tv Barrons Roundtable FOX Business April 6, 2024 9:30am-10:00am EDT
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millions in the u.s. are expected to travel this weekend to the, quote, path of totality, a stretch the in the country where the moon will block 100% of the sun during the event. states on or near the path could rake in $1.5 billion from eclipse tourism with texas topping the list at $423 million. we'll be following it all monday on "mornings with maria," 6-9 a.m. weekdays on fox business, and i'll see you on sunday on fox news channel at 10 a.m. eastern live for "sunday morning futures." i've got exclusive interviews with governor ron desantis, senator j.d. vance, rnc co-chair lara trump and rnc chairman michael watley. that'll do it for us here on fox business. have a great rest of the weekend. thanks so much for being here, and i'll see you again next time. ♪
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♪ ♪ ♪ jack: welcome to baer rob's round table -- barron's round table. i'm jack otter. higher rates could be here to stay. a chief economist will react to the blowout march jobs report, plus why he's been saying rate cuts are not coming at all year. then the retail night if mare that jack howe has labeled underpants armageddon. you heard it here first. then the surprising new snack coming to mcdonald's. we begin with our expert panel and three things investors ought to be thinking about right now. on the barron's round table, ben levisohn, teresa rivas and jack howe. so, ben, the market was down this week, but you say it was misunderstood. it was down for a different reason than most people think. >> yeah. i mean, if you just looked at how the market did, the s&p 500 was down about 1%, its worst week since january 5th, and then you looked at the jobs that data
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that we got on friday, 303,000 jobs created, a lot more than expected, you would have thought, uh-oh. people looked at the market, looked at the data and said the fed's not going to be cutting rates, and the stock market would drop. but that's not what happened. we had a great day on friday when we got that jobs number. i think people were kind of excited. it was down more because of oil going up and that signals maybe geopolitical concerns are weighing on stocks. the other thing is stocks have just gone up a lot, and people are looking for any excuse possible to knock 'em down. jack: i guess we're maybe back in a good news is good news situation where that strong hiring number says, okay, good economy, i'll buy stocks? >> yeah, i think that's right. when yo look at what's happenins happening, everybody wanted these rate cuts, but if the economy is strong, there's a good with chance that the strong economy will translate into strong sales, translate into strong earnings, and really all that investors care about in the end are those earnings. if the earnings go up, we're
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going to do okay. jack: next week we'll get another inflation print, and i think uniis probably off the a table -- june is probably off the table now unless something changes, so july, you think that's where there could be one? >> it keeps getting adjusted out. at the beginning of the year, we were supposed to have seven rate cuts. at least that's what the market was pricing. that's kept going down, and now it's getting pushed out. and i think that's exactly what's happening. the market is looking at the day da -- data. they're making the changes, but for right now it can handle it. that cpi number, if it is too hot, that's where it's a problem. people can still make the argument that inflation is coming down even if it's slow, but if we get another blow outnumber, that could be a problem. jack: teresa, we had an earthquake in new york on friday, a much worse one in taiwan, humanitarian concerns first. but there's also an economic impact here. >> certainly. obviously, we're still counting
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the humanitarian toll of the earthquake, but the economic fallout is something that's being considered from beijing to washington, d.c.. taiwan was already a flashpoint between the u.s. and china, and if now you add in the fact that it's a supplier for a huge number of big tech companies, and they need semiconductors from taiwan semi and all the other corporations there. so it's something that everyone's watching very closely. jack: and taiwan's not the only hot spot. e south korea as well. >> exactly. we also have concerns from south korea because their proximity to north korea rattles investors' nerves, and they have a longstanding conflict there. and it shows how vulnerable global supply chains still are. jack: there is a solve to that, but it's not a quick fics -- fix, right? >> exactly. the biden administration is trying to incentivize more companies to make chips in the u.s. in places like arizona, in ohio. but that's just going to take time. there's been delays, so it's not a quick fix.
