>> and encouraging resilient day today. the dow closed up 122 points, near the high of the session. >> rebounding from a down 175 at one point. >> good turn-around, five days in a row of gains for the dow. that does it for "the closing bell." thanks for watching. >> "fast money" begins right now. >> live from the nasdaq market site overlooking new york city's times square, i'm melissa lee. tonight on "fast," patient powell strikes again the fed chair managing to keep the markets calm while answering questions about the easing strategy in washington, d.c., today but can investors really trust the fed? chris harvey says there is one group of stocks he hated until now. he will explain why this surprising group could be the big winner in 2019 we start off with macy's igniting a retail inferno. the department store having its worst day ever, down 18% after slashing full year guidance and announcing weaker-than-expected

holiday sales. kohl's, nordstrom, target all under pressure so is this just a macy's problem or is this a bigger warning about a weak consumer, guy >> down 17% says it's macy's specific, but i don't think it is tim talked about it a couple of days ago department stores have not figured it out i think a lot of us have thought maybe they have gotten to the other side of the mountain clearly they haven't made it there. down 17% is a ridiculous move. the thing that makes me think maybe the consumer is still out there is the fact that on a day like today when mastercard had every reason to sell off, it was actually up half a percent i'm still in the camp that says the u.s. consumer will always spend money, but it doesn't mean they should be spending money. quite frankly, with consumer debt to gdp close to 60%, that poses a problem, especially if interest rates are going to go higher that's another conversation. >> plus with a weak stock market, the consumer actually acts weak. but let's remember, macy's is a mall play.

kohl's and target have stand-alon stand-alon stand-alones >> some happened between black friday and the end of december because they said it seemed like a light switch went off and the consumer stopped spending in that eriod. >> it's not so much -- i think, first of all, it was a margin miss on macy's that was a big problem. the top line was weaker. it's a holiday miss. i thought the holiday sales were going to be fantastic so i'm surprised by some of this despite the fact we were warned by amazon way back when. in macy's case, part of the issue is this company getting out of this destructive cycle of having to promote your way into sales. the top line is okay the bottom line is not very good i think they're giving the store away again and i think that's an issue for department stores. >> i think 2018 was a really interesting year we had this tax cut. there was a lot of enthusiasm about a consumer-led recovery here in the u.s. but we also had this thing bookended by 800,000 u.s. workers, federal workers, being

furloughed when you think about all the stuff that's happened in between for retail, we saw housing top out last year, autos top out, thousand dollar smartphones topped out yeah, it was a margin miss do they have a whole heck of a lot of margin pressure i know we'll talk about airlines, but there was a big miss there. >> what does macy's lead in? what product category do you think about macy's for i don't think they lead in anything. >> the weakness they talked about was jewelry. >> apparel. >> sportswear. what do you buy at a department store. so i think it was really across the board. and i still think this is more of a secular issue for macy's. i don't think these guys are dead i actually think the stock looks very interesting to be clear >> you mentioned jewelry tiffany was down 50% from its highs in july. when you think about it, you can go all different sides of the spectrum here or both sides of the spectrum and you're seeing consumer weakness. so i mean the way i see it is

the push into retail sales into the holiday period, that was about as good as it gets for quarters. >> what is macy's worth? at $8 billion market cap, it's got to be worth more than $8 billion. >> why >> because real estate alone, you have the herold square -- >> how much more real estate are they going to sell how many more assets are they going to get rid of in order to bring value to the stock that was one of the bullet points that i think bank of america had in their downgrade of macy's today. there are only so many more things macy's can do any point, especially with a consumer that looks like -- maybe the best of the consumer, those days are behind retail at this point. >> i'm not suggesting this goes the way of sears, but to your point, sears sold off things and you see where we've gotten on that side of the equation as well i don't think macy's is dead either i'm shocked that it's down as much as it is. i don't know if it's an opportunity necessarily. now you have to wait and see

