy things.

We were hoping Steve would address whatever happened to the "lag effect," a concept that Steve Weiss is always talking about, from those 2008-2020 ZIRP rates of ... 12 years, but we're grateful that Steve Liesman said what he did.

Liesman even added, "The Fed is not gonna solve the inflation problem the American people care about, which is the price level. It's targeting the rate."

We'll put it another way. Everyone notices the car tire is going flat. The Fed stops the car. The Fed doesn't change the tire.

Steve also said Larry Summers has the "more extreme ideas" of rates not being "sufficent" to bring down inflation.

Steve pointed to SBUX' results as a sign of economic headwinds. Judge pointed out that Chipotle raised prices, and its report a week ago was a lot different than SBUX's.

Steve Weiss tried to claim that "competition" is hurting SBUX; Judge scoffed that the comps weren't down by this "magnitude ... as a result of competition."

"Inflation is a domestic problem," offered Joe Terranova, stating it's coming down "aggressively" in the "rest of the world."

Jeffrey Gundlach on Closing Bell told Judge he doesn't see more than one rate hike this year.

Judge says stocks cast aside by the JOET may be ‘troughing’

The day after Joe's quarterly rebalancing of the JOET quite frankly is not one of our favorite Halftime Report days, given that it ends up being about a half an hour of Joe telling Judge that the computer detects a loss of momentum. We honestly can't figure out why Judge is asking Joe about decisions Joe's computer is making; why doesn't Judge just ask the computer.

Judge on Wednesday (5/1) said the "big news" of the day is JOET rebalancing; Judge said the biggest move is that the JOET sold AAPL and TSLA.

Joe said AAPL was bought at 169 and sold at 170, "basically a scratch." Joe cited "declining revenue growth."

Viewers also learned that the JOET sold LLY. Joe said he would've preferred it stay in; Joe called LLY "probably a $900 stock" at some point.

Judge wondered if the "danger" in the JOET strategy is that things appearing to lose momentum actually may be "troughing." Joe said if the strategy is working, it "corrects that mistake" in the next rebalance. (That's encouraging — miss on a stock, wait 3 months to maybe play catch-up.)

Joe said of AMD, "There was obviously a (sic not 'an') overbought condition." Judge was obsessed with the AMD fundamentals. Joe pointed out that the AMD earnings were released after the JOET rebalancing.

Joe says market going ‘nowhere’ for months (a/k/a Jim Cramer complains about service at Starbucks)

While Wall Street and beyond tries to figure out exactly what Jay Powell means on days such as Wednesday (5/1), the Halftime Report crew was sorta wondering the same thing regarding Joe Terranova's assessment of the stock market.

"I think the firm landing is here," Joe stated, adding he doesn't see the Fed putting another rate hike on the table and thinks it won't be "too disruptive" on Wednesday to the markets.

Judge asked what that means. Joe continued, "I actually think you get the rate cut at some point in 2023."

Steve Weiss said it sounds like Joe was implying the market is a "buying opportunity." Joe said "the market's gonna run to a lot of different places over the next several months and ultimately go nowhere"; for now, "5% either way," it's a "coin flip."

Well, given that, honestly, we gotta wonder, shouldn't the JOET dump all its stocks and buy bonds to make some guaranteed interest until August or so?

Weiss said he's in the camp of "wait for opportunities." Weiss is suddenly claiming again the lag effect of rates, citing "this tightening policy that's been going on for a really long time right now and should've hit the economy sooner but hasn't because of all the policy liquidity that's put into the market."

Judge said Jan Hatzius is still predicting rate cuts this year, "probably twice."

On Fast Money, Mel was obviously told to highlight what she described as the "cringeworthy" Cramer/Faber SBUX interview from Squawk on the Street.

‘I think we’ve had 1 bout of stagflation in, like, 50 years’

Extending a dry season in Halftime Report subject matter, Judge opened Tuesday's (4/30) show hinting at stagflation.

Stephanie Link declared it's "way too premature to talk about stagflation." Judge wondered why, if things are so great for the consumer as Stephanie indicated, consumer confidence is so weak. Stephanie said there are "ebbs and flows."

"I don't think stagflation is the issue," Jim Lebenthal offered. Jim said he remembers the '70s, and, "This just doesn't remind me of it."

Judge told Jim and Stephanie that they seem to be "explaining away it all." Stephanie fired back with more stats.

Josh Brown, taking part in the show remotely, asserted "there's no stagflation."

Josh in fact said we have to be "really careful" about "prophecying stagflation." Judge said about 3-4 times, "No one's calling for it," but Judge said it's "obviously" in the conversation.

Josh said tech and discretionary stocks wouldn't be where they're at if the market believed the "stagflation narrative." Judge protested that they've only spent "a day" or just "a few hours" discussing stagflation, not "days and weeks." (Just wait.) (Well, actually, the "higher for longer" narrative didn't last for very long, nor did the notion of higher rates being stimulative, nor did the notion of (not an actual quote) "Steve Mnuchin wouldn't be in NYCB if there wasn't value there.")

Later, after cycling through an AMZN preview and another go-round on chips, Judge brought in Steve Liesman for a Fed preview. Steve told Judge, "You know, Scott, I'm sort of curious as to why stagflation has become such a go-to possibility. ... I think we've had 1 bout of stagflation in, like, 50 years."

LYV fan Josh Brown quoted the Deutsche Bank bull call, which apparently says the "most likely outcome" of regulatory scrutiny is stagflation pro-consumer reforms that won't be "materially disruptive" to the business. Josh said that under $100, LYV is a "gift."

Jim said more Wall Street analysts should've started believing in C "a long time earlier."

Josh Brown asked Jim why RIG hasn't done a reverse split. Jim suggested it's because "it's so darn volatile." Judge chuckled off all the technical glitches during Final Trade.

Steve Grasso on Fast Money said he "just recently noticed" that Amazon Prime now costs $140 a year.

Jim says the robotaxi is a ‘huge canard’

Judge returned to the Halftime Report helm on Monday (4/29), but the show couldn't have been sleepier.

We're not even sure what to begin with.

Adam Parker, the star guest (that's correct), is ... just not quite as bullish as maybe he recently was.

Strapped or desperate for headline material, Judge actually brought in Adam remotely in the 9th minute to discuss Adam's "bit of a pivot" (that was Judge's term) from a more bullish outlook to what Adam described as a "more balanced" risk/reward positioning, partly because of stalling in China.

Adam cautioned that if "stagflation" gets more into the everday "vernacular," that's trouble.

At another moment, Judge brought up Toni Sacconaghi, whose name Judge hasn't mentioned in ages, saying Toni is advising buying the fear in AAPL. Joe "Rebalancing" Terranova said of AAPL, "In the near term to me, the technicals don't look good (Zzzzzzz)." Jim Lebenthal said he disagrees with Toni's timing; Jim doesn't want to buy in front of earnings.

Judge even mentioned something about Jonathan Krinsky (who's not on the program very often anymore) (that's what happens when bear markets become bull markets) seeing "flags" raised, but Judge admitted, "Let's be honest: The technicians since the October bottom have been run over by the bull train."

Judge opened the program saying he's "not so sure" sentiment has changed a whole lot given that the previous week didn't feel as great as it apparently was (Zzzzzzzzzz). Joe Terranova said this is a big week because of AMZN.

Jim noted his year-end S&P target is 5,100, and that's where the S&P is at right now.

Joe said, "I think you're gonna see money managers be risk-averse (Zzzzzzzzz)," which Joe said is the "right disposition" for "several months."

Jim said he's waiting for an "entry point" on UBER. (This writer is long UBER.) Joe asked Jim about buying in reaction to Tesla's robotaxi issues. Jim said the robotaxi is a "huge canard" in this space.

Courtney calls Weiss ‘Jim’ and ‘Joe’

On Friday's (4/26) Halftime Report, guest hosted by Courtney Reagan, Josh Brown discussed buying NFLX. (This writer is long NFLX.)

"Right now it's a trade," Brown said. He said he's "done this before with Netflix," when it "blew up" in April 2022 and was "one of the best buying opportunities" that year for a large cap growth name.

Brown said, "I can't believe that we saw reaction like we did about them reducing the subscriber guidance. It's such a childish metric to begin with."

Steve Weiss said he's got a "small position" (snicker) in NFLX and that Brown "laid it out perfectly, very articulately." Weiss said his long-term rationale for NFLX is that "you're seeing the competitors fall by the wayside." Despite what he said a while back at DIS' streaming prospects (check our archives), Weiss said "Disney'll be a winner in it, but that's it." (Really. How will they be a "winner" in it. Are there more costs to cut?)

Weiss bought more META at 416, citing the slogan "Scared money don't make money."

Jim Lebenthal's buying more NVDA but "not adding big positions." Bryn Talkington praised that move and said "All roads lead to Nvidia."

Josh Brown said the "optics" of Alphabet have been "horrendous" and that the company "almost looks like a college campus." But there's a "tailwind" from AI and ad spending.

In the 17th minute, Courtney first called Weiss "Jim," then "Joe," without correcting herself.

Bryn said BHP is in the "penalty box" and outlined the copper/iron scene. Courtney said, "Wow, lot of angles to that story, Bryn."

Josh Brown explained how MTTR, despite surging Friday on deal news, was a bad trade for him because he bought it in 2021.

At the end of the show, Weiss said he unloaded all of his bitcoin, basically it sounded like he thought the trade had run its course.

We did catch Thursday's (4/25) Halftime, guest hosted by Courtney, but we weren't exactly paying close attention what with the NFL Draft in the works that day. We did notice Bill Baruch saying he added to META before the quarterly report, but he's not (yet) adding more after the selloff. Bill said it'll be essential for META to spend on AI, and he thinks election-season spending will boost later-in-the-year results.

Elon was either ‘the adult in the room,’ or a master manipulator

In the 16th minute of Wednesday's (4/24) Halftime Report, Judge brought up TSLA.

Bryn Talkington said she said a day earlier on Closing Bell that she wouldn't short the stock into earnings, "I thought it was a very good earnings call. Elon was like the adult in the room (snicker)."

Bryn said "I don't wanna hear about robotaxis" but that Tesla can build a cheaper car on the "same theoretical chassis." Bryn thinks the stock will "find a floor."

Then Judge turned to Steve Weiss, who famously clashed with Bryn on this subject a week ago. "She had a brilliant call going into the quarter," Weiss said, revealing he covered "half" of his short going into the quarter.

But as for fundamentals, Weiss said it was "as if Elon sat in a room with, uh, with the CFO and said 'What can we say that's going to- that's going to hit everybody's hot button, put their fears aside and have those announcements not really take place, the productivity of those announcements, for a few quarters or a few years or a decade, and let them hang on to the dream."

"We've seen this movie before," Judge said of TSLA.

Weiss conceded Musk is "one of the top entrepreneurs of all time." Weiss said his own TSLA stake is a "very small position" and he "cut it more after the opening," but "at this point, it's a nuisance." (Translation: The trade went against him.)

Judge then asked Joe Terranova about TSLA in one of the longest, Marichal-esque windups of all time, asking Joe, "Take me through the thought process" (sigh). Joe started off by noting the stock is "27% below its 200-day moving average," always a favorite stat of CNBCers. Joe then said "Bryn" 4 times while trying to describe what Bryn is thinking about TSLA. Joe said he himself is "extremely (snicker) neutral" on TSLA.

Could be the catalyst — or could drop like NFLX

Judge started off Wednesday's (4/24) Halftime Report comparing expectations for earnings growth between Mag 7 and the rest of the market. "This is unbelievable," Judge claimed with a straight face.

Joe Terranova said META "could be the near-term catalyst for the market." On the other hand, "it could be a scenario similar to Netflix." (This writer is long NFLX.)

Steve Weiss said after the A Block that he bought more NFLX. "Still a small position," he said, as he says every time.

As for tech earnings, Weiss contended, "It's still clearly on, on, on Alphabet, is where the pressure is" and where the "daggers are lining up."

Weiss said META has the "easiest pathway to showing the impact of AI."

Joe said if META, MSFT and GOOGL fell, he'd buy the dip. Bryn Talkington said "theoretically" she'd buy the dip in MSFT, but it's "very very very unlikely Microsoft even has a dip." She wouldn't buy Alphabet though; "I don't know who runs this company."

Weiss called VRT "the safest way to play AI growth."

Leslie Picker reported on the latest Greenlight letter. Judge emphasized that Einhorn doesn't think value investing is "dead," just the value investing INDUSTRY is "dead," a catchy slogan that David has been dispensing that doesn't really make any sense.

On Closing Bell, Adam Parker revealed he's more bullish now than he was at the beginning of the month.

Karen says ‘so many things to not like’ at TSLA

In an episode of the Halftime Report on Tuesday (4/23) that was basically Jim's Greatest Hits (Zzzzzzz), the most interesting news was Judge reporting that Jamie Dimon was speaking at the New York Economic Club and that Jamie pronounced the economy "booming" and said it has been "booming for a while."

So there you go.

Jim Lebenthal said if the market drops by only 2%, "it is very unwise to sell in anticipation of that."

In the 10th minute, Jim started talking up cyclical stocks and "strong demand," including airlines. Judge threatened to walk off the set if Jim mentioned "TSA." Jim continued, "There have been only 4 days this year where TSA passenger counts-"

"I'm out," Judge chuckled, standing up and sort of taking off his mike before reattaching. (He didn't actually walk off the set.)

"There's only 4 days this year where there has been lower passenger counts than last year," Jim finally continued.

Judge pointed out that Jim bought small caps last week, while the Russell is down 6% this month. Jim insisted that small caps "were actually up on Friday."

CNBC's Kate Rooney briefly joined remotely to discuss people taking short bets against the "Magnificant" (sic) (there were a couple mispronunciations, then the correct version) 7. Kate suggested that shorting Megacap Tech may be for hedging purposes.

Jim once again dismissed TSLA as a "car company." On Fast Money, after the TSLA results were out, Karen Finerman said there are "so many things to not like here" that, according to Karen, the company decided to "distract you" from the bad things by talking about lower-priced cars. Tim Seymour called the late TSLA gains a "relief rally."

Meanwhile, Jason Snipe bought "a small position" in UBER; "they are hitting on all cylinders." (This writer is long UBER.)

After the A Block, Judge brought up CLF and said it's "gotten more mention (snicker) on this program than arguably anything else in the history of this broadcast." Jim addressed Tuesday's CLF selloff as "sometimes the market does things that are unexplainable and gives you an opportunity. And (of course) I think this is one of those times." Eventually Jim conceded a "slight decrease in buying ... after the UAW strike." But "that is behind us," Jim said.

But Jim wasn't done about the UAW or another of his favorite stocks, GM. "This idea that the UAW took GM to the cleaners is an absolute farce," Jim said, though conceding "the UAW got a good deal."

Judge said DIS was "reitermated" (sic) (snicker) by Wells Fargo as overweight before correcting himself. Jim mentioned the "Hulu deal" again.

Judge noted the slide Tuesday of JBLU, long one of Jenny Harrington's favorite stocks for valuation. (Jenny wasn't on the show Tuesday.)

Judge's top guest on Closing Bell was Liz Ann Sonders, who kind of knocked the "parlor game" of guessing when the rate cuts start.

Bill is able to talk about buying TSLA without Weiss hectoring him about admitting all the facts (a/k/a Judge thinks it’s funny saying ‘squat’)

On a quiet episode of the Halftime Report on Monday (4/22), Joe Terranova said if Mag 7 earnings come through, he's not sure there's "that much downside" left in the market.

Joe doesn't think it looks like the same upside as we had from autumn into February, "but I do think the market's trying to bottom here."

Joe said he's not seeing "broad-based, universal selling," pointing to gains in health care.

Steve Weiss said Monday's market only had a "muted bounce" because of "PCE" on Friday. (Note: If Weiss had waited 3 hours, he would've seen more than a "muted bounce.") (This review was posted overnight Monday-Tuesday.)

Judge said Powell last week "sort of front-ran where PCE's gonna be."

Judge declared, "PCE's your friend. CPI's been your enemy."

The headline of the hour was Bill Baruch's dial-in to discuss buying TSLA during which Bill mentioned "dollar-cost average in" (snicker).

Bill said TSLA hit a March 2020 trend line low of 140.

Judge scoffed that he was going to have Weiss have a talk with Bill, "One of my problems with technical analysis is, Trend lines don't mean squat if the fundamentals of a story change."

Bill said he's not arguing with that; he's taking a "calculated position."

Bill also scooped up some more META, he thinks "they could have a really good report."

Kevin Simpson bought more AAPL, at 165. "We will buy more on weakness," Kevin said. Kevin said he's got "about 10% dry powder right now."

Weiss sold ASML; he said he sold part before the earnings. Weiss rattled off the other tech names he's got and how he finds this one expendable, though he could still jump back in before earnings.

Joe said he needs more of a washout to step in to CDNS.

Santoli said, "The bond market has done nothing for a week."

CNBC's AI (er, spellcheck) had trouble with the ARK Venture holdings during ETF Edge.

‘Jay Powell can’t do anything about the price of anyone’s car insurance’

Friday's (4/19) Halftime Report featured a couple of provocative comments about the state of the U.S. economy and what interest-rate moves actually accomplish.

Joe Terranova said Josh Brown (who wasn't on Friday's show) has been talking about, and Joe has been speaking "privately" with financial advisors about, "Are higher rates actually stimulating the economy."

Joe said AXP earnings are "evidence" that there's something to that theory.

This is becoming a popular theory and Judge even mentioned it this week. But we can't help but note that numerous people on this program in 2022 and early 2023 kept talking about how "the end of free money" was going to be so bad for so many ("lazy," according to one pundit) companies. But now, it's apparently boosting the economy, which keeps inflation high. (That's the whole #chasingtails thing.)

Bill Baruch said he thinks 3 cuts in 2024 are "on the table." Stephanie Link though said "I don't think they're gonna cut at all this year."

Guest host Sully, The Funniest Anchor on CNBC (and quite possibly the Funniest Anchor on All of Television) (#paytheman,KC!) bluntly declared, "Jay Powell can't do anything about the price of anyone's car insurance." That's a fantastic observation and one that deserved a lot more conversation. #chasingtailsagain #giveeveryonearaisetodealwithinflation

In a bit of a head-scratcher, Bill curiously claimed that "there's also people moving into more of an entrepreneurship-type role, distorting the job market."

Hmmmm ... "entrepreneurship-type role" ... we're guessing it probably means something like people who were laid off, or people who started working from home in 2020 and didn't want to return to the office, are either turning to freelancing or selling stuff on YouTube rather than taking up traditional jobs.

We doubt it means that a bunch more people from Google or Meta are launching their own companies than usual, given that borrowing costs are a lot higher than a few years ago.

Joe noted it's Friday, and we have "a lot of systematic, algorithm selling that's going to occur on a Friday."

Bill Baruch actually said with a straight face, "After the election, no matter who wins, as we look into next year, they're gonna have to crack down (snicker) on this fiscal spending in general."

Bad bargains: Spending ‘mental capital’ on PARA

Jim Lebenthal joined Friday's (4/19) Halftime Report remotely about halfway through and congratulated guest host Sully on a "great A Block."

Jim was apparently extended an invitation to talk about PARA. While we totally understand extending an invitation to Jim, we don't understand having another discussion about this stock.

Jim claimed there's "2 huge positives" for PARA. One was that it's doing better than expected "operationally" (even though all it's probably done is cut costs); the other is that, Jim claims, "People wanna buy (snicker) this company." Jim went on about how Shari wants to do a deal with SkyDance and how that's pressuring the stock, way too deep into the weeds about a stock that doesn't matter and is little more than some rich legacy's personal bank account and that no one including Jim should care about.

Joe Terranova impressively had the brass to ask Jim if all the "mental capital" he has spent on PARA has been worth it. "Absolutely not," Jim admitted, calling it a "great question." Jim conceded "this has been an absolute horror show" and "frankly I'm embarrassed by it," but not too embarrassed to discuss it on nearly every episode.

Meanwhile, Joe said "don't chase" UAL. Sully told United, "You're welcome," because "I've been on like 40 flights already this year."

Joe's Final Trade was supposed to be UBER; he called it "Uner" (sic) but corrected himself. (This writer is long UBER.) Joe said, "Don't be afraid of the pullback."

If Joe’s interest in being long NFLX is based on whether the insufferable quarterly subs miss or beat, he might as well be buying lottery tickets

Joe Terranova on Friday's (4/19) Halftime Report said he wasn't happy about NFLX because "I stuck my neck out yesterday on, um, on Closing Bell and I said they're gonna deliver on margins, they're gonna deliver on the profitability, you're gonna see one of the strongest quarters that you've had for this company since 2020."

And then, in one of CNBCers' favorite pastimes, Joe noted Friday, "I pointed out the fact that it was 13% below its all-time high." (This writer is long NFLX, like Steve Weiss a "small position," as of Friday.) (#thankyou,market)

But Joe said the company decided to "change all the rules on me" as to releasing subscriber data.

Guest host Sully said Joe was actually "right, on the, on the metrics." Sully said Laura Martin is "probably the most influential analyst on Netflix" and upgraded the stock on Friday.

Joe protested that he's not advising people sell the stock, he's just "disappointed in what I heard yesterday afternoon."

Joe completely whiffed on the strength of this company; the reason to buy the stock is because people who subscribe to the service would pay a lot more for it than they currently are. (But note, this writer has a small position in NFLX.)

Joe tries to claim that commodities are in a ‘secular phase’ in which they presumably won’t bust

It's always a setback when Judge has the day off, but Halftime Report viewers on Friday (4/19) got a treat when Sully, The Funniest Anchor on CNBC, got the helm.

"I'm clearly not Scott Wapner," Sully said at the opening, noting tech was "getting hit" and someone (apparently Stephanie Link) came up before the show and coined the term "ABT," for "Anything But Technology." Sully started off though by asking Stephanie about SLB (Zzzzzzz) and of course got the earnings and EBIT percentage gains and the multiple and (as always on CNBC) how far down it is from its high and all sorts of other stats.

But it wasn't until the 12th minute of the program that Joe Terranova said the market's "in a very precarious place," noting AAPL at a 6-month low and saying Megacap Tech has to "deliver."

Joe earlier suggested that "for the very first time," commodities are maybe no longer "boom bust" but "entering a phase, a secular phase, where they belong in investor portfolios."

Sully told everyone that "energy is my jam," but it was producers' decision, not his, to bring it up to start the show. Sully claimed "even the most bearish estimates" for oil have it "growing" for years and maybe decades. Joe advised, "Do not look at the spot price of oil as the ultimate referendum on what you're doing in investing in energy. You have to look at the long term."

Joe said oil is in backwardation and acknowledged "there could be some headwinds on price itself," but as long as it's $70-$85, it's "so beneficial" to oil companies.

Josh seems to indicate that shorting TSLA is a bad idea

On Thursday's (4/18) Halftime Report, Judge couldn't resist recapping the Weiss-Bryn debate on TSLA from a day earlier, despite the fact neither one of those parties was on Thursday's show.

So Judge turned to Josh Brown. Josh noted that TSLA right now is "still up 770% over 5 years" and that he "missed the entire run higher." Brown noted Weiss being short probably has his "finger on the trigger" (translation: once this trade goes bad, Steve will get out of it quickly), but for most people, shorting TSLA is like "playing with fire" and brings to mind the old adage, "Never fight a land war in Asia."

"It is just a car company," Jim Lebenthal insisted of TSLA, as all the skeptics out there insist that now's the time for the chickens coming home to roost (as Weiss said) and for victory laps. Jim said margins are coming down and that TSLA is "locked into a price war."

Josh opened the show agreeing with Judge's suggestion that the market needs Big Tech. "Spiritually, this is still the leadership group," Brown stated.

Liz Young cautioned that "investors have really high expectations" and pointed to JPM's reax to earnings.

Jim bought more AMZN after buying a little a couple of months ago. Jim was talking about MSFT's PEG ratio. (Zzzzzzzzz)

Dividend investor Matt Powers talked up MA, he said its dividend isn't as high as he'd like, but that the dividend has grown 27% a year for 10 years, so "they've got a lot of space to grow." He also likes HSY for "cocoa prices."

Powers told Josh Brown that the difference between his analysis and the aristocrats' is that the aristocrats are evaluated over 25 years while he sticks to 10 years.

Weiss calls Musk ‘pathological liar’; ‘You just don’t like Elon’

Judge and producers of Wednesday's (4/17) Halftime Report decided to pit Bryn Talkington and Steve Weiss in a TSLA debate, and at least Weiss participated.

Bryn recapped her TSLA plays since January 2023 and admitted, "This stock could go lower" and "looks broken." But she wouldn't "discount" Elon Musk. Bryn suggested Weiss' TSLA short is "probably a trade."

That sounded pretty plain vanilla. But maybe it was the "probably a trade" remark (which assuredly is true) that got under Weiss' skin.

Weiss questioned how Bryn as a "fiduciary" of investor capital can invest in a company with "no governance." Bryn said she owns it "personally" and it's "not a fiduciary position."

(That's interesting, actually. Is Weiss correct that people shouldn't be in this name as fiduciaries?)

Bryn further stated, "I think you just don't like Elon."

Weiss responded, "Everything I said is a fact, Bryn. It's a fact." Bryn offered that "the 2 companies where ... the best engineers want to work are SpaceX and Tesla." Judge started to ask Weiss about TSLA's governance; Weiss pivoted to say the fundamentals, especially in China, are "horrendous."

Weiss even said, "The guy is a pathological liar to keep his stock price up."

"Once again, you just don't like Elon, by the way," Bryn said.

Moments later, Weiss stated, "Bryn's entirely wrong about their ability to retain talent," pointing to the departure this week of "2 critical people" and stating turnover at TSLA is "legendary."

Judge noted how much TSLA is up over 5 years. Weiss protested twice he hasn't been short the stock for all of the last 5 years, only recently.

Weiss asked about Tesla price cuts in the last 5 years. Bryn concluded with this thought-provoking summary: "Steve. Wisdom is chasing you if you would just stop. OK. Like, seriously."

"What the hell is she saying? I don't even get it," Weiss said. "Just admit you're wrong and the stock is going lower. And I'll buy more lower. That's what she should be saying. Facts are facts."

"There's no 'fact' to the stock is doing anything from here," Judge said. Weiss continued, and Judge said, "Bryn, we'll see."

"Yeah, we will," Bryn chuckled.

Weiss is back to talking about the lag effects of rate hikes

Wednesday (4/17) was a bit of a retro day on CNBC's Halftime Report, as Joe Terranova was talking about time corrections again and Steve Weiss was talking about lag effects of rate hikes again.

Joe started off the show warning, "First of all, you have to understand, time is the enemy, because this correction could be more prolonged than we have become accustomed to, uh, in, in recent years."

Joe said to be "patient," but if you have to do something now, look for industries with "pricing power." But Joe also stated, "There's a couple areas of the market that you absolutely need to avoid."

Jason Snipe suggested being long energy, which he said has "pricing power."

Bryn Talkington said if your "playbook" found it "necessary" to have rate cuts, "you absolutely need to kind of throw that playbook out."

Bryn advised, "Think about selling some calls" for pressured stocks, among other things.

Then Weiss got his chance. "I think the dialogue's all wrong here," Weiss said, explaining, "There's a time to invest, and there's a time to protect your cash and protect your holdings and protect your capital overall. This is that time. ... The market's gonna go low."

OK. That really sounds like Weiss is suggesting selling.

But other times on the program, Weiss will explain how he never wants to sell anything because then he pays taxes.

Now, he's suggesting timing the market and reducing exposure.

Weiss said there are firms still looking for "3 cuts this year."

"I don't know what planet they're living on, but come to Planet Halftime," Weiss said, adding, "I've taken my net exposure down to about 20%."

Weiss noted the government has put in "a lot of liqudity," and wondered whether a Republican administration would keep doing that (snicker), concluding, "I think they cut it back (snicker)."

