good afternoon everybody. welcome to power lunch. alongside kelly evans i am a tyler mathisen. cpi otherwise known as inflation dropping slightly. core inflation at its lowest reading since 2021. plus, the white house is eva terrorists were meant to

protect the u.s. auto industry. it may have progress toward an all electric market. but, first to check on the markets in the av space. neo shares are up on an upgrade from j.p. morgan. >> this one is getting lots of attention lately. not just rallying this week. hitting a record high, interesting massive volume and interest. >> the meme stocks pulling back today. deep into the red. the data change losses driven mostly on news. issuing 23 million new shares. >> in the magnificent a 70 tf hitting is highly level since inception in april 23. currently, up a little less than 1%. the dow is up nearly 300 points. it is in about 160 . of 40,000 for the first time. s&p up 1%. nasdaq nearly up to hundred

points. we may have all-time record high closes today. >> looks like it. those moves are being fueled by the cooler than expected inflation report out this morning. here to dive deeper is james number two. chief investment officer with mainstreet research. and kathy senior vice president and chief economist at nationwide mutual. james, let me begin with you. you say the economy is kind of right where the fed would like it. even though they keep saying inflation is too high for their taste. you don't think the fed would cut rates at all this year, and you think we are in the incipient stages of a nice bull run? >> yeah, tyler. thank you. good afternoon to you, and kelly. i think the fed does. they got it right where they wanted. i know the market would love for them to lower rates. gdp. the north of 4%. if unemployment very strong, and corporate profits coming in way better than expected.

these are the hallmarks of a new business cycle. one that's really productivity based with cai tailwinds. and you can have these kind of environments. the last time we had it was 20 years ago. you might remember that from the 90s when you have the tech lead market. and you have rights but cut high for a while without the fed doing much. >> too much attention on rates. maybe not enough attention on earnings, number one. in productivity growth number two. kathy, how does that strike you? >> well, i think one thing i would disagree with is i do think the fed is poised to lower rates this year. and i think the data this morning keeps december, and also september alive really. and i think that said i do think the economy has been quite resilient. but, everything is on the margin. we are seeing some slow in

employment growth. moderation. maybe that's a better word. then you saw that filtered through the income. now, we saw that with retail sales. you are seeing this makes moderation which is what the fed wants. i would agree. that's what they want, and they want the moderation of inflation. but, i think it opens the door to rate cuts. but, i do agree that the equity market is putting probably too much focus on that and not enough on where his earnings in the forward trajectory of the economy? if the fed gets this right we get a soft landing. that is good for the equity market. i don't think at this point we are in the early part of a new cycle. we are probably still in the late portion of a business cycle. >> if you think this is kind of a 90s boom i'm some pathetic to that point of view. but, a lot of us remember the.com crash as well. how do we thread the needle but about enjoying our performance? but, seeing the script indifferently? >> yeah, kelly the stone and

well. but, they can go on for a long time. productivity growth cycles that are usually led by tech often times need to be growth north of four. which is where we are. and think about this. the 90s. we had 10 year treasury adding 6% during that period. inflation 3 1/2. the same set up. we think we are early in the cycle, because of this margin expansion from ai. but, you start to think where are we in that cycle to manage risk? we think it's the very early stages. the first year of what we think is a 7 to 9 year cycle. that's typically held on business cycles last. so, p/e ratios are still reasonable for most of the market. at the magnificent six. but, for most of the markets. that tells us we've got a long way to go. but, as student investors will have to be careful as in the pe

versus growth rates. i always suggest you stop losses. but, that's a tactical thing we do. manage risk as we go along, but we are early stages of this thing. >> kathy, how much do you strut trust the inflation of these things? 0.3% after four consecutive months of 0.4%. it is a small decline by any standard, obviously. how much do you trust that this is the kind of momentum we are likely to see? and to the kind of momentum that's going to allow the fed to do as you think it will, and that is cut rates may be in the beginning of september? >> great point. we really need to verify that. i think you hope -- you like to say trust. but, i think you hope this continues. i think it's good reason to think the really strong numbers we got in the first quarter are sort of anomalous. that we are you are back now to address inflationary trend. you look through the data.

