doug see few thank you for joining us the ceo of virtue. kelly, back to you. >> quite a at the same time, ty, about it is not just the retail public >> i thought he was ready to take my order with his headset there. did i hear him correct esaying the retail investor can get as good or better a price as the big guy? >> that's his argument we will see if it wins the s.e.c. over. that's it for "power lunch." we will see you tomorrow for our crypto special "closing bell" starts right now. >> welcome, everyone to "closing bell." i'm sara eisen at the new york stock exchange will today be the day we finally set a record for the s&p 500 the index is trading around those levels as we head into the final session. >> what's driving the action today. treasury yields are falling again with the ten-year dipping below 1.5. giving a lift to the tech sector the meme trade is again in

focus. gamestop is going to report results. clover health and amc are pulling back crypto is recovering after a rocky start to the week. bitcoin is up 10% as el salvador officially adopts bitcoin as legal tender 59 minutes left in the session. coming up on today's show, three reads on the consumer and the state of recovery. we will talk to the ceo of spirit's giant brian forearm because we will talk about the barbell approach, literally, the ceo of planet fitness tells us whether customers are returning to gyms or choosing to stay and exercise at home and matthew shay on the upget to the retail trade forecast. >> mike santoli is tracking the margaret action. kate rooney has a look at the meme stock movers. and sara is tracking campbell's soup

mike santoli start us off. >> the s&p 500 -- you mentioned may 7th is when we hit the last record high that we closed at, 4,232. it is basically there. beneath the surface, energy is strong bank stops pressured by drop in yields technology stocks slightly outperforming the s&p since it last hit that all-time high. that's been the push/pull that's kept the overall index in place. mentioned tomorrow we have the thursday cpi number for may coming out with this flare-up in inflation expectations has cooled off a little bit look at the market implied ten-year inflation rate, otherwise known as the inflation break even this was a month ago right here that's the peak, above 250 it is around 235, 236. it's still above the average for the past couple of years but it shows you that the market at least is not as postured for a flare-up in inflation as it was

back then and in fact it accounts for part but not all of the drop of the ten-year treasury yield over that time. below 175 today. it was above 1.75 back in march. this shows you perhaps we are going to take it more in stride the we do see a month by month uptick in inflation. look at the stock versus bond equation year to date. it really explains why there has been a persistent unexpected bid in tress res now, you see still massive out performance by stocks. you have the rebalancing trend in favor of bonds out of stocks. now, they have firmed up here recently as yields have come down and that's right around when stocks have flattened out reporting from b of a this week that pension funds are basically fully funded at this point what that's going to mean is they are going to try to lock in those levels and maybe actually buy who bonds going into quarter

end. it helps explain the counter-intuitive idea at that bonds have come in even as we have gotten through this recovery partway and inflation is higher than what we are used to. >> doesn't look like we are going to record close at the moment a handful of points away on the s&p 500. the longer we move sideways waiting the break higher is that better for the prospects of breaking meaningfully higher when we do get there >> it should in theory, the market is getting pretty tightly compressed here therefore, whichever the first start move is is probably going to be an important one on the other hand you have wear and tear going on below the surface. more stocks are kinds of not trading above their longer term averages do you so fading momentum in energy in there. rings the like transports actually rolling a little bit. i think on a net basis you have to say it tilts slight ein a positive favor just because most stocks are up since the s&p last

hit an all-time high as opposed to being down. but it is an eye of the beholder situations i can see it basing, you can say it is churning and getting ready to fall away. >> thank you mike. there is also rotation happening in meme stocks today big drops for yesterday as winners like wendy's and clover health names like clean energy, wwe, and tillray. kate rooney has more. >> a huge turnaround in the favorite amphetamine stocks today. wendy's and clover health have become the favorites of reddit crowd yesterday. look today clover health down about 15% today. we had wendy's down 13%. and clover had been bid up as a short squeeze candidate on tuesday. people on reddit noticing the company's high short interest and encouraging each other to get in according to s 3 partners, 44% of the float for that stock is

sold short it was asubtracting a lot of folks on reddit. it didn't take long for other names to catch a bead. clean energy fuel has been up double digits today. the second most talked about name among retail traders today according hype energy. clean energy and fuels have been building 44 million shares traded hands that's four times the 30 day average volume pot stock tillray is up double digits as worldwide wrestling. goldman sachs, meanwhile, calling out this trying to note today it is all about retail trading. big takeaways, analysts noticed smaller traders getting in first then attracting bigger players is when the stock tends to pop the buying strategy of buying stocks that follow a high proportion of small lot trading

has been profitable since the markets bought they will on may 12th. >> the original of them all, gamestop big news today we are to get earnings after the bell, whether they matter or not. also going the learn more about their turnaround plan. they are holder their shareholder meeting not open to the public what's going on there? >> ryan cohen, chairman of the board officially that vote initially. sort of a non-event. it was one by the lame duck ceo. they are actively looking for a new ceo. all eyes are on the future of gamestop it is similar in terms of tesla in terms of what the company could accomplish people are optimistic about the stock. the opaque plan to take it from a brick and mortar retailer to e-commerce company any detail on that is getting people excited on reddit

although the actual numbers aren't getting people excited. the first quarter doesn't mean much to the retail crowd. >> kate, thanks. now to a name that's moving on fundamentals. campbell's soup. >> at the bottom of the s&p 500. not moving in a good way missed on numbers, lowered guidance, organic sales falling 11.8%. and margin pressure was notable. coming in at 31.8. the expectation was around 34 for gross margins. the issues many of which we talk about. clearly people aren't stocking up on canned soup and prego sauces and kettle chips like they were at this time last year during the pandemic. inflation is making the company have to pay more for ingredients. and severe weather the company also discussed execution issues in the transformation of its snack

business add it all up and it is a bad combo. the question for investors is how temp real estate or lasting is all of this the company says, quote, although all of these head winds put pressure on our year end performance they do not represent structural issues and we remain confident in our strategic plans. it will raise prices stating in august and september to deal with inflation also, the company says that the products mostly are growing at higher rates than they were prepalkd pandemic. they really don't see this as a long term problem. most analysts are on hold as the company has to prove it can turn around some of the old school brands beyond what they saw during the pandemic which was the covid benefit. it is not clear millennials will keep buying cans of soup you see pressure across the board on the food companies. barkcally's making the point that campbell's was one of the only food companies that reported earnings including the month of april it could be a bad omen for the

rest of the sector as they report we will see who able to hang onto the younger consumers and who has pricing power who deal with the higher food costs, certainly one of the factors here. >> so many ceos have come on with us and they all say, no, this is going to be a lasting change a lasting trend. >> campbell's will point to the fact that they held or grew market sure during the quarter and that they are growing at higher rates than in 2019. >> high growth rates for them is what, single signatures? >> correct it is still going to be down because it is not going to be the explosive growth that we saw during the pandemic. but that will be a question. they have to spends on marketing and now they have to raise prices to see if they can keep consumers attracted. right thousand there is a lot of questions certainly around campbell's and its own portfolio. canned soup. gold fish is going well.

