evable. ♪♪ ♪♪ welcome to "power lunch," everybody, alongside kelly evans. i'm tyler mathisen. welcome to the second half of the year, july 1. investors hoping it will be much like the first tech in the crosshairs in europe right now, though. meta's new model could be in breach of europe's new law. and french anti-trust regulators may be prepping anti-trust charges against nvidia. >> plus, with another contentious election season upon us, companies can expect to be caught in the crossfire of recent issues and culture war. and the best thing to do is to know their customer. let's check the markets and the

numbers so far for the year. today, we see the dow up a tenth of a percent, similar for the s&p. the nasdaq leading the way with a half a percent gain for the year so far, as tyler referenced, we're talking about 14% gains for the s&p 500. 19% for the nasdaq. on that note, let's bring in mike santoli. michael, is the biggest obstacle to a strong back half just these sky-high expectations? >> yeah, kelly. i think at least when it comes to earnings forecasts, the expectations have been ratcheted pretty high. it's a pretty daunting hurdle, flo at least from the out. 9% second quarter, aggregate s&p earnings growth. that has not come down over the course of the past three months. it seems as if analysts got the memo that companies have been beating by 3 to 5 percentage points in aggregate per quarter, so they haven't actually cut to lower the bar. that's one thing. i think the treasury yield move is another that we have to be keeping our eye on, as the market seems to be doing, today, especially considering that this lift in treasury yields coming after some soft inflation numbers, and also economic data

that's been a little bit deceleration mode, i would say. beyond that, though, the upper trend is quite strong. even the average stock is not down. i mean, i think you could definitely talk about the narrowness of the rally. it's been an impediment to a lot of people embracing this bull market. on the other hand, it's not as if the rest of the market is really in free fall. and then i guess, the final point is seasonals. if you really believe that the first two weeks of the july are two of the strongest weeks historically of the year, it's tough to fight, at least knowing nothing else. >> so, you say that earnings expectations are for 9% growth. are there areas that people are worried about, where they might not get 9% growth? >> well, i think, tyler, there's worry outside of the big expensive mega-cap tech stocks, that have been the source of much of the drive higher in those estimates. i don't think it's an across-the-board, everyone assumes profits will be great. but it does seem as if looking

at the reactions of some of the reporters like micron last week, it suggests that things have to be pretty perfect in terms of guidance for the market to really embrace it. >> i remember one july, when it was a long, long time ago, everything was going beautifully, everything was swimming, and intel came in and missed. and the market sort of stumbled for the rest of the year as a result of that. >> back when intel was a bellwether. >> yeah, one of the bellwethers crumbles or trips a little bit, it can be -- it can metastasize, right? >> sure. absolutely, yeah. >> which is interesting -- which, by the way, how the market has so far handled this little peak in nvidia's share price. not so much the earnings estimates, but the fact that it peaked a couple of weeks ago, and the overall market is trying to hang in there. >> mike, hang on. after a blistering first half, steady inflation and a march higher in earnings, our next guest says that tech stocks are the final piece of the puzzle. joining us now to explain, let's bring in mike bailey, director of research with fbb capital

partners. mike, welcome. good to have you with us. how confident are you that earnings are going to come in at those lofty levels? because in the end, it's really earnings that drive stock prices. >> absolutely. we feel pretty good. i think your last commentator, mike santoli, had a good point about expectations for earnings. i think that's really critical. it's not only companies coming in and delivering, but delivering what, delivering compared to which benchmark. typically, analysts tend to be a little too overconfident long-term and get shared short-term, and take estimates down. it could be a little bit less upside, this earnings season, with this cycle. however, you know, stepping back a little bit, taking a longer-term view, companies generally are beating expectations. we may see a little bit less, you know, magnitude of those beats. but we still see companies in pretty good shape. economy's looking good, tech stocks are that final piece, but so we're sort of pulling all of these things together and looking forward to the kick off

