peace. the justice department is a paying $137.8 million to settle lawsuits against larry flares, the fbi -- larry nas per, how disace pointing is it to this, that the fbi let all those pleas go away -- >> that they failed to investigate, the fbi had to apologize to some of the victims saying they apologized for not taking this issue seriously enough. >> this is the least they have to do, you know? this pales in comparison to the suffering that the victims have had to endure and that they will spend the rest are of their lives trying to recover from. charles: i know. but it's the fbi, they're supposed to -- it just brought a chill and a tear to my eyes. i'm glad they're paying the money, but it should never have happened. ladies, thank you both very, very much. >> thank you. liz: kelly o'grady is filling in for liz claman. kelly: hey there, charles. as you said, i am kelly o'grady in for liz claman today. we're going to begin the final hour of trading with breaking news. so "the wall street journal" reporting that i e bm is nearing

a deal to acquire cloud software provider hasha corp.. at a premium to its $4.9 billion market valuation could be reached within a matter of days, shares surging over 22% right now on that news p. let's check ib bm shares. initially, they dropped on the report but now just up about half a percent right now. let's get to the border -- broader or markets because the bulls are charging ahead with about a 59 minutes left to trade. all of the major averages extending yesterday's gains. the dow is up 257 points and on pace for a fourth straight session of gains. the s&p 500 up 61.5 points right now, looking for its first back to back gain since last month, and the nasdaq is also trying for two up days in a row, looks as of now that it will clinch that. earnings season, folks, is officially here, and helping at least in part to paint the session green.

speaking of earnings, investors giving the green light to general motors after its report morning. shares really accelerating right now by 5% after the company raised its profit outlook for 2024 and companies from a range of sectors getting a nice post-earnings boost. streaming service provide orer e or spotify up 14% right now after swinging to a profit. medical conglomerate daniher seeing a nice if 7% boost, atop the s&p 500 actually right now. ge aerospace seeing gains of 7 right now on pharma name no novartis the up 2.23%. that is proof that hitting or raising guidance, one of the most attractive things for wall street when you have an earnings report. now, one of the most iley anticipated -- highly anticipated earnings reports comes after the bell today. tesla share. >>s inching higher ahead of that report after a dismall report this year. we're up 2% right now but, certainly, down on the year.

we're going to dig deeper into what to expect in a few. with more as we await results from meta, alphabet and movement but first, let's get right to the floor show to discuss today's market movers and what your next move as an investor should be. joining me now is seaport securities president teddy weisberg and hudson valley investment advise iser, guess gecko. thank you so much for joining me today. >> thanks forking -- for having us. kelly: guest, we are in a very -- gus, we are in a very different place than we were from january. in some cases, the ups are the beauty of low expectations. for example, ups today beat guidance, but you see that softer demand from a delivery perspective. so what's your take on what we're getting from earnings season thus far? >> so far we're seeing or margins are better than

expected. we're running about 12.5-and % overall -- 13% overall which if you were looking in the past generally would have been 8-10. so we're seeing better than expected margins and gdp numbers are better than expected, so that's helping to flow through the economy. revenues haven't been there, so that's the thing we're keeping an eye on. remember, financials were the first ones to lead us, and they had a little bit of a mini recession. so we're funneling through that, and we're looking at actually better earnings as we move through this quarter. kelly: yeah, definitely something we're all hoping for from big tech this week. teddy, i want to bring you in because whenever we talk earnings, i always hear in the back of your mind an earnings trifecta, right? bottom line, top line, guy dance. i love that from you. -- guidance. but this thing we've with seen guidance kind of downwards for a lot of the companies. i'm thinking jetblue, for example, earlier today really revising down that second quarter guidance by so 10.5%.

