on stocks. who knows whether this is froth. intrahigh record days for the dow, s&p 500 and nasdaq. and the russell 2000 close to 1% >> the home biologicalers close out what has been an incredible year we will see you tomorrow thanks for tuning in to "power lunch. "closing bell" starts right now. thank you kelly and tyler. and welcome to "closing bell." i'm sara eisen here with scott wapner, who is in for wilfred frost. welcome back, scott. stocks are pushing higher. the russell 2000 outperforming one hour left of trade an ugly jobless claims number pointing to weakness in the labor market with millions unemployed despite that we still don't have a stimulus deal. we have heard that law make remembers making progress but investors are monitoring for any concrete plan. progress in the green software

stocks ed hitting record highs bitcoin above $23,000. the rally continues to march on. record heights in sight, scott we are up 1.5% so far this week. 59 minutes left in trade. >> coming up on today's show, the ceo of investment manager n nuveen joins us for his outlook on the market in 2021. why he says there is a bright light ahead for investors. plus getting in the spac game we will spi with the ceo of skilz, making its public debut today with the same bank that brought draftkings to market. mike santoli is tracking market action. leslie picker is following coin base which just filed for an ipo. we have information on the crackdown of robin hood. and meg tirrell is refewing the fed's decision on the moderna vaccine. mike santoli we gwynn with you. >> seasonal good cheer, why the

markets continue this slow upward leiftation. the s&p. next stop, options expiration, that stuff feeding into the slow grinding strength that we have 2, 726 or so is exactly 70% above the intraday loaf march 23rd a nine month move of 70% the move has moderated and cooled off a little bit in the broad market i want to look at a handful of catchup trades that have been pronounced in the quarter to date look at small caps leaders up today 1%. that's the iwm the rest of the world besides the u.s. up well more than the s&p 500. a little bit more than the s&p this quarter xls, energies has had a big move in a short period of time. however, look at the same four on a therein-year basis and you will see how much territory they

had to remain in order to match the s&p. the s&p is still well ahead of even the russel which is still ahead of it on a one year basis. you can play it either way and say mean reversion has a way to go on the unloved trades and maybe you can see the s&p get outraced a little bit longer or maybe these are bounces and the s&p is going to reassert its trend going into next year i think a lot of it has to to with fund flows especially to small caps, look very overheated in the short-term. >> certainly, the strength continues. on record close watch for the small cap. digital currency exchange coin base has filed to go public on the same bay that bitcoin hit another high >> what happens when a hot crypto market meets a hot ipo market one goes public.

coin base filed with the fcc but gave no other information. it is examined to be sizable coin base was valued at $8 billion in a private fund raise just two years ago the company says more than 35 million people in over 100 countries use coin base to buy, sell, store, and earn cryptocurrency now, reuter's reported months ago that coin base was looking to pursue a direct listing rather than a traditional ipo although a source familiar with the matter tells me today they are still actually undecided which process they will take still, the ipo market has been on a tear this year, poised to see the highest volume of deals in six years and bitcoin, as you mentioned, sara just today hitting an intraday high above 23,000 perhaps not surprising that the eight-year-old company would be looking to capitalize on the current environment and go public now. >> bitcoin market hot, ipo market hot, regular market hot

why not. robinhood facing charges from the scc one day after massachusetts filed a claptd against the company. kate rooney has the latest. >> robinhood will pay $65 million to settle with the fcc on two key issues. first, regulators say they didn't tell customers the whole story when it came to free trading. from 2015 to 2018 ts.e.c. says they didn't say they got paid for trade flow robinhood trades were executed at prices inferior the other brokers despite saying they matched or beat competitors. robinhood isn't admitting or denying the s.e.c. claims but its chief legal officer who

joined the company in may says the settlement relates to historical practices that quote don't reflect robinhood today. source i am talking to though say the settlement and charges in massachusetts yesterday are a bit of a black eye for the company but not likely to low slow down momentum the company added 3 million accounts this year and raised more than a billion dollars. >> is this it or do they face other regulatory hurdle snz i remember the state of massachusetts yesterday giving them a slap for -- >> they have got to. >> -- of the industry. >> yeah. the massachusetts issues is still outstanding, but that is a state issue versus a federal iss issue. i think the s.e.c. settlement in some investors' eyes, sources i am talking to say that is now wrapped up $65 million is nothing to sneeze at but at least they have got that out of the way. that was between the time period of 2015 to 2018. they say they have fixed those issues and now going towards an

ipo, which could happen as soon as next year the company is more prepared to have those disclosures we will see. interesting to follow. now to the coronavirus as we await a key decision on moderna's vaccine candidate this afternoon. meg tirrell with a closer look at the regulatory process. meg? >> sara, we could just be hours away from the second vote from an advisory committee to the fda supporting authorization of a covid-19 vaccine they are currently in discussions now. they have done presentations from the fda this morning on the company's data the company has presented. they are taking questions from the committee. and that voting is expected to happen sometime between 3:15 and 5:15 we will bring the results of that vote. last week the same panel met on the pfizer/biontech vaccine and they were talking at least in terms of any dissent about the age involved there, 16-plus for

that emergency use authorization. for moderna it is 18 plus. we don't except that to bea hiccup if they vote this afternoon, the fda could issue its emergency use authorization tomorrow or saturday then doses would go out across the united states on top of the pfizer/biontech vaccine that started going out this week. some of the conversation among the panel members today include the alernlic reactions we have seen to the pfizer/biontech vaccine. just a couple health care workers who received it. we will be interested to hear what they conclude on the moderna vaccine causing that same kind of reaction. >> meg, i have a question for you. i saw your tweet a little while ago about states not getting the pfizer vaccine to the degree which they thought they would at least right now, in terms of

numbers. what can you tell us more about that >> this appears to be a significant amount of confusion happening between states and the federal government right now in terms of the pfizer vaccine allotments we have now seen from washington state governor jay inslee just tweeted their allotment of the pfizer vaccine was reduced by the cdc by 40% last week saying there was no reason given why. we also heard the same this week from michigan, missouri, illinois, iowa, florida's ron de santis said their next two weeks' shipments were on hold. pfizer said it has no production issues no, delays, it has millions of doses in a warehouse ready to ship when the government tells them where to ship them. hhs says the reports of reduced all allotments are incorrect this is massive miscommunication going on right now we are trying to get to the bottom of it

we will bring you what we find as soon as we find out. >> meg tirrell, thank you. after the break. dna for the holidays we will talk with the ceo of 23 and me about demand to its kits during this unusual holiday season and how they are playing an important roll in covid dow is up. 53 minutes left of trade new projects means new project managers.