what really bailed us out in a sense was goods. goods inflation became more deflationary. if you look at the service sector it is still pretty sticky. called off a little. but, if you look at the transportation cost, medicare services. they are still running high. so, i think we continue to trend lower. but, it's probably going to be frustratingly slow. enough to allow fed to cut rates. but, were still going to struggle a little bit with high service inflation. >> i was struck listening to james that he thinks we are still early cycle. can he be right? >> so, you know from a macroeconomic perspective what we look at is the unemployment rate for instance is still very low. yes. we've seen a few tics higher. but, to me there is still stretch resources in the economy. and we still have inflation high. it's hard to see a new cycle

starts with those dynamics. right? the feds looking to cool things down. so, to me that means slower growth. usually, in the early portion of a new cycle you get a robust economic growth. and the fed wants the opposite. otherwise, were not going to slow inflation down. i guess you have a little bit of a healthy debate here. >> james, a final word? >> yeah. i love the debate. i love that we are both on different sides of this, and i think investors want to be really careful here about being too embarrassed or not confident enough. there's $6 trillion in market money funds sitting on the sidelines that should be in equity markets. sooner or later that's going to get dragged in from all the formal people have been watching corporate profits continue to get better than expected. i would be worried if the fed reduced rates in the beginning of a new productivity cycle. because then they are going to stoke the inflation they are

trying to stay away from. that's where we see them sort of sitting back, and just enjoying the data as it remains now. and i think it's going to be like that the rest of the year. >> super interesting. anything that can help us solve the productivity puzzle would go right to the heart of this. thank you both so much for your time. let's get a bit more insight from today's data. rick santelli on the floor. >> reporter: yes, thank you kelly. i'm with jim bianco. best i can say is mostly as expected. sequentially lower in terms of cpi, but well above the feds to present target. what did you think about the numbers? >> i kind of agree. i think what you got his moderation in the inflation numbers. that's what everybody is looking for. that's the good news. the bad news is we are moderating around 3%. we are not seeing anywhere near around the 2% number. and what's especially concerning about getting 2% is

that equivalent rent which we talked about going into the number printed .4 again. >> yeah, no help there. >> reporter: it's other outliers, because they pick and choose. the market is definitely pro- earnings, pro-economy. and whether the fed uses are not the momentum trade his life and while in equities. >> absolutely. you can see that with the things they pick. they peg auto insurance, and get worried about it because it's very high. but, were not picking the good stuff that's low. we want to look at the stuff that's overstating inflation, and then dismiss it. we don't want to look at the stuff that's understating inflation, and dismiss that. >> reporter: absolutely. this holding the market is wrong. i can be actionable with any price on the dow with any price on the closing price. what is maybe of course is what investors think is going to happen in the future that they pricing today. and what you think is the main thought on investors who scrambling to buy in equities?

>> they are saying now that rates are coming down the competition a 5% yield should be positive for equities. you have to keep in mind with the bond market over the last year. every move has been an overreaction. 5% in october. 380 in december. 475 last month. now, 435 now. the bond market doesn't just turn around and move the other way. it doesn't adjust. it doesn't have a new range. it has these wild moves in one direction or the other. >> reporter: we have one minute left for my favorite question i've been saving till the end. what if we never can get to the 2% target of the fed? where's the endgame of air? >> the only way i think we get there is with a recession and you killed a man. >> reporter: yet, but when the recession is over i'm thinking it's going to go back up. >> i'm thinking the realization might come in that the fed is only straight slightly

restrictive at a quarter of 5 1/2. maybe three rate cuts is all they need to get back to neutral. but for the half of the 10 year notes might be neutral, and if the economy speeds up we might have to see much higher interest rates. and gone are this idea that were going to go back to three or 2%. let alone, zero. >> reporter: sounds to me like you think basically the rally and treasury price, and the rally in stocks was mostly because of the fact that it wasn't worse. >> exactly. he said, i'm not going to raise rates. let's rally the market, because you're not going to raise rates because it's not worse. >> reporter: there you go. we just summed it up for you kelly. from chicago, back to you. coming up, the biden administration using cherubs to keep chinese ev makers at bay. but, here in the u.s. could this drive prices higher, and. plus, speaking of which we will speak to a diupr srto launching electric school buses here in the u.s. power lunch will be right back.

