♪ welcome to "power lunch." alongside kelly evans, i'm jon fortt. it's a swing band in parade. a ton of names moving on results with even bigger ones on deck and we'll hit them all. we're taking social queues. the event on even's mind. president biden choosing to not seek re-election and how did he mark this historic announcement. an oval announcement address? not yet.

written statement in it was a post on x of a written statement. we'll discuss why this could forever transform the social media space later in the show. first a check on the markets. despite all of the movers today, stocks are, you know, in the green. it's light green, though. little change. >> yeah. one drag could be the semis. broadly lower with nxp the worst performer down big after the earnings. spotify beating estimates, surging 11%. general motors down 6.5%, saying restructure, struggling autonomous vehicle business. u.p.s. tumbling down 13 plus percent. lvmh missing down 4%. more on that name in just a bit. xion on the rise after the regional bank comeback. the whole etf is up. >> amazing. heavy hitters still to

report. visa, ma tell after the bell. we'll begin with this earnings season. more signs pointing to that rotation we've been talking about the last few days. more signs pointing to smaller earnings growth this and next quarter for mag seven names. our next guest believes this earnings season will determine market leadership going forward. let's bring in germany brian portfolio manager. i look at your picks here. and the consumer plays big into this. whether we're talking about housing overall or just discretionary consumption. i'm thinking specifically about sherwin williams and coca coca. williams did well in the last report. up 6%. it's also getting back up to recent high. so, why are you sticking with it here and what does this say about what you believe the consumer will do in the back half of the year? >> yeah. i think it lends to both of what we talked about wra with regard to the consumer. these are resilient companies.

they still get spend even if the consumer softens a little bit. you saw that in this earnings result for sherwin williams is that, you know, their competitors were down more than that. there was a lot of fear that this quarter was going to be a reset quarter, if you will. then a potential acceleration going forward. and while the revenue was still a little soft, the earnings came in significantly better than expected. thoughts on the stock itself, seems to be relatively positive to where they can recapture some of that let's say loss from the interest rates that have been so high here recently that if rates come down, we could see more housing transaction velocity and could lead to more painting obviously as a result of that. we really like the execution of sherwin williams and will stay the course on that name. >> but that brings me to consumer, which is if rates come down a bit, sure we see a little pickup in mortgage activity,

refi-activity, people getting cash in hand, needing to do stuff. stay higher for longer, doesn't that keep a bit of a break on -- there's only so much they have to restructure or say hey, if the consumer -- now, again, in rate cuts, if it's 25 bases points, does that really do anything for the consumer? we would argue not a whole lot. if you're talking about two and three by the end of the year, could have a little bit of an impact. but, for us, it's much more the reason of why we're cutting. are we cutting because inflation has -- we've done the job with inflation and the consumer remains -- economic and earnings growth is starting to show some cracks.

now our best case and base case scenario is it's the former. we're cutting because inflation is getting normalized, if you will. while the consumer is still relatively resilient, even if they're starting to slow a little bit. if we see a change in that to where an earning season will be frankly a large denerm nant of our thoughts on this. is if we start to see enough of these companies saying we need to adjust our growth metrics because the consumer is weakening, then we'll pay more attention and have to pivot as a result. >> we spoke last hour convinced this is the happy rotation and it's not a sign of a market that's kind of ending its run. it's really a sign that it's broadening out. a lot of other stocks can do well that haven't done well in the past 18 months. >> yeah. we're in a massively concentrated market, right? 37% of the s&p 500 was in the

top ten. we certainly have been calling for broadening for a while. we still think -- our best-case scenario is that a little bit of both doesn't hurt is that you don't have to shoe the companies that got you here, but you probably want to think about their revenue and earnings profiles decelerating. i'm not saying declining. the top ten, the mag seven companies are still phenomenal growth companies and i still think they will grow. the question is as they decelerate, are there other companies that have more reasonable valuations that are better long-term opportunities. and that's what we've been looking for for the better part of three months. we think coke and sherwin williams fit that group. >> jeremy brian, thank you. three stock lunch. diving into three names set to report after the bell. chad morganlander joins us senior portfolio manager. it's good to be a busy and interesting session.

