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tv   Fast Money  CNBC  January 3, 2024 5:00pm-6:00pm EST

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schedule so to speak of rate cc cuts in proximity of the election. i don't think so. >> all right, alan blinder, thank you for joining us on "overtime." and that's going to do it for us at "overtime." "fast money" starts now. live from the nasdaq market site in the heart of new york city's times square this is "fast money." here's what's on tap tonight. new year's hangover. the nasdaq off close to 3% in two sessions and small caps getting hit hard, too. is this the start of the selloff so many have been predicting? we'll debatethat. plus, drama at disney a couple nor players joining the board room battle, backing bob iger. should investors cheer or jeer this move? and later, could pharma stocks feel a bee owe tech buying spree? a buzz kill on sofi after a
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strong finish to 2023. and t-mobile hitting new highs again. how are they dialing up these gains? i'm melissa lee, coming to you live at the nasdaq. on the desk tonight, tim seymour, steve grasso, courtney garcia, and guy adami. we start with a crude awakening. the move coming after the u.s. warned houthi militants against further attacks in the red sea. opec pledging to maintain support of oil prices. the rise in crude helping the energy stocks rally. the sector the best performer today, accounting for 9 of the to 11 stocks in the s&p 500. so, tis this sector about to ge its moment in the sun? guy? >> when you put letters together -- >> acronym? >> thank you, tim. >> words. >> words. >> great place to start. >> and we're going to do that again this year. >> i can't wait. >> what was their name? >> who? >> dawn. >> that was years ago, tim i mean, we went from hope to dawn, last year was mojo.
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energy is -- and listen, last year, ups and downs. i'm convinced again this year, it's going to have its day in the sun. you look at xle, for example, it's sold off. but not nearly to the magnitude that one would have thought, given the fact that all these high growth tech stocks. there are energy names making all-time highs. marathon petroleum, psx, as well. devin's getting off the mat here. and even valero has had a decent couple of weeks. i think energy stocks are going to be fine this year. >> you had a prediction for wti, which i think was sort of -- not shocking, but surprising to the downside, right? >> yeah, when it was trading above 120. i said 65. then i thought it would trade back up. it would be sort of limited, a cap on a par, which is 100. the issue i have with energy stocks is that even if you look at exxonmobil, if you look at chevron, the companies they took out, their company and the
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acquiree's stock haven't really been performing. t guy's point. they all do seem as if they want to bounce and go higher. the problem i also have is that geopolitical tension, you would have seen crude up a lot more dramatically in the past had we ever had any of these events and they seem to be muted within the market. >> and -- because there's a supply/demand dynamic going on, weakness in china, tim. but you're onboard energy stocks? >> i'm onboard. i also think we've already seen in the first two days of 2024 -- by the way, happy new year. >> happy new year, guy. >> again? >> why not? >> it's what we do for guy. >> when are you allowed to say it, though? >> february. >> please continue to wish guy a happy new year every single day. but going into '24, there were a handful of sectors that i think we're seeing as favorites in terms of where you're going to see allocation and you're going to see actually -- you know, health care, pharma, and energy, and why, because the companies,
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i think, on valuation, and -- be clear, energy companies always trade cheap to the s&p, but trading at a two standard deviation to themselves at a time when i do think opec and opec plus have enough coordination that -- look, they are concerned about global macro and i think that's the bigger issue here. and it's right to point out that energy and oil stocks will underperform where people are fearful of recession. but i think you have a very strong valuation support floor and companies that are paying big dividends and i think that's interesting. >> i absolutely agree. i'm also onboard with energy. and what you are starting to see, we start to see in october is this rotation, the broadening out of the markets. that's only continued so far into 2024. today, you're seeing the markets sell off. the things that are doing the best are the largest in the value sector. pharmaceuticals, energy. you are starting to see that rotation. so, when you look at the largest eight companies, they're still very expensive, but strip those out, and everything else is
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trading at 17, which isn't cheap, but still attractive. people are looking into the other areas of the markets right now, energy being one of those big ones. >> the question is, what we're seeing for the first couple days and part of last year is a mean reversion. >> yes. >> and is energy just swept up in this mean reversion and will this last, or do we still go back to the old -- >> yes, i agree with that. reallocation. so, the first couple days, take it with a grain of salt. with that said, i'm not sure that the price of crude makes all that much difference within reason. if we go down to $50, we'll have a much different conversation. i don't think it's going there. if it's going to $110, different conversation. if we stay here, the stocks, given their balance sheets, tim's talked about this forever, given the leverage, and they run things better, then on top of which, think about the m&a steve just talked about, and you think about a warren buff nren buffet understanding stocks, he sees something in the space. so, i think energy is