what's your take on some of that a downward revision that a we're seeing? >> el, i think, kelly, therein lies the problem. it is an earnings trifecta. it's the top line are, it's the bottom line and it's the guidance. and if you have to get, if you have to get something wrong, what you don't want to get wrong, in my opinion, is the guidance. the stock market in general is a forward-looking indicator, not a trailing. it doesn't react to trailing indicators. and so the guidance is forward-looking, the stock market is forward-looking. you can beat in the top line and the bottom line, but if you don't get the guidance right, you're going to get pup earned. and we've seen -- punished. and we've seen that over and over again in past earnings reporting periods. now, some companies, you know, if they're having problems, they'll preannounce and try to get ahead of that curve. but, you know, on to balance as gus pointed out, the earnings are coming in quite good. last quarter i think almost 80% of the companies that reported beat, and we're now getting into

the sweet spot of the earnings. tonight we have he's after the close, tomorrow night meta. s this is a big week for earnings as next week will be. so it's all about the earnings, and in by opinion, it's all about the guidance. can. kelly: yeah, definitely the guidance. you see jetblue revising that downward. the stock is down over 10% right now. but, you know, gus, you mentioned the fact that revenue if has been down a little bit. one of the most confusing things to me as we're seeing all economic data come in is the resiliency of the consumer, okay? we're going to get another read today on the consumer when visa reports. analysts are revising those estimates up. we got three from am-exlast week which i know you like a a lot. >> yes. kelly: they beat. what do you think all of those data points are saying about whether we are going to see that consumer stay resilient? >> we're going to see the consumer stay resilient for two reasons. number one, employment's high.

people have a job, they're spending. that's the great thing about america, we lo to spend. [laughter] -- we love to spend. kelly: we do. >> if you're somebody that's 65 and older, you have $75 a billion in assets. that's where they are. so an increase in interest rates helps them. it's the lower 50% that are feeling like they're in a recession. so the spending's still going to hold up, but there's a trade-off. you've seen people substitute goods and checks at restaurants, you're seeing the ticket actually go down a little bit. so we think you're still there, it's just not as robust as it was, say, a year ago. kelly: it's an interesting point about the demographic shift because a lot of those, you know, baby boomers are actually benefiting from high rates right now in the money markets and what not. teddy, just really quickly, i know that you are very bullish e on 3 and 6-month treasuries, and i wanted to get your take on why specifically. is that you're hoping to capitalize on a rate cut rally later in the year, or are you feeling like you wouldn't want

to put your money into a longer term bond because you're worried about government spending? got about 30 seconds. >> well, i'm not opposed to the long-term bonds, but the 3-month and 6-month treasuries have been a great place to hide for the last 12-18 months. two years ago folks were getting zero on their money. i'm perfectly happy with a 3-month, 6-month. i don't want to make a bet on interest rates. quite frankly, i think all the rhetoric about interest rates is nothing more than rhetoric. nobody if really knows not even the fed knows, but it e certainly appears as if all the a bullish rhetoric about the fed lowering rates going back to last november/december has turned out not to be the case and, in fact, now we could go through the whole year and maybe they're not going to do anything with9 rates. kelly: right. >> so i'm comfortable with the 3-month, 6-month treasury. i think it's a great place to hide. we're not opposed to owning stocks. we own plenty of stocks. we have a lot of exposure to the stock market. but what i call mattress money p

i think it's a great place to9 put -- kelly: mattress money, i love that. >> you know, we have so many unknowns, kelly -- kelly: yeah. >> so many potential problems out there. we're not so boarish that we're all in, but we also want to put some of that mattress money to work at 5.25-5.5%. kelly: i love. that we, unfortunately, are going to have to leave it here, gentlemen. g cu us, teddy, thank you so much for your time. >> thanks for having us. kelly: i want to get to this, tesla shares up 2% right now, almost 2%, ahead of its earnings report set to come out after the closing bell. the ev maker peppererring investors with what might be in store hours before the report by announcing a new model 3 performance vehicle launching today. the price is starting at $40,490. tesla are not only, the only, rather, big name reporting first quarter results this week.