they have snyder's and kettle chips. swanson's -- there are questions whether people want to shop for those items. >> down %. after the break a warning shot for the spirits industry perhaps. brown forman results missed the mark we will speak with the company's ceo with those results that's next. you are watching "closing bell." the pursuit is on. the pursuit of outperformance at pgim. with deep expertise to outthink across multiple asset classes, actively managing investments in the world's public and private markets. outscale, with the resources to serve 1,500 clients

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shares of brown forman sinking today, earnings fell short of estimates but sales jumped year over year. the ceo joins us now in an exclusive interview. thank you for joining us. >> hi wilf, good to be here again. >> my first question is on outlook and whether or not within the alcohol business

liquor has a slightly worse set of prospects as summer comes and as reopening comes relative to perhaps some lighter more outdoors based drinks? >> i don't know about that i don't know for the next couple of months but the spirits business has been taking share from beer and wine for a long, long time. that includes the summer months. so we feel good about the outlook, the upcoming several quarters. >> in terms of the past results, 6% down in the share price, what do you think explains that in particular from the high ends to the low end products. >> i mean, first of all, our portfolio skews to the premium side of things we delivered 6% top line growth for the year i feel good about that i think if there is any disappointment it may be the little of investment we made in the fourth quarter and we expect to continue making into the next

year but we are seeing a lot of opportunity. we are putting a lot of money into advertising, particularly behind the jack daniels brands and across the entire motorcycle in the sg and a line we are making investments right now some it in the world of digital. we have a group where we are hiring a whole lot of new people to focus on the digital space. we are putting in a new sales force called emerging brands group to focus on our premium brands we are taking that model in the u.s. and exporting it to europe. there might have been some costs to tlut that caught a few people by prize but we feel good about the long term. s that 150-year-old company controlled by the brown family that has a very long term outlook. we talk sometimes in terms of generations as opposed to -- certainly not quarters we feel pretty good about our place. >> gross margin falling 3% was the big surprised. i know you are spending more on

advertising but i just outlined the litany of things weighing on profitability at campbell's soup, which is at the bottom of the s&p with your stack. is some of that supply >> the gross margin pressure we have been under that for three or four years. that's because of two main things, one is increasing wood costs, the wood that we use to make the whiskey and agave cost we actually think we are past that and think some of those costs will go the other way. they will be tail winds in the next fiscal year we are not seeing some of the supply chain pressures we are seeing pressure on our glass side, you know, we had to lower inventories a little bit but it's not at the point where i would call it a financial challenge for us. >> where are you at the moment

on premade cocktails >> we've -- i have seen some of the other interviews you have all done, the rtd business has been -- has exploded over the last year. it is a business, jack and coala, jack and ginger business is a 12 million case business around the world 80, 85% of that is outside of the united states. we have a very big rtd business in germany, trail gentleman, and pockets all over europe. we have an 8 million case new mix business in mexico that is our biggest htd business the u.s., where everybody is interested in these days we have jack daniels country cocktails we signed a partnership with pabst a couple of months ago that's getting started right thousand rtds sell a lot in the convenience channel arc lot in the grocery channel. our traditional spirits wholesaler network just wasn't getting to those stores. so we are really looking forward to this partnership with pabst and getting a whole lot more

distribution points. and hopefully continuing to grow that business which grew fantastically last year and was up something like 80% year over year. >> big jack and ginger fan here, lawson. >> great. >> i have to ask you about the european tariffs on wyss tee and bourbon. as a sign of good faith they stopped the 25% tariff which was in retaliation for the steel and aluminum tariffs that the trump administration put on europe it is not clear that the biden administration is going the reverse the steel and aluminum tariffs. what are your plans right now given that uncertainty and potentially massive tariff which was set to rise to 50% >> we have been under that 25% tariff three years now so it has been a very painful episode for this company as we are by far the largest american whiskey company in the world so in a lot of ways we have looked at this like it is a tariff on us and there are days where we have asked how do we

find ourselves in the middle of this but i think there have been positive signs the g7 meeting there is hope that conversations will happen that will make them get better and hopefully the u.s. and uk and the euro group all come together to try to settle these crazy tariffs that we have all been under we'll see. i expected this to go away several times over the last three years, and it hasn't happened i haven't been right yet but we are only hopeful that cooler heads will prevail. >> i definitely know to stock up on woodford when i am here rather than back home. get a better deal. where do you stand on cannabis and related products into drinks would you do so under your existing brands, or would it be a risk to dilute some of the brilliant brand image you have built up over the years? >> i don't think we would do it under any existing brants brands it is not something we are

pursuing we have taken a look, study it pretty deeply and decided to take a pass. i don't feel there is much of an opportunity in the beverage side of cannabis. the rest of it is obviously exploding around the country right now but the beverages side i think has been overblown and i don't have a lot of confidence that's going to be a big category in the near or far future >> lawson whiting, always good to talk to you come back soon i have got to ask you how the bars are doing across the country. ceo of brown forman. >> thanks, sara. >> i was surprised to hear you say jack and ginger. i thought you would like it neat. >> i do just like it straight but if i have to put it in a cocktail. remember the tiktok fan? president biden revoking the order by trump and outlining a new strategy we will explain what it is next.

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welcome back president biden revoking a number of executive orders put in place during the waning days of the trump administration surrounding tiktok and other chinese companies. ylan mui with the details. >> that's right, sara. president biden is revoking that executive order that attempted to ban tiktok and we chat and instead ordering a comprehensive review of apps with ties to foreign adversaries in an effort to protect americans' data specifically the white house says there could be a heightened risk when the apps are owned or controlled by those supporting

certain military or intelligence activities, involvement if malicious cyber activities or if the apps collect sensitive personal data. the administration singled out china a country that does not share our democratic values and seeks technology in a way that pose as national security risk tiktok could still receive extra scrutiny under this framework and the commerce department is going the look into it over the next months. >> remember the crazy deal when microsoft was competing with oracle and oracle was chosen as the trusted technology partner with walmart and they were going the ipo. is all of that dead? because it didn't get approval and then trump left the white house? >> yeah, it is all really sort of unclear if you remember that ban against tiktok never actually took

place, there were at least two i believe federal injunctions against it moving forward. i reached out to the department of justice to see if those cases would still try to be appealed and the department of justice had no comment where legal status is is murky but i think what the white house would say is this is an attempt to make the underpinning of any future decisions stands up in court to make sure they would be on a firm legal footing because right now the way that the trump administration's eos were put together clearly it is facing a host of legal challenges is not able to move forward. just over 30 minutes left. we are at session lows negative territory for the s&p nearly negative territory for the nasdaq and down over 100 points now on the dow. coming up, the national retail federation making a major upgrade to its forecast for the year we will speak with the ceo about that bullish outlook. approximate gamestop is gearing up to report results

after the bell do the numbers matter at all does even the outlook matter we will debate that coming up. as we head to break, here's a check on bonds yields are lower today the ten-year falling below 1.5% earlier in the session where it currently remains we are back in a couple of minutes. wealth is your first big investment. worth is a partner to help share the load. wealth is saving a little extra. worth is knowing it's never too late to start - or too early. ♪ ♪ wealth helps you retire. worth is knowing why. ♪ ♪

