months but in a year and a half from now the trucks and suvs are more fuel efficient than they were in the past, but that is the one worry that is out there. >> fair enough, phil, thank you, we'll see how those auto sales numbers do tomorrow morning. >> maybe by then we'll all be driving electric vehicles. >> that does it for "closing bell." "fast money" starts right now. "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq market site overlooking new york city's times square i'm melissa lee. tonight on "fast," it's a crypto come back with ethereum the big winner one top lawyer says the crypto crackdown is come. he'll explain. disney and netflix soaring on upgrades. which stock will be the big streaming winner later, apple's apology continues after iphone fans were outraged the smartphone maker

was slowing down old devices what they're doing to win back favor and what it means for the stock. first, stocks rallying to kick off the new year. the nasdaq and s&p 500 both closing at record highs with nasdaq closing above 7k for the first time ever. it does feel a bit like 2017, when tech crushed the competition, soaring 37% what do you do in this new year? do you stick with what was working, namely technology, guy? >> i think you do, mel, and happy new year i think you do stay the course people want to play the laggards, but stay with what works and what has worked. dan nathan has been on this. intel, big move to the upside, valuation is reasonable. micron had that huge move from basically the low 30s up to $50, retraced back to 40, had a decent day today valuation of micron makes sense, dram pricing is still heavy. texas instruments, great story, they're in great places, but now

24 times forward earnings, i think it's gotten expensive. technology works, just be aware of what you're buying before you dive in feet first >> faang had a great day, biotech had a great day. where do you go in 2018? >> stay with tech. if you look at the five-year performance, large cap tech has outperformed the rest of the sectors. you stay with tech you buy consumer discretionary you buy financials regulation, not seeing any new regulation yes, the yield curve is problematic for the financials but i believe if you want growth, you stay with technology companies. apple, alibaba, s.t.a.b., that's the chinese tech companies, faang and s.t.a.b. >> you have the u.s. dollar coming off, i know tim will talk about the good news out of europe there that's good for big cap

technology since they get a lot of their earnings overseas a flatter yield curve, again, if you're looking for growth, you've got to go to something like a google. that to me would be my bet at this point in time you go right back to google. >> do you remember in 2017, we were kicking off the trading year, you said to be in technology because it's idiosyncratic growth, a defensive play here we are, we're in a period of global synchronized growth, and we're still saying technology >> as you saw, brian preferred to me talking about it so now i have to talk about it, the pmis were unbelievable. german pmi, the exporters were highest in 20 years, the numbers are staggering these guys have all talked about really interesting things, but the resource trade to me is now really coming into its own we've talked in the last couple of weeks about how ag has

lagged parts of the trade that are also very interesting include cement, some of the industrial metals. for all the talk of steel to this point, you really have had a phenomenal crescendo of good news including department of commerce pushing back on china who is dumping steel to vietnam and bringing it back over here you have more demand coming out of china for hrc billets you're seeing prices in steel going higher that's really what the sector needed >> here's the ultimate would you rather >> love this game for 2018 >> you can actually be in both, but materials or technology here, guy? >> wouldn't you rather, materials or technology. >> she wants you to choose >> you have to choose. >> you can have a weighting in both >> i think power pitch -- is that what we call that thing >> fast pitch. >> we power pitched u.s. steel when it was a $22 stock. they get closer to $38 today

huge move to the upside. freeport, a couple of weeks ago, on a day that copper got obliterated, it's higher ever since. if you ask me technology or materials, i say materials >> same to you >> i can see a world where materials perform, but i want to stick with tech. >> how about you >> can i have both >> no! >> oh, oh. materials, i think only because i feel like it's just starting to gain steam and tech has been going for quite a long time. if it's looking for a place that people are going to start putting new money to work, potentially it could be materials. >> the thing about materials, the ten-year pushed back today, we're at 246, 7. the bund has now rallied over the last four sessions, a significant move across europe we've only begun to fight. a major mesquite ecb pointing