what nordstrom is going to say and target is going to say but i'll say again, to dan's point, i do think that the stock market sell-off scared a lot of people in the market that to me is really the thing you have to focus on if this market is about to roll over again, like i think it might, that could put the consumer right back into the cave. >> i want to take a step back here because i agree with you, dan. i think we've seen across the retail sector and heard it from luxury, the low end, the middle, broad lines, hard lines, you name it. there are secular pressures going on i think there's labor pressure to take from this that the consumer is dead and is rolling over i think is not right. i think we went into this holiday season i think with comps that were very difficult year over yore fear for a lot of these guys the consumer is employed. >> what are they spending their money on, though they don't seem to be spending money to dan's point on cars they are not upgrading their phones as much

they're not buying women's apparel or fashion jewelry, the things macy's is selling what they are buying are things online for free shipping at a very low price. >> amazon. >> but on october 25th when amazon guided for the q4, i think it was a $5 billion guide down for the holiday season. now here's the thing, and we've been talking about this. they missed that guidance for q4, lights out for all retail. >> but to the point of the overall market, consumer does lead if we see these names start to roll over, i think the market is poised to roll over as well. >> is this not the start of the rollover >> it could be like guy said, when you're going to hear from target, target already took a beating last quarter. so they have already sold down to their recent low. so maybe it could be a buying opportunity for all the things that got hit on the back of macy's that have already been hit. but i think the overall market is ready to slide over again. >> i continue to think food retail is a mess i think food producers are a

mess i think walmart is a mess. it's all of those things i think there's too much competition. i actually think amazon is the best i think amazon has the ability to become a lot more profitable. i think they'll have a higher ebit than walmart somewhere in the next 12 months and i think that's extraordinary as much as they warned -- >> do you like amazon at these valuations >> yes. >> that seems to be unusual. i wouldn't have guessed that for you. >> i tend to be more value oriented but amazon relative to itself, it's trading around 18 times next year which has come way down why is it coming down? because they're making money i think the stock is interesting -- without a market proxy behind it good and bad, but just on its own merit, i like amazon. >> how do we set up to amazon's earnings >> if you told me last night airlines are going to get frica fricaseed and macy's will go

lower. here we are and we closed on the high the setup into amazon is probably okay. if they warn or say similar to what they said last quarter, to dan's point, katie bar the door. >> what? >> katie bar the door. >> anyway. >> that was a shoutout to the prom date, katie barr. >> it's like a good old-timy sort of fashion. >> no, it's not, katie bar the daughter. >> the market sells off, amson gets demolished. >> consensus was looking for $73.5 billion for q4 revenues for amazon they guided $66.5 to $71.5 you're going to see a stock that's gone from 1400 to 1700 in just a matter of weeks. >> at what point does the macy's dividend -- do you question it

9%, 8% right now >> right now the issue with me on macy's is truly what they're doing with store count and same-store sales betting against the dividend and the balance sheet, people have been totally wrong on macy's that's not why you're selling the stock. our next guest says he sees more pain ahead for the consumer chris harvey is head of equity strategy at wells fargo. what implications does that have in terms of your market view >> as far as our market view we think there's another 3% to 4% upside here. we've been somewhat -- we haven't been as enthusiastic because we thought the fed made a mistake. now that the fed is walking back, there's some debate at this point in time what we want to see and to this point is we would love to see expectations come down when earnings get reported. we think that stocks are down, why keep expectations up valuation is much better bring expectations down and then you can beat lower guidance. then the market can work going

forward. right now we've had the january effect, you've had the bounce. you still have some issues with trade and tariff, you still have a lot of turmoil out there if you really wanti the market o go forward, reset guidance, reset the bar and you can work going forward. >> so there's nothing to be done until we're through earnings season at this point >> i think that's true the other thing we're looking at is what happens to the statement. does the statement change from the fed? the fed still has gradual hikes in there there's nothing in there to say they should change that. how does the market react if they come out with the same statement. >> so it's easy to say corporates should be a little conservative with their guide anxious. look at fedex, look at apple and macy's today. >> airlines. >> airlines. it's a dangerous proposition investors are shooting first, asking questions later isn't it easier to squeak out a little here and there as far as what their visibility is >> if you want to hold or maintain in the short term, great. but it's going to be tough