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a market flash on teledoc. josh lipton has the details. >> wilf, cnbc's annie palmer is reporting news on amazon, which may be having an impact there, that amazon has signed multiple companies to its telehealth service. remember, that's called amazon care, which provides virtual and in-home health services to some amazon employees the company, remember, announced back in march in a itwould ope up amazon care to other companies later this year. and now cnbc reporting here that amazon executive is telling us

they have had quite a bit of interest, in their words, from other companies in using this service and they are rolling out -- they are going to work as they say to make the full amazon care service available to other geographies this executive saying as fast as they can adding they are eyeing bringing it to rural areas in the future as well. back to you. >> the amazon effect josh lipton, thank you. another health care mover, shares of pfizer moving up as the u.s. buys shots to share with the world as president biden touches down in the uk for g7 meg tirrell with the story. >> as part of a plan to help vaccinate the world, the white house reaching a deal with pfizer tobuy 500 million doses of the pfizer vaccine at cost according to a source familiar this was reported earlier by the "new york times" and the "washington post." they will be donated to other countries, low income countries that have not had access to vaccine. 200 million the doses will be distributed this year, 300

million in 2022. this, of course, guys as we are hearing the situation in the united states where we are hearing about vaccine doses sitting on shelves that might start to expire. there has been a ton of pressure on the biden administration to get vaccines out to the rest of the world. this is a big move in that direction. back to you. >> sure there will be more discussion at the g7 in the coming days of that. meg, thanks. time for a news update leslie picker's got it for us. >> here's your cnbc news update at this hour a federal probe finds protesters near the white house were not forcibly cleared so that former president trump could hold al photo op last june a report says officers failed to warn protesters about the crackdown which included the firing of pepper pelts and flash bangs. the delta variant is 60% more contagious than the alpha variant. with hospitalizations above

1,000 officials worry a third wave could lived england's plans to lift all covid restrictions in less than two weeks. facebook plans to open all of its offices in october. but ceo mark zuckerberg now says all full-time employees can work from home if their jobs can be done remotely. last week facebook said it would only allow senior and long term employees to work from home permanently if they wanted to. back over to you guys. >> leslie picker thank. the national retail federation revising its annual forecast as the economy is moving to be more resilient. we will talk to the nrf's ceo, matt shay about what is behind all the extending. in june is pride month here is cnbc's brandon gomez >> my mom always told me that love should be unconditional but it wasn't until i was 19 and come out as gay that i realized it applied to myself i also needed to unconditionally

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the national retail federation revising its 2021 retail stales forecast this afternoon it now expects sales growth between 10.5 and 13.5%. its initial outlook in february forecasted sales as high as 8.2% for the year joining us now in a "closing bell" exclusive interview is matthew shay president and ceo of the national retail federation good to see you. hi sara. >> big upgrade to the forecast what are you seeing? how long will it last? >> what we are seeing and hearing from the ceos that we talk to every week, sometimes every day are some of the same things that you are seeing that the economy is proving to be extraordinarily resilient and when we made that pretty optimistic forecast a few months ago which was a big number even then there were a number of things we didn't know.

one of course was what would happen with regards to fiscal stimulus the other was how soon consumers would resume prepandemic activity we are seeing that moving quickly as the economy reopens and third, the health environment. as vaccine distribution has really rolled out effectively, not in every case but overall in the aggregate it has been very effective, those are three things we couldn't really predict. we have seen go momentum in the economy. for context if you look at march and april retail sales just this spring, each of those two months essentially equalled december holiday season we had as much in march and again in april as we did all of last holiday, which itself was a record so there is huge momentum in the economy right now. we are seeing that in consumer behavior. >> is it a rising tide lifting all boats or are there going to

be winners and losers here. >> i think we have seen just as failure and challenge is not equally distributed in an environment we are going to see success also isn't equally distributed. we know in a the companies that excelled last year have momentum, the wind in their sails and learned how to do things much more efficiently, whether it was managing the supply chain, fulfillment, pick and pack from stores, using forward inventory, investing in their key members & associates creating new digital channel asks relationships with customers when they couldn't get people into stores our forecast assumes basically that the off-store environment is flat and substantial growth occurs throughout the store environment as we see more stores open. there's lots to gain there again, just through the first four months of this year we have seen the equivalent of 5.5% retail sales growth annually so if we didn't sell another thing the rest of this year after april 30th, we would already have 5.5% baked in

last year we had 6.5 that was the best in 20 years. we have already got the second best annual sales in 20 years but in four months i think there is a lot of momentum there will be a lot of winners the retail sector is healthier than it was. that's why we have seen so many people back to work so quickly and so many businesses doing so well right now. >> the obvious follow-up question matt is how sustainable all this is. is this something that can a last for the whole of this year. b, what happens next year? do you think the consumers are just on a bit of a sugar high at the moment or do you think they really do have the long term sustainable spending power. >> wilf, that's absolutely the right question. in the ceo conversations i have had -- we have our birthdays coming to town in person here in washington tomorrow. we will talk to administration and kong leaders about the economy and a number of other issues but i think there are things we cannot predict, will there be a

second wave, what might happen with the variants, what's doing to happen with either overheating in the kple, inflation, or tapering and pullback too soon? some of those things are out of our control. one of the bigger questions is how will consumers resume activity and shift spending from maybe a year ago when it was in goods because this was really the only place to put it and they needed it back to other categories, other segments of the economy, more on the experiences and experience side. i think one of the things that we have seen historically and that we have seen already is that much of it goes hand in hand when you take a trip, doing a family gathering, a holiday. it is not only traffic exclusively or hospitality only. we think those will continue again, retailers have gotten better at engaging with their customers and they are going to continue giving them experience, value, convenience, take friction out of the sales process. i think a lot of that will be

sustainable with twice the savings rate of even a year ago which is hard to imagine when there were massive savings i think most of our ceos are saying they see it going through this year and potentially into 2022. >> what is happening on jobs front? are we going to get back to employment levels that we saw prepandemic across retail? how does that factor in the labor shortages, we are hearing about. across sectors, hotels, restaurants, retailers what does it mean for wages? >> it is a real issue, sara and we have heard it from our retailers far many months now. there are legitimate reasons that people aren't comfortable going back to the workplace. child care, family members, friends they need to take care of they are legitimately concerned about the health environment not everyone is at the same vaccine status and comfort levels and things like that. lots of people made observations about the additional stimulus in the economy, whether that's holding back employment,