As for the slide we're already in, "4%'s not enough for a correction!" Weiss claimed.

Judge noted that Jay Powell hasn't said anything about hiking rates again. Weiss said, "It's the impact of higher rates for longer. You don't need hikes."

"We've gotta hear about that again? Of the lag effects of the rate hikes?" Judge wondered.

"Yeah. Absolutely (snicker)," Weiss said.

On Fast Money, Steve Grasso said, "I still think we get 3 cuts."

There’s actually other people whom wisdom might be chasing ...

Mike Santoli on Wednesday's (4/17) Halftime Report described the stock market this way: "The dip buyers are patient, and the sellers are motivated."

Joe Terranova said 5 of the Mag 7 report earnings next week, which is "really gonna define the direction of this market."

Joe said to avoid utilities and REITs and said the Russell is 20% below its all-time high; he "wouldn't touch" it.

But Joe also said there's "another Treasury refunding" on May 1, and previous ones have been "positive catalysts."

Judge questioned the impact of a 5% 10-year. Steve Weiss said equity investors will lock up 5% rates in the 2-year, not the 10-year. Jason Snipe suggested maybe the 2% Fed target will move to 3%.

Weiss trimmed ASML, saying we got "more than a miss" than the Street was expecting.

"Nvidia's in correction territory," Joe asserted.

Weiss said AAPL is "dead money at best."

Joe said UAL was benefitting from "low expectations."

Jason said "pay sharing" is the key metric for NFLX. Weiss for the 4th or 5th time said he only has a "small position" in NFLX.

Judge, Jim trade ‘C’mon!’

Honestly, for whatever reason, we couldn't really get "into" Tuesday's (4/16) Halftime Report. Just one of those days.

Judge and Jim Lebenthal argued at the end of the A Block about "cherry-picking" time frames to prove how strong, or not strong, NVDA and the Mag 7 are. Jim apparently at one point was trying to make an argument for small caps.

Josh Brown said he's been thinking the government headwinds on LYV have "already been fully discounted into the market," even though Tuesday's market action indicated otherwise.

Jim said the fundamentals of GPC should be "intact" because, "We know the average age of cars on the road is very long, uh, those cars need to be repaired." He already said it a few days ago (see below), and people have been saying it on Halftime/Fast Money since the shows began, um, about 17 years ago. (Tip: 2 years from now, the average age of cars on the road is going to be about the same as now, and 2 years ago, the average age of cars on the road was about the same as now.) It's like the old buy-fertilizer-stocks argument because "people gotta eat."

On Fast Money, Melissa Lee and Karen Finerman noted how the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft is getting a contract worth far (far) less than the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. Karen promised that with a new WNBA TV rights deal, "salaries will go up." Dan Nathan suggested Karen hire Caitlin Clark at Metropolitan Capital for $150,000 a year.

Jenny’s a long-term investor (except when she’s timing the market)

On Monday's (4/15) Halftime Report, Jenny Harrington and Steve Weiss argued about almost everything. But it was actually Jenny's revelations about investment philosophy that caught our ear.

For example, Jenny explained that she regularly times the market and knows when stocks are "up too much."

"All of our accounts are separately managed," Jenny told Judge. "So people come in, they send cash, and then you don't buy their whole portfolio on day one. And there's always stocks that are up too much."

Jenny singled out how she "didn't want to buy" OGN and SLG a couple weeks ago, but by waiting, "I was able to buy them significantly cheaper than they've been trading just the week before. So I just layered them into the new accounts that had cash that didn't already own them."

And so we wondered, how come a couple weeks ago on TV, Jenny wasn't telling viewers which stocks were "up too much."

Moments later, Jenny cited Pat Gelsinger's interview with Jon Fortt; "I was driving along listening."

Jenny said Pat said that if you're one of those people who wants a portfolio "pop" for 2 weeks, "I don't want you." Jenny noted that Steve Weiss indeed bought INTC a couple weeks ago for a "short-term catalyst" that didn't work, but that "everything's the same still" as when the stock was 44 a couple weeks ago, and people just "freaked out" about the foundry business when "nothing's changed."

"It has changed," Weiss asserted. "How can you say it hasn't changed."

Weiss said of Gelsinger, "First of all, kudos- kudos to him for reading that book, CEOs That Are Failing And Have Really Bad Stock Prices, this is the quote you've got to send out to potential investors. That don't count- don't count on our stock going up anytime soon, but if you look 25 years from now, this stock's gonna be a lot higher. So kudos to him for writin' that down, because he found people to buy it."

Weiss said the foundry was not supposed to report a $7 billion loss, but did, and "that's major."

Furthermore, "If you go back to everything Gelsinger's promised in the first couple years since he took over, you wouldn't find anything that came to fruition," Weiss added.

Jenny concluded the discussion with this: "I find that the best investments that I've ever made are from distressed situations where everybody else hates it," Jenny said.

That's curious, because 1) she didn't say INTC is in a "distressed situation," and 2) Karen Finerman says her best investment was bitcoin (when was bitcoin ever "distressed"), and the Charlie Munger obituaries mentioned Charlie's belief that it's best to pay up for the best businesses.

But Jenny, evidently, is a distressed-company investor.

Weiss, by the way, is timing the market too, stating early in the show, "It's not a time to put new money into the market. We're still in a consolidation period."

Jenny likens market
multiple to March 2000

There was one thing Steve Weiss and Jenny Harrington actually agreed on during Monday's (4/15) Halftime Report.

Jenny said, "We're trading at 21 times ... last time the market traded at that was January 2022, um, and March — this is really inspiring — March of 2000." (Uh oh. Sell all your stocks. Except INTC.)

Weiss agreed that the market's trading at an "accommodative" multiple when this is a "restrictive" scene.

Weiss said consumers have been "skating through" the rate hikes but cautioned: "You can drink a milk shake every day for 4 days, you can say, 'Oh, my weight's fine.' But, if you drink it for 4 months, your weight's not gonna be fine."

Judge opened asking Joe Terranova if the market is still vulnerable. Joe said the "easy answer" is that, "We're still vulnerable for a little bit of a deeper decline."

Joe said CRM is testing its 100-day for the first time since November. But he said "there's a little bit of fear" about dealmaking and "the investor community is saying, 'Uh oh, let's not do this again.'"

Weiss: GS was sandbagged by people on the inside ‘planting stories’ about David Solomon

A little debate took place on Monday's (4/15) Halftime Report over GS.

Joe Terranova said GS "spent 2023 kind of redefining the company." Joe said it's back to being the company he used to call "the world's largest successful hedge fund."

Steve Weiss said "it's always been the same old Goldman" and he doesn't think it "ever left." Judge noted "the stock, at times, left." Weiss said "that was headlines, it was driven by David Solomon, you know, going after him, because, politically, some people inside planting stories and trying to get a new CEO."

Judge countered, "They had at least one significant stumble in their trajectory of the business." Weiss said yes, "They addressed it almost immediately."

Jenny Harrington scoffed that for GS, "it's all about the story," but at SCHW, which she likes, "it's all about the numbers."

Joe protested, "How is it not about the numbers at Goldman?"

"They're not like this. They're not as good as Schwab's," Jenny claimed.

"28% jump in net income!" Joe continued.

Defending GS, Weiss said that "unlike Jenny, I don't have to malign another stock." Weiss said GS is far more levered to the potential IPO or "M&A cycle" and has "excellent business lines."

Joe asked how far down SCHW is from February 2022 and how far down is GS at the same time. Joe's point was that SCHW is down since that time, while GS is up.

Weiss claims Fed wouldn’t even ‘start to worry’ until unemployment almost doubles

Steve Weiss was a quote machine on Friday's (4/12) Halftime Report; unfortunately, many of the quotes were head-scratchers.

Weiss said at the top of the show, "The story's coming out that Iran's gonna attack Israel in the next 2 days. And then we have the other story, which is, Biden is committed to defending Israel, so, you don't wanna go home long with that kind of setup for the weekend."

That's interesting, because 1) Weiss said at the end of the show that if he thought Friday's market activity "was all about geopolitical," he'd buy, because it's "always an opportunity to buy."

And 2), Weiss will sometimes explain that he won't sell stocks, at all, because he doesn't want to pay the taxes, but here he's suggesting not being long just for this weekend.

Then there was this: Weiss mentioned Fed mandates and actually said with a straight face, "You could see unemployment almost double, at least go up 60%, before, to get to around 5% or 6%, before they really start to worry."

OK. Sure. Check out the chair's testimony to Congress when that happens.

Weiss described ARKK as "like seeing a movie, and the 2nd half is phenomenal but the first half really sucked. ARKK is still down from its peak of 140."

When has anyone ever seen a movie in which the first half "sucked" but the 2nd half proved "phenomenal"?

And Weiss actually said with a straight face that Donald Trump is saying "enough stimulus."

Jim’s a little negative (not ‘negative on the markets overall for the rest of the year’)

Amy Raskin on Friday's (4/12) Halftime Report suggested the "narrative" may be changing to "inflationary boom," in which case, you want to own commodities, and value over growth.

"You still have a disinflationary environment," Judge stated, though noting "a turbulent week."

Jim Lebenthal, clearly getting out in front of any of Judge's descriptions, said, "I'm gonna say something negative Scott, but I don't want it to be taken as 'Lebenthal is negative on the markets overall for the rest of the year.' Right now, I'm a little negative."

Jim said that speculation about hiking rates is "not an outlandish discussion to have." He said he's going to "sit tight," and "not buying today."

Kevin Simpson, though, said, "I think the bull narrative is intact. And I don't think we need any rate cuts." Still, Kevin stated, "The next move will be a rate cut."

Steve Weiss also said he was "perplexed" by the market's move on Thursday.

Judge insisted at the end of the show that "the overall narrative hasn't changed. It. Has. Not. Changed." Weiss struggled to explain whether yields were going up or down.

A day earlier on Fast Money, Guy Adami stared into the camera and stated, "Given everything that I'm seeing, a rate- any rate cut this year doesn't make any sense."

But on Friday's Fast Money, Steve Grasso asserted, "I do believe we're still going to get 3 rate cuts this year."

‘Things have been pretty dull at Cisco’

Judge on Friday's (4/12) Halftime Report curiously showed a chart showing Megacap Tech climbing even as rate-cut expectations have fallen, which apparently is Tony Pasquariello's point, while Judge said Michael Hartnett is warning of a 1999-like bubble because the Nasdaq is moving higher as yields move higher.

Judge suggested both "can technically be true," if those stocks are indeed working now but it leads to a bubble.

Steve Weiss doesn't view big tech as a bubble, just "slightly overvalued here."

Amy Raskin said of ASML, "I just think the space is probably a little overdone."

Bill Baruch dialed in and said AAPL is "innovating" and that it rebounded from dipping into the 160s.

Jim Lebenthal explained why he's not buying AAPL now: "Right now, my gut, my experience in the market, says the market's going lower from here, and Apple with it."

Kevin Simpson bought HON, suggesting it can benefit from BA's troubles. Weiss bought more LDOS. Jim said CSCO is a bit of a "show-me story," and said with a straight face, "Absent Splunk, things have been pretty dull at Cisco to say the least."

Weiss said he'd be "hard-pressed" to find a week where "some analyst" didn't raise their NFLX target.

Kevin Simpson said he wouldn't buy UNH ahead of earnings and noted he bought a month ago at 470.

Jim touted GPC, citing the "average age of cars on the road is very, very old," a comment we've been hearing on these CNBC shows for probably 15 years running.

On Closing Bell, Bryn Talkington suggested the selloff was "more geopolitical" than related to rates.

No updates on the status of Invest America making it through Congress

Josh Brown opened Thursday's (4/11) Halftime Report show taking up sort of what Jim Lebenthal brought up a day earlier, as Josh affirmed he's looking for a "buyable selloff," and Josh concluded Wednesday was a "countertrend move."

We were agreeing with that on Thursday, except that on Friday, there was a bigger "countertrend move." (This review was posted Friday 4/12 afternoon.)

Rich Saperstein said, "Anywhere you look, the economy is doing well, so we're fully invested." Judge demanded an explanation of "fully invested" in terms of equities. Rich said a client who typically is at 50% equities may have been down to 45% equities a while ago but is now back at 50%.

Shannon Saccocia said bulls are "emboldened" because manufacturing is in expansion.

Jason Snipe said he doesn't think it's either too early to sell or too late to buy; rather, he thinks it's a time for people "to get in and stay in." (Unfortunatetly, it wouldn't have hurt for those buyers to wait at least 1 day.)

Jason trimmed NVDA.

Josh said he would argue that the "prospect" of Fed rate cuts is greater than the cuts themselves. Josh went on to argue that P.E. ratios are higher than historical levels because there's less stock in the world every year due to buybacks.

Rich Saperstein said he's holding big banks, but as far as adding more, "probably not." Rich is overweight oil as a "geopolitical hedge."

Josh Brown said JPM being down on Thursday was a "little bit of a gift."

At the end of the show, Rich discussed buying FIS, but we didn't hear any strong catalysts, other than maybe buybacks.

At the top of Power Lunch on Thursday, Tyler Mathisen went to Rick Santelli at the CME and Rick acknowledged Tyler; after talking about seasonal adjustments to gasoline, Rick said, "Deirdre, back to you." Tyler pointed out, "Actually it's Tyler and Contessa today."

Joe Terranova was on Closing Bell and said, "The bull market continues to get stress tests" and that the Mag 7 is what led the market this week back from what looked like a worse correction. (Although Friday sort of resumed that correction.)

Karen Finerman on Fast Money said she's long MS and addressed the breaking news, "I'm not delighted by this," though she wouldn't say this is a "giant disaster."

Judge and Weiss eventually settle whether next move is hike or cut, tangle over amount of options for Federal Reserve

Shortly in to Wednesday's (4/10) Halftime Report, Judge asked Steve Weiss, "Is the next move from the Fed a cut or a hike?"

Weiss answered, "The next move from the Fed is no move."

"No no no. Don't give me that nonsense," Judge warned.

"No it's not nonsense. It's factual!" Weiss said.

"That's not a move! Are they gonna cut next or hike," Judge persisted.

"They're probably gonna cut," Weiss admitted.

"OK thank you," Judge said.

"Hold on Scott, that's not the answer-" Weiss continued.

"It is the answer-" Judge said.

"No it's not the answer," Weiss said.

"I just asked you the question, what is their next move," Judge said.

"You still have Bowman out there saying 3 cuts, you have 'em saying 6 cuts, now it's 3, it's probably gonna go to 2, and if you're basing a case on that, then you're wrong," Weiss explained.

"No, no you're not," Judge shot back. "If you knew that the first move of the Fed at the beginning of this hiking cycle was gonna be a hike, you'd be negative, like you were. Like you were."

"What if the next move is not this year but next year," Weiss countered.

"OK, if you wanna start pushing the timeline back that far then obviously that's a, a risk," Judge said.

"Exactly. That's my point!" Weiss said.

What a difference .3 makes (a/k/a Jim tries to redefine ‘resident bull’ after getting buffaloed out of buying)

Judge wondered at the start of Wednesday's (4/10) Halftime Report "if anything" has changed for the market with the CPI report.

Bryn Talkington said anyone "expecting to come in at .3" and having the market "cruise on" were "sorely mistaken."

Bryn said "the last mile" of the inflation battle, which we're hearing ad nauseum on CNBC, "may be longer than a mile."

Bryn advised that you may have to "think through certain sectors that you may have been overweight."

Judge called Jim Lebenthal "our resident bull." Jim said something is changing "on the margin." Jim said he had to "parse" the "resident bull" comment; it's true that he has been, but he's been trimming recently and has got "cash on the sidelines."

Jim then curiously revealed, "I came in, I woke up this morning, I was actually ready to buy. I was waiting for that CPI report, and when it came out, everything that I wanted to buy started going down and it's been going down ever since, so I'm sitting on my hands. ... I'd like the market to find its footing, and then I'll- and then I'll come back in. But right now, today, there's absolutely no reason for me or any other participant (snicker) to buy."

That sounds like Jim was simply momentum trading, wanting to buy a stock except when it's going down.

About 20 minutes later, Steve Weiss said kind of out of the blue, "I'm still confused that Jimmy came in today wanting to buy stocks that were higher, and now that they're lower, he doesn't wanna buy 'em. ... I'm still trying to work that out from the A Block."

"I spelled that out. What are you being, purposely dense?" Jim chuckled.

Sully reveals what would cause him to retire

Wednesday's (4/10) Closing Bell Overtime on CNBC was guest hosted by Sully, the channel's funniest anchor, who took note of what a Halftime panelist said on Closing Bell. (Yes this entry spans 3 programs.)

Sully said, "I heard Josh Brown in the previous hour, he said it's a risk-on, you know, risk-off, rate cut-on, rate cut-off market." But Sully wondered if "PCE" (he said "PCE" with a deep, strong voice) comes in "cooler," does that change the inflation "narrative."

Ed Yardeni said he's glad Sully brought that up, then leaped into the deep end of the PCE pool, citing what Ed admitted may be just "minute little changes."

Sully made a joke to Santoli about 5,150 on the S&P 500 ("sounds like investors want the best of both worlds").

Sully also quoted Forrest Gump while asking Neil Dutta, "Why are we even talking about rate cuts when inflation is reaccelerating?"

Sully said, "If there could be a day where I don't talk about the Federal Reserve, I might just retire, be the best day of my life."

Joe says to own commodities, insurers, private equity

Joe Terranova on Wednesday's (4/10) Halftime Report said the Fed is looking for "reasons" to cut, and Wednesday did not give them one. But Joe said the diminishing forecast of 2024 rate cuts does not change how he wants to invest "at all," explaining he hasn't wanted to own real estate and Wednesday is a good day not to own real estate.

Steve Weiss said, "To me, this puts any rate cut this year in doubt." Weiss said of Powell, "He's neutral right now; he's not dovish." Weiss said if pushed he'd probably guess we get 1 cut, but even 1 is not a "slam dunk."

Steve Liesman said there's now "additional risk," that being either no Fed cut or that the Fed has to "reverse course." Steve said the recent data "violates" the theory of what should happen after raising rates "at the speed of light." Steve said the Fed needs to be "mindful" that "The theory of it being restrictive is not necessarily uh taking place in the reality of the economy."

(Wonder if Steve thinks the Fed also needs to be "mindful" that the 2020s inflation story is all about dogs chasing tails, companies paying their workers more so that workers can grapple with inflation while the companies raise prices to cover the increased labor costs, and maybe the government can send everyone $600 or $1,200 checks again ...)

Bryn Talkington advised sticking with "high quality tech, which would be the Q's" and predicted a "big separation between the wheat and the chaff."

Joe's list of must-owns include commodities, insurance companies and private equity. Joe said, "It is imperative that you own commodities in this environment."

Weiss said he's "astounded" that DE and CAT were "flat" on Wednesday.

Jim stressed that the market is merely reacting to "marginal data" on Wednesday that's negative.

Judge jokes that restaurant diners bail when Weiss walks in

Bryn Talkington on Wednesday's (4/10) Halftime Report suggested gold is a "macro play" on the country's interest on the national debt (snicker). However, "Gold is very overbought right now," Bryn said.

Joe Terranova actually referred to Bryn as "Blin" (snicker) but quickly corrected himself.

Steve Weiss then uncorked this rationale for not being long: "I don't know how you value gold. It's an emotional buy; it's an emotional sell."

That's a fair point. But unlike cryptogarbage, there's a couple thousand years of price history.

Weiss joked that if he got into gold, that'll be the "end of the time it works." Judge cracked "like most everything else," that when Weiss walks into a restaurant, everyone says "Check please."

Joe asked Weiss how gold is different than bitcoin, which Weiss has recently owned.

"Good. Question," Judge said.

Weiss said it's a "softball question," and he's betting on "momentum" and "marketing strength" of financial companies bringing people into bitcoin. (So it's OK to momentum-trade bitcoin, but too hard to momentum-trade gold.)

Jim Lebenthal talked up CLF again. Joe chuckled, "Cleveland Cliffs, never heard that before." "Never ends," Judge agreed.

Kinda funny that CNBC wouldn’t put on the Najarii but will run their ads

Judge on Wednesday's (4/10) Halftime Report noted Ed Bastian yet again talked up how robust air travel is.

Jim Lebenthal said the stock was down on "profit taking," though Jim didn't want to "blithely" dismiss that. "Let me be blunt, folks — this is an opportunity to buy Delta," Jim said.

Bryn Talkington sold ABBV at 178 after a "really good run."

Bryn hasn't talked about RBLX for weeks; on Wednesday she again said it needs "more profitability" to get past $40-$45.

Judge said ALB got upgraded by Bank of America. Bryn said the time to buy commodities is when there's "blood in the streets," as with this name, and she "wouldn't be surprised" if her shop adds this stock in the next few weeks.

Joe Terranova asked Bryn, "Does this feel like natural gas (snicker) to you?" "A little bit, right," Bryn said. Joe said he might buy ALB or even "a little natural gas."

Jim said Adam Jonas, despite an outperform rating, "hates" GM; "I don't understand it."

During Final Trades, Judge said to Joe, "Somebody asked me for the ticker of the JOET."

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said the CPI number is "a little bit more scary" than previous indications of persistent inflation. Karen also noted the activity in M and indicated she thought it might've moved higher on that news but it wasn't a good day for stocks.

‘Enormous amount of money on the sidelines’

Agree with him or not, but Rob Sechan easily made the call of the day on Tuesday's (4/9) Halftime Report.

Rob said "there's an enormous amount of money on the sidelines," which got nods and backing from his fellow panelists, if not Judge.

Rob said "animal spirits are picking up" and he thinks any dip from "a hot number" on Wednesday will get bought.

Josh Brown said, "I actually would root for a panic, and I'll buy it." Josh pointed out that the average 10-year yield going "back to 1926" is 4.8%, and that he didn't hear any of the other panelists linking their investing strategy to a rate cut.

Joe Terranova, who had a quiet show, said, "I do believe in the last week and a half, we've worked off some of the overbought conditions" and even added an "element of bearishness" into the market.

Brian Belski is "a little bit more cautious" in the near-term because "a lot of the easy money's been made," but he's still "super bullish" for the longer term.

Karen: ‘I just cannot believe how bad Siri is’ (a/k/a FAA calls Phil during soundbite)

During a rather tepid conversation on Tuesday's (4/9) Fast Money about GOOGL and AAPL, Karen Finerman reiterated a product review.

"I just cannot believe how bad Siri is," Karen said. "It's amazing to me."

On the Halftime Report, Stephanie Link said "you're not gonna make a lot of money" from BA in the short term. But Brian Belski predicted that BA in the next 5 years "is gonna be the next GE."

CNBC's Phil LeBeau was delivering an update on the BA story when he got a call. "This is the FAA," Phil explained, so he had to bolt.

Josh Brown touted Morgan Stanley's upgrade of NDAQ. "The big driver here is going to be new listings, in my opinion," Brown said; it's one of the "cleanest ways" to play the IPO calendar.

In a discussion about Morgan Stanley's energy upgrade, Joe Terranova said, "You absolutely want the refiners." Josh Brown again touted the IEO. "This sector is in a bull market," Brown said. Rob said he's been overweight energy all year, and now it's "starting to play (sic) dividends." Brian Belski though claimed it's "too late" for a bullish energy call.

We don’t think we heard ‘higher for longer,’ perhaps because Carter Worth mocked it

Judge and his panelists on Monday's (4/8) Halftime Report were oblivious to the solar eclipse, but they weren't oblivious to everyone's favorite dog-chasing-its-tail story, inflation.

Steve Weiss opened the show saying this is a "critical" week because we've seen "such a big backup in rates."

Jim Lebenthal said 3 hot price reports in a row would mean "inflation is not under control."

Weiss said 3 months as a measuring stick is important because that's how trends are determined.

So, we gotta ask, because no one on the show did ... if everyone is getting pay raises because of inflation, doesn't that prompt those employers to raise prices, thus creating more inflation?

Judge questioned, "Aren't rates going up for the right reason?"

For about the 5th time in 3 weeks, Weiss was asked to talk about a NFLX upgrade. Weiss admitted he "keeps sayin'" that he wishes he had bought more.

Jim said RIG got a contract extension above $500,000 a day, the first time at that level in maybe 10 years or so.

Weiss said he's still in bitcoin.

Jim impressively admitted, "I am an idiot for owning Paramount." Weiss said, "That's my favorite soundbite. We've been doing this show 14 years, that's my favorite soundbite ever."

Weiss: AMZN doesn’t ‘need to have streaming’

Steve Weiss on Friday's (4/5) Halftime Report was declaring victory in the streaming world.

Weiss again said he wishes his NFLX position was bigger. "There are gonna be 2 winners in streaming. You know, Amazon's already cut back their production, it's a non-event, they don't need to have streaming, have content for you to join Prime. So it's gonna be Hulu/Disney, and it's going to be Netflix. That's it. Nobody else can afford to spend on it ... Netflix will be the major winner."

We're not sure it's going to be quite that simple. We don't agree that streaming is a "non-event" for AMZN; we would say it's sort of in a bad no-man's land, it's one of a few factors in whether someone subscribes to Prime, and the company wants to be "competitive" in streaming but also isn't interested in trying to outdo Netflix.

Weiss is obsessed with the notion of a streaming "winner." For now, the quality of offerings on Disney, Prime, Peacock, Apple TV and Paramount probably do not affect for most people whether they subscribe to NFLX. And the reason most people actually "subscribe" to many of these services is because they're getting free trials when they buy phones or order certain cable channels.

The issue for NFLX is whether it can either 1) gain more subscribers and/or 2) charge the subscribers more than it's charging now. This page believes the answer to 2) is an absolute yes, so we would agree with Weiss that it's a good stock, although it was a better stock a year ago. (This writer has no position in NFLX.)

On Fast Money, Tim Seymour said NFLX has been a free cash flow "machine" and he'd stay in the stock with earnings approaching. Guy Adami said NFLX is "right up against" its November 2021 high of 645-ish; he said it does have momentum and Guy would "maybe" hold it into earnings on the 18th but he'd be "a bit weary (sic) or leery" of holding it after that.

Weiss unloads INTC

Steve Weiss on Friday's (4/5) Halftime Report said we got a "Goldilocks" employment report; most importantly to Weiss, "Wage growth came in as expected."

Weiss said "geopolitical concerns" related to Israel and Iran are "always very temporary."

Weiss said Thursday was "a little bit painful," but not "meaningful."

Jim Lebenthal said it's only on the "distant radar," but if we keep getting hotter-than-expected inflation stats, that would concern him.

Weiss is suddenly out of INTC, selling it "down 10%," after defending it just a couple days ago. "I bought it a little early. And clearly it was a mistake," Weiss said, adding it's "not cheap" and too hard to pick a bottom on it.

Jenny Harrington protested, "I wouldn't be surprised if you get back into it at some point."

Weiss said VRT "should keep goin'," but he's "not buying it up here."

Steve Liesman delivered breaking news on Michelle Bowman's speech. Judge observed, "This sounds like both Bowman and Powell are on pretty much the same page."

Jenny Harrington revealed, "I have a friend who started doing the GLP-1s, and lost a ton of weight, and went out and had to buy an entire new wardrobe."

On Fast Money, The extremely cute Constance Hunter of MacroPolicy Perspective said the increase in the labor participation rate is a "really good piece of news." Grandpa Guy Adami, who won't say what a gallon of milk/gas/carton of eggs should cost, said "Part-time employment is going through the roof. Full-time jobs are going down. That tells me ... people need more jobs, 2 jobs, because they're trying to combat inflation any way they can." Tim Seymour said April historically is favored in stocks; "This is one of the best investment times of the year."

Nelson says DIS board never even interviewed Chapek (a/k/a the question isn’t why everybody hates PARA; the question is why Jim keeps liking it year after year)

Thursday (4/4) was such a sprawling day on CNBC, we had to watch at least 4 programs to find the good stuff. Which included Bob Iger, Nelson Peltz, and a market plunge around 2 p.m. Eastern.