we've got meta reporting tomorrow, microsoft of and alphabet reporting thursday and is results from amazon and apple on deck next week. it's a big test for the it can titans, these next few days. susan li breaks down what hurdles and strategies we could see from some of america's most influential companies starting with some new data on how apple's fearing, right, susan? >> yeah. so we are looking at the biggest week for earnings this quarter, almost 40% of the s&p 500. wall street already looking past these peak tech val valuations, incleesing their short interests and their short positions by a trillion dollars so far this month. and, yes, that includes apple. and we already know that a apple iphone sales have struggled in the first quarter rt in china, down 19% according to counterpoint research, worst start there to the the year in four years, and that means lost market share in apple's third biggest market. they're ceding sales to android phones. lower cost competitors and more local brands like huawei. and that's a reason why apple

shares are down by more than 15% so far this year, close to its lowest levels in 12 months. apple, along with the rest of the mag if 7, lost almost a trillion dollars in value last week on higher yields. you still have sticky inflation. tesla's probably had the worst year with so far, down by 40% or so. and, of course, tonight most tesla are analysts have already warned to pave the road for a pretty ugly first quarter. could be the worst in seven years, especially if you go by the amount of money that tesla makes per car sold. these gross margins, as we call them, and that's a key metric for wall street. automotive margins will tell us how much elon musk is selling, how much he's making on his cars after price -- cuts, layoffs and outside of those green credits. just ahead of earnings, tesla announced today they are cutting 2700 jobs at their gigafactory in texas and just a few minutes ago announcing almost 3,000 job cuts across california. and and that's part of the

14,000 layoffs that they preannounced that they're going to cut around the world. now, elon musk usually gets on these earnings calls. tonight he'll probably and likely need to talk up the new self-driving push in robotaxis and that's the cost the cheaper car mold, the model 2, which was supposed to cost around $25,000, but he'll also get a chance tonight to prove again why he's worth that $56 billion pay package, richest in corporate history, that he wants voted back in. tesla reports tonight, meta tomorrow. microsoft, alphabet on thursday. i'll be speaking to alphabet's president on those earnings on thursday. now, meta, microsoft, alphabet will be more of an a.i. story to show if they're actually starting to make money from this new technology and not just all hype. kelly: yeah. we're going to see, susan, if tesla's able to retain its status as a mag 7 or if we're going to go down to a mag 6 later today. thank you, super, appreciate it. okay. and you can see some profiles of some of tech's richest people

all this week on fox nation. who is jeff bezos debuts today, who is mark zuckerberg tomorrow, and who is elon musk is streaming now. that can be found only on fox nation. okay. well, a massive jump today in new home sales showing cracks in the housing market tundra. the superstar real estate duo jen and dolly lenz are here to tell us if they see the high-rate ice jam about to break in that frozen-over housing market. ticker iyr up nearly 12% over 6 months. "the claman countdown" coming right back. ♪ ♪ after last month's massive solar flare added a 25th hour to the day, businesses are wondering "what should we do with it?"

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our financial planning tools and advice can help you prepare for today's longer retirement. hi mom. that's the value of ownership. i suffer with psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis. i was on a journey for a really long time to find some relief. cosentyx works for me. cosentyx helps real people get real relief from the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis or psoriasis. serious allergic reactions, severe skin reactions that look like eczema, and an increased risk of infections, some fatal, have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to or if ibd symptoms develop or worsen. i move so much better because of cosentyx. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. i suffer with psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis. i was on a journey for a really long time to find some relief. cosentyx works for me. cosentyx helps real people get real relief

from the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis or psoriasis. serious allergic reactions, severe skin reactions that look like eczema, and an increased risk of infections, some fatal, have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to or if ibd symptoms develop or worsen. i move so much better because of cosentyx. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. i suffer with psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis. i was on a journey for a really long time to find some relief. cosentyx works for me. cosentyx helps real people get real relief from the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis or psoriasis. serious allergic reactions, severe skin reactions that look like eczema, and an increased risk of infections, some fatal, have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to or if ibd symptoms develop or worsen. i move so much better because of cosentyx. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. kelly: well, new home sales data shows things may be picking up

just in time for the spring housing market. 693,000 new homes were sold in the u.s. in march as a compared to 670,000 expected. that is the up 8.8 from february. that is the highest level that a we've seen since september, but with mortgage rates still elevated, will spring still be a hot time to buy and sell? well, thankfully, joining me now with what they're seeing on the ground is dolly lenz real estate managementing director and ceo jenny and dolly lenz. ladies, so good to have you with us today. dolly, i want to get your take on what we might see in april, right? we're already 23 days into the month, and i'm to curious with new home sales, are you expecting them to rise again? if and if so, what do you think that means for the supply and demand that we're going to see on that spring market? >> we are expecting new home sales to rise again. it is the sweet spot in the market, obviously. you know, they have a lot of room to play, right?