of the big earnings season. >> people tend to believe two things, this is a real rally driven by margins growth, but number two that the summer can often make for some tough markets. >> absolutely. and i think you're feeding back into that is volatility. and you look at the vix and the fear index, it's basically nowhere to be seen. is it's as if investors are really kind of pulling back. and you can worry about some complacency feeding into markets. you haven't seen a lot of down 2% days, for example. sour putting some pieces together for something that could be, you know, maybe not as exciting as folks would hope. you know, one way to think about it, it's fourth of july week coming up, people are going to be seeing fireworks. what are investors looking for? the big pieces that are out there, the economy, that's nice, fireworks looking pretty good, earnings are pretty good. the last piece, the big finale is tech stocks and tech earnings. we haven't seen that yet and investors are really waiting for that big finale and that could feed back into things. you mentioned the intel disappointment years ago. the big ai-related tech stocks,

that will be the big final piece that investors are watching for the next couple of weeks. >> sbewe've spoken for two minu and for the first time in cnbc history, we have not mentioned the words "interest rates" or "the fed." does the market have to have an interest rate cut to continue its march upward? >> a couple ways to handle that. i think there needs to be a cut at some point. there could also be a bit of -- sort of the fed saying, it's going to be next time, it's going to be next time. the market is okay with anticipating something. if j. powell says, forget it, we're done, lock them in forever at high levels, that's a big thing. >> that's what it feels like is happening here. we keep -- not kicking the can. that's too harsh a metaphor, and it's a terriblice cliche to boo. but at any rate, we keep moving the ball down the field. but it is keeping the interest rate argument in the stew, somewhere. >> i greed, and i think the flip

side is, you know, in the meantime, we're sitting here with relatively high interest rates. what are companies doing? oh, by the way, they're doing just fine. they're growing earnings. stocks are going up. i think, in the situation is pretty good right now for companies and they're able to handle all the higher rates. however, the longer this drags out or cfos say, hey, wait a minute, these rates are going to be high forever, there could be a problem. i think in the interim, as long as we're hearing it could be a few more months this year, late this year, early next year, i think companies can handle that. and that messaging and that kind of finessing that for j. powell, that's going to be really critical in terms of the timing. >> mike, what do you make of the general mood of the public here, as its own gauge of euphoria and what not. we have people broadly pessimistic and cautious about the broader economy, but very involved in the stock market. this morning, my handy man, i got talking to him and he was bullish on amazon and he's bullish on square, and he's got a whole trading setup for how he deals with oil as a sell signal for the s&p. i was just laughing, he was very sophisticated. i've heard story after story

after story like this for the last couple of years. even at a fund-raising meeting the other night, instead of people asking how they could raise cash like usual, they say, what if we take trading profits. how could it be that we have a public that's sort of pessimistic and conservative about the economy, very involved in the stock market, very sophisticated, almost making money in that way, what is all of this tell you, if anything? >> well, your analogy here of the handyman giving stock tips. my first reaction is uh-oh, here we go, that if it's that or the taxi cab driver or et cetera. i think there's a difference between what people and i what they do. consumer confidence numbers have been pretty bad for a while, that's what they're saying, but what are they doing? they're actually going out and buying stuff. i think there's a bit of a divergence there about the way people are thinking and acting. in general, in terms of the big drivers of consumer sentiment and investor sentiment, generally, it's incomes. you have a job or are getting paid, collect the box, yes. and what does your balance sheet look like?

what's the value of your home, the value of your stocks? that looks pretty good. in general, those are the big pieces supporting sentiment. we'll have to see how it plays out. >> the number from chris is $30 trillion is the increasing in housing and stock market wealth in this country since 2019. that's big number. >> absolutely. it's quite massive. it's almost hard to kind of comprehend. to be fair, a lot of that is concentrated in some of the bigger groups out there, at the higher end. however, a lot of people, anybody on that auto enrollment for the 401(k), they're seeing a piece of that. that is helping them. it's feeding back into broader investment sentiment and wants them to keep coming back and reinvesting. >> one of your picks is amazon. why? >> we like amazon. i notice amazon apple are both up today. i would be buying amazon hand over fist over apple in general. both companies are okay, but taking a look at amazon, they're both trading at a similar multiple. you look at the growth of an amazon, this year, they're not going to cover, and next year, and the year after, 20 to 25%

