of the donkey, that's the easing. >> we had some other numbers -- >> the atlanta fed gdp getting revised down. >> still about 2%. lower than the 2.9%. >> comfortable zone right now. >> have a good weekend, everybody. thank you for joining us. we'll see you back here on monday. that's it for us. now over to frank holland and "the halftime report." all right, thank you, sara. thank you, mike. welcome to "the halftime report." i am frank holland in for the judge, scott wapner. front and center this hour, more records fall on wall street as the nasdaq and the s&p both eye fresh closing highs. so as we kick off this new month, should you stick with what's been working, or is it time to double down on other parts of the market. our investment committee is standing by to help tackle that question. we have bryn talkington, steve weiss and jim lebenthal. but, first, a quick check on the markets right now. as mike and sara mentioned, we look like we're on track for new

highs right now seeing the dow up fractionally. the s&p up almost half a percent. the nasdaq even better than that. not shown the small caps, doing better than all three. i really think that's where we have to begin. not the small caps, steve weiss. are you going to stick with mega cap tech, keep this train rolling, or is now the time to take profits and broaden out the thesis? >> i did shave a little bit of meta, but, you know, i don't look at it that way. i look at what's reliable, what's predictable cash flow, assuming they have it. and what am i happy in owning. i will leave dell for later. it's not normal to have the market go up every day on a relatively narrow move. there are other things working. i'll leave jim to talk about

those -- >> can i push back? are there other things working? hold on, i will show a graphic. we have a great data team at cnc cnbc. the s&p gains, 57% coming from the fantastic four. 32% coming from nvidia alone. so, yes, some other things may be working, but the majority of things working are the fantastic four. >> that also takes a number of stocks that aren't working but there are a number that are. now the same type of movement, but the point is that i know i'm in uncharted territory whether it's microsoft or whether it's meta. i also know that ai is uncharted territory. regardless, i'm comfortable that even though i may view the stocks, and i do, they will grow into that.

so if i go and i sell more now, take it below a core position, going to pay taxes on it and i will be behind the eight ball for when i go back in. i have been broadening out my portfolio. google is a fixed issue. they will work well. you can't deny that it's a great company. >> are you worried about tax this is year when we haven't even paid the taxes for last year. forward looking. >> jim, i was having a great conversation with a leading tech investor. i can't name the firm, but he -- >> name the investor, though. >> can't do it. basically said to me the fantastic four trade, the magnificent seven trade, yes, you're paying up. what you're paying up for is certainty and peace of mind because these stocks will be in the winner's circle at least to a certain degree. >> i won't disagree with that thesis. the corollary or the counter is outside of tech there may be

more uncertainty. you're getting good deals. the companies themselves say that and are buying back shares, really across the board. i don't care if it's cleveland-cliffs or general motors. people worried about recession, what the companies have done is take that cash flow, pay down debt. a lot of cases they don't have that much more debt to pay down so they're buying back shares. the point is well made of course there's certainty with the ai trade. outside of the ai trade there is actually wonderful bargains where, as long as you don't see a recession coming, which i don't, there is great value. to the point you and steve were talking about. okay, it's fine to look at the year to date and say the s&p 500 is running away with it, but outside of that there are some excellent absolute performers. look in financials, industrials, health care as examples.

look at those particular stocks that i mentioned and i want to close my opening soliloquy, frank, by saying this. if you look at any given week, one week the nasdaq outperforms, the next week the small caps outperform. that is the sort of churning that goes on when leadership changes. it doesn't change on a dime. look at the last five or six days since nvidia reported. the equal weight s&p 500 is outperforming. for the economic reasons i've been prolific in talking about, i think that's what will continue. >> bryn, i will come over to you. jim is over here bargain hunting. are you bargain hunting? citi put out a note earlier saying the bubble is not overly large. at least not yet when it comes to price appreciation, duration, valuation or sentiment, we remain bullish on u.s. equities and bullish on the tech sector.