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underappreciated here and i think it can go higher. >> i guess the only other thing that would be is that we've never produced more barrels per oil per day in the u.s. as we're producing now, so we're over 13 million barrels per day, which is good for security of the country and it's good for the country, so, maybe that would put a lid on the -- on the price per barrel of oil, i'm not sure how it's going to react with the price of the equities. >> in terms of the market backdrop, for energy to work, do you also have to believe that the other sectors that were, you know, badly beaten last year, say health care -- you like health care, for instance, that's part of this trade. it's not just an energy-specific -- >> it easy to say two days into the year, apple down 8%, but i do think that the days of 30% of the mag seven are behind us. it's not going to happen overnight, but i think the broadening of the real economy and the investment across value, and clearly, for the market to
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work, you need some kind of a barbell where you have the high growth companies and you have these names, but you also have the inclusion of health care and pharma. and utilities. and even reits. so, places where -- i don't love real estate, but i love how cheap reits are here, and i think they were badly beaten up last year, as were utilities, so, that's part of the energy story. that's part of the market story. >> yeah, and some sort of a pull-back here is probably normal to see at some point. investor surveys have been overly optimistic for a couple of weeks, sol a pull-back is nom am. but i'm not overly concerned about it. >> what did steve iseman say yesterday -- >> well-dressed. >> he said, think yiddish and dress british. >> great quote. >> guy thinks skittish and doesn't dress british. >> i mean -- >> getting back to the markets. >> sorry. >> i was going to say, he said people are too freaking bullish. that's what he said.
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that's his quote. >> too optimistic coming into this year, the same way people last year were too pessimistic. and steve, he simplifies it. he also is not overly concerned about some of the things that have concerned me, but his point was, going into the year, people might have been over their skis a bit. >> meantime, we've been talking about this, but it's been another tough day for the markets. the nasdaq dropping more than 1%, a day after seeing its worst daily performance in almost three months. the dow falling over 280 points. the s&p closing lower, as well. this as the fed minutes failed to create market optimism over the timing of likely rate hikes -- cuts, excuse me. steve liesman's got more. steve, it seemed more hawkish than i think a lot of people expected. >> yeah, that's my take, melissa. the minutes to the meeting. remember, they were closely watched for what they might say about how quickly and deeply the fed would cut rates this year. well, they didn't provide much information on either. as a result, they did lean, i
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think, somewhat hawkish as they failed to back up the market's aggressive view on rate cuts this year. the committee saw inflation risk as more balanced, that was good. also on the dovish side. the minutes said policy was at or near the peak. most agreed a lower target rate would be appropriate in 2024. but there was a high level of uncertainty around those projections, to the point where officials said further rate hikes could be needed, or the fed might have to hold onto the current rate path longer than expected. our impression is the committee wanted to clarify it does not see rate cuts as imminent and lean against them. march cuts specifically. while retaining wide policy optionality. none of this says the market is wrong to predict six rate cuts, that the committee isn't there at this time, and as of the december meeting, the average official, of course, only saw three cuts, melissa. >> i thought it was interesting, also, the commentary, basically, a nod to what has happened to financial candidates up to that
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meeting, that they had eased significantly and that they would, in fact, change their view if circumstances warranted and those circumstances could be that financial candidates got easier, and so as sets would go higher. and we've seen that. >> i think that's right. that was one of the things that they mentioned when they talked about upside risk to inflation. is that financial candidates had eased and that created the possibility that you could have upside inflation risk. i think the fed was very measured in pushing back against the market here. i think -- the message that i get is if you all want to trade six rate cuts this year, go ahead and do it, but do it on your own recog any sans. don't come back to either the fed's statement or the fed minutes here and say, oh, we did it because the fed told us that's the case. that's not what they're saying. and so, if you do it, you trade it, you own it. >> hey, steve. so, back to financial candidates, though. one of the things that's fascinating to me, despite all
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the cuts over the last year and a half, and even if we paused, that reserve balances held at the fed rose 450 billion last year. and the correlation to that and the s&p, they're totally in lock step. in other worlds, liquidity is alive and well and for banks especially. it's a phenomenon that's hard to explain in this environment, and if anyone was set up to do it well, it's you. >> well, reserve balances, the fed has been indeed reducing its balance sheet. reserve balances are down, i think, about a trillion two from the peak. the trouble, tim, is there's this notion, and i don't know how much time we have, this idea of a binding level of reserves. and this is that. that there was a lot of froth at the top of the reserves on the fed's balance sheet, so the point where eliminating it did not create much of a liquidity squeeze at all. there is some sense that sometime this year, tim, we get to that point.