David Faber did note how Bob's always got an answer for how successful the Fox acquisition was. But Bob (with apologies to David) said absolutely nothing controversial nor even newsworthy, which is why the Hollywood Reporter headlined the interview with Iger's remark about "woke."

(Even so, Karen Finerman on Fast Money was impressed, stating, "It was a great interview. I mean, David really pushed him hard, and- on a lot of different things," including "the idea that they hope to be No. 2 in streaming ... It's over, right? Netflix has won.")

Nelson, on the other hand, had good stuff, about a half-hour or so after Iger, telling Jim Cramer, "We've been told, on very good sources, that Chapek never even had, uh, an interview with the board directly."

In a tremendous question, Jim told Nelson that Jeff Sonnenfeld apparently says that Peltz is "finished." Jim asked Peltz for reax. "I do not even know how to pronounce his name," Nelson said.

On the (sleepy) Halftime Report, Josh Brown offered up new terminology, suggesting the market is toggling between "cut on" and "cut off" on a daily basis.

Touting IEO, Josh went to lengths to explain why "overbought" doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Bill Baruch asserted that the Fed is "a bit more political than people think."

Bill said he's "staying very far away" from natural gas, a commodity that Jim Lebenthal (who wasn't a panelist on Thursday's show) keeps talking up.

Speaking of Jim, more than halfway through, Jim joined the crew remotely to discuss not nat gas but one of his favorite stocks, PARA. Jim openly wondered, "Why does everybody hate this stock?" Jim suggested there's "2 answers," one that Shari will favor A shares over B shares, which Jim doesn't think is "likely." Judge cut Jim off before he could supply the 2nd answer. Moments later, Jim said "the other answer" is that "nobody in the analyst community trusts management."

We checked in with Judge's Closing Bell to learn if anyone was aghast about the late afternoon market reversal. No one really was. "None of this is a reversal of trend," Santoli said.

Steve Liesman on that program noted the market went "straight down" as Neel Kashkari "said what for some is the quiet part out loud."

On Fast Money, Tim Seymour called Mester "Meister" but corrected himself.

Tim also stated, "I think this was all about the Fed." Karen Finerman pushed back that "we've had people coming up, Bostic yesterday, Gorman ... a number ... saying no cuts."

Pointing to NVDA, Guy Adami labeled Thursday's action as a "continuation of March 8th."

No one’s brought up ‘higher for longer’ since Carter mocked the phrase

Wednesday's (4/3) Fast Money had one advantage over the Halftime Report; it wasn't at Sohn, which wasn't exactly producing fireworks.

Grandpa Guy Adami was asked to opine on Jay Powell (see below) and mentioned the "not even thinking about thinking about thinking about" thing and eventually declared, "The inflation battle's far from over."

Guy asserted, "Inflation is what's killing people," and went on to state that the reason Joe Biden's approval rating is "historically low" is because people feeling "pain" from "paying too much for things."

Or, maybe his approval rating is low because this is a person who barely mustered about 5% in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2020 before the Democratic Party decided to hand the nomination to him.

Mel didn't ask Guy exactly what price people should be paying for things. What should a gallon of gasoline cost; what should a gallon of milk cost, what should a Denny's Grand Slam cost.

For the umpteenth time, Karen Finerman, who stunned in new blue outfit, questioned why the Fed would cut. "I don't understand why they would need to do this," Karen stated.

Karen said when she saw ULTA down 13%, she thought, "this is crazy," and she bought more, ignoring her 3-day rule, only to see the stock fall another 2%.

David Einhorn suggests Fed is ‘motivated’ to keep the president ‘in power’

Judge's interview Wednesday (4/3) at Sohn with David Einhorn (it occurred during Power Lunch, not the Halftime Report) lasted about 12 minutes, and it wasn't until the very last moment that they got to the good stuff.

That was when David said it "seems unlikely" that there'd be a Fed hike, at least before November, stating, "They seem very politically motivated to, um, uh, try to keep the president in- in power."

David presented SLVYY at Sohn; he told Judge he owns "a little bit over 5% of the company." We're sure it's an interesting investment, but it's also fairly obscure and we doubt too many viewers are going to jump in.

Einhorn explained that he bought NYCB and other acquirers of the fallout assets of the March 2023 bank troubles, but he sold NYCB after the recent bad news and took a "very small loss."

Much of the interview dealt with "value" investing (snicker). David asserted that "The value investing industry and value investing are 2 completely different things."

"Gold is a very large position for us," Einhorn said, citing a "problem with the overall monetary and fiscal policies of the country." David said that "the deficits are ultimately a real problem" and that it's just a "math thing" to realize it.

Nevertheless, "I don't particularly think we're in a bubble," David said.

Weiss’ ADM buy remains early contender for Call of the Year

Live from Sohn on Wednesday's (4/3) Halftime Report, Josh Brown said he's looking at RSIs and found that "the market is almost completely stalled out here." But he said the Russell average RSI is at 52, highest since February 2023.

Kari Firestone said the market is "grappling" with whether stronger growth that pushes off rate cuts is worth it.

Steve Weiss agreed with Kari; "that really is the debate going on."

As happened throughout the day on CNBC, Judge aired clips of Steve Cohen on Squawk Box saying AI is a "really durable theme." Weiss said Cohen gets the "best information" from his 1,000-person team, many of them traders.

Josh said "this is a very different environment than bubbles past." Josh and Weiss agreed that the performance of some slumping tech stocks wouldn't be happening if this were a bubble.

Jim actually said that the DIS board battle is "great drama." Jim mentioned the "Hulu transaction" (snicker) again but claimed Iger has "got one ace in his sleeve," which of course is "streaming" (snicker).

Leslie Picker rattled off a list of Sohn stock picks, none of which we heard of, which included a "Norwegian digital media company."

Weiss for some reason owns INTC and claimed it was "holding up reasonably well" down 7% on its foundry business. Weiss said it easily could've been at $35 and claimed it's a 2nd-half story. Josh said he'd take a "2nd look" at the stock if it can hold 38 for a few days.

Kari said baby boomers are "traveling constantly ... I'm one of them." She likes BKNG.

Seema Mody is back and did the CNBC News Update.

In the latter half of the show, Michelle Ross of StemPoint sat in with the crew to discuss her biotech presentation on CRNX at Sohn; she thinks it's got room for inroads in GLP-1. She said SNDX has a drug in the works for childhood leukemia, and that MRUS is addressing head and neck cancers.

Josh said LYV is a "crown jewel" in the "experience economy" despite the fact Piper Sandler is apparently down on the stock.

Weiss touted TDG and also Judge gave him an update on ADM, so far one of the best trades of the year. Weiss pointed out he bought the stock on that accounting-issue collapse and "I'm actually up 20%."

Dan Nathan: TSLA going to 100

Bryn Talkington made a stark pronouncement at the top of Tuesday's (4/2) Halftime Report, stating, "We've been overbought in this market really since early February."

Josh Brown said, "When you saw that activity happening with the Donald Trump SPAC, uh, you just knew that there were games being played that we really haven't seen since, like, late 2021."

Brown said, "I also notice some of the worst people on social media beating their chest again about bitcoin and this and that."

Late in the program, Bryn said she could see bitcoin being either $100,000 or $20,000. "I still don't understand the use cases for it," Bryn admitted.

Meanwhile, Sarat Sethi said the market needs to "digest" the big run of the last several months.

Bryn said there's been a recent "obsession" with small caps, but she expects them to continue to lag. She said the Fed will be "more neutral" near the election and that the "sweet spot" for cutting rates would be in the summer.

Jim Lebenthal said "we don't need rate cuts," and he insisted he's not being "blasé" about it either.

Midway through the show, David Faber reported that Endeavor is going private. On DIS, David said the company is "certainly in a very good position to prevail" against Nelson Peltz. But as to whether it could be 70-30, David said "no way," maybe like a vote total in the "high 50s." Judge wondered if the closeness of the vote would matter in any way. David indicated probably not unless it was extremely close.

Jim again said it "can't hurt" to have Peltz on the board, but he's definitely not selling if Peltz loses.

Jim again said "the future" of DIS is Disney+ streaming (snicker).

Bryn said TSLA's Chinese competitors "have caught up," and it's a question of how well TSLA can compete in that market. Bryn predicted "a bad Q2" and "rough year" for TSLA and said she'd wait "a couple quarters" before looking to buy.

Gene Munster basically seconded that notion on Fast Money. But also on Fast Money, Dan Nathan said TSLA is "probably going to a hundred," calling it "one of the worst-looking stock charts I've ever seen in my life."

Dan also said that some people claim to see clarity from the Fed on rates, but "I don't think they (meaning the Fed) have a clue."

Judge promised a "big show" Wednesday from Sohn and said he'll be live with David Einhorn at 2:15 p.m. Eastern.

Guy suggests downside revisions to unemployment statistics might be like the unheeded ‘warning signs’ of 2006-07

Grandpa Guy Adami, who's been complaining since Benny Goodman was The King of Swing that the Federal Reserve has lost control of the bond market, was challenged by host Missy Lee about his perpetual warnings on Monday's (4/1) Fast Money.

Guy had stated at the top of the program, "I think people are wishing for rate cuts, and I've said, be careful what you wish for," adding, "The inflation genie I think is right back out of the bottle."

Moments later, Mel noted stock market positives and asked Guy, "Why so grim?"

Guy referred to the beginnings of the show around 2007 and the subsequent housing/financial crisis and assured "I'm not suggesting we're there" at '08-'09 but stated, "The fact that people came back and said, 'You never told us all the bad things that were going on, you never warned us,' so I vowed from that day on, if I saw things that were, to me at least, alarming, I was gonna bring them up."

One of those "alarming" "warning signs" is apparently the "revisions to the downside" (snicker) in unemployment reports.

So, "Things aren't as great as they appear."

However, Guy did allow that no rate cuts (or less than 3) would be the "most bullish thing that could happen" for the financial markets.

"I'm surprised there's still 3 on the table," offered Karen Finerman.

Dan Nathan said he has "no idea" what would happen in the markets if Jay Powell declared there would be no rate cuts this year.

Carter says when you hear a mantra like ‘Higher for longer,’ you should ‘run the other way’; Judge opened his show with it and no one bolted

At the start of Monday's (4/1) Halftime Report, Judge asked Stephanie Link, "Is this the quarter ... where we start worrying about higher for longer," probably not realizing that Carter Worth hours later on Fast Money was going to mock the "higher for longer" sloganeering, saying it started around 5.02%.

Stephanie said "we probably are higher for longer" and that there might not be cuts this year and Monday's ISM was "pretty hot."

Judge said investors are at their most bullish in 18 months, but Jason Snipe said he doesn't think the market is offsides.

Jim Lebenthal insisted this is a "Goldilocks environment" and that inflation is "coming down" even if not as much as people want.

Judge asserted the rising 10-year rate could be trouble. Stephanie said "5% is the number that I would worry about" for its impact on housing, and the market can "handle" 4.5%.

Jason said he recently added to CAT, which is "hitting all-time highs."

Judge asked Jim about banks and noted the highs in many of them. Jim said they're due for a "pause" at some point but he doesn't see any looming fundamental issues. "Green shoots are there," Jim said.

Jim again talked up the potential of nat gas without really explaining why it might go up.

Judge asked Jim about being bullish on the economy and market while being overweight a "defensive area of the market," health care. Jim conceded that health care even typically does badly in election years, but he sees a "snapback after a terrible 2023."

Jim told Judge that he doesn't think you necessarily have to have rate cuts for small caps to work, just a strong economy. But Jason said rate cuts are "important" to the small cap story.

Jim said he's "very bullish" on DAL and the gushing MS upgrade is a "fun note to read."

Jim's 3-point plan for DIS success includes "profitability in streaming" (snicker). Jim said if Peltz wins, he won't "distract" Bob Iger and can't hurt, and if he doesn't win, at least the stock is up a lot recently. Stephanie said if she owned DIS, she would sell it if Peltz does not win the board seat.

Judge promised David Einhorn at Sohn on Wednesday.

Josh talks about TOST

Much of Thursday's (3/28) Halftime Report was interrupted by breaking news from the Sam Bankman-Fried sentencing, provided by CNBC superfox Kate Rooney. (See our home page.)

Kate said one of the reasons Sam got 25 years is because the judge found there's "not a trivial risk" of him doing this kind of stuff again. Kate also said legal experts say the chances of SBF making a successful appeal are "very unlikely."

On Fast Money, Tim Seymour took up the criminal justice system, stating, "Part of this sentence, it almost sounds like someone that showed zero remorse. And- and- and, you know, that's part of it."

Back on Halftime, Josh Brown opened the show saying "the real big question" is how people will react to the "first correction of 2024."

Josh said "it's not just tech" that's working but energy, communications services and financials are the top 3 sectors of the year, all around 13%.

Shannon Saccocia said it's hard to "pin down" what will cause the correction.

Jim Lebenthal said Ryan Grabinski of Strategas says that out of 130 times of the market being up 27% in 5 months (that's a stat everyone keeps handy), "the next 12 months, only 1 time out of 130 have you had a negative return." And the average return is 15% over 12 months.

But Jim says that for the market to continue, we need "meaningful earnings beats."

Josh pointed out the huge gains in the past year of SLG; he said there's no big earnings but rather "it just didn't get more bad." Josh also said CTAS earnings are a "guidance" for the health of the market.

Josh said "the banks have actually been the big laggards amongst the financials."

Jim said ORCL has both fundamentals and sentiment behind it. Josh said he's a buyer of PFE and again made the case that the stock has been worse than the fundamentals.

Josh gave the same speech about TOST that he always does. Jim gave the same speech about DAL that he always does.

Mark Yusko predicts bitcoin will be $150,000 in a year, ‘easily’ $700,000 in 2034

Mark Yusko joined Wednesday's (3/27) Halftime Report to predict that bitcoin will reach $150,000 in a "year or so," according to Melissa Lee.

Mark said it's "just math," then went on to discuss "halving" and how it "cuts the block rewards."

Somehow, it gets to $75,000 "fair value," and post-halving brings "a lot of interest" that brings 2x fair value because of FOMO and other things, so there's your $150,000.

Later, Mark, who called bitcoin "a better form of gold," stated, "I think it can go up 10x from here easily over the next decade."

Karen Finerman affirmed owning bitcoin but observed, "It is really not so tax-efficient. So I do end up having to sell some to pay taxes."

Here’s what’s going to happen when Brad Gerstner’s Invest America gets shopped around Congress

Brad Gerstner, the star guest of Wednesday's (3/27) Halftime Report, has a new initiative, this one called Invest America. (Not to be confused with The Board Challenge.)

Brad said the idea is for people to have a "401(k)-like account from birth." He indicated the plan is to get "America's best businesses to contribute to those kids' accounts of their employees."

Brad described the plan this way: "The government just has a really small role to play here. Put a seed into this account, 3.7 million children born every year, put a seed of a thousand dollars in it in the S&P 500, it can't be traded, and then let the magic of our markets work. People can contribute, birthdays (that's just what 5-year-olds want, donations to their S&P 500 account rather than toys), bar mitzvahs; companies can contribute like these companies have suggested that they would. And if you start with just a thousand bucks, contribute $750 a year, by 30 years old, it's $200,000 in the S&P 500."

Brad said he's been "incredibly heartened" by the response from Washington.

All of that is ... interesting food for thought. But then Brad went off the deep end, stating, "We expect that this will be a piece of legislation that we can get passed (snicker) in the spring of 2025."

Judge asked for rules on whether the money can be "traded" and when it can be withdrawn. Brad said people will have "different ideas." Brad said maybe at age 18, account holders could take out "up to 20%" for a "qualified one-time expense," such as college, starting a business or buying a first home (um, not that many 18-year-olds that we know are starting businesses or buying their first homes, but whatever). Brad suggested rules where you could take out 10% at 30 and 10% more at 40, and by 50, "you get the entire account."

OK ... hoo boy ... we started to wonder if Brad has discussed this idea with anyone who has actually been around Congress.

Because here's what's going to happen: 1) Invest America will be off limits to any child whose parents make $100,000 or more. 2) The kids who do get it will have 23 exceptions allowing them to withdraw the money at any time. 3) The S&P will never be allowed to go down because that will scare accountholders. 4) Government advisers will join the S&P selection committee. 5) The legislation will have to include some border provision. 6) The money when withdrawn will be taxed. And 7) Won't this be inflationary?

Judge said Brad continues to "live ambitiously ... stealing from our uh our obviously most recent marketing campaign."

Brad: Tech not in a bubble

Aside from Invest America, Brad Gerstner on Wednesday's (3/27) Halftime Report took up his specialty, the tech sector.

Brad said "just 18 months ago" that NVDA was 125 and META was 90, and "everybody hated those names," which isn't true, no one hated Nvidia; they did hate Meta but not Nvidia. Brad cited some megacap tech stocks and said we're not in "bubble territory."

Judge said some people don't think NVDA has a "moat" though it has a great "lead." Brad said everyone would like to have other options, but Jensen has made the product an "extraordinary value."

Asked about GOOGL, Brad said "the launch of Gemini was a disaster for this company," but he added to his stake after the stock slid to 130. (This writer is long GOOGL.)

Joe Terranova said he likes the buy that Brad made in GOOGL and thinks the stock has found its "right price point."

Brad said he hopes whoever is elected U.S. president in November, we have a "tolerable partnership" with China.

It’s still tranquil (cont’d)

Joe Terranova opened Wednesday's (3/27) Halftime Report saying "Everyone thinks that we've run too far too fast."

Joe said he was at a "Morgan Stanley complex" on Tuesday and everyone was wondering when the correction's coming. (Which isn't surprising, given that just last week, Joe said the "entire financial services industry" knows the market is somehow in "need" of a correction.) But "never sell a quiet market," Joe advised, and if you're nervous, VIX insurance is "awfully cheap."

Kari Firestone said the market has run "perhaps too fast," but that doesn't mean it's going down.

Sarat Sethi said he likes that the rally is "broadening."

Steve Weiss said he didn't vote in the CNBC Delivering Alpha survey, as the others apparently did but maybe couldn't remember how they voted. Weiss said he would've voted that the market's gone "too far, too fast."

Joe asserted that financials are "underowned."

Guy says Biden approval rating is ‘probably at historic lows’

The most interesting news from Tuesday's (3/26) Halftime Report came late in the show when Jim Lebenthal announced he unloaded recent buy NYCB.

Jim said he felt like a "hero" when it surged to $4. Judge said it's a stock that "I was surprised that you got into in the first place." Jim said he has other things to worry about and "lost interest" in NYCB.

The second-most interesting news was Julia Boorstin reporting that the NFL is giving Peacock the Friday night game of the opening weekend; we're surprised Judge wasn't more excited. The game will be played in Brazil.

Meanwhile, Jim admitted he gets "kinda laughed at for holding" GM stock, but those who think the UAW stuck it to the company are mistaken. "When the UAW strike was settled and all the headlines were 'Lookit- Look at how the UAW pulled one over on management there.' Hah. Hah. Don't believe headlines folks. Do your own research," Jim advised.

Jason Snipe opened the show saying the "AI story" has been affecting AAPL in a "major way," and he sees the recent downtrend as an "opportunity" to buy, which he and Stephanie Link have done.

Stephanie Link argued that DoJ interest in AAPL is years away from resolution; Judge said it might serve as a "distraction" in the near term.

Jim said he's holding off on adding AAPL, looking to the "low 160s."

Judge promised Brad Gerstner on Wednesday. Brad of course will tell us how great SNOW is and how bad GOOGL is. (This writer is long GOOGL.)

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said, "I'm a little concerned that there won't be 3 cuts," citing James Gorman's suggestion that there won't be any cuts.

Grandpa Guy Adami claimed, "We've learned the hard way that asset prices have nothing to do with the economy. Because if it was just about asset prices, the president's approval rating would be through the roof, and it's probably at historic lows now through the prism (snicker) of just the economy."

Weiss says ‘CNBC rules’ keep him from flipping BA (as we wait for Jim to declare that BA needs to hire better mechanics) (Maybe Nelson Peltz has a plan for that)

Right after the A Block on Monday's (3/25) Halftime Report, Judge, back from more than a week away, turned to what was a good, perhaps great, Final Trade call by Steve Weiss the previous Friday: BA. (A great call not for the stock gain, but Weiss' observation that David Calhoun was getting pushed aside/ousted, which Jim sort of played down apparently because he thinks it somehow doesn't matter.)

Weiss on Monday said he bought the stock Friday, which was up about 1.8% during the show, and was still in it Monday, "only because I have to be, because of CNBC rules, but I'll be getting out of it."

Weiss noted what he was saying last week, "going on the road show, the board, without Calhoun, meant that he was out" and that customers said "enough's enough." After a brief coughing fit that Weiss impressively recovered from, Weiss said the company needs both a new CEO and new board and has an "extensive manufacturing problem and a culture that's gotta be reversed." He said the company has "gotta look to the outside."

Judge said Jim Lebenthal, who was also on Monday's panel, "defended Boeing forever." Jim insisted "the CEO is not the story here." (Honestly, we've been wondering for years what Jim thinks is the story — making better emergency slides?)

Judge told Jim, "The buck stops at the top." Jim said, "So what? ... Let's not get stuck on that."

Jim scoffed that some "DNA splice of Jack Welch and Warren Buffett and Bill Gates" wouldn't "fix this."

Jim said he wouldn't buy the stock, "absolutely not," which was basically Weiss' position; Weiss wants to sell, not buy. Joe Terranova wondered, "Why is everyone acting like it's such a great performance today. Stock's up 1%." Weiss cracked, "Annualize that."

Guy Adami on Fast Money said the Calhoun move is a "necessary step" and that had someone told him on Friday that the Calhoun news would happen over the weekend, he would've guessed the stock on Monday would be "north of $200." Even so, Guy thinks the recent 179 low will be "the low for a while."

Bonawyn Eison stated, "I wouldn't be surprised if '737 Max' is just banished from dictionaries."

Jim doesn’t care about neither Boeing’s CEO nor what the Fed does (as Weiss implies Tony doesn’t have anything to do)

Joe Terranova on Monday's (3/25) Halftime Report said Tony Pasquariello at Goldman Sachs wrote a "phenomenal note" in which Tony "summarizes" all the things in 2024 that would've made an investor think beforehand "the correction's coming." But Joe said it's a "tranquil environment" (snicker) in which "money is being treated well."

Steve Weiss said of Tony, "We love his stuff," but all that matters is, "is the Fed done," and when do the cuts start.

Judge wondered, "Why do people try to make it more complicated than that?"

Weiss said, "Everybody's gotta earn a living, Scott. That's why they make it more complicated. Because if they made it that simple, what would they do for work, right?"

Judge said people who have been negative aren't "dummies" but have noted "real risks," it's just that the market has "blown past" them. Weiss predicted inflation will stay "stubbornly high."

P.E. Ratio Trader Jenny Harrington said she's "negative" because "everything's too high."

Jim Lebenthal said that financials, industrials and energy are all outperforming tech this year and suggested people "simply diversify."

Jim stated, "I don't care about the Fed at this point." Judge said "Maybe you should," in case the market is "wholly (sic) (snicker) delusional" about rate cuts.

Joe has "no idea" why ANET was removed from Citi's Focus List.

Julia should’ve told Guy, ‘It’s like the Joe Gibbs story’ (a/k/a Mary Barra is on Rushmore?)

To no one's surprise, Jim Lebenthal on Monday's (3/25) Halftime Report said the "interesting" thing to him about the DIS outlook "is that streaming profitability is still projected for the end of the fiscal year," which Jim said is Sept. 30.

Jim said the "next leg" is what if streaming (somehow) becomes a "meaningful contribution" to profitability.

Joe Terranova said DIS looks "phenomenal" and is "breaking out" and one of the "best-looking momentum stocks in communication services."

Joe suggested that with some "synergy" (snicker) between Peltz and the DIS board, the stock could get back to the (roughly) $200 of early 2021 (when coincidentally, the chart looked great then too). Steve Weiss wondered, "What's that boardroom gonna look like if Iger's still on- still CEO."

The Fast Money crew opened their program on DIS, with Guy Adami observing, "You don't cost-cut your way to greatness, but you certainly can cost-cut your way to a stock that can continue to rally in this environment."

Dan Nathan said Chapek "filled in" for Iger.

Guy asked Julia Boorstin "how important is legacy," given that Iger after his first stint at DIS would've been Hall of Fame, "first ballot, no question," but now "people might start questioning things." Julia said "He needs to get this right," which doesn't really answer the question.

Dan Nathan said the DIS board is like the "Mount Rushmore of CEOs right now," so "they'll probably get it right."

Meanwhile on Halftime, Weiss stressed that NFLX is the "winner" and he "unfortunately" only has a small position.

Judge said Mike Mayo has upped his C target from 70 to 80. (Which is like $7 or $8, for those who remember 2008.)

Joe said the XLE is approaching its November 2022 high, and if it tops that, we're looking at 101, "which is where it traded in 2014 (snicker)." Jim said we could "easily get a rally in natural gas."

In a blast from the past, Wilfred Frost was guest hosting The Exchange.

Joe says ‘the entire financial services industry’ knows the stock market needs a correction, thinks people will chase emerging market debt

Joe Terranova on Friday's (3/22) Halftime Report lamented that in early February he predicted a down month, so, "I'm not gonna sit and predict a correction."

But, Joe said, "I think what is well known (snicker) throughout the entire financial services industry is the market is in need of a correction."

Joe said if the correction "unfolds," the "immediate investor reaction to that is to pivot into investment-grade, high-yield emerging market debt," a prediction that had us scratching our heads.

Evidently, Steve Weiss doesn't see it the same way as Joe, wondering, if he told people there's going to be a correction of 5-10% on Wednesday, "What are you gonna do about it," questioning who would be selling good stocks with big gains and pay the taxes.

Jim Lebenthal said of the correction, "Don't you DARE try to time it," though he assured, "I'm not trying to be insulting to anyone listening at home." Jim added, "I don't even think we're gonna get a full 10% correction." (But then how are people going to chase high-yield emerging market debt?)

Joe pointed to NVDA's day and said he's "hard-pressed" to believe the market could be having a correction if NVDA is up. (Even though the entire financial services industry says we "need" it.)

Bill Baruch, who joined the show remotely, is being prepared; Bill said he thinks "everybody can agree" that "there's some exhaustion in the market." Bill has bought S&P 500 puts expiring in May.

Liz Young said Q1 "might actually be kind of a nothing burger, so to speak."

Jim said if there's a "gangbusters" (snicker) economy, small caps might do well. Guest host Frank Holland said Tom Lee has made a small-caps-rallying-50%-this-year call, and right now, they're up "maybe 3%." Liz admitted, "That seems like a lot, to me." (Frank even repeated Lee's call later in the show.)

Joe said if you believe in a small-cap rally, then "regional banks are the obvious proxy for that."

Weiss calls BA a ‘great trade,’ says process unfolding to oust Calhoun

Jim Lebenthal on Friday's (3/22) Halftime Report bluntly declared he "would not touch" BA now.

Steve Weiss tried to interrupt as Jim suggested "there's talk that maybe Calhoun's gonna leave"; Jim told Weiss, "hold on Weiss, there's no need to interrupt there, OK, I'm making a point."

Jim went on to curiously say that "Calhoun's not the problem. He's not the solution."

In the show's final minute of Final Trades, Weiss got a chance to respond; he said he bought BA after hearing Jim and faulted Calhoun and called it a "great trade" as other parties try to oust Calhoun.

Meanwhile, Weiss said FDX the stock is doing better than FDX the company.

Joe cautioned against relying on LULU and NKE numbers/guidance as a read-through on the consumer.

Assessing LULU on Fast Money, Karen Finerman said she's not sure if she's pronouncing "Vuori" correctly. Karen's interested in buying LULU but cautioned that Lee Cooperman likes to say "you never see 1 bad quarter."