alphabet is first up, reporting q2 this around. ai, ad spending front and center obviously they are no longer going after wi k irkswix. what's your trade here? >> we own this in our rising dividend. i personally own it and we would be buyers of it. overall, a reasonable price of valuation of 21 times, 2025 numbers. 10% kind of revenue growth rate. it's attractively valued. high quality properties regarding youtube as well as its position, we believe exceptionally well when it comes to artificial intelligence and able to push that out to all of their broader applications. we think they have a competitive advantage for the long run. >> up next, tesla also reporting q2 results after the bell. the ev maker is lower by about a percent and a half today. during the first quarter tesla reported biggest revenue decline since 2012 but deliveries were better than feared for the

second quarter. so chad, what do you think about this one? >> so, this is a valuation i issue. multiples of over 50 for 2025 when it comes to ev ebitda multiples. we would be somewhat more cautious on this. the hope is that they can move up the application spectrum to higher profit margin businesses, like robo taxi. wamo owned by google has an operating functional network they're rolling out. so we believe they may be somewhat behind their competitor at this inflection point. so we would be a hold at best. >> which competitor? >> waymo? that's their competitor which is owned by google. >> exactly. brings us back to alphabet. let's move along to visa, chad. analysts are expecting the company to report higher q3 results but shares down a percent today, up 10% over the past year. what do you think about this one? >> so this is the perfect steady

eddy. it's actually owned in our rising dividend portfolio. we owned it for many years. we think it's attractively priced. the multiple has come down a bit over the last several years. we believe still that transition from cash to debit and credit is happening. it's about 75% penetration here in the united states, which is mature but it's nearly about 50% within european union. so we think they have still positive tail wind behind them over the next three to five years. it has a high margin business, 70% ebitda margins. we believe they'll have top line growth of roughly about 10%. >> then if i'm reading between the lines here, chad, would you agree with jeremy brian, who we were just speaking with, says this is a rally inflation is coming down for good reasons. expansion can keep going, rally can keep going and maybe the stocks that were left behind

start to play catch-up? >> my partner just published a piece about this regarding that. the concentration of the large cap tech names was so out of whack with historic norms that you can see a broadening out over all. and that will give positive tail wind to all stocks across the board, in particular, high quality stocks. >> yeah. that makes sense. chad, thank you so much. appreciate it today. chad morganlander. >> thank you for having me. coming up, climbing the social ladder. should public figures or companies allow intermediaries allow to speak on their behalf on social platforms when you can get a positive reaction like we saw with vice president kamala harris brat summer. on the other hand, it can lead to issues around authenticity and accountability. we will discuss next.

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welcome back. president -- welcome back to "power lunch," i should say. president biden's move to withdraw from the 2024 election via a post on x has got a lot of people buzzing about the weight social media carries these days. we spoke yesterday about harris' team reaping the benefit by hopping on the viral brat trend. we won't get into that again. there are also big risks. take a look at the impact of bud light's controversial online marketing collaboration last year. the brand ended up losing its spot as the top u.s. beer and leads to the question, do companies and public figures generally need to be more careful with their social media accounts and personas? one of our next guests says it's taken companies way too long to realize how important running a successful social media page really is. for now, we'll bring in tony pontoro. ceo of pontoro management. we thought dormant, off its hay day.

always insist all time highs. then the president uses the platform to put out his notice he won't be seeking his re-election. now it feels it's as or more essential than ever. >> i think it's sort of unfiltered media. you know, social media has become sort of the people's platform. it's sort of a direct message. what he did was sort of nonpolitical in a way, even though x, you know, the old twitter can sometimes have controversy, but it was sort of let me get this message out without sort of picking sides of a traditional broadcaster, if you will. >> right. >> and i think we have all seen the power of social media and how it sort of takes a life of its own. and really has this ever lasting life in many respects which is what happened with my old company and bud light. they didn't anticipate the breadth and reach and continued