beating guidance going forward take the pain now. then you have good valuation then if things are better, you'll beat lower expectations and get paid in the end. if you don't lower guidance or if you maintain guidance that's tough to beat, your stock will languish for a long period of time. >> chris, what do you do with a market that's up 11% in ten days and i know you're not playing it day to day first of all, the market is not going down despite these massive warnings and maybe it was two weeks ago but the stocks that are actually not falling, the ones that have not guided, the ones that people should be selling here because it's inevitable? >> so we've been up in quality and down in risk for a long period of time however, we're seeing more value in value you're starting to see value stocks look a lot more attractive the spread between cheap and expensive has widened. absolute value is better if you can change guidance, you can work going forward we just need a couple of things to fall in place. >> where is the value? >> we see value across the

board. so we've liked biotech a long period of time obviously there's been a couple of takeouts there. we wouldn't chase it we see value in food, beverage and tobacco. also in reets. >> i tell you what, i'm not going to give this away, but the biotech thing, that might be a little precursor of a little power pitch we have coming on later in the show. i'm just put it out there now. >> i can't wait. i'm on the edge of my seat thank you, tim thank you, chris great to see you chris harvey, wells fargo. what do you think? >> so if they were confused about what the fed has said and if the fed made a mistake, i don't know how any of that has changed. he might have positioned it better in the words, but the balance sheet is still going to be reduced and rates are still moving higher. markets should be rolling over. >> to chris' point, though, wee the next three weeks or so are really going to be very key. we have another fed meeting with a press conference after every single meeting we'll get through the bulk of

earnings season. we will know a lot by the end of january. >> we will but what i think people are saying here about the fed is we've also determined from these fed minutes that the fed is going back to kind of try to recraft their message. that they feel as if they were misinterpreted and maybe they were even wrong. so that is what makes all of this very different. it kind of feels like we're just kicking this can down the road because i think steve is talking about a fed that has some work to do and a balance sheet that's only 11% off of its all-time high again in, a fed meeting today, in an interview with reubenstein, they talked about substantially lower. >> i thought they were more hawkish. >> exactly. >> as somebody who's observing it, where do they stand right now? >> if you're a strategist like chris harvey and you have a 3,000 ear-end target for the s&p 500, you need a lot of what he just said to happen. you need corporations to take

down their forward guidance. you need the stock market to go back towards the christmas eve lows that all has to happen soon. people need to get a little more freaked out about the term substantially lower balance sheet and then you can set up for low expectations and rally into -- >> his target is 2665. >> most of them are like 3200 or something like that. >> and they have all been ratcheting it down. >> all right coming up, it wasn't just macy's, american airlines delivering the latest shock to the already troubled transports cutting its profit forecast. just how much turbulence is ahead for the group. plus from jerome powell's mouth to the investors' ears there's one thing he said that has them on edge. and guy is so bullish on one stock he can barely contain his excitement he'll step up to the plate to give us his fast pitch we are live from tesquim sare in new york city. much more "fast money" right after this

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talk about the broader group of airlines and why they're under pressure for american, they brought down their full-year earnings guidance down to a range of $4.40 to $4.60 a share that compares to the previous guidance of $4.50 to $5. by the way, the consensus heading into today, $4.62 a share. this is part of what people are starting to worry b you've got 4q revenue warnings. by the way, american said that it expects revenue to be up about 1.5% previous guidance was between 1.5% and 3.5%. you have that along with reports in the industry that corporate travel bookings may be slowing down there's just limited growth when it comes to domestic airfares. why? take a look at jet fuel prices i know this sounds counterintuitive to some people, but lower jet fuel, if it's too low, it's hard for the airlines, especially domestically, to get the airfares to move higher as much as they would like them to move higher.

as a result, you've got limited growth there in terms of passenger revenue. remember, as you take a look at the airline stocks, you've got delta and united reporting next tuesday and wednesday respectively we already heard from delta last week in terms of fourth quarter revenue and the pressure that they're seeing relative to expectations we'll talk with ed bastion next week and oscar munoz at united the bottom line is a lot of people are wondering have the glory years happened already for the airlines where is that next leg of growth for these guys because it's certainly not there as we head into 2019. >> i'm going go back to the question i feel like i ask you every single time you have an airlines story, fiphil are the airlines going back to their old ways >> i don't think so. they do have the ability to grow revenue. certainly when you look at the segmentation of the cabin. so it's far different than it was seven, eight, nine years ago. the issue becomes one of, okay, these guys have really done well in terms of growing that