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throughout the pandemic, dna testing company 23 and me has conducted extensive research into genetic links to covid-19 23 and me's data findings have been included in other key studies involving genetics joining us now, 23 and me cofounder and ceo ann woj scick. what have you found in terms of the genetic research >> it is such an interesting question because you see much

incredible diversity of how people are responding to it. we launched a study on april 6th. we have over a million people now who have take ten study. we published a paper about the o blood type looks protective against severity and success sentibility to disease a new paper just came out that is really excited that was published in nature that 23 and me contributed to that show there are genetics associated with why some people are having such a severe case and why they end up in the hospital on ventilators. so genetics is definitely going to play part of the story that should hopefully help physicians better understand how to think about managing and treating people >> are we ever going to be in a place, anne, where we can take genetic tests to know whether we are susceptible to covid-19 or other types of viruses particularly mysterious ones and therefore can figure out how to

conduct our lives? >> there is good data about, and there is a history of actually understanding genetics and viruses. for instance in hiv, there is a moe mutation where people who have this mutation are, you know, highly unlikely or essentially immune to getting hiv. i think what we will find in covid, at some point this is going to be some population that is less likely to be having and it a population that's going to be higher revving. i think that will hopefully help search still going to have to be worried about it, we are going to be masked up. but potentially you will have a better sense of actually who needs to be really vigilant about getting to the hospital at the right time and making sure you are actually getting the right kind of care and treatment if you do get it i can imagine a world where this will actually help us better understand why some people, you know r going to be -- are going to need the intensive medical care and making sure they get it at the right taum in anne, it's

scott. good to see you again. >> hey, scott. >> i am wondering what the arrival of the vaccine means for the research you are doing related to covid and if it in any way means you won't do as much. >> we have never -- we are not doing anything on vaccine research like everything we have focused on has been on genetic research. i think what we have learned through this is that we have to be prepared for pandemics. and coronavirus, whatever happens, even with the vaccine, you are still going to have to be vigilan with the virus. understanding genetics and severity and success spentability is going to be important for us being prepared for any coronavirus v 2 and future pandemics so that genetic research is still really important which is where we are focused. we are enthused to see the vaccine coming out and seeing progress on some of the treatments but it is not an area where we are specifically playing. >> i heard you talk about drug discovertry and how you are excited about that opportunity and what 23 and me could do.

we covered the story i think it was in january of this year, before covid really hit the united states. and your industry was suffering from lack of demand. there were layoffs reported at your company who has the pandemic meant both in terms of consumer demand for dna testing, this holiday season, perhaps, and just the whole medical side of it as well >> i think what we've seen, which is really frankly exciting for us during this time of pandemic and people being at home, is how much care can actually be delivered at home. 23 and me plays a key component of that because people are interested in themselves and people are wondering about covid-19 and wondering about susceptibility and wanting to learn more so we have seen good volume this year but i think it also taps into a bigger story about the opportunities for delivering care at home and that's really why i see, you know, a game-changing moment where care can be distributed in

a way that is not necessarily dependent upon you seeing a physician and driving and being at a location. but you can actually start to deliver care while you are at home and just about the time savings and the efficiencies you get with that. >> i noticed you guys are doing a lot of discounting right now for the holidays i am wondering what that says about the current demand, and the state of your business. >> the demand -- what we have seen is there is a lot -- last year we saw there was definitely a slowdown in the market i think some of that did come from concerns about privacy. we always tend to discount around holiday it is super -- it's super exciting for our customers to give as presents it has always been really popular. we are one of the best selling products on prime day. so it's always been a really popular time for to us discount and people give it often as gifts. what you are seeing is

absolutely normal for us what we have seen this year is a pretty strong return frankly it surprised us just how high the demand has been. >> even with discounting 50, 0%? you say that's normal? >> oh, yeah. we are only discounting $50. the health and ancestry is $199 normally and we discount that to $99 during holidays at least this year. >> anne take care. up next, jobless claims rising to their highest level since september. is it a red flag for the recovery. rngsplus fedex to deliver eain after the well. we will discuss with investors interested to hear about the holiday seen that's coming up let's get checked for a full range of conditions.

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welcome back 38 minutes left of trade investors waiting for any progress on stimulus talks it was a hot topic at a panel i moderated today with the u.s. council on competitiveness here's bank of america's ceo brian moynihan making the case for aid. >> we are going to have to get through the rest of this pandemic and really work hard on and hopefully get the stimulus they are talking about today will get through the world is bifurcating there is people that can't be open and can't go to number job. then there is the rest of the economy, 94% of the economy is

open and businesses are open and dentists are open. sent ally we have to help the people get across the river. then he can worry about paying it back guy growing the pie in the long term more tonight at 6:00 p.m. when he is a guest on cramer the near term pain he is talking about is getting worse we got dismal jobs reports today pointing to the labor market in 2021 steve liesman has more. >> job else claims rising to a calamitous 885,000 it is the second weekly rise in a woe. the fourth feign in the past five weeks the deterioration of the jobs market lagging after the surge in covid cases 247,000 daily cases. claims remained high but trended down in october as the seven day average of cases fell.

but they began ticking up in november with the rise in cases and now they are begun to rise in earnest at 885,000. they are more than 175,000 lower than they were at the lowest level of the pandemic. and they never really fell that low anyway claims each week of the pandemic, they have been higher in every week since march 21st than they were in the worst week of the 2009 financial crisis it promises to get worse from here several forecasters cautioning about the possibility of job losses for the full month of december they are saying combined with lapsing federal support programs it will impact on incomes and spending will be substantial which will weigh on growth prospects in thor in term. that is of course before the vaccine effects help the economy. today's report shows more workers face the prospect of a jobless smalls and unless awe new relief is pass by congress

more americans will hit the new year without jobless benefits. >> market continues the live through it treasury yields are higher, stocks are higher. steve liesman. coca-cola announced it is cutting 2200 jobs through a combination of buyouts and layoffs. 1200 of those jobs in the u.s. soak says it will safe 350 to $500 million a year. it is part of the reorganization plan it announced back in august which is aimed at addressing evolving needs and behaviors of the consumers. when i talked with the ceo about it they said sure the pandemic may have sped up this change we are going through, the restructuring they are going through. they are shedding off zombie brands like zika and tab part of that requires some layoffs but this is a reminder that some companies are using this opportunity to do this. >> i almost feel like businesses are taking a wait and see approach before they start

hiring back en masse just trying to see what the next to you months hold in terms of how the pandemic goes, the rollout of the vaccine and when we can get back to whatever normalcy looks like on the other side. >> sure. i think a lot of other companies are doing that as well, as evidenced by the higher unemployment claim the market may be looking ahead to the vaccine and companies may be looking ahead to 2021 but you have to respond to what is happening on the ground right now. >> the ceo of investment manager nuveen will join with us his outlook for 2021 and what the back to normal trade looks hike in the new year. yields are moving higher are we going to hit 1% getting close. 93 basis points on the ten-year. we are back after this this was an unexpected bill not covered by my health insurance. and this is the aflac duck who helped me cover it.

aflac. these are all the cab rides to my physical therapy. and aflac paid me directly to help. aflac. what he said. and this unexpected bill is from... the two-thousand-dollar specialist. thanks. aflac. when you're sick or injured, aflac is there. we can help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover. get to know us at (aflac!) dot com. at morgan stanley, a global collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view. ♪ we see companies protecting the bottom line by putting people first. we see a bright future, still hungry for the ingenuity of those ready for the next challenge. today, we are translating decades of experience into strategies for the road ahead. we are morgan stanley.