it's almost contrary at this point. price appreciation hasn't even run up so much. bryn, what do you think? >> to put context on that, people throw the word bubbly around so often. i think if you look at rolling three-year returns on the s&p, which are really constructive, when we get into bubble territory, the rolling three-year returns equal weight the s&p did 100% over the previous three years. we saw that in '87. we saw that in 1998, and we saw that in 2021. right now the three-year average annual return for the s&p is 10%, so 30% cumulative. it's not even remotely close to those time periods. i think the mark, albeit an event or what have you can still run. on individual names, a lot of times just sitting still has been the best way to invest. last year my abbvie didn't do well, but abbvie is up 14%.

diamondback is up 19% this year. there are so many other areas we are seeing this broadening. we added rsp, the equal weight s&p to our portfolio. year to date it's only up three. you haven't seen that gap con condense. if we get a broadening out, i want to stay large cap. it will pick up the pace and have some better returns. >> we saw consumer staples, other sectors spiking up, or does that change what's driving the market overall? even to see that broadening, the consumer staples, the best performing sector. tech seems to be pushing the market forward. >> really, it's nvidia. apple is not doing so great this year. i've had this contention i think you're going to continue to see a dispersion of returns within these mega cap stocks that we all talk about.

the market is favoring companies that have a clear plan on how to monetize ai and that plan is very clear with meta, very clear with microsoft and very clear with ai -- with nvidia. it's clear that google can get their act together, and apple we're still unclear there. they are more in the penalty box. i still love the qs. i think it's a great which to just long term or if you want to be more defensive, could sell calls on that. long term, short term, you want to own the large caps, but have some other things in the portfolio like an equal weight or companies jim likes that are heavy free cash flow yielding companies. >> i think a lot of people agree with the consensus. it's all about the large cap, mike wilson of morgan stanley sees large caps continue to outperform small caps, high quality growth, efficiency factors outperform. we have a bit of a consensus there. i do want to come back around to you. when is enough enough?

you took some money off the table. jim, the same question for you. when do you start to think maybe is the time to take significant profits? when is enough enough? >> the money i took off the table for meta is when the market got hit on inflation numbers and everything collapsed. i bought some meta because i thought it would bounce, it was an opportunity. i haven't touched the core positions and those in meta and microsoft are each about 15% of my portfolio. i mean, they're really up there through appreciation. i don't know why you take it off at this point. then i look at nvidia today. why isn't nvidia up today? because of dell. why was dell up before earnings? because of nvidia. so you have this positive ping-pong effect that goes back and forth, and it's ridiculous. that's a feeding frenzy. feeding frenzies don't typically end well. however, i still believe

momentum is there because you have a new -- and i've said this for the last year and a half, two years, a new type of investor in the market that goes to what they know, that goes to what is sexy what is hot. >> right. >> it's more of a rational play for gamestop. that clown car is out of the market. now it's looking at fundamentals and the fundamentals with the unknown expert, who is not as expert as jim and i, by the way, right, jim? >> jim gave you a wink. i don't know if you saw it. speaking of investors, that's what you're doing right now, i think you might be talking about yourself. to our "chart of the day" talking about dell following big quarterly earnings fueled by ai server demand. weiss, you already front run us on this, what are you looking at? >> so here is what's bizarre. look, they had a good quarter. >> it was a really good quarter. >> well, yes and no. okay. what was good about it they had

800 million in ai server revenues, and the backlog went from 1.6 billion to 2.9 billion. good numbers. it's a $90 billion revenue company. so -- and, by the way, they just came in line on revenue, and they lowered guidance for the first quarter next year, right? so what was so great about it? so, to me, you don't add market cap -- you don't increase market cap by a third on that report. >> next week we have hp coming out, del is obviously a big pc maker as well. is it in your mind the idea there's multiple parts of the business that could benefit from ai? >> just in this report. >> in your mind 18 times is now cheap? >> no, it's not. historically this company sells for -- most of the business, pcs, that's still weak.