segmentation and that ancillary revenue. then where's the next leg of growth after that? i think that's what a lot of people are asking themselves right now. >> do you think we're seeing separation in the airline sector between those that are doing it and -- let's take just the big three. it's very clear one is trading near the bottom of that valuation range and they are the guys that reported today >> yes and i think when you look at american relative to united and delta, they haven't done as much relatively speaking so far as the other two when it comes to that segmentation of their cabins, but that's quickly coming along for them. when we talked to doug parker, he said, look, we realize what we need to do and that will be happening in the quarters ahead. the other thing i get a lot of questions about, guys, does that mean united is outperforming delta and american not necessarily. it was coming off three years in a row when they couldn't shoot straight, when they were their own problems

now they are finally getting their act together and they have over the last six to nine months really it's been probably the most problem-free six to nine months united has seen in a long time so the stock had a nice move at the last half of 2018. the question now is what happens in 2019 for united >> phil, thank you phil lebeau joining us from the new york stock exchange. it is worth noting that a number of the major airlines down double digits from their 52-week high, so is there much more turbulence ahead? tim. rough skies for the airlines >> i could see american certainly flying at a lower altitude than the other two because of the fact that the revenue stream out of delta is industry leading they have more initiatives and their margins are better american was down 40% last year and trades about half the valuation of united. it's extraordinary i think the airlines are tremendous trading stocks. i have to tell you, at $45, delta looks -- first of all, i think we'll retest the lows of

last week just based on where i think the market is overall but i think they tend to overshoot in each direction. >> plus american has a 25% market share in reagan airport in washington. so if the government shutdown lasts a little bit longer, that's going to hurt them. plus the corporate traveler, more lucrative traveler. who don't you get hurt with that save so if you look at that stock price, it's up 4% year to date i think you're better off there than the others. >> after those metaphors, i would need an air sickness bag to combat what you and you did, number one number two, if you go back to delta, they tweaked guidance to the higher ending. stock traded up today on what was a pretty lousy tape for the airlines valuation is interesting it actually traded down and held levels of 2017 so although you have major double tops at 60, i think you have a short-term level to buy against into earnings. >> do you want to had aanything? >> yeah, i do.

let's look back to december. remember carnival cruise had some disappointing guidance. >> this all goes back to the consumer too. >> i think it's really important, when you think about that jobs number of 312,000 that we got for december, 117,000 of 312 were multiple job holders. multiple job holders don't have time to book tickets on american airlines and go on vacation and they don't have discretionary income to go to disney -- but my point is -- bye-bye. my point is -- >> you got that, right >> i got that. >> my point is there's a huge disconnect out of some of the data that we're seeing out of the jobs and some of the consumer data we're seeing to me the consumer confidence has been weakened the last two months so i do not think the first six months will be great to the consumers. >> i'm melissa lee you're watching "fast money" on cnbc, first in business worldwide. here's what else is coming up on "fast. >> so what is your salary? >> i want to say it's in the range of $180,000, something

like that. >> well, i guess that's enough money to keep the markets calm, but should investors really trust the fed? we've got a special report. plus, guy adami is stepping up to the plate to pitch one stock he says is about to break out no matter where the market es nt. he'll give us the name and the trades when "fast money" returns. but typical. but typical. that's why we designed capital one cafes. you can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. and one of america's best savings rates. to top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. this isn't a typical bank. this is banking reimagined. what's in your wallet?

hey, darryl. would you choose the network rated #1 in the nation by the experts, or the one awarded by the people? uh... correct! you don't have to choose, 'cause, uh... oh! (vo) switch to the network awarded by rootmetrics and j.d. power. buy the latest galaxy phones, get galaxy s9 free. we wanted to have the balance sheet return to a more normal level, which is a level no larger than it needs to be for us to conduct monetary policy i don't know the exact level that will depend on really the public's appetite for our liabilities, specifically currency to us that's a liability and the public has a large appetite for