growth. also, you know, what else is interesting there? they've got three growth drivers. you're not putting all of your h eggs in one basket. ecommerce is doing fine. boosting margins there. cloud computing doing great there. and take a look at online ads. three pieces of the puzzle doing quite well. other tech companies are great, but amazon is very compelling. we think you could continue to own it for a number of months or even years. >> that's what my handyman said, as well. he was bullish on amazon i feel like i'm tug him again. it's backyards. >> do you do electrical work, mike? >> i'll give you a call later on that one. >> thanks. >> we have some big moves in bond yields today. the ten-year especially, reproaching 450. let's get out to rick santelli in chicago for more. rick? >> hi, kelly. it's been a wild session for treasury yields. yields in general. now, if you look at a two-year and ten-year on one chart for the last six hours, it should jump out at you, right toward the middle of that char is the

big drop in yields that occurred at 10:00 eastern. that makes perfect sense. we had the pmis, and the pmis were weaker than expected, but especially prices paid. and that definitely incited buying, pushing yields down. well, that didn't live very long, because right around 10:30 eastern, we saw the supreme court hit the wires in terms of the immunity decision. and i hate to get political, but yields moved up then. now, why would they do that? there's a couple of reasons being talked about. one is that that potentially could give a sweep to the conservatives to republicans and that would lead to higher deficits. i think it's so much more simple than that. mainstream media will definitely talk a whole lot more and write a whole lot more about debt and deficits with the trump administration in the white

house, especially considering the 2017 tax cut. now that indeed will be a motivation. if you look at a ten-year right now, it's on pace for a one-month high-yield close, as you see on that chart that starts at the end of may. other things happen today as well. the along end was leading the way on those rates higher. just look at the last four sessions on the 2s, 10s spread. it's basically gone from minus 50 to minus 29 basis points. a huge move. and if you open the chart up, should we stay at this level? that would be the least inverted in two months. tyler, back to you. >> interesting analysis, rick santelli, as always. thank you! well, the new ceo of amazon web services hitting the ground running, looking to woo start-ups in need of cloud services. jon fortt sat down with aws ceo matt garman and has details, next.

welcome back! and check out shares of amazon. we were just talking about it. it's up 2.5% today over that $2 trillion market, up 6% in the past week, as it's built on its recent gains. now the head of its cloud p business is trying to woo silicon valley start-ups. our jon fortt just spoke with the head of aws. zb >> just a few minutes ago, i spoke with new aws ceo matt garman, first interview since taking the role a few months ago. we spoke about the growth trajectory for aws, and the significance of the intense interest in ai, and how he says aws' approach goes beyond the initial consumer-driven interest in chatgpt. >> rather than a consumer

interest with bolt-on insurance and enterprise capabilities after the fact, how do we give companies a secure platform to build on. even with all of these new capabilities, security is still first and foremost and what they're worried about. how do we make sure that they can operate in an environment that we know that their enterprise data is safe? and then how do we give them a really rich set of services, so they can go build what they need to do. the scope of things that customers are building is really broad. it's not just one application, not just a chat bot you can put on your website and put on your customer. many customers, if they stop there, they won't get the true value. we want a set of services that will help customers be able to build guardrails that they can build safe applications. combine multiple models together. it's not just one model that will give them the best performance, sometimes a small model and a big model, and a

variety of different providers that are bringing models together. it's capabilities like associating it with your enterprise data and a rag index, so you can make sure that you have sources of truth when you're trying to answer questions. >> of course, a rival microsoft has openai, but garmin is arguing aws will be the enterprise-grade platform for customers to tap into multiple models for multiple companies, not just open ai's chatgpt. he also told me how his team's efforts to save customers money and cut their aws bills a year ago built trust that's paying off more now and a lot more is coming up on overtime at 4:00 p.m. i also talked to him about that kate rooney scoop about going through the valley and talking to start-ups, giving them a better deal on the aws services. he said, indeed, they are doing that, because those smaller customers push and challenge aws, always have, they also push and challenge bigger customers to adopt newer services. so the strategy there -- >> i thought he was hoping if

you'd get in with a start-up, you'd keep the business when they're at multi-billion dollar companies. >> that, too. but if they push the bigger companies to move faster and perhaps do it with amazon welcome they can shift the narrative. >> john, thank you very much. we'll look forward to more on that on closing bell overtime, right? >> yeah. >> fantastic! >> coming up, a social media ruling, a blockbuster weekend for movies, and vanishing content. no power shortage here when we come back.

