and avoid other flying objects including, of course, airplanes or maybe cups of guinness. >> this was jeff baezos's pet project. we're still not seeing them out there. >> seema, great to have you with us. >> thanks for having me. >> thanks for watching "power lunch," everybody. >> "closing bell" begins right now. >> all right, thanks very much welcome to "closing bell." i'm scott wapner live from post 9 here at the new york stock exchange this make or break hour begins with this remarkable run for stocks, which are higher again today on hopes consumers are going to hang in there retail sales better than expected we're going to ask our experts over this final stretch whether data on the economy this weeks means the rally is really back on for the time being. take a look at the score card with 60 minutes to go in regulation it certainly is today, nice gains across the board we're higher all the way around. the todow is working on its best week since december. there's the nasdaq up more than

2% s&p is good for 1.5. we're above 5,500. discretionary stocks, no surprise there they are leading the way today, and i did mention the nasdaq, tech is a close second with several of those names posting solid gains today. we are watching shares of jpmorgan as well they're going for eight days in a row, and they look like they're going to get that too. it tdoes take us to our talk of the tape the rebound gaining more steam today. let's bring in our panel to discuss. adam parker is the founder and ceo joe terranova, and alicia levine, head of investment strategy at bny wealth joe and adam cnbc contributors adam, i'll turn to you first. >> we back >> we're back. you were growing more cautious, i felt by the day, if not week and here we are. this is unbelievable >> you know, it's great to be alive. it's beautiful outside i'm with you wonderful people, the market's ripping i mean, this is our moment.

>> we're happy americans. >> god mess bless america, skakt ex exactly. >> were you wrong to be so cautious >> i'm not like a victory lapper i think in our second half look, we got more cautious and that was probably lucky, but if you look at the data, the consumer is worse retail sales data is better. walmart is a different entity. it's a 600 billion revenue company, so i wouldn't use that as like everything else is fine. >> what do you mean worse? worse than what? >> the consumer is definitely worse than people thought on july 1st it's definitely slower i don't need to look further than restaurants, housing, auto, or visa to get data points >> for every brinker there's a cake or, you know, there's another stock. >> for every mcdonald's there's a shake sha ck. >> the agagregate consumer in dollars has slowed my view is the world changed every growth manager in the world would say i use momentum

every value manager would say i look at me in reversion. i think it's going to be the opposite for the rest of the year they're going to buy these things up, when they get to some level, they're going to sell them i don't think people are walking in today as a growth manager saying i love nvidia more than i've ever loved it before, and i think it's blasting to the moon. >> but you're not -- you're not moved in any sense by the fact that where we were a week ago monday to where we are today. >> no, i think it's been a strong rally >> and the inflation data and now the economic data. this is not a warped view of what's happening with the consumer i mean, i understand there are obviously two ends to the consumer. >> sure, you don't get 100 consecutive data points in the same direction we got a couple positive, but i think there's 60 negative and 40 positive right now it's not 80 positive or 20 negative at least that's how i'm looking at it. i think the rally god sold off hard on some fear. they're positioning things as we get where we were, i think they're going to sell some of

the growth stocks. i don't think it's straight to the moon you saw a big rotation in real estate and banks and health care services and housing before the sell selloff. i think the market was prime for rotation i think the rally's great. same probability of 10% upside, got a little more cautious during july. the data got worse today's a good day i agree. i don't think it means all clear. i think the earnings estimates for q4 are too high. the way institutional investors work is they go on vacation. they go to the hamptons. they go to the cape, nantucket, they come back after labor day, and they hear the big differences, citi, tech, morgan stanley, health care, consumer, they're going to lower the numbers for q4 at 2025 i think you have a pocket of everything's wonderful here. but the estimates have to come in for q4. i think risk reward is not a amazing at the current moment. >> might not contrarian. rick reader sat on this desk the