Josh explains what NVDA price targets mean

Thursday's (3/21) Halftime Report, with guest host Frank Holland, opened with Steve Kovach's report on MSFT's new AI PCs. (Zzzzzzz)

Kari Firestone said that so far, we've only been hearing about AI chips, and, "Nobody's been making any money off of AI really except for Nvidia." Kari said embedding AI in the PC is "ingenius."

On the Justice Dept. suit against AAPL, Josh Brown pointed out that consumers keep buying the product, so it's hard to see how they're being harmed. Bill Baruch said "I'm a big believer in capitalism" and it seems like being on the AAPL platform is a "privilege" and not a "right."

Kari said the suit has "some importance to shareholders," so she thinks AAPL will be under "some pressure." Josh said AAPL won in court against Fortnite. Josh said this is today's life for Megacap Tech; "They will never not be under scrutiny."

Steve Kovach said "we might have a Trump administration next year" and said the Trump DOJ started this probe into AAPL, but "Tim Cook was really good at cozying up to Donald Trump during his first (that's what Steve said) term as president."

Kevin Simpson bought more AAPL. Bill Baruch was trimming the shares on Wednesday.

Bill said MU was talking up "HBM," High Bandwidth Memory; "you're gonna see more and more of that popping up around."

Josh said NVDA has become a "universal buy" on the Street and shrugged that changing price targets is just about trying to "make sure that your investment bank is getting their share of the trading volume that's supposed to cross your desk."

Bill Baruch trimmed AMD; he wanted to "take a step back" after it got rejected at $200.

Kevin Simpson added to UNH. Josh Brown suggested waiting for the technicals to confirm a bottom.

Bill bought NUE, stating it's "breaking out."

Josh Brown touted DOW, MMM, MAR, RCL and financials such as C as some sort of "Trade School" of impressive charts.

Just like Judge has done a few times in the last few weeks, Frank somehow managed to end the show with 3 minutes of time to fill, so commercials finally connected viewers to Tyler Mathisen.

Steve didn’t exactly answer Joe’s question about the regional bank situation

Wednesday (3/20) was Fed day; even so, we figured, if Judge had been hosting the Halftime Report (he wasn't; he was off), we'd still be spending the A block talking about whatever Nvidia's doing.

Instead, guest host Frank Holland asked Joe Terranova to describe the market's approach to the Fed (or something like that).

"I think we're trying to search for some form of consternation in an environment that can absolutely be defined as 'tranquil,'" Joe stated.

Joe noted the VIX is below 15.

Bryn Talkington stated, "You (she meant anyone in general, not Joe) always sound smarter when you're bearish, right, because you can always point things out." But the S&P, Bryn said, going back to the 1950s, "goes up 75% of the time."

Bryn said humans are "very terrible" at predicting the future, so if the Fed were to announce it's going to do 2 cuts instead of 3, and the market sold off, that would be an "opportunistic" time to buy for investors.

Steve Weiss said he doesn't know that he agrees with Bryn's comments about being bearish sounds smarter, and Weiss suggested that "Joe should moderate his coffee intake before coming on the show."

Steve Liesman doesn't think Jay Powell will be "too exercised" by the last couple months of inflation data.

Joe asked Steve Liesman if the Fed has a "handle" on the regional bank situation. Steve said the Fed's message has been "they have a handle on it."

In the chip space (you knew it was coming), Weiss said he owns INTC "because of the foundry business." Bryn said she doesn't want to own the stock. Weiss said INTC has very low expectations and a decent growth outlook. Bryn said INTC's "execution" is going to take 1-3 years.

Joe observed that AVGO, the "reasonable alternative" (snicker) to higher-P.E. AI stocks, has pulled back from recent highs and hasn't yet recovered. But Joe said "the opportunity is somewhere in front of us."

On Fast Money, Grandpa Guy "The Fed's Lost Control Of The Bond Market" Adami was tempted to launch into another interest-rate critique before stopping himself and admitting that the stock market is at all-time highs.

One reason NFLX is such a good stock is because the company charges most people far less than what they’d actually pay

One happy story on Wednesday's (3/20) Halftime Report involved the 50-1 stock split of CMG.

Joe Terranova said the split is "phenomenal" for "employees" and "stakeholders." (Honestly, it's great that the company apparently is rewarding workers in some way, but we're not sure how the split is going to juice the portfolios of the guys making burritos.)

Steve Weiss scoffed that "there's no economic benefit" to the split and mocked the "retail investors who still don't get" that the return on the stock will be the same.

But Weiss said he's "never seen a restaurant stock hold this kind of premium valuation for so long. And it's been deserved."

Bryn Talkington, though, said the split is successful because only successful companies are splitting, and this "validates" the company's success. (Actually whether a company has been successful should already have been long recognized by the markets before the split, but whatever.) (If PYPL were doing a 50-1 split, then THAT would put Bryn's "validation" theory to the test.)

Guest host Frank Holland also disagreed with Weiss and said for sentiment, such a split can have a "big impact."

Meanwhile, Weiss said he sold "25%" of his bitcoin stake for profit-taking. Even so, "It's gonna keep goin'," Weiss said, arguing both that there's no "use case" but that it is a "legit asset class."

Weiss said he wishes he had a bigger NFLX position; "the stock just gets cheaper" with future growth expectations. Bryn said Weiss is "spot on," that NFLX will continue to be the winner in streaming.

Joe said the JOET owns DAL and UAL. But, after saying "My son is playing in the USA Youth Hockey National Championships in 2 weeks. By the way, sponsored by Chipotle," Joe said airlines are charging "unbelievable prices" for airline seats, "and there's no seats on the flights."

Weiss claimed to be agreeing with Joe's assertion about airline fundamentals, except that Weiss actually said, "These things, it's where value money goes to die."

Joe was asked, for about the 3rd (or was it 30th) time in a week, to predict the DRI earnings, and he once again mentioned his 2 favorite Italian restaurants.

Weiss' Final Trade was ADM (although it sounded like it may have been Joe's Final Trade). Weiss was the only one talking up this stock after it got slammed from the accounting issues; it's had a big 2-month gain.

Josh says NVDA reminds him of QCOM in 1999

In a speech about NVDA early into Tuesday's (3/19) Halftime Report, Josh Brown made this stark comparison: "It really does remind me of Qualcomm in, um, in 1999. I think the stock split twice in one calendar year. ... And it's not that the bulls were wrong about Qualcomm's opportunity in wireless. It's that they priced it all in, a decade's worth, inside of a year."

NVDA long Jim Lebenthal said the day's pullback in NVDA is "kind of noise to me." Jim said NVDA "can run for a little bit further. I don't think it's gonna double over the next 12 months."

Jim claimed that small caps are "where the puck is going," unless you see a recession ahead.

Later, Josh said there's a "ton of technical support" in UBER at 62. (This writer is long UBER.) Josh called the stock "substantially undervalued in the short term" and suggested it may be the only public company right now that could eventually be a Mag 7. Josh touted his holding of CRWD, saying "I'm long term and I'm not going anywhere."

Jim said NKE is a "show-me story right now."

Jim said the union is the "ace card" in the U.S. Steel deal at least as it pertains to Jim's Favorite Company on Earth, CLF. For as much as Jim has somehow talked about this stock, it trades at $20 and really has done nothing since 2020.

Karen Finerman on Fast Money addressed potential retail deals, saying "this whole space was so cheap," so offers aren't surprising, however, the idea of the Nordstrom family taking on debt to go private is a "little harder to fathom."

Weiss says he would ‘fall asleep’ during Jensen’s presentation

It was basically Kristina Partsinevelos Day on CNBC on Monday (3/18), even though the Halftime Report started off with somehow a different topic (see below).

But after Kristina's report, Joe Terranova seemed to reach for hyperbole in stating, "Jensen Huang probably has more impact on the market than Jay Powell does, this week."

Steve Weiss said there's "a lot of expectation" about Huang's speech but he expects "more of the same" and "I just wouldn't get excited about a 2-hour speech, probably- if I were there, I'd probably fall asleep during it."

Joe questioned when the market may price in "election risk" for semiconductors. Joe told guest host Melissa Lee it's "clearly not priced in." Weiss asked Joe "specifically" to outline the risks. Joe mentioned tariffs and wondered "does the supply chain get weaponized." Weiss said "the weaponization to date has been limiting the technology that China can buy; I'm not worried about it at all."

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said she's "sort of intrigued" by how Jensen Huang is "a genius at being a CEO of a company that is in the middle of a huge wave and how to manage expectations and sort of how to manage the stock price. ... He's done a masterful job so far."

That got us wondering, how exactly has Jensen been "masterful" managing "expectations." Analyst put out revenue estimates. The company reports revenue. Is Jensen reading them nursery rhymes in the interim? Does Karen think most CEOs who sell a product for which demand has quadrupled (or something like that) wouldn't be able to triple the stock price in a year?

Grandpa Guy Adami warned that the Fed's lost control of the bond market the 77% NVDA margins are bound to come down sometime.

Weiss jousts with Mel throughout the entire program

Guest host Melissa Lee opened Monday's (3/18) Halftime Report talking about GOOGL's gain on its AAPL alliance. (This writer is long GOOGL.)

The subject actually prompted Joe Terranova to revisit a theme that he has curiously waffled on for more than a month: "This potentiatlly reignites the Mag 7 concentration outperformance." (#ohno) (#where'sAdamParker)

Joe said it's a "little bit puzzling" as to why AAPL is doing this and who's paying who. But he called it a "significant positive for Alphabet."

Steve Weiss affirmed he bought GOOGL on the heels of its bad Gemini news in anticipation of improvement (a good call) and declared, "Apple is not an innovator." He called it a "great deal for Alphabet."

Joe said the AAPL-GOOGL news was kind of like having a "big megadeal" when you wake up Monday morning.

Mel seemed visibly miffed that Weiss wanted to "butt in" during Mel's question to Shannon Saccocia. Weiss said OpenAI is not a perfect product and the perceived difference between MSFT and GOOGL is "not that great."

CNBC tech correspondent Steve Kovach weighed in, concluding, "Either way, it's great for Google."

Weiss trumpeted NFLX and his "small position" though he conceded it's "not cheap." He also trumpeted VRT, stating it's "gettin' kinda boring" talking about his portfolio winners. Mel said, "We're gonna dedicate the back half of the show to your losers." Weiss said that will be a "very short back portion." Mel said they could "fill 30 minutes."

Weiss and Mel were still trading jabs during Final Trade.

Weiss has a Call of the Year contender if ADM keeps climbing

Joe Terranova, who admitted recently he's not an Olive Garden fan, on Monday's (3/18) Halftime Report predicted "a good report from Darden on Thursday" taking the stock past an all-time high.

Joe also observed, "The refiners are a remarkably hot trade right now."

Steve Weiss admitted he sold FCX "around $40" a week ago and in a rare bit of self-deprecating humor said that his sale should've given the market "optimism" that it would go higher. Weiss did talk up ADM, which has been an excellent trade and an early Call of the Year contender.

Joe said TSLA is hiking prices "from a position of weakness." Joe said the stock has "broken momentum." However, he said, "It is oversold." Weiss said he's short TSLA, predicting the 200-day average in 200 days will be "at a hundred." Weiss stressed the company's governance and the "EV craze subsiding greatly."

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman questioned why the Fed has to do 2 or 3 cuts, once again, wondering why the Fed would cut and "give it away." (Translation: Rate cuts should be "earned" by economic maelstrom and if the economy is doing fine with relatively higher rates, there's no reason to cut.)

Josh wonders if TSLA is the next META

Steve Weiss opened Friday's (3/15) sleepy Halftime Report saying he's shorted the QQQ and SMH.

Weiss did make a joke about getting Rob Sechan "a new joke writer."

Rob just bought LULU as a "little bit of a play on the consumer." He said he chose it over NKE.

Brenda Vingiello said ADBE, if anything, is a "buying opportunity."

A day earlier, Josh Brown on Thursday's (3/14) Halftime Report noted the META low of 2022 and wondered, "Is Tesla setting up to be the next Meta."

On Thursday's Fast Money, Melissa Lee wondered, "Nobody wants to talk about Dick's?," prompting Tim Seymour and Karen Finerman to stifle laughs.

Bill’s plan to hold ARM for 3-5 years ends after a month

Well, sometimes investors can be fickle.

Bill Baruch dialed in to Wednesday's (3/13) Halftime Report to say he sold ARM the previous Friday. He told Judge that he thought the stock could see profit-taking.

Which is curious, because not even a month ago, on Feb. 16, Bill told Judge that he plans to hold the stock 3-5 years for a possible "4x."

Bill had first said on 2/9 that he bought ARM, and it was $115 that day, so we already had "Bill/ARM" penciled in as an early contender for Call of the Year.

Seems like enthusiasm for that designation may wane given the latest developments.

Bill bought more SCCO and also bought PSX.

Judge on Wednesday didn't bring up NYCB, Jim Lebenthal's new buy for his personal account, but it was up 9%.

Tables at Primola bound to be full on Wednesday night (a/k/a Kari’s shop picks curious things to research)

Judge couldn't get out of the first 30 seconds of Wednesday's (3/13) Halftime Report without mentioning "Nvidia."

Joe Terranova argued that the overall market momentum trend (or something like that) isn't changing even while contending "Nvidia right now by the way is, is literally the market."

Kari Firestone said her shop looked up, in the last 20 years, "all the stocks over 20 billion in market cap that were up more than 200%, 200%, in a 12-month period." They found that "the majority underperform the market in the following 12 months."

The conclusion, Kari said, is that "it's not a given" that NVDA or others will keep surging for 3-4 years.

OK, a couple of our own conclusions from that ... 1) It hardly seems the statistic Kari cited should affect anyone's decision to own NVDA right now. Maybe, if you somehow absolutely had to hold it for at least a year if you bought it right now, and you were leaning against, it could further nudge you in that direction. 2) Kari didn't mention any of the stocks (we're not sure how many there would be) meeting this 200%-in-12-months criteria. If the vast majority took place in 1999, well then ... 3) A lot of stocks that some people have accused of being bubbles were actually bubblicious for more than 12 months. 4) Where does bitcoin fit into all of this.

Judge claimed "It's a JOET kind of market," stating "more than a third of the holdings" are at or near all-time highs. (Seems like mathematically that should probably always be true whenever the market itself is around an all-time high.)

Joe proclaimed, "I think the trends will continue. I think this is a year about trend following." (Except a few weeks ago, he was calling for underweight Mag 7, so who knows what "trends" Joe is referring to.)

Joe actually stated, "There's big election risk surrounding semiconductors." Can't he just figure out which presidential candidate has the "momentum"?

Joe said LLY is on a "journey" to a $1 trillion market cap but he thinks it'll have "a little bit of traffic in the interim." Kari said she would not buy LLY right now. Joe said he doesn't share the "grand enthusiasm" for health care that others have.

Judge said "the news today" in DIS was a David Faber exclusive, that Jamie Dimon had "publicly" supported Iger vs. Trian. Judge said Trian released a statement suggesting JPM is merely "prioritizing its commercial relationship with Disney's management."

Joe observed, "This is by far the most compelling and interesting business story we have in front of us" (snicker). Joe said he read Peltz's thesis, "100-plus pages," and "a lot of what Nelson Peltz is saying in there makes a lot of sense." Joe said he wishes "they would come together."

Kari Firestone said of Peltz, "I think he deserves a seat on the board."

Joe said he'd rather buy DIS at $150 "with some synergy and some cooperation" between Peltz and Iger than to buy it currently at $112 in this state of affairs.

Joe said the JOET is "break-even" on DRI, but "for a Sicilian that loves Italian food, I'm not going to Olive Garden. I'm going to Primola or Bamontes living in New York."

Judge endorsed those recommendations, stating, "OK. Good stuff. I like both of those spots, glad you bring 'em up."

Joe said he's "not surprised" by Joe Biden's pending statement on the U.S. Steel takeover. Neither Joe nor Judge commented on Mr. Biden's "fair share" taxation plan.

Jim indicates Fed, Treasury, FDIC can’t let NYCB fail

On Monday, it was Karen Finerman. On Tuesday, Jim Lebenthal followed suit.

It took Judge until the 5th minute of Tuesday's (3/12) Halftime Report to talk about Joe Biden's "fair share" round of tax hikes ask Jim about what obviously was going to be the panel's biggest move, buying NYCB — "controversial to say the least" — for Jim's personal account.

Jim offered several reasons for buying it, but his last one is obviously more important than all the others combined. Jim asserted that the Fed and FDIC and Treasury know "this bank has to survive."

If that's the case, Tuesday's price is a bargain. (This writer has no position in NYCB.)

Jim stressed to Judge that "this is a speculative trade" and it's not for his clients.

Jim conceded NYCB has "some uninsured deposits" but said it has "the liquidity to, to match that." He said it has enough equity to take a 1/3 loss on its commercial real estate portfolio.

Then Jim mentioned what's obviously a big reason both he and Karen bought NYCB, that "Steve Mnuchin's no dummy." Good point; Mnuchin is one of the few, if any, Trump Cabinet success stories.

Judge questioned if the current share price of NYCB, being down from the post-Mnuchin jolt of a week ago, was a reflection of the business. Jim said he'd give himself a stop at $2.70.

Josh Brown said the reason the stock isn't higher is because of "probably something technical" and that buyers such as Jim could maybe take advantage of all the indexes kicking out the stock. Jim said maybe the stock was up Tuesday because of a reverse split to get it over $5.

Meanwhile, Jim sold NXPI because, of course, it was too big in his portfolio.

In other moves far less interesting than NYCB, Judge opened asking Josh about buying EBAY. Josh said it broke out of its 38-50 range that it's been stuck in since summer 2022. He also bought the NDAQ for a "breakout in progress," though it might need to "cool off" from its 75 RSI. He called NDAQ the "No. 1 play" on a return to capital markets.

Judge said, "I almost feel like the CPI today was a nothing burger," one of his and the show's recent favorite terms. (At some point, they'll revert back to "At the end of the day ...")

Karen buys NYCB

It was, by far, the most interesting call of the day. Especially given Judge's tiresome go-round on Nvidia.

Karen Finerman on Monday's (3/11) Fast Money discussed buying NYCB.

"This I think of as an option that now has life," Karen said, while acknowledging to a skeptical sounding Mel, "The downside here? I think- could- could it go to zero? That could happen. This deal falls apart, I don't think it will, but that could happen. ... I think that the more likely scenario is that they start to work their way out of it."

Karen has always expressed admiration for Steve Mnuchin and mentioned Mnuchin again Monday.

This is a very interesting move. It's tempting, even for those of us who nibbled a bit on FRC or SIVB a year ago at this time.

Weiss says ‘some moron’ was talking about bitcoin on Squawk Box

Monday's (3/11) Halftime opened as many episodes of Halftime do:

How's Nvidia doing?

Amy Raskin said she trimmed NVDA. "We think it's prudent to take profits," Amy said.

Jim Lebenthal said at some point NVDA's roll will stop, but not "anytime soon," as he expects people to buy the dip down 5-10%.

Judge asked Steve Weiss if they need to look for "trouble" on the list of all the surging-since-November-1st NVDA-related names like TSM, ARM and SMCI. Weiss said "some are clearly ahead of themselves" and he trimmed TSM because (of course) it was "too big of a position."

Joe Terranova said the next few weeks are "one of the more dangerous periods of 2024 for investors" (well, given that the first 2 months were awesome, so far, that's a correct statement) because there's "no new fundamental information ... and right now, the technicals are in control of the market."

Joe noted that crypto hasn't cooled off yet.

As Judge dragged this subject about 15 minutes beyond its usefulness (we knew he wouldn't talk about the Oscars but were a little surprised neither Judge nor his panel seems to care about Joe Biden's "fair share" taxation plan), Joe agreed that NVDA is the "litmus test" for the market's high fliers.

Joe insisted he's "just trying to define the environment."

Jim stressed that things outside of tech are working such as GM and C and CLF.

On Fast Money, as usual, Dan Nathan was detecting a "bubble environment."

Weiss said he's buying more bitcoin though insisting "I'm not buying the momentum," but he bought more because the U.K. "approved it for funds" and "some moron on Squawk Box talking about how you can use it to buy gold sneakers."

Judge kept hectoring Weiss that Weiss "wouldn't" be buying crypto without "renewed momentum." Weiss protested that he'd "straighten ya out" and asserted that "Every fund company in the world is rushing to market with a bitcoin product."

Weiss told Joe he wouldn't sell bitcoin down 15% "because you're still gonna have the marketing of it."

CNBC's Megan Cassella provided breaking news on the U.S. national debt.

Amy Raskin bought AXP for more "consumer exposure." She also bought NTRA and ACN, the latter to boost "tech weighting," always an exciting rationale.

Weiss sold FCX, claiming it was a fundamental reason. He bought more ADM, a stock he's been fascinated with since those accounting issues, he thinks it could get "right back to the '80s."

Joe agrees with bull calls on LLY but said the stock could be "sitting in traffic." Weiss said he owns NFLX because it's the "one real winner" in streaming (even though Jim suggested the whole space is winning in his Final Trade of DIS). Amy isn't sure that now's the time to buy NKE.

Joe said ADBE needs to "jump-start the momentum."

The CNBCfix Awards-Season
Movie Guide

Don't go into the Oscars empty-handed. This page once again is going to try to set things straight on how Hollywood and the international filmmaking community fared in 2023 just as the big prizes are handed out. Yes, we know Judge doesn't have the time to delve into the arts (even for, like, 5 minutes) on the Halftime Report, but the Halftime Report/CNBC audience is the greatest audience/viewership in the world and actually is interested in the statements being made cinematically. (Like we always say, we're here because you are.)

There are no spoilers here, but a few details for some of these films. In no way is this page predicting any Oscar winners; the Hollywood Reporter's latest odds are probably your best bet. (This critique was posted on Saturday evening, March 9, 2024.) With no further ado and in no particular order ...

Past Lives — Every film project has to answer the question, What is this movie going to show? In "Past Lives," it is people sitting in front of computers on video chats, then sitting around their apartments, then having conversations with significant others who seem to be pulled off the streets to play a significant other.

Maestro — If it can't decide whether it's a tragedy, neither can the viewers.

The Holdovers — The ultimate in victimhood. (Not only that, but it's victimhood that isn't shown, but relayed in conversation.) Who knew that elite prep schools functioned as minimum security prisons.

Anatomy of a Fall vs. The Taste of Things — Perhaps the most interesting Oscar duel has already been fought, in France, which chose the Juliette Binoche vehicle "Taste" as its Oscar International Film submission over Cannes star "Anatomy," which only ended up with a Best Picture nomination. Most critics prefer the latter, but "Anatomy" is ambiguous, and "Taste" has the foodies. "Anatomy" spends too much time talking to lawyers; "Taste" spends too much time in the kitchen.

Barbie — The Oscar winner for product placement, though everyone agrees Mattel did it right. Not the type of film that typically does well at the Oscars but, as The Most Corporate Movie in History, is probably already resetting the guidelines for corporate-arts partnerships. ("Boeing on the line to Brian DePalma ...")

Poor Things — Would've been rated NC-17 in the '90s. It's not for the squeamish, but in the latter half, as the plot gains shape, some interesting filmmaking takes place.

Air — Luckily Sonny Vaccaro threw away the tapes of the 1984 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. Not in the Oscar hunt but probably more entertaining than a lot of those that are.

Napoleon — Admittedly, the greatest drama is in the first 10 minutes. We know the beginning, ending and middle of this story. Not a bad reminder.

American Fiction — The preview is better than the movie, which pairs a family drama with a pop culture commentary and serves wine and conference calls with each helping.

Killers of the Flower Moon — The bust of the 2023 awards crop. After getting over the bewilderment of Why Did She Marry This Guy, viewers await the killings in paint-by-number sequence. Only after about 4 hours is it time to go.

Perfect Days — If you gotta go, here's the place. Wim Wenders' greatest film is undoubtedly "Paris, Texas"; this time, he's mixed "Lost in Translation" with "Good Will Hunting" and "Groundhog Day." There are great truths here about the simple pleasures of life and having no aspirations for wealth, power, fame, but with it comes a family detachment that feels like it must be painful.

The Iron Claw — You won't hear it called on Sunday; it's not nominated for any Oscars. The filmmakers wanted to re-create a seemingly unfathomable tragedy. They inadvertently included a much stronger movie: How the children of extraordinarily successful people can feel trapped.

The Zone of Interest — The heavy favorite for the International Film Oscar, its message is the same as 1985's "Shoah" and numerous other films on this subject, but punctuated by a static visual.

The Boy and the Heron — The depiction of the "heron" is stranger than the plot, which starts off awkwardly without really righting itself.

Showing Up — This slice of life of the young arts crowd may mean something, or maybe not. Life throws all kinds of curveballs, apparently, and we just have to keep dealing with it.

Anyone But You — After this quiet hit, Sydney Sweeney is gonna be in everything.

Saltburn — The first 30 minutes, which is the school-clique drama, is the superior part of the movie. Barry Keoghan is a great actor, but "carrying" a movie like this is a big job.

The Teachers Lounge — For intensity, this classroom drama, among the most watchable films of the year, is almost on par with Adam Sandler's "Uncut Gems." As in "Anatomy of a Fall," the characters and audience have to arrive at their own truths. Some will find its conclusions less than satisfying.

Dumb Money — Not up for any Oscars. The supposed hook is that The Little Guy Who Believes in Something can slay the giants of Wall Street. Maybe every once in a while.

Oppenheimer — Perhaps the strongest awards juggernaut since "Titanic," it's the traditional War Hero Western that lifts this portrayal that could've been sunk by its Reason For the Movie, the gray, bureaucratic, booklike government backstabbing. Leaders Who Get Along With Everyone ... what a notion.

Kevin Simpson says AVGO ‘probably’ should be $900

Early into Friday's (3/8) Halftime Report, Judge told Joe Terranova that NVDA hit 950, "now it's below 9," and asked Joe, "What do you make of that?"

Joe thought he'd present a speech, stating, "What's going on in the market right now is very clear. This is about cooling off some of the really intense, strong momentum in the chip sector itself (sic last word redundant). It's about the chips ... this is healthy."

Joe noted AAPL and Alphabet were higher; he said he wouldn't bother owning Alphabet puts anymore.

Judge suggested the "rising tide" associated with AI "got lifted too much." That sounds like a Noah's Ark problem.

Judge hectored the AVGO longs/trimmers by pointing out that everyone had been saying it was a "cheaper" version of NVDA. Joe finally acknowledged that it was a "valuation alternative" (snicker).

Kevin Simpson said he'd "absolutely" be buying AVGO again if it has a significant pullback; "if it gets to 900, that's- that's probably where it should be trading." Judge said that would be an "uncomfortable drop." Simpson said, "Not for me. I sold it." Judge said, "Good point."

Shannon Saccocia suggested the Mag 7 could become the "Fab 4" or "Neo 1."

Jason Snipe said, "It was time to take a breather."

Jason called the 7% COST selloff an "overreaction."

On metals and materials, Joe said of gold, "sold it too quick," then went on to lament copper. Stephanie Link asked Joe the question that Judge for some reason didn't, what is the surge in gold telling us. Joe said it's like asking him who's going to win the World Series, he has "no clue." Stephanie said gold's gain "definitely worries me."

Jason Snipe thinks ANET "keeps going." Joe said "refiners are in a very strong position."

Have to say, kinda curious that neither Judge nor his panelists offered any thoughts on the taxation proposals heard in the State of the Union address Thursday night; we might turn to Lee Cooperman for thoughts on the "fair share."

On Fast Money, Tim Seymour got really excited about Steve Grasso's mention of "lubricants" during a gold mining discussion.