♪ ♪ heart monitors that let your doctor watch over you, just like you watch over your best friend. another life-changing technology from abbott, so you don't wait for life. you live it. time now for our daily coronavirus tracker. the u.s. setting records for new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths yesterday recording nearly 250,000 cases, more than 3,600 deaths

according the data from johns hopki hopkins. as we await a decision on moderna's vaccine candidate there is an interesting development regarding pfizer's shot the fda now says extra doses found in files can be used regard rather than discard this. comes amid reports that some pharmacists were throwing away the extra vaccine in vials that were only meant to hold five doses. also, french president macron tests positive for the coronavirus. president-elect biden is expected to nominate deb holland to be his secretary of the interior if confirmed she will be the first native american to lead the agency that oversees tribal affairs. new jersey's legislature passed a bill that will set up a marketplace for recreational marijuana. the governor is expected to sign it into law. in spain, the lower house of

parliament passed a bill that would legalize physician-assisted suicide and yoous naig nashan. if the bill becomes law spain will be europe's fourth and largest country to authorize euthanasia. super heroes dropped in to say hi to children in a hospital they eventually joined santa handing out presents to the kids. 20 minutes left before the bell checking in on where we stand, stocks are higher. they have been higher out of the gate today the nasdaq is tracking for a record close the russell 2000 index of small caps tracking for a record close. it is up a full percent. the s&p up .4% adding up to gains so far this week of 1.5% ahead, putting the spotlight on skillz, the e sports network, making its public debut. we will talk with the ceo about

the first day of trade next on "closing bell. [squeaky shopping cart] [sniffing] is the salmon wild-caught? she only eats wild caught. [cash register beeps] uh, i need a price check on honey. don't get mad. get e*trade and get more than just trading. investing. banking. guidance.

we've got less than a half hour to go before the bench let's check in on individual market movers. shares of rite aid surging up 15% after posting an earnings beat front end sales were led by sales in immunity and first aid. flu shots increased 28%. year over year that stock up again double digits. needham naming chewy as top pick for 2021 saying the company has blalt do you rememberable and scaleable model and is strongly positions to gain new customers. chewy's stock up 6.5%. specifying pets, bark box a pet subscription will go public with

the ticker b-a-r-k it feels very 2020 a digital only pet subscription company going public via spac. >> because, of course. to your point exactly. right. >> yeah,ally snoos alyeah. >> gomez calling 2020 the year of the spac increasing a fivefold increase since 2019 the latest company to go public via this route skillz, partnering with the same company that brought draftkings public joining us today andrew paradise in paradise today in our first day of trading >> thanks. >> why a spac? >> we always planned to go public by the end of 2020. i would say unlike the vast majority of the spac deals we are in position to do the traditional route or via spac.

we chose spac because it gave us more flexibility, negotiate terms and pick our partner as well as go public faster i would say in the midst of one of the most fervent markets certainly in my lifetime this reception we have had has been humbling and made us feel like a darling ipo. since we made the merger we have been funneling in record investors in record time >> you have a 100-year vision it sounds catchy, especially on the day of an ipo, says all the right things, the messaging. but what does that really mean it made me laugh a little bit. >> i'm sorry to hear that. but, look, our company -- we are a b to c platform business we are revolutionizing the gaming industry as the mobile e sports platform in the world our 100 year vision is to create the competition layer for the internet. >> yeah, but what does that

mean well, if you think about today, we gam i phied video games. in the world where we believe in the internet of things we like toe think of it as the geoty, or ga game ification of things think of peloton, it is a computer enabled treadmill or exercise bike. we think device like that over time will use one platform for competition. >> 92% revenue growth for the third quarter. not too shabby andrew, clearly, this is the moment for gaming, for e sports. you are right at the intersection the question is what happens when we get a vaccine, when we are not saying at home what sort of head wind do you see in terms of revenue off these very, very high numbers

that are going to be hard to lap. >> our business has been resilient during covid-19. we grew 39% in quarter two i think everyone needs more digital entertainment now whale shelter in place but we have been growing rapidly for years. doubling and tripling revenues every year we are excited to get things back to normal but the secular shift to interactive entertainment has been going on almost a decade and accelerated during the pandemic. we all expect that to continue after the pandemic. >> let me ask you quickly. >> do you think they engaged -- >> go ahead, sara. >> go ahead scott. i was going to ask you about the engagement numbers 62 minutes per day on average people spending. i think that's higher than social media higher than a lot of the industry what is it about your games, the e sports, that are keeping people longer? >> i think competition is so inherently human

and offering people an opportunity to compete in their favorite games is an incredibly engaging value proposition if you think about kind the consumers on our platform they are photo voting with their feet in terms of what they want as their entertainment experience it is why i wanted to work on this idea and this business. it is a business where we have 2.7 million monthly users spending an hour plus a day playing and engaging on the platform and in a market where we have a opportunity to scale to literally 1,000x to 2.7 billion dollar users that make up the gaming market globally. >> it is off to a good start at least in the market. skillz up 6% andrew, thank you for joining us today. straight ahead on the show, the tech picks for the new year and the key thing to watch when fedex reports after the bell market don't is next

reminder, you can always watch or listen to us live or on the go on the cnbc app "closing bell" will be right back in a land not so far away,

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with powerful, easy-to-use tools and interactive charts to give you an edge, 24/7 support when you need it the most plus $0 commissions for online u.s. listed stocks. don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today. >> announcer: the "market zone" is sponsored by e trade. trade commission free today with no account minimums. about 16 minutes left in the trading dame we are in the "closing bell" "market zone," commercial-free coverage of all the action into the close. cnbc's mike santoli here to break down these crucial moments of the trading day and today high tower chief investment strategist stephanie link as well good to see you stephanie link stocks are moving higher as we head into the close with all the major averages on pace for a record closing high. and what's working today, mike, materials, real estate, utilities, health care,

technologies, industrials, staples, discretionary -- just about everything except for energy and communication services despite everybody saying we are due for a pullback, it is getting overheated, it's getting crowded. >> yeah. >> are you surprised to see the resilience and the strength to see the march higher >> not surprised to see this upward drift once we got into december without much damage being down although, the market is up like 2% from where we traded as a high on pfizer monday when we got those first results. that's good. i think that actually is better than having it go vertical for a little while longer. we have turned around here today they are kind of buying the winners. you mentioned all the sectors that are working also the momentum stocking it is kind this buy the stuff that feels good buy because it has been up a lot. and a lot of the cloud stocks