other day too, and where he was pretty bullish during the selloff a week ago monday, he's a little more cautious now too because of the run that we've had, the fact that the dow's now above 40,005 hundreds, the nasdaq is up 5% week to date s that makes people like rick and adam obviously take pause. what about you >> so look, we did not change our positioning at all even given the labor day -- the august 2nd labor force data or the selloff on the japan yen carry trade. we never changed our positioning. i will say there is evidence of the economy slowing and the fed probably has room here to cut 100 basis points because real rates are simply too high, and you're feeling the squeeze at the bottom end of the consumer, and it's moving higher so there is a bit of a race here for the fed to get going on this but having said that, we think the market ends higher into the end of the year. we're confident on earnings

through the end of year. we still like u.s. large cap i'd add to that here, financials always outperform when the fed cuts into a soft landing it looks like we're going to get that, so yes, do you move away from large cap tech? of course you do you go into reits, into financials and i think the cyclicals can be okay here. >> so you don't think that earnings estimates for the fourth quarter are too high like adam does? >> no, i don't think they're too high i think the earnings estimates have been moving higher and yes, people go on vacation, but they're not brain dead, and so i think it's been a very good year where earnings have come in better than expected if the fed sticks the landing, we don't see why that can't happen technically the s&p went through that 50 day moving average which was acting like resistance and went right through it this morning. we're looking good for now so what could go wrong what could wrong is you got jackson hole, you have other

data prints ahead of you you've got another job from september, in september, and so that can be bad as well. this morning was about as good as it gets since everybody had moved in positioning from no recession, fed's going to stick it to there's a recession coming and so now you're just moving back to the middle two-sided risk rather than the one-sided risk that we basically had going into the end of july >> feel like we have a little bit of delta in the views between alicia and adam. on friday, august 2nd, the market expected 50 basis points. today the market now kexpects 25 basis points we've got this schizophrenia in the ecodata that's driving the tape all over the place. 50 basis points probably was indicative of the consumer weakening to a level that we were extremely uncomfortable with 25 basis points acknowledges that, yes, the consumer is weakening, but maybe not to the

extent to where we're all going to ring the alarm bells. i think what has happened since monday, august 5th is that -- and i think this will be the pattern as we move through the entirety of the year anytime there's a correction in the market, we had it in april, you're going to see corporate buybacks, corporations i think upon reflection we're going to learn that corporations were aggressively buying back their stock last week. i think the retail community that has been sitting in cash, anytime you give them a 5% correction, i think they're going to come out of cash, and they're going to buy equities. and then i think the last thing is the systematic funds, how to move in a way -- and i'm sure adam understands this well how to move in a way that they've never historically had to move, volatility is measured by the vix above 55 last monday morning. there's only been two other instances when that has occurred october of '08 it took 14 months to get back below 120. it recovered and got below 20 in

november of that year. we got below 20 in five days today. >> i don't think it's ever moved from like 65 to 15 where it is now. >> five days, never has happened in the history of volatility why is that important? a lot of these systematic funds that are utilizing volatility as a factor until the vix returns to under 20 after being above 55, their equity exposure is never going to be full now within five days, they had to return to full equity exposure i think we learned a lot about who's going to come in and support the market, and for long-term investors, evening that's what's mattered because not as much has changed for long-term investors. you've got a fed that's not going to get in your way you've got earnings growth, disinflation, and the innovation which is supporting semiconductors >> so there's a lot that went through there. i think, you know, obviously i'm not like a -- we've never had a one-day move in the vix like we

had in the last 6,000 observations if you take like the 1% most extreme, every single time we've had an aftershock to that. it's not like we had data history shows we're going to be smooth forever, so when you have these big moves in the vix, usually there's some turbulence. the q4 estimates are for 14.5% year-over-year growth. this one's higher than normal. >> because we just did 11, right? so we're expecting even better. >> it's higher than normal there's always q4. the gross margin expectations from the sell side analysts. the numbers expected to have gross margin expansion, are the highest they've ever been for mega caps, the highest they've ever been for large caps either the margin numbers are going to have to be great because of pricing power and all the costs come lower or the estimates are too optimistic so we'll see, at least we have a different view at the current moment, i think the key issue is going to be pricing. we've been publishing a lot about pricing scanning every transcript, dynamic pricing, so far the companies and the consumer have really -- the