out they couldn't extend their bond buying. they announced this back in october, they cut their purchases in half. people don't realize european bond yields are going higher when they go higher, they'll bring bond yields higher here. this is great for resources. you want to see this in the commodity space. that's another reason i think this trade outperformancs. >> if you like materials, should you like industrials one day doesn't make a pattern, it was up 3% today, it outperformed a lot of the faang names today. >> you'll have days when ge is up 3%, 4%. i think it's going to languish between 17 and 19. quite frankly, the problems they've made of themselves over the last ten years do not get rectified in a quarter or two quarters >> not enough? >> not necessarily, because ge had, as i said, its own issues but look at caterpillar, john deere. we haven't talked about

infrastructure, which is something we'll probably be arguing about fairly soon, 2018. cat tractor, big company, makes those big yellow tractors, that's the one you want to be in >> obviously people are more focused on reversion to the mean trade today with tech and with retail names but it should be going forward that's where you should see the names coming out and spiking higher >> also this global thing, you're seeing it in shipping rates. karen did a great job -- i know, you're not as good looking >> not nearly. >> golar was a pitch on her fast pitch. shipping rates are going a lot higher if you look at the mlp space and the energy space, infrastructure within the energy space, it's finally rallying, oil prices have stabilized. >> my only issue with the -- i want to buy energy i want to buy it in a bad way. the only problem is every time you see the commodity, we've seen that gas rally 17%. i can see where ep companies

that are reliant on the gas space rally. why can't these companies rally? >> i think they have been rallying being scared to buy now is probably appropriate, because it's moved we had a massive move. >> the stocks haven't really moved. >> you had a major breakout in oih and in halliburton and schlumberger >> it's not bad. >> sure, but when i go back to the xle over the last five years, it's up 2%. that's the hesitation, where the subsector of the stocks -- >> in the last three months it's up 18% >> you could have found bargains in refiners or other places. large integrated names have not participated >> let's move on >> let's >> we can ask john about oil we'll bring in one of wall street's biggest 2018 bulls, john, happy new year >> thank you, happy new year to you as well. >> you stay to stick with what's

working. they pay you the big bucks to come out and say stick what's working? >> you also have opportunity to tweak as we go forward but right now, our favorite sectors, and i'm glad to hear what you all were talking about, materials, industrials, technology, consumer discretionary and health care. that's five sectors of the s&p 500 we're rating outperform. relating to technology, we're slightly underweight tech, it's 23, 24% of the s&p 500 weighting. that's a lot of exposure unless you're just dedicated to technology and technology can be volatile with the semis, they were popular last year. towards the end they sold, they did a little bit of profit taking now they're coming back up we think there's other opportunities. and technology is about a good 21, 22% weighting, so not terribly underweight

>> what goes to the overweight >> the overweights, industrials, materials, consumer discretionary. >> because it's spread out amongst the rest >> yes, it is. and they link up nicely together, because materials and industrials can benefit from increases in technology. the more tech you put in there, sensors and all kinds of equipment to make the stuff more -- make the equipment more efficiently run. low cost similarly, consumer discretionary needs technology like mad, whether they're doing bricks or mortar and then health care is a natural for that >> so i'm at home, i'm not doing anything, or i'm just contributing more to see what i have, and when do i worry? when do i say, you know what, something out there has changed in this market and i do need to start either taking profits or move to another sector >> there's a variety of things one is the market has proven since march 9th of 2009 that it's always looking for a catalyst that will tell it where its next direction is.

so one thing that worries me, if we would have a decline, some catalyst that would warrant a 4, 5, 6% decline, the market participants might get scared, okay, because they've gotten so used to this last year, if you remember, there would be days that the s&p was off like 8/10ths of a percent, we have a selloff here. there was no selloff, it's down 8/10ths of a percent i remember the dow dropping through 28% in a day and i lived through all the other stuff that happened since then, luckily but the thing is, it would be a catalyst that would shake the market, any complacency that the market has in it the lucky thing is the fundamentally a fundamentals are good.