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if you would be on the long- standing tensions between the u.s. and china you can see the real reason why the biden administration targeted chinese ev's. u.s. automakers can compete on the prices. even today neil is launching a lower-cost family-friendly model. >> reporter: hey, kelly. neil founder william lee said president biden's tariff's are unreasonable, and said chinese ev makers compete on the strength of their products. this is what he told me in an exclusive video. >> our achievements in china are entirely due to innovation

and the progress of the competitive market. i don't think it's reasonable for the u.s. government to oppose such high tariff's on chinese electric and new energy vehicles. besides, who are the victims? american consumers, and glioma global climate change. i think it's very serious, and very wrong. >> nio's new lower-cost brand is called onvo. the newer brand sl 60. geared towards families. and it's a longer, wider, and roomier. yet, priced at 13% cheaper at $30,000. we are all struck. where are these cars currently selling? do they sell overseas? $30,000, is that what that car was going to sell for in china? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. it was interesting, because i asked him that very question. he said he's eyeing the overseas market.

but, for now he's looking at china to launch, and deliver t by september. but, what i thought was also interesting is that he confirmed to me that nio is working with a lower-cost arrival byd on the batteries to keep the cost down for this particular brand. i think as you guys have been reporting quite a lot at this point that pid is known for having very, very cheap ed is ev's. to the tune of nine or $10,000. >> all right, thank you very much. but, even with those tariff's it may not be enough to keep those chinese vehicles out of the u.s. our reporter michael whelan is here to explain. my notes say that you regard these tariff is as a near-term protectionism that may delay, but not stop chinese automakers from coming more to the u.s. with ev's. why do you say that? >> i say that, because i've

been talking to trade. and they are ssentially just calling it a temporary production alyssum. lake eunice was just mentioning with nio and be uid. they are trying to stop or delay chinese from coming here with ev's. but, everyone i've talked to has said it's pretty much a blip on the radar. they are going to come here eventually, and they are going to do it regardless if it's a tariff or not. they can go to mexico, and report from there. they can join the joint venture or i mean they can also just kind of come here from china and still afford the tariff. i drove the dy d siegel for $2000 in china. it still probably pretty competitively to the u.s. market. >> so, they can come in and they can still be competitive. that would be one way they could take on the tariff's.

and still be price competitive with european or american made brands. number one. or, number two they could get around the tariff is y joint venturing with the mexican manufacturer or brazilian manufacturer or canadian auto factory? >> yeah. or, they can establish the presence there themselves. and we still have free trade between mexico, and canada. and byd specifically has been looking to build a plant in mexico. and if they do that there is nothing right now telling them they can't do that. also, with the tariff is right now the only address ev's. when you look at chinese vehicles coming to the u.s. right now there's four miles specifically they report 144,000 of last year, and the tariff's do nothing to address that. and the chinese are just looking at v's. they are looking at ice products. they are looking at hybrids. we see it happening in europe, it is a matter of time before

they arrive on u.s. shores. >> does the u.s. auto industry, including tesla have an answer as to how to compete with the $20,000 chinese ev? >> not yet without losing money. tesla is working on their low- price entrance reportedly. and general motors is also working on their platform. they are actually doing drives right now. the chevy equinox ev that starts at about $35,000. but, there is nothing yet to rival the chinese kind of technology that they have. and what nvidia three was talking about with the battery technology, and the amount of different offerings they have it's very true that the automakers are trying to play catch-up. and this is meant to pretty much delay or give the automakers time to adapt and try to catch on when it comes to the ev invasion. >> so, we do have to go. but, i want to push back on that thought that inevitably is what i'm hearing you say. inevitably, these chinese

vehicles will make it into the u.s. market. how can you be so sure? because the u.s. is not paula powerless. the committed 200% tariff or 300% tariff. or, they could put a restriction on the vehicle coming in from our trading partner in mexico. >> they could, but they also go through a joint venture. you talk about the u.s. market share. we talk about gm, ford, chrysler. they have 74% of the market share in the 70s, 80s. then the japanese came in, the koreans came in, the germans came in. their market share has dwindled over the past decade. >> is intact with the u.s. is trying to avoid a repeat of? right? >> yes. this is what people have been telling me. the chinese have gotten so much competitive, and so much better in their manufacturing. it is only a matter of time