consumers have rejected price increases whether it's in restaurants, you're seeing it in travel, so we'll see how many of the businesses can really maintain the pricing that's the key to getting the margins to be achievable i'm not saying she's wrong i'm just saying the data, the estimates are high either that's awesome or they come down harder and i'm a little bit worried that they're going to come down for q4 in a big way. >> the other thing that some say is high is the valuation of the market that it's just come back too fast, too much, and now valuations are really stretched. that's sort of rick reiter's perspective, again, why he says the market's full and all of the good news like cuts, it's already in, are they wrong >> so they're not wrong. i just think that you have more of a two-way trade here than you did coming into the end of july, meaning there are plenty of people who are out there like adam who are simply more pessimistic on where this is going, and because of that you

don't have everybody on one side of the boat. it's just a better market what we've learned over the last years, if you buy down 7%, 8%, it's never a bad decision 12 months later the speed with which it came down was tempting for a lot of investors to get in. now, i think if you go back in time, you know, september is never a great month, and i could see us retesting where we were a week ago on august 5th for data, whatever is going to happen there, but i don't think we really come out of this until the end of september, simply because we're in an election year it's really close, the policies are so different that you could just see different ways the market could get weaker here, but the overall picture is that it's moving higher and theless so -- lesson its, in the last 15 years, there are only two years -- >> don't fight the fed >> there are only two years when tech underperforms the s&p in

the last 15 years, and i don't think we're out of that world yet. i just don't think we're there the miles an hours are too high, the earnings growth is too high. the investment is too high so i think we're still in that world. >> what if, joe, the fed does cut by 50 basis points, but they do it simply because they're just too restrictive to alicia's earlier point, they don't do it because the economy is weakening to a degree that they're forced to do 50. they just do it because they should, because they're just way too restrictive. >> let's see what the labor report for the first friday in september shows us before, you know, we make that determination. i think as i said before, i think there's the schizophrenia in ecodata i think all three of us are saying the same thing. i think all three of us are saying 12 months from now, the equities market is going to be higher i think in the interim what adam's speaking towards, and what i kind of agree with is that you could go through a period where you're watching two professional tennis players play tennis, and you can't play tennis the way they do

there's a lot of speculation that's going on in the market right now, and the market could whip 5% higher from here, 5% lower from here. it doesn't change the fundamentals, which are good fundamentals that suggest 12 months from now, the market's going to be higher and i don't think you have to play just in the mega caps i love the megaf caps. mag ga caps are crushing me. i acknowledge that there are areas outside of technology and large cap that you could go to. consumer discretionary, you talked about that being one of the leading sectors. you could look in industrials, helmet, train technologies, axon, that's all working well. financials, you've got your jpmorgan, goldman sachs, kkr, interact iive brokers, new holdings there are places you could go outside of technology if you stay high up. >> why not small or mid cap? if i told you that the data this week for many is going to confirm the belief that you're going to have the soft landing,

fed's actually going to tpull i off, right growth is not fully stalling i know atlanta gdp came down today from 24 to 29. nonetheless, that's not bad. the fed's going to actually pull this off so why shouldn't i go to these other areas finally and believe in that? >> yeah, i mean, i guess i'm -- i think joe did a good job of what you asked me to do which is bridging what looked like a gap. i think the market would be higher in 12 months also is today the best day to deploy capital. i think we're going to get lower entry points, a lot of names in the next couple of months. 12 months i agree, if i were running a hedge fund, it would have covered some shorts earlier in the month you made some money, and then you're like saying which lawns, i'm not two feet in, i think we're -- that environment makes sense to me. we've gotten a lot you saw starbucks move 25% i'm good so i think the big moves you have to monetize these things in a trading range. in terms of the small caps, you have to believe that the margins