conversation on social media. >> joining the conversation as well, lulu chang. no pressure. i don't know if this is your first tv appearance, i think you captured it better than many in pointing out the importance of feeling that social media is your first and most important and direct presence and contact with the audience and with the broader public. >> well, now that everybody -- thank you for having me. not that everybody lives in their own separate bubbles, social media is one way to make sure that your message doesn't get refracted through someone else's bubble. i think one complaint consumers of news have often is they feel like they're hearing different stories depending on what outlet they go to. so this is a way to hear it from the horse's mouth. i think that's one reason why the biden team chose to post first on x with the big news on sunday. >> now, lulu, you put out your opinion about leaders needing to take the job of posting to platforms like x -- i still want to call it twitter, more

seriously. elon musk, i think, responded saying leaders should post directly and not have an intermediary do it. i'm not sure ceos should be taking social media advice from elon musk, right? he's kind of a singular person. he gets in trouble or has gotten in trouble a lot for the way he posts. but what do you think? what did you think of that response? can and should other leaders, whether ceos or government leaders tweet stuff out on their phones with anybody else looking at it or strategizing around it? >> it's a really good question. and i think absolutely yes. because what we're seeing is the mistakes and the gaffes and we pay a lot of attention to that. but if we consider the entire package, on one side is occasional mistakes and gaffes and they can be very painful. they can be embarrassing in the moment. on the other side f you take someone like elon, he has grown and absolutely massive following with that comes leverage. with that comes power. with that comes freedom.

and the other thing to note is when people get mad at him, they're getting mad at him now for things he's actually said. i would rather -- maybe this is a personal preference. i would rather people get mad at me for my own mistakes and own those than to have people get mad at me for something that isn't accurate and that i didn't actually say and was paraphrased wrong. >> okay. >> so i think the two factors are the leverage and the power that he's gotten even at the expense of some of those mistakes makes it all worth it. secondly, the mistakes are at least his own and not some other person's. >> right. but tony, weigh in here. i would rather not make mistakes. i would rather not say things that piss people off unless i really intend to do it and isn't that why people, often leaders, have somebody buffering in between them and actually letting that thing come out of their mouth that tanks the stock price. >> totally. ceos and even top marketing executives are petrified mostly

of pr because in their mind all they can do is mess it up. it's one thing for elon musk to be critical and have people criticize him in a case of x, a private company. in the case of anheuser-busch, they lost billions and billions of shareholder value by mismanaging the process. so, you have to get executives comfortable. i think that's going to take a bit. but clearly, as lulu says the opportunity of messaging and where certainly anyone 35 to below is spending time on social media. and they trust it. even though it's themselves talking to each other, they may actually trust that media more than they, you know, major broadcasters. >> i think that's a great point. lulu, how should companies be thinking about this when they're looking to get a message out, often the social media manager is someone more junior in part because they seem to be more native to the platform and understand it. and there are some messages

maybe a little less impactful they can be responsible for putting out. but in other ways social media is now the tip of the spear for any engagement with the public, that message needs to be vetted through any level of the organization. >> so i would say that's often a mistake because what we're not considering here is that omission can be a mistake in itself. and being overly corporate and overly sanitized and coming off as tone deaf and insincere can be a mistake in itself. so there are times when a mistake made by a ceo saying the wrong thing is actually not as bad as a mistake made by being too slow, too insincere, too corporate or too out of touch. and so i think it's worth weighing these things against each other. you might choose to do the ladder, but you might choose to do the former. the way to try to get the best of both worlds is the ceo has to at least own the message. i think great ceos take advice from people. elon takes advice from people, too. i think we picture just tap tap

tap hit post. but a lot of times he does consult and get input. one is a lot of people should be involved in the process, but the ceo has to also be involved because i've seen situations in companies where the ceo literally doesn't know what he just tweeted and doesn't know what the company is saying. so that's one. two is -- >> okay. well. >> you do need someone who isover qualified, who seems more senior than you would think. >> tony, last word here. it strikes me that all really good marketing is planned. and coms in marketing aren't the same, they are cousins. good speeches tend to be written down first. not just free styled. is social media fundamentally different? >> i think it's socially -- it's definitely different. it has to be prepared like a good speech or a good advertising campaign. i think in some cases can be a little loose because it's let me just get something out.

let me make a comment. let me say something. but i think if it's going to go up to a senior level, it has to be prepared, thought out and strategize nod differently than any other communication that that company does. >> it's so difficult. it's like death by committee but at the same time it's so important that it needs that touch throughout the organization. thank you both very much for now we'll leave it there. we appreciate your time today for joining us. coming up, spot ether etf making their trading debut. could this open the flood gates for more crypto funds to come? we will get the details when "power lunch" returns.