for example, i would mention in there. again, it's seasonal upward drift. we are kind of pushing off the stuff to worry about into next year when everybody thinks we are going to be rescued by a vaccine rebound. >> on that note, steph, tom lee told us today on the "halftime" show that you will get a pullback, for sure, but it's probably not going to come until maybe february between now and then you could get a nice little run for stocks do you agree with that >> i do, scott look, we are slowly chipping away at all the unknowns mike was referring to whether we are pushing it out or just getting more clarity it doesn't matter the market doesn't like to worry about thing. and we are slowly checking to have boxes, vaccine progress, production levels, the elections -- let's watch because obviously we have january 5th to get through, the georgia runoff. for now we are thinking we have a divided congress that's also a positive gridlock is good for investing now you get the fiscal the fiscal is a thing that we have been waiting for so long and we need it because those

initial claims numbers were not good retail sales also disappointed the regional pmis are flattening out. we need the fiscal if we get the fiscal, the market has room to run, especially ahead of earnings season. >> steph, i think of you when we get jobless claims because you always come on with us on thursdays and we always go back and forth on this point. you had said you adjust your models for growth and earnings and one of the first places you look is on claims which have gotten worse for a number of weeks now and are heading back towards 900,000 layoffs a week. >> it is terrible. you can't have 10 million people unploichld this is why you need the fiscal policies. there are too many stresses on the economy and especially people out there, small, medium business all along we have said we need the fiscal that's why as we are getting so close to it it is so positive. that's why i think the market

really is responding, in addition to all of this liquidity that we are getting and oh, by the way the fed yesterday, as dovish as can be ecb, as dovish as can be nobody talked about china and japan and some of the fiscal and monetary approximately sees they put in place back in november. we have got all this liquidity sloshing in the system then you are going to get some help for these critical parts of the economy. and that's why i think people are looking through it, if you will it is almost old news. >> some wall street analysts are getting bullish on tech as well, a number of calls today. evercore seeing upside and significant expansion in apple bank of america's top pick is alphabet morgue ab stanley has its eyes on microsoft citing strong secular positions and valuation. you can go reopen and epicenter and rebuilding of the economy but wall street still loves the

marquee tech names into the new year. >> yeah. just to be slightly din cynical about it these are the kinds of favorite stock of the year type pictures that -- nobody ever got fired recommending apple, that kind of rationale. i am not saying there is not any other kind of thesis find it alphabet is an interesting one because that represents a controversial call give the regulatory issues and the fact the company hasn't perfectly executed if you want to raise exposure to the big drivers of the index here is one we like over some of the others it makes some sense. but you are right about wall street still liking these stocks i never viewed it as a zero sum gain that if the mega cap growth stocks work then energies can't work for the most part, bull markets tend to reward the majority of stocks not just the favored few. >> at the same time, a lot of

those marquee names, the fangs, haven't done much since september, mike. >> no. i think that's why it is a little bit of a tactical moment where you can say look there is something left in the tank here. these stocks are 5, 8, 10% below their highs from september they have not led, they have gone sideways as a group since september 2an or so. that's why it seems like they are not running away from you at this point. >> still, steph, the nasdaq is up 42% so far this year. what should you be doing now, with some of those faang names adding trimming holding? >> i own all three, apple, google, and also microsoft i actually have been trimming some microsoft because you now have 90% of the sales side with buys on the stock and every report i read is kinds of like consensus at this point. its a great company. they are growing phenomenally for the size they are. i think google sets up best, it

is only up 38% this year it has lagged for good reason. transparency issues, cost creep issues but it is all about ad research recovery they had ad revenues grow 10% last quarter versus 3% the quarter before led by youtube and search keeping costs under role you are going to get significant operating margins. i like that set up best for 2021. >> even with the onslauft regulatory headaches and fights coming to them let's talk home building activity >> it continues. >> go ahead, steph, i didn't mean to cut you off. >> i think you are years off in that regard. that's not something i am worried about near term. [ no audio ]

>> diana olick has the details. want to focus in on single family housed. on an annualized rate starts and permits have been in the $1 million plus range for four months now but the gains are starting to moderate single family permits, which are an indicator of future construction only up around 1% month-to-month although significantly higher than a year ago. single family starts were flat month-to-month but up 27% from a year ago that's surprising because sales has been so strong builders can't keep up. lennar noted yes that for q 4 they were not concentrating on improved sales volume but instead on production because higher prices for homes would cover their costs. trying to get at that backlog because they just can't build them fast enough back to you. >> diana olick, thank you. mike it's amazing to see so of the housing data or the numbers out of lennar. and juxtapose that with the higher jobless claims and some

of the other really weak spots in the economy like small business -- continues to be on fire. >> it is absolutely true anybody who really is in that category of being able to qualify for a mortgage, rates are where they are, and it creates a little bit off an offset to higher prices. there is affordability if you have a job i honestly thing it has come down to that once you have the housing turnover cycle start to turn, it sort of feeds on itself for a while. what i find interesting, you had a bounce in the home builders today, as a group 3% but they werity riding about 10% below their highs for a while. my point is, housing-related equities are starting to get a little bit of that sense of maybe we have to just sort of digest all this great macro data we priced it all in. we have to see what comparisons look like next year even though for the economy as a whole it is

a great driver of activity in general. but leveraged stocks may not have a one for one benefit into i wonder if some of the direct catalysts are reversing or moderating in that okay maybe we are not looking to leave the big city in the manner we were at the beginning of the pandemic. interest rates are creeping up if they continue to go that way it does perhaps cut demand a bit. >> sure. in fact we have had people argue that one of the better reopening plays might be something like apartment reits where you have the rental market that has some catchup to do and may be urbaned centered or in metropolitan areas. i see that case. i think that's maybe what the market has been hinting at it is not as if these sox stroks sitting on distress levels they have seen major gains but the margin might be better in other parts of the market. >> what do you do with those stocks, steph? any interest >> well, as scott knows, i sold

home depot and -- though i did put it into stanley black and decker because the stock lagged and a lot of that is because they have energy exposure as well as industrial housing is the mvp of the economy in 2020. no doubt about it. but to mike's point a lot of these stocks are priced with that and i don't know how much better it gets from here lennar just -- i mean lennar is acting nice today in the fact that it's up but i mean it was an absolute blowout and the guidance was a buildout the thing should be up much more in my opinion. i think a lot of people are in these trades i think you want to trade carefully. stanley black and decker has been a laggard and they are a good play on international recovery as well, and also a weaker dollar. >> they crushed it the other day. they absolutely crushed it. fedex has been crushing it set to report earnings after the bell frank holland with a free view for us >> fedex up almost 1.5% ahead of

earnings two things to twhach the report. margin and revenue per package for its ground segment that handles residenttial e-commerce and has been the growth driver for this company in november fedex volumes increased by 30% year overier, however residential delivery is less profitable. the question for investors is how those opposing factors will impact the bottom line >> frank, appreciate that steph are you -- i can't remember, are you unit and or xpo over fedex >> yes, i am u.p.s., and i am xpo offer fedex. fedex has had a nice, nice run and i think they have done a great job. all of these companies, this time of the year, the volumes are surging. can they keep up with the costs? are they going to have to raise