currency, and also reserves and other liabilities. so it will be substantially smaller than it is now >> welcome back. that was federal reserve chairman jerome powell giving more color about the fed's easing strategy for the year it was those comments on the balance sheet you just heard that had some on wall street on edge steve liesman is back at headquarters with more dovish or hawkish, steve >> so, can i pick a third choice, melissa? >> okay. >> and not dovish, not hawkish, but maybe careless >> careless. >> wow. >> wow, okay. >> i think this is a lot like the october 3rd comment that upset the markets when he said that we were a long way from neutral. i don't know exactly what chairman powell thinks, but there are estimates out there, which the new york federal reserve gathers, which shows that on the street they expect a balance sheet of 3.5, 3.6

trillion, from the current 4 trillion is that substantially smaller than it is now is he disagreeing with the market estimates right now i don't -- what he said back then that we're a long way from neutral, i didn't think he meant they would go more than 100 basis points, but i think the market saw that as potentially more than that i think this is a case where the fed chairman might have been more precise i think the first part of his thing was correctly telling what fed policy is right now, that they want to get the balance sheet down to a place they can conduct monetary policy but seeming substantially smaller. there were several observers who kind of rolled their eyes at that comment. >> it's not even back from october, it's his latest appearance, steve, where he backed away from basically an automatic roll-off on the balance sheet and now he's going back to -- i mean it's amazing how different the messages can be construed by the markets in

such a short amount of time. it's not a period of months, it's a period of days at this point. the question is what -- you know, what can the markets believe? does the fed have a credibility issue in its messaging >> i think you can believe what the committee has said together as a committee and that is that the balance sheet is going to roll off in this very predictable manner with a cap of up to $50 billion a month and the new york federal reserve bank has published a schedule as to the amount that it will roll off and it's not $600 billion, it's more like $440 billion for what that's worth and maybe $300 next year, which is to say that sometime in mid-2020 the fed will hit that target here's the problem the problem is that if i was the federal reserve chairman, which of course and for very good reason i am not, i would have been thinking very carefully about how i was going to answer the balance sheet question

if that's the case and it came up substantially smaller, then i'm wondering that maybe hement to guide me that it's substantially smaller, guide the markets that way if he didn't mean that, i'd be like wait a second, you weren't prepared to answer that question >> steve, you said the fed is like an army moving forward, they hit some resistance, they regroup but continue to move forward. >> right. >> is the resistance they meet the market going lower and the market recovers 10% and the army continues to move forward? is that the dance we're going to do to the next year? >> i think so. they came forward with the taper tantrum, the market freaked out. they withdrew and then came forward without much concern in terms of stopping the purchasing of assets. i think the fed wants to be higher here under given circumstances. in other words, if the forecast comes out the way they plan it, i think the fed does want to add

maybe two rate hikes from here and kind of wait around, but it's going to wait until it has the market with it when powell does say, and i think he says this very advisedly, they have muted inflation right now. i'll they'll use that opportunity to say hold on, we're going to chill for a bit, take a look around, wait and have the market with us. look, if the data comes in stronger or doesn't weaken substantially from what the fed expects, i would still expect rate hikes here but i don't think you'll do it in the context of a market that is violently opposed to it. >> despite the army and the forward and the back, aren't you concerned about a fed that's letting the market lead it around that to me is the credibility issue. >> yes and no. in other words, if there was some imperative for the federal reserve to raise right now, if there was an obvious inflation threat i'd be like, whoa, this is a problem if there was a credibility problem that the fed had to sort of claw back, i would say yes.

but i think the time has time to wait i don't think 50 basis points here or there in the next year or so is going to make or break either the economy or the federal reserve. >> steve, thank you very much. >> pleasure. >> steve liesman back at headquarters powell should stick to reading off a piece of paper that's when he's most careful. >> he's got a messaging problem. i don't think he does it well. every time he does it, he's got to walk it back. when we look at the minutes, there were different conversations taking place than what really has come through when powell opens his mouth. so i think that either way, the market does not like higher rates, they don't like tightening, and the market is probably going to react to it in short order. >> i'd just make one comment listening to fed chairs for years now, i can't remember too many times where they actually mentioned a company and a company's guidance he's mentioned apple now on two instances. he seems to think there's some issue regarding the trade war and how it's affecting u.s. corporations so this is going to be a theme