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indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire ♪ welcome back to "power lunch." u.s. spot ether etfs are making their market debut today in what could be another major win for the crypto industry. our bob pi sanny is here with more. bob? >> good to see you, jon. nine spot ether etfs begin trading today. ether is the crypto currency used in the ethereum network. it follows the successful launch of spot bitcoin etf. seen roughly $17 billion in

in-flows. that's a lot of money for new asset class. ethereum is different from bitcoin. bitcoin uses the block chain as a digital currency. ethereum is a plat formal from building smart contracts. the most common use is for decentralized finance, defie. it's a fancy term for using financial services on the block chain. so you can send, lend or borrow money, trade stocks or derivatives or other crypto currencies. ethereum enthusiasts are hopeful it will broaden the base of investors and educate those investors about the differences between bitcoin and ethereum. the big argument is ethereum is really a tech play different than bitcoin which is a digital gold play. so will this open the flood gates for more crypto etfs outside of these two? you will still need to show the underlying market is not subject to the manipulation. the s.e.c. may want to see regulated futures markets for

other crypto assets develop. but, if there's a regime change in washington, it is quite possible you'll see a lot more crypto etfs coming. back to you. >> some people in the bitcoin community are hoping former president trump would announce a bitcoin national reserve or something to that effect, which would go much further than i think many are contemplating. >> i'll tell you how big this has become. the big bitcoin conference is happening in nashville in a few weeks. and former president trump is speaking at that. now, that would never have happened under any circumstances a couple of years ago. it goes to how big the potential audience is. i personally find ethereum intellectually much more interesting as a smart form. overall, there's no doubt there's a lot of momentum behind crypto currencies in general. >> any kind of supply/demand issue here? i notice it looks like bitcoin

is down a bit more than ether is down today. anything to that? >> so, this is a question whether the flows will be the same. bitcoin is 1.3 trillion in assets. ethereum, 440 billion. ethereum, one third the size of bitcoin. and most of the people i'm talking to think that we're going to see proportionally smaller flows going into it. but, again, it may not be just, oh, can you take money away from my bitcoin account and put it in ether and put 30% in ether. the ethereum enthusiasts are hoping to sell the platform as a distinct intellectual concept, different from bitcoin, sort of broaden the base out. i think intellectually they have a very good point. i don't know if they can succeed. but all i can tell you is 17 billion in in-flows into bitcoin, that's a big success. if they get 5 billion in a couple of months, that would be extremely successful as well. >> all right. bob, thank you. we appreciate it.

for now, bob pisani. to the bond market after a mega-record breaking nearly two-year auction top of last hour. rick santelli, what does that tell you? >> well, it tells me that yields probably are close to an area they're going to hold because we had super weak data. philly fed not manufacturing, the service side, the lowest level since 2020. everything we had today including existing home sales was weak. a super strong auction. all those should push yields down. granted, they pushed a bit more on short maturities, like 2s, 3s, 5s. if you look at intraday of 2s, that opened up to a two day, we're trading below yesterday's lows on that maturity, all the way out to the seven year. but, down three bases points and two 30 years are almost unchanged. the point is that these dynamics are not only built into the market, they're built in plus when you account for the fed. and there's another central bank

whose meeting is coming up, the bank of japan. that is next week. look at the dollar yen chart. the yen is on base to have the best close since the 6th of june. we'll call it 1.5 months. why? well, because there's a significant amount of nervousness that should the bank of japan raise rates, we know what that does to currencies. you're seeing a bit of the shorts getting out, putting a bid back in the yen. we want to pay close attention to all central bank meetings next week, especially the japanese with the big asian carry trade. jon fortt, back to you. >> rick santelli, thank you. turning now to the energy market with crude prices falling to the lowest levels in six weeks. our pippa stevens here with more. what's going on? >> wti is at the lowest level in six weeks. is off the worst levels of the day. still around $77 per barrel. much thanks to the cease-fire talks in the sense that maybe there's progress there. we have also seen very weak numbers out of asia, industry