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welcome back to "power lunch." oil up nearly 2%, right around $83 a barrel. could that be a sign of big things to come for energy stocks in the second half of the year? pippa stevens have been looking into that. >> enthusiasm for energy stocks more or less petering out since the sector hit a record high back in april, and more than half the group now trading in correction or bear market territory. part of that is thanks to a lack of upside catalysts, with oil trading sideways. rohan reddy saying the group offers high cash flow supported dividends and is a potential

hedge against the oil shock later in the year. energy stocks have lagged oil itself, meaning there is a catch-up opportunity. in terms of set-up looking forward, kinder morgan, hess, and c conoco have the richest. apa, devon, and halliburton trade at the biggest discount. and when it comes to wall street's top picks, apa, halli halliburton, coterra and conoco have the biggest price targets. and reiterating it's overweight on baa her roe. >> oil has been pretty flat. it's been a real -- all year, really. >> it's been stuck in this range, and there's this lack of upside catalyst, on the floor side, you have opec supporting any floor in the prices, but you also have a cap in the sense that production is coming online from other places, the u.s., canada, brazil, et cetera. >> you mentioned a hedge against an oil shock later in the year.

the oil shock would come from the middle east? >> middle east, potentially. we've seen an escalation there in the red sea. we've kind of stopped talking about it in the broader news cycle, but ships are still diverting. if it escalates, we could get a shock there. we could see opec decide not to start unwinding their cuts and oil has come down. of course, we could get a very strong summer driving season, and finally, any interest rate cuts could act as a tail wind. if oil does rise, if you own the oil stocks, you have some protection from the impacts of higher prices. >> pippa, with thank you. thank you very much. >> let's get to julia boorstin now for the cnbc news update. julia? >> hunter biden is suing fox news over a fictional mock trial show focused on his foreign business dealings. the president's son accuses the mini series of using intimate images of him without his consent, which he argues violates the new york revenge porn law. fox aired the trial of hunter biden, but later removed it under threat of lawsuit by biden's attorneys. the new california law took

effect today, requiring bars and clubs to offer testing devices to protect people from spiked drinks. all 2,400 establishments in the state with licenses to sell beer, wine, and distilled spirits have to abide by the rule. the testing devices are required to be free or no more than wholesale cost. and the nba league champions are up for sale. the ownership group of the boston celtics led by billionaire wick grousebeck. they expect to sell this year or early next year with the balance closing in 2028. the group purchased the team in 2002 for $360 million. back over you. >> they will get a lot more than that when they sell. julia, thank you. nice to have you in the house. ahead on the program, tractor supply forced to abandon its diy initiatives ss after receiving backlash from customers. at, oupanies can't handle the

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the nasdaq composite all with modest gains there. a little bit off the highs. the nasdaq was up nearly 20% in the first half of the year. meanwhile, starbucks was down nearly 20% over that time. now the company working to improve stores with a new training system, rolling out this summer, making tweaks to help address ongoing bottlenecks in stores, handling up expected surges in traffic. >> it's called the siren craft system. it's now in more than 1,100 locations at starbucks across the country. these are behind the scenes changes, meant to make a material difference. there's now a play call role in place, who steps away from production and helps to solve for logjams and cafes like re-stock cups or helping when an unexpected crowd arrives pch previously, cold beverages were prioritized from start-to-finish, even if a hot beverage order came in first.