until they get here. i've been hearing for decades that the chinese are coming, but they didn't have the quality, and also the resources to come here. a big hurdle for that was engines. they no longer need engines to come here. they have batteries, they have motors, and they could get here much more quickly. >> thank you, michael. >> it's so fascinating. so, now they can -- even if these tariff's are successful is there a world where they could backfire on the u.s. auto industry's loans on the push to all electrical driving consumer resentment behind vehicle prices? he is founder and ceo of car dealership guy. it's great to have you here. what's your take on all of this? it's kind of the point michael was making. if the world is going in this direction of cheap chinese ev's that are evidently of fine quality. what happens if the u.s. is not part of that? >> on one hand these tariff's although there is no chinese cars being reported today they do protect u.s. jobs. that's one side of it. the other side of it you can

say is it's actually inflationary for consumers. it does not benefit consumers at all. it's not how a free market should operate. if you really think about it i do agree with michael that long- term chinese cars ill enter the united states. i speak to lots of dealers, and it seems like everyone is concerned about mexico. that seems to be the big focus on what happens. byd is big in mexico already. what happens if those trying to get vehicles into the u.s. that way. in the short term it seems more reasonable than possibly importing directly from china. especially, given tariff's. >> here's my question. for the last four years let's call it. maybe three to be really fair. when the u.s. uto industry was really focused on new ev's, and new models. the ford f-150 ev is $100,000 vehicle. why did nobody make a $20,000 entry-level ev that could've perhaps forestalled the arrival of this chinese competition?

>> it's interesting you $700,000, because i believe that's how much ford is losing on every ev they sell on a net basis. so, it's pretty bad. to answer your question what happened was we had a decade of low interest rates. vehicle prices crept up. so lantus is a notorious example with increased prices from 2019 all he way to 2024 by about 50%. what you had was ou had this decade of zero interest rates. people are fording more expensive vehicles, and cheap vehicles were simply not a thing anymore. american consumer got hooked on luxury vehicles, bigger vehicles, more options, more features. guess what? interest rates are not zero anymore. today i tweeted yesterday actually that the interest rate on a car today is a nearly 10% on a new car. that's a 20 plus year record.

you're in an environment where consumer expectations need to retract. people can't afford this. but, we felt up to this point in the economy. so, you have a really problematic environment where the vehicle prices are a lot higher than people can afford. >> exactly, and perhaps part of your issue to your point is is it true that automakers including tesla can't produce a $20,000 rival to cheap chinese ev's without. should we subsidize their ability to do so? so, they can organically stay ahead of what's coming? >> yeah, it could be. there hasn't been a large focus on it for the last several years, decade really. so, now the market is starting to realize some consumers want tvs. many more want hybrid. maybe we should rethink our strategies, and focus on what the consumer wants. we overbilled supply for the last five years when it came to ev's, and we got ahead of ourselves. now, were getting back to balance. time will tell. i think the manufacturers are realizing it's a different economy. i don't know if are going to go to cheaper cars to be honest

with you. i think what's more likely is going to see higher leasing penetration with consumers, and alternatives to traditional financing. that does lower your payment to 15, 20%. that's been the bridge for consumers. >> so, you kind of answered my question. but, i'm going to ask it anyway. you talk to a lot of car dealers. what you dealers tell you about the current market? and what are dealer selling the manufacturers about what customers want? >> dealers have been very vocal to manufacturers that they have over swung the pendulum within the ev market. right? i want to be very clear. i think there's phenomenal ev's on the market, and it's a growing market. but, the pendulum swung too far. we overbilled supply of the ev's that people don't want. many of these are -- frankly, tesla has been the leader. but, even they have dropped their prices 20 to 50% over the last year and a half. >> yeah. i'm sorry to hear that.

>> and its many dealers, and consumers in a similar but boat where it's on their balance sheet. so, that's been the case. hybrids have been the talk of the town. dealers have been asking for more hybrids. consumers are buying more hybrids. the market share of hybrids is at an all-time high. so, people are buying these -- we had a has done a phenomenal job of that, because they have focused on hybrids and what the consumer wants. dave really listens to the customer. the last thing i would tell you is there's a funny text message i got. this is from a top 25 dealer in the country. he wrote to me. he stated maybe if they were in china maybe these cars would make it to the united states from china. just a funny text i received yesterday about this topic. it's clearly very political. time will tell how it's going to play out. >> thank you very much. he's the car dealership guy, founder, and ceo.

still to come, a meme stock whiplash. some plummeting nearly 50% after an initial short squeeze climate. more on that move next. is we had to break we celebrate asian american, native, and hawaiian pacific islands are heritage month. a ico, and cnbc change. >> initially, when i came to the u.s. i didn't speak any english. i had to listen first before i spoke. i think that's allowed me to observe trends happening as they unfold, and really shift what i'm doing. what i'm thinking. when i'm working on. i thk th'sinat how i was able to see the early social media wave, and more recently on the ai side.