enhanced unemployment insurance. but i had a conversation with labor secretary marty walsh this morning about this issue at the moment we have got about 9 million americans unemployed and 8.5 million jobs looking for employees. for 2018 through february of 2020, almost two years, we had a less than one to one ratio we had more openings than we had people unemployed. so we are almost back to that now. i think that goes to issues related to skills training, work force development, investments in team members. we have seen retailers really leading the way over the last year investing in their members, associates, team members and that's going to be a big part of this how long it takes us to get back down to that 3.5 or 4%, whatever we determine full unemployment is this the new economy, it is going to take a while. but it has come roaring back already. we expect it to continue. >> hopefully with higher wages as well. matt shay thank you for joining us >> thank you. we are gearing up for gamestop, who of course release

their quarterly report at the top of the hour. what investors are watching for. in the final minutes of trade we are down 136 on the dow. [typing sounds] [music fades in] [voice of female] my husband ben and i opened ben's chili bowl the very same year that we were married. that's 1958. [voice of male] the chili bowl really has never closed in our history. when the pandemic hit, we had to pivot. and it's been really helpful to keep people updated on google. we wouldn't be here without our wonderful customers. we're really thankful for all of them. [female voices soulfully singing “come on in”]

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ritholtz ceo josh brown. nasdaq trading higher earlier this hour now joining the dow in the red, and at session lows nothing extreme. mike, what is working is the yield sensitive plays, utilities, technology -- >> we had hype we had a mini panic and then it's mostly receded from there the value sector has underperformed growth value, that relationship really track what is yields are doing. people clearly got a little bit bulled up about just the accelerating pace of the economy, positions for it. and just when that happens, you know, the bond market kind of throws a little bit of cold water on it. we are really scrutinizing very narrow changes in the indexes. 4 kathleen bell 220 on the s&p it has been right about here for over a month's time virtually. it is not as if it changed the overall trend but it is worth

noting there is a little bit of wear and tear on the bull macro story. >> almost as if there is now scope once againfor the inflation print to price to the update given that we have seen this pullback. what does sub1% nields on the equities mean. >> i am not share that level, 175 is terrible. i think equities are probably more sensitive to the rate of change than the absolute level so long as we are under 2% above 2% i think will would be big meaning for equities i think the big question, to piggyback some of what michael was saying, there is not a lot happening at the margin in the overall averages but you have some very interesting trades starting to work out that really have nothing to do with rates. biotech is a example of that xbi, the equal weight biotech

etf. this is a clear break ut i think we have to attribute the coronation the alzheimer's drug, i think that sparked it. gamestop ripping up 9%, back all-time highs ahead of the print. nobody cares what the earnings print is, frankly. but that's an interesting thing happening. then i look at amazon. amazon is not a rate play. it's really uninvolved with, you know, any kinds of economic or inflation activity that's not really what drives that stock it continues to act a little bit better every day it has been in a nine mont consolidation working its way to the upper end. if you asked me what could spark a big move in the market, a monster breakout for amazon. it is a very big, very important stock and could serve as leadership in the second half. contrast that with in the

flicks, custom is doing the opposite, trading down $100 from its january high and it tells you there is something amazon specific keeping that stock doing what it's doing. last thing, if we are really going to have inflation and growth that's too fast tell me where the transports are selling off tothe extent they are. the iyt has broken below recent support trading a of the lowest level since april. fed exand ups are getting it good today that would not be happening if the acceleration of economic data that everyone is worrying about was really something that was at hand. so i think there are some mixed signals here, but on balance, pretty quiet, with some interesting trades happening >> the fall transports jive with the ten-year yield, below 1.49 right now. >> that's right. >> let's hit some of the memes tell ray getting love from the reddit crowd, rising today simon was on with us yesterday afternoon with positive comments about the very investors. >> it is a great base of

shareholders to have because they are so educated about your company and educated about your products it is amazing when you come back and look what they are posting about our products >> he welcomes it. the original meme stock favorite, gamestop, is set to report it is higher ahead of the quarterly results kate rooney has a preview for us. >> ryan cohen is expected to become chairman of the board i am told the vote results are being filed. we didn't see pushback on the vote grapevine texas today. look at the live shot right now. the quarterly results also expected in ten or 15 minutes. they have drawn a lot of attention from the reddit crowd despite no one really looking a the numbers. analysts tell me the quarter doesn't matter for the stock price. shares outpaced the fundamentals since january. they are up 1400% since then investors are much more focused on those future quarters that include the new ceo, the current

chief executive george sherman is stepping down at the end of july back to you. >> kate rooney, thank you. mike what will you be watching here in the gamestops numbers? >> in theory, anything -- >> valuing a >> that gives a hint of the kinds of ceo they are looking for. there is nothing to look at. it is a $20 billion lottery ticket that's kind of running on just stories and crowd psychology. >> the red bush note -- they lay out the analyst bull case and bear case. it is all just related to sentiment and what the retail traders do. >> i live that they get a live camera at their hq it is a sign of the times. it will be fascinating to watch. as you have said many times, mike, i doubt it is the fundamentals that will move this probably different emojis that will be in the release and on twitter as it comes out. we will see what happens josh, do you think it's -- i mean you are laughing. i guess that sums it up. nothing to say >> there is four analysts

covering the stock now it has two hold ratings, two sell ratings and it had nine analysts covering it in january so five firms made the decision that there is absolutely no value they could add buy weighing in on its current price relative to its fundamentals, and walked so that should tell you all you need to know about whether or not the estimates, the earnings, or any of that are really going to have the final say. i think, if they talk a lot about the initiatives in terms of, like, bringing a new digital gaming platform on line and stuff like that, i think that could be enough to hold the stock here and even juice it higher i think they know that probably that's what you are going to get if i were asking a question on that call i would ask, where is the secondary? why are you guys not raising money? what is wrong with you this is not a good business. raise money, sell stock. even if you have people on reddit mad at you for two days, it is probably worth doing if

you are serious about building a better gamestop for the long term that would be the only thing i would ask these guys i am not interested in their stores. >> respect to the four analysts who are still trying. more news on vaccines meantime meg tirrell has that for us. >> hi wilf we just brought you the news that the u.s. secured a deal with fizer to obtain 500 million more doses to supply to the world of its covid vaccine the u.s. is also in negotiations with moderna to potentially secure more doses. we don't know the precise amount as these negotiations are ongoing. it could be a similar size we also don't know what the u.s. would potentially pay for these doses. we understand with the pfizer deal it is at cost a not for profit price with the pfizer vaccine here but also, this might signal the u.s. is not done with potential vaccine diplomacy potentially securing more doses also from moderna. we will bring you more if we get it back over to you. brokerage stocks taking a hit this arch after the s.e.c.