internationals are growing it's not paradise, trees don't grow to the sky, valuations will be questioned. but there's rotation in this market that we've seen a lot of that is due to technology, inexpensive trading. you can really move in this thing. just be prepared we like financials, but right now the yield curve tells us it's just a market weight. >> john, good to see you, happy new year >> thank you >> what are you trading today? >> so it's interesting, i saw the homebuilders were actually weak today you would expect them to continue to be strong, because what has worked, should have worked today, they didn't. i'm looking to maybe add to my homebuilders on a little bit of weakness if that persists. >> we'll talk energy, but clearly, the big cap integrated names have not exploded to the upside the move from 75 to 85 has been a decent move for that size a company. although it's not a technology

stock with the beta they have, i still think these big cap energy names that tim has talked about for a long time still work here. >> going back to the tech sector, ibm, i like what they're doing, they've got big data, they're changing the company traded off 140 from last year, has held up that low >> it's a bull call. it's an interesting one. i was pretty active again, i added sombrero, this brazilian aircraft company, and bought some other resources, sold a little bit more steel, trees don't grow to the sky. as good as the news is here, this is a great trade. it was a day to be active i think in some of this rotation because frankly i think there's more to go a news alert on southwest

airlines let's get to phil lebeau for the latest >> reporter: southwest joining the growing list of companies announcing bonuses plus reinvestment in the business on the bonus side the company will be awarding all of its employees at $1,000 bonus. also the company says it will be converting options for 40 boeing 737 max 8 airplanes. they will be converting those options over the next couple of years into firm orders, also throwing in $5 million in charitable donations again, southwest like other companies we've heard about over the last week or so saying, you know what, we're going to mark the passage of this law by making an investment in our employees and in our product on the air or in the air, melissa >> bill, thanks. phil lebeau. southwest airlines putting its money where its mouth is in terms of benefits here >> contrast that to goldman

sachs who said tax reform won't be great for them. you look at southwest and you have to start wondering, a $1,000 bonus, when does that start to filter into wage growth and if you want to say what's one thing that can derail this rally, you start to get that wage growth and see inflation. >> i'm more excited about converting the plane options into firm orders that's a real statement of confidence >> these guys have reason to have confidence. i think spirit airlines looks interesting on valuation relative to peers and growth and efficiency the airlines have had a very turbulent -- of all the sectors, they were the one you could have traded the hardest in 2017 coming up, amazon coming off a huge year, up nearly 60% the e-commerce giant isn't showing any signs of slowing down plus move over, oprah.

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money. disney and netflix shares surging, analysts say both companies are well positioned to dominate the streaming world netflix's shares are up 62% while disney is up 6%. would you rather netflix or disney >> definitely disney i've been an outspoken critic of netflix. this is now up in my face because i thought that chart was breaking down last year. this upgrade tells you what's happened in the sector we've put a floor underneath i think people are able to start to see the future when they're able to control distribution what multiple do you put on disney it's not 16. i think it's closer to 18.

therefore i think 18, 19 times you can be long the stock even after this move. >> the analysts, they both got upgraded to the same ratings but it seemed like they were favoring netflix and its subscription model they say disney's subscription service won't be a threat to netflix. >> i hear what he's saying 18 times forward earnings for disney in the environment they find themselves in, is rich. it would be twice competitors such as viacom they deserve a premium valuation. netflix said there's a 40% chance that apple buys netflix i'm not sure where they got 40% from and i'm not sure the shareholders will be thrilled about that it will add fuel to the fire if we're playing the game again -- >> i wasn't, but -- >> no one asked you to set up a game >> netflix >> netflix outperformed ten to

one disney i think they both can go up. netflix is definitely the beta chaser >> don't shake your head like that >> same old high jinx in 2018, nothing has changed. weight watchers jumping today, the stock now up 300% in the past year, yes, 300%, as the company signs on dj khaled as social media ambassador. the hit making music producer is known as the king of snapchat. he's got nearly 4 million followers on twitter we'll share his progress as he completes a weight watchers freestyle program which launched just last month. >> 3 to 4 million followers or views. >> when did you start following dj >> early >> it was when him and bieber were together, because justin bieber follows me, of course,

we're somewhat buddies it was when him and bieber collaborated on "grateful," the album that dropped in 2017 >> dropped i would be grateful if you stopped. >> that looks delicious, actually >> not bad for weight watchers kind of surprised. >> but they didn't just -- >> he's on a journey >> right they chose him because -- >> it's a different demographic. younger, male. >> he lost a couple of pounds over vacation. did you lose a couple of pounds? >> i did my man dj, if he shaved that beard he would drop ten pounds that thing is gnarly people are living in that thing. >> i think it looks fine >> i get it, oprah, the whole thing. it's not a cheap stock, weight watchers i get this is the sweet spot >> new year's resolutions and