a builder i has a lot of tools in his belt, so to speak, is they're using their tools, and they're e selling. they're not waiting for anything else to happen. they want to get things sold. >> right. they have scale, they have pricing power unlike the regular, average joe seller they can offer a lot of concessions and, you know, we really see that market doing well for home building. on the ore side of the coin, you have the first-time home buyer who's really, really struggling, and we're quite concerned because mortgage rates are at an all-time high, about 7.3% for the 30-year fixed. you have high insurance costs in places plagued with natural disasters especially like florida and california, and you just have an overall high e median home price, so -- >> you know, and add to that high gas prices and high everything else, it's the really not good for the non-asset rich, right? the non-mattress money group, right, as your prior guest said. and, because the mattress money

group has money, so their money makes money, right in they buy some, they take it off the market here, they put it there. but the people who are struggling are the ones who are paying the high interest rates don't have assets to offset it. >> and they must borrow and, obviously, borrowing is very expensive. kelly: yeah, as a first-time -- >> and they're quite concerned. kelly: as a first-time home buyer in the next couple of years myself, i have to ask you, we are seeing mortgage rates above 7%. you know, there was a prediction that a maybe we'll be at 6.4% by tend of the year. not -- the end of the year. not really expecting that anymore with the fed flip-flopping and saying that we're not going to cut rates as soon as we expected. so what's your advice for folks that are in that spot? do you date the rate, marry e the house, or do you think you should wait a little bit and see where rates go? >> well, unfortunately, we don't think you should wait because freddie mac is even predicting a. .5% increase in home prices through 2025.

so if you can buy and you're a little bit settled meaning you have a job, obviously, and you know where you going to live, we do recommend to buy because we don't see home prices coming down anytime if soon. and like you said at the begin beginning of the year, we did expect mortgage rates to come down. the fed was signaling there that, but we're not seeing that, of course. hopefully they do come down, but if you buy and you buy decently well, like i said, we do think you should jump in if you can. >> we don't know anyone really who is unhappy they got on the property ladder, right? we don't know a single person. so if you get on the property ladder, you have some asset and some ma maneuver about. and like jenny always a says, interest rates affect rents too, so rentals are also at all-time highs. so what are your choices? like jenny always says, you're going to be living with your parent, you're going to be buying or renting. only one of those is cheap. finish. >> right. kelly: yeah, absolutely. and just really quickly before you go, i just wanted to get

your take on what we're seeing when it comes to inventory, because that's a big piece of this. i have a quote from the pultegroup. they reported earnings today. the stock is up. the ceo said: after more than a decade of underbuilding, it's estimated our country has a structural shortage of several million homes. what's your reaction to that? i mean, do we need that much more the really see more of a stabilization in the market? >> right. so we only have 3.2 months' supply of the current sales space, and a healthy market is considered 6 months between buyer and seller so, obviously, anything lower than that is a seller's market. we do have an inventory problem. >> the good news is though baby boomers, you know, like myself, may be looking to move, downsize, go into a rental or various other options, and they're going to put 9 million homes on the market over the next 10 years. so that will do a lot to shore up the shortage. >> and we're hoping those poem home builders really build a lo-

>> yes. >> -- so that we get a little bit of a break on the inventory side. kelly: well, i'm certainly hoping for that. dolly and jenny, thank you for your insight. really appreciate, ladies. >> thank you. kelly: well, it has been 200 days since hamas attacked israel from gaza, and is our allies in the middle east could be on the verge of getting much-needed aid from congress. so are ukraine and taiwan. we'll go live to capitol hill for the status of that a $95 billion foreign aid bill. and one day after a dragging on the dow 30, verizon is bouncing back to lead the blue chips. look at it, it's up 3% right now. having a good day, verizon. " claman countdown" is coming right back. ♪ ♪(voya)♪ there are some things that work better together. like your workplace benefits and retirement savings. voya helps you choose the right amounts