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jack: all right. meanwhile, jack, bad news from a couple of drug makers this past week. >> well, you can contrast biogen which has been an awful performer, they had some bad news. the fda wants more information on their experimental alz a heym everybody -- alzheimer's drug, and then herb, that one's hitting fresh highs. there's been approval in europe for its keytruda cancer drug and also in the u.s. for its hypertension treatment. investors usually say what's the likely hood of new revenues, how does that compare with the coming patent expirations and they make a decision. we've got a cover story in barron's this week that says investors in general might just be too bullish on the entire big farm that -- pharma group. companies have been poor long-term performer s, and there are tens of millions of dollars of patent expirations coming by the end of the decade. a company like fiers, as an example, would have to add another company the size of eli lilly to make up for some of those expirations. not going to happen.
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if you suffer from excessive bullishness on big farm a marx i think this cover story will cure you of it. jack: fiers was selling at the same price it was on friday back in 1998. real quick, one bright spot is the obesity drugs, but you're probably going to tell me they're not -- >> yeah, they've already run up, right in and we're about ten years away, plus or minus, for lilly and novo nordisk for them facing the same expirations, so we might go true the whole cycle again -- through the whole cycle. jackie: surprisingly strong the hiring is dimming investors' hopes for rate cut. my next guest doesn't expect a single cut in 2024. he explains next. ♪
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jack: march saw a blowout jobs report topping expectations by more than 100,000 jobs. the economy had 303,000 last month, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.8%. what does the latest data mean for the fed's next move? my guest has been saying he does not think the federal reserve will cut interest rates at all this year. joining me now is apollo chief economist torsten slok. great to see you again, as always a. >> thanks for having me. jack: you've been driving the higher for longer bus for a while. i think that friday's data point moved the market a little closer to your point of view, but you're not saying fewer cuts, you're saying no cuts at all. what's going on that a convinces you of that? >> i think what's important is we're seeing a very significant wealth effect. the stock market is up about $10 trillion since november the 1st. we're seeing credit spreads have tightened, interest rates -- where they were in october. on top of that, we've seen crypto prices also go up.
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these things are providing a very significant tailwind to the economy. for example, the $10 trillion increase in the stock market, compare that with last year's consumer spending total in the u.s. i was $19 trillion. so we have a very significant tailwind to the economy and consumer spending over the next several quarters because of easy financial conditions, because of the stock market going up. swrk jon and interesting point that i saw one of your notes which is that when crypto goes up, people feel more willing to spend that money. do they think of it as house money or what's going if on there? >> yeah, i think that's very important. papers are showing the marginal -- to consume means your tendency city to spend out of gains in crypto are basically double than to spend out of gains in the stock market. when crypto prices go up, you tend to see also more consumption spending as a result. so remember the crypto market is roughly a little less than $3 trillion and, therefore, has been a fairly significant wealth gain for a lot of households.
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jack: do you remember when we used to talk about the fed hiking rates and we'd say, well, there's always a lag. we don't see it now, we're going to see it later. it's more than two years, we still haven't seen it. what's going if on? >> that's right. people at the fed would tell you normally it takes 12-18 months before interest rate hikes begin to slow the economy down. that is mainly the case through the unemployment rate. the unemployment rate has gone up a little bit, and that has had some impact certainly on consumers who have more debt. but the other part of the transmission of monetary policy and what the fed is doing to the economy is exactly what's happening to the stock market. so when the stock market, remember the total market cap of the s&p 500 is about $43 trillion. so when that goes up 25 in a matter of 5 months -- 25% if -- that is a very significant boost to the amount of money people spend at restaurants, on airlines, hotels, concerts, sporting vents. so, therefore, we should expect to see the data more support to consumers spending more broadly over the coming quarters, and that will come more quickly than
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the traditional channel of pushing the unemployment rate higher. jon okay. speaking of unemployment, you send wonderful starts -- charts almost every day. friday morning's chart shows the effect of immigration on the unemployment market. can you explain that dynamic? i think we have the chart. >> that's been a very important development more recently where a lot of the jobs that have been created in the economy have been partly because of an increase in immigration. and what the chart is showing is that the significant increase in jobs we've seen in the last three months has been coming from foreign-born workers that have found jobs. so as a result of that, immigration is helping the congressional a budge office has been equipmenting this -- budget office has been estimating this, also the brooking institute, they have all been estimating that immigration is playing a role whereby we will simply have more job growth with simply because immigration has gone up so much. one way of looking at the employment report that we got on friday was this was also driven by the fact that immigration is having a tail wynn at the