all that >> lose weight, look like tim with steely blue eyes, it ain't happening, folks if you enjoy the move in weight watchers, i would at least take some money off the table >> if you look seasonality, by the end of january, weight watchers' stock is lower >> when do you sell interest in the name as well they're definitely the elephant in the space if you look at -- >> elephant? that's an interesting -- >> pound for pound, they're the winner >> here we go. >> a lot of opportunities. >> all right take it away still ahead, apple's apology tour continues of the stock rallying, helping to push the nasdaq to new record highs. how the smartphone giant is making up for slowing down its old iphones.

i'm melissa lee. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide we'll tell you what has investors so excited about amazon plus that's what one top securities law says regulators are about to do to the crypto trade. i he'll be here to explain how bad it could get much more "fast money" after the break. that's aep's road to the future. and the international brotherhood of electrical workers helped make that happen. the ibew's outstanding union professionals have the skills and training to get the job done right. that's good for our customers and for our bottom line. ibew members are our power professionals. they should be yours as well.

bitcoin making a comeback as its rivals gain ground bob pisani is at the nyse. hi, bob. >> reporter: hello, melissa. bitcoin is rebounding big time it took off on heavy volume around 1:00 p.m. eastern time, up 12% on the day. ethereum, its rival, is also

strong early on but it sold off about the same time bitcoin took off. but ethereum still ended the day up about 13% what happened? bitcoin took off right about the time "the wall street journal" reported investor peter thiel made a significant investment. he bought 15 to $20 million of bitcoin. "the journal" reported those holdings are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. it wasn't feel whether the founders had sold any of their holdings bitcoin may be king of the crypto hill but the upstarts have made gains. ripple and ethereum are now almost one-third of the market capitalization of bitcoin. this may be the year for digital currencies from governments. venezuela is reportedly launching their oil-backed cryptocurrency soon, maybe this week, backed by 5.3 billion barrels of oil that's what they say

now, and russia is also reportedly developing a crypto ruble which may be useful in avoiding international sanctions. they may be able to settle accounts with counterparts all over the world and avoid sanctions. this is not really cryptocurrencies, this is just a ruble trading on a digital platform presumably it would have a one-to-one relationship. back to you, melissa >> thank you very much, bob pisani what do you make of the developments here in terms of countries developing their own cryptocurrencies >> when you start working with vladimir putin >> i will not start working with vladimir putin i have no plans to i'm skeptical of these country cryptocurrencies there's not a lot of reason for them to exist. the currencies themselves are already digital. the whole point of a cryptocurrency is it's a new type of financial system the idea -- and it's decentralized and nobody controls it.

the idea that a country is going to issue and control it, to me kind of defeats the purpose. russia could use bitcoin to settle accounts, people do it all the time you don't need to create your own. i'm skeptical of that. >> are you still in your position of ethereum >> yes ultimately you have a case where you're seeing a broadening of the entire market, people are looking to have diversification. the existential question has been answered, as far as i'm concerned. now it's about the best usage. i still think liquidity needs to go higher institutionally. therefore it will be the top four or five horses. more companies keep getting in on the crypto craze chanticleer soared today after announcing it would use

blockchain currencies for a loyalty program, it's a burger chain, people can earn it by eating at their restaurants. our next guest is a top authority in securities and arbitration law, thank you for being with us. >> thank you >> i knew it was only a matter of time before we had you on the show there's a difference between things that are in violation of securities laws and things that just don't smell right >> right >> what is a violation of laws right now? >> right now we're seeing the sec going after initial coin offerings and claiming that they have to be registered as securities, that's a securities offering that provides investor protection, disclosures, things like that. we're seeing manipulation, wild swings in bitcoin-related stocks i'm concerned there are pump and dump schemes going on out there. >> specifically in icos? >> not icos.