says the asian refining nations have decreased their imports by 900,000 barrels per se so far this month relative to last month. that's having an impact. nat gat down 2.5%. hovering around lowest since may. with that energy stocks are the worst group today down more than 1%. but there are some movers ahead of earnings later today. including -- >> you came back just in time. >> yes. let's start there. get to enphase next. jp morgan upgraded the stock to overweight ahead of that report. they said they really underperformed their peers so far this year. we have another chart that shows that they are the only name in the red so far with their competitors like chesapeake, southwestern all in the green. so maybe a little catch-up trade there. they also completed the acquisition of equitrades. so, other names to watch are matador resources and neighbors industries. they provide drilling equipment.

enphase has traditionally swung a lot the day after earnings in both directions. and of course the solar industry has been so challenged. so, their guidance will be watched very kclosely. >> vice president harris looking like she's going to be the nominee, though, we don't know? >> yeah. we saw the stocks rise yesterday. clearly optimism there. i do think the ira which has been so instrumental has had bit partisan support for clean energy. you look at what elements could be at risk, people say it's really come downs to things like the ev incentives, the solar itc and ptc are not really quite as much at risk. the majority of funding to build the factories, well more is in red jurisdictions. tougher stance to want to repeal it when you're getting a lot of benefits there. >> i'm a gen xer, i think about ireland, ira. >> the terminology -- ptc.

>> it was a poor name choice. let's get to julia boorstin for an update. >> convicted senator bob menendez will reportedly resign from office. sources tell nbc news the new jersey democrat informed some of his staff today he would step down effective august 20th. a jury found menendez guilty of bribery and corruption charges one week ago. bribes from three businessmen to derail several criminal investigations and to act as a foreign agent as the egyptian government. two powerful democrats just offered their endorsement of kamala harris. senate majority leader chuck schumer and house minority leader hakeem jeffries held an afternoon press conference to formally back her for the presidential nomination. he received a flood of endorsements yesterday on her first full day of her campaign. including from former house speaker nancy pelosi and former president bill clinton. and former president donald trump says he will meet with israeli prime minister benjamin

netanyahu on wednesday at his mar-a-lago resort in florida the same day the prime minister is due to deliver a speech to congress and one day before he is scheduled to sit down with president joe biden. kelly, back to you. >> julia, thank you very much. still to come, china's economy in turmoil. a real estate collapse and its biggest single day stock in six months. we'll dig in when "power lunch" returns.

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♪ welcome back to "power lunch." chinese stocks taking a beating on economic pressures. the country's blue chip index closing down more than 2% today, which is the biggest single day drop in six months. now our next guest has been warning that china's economy is in trouble due in part to the real estate collapse. dennis is partner at meyer and scott. and he advices u.s. companies doing business in china, also out with a new book this week called "the fragility of china." breaking points of an invincible

regime. dennis, great to meet you and have you here. i know you and kelly know each other well. tell me, is this china thing going to get that much worse? >> yes. you like long answers, but the answer is yes. the china has been in a declining position for at least four years. it wasn't just covid. a whole bunch of things that came together. and in my opinion, the economy that they have is really going to continue to deteriorate for the foreseeable future because a third of the economy is based upon real estate and real estate is essentially in the tank. >> can they thread this needle somehow? a lot of people thought when the u.s. started raising interest rates that our real estate market was going to go through something very different than it has. so is there a way that the hyper-planned chinese communist party can figure out a way out of this? >> xi jinping is a control freak, so is the ccp. there's nothing they have done really in the last two years -- what they did over the weekend

is they decreased the bank rate that would be charged by .1% or one tenth of one percent. that's essentially nothing. i think because this happened the markets in the u.s. are the same as the markets in china. people see something and they don't like it and they react. as you said a few minutes ago, their economy is down the worst i think -- the stock market is down the worst as it's been in the last six to eight months. and it's going to get worse. i'm sorry, kelly. >> no, no no. i was going to build on that. they had the plenum last week. with everything going on here, whatever people were expecting, sounds like china didn't deliver. i don't know why we keep being surprised that xi jinping is sticking to this centrally-planned model where there's not going to be movements towards any real liberation that would revive a market economy. >> kelly, xi jinping does not want anything that would disrupt his overall plan. and as a result, i think you're going to see him in the long run sticking with security, what is