enterprise spending we've heard repeatedly is slowing. the typical is 12 times. now you're paying 50% to 80% above that. >> is it cheap to get into the ai trade? >> i would buy it if it pulled back because it's just going to be about ai. every other part of the business will be ignored. it's just about ai, so this quarter is just very instructive in terms of what's driving these stocks. would you rather pay 18 times for this, which is overvalued, or 70 times for nvidia, which is also overvalued? >> bryn, would you rather pay 18 times for this or for nvidia, and what do you think about what might be a theme coming up when it comes to ai and hardware, hp having an event where jensen huang is supposed to be be there and lisa su as well to talk about their pcs? >> it comes down to how much are you growing earnings, revenues, and what are your operating or profit margins. i think dell surprised

everybody. i think dell is a very underowned name. the algos and the call buying, i didn't look at the call buying this morning, but to one point that steve talked about and did it even more, the call volume in this market right now is very frenzied and very high. you're seeing overreactions on na names. i think it caught most people by surprise why you're seeing that reaction. at the same time, frank, you can look at a snowflake yesterday that was down 25% because they had a miss and i think we're having these extreme moves in these kind of companies and that is the price of admission if you're going to buy into these tech names . it can go either way around earnings calls. >> i want to point out something else, jim. ticker is eqix. trading at a 52-week high right now, a big server play.

>> data center play. >> excuse me, thank you. >> i think there is fundamental value -- and let me define that word -- meaning it's not a bubble. this is what bryn was talking about, within the ai space. i will say if we go to nvidia, before we get to equix, a stock that's outperforming on earnings estimates. growth estimates actually is worth it. i would not say that's an expensive stock. i don't know eqix so i don't want to get into that but the overarching point is whether there is room to run in the ai trade, and i think with these large cap names, there is. google, i know people are leaving it for dan on the mistakes that have happened in the last week, but not just the attractive price there, the fact they bought deep mine and they really have the technical chops with which to not only fix the problems that they have but really grow that business gives me a lot of comfort.

if we're looking at ai, and this is what bryn was saying earlier, this is not a bubble. fundamentally there is value to be there. just going back to where i was at the beginning of this, my overweight is outside of ai because i see more attractive prices there relative to earnings per share growth, and that's why i'm overweight industrials, financials, health care, et cetera, all of which, by the way, if we were to look at the returns year to date on financials, industrials, health care as a sector, we would be pretty darned happy after two months to have high single digits. the problem is everybody says, well, nvidia is up 35%, 40%, whatever it is so the other areas must stink. that is not the case. these areas are having fabulous years and are likely to continue throughout the rest of the year. >> just to add one thing. i don't want to come off as preachy. i'm guilty of the same enthusiasm. i sold verdiv, half before the quarter and sold the rest on the

quarter. and that was a good sale. and then what happened? nvidia reported, right? i bought it back because, guess what, they sell the cooling racks. they have a great business for data centers. it's great. today what's happening, the stock is up again because of data centers as is eqix. so it's incestuous what's going on. but to bryn's point, yes, options are driving a lot. people are buying options because they don't want to buy $1,000 stock. they don't get the math if you put $1,000 into a $1,000 stock you get the same return as if you buy ten shares of a $100 stock. until people start getting smarter on that, they'll keep driving the options market. >> two points of order, i know you were exaggerating, but nvidia's valuation about 36 times. upgrade today for nvidia raised the price target to $900 from $535, believe it or not. >> why would you listen to an

analyst who doubles his price target? >> bryn, would you listen to that analyst? >> this guy was so late to the party, why are you at 535? what have you been doing? who knows what happened here. the price target is already at 817, so that was a little bit late. late to the party. >> some say better late than never. i say better never late. speaking about the economy and the path to lower rates. our steve liesman joins us from the u.s. monetary policy forum here in new york city. steve, good afternoon. good to see you. >> reporter: hey, frank. how are you? >> all right, so, steve, two big conversations. you had all of us watching today looking for any clues on what the fed is going to do next especially after that pce report. what was your big takeaway? >> i think two things.

b barkin is more bullish. he added will we see rate cuts this year, we'll see. the ten year sold off on that. look what happened when the data came out at 10:00. the ten year fell in yield. while both have their different points of view, neither is dogmatic and able to think about moving where they're going to go based on what the data says. january data from inflation may have been an anomaly and not necessarily going to change their point of view on anything. they're not dogmatic about it. that's where the fed is, not hawkish, not dovish, just letting the data tell them where to go. you had a january number that was lousy.