the costs substantially. they have pricing power so you have some offsets but i worry are they going to be able to keep up with demand. and fedex is up 90%. i own u.p.s. it is a turnaround story with a new ceo valuation ahead of other thing. >> how are the valuations for these stocks >> fedex still looks like -- it is a discount to the market, 17 to 18 times forward earnings what is fascinating, it has become an earnings momentum story in terms of the forecast revisio revisions. fiscal year ends in may. forecasts for that year have gone from $9 a year six months ago to $18 analysts didn't think they would have that dined of dynamic as long as this dynamic stays in place you can stomach this kind of valuation you have to remind folks that fedex and u.p.s. to a lesser degree had a two year bear

market preceding this crisis. that cheapened the stock and you can see people betting next year on the business rerival packet at some point. >> there is the chart. it has been an amazing comeback. up 80% in 12 months. a lot of it more recently. steph, as we get to the market and heading toward the record closes do you wonder how much we are pulling forward gains ahead of next year which is shaping up to be a good one for growth? >> it is a good question i do worry about it. we can tread water for a bit but what i believe is you get these vaccines n mass production and you get a lot of people vaccinated by the mid part of the year then all of a sudden you are look at upside to gdp growth the consensus is at gdp of 3.5% and you might be 5%. i think that also leads to

better s&p 500 earnings. earnings are about 2350 from the sale side and consensus. wouldn't be spiesed to see a 30 handle on it i think there is an implement of growth if we get rising earnings, stocks follow profits f profits are going higher i think the market can go higher >> yeah, just taking a look, guys, internally at the market you actually had about a two to one advantage to the upside that remains the case in the new york stock exchange and the nasdaq. lock at the nasdaq new 52-week highs and lows really been a return to strength and leadership in a lot of the nasdaq names over 400 52-week high is a strong number. volatility index has finally given way a little bit i keep saying it is in the low 20s area below went it is and a calm year end bull type market number.

we are not there yet broader market 3721 on the s&p 500, up more than half a percent receipt now and the russell 2000 sitting on a 1.3% gape actually pushing the 2,000 level on the russel. russell 2000, 2,000 not far in the windshield >> a strong close, and a quadruple record there it is. welcome back, everyone, to "closing bell. i'm sara eisen here with scott wapner who is in for wilfred frost today. and mike santoli look at how we finished up the day on wall street it does appear that every single major average closed a a record high the dow up 147 points or half a percent. it needed to close before 3218 we were well above that that would make it a record best performer today was j&j for the dow. the s&p 500, 3722. that is also a record close.

it's the 31st record close of 2020 as for the nasdaq. all it needed was a positive finish we got well beyond that, .8 of a gain there for the tech heavy indirection. and the small caps closed at a record high. so far this week they are up 3.4% stephenth straight weekly gain outperforming some of the other major afternoons. coming up, the ceo of nuveen first, let's hit on the record closes steph testify still with us. joyce chase from jp morgan joins the conversation first to you, mike on a positive close. what drove it? >> a bull market doing bull market things and december acting like december i don't know that it is that much more complimented we are in a trending mode for the new market seasonal highs this week in december and is

second half of december tends to be strong. it is difficult to fight even though for weeks we have been able to point to extended investor sentiment it feels like everybody has thrown money into this market and the consensusis for a strong 2021. if you are bullish you are in a crowded space but that doesn't stop things when you have the fed that's seasoningly saying there is almost nothing the market could make them do that would make them change course. that's taings takes one major worry off the table for both on the financial side. >> is all of this reasonable for a whole host of reasons? >> it is reasonable for a whole host of reasons but you have got to talk about the flow and the cash story that's what's going to keep this going even though people are concerned about valuations we still think there is $1 trillion to go into the equity markets. if you look at s&p 500 balance sheets receipt now they are back to prepandemic levels, over $3.2

trillion in cashx financials and you have the deeld, at 3.3% on the equity risk people yum above bond yields and overseas you are higher than that, cheaper than that at over 5.5%. i think there is still momentum here. >> i wanted to add one more reason why a lot of people are pointing to for the gains in stocks, steph. that's the dollar. it continues to see some pretty strong weakness, down almost .7% today. it is down more than a percent today. that's a huge move actually of currency it is being considered a gauge of liquidity, the fed or other central banks as long as they are pumping blunt into the economies the dollar is weaker and that's an important point for stocks how important is it for you. >> i keep a close eye on the dollar why? because it is going to help s&p 500 earnings as i mentioned earlier, sanly

black and decker, every quarter for the last three years they have been complaining about currency how much it has been a head win. if it turns out to be a tail wind i think that's very positive as we know, 70% of the s&p 500 have earnings overseas so a lot of company also see this tail wind and that's positive as the dollar weakens you are starting to see commodities rising since april, steel is up 65% copper is at seven-year highs. i think these are things to watch. they are very important because if there is a snafu in the market it might be that the commodities are sniffing out a little bit more inflation. nothing large by any means but there is not any of it right now. >> it's not anything that you can necessarily point to and say this is going to be the critical

moment when it all comes together but as i said, sentiment has been bubbly for a little while you are seeing as everybody points to these veins of speculation that are obvious throughout the market whether it is things like bitcoin or some of the ev stocks or even some of the kind of newcomer -- chinese stocks have been flying. you see a lot of that type of ferment under the is your vas. valuation is not great but airtsates certainly not the reason that we are going to roll over i think a lot of the stuff we pointed out mimics what we saw in the early part of 2018. what we had there was a full year of a meltup almost in the market and it was culminating with the passage of the tax cut package, which we were discounting for months and months before it came out. it was a sort of what can you do for me next type moment for the

market i don't think anybody should be surprised if we to get a gut check or air porkt in the first part of next year. that's consistent with post election year patterns but it is very difficult to say this is going to be why and when it happens. >> also what is so stark about these record high closes they come along deteriorating economic data. the data is not getting better it is getting worse. retail sales, jobless claims at historic highs i get it, discounting mechanism, looking ahead toward the vaccine, toward the recovery is there any though level of bad data joyce that could shake confidence in the market and the near term picture? >> i think the data is still going to look weak heading into january because of the lockdowns and the restrictions we have first quarter growth in the u.s. contracting by is%. this is assuming that you have the vaccines by the first quarter of the year, we have in the fourth quarter of the year really the strongest recovery

that you have seen in more than a decade at 5% we also have china growing at 8.6% as well that's going to help commodity prices so i think that you have a very front-loaded raleigh right now the first quarter, you will end up -- the risks will begin to rise as the real recovery takes hold right now but right now this is still about the fiscal stimulus which looks like it's just maybe 72 hours away and just the continued fiscal stimulus along with balance sheet expansion we see for the full year of 2021. still $5 trillion beat expansion from the major central banks it is not the $8 trillion from last year but that's a lot of liquidity in the system. front loaded and a better tune come once we get the vaccine process in place that's where some of the risks lie, will you have the ability or the hesitancy on taking it.