bitcoin-related stocks >> ones we've talked about on the show >> are there specific targets you're hearing about >> i'm hearing from investors who are pitched by brokers to get into these cases there have been four class actions already filed. state regulators are looking at it people are getting mortgages on their house to jump on the bitcoin train. i'm looking at some specific cases. the regulators are there and there's a lot of questions for investors. >> i want to peel back the onion, because there are a lot of ways you can sort of go after these targets, for instance. the icos i get, it sounds like these are cases of fraud in large part from the sec's standpoint is it wrong for a company to say i'm going to call myself melissa blockchain instead of melissa pet store? is there fraud on my part, or is it the brokers who sell my stock who say, you know what, know this great blockchain stock

called melissa blockchain, used to be a pet store but now it's a blockchain stock what is your target? >> all right what we're looking at are companies that are making false statements in selling the stocks one company was saying we're the fastest blockchain in the world. consulting companies that are going public reverse mergers into pet stores and things like that that you mentioned. if the balance of information is false and misleading, and you see stock rises and falls, we're going to be bringing cases against those companies. if there's manipulation, stock goes up, there was one stock that went up, you know, 200% in one day, 1,000% in a week, on a very small movement. those could be market manipulations by insiders or other investors that are trying to move the stock. that's the classic pump and dump >> these things are kind of hard to prove, aren't they? what strikes me about a lot of

the press releases these companies issue when they changes their name to "blockchain," they're not promising anything, they're not saying blockchain is our primary technology or blockchain is our primary product. they say, we're going to start looking into blockchain investment opportunities >> you better be careful with what you say and how you're conducting your business if you're really a pet company and a small percentage of your company is blockchain and you're using the name, that could be fraudulent look, they're good companies, there's good places to invest in this space but there's also the seedy people out there i'm hearing about it it's reminiscent of the dot-com boom and bust, when anything internet became a stock public offering, many of them failed and many of them were scams, as we know. >> what should investors look at i look at walmart. they say they're using blockchain to track port prices in china

does there have to be a use case or is it good enough to say, if a company is just saying, hey, we're going to use blockchain for something, should investors look at that as a red flag >> not necessarily i'm talking about companies where they're touting their ability to market bitcoin, be consultants, maybe improve the process. those are the companies you have to look at carefully now, investors are usually listening to brokers and pitches. it's important to do your own homework look at the sec filing if you get a prospectus on a new offering, pick it up and read it you don't have to read it cover to cover have some idea what's going on if you don't understand it, pass on the investment, try something else >> i want to ask you about a face we've been following on this show very closely, riot blockchain, used to be known as bioptics, it changes its name and the stock soared recently found out the ceo sold

30,000 shares of his stock, it wasn't a preplanned sale, made the filing friday before new year's eve weekend of course the stock had soared so he benefitted from that rise. >> right >> this smells not right to the average person but is that, for instance, a possible target in your view >> insider selling is always a red flag we have to look at why this person sold, like you say, if there was no prearranged sale that was there, you have to look at why was he doing it, was he trying to manipulate it. i can say this about the sec they've been going light on corporate america and wall street in this new administration they're going hard and heavy at the bitcoin space. so i'm sure they're going to take a look at that. >> are you >> this particular one, i may well do, and thanks for the tip. >> wow >> we're going to have you on

all the time >> there's a lot of things going on, it's all on my radar screen. >> it sounds like it's almost blue sky when it comes to who you can go after you can go after the companies themselves, you can go after the broker selling the stock to the individual there are many layers -- >> right >> -- of fault, potentially, in your view. >> i'm looking at companies, at brokers, and now i'm looking at investment banks you can't just rely on what the company is saying. you have to do your own due diligence if you're an underwriter. if i were an underwriter, i would think long and hard and do a lot of do you do befoue dilig do one of these deals. >> jake, thank you >> thank you this is a big space for me this coming year. >> keep us posted. what do you think? >> the overarching message that i get is regardless of the coin that you pick, blockchain is the technology that will be in