chairman gary gensler says he plans to look into order flows he would look into apps like robinson and whether there needs to be more protections for investors. >> we have to watch out for investors. and so these behavioral prompts being put on our mobile apps to trade, is that really the best thing? so we are going to take a close look at what's called g gamefication all of these prompts and encouragements to trade. and how do we protect investors in this new regime >> robinhood have also respondsed in the last few moments. we are going to put up the full quote on the screen as we go but they say we agree with chairman gensler's that

technology has expanded access to investing there is not anything too definitive in the statement. but it is on the screen for you now. mike, clearly, a big selloff today on all of these exchanges, including virtue financial at the most, down 6 or 7% what's your take. >> it is a shot at the business model. undue fragmentation, a lot of inefficiencies, incentives to keep volume off of he can changes and all the rest of it i think there are things in here people have known for a while. the system we have right now is not necessarily the one you would build from the grounds up. a lot of things have to be looked at right here it's not necessarily like zero commissions are going away because it is bad.

it is much more about how much of the volume actually gets into the correct bid/ask spread at any moment. >> sara, you know who would be the best person to hire to go into the rules. >> santoli. >> i don't want to do that. >> not that you would want to but you would be good at it. two minutes to go in the trading day, mike has the internals for us. >> it eroded over the course of the day. started off being more stocks up than down. that's been the pattern. a little bit wear and tear slightly more declining stocks now than advancing it is not really expandiexpandi. josh mentions the transports year the date, it looks like a definitive rolling over. other stocks levered to the recovery, home builders look like this, equal weighted consumer discretionary looks like this. a peek over the last weeks

it is not uptrend but a moderating of expectations how fast we are going to be levered to acceleration. whether shipping issues or housing coming off the boil. volatility index the market has been amazingly calm the experience volatility in the s&p over the last few days is five vix equivalent five in terms of volatility we have a big number tomorrow. plus the meme stock volatility keeps a little bit of a hedging bet in there. >> we head into close. one minute left. we are near session loesz we lost steam throughout the final hour of trade. the dow down 134 nothing extreme but it was higher earlier in the session. caterpillar the biggest drag boeing, american express j&j and merck are the biggest winners. s&p down it was positive most of the

session. not going to get the record close. i think we jinxed it when we said finally every day we have been on record close watch. not going there today. some sectors in the s&p are up lower, financials and industrials each down 1% materials, energy, consumer discretionary all lower. tech is having relative outperformance but the nasdaq is going to close lower, facebook, tesla, netflix weak. >> closing at the lows, down 150 on the dow welcome to "closing bell," i'm wilfred frost andsara eisen an mike santoli, cnbc senior markets commentator. as just mentioned, down 152 at the close on the dow just shy of half of 1% the s&p down .2% the nasdaq 100 holding on to three basis points of gains because of a decent day from the likes of amazon. as sara mentioned, microsoft both of those two names up half of 1%. utilities the best performing

sector -- so, health care top. then utilities at the bottom of the pile, industrials and financials investors are now set for a look at the financial health of one of the original meme stocks. the granddaddy, as we scripted it earlier we will have instant analysis of results from gamestop as soon as they are released. plus we will get a read on the state of the consumer when rh reports its earnings josh brown of ritholtz still with us. and steve klum ar joins the conversation mike, a little bit of a selloff. nothing too severe but that kind of will we, won't we get a record high goes on >> it does go on i think as opposed to it seeing that the market issuper comfortable at this level and it is happy to see things go by it is really this static activity in the index is coming because of a lot of offsetting moves below the surface. it is really netting out to the s&p as a whole being pinned by the fact that you have had a lot

of the cyclical growth with the air coming out of them quality as opposed to cyclical we will see if that lasts. maybe we are just kind of pulling into neutral ahead of the cpi number again, inflation was the thing everyone thought it was smart to fear a few weeks ago the question now is is the thing to fear that we are diesel bratting on the growth side globally and have to contend with what that means for profit yields down the road. >> 1.48 on the ten-year. i remember for example, you were saying low yields, we are going to get back down to 1% and more recently you have said, no, higher yields. you believed the inflation story up to 2% is that the wrong call >> no, it is novelty.

-- beyond that, you have to deal with two to three trillion dollars of fiscal stimulus you have to deal with $120 billion of bond purchases by the fed every month. and the liquidity and the rate of the dollars are eventually going to go after the prices and the price inflation i believe is also has a very significant permanent component. that's why i keep rereading my own history looking at the 1970s. and it worries me how stealthily we got up to 1979 with inflation picking up and then it became very stubborn. question is you can't tell what the date is going, but clearly the path is upward and more

toward term fence for the inflation rate, and therefore for the interest yields. >> whether it is transitory or not, josh, there is inflation in this economy campbell's soup closed down 6.6% today. that was where lot of the margin pressure came from how are you assessing it across your names and which stocks could benefit and which could be hurt >> i think the i think we can't really say that all of the inflation will be transitory it is not realistic. you can't give people an increase in wages and then take them back because pricing pressures elsewhere in the economy ease that's not how human nature works. that's why whenever there is a recession people don't take pay cuts and save everyone else's jobs some people keep their comp and other people lose their jobs in order the make that happen because no company wants to ask you to do the same job you were doing yesterday for less money

we know for a fact that all of these hikes in pay are here to stay that part cannot be transitory it literally works contrary to human nature the part that hopefully is transitory is the stuff campbell's is worried about, the price of aluminum cans, the price of lumber. i do think we are already seeing blow up tops in some of those commodities, maybe not all of them yet energy stocks making a fresh 52-week high today, if you are looking for a new high so it is going to be difficult to separate these things and keep them compartmentalized in our minds. when we get a cpi print tomorrow there is going to be a tendency i think to refer overreact in both directions because it doesn't fit neatly into one headline there is a lot of nuance beneath the surface. most people don't do well with nuance. >> because yields -- probably more scope for a repeat of last month in terms of market

reaction if cpi is higher than expected. >> there could be. obviously could rebuild some of those k3789dations we are a little bit closer to whatever that date is whether this is transitory or lasting. >> two hot reads is not lasting in the middle of an economic reopening. >> totally. that's why it is not going to be determined after this. one of the reasons that the bond market used to panic more about -- -- respond in a timely way to them. right now we know that's not the case so that's one reason why yields may not pop as much as they otherwise would. again, this a widely watched number everyone is staring at this pot. we will see if it boils. >> we have breaking news -- >> hey guys. >> story josh. >> gamestop has a ceo and shock horror, it might mean they are visiting to e-commerce. >> new details about the turn around plan. they hired a new ceo and cfo,

both from amazon first let's get to the ceo, matt furlong. they describe him as a veteran e-commerce leader, technology industry execute i. he's joining from amazon. we also have mike recoupero, also from amazon new cfo. they call him a season technology industry finance executive. furlong was based in australia, most recently he was the country leader, overall amazon's australia business during a period of substantial growth he has been at amazon about nine years. started his career at proctor and gamble both guys coming from amazon they have also hired a coo from amazon this is really playing into sort of what has been until now a sort of opaque turnaround strategy for e-commerce. the current ceo germ sherman announced he was stepping down at the ends of july. he did say if there was a new ceo sooner he would step done ahead of that. we will keep you posted on a date for the official --

actually we have it right here, june 21st is the start date for the new ceo. >> thanks for that mike, brilliant, right worth another couple percent >> another couple of percent it is actually having a relatively calm move. >> you would -- it was at $300 i mean, it's kinds of already had this massive move. you know -- i keep reminding people insiders at gamestop sold in january in like the 20s and the 30s because they thought, wow, what a windfall. it tells you how far it has come it is great that you want to have good e-commerce minds on top of this. somebody should look at the numbers. gamestop this year going to do 5.5, $6 billion of revenue some in the physical stores, a ton of it relying on hardware and accessories. in other words, where is the renaissance of gaming and e-commerce going to come from? from what competitors.