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perhaps when the whole overnight repo facility is when you cut into bank reserves and creating something of a liquidity drain out there that could be difficult or more challenging for markets. it is worth noting that the minutes today did talk about, i guess the best way to put it is, the fed possibly thinking about the possibility of thinking about how they might communicate ending quantitative tightening maybe this year. >> all right, steve, we have to leave it there. thank you. steve liesman. >> okay, sure. we have a news alert on a abvie. >> cvs is taking humera off of its approved drug list. it will favor its own version of the treatment, which it launched a few months ago with sando with
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the introduction of bio similars, sales of the treatment fell 36% year over year, which was actually less of a fall than expected. a cvs spokesman says people on its commercial plans could see savings of 50% over brand name humira. this will start on april 1st. this year. melissa? >> bertha, bio similars is different from je generic, is t true? >> it is sort of the idea of a generic version of these more complicated drugs, in this case, it treats autoimmune diseases. they've had the bio similars in europe for a few years, got put off here in this country until this year, so, we've seen a number of the pbms adopt the bio similars, but apparently humira and abbvie, they've really negotiated to keep its drug on form formulary, so, they haven't caught on and dented its share
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just yet. this could be the beginning. >> maybe not a patent cliff quite, but a patent drop here. bertha, thank you. bertha coombs with that news on abbvie. let's get back to the fed here. for more on the minutes, let's bring in jim bianco. he runs beiianco research. jim, you think rates are going higher, 5.5%. you still stand by that. was there anything out of the minutes that you thought was interesting, especially considering we had a lot of fed speak after that fed meeting, which led the markets to really believe that six rate cuts were happening next year. >> yeah, no, i thought that steve did a good job, that the minutes came in a little bit more hawkish, or we might say a little bit more balanced than people had expected, that it wasn't the type of minutes you would have heard if the fed was getting ready to heard six times this year. and so, i think on balance, it was suggesting that the fed might be a little, used the word stickier, in cutting rates.
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doesn't mean they won't, it might not be as aggressive as everybody says. to your first question, yeah, i've been arguing for many, many months that i think the ten-year yield could go to 5.5%. that's not been working for the last few months. but i see an economy that's doing okay, and i see inflation that might, use the word again, sticky, around 3%, and so, i'm going to stick with that, that i think that, you know, before 2024 is out and probably towards the middle of the year, we might see new highs in yields, and maybe closer to 5.5%. >> jim, what is that on the back of? inflation re-emerging or the economy suddenly surging and reaccelerating to the upside? what is that move higher in yields look like? >> no soft landing. i don't think we're having a soft landing, and if i would stick with the metaphor, i think we're having a no landing. i think the economy is doing what it does 90% of the time. it is continuing to expand at trend, which about 2.5% growth or maybe a little bit better, so
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2.5% growth. if inflation is bottoming at around 3%, which is roughly where we are now, because demand is going to hold in, you add the two together, you get 5.5%, and that's where i come up with 5.5% for the yield, that that's nominal ghdp. so, where i'm differing from wall street's consensus, i don't think we're going to see a slowdown. i don't think we're going to see a soft landing. i think we're just going to continue to see trend growth or maybe a little bit better than trend growth. and that's what we saw in 2023. >> jim, i think your 5.5% was close enough for a win. i see some moving averages that can get me -- the 100-day moving average is 4.36. the 200 day is a little over 4%. the question i have to ask, where you started there with cpi. we went from 9% down to 3%, pce running with a two handle on it. isn't this good enough, when you see inflation drop so fast, that
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could be the reason why they're cutting, not because the economy is in any danger? >> well, first of all, that pce at 2% is -- is only on a six-month annualized basis for core pce. there's many measures and that's the lowest measure you can get. the fed has made it very clear that there is no close enough. there is -- we are going to get it back to 2%. there is 65% of the country that lives paycheck to paycheck. prices are 20% higher than they were four years ago. and that we have to slow dramatically this rise in inflation. 3%, this is not horseshoes or hand grenades. 3% is not close enough. they have to continue to lean on the economy to get it all the way down to 2%. now, they're hoping they've done enough that it's on its way, but if it turns out to be sticky, you know, they might be a little bit more hesitant to cut rates as much as people think, so -- i