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kelly: let's get to this breaking news. president joe biden just wrapping up in tampa, florida. he was at hillsborough community college's campus and focus on reproductive rights, notably taking aim at florida's new law that that will ban abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy that goes into effect on may a 1st. and while the president campaigns, the senate is moving closer to a final vote on that controversial $95 a billion foreign aid bill that could send funds to help israel and ukraine

in their wars against a hamas and russia. senators passed a crucial procedural vote with wide bipartisan support and a vote of 80-19. fox news senior congressional correspondent chad pergram joins us live on capitol hill. chad, does this signal the foreign aid a package actually has the strength to pass a final vote? >> reporter: absolutely. the senate voted to break a fill hi birth on the bill, that means it's just a matter of time before the senate finishes the bill, passage likely tonight or tomorrow. democrat michael bennett says it's about time the u.s. sent help to ukraine. >> i think this is, you know, hopefully what we're seeing is a shift away from the if isolationism that the tea party represented and that the freedom caucus represented. i think this is a good moment for president biden, you know? he has stood strong with our allies. >> reporter: support for ukraine is wisconsin partisan -- bistart pan -- can bipartisan. perhaps the most ardent champion

of ukraine in the senate, mitch mcconnell. >> make no mistake, delay in providing ukraine the weapons to defend itself has strained the prospects of defeating russian aggression. divot eggeringing -- dithering and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face. today's action is overdue. >> reporter: but there are reservations about the bill9 from the right and the left. some conservatives oppose helping ukraine, and progressives like bernie sanders of vermont do not like sending assistance to israel. >> netanyahu and his extremist government are clearly in violation of u.s. and international law. and because of that, should no longer receive u.s. military aid. >> reporter: also in the bill a provision mandating china drop can its investment in tiktok, so that will likely become law.

keep in mind that the senate takes one vote on the entire with package. that includes tiktok. kelly? if. kelly: yeah. that's an important point to remember. great breakdown. we will await that final vote is. thank you, chad, for that live report. okay, buy now pay later company affirm right now up almost 3% after a walmart-backed fin-tech the called one now offering a bnp if service in walmart walmart stores. that's going to compete directly9 with the retailer's partnership with the firm. it allows can customers to split purchases into with smaller monthly payments whether online or in stores. one is majority owned by walmart, and the company's top executives including the walmart u.s. ceo sitsen on its board. and look at a shares of the athletic fashion if retailer hivot, soar anything response to the news that it will be acquired by jd sports fashion for about $1.1 billion, up close to 19% right now. jd sports will pay $87.50 per

share representing a 21% premium to its closing price of $72.49 on monday. transaction, which was unanimous ly approved by the board of directors, is expected to close in the second half of 2024. and now this, the u.s. federal trade commission is suing to block the $8.5 a billion acquisition of capri holdings by tapestry. the move by regulators brings a temporary halting to a deal that would marry two major names in american luxury retail. the ftc says the combined company would harm shoppers and employees. ftc chair lena khan has a really leaned in to protecting workers with some of her recent regulatory the news. and secret blue, we talked about this earlier, it is down, let's see, 19 after the company reported current quarter revenue is expected to drop more than analysts anticipated. that a comes after jetblue saw $2.21 billion in sales for the first quarter and its per-share loss was narrower than expected.

let's check other airlines at the moment. let's see, we see jetblue down 19% and, yeah, it's mixed. united airlines up, delta almost up and southwest down about half a percent. okay. coming up, calf nation taking on a whole new meaning as americans sip up record amounts of espressos, lattes and cappuccinos. certainly are i do. jeff flock is at a cafe in the city of brotherly love with a look at how much a cup of joe is really costing coffee drinkers. and and apologies to parks and rec, but -- [inaudible] to treat yourself. look at that pirntion i love that. the coconut water brand rolling out vitacoco treats could take business away from starbucks, pop-ups inside target stores. the cofounder is here to explain why he's decided to take on starbucks' pink drink. starbucks is down over the past two weeks. we're boeing to be coming right back. ♪