will you break the link between the gdp growth numbers and mobility and the virus for that, we are all counting on the vaccines. >> we will leave it there. joyce chang, thank you stephanie link, always good to see you. thank you both >> thank you let's talk moderna an fda advisory panel is meeting as we speak to vote whether to recommend moderna's covid-19 vaccine candidate for emergency use authorization. for more, let's bring in mr. singh from oppenheimer how prepared is moderna for the next steps i think they are very prepared they have been developing mrna vaccines for a while covid-19 is not their first dance with mrna vaccines they have five or ten others that they brought into the clinic their ability to manufacture and deliver these i think is well validated. >> what will you be looking for in terms of the fda discussion that you are following, and some

of the commentary assume thalg we to get that emergency use authorization go ahead, and tow potentially, the fda approval. >> yeah, sara, the fda discussion really is first you know centered around safety and efficacy of the vaccines they have to do their job, which they are doing, both for the pfizer/biontech and this one tflt second part of the discussion is not as obvious but it is really to make sure that they poke at the data enough and give enough feedback to moderna, to pfizer/biontech to say look you have got to gather this date and do these discoveries the main consumer of these vaccines are going to be the american public. we need to make sure they are delivered on time to them and there are no unforeseen side effects, something that puts

people at risk or scares them. i think those are the two areas the discussions are centered around. >> what does it mean for investors? you said in notes today that the stock has done in one year what it would have done in three to five years normally. that tells me i have got to be civil investing in moderna now >> scott, it is a great point. people say being up almost 700% is amazing if i told you something was up 700% over four years you would be less impressed. we looked at peer group companies, they took about five years to bring a drug to market, the first one, then five years to get to peak sales n. that ten-year period they grew 10x to 40x, their share price moderna, in the next year as they bring other items to market and the covid-19 franchise i think this is the beginning of a story we have never seen before

in dine tech the scale of which on the commercial side is come up ahead. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you fedex earnings are out let's get to frank holland with the numbers. >> shares of fedex down more than 2% despite a pretty strong quarter a. beat on revenue, eps more than 80 cents above estimates. however, no forward guidance despite the company saying the second half of the year continued to see strong volumes. we talked about november, up 30% i don't remember over year ground division, revenues and volumes up double digits also revenue per package up 7% we will continue to lock at the numbers and try to figure out why the stock continues to fall after what appears to be a strong quarter, down up more than 3%, again, eps above 80

cents. we will get back to you. >> mike, it just could be the setup which was strong going into the report what looks like a beat on everything except no outlooks what do you see? >> the combination of it being up a couple percent this month to date and that outlook, i don't think that's surprising or reason for concern but they said vaguely things will pick up in the second half as opposed to giving specific guidance companies got a pass on not having to offer guidance at this point once the smoke cleared and we seem to have a firmer grasp on what the economy is going to look like, companies need to give a grab at giving something of a forward outlook if they haven't given guidance. robinhood rocked by misleading allegations about how it makes money the impact it could have on its

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alone because this. come on jessie one more. is the reflection of an unstoppable community in the mirror. welcome back robinhood is in hot water again. the s.e.c. charging the stock trading app with deceiving customers about how it makes money and executing customers orders at prices interior to other brokers prices the charges are based on, quote mishe leading statements from robinhood between 2015 and 2018. the company will pay a $65 million civil penalty without admitting or denying those charges. this comes on the heels of massachusetts regulators filing a complaint against robinhood

yesterday accusing the company of aggressively marketing to inexperienced investors. for more let's bring in jacob frankel, victor jones. it is good to see you both mr. frankel to you first, what do you make of the s.e.c.'s action here? >> what i make it of is robinhood is a disrupter when you have a disruptor, that really does change the marketplace the s.e.c. is going to look, competitors are drawing a lot of attention to the company. the fact is they settled what the company is trying to do is really position itself in advance of the ipo to be effective. you know, as i read the feck case, that to me is a company really getting out in front on its skis really getting out ahead of itself, not having the proper comprehensive compliance procedures in place. when i look at the massachusetts case, issues around fiduciary

duty, disclosures, suitability, letting people into the market who shup be there in the instruments they are trading i think what the company has done is making sure they have safeguards, staffing at the compliance and general counsel level recognizing the company needs to change those practicing going forward. the fact is, they settled that s.e.c. case, the administrative case is over now they will try to wrap up massachusetts as well. >> what about the ipo? >> ng i don't think it is going to impact the ipo at all because i real like the fact there was an independent compliance monitor or professional who put in to sit in the middle to make sure the company is implementing procedures to provide protection to investors, to have the safeguards that are necessary. i really do not see this having any negative impact on the ipo i really see this as the company

as the fact that -- it is probably good for the company this is all happening before the company impose public, before the ipo itself so it can say, that's in the past this is new robinhood going forward, with the proper discipline structure in place. >> victor, how are you seeing all of this. as someone who was very much in this industry. i believe your doe is a competitor to robinhood. is that an excuse that they weren't transparent enough in the beginning how they were monetizing their trades and their business in a pretty regulated industry. >> a couple of thing it is highly important, crit leecally important to be up front how you plan to monetize in a highly regulated industry or not in a highly regulated industry that's first and foremost. i would agree, robinhood is a disruptor. at the end of the day they forced old brokers into a new world. they forced this industry out of

the dark ages and into a new digital world. they opened up the pathways for companies like ours to come in and compete and build businesses that we felt were materially better at the end of the day maybe the idea that this kind of cloud is not hanging over their head for the ipo is a good thing. i do not think the idea that the s.e.c. found that customers could have potentially made or lost i should say $34 million is materially a good thing. i would say, at the end of the day, customers in the industry should look at this as a net positive because what it means is that there is a regulatory framework that's flexible enough to allow innovation, allows disruptors like robinhood, like myself and like other firms within this industry to come in and transform the industry but it also makes sure that any offender that's not acting within the best interests of their customers is going to have a material consequence for that and there is a framework in place to protect the customer's

long term best interests with respect to massachusetts's complaint i think it actually fund lee is important to the question of how we develop mobile applications. what i mean by that is nobody should be shamed for creating beautiful designs. nobody should be shamed for creating better he isset thissics or removing friction from a user experience nobody should be shamed for making tack thiks that are normally seen as daunting easier for the end user here. however, the purpose and intent is at the crux of it if your purpose is to increase production, that's one thing if it is to increase churn that's another. >> i guess what you are seeing how do you do it at dough? are you also making profits from the payments on the order flow are you selling the trades to high frequent see trade centers how common is that is the problem here that they haven't been up front about it.