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do think that the inflation rate is key to this forecast, but i also think that we have not yet seen the numbers that suggest that we're really on that so-called last mile. remember, year over year core inflation is 4% right now. and year over year headline inflation is 3%, and largely because of oil being depressed. >> what's the timing of your forecast, jim? in other words, you see rates, the ten-year yield going to 5.5%, but still see ten rate cuts, so, do we hit 5.5% and cuts kick in and then we see the yields back off? i'm trying to figure out what you're foreseeing in trying to extrapolate this into how the markets trade this year. >> remember, the yield curve is inverted and it's been inverted for 15 months, and that is an extraordinarily long time, meaning short rates are higher than long rates. so, if the fed wants to cut once or twice, maybe three times, you know, and bring the funds rate down into high fours, and the
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ten-year yield goes to 5.5, that's a positive 75-basis point yield curve. so, we're talking about a normalization of the yield curve during the year. that is -- that in and of itself, to say, well, the yield curve will normalize, is not an unusual thing. what might be a little bit unusual about it is, it would normalize in an environment of rising rates. it usually normalizes with rates falling. this one might be, you know, where -- i'm talking about the long end of the yield curve, where rates are going up, that might normalize the curve. so, keep in mind that what that is implying is that the yield curve goes positive again. >> oh, okay. i would think that's a good thing, especially for banks, jim. would you agree? >> yeah, it can be a good thing for banks and it can be a good thing for, you know, for lenders, because the cost of loans would go up, and it can -- it may not necessarily be a bad thing for the economy, because more long-term interest rates
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are what lending is tied to, and really what i'm also implying in this forecast is, i don't think the economy's hurt by 5% interest rates. i don't think the economy's really hurt by high sevens. certainly not helped by it, but it's not -- it's not the old line that the fed raised rates until something broke. i don't think something is broken because of these rates, and i think that's the assumption a lot of people are using. we broke something, we went too high in interest rates, that's why we have to worry about a recession -- i don't think we did. and that's why we can go back and revisit those levels. >>s all all right, jim, thank y. and i think that's sort of what you would think, you would assume, when you see the headline, 5.5%, what jim sees ten-year yields going to this year, that that means that stocks won't rise. >> it's extraordinary based upon history, and it's extraordinary based upon fed rate hike processes that if something doesn't break, especially after
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a move from 0% to 5.25%. if you think about the moves in the volcker fed in the '80s, rates started at 12.5% and went from there. so, the other part of today's mack coe was that you had this jolts data. job openings. and it gave you a sense that if you want to take a moment in time, and one data point does not do it on jobs, but the fed's really executing on their mandate here. you basically have job openings back to where they were in march of 2017, you have the quit rate coming down, people are less confident in their ability to go secure a higher paying job. and this is all what the market wants. >> yeah, and the whole conversation here is how many cuts we're having. it is going to be six cuts, three cuts? most of the scconsensus is we'r going to have some cuts. and as you're looking into your 2024 playbook, that is what you want to look at. likely rates are going to come down. how quickly, how fast, is the argument. for them coming down, i would say is the consensus. that's what you want to focus on
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is the overall theme here. the latest from doesisney's board battle coming up. what the backing means for nelson peltz. the details next. plus, cannabis cruising higher today. pot stocks getting a jump after records that marijuana classification may be under review. what it could mean for the budding industry. >> wow. >> straight ahead. >> so funny. this is "fast money" with melissa lee. right here on cnbc. at morgan stanley, old school hard work meets bold new thinking. to help you see untapped possibilities and relentlessly work with you to make them real.