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kelly: the price of your morning cup of joe, you probably noticed it's been with reaching new heights as coffee prices have hit record highs, rising over 17% year to date thanks to abnormal if weather in seat a name and brazil is, fears of a shortage. but it's not stopping consumers from shelling out the cash for their caffeine fix. let's go live to jeff flock at a café in philadelphia. how's it going, jeff? what are you doing with the beans? >> reporter: ah, i tell you, this is gold. colombian gold. well, actually, i think social security salvadoran gold, actually. you can get coffee from pretty much if anywhere these -- well, not anywhere, but the coffee's just booming. the price, the interest. take a look at this survey, national coffee association just did a survey. they ask folks every year, have you had coffee in the last 24 hours? in 2004 about less than half of the people said they had. now it's, like, 67%.

and demand not only just your maxwell house, but actually these specialty coffees s. and this is what they specialize in here. this is pilgrim roasters, one of the two founders is brian connolly. how do you with explain this craze? and people willing to spend. >> yeah. i mean, they spend money on the things that they want, you know? we try to position ousts where -- ourselves where we're selling really great coffee, we're buying the best coffees we can get our hands on and bringing those to consumers. a lot of that price comes from increased costs on the farm -- >> because you do directly to the farm. you buy directly from the farmers everywhere around the world, haiti, ecuador, el salvador. >> yeah, absolutely. we're trying to buy as a directly as possible. there's some places where we have an importer or an exporter that helps handle that transaction, but we want to have as few hands in that pot if as possible. >> reporter: right.

so the farmers get the dough. that's important to your customers as well. take a look at coffee futures, by the way, kelly. [laughter] they've exploded. coffee futures up 100% in the last year. but people, as i said, willing to spend on it. i think i talked to this young lady earlier, she says this is the best coffee in town. is that still your case? >> absolutely. >> reporter: what makes it so good? >> you can taste the life in it. the coffee still has life to it. >> reporter: i love it. and coffee is a fruit. i never knew coffee was a fruit. those beans that i showed you earlier, they're inside, apparently, a piece of cherry, coffee if cherry, they say. i don't want to get away without talking to dan, one of the cofounders of this. you're passionate about a coffee,people are these days too and they want the kind of specialty coffee that you guys turn out here and are willing to pay for it. >> yeah. what was the question? sorry. [laughter] >> reporter: welsh there's no question there the. i never ask a question. people are willing to -- oh,

what'd you do there, by the way, did you do a fancy? >> [inaudible] >> reporter: how do they do that? kelly, i don't understand how they do that. [laughter] >> lots of practice. you can learn on line on youtube, you can, you know, learn from your local barista, so -- >> reporter: so, kelly, e guess basically what he's saying is if the tv thing doesn't work out for us, there's a future for us, perhaps, as a barista, whatever they call it. [laughter] kelly: you know, that was so beautiful. i love that heart, but, you know, jeff, i think, yeah, if you're addicted to it, i certainly will spend if i can get life for my coffee. >> reporter: it's street legal too. kelly: i love that. great report, jeff. that's important. [laughter] jeff, thanks so much. okay. well, pepsico is fizzing out. look at that, it's down 2.6% right now after the consumer goods maker revealed north american beverage volume, it fell 5% year-over-year despite a top and bottom line beat in its

first quarter. the company said consumers were impacted by hirer prices and shifting spending habits, so what does this mean for vie taco coe? it shot up nearly 5 52% since it ipo'd in october 2021. the tropical beverage maker has expanded its lineup with a strawberries and cream drink that it's called treat. it's sold exclusively at target until its launch at other retailers later this year. some are calling it a viral pink drink. joining us now is the executive chairman michael kerben. so good to have you here. i am so excited to talk and maybe test this product. i mentioned pepsi, so i want to start there. they're seeing some volume challenge, some demand challenges there. is that what you're seeing with your consumer? >> no. we've been growing. growth last year was mostly driven by volume as opposed to price. we did take some price over the

last couple of years because of innation -- kelly: so you're seeing increased volume? wow, okay. >> more than price. we actually feel that everybody else in beverage has raised prices so much, it's put us in a really nice position where we're no longer the most expensive thing in the beverage aisle, and we're in a great place to start to really build this category and see coconut water become a staple. kelly: right. and what about costs? we are seeing other beverage providers really struggle with transportation, commodity prices. i know coconuts are increasing in price, so what are you seeing there? are you getting squeezed? >> no. because we, you know, coconut water historically was a by-product of the industry, so we feel we're in a really good position. we're helping to upcycle this by-product, and we've seen some cost inflation as it relates to shipping, nothing like in '21, '22. actually, shipping rates are stabilizing and starting to come down, so we feel we're in a good position to continue to improve margin over time. cel what better time to expand.