>> dan, it's all a lie all the time. talk to me about company's biggest priorities right now. >> 324 is the year all about scale. as companies look to scale their ai systems they're going to need access to some of that critical hardware. which often puts into attention the fragility of the computer comply zane. >> what is the computer supply chain? >> for companies to be able to use. there is a significant

supply and demand issue with some of the cpus. that doesn't even take into account the fact that 90% of the high-end gpu's that are empowering ai systems are manufactured in a single facility. >> what should companies do about this? >> we are working with companies in two different capacities. if you're going to use ai to power critical business systems you want to make sure you have dedicated environments. and were working with companies like delta be able to build ai inbox solutions they could run and prem in their environments. second, rather than using the most cutting edge large language models for everything sometimes taking a small language model, and tuning it for a particular function works just as well as the large language model at about a 10th of the cost. >> thank you so much for sharing those strategies. >> my pleasure.

we got some big moves in the solar and commodity space to tell you about today. pippa stevens has the next story. this is a rare bright spot in the solar industry they reported last night getting top and bottom line estimates. ceo jan sugar told jim cramer last night at their backlog has

more than doubled. the reason why they're doing well is because they create the sophisticated trackers that then follow the sun throughout the day. so, the developers want to use their equipment because it means there solar arrays are that much more efficient. on the flipside sun powered down within 20%. they were caught up in that yesterday. shares were up 60%. it is important to note here that about 80% of their outstanding shares are sold short, and also 25% of the stock is available to the public. this really is a buy or beware. moving over to copper. i did hit a record high today. we've seen this anonymous rally of more than 20% so far this year. but, it does feel like this latest move is driven by a short squeeze. we've seen a lot of financial players palin .11 trend followers getting in on this trade. people are now warning that maybe this is unsustainable. that being said it does feel like after copper trade for so long as it now has been reset a little bit. and it's going to be higher

lows looking forward just because of that energy transition and dictators center demand drivers. >> watch out uranium. uranium twitter. but, thank you very much. let's get to the bertha coombs now. news officials have said they begin telling a dock system of the waters of the gaza strip. and it should be installed over the next 24 hours. allowing for the delivery of humanitarian aid into the enclave. the dock will be anchored 3 to 5 miles off the coast. and will be moved from the dock to a causeway on gaza beach. it comes as the u.n. says there is a full-blown famine in northern gaza after even months of war. in galveston, texas a barge had a causeway and has caused an oil spill. that caused this morning. the incident led to the closure of the gulf intercultural waterway. a significant commercial maritime channel in the area.

police are also blocking the road. which is the only bridge for traffic on, and off pelican island. an education department has expanded deadline to apply student loan forgiveness. borrowers can now request a loan consolidation by june 30th. it basically combines federal student loans into one new federal loan, and could help them get their debt canceled sooner than they would have otherwise. previous deadline was april 30th. kelly back over to you. >> thank you very much. still to come, the next installment of our anatomy of the consumer. today were heading to the belly of the beast. yes, restaurants. and as we had to break checkout shares of amazon and alphabet. increasing stakes and those two cham. te nes cham. te nes power lunch will be right back with every swing and block, your game plan never. ♪♪ some still call it luck.