Josh says White House’s planned buyback tax hike is ‘childish’; Jim calls it ‘farcical’

CNBC's gorgeous Megan Cassella reported during Thursday's (3/7) Halftime Report that Joe Biden was going to propose increasing the stock buyback tax from 1% to 4%. However, this idea apparently didn't make it into the State of the Union speech. (This review was posted overnight Thursday-Friday.)

Josh Brown opined, "I hate when they do this because it's so childish. They have to know that- they have to know that buybacks are not the reason for the economy not doing what they want the economy to do. Surely they have to know that. It's just, I think, a shorthand to, you know, give a nod to certain groups who don't even know what a buyback is, and be like, 'We- We're on your side with this.'"

Jim Lebenthal cited GM and twice said of Biden's plan, "It's farcical."

Those were good comments by Josh and Jim; we're guessing Lee Cooperman might have something stronger.

Josh says NFLX will get the NFL in a couple years; Judge gets more Teams invites than Zoom invites

The most provocative comment from Thursday's (3/7) Halftime Report came from Josh Brown, who said NFLX's Tyson fight will be "huge" (that's not the provocative part) and predicted "I think Netflix is gonna get like the NFL in a couple of years."

Meanwhile, Josh said if you're long NVDA, the only thing to do is make sure the position doesn't get so big that it "swamps the rest of your holdings."

Jim Lebenthal admitted trimming NVDA "was actually a mistake." But Jim thinks the market is "frothy" and in a "melt-up."

Josh pointed out the SMH is up 28% on a 10-year annualized basis.

Liz Young said there's a "good amount of risk appetite." Liz said the market will continue at an "OK speed" until there are rate cuts.

Liz said we've learned that the market can go up without AAPL.

Brian Belski said the market's "a little frothy here." Belski contended that when "everybody agrees that things are positive, I wanna go the other way."

Belski trimmed JPM. He actually said there's an "opportunity for some regional banks to add scale." Josh favorably compared JPM with "basket case stocks like Citi." Jim said Josh is being "too dismissive" of the right-sizing that Jane Fraser is doing and spoke of buybacks. "Cost-cutting, big deal," Josh scoffed. Jim said the growth area is "credit cards." Belski said you can own both JPM and C.

Josh has already sold MCD, down a couple points since his buy; "it's just a stop loss" and he's already got SHAK, which he thinks is a better stock.

Josh said he sold ZM, a recent tout, after "it started to fall off," saying "it's just doing nothing."

Regarding ZM, Judge observed, "the fact that I feel like I get many more ... more Teams invites than you do for Zoom," and wondered if it means anything. Josh said that's the pressure on ZM.

Belski bought more LULU.

Josh Brown suggested watching the 450 level for UNH and cautioned, "Has maybe the story fundamentally changed?"

Judge sort of mocked Jim for not liking DE as much as the stocks in his portfolio that are doing well; Judge said that's an "obvious point."

Judge chuckled at Josh's "home team" prediction of "Oppenheimer" and Robert Downey Jr. at the Oscars. "Congrats to the parent company," Josh said.

Nick of time: Karen says NYCB was ‘less than 1 day from failure’

For reasons unclear, Judge stocked a full panel at Post 9 on Wednesday's (3/6) Halftime Report on a Fed-testimony day. Nearly the first half-hour went to that testimony, before Judge and Leslie Picker cut in with NYCB news and left Jay Powell in the dust. (And anytime you start hearing about regional banks on CNBC, you're guaranteed to hear "idiosyncratic.")

NYCB long Jenny Harrington, who was at Post 9, said "we've been working out of it" and the position is down to a "very very small amount." Jenny said "this is a management and messaging disaster" that should be a Harvard "case study," but it shouldn't "extrapolate into all regional banks."

Jenny claimed, "This is why we trim positions. This was a great stock 2 months ago. This was an amazing stock a year ago." (Actually, it really wasn't. We looked at the chart. It had a great first half of 2023. Other than that ...)

Then Jenny stated, "This share price, at a buck-86, is really- is really upsetting."

But had she been buying there, she would've had a huge gain within a couple hours. (This review was posted overnight Wednesday-Thursday.) And, as a matter of fact, seeing the shares climb Wednesday afternoon, Jenny dialed in to Closing Bell. Jenny said what's happened with new management is "extremely smart." Nevertheless, "there's just too much ambiguity," so Jenny will "continue to sell out of the stock." And then she might buy it again (yeah, right).

Also on Closing Bell, Judge had Josh Brown at Post 9 and pointed out that Josh dabbled in NYCB "about a month ago" and got out. Josh said Wednesday "this is playing with fire" and that anyone who bought the stock Wednesday at $1.70 "was probably gambling or they had inside information."

Back on Halftime, Joe Terranova said of NYCB, "I don't think this is a larger problem. I do think this is evidence that the big banks get bigger."

Bryn Talkington observed, "The 10-year's almost back at 4%."

Joe Terranova said the "generative AI story" is "overwhelming" market concerns about the Federal Reserve or the economy.

Joe credited CRWD management for not being like Palo Alto.

Because the first half of the hour went to Powell and the rest to NYCB/other market things, Judge didn't deliver a single commercial, which perhaps makes up for a day earlier when Judge botched the transition to The Exchange and viewers got 3 minutes of commercials between Final Trades and Dom Chu's appearance. Yet still, trying to fill the remaining 3 minutes of Wednesday's show, Judge turned to Jenny, who said, "Do I need to go?"

Judge said it's quite possible we're just having "2 idiosyncratic bank issues within the span of 12 months."

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said she thinks NYCB was "less than 1 day from failure." Karen questioned the sudden declaration that the goodwill is "zero" and why it wasn't written down previously.

Karen also suggested "they were calling Jamie Dimon and he was like, 'No way, I'm not taking this call.'"

Karen concluded that while NYCB had a turnaround on Wednesday, it's still an argument for the big banks.

Karen said she wondered if a rate cut or a rate hike are both off the table because of the "political environment."

Everybody’s got some new slogan for the stock market that doesn’t include TSLA

As easy as it is to fault Judge for a sleepy, endless A Block go-round on AAPL on Tuesday's (3/5) Halftime, note the Fast Money crew didn't have anything better.

Among other Halftime issues, Judge was stuck in Englewood Cliffs while Carl and Sara were at Post 9; Jim Lebenthal was the only panelist able to join Judge in EC.

Judge actually claimed that AAPL's move is a "moment." Steve Kovach said "'Moment' is the exact way to put it" (snicker).

Josh Brown said if you're an "actual trader," you're already out of AAPL, but longer-term investors who have previously panicked "have been severely punished."

Jim said it's a "heavy tape" and that he's been "comfortable" owning AAPL and that it'll "find its level."

Sarat Sethi said not to trade AAPL, but hold it.

Josh said the newest stock label is the "Sensational 6" and that "Tesla's out." Josh said he's bullish S&P 500 over "Nasdaq names." (See how long that lasts.)

Jim said, to use a tennis analogy, that AI is only in the "first set" (snicker).

Jim said he bought CASY, saying he's looking for lesser-known names; he said CASY stores in the Midwest are "actually a social center; not being pejorative or making fun of anyone."

Josh said PFE is trading at an "11-year low." Josh said "COVID just absolutely wrecked this company" and that it went "all in" on Paxlovid and the vaccines, and now "nobody cares about the shots."

Bill Baruch bought DUK and joined the program remotely to discuss; "it's not a sexy buy," he's just "planting a seed" and he thinks it's beginning to control capex.

Josh said TOST has been on a "rampage" in the last month.

Judge really botched the transition to The Exchange, wrapping up Final Trades a full 3 minutes before viewers got Dom Chu. #ohwell,extracommercials

Karen buys more M

On Monday's (3/4) Fast Money, Karen Finerman said the M bidders are hoping for M to say it's up for sale and that "they aren't ultimately the buyers."

Karen said she's long M and bought more Monday, sensing "a couple more episodes" of this battle.

Karen said of the market, "It does feel frothy though, I gotta say."

Dan Nathan challenged Karen on the notion that NVDA isn't frothy. Karen responded that 25 years ago, when CSCO was "THE Nvidia of its day," it traded at nearly 400 times.

Dan wondered if everything is so "rosy" in the market, "Where are the IPOs?" Karen said, "It takes a little time." Dan said there's not even "chatter" about them.

On Judge's Closing Bell on Monday, Grandpa Malcolm Ethridge, who has scorned the stock market for about 2 years running, said it's basically just the "Magnificent 1."

Adam Parker on Closing Bell said the stock market leads GDP, and it's "telling you the economy's probably gonna be fine 6- 6-9 months from now." Adam said he's a Patriots fan.

Judge calls crypto an ‘asset class’ (as Jim continues to say it doesn’t matter if DIS overpays for Hulu by $3 billion)

Judge mentioned LLY on Monday's (3/4) Halftime Report and said it seems like Steve Weiss, who hasn't been in the name, previously picked the wrong names, UNH and HUM. Weiss agreed. Weiss said he doesn't want to "chase" LLY because there are other drugs on the market.

Joe Terranova said LLY "should be part of the Mag 7," saying he'd argue that LLY is "more relevant" than TSLA.

Weiss said the surge in bitcoin is "purely the marketing power right now of BlackRock, of Fidelity, and more to come." Joe suggested ethereum could have more room to run than bitcoin does.

Jim said the "path to profitability in streaming" (snicker) is "the future" of DIS. Jim even brought up the most pointless company asset, Hulu. Jim claimed that there's some "believers" that Iger can "monetize ESPN." (Earth to Jim: DIS' media assets are melting icebergs.)

For Final Trades, Joe said to hold on to GOOGL puts. Weiss said to buy GOOGL stock. (This writer is long GOOGL.)

Weiss says overweighting or underweighting sectors is ‘crap’

On Monday's (3/4) Halftime Report, Steve Weiss made some comments about S&P categories that this page agrees with.

Weiss said it's "a mistake to rely on S&P classification" but basically "all asset managers do."

"I choose not to do that," Weiss said, explaining he looks "bottom up" for stocks with good fundamentals. Weiss doesn't say he's overweight this or underweight that, "that's crap to me."

Judge asked Jim Lebenthal why he's buying AMAT; "why do you want it here," Judge practically sneered. Jim said he wants to be in the semiconductor capital equipment space and (of course) the multiple isn't as bad as it seems.

Judge pressed on whether Jim feels "comfortable" buying this kind of chart. Jim said yes because it's a "small" starter position.

Weiss said ASM is "underfollowed and underappreciated."

Jim said he sold TMO and mentioned, of course, the forward multiple. Joe Terranova said the JOET unloaded TMO last April.

Struggling to think up threats to the bull market, Weiss doesn’t even suggest China goin’ after Taiwan

We got excited when we saw that Monday's (3/4) Halftime Report crew included Joe "Underweight the Mag 7" Terranova, Steve Weiss and Jim Lebenthal ... only to quickly be lulled to sleep.

Jim started off saying "we're actually in a shoulder month," which apparently means we're at the end of the Q4 earnings reports and a long ways from the Q1 reports. So Jim said the macro, especially inflation numbers, will drive the market.

Judge said Deutche Bank is saying that if this week is up, it'll be 17 out of 19, the first time since 1964, and that Deutsche Bank is calling it "remarkable" and "relentless."

"I use the word 'complacent,'" Weiss said. "The market does need time to pause," Weiss stressed.

Joe agreed the market needs to pause or condolidate but pointed out TSLA, GOOGL and AAPL are all down while BAC, GS and MS are up. (This writer is long GOOGL.)

Weiss admitted it's "difficult" to think up unknown snags to the market. He said hotter inflation would be a problem, "but that's not gonna happen" because China is trying to be an export economy.

Jim said "there are some cracks," that ISM was "lousy" and we're "hearing more about layoffs."

Steve Liesman reported that Raphael Bostic is concerned about "pent-up exuberance." Judge said the fact Bostic is putting the number 2 on potential cuts this year suggests he's in a "little bit more hawkish camp."

Joe again stated, "The Federal Reserve is no longer adversarial, that's all that matters, quite candidly." Joe took a jab at Jim's concerns about ISM ("has been in decline for basically the la- better part of the last year") and layoffs ("that speaks to the cost efficiency, the head count reduction that's actually benefitting stocks in the market"). Jim pushed back that what he's seeing is that "the Fed is going to be late to cuts, and when they do cuts, it's gonna be for the wrong (snicker) reason."

Judge said Savita has hiked her target to 5,400. He said "there's like 6 strategists" who have already raised targets because they're "chasing."

Jim pronounced Tony Pasquariello's last name as "Pascarelli."

Karen says male panelists on Fast Money do more talking than she does ...

We've been hearing on Fast Money for a while about Karen Finerman's regular podcast called "How She Does It." We figured, if we didn't start listening soon, they might toss us outta the union.

Immediately, a bit of a curiosity. The podcast is billed as hosted by Karen and promising each week "a conversation with a female leader — leaders in all industries — who make their own space and build their careers in unique ways."

On the most recent episode, posted Feb. 26, 2024, that female leader was Karen herself — and the host was Jean Chatzky.

No question, Karen qualifies as guest material. But she's already the host of the podcast. It's kind of like Johnny Carson asking Billy Crystal to host "The Tonight Show" so that Johnny can be the guest. Karen chuckled to Chatzky that she's "a little bit embarrassed" about being the guest of her own podcast.

Anyway. Karen freely discussed her upbringing and educational and professional background. Around the 17th minute, Chatzky asked about the Fast Money experience.

"I would bet that if I were to look at on any given show, how much time I spent talking vs. each of the men, I'm pretty confident it would be less. And, I'm just not comfortable, sort of putting my foot down and saying 'No no no, let me finish, let me finish.' But I'm getting better at it. And, the other thing is, the show is better when there's a little tension and a little pushback," Karen explained.

(Honestly, when you compare what Tim Seymour says with what this page, or any page, says, rest assured everyone else is going to be "less.")

Karen says her best investment ever (in terms of finance) is bitcoin ...

Karen Finerman's "How She Does It" podcast includes a "Lightning Round" (yes, same name as a feature associated with another CNBCer) or "Would You Rather" (yes, same name as a Fast Money feature), according to guest host Jean Chatzky, who used both terms when interviewing Karen herself.

In the process, there was quite a revelation.

Asked for her best investment ever, Karen admitted, "I'm embarrassed to say," but it's bitcoin; "it's so not my kind of thing, and it went berserk."

So what does that tell you about Wall Street training and experience and all of those things people study at Wharton. Someone trained in risk-arbitrage makes their biggest haul by following the Winklevi.

There weren't many other revelations about Fast Money (we'll skip Chatzky's curious comment about reasons she tunes in to the show), but Karen said she didn't think much of Elon Musk until reading the bio, but it seems he had a "really difficult childhood," and the whole package has been a net-net to society, so "I have changed my mind about Elon."

We learned that Chatzky and Finerman are involved in a project called "InvestingFixx." Which is a great name/branding.

Wendy had her own office at 21 (but made her best investment from a bathroom discovery)

Another interview subject in the Karen Finerman podcast series "How She Does It" is Karen's sister Wendy Finerman, who years ago brought the "Forrest Gump" best picture Oscar to the Nasdaq marketsite for an appearance (by the statue, not Wendy) on CNBC's Fast Money.

Scanning over the list of Karen's interview subjects, we noticed the title of the Wendy interview is "Making America's Most Iconic Movies With Wendy Finerman."

Hmmmmm ... (Uh oh ... This one's gonna get us tossed outta the union) ... (#gulp) (#sigh) ... including the words "America's Most" in that title seems a bit .... hmmm ... grandiose.

(Also, "iconic" is way overused, how about just "famous.")

Karen introduced Wendy saying Wendy "has created some of the most loved and iconic movies of our era, or any era."

An interesting term there is "created."

Forrest Gump was a 1986 novel by Winston Groom. It became a movie directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks and including an elite crew. The Wikipedia page for "Forrest Gump" says there was a bidding war for the film adaptation, which Wendy was able to win by teaming with Steve Tisch ("Risky Business," only person with an Oscar and a Super Bowl ring) and "joining forces with Warner Bros., where Finerman's husband Mark Canton was president of production." Nowhere in the How She Does It podcast is there a mention of a husband running a Hollywood studio.

One of the curious things about the podcast is that the subjects tend to have had outsized success and their careers are going to be relevant mostly to other already 1-percenters. Karen Finerman didn't ask Wendy "How many hours did you work daily at age 21 and how many hours do you work daily now," but if she had, chances are, that number is going to be higher than most people (even aspirational ones) are willing to commit to.

Wendy says she was fielding offers at Wharton and "along came this job at The Movie Channel," and 4 days out of college, she was "anointed the chief financial analyst for The Movie Channel," which probably doesn't happen for everyone. "I had my own office, 21 ... nobody else did." Try duplicating that career arc. (First, it's more likely you can do academics at the level of Wharton if you have parents who already attended Wharton.)

Karen noted in a question that many people find it "impossible" to break into the movie business. Wendy never answered the question, except to say she was asked by one interviewer to name the most "iconic thing in cinema," and she mentioned Rosebud of "Citizen Kane," which happened to be that particular interviewer's favorite movie. (So, there's your luck factor.)

Karen, surprisingly, never asked Wendy exactly what a producer does. We assume it varies by production and level of interest, financially and otherwise, but that in general, they put the pieces in place for the movie to reach completion and be marketed. But, it would be better to hear that from Wendy. We did get this anecdote, "without sounding boastful," that according to Wendy, one director told another director, "There is not a better producer in the world than Wendy."

Is any part of the job like what Tim Robbins does in "The Player"? How does Wendy spot talent, or does she (as is implied industrywide in "The Player") mostly cull popular books for production ideas.

Karen could've asked Wendy, "What does 'Forrest Gump' or 'The Devil Wears Prada' mean to you and/or what should it mean to viewers." (We would've settled for Wendy's opinion on "Road House.") If there is a beef about Wendy's career, it's that this interview seemed to rate movie success by the bottom line and never did she mention being moved by the magic of cinema or being inspired by something that didn't make a dime or win an award.

Karen's follow-through isn't always crisp. In an early discussion about a family tragedy, neither Karen nor Wendy explains why Wendy was apparently compelled to assume parenting roles. Wendy is also the oldest child in the family. Is there something to the perceived dynamic of first children being more driven?

Karen bluntly asked Wendy if it's "getting any better" for women in Hollywood. Yes, Wendy said, without much detail. Does Wendy employ more women than the industry average or have more women in executive-type positions? Is the average pay for women in Hollywood rising fast or are women winning more awards?

Wendy refused to name the greatest actress she has worked with besides Meryl Streep. That's called not wanting to offend anyone, but it's also curious that in a podcast called How She Does It, only one actress can be singled out.

There was a curious conversation about comments from men. Karen relayed that she once heard a male say, "Listen, let me tell ya what women want." Karen said it was "so ridiculous and not shocking."

Wendy said a man once was challenging her about her own experience of marketing to women. She said she was thinking, but didn't say, "Do you know who you're talking to."

OK, let's assume that Karen and Wendy heard these comments from a couple of cretins. Is it wrong, in general, for a male to offer an opinion on something that might appeal to women? If he's a jerk about it, yes, totally, we get why that's wrong. But if his job is marketing movies or TV productions and he has experience with steep divides among gender or other factors, isn't that knowledge useful on some level? Don't some males make women's clothing, and vice versa? Would it be just as "ridiculous" for a woman to say, "I think such and such idea might appeal to male customers"?

Wendy described her 2 best investments as a used car and a bathroom mirror at an L.A. gallery. Wendy said the worst investment she ever made was not a movie project that fizzled, but her son's car.

Frank brings up yet another new name for stock market leaders

In what's becoming a monthly parlor game of terminology, guest host Frank Holland sought to redefine on Friday's (3/1) Halftime Report actually what's been leading the market.

It happened after Steve Weiss said, "This is just not normal to have the market going up every day on a relatively narrow move." Weiss claimed "there are other things that are working."

Frank said, "Year to date, the S&P gains, 57% coming from the Fantastic Four, 32% coming from Nvidia alone."

Weiss protested, "It depends how you parse the data (pronounced DAY-ta)."

Jim Lebenthal said there are "good deals" (snicker) outside of tech.

Weiss said he did "shave a little bit of META."

Bryn says recent returns don’t make a bubble, it takes 100% over 3 years

Guest host Frank Holland on Friday's (3/1) Halftime Report read part of an optimistic note by Citi's Dirk Willer that says the "bubble is not (yet) overly large."

Frank said the note was "almost so bullish, it's almost contrary at this point."

Bryn said "bubble territory" is historically, at least in 1987, 1998 and 2021, accompanied by rolling 3-year returns around 100%. "Right now, the 3-year average annual return for the S&P is 10%, so 30% cumulative, so we're not even remote- remotely close to those time periods."

Bryn said for long-term investing, "I still love the Q's."

Frank even quoted Mike Wilson (we thought he had a new job) suggesting large caps outperforming small caps.

Frank also said Torsten Slok predicts no rate cuts in 2024. Jim Lebenthal touted Torsten as "must reading" daily, but Jim thinks the Fed will cut.

Weiss thinks people buy options because they’re too cheap to buy 4-digit stocks

On Friday's (3/1) Halftime Report, Steve Weiss said NVDA was up Friday because of DELL, and that DELL was up before earnings because of NVDA, which he calls a "positive ping-pong effect" and a "feeding frenzy."

But he still thinks "momentum's there."

Weiss took issue with guest host Frank Holland saying DELL had "a really good quarter." Weiss said they only "came in line on revenue and they lowered guidance for the first quarter next year." So he wondered how it was increasing market cap by a third on that report.

Bryn Talkington, on the other hand, called DELL "very underowned."

Bryn said "the call-buying in this market right now is very frenzied and very high."

Moments later, Weiss stated, "Yes, options are driving a lot of 'em, but you know why people are buying options? Because they don't wanna buy a thousand-dollar stock. They, they still don't get the math, that if you put a thousand dollars into a thousand-dollar stock, you get the same repur- returns if you buy 10 shares of a hundred-dollar stock. So until the people start getting smarter on that, you know, they'll keep driving options markets."

Weiss said he made a good sale in VRT, "and then what happened — Nvidia reported. ... It's incestuous what's going on."

Meanwhile, Weiss said of NYCB, "we're gonna see more of these problems." Weiss would avoid regional banks; so would Bryn, who thinks they'll be in the "penalty box" for not just this year, but a few years.

Bryn isn't sure China can get out of its slump; she thinks it'll "take years."

Jim Lebenthal said he's bullish on energy but noted natural gas is in a "breathtaking" bear market.

Weiss said he's going to keep "playing momentum" in bitcoin despite the fact he doesn't see "any utility whatsoever."

Phil LeBeau reports that BYD appears to be a popular car in Chile

Karen Finerman, who a week ago celebrated a birthday and is now creeping up into the higher end of a 3-handle, on Thursday's (2/29) Fast Money said of NYCB's latest news/myriad issues, "This can't be good for so many reasons."

In the category of #zerocreditforasoftlanding, Grandpa Guy Adami, who blames the Federal Reserve for EVERYTHING (including the San Francisco 49ers'/Christian McCaffrey's inability to achieve a first down from the Chiefs' 35 that would've virtually sealed the game), was first citing Stevie Ray Vaughan, then said of NYCB, "They're not gonna get rescued. ... The unintended consequences of zero interest rates for a long period of time, it's made places like this extraordinarily lazy, and they don't need any internal controls because there's nothing to control. So this is a flaw I think of all this central bank sort of largess. And I don't think- this might be the first. It's not gonna be the last."

(Sure. They were dying to lower rates to ZIRP and laughing in their meetings about how nothing bad was going to happen many years later.)

Karen responded, "I take a little bit of issue with that. I think this is idiosyncratic to them ... I don't think, uh, that this will be a contagion. I think it will be contained."

Near the end of the show, Guy Adami repeated his corporate-lazy-ZIRP theory but actually stated it was "for the last time." So maybe we won't have to hear it anymore.

In a developing situation that hasn't gotten much attention, CBNC's Phil LeBeau reported from Santiago, Chile, and pointed out how China has ramped up car exports and how they're entering certain foreign markets and how much cheaper BYD cars are than Toyota and Ford and GM for similar models — and he also got a couple actual Chilean buyers on camera saying they like the Chinese cars. (Neither of those shoppers declared that GM stock is DIRT. CHEAP.)

On Closing Bell, Judge asked Aswath Damodaran about Ray Dalio's comment about stocks not looking "bubbly." As for the term "bubble," Aswath said, "I've always been uncomfortable with that word because it suggests that the people who are buying stocks are shallow and that the people making these statements are deep thinkers."

‘Great tape’ — sounds like panelists and Judge are taking a victory lap for the year

As February 2024 concluded, Judge opened Thursday's (2/29) Halftime Report saying the "bear case was dealt a blow" this month.

Josh Brown noted the month's gains and said, "Probablistically (sic), it does augur well, uh, for the remainder of the year."

Judge stated, "Let's call this the month that the rally broadened."

Perhaps putting the brakes on such sentiment, Kari Firestone offered, "You still have 4 stocks accounting for half of the market gain so far this year." She said those are NVDA, AMZN, MSFT and META.

But Josh said "the XLI has the highest RSI in the entire stock market." Brown said if the industrials are the strongest stocks and financials are 3rd, "that's a great tape."

Judge noted people expressing concerns about rising credit card delinquencies; "I keep hearing that bear case, made yesterday." Josh said delinquencies "were ridiculously low for 3 years" and they've only ticked higher "to a normal level."

Kari said CRM did hit the numbers but the guidance "was not quite as strong on the revenue side as people wanted," and when have you ever heard that after an earnings report.

Josh said that in the 2nd half of the year, companies are going to be talking about "ROI from AI."

Bill Baruch called in to say he initiated a CRM position in the morning. He said Marc Benioff sounded "extremely excited about things" talking to Jim Cramer. Bill thinks CRM "could really start to run" if it breaks out past its old high.

Bill also said he bought more AMD and NVDA and WDC, making a "very very tactical" move.

Stephanie Link, who owned SNOW going into Wednesday's print and who wasn't on Thursday's show but beamed in remotely, claimed "I only bought a small position ... I will be adding to it when I can."

Invoking one of Joe Terranova's longtime favorite terms (Joe wasn't on Thursday's show; he was booked for Closing Bell), Stephanie said "the company's in the penalty box at this point in time (sic last 5 words redundant)" and might be there for a couple of quarters.

Judge said Brad Gerstner sounds "a little frustrated" by the SNOW quarter. Judge said his interpretation of Brad's frustration is that "he thinks it's too conservative."

Josh said he thinks SNOW was having an "overdone selloff" but he's not "racing" to buy it.

We thought Judge had probably forgotten by now, but on Thursday, he brought up panelists' contrarian picks from the beginning of the year, all of which are having a good month. Josh Brown made a joke (we think) about "my brilliance knows no bounds" and attributed the KWEB's gains to stocks that had been "completely washed out" entering the year. Kari Firestone said she thinks KMX has a "long way to go" as automotive inventories have improved. Shannon Saccocia had picked commodities, which are never really much of a contrarian trade.

If Judge didn’t spend the first 19 minutes talking about no-news AAPL, then yes, the broadening would get more respect

Joe Terranova opened Wednesday's (2/28) Halftime Report saying AAPL hasn't laid out a plan yet for AI; that's what we need to hear at the WWDC (which is only 4 months away).

Judge said that sounds like AAPL will be "dead money until the summer."

"June isn't that long from here," offered Kari Firestone.

Steve Weiss called AAPL a "tired stock." He added, "I do think the multiple compresses."

Addressing Joe's point, Weiss said we still don't know the "business use case" for AI in the iPhone.

Steve Kovach at Englewood Cliffs rattled off a list of AAPL headwinds, including the "huge fight (snicker) going on between AAPL and its developer base."

But Kovach said "every time you take a photo with your iPhone, there is AI happening." Joe said he agrees with "all" of what Steve said, but AAPL still has to "communicate some form of an AI strategy" in June.