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moment. jack: let's talk about the markets real quick. where with does one want to invest in a higher for longer, stronger than expected economy? >> fixed income into bonds and ec by des. first, of course, that means you should be cutting coupons. you should be benefiting from the level of interest rates being higher. you can do that in perfect if markets, in public credit, private credit. the spread is very high by historical standards, in particular in private credit. you see yields that are at very high levels. so the first answer is what should you do as an investor? you should be in particular in front-end fixed income in the first 3, 5 years in in the yield curve and cutting coupons and benefiting from the level of yields being higher. in particular, if eventually the fed will be cutting rates, this is a good time to put money into the front-end of the yield curve meaning fixed income that is giving a nice yield. on equities, of course, there is a very significant development because rates higher for longer means you should also see the economy better for longer and,
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therefore, earnings before for longer. that would argue for stock market going up. but at the same time, now you also have interest rates higher for longer means that companies have to pay more in debt service ising costs. that would argue for the stock market going down. so there is a tug-of-war between the forces that are driving equities at the macro level at the moment. jackie: the good news is we've seen ad broadening in the stock market, so it's not just the mag 7 which are not doing so welt, but i think 80, 75% of stocks are above their 200-day, is the that's a good with move. >> yeah, absolutely. and the mag magnificent seven have seen some widening. it used to be that they were moving up and down together. jack: not anymore. >> we've begun to see tesla, apple, alphabet start to underperform relative to, in particular nvidia, of course. so that widening in the gap is making me doubt a little bit the a.i. story is beginning to fall a little bit apart because it's becoming more complicated which means we as investors need to do more homework to be the right
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stock pickers and credit selectors, pick the right assets which, of course, will be outperforming relative to those -- jack: that's why we have you on the show. [laughter] thanks very much. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. jack: some fashion stocks are going out of style. is lou lou lemon on the wrong side of the trend? and why is china pulling ahead? that's all next. ♪ muc (vo) explore the world the viking way from the quiet comfort of elegant small ships with no children and no casinos. we actually have reinvented ocean voyages, designing all-inclusive experiences for the thinking person. viking - voted world's best by both travel + leisure and condé nast traveler. learn more at viking.com.
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♪ jack: the apparel business is struggling in the u.s. consumers trying to save it by pulling back on purchases or switching to cheap foreign alternatives. jack, give us the skinny on the trend that the you have dubbed underpants armageddon. >> well, you know, calvin klein finish the stock pvh, the maker
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of calvin klein, that was down 22% on tuesday, and hanes was down 12%. i thought maybe artificial intelligence made underpants obsolete. i'm not a technologist, ben. turns out it's europe that was the problem, and it's apparel more broad ifly. companies like vp corp., tapestry, ralph lauren, they all sold off mid single digits. pvh got hit hardest because it has the most or european exposure of the group, and it's eliminating some low margin channels, and that's really a going to bring its sale sales lower this year. it's a turn-around in progress, so that stock had been up more than 50% in the few months prior, so this is or sort of giving back some of those easy gains. jack: and underpants are a little smaller in europe. i don't know if that -- >> i'll check my sources. [laughter] jack: okay. let's switch to one of the few bright spots in this industry, 1017-year-old company, relieve vies strauss -- 107. -- levis strauss. >> it bounced back on thursday,
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great results taking market share, moved up guidance. it called out roose fits for men and ladies and said they were both up 40% recently. loose fits. >> and if levi is right, then lululemon has a problem, they make ethos $100 yoga pants, very tight. and they just had earnings this past week. the guidance, not so good. and i think the concern has to be, and this is coming from jeffreys, is you're going to have people looking elsewhere than those tight yoga pants that have been so style thish for so long, and i know people have been waiting to see them go away forever. and he compares it to under armour which is another company that at one point was very popular. all the kids were wearing it, and it seems like overnight it just stopped being the thing that you had to have, and their stock has been terrible ever since. we'll just have are to keep an eye on it and see if this is it for skinny pants. >> well, this isn't anything new because skinny jeans were up one of the first styles that went by the wayside during the pandemic.