are going up more and the estimates are more -- than they are for large caps >> what if i just believe the margins aren't going to collapse anymore, that they're more stable so what is going to stimulate that trade then? >> you need the economy to accelerate from here, and i don't think the economy has the ability to do that. >> we all know we can't wait for it to accelerate joe knows we got to buy it three to six months before it accelerating we just got it decelerating now. i need to believe -- let's say it picks up in the second half of 2025, you know, i'm going to buy this stuff in april and may of next year not in august when i got an election and volatility and estimates that are crazy high. >> did anyone take note of any of the 13 apps which are dangerous to look at they're back ward looking. you never fully understand what the current time stamp is today on whether the positions are still being held or not by the most notable investors in the world. but it was interesting that many, alicia, had been trimming these mega cap stocks, you know,

or selling outright, druken miller making some moves and tepper making some moves the all-star list of investors making moves in that space i think for the most part it was to decrease size rather than increase. >> right, i mean, look, you have to protect the gains if you judge annually on your performance, you have to protect the gains so you have the kinds of outsized gains we saw in the first half of the year i would agree with adam here, on small caps we're allocated across all the sub asset claclassee not only d you need the economy to reaccelerate, but you also need the fed to cut 250 basis points. those two things have to be true to get really bolled up on small caps you're getting one or the other. you're getting either the economy's fine and the fed's cutting maybe 100 basis points, or you're getting the economy's not fine and the fed's cutting more, and either way the small caps work as neither defense nor offense in those scenarios

>> where's more offense right now? i mean, what about treasuries? i mean, if you use the rise in yields on some of this stronger data, maybe the better -- is the better value there just figuring if the fed is going to embark on this trend of cutting interest rates, the yields are going to go down? bonds are going to go up from where they are here? >> i don't know. these guys are better. >> you don't have an opinion on bonds? >> i think the economy slows, the ten-year yield comes lower that's what the history would show me. >> what if the economy doesn't slow but the fed's cutting wouldn't the yield go lower anyway no. >> yields go lower and, you know, if you had a failed or bad auction last week and you think yield's back up because of, that that's bearish for equities. >> i mean the two-year is at 4.09 where's your bet that that's going? is that a good buy here, the short end of the curve >> yields are going lower. i've been saying that to you for

the last three months. i agree with jeffrey dun lock. you've got two powerful ca catalysts to bring yields lower. number one, deceleration in business investment and consumer spending, and then the federal reserve is going to begin a cycle of lowering rates. is that a yes or no? >> rates are going lower. >> do you mean as a trade or halt in duration >> i'm an equity guy and i never want to hold a ten-year duration ever for my entire life. as a trade, sure i think it's going long, i do. >> i think that the economy's slowing. i think when people get nervous, they buy the ten-year. i think in terms of equity, what do i do to deploy for the equity market i don't know if that means i want to buy banks. maybe i disagree with alicia on that i think banks went up because they were cheap and economically sensitive. the economy's slowing. i don't know if they'll act so great. >> i want to buy the corporate debt on banks because i think corporations are in a good enough condition that they are going to benefit from strong

credit quality, and relief coming from interest rates >> citi's up almost 5% on the week. >> i don't want to chase that move is what i'm saying. of all the things that are up, i'd rather own other things than that i'll say something crazy. >> uh-oh >> i think in the next couple years, the tech companies being the leaders will shift to health care when i get dreamy about where all the potential is for all the investment on ai, it's in health care applications, life sciences, drug development, monitoring i feel like you're going to get a bid and a shift in psychology in the next six months where people are going to say i love the potential for ai to impact health care. one of the reasons the market sold off in your list of reasons, consumer slowing, there was a cocktail of things, but one of the things was the capex in ai ain't going to be worth it that was like a thread going on last week, and i think that's wrong, and i think the benefits are going to be in health care, and i think you want to be adding for long-term positions

in services and in life sciences because they're going to be the big winners in the next five years. >> i have a name for you. >> is that mic drop? >> you can just try variant research, baby. >> life sciences, we sold it last week. it's been awful. >> it felt like a mic drop moment >> i'll take that from you. >> adam parker, alicia levine, let's send it to julia boorstin now. >> dell is adding to its gains up nearly 20% this week. the stock's on pace for its sixth positive session in a row. jpmorgan added the stock noting for upside and shares of robinhood moved higher after deutsche bank upjade graded the company. the firm cited an attractive entry point. robinhood is up more than 55% year-to-date back over to you. thank you. we're just getting started here. up next, navigating the chip trade. the smh seeing big gains this

week stacy rasgon is back to break down that move today we're going to tell you what he's expecting from applied materi materials. we're live at the new york stock exchange, you're watching "closing bell" on cnbc