this could create traffic jams in the drive-through if someone ordered one of each. the cold will come out first. >> we now actually have proper sequencing between our hot and cold bar, especially as cold bar is becoming as popular as ever, to really have a consistent experience for the customers. so we're actually making them in the order they're coming in. >> the company says it's seen meaningful improvements in wait times where this has been implements so far. there's also an equipment component that will roll out on a smaller scale, featuring a custom ice system that will reduce steps for increase thats and get drinks to customers faster. that's all key as recent challenges have led to starbucks cutting guidance in its most recent quarter in april with u.s. traffic and same-store sales falling, and occasional customers, very important, coming in last. also key, guys, because beginning in july, starting today, they're going to open up the app to non-rewards members, so they believe that will boost traffic in orders over to you. >> am i right or wrong, but my

impression is that there may not be as many employees in the stores as any given time, and that that may be contributing to what i have found, personally, and you just reported, a degraded customer service experience. >> so, certainly, staffing and scheduling kind of depend on location, tyler, but you're getting at one of the key points with this siren trading system, is they want to make sure that they're able to better handle unexpected surges in traffic. starbucks maintains that it has made really good improvements in terms of staffing and scheduling in recent years, but that has also been a point of contention over the past few years, particularly with increase thats who have sought to unionize with workers united. it's an ongoing struggling. >> and online orders need to be there and be ready when you expect them to be. and also the cleanliness of the stores, i feel like maybe they haven't kept up as much as as they could. anyway, they're on the case. thanks so much, kate. >> thank you. >> speaking of starbucks, the company recently celebrating

pride month successfully. it's a change from last year, when some of its u.s. stores came under fire for not allowing pride decorations. meanwhile, tractor supply is backing off of its dei goals and initiatives following conservative backlash. among other things, tractor supply says they they'll now stop sponsoring pride festivals, with the culture wars in america showing no signs of dying down. what does this tell other companies about taking a stand on social issues. martin reid is a cnbc contributor. and america, it seems, as we indicated before, that it's really important for these companies to know thy customer. >> you're 100% correct, kelly, that's the mantra. and if you're going to bill yourself as the country's largest rural lifestyle retailer, you'll better know a little bit about what that rural lifestyle actually means. in some senses, you have to be able to craft a position around ideological viewpoints that are consistent with your customers, and if you're not able to do that, it looks quite bad if you

have to backtrack and kind of pull away from those positions. because it's called taking a stand for a reason. this is not a good look. >> i wonder if a company that has made inclusivity a part of its persona from the early days of the founding of the company gets maybe with some customers, a pass kpcompared with a compan that comes to that particular party later. am i on to something there? >> you're definitely on to something there, tyler. you're 100% correct. what it points to is the importance of the track record. if you're this kind of company that decides, i want to dabble in this viewpoint. you have to demonstrate to consumers that this is something that's authentic and you've been doing for some period of time. i think if you do that, you're essentially concretely signaling to the market place that you are that company. and so when your alues, your mission, and all of these

positions that you take actually hit the marketplace and people react them, they're reacting to them just like you said, tyler, in the context of understanding that you are that kind of company that you say you are. >> do you think that companies are back waeg from fighting in the culture wars? i've heard a lot of people say when it comes to the election, for instance, they're telling their employees they're not going to take a stand? >> yeah, it's an interesting question, kelly. i think that the decision calculus has to be one that is both moral and economic. and as i said earlier, and as you and tyler were pointing to, if you know your customer, you understand what you're able to do to be able to connect with their identity. this is all about identity. if you want to make an argument that you're siynchronous with te value of your customers, that's something you understand and you're taking that risk. some companies will say, i want to stay out of this, because this is not at all related to my business-making, revenue-generating model. that's fine too, but the idea is, if you're going to dabble your toe in this pool of

ideological positioning, dei, abortion rights, voting rights, all of these different things, you better make sure that when you do, basically, you're all in, and this is the position you're going to be able to lose customers with and live and/or die by the sword. >> i may not have all of my facts correct here, but as i understand it, in the tractor supply case, the uproar to the extent that there was an uproar had to do with celebrating pride month. it was sparked, let me -- shall i say, by a former hollywood director, who has turned into a political activist. this also seems to me to be, therefore, an example of the vulnerability, for lack of a better word, of companies to a single active agitator or a group of activists or agitators on social media. it shows how social media create a movement or an anti-movement. >> that's 100% correct, tyler.