On GOOGL, Judge said Brad Gerstner is wondering whether Sundar is "the guy to lead this company in the next frontier." (This writer is long GOOGL.)

Kari Firestone conceded that GOOGL "botched" Gemini AI but thinks they can recover. Steve Weiss said the AI rollout was a "complete bust." But he thinks it's only a "temporary setback" that GOOGL can fix because it's got enough money to throw at problems.

After that megacap tech go-round, Judge wondered if the broadening of the market in the last month hasn't gotten the "respect" it deserves. (That could've been a chance for Joe to jump in with is underweight-Mag 7 positioning, but it didn't happen.) Steve Weiss said the divergence had already been narrowing until NVDA's report.

Kari Firestone said UNH may have government headwinds for another year.

Joe said CRM is trying to get through its November 2021 high of 311; if it has a bad earnings report, we'd have a "nasty setup" of a double top looming over the stock.

Weiss started talking up how great bitcoin has been doing recently — indeed, a great call, although this page isn't recommending anyone buy it (that's Anthony Scaramucci's job) — then got cut off by breaking news of Mitch McConnell. That brought a rare Halftime hit from CNBC's Emily Wilkins, who noted Mitch will serve out the rest of his term.

Joe's Final Trade was, if you're long Alphabet (this writer is long GOOGL), "only if you are long," to buy some puts.

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman suggested Alphabet is "ripe for an activist." Karen said "first of all, it's cheap," with a "below 20" multiple, then mentioned "multiple missteps" with the "terrible" AI rollout. Karen suggested "somebody like a Bill Ackman" might be interested.

Karen actually said with a straight face that Ruth Porat, who 1) was not an activist investor but new hire and 2) was paid gobs of money to run Alphabet's quarterly conference calls that Larry and Sergey wanted nothing to do with, "really shook things up."

Josh says Rob is ‘absolutely backwards’ on megacap tech expectations

It turns out that Joe Terranova's newfound underweight-Mag 7 positioning apparently has a backer in Josh Brown.

Judge asked Rob Sechan early in Tuesday's (2/27) Halftime Report if the S&P can get to 5,300 "without relying on, on Big Tech to take you there."

Rob said that "you need tech, and it's gonna continue to have that momentum." Rob said we won't see a "massive broadening out," but something selective.

Josh stated, "I'm on the complete opposite side unfortunately as my pal Rob Sechan. I think he has this absolutely backwards. I want to be in anything but megacap tech at this current (sic redundant) moment. Uh, those stocks are not leading, and as they bleed market cap, which we watched Alphabet bleed market cap this week, the money is going elsewhere ... everywhere else."

Josh then rattled off a list of classic non-tech names that are at or near all-time highs.

"Josh we're saying the same thing though," Rob protested. "You're naming selective stocks in other sectors that are outperforming. You're not naming the entire sector."

"The biggest stocks. The biggest stocks," Brown said.

"No question. Because the biggest names have the less exposure to high cost of financing, they have the moats. Of course it's the same message," Rob insisted.

Brown suggested looking at AJG; "it looks like it's doing AI!"

Josh says chance of outperforming S&P 500 over 10 years is almost ‘nonexistent’

In a discussion about active vs. passive management (these come around about once a quarter) (viewer tip: all the panelists on the show practice active management) on Tuesday's (2/27) Halftime Report, Josh Brown said some managers will outperform but that knowing who those managers are for a 5-year period is basically impossible, and that if you look at the ones who are tops for the previous 5 years, they have an equal chance of being among the bottom for the next 5 years, so there's a "very slim chance that anyone can have performance that beats the S&P over 10 years. It almost is nonexistent."

Josh summarized the ZM and its "very narrow beat"; he said growth was 3% but the market was expecting flat. Brown said "nobody wants to hear this," but "they are, right under everyone's noses, transforming into an enterprise business." Brown said he continues to like the setup and considers it "value tech" (snicker).

Jason Snipe bought CAT, which seems to be getting a lot of kudos lately.

Rob Sechan seems to think LLY may be getting extended; "one of our next moves is probably to trim the name."

Santoli's Midday Word came a few minutes later than usual. He said we haven't had a 3% pullback in the S&P in 4 months.

On Fast Money, back from vacation (and celebrating a birthday last week) (not a day over 42), Karen Finerman said M's moves are "all about the, um, the proxy fight. And I think that the bidder has to bump before the meeting." Karen is interested in Elliott building a stake in ETSY.

Jamie Dimon puts soft landing odds around 35-40% (as Judge is shut out of asking questions)

Jamie Dimon, interviewed by Leslie Picker in Miami at the top of Monday's (2/26) Halftime Report, said markets can "change their mind pretty quickly" but "confidence is up" and, at least in high yield, "spreads are getting close to historical lows," so for now, "so far so good."

Jamie said that some people have apparently put the odds of a "soft landing" at 70-80%, but "I give it half that." He said he's "kinda cautious about everything."

Leslie asked about commercial real estate. Jamie said the consumer market is "far bigger" than commercial, "so what happened in '07 or '08, this isn't that kind of thing."

On offices, "They're worth less because of interest rates," which Jamie said is "kind of a known thing," and while a recession would make it worse, if we don't have a recession, "I think most people will be able to muddle through this."

Jamie said the problems associated with SIVB and FRC and NYCB are "kinda idiosyncratic" and "very local."

Jamie called the Capital One-Discover deal "good for competition." But he added, "The debit network may have an unfair advantage versus us. Of course I have a problem with that. You know like, why should they be allowed to price debit different than we can price debit just because of a law that was passed."

After the 17-minute interview in which Judge didn't get any questions, Judge said, "I don't know if I'd go full-on ebullient for- for Jamie, but, I mean, his tone is pretty good."

Joe Terranova said Jamie "used the word 'confident,' uh multiple times; I think that's important."

Jim Lebenthal said it "may catch people by surprise," but financials have rallied this year, and YTD, the sector is "slightly ahead of the S&P 500." Jim thinks that outperformance "is gonna continue."

Jim said his enthusiasm for financials gets an "asterisk" because he's leaving out regional banks, not because he's "overly negative" but because commercial real estate can't be ignored.

Josh Brown bluntly stated, "Banks are terrible investments, almost always. They can make for good trades." But he said "JPMorgan is almost a thing apart from all of its peers." Josh pointed out how JPM (650%) has outperformed the S&P (476%) and especially the XLF (126%) since Jamie took over.

So Josh said, if you want to buy a money-center bank, "There's 1 stock to choose from."

Josh says Alphabet employees too busy using software to solve social and racial problems

On Monday's (2/26) Halftime Report, Judge got a stark statement from Josh Brown on the state of things at Alphabet.

Brown bluntly stated, "There's a problem at Alphabet. They did way too much hiring. They imported a virus. They've got people running around there, apparently at every level, who think it's their job to, uh, heal social injustices and try to uh fix problems in, in, socio-economic problems and racial issues and gender-equality issues. They think they're supposed to be like using software products to heal these- these wounds that in some cases are thousands of years been, been afflicting the human race."

Joe Terranova said people are questioning whether Alphabet can be a "reliable source" in the AI sector/field/universe (whatever it supposedly is). (This writer is long GOOGL.)

(Judge didn't ask Joe about his newfound underweight Mag 7 positioning (see below), which is fine, as it saved us a half-hour of transcribing commentary of people talking over each other.)

Jim Lebenthal said you can own Alphabet and add to it.

Right after the A Block, Judge asked Josh about buying MCD. "This is a trade," Brown said, adding he likes the "technical setup." Then he went on to say he's actually looking at "both a fundamental and a technical perspective," citing loyalty program user growth and commandeering more of the delivery business onto MCD's own apps.

Josh said MCD peaked around summer 2023 and has been consolidating since; he thinks it'll "punch through," and when that happens, there will probably be "not many sellers left."

Joe said MCD is a "very strong trade." Joe suggested Josh may be ordering "a Big Mac and Quarter-Pounder" that'll get delivered "relatively quickly." Josh cut in, "Salad."

Josh Brown made not only big pronouncements about Alphabet but also Berkshire Hathaway. Josh said it's arguably never been a better time to be a Berkshire shareholder; "it's trading like an AI stock," though he conceded there "wasn't really a lot new" in Warren Buffettt's letter, and "how many times can you write the same thing" anyway.

Jim Lebenthal said of Berkshire buying something, "The tone was definitely, Don't expect to see a big deal anytime soon."

In the CNBC News Update, CNBC's gorgeous Pippa Stevens said "grocery train (sic) Kroger."

The term ‘Magnificent 7’ only started appearing on this page 8 months ago

Before we get into Joe Terranova's head-scratching, mind-numbing parsing about what his CURRENT stock market outlook actually is and what really happened in the Super Bowl, we were inspired to do a little research (snicker) on this site.

The first time the term "Magnificent 7" (or "Mag 7") appeared on this page was June 23, 2023, when guest host Frank Holland told Jim Lebenthal, "A lot of people think this whole thing's a bubble."

Jim asked for a definition of "this thing." Frank suggested it's the "Magnificent 7."

On Friday's (2/23) Fast Money, Bonawyn Eison mentioned the "Mag 5 is it now, Mag 6?"

Judge admits Joe’s Closing Bell beef with Adam Parker, in which Joe suddenly claims the Mag 7 will underperform the market, left Judge ‘completely perplexed’

Judge on Friday's (2/23) Halftime Report didn't actually waste a whole lot of time before addressing the strange megacap tech protest that Joe Terranova made a day earlier to Adam Parker on Closing Bell.

(See below for our recap. We were so excited that Judge mentioned the Super Bowl during that conversation, we sorta buried the lede. Joe scoffed at Adam's advice to have "at least" 25% exposure to the Mag 7, arguing the Mag 7 really aren't that great except for 2 stocks (which Joe also seems to think are extended) and that it's only the "AI halo" that's driving the market. "I disagree that the Mag 7 are the focal point," Joe claimed.)

On Friday, Judge, told Joe, "You made the argument to me yesterday which I found, uh, admittedly confusing, uh, on Closing Bell, that you wouldn't advise our viewers to be market weight the megacap stocks. Those are, what 25-ish% of the S&P, that you would advise them to be underweight. That seems counter to every argument that you've made about where the market is and where you think it's going. So, if you can enlighten us, because you left me completely perplexed with, with that description, to be quite frank."

Joe responded, "What I said to you yesterday was that you can have an equal-weighted strategy and outperform. And, there's evidence to that, you can see so far year-to-date-"

"But now you're- OK, without talking your own book, for a minute, OK," Judge said, "... with all due respect, I want you, again- you've made the case that the megacaps are going to outperform, you did not see the broadening in the market necessarily happening, but then you're advising our viewers, well don't even be market weight the megacaps."

"Because there's concentration risk within the concentration itself," Joe said, explaining the market's "performance" since January 2022 has come from META and NVDA "and the semis."

"It has not- It has not come from Apple. It has not come from Alphabet. It has not come from Amazon. It has not come from Tesla. So when someone says 'you must own the megacaps at market-cap weight ... or more, understand 1 thing: The megatap (sic)- the megacaps in totality haven't done the heavy lifting for you," Joe pushed back.

Joe continued, "You used the Chiefs analogy. The Chiefs win the Super Bowl yesterday (sic) (meant that Judge mentioned yesterday the Chiefs had won the Super Bowl, not that the game was Thursday). You know why the Chiefs won the Super Bowl? Patrick Mahomes was the reason that the Chiefs won the Super Bowl in overtime. Nvidia is the Patrick Mahomes. If you take Patrick Mahomes off the field, the Chiefs aren't winning the Super Bowl."

"I don't agree with that," Steve Weiss tried to cut in, but Joe demanded, "Let me finish. Nvidia. Nvidia is the entire story of where the performance has been. And that's why I say you have concentration risk within the concentration itself."

Judge said, "It is not the whole story of the, the performance. ... If you look at the S&P's outperformance last year, it was because of all of the megacaps."

"You're picking a period of time," Joe said, embarking on some retro trading. "What about 2022 Scott?"

"All the megacaps were down," Judge said.

"We're picking a period of time. We're saying 2023 works for your narrative. Let's pull the lens back-" Joe said.

"What do you mean? I'm speaking of the narrative of the market- that the market's given me. The megacaps had an awful 2022. What did the S&P do in 2022. Had an awful year. The megacaps had a great 2023. What did the S&P do in 2023. It had a great year.

"Marry those 2-" Joe started to say.

"Since November 1st, OK, Microsoft's only up 21%. Is that so terrible? Since November 1st? It's underperformed Nvidia, it's underperformed some of the SMH stocks. So what? So what?" Judge said.

"So the S&P's up 20% since November 1st. What's Apple done since November 1st. It's up 5%. What's, what's Alphabet done," Joe said.

"You pick Apple out of a hat and say OK, it's the one ... that hasn't really worked that well," Judge said.

"You can't cherry pick it!" Joe said, even though that's exactly what Joe was doing. "Since November 1st you have 4 of the megacaps that are underperforming the S&P 500," and then Joe really got retro, stating, "I just don't wanna look at it from November 1st (which is what he was just doing). I wanna look at it from January 1st of 2022. I wanna encompass the entirety of the Federal Reserve rate-hiking cycle. And if you do that, the S&P is up 6%. And 4 of the names have underperformed the S&P! So really all you have is extreme outperformance from Nvidia. En- Extreme outperformance from Meta catching up because it fell to $88 in November of 2022!"

OK, quick timeout to summarize this conversation ... Judge questioned Joe's advice that viewers be underweight the Mag 7. Judge said the Mag 7 has been guiding the market for a couple years. Joe's claiming the Mag 7, other than 2 stocks, isn't anything great anyway, and 1 of the 2 great stocks was simply playing catch-up from November 2022. Or in other words, you shouldn't buy them because they're lagging, but you should've bought META in December 2022.

Joe is suddenly down on the Mag 7 despite saying Jan. 8 that we don't have to "keep trying to pretend and play this game that the Mag 7 are not gonna matter in 2024," and on Jan. 10, Judge asked Joe, "What are you telling me, that 2024 is gonna be 2023 all over again?," and Joe conceded, "That's a big risk."

Stay tuned on Monday for a possible new outlook.

On the Super Bowl. Joe said "If you take Patrick Mahomes off the field, the Chiefs aren't winning the Super Bowl." Actually, they might've, if they had Matthew Stafford or Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow or C.J. Stroud or maybe even Josh Allen. Joe ignored that the Chiefs have a legendary TE, great DT and a great secondary. Joe also ignored that the 49ers easily could've won the game by simply achieving a few first downs from the Chiefs' 40-yard line. Neither Judge nor Joe speculated if the Chiefs would suddenly have given up a score at that point with 2 minutes left and whether Christian McCaffrey would've slow-walked a handoff 30 yards over 2 minutes into the end zone.

Jenny Harrington also accused Judge of making up a "narrative," stating, "You can pick whatever time frame you want to fit your narrative, but I think the right way to look at it is, step back, and look at 3 years. You know, look at 5 years."

"You can't look at that. You can't do that. You can't do that with AI stocks. Cannot. Cannot. Cannot," Judge insisted.

"I'll tell you why you can-" Jenny said, as she and Judge spoke over each other. "Because that's what a real investor timeframe is." (Yes, they really care in February 2024 what some stock did in July 2021.)

"That's the only way you can judge- that's the only way you can justify not being in them. The only way you can justify not being in the names and missing it. Is by saying, 'Well, you go back 5 years ...'" Judge countered.

"Most clients give you 3 years," Jenny insisted.

Judge said, "The makeup of this market changed dramatically, arguably for an immeasurable amount of time going forward, the day of the Microsoft announcement with OpenAI. That was a move-the-goal-post moment, for the kinds of stocks that you had to be in. Some didn't see it then and they were still willing to get in later ... that was a game-changing moment. Period. End of story."

Jenny suggested taking "today as your starting point." (But Joe wants to start from January 1st, 2022.)

Weiss said "we can have these philosophical discussions," but, trying to play both sides, claimed there are "lots of stocks" that are "under the surface" and performing well. However, Weiss said his "overriding consideration" is that "AI is generational. Like the steam engine. Like 5G (snicker)."

Nevertheless, "Right now, we don't even have a lot of the use cases defined for AI," Weiss conceded.

Joe throws in the towel on down-February prediction

Elsewhere on Friday's (2/23) Halftime Report, Steve Weiss bought NVDA, but he said it's not a big position, rather "it's about a third the size of META" (which Joe says is only up so high because it was down so far in 2022).

Weiss said, "The race for AI, it truly is, you know, it's going to be all we're going to be doing, forget about talking about it, for the next number of years."

Judge said Bespoke says, "The last time the Nasdaq 100 made a new all-time high on a day it gained 3-plus% was March of 2000. Gulp."

Jenny Harrington, who basically only wants to invest in stocks mentioned on "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street Week" (it was a fine show, but the technology world was a little different back then), said, "Ultimately, the Nasdaq's flat over the past 3 years."

Joe Terranova, who 3 times this month has predicted on the show that February would be a down month (both S&P and Nasdaq are over 5%), admitted, "I thought, I was obviously wrong on that assessment, I believed that February would be a month where you'd see corrective price action in the market. You're just not seeing it."

But Joe added, "I feel good about ... there are other names that are working right now, in particular in the large-cap space."

Joe joins Josh in supplying potential idea for Berkshire

After the A Block on Thursday's (2/23) Halftime Report, Joe Terranova made a healthy speculative point that followed a healthy speculative point a day earlier from Josh Brown.

Joe said, "Josh mentioned yesterday Warren Buffett and Amazon. To me, Deere is really a Warren Buffett stock. And if you continue to see Deere cheapen up like that, to me, that's the type of stock you see Berkshire come in and buy."

Indeed. That is sound reasoning and may well prove accurate. A day earlier (see below), Brown suggested AMZN might be the "secret stock" that Berkshire is buying, then later in the show said he didn't want people to "aggregate" "blog" headlines about this comment.

We don't know — and it's clear from the programs that the panelists don't know — whether Berkshire is buying or will buy either DE or AMZN.

But it's fair game to think about.

Judge noted Kevin Simpson trimmed DE and Steve Weiss bought it.

Kevin said earnings were "less impressive" than expected and that CAT, which he also owns, "is crushing it." Weiss said, "I have a good feel for Deere ... for me it's a trading stock."

Weiss congratulated Kevin for a "phenomenal call in CAT" and said it "p----d me off because I didn't take- buy it."

Judge brought in Dave Morehead and Renee Hanna, the managers of Baylor University's endowment, which is apparently beating the Ivy League. Morehead stated, "most endowments actually outsource the actual trading."

Weiss again made LDOS his Final Trade. Judge announced Jamie Dimon will be on the show Monday and said they're super excited.

Judge and Joe actually talk about the Super Bowl (though Judge sounds uncertain that Joe even watched the game) (and nobody speculated as to whether SF QB was told not to throw farther than 10 yards unless it’s out of bounds)

This page has been stating for weeks that Judge inexplicably went silent about pro football just as Super Bowl preparations were rounding into form, almost like it was a taboo subject.

On Thursday's (2/22) Closing Bell, lo and behold, Judge mentioned the Super Bowl.

Star guest Adam Parker told Judge that people need "at least" 25% exposure in the Mag 7. Joe Terranova, also seated at Post 9, somehow said, "I disagree that the Mag 7 are the focal point" (snicker).

Judge even countered, "Disagree that the Chiefs won the Super Bowl?" Joe never indicated he saw the game.

Joe insisted equal weight is up Thursday and the market is about the "AI halo."

Judge said that sounds like anything to do with AI is the place to be. Joe said it's actually "anything that's curating the AI." (We haven't heard anyone explain yet who's "curating" AI.)

Adam said he doesn't know what Joe is disagreeing with; "sounds like he agreed."

"I don't have a 25% weighting to the Mag 7!" Joe said.

"Personally you probably do," Judge said. "No I don't," Joe bristled.

Judge eventually asked Joe if viewers should be "underweight the Mag 7." Joe said "if they are active investors, they should not be carrying a 25% exposure, market weight to the Mag 7. If they are passive, yeah. Then they're going to. Automatically. They have to."

Adam concluded, "We know each other well so we can disagree with each other, it's fine. I disagree with that. All my clients are active investors. I mean, passive investors don't pay! So they're all active investors. And the advice I give them to beat the S&P long only is to be market weight that group for the reasons I articulated."

How much of a headline does Josh’s Berkshire ‘guess’ deserve?

A curious thing happened on Thursday's (2/22) Halftime Report, when Josh Brown made a provocative comment — a healthy, useful comment — then moments later, told people not to read very much into it.

It started when Judge asked Jim Lebenthal about buying AMZN. "It's not an expensive stock" (Zzzzzzz), Jim said, which is a lousy argument for buying AMZN by the way. Jim added that it's been "dead money for 3½ years."

Josh then suggested AMZN could be the "secret stock" that Berkshire has been accumulating.

First of all, we didn't know there was such a "secret stock."

Second, it's amateur hour here as always, but the guess here is that this company would not appeal so much to Warren Buffett. It's a different kind of leadership mindset than that of Tim Cook.

Anyway. Even though Josh and Jim both seem to like the stock, Josh took issue with Jim citing the valuation as some sort of all-clear for buying AMZN. Josh stressed that he's had a "fight" with Jim and Stephanie "for years and years" that traditional valuation measures may not reflect the "dominance" of a name like AMZN.

Jim protested that "sometimes you're right, sometimes Steph and I are right," and that AMZN has been a "dog" for 3½ years. Josh said that's "not because of valuation," actually clapping twice at Jim.

(Actually, Jim hasn't provided any proof that "sometimes Steph and I are right" about, presumably, valuation foreshadowing where a stock is going. We'd like Jim to provide some examples of how a P.E. ratio signaled in advance where a stock was going.)

Josh said PARA was "clearly a disaster" for BRKB/BRKA, but it's probably making as much money as ever on money markets and Treasurys. Josh noted Japan's strength and said Berkshire apparently "sort of saw that coming."

So then Judge asked Josh about his "guess" that maybe BRKA/BRKB is buying AMZN. "I've never even been to Omaha," Brown protested, adding, "Don't aggregate this into, into a new story on your blog, please."

Hmmmm ... on the one hand, we can understand someone on business TV offering speculation that they're not really sure about and being concerned that people will regard it as "investment advice" from someone cleared to offer such on TV.

On the other hand, if people on business television aren't speculating about market moves, then how is anyone different than Santoli?? (Who's on vacation this week, apparently.)

Had Brown not protested about "don't aggregate" into a "blog story," it probably would’ve ended up on this page with a headline saying something like "Josh suggests Berkshire might be buying AMZN."

But with his 2nd comment, Brown succeeded in changing the narrative, which is now, "Can you really believe the s--- that these guys say on the air."

We're also not quite sure what Brown means by "aggregate." That implies CNBC.com is going to post this thread of commentary as a separate story, and people might link to it. Who cares; drives more traffic to cnbc.com.

Stephanie Link said of AMZN, "I've made so much money on it."

Of course.

Did Joe apologize to that parking attendant for NOT telling him to back up the truck before NVDA’s earnings?

As far as the Stock of the Day, of course NVDA, Josh Brown opened Thursday's (2/22) Halftime stating, "If you could buy it last year, you could buy it right now. I'm not. But you could."

Bryn Talkington said the NVDA earnings call "was like a master class."

Jim Lebenthal said, "I don't think it's going lower from here, but I also think the major point that I would make is that you do have to own this."

Jim acknowledged that's a "controversial statement," but "all the oxygen in the room" is going to NVDA.

Then there was the usual banter about the word "cheap," as if stocks go up or down based on how "cheap" they supposedly are.

At the 10-minute mark, Judge said "This was a. Big. Deal." for the entire market.

Bryn said NVDA's success will "create little mini-bubbles."

Josh said someone was showing him that ANF has outperformed NVDA in the past year.

At the end of the show, Judge noted SMCI, a stock mentioned by Guy Adami on Fast Money the night before, was up 30% on Thursday alone. Josh said it's in that same kind of AI-moving group as ANET.

Fast Money panelist says NVDA reminds him of JDS Uniphase

Uh oh.

On Wednesday's (2/21) Fast Money, which spent considerable time tackling NVDA's earnings, guest host Tyler Mathisen asked the group, "Does this stock remind you of any other stock performance that you've seen in your career."

Danny Moses, sitting in with the day's panel, jumped in. "Yes, there was one stock: JDS Uniphase, uh back in '99-2000," said Danny.

Danny said that back in the day, people considered wrapping the world "a hundred times" with all the JDS fiber that was going to be used, and the TAM was "too big, it didn't work, the math didn't work." However, Danny added, "I don't think we're at that point yet here."

(This review was posted overnight Wednesday-Thursday.)

Grandpa Guy Adami, opining on SMCI and the AI space, stated, "I get it, it's a secular growth story, everybody loves it, everybody's gotten rich on the back of it. At a certain point though, certain valuations absolutely matter, as much as we like to think it's different this time ... it's probably not as different as people think."

Guy Adami later said, "I said Billy Joel has as many good songs as he has horrible songs. ... 'We Didn't Start the Fire' is a top-5 worst song, not Billy Joel, in the history of mankind. And Billy's a fan of the show, I'm sorry, but he knows it's lousy. Sorry."

Tyler said "I beg to differ" and claimed "lyrically, it's clever, man."

Joe apparently advised a parking attendant (who’s probably not long the stock) to unload NVDA

As Wednesday's (2/21) Halftime Crew offered last-minute thoughts on NVDA before the mega-important earnings, Jim Lebenthal predicted a "modest beat and raise" and advised buying the dip, if there is one, later this week.

Joe Terranova said that in the morning, he was dropping his car off in Lower Manhattan, and after walking away, "the parking attendant yelled at me, 'Hey Joe, what do you think Nvidia's gonna do?' And my response was, I think, if you're- if you're long the stock, it's time to sit on the sidelines and watch."

(We analyzed this advice for a bit. How does one really "sit on the sidelines" if one is long the stock?)

(If Joe just means "sit on the sidelines," as in, don't buy any more, why would he qualify it with "if you're long the stock"?)

Joe added, "If you need to be active, you're doing it in the options market," and advised having "discipline," if you're not long, to just say "I missed it."

Steve Weiss' home camera finally got rolling around the 11th minute; Weiss said NVDA is "annoying" to him because he didn't own it on the way up (a lot of people have felt that way) (this writer has no position in NVDA), and its earnings could affect his other holdings now. But Weiss has decided it won't do "anything" to stocks such as META and MSFT.

Weiss said if NVDA misses, "everything's going down," but he'd take advantage of the "great buying opportunity" in other names, but not in NVDA or PANW.

Bill Baruch trimmed NVDA ahead of the print; he said he sold 33% before ADM's earnings and 20% a day earlier, Tuesday. Maybe that was too soon.

Bill said if there's a big "unwind" in NVDA, he'd love to "reestablish a stronger position" in the 610-620 range.

On Judge's Closing Bell, Bryn Talkington said she's "not nervous at all" about NVDA earnings — and once again pounded home a powerful point about P.E. ratio "analysis."

Bryn said, "I've said this so many times, first of all, P.E. is a horrible, uh, metric to use, over like, 1-year periods ... tells you nothing, really. ... The E has gone up more than the P."

Joe finally brings up football, as he and Judge have been oblivious to the Super Bowl or anything since the Peacock game

Judge at the top of Wednesday's (2/21) Halftime Report 3 times said PANW earnings was a "fail."

Invoking a sporting analogy, Joe Terranova said, "If it was a football game, the score is 40-nothing, and they were a 10-point favorite going into the game."

"It was the guidance," Joe explained, adding a day ago he was "highly skeptical of the technicals."

Joe said he personally owns PANW around 242, while the JOET owns it at about "that same price level," and Joe said "personally, that would be my stop-loss because you never wanna trade, or turn a winning trade into a losing trade" (but of course, the index is stuck with it until the end of April).

The PANW earnings were an "absolute 40-to-nothing blowout," Joe reiterated.