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welcome back everybody. today marks the third edition of our consumer week series. new retail sales showing signs of slowing from u.s. shoppers. while inflation is getting just a bit prices to remain high in restaurants. so much so that mcdonald's is moving to lower-priced options.

we've been hearing about this all week. kate rogers is here to tell us more. >> hi, tyler. sources confirming to cnbc that mcdonald's five dollar value meal which will include four items for five dollars have cast votes to be offered beginning next month. the mill will include a mcchicken or make double. four piece nuggets, fries, and a drink. the offering will run for about a month beginning on june 25th. in a statement mcdonald's told cnbc we know how much it means to our customers when mcdonald's offer meaningful value and communicates international advertising. that's been true since our very beginning, and never more important than it is today. the company noted that lower income consumers were pulling back a bit, and ceo chris kinchen ca said that the company would be working on a national value platform. we did report last week that coca-cola also contributed marketing funds to sweeten the deal for franchisees who run the majority of mcdonald's

locations. >> we will see who might be next to match that or maybe try to offer something a little bit cheaper. let's take a little bit deeper into the gastro health of these consumers. we will talk to jeffrey bernstein about that. jeff ray, we see the likes of mcdonald struggling. they have to move to lower price points. can their profit margins handle this transition? >> that's equate a great question, and a conversation that the corporation has with franchisees every day. importantly, franchisees profitability is close to where it was pre-covid. they are in a good financial position. the hope is that this would not be margin diluted. but, rajan. get some of those consumers to trade up that would be -- that's the ultimate goal for the program. >> that would be nice. if we could broaden this out this continues to be the number one place in the retail sales

report and elsewhere we see consumer strength, and were consumers seem to still be willing to pay up. maybe in the macro data. which is becoming a little bit more choppy in the last earnings season. >> if you asked me that question a month ago i would've told you the consumers are holding up extremely well. and that restaurants on the very stable and of consumer discretionary. and we only see it every day. the category tends to be fairly resilient. the consumer doesn't want to trade to eating at home. restaurant sales. if the consumer has a job they feel like they can pick up food on the way home or go out to eat. but, through the most recent earnings cycle over the past two weeks we've heard of much greater. the lower income consumer is feeling increasingly pinched. that they've exhausted a lot of their savings, and stimulus money. with a lot of restaurants

raising prices some of those consumers on the lower end might be reporting to a few more meals at home. >> two quick questions if i made. you have on mcdonald's and overweight rating which is what one might be if one goes several times a week for mcdonnell mcnuggets, fries, make double, and cook for five dollars. so, you have an overweight rating on it. does this move by mcdonald's make you feel better about that rating? >> this move makes me feel better. mcdonald's is in a great position. more broadly speaking they are targeting a lower income consumer. the consumer tends to trade down. they might trade down into a fast food restaurant. depending on the occasion. i think they are very well positioned. this value platform getting it approved by the franchise system for a month on television is going to drive incremental traffic. >> i can imagine.

let me ask you quickly is this likely to spark some kind of price war with its either direct or indirect competitors? >> yes, it is. they have a number of fast food competitors who are well aware, and anxiously awaiting mcdonald's new value platform. i'm sure they are working on it internally right now and how to compete on that front. >> fantastic, and that was quick. jeffrey bernstein, thanks. and you could hear as always on our podcast. be sure to follow, and listen to power lunch on your favorite streaming service. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ engineered to minimize noise. and built for adventure. which can also be your own quiet cabin in the woods.

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welcome back everybody. seeing some moves in the industrial ai space. >> a number of industrial is powering big tech with electrical, and cooling technology is used in datacenter ai.

eden has been at the forefront of this trade. they have added nearly $100 billion since 2019. they said ai servers will account for more than 20% of data central electricity demand by 2028. he also did seem concerned about capacity constraints limiting growth. you will see stock hitting a new high. is more than double so far this year. and take note of te conductivity. communication orders which includes ai client surged about 60% in the first quarter year- over-year. you will see that stock also hitting a new high. this as we await earnings tomorrow morning. >> 20% of demand in the next few years. it makes sense. thank you very much. coming up, we will hear from a cnbc disruptor member. wll be right back.

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all right, welcome back to "power lunch", everybody. cnbc's annual disruptor 50 list is out, and ai is, of course, a big focus. to see the full list, scan the

qr code on your screen or go to cnbc.com/disruptors. i don't know which would be the easiest way. our next guest is trying to disrupt student transportation, school buses, that is. just today, her company announces the nation's first 100% electric school bus fleet for a major school district in oakland, california. ritu narayan is the ceo and founder of zum, which is number 31 on the cnbc 2024 disruptor list. she is also a 2024 cnbc change maker. ritu, glad to have you with us. tell us about this exciting opportunity with the oakland unified school district to supply how many buses, and how soon? >> thank you, tyler, for having me. i am so excited to be here. so, electric school buses are having a moment right now. we are announcing oakland is the first school district in