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are federally tax-free and have historically low risk. call today to request your free bond guide. 1-800-217-3217. that's 1-800-217-3217. welcome back chip stocks are on a tear amid the broader market bounceback, up 16% just since august 6th s&p up 7% since then my next guest says the steep move in stocks is making him nervous. joining me now, stacy rasgon of bernstein research it's nice to see you you don't usually get nervous about these moves in chips because you've basically come on with me and said they're justified. what has you nervous now >> it's not even the move in the last couple of weeks the reason for the move the last couple of weeks is a couple weeks ago everybody was -- things were just collapsing, right? you kind of bounce back from that this is more a general kind of

thing. if you just look at the valuations of the space, i mean, the stock right now is 31 times forward earnings, the overall stock is at 10-plus year highs in terms of valuation. and, frankly, like we're still -- it depends on the end market that you're in, but there are still big parts of the market, especially in the analog space, industrials and autos and everything else, that are still rolling over like really hard, so earnings are still getting caught, and that becomes the question, hiklike are we at the trough in earnings or not. everybody's been playing a lot of these stocks on that bottoming theme. people love to buy the bottom in semis. the question becomes if the recovery isn't quite as good as we thought, now it's no longer a bottoming call now it's a recovering call that isn't quite passing muster that's not a great scenario. i'm not, you know, nervous about everything i think you need to be selective about where you play in this space. >> if you look at some of the moves here, for example,

broadcom up 5% today >> yeah, i mean, lots of things are up 5% today, it's not just bro broadcom i actually like broadcom this is one, actually, that we've been pushing pretty hard like i've always liked it. i mean, you look at it, you know, there's been a general like for a while there's a bit of a riskoff in terms of the sentiment around ai, but it's coming back now. broadcom i think has the second best ai story in fact space like after nvidia, they sell networking, and they sell compute to the hyperscalers. that business is good enough for them this year to cover up nastiness that's going on in the core business. gennet general networking numbers are continuing to go up rather than down i think their ai guidance is conservative they've been buying software companies. the vm numbers that are in consensus have upside to them. highest margins, highest free cash flow in the state

the valuation is attractive relative to the sector, we've got a company that's half software and a great ai story. this is one i do really like. >> if broadcom is number two for you behind obviously nvidia, amd is up 4% today where does that rank >> you know, so as you know,% we've talked about it a little bit. i've been a little more lukewarm on amd i like it better at 140 than i did at 180 they reported earnings a few weeks ago. it was a decent enough print they took the ai guidance up a bit, you know, they were at 4.5 billion. they'll probably do 5 or 5.5 this year. versus their larger competitor intel, they're actually doing well within the confines of those markets. i do worry a little bit about the health of those markets, you know, like intel called out channel inventories and client is impacting their numbers i think amd's guidance likely implies some channel in the back half, and this is something i've

been generally watching in that space. and to be fair, while they took the ai guy didance up, i don't think it's where people were already higher i think it fedepends on what you're doing with that ai business the stock's probably a buy if they're going to do 8, it's probably not i don't want to take away too much for them. even if they do four this year, it was zero a year ago it's small relative to nvidia and some others. it was nothing a year ago. that's still fairly impressive to ramp that up in the time frame they've had. >> what about a mat after the bell what should our viewers watch out for most >> i think it should be okay most of the rest of the space has already reported the numbers in general look fine people will be watching the sustainability of china, they'll be watching d rem growth where amat has a bit more exposure same thing around advanced packaging. i think people are wondering