we'll make up our minds more about what will happen, frank. >> i was watching your interview with barkin. he handled "the squawk box" crew. it felt like he leaned a little bit dovish. he said we're on the right track and should be cheering. isn't that the dovishness the market should be looking for? >> i don'tsee barkin as any particular ideology when it comes to dovish or hawkish, frank. you could have taken some dovish sensibility from what he said. that was apparent. as the ten year sold off, the market took a hawkish point of view. barkin is focused on a culture of inflation. he pointed this out when it first started, it was possible for companies to raise prices, so he thinks a lot of what his point of view is from the anecdotal information he's hearing from companies, and he

believes that we're sort of past the point where companies feel they can raise prices without there being a backlash either to their earnings or their sales or from customers. >> we have some questions for you. i want to put in here rick santelli crossed on my email. atlanta's gdp index fell, just another data point. i want to toss things over to jim. he has a question. >> good to see you, steve. that's where my head is. the data is coming in squirrely here. steve, we know cpi and ppi did a few weeks ago. i have the ism today. the atlanta fed coming down. is there, look, here is what i want to ask, it seems like the fed will be late. is there any chance they'll get the memo early that maybe a cut -- i'm not saying in march. i'm not even saying in may but to put june on the table and acknowledge the soft landing is not guaranteed. i believe in it, but it is not guaranteed, and you're getting

data that proves that point. >> jim, i have been looking for fed officials who are more concerned with the outlook, the negative outlook, than they are with the positive one or higher inflation, and it's very hard to find. there aren't many dyed in the wool defense out there, not as many concerned as you are about this. i agree the data -- first of all, i think there's a good way to invest by, jim, which friends don't let friends use the atlanta fed gdp forecast, which is -- >> wait a second, the last couple quarters it's been pretty on. >> it's been pretty good. >> the last couple quarters it's been pretty good in its accuracy. >> it has been. it has been. but early in the quarter, you don't want to use it. the atlanta fed has come down to where our cnbc rapid update is in the 2% to 2.5% range. when they start off the quarter they're optimistic. they have to come down and in.

that's a big issue. i'm not surprised to see this. i still think the story is the economy running at or above potential is a very, very good result. if we can stay at that 2% or 2% plus range i would be relatively happy about that. i do think, jim, you're right. if the data continues the way it's going, you might hear more dovish talk from the fed but will need those inflation numbers to come down with the economic growth numbers. >> steve, this one from bryn talkington. >> hey, steve. we all talk about rate cuts. your thoughts on quantitative tightening. i think that the fed, one of the next two meetings they will talk about that, maybe they can stop qt and be neutral. i wanted to get your thoughts and insights on that. >> well, there's a bunch of talk at the conference. i'm at the university of chicago booth school's monetary policy conference. the two biggest experts on qt probably along with john

williams on the fed on this issue. logan talked about the possibility of a more gradual unwind of the balance sheet to let them go further. waller wants to see the fed get out of the longer data treasuries and go down to the shorter dated ones. the fed will talk about it at the next meeting. i think the story will be that they're going to keep -- they're going to reduce qt later on this year and probably will stop it later on this year with a question as to sort of plus or minus, i would say, 50 billion on either side here. they will probably go down on the balance sheet. the fed is not sure. they're feeling if they go too far, they have this thing called a standing repo facility, like a central banker get out of jail free card. if we go too far, banks can go get reserves. i think they're going to keep going but probably end it this year. i don't think they will end it

sooner than you think, probably by the fall or november of this year. >> steve, great to see you. steve liesman, senior economics reporter, finger right on the pulse of the fed. right now, below you, we see a banner we want to mention. the nasdaq hitting a record high, up about 0.75%. i want to stay with the fed conversation for just a moment. steve mentioned doves few and far between. who is not dovish, a new note out headline the fed will not cut rates in 2024, gives us ten reasons why. the bottom line torsten says, the fed will be fighting inflation all year. >> that's the question. i think the fed, after what we saw on the way up, they want to make sure they got this right, and they ak acted late. i agree with that.