so, of course, we've got to talk about this beautiful pink drink. actually, would you mind passing me one? i'm definitely going to try it. >> sure. there you go. kelly: okay. so strawberries and cream treats, right? why did you expand into this flavor palette specifically? >> i think consumers are looking for health and wellnesses. they're spending on health and wellness, and they're also spending on some indulgence, right? this is, kid gets out of school, looking to grab something. mom is, you know, having a day and wants something to just treat herself, that's what in this product is all about. and we see it's working really well. the scan data coming out of target where we launched it is amazing in the first several weeks since we've launched it e, so it's really exciting. kelly: this smells amazing, by the way. beautiful package being as well. you can see right there. okay though, target. when i go shop at target, i'm normally stopping by starbucks. they've got their pop-ups there. i grab my drink, i go along with

it. i did notice a 16-ounce starbucks costs $4.75 for a 16.9 ounce for you guys, it's $3.49, so i see the benefit there. why did you decide to take them on, head on, right in target? >> it wasn't necessarily taking on starbucks. target is just a great place to launch a product like this. the consumer is there. the consumer's looking for new, enmow slative things, and so we -- innovative things, so we thought it was the perfect retailer to partner with to launch this project. can. kelly: and, you know, we have seen tar starbucks, they have the pink distribution all sorts of other lines, are you thinking about expanding at all? if you see success with this? >> we i think coconut as a base for these type of healthy, indull gent products is really interesting. so we think we have, you know, the permission from the consumer to play in this space. so, yeah, i think you'll probably -- based on how well it's gone in the first couple of weeks, you'll probably see more from this sub-line of vie taco

coe. kelly: okay. we mentioned it at the beginning, your stock is up over 50 since you ipo'd. i think we were talking about it during the break, your very first interview was with liz claman. talk to me about how you're going to continue that growth. so, obviously, you've got this expansion, but is there anything else that you're looking at to get another 50%? >> yeah. so, you know, coconut water is one of the fast -- it's the fastest growing beverage category in the beverage aisle today. it's still in its infancy. it's becoming a household staple across north america and western europe. we believe we can continue to grow significantly, but also we've created kind of a platform and the foundation from which we believe we could build a large, healthy, better for you, diversified beverage platform. so we're looking at m&a as an opportunity, we're innovating and creating new products outside of coconut water to basically round off this platform of healthy beverages that we think we can develop

over time. kelly: yeah. well, i can definitely say this is very tasty. next time i'm at target, i'm going to think of how and peck it up. thanks so much for your time. really great stuff. >> thanks for having me. death. kelly: spot bitcoin etfs have been hot since their debut in january. what's ahead for them since the halving? charlie breaks it. that's next. ♪ ♪ liz: it was fox business that a believed in me. >> we congratulate liz on her trailblazing work.

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hearing from issuers, a month out? >> my tie is a little -- kelly: looks fabulous. >> it is a little askance. i'm trying to make a transition here. they're discouraged and here's why. the sec, they're not commenting on this, they're not commenting to anybody as a matter of fact. it is radio silent from the sec to the major issuers that have applied to be this etf including i guess cathie woods firm has applied, blackrock has applied. kelly: right. >> that is of concern to them. when they were doing the bitcoin spot etf which was approved about this time before the approval date, the sec was in their grill. kelly: oh, yeah. they were getting communication a lot. >> so right now they are really worried that this radio silence. what could be going on behind the scenes? there is two possible explanations. i think the latter is more likely the explanation.