until we have any real progress on the trade war. >> that should hearten you as an investor that he is acknowledging the data points. >> the more he mentions it, the more you get nervous about why they're being dovish, that's my point. the longer they stay dovish, the worse it is for a very fragile economy. >> the market is all about the fed. so that's what this has taught us think about how the market has totally moved on the fed and the fed only remind you down the road. coming up, new year, new you, new 401(k). gene thompson of fidelity will be here to tell you the three resolutions you should be making for your 401(k) in 2019. plus, guy is warming up for what could be his most important fast pitch ever. you've got that suit jacket on fast he'll tell us one biotech stock he can't get enough of much more "fast money" after this

welcome back to "fast machi money. biotech is in rally mode, up almost 20% since the christmas eve lows is there more room to run in the group? guy adami has one stock that's about to break out it's time for the fast pitch,

guy. saunter over. >> i'll be careful not to knock pete over, our steady cam. this is my power pitch, slide it, earl hard to say, not easy to spell, but sarepta is the play. why? a great balance sheet. for a biotech over a billion dollars in cash, that's pretty darn good there, folks number two, genetics medicine. a lot of people think this is the pre'eminent company in the genetic space. that's what a lot of analysts are saying right now and the last one, huge m & a potential. a market cap company, great balance sheet, tremendous upside and, yes, we have seen downdrafts in the stocks over the last couple of years on disappointing data but the street is thinking that they just reported or spoke to jpmorgan health care conference that maybe they have turned the corner so for a lot of reasons, not the least of which the stock has had a big downdraft to the downside,

i think sarepta cents up very well in this environment market agnostic, fed agnostic, china trade agnostic, but with the m & a money out there right now, this might be a candidate. >> so guy, when i look at this, when i look at the chart that you're eventually going to look at, it looks like it's technically challenged i know that the fundamentals seem good, but when you turn around and look at that chart, i'm worried about the 50 day has been declining, the 20-day is rolling over it seems like even though it's been up the last couple of days, it seemslike it's rolling over to me on momentum. >> i'm no carter, i'm no flash gordon, i am not at the pinnacle, i'm not at the zenith of the technicians, but i'll say this in biotech you have to throw the charts out the window a lot of times. you know as well as i one piece of data that comes out positive, you throw the charts out the window, we wake up one morning and pfizer drug or merck or eli lilly says, you know what, we

want to pony up with these guys and you see a 30% move i hear you on the technicals but you know what, the more you know, i'm throwingthe technicals out the window. you know what? can't make money with scared money, or something like that. >> something like that no more questions. time to vote buying or selling. dan, what do you say >> i'm not a buyer i don't know their story they're obviously doing great work on a horrible disease and we wish them the best. they were expected to do $300 million in sales and lose $278 million in gap income. it's not somewhere i can play. >> grasso? >> i'm going to say sell as well the technicals usually have all the fundamentals within them so it usually tells the whole story. yes, i do not disagree that they are binary events that you could see this thing up. either you don't play it or you sell it. >> tim >> guy, i'm your friend, i'm voting buy notice the color of b in buy is kind of like the color of your

tie. so gene therapy works here, might work for you i'm sorry i didn't go for you today, though. >> so one buy here on the desk more importantly, are you at home buying? guy's fast pitch you can head to twitter and vote in our poll. plus, if you're looking to maximize your 401(k), stick around because our next guest has brought along three finaial sotincreluons to do just that much more "fast money" right after this if you're turning 65, you're probably learning about medicare and supplemental insurance. medicare is great, but it doesn't cover everything - only about 80% of your part b medicare costs,

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welcome back to "fast money. we've got a market flash on activision let's get to josh lipton in san francisco for all the details. >> melissa, it's a divorce that's how one analyst is describing this news here about activision and bun gee remember they had this long-standing publishing agreement for its destiny franchise. now activision is saying the rights and responsibilities are going to bungee fully and that means they will no longer recognize revenue from that franchise. i caught up with michael packte. given this news, the street will have to adjust estimates going forward. he said activision wasn't happy