about intel's capex cut and what that may mean. i think everybody who reported so far already incorporated it i actually had to take my intel capex numbers up this year rather than down they were apparently targeting a capex this year that was quite a bit higher than i was expecting them to target those are the things that people will be watching for but in general, everybody else has reported, the general environment in semi cap or at least in the near to medium term seems fine. >> i don't think sentiment around intel could necessarily be any worse than it seems to be now. since you mentioned that name. i mean, you, somewhat reluctantly, upgraded it, i don't know, a year ago or something like that. >> it was a year, year and a half ago, something like that. >> and i say reluctantly because i think you admitted as much. >> oh, yeah. >> it was less awful in your mind what about now, though you still have that same rating on it, market perform with 25 buck target. how do you see it here >> to be fair, i don't know what the heck to do with it

so you know, it's at 20 bucks give or take it's a tangible book value, which is some measure of liquidation value. i've said this before. i don't think they need to be liquidated like, they'll live i don't know what kind of a life it will be, they've live if you add up the capex cuts, and the suspended dividends, and all the cash coming, they've been selling off pieces of their fabs to private equity if you add all of that cash up, it's like $40 billion of incremental cash that comes out of their balance sheet by the end of 2025. i think they'll be okay from that standpoint. at the same time, i don't know what to do with it like the currently business could easily get worse i think it's going to be a slog. it's going to be a long time before we know their process they're betting the company that 18a chwhich is their next generation process fixes everything it's a necessary but not sufficient condition to make sure that they deliver you know, it's a slog until we find that out. in the meantime, things could

still get worse. you know, at the same time, you know, i don't know, we get taiwan headlines, like the u.s. centric manufacturers. i'd be afraid to short to short it here, but it doesn't feel like a long to me. i've kind of been preaching av avoidance. >> thank you, up next, big moves p made by wall street titans we referenced some of them, apple, nike, southwest, just a few of the names swept up in the activity we'll bring the you highlights we'll bring the you highlights with 13d monitor's ken squire, . it's the go-tos that keep us going. the places we cheer. trust. we're back after the break and check in. they all choose the advanced network solutions

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welcome back 13 f filings revealing the big moves hedge funds and asset managers have been making. among those warren buffett's berkshire hathaway betting on ulta beauty. here with reaction on where the big money is moving is 13 dd monitor, and cnbc's mike santoli. ken, good to talk to you obviously 13d's, you generally follow activists these 13fs are nonetheless, interesting. anything surprise you out of what we've learned over the last 24 hours or so >> well, you know, 13fs are obviously 45 days delayed and

activists when they have something really material get confidential treatment on the 13fs bill ackman and nike is interesting. i think, you know, bill is pershing square 37.0 i think he sees this as a great company that he probably got at a good price when the stock went down at the end of the quarter, and i don't think we're going to see the type of vintage bill ackman ceo agendas like we saw at canadian pacific or a j.c. pe penney. >> mike, you're not surprised by the ackman news at all, whether it takes on an activist role or not, you thought this stock was pretty rife for somebody of that ilk to get into it >> i did, just on an opportunistic basis simply because the fallen angel effect of nike and the fact that it was a serial disappointer arguably, you know, maybe there's some strategic kind of course corrections that were necessary,

and you know, for whatever you think about its growth path, it got cheaper relative to the market than it has been most of its history. during the second sququarter, people thought the bad news was out in that disastrous earnings report that actually had that extra leg lower. yeah, it doesn't surprise me not clear what you'd say should be done. i think that's thinking about this whole set of changes is that a lot of money and motion for these opportunistic opportunities in a split market because i think that's the -- that's the makings of these moves is, you know, you had seven stocks driving the index where later in the cycle, if you haven't done it now, when are you going to get returns on overall activism, ken, what should we look forward to over the remainder of the year and into the next? >> yeah, well, activism is having a banner year we've already had 80 activist engagements through the year, which is a record number in the u.s., so we only have 52 last year at this point i think with interest rates