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i like watching the puddles gather rain. -hey, your mom and i procreated to that song. oh, ew! i think you've said enough. why don't we just switch to xfinity like everyone else? then you would know what year it was. i know what year it is. welcome back to "fast money." disney shares slightly heighter today after the company won the support of valueact and blackwell capital to back its board nominees. valueact will support disney's picks at the upcoming shareholder meeting and has agreed to consult with the firm on strategic matters. this as they face a challenge from nelson peltz. i thought what was interesting is that blackwell criticized disney's -- disney and bog iger f and getting in the support of valueact, because they nominated an alternative sort of slate. how do you feel as a
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shareholder? >> a little shakeup in the comfort zone on disney, not a bad thing. having bob iger back is really fortunate for the ompany, he's the right man for the job, but i think there's been some sense of, okay, then, you know, i'm going to do this my way. and disney, my way, as it's been for the last five years, has been the stock doing zero. outside of some excitement around streaming which has been less than profitable. i'm a disney shareholder, i'm frustrated, but i like the stock. i have to say, i like the valuation, i think the core business is enough to give me almost streaming for free. depends on how you want to look at it. but i like disney here. >> it almost feels value trappish at this point. it's up 2% or so over the past 12 months. >> yeah. >> it's a tough -- it's been a tough ride here. >> yeah, but -- and there's a huge caveat here, there's a very good chance that that last quarter was sort of the trough quarter for the foreseeable feature. we thought from that quarter could trade to $98, got to $95 and change. they report, i want to say the
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first week of february. you know, i'm with tim on this one. i haven't loved it in awhile, but that last quarter might have been sort of the kitchen sink quarter where people come back a year from now, say that was your opportunity to buy disney. >> i don't know if you can have a trough without a succession plan. i think that's what we're looking for. and everyone loves iger so much that he was supposed to be the adult in the room coming back to get it reorganized and that really hasn't taken place. other than that pop off the pandemic low, the stock is not holding, it's entered into a new declining trend line. so, i think there's got to be a couple of questions that need to be answered. parks are definitely the tailwind in the story. entertainment is the weakness. they have to figure out what's going to happen. when there's a new ceo at the helm. >> do you like disney? >> absolutely. and i think it's been underappreciated here. and the more they get away from linear tv and more they get into their direct to consumer with their content, i think it's going to benefit them. i don't think they're there yet, but you want to get into that
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beforehand. and it looks very attractive here. there's a lot more "fast money" to come. here's what's coming up next. >> marijuana stocks burning higher. the headlines that got these names moving. and the big change that could be coming for the industry. plus, back to the glory days for bio tech. one top analyst has a list of potential m&a targets in the spaces. we dig into the names primed for the picking in 2024. you're watching "fast money," live from the nasdaq market site in times square. we're back right after this. what is cirkul? cirkul is the fuel you need to take flight. cirkul is the energy that gets you to the next level. cirkul is what you hope for when life tosses lemons your way. cirkul, available at
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welcome back to "fast money." pot stocks burning higher today, following a report that the dea told house lawmakers it is
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reviewing marijuana status as a schedule one drug. marks the agency's most public comments on its review process to date. a spokesperson confirming to cnbc, quote, dea has the final authority to schedule or reschedule a drug and that the agency will now initiate its review. sounds like we've heard this before, tim, and yet the stocks were higher. >> yeah, i'm the one that's not terribly impressed by this news, maybe because we've heard so much so many times, both out of washington, but let's understand the nuance here. the nuance also that basically this is within the hands of the administration, so, the dea, who, you know, whose godfather, essentially, was assigned by biden, this is a biden administration-controlled dynamic. you don't necessarily need a senate or a house, and the house, now, which used to be the friend to the cannabis industry is now probably going to be the most difficult part to getting any legislation through.
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to be understood, the reason why this news is so important is, when the dea, and i think it is when, it's just about what timing, actually reschedules cannabis down from level -- from schedule one, probably to schedule three, it changes the dynamics for the entire industry and probably gets a follow through for other dominos. this is more important to the companies in the space right now who have huge tax bills every year, and i think this would be a game-changer, and i think the industry -- you can just tell by the way the market rallied today, and i'll put my friend jason wild, who said this to me, the chairman of one of the larger companies, a hedge fund manager and his view on the market's reaction to news like this that's already out there is something along the lines of, if they're going to do this on news that we already knew, wait until the news comes out. we've heard so many times from d.c. about something. >> there is an election year dynamic to all of this, do you think? >> well, i think the election year dynamic, if this stuff doesn't get done soon, i think it's going to get lost in other stuff.