existence here and thereafter. overstock has the first sec compliant ico. that's the way i'm playing it. now, these are guys are legitimate you can say whatever you want about their e-commerce business, but this is a real business, this is what i'm invested in >> the one thing that jake said that's very interesting, though, is that the administration, which has been relative soft on corporate, takes this as something that they want to go aggressively against and when you hear putin say things that we really want to settle transactions around the world with the ability to evade sanctions, it tells you why governments are involved here. i don't know that that has to derail anything. what i think we've always said here is a little regulation, especially from the sec, protecting consumers in securities themselves is fantastic. that will make this market better >> we see a crackdown on the companies and ico's. does that have any sort of negative halo effect on bitcoin

itself >> probably not. bitcoin is a global currency it's subject to each local regulation so i don't think -- it's probably a positive at this point because we're starting to see professional institutional investors come into this market and they want a clean, pure play i think this is a good thing it's good that people like jake are out there protecting others. ahead, amazon could buy target, a bold prediction. how likely is a deal between the two retail giants? auto stocks have been in overdrive. they could be about to hit a major speed bump much more "fast money" after this out their walk-in bath. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath. excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment please... [ finger snaps ] hmm. the kohler walk-in bath features an extra-wide opening and a low step-in at three inches, which is 25 to 60% lower

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my prediction is in the next year target gets acquired by amazon >> by amazon >> by amazon it really kinds of puts together this duopoly of walmart versus amazon >> that was gene munster exactly a week ago on this show, making that bold prediction that amazon could buy target this year amazon's acquisition of whole foods in june of last year was proof that the e-commerce giant is interested in expanding their business to brick and mortar could amazon be targeting target

next after having its best year ever for prime with over 5 billion items shipped in 2017, does amazon even need to buy target you predicted this, made this call before. what do you think? >> i think they want this type of a footprint, for whatever they want it for they want to sell their goods, cross-sell their goods they also have a lot of overlap with target. i think somebody they don't have overlap with would be a better choice, i'm talking jcpenney they don't have the same clients as target. there's an access to a totally different demographic if they buy this brick and mortar that doesn't exist with their existing clientele but having said all that, that might be a pipe dream on my part i think target is the most logical way to do it it's either kohl's or a target i flagged target early so i'll stay with that >> i think target stands on itself on valuation. if you like to what's going on on at walmart, you have to like what's going on at target.

in my opinion target is 18 months behind where walmart was when they started this whole thing with the jet deal. i think target makes sense july 13th they gave guidance, if you remember, it was trading 52 1/2, $53 with a couple of hiccups along the way, the stock has been basically straight up. i think there's still room on the upside the amazon thing is sort of the cherry on the top. alone, it works. >> isn't there a tipping point if amazon buys too many brick and mortar stores, the pe becomes blunted. >> yes, but amazon has been getting a pass the market will value this and say, okay, you know what, they're expanding their footprint, they'll look at all these target stores or whatever it is, jcpenney, as a distribution center. the market will say, oh, they don't have to do all that buildout anymore, now they have all these distribution centers, and amazon gets a pass once again. at some point, yes, of course valuation matters. it just hasn't mattered for amazon for a long time

>> i think it matters. i'm not sure why they need target ahead, america's love affair is giving gm a boost we'll tell you how much higher itcould go plus a.pple's i-sorry tour continues. veormuch does it matr 'll explain. tap one little bumper, and up go your rates. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? news flash: nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance.

welcome back to "fast money. auto stocks getting a boost last year they could be facing some speed bumps ahead. phil lebeau is in chicago with more >> reporter: melissa, people will be focused in 2018 on what happens with sales, they're expected to be down 4 or 5%, not a huge drop, but also what happens in terms of profitability per vehicle. part of what we're looking at is how the automakers, they've been doing this some time, are wringing greater profits out of suvs, pickups, cross-utility vehicles when you look at this chart here you see that small car sales, especially for the big three, look at the decline they've seen through november of last year. no surprise here, especially as the market moves away from small cars and sedans. and here is the reason why suvs, crossovers, pickups, greater selection, better fuel efficiency

really there's no penalty at the pump right now if you're buying one of these larger vehicles fiat chrysler, remember nine years ago, they've always skewed heavier than their domestic competitors when it comes to trucks and suvs, people said, you guys are going to pay the price. it's paid off. shares of fiat chrysler in the last year. there's specification that ultimately they'll make a deal and investors will be rewarded, that's why you see that spike happening in the september time frame. as you take a look at annual auto sales, which are coming out tomorrow, keep in mind, while we may see a slowdown in the overall pace of sales this year, it's only going to be in the 16.7, $16.8 million range. where whereas this year it's going to be around 17.2, maybe $17.23 million, melissa that's one of the top five years