china as opposed to what could i do to help the economy. otherwise they would have done much more recently. >> but at the end of the day, we're all fighting with gdp. you need to be able to fund even if you have, you know,myopic global aspirations you need to fund that somehow. and i just wonder if he realized at some point he needs that dry powder to come from somewhere and a market economy is still the best way to deliver it. >> it is the best wa i to deliver it. but to use the gdp statistic, in the u.s. we owe about 129% versus our annual gdp. in china, you know what it is, about 300%. so they have borrowed money again and again and again for the last, you know, 20 or 30 years. >> all the more reason they need gdp. why not nudge towards a market economy to service that debt, support military spending and all the rest of it? >> because he's spending too much in the military. and i think that's one of the reasons -- there are 7 or 8% above what they really should be. and as a result, he is in a

position where what's going to happen to the economy, i don't care. i want to be in control. >> dennis, does this make china, you think, more or less likely to rattle sabers over the next year or two? because it seems to me -- sure you want to project strength but you also want those iphone factories to continue cranking things out. if the real estate sector isn't doing well. >> jon, all i can tell you is for the last 18 months xi jinping continued to heighten the pressures being put on taiwan. at the same time, he brought china and russia closer together, tying in iran. so if the past is any suggestion for what's coming in the future, that's my answer. >> what would be any signs to watch for that perhaps this is moving in a friendlier way? and what is the take away for u.s. corporations that still rely on it for supply chain and hoping to have it as a big market? >> u.s. companies, i think, are naive in thinking that the relationship from a financial standpoint are going to be the same in the future as they have

been in the past. we're going to continue to buy things that are from china. but china is now essentially off loading their overcapacity on the world market. evs is one good example. and they are desperate for money. and so, as a result, kelly, i just don't think there's a lot that they can do. i think they could do things, but how do they maintain control over the chinese consumer? because basically the chinese consumer said, i'm not going to spend my money. that's why you have the economy at 4.7% last month. ten years ago it was 8 to 10%. >> yeah. no. it's been a big slow down in that shift not quite materializing, at least for now. dennis, thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. well-timed book, by the way. >> thank you. coming up, regional banks rallying in a big way with the kre springing up 20% in the past month. can it continue. more on that when "power lunch" returns.

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♪ welcome back. take a look at the comeback we're seeing in the regional bank space. huge chunk of names hired today. and some by significant amounts. enterprise of double digits and the s&p regional bank etf is up 20%, actually 23% in just a month. leslie picker is here to explain. i mean, this is a big move, leslie. >> it's a really big move. and think about it, kelly. this was a sector that was all but left for dead just little more than a year ago with the regional banking turmoil. interestingly, if you look back to when that presidential debate happened at the end of june, that kre is outperforming the s&p 500 over that time period by more than 20 percentage points. a lot has to do with the prospect of deregulation amonk the banking system if president trump were elected -- all created this spur -- this spurred a rally in the sector. in the current administration, more active consumer financial protection bureau couple with proposed capital yrules limited

up the side in many regional bank stocks analysts say. the kre gained more than 4% in the last two days since president biden took himself out of the race. although, that may have more to do with earnings than with politics. regional banks have largely put up stronger than expected numbers. particularly as it pertains to credit quality. those two areas have been in focus ever since the fed began hiking interest rates and especially after last year's regional bank turmoil. the outlook for net interest income, loan making has generally been stronger than expected. and that's what you're seeing with names like xion, northwest bank shares and i would be remiss not to mention that regional banks are benefitting from this overall sentiment shift in the market with the broadening out of small and mid cap names of which regional banks are among them. >> well, leslie, i'm no chartist. but, if we can put up a five-year chart of the kre, right around here, 58, between

close to 60, where at this level that looks really interesting overtime and right around where the kre was before the silicon valley bank collapse. and so, does that suggest that if you think there's still some turmoil, consolidation, office reckoning to come that things might have gotten a little rich here? >> i mean, the question is basically if you're a regional bank investor and participating in this market during a historic interest rate hike, at first that's actually really good for regional banks because they can charge more on the loans that they make to companies and make to individuals. then at some point that kind of changes because you have to pay your depositors more but doesn't all happen at the same time. so you get these cycle effects. and then you know, at the same time, higher interest rates also have an impact on the balance tk in march of last year throughout the spring of last year. then it starts to trickle into credit quality.