the first one is that the sec has, basically done all the heavy lifting with an etf, a crypto etf. kelly: okay. >> you don't need that much communications. i kind of don't buy that. the second explanation, this is one more widely-held among the issuer community, that gensler, gary gensler, the sec chief still hasn't given guidance whether ether the underlying crypto for this etf whether it is legal or not. essentially a lot of this, there is a lot of sort of background noise whether ether, somewhere along the lines was issued like it was, like it was a security and it's unregistered. that's a big thing. if you do a security, if you do an ipo, if you do a stock other a bond you have to issue it, you have to get it registered with the sec and there's a question whether this was done in such a way, initial sales of it, when it deemed it as a security, not

a cryptocurrency like bitcoin, not a commodity, thus it is operating illegally as an unregistered security. so, gensler has spoken around that subject. so that's where things get real scary, that they don't, that gensler is like frowning on ether, ethereum. thinks there is some issues with it and he is not going to approve this the bottom line, if he doesn't approve this, if he comes out and says ether yum is a security, you know, that is the second biggest crypto, prices will tank. kelly: right. >> it will implode the industry. i think it was an interesting conversation we had before, beforehand, what would this do to the bitcoin, prices of bitcoin? it could be wickedly positive for bitcoin it woe essentially say there is one crypto out there. kelly: one game in town. >> by the sec says it is commodity, doesn't need to be

registered. buy it all you want. that will help the bitcoin etfs. this is where we are. this is a dynamic industry. crypto is becoming part of the asset mix. we don't know how much. if they approve this, i ace step toward your financial advisor saying hey, 30% bonds, 10% stocks, 8% gold. maybe a little crypto. that is how you mainstream it. we're not quite there yet. kelly: yeah, definitely would give people more comfort but we know you're going to be all over it. >> i will be. kelly: go to on crypto and ellie. >> really my producer who comes up with these crazy stories. kelly: she is fabulous. charlie gasparino, thank you so much for your time today. well, wedbush's dan ives out with a note before microsoft reports fiscal third quarter earnings this thursday. this is microsoft's iphone moment, with artificial intelligence set to change cloud growth trajectory at the company for the next few years, joining us is turtle creek wealth

advisors chief market strategist, david spika. iphone moment. that is high praise. a lot to live up to. microsoft is one of your picks as well so what are you seeing there? >> i think microsoft is the technology name to own. i don't know if this is the iphone moment but clearly if you want to invest in a company that has exposure to a.i., to the cloud, they still have the office suite, they're growing earnings 15% a year on a regular basis, so trading 28 times, down 5% from the recent high, this is the name to own. you want earnings growth, stability of earnings growth, you want exposure to fast growing parts of the technology industry microsoft is the place to be. kelly: to follow up on that, this idea of a possible iphone moment, that would suggest there is essentially only one or two main players, maybe something like a google search market in terms of their position within a.i., do you think that is even possible with all the players that are in this space for

microsoft? >> eventually it will get sorted out. there will be fewer players in the space and i would bet that microsoft is one of those that comes out on top because they're microsoft. they have proven they can grow industries they participate in at a very rapid pace. whether an iphone moment or not, it will be positive for microsoft, microsoft shareholders, no question. kelly: definitely with all that investment partnership with openai. i want to get your take on lowe's, housing market sure it has been chilly. but we got some new home sales that surprised today. are you bullish because i think there will be rate cuts later this year, a lot of home building a lot of renovations? >> i think we're already seeing a rebound in the housing market which is incredibly resilient despite the increase in mortgage rates. so yes, a rate cut would help that. consumer spending is improving. you know what, consumers are not moving out of their homes because they don't want to give up their 3% mortgage, so they're

improving their homes that will benefit a company like lowe's, as additional construction that we're seeing a rebound in. kelly: yeah, definitely. my parents are redoing their bathrooms right now. we're definitely seeing some of that. we also saw existing homes sales go down, so really the renovations there. that is all the time we have today. thank you so much for your insights, david spika. okay, so let's check the markets. all the major averages in the green. it is the fourth day in a row of gains for the dow. that is the longest win streak for the month of april. that is going to do it for "the claman countdown." tomorrow we're going to be all over tesla earnings. remember they have, they're going to be reporting after the bell. [closing bell rings] stay tuned because "kudlow" starts right now. ♪. larry: hello, folks, welcome to "kudlow," i'm larry kudlow. well a growing avenue th