ever for auto sales, even compared to 2016 >> thank you, phil phil lebeau in chicago did you fast pitch gm? >> yes, and it's a stock i've continued to stay long gm has the roqbotaxi market. i think there's reasons to stay long gm. i'm short via chrysler this stock has gone ballistic. i'm also short ferrari there are places -- >> just valuations >> the valuation makes no sense. i realize people try to trade it in a different way but yeah, it's a valuation >> you're long several ferraris. >> a modest man. >> a humble man. >> emerging markets. >> auto nation, that's bk's mike jackson. >> if you follow him on august 29th, remember we talked about this, out of the blue seemingly

they announced $250 million stock repurchase on top of their existing one stock was in the low 40s then, it's in the low 50s now. valuation is cheap, 12 times forward earnings it's got 18% short interest. i think auto nation makes sense here >> tesla taking over all the other autos. i like

welcome back to "fast money. it was a big day for tech with the nasdaq closing above 7,000 for the first time ever, with apple soaring nearly 2%, as the apology tour rolls on for the iphone maker, offering battery swaps for $29 a month ahead of schedule it follows class action lawsuits and growing backlash after apple

admitted to slowing performance of its older iphone models the discounted batteries, previously priced at $79, are available with no question for owners of iphone 6 or later. but will the price cuts be enough for apple to earn back the trust of its fan base and from an investor standpoint, does it even matter? >> incumbent, embedded in that question is do people distrust apple. they don't in college there was a guy who abused people terribly, but he was cute so it didn't matter what he did. apple is the same way, everybody loves apple. >> apple is like the cute guy who treats women badly >> what was his name >> i can't say

>> did he have steely blue eyes? >> i resent the comparison i was a nice guy in college. >> you're a nice guy now i didn't know you in college when it comes to apple and the battery problem, embedded in it is that people always thought that apple slowed phones down. >> 100%. >> the scuttlebutt i hear from people is they're pretty excited to go down there and get a new battery for 29 bucks and feel like it's a windfall for them. if anything, this gets into the whole argument, why apple should trade with a much better multiple, not as a hardware company. i spent 179 bucks just to replace my screen. >> what's the average crack rate for you? >> i crack about four a year >> once a quarter. a quarterly crack. one trader is betting apple is due for a rally. mike khouw is in sunny but chilly tampa, florida.

>> reporter: we saw options volume outpacing puts by two to one. the jan 12th 170 strike calls, we saw 2,000 of those trade as a block for $2.50. that was an institutional trader making a bullish bet the stock will be above 172 1/2 by a week from friday. the lion's share of the options volume was in short dated paper that expires before earnings so it seems like most of the options volume right now is focused more on this immediate store than really on the upcoming earnings. >> mike, thanks for that mike khouw in tampa, florida for us for more "options action," check out the full show, friday 5:30 p.m. eastern time. next, the first final trade of 2018. well, it's earnings season once again. >>yeah. lot of tech companies are reporting today. and, how's it looking? >>i don't know. there's so many opinions out there, it's hard to make sense of it all. well, victor, do you have something for him?

>>check this out. td ameritrade aggregates thousands of earnings estimates into a single data point. that way you can keep your eyes on the big picture. >>huh. feel better? >>much better. yeah, me too. wow, you really did a number on this thing. >>sorry about that. that's alright. i got a box of 'em. thousands of opinions. one estimate. the earnings tool from td ameritrade. you or joints. something for your heart... but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.

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>> what did you think of the georgia/oklahoma game? >> college football at its best except for the alabama/clemson >> who won >> so there. alabama trounced clemson roll tide. my mission is simple to make you money. i'm here to level the playing field for all investors. there is always a bull market somewhere. "mad money" starts now. welcome to "mad money." welcome to cramerica. my job is not just to entertain but educate, teach, put it in context. call me or tweet me at jim cramer. bored with t