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so, the timing on this -- and it's over 100 days since this news was already out there and they've had a chance to opine. i think they're not just looking at it now, i think they've already been. >> one of the companies sort of at the forefront years ago was constellation brands, made an all-time high in july, pulled back, they report on the 5th, which is, i guess, friday of this week, so, keep an eye on that. the pull-back, we've seen pull-backs in this stock a number of different times over the last couple of years. this is one to watch for sure. coming up, could bio tech be heading back to its glory days? one analyst laying out top picks in the space. we'll dig into the names that could give your portfolio a bio bump, next. plus, two stock moves catching our eyes. sofi slump and one cellular stock hitting a new record. how to trade both the names, when "fast money" returns. missed a moment of "fast?" catch us any time on the go. follow the "fast money" podcast. we're back right after this.
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welcome back to "fast money." stocks stumbling into the close. the dow dropping 284 points. the s&p down and the nasdaq down more than 1%. its fourth negative session in a
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row. all three indices on pace to snap a nine-week winning streak. crypto pulling back today. bitcoin down 4% after passing $45,000 yesterday. investors waiting approval of a spotett for bitcoin. meantime, a volatile start to the year for the bio tech space after a rough 2023 ended with an $18 billion spending spree by bristol meyers and there may be more m&a ahead. it feels like bio tech is back to its glory days, expecting much more wheeling and dealing to come in 2024. alongside more consistent performance, the firm names several drug droppers ins that d be ripe for acquisition. so, who is doing the buying? and you can probably throw a dart at much large cap pharma
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companies and say they will be doing the buying, guy. >> virtex, the first-largest holding in the ibb, $100 billion company. gilead could do some things. so, it's not necessarily going to be big cap pharma that forays into bio tech. you might see some bio tech for bio tech deals. with all that said, steve's done a great job with amgen. the ibb appears to be breaking out to the upside. i think it continues to go higher. >> some of the current players that could be buyers, the various, lilly, merck, gsk, i mean, you name it, they're on this list. >> ibb was my final trade last night, because of the charts and because of the dynamic that we've been talking about, i think now for a few weeks, both in bio tech and the pharma sector. it's interesting how in the past when gilead had money to spend, it was an overhang to the stock. people were waiting for them to make a bad acquisition. we talked about, you can make an argument that bmy has been
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pfizer-lite. there are some similar concerns about, where's the growth coming from, where's the next meal? and i think this is a case w where, between rotation, valuation, balance sheet, and catalysts ahead, and some pipeline, why not? >> yeah, i do think, to continue this theme, this is definitely something you want to be looking at in 2024. with interest rates coming down, it is going to help all that m&a activity. you want to make sure you have all the major players. as much as we like something, like these companies that are doing really well with their obesity drugs, there's a lot of other companies that are lower valuation that did not do as well last year and you want to look at some of those, as well. >> picking up where courtney left off, the ibb is probably going to be the acquirers. the acquiree is going to be the xdi. so, when you have m&a, the acquirer trades down. i would rather be the acquirer of the small cap bio tech etf, i think for all of us here, it's
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difficult to pick a winner. i would rather pick a bunch of targets. >> there is the danger that some of the big cap -- like a pfizer, for instance, gave that forecast, right, back in december, very disappointing. mainly because even with the siege and acquisition, revenues year and year declined. seve even with m&a -- they are desperate to plug the hole. >> one of the reasons i bought pfizer higher than it was today because i saw how they spent a windfall that came from covid. it's not like this caught them by surprise. they spent $30 billion on a pipeline that, you know, the question is, when does it start reaping some rewards, andy they overpay? and that gets back to. again, i -- gilead, when they had to overpay to get into oncology i think was an overhang for the stock. >> that's the other danger. if they have enough cash, it's enough to hang themselves with. in this case, bio tech stocks have really taken a beating. >> and not that i'm the cfo of e wli lily -- >> you look like one.