if you touch on something that's very critical here, that's the power of the two-way communication that happens between consumers in realtime, and when brands make decisions. the social media has amplified and accelerated this communication. and you're going to get moral outrage and know about it very quick little on social media, whenever you're making one of these particular stands or taking a stand in an issue like this. and so you have to make a decision if you're a brand product service organization, is that moral outrage rising to the level of a movement, where i might actually lose more customers than i could gain on the basis of these ideological points of view. and that's decision calculus that you basically have to do if you're going to be effective at this. >> kind of an observation, but it seems as though culture wars are resulting in different corporate structures for those who would identify as maybe blue or red for lack of a better term. this is manifesting in way which i don't think the workplace has had to grapple with in decades past. >> that's 100% correct. and the other thing interesting

about your point, you're going to get these very disproportional structures in organizations. however, you're also going to get a very clear signal to the market place as the value. so when a person is making a decision to work for a specific company, they now have the ability to say, you know what, i'm going to choose potentially as an employee, to choose a company that i think has the values that i share, and that actually enhances and approves their quality of work life, because they believe they're not just going to work, but they're also going to a play that supports their beliefs and their values and their ideological points of view. >> thanks for joining us today. appreciate it. >> thanks a lot. >> still to come, the eu targeting meta. the stock slightly lower today, but up big for the year. we've got more on that one, next.

welcome back. three stories across every media medium. the phone screen, the silver screen, the tv screen. first, the supreme court ordering a new look at social media laws in texas and florida. plus, "inside out "topping $1 billion at the global box office and paramount removing some content from the digital streaming platforms. let's start with that scotus ruling. explain what the supreme court did and what was at stake in this, i believe it was a texas law and one other state. >> a texas and florida law. the supreme courtdecided not to rule. it would have been a much bigger deal if the supreme court had come down with a ruling on these texas and florida laws. these laws were aiming to protect conservative voices on social media for content moderation. it would have been a much bigger deal if they would have said, yes, you are allowed to prevent content moderation on the social

media platforms, which the tech -- >> in other words, in simple terms. meta can't you kick you off or can't muzzle you for a political viewpoint. >> but the supreme court said, that we're going to kick it back down to the lower courts. we're not going to make a decision. but the fact that they didn't make a decision is probably a good thing for the social media platforms. they said, sure, go ahead, you're allowed to have this law pre preventing social media. >> i've always thought as social media companies as effectively -- this is to the heart of the debate, but as publishers. and no one has a right force a publisher to publish. >> that's the question of free speech. are they publishers or are they billboard? >> or are that a utility. there are a lot of questions about how we should treat social media platforms. and ultimately, the trade associations representing the social media platforms said that these laws in florida and texas

were a violation of free speech. and that's how this all escalated to the supreme court. but there is other news today, out about meta, and it's the fact that the eu is charging meta for violating its digital competition law, and what the eu is saying is that meta is offering the option of either paying a subscription, not of ads, or you have ads, which use your data to target ads towards you. and meta is saying, by offering these two options, we are complying with eu laws. subscription to get away with -- to avoid advertising -- >> and sharing of private data. >> yes. >> and so what the eu is saying is we think this is not in compliance with our laws. meta sent us a statement saying they did, indeed, think that this is entirely in compliance with the eu's regulations. so we'll see how all of this -- if it escalates or doesn't escalate. >> let's move on then to the box office. why do i have to -- i have a famous -- i had a bad experience with it. disney's inside out is becoming the first member of the $1 billion club since barbie. a simple news story.