a lot of the pressure that was that had befallen the kre, had to do with concerns surrounding credit quality. you haven't seen major systemic issues. in fact a lot of banks it's getting better. that's lifting this cloud that's been existing for a long time of uncer uncertainty. >> i thought jon was going to say is it a breakout. you were seeing ceiling, was ate floor? we have to ask our chartist what they think. very significant level that we've reached. leslie, thank you very much. leslie picker. >> well, remember, always hear us on our podcast. if you want to look at us, just hear us and be sure to follow and listen to the power lunch podcast wherefore you go. decide what you like better. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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. welcome back. it's time for today's power check and we'll start with ups, tumbling 13%, signaling its freight business still in the midst of a downturn, lower shipping volumes. their margins are down four

points from their high in 2022. meta unveiling it newest model. it comes in three versions with one variant being the biggest and most capable. it also highlights a close partnership with nvidia. ge aerospace reported better than expected making more money on services engines. paying off nicely with a 7% gain. and whiz has walked away from a $23 billion deal to be bought by google and what would have been their largest ever acquisition. they're telling employees they'll now pursue an ipo. it would have been a boost to alphabet's cloud segment which has faced competition from microsoft and amazon. alphabet stock is higher and we'll hear from them after the bell. come comcast was lower by 2%. revenue in the film business

tumbling, which some say could be a negative read through for disney. jon, that's your power check. >> thanks. still ahead, hackers duping folks out of the down payments on their homes. we'll get the details when we return. power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, 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. custom scans can help you find new trading opportunities, while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market. e*trade from morgan stanley

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welcome back. cyber crime continues to rise around the globe and the real estate sector has been a lucrative target for fraudsters. we have a story of one executive that had nearly $400,000 stolen while attempting to put a down payment on a house. i think the sophistication of the person this happened to

grabs everybody's attention. >> this was a 25-year veteran. you know, so, this is a case essentially a person who's going through the process of buying a home believes they're sending a down payment, in this case, $400,000, to a title company when in reality it was to a cyber criminal. the category is deemed real estate wire fraud. in real estate wire fraud, essentially, you have a hacker penetrating the systems of a lawyer. a real estate agent. mortgage broker. any one of the professionals in this industry. essentially lurking and waiting for the right time to inject their e-mail into this conversation, which is hey, send me the wire for the down payment. this is the account. >> and in this case, because the hacker was already in the mortgage broker's system and she had been having this conversation with them, it appeared to have come from this company. saying here's the jpmorgan

account to wire it to. it really flowed into the conversation. >> the tech executive obviously with the weird e-mail with a bunch of letters and acronyms. this was, and i have the e-mail. it was indistinguishable from the other e-mails in this chain. one of the takeaways from this is eye opening which is you can never really trust what an e-mail says. t hackers can impersonate anybody. you should really disregard that. in cases when you're about to send large sums, in this case for $100,000, you have to confirm that's the right place. >> you've got to tell your banks they've got to do something about this wire process. you send these massive sums out. there's no real paper trial. they've invited this with some of the way the systems work, i feel. >> wires faster than ach. almost instantaneous. close within 24 hours.

much larger sums than zelle. this is ideal for cyber criminals. in real estate, you're overwhelmed with paper. >> we got one in about ten seconds. warn you there. >> much more of that story on cnbc.com. appreciate it. thanks for watching "power lunch." "closing bell" starts now and "overtime" is right after it. welcome to clo"closing bell" we begin with the key indexes caught in earnings season cross currents while money continues to flow into small caps and bank stocks. let's get a check on the scorecard with 60 minutes to go in regulation. the s&p 500 holding on to monday's 1% gain. had a modest further rally today. it's not flattened out as earnings winners such as ge ae space and sherwin williams help to off set drops in