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>> eli lilly. do you think i look like a ceo? >> stately. >> compliment? >> yeah, for sure. >> you didn't mean it that way. >> happy new year, guy. >> use your stock as currency and buy something. now's the time to do it. if you think about the run that stock's had. yes, there are a number of companies out there, but to your point, it reeks of desperation, because their pipelines are coming to a close. options traders placing bets of their own. mike khouw has the action. mike, what are you looking at? >> i was looking at a kady pharmaceuticals a two-drug company. this one's moved around quite sharply on court case basically related to a patent for their lead drug. we saw a lot of activity in the calls, traded six times its average daily call volume. that was the result of a trader rolling up from the january 26th calls up to the 31s. they were actually selling those 31-strike calls. the stock popped recently when they got a summary judgment on one of those patent cases. the seller of these calls obviously believes that the upside is probably limited to
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about 30, 31 bucks. they will be presenting at the jpmorgan health care conference next week. >> yeah. that's a big event. mike, thank you. mike khouw. coming up, t-mobile kicking off the new year on the right foot. the stock trading back at highs it has not seen in more than 15 years. but can the gains last? we'll debate that. and auto sales may have reaccelerated in 2023, but 2024 could be a bumpy road ahead for the sector. we'll explain why. "fast money" is back in two.
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welcome back to "fast money." we've got a buzz kill on sofi, down nearly 14% today, its biggest one-day drop since august '21. wbk kbw downgraded the name. analyst says the stock's recent runup up 60% from the november lows may be overdone. the sofi drop having ripple effects across the fin tech space. shares of affirm, block, robinhood and paypal posting losses. the analyst say 15% to 20% downside risk. almost took care of that in one day. >> pretty amazing. the runs have been, again, if you look at robinhood for the last 2 1/2 years, it's gone
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nowhere. in the last year, it's had some big moves. i still think this is a stock, robin hood, you want to play from the long side. i think the business model is floored. robinhood going forward might have some tail winds. yes, it sold off today, but this is a stock you'd rather be long and short. >> the downgrade was a function of valuation and risk. and so, again, they're pointing to, you know, a premium valuation in the space when they're barely profitable, if at all. and so, i think the risk dynamic is one that bothers me more than anything, and it's just about who their core client is, who they are in super prime. it's been a big part of their business, also a higher rate environment, and funding dynamics. but -- i read that this was a valuation that was more just, you know, this company's not cheap, and we're downgrading. shares of t-mobile topping the tape today. the stock trading at levels not seen since the metro pcs ipo in 2007. the stock is up eight straight
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days. verizon and at&t starting the year with gains. can the rally continue or is it time to hang up on the telecom trade? t-mobile's seen a nice run at the end of the year. >> so, to answer your question, i wouldn't -- stay on the line here. and we've talked about this stock forever. john ledger is watching right now, he's not there anymore, he did a remarkable job and the legacy he's left is moving forward. and maybe it's not an all-time high, it's damn close, to your point. valuation has been a concern for the last five years. and seemingly the stock is impervious. t-mobile is a winner here. >> guy started off saying about john ledger, he's the one that took them from -- out of the peripheral and into the main spotlight. it outperforms both telephone and verizon. i don't think i heard you mention the starlink that they're doing. the starlink is doing, because that's the crown jewel of spacex, so, starlink did $10 billion in sales this year.
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everyone wants some sort of a partnership with starlink. this is a way to get a piece of that spacex through t-mobile. they're matching up with global companies, t-mobile has it here. >> telephone like the floor lynn go for at&t, because of the ticker t? >> letter t. yeah. >> well, i was -- mike deserves a lot of credit -- >> i've been here for awhile now! >> i mean, this is a guy that really invested in a network and was well ahead of the game on 5g. it put t-mobile so far ahead, i think that's part of the story here. as someone that's been a t-mobile customer since 1999 -- >> wow. >> 1999? >> it was rotary dial. >> it was omnipoint, i could get gsm over in europe. there you go. >> it was like this with his phone. >> radar riley. coming up, gm with its best sales year since covid. so, why is the stock down?
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we'll look under the hood next. more "fast money" right after this. that first time you take a step back. i made that. with your very own online store. i sold that. and you can manage it all in one place. i built this. and it was easy, with a partner that puts you first. godaddy.