the country to be 100% electrified. what is unique about this is all 74 electric school buses we have here will be on our platform and have bidirectional charging. what does that mean to the community? when these school buses are not used for transportation, they will be used as a storage device to give energy back to the grid at scale, and this means they will add to the grid resiliency, and also amazing sustainability benefits to the community in terms of reducing carbon emissions. >> in other words, they are both a consumer of power, and a supplier of it? so, how does that work? in other words, if the buses are sitting on the lot, are they hooked up and then some of the power from the battery gets sent over to the main grid, or what? how does that work? >> yeah, so, the exciting piece is that the school bus is the largest factory on wheels, it is 4 to 6 times the tesla battery, and also an ideal asset to be electrified because

it has a very predictable local patent, and not used for transportation in the peak demand of energy, which is usually the evenings and summer. so, when these electric school buses are not used for transportation, we are using a platform to discharge them and give energy back to the grid. so, think about it, you would charge them at low peak hours and discharge them and give energy back to the grid at peak hours. such a win-win across the board. >> who manufactures these buses? and if you don't mind -- and maybe you can't say -- how much do they cost? >> so, we work with a variety of manufacturers. our goal is to accelerate the energy transition, so we are working with almost all the partners in the ecosystem. what we look for is the safety, reliability, and eeg enablement, that is the critical piece of it. the buses today are more expensive, at least 2 to 3 times more expensive than the regular buses. one of the things where we have

accelerated energy transformation is actually getting off the ground floor at both the state and federal level, and also this energy deployment that gives energy back to the grid and is able to provide revenue back is also one of the ways to bring the cost at par with the ice bus with the energy transition. >> ritu, congratulations on this new initiative in oakland. cnbc is going to continue its review of the d50 reveal with the company ranks number four on the list, that is brex. we will hear from them at 4:00. still to come, is the meme train losing steam? game stop and amc shares plunging. we will diusthscs at after a quick break. (♪♪) iconic brands speak for themselves. we are so excited to welcome you to our community.

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welcome back. about two minutes left in the show and several stories you need to know about. let's get to it. starting with the meme mania frenzy showing signs of fizzling out already. shares of amc and game stop down about 20% today. game stop was up 180% this week before the session, amc up 135. >> we will look at those numbers, there they are, right there. i don't think i would follow advice from someone there, it feels a little out of my league. i don't understand them. >> listen, the question is, for people who may have gotten burned the first time around, what can they do now? >> yes, get back in and make up some of the losses you may have suffered. let's talk about the nfl, never a bad time to talk about the nfl. new partnership with netflix, the streaming giant set to air two christmas day games in 2024 and one holiday game apiece in

'25 and '26. it marks the first live game deal between the nfl and netflix, although the league already has a longtime deal with amazon to stream thursday night football games. streaming, that is where sports is headed. financial terms for now, not disclosed. the next big fish one here is going to be the nba conference. >> and if you think about the people that are going to benefit most from all of this, it is the players whose salaries are about to go way up. if you enter netflix and the tech giant -- >> if "inside mba" goes away -- >> i have some intel that could be coming. >> oh, okay. >> that was my first thought as well, but they could come together. uber announcing a whole host of products and features at its showcase in new york with most aimed at saving customers rides on money and food. they have shuttles and destinations now like concerts to the airport, allowing caregivers to book rides for loved ones and new perks for costco members. >> very interesting. they are a very enterprising company and they have managed

to branch out from their initial concept and seemingly successfully. >> indeed. investors want to make sure it is profitable and that there is an uptick. we look at the market as we tee it up for scott walker, we are about 150 points away from 40,000 on the dow, s&p and nasdaq may be up -- they are inching very close to all-time highs. >> the dow is about 40 points shy of an all-time high right now, but you are right, it will be at about 40 k after today. >> thanks for watching "power lunch". >> "closing bell" starts right now. all right, guys, thank you so much, i am scott wapner live from the new york stock exchange. this make or break begins with record highs. we will ask our experts over this final stretch including writ holds wealth management, josh brown, and new hedge cameron dotson with me. in the meantime, let's see the scorecard with 60 minutes to go in regulation. a cooler than expected cpi report, and we are watching the dow closely, should be a brown -- up 3807 for a new high and as you can see, we are above that