with the product revenue and be bungee wasn't happy in the revenue split. that stock is down 30% over the last three months, but he tells me he does remain an activision bull here. he said the stock is deep and the company has a deep line of content on the way mel, back to you. >> thank you, josh >> he just surrounded the trade. that's a really interesting piece of news because we think of activision as a content player and they obviously have other deals. so this does put a hole possibly in their revenue stream. i think the most important news i heard today is a story that amazon will launch a streaming video game service you know, when you think about it, there's only a handful of content players and obviously plenty of development things that's goingto shape things up in 2019, so i wouldn't abandon activision trading at 7 or eight times -- >> they're not going to grow eps

meaningfully at all in the next few years. i like it here i think katie bar the door -- >> no, that doesn't apply here, tim. nice try you know what does apply here? electronic arts. i did an options action when dan had a reversal and that stock has gotten fricaseed -- >> did you use that twice in one show >> that is too much. >> i don't know what that is that's an old-timey method of cooking. >> look at the outfit i have on today, '80s. electronic arts, maybe all the bad news is in the stock, same valuation. i think you can own ea here. switching gears here, the ball has dropped, times square is cleaned up and your hangover is hopefully healed by now, but it's not too late to think about a new year's financial resolution for your nest egg according to fidelity, about 50%

of retirement savers plan to increase their contribution rate in 2019. let's bring in jeannie thompson for our fast 401(k). she joins us from boston jeannie, great to see you. >> you too, melissa. >> it's a great time of year to start revisiting your plans here so what's your fist tip here do you want to increase your contributions? >> that's right. you know, the new year, new you, it's a great time to increase your retirement savings contributions to your 401(k) we recommend that people save 15% for retirement over the course of their career to really reach their retirement savings goals. >> how should you think about how much you increase it by? let's say for some reason your paycheck doesn't go up do you still increase your contribution if your paycheck goes down, do you still increase your contribution >> yes, we do recommend that you try to save 15%. if you're not quite there, at a minimum you want to save to the company match and try to increase at least 1% a year.

a good time to increase it is at the beginning of the year. say you get a merit increase or cost of living adjustment, that's another good time you really want to increase it because we recommend that you save ten times the number pr retirement to do that, you've got to save 15% to get there. >> take advantage of the company match. this makes sense at the same time, if you're inclined to go beyond the company match, is that reallya wise move or are you putting too many eggs in one basket. you've got your job at this company, plus stock or whatever it is in that company as well? >> yeah, at a minimum try to save up to the company match, whether it's 3% or 5%. you want to know is it 100% on the dollar up to 3 or is it 50%? so you want to understand the formula and save up to that. if you can save up to the company match and you have extra money, if you're in a high

deductible health plan, it would be a great idea to save in a health savings account those are triple tax savings if you're contributing to the limit in that, then go back and put more money in your 401(k). >> if you're turning 50, this is very important you can play catchup a little bit in terms of your contributions? >> you can you know, the limit that you can contributing from your personal money is $19,000 to the 401(k) the company can contribute more on top of that if you're turning 50 this year or are over 50, you can contributing an extra $6,000 for a total of $25,000 and the key thing to note is that even if your birthday is in december, come january, which it's january now, you can contribute to that catchup contribution and take advantage of that a little bit early >> all right, jeannie, it's great to see you thank you so much for all your tips, we appreciate it >> turning 70, what do they give you for that >> guy, what do they --

>> ha, ha, ha. i have a few years left before i turn the big 5-0 >> at that age actually you have to start taking money out and start paying the tax on it so the whole idea is that it's compounding tax-free so do it early on is what jeannie is saying. >> dan is getting old, serious. coming up, check out the cramer cam he is sitting down with intel's interim ceo bob swan tonight on "mad money." we'll get a sneak peek of what he just told him about the semi space after this break we're live at the naaqn sd i times square much more "fast" still ahead [beep] you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade which isn't complicated. their tools make trading quicker and simpler. so you can take on the markets with confidence.