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so i'm not surprised to hear that wide leg is in because, for women, that's been the case for several years now. >> but explain to me, you know, you've got these baggy pants that are in. why are the tops so tight? >> was we have to show you that we're still -- because we have to show you that we're still hot. [laughter] >> simple math. jack: let's go more broad, teresa, to the rest of the retail industry. that's your beat. what do you see? >> well, we've seen since the pandemic the biggest retail players have been getting bigger, but other companies it's been sort of touch and go depending on what part of the market you're in. now, consumers have been surprisingly resilient the entire time, but it's undeniable that americans are under pressure. we have seen consumer confidence dip recently. there was an uptick in unemployment, and polls show that people of all political persuasions are really stressed out about the november election. all those things make people less likely to shop, and we've seen a lot of retailer stocks suffer because of that the. jack: another interesting
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dynamic, i remember when h&m came in with fast fashion, now they're looking over their shoulder at even faster fashion. >> exactly. so we've all heard of fast food. fast fashion is something like that. it's trendy, cheap and really quick turn-around. so much more speed over quality, let's say. and exactly, you used to be able to get a trendy top at h&m for $15, thousand you can get one for $5 from shein or temu. and people are also buying as they're scrolling social media. that's a huge problem for a lot of retailers that that now have to compete with these new entrants that have extremely low prices. jack: i'm guessing the $5 shirt doesn't last too long, but i don't know. >> definitely not. jack: jack, or i've got to ask you, can jeremy allen white save calvin klein? >> maybe. he's the star of the bear, and management called him out four times, he's the new face. he'll really the new to have so
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on the billboards for calvin klein. they say it's the biggest cut-through campaign in all of the fashion industry, so that sounds good. i mean, i think it's a little bit of an unrealistic appearance standard. this is supposed to be about body positivity. i say give me, like, emeril la gas key -- lagasse, guy fieri. i'm thinking out loud. jack: i'm thinking what's wrong with the old victoria's secret catalog? teresa and ben have a pair of investment ideas, and jack has a surprising new item that's going to appear on mcdonald's menus. stay right there. ♪ ♪
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♪ ♪ jack: jack, it may be a good thing that skinny jeans are on the way out because krispy kreme has a new distribution channel, and there's about 13,000 of them. >> it's a big one. sometimes high finance is complicated, jack, but this is not one of those moments. krispy kreme, we're familiar with the product, the chocolate-covered ones, the glazed ones, delicious. too little distribution, and the stock has many poor performer, it had recently been trading below its ipo price. mcdonald's has been testing krispy kremes in kentucky, and it turns out people really like to buy doughnuts through the drive-through. you eat 'em, it's simple math. so they've done well, now they're going to roll hem out nationwide, right? and piper sandler calls that a game-changer. the distribution, number of doors, as they say, could more than double here in the years ahead, to it's going to be pretty easy to increase sales. piper sandler upgraded the stock to overweight. don't you dare make a fat joke
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about that, jack. it says that shares could hit $20 from here. they were recently $15 and change, so some pretty good upside there. jack: i've seen krispy kremes on sale in a gas station between the vaping and the candy -- >> yeah. still take 'em, by the way. of. jack: mcdonald's sounds better. ben, actionable ideas. >> i'm looking at a lithium miner. this has a not been a good time for evs, tesla this week came out with a terrible delivery report dropping down to a support level that's frightening. but if you look what's happening with metals, prices are going up. copper, gold and silver are going up, and i think at some point you're going to have to see list are yum prices go up despite this overproduction that the has happened there -- can lithium. and withal a, marm down so much from its high in 2022, i think this is a good time to start nibbling on it. it's an interesting moment for it, and if that price turns around, alba marl should too.
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jack: next week we're going to have to ceo of mercedes on the show she. rees saw, what's your idea? >> they say a rising tide raises all boat. record bookings in cruise operators and big price increases. unfortunately, carnival's stock has been left out of the party. now, it's certainly not the best cruise operator, but it's made a lot of strides. it's really catching up. and after a recent selloff, i think it's time for investors to get their feet wet. jack: and leisure and hospitality is where it's at. thanks, guys. to read more, check out this week's edition at a barron's.com. don't forget to fog out on x@barron's online, and that's all for us. we'll see you next week on barron's round table. ♪
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