i think there's some troubling data that came out and consumer spending is slowing down. we saw slowing numbers today. i truly don't believe you can write off the risk of not having a soft landing, something worse. jamie dimon said that. we've had, of course, david solomon from goldman said that. these people are right at the crossroads of all that data as well. so, to me, that's the caution and the worry. and if the fed does keep rates for this high into next year, i think with certainty that you could see an economic recession. >> jim, any chance no cuts in 2024? i mean, zero cuts in 2024? >> i love torsten. i read him every day. >> silver mind. >> he's not afraid to say what he thinks. let's say that. you're welcome, you should get a lot of subscription results. he is must read. i read it today. it taught my attention. i do think the fed will have to

cut rates. here is where we disagree. i think inflation has been coming down. the real question whether the january cpi, ppi are a blip or reversing trend and going higher. as much as the labor markets have been strong, there are a lot of indications job vacancies are coming down quickly and eventually that will cut into the labor market. that's why i asked steve the question that i asked, is the fed starting to get wind of the fact all is not well in denmark or tahiti, whatever the expression is. i do think there's a reasonable chance the economy starts to sof soften, but more reasonable inflation goes higher without any cuts. i think you have to read him. >> a great guy. he will be on "closing bell overtime" later. i imagine he'll be talking about the forecast of no cuts in 2024. coming up next, a developing story on boeing. the company reportedly in talks to buy spirit aerosystems.

we'll break wn tdohe details. more on the big tumble in shares of new york community bank. look at that chart. shares down more than 22% right now. we're back in two minutes. personalized financial advice from ameriprise can do more than help you reach your goals. -you can make this work. -we can make this work. it can help you reach them with confidence. no wonder more than 9 out of 10 of our clients are likely to recommend us. ameriprise financial. advice worth talking about.

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welcome back to "halftime."

the nasdaq hitting a new all-time high. we're also following a developing story on boeing. "the wall street journal" reporting the company is in talks to buy spirit aero, after the door plug incident on an alaska airlines flight back in january, jim, you sold boeing after that incident. what's your take on the potential deal? boeing buying spirit back, it spun the company off. >> let's start with the bigger picture. the company needs boeing to be successful. the country does. the airline industry knows it, and by that i mean the global airline industry. the government knows that. durable goods orders earlier this week were well below e expectations and that was because of the issues at boeing. this is a major economic powerhouse. china wants to come in with an airline company and take over market share from boeing. that is a long way off, but the more that boeing screws up, the more that door opens. now, honestly, it doesn't matter

whether boeing buys spirit or not. either way profits are going lower at boeing because with all that i just said, and in particular the government knows that we need boeing to be successful there is a way to fix this. it has people examining every step of the production process. by people, an airline representative, an faa representative. boeing extra quality control. the situation is fixable and it will be fixed but it will be fixed at the cost of profits no matter what boeing pays for spirit or not, this is going to be profit impaired for quite some time while the nation fixes what must be fixed at boeing. >> looking at shares of spirit up over 13%. boeing down 1%. spirit, before the pandemic, was about a $100 stock. now you can see trading at about $32.43 and that's with the rally. we have to keep it moving. to another big mover, new york community bank sinking once again. our leslie picker back at cnbc

headquarters. >> this is kind of the epitome of growing pains. two sizable acquisitions were made in the last year or so. you have flag star in november of 2022. that deal catapulted nycb by assets and then nycb scooped up many of the assets and assumed the liability from signature after it failed. so in doing those two deals nycb surpassed the regulatory threshold of $100 billion in assets subjecting nycb to more rigorous stress testing and oversight. those plans are typically submitted in april, meaning banks need to set aside the appropriate amount of reserves ahead of time in preparation for stress tests. the fed just released its scenarios for 2024 testing noting a severely adverse scenario that features a much higher starting level of interest rates compared to previous years, not too

surprising given the trajectory of interest rates, and those interest rates declined more precipitously in the test. the way one analyst explained it to me this morning is nycb opted to bolster its reserves and criticize much of its loans and office loans essentially address the potential risk in the portfolio now versus a more phased in approach by ripping that band-aid off nycb revealed higher than expected losses and had to slash its dividend. still significant unknowns here, why did the chief officer depart months ago as it was transforming into a bigger bank? note, they announced the roles were filled today. why did nycb discover a weakness for loan review, and are there any other issues that may pop up as that review continues? all of this uncertainty definitely playing a role in weighing on that stock price,