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to one-touch conference calls. beyond traditional tv. to tv on any device. beyond low-res surveillance video. to crystal clear hd video monitoring from anywhere. gig-fueled apps that exceed expectations. comcast business. beyond fast. welcome back to "mfast money. jim cramer sitting down with bob swan moments ago about what is next for the chip stock. let's take a listen. >> the pc has stabilized a bit we have a leading position data center is huge and the needs for data are growing and growing. and in addition to that, we have -- you know, it's not just intel inside the pc and the data center, but it's also inside the automobile, inside the factories, inside the retail stores so in an era of this increasing data and the needs for data, our

presence is just much more expansive today than it's ever been. >> for the full interview be sure to tune into "mad money" with jim cramer at the top of the hour. there was a frenzy in the options pits today dan is over at the plasma to break it down. >> yeah, mel great to hear an acting ceo talk like that a couple of weeks before their earnings. seemed pretty positive in light of some of the news that we've seen in the pc centric space today put volume was 1.5 that of calls. but it was a call strike that caught my eye looking out to april expiration there was someone accumulating 4,000 in the april 50 calls that traded an average price of $1.90. what i find really interesting about that is that 1.90 if we want to go to the chart, 1.90 in premium on a $50 strike with a stock closing today at 48.50, it's pretty near the money, especially when you're looking out to april and will catch two earnings announcements and also

catch probably the announcement of a new ceo, which should be a positive catalyst here i just want to go quickly to a one-year chart i want to just demonstrate the fact that this stock has actually shown some really, really good relative strength over the last few months, especially as the market has been pretty volatile this has not been pretty volatile this $50, that is kind of like -- you could have it set up for a little gap fill on any good news over the next couple of months. and i just want to take it out to five years and why you might want to consider defining your risk into what could be a volatile period in the market and obviously volatile into earnings on january 24th look at this thing, it had that gap a couple of years ago. it stayed above the mid-40s and that looks to be good support. if they miss and guide down and the street doesn't like that new ceo, you could have a stock in the mid to low 40s filling in that gap so the idea of playing to the upside and finding your risk and looking at a breakout level at

50 makes sense to me. >> is intel a value stock? >> it's clearly declining. is it a value stock? it's been a value stock for a while, that's been the argument, really hasn't worked out that much then you hear what amd said the last couple of days and makes you wonder where is intel going to go from here. my inclination is people will try to buy it on value i think there's another leg lower. >> i think it is a value stock granted, i think it's been somewhat defensive in the middle of this semis blood bath, although it kind of had its fallout earlier in the year. i like data center, i like the diversification and i think of all the chip makers these guys have the most diversified business. >> i think amd is coming after intel and nvidia so when you listen to the ceo of amd at ces, she made it apparent, they made investments. this is the more beta play if intel performance, this one will bow a two-to-one performance based --

>> so you prefer amd. >> i prefer more amd. >> for more options action check out e owomroatthsh torw 5:30 p.m. eastern time. coming up next, the final trades stay tuned what do you look for when you trade? i want free access to research. yep, td ameritrade's got that. free access to every platform. yeah, that too. i don't want any trade minimums. yeah, i totally agree, they don't have any of those. i want to know what i'm paying upfront. yes, absolutely. do you just say yes to everything? hm. well i say no to kale. mm. yeah, they say if you blanch it it's better, but that seems like a lot of work. no hidden fees. no platform fees. no trade minimums. and yes, it's all at one low price. td ameritrade. ♪

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it is time to reveal the results of our twitter poll. the desk wasn't buying guy's pitch on sarepta and can you the remix because, sorry, guy, 70% of our viewers are not buying it either >> it wasn't 100%, guy. >> do you like the remix >> did we remix this >> it was so bad because it wasn't quite celine dion. >> so you get a remix? >> don't you think this is worse than the original? >> final trade time, tim. >> what's worse right now are the share price of u.s. steel. steel prices are exactly where they were a year ago at 800 times a ton. i think it's time to start nibbling on u.s. steel. >> grasso. >> lennar was up 7% when stocks stopped going down on bad news they're a buy. >> dan. >> you obviously didn't watch us

tonight, we were al fay fayel dg lenna. >> guy, are you going to bust out some moves here? >> i'm buying the remix on my spotify. >> final trade. >> who >> sarepta, you filthy animals >> see you tomorrow. "mad money" starts right now my mission is simple, to make you money i'm here to level the playing field for all investors. there's always a bull market somewhere, and i promise to help you find it. "mad money" now. ♪ >> hey, i'm cramer welcome to "mad money. welcome to one market in san francisco, and wake to cramerica. other people want to make friends. i'm just trying to make you some money. my job is not just to entertain, but to teach you so call me