act vision, ea, and take two have combined -- [ no audio ] -- from twitch and amazon, from microsoft? in other words i am interested if the path they envision here and how it is going to offset the understood deline in the physical store. >> are you surprised how long it lasted. >> to a degree, yes. >> the elevated price. it came down, didn't go all the way down, and then it went back up. >> somewhat surprised. although, $25 billion, let's call it in market value. 20, 25 wlds, the market misplaces $20 billion in market value every day, better or worse. high or low. it kind of misprizes -- given the strength of the social force of the conversation. maybe it has been up here. plus we have been in a market that recently was paying up 20 times sales for stuff that was not going to be profitable for ten years on the growth side. >> but it outlasted this. >> it is gone down. >> it's outlasted. >> the more you get to details

and business stuff the less well the stock does when it exists just in hope and prayer and noise it works. >> it is going down on the numbers which are crossing which we will get more detail on sales of $1.28 billion and a loss of 70$70 million, do 7% now the question, it has prolonged for longer for the likes of amc. we had some volatility this past week, this past month in bitcoin. do you think those things will stay carved out and not affect the broader markets. >> yeah, this is its own thing i have said since january that this is not an issue for the broader market it's just way more interesting for the media than it is for most asset allocators. i don't like seeing it down 20 after this report. i am hoping they make a blockchain announcement of some sort and i will be looking for which celebrities will be on the conference call asking questions.

hopefully we hear from bar stool securities, and maybe elon jumps in who knows. it's a barrel of laughs every time they put out news tonight should be no exception >> let's get those numbers confirmed. kate rooney? >> wilf, gamestop numbers are out for the first quarter. we are not going to compare these to any estimates the coverage as you mentioned is thin here. only four analysts cover the stock. $1.28 billion until revenue for the quarter. eps was a loss of 45 cents net sales grew 25% no guidance, although they gave us numbers on may sales. they say those were up 27% year over year and it comes on the heels of the announcement of a new ceo and cfo both from amazon that's the bigger headline here. q1 revenue looks to be up substantially year over year back to you. >> kate rooney, thank you. web cast scheduled for 5:00 p.m.

eastern. it's amazing how much focus we are giving to gamestop. >> it is crazy. >> you know what, the fact -- >> i want to see the cucumber -- what's going onned a headquarters. >> probably nothing. they are not sharing anything with the media this is a different strategy than what amc has taken with the ceo adam aron going directly on youtube to talk to retail traders or simon yesterday saying we welcome this new class of traders the fear in the beginning was people are going to lose their shirts, they are going to be disenchanted with the markets and this is going to be bad for society. is that still the thinking >> you don't want anybody to lose money but someone is going to lose money. why in some people are overpaying for call options that expire in a week and it is a zero sum gain. i think it is fine if people recognize they are putting their money behind something that seems like maybe a long shot or reclamation project. i understand why amc did what it

do it was an exist tension matter to raise as much money as possible as they burn cash and try to get back up and running gamestop, it honestly wasn't ever a solvent see issue. >> it was a heavily shorted stock. >> it was more about how we can navigate the decline in some of the legacy business and figure out the next act let's go back to the broader markets. given you have got this view of inflation rising, what's the best way to play that? you dakota equities here or do you want to go overseas? do you think the dollar is going to weaken? give us thoughts there >> in terms of u.s. versus foreign wealth, i think the european values look to be very, very good compared with the united states. european recovery has been later than the u.s the amount of stimulus they have provided is also less. and also on the european side i think there are likely to be

more structural changes particularly in the labor market asa condition for countries like italy and spain receiving more cash. so that's going to be a positive on the asian side, many of them are still recovering from covid. so from the time they do that, the valuations are going to be better other than that, in terms of asset classes, again, equities, you want to be very careful with the areas which have run up sharply so far technology, high growth stocks have already taken the benefit from the run-up. the value stocks are still lagging and i think they are very much there in terms of going up if inflation goes up, gold looks increasingly attractive. commodities, copper, crude, corn, the three cs in my vocabulary for commodities are going to continue to do well lumber going up because of housing as well as inflation so you have a lot of these options, wilfred, that you can go to in terms of protecting

yourself as well as getting attractive returns >> and we will leave it there. thank you both for joining us. >> thank you. >> tomorrow's may cpi report, speaking of inflation, will give investors the latest read on the state of inflation in this country. up next, how much inflation is a risk to wall street and how investors should be preparing for it. plus the ceo of planet fitness on whether he is seeing an increase in membership as the economy continues to reopen. we are back in just 90 seconds on "closing bell." that takes wealth. but this is worth. and that - that's actually worth more than you think. don't open that. wealth is important, and we can help you build it. but it's what you do with it, that makes life worth living. principal. for all it's worth.

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stocks finishing lower for the day ahead of tomorrow's highly anticipated inflation date thank you for joining us, russ, good the see you what is your take as to whether we are past the worst of the inflation scare for the u.s. equities or not. >> i think we have a few more months left of scares or at least some uncertainty and probably a bit more than that you know, there is a lot of talk approximate inflation being transitory i think that's right, but we have to define what transitory means. i don't think it is another month or two it is very likely, given the base effects, given what we are seeing in wages, given what we are seeing in supply bottleneck has the upside risk on these inflation prints is going to last several quarters, not just a couple of months i think this is something we are going to be focusing on probably

the remainder of the year and into 2022. >> what about -- what does that mean for your equities exposure, both here and abroad >> i think it means a couple things the market can live with some inflation, particularly if it is happening in the context of these just incredible growth numbers. you know, again, you know this as well as i do. we are looking at some of the best growth we have seen in decades. it has an incredibly powerful effect on the top line it means, as we saw in q1, that earnings can continue to be strong even if the input prizes are rising having said that, it does make a difference in the type of equities you are in. and while growth has come back a little bit in the last month, it's still an environment where you want to be levered to cyclical companies, whether we are talking about manufacturing, basic materials, some of the financials, consumer companies, that are going to be the most geared to that sharp rise in nominal gdp. >> everything you are talking about, russ, the fact that the