higher, with the stock market flatter down, which it is for most stocks, and with the rotation from growth to value, it's a great -- it's a great environment for activists to come in and really get other shareholders to support them and engage one last thing i'd say about nike, i also think it's similar to chipotle in that it's a great brand that's a little out of favor, temporarily, and i think is drawn to situations like that where he can see the bigger picture. >> and if he can affect the outcome in the c suite like i think he thought he could do and maybe did in some r respects at chipotle getting nickel there, certainly playing a role in getting nickel in the first place and thinking he could run that play book back at nike. >> he definitely did it at chipotle, he got four seats which led to the hiring of brian niccol i think he's going to be as aggressive at nike as he was back there, but i think he'll

definitely be in the ear and be listening as well to the board members. >> and what do you make of what happened with starbucks? i mean, we've learned that, you know, starboard was obviously there. i reported the other day that try yan had amassed a sizable stake according to sources and had some conversations, and then when the stock jumped as much as it did, they bounced. >> yeah, i think the starbucks is a great activist story. you know, it starts off with howard schultz publicly criticizing the ceo, and then elliott comes in and oaf a couple of months are engaging with a larger position, talking with the board with similar concerns as howard schultz, and tr trian, the board acted quickly and decisively they brought in a rock star ceo that did great for the stock, and i actually think that mellody hobson deserves a lot of credit here for not only doing

something so quick and so decisive, but also giving up her role as chair to get the deal done, you know, in a world of activism where a lot of time egoand job security is what's paramount, you have someone acting a little pit bit selfless for the benefit of the shareholders. >> in all of the different hands they've been able to play at the same times remarkable in and of itself, here we have southwest is sort of the next one. and a company that i wonder how you view that in terms of being ripe -- >> it's a little tricky in the sense that actually selling it seems like it's a little bit off the table. it's not really who are you going to sell an airline to that's been running a very specific way for a long time but in terms of strategic missteps, washed out valuation, and seemingly things that, you know, you could do to either become like other airlines or just fix, you know,

operationally, it does make sense from there, whether it's -- and you're not doing it as a bet on the cycle. you're not doing it as a bet on, you know, reacceleration of consumer travel demand it's much more about a company specific fix. >> ken, how do you view what may happen here? and also, you know, how formidable elliott has become in the activist space it must fill the pages up of your reports sf. >> i agree with what mike had to say. this is situation that's company specific it's not going to be sold, the company. it's a company that needs outside airline experience management is all southwest people for many, many years. elliott has a slate of a lot of outside airline experience veterans they would like them to come in and show a different perspective, and as you said, elliott is the -- you know, the l hundred pound gorilla in activism right now they have the resources, the money, the experience to

basically engage with anybody, and i expected they'll get seats here i don't think they'll get ten seats, but a win for them will be some board representation and a ceo changing, and i think that's likely. you know, elliott since 2022 has -- and people don't realize this -- has removed 12 ceos quietly without a proxy fight at 12 different companies since 2022 so it's -- they have experience with this. >> they sure do. we'll follow it. appreciate it always, ken, thank you. we'll talk to you soon ken squire and of course mike santoli who's coming back for the market zone. up next, we're tracking the biggest moves as we head into the close. ju julia boorstin is stand ing by w that. >> a steel maker and a coffee company are both climbing after

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and dutch pros as energizing growth potential and thinks shares could jump 30%. the company upgraded the company from buy to neutral. and has crypto run out of steam? that's what wolfe research is saying bitcoin is off by 3% today, wolfe says the cryptocurrency's path of least resistance is to the downside scott. >> an interesting risk-on day, nasdaq ripping, bitcoin down. still ahead, walmart is jumping today. we'll drill down on that report, what it might signal about the consumer as well "closing bell" is coming right back

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coming up next, l stocks gaining ou igrndn today's trade. we dig into that move in the market zone, and we'll do it right after this break