and it is, by the way, one of the stories -- it's a sequel, but one of the more original kind of films that we've seen hit theaters in recent years. >> here's why this is big news, after "barbie," last year, "barbenheimer," people were really excited that the box office was going to come back. before this weekend, the box office year-to-date was down 21% from last year. and remember, last year still wasn't at 2019 levels. >> is that because of the strikes? it pushed a lot of content. >> but also concern that people got out of the habit of going to the movies. this weekend brought the box office up. now the box office is only down 19% year-to-date. going into this weekend, it was down 21% year-to-date. people will come back, a movie they want to see, a franchise they're excited about. we saw "the quiet place: day one," a sequel in the quiet place franchise. it had the best opening of any movie in flies. and brought in $98 million

globally. so we're seeing people come pack. there's a lot of enthusiasm about "despicable me 4," which will be open over the long holiday weekend. the good news is the box office is inching back. people won't come back just for anything. >> "inside out 2 "has been out how many weeks? >> i think it's three weekends now. >> and it's topped $1 billion. >> and it's topped $1 billion faster than any otheren mated movie has ever hit -- >> a pixar movie. >> this is the first time pixar has had a $1 billion movie since 2019. and this pace at which it got to $1 billion is really notable. it shows that once a movie has momentum, it really takes off. >> let's go on to paramount, with purging some ever content from streaming and digital platforms creating outrage and worry online about potential content preservation. >> comedycentral.com had a massive archive. if you wanted to watch an old jon stewart show, you could go back for decades and find these old episodes. but paramount is under a lot of fm pressure.

we've been talking about all the chaos going on with paramount global, selling, deciding not to sell. and ultimately, this is all designed to drive people to paramount tv. they want people to subscribe to paramount plus. they want people to be watching television or subscribing to their subscription channel, and they weren't sufficiently monetizing these old archives on comedycentral.com. this is a strategic decision. they may continue to make changes as they try to figure out the best way to monetize their current shows, but also the archive, and ultimately the archive wasn't making them enough money. >> this is great media attention. the stock is still down about 3% today, but that's exactly the play. you would hope if people really want those archives, they're really willing to pay up more them. >> and they get jon stewart, colbert -- >> but you want people to watch the newest shows. that's where paramount will make the most money in terms of the ad revenue. >> julia, great to have you in town. >> great to be here.

>> despite expectations for a slump in sales, we'll trade at three other names in three stocks. stock is up 7%. stay with us. but it's not the critic who counts. with every swing and block, your game plan never changed. ♪♪ some still call it luck. let them. because you know what it's always been. inevitable. ♪♪ ♪♪

time for today's the three stock lunch. we're taking a look at smo of the top calls of the day to kick off the week. here with our trades is president and ceo of castle arc management. let's start with tesla on a big 7% pop today. wells fargo is sticking with its underweight on the with its underweight on the stock but they added it to its tactical ideas list. are you a fan of tesla here, jerry? >> yes, long-term. short-term game here, i still think is going to be dominated by this interplay between all the capacity between pure evs that are coming on in the united states versus the much longer term and much more encouraging story that tesla has, and if you think about it, today, its big move is both short covering and good numbers in china. i don't think the market's paying much of anything for china numbers because they're too volatile, and quite frankly, i just don't see today you're going to be able to solve the

equation of all of this new capacity that's hitting the market in the pure ev market in the u.s. i would be a seller here on that premise. at the same time, don't give up on this name. when you think about it, at some point, you're going to be able to put a -- an intelligence, advanced computing, a variety of different ideas on tesla that isn't being captured today and isn't going to be dependent on ev sales. that's coming. i think that's in the next nine months. think of it as gm doesn't have an llm they're trying to construct. they're not building out datacenters. that's going to pay us all as tesla long-term shareholders, but today, i wouldn't be chasing this at all. >> let's move with, up next, to wells fargo sticking with an overweight on mcdonald's as the firm sees potential upside for the fast food chain in the second half, shares down more than 15% year to date. your take on mcdonald's?