"I would be a dip buyer," offered Anastasia Amoroso, at least in the cybersecurity space, not necessarily PANW.

Jim Lebenthal's take on PANW's outlook is that "Corporate IT budgets are finite."

‘Ted Pick is gonna be a great CEO’

Judge asked Jim Lebenthal on Wednesday's (2/21) Halftime Report why JPM has "outpaced" other financials, and "you gotta tell me more than Jamie Dimon."

Jim said, "Sit tight for a second," explaining the stock has "idiosyncratic merits" including Dimon and that it's best in the sector, but also that Jim is bullish on the financial sector because there's "all that infrastructure spending going on."

Judge said in the last 3 months, C has actually been outperforming JPM. Jim said Jane Fraser is finally getting credit, but a "turnaround like this" takes more than 1 quarter to confirm. (That seems accurate. Wasn't the stock about the same price a dozen years ago?)

Judge said GS has had a "nice move" and asked Steve Weiss about it. Weiss said "David" did a "mea culpa" and cut losses in bad initiatives, also "they had a great quarter" and there's optimism about the IPO market. Weiss said he doesn't know why MS isn't having the same performance because "Ted Pick is gonna be a great CEO."

Weiss evidently doesn’t mind short-term capital gains

Steve Weiss made an unusual revelation on Wednesday's 2/21 Halftime Report; sadly, Judge didn't follow up on it

Weiss sold VRT because he noticed volume was "tracking very high, unusually high" and driving the stock on down days. That comment didn't really register on our radar, fine.

This one did: Weiss said it was a "great, great trade for me for a short period of time."

That's curious, because Weiss will occasionally argue against selling anything because of the taxes (evidently any kind of taxes, long term, short term, etc.) that are incurred.

He evidently has no problem with paying a short-term gain on VRT.

Weiss said after the earnings reaction, he decided to liquidiate his "small position" because he would've been "really pissed (sic it's apparently OK to say that on CNBC) at myself if I ride this one down." (But then he wouldn't owe any tax.)

Meanwhile, Weiss is long AMZN and said the Jeff Bezos sale is "just a minor sale and means nothing."

Last bull call we could find for TDOC was Jon Najarian in his fateful, last appearance on the Halftime Report when Dom Chu guest hosted on Sept. 9, 2022.

Jim Lebenthal on Wednesday's (2/21) Halftime Report cited the "equal weight" S&P 500 being up 2.6% YTD, "so there is a broadening going on right now."

Joe Terranova plans to sell his personal holding of IBKR, which is also in the JOET, even though it has "red hot" momentum. Joe said that personally, he just wanted it to get over $100.

Joe said it's rare when an energy company such as FANG hits an all-time high. He said prior to the Endeavor acquisition, it was a "buyback story."

Joe shrugged that PSA, one of 3 REITs in the JOET, was having "more of a technical bounce" on Wednesday than anything else.

Judge said CE "missed," and Joe said it was feeling weakness in Europe and China, but Joe said it was having a "remarkable trading range" on Wednesday.

Joe said HST is near a 52-week high, and he expects a "strong earnings report." Jim said there's room for PCG to "eventually increase the dividend" and go higher. PCG actually has been a far more interesting trade for Jim over the last couple of years given the troubles of that entity; we wish he talked about that more than GM and CLF.

Joe said INTU "could go either (pronounced EYE-ther) way" on earnings but is "susceptible to the technology complex if in fact it weakens."

Anastasia Amoroso, who had a quiet show, said that even though there's a lot of negativity already in SEDG, she's "not seeing" an upside catalyst.

Steve Weiss said there's "no barriers to entry, no moat" for TDOC. He suggested the valuation with the stock price in the teens "may be too high."

Weiss made LDOS his Final Trade; he keeps recommending it as such despite not really talking about it during the rest of the programs. It's having a good month, though December-January wasn't terribly exciting.

Judge hasn’t said a word about pro football since the Peacock Playoff Game occurred

Judge on Tuesday's (2/20) Halftime Report wondered if people are getting "a little bit skittish" in NVDA. Joe Terranova said it has "nearly impossible expectations" and tough comps ahead.

Sarat Sethi suggested the NVDA earnings report is riding on the "total addressable market" (snicker). Sarat said "I'd be careful here" in the stock.

Josh Brown said a "negative outcome" for NVDA isn't necessarily a negative outcome for the rest of the market.

Josh explained the NYSE slogan of "S's over N's" or vice versa, meaning S&P and Nasdaq, and predicted this will be an "S's over N's" market into the spring.

Joe was doubling down or tripling down on his claim of "the month of (sic first 3 words redundant) February" being a "down month." Joe pointed out that market gains didn't stem from NVDA's report last November.

Joe said multiple expansion will have to come from small caps. Josh said 8% of S&P components are making 52-week highs, above the historic average of 6%.

Judge asked Joe about the JOET owning DFS. Joe said "I'm gonna be very candid and somewhat humble on this one," but "it was purely a momentum entry."

Outlasting the bastards (cont’d)

In what, despite Judge's return, proved a sleepy edition of Tuesday's (2/20) post-holiday Halftime Report, Sarat Sethi said he still likes DIS and called it a "value play" (snicker).

Judge said Evercore recommends taking profits and a victory lap in industrials. Joe Terranova said he's not ready to do that and that the JOET is 17% in industrials. Joe kept harping on UBER being an "industrial," which Judge downplayed. Joe also praised GWW.

Joe agreed with Judge that PANW earnings would be a "big moment." (They were. This review was posted overnight Tuesday/Wednesday.)

Judge asked Stephanie Link about FTNT. "I made a lot of money throughout COVID," Link said, for anyone who wondered.

Judge tried making a joke about Berkshire and the JOET's rebalancing, but Josh Brown was having none of it.

Josh said "it's been a long time" since he's owned ALB.

Joe says it’s ‘ridiculous’ to be parked in cash even though “the market is overdue for a technical correction’ (a/k/a Bill’s early move for Call of the Year)

Courtney Reagan guest hosted Friday's (2/16) Halftime with a scratchy voice; like a trooper, Court persevered and got stronger as the show went on.

Joe Terranova wasn't concerned about the inflation report but mentioned "growth" about 5 times and stated, "Overall, the disinflationary trend is still in place," and he praised the "really, really excellent" interview with Bostic in the previous hour.

Shannon Saccocia said there's a little "discomfort if you will" in that market money in recent weeks is "going back into the names that performed really well in 2023."

Bill Baruch said "I still think May is on the table," adding there's about a 33% chance of a cut then.

Courtney said Barclays is recommending "stay put" in cash. Joe called that advice "ridiculous" given earnings, growth, the Fed not being "adversarial" and the "disinflationary trend."

Joe said "if you're parked in cash ... what are you waiting for?" Even so, Joe stated, "The market is overdue for a technical correction."

In an early candidate for Call of the Year, Bill had said on Friday 2/9 that he had bought ARM, which closed that day at $115. On Monday it reached $148. Had he just unloaded then, it would be a great trade, but Bill said again Friday that he plans to hold 3-5 years, during which he thinks ARM could "4x."

Joe said, "I would not put fresh capital into Nvidia at this price."

Joe says the PANW move is ‘beyond extreme’

Bill Baruch on Friday's (2/16) Halftime Report announced he bought more TSLA, stating he thinks it "bottomed out" and held support levels; "the negativity here has really peaked."

Joe Terranova said he personally thought TSLA would "break down below 175," but the JOET added recently at 186, and so "non-discretionary Joe seems to be right."

Bill bought more BAC, saying that in the past week, as the 10-year yield rose, BAC actually traded "really well."

Joe said the JOET has been cutting its energy weighting; it was 12% but now it's 6%.

Guest host Courtney Reagan said BMO made TTD a "top pick." It's in the JOET; Joe said it was added last April at 64, which doesn't really have any bearing on where it's going now.

Joe said "momentum funds" are the catalyst for LLY.

Joe talked up one of his long-standing favorite names, "Palo Alto," saying cybersecurity is "mandatory" and it gets "necessary spending," but he trimmed CRWD and cautioned that PANW and CRWD are "technically overbought."

Bill said he thinks it's "very possible" that MSFT can get a "foothold" into cybersecurity. Joe said PANW is "30% above its 200-day moving average; that is beyond extreme."

Courtney actually did a Grade My Trade, a feature we thought had been allowed to lapse. Joe gave William "a hundred with some extra credit" for buying ANET after selling CSCO. Someone else wondered if they made a good trade buying UBER at 35. (That's how this feature works.)

Jeff Kilburg predicts
new highs next month

Jeff Kilburg, who hasn't been on CNBC's Halftime Report in years, was on The Exchange on Thursday (2/15) with guest host Sully and was chock-full of actionable trades.

Jeff said NVDA has to "back and fill," and he'd recommend putting NVDA money, as soon as Wednesday, into what he sees as the "huge opportunity" of TSLA.

Jeff also insisted we'll get "100 basis points" of rate cutting this year, so there's "more room to run" for stocks, and "we're gonna make new highs I think next month."

CNBC’s graphics crew forgot the period after ‘M’

Nowadays, you can't get through an A Block of the Halftime Report without hearing about NVDA, which is actually kind of cool (except that it also gets old).

Josh Brown opened Thursday's (2/15) episode saying "I actually think that we are seeing a topping out of the Nasdaq, at least short term."

Bryn Talkington said she added to RSP, which is the S&P equal weight (Joe Terranova's second-favorite term, after "rebalancing"), in December. Bryn said that when there's a divergence with the equal weight, they eventually come back, so "it's like a mean-reversion trade."

Pointing to 1995, Bryn said "we really like energy here," suggesting it does "very well" after the first rate cut; the RSPG was Bryn's Final Trade.

Bryn said regarding the CPI report that "the machines were tired, the algos were tired."

"I think Nvidia will be strong," predicted Jason Snipe, though he's "run out of superlatives."

Josh said that other than NVDA, none of the biggies in the Nasdaq 100 "are currently overbought statistically."

Bryn said in this market, she'd tap into the "call premium" in whichever individual names you can get it.

Leslie Picker said the latest filings show "hedge fund profit taking" in megacap tech in December. (It's 45 days old, but whatever.)

Josh talked about trimming NVDA so it doesn't overwhelm the portfolio, not as any sort of market call. Jason Snipe seconded the notion of "portfolio management." Josh said the problem is that when you do the "prudent thing" of portfolio management with the "biggest winners throughout history," every time you do it, "you feel like a clown." (More importantly, you make less money than you could've.)

Bryn seemed surprised that anyone would be compelled to sell NVDA; "it's Nvidia's world."

Josh asked Bryn if she's concerned that the NVDA bulls may be totally right about the growth but the stock may be "a little bit ahead of it." Bryn shrugged that TAM is just a "made-up number."

Bryn and Jason addressed AAPL, calling it a "mature company," and Bryn said that's fine but all the dollars now are flowing to AI.

Pippa Stevens talks about underwear

Guest host Frank Holland on Thursday's (2/15) Halftime Report noted SHAK, long a holding of Josh Brown, is having its best day in nearly 4 years.

Josh said he bought the stock in 2014. Apparently shrugging off the peaks and valleys in the name, Josh said that 20 years ago, when he was a "frustrated retail stockbroker," his dad sent him a pick-me-up card saying only "outlast the bastards," and that's what he's done in this stock, which was also his Final Trade.

Frank said Morgan Stanley is talking up BX in what it calls "the golden age of private credit." Jason Snipe, who just bought the name last week, said the company has a record $200 billion in "dry powder." Bryn Talkington called it a "really smart buy." Josh Brown touted CG.

Jason said you have to be "patient" with FDX.

Josh said he bought CRWD in November 2020, and given the rocky 2022 it had, it's an example of "outlasting the bastards." He wouldn't sell, but he wouldn't be a "fresh money buyer" either.

Frank brought up the XBI and noted Jason's "contrarian trade" for the year (we thought those had already been forgotten) was biotech. Jason likes the sector for this year. Brown said biotech's had an "incredibly poor stretch" for 5 years, which may be a good reason to take a look now.

Kate Rooney reported on institutions driving crypto's gains. Bryn said she has a "small amount of exposure" to the GBTC and she "wouldn't be surprised" if bitcoin were either $100,000 or $25,000. Bryn said bitcoin is like "digital gold" but for "other coins," Bryn said, "I would really like to see some use cases come to fruition."

Josh touted LYV and said "I'm not a seller."

Delivering CNBC's News Update, CNBC's ultracute Pippa Stevens said Target is launching a new value brand that will include "underwear that will cost under $10. Everyone, Frank, loves a bargain."

So much for ‘10% upside’

The latest person on the Halftime Report to couch a bad sale with a brag was Jenny Harrington — even though she didn't mention anything Wednesday (2/14) about selling.

Jenny, long UBER, said she bought the stock 2 years ago, and, "We're up 240% since we bought it." (This writer is long UBER.)

Congrats to Jenny. The thing is, back on Jan. 12, Jenny also gushed about buying UBER at $22 in 2022. The thing is, by Jan. 12, she said she'd already trimmed it 3 times, which she called "responsible."

And she predicted there's only "10% upside" in UBER through 2024. (It closed at $63.20 that day, so since she made that prediction, it's already up 25% in a month.)

Sarat Sethi on Jan. 9 said he trimmed UBER and on Feb. 5 also said, "I bought it when it was back in the low 20s," (sounds like it was a real popular buy back then) but he "took some money off at the beginning of this year" because it's "highly valued" (snicker).

On Jan. 2, both Joe Terranova and Steve Weiss opened the year speaking of trimming UBER. (Nice call.) (Don't want those outsized positions.) Joe on Jan. 22 even talked about why he "pared back" UBER at the end of 2023.

On Wednesday's (2/14) Fast Money, Karen Finerman observed of UBER, "Mathematically, it's not really in their favor to be out there buying back stock."

Um, S&P up 47 by the end of the day, so much for the white-hot momentum done

Joe Terranova opened Wednesday's (2/14) Halftime Report saying he thinks the "positive trend" of 2024 is "in place."

But, as of lunchtime at least, he was thinking Tuesday was "critically important" in snapping (snicker) the market's "white-hot momentum." (Maybe by 4 p.m., he wasn't so sure.)

While Joe spoke, someone with a hacking cough caught an open mike; it apparently was Steve Weiss.

Joe said he claimed "2 weeks ago" that he "thought February would be a down month" and that Judge didn't call him out on it while stocks were still going up (but now he can take a victory lap maybe).

"It does feel like leadership is rotating," Jim Lebenthal offered, though he "can't prove it."

Weiss said investors "clearly panicked yesterday," but the Fed just wants to "make sure" that inflation is going down, so they're "not going to cut until the 2nd half of the week (sic that would be a quickie)." Judge corrected to "2nd half of the year." Weiss said "sorry" and said it'll be 3 cuts, not "5 or 6."

"I don't see any type of bounce (snicker) here," said Weiss, who probably should've waited until the end of the day.

Joe said he was wrong in thinking about 6 cuts and that the Fed (which signaled 3) was right. "We validated the Federal Reserve's patience," Joe said, and it's not every day you hear that comment on CNBC.

Jim said "3 would be great" in terms of rate cuts.

Judge aired a clip of Jeffrey Gundlach a day earlier on Closing Bell saying the cut is "probably going to be June, if it happens at all." (Basically, if you can't catch Closing Bell, Judge will air the highlights the next day on Halftime.) Judge also aired a clip of Rich Saperstein on the same program defending the Mag 7, a view Weiss said he shares. Jim Lebenthal said "The Mag 7 is the Mag 5 right now," kicking out TSLA and AAPL.

Judge took the show right up to 1:00 p.m. this time

Steve Weiss on Wednesday's (2/14) Halftime Report said he sees "no use case" for bitcoin, but it trades on technicals and momentum and he thinks it'll "get past" the "prior highs in the 60s."

Joe Terranova said there was "clearly exuberance" in travel names such as ABNB, which Joe said was slipping Wednesday on a "little bit of a moderation in the growth rate."

Joe sold TWLO, after he "bought it December," above 75. Joe admitted that while he traded it well before the pandemic, he hasn't had the same success afterwards. But Tuesday, he decided he'd "had enough." Judge tried to prod Joe into maybe rethinking his sale, but Joe explained that his move is a "risk management element."

Joe said the CDNS news is just a "very small misstep" and he's "happy to own."

Joe said there are fundamentals supporting PLTR and it's an "AI story (snicker) as well."

Bernstein upgraded IBM with a 165 price target, which Jenny Harrington chuckled is about 20 bucks below where the stock is.

At the end of the show, Joe badgered Jim Lebenthal about Jim's enthusiasm for the casino space.

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman wondered about Peltz and DIS, "Didn't he sell stock at 120 last year?"

If Selleck just got in shape, he could get movie roles instead of TV commercials

Karen Finerman on Tuesday's (2/13) Fast Money twice said the CPI is "one data (she pronounced it DAY-ta) point," and, after the big selloff noted, "We are where we were Tuesday."

Regarding the LYFT earnings report bungle that briefly sent shares surging, Karen said, "I think they'll be sued within an hour," though she doesn't see how anyone was "particularly disadvantaged."

Mel questioned "how are you harmed" by the LYFT trading action, maybe if you're short. Karen admitted "I don't know" and said maybe if you bought it on seeing those 500 basis points.

Judge somehow wrapped up Halftime at 12:57, leaving 3 minutes of commercials before Power Lunch

Judge ran Tuesday's (2/13) Halftime from Englewood Cliffs, where only Jim Lebenthal among the panelists was present.

Jim said CPI was "not a good piece of news" and twice called it a "bad data (he pronounced it DAY-ta) point" but he indicated some of the supposedly hot inflation is irrelevant, saying Fed cuts can't really control the cost of electric-car repairs.

"It doesn't throw me off track," Jim said.

Stephanie Link said "I"m not changing my thought of a soft landing at all."

Josh Brown said the impact of the CPI report on bulls "depends on why you were bullish" and suggested the bull camp looking for 7 rate cuts was "literally (sic) sniffing glue."

Judge told Rob Sechan that the market has been "primed" for a pullback. Rob said, "The morning's CPI print potentially puts the inflation side of the equation into question."

Rob said he thinks a correction would be "short and shallow," unless it's "like '22," in which case, "We're goin' down." Judge said in 2022, "The goal posts were in a completely different place."

Jim said he trimmed NVDA at 712, citing — as everyone on the show does — cost basis: "I'm up something like 60% in 6 months." Jim said he thinks it's reaching the point where it's "run out of buyers," but he reaffirmed his suggestion for people not in NVDA to take 1% positions.

Bill Baruch, via Skype, talked of trimming AAPL and AMZN; Bill said "it's prudent portfolio management" and these are still "really in our top 5."

Bill said the market could be entering a "leveling out trade that could last for the next couple months."

Steve Kovach reported on the WSJ survey of Copilot users: "Things that this product is supposed to do, it's not always doing it well."

Rob Sechan said he'll keep riding momentum in LLY. Rob said, "Trust me, it's not like we don't get S. H. I. T. (that's how he said it) for not owning Nvidia for our clients."

Berkshire Hathaway is ‘never’ going to have good enough scores for the JOET

It's not every day that you hear on Wall Street that Berkshire Hathaway is not quality enough to qualify for an ETF.

That's what happened on Monday's (2/12) Halftime Report as Judge asked Joe Terranova about the JOET moving out of the stock.

Joe said "the way the financial construction of the company is is that the return on equity and the debt to equity figures are never going to be strong enough" for the JOET.

"It's going to have a low score on return on equity," Joe explained.

"How did it get in there in the first place?" Judge wondered.

"Because you saw a dramatic acceleration in the momentum factor over the 3rd quarter of 2023- uh 2024 rather, 2023 rather, and that got us in almost on a rental basis for what proved to be a really good trade," Joe said, which didn't really answer the question. (So the return on equity is never good enough, unless it's going up for no reason.)

Karen: ‘The pandemic is way worse than ’07’ in terms of real estate impact

In a very thoughtful, reasonable — and stark — roundtable, Monday's (2/12) Fast Money crew offered a consensus outlook on commercial real estate.

Discussing NYCB and the sector, Dan Nathan stated, "I actually don't think the commercial real estate thing gets any better anytime soon."

Karen Finerman agreed. "The pandemic is way worse than '07," as far as impact on real estate, Karen said.

"There's a glut of supply," said Bonawyn Eison. "To me, there's no end in sight, unless we're going back comp- return to work is getting restored to 100% of what it once was."

‘It goes up every frickin’ day

On Monday's (2/12) Halftime Report, viewers expected to hear about the champs.

So Judge gave them Nvidia, not the Kansas City Chiefs.

Judge declared, "We're on rally watch, yet again."

Jim Lebenthal, who owns NVDA, said the tech move "makes me chuckle" and that NVDA goes up every day. But Judge and Jim noted the Russell is gaining, and Jim asserted that "it's got a lot more room to run," which is what Jim and all the "value" crowd have been asserting for 10 or 15 years.

Steve Weiss said, "You're right Scott, this is a momentum market, and I think the new poster child for momentum is ARM Holdings," adding there's "no reason" for the stock's gain on Monday.

Judge asked Joe if this rally can broaden out and stay that way. Joe curiously stated (in what sounded like one of those faulty math proofs where one assumes what he's trying to prove is true, or maybe, a Yogi-ism), "The fuel for it is the momentum itself, so, as long as that fuel is in place, then yes, Scott, it can broaden out over an extended period of time." (Which sounds like saying, When something's going up, if it keeps going up, then it can keep going up.)

Weiss questioned Jim's statement that MSFT is cooling off, wondering, "Where's the slowing." Weiss stated, "We've been hearing that value is back for the last decade. And it's not back."

In the 10th minute, Joe said "equally weighted" (ding-ding-ding).

Jim said he got into NVDA 6 months ago at 450. Judge said it seemed like a "FOMO" trade at the time. Jim said the only reason he hasn't started trimming is because "it goes up every frickin' day."

Jim said if you owned zero NVDA, think about buying a 1% position. Joe shook his head, "Not here," cautioning that NVDA has "supply chain dependency."

Judge said some people would take Jim's 1% advice as a "warning sign" of euphoria. Weiss admitted, "Every day I look at it and say, 'Why don't I own this,'" and he thinks you can "justify" the NVDA multiple, but he owns TSM because it has a "mid-teens multiple."

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman, who's long NVDA, said she's "concerned" that there isn't any number that NVDA can put up that the market will like. Karen even likened the melt-up to Viacom-Archegos.

Judge, Joe oblivious to the fact there was a football game played the night before (Oh, it was on CBS, so it didn’t exist)

For those concerned about the dotcom era, Mike Santoli on Monday's (2/12) Halftime Report said people are throwing around the word/number/year "1999."

Santoli said now is not the same, even if the market gets "a little overheated" in the short term.

Steve Weiss made yet another trade in DE, selling it. (We'd forgotten he was still long.) Weiss explained, again (guess Judge didn't hear him the first day of it), why he made a trade in ADM (it had nothing to do with business but the corporate troubles).

Weiss added to his "still very small" NFLX position; he said "they are by far, by far, the leader."

Weiss made bitcoin his Final Trade.

It’ll be the Chiefs

In the lead-in to Friday's (2/9) Halftime Report, Sara Eisen told Carl Quintanilla, "Everyone knows I'm a Bengals fan, but my husband's a die-hard (49ers) fan."

That was significant because it's the only football to be heard during the Halftime hour, as Judge and Terranova remain frankly oblivious to the fact there's a football game this weekend (Earth to Judge ...).

And it's going to be won by the Kansas City Chiefs. The pride of CNBC voice Jim Birdsall. (This prediction was posted early morning Saturday, Feb. 10.)

We don't quite get how the 49ers are favored. (Well, actually we do, it's sort of the yearlong machinations of this process, but whatever.) Yes, the 49ers have more elite players than the Chiefs, and the 49ers can light up the scoreboard in bunches. And the Chiefs no longer have a wide-open offense and scored a remarkably low total for an AFC champion 2 weeks ago.

But the 49ers, unfortunately, are very good at losing championship games. They find ways to get tight. That's probably going to happen here. It happened to Philadelphia last year. The Chiefs coach used to fall under the same category, but since he found his QB, he generally wins championship games. So we're expecting a game similar to last year's Super Bowl.

Judge and Terranova may not want to acknowledge the game. OK. Whatever. No one on the show is going to try to stump the host by asking Who played in Super Bowl III, the Immaculate Reception game and the Hail Mary game. All people would like to hear are a few predictions. If we have to get those from Sara Eisen, fine. (By the way, CNBC's Contessa Brewer was peppering Brock Purdy with a question during media day (of course, it involved a gambling pun).) (Contessa on Friday's Fast Money showed clips of her interviewing several Super Bowl players about the Federal Reserve. Even though the screen text said "JUSTIN WATSON" as a Chiefs player mentioned Jay Powell, Mel had to ask Contessa which player was talking about Powell, and Contessa claimed it was "Christian," who Contessa said is "up maybe for MVP.")

Jason, Kevin have different recollections of a year ago at this time

Judge opened Friday's (2/9) Halftime Report saying Tom Lee is nudging his year-end target up to 5,500, and others are hiking too.

"I do think those targets will be met by year-end," said Jim Lebenthal, who pointed out how the S&P is up 5% YTD already and NVDA is up 45%.

Even so, Jim said he woke up Friday thinking, "My next move is to trim."

Bryn Talkington observed, "Nvidia has doubled 4 times in the past 5 years." Bryn said she sells calls on half of her NVDA position.

Bryn noted the big year so far of NVDA and META but said the "exuberance" problem is with those names linked to NVDA. "It does not make sense ... there's a ton of froth underneath," Bryn said. (Even so, another panelist is buying into the froth, see below.)

Judge noted how people keep talking about the big market run-up, but, "Being due for a correction doesn't mean anything."

Jason Snipe asserted, "We were having the same conversation last year, in Q1 of last year." Jason said "I think it can continue," but in the "later part of February, likely there will be a pullback."

To the contrary, Kevin Simpson said, "This doesn't feel the same as it did last year," when it seemed like "there were 7 names that were carrying the entire market."

Rather, backing Jim's curious point from earlier in the week that the market really is broadening, Simpson stated, "It feels like there's a whole lot more breadth this year." (Jim and Judge didn't get into the broadening issue on Friday.) (However, Santoli said during his portion of the program, "The market itself is not as narrow as is being portrayed in general," so score another one for Jim.)

Jim said that "Taking nothing away from the Mag 7" on buybacks, there is "even more fuel" for airlines, casinos, carmakers; basically GM gets a much bigger "yield return" on buybacks than AAPL does.

Jim noted, "When you take out the Mag 7, the average stock is trading at 16.4 times. That's not expensive."

As far as the rate-cut timetable, in the 15th minute, Bryn opened the Pandora's box of NYCB, saying "everyone thinks" it's "isolated," but there's $500 billion in commercial mortgage-backed loans coming due this year and next, so "not having a rate cut would definitely be a huge dampener on, on really specific sectors in the market."

Guy Adami on Fast Money stated, "The market is on autopilot right now."

Joe claims AFC and NFC championship game advertising was a tell about EXPE

Bill Baruch joined in remotely on Friday's (2/9) Halftime Report to explain his buy of ARM, which Judge questioned given that it's up 60% this week.

Bill explained that this stock and TSLA are much smaller in his portfolio than AMZN. But Bill said he sees "4 or 5x from here over the next 3 years" in ARM, and "I see myself adding if it does go lower." (Um, we wonder about that particular sentence.)

Judge wondered, if the market consolidates, wouldn't this stock be at "the top of the list." Bill said this stock is just "now on the list" for portfolio managers. Bill also contended we're not in the "middle innings" of AI, but "early innings." (Another Judge miss — he should've redirected Bill to use football terms, given that it's Super Bowl weekend (i.e., "1st quarter" and not "3rd quarter"), but the Halftime Report is actually doing baseball analogies in early February.)