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it should be called wiffle tennis. pickle! yeah, aw! whoo! ♪♪ these guys are intense. we got nothing to worry about. with e*trade from morgan stanley, we're ready for whatever gets served up. dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. i'd rather work on saving for retirement. or college, since you like to get schooled. that's a pretty good burn, right? got him. good game. thanks for coming to our clinic, first one's free. the market zone is sponsored by e-trade for morgan stanley. it's time for the "closing bell" market zone. cnbc senior markets commentator mike santoli with us to break down the crucial moments of this trading day. and melissa rep coe on shares of walmart hitting record highs, and phil lebeau taking a look at the big moves in the auto space, several of those stocks are on the move as well

stocks on the move pretty much across the board >> for sure. you know, 24 hours ago, i thought it would be pretty hard to under shoot expectations for retail sales because they had grown pretty skeptical, but i also thought it was surprising how fast the market had come back to that level obviously a lot more doubt had built up in the market about the feasibility of the soft landing than i had anticipated then. we got confirmation on the inflation and growth front tote today. we got through these events that were sitting ahead of us, and now it seems like you're kind of safe for a while in terms of a big revised view of the underlying economy you're not going to get the major economic releases until a couple of weeks from now obviously you have nvidia earnings out there so if the comeback from the technical concentrated mechanized selling of a week ago monday bought you a little bit of positioning tailwind, now you have a little bit of a fundamental cushion. i still think we have an issue back at the highs.

we have an issue with valuation. we have an issue with how much better things can get. you've definitely shown bull market resiliency on display. >> a week out from jackson hole. >> that's going to be real interesting as we lead into that tell us about walmart, what a day. >> hi, scott, yes, shares of retailers including target, best buy, and macy's are up today after walmart's quarterly results defied fears of the consumer slowdown. walmart raised its forecast to reflect a strong first half of the year after beating on the top and bottom line. cfo john david rainey said we don't see any additional fraying of consumer health coach's parent tapestry beat expectations despite roughly flat year-over-year sales with cfo scott roe telling me consumers are willing to pay full price for innovative productsretailer had a good day dillard's stock fell after sales disappointed that raises questions about how other retailers will fare in the

coming weebs. >> tesla squarely in front of me up 6%. >> yeah, we'll talk about tesla in just a little bit, scott. let's talk first off with the legacy automakers. they don't get a whole lot of love very often infrom the mark on a single day. this is an extension of what we've seen over the last couple of days. up anywhere between 2 and 3% today. i want to show you what some of these stocks have done over the last six months. go back to august 6th. that's when they hit their 2024 lows since then they've started to move higher. they're nowhere close to where they were at the start of the year, but they have to a certain extent bounced back. with regard to tesla, it too has bounced back since its august 6th low, and look at that, it's a nice move higher, now trading above 213, scott i love when it gets down to that 190, 180 level and i hear from people, and they go what's going on with tesla? relax, it will be back >> yeah, phil, thanks.

up 15% week to date. we still got one more day to go. we'll turn back to mike santoli a little over a minute to go those are really the two catalysts over the next couple of weeks it's jackson hole and nvidia the week after that. >> for sure, and you know, jackson hole presumably they're going to reiterate we think we see room to become less restrictive i don't think the market truly wants an aggressive 50 basis point cut or doesn't want the conditions under which that's an obvious move, and it's always been the bull case to me that slow, steady, deliberate fed cutting cycle is the one you want, and so if that gets affirmed, more or less probably so at jackson hole i don't think any numbers in the interim are going to really disturb that understanding of how they think about things. it's probably okay you insulate yourself. this is what the path to soft landings are like i keep reiterating this it's not everything looks great all the time it is mixed messages, sometimes things look great.

sometimes it looks like we're faltering and somehow it tacks in the other direction always on your toes. >> nasdaq up 5% right now week to date. >> amazing >> yeah. >> still work to do. >> no doubt about that what a good day for the markets across the board here. dow's going to go out above 45,500 i'll see you tomorrow. that's the end of regulation, human kind investments ringing the closing bell at the new york stock exchange the new york banker's association doing the honors the the nasdaq retail sales, jobless claims data getting cheered by the bulls today. stocks making sizable moves higher adding to solid gains on the week closing at session highs the s&p 500 is now positive for the month. we've regained all the lost ground of recent weeks that's the score card on wall street the action's just getting started. i mo