>> we have always been up front how we monetize. order roberts, subscription interests debit interest and securities lending we have always been up front about that i think the payment for order flow conversation is less sex than people want it to be. at the end of the day the order flow is commodity. almost all brokers use the commodity and pass it on to customers custom at the end of the day is a lot of new business models but you have to respect the regulatory framework, alleviate -- and prioritize -- execution. if you do that, at the end of the day the payment flow conversation is relatively vanilla at the end of the day. >> i am wondering if you think the massachusetts case has merit. i ask that because i feel like in these sorts of enstance where is they use words like ga gamification that we take the --

>> that -- that's a great question that was my reaction when i read the massachusetts complaint as well i mean, i think, you know, probably the ultimate, where it is is somewhere in between but i think it really boils down to three words i think victor's analysis was dead on. to me the three magic words are compliance, disclosure and transparency in the massachusetts case the issue is suitability but your point is a solid one, which is, you know, people make the decision to trade. i think going back to what victor was saying, the real issue is why is the information being put in front of the investors the way it is? now, typically, the states will bring cases in a manner that tend to be a little bit more -- you know, almost to give the state itself a reputation as

being an enforcer being present. but to victor's point, you know, the fact that the regulators there are looking, that in and of itself is something of importance, meaning to investors. i think the massachusetts case is going to settle and the one thing that came to mind -- even though it is factually very different the one imped men to a global resolution in world comthat we all were talking about almost 20 years ago now was the fact that oklahoma got in the mix and said i want a piece of the action, too. i sort of see a lot that in the massachusetts case as well but, again, i think ultimately, you know, the truth is somewhere in between. >> good discussion guys. we will you both soon. coming up next, mike santoli looks at the surge in kpz whose dividends yield more than their corporate bonds. we'll be right back. the usual gifts are just not going to cut it.

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record high closes for stocks let's go facebook mike santoli taking a closer look at dividends versus bond yields and i guess where investors should be going for income. >> exactly, sara there is only one real way to make the stock market inaggregate to look modestly

valued that's to compare it to bonds. yesterday jay powell did it. this is a chart from kkr which shows that the dividend yields in europe and the united states, a huge percentage of companies in those indexes have dividend yields that exceed corporate bond yields. now, this isn't to say that it is going to be a mass flow of money out of bonds into stocks just to capture dividend yield but it definitely provides income support for equities and would suggest if the i don't have all markets are pricing ree credit risk that low or don't see credit risk in the environment equities can't get into a tremendous amount of long lasting trouble as long as that setup remains. guys >> mike, thank you for more of mike santoli's market analysis check out cnbc know that's at cnbc.com/pro. a new mike santoli promo there.

the ceo of nuveen coming up on the increasing appetite on wall street for ast namesemagent deals and how his clients are putting money to work in this market we'll be right back. i think financial illiteracy and inclusion is

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morning star nuveen the asset management arm of tiaa expects support for sustainability under a biden administration joining us to discuss is nuveen's ceo jose minaya how to you pick what goes in them the mid cap growth has twilio and slack. not necessarily what you would think of as esg players. >> the discussion around esg is twofold. we manage almost $30 billion in esg labelled products. they have been around for a long time there is a mythology of which benchmarks you use, the

criteria, i think the real discussion in where we see opportunities is that that narrative is coming. investors used to say i am willing to pay a higher fee and i understand i am going to get a lower return now they are expecting lower fees and higher returns and that you are going to drive output from this. we moved $100 trillion to be informed by esg risk factors we believe that understanding those risks and managing them in your portfolio is a way the drive alpha. you are seeing a marketplace where whether it is your shareholders, your clients, people are requesting and looking to see how firms manage these risks. now it's about the of a if a testing and how that compares. er seeing, and we are seeing within our own funds increased flows, outperformance, we are saying that should be part of the i don't have all portfolio platform >> but it's hard to tell -- i guess my question is what criteria could you look at to

determine whether a company is meeting certain esg goals and qualifies to be in these funds and have the right priorities when it comes to these issues. >> again, if you kprat the two, if you think about an esg-focused fund there is typically already a predisposed benchmark saying here are the companies you can choose then it is a question do you have the right good portfolio managers within that universe that's preidentify ready picking the best ones? again for us, even if it is not in an esg portfolio it is looking across the markets, depending on the industry you are in, what company you are, what are the most material financial factors? in real estate it might be the carbon footprint of buildings. the more efficient they are, the lower they are going to be in their expense side they are going to attract better tenants and charge higher rents. if we are looking a of the an agricultural company it might be how efficient are they in utilizing water. again, it goes back to what are

those material factors in and how are these companies utilizing them and the better performing firms are the one that's more proactive on identifying and managing these risk factors. >> jose, if i could pivot for one second i would like to, to an area that you have been interested in, and it wasn't all that long ago that you guys were making a decent sized play in the urbanization trend which has been sort of turned on its head, if you will, by the pandemic i am wondering how you think that impacts that area of alternative investing moving forward. >> you know, init's alive and well i think one of the biggest things for us and how we build our portfolio was diversification. urban trends -- around global cities and which cities are growing which are shrinking. it was also around the thesis of demand and supply. areas where you can find alpha

life sciences properties are doing well in farmland, each through this pandemic, people still have to eat, right, so there is still that demand supply strain that is happening to add value. and again, these are strategies that provide you current income today in a much, much lower volume till, and really good correlated returns we are over -- in the last decade, the most that most of our strategies there, high single digits prospect that attractive when you see volume tillty we are dealing with rates are going to be lower for even longer and the need to diversify your portfolio if you stayed with the 70/30, 80/20, over the next ten years you are not likely to hit your target mandates it is going to be looking a some of the more esoteric asset

classes. >> we had an entire conversation about robinhood, a disruptor that seems to be where the broth is n the retail trading shops, robinhood and competitors. index fund how are you competing when a big part of your business is active management and financial advice? >> i get this question a lot what changed in the strategy in we went into this year knowing that, look, the returns over the next ten years are likely going to be lower than they were in the previous time. you know, rates lower for longer, the higher volatility. the pressures in the industry have been the same, fee pressures cost pressures, covid and this pandemic have accelerated that for us it is about diversifying our business like i said going more into alternatives i also think from an active management perspective -- active management wasn't that important in the last decade with everything going up. going forward we are more optimistic going into 2021, yet it is going to be focussed around fundamental security

analysis and portfolio management. >> jose appreciate the time. thank you very much. you be held in thank you, happy holidays. >> you as well that's jose minaya ceo of nuveen. the proxy fight between exxonmobil and the hedge fund engine number one. leslie picker has more on this david versus goliath battle. >> well said we will see if it becomes the little engine that could win a proxy fight at oxen. the firm known as engine number one is just 17 days old. it has internal money from its under the radar founder chris james and its take in exxon is $40 million or .02% of exxon's market cap but that's not stopping it from seeking to overhaul exxon's business and install four directors on its world

the goal is to provide more diversity. callsters has jumped aboard and d.e. shaw has reportedly built up his position and is pushing for similar demands. we will see if others follow as this proxy contest rolls on. >> leslie, do you think in 2021 we are going to see a continued growth in the esg funds or do you think we will see some weeding out of the weaker happened so to speak >> i think it is all indicative on performance the thing is, this year it has been very popular to put money into esg funds they have confirmed quite well as a result of this group think psychology mentality surrounding this space if they continue to perform well people will continue putting money in once that turns people will start pulling their money out, i think. because at the end of the day the reason people like esg right now is because it is working and because it is socially

acceptable and seems like the right thing to do to be investing in funds that are a force for good for the world and the economy. but if they start losing money it does kind of bring up this dilemma of well, you know, you shi still be investing in this area despite the fact that it is doing good or should i finned other ways to be doing good with my investing >> making money and doing good is good as long as you are making money >> exactly >> thank you leslie picker. still ahead, fedex shares falling despite an earnings beat we will discuss whether the pullback is a buying tune up next (music)