>> yeah, i think for mcdonald's to come in 15% and a more benign economic and consumer spending outlook, it should be enough. big, dominant, great company. think about the way their positioning themselves strategically. i use the analogy, walmart has been very successful in its history of leaning into tougher consumer times with their -- with their pricing model, and in a way, this is really, with their value menu, this is what mcdonald's is doing right now as well. they've paid for that by people pulling their estimates over the next few quarters, because they're giving it back in margin. but if you look back over time, you'll see that the big, dominant players in most businesses tend to outperform after you get through these cyclical hiccups, and you really have to call this a much tougher economic environment going

forward, which we do not. for this not to be a great entry point for mcdonald's. >> all right, mcdonald's, leaving it there. the final make is best irkensto. ubs upgraded the stock from buy to neutral, hiked the price target to $85 from $52, citing their success in their expansion strategy. lot more love for birk these days. are you among them? >> so, full disclosure, i do not own a pair. nor do i intend to any time in the near future. >> me either. >> pardon? >> me either. >> tyler, you probably have a couple pairs. >> no, i got ugly toes. >> same. >> that's all there is to it. >> that said, the way generally investors succeed with fashion names is you let the time run out of the clock on their fashion. these guys have hit it very well since they've come public. they're now in a very desirable place where the market is giving

them credit for the direct-to-consumer side, and i think we should let that clock run. i know -- i appreciate the fact that it's very well captured in a really fat, healthy 40 multiple, but at the same time, we don't know how big this market can be, and when you see success like this, and it's not athleisure, if they're not shopping at nike for gym shoes, maybe these funny things on your feet are what everybody wants to wear. >> all right. >> there you go. >> he likes the stock, leaving the shoes. jerry castellini, thanks so much for joining us. closing time is next, but first, remember this. you can always hear us on our podcast. be sure to follow and listen to "power lunch" wherever you go. we'll be right back. okay, team! oh, thank you so much i couldn't have done it without you. honestly, i don't do a whole lot here. i'm really just here for the at&t internet, it's super-fast so, any pre-launch concerns? what if nobody buys them?

that's mean or, what if everybody buys them? oh, i hadn't thought of that that's probably not gonna happen can we handle that kind of traffic? the network can handle it! i downloaded eight hours of true crime stories just during our last video call i'm learning a lot

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all right, let's check the dow right now. it is up but just barely. 16 points, about 0.4% at 39,135.

it was up 320 points at its peak right before 10:00 a.m. we've only got a couple of minutes left in the program. several more stories we'd like to tell you about, so let's get to it. chewy turning negative as the boost from roaring kitty's new stake diminishes. it had been higher by as much as 10% but now down a little bit. the s.e.c. filing showing that roaring kitty bought over nine million shares worth nearly $250 million. the stock is down about 1.50% or 5% today as some of that gloom goes off the rose. >> still up from may, but he's -- he'll do fine in the long run if they can turn this around. if not, it's going to have to be pack to boring kitty. new hires are putting more of each paycheck into 401(k)s, not necessarily by choice. nearly a third of workers start automatic enrollment, workers

sharing 6% or more. >> you automatically default to 6%? >> it's a big number. >> that's pretty high. >> now that i'm coming on the other end of this -- i'm getting there. i'm going, i'm glad i did that for all these years. >> if you don't get it, you don't miss it. if you changed from 3% to 6%, you would miss it. if you start at 6%, you probably don't notice it as much as you otherwise might. starting monday, the food and drug administration will yield new regulatory power over some cosmetic products. it is during a time when regulatory agencies are being reined in by the supreme court, and interesting sort of countermove on the part of the fda to extend its reach for cosmetics. >> i'll be see how quickly this works its way back. may be a boon for the package

companies. >> stocks moving a little bit higher. we're glad you could be with us. >> hope we'll see the back half. can it rival the first half of the year? slow start. could be a strong finish, though. >> thanks for watching "power lunch," everybody. >> "closing bell" starts right now. and welcome to "closing bell." i'm mike santoli in for scott wapner today. this make or break hour begins with a new month, a new quarter and a half, but a familiar push-pull between tech and treasurys. a few giants at the nasdaq pushing higher to support the main indexes you see there. the s&p 500, up about 0.7%. nasdaq is the leader, up almost 0.66%, yet a majority of stocks continue to struggle. they've been held in check in part by the ten-year treasury yield rising to about a three-week high, pushing the 4.5% threshold just a little while ago, now at 4.48%. apple, the biggest upside contributor to the