economy is continuing to look strong -- it's booming right now, the numbers look great, inflation is heating up in many pockets of the economy you would think this would all be very bad for bonds yet they caught a bid here with the ten-year yield at 1.48 explain what that's telling us. >> let's be honest, it is a bit of a mystery hard to explain. i think the simple answer is you have tremendous flows coming into the market that need to be put to worked. you have got flows from institutions you have got flows from asset managers putting that institutional money to work. you have got flows from retail investors, an aging population looking for income i think the reason we are seeing the bond market as resilient as it has been is that there is a lot of money that needs to be put to work. having said all of that, i do think we are going to see yields higher by the end of the year. and i would cite a couple of simple statistics. real ten-year yields are around

negative 80, negative 90 basis points that's pretty much where they were back in early november, before the last two rounds of stimulus, before we me about the efficacy of the vaccines, before we know how effective the rollout was going to be. the foegs in a real yields haven't budged despite all of those developments in the economy is hard to fathom. i think we will see on adjust men in real yields in the back half of the year. >> do you like gold? >> we do not like gold we have actually been parring back gold quite a bit. there is no one agreement how you value gold i would say three thing. you own gold when you think the dollar is going to collapse. that's not our base case scenario you own gold when real rates are likely to decline. as i just mentioned we think real rates are likely to raise kmrks is a head wind for gold. and you own gold as a hedge in portfolio. what has been happening since

the end of last year is gold has been moving with equity risks, with growth stocks we would rather own cash-flow generating assets than gold with no cash flow we have parred back our gold position quite a bit over the last four or five months. >> russ koss trip, thank you. an earnings alert on rh. let's get to courtney reagan. >> hi sara, so a really strong beat here for rh on both the top and the bottom line. earnings per share coming in at 4.89 the street was looking for 4.10. revenues up 78% to $861 million. the street was looking for a little more than $757 million. they are also raising the outlook saying revenue also grow between 25 and 30% that is well above the 19.7% street estimates for the second they are looking for revenues to increase 35 to

37%, also above the street's forecast an interesting letter to shareholders from the ceo gary friedman where he talks about luxury margins pointing out that the operating margins of rh have now surpassed those of lvmh and also says he is feeling optimistic about the strong performance to continue through the second half of 2021 with growth reaccelerating in '22 also a nice goat saying the unmasking of the general public could lead to a roaring '20s type of consumer exuberance. rh shares are higher by 6% after-hours. the conference call starts at 5:00 p.m. eastern time back to you wilf and sara. up next here on "closing bell," much more on gamestop's results and whether the incoming ceo is the right turn to lead a turn around. the stock is down about 3% after-hours. plus the largest net zero emissions community is being

built in california. demand to live there isn't soaring just because of the housing shortage we will explain later on "closing bell. solved it. that's great, carl. but we need something better. that's easily adjustable has no penalties or advisory fee. and we can monitor to see that we're on track. like schwab intelligent income. schwab! introducing schwab intelligent income. a simple, modern way to pay yourself from your portfolio. oh, that's cool... i mean, we don't have that. schwab. a modern approach to wealth management. pain? yeah. here. aspercreme with max-strength* lidocaine. works fast and lasts. keep it.

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gamestop reporting results just moments ago the big news, the company

announced a new ceo and a new cfo. both coming over from amazon new ceo matt furlong oversaw amazon's australian business gamestop calling him a veteran e-commerce leader. let's bring in anthony gentleman couple about, you used to cover gamestop, but dropped coverage in january you can be brutally honest about some of the announcements. ryan cohen becomes chairman. the earnings, no guidance and the ceo announcement what's your take >> you know, look, i don't know either of these two individuals. i do cover amazon. that's a name that i am very familiar with. here's what it comes down to it is great that they worked at amazon amazon is a successful retailer that i do cover and i am familiar with. at the end of the day gamestop's problems have very little, if anything, to do with e-commerce. their problem is not that they are not a good omnichannel retailer the problem is that gamers are increasingly downloading video

games. look, they can hire jeff bezos when he comes back from space. he's looking for a new j-o-b last i heard it is not going to make a difference the symptoms are not aligned with the medicine that the doctor is giving them. you know, you can hire anyone you want from amazon not going to make a difference >> explain that a little more. there are a lot of people that are very bullish on this stock the idea is that it is a turnaround play and that ryan cohen has had success as the founder of chewy and building an e-commerce business, and that you can do something like this here, that gamestop can get a piece of the action on the digital down loads. >> there were a lot of people that were bullish about internet stocks like pets.com, bullish on housing market in 2006, 2007, people were bullish about tulips back in the 1600s.

just because people are bullish doesn't mean it is right it is very simple. gamestop's problems are not that they are not a good e-commerce retailer they could be a better ecommerce retailer a lot of people could be better e-commerce retailers, but that's not going to solve their problems the problem is that more and more gamers instead of buying physical video games they are downloading them they they download them they don't download from gamestop, from x box live, from playstation, from steam, not from gamestop. not only do they not get that sale, then there is no physical game for gamestop to buy from the gamer and then markup. none of that is going the change because they have a better website. ryan cohen -- i am not taking anything away from the guy he has probable peay one more zero behind his net worth than i do -- sorry, three or four at the end of the day being good at selling dog food has nothing

to do with being good at selling video games. >> you suspended your coverage of this stock earlier in the year what kind of level of gap is there between the current valuation and where you would need to see it get down to to be based on fundamentals that you think you could analyze again? are we talking a 20% pullback or more >> that's a good one that's a good one. i needed a nice laugh here this afternoon. look, when i dropped coverage of the stock, my price target was $10. 1-0. not $100, not $1,000 it was $10 i am not as close to the company now as i was then, but there is nothing that i have seen or heard that would make me think differently. it was linling to the broadcast before i came on you mentioned rh i have a buy rating on rh. on aadjusted basis they did $142 million in the first quarter

gamestop last $29 million. rh don't have to worry about people downloading furniture they buy physical, the product is not going anywhere anytime soon gamestop has a 50% higher market cap than hr. that doesn't make any sense. it will never make any sense to me call me a boomer call me what you want. you can say i am in bed with the hedge funds. it is not going to make any sense. it will end badly. it always does it is not any different this time. >> anthony hang on it keeps coming. more news on gamestop. kate rooney with an update for us. >> sara, update here on gamestop gamestop saying they have got a request from the s.e.c. for voluntary production of documents. this was on may 26th they say this was a request from the s.e.c. for information concerning trading activity. an investigation into trading activity and securities securities here of other companies. they say they are in the process of resuing that s.e.c. request

and producing those documents. they say they intend to cooperate with s.e.c. staff. close here saying the inquiry is not expected to adversely impact the company. back to you. >> kate rooney, thanks en thou, i am sure that is not a surprise we know in a the s.e.c. is digging around on what has been happening with retail mania. what about the way the company has just handled the rise of the retail reddit trading army and the embrace of their stock how we have a cop. now we have adam aron going at it from a different strategy, and some of the other ceos what do you make of the way they dealt with it, the share offerings and the lack of public engagement around it >> honestly this is one of the few things where i think they have done the right thing. i think it was smart of them to take advantage of their ridiculously inflated stock price to raise for capital to give themselves more time to try to turn the business around.