frank. >> we know you're on top of it. our leslie picker, new york community bank shares down more than 22%, almost 23% right now. weiss, i'm going to come over to you. you have a lot of financial ownership. what do you make of nycb, of the regional bank space? >> it's troubling. i know jim takes a different view -- >> no, i don't. >> oh, good. i'm glad to see you don't. the massive wall of refinance -- >> i get nervous when you agree. >> i'm particularly nervous when i'm the one he agrees with. the refinancing later this year and into next year, we'll see more of the problems. this is the other shoe to drop and not the most well managed and given the fact they went through acquisition recently and the fed didn't pick up on the poor controls, that's troubling as well. we don't know what else is out there. jpmorgan hit an all-time high. why mess around with the regional banks and try to buy value, which doesn't exist? >> speaking of the regional

banks, a chart of the kre, the regional bank etf, over the last year. it's down double digits following svb. what's your take on the regional bank space itself? >> i think this should be in the too hard camp. number one, regional banks also are a really big part of small cap value, and soap i think small caps in particular because the regional banks are in the too hard camp. we know there's a trillion of commercial real estate mortgages that will need to extend, pretend, twhawhat have you in 2. commercial real estate is going to be slow to work out, and i think that these regional banks will be in the penalty box not just for this year but the next few years until there's more clarity of who owns what. also -- also -- if rates actually stay higher for longer, that adds another tension point on what's on these banks'

balance sheets in terms of their long duration treasury exposure. >> we'll have to leave it there. bank shares down more than 20% right now. it's time for the headlines with bertha coombs. frank, the nation's largest pharmacy chains walgreens and cvs will start to sell the abortion pill mifepristone. about two years after the companies had first applied. the rollout will begin in a few states next week, however, they will not be providing the medication through mail order. the department of justice is resisting subpoenas from the house judiciary committee for testimony in the hunter biden criminal investigation. nbc news obtained the letter to chairman jim jordan that said the subpoenas were neither justified nor constitutional. while the letter did not explicitly say that the doj will not comply with the order, it

asked the committee to send written questions with time to answer. and snow from one of the most powerful blizzards of the season continues to pound the sierra nevada mountains. the blizzard conditions prompted yosemite national park to close through sunday. the storm is expected to last through the weekend with higher elevations facing as much as ten feet of snow. meantime, mountains back east haven't gotten all that much, frank. it's been a weird winter. >> i'm thankful. i don't want march to come in like a lion. i want it to be a lamb. have a great weekend. coming up on "halftime," energy among the week's top gainers with crude oil hitting its highest levels. we'll tell you how the committee is playing the sector up next. you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e*trade from morgan stanley power e*trade's easy-to-use tools make complex trading less complicated.

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welcome back. taking a check of the markets now. the nasdaq hitting a new all-time high. it's up almost a percent. nasdaq hitting new highs. turning our attention to the oil market.

crude oil trading above $80 a barrel hiing the highest level since early november. bryn, you have brought energy and oil ownership. what do you make of this move to oil? >> i think we'll see 80 is the new 60. i think we'll bounce around 75 to 85 over the next few years. i think the energy also underperformed last year with the exception of a diamondback. this is a wonderful year to add energy exposure to a portfolio, and so you can either do it -- if you're going to do an etf, i would, but i think you have a sector that, outside of health care, the free cash flow yield is close to 9%. so you have companies that are growing free cash flow yield, they're paying down debt. increase in dividends. i think you will continue to see a nice move in energy this year and lots of areas to play it outside of technology that hasn't run away from people. >> bryn, to your point, energy

is lagging. the new lseg numbers out. eps higher by 10% year over year. if you exclude energy, it's up year over year. one question, we're seeing the upside for oil without china really participating. we haven't seen the demand spike so many people have been forecasting. if china is able to ramp up -- i should ask you, where do you see oil going? >> china is the second largest economy in the world, so that always has to be a figure into inflation, into energy markets, and so i think if china can come out of their slump, i think it will take years, that will absolutely put price pressure on the upside. consumer of coal still. they're building nuclear and solar blah, blah, blah. they're using a ton of oil and a ton of coal.