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major players like gm and toyota seeing a big jump in fourth quarter numbers. the industry on track to notch its best year sales since before the pandemic. can't tell by looking at the stocks now. phil lebeau has the numbers. phil? >> hi, melissa. what have you done for me lately is what investors say when it comes to the auto stocks. we'll explain why general motor shares were under pressure today, despite the fact it picked up market share in the u.s. in 2023. look at the december sales numbers, and a couple of things stand out. first of all, toyota up 15%. we'll talk about their hybrids in a bit, becausethe number of sales, the growth in hybrids in december was astounding. hyundai up 5%, gm, a fractional increase. for the fourth quarter, gm sales were actually down 7.3%, compared to the third quarter. as you take a look at shares of general motors, that's a little bit of what investors were digesting today, saying, okay, not real crazy about that, why didn't they have the same growth there? there's the full year market share, 16.3%.
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they pick up 0.3%. and then with toyota, listen to this. the december hybrid sales for toyota, up 63%. one out of every three vehicles sold by toyota last month was a hybrid. it's red-hot. that market is where toyota dominates. and they're taking advantage of the consumer pivoting towards hybrid vehicles. in terms of overall sales, as you mentioned, melissa, 2023 was the best year since 2019. and what you're noticing here, 15.5 million, there are some people saying we could go over 16 million next year. as for ford, you notice i didn't talk about their december sales -- that's because we get them tomorrow morning, melissa. one thing we do know for sure when it comes to ford, the f-150, best-selling vehicle in the u.s. once again, as it has been for 47 straight years. melissa, back to you. >> phil, thank you. phil lebeau. courtney, where do you stand on autos? value -- they've been terrible stocks. absolutely terrible.
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>> yeah, and i think there's actually a lot of interesting stuff that came out today. obviously when you look at some of the trends of people going towards hybrids, less towards evs, i thought was fascinating. the same day that byd now just exceeded tesla in number of sales in china. the number one exporter of cars. it seems to be a trend where u.s. isn't really picking up to the evs i think as much as people thought they would. and that's a big trend that i saw here, when you're looking at the car companies like ford is one that we'll get numbers tomorrow, are really shifting all of their resources into ev. that's the question, should they be doing that, or should we look at more of the hybrids? some of the trends are interesting to look at. >> so many fascinating big pig sure dynamic for the auto industry. think about the ways the auto companies are restructured, to separate ev from internal combustion engines. you have byd and tesla that are vertically integrated companies. that's why they can move quickly, adjust quickly.
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and here's the hybrid. they're not producing hybrids, tesla. it's all about the hybrid dynamic, at least for what we heard about toyota, with byd, gm, and chevy. are those guys going to be able to pick up speed on the competitive landscape as byd is doing on tesla in the, you know, pure energy plays. >> how long do these guys, the heads of ford and gm, have? >> well, i mean -- >> and gals. >> and gals. >> i meant guys generally, not -- >> the ford ceo is a georgetown grad, i give him a long leash. >> absolutely. >> phil said, ford f-150, the best-selling car for 30 years. 30 years, ford was $11.50 stock, it's the same today. tesla, real quick, that pennant formation we talked about yesterday, seemingly broken to the downside, something to watch. >> yeah, it's -- this is a hybrid -- it should have always
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been hybrid. it shouldn't he been ice.c.e. cars and going into ev. it's going to be interesting to see if ford and gm actually take a page out of toyota's notebook, because toyota played this perfectly. and tesla was up 120% a year ago, 52-week. and the problem is they have, to tim's point, that's an ev. ford and gm can't compete with that. they can compete with hybrid. i don't know how much of a pivot they're going to have to do to be competitive. up next, final trades.
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time for the final trade. let's go around the horn. timothy? >> tyson. it's been a long time since chicken is something you can rally behind. and it's been a tough couple of years. look at that chart. look at that valuation. get there. >> i can't remember the last time it was a final trade. steve grasso? >> 2024, year of the chicken. t-mobile. that's going to be my final trade for everything we talked about a couple blocks ago. >> supreme courtney? >> vht. definitely a category to look at. >> guy? >> you were saying in the break,
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brendan offman just got called up, pitlick is up -- >> we need that, guy. agree. >> bristol meyers, mel. >> thank you for watching "fast money." see you back here tomorrow at 5:00 for more "fast." meantime, do not go my mission is simple. to make you money. i am here to level the playing field for all investors. there is always a bull market somewhere and i promise to help you find it. mad money starts now. hey, i'm cramer. welcome to mad money. i am trying to help you make some money. my job is not just to entertain but to teach you. call me at (800) 743-2622 . sometimes

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