but i don't think you necessarily have to, you know, engage with these, you know, shareholders who are talking about diamond hands and going to the moon hopefully ryan cohen wears pants when he talks to these people unlike the ceo of amc. that's another story to be clear, i am not a lawyer. >> don't think it mattered. >> i don't think there is anything that. >> i think it helped >> gamestop. -- i think you are right there look, i don't think there is anything that gamestop has done that has been untoward this is a unique animal. they.ed every i, crossed every t, i don't have any problems with them from that perspective. >> we are flashing on the side of the side counter-commentary from the reddit community, dispatches from the reddit world. gamestop will be worth more than amazon in less than a month. never seen anything like this

where it plummets and rebounds and my personal favorite, ryan cohen is my dad. >> there it is >> a whole new phenomenon. >> it is a whole new phenomenon. there is no question about it. i am reminded of the words, the market can remain aal -- can remain solvent i don't know how long it is going to continue it is simple, stock prices have to reflect fundamentals over the long term. it's that simple so for someone to be saying gamestop is going to be worth more than amazon really are you serious? you serious? i hear things like that and that's where i am like you know what, anthony, they call you a boomer, call you this or that or the other thing. at the end of the day you will be proven right. because it is not any different. it is not different this time. >> anthony gentleman couple about, we will leave it there. gamestop shares down 4% after

hours. >> credit to ryan cohen's son if he real is his son he made a fortune. we were with anthony, of course i am not criticizing him there the price target was $10 it is now 300. >> for whatever reason. one analyst predicted planet fitness will fall 50%. it has been a long term winner coming up the ceo on whether ba tth tcoare startingo me cko e gym or whether they have gotten used to working out at home. and unmatched overall value. together with a dedicated advisor, you'll make a plan that can adjust as your life changes, with access to tax-smart investing strategies that help you keep more of what you earn. and with brokerage accounts, you see what you'll pay before you trade. personalized advice. unmatched value. at fidelity, you can have both. ♪ more than this ♪

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welcome back time now for a cnbc news update with shepard smith >> from the news on cnbc here's what's happening now a two-star general in the marine corps relieved of duty for failing to properlily train and evaluate his troops. this after nine died in an amphibious tank when it sank the accident could have been prevented. the first woman coach in the nfl has been suspended for driving under the nunes. cali bronson has been suspended after she pleaded no charge to the counts against her the browns say she will not lose her job. >> the ncaa calling for congress the take urgent action to set a

federal standard allowing college athletes to get paid for their names, images and likenesses five states allow that connecticut game the 19th state to pass such legislation tonight, college athletes, and the right to make real money we will break it down on the news after jim cramer. up next on "closing bell," mpe ceo of planet fit on how his coany is handling the worker shortage and whether people are starting to head back to the gym. this is the sound of change. it's the sound of low cash mode from pnc bank giving you the options and extra time needed to help you avoid an overdraft fee. low cash mode on virtual wallet from pnc bank. one way we're making a difference.

shares of planet fitness climbing back after getting crushed by the covid pandemic. up 115% since march 2020 some analysts say the valuation is too rich as people are slow to come back to the gym. planetfitness lost 2 million members when the pandemic hit. however the company said the chain added 800,000 this year through april, many of them former members joining us chris rondo, ceo of planet fitness thank you for joining us >> thank you for having me >> update us not only on how many more members you are signing up in recent weeks and months following vaccinations, but how much they are using the gym relative to past years,

prepandemic? >> sure, yeah. we are currently at about 85% of 2019 usage and the joining volume, what we have seen from the unseasonal joining volume, we are seeing trends towards the tail end of first quarter we have never seen before and in the month of april, over 200,000 net new numbers in april alone. we are thrilled for the demand for the product. some of the interesting stats, normally about 20% of our joins are rejoins, they left and they are coming back. that number is over 30% today. we have never seen that. people are choosing bricks approximate mortar paster than ever in the past music to our ears. >> do you worry about a permanent shift toward working out at home? >> no. all the stats -- i look at it -- working out from home is not new. it has been around forever i say richard simmons, jane

fonda, billy blanks with tie bow. getting out of the house, the variety of equipment, being around others you can't replicate that between rejoins and first time gym -- around 70% of our joins are first time gym members so they are coming back to us or coming to us as first timers and not afraid of bricks and mortar and want that experience for $10 a month you can't beat night if it is all about bricks and mortar, what's the investment in i-fit for? >> it is bricks with clicks. engage men people -- i like to differentiate home fitness and digital fitness are separate things digital fitness is fitness everywhere people adopted digital qr codes on menus, how you pay for your coffee. 60% of our joins are downing digitally. in 2019 it was half that

people are using digital differently. to your question, we look at how we can service our members inside and outside the club. this is something the industry has never been able to do. we serviced you when you walked through the door now we are going to service our member in the club and out of the club if you can't make it today you can do something at home to keep up with your regimen. >> your growth and the stock price and a lot of your success has been powered by the fact that you are always opening new stores what does the pipeline look like right now? are you seeing the confidence level that you had from some of our frrchz franchisees and the lenders and everyone else you need in order keep opening stores. >> we are going to open 75 or 100 stores off of our record of 260 in 2019. we are refilling the pipeline. last year nobody was looking for real estate. we just wanted to weather the storm. today we have virtually every store open kept for in canada. and the franchisees couldn't be

more happy they are seeing the same volume that we are seeing in the corporate stores they are like it has turned the corner, we are finally out of this and the joining volume, if this keeps up we are going to see seasonality shift that we haven't seen before, we are doing to set up for a really strong 2022 as we build up our member basis back the rest of this year. >> chris rondo thank you for the update, ceo of planet fitness. up next mike santolioong lki at whether new data is flashing a warning sign for wall street we'll be right back. that's why td ameritrade designed a first-of-its-kind, personalized education center. oh. their award-winning content is tailored to fit your investing goals and interests. and it learns with you, so as you become smarter, so do its recommendations. so it's like my streaming service. well except now you're binge learning. see how you can become a smarter investor with a personalized education from td ameritrade. visit tdameritrade.com/learn ♪

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stocks finished up the day a touch lower near the session lows let's sends it over to mike santoli who is looking at trader sentiment. >> the market has been flat lining but the huge speculation in call options which bet on upside for stocks has driven the put call ratio to near record lows, toward the lows of january this is coming into today. normally it is a contra indicator, it means nobody is buying downside protection relative to those buying up side plays. maybe it is only a handful of stocks like amc and gamestop that are responsible for that ratio, but you have to be cautious about what the sentiment set up is, perhaps people are getting too bold up in the short-term. look at the reaaction in the hor areas of the market.

social sentiment, 9% in the last month. 7% with the micro cap index for a lot of these names and the s&p has been slightly worse than flat there it has been bubbling we will see if it means we are going to get a gut check or if the overall holds together as is been >> thanks so much. up next, a close look at the construction of the largest net zero community diana. >