Judge asked Kevin Simpson about buying MPC. "It's the hallmark of cash- of free cash flow for energy (Zzzzzz)," Simpson said.

Jason Snipe bought BX; he said "private equity is interesting here."

Jim Lebenthal was talking up CLF, asserting it will be "buying back a ton of shares."

Judge said Citi has downgraded ALB and dropped its price target from 175 to 120. "I think the call is really late," Bryn Talkington said, adding lithium has "fallen like a stone."

Judge brought in Joe Terranova remotely (in pandemic-era whiteboard room) to discuss the EXPE plunge. Joe said he's "not surprised" because of the ads during the AFC and NFC championship games. Joe said the JOET bought this name in October at 95, "so we have a little bit of a cushion" (note to readers: JOET's cost basis has nothing to do with where the stock is going) but can't get out until April rebalancing. Joe said if he wasn't in the name, he wouldn't buy it or short it, even though Joe seems to think "you could see further downside ahead."

Judge asked Bryn about RBLX's nice week. Bryn said to get over 50, it needs a "path to positive earnings."

Someone got really defensive discussing NYCB

Among those Market Possibilities That No One Talks About, we have Josh Brown's impressive commentary on Thursday's (2/8) Halftime Report.

Judge said that Citi is saying that "the biggest macro risk in the market is any disappointment whatsoever on the rate-cut timetable." Josh chuckled that he "completely" disagrees with Citi; "I think the risk is we overheat, and the Fed has to start hiking again."

Indeed. It seems, in the 5-ish interest rate era, virtually unfathomable that the Fed would resume hiking just to clear out the remaining cobwebs of a once-a-century supply chain fluke and stamp out Arthur Burns for good.

But they might.

Josh pointed out that rate cuts aren't like some prescheduled benefit; "there's always trouble" that prompts them; "we don't do preemptive rate cuts, uh, in, in, in this country."

Meanwhile, Judge quoted UBS as seeing "further gains" in a potential "Goldilocks" scenario and said Wolfe seems to think, according to Judge, that "stocks are goin' up."

Liz Young said she questions how the economy can rev ahead, inflation can sink and rates can "aggressively" be cut.

"The math of that doesn't really work," Liz said.

"Really?" Judge questioned, stating the "whole sort of thing" has been based on a "soft landing."

Liz said if growth is stronger than expected, that would push inflation higher. Josh Brown questioned if productivity could "make up for the difference." Liz said "we could as long as the productivity doesn't cost a lot more" (which seems like a negation of the premise, or whatever they call it). (We did watch the movie "Oppenheimer" (twice) but we don't have any clue what those guys were talking about.)

Bill Baruch said, "I do expect them to go in May, and I expect the stock market to continue to move along."

One of Judge's regular guests, who gets to talk endlessly and tells viewers in every episode that earnings estimates and market multiples are too high and there's tons of other places to invest besides megacap tech which are never going to outperform again, was asked by Judge about owning NYCB. That person said "message boarders tried to create SVB 2.0," and she won't sell it at the "wrong price," such as Thursday's ($4.31 while she spoke).

Bill actually says Elon was ‘great’ at attending an earnings call

On Thursday's (2/8) Halftime Report, Bill Baruch spoke of buying TSLA and how he has a "starter position."

Bill then actually said Elon Musk "delivered a great earnings call in the sense of delivering the, the notes."

Judge cut Bill off and noticed his "direct quote" of "delivered a great earnings call" and noted that Dan Ives "said it was exactly the opposite."

Bill said he used the "wrong name" but that "from a fiduciary standpoint, he delivered the earnings call. That's what I'm highlighting" (snicker).

Judge said, "What do you mean, he was on the call?" Bill said, "He was on the call, yes ... the bar is low."

Judge said David Einhorn is calling markets "fundamentally broken."

Weiss, like Jim, sees ‘broadening’

Well, whaddaya know — Jim Lebenthal's eyebrow-raising determination this week that the stock market is indeed broadening was actually seconded by none other than Steve Weiss on Wednesday's (2/7) Halftime Report.

Finally given a chance after a lengthy opening and reporting from home, Weiss actually told Judge, "I see broadening."

Weiss cited stocks he owns including VRT and GS. "It's not such a narrow advance," Weiss said.

Judge told Weiss that anyone can "cherry pick" certain names, but "the gains are dwarfed by comp services over the last month, which is up 12%. ... Utilities are negative, energy's negative, materials are negative. Health care staples, they're up 3%."

Kari Firestone said "the broader market works" once we begin to see "better earnings from different sectors."

Judge aired a clip of Aswath Damodaran from a day earlier on Closing Bell stating "all" of the Mag 7 "look overpriced," but, "I think Nvidia stands out as particularly overpriced."

Aswath said for the others, he can get close to their valuations, but for NVDA, he "can't even get close."

That's all well and good, but even Weiss said moments later that "the professor" still owns NVDA and there's the issue of whether someone would sell "and pay taxes," or "ride out" what could be merely momentary overvaluation.

Marko Kolanovic actually says today’s market in some ways is worse than the dotcom era

Looking for skeptics as always, Judge on Wednesday's (2/7) Halftime Report actually kept a straight face while noting that Marko Kolanovic said in a note: "Market concentration continues to flash a warning sign as we are near the highs of the Dotcom era. ... The current period is in some ways worse than the Dotcom bubble."

Steve Weiss said "I think it's ridiculous" because the companies in the dotcom era "didn't make money" and were "purely up on air," and that while Kolanovic can "cherry pick" certain stats, the fundamentals during dotcom don't compare to today, and in a recession, people want these kinds of "fortress balance sheets."

Joe Terranova said it's only "human nature" to look at the post-October rally and decide it "needs to cool off."

At one point, Joe started talking about "understanding the intuitive observation (snicker)" of people opining on the Mag 7. Joe contended, "This dominance of angry algos ... doesn't care about that stuff" and that "momentum is dominating the market," up 11% YTD.

Brian Belski said he's owned NVDA for 5 years and he would sell the stock if he saw something "fundamentally changing."

We’re gonna be hearing ‘equal weight’ quite a bit for a while

Brian Belski started off Wednesday's (2/7) Halftime stating "the consternation is so much top of mind." Then he delved into the stat book.

Belski said "what we have found, going back to 1990, that the average performance of the S&P 500 following a concentration of these 10 stocks the year before, the average performance of the year following that, is positive 14.3%."

"What do you mean, hold on a second; what kind of history are you looking at?" Judge demanded. "It's not like this has always been the- been the case, these are a select group of stocks that are just coming off of a, a huge year."

"People love historical facts. I'm just giving you analysis," Belski said.

"I know, but I'm dumping on the historical facts because I don't think they're legit (sic really meant to say 'relevant')," Judge said.

"I'm not gonna be a reactive person on television, reacting to what happened yesterday or last year or last week. My analysis is based on long-term historical facts," Belski said. "We're just adding empirical evidence, Scott."

Judge protested that as for broadening, "For now, it doesn't seem to matter, obviously, if the S&P is nearing 5,000."

Joe Terranova said, "I run an equal-weighted strategy."

Kari Firestone said "what matters" is the earnings growth of the top companies.

Moments later, Judge sought to clarify his reaction to Belski's comments. "Let me be clear. Um, I am not dumping all over the historical references that you make. I'm simply suggesting, maybe I'm wrong: We've never had this level of concentration in these kinds of stocks all in the same space."

Belski actually told Judge, "You're a sports guy." Belski said to think of the market like baseball, the rules stay the same "but the players change."

Kari said, "We haven't trimmed any of our, our, our big winners," though, "No one should have a problem with a profit."

Karen says she should’ve realized this was going to be a great DIS quarter

Brian Belski on Wednesday's (2/7) Halftime Report mentioned some recent buys, one of which was SNAP.

"We probably should've waited until after the earnings," Belski said. Even so, "At the end of the day, we like this name longer term," Belski said.

Josh Brown, who recently had been trumpeting SNAP (at least until Tuesday), happened to be on Closing Bell later and told Judge he only had a "small position."

"Honestly, I said going in, 'I don't trust this thing,' I should've listened to my own instinct," Brown admitted.

Back on Halftime, Joe Terranova said he sold a third of his CRWD stake. Joe said it's an "intuitive observation" (snicker) that's "probably going to be wrong."

"Don't say that!" Kari Firestone said.

Joe said he believes in cybersecurity, but he's "significantly overweight" and just decided to trim the position a bit.

Steve Weiss said he bought more UBER, for the "momentum in fundamentals." (This writer is long UBER.) Joe said he agrees with Weiss and predicted "it goes well above $80." (Translation: The business outlook is seen as getting better, rather than "the P.E. ratio is such and such.")

Kari Firestone bought PAYC; the rationale appeared to be a strong economy. But Kari did mention "lowest P.E. since it IPO'd."

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said that this figured to be a good quarter for DIS, given that this is the "last earnings call they have" before the proxy fight vote.

"I'm not insinuating that they massaged the numbers," Karen said, but there's a "sort of spin" they can put on things.

Karen said NVDA's earnings are "still like 2 weeks away," so there's "a lot of like good news already baked in."

Because if we hadn’t skyrocketed rates by 75 basis points several times, this would be the 1970s all over again

The really important subject in Tuesday's (2/6) Halftime Report (no, not Jim's crazy thesis that the market rally is broadening and has been broadening based on Monday and Wednesday of last week) surfaced at the very end of the program.

Judge spent the closing minutes with some refreshingly extended and thoughtful dialogue about Janet Yellen's comments on commercial real estate (it was typical Washington speak; this is concerning but oh by the way we're all over it) and Jay Powell's "60 Minutes" comments and whether banking problems really are contained. Most of the panelists simply touted how they own the big banks and not smaller banks.

Josh Brown affirmed that he's still in his NYCB trade, though he conceded the stock's had "just a bloodbath."

In case you didn’t realize that streaming, in general, is a massive bust ... (a/k/a do pro wrestling rights qualify as ‘sports’?)

CNBC's David Faber reported at the top of Tuesday's (2/6) 5 p.m. Fast Money on the new Disney-Fox-Warner Bros. streaming service (we don't know what else to call it) and said Fox apparently has been doing the same thing in Australia. David said this service figures to "appeal to a wide variety and breadth and depth of sports fans."

David said, "The entity will not be bidding on sports rights on its own."

"Seems pretty confusing," Missy Lee offered after Faber's report, questioning why each broadcaster would be bidding for sports rights that are going to be shared in this manner. David said those who are paying more for the broadcast rights will collect a greater share of the revenue from the service.

Karen Finerman was "a little bit confused" about the notion of ESPN putting its content on this service while remaining a stand-alone channel.

After David signed off, Mel said Karen's still "a little puzzled."

Rich Greenfield said he sees this as a "30- to 40-dollar product," or "quite expensive." Rich claimed that while the "focus" will be on sports, "all of the content" on those networks will be on this streamer.

Dan Nathan asked Rich if the new streaming collaboration/mess is going to be a "very confusing offering" and even "DOA." Rich said the "fragmentation of sports" across multiple providers/streamers "is a problem."

Jim claims the market’s experiencing ‘Confused Seas’ (but claims his thesis is somehow the one that’s playing out)

Whenever Judge and Jim Lebenthal tangle, this page keeps an open mind; we're not prejudging anything for that matter, we really don't know anything about anything.

But on Tuesday's (2/6) Halftime, Jim got manhandled defending a ridiculous broadening theory that no one else on the show would touch.

Jim said he listened to Monday's show (he wasn't a panelist that day) and it was a "really good show." Jim said he heard talk about the quality of megacap balance sheets, but "you can find those quality of balance sheets, those quality of cash flows, outside of megacap tech."

Then the head-scratcher: "And that's why I think the rally is broadening and has been broadening," Jim asserted.

"It hasn't been broadening. That's the whole point! Let's be clear: It has not. It has not," Judge cut in.

Jim pointed out how much "broadening" he saw each day in the past week, some days, yes, other days, no; "this is what happens in a regime change (snicker)."

Jim at one point said, "I'm sick and tired of talking about the Fed." Judge said, "You can't afford to be sick of the Fed because you need the Fed to actually cut so that your positioning-"

"I don't," Jim cut in.

"Yes you do. So that your positioning works," Judge continued.

Jim said he heard Judge's "exact" words Monday about "directionally right and tactically wrong." (Jim's correct, those are the exact words.)

Moments later, Judge mentioned to Josh Brown that Jim claimed earlier in the show that the market is already broadening out. "It's not," Brown bluntly stated.

Jim insisted that last week (that's correct, 1 whole week) was a "tale of 2 cities" (snicker).

"Who cares what a day or 2 make?" Judge asked, incredulously.

Jim insisted, based on "the trend from November 1st till today; it has broadened."

"No it hasn't!" Brown stressed.

Jim yet again insisted "here's the point I wanna make," which he already had numerous opportunities to make; he said it's "part opinion and it's part fact." Jim again pointed to Monday and Wednesday of last week; "this is what's called, in mariner's term, Confused Seas (snicker)."

"We're worried that we're gonna capsize," Judge stated.

Jim touted C; Judge called it an "idiosyncratic" story.

Judge suggested that Stephanie Link's purchase of SNOW is a sign of investors favoring "growth over value."

Stephanie said Jim is "spot on" about the October lows to the first week of January, but since the first week of January, "it absolutely has narrowed again."

That Snap Plus must not be as big of a hit as some have said

In his one lapse while conversing with Jim Lebenthal on Tuesday's (2/6) Halftime, Judge at one point told Jim that AAPL was "167, 169 not that long ago."

Jim wondered, "Was I on vacation?" Judge insisted "the chart was ugly" and it "wasn't that long ago." (Actually it was the end of October, for about 5 minutes, which Judge sort of acknowledged later).

Meanwhile, Judge noted that Josh Brown's 2024 "contrarian" pick of KWEB was taking off. Brown said he doesn't have inside knowledge, he relies on "press reports" about China like everyone else, but he thinks Xi has had enough and that Chinese assets are cheap and according to Jim Grant, "good things have a habit of happening to cheap assets."

Josh sold PYPL, which he recently has touted a few times (while acknowledging it has a lot of headwinds). "I don't trust these guys," Brown said.

Josh said SNAP is cutting 500 people, not "big layoffs," but he thinks the announcement may be a signal of a quarter that's not good. (That appeared to be true hours later.) (This review was posted overnight Tuesday-Wednesday.) Dan Nathan on Fast Money said of SNAP, "If these guys are doing this poorly, I can't imagine how badly Twitter's doing."

Josh said at the top of the show that he trimmed NVDA because it's up 40% YTD and there was "absolutely nothing new" in the recent upgrade.

Bertha Coombs had the line of the day during a CNBC News Update item on The Grateful Dead, stating, "'Bertha' is still my least favorite of their songs."

Judge, who's probably never actually heard "Bertha" before, chuckled.

Joe is early front-runner for Call of the Year (but hardly ‘everyone’ was criticizing him)

Shortly into Monday's (2/5) Halftime Report, Judge made this statement to his panel:

"A lot of investors learned this the hard way last year. Some of whom who (sic 'whom' then 'who') are on this program. Who are not here today, but whatever. Um, you can be directionally right and tactically wrong. You can call everything right. And you can be in the wrong stocks."

That prompted this sorta I-told-ya-so from Joe Terranova, who said, "I mentioned it the first week, and then everyone criticized me for mentioing (sic pronounced 'menching,' skipped syllable) it." (Not really true, unless Joe's talking about perhaps his X account.)

Joe said there should've been in early January "strong capital inflows to the laggard areas of the market," and we "didn't see that." Joe said people want megacaps because "the revenue growth is there."

Indeed. Joe made one of the show's few notable calls in January, that while most people expected a broadening out in 2024, it might well be another year, at least for a while, of Magnificent 7.

Judge pointed out that megacaps are dominating in earnings and revenue growth. Steve Weiss said megacap is the place of great balance sheets, and those institutional investors not in those stocks are asking why they're not; Weiss also said there's a younger class of investors who are "more tech-focused." (Gee ... wonder if that's because some of these "tech-focused" companies are ... printing gobs more money than stocks that peoples' grandparents bought in the '70s?)

But the market "does have to pause, including large-cap tech," Weiss suggested.

Joe said if megacap techs "pause" or "correct," then the "market's going down." Joe said megacap tech had its bear market in autumn 2022. Weiss said "this sounds like the conversation that we had most of last year."

What are the chances the next Fed move will be a hike?

Judge opened Monday's (2/5) Halftime Report by mentioning the Powell "60 Minutes" interview and said "really good news" may not be so good and the market will "have to figure out what's what."

Joe Terranova said the 10-year is trading at 4.17%. Joe said the "composition" of YTD performance is "troubling," with more than half the S&P being negative.

Joe said small caps are "absolutely abysmal."

Amy Raskin said, "This is an AI story-driven market." Amy said 2024 has "tough compares" for the megacaps unlike last year.

Sarat Sethi pointed out that people are keeping money in cash because they can get 5% "guaranteed."

Joe and Judge indicated the timing of a rate cut may not be a big deal, as Judge said "so what" about March and Joe said the Fed is "no longer adversarial."

Weiss buys ADM (not AMD)

Steve Weiss on Monday's (2/5) Halftime Report said he had been watching the trouble at ADM, including accounting issues in a "relatively small part of the business," and bought shares seeing an "opportunity" for a return to the old high of $80.

Joe Terranova said CAT's outperformance is "idiosyncratic" with the rest of industrials.

Amy Raskin said Jay Powell is "very happy with where the economy's going."

Weiss said he owns UBER because of "scarcity value" and the "CEO's phenomenal." (This writer is long UBER.)

That led to some interesting Trade School from Sarat Sethi, who owns UBER but affirmed he "took some money off at the beginning of this year" because it's "highly valued."

(Honestly, it seems like a lot of money managers follow Closet Indexing 101, sell your winners, keep your losers, and when selling your winners, simply putting the proceeds into some other stock that's been someone else's winner.)

You knew this was coming: Sarat said, "I bought it when it was back in the low 20s." (Editor's note: Panelists' cost basis have no impact on where a stock is going.) Sarat said, "I have to be prudent as a risk manager." (Translation: Hardly different than owning the SPY.)

Joe Terranova said UBER could "very easily" get to the 80s.

Closing Bell regular tells Judge, ‘Valuations don’t matter in the short term’

On Friday's Closing Bell, Cameron Dawson told Judge something kind of interesting:

"What we find in history is that valuations don't matter in the short term; they matter 2, 5 years out."

Of course, Judge didn't pursue this subject, even though it's by far the most interesting topic on the Halftime Report in 2024.

Numerous Halftime panelists, including Bryn Talkington, Joe Terranova, Liz Young and Josh Brown, have already in 2024 or late 2023 basically stated that P.E. ratio is a "terrible" (Liz's and Bryn's word) way of timing a stock decision.

This page agrees. But some panelists who are asked about any stock on the show always, like some kind of pet-store parrot, begin by stating the P.E. ratio and whether the stock is "cheap" or "too expensive" or "fairly valued." (Instead, of you know, actually opining, "I think this business' outlook is getting better" or "I think this business' outlook is getting worse," because that's apparently too difficult.)

The odd thing about Dawson's comment on Friday is that we don't get in the slightest how a 2-year-old or 5-year-old P.E. ratio could possibly matter; did the META P.E. ratio in February 2019 predict this week's move?

Grandpa Mike Wilson reassigned at Morgan Stanley

Judge reported rare breaking news on Friday's (2/2) Closing Bell, saying "a source confirms to me" that Mike Wilson is leaving Morgan Stanley's Investment Committee, according to an "internal memo."

Judge said Wilson will stay with the firm but work with "institutional clients," according to the memo.

Mike Santoli said Wilson has been "pretty conspicuous" while "somewhat (snicker) fighting the overall trend at the S&P 500 index level." Santoli said it's "very much too soon" to know whether this means "bears are capitulating."

Judge mentioned the "Fire & Ice" (snicker) note and others in which Wilson argued "the market shouldn't be trading where it is ... in fact, it hasn't happened," and Wilson had an "underestimation of what megacap would mean for the overall market," Judge stated.

Mike may protest, but this page does not think it's inaccurate to call him a "Permabear." Maybe not 100% of the time, but well over 50% in the last 6-7 years. But it doesn't seem like a technically correct term, so we opted for the more folksy label in the headline above. Our beef with Mike is that on basically every CNBC appearance, he's claiming — after issuing base case/best case/worst case ranges all the time with numbers big enough to drive trucks through — he's somehow right, no matter what the market is doing.

Tom Lee says 5,200 is ‘probably a little low’

For Friday's (2/2) Closing Bell, Judge managed to land Tom Lee, who said the stock market is "getting stronger" in 2024.

Lee contended, "Inflation I think is falling basically like a rock."

Lee said that given the strength of the market in January, "5,200's probably a little low" for a year-end forecast.

Karen laments having to make a ‘portfolio management’ decision because META surged, says GM eventually will be ‘sadly very behind’ in EV race

Friday's (2/2) Halftime Report included all sorts of Brag Trades about META.

Joe Terranova said the JOET picked up META at 240. Stephanie Link claimed, "I made 170%" before selling.

The star guest was Brad Gerstner; for the 3rd or 4th time, Judge rehashed Gerstner's letter to META about a year and a half ago. Brad said Friday he stressed AI in his META letter, and sure enough, the company "doubled down on AI."

Even so, Judge said when Brad wrote the letter to Zuck & Co., "He kinda gave you the Heisman for a moment."

(By the way, it seems like both Judge and Brad have given the Heisman to Brad’s initiative of The Board Challenge of a couple years ago, given that Brad hasn't even mentioned it in ages and didn't demand that companies he invested in take part in it.)

Joe and Stephanie also defended AAPL. "They have a China problem," Judge blurted.

Meanwhile, Jason Snipe said, "We remain extremely bullish on Amazon."

Much of the show (we should've anticipated this) involved a Q&A on every single stock affected by the JOET algorithm. The JOET sold BRK-B; Joe said "it" bought that stock in October at 341 and sold at 384. Joe said Berkshire will never score high on return on equity.

Joe also said "the strategy was dramatically overweight energy" and sold 8 of 16 names. (Tim Seymour tried talking up energy on Fast Money.)

On Fast Money, Karen Finerman said the META gain is "delightful on the one hand, but then it's sort of, 'Oh shoot, now what do I do,' right," because it's gotten big enough to cause a "portfolio management issue." Karen added, "I will be selling upside calls," at least 1 quarter out and probably in the "550 range."

Karen said she gave up on GM too soon. Karen said the stock is "not crazy expensive now (P.E. ratio alert)," but "I come back to, the EV race, which I think will be on again at some point, and they're gonna be sadly very behind." Steve Grasso said he's "not a hater" of Elon Musk but "a lot of the investment community seems to hate him and want to take it out on his stock."

Karen said Wednesday that she’d be ‘surprised’ if the market’s drop on Wednesday didn’t continue Thursday; instead it was nearly erased in 1 day

In the opening topic of Thursday's (2/1) Halftime Report, Bryn Talkington said AAPL is at that point where, "Is there really that big of a difference between the 14 and the 15?"

Bryn predicts AAPL will keep having a "hangover" from the COVID "pull forward."

Steve Weiss asserted that "Apple was the poster child for just a way too, you know, bullish 2023. ... I think it's overvalued here."

Josh Brown noted that META is "actually more expensive than AAPL." But Josh said the tech giants are "not overbought," though META is close.

Josh credited Amazon's growth: "In 3 years, Amazon became the 3rd-largest, uh, advertising platform in the world." Citing NFLX, Brown said, "Actually, the subscribers that are on the ad tier are more profitable than the subscribers paying full price on the premium tier."

Bryn Talkington shrugged that over the last 2 years, AMZN has been "dead money."

Later in the day on Closing Bell, Joe Terranova said he wants to "hear the vision for AI" at AAPL. Joe asserted, "For the very first time, I don't think the analysts are afraid to downgrade AAPL anymore."

On Fast Money, which was heavily attuned to the latest Magnificent 7 earnings, Karen Finerman said she doesn't know why META would declare a small dividend other than to maybe qualify it for inclusion in certain indexes. Karen said she thinks she'll sell some calls against META.

Karen likes the ETSY announcement and bought some more of the stock. "I love the asset-light model that they have," Karen said.

Guy Adami said if INTC gets to "38-ish," then you "buy with both hands."

Josh buys in to a falling bank, as Jim and Kari did in March 2023

Steve Weiss on Thursday's (2/1) Halftime Report said Wednesday's market action was "really overdone," that apparently the prospect of later rate cuts moved the market, but Weiss said he's been in the camp of cuts happening in the 2nd half of the year for a long time already.

He said the selloff would be a "great buying opportunity, but for tonight," when there are several tech earnings reports. (Editor's note: Stocks on Thursday nearly recouped all the losses Wednesday.) (This review was posted overnight Thursday/Friday.)

Weiss said the "biggest surprise" is that there's 42% belief in a March rate cut. Weiss said the economy would have to take a "precipitous decline" by March for that to happen. Judge said UBS is "sticking with March," while Goldman has "moved to May."

Josh Brown bought NYCB on Wednesday's crash. Josh joked that "the No. 1 rule of picking stocks" is that you never, ever buy a stock based on Long Island. Judge said "It's your home, for those who don't know," while Josh said "I can say that. You can't say that," noting Judge lives in "Jersey."

"It's a trade," Josh said of NYCB, stressing, "I don't know any more than anyone else does." But it sounds to him like they "got in way over their head" on Signature, they're not ready to be this size, and this is the quarter they admitted it.

Josh said the KRE has had "the worst 2-day stretch" since the March 2023 bank stress.

Weiss says China has an ‘unstable government’

Judge on Thursday's (2/1) Halftime Report played a clip of Jeffrey Gundlach touting the INDA a day ago. Steve Weiss owns it, he said "I bought it before Jeff came on with that."

Weiss said China is "antagonistic" to foreign companies and has an "unstable government." He added, "As rates come down, emerging markets do better."

Josh said "Weiss is gonna make some money here" but questioned why Steve didn't buy the EPI. (Honestly, we don't doubt that India may well be a promising trade, but piling in to the INDA, dunno, just seems Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.)

Judge rattled off Jefferies' "hidden in plain sight" (snicker) top picks for 2024, including AMGN, BA, CAT, ULTA, MLM, MCD, MDLZ.

Sarat Sethi is long MLM and backed the name. Josh shrugged of the group that "they don't seem hidden to me," and he's "never liked the idea" of stocks that have to bet on the global economy.

Bryn Talkington referred to DXCM and said she's looking at it and pronounced it twice "dexecom" (sic). Weiss said he's looked at DXCM but "there are so many glucose-monitoring devices out there."

Sarat said QCOM didn't give enough guidance. He said of HON, "You buy this one on a dip." He predicted MRK "will do well for the next couple years."

Sarat owns CVX and acknowledged it's been an "underperformer for a year," as Jason Snipe said a day ago.

Josh must’ve gotten Dan Dolev’s attention a few weeks ago (a/k/a at least Dan didn’t say the stocks are ‘hidden in plain sight’)

Judge on Thursday's (2/1) Halftime Report brought in Dan Dolev of Mizuho, who's got 3 "under-the-radar" (per screen text) stocks in AI, which are ACN, EPAM, GLOB.

Dan didn't just join remotely, he took a seat at Post 9. Dan said there's lots of AI hype, but "these guys do the work." Dolev pointed out that ACN's cloud business 10 years ago was $1 billion but $32 billion last year. He said his picks are "like an ETF on AI."

Dolev spoke while some fellow behind him at the NYSE played with a basketball. (That was for the IPO of AS, which made a lot of noise at the end of the Halftime Report, prompting Judge to chuckle.)

Steve Weiss reaffirmed that he's long VRT, which makes the cooling systems for data centers.

Dolev might've been appearing on the show because on the Jan. 16 Halftime Report, Josh credited Dolev as being "among the finest" of fintech analysts.

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