>> jim, i will give you one last quick word. >> here is what you as an investor need to consider. the price of crude oil and natural gas. it is breathtaking, frankly, showing some signs of life. it should show signs of life if global demand continues to pick up and if the shell oil plays show signs of depleting more rapidly than people expect. wti, the u.s. benchmark when it comes to oil, $80 a barrel. up next, mike santoli with his "midday word." the nasdaq hitting a new high. the s&p the same story. "halftime" back after this. worku to make them real.

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and we are back on "halftime." the s&p and the nasdaq hitting new highs. great to have right now with us senior markets commentator mike santoli. he joins us with his "midday word." we were just chatting about it. the market is hitting new highs. we've been worried about the narrowness of the market. after nvidia, we had our data team run the numbers. the magnificent seven just over 50% of the gains year to date. now the fantastic four or fab four -- i like fab four better -- 57% of the market gains. should we be worried? >> beatles fan, you prefer fab four. i don't think worried is the right posture here for that reason. you talk about the four stocks are 20% plus in the s&p and they're accounting for 52% of the upside over a two-month period, that doesn't sound that out of kilter to me. now the reason is because if you put it that way, the aggregate market cap gain is attributable to a handful of stocks gains, it looks concentrated. if you talk how many stocks are

in a decent uptrend, it's much improved. i don't think it's obviously the most comprehensive, all inclusive rally we've ever seen, but it doesn't have to be. the equal weighted s&p has shown some life. the small caps have threatened to break out to the upside. i think it's very important to note it's because of the crazy growth stocks in the russell 2000, not because of, you know, the banks and main street retailers. >> a lot of people talk about the small caps. a conversation for another day. i want to ask about earnings, the latest numbers, every company reporting earnings 10% higher year over year. >> it explains it. not because we expect bad things but as long as they are on the march higher usually the market can hold valuation. you check off that box. >> reporting earnings 10% higher year over year. >>cong u> mip next, bitcoin

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we are back on "halftime." you know what? crypt cr cryptocurrency having crazy week. you own the gray scale trust. what is your take on the crypto currency market? >> we have escape velocity in the etfs. black rocks is the fastest etf to get to $10 billion. so that is just incredible. with the halving going on that will be happening, miner also get paid to mine bitcoin, so we have a good supply/demand imbalance, so i've always said i wouldn't be surprised if bitcoin

was at $100,000, and i wouldn't be surprised if it was $25,000. so i just think that is a lot of excitement in this, as the etfs make it very simple, i think we'll see strong inflows. >> weiss? >> what are these? >> hands. >> diamond hands, frank. you know why bitcoin is down? haven't sold one of those coins, not one. so look, momentum is going to continue for every reason that bryn said, and i think just it continues. so i'm playing momentum, even though i don't believe in having any utility whatsoever. >> jim, you let me fall for that? we're going to move on. bitcoin right now trading at almost $62,000, just and $7,000 its l-mealti high. "final trades" are coming up on "halftime. take care of it with gold bond's healing formulations of 7 moisturizers and 3 vitamins. for all your skins, gold bond.

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it's basically tennis for babies, but for adults. it should be called wiffle tennis. pickle! yeah, aw! whoo! ♪♪ these guys are intense. we got nothing to worry about. with e*trade from morgan stanley, we're ready for whatever gets served up. dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. i'd rather work on saving for retirement. or college, since you like to get schooled. that's a pretty good burn, right? got him. good game. thanks for coming to our clinic, first one's free. we're back on "halftime" for "final trades." pacer cash cows currently 8.5% versele the russell 1,0003. >> jim? >> twice earlier in the show i said i'm bullish on financials. i said for quite some weeks, i'm

talking about the big financials. citigroup is one of them. i'm not interested at all in the kre or regional banks. >> diamond hands, last word. >> thank you for clearing that up. i'm one of the most anxious viewers who was hoping you would. i'll go with google. it's extremely cheap. >> got to leave it there. that does it for us. "the exchange" with dom chu starts right now. ♪ ♪ >> all right. thank you very much, frank. welcome to "the exchange." i'm dom chick chu. here's what's ahead on the show. ineffective oversight and risk management. that's how management describes internal controls at new york comm community bank corps. we'll talk to someone who has managed risks in the financial sector. elon musk back this the headlines, suing openai and ceo sam altman. ou