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only nature's bounty does. new immune twenty-four hour plus has longer lasting vitamin c. plus, herbal and other immune superstars. only from nature's bounty. welcome back time now for a cnbc news update with tyler mathisen. tyler? >> sara, thank you very much here is your cnbc news update at this hour. there are now reports the nation's nuclear weapons agency was hacked in the cyber attacks that targeted federal, state, and private computer systems the u.s. cyber security agency is warning of quote grave threats from those attacks. in kansas, a black former police detective is suing a

kansas sheriff's department for running him over with his truck in order to arrest him the dash cam video of the incident can be disturbing as you will see. lionel womack says he ran from a traffic stop when more police vehicles showed up and surrounded his car. in ohio the winter storm has trucks line up outside a u.s. postal service distribution center even before the heavy snow some ohio residents say mail and packages were taking much p.o. longer to deliver. in britain, trucks queued up for miles to get across the english channel. look at that the lines have gotten longer as prospects dimmed for a direction it trade deal that is a traffic jam. and that is our cnbc news update for this hour. back to you, scott. >> looks like the lincoln tunnel on just a regular thursday. >> sure does. >> back when things were moving. maybe again. up next, fedex shares lower

after reporting results motion ago. we will break down the numbers with an analyst coming up and we willign d ion what we are listening for the conference call that kicks off in less than an hour "closing bell" will be right back

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shares of fedex sink after-hours despite beating on the top and bottom lines the stock made a big run this year up 88%. shares of u.p.s. also down 2% in

sympathy to give charity of those numbers ahead of the he werings call, let's bring in an donald broughton. >> it was up 25% in the last couple of months we talk about this how many times, scott, where it is probably the most gamed stock in the market because it reports when no one else reports it is a bellwether for not only the u.s. but for the global economy and also the technology economy and the e-commerce economy. >> what do you given the pullback since the company is not giving guidance? >> i tell you they can continue to give no guidance as long as they want as long as they do what they just did 19% growth in revenue and 14% growth in expenses so net income was up 120%. they can continue to give me no guidance all day long if they can continue toll report that kind of leverage

you now, revenue grew fears than volume, which grew faster than expenses. that's awesome and capex guidance remained the same, and the report on the cash flow statement that basically the conversion ratio of net income into cash is running so far through the first two quarters of their fiscal year at over 155%. so it is real earnings the kind of earnings that we like to invest in. >> do you expect, don, we will get anything on the call about pricing? >> they are going to talk about their pricing power, which they have got tons of right now they are going to talk about -- hopefully they will give us some idea of really how much better can these margins get because the margins just continue -- in all three of their major divisions continue to improve handsomely, really surprising to the upside, especially in freight. >> i know that we joke -- and you are clearly tongue in cheek

about the guidance or lack thereof. but in all seriousness, when should companies like this be able to give some semblance of guidance to help people like you and our viewers out? >> well, i think that is coming in the noaa not too distant future their fiscal year ends at the ends of may. i wouldn't be surprised to find out that -- if not the next can be, certainly by the ends this fiscal year if they would. if you look at the results, they are having more fun than a pack of beetle dogs playing in new fallen snow. these guys are having so much fun right now that i will forgive them not giving guidance and let's face it the global economy is damn hard to predict right now is this i am not sure fun. but they are certainly getting a lot of business, between the e-commerce boom, now they have to deal with the vaccines. >> yeah? how does fedex compare to u.p.s., the stock price and the performance of the business. >> we continue to favor a

company that is non-union, run by the quintessential american entrepreneur versus a more custodial management team that runs a unionized work force consistently year in, year out, fedex just grows its revenue faster and has more operating margin potential than u.p.s. does that's been the case since u.p.s. went public over 20 years ago now. >> don broughton, good to get your first take. love the enthusiasm. thank you. >> thanks for having me. >> stock down 3% after-hours. up next we are looking ahead. nike results, fed stress test, and fed speak on deck for tomorrow up ahead we will bakowre dn everything every investor needs know ahead of the final trading day this week. "closing bell" will be right back hey, dad!

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coming up next, nike is gearing up for earnings tomorrow key thingseo pple should be watching for the closing bell is just ahead we will be right back.

welcome back headlines crossing on some well-known hollywood names possibly joining the biden administration julia has some reporting on that >> sources tell me that bob iger

has been recommended for the role for china he is with disney plus i am told that he also expressed interest in public serving, but said he would be open to serving under the biden administration there is a question what biden's plans were for china policy and it is my understanding that would have to be sorted out before any potential folks here in hollywood would understand what that would entail and whether or not that would be the right fit for them >> thank you julia is out in l.a. sarah? >> if we look ahead to tomorrow.

nike earnings will be high focus. high hopes the stock is up almost 40% this year it is trading at a record high here is what to watch. return to growth last quarter sales fell 1%, 38% in the quarter before. the period they are reporting covers september through november it has been lumpy with covid outbreaks and consumer spending. and ceo john donaho came in at a perfect time, when they needed to turbo charge growth and they get sales stronger and to prepandemic levels.

wall street loves it guggenheim added it today with $165 price target. >> tomorrow an exclusive interview with the federal reserve vice chair hopefully more clarity on change and guidance fed looking at goals on inflation and employment before pairing back interest. >> they like the market, assuming it will be erring on the side of being more accommodating than less. the framework is showing up.

richard is the guy to talk about all of those things. >> within a matter of moments we should consider it imminent. meg tweeted that the fda advisory committee is about to vote on moderna and its emergency use authorization. sarah, we expectanother dose o very good news regarding the vaccines to deal with covid-19 >> the signs are promising given the fda report on moderna so far, given that it is effective and safe and then j and j is the next potential one. that could be important for supply so we don't face a vaccine clip where we are running out of supply in the u.s. and unlike moderna and pfizer,

it is a one-shot vaccine >> and it is available 20 yes, 1 abstained. do the benefits outway teigh the risk 20 yes and 1 abstaining. seconds ago. >> that does it for us >> i'm melissa lee this is "fast money. tonight bitcoin goes bonkers, it soars to new record highs. plus tesla, what sent shares into overdrive and later, dan is winding up for a fast pitch, why he says this car stock is driving higher from