topic whether companies should change their products to enable surveillance and succumb to government pressure. >> here we go. part of the privacy debate thank you very much. evan, pleasure having you here. >> have a good weekend. >> next week jay powell will delivering a speech. we'll keep an eye on that. >> have a good weekend thanks for filling in. that does it for "closing bell." "fast money" begins right now. "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq market site overlooking new york city's time square, i'm melissa lee. tonight on "fast" apple hitting a record high and it could be at the expense of the f.a.n.g. stocks is this the beginning of the great apple rotation plus the crude crush oil down 4% this week and the chart masters see something that is spelling more trouble ahead for energy stocks. first, we start off with a big story of the day that would be tesla. the stock tanking today after elon musk's"the new york times."

it's fallen 20%. for more on this developing story we go to phil lebeau in chicago. >> a lot of news in this interview that elon musk did over an hour's time with "the new york times." first of all, with regards to the tweet that started all of this last week and the price target of $420, he had a lot of people speculating, was elon musk smoking dope when he put this out because $420 is used within the different realms of discussing marijuana use with regard to that, elon musk wrote, the $420 price seemed like better karma at $420 than $419 but i was not on weed. to be clear, weed is not helpful for productivity that was one topic that he touched on during that interview. what's the week ahead for tesla? musk and the board of directors, let's start, first off, with "new york times" believes musk and the board of directors will likely meet with the s.e.c., perhaps as soon as next week

there's not a firm date we've been able to learn at this date. will the board of directors take action and will elon musk potentially take a leave of absence? jim cramer after reading article today tweeted this out, devastating "new york times" piece filled with new facts. we know the safest thing for musk right now is a medical leave. i would insist on it so, who might replace ee long musk during the interview, he made this comment regarding a potential ceo replacement at tesla. by the way, he's not planning on leaving but he says, if you have anyone who can do a better job, please let me know they can have the job. is there someone who can do the job better a lot of news in that interview. a busy week for tesla and for elon musk. back to you. >> in the meantime, phil, in terms of the actual fundamentals of the company, we live in a vacuum, correct? >> correct. >> for a couple months at least. >> we do at i should point out, there have been a couple analysts putting out notes saying, look, we've been out to that plant out in fremont within the last, you know, few weeks and it looks

like they are sustaining production above 5,000 model 3s per week that news completely overshadowed because of what's happened in the last week. >> phil, thanks. phil lebeau in chicago this has been such a wild ride for tesla with so many twists and turns we created a new segment "tesla in turmoil. is it the place where mindless tweets reek havoc on shareholders the question is will the turmoil claim elon musk's job. b.k. >> so, the answer is, what your lawyers will tell you, it depends. b.k. will not charge you 1500 bucks for that i tell you why it depends. i don't think he loses his job he's the visionary pounder of this company this is very common in silicon valley, you have a founder who cannot operate happened with facebook they brought in cheryl sandberg. if they can find a chief operating officer that can run

this company and elon musk can still be the visionary, i think you're okay. if nobody wants to touch it, you're in trouble. but you have to have elon musk there, not that it has a valuation, but the reason the stock has this price - >> let's say this is the route the board chooses. who is going to step in as the number two to elon musk? i mean, really. >> he just said it clearly in this interview there's nobody out there that can fill his shoes that's reckless. there's nobody out there that could fill his shoes if there's anybody out there, let me know. >> he didn't say that. >> he absolutely did. >> he said, is there anybody that can do the production job better there's plenty of people - >> in the last six years, in the leadup to steve jobs' untimely death, a lot of people thought when he was not with this company anymore, it was a real problem. he had been grooming -- this shows a glaring difference with what's going on with tesla they were grooming tim cook. he was a supply chain guy. he basically went from making 10

million ipods a quarter to 100 million to hundreds of millions of iphones to me, there is some precedence for this whether or not he needs to be there and who's going to stick up for him we just saw this with travis and uber this is a company that at its valuation was at $69 billion when he got booted. >> it's not as though they're not doing anything they're making teslas. granted, he set himself up for failure. he has been overpromising and underdelivering but he has been delivering something, right? that's worth it. at the right price, someone will step in there. >> i agree i think somebody is and it's very different than uber. >> the investor base is buying this stock for him, period, end of story he's the visionary, he's the steve jobs - >> someone who could operate it, it it would be much better. >> that's the question mark. here's the reality the reality is this s.e.c. look into this is going to last for a very long time we know that i've dealt with the s.e.c. before they know exactly how to handle

situations in a way -- no, i mean it. they'll look at things this is too big of a case to actually go in and turn a blind eye to they'll make sure they don't turn anything -- overturn anything. >> whether or not elon musk operates the company, the question now for investors is elon musk more of an asset or liability to this stock? in other words, you know, two months ago we said, oh, elon musk is going to take a step back, he'll be chairman, they'll find a new ceo how would we have said the stock would have traded? probably lower. >> probably lower. then he had this meltdown. now that he's had this meltdown - >> now how will the stock trade? that's the question. >> i think they bring in -- elon musk takes a medical leave and they bring in an operator and i think the stock trades up. >> i don't think they have their finger on somebody that can come in and do it so quickly. he needs to take a leave right now. especially when you read the contents of that interview he's stressed, exhausted his friends and family are worried about him. the board is looking at the situation, they've been coddling

him now for years, but there's nobody in there to take over i think it would be the worst thing for the shorts if you had somebody, a guy or gal, who came in and presided over a massive manufacturing - >> a former ceo of a boeing or - >> short squeezed. >> the shorts are all over this right now. investment banks, hedge funds essentially have never looked at this or really pressed this as a short in their portfolio are in it now they're in it and they're going to get bigger and staying in it. there's an expectation on the street with a lot of funds, you know, global like international hedge funds that basically are saying that this thing could be a zero shot. they're being aggressive on that this could be a $50 stock. if elon musk gets pushed out the door. >> there's just as many people who are betting on the long side you got the fidelities, t. r on. wes, you name it. >> the way he's going after it, it's been evident, very clearly articulated. in general, in my opinion, i would say this, i think it's a funding issue. he's not going to get funding.

he's not going to have the capital for that it will be a spiraling effect. the board of directors has a responsibility here to protect their own butts. >> if they have a responsibility, they bring somebody in to do that and fix the company. the shorts get squeezed. >> i agree with b.k. i think if they can get someone in who can come in as an operator, there's value here what they have done has value. >> agreed. >> our next guest is a reporter, one of the reporters behind this bombshell "times" interview with elon musk. kate kelly joins us. >> sorry i couldn't join you in person. >> it's too bad. we're pleased you can join us at all. you know, we're going to pick up here on some of the questions we have do you think the board will actually take action i mean, this is a board that some large shareholders have said it's very cozy to elon musk one of the board members is the guy's brother. is a brother going to say, hey, elon, you need to take a medical leave of absence >> maybe maybe. if you think about the fact that

elon said his friends and family are concerned about him. one of the examples he gave of his sort of workaholic lifestyle that's starting to get to him is the fact his brother kimbell got married in spain, i believe it was last year, and he claimed he kind of flew in, got there two hours in advance, he was the best man and kind of flew right out. that was an example of how he's not able to enjoy his personal life and his family. anyway, the board, to your point, melissa, is relatively small. it's nine directors. a good handful of them have connections to elon. kimbell probably be the most close obvious example. there are spacex investors and directors on the board there was a situation where they were trying to establish this special committee to consider the go private transaction comprising independent directors. and they had three there was a fourth that was going to join the board but felt the relationship that that person had with elon musk was too close in order for that to truly be independent so, obviously, you've got a number of people who are fans of

his, who are connected to him and may not be able to sort of exercise that autonomous judgment you're looking for as a judgment. >> tell us about his tone, kate, on the call. a lot of people are making a lot out of this in terms of how he sounded, the fact that he seemed like he was close to tears, on the verge of tears at some point. can you give us a little more? you heard what jim cramer -- you probably saw what jim cramer tweeted. that musk should take a medical leave immediately. >> it sort of went back and forty from defiant to tearful. you know, he obviously has a lot of passion and belief in what he's doing at tesla, as well as with his other companies he knows that he's the culture carrier and the visionary here and he, as we know from analyst calls and interaction with some of his own investors, has little patience for what he considers to be bonehead questions, to us his own word, redundancy some of that impatience was on

display but a real, raw, emotional aspect clearly exhausted. talking about 120-hour work weeks, talking about using ambien to help sleep or not sleeping at all, sleeping on the floor of the giga factory in nevada just a man firing on all cylinders and needs a chance to take a beat. >> the fact he did this interview, kate, does that indicate to you that, perhaps, the company, the board doesn't really have any control over what he does or says at this point? i mean, this is a ceo who is under investigation by the securities and exchange commission it is unusual, as you know, for somebody like that, under investigation, to actually grant an interview with a major publication or any publication, for that matter? >> we realize that, which is why the interview was such a remarkable thing to be able to get. that said, melissa, per our conversation about sort of the intimacy of the board and the connections to him, have they ever had control over him? i mean, the reason that we're in

this position today is he sent this tweet on august 7th about going private with funding secured, that had very little forethought, as wereported, certainly wasn't vetted by board members or executives, or just another person, any third-party. he's been outspoken and at times object, no, quite frankly, on social media, insulting a cave diver who had issues with what he was trying to do to contribute to rescuing those boys in thailand so, he's a very kind of unvarnished ceo/founder. he's always been kind of liberal with social media, with what he said in interviews he told "rolling stone" last year about his love life and how he doesn't like to be alone. he's a very unfiltered person. i think you're right to say, at this moment doesn't the board have more control over him, or perhaps the question is, don't they need it you would think so, yes. we did report last night that

antonio gracias consulted with musk and tried to get him to commitment to not tweet on that topic without conferring with the board. he only got half a solution because within a week musk was tweeting he was looking forward to working with goldman sachs and silver lakes partner on this privatization transaction and neither one of them had a mandate yet. silver lake doesn't even act as a financial adviser, at they're interested in this deal. so, that may seem like a lesser issue, but it just shows you the frame of mind and the fact that he's still kind of doing his own thing. >> last quick question, but what's your hunch as to whether or not elon musk remains on the job six months from now, a year from now >> you know, i don't have anything to report on that yet from our own efforts here to figure that out. that said, i think your panel kind of handled it well. this is the debate, right? elon is this visionary, successful engineer, company

founder, culture carrier, he's passionate about the environment, he's passionate about his technology, his cars, his rocket business, his tunnelling business. so, the lack of -- the apparent lack of a clear succession plan to put in place tomorrow, even a sort of hit by the bus plan, does not appear to be there. now, we don't know what's in that envelope in the boardroom, if you will, but it doesn't appear to be there so, it doesn't seem like there's an obvious next step if he were to go on leave or actually leave tomorrow but you have to think they're considering all options. >> kate, thanks so much. appreciate it. great reporting. kate kelly of "the new york times." let's put it to a vote show of hands, who thinks elon musk -- same question i asked kate elon musk remains on the job six months from now? will he be on the job -- >> it depends -- not in the capacity he's in right now as more of a visionary leader of the company. >> in a reduced capacity and you think he'll be intact? >> i think the biggest issue, and jim -- tesla mentioned this,

on this network he said the management turnover the last few years is startling there is no heir apparent. there's no quick fix in the meantime which puts this company in a really tough bind if this guy does need to take a few months off. coming up, apple terror continues today as f.a.n.g. stocks are in bear market territory. chinese tech stocks getting crushed but one company the analysts think has due for a meck this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪

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. welcome back to "fast money. let's go to seema mody. >> facebook responding to hud saying -- engage in housing discrimination facebook saying, there is no place for discrimination on facebook it's strictly prohibited in our policies over the past year we've strengthened our systems to further protect against misuse we're aware of the statement of interest filed and will respond in court and we'll continue working directly with h.u.d. to address their concerns that again from a facebook spokesperson melissa, that's the latest. >> thanks. what do you thaing of facebook >> long term, i still like this story. this is a -- you know, as sad as it is we're talking about discrimination, that's never a good thing to hear about a company. it's a very near term sort of blip on the radar from an impact

perspective. i don't like the stock action over the past couple of days it's not great action in the name near term it could be choppy long term, the earnings growth, in my opinion, is still intact i'd be a buyer on weakness. >> it's not just facebook that's been under pressure. dracula has taken a bite out of the entire f.a.n.g. trade. f.a.n.g.'s pain seemed to be apple's gain, hitting a fresh record high today. is apple turning into a flight to safety in tech? dan? >> yeah, i think obviously since it broke out, since it hit that $1 trillion number, i think expectations into that quarter they reported, i think, on august 1st were very low and they did a lot better than people expected into a product cycle. you put that together. we know the stocks -- or the cash situation we know the valuation. it seems like things are firing on all cylinders your point that facebook is down 20%. netflix is down 25%. the semiconductor stocks are down about 10% from their highs.

you have seen this rotation. i will get nervous it is getting a little steep the trajectory, and it is crowded. >> do you buy apple at all-time highs? >> we have been saying the rotation is going to favor apple and it definitely has. would you buy in at this point hard to say. i agree, it's getting rich here. but i think that as the market continues to re-evaluate what they're willing to put in forward expectations, the f.a.n.g. stocks will continue to get hit and apple is continuing to deliver. >> here's a would you rather. >> let's do it. >> apple at all-time highs or any of the rest of the f.a.n.g. stocks your pick. >> any of the rest of the f.a.n.g. stocks. >> really? doesn't matter. >> yeah, yeah. it's too high, as dan said the angle is too high in apple it's had a tremendous run. i don't think apple is going much lower but why wouldn't you take some of that out, look at netflix -- if netflix got around 300, we've seen that rotation time and time again where f.a.n.g. stocks become the atm for investors. now we're down 20%, 25%, i'd

make that rotation. >> same question to you. >> in fairness, i agree with b.k. on this one i'm not a big buyer of apple up here i didn't think it would get to this level i think this is a safety trade, has safety trade aspects to it and i think facebook and all these other names from a longer term perspective offer a better growth opportunity, so, therefore, i'd be a buyer of other names in the group like facebook. >> i think apple is the canary in the coal mine by the end of the year we won't be talking about growth stocks any more. >> is apple not a growth stock >> apple is the least growthy of the growth stocks. still ahead, what do nordstrom, eli lily have in common in the meantime, here is what is coming up on "fast". >> announcer: 2018 is shaping up to be the year of the vol. one trader says that's a good thing. he'll tell you how to profit plus -- chinese internet

stocks are imploding but one could be a buy when it reports next week. 'lgi y t ne en "fast money" returns

welcome back to "fast money. what a crazy roller coaster week for the markets with the dow moving triple spaces up and down nordstrom up 12% verizon and chipotle up 3% we thought it would be a perfect time to play, trade it or fade it now you know how it works but we'll remind you here. we'll give you the name and you'll tell us if you're buying it, aka, trading it, or fading it, or selling it. got it all right. kicking off with eli lilly b.k., trade it or fade it? >> so, this one -- actually not this week it's been a big mover. it's been a big mover from july from 88 bucks up to here similar to apple, though, this looks like it's too steep so i'm going to fade it not that i dislike lily but at

some point you have to take profits. >> trade it or fade it, eli lily >> yeah, fade it. >> see, i like that. >> i'm not a fader i take the other side of b.k. to you. i think the animal is spinning it off, you stay long until they spin it off. once they spin it off, you sell lily and get -- >> why wouldn't you sell it now and wait until october >> you have no momentum. it's gone straight up. big cap pharma is under fire and it will remain that way for a period of time. >> next up, chipotle >> chipotle has had a big move i'll trade it here i'm a buyer. i think it can continue to move on momentum, new ceo hedge funds are crowding into this because consensus is they're going to do as well as far as earnings are concerned. it's a momentum carry. it's a 2019 show me story but in the near term i want to own the stock. >> i'm fading. is that how we're owning it?

i think it is a crowded trade. easy comps is important but the valuation is hard. if they don't get to that comp -- it seems like every other week there's a new situation in one of their restaurants. after the rally it's had off the lows, i don't think you buy it. >> nordstrom, trade it or fade it >> fade it we think nordstrom is a bricks and mortar company that finally has their digital game on. however, if you look at the sector,ist a high-flying sector and losing momentum. it's going to be a pretty big fish in a small pond soon. >> b.k.? >> i'm going to trade it i don't tobt need to trade it on monday, but that's a pretty big breakout for nordstrom the story has changed a bit or at least has gained momentum i'm a buyer on a slight pullback. >> i think for the near term the momentum will carry. the fact is, again, underweight, people are adding to these positions. the consumer is super strong until that narrative shifts, i think you can own this for another quarter or two. >> how about retail overall. >> i think it was a lot of beta

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the faster we can get to stopping them. the most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. life. to the fullest. we're live at the nasdaq market site on a steamy summer friday the guys are behind me in the meantime, here's what's coming up on the big show. >> what's that >> antidote. >> to what >> the poison you just drank ♪ >> chinese internet stocks have gotten crushed but dan nathan says one looks ready to buy heading into next week he'll give you the name and tell you how to profit. plus, oil is in a correction and the chart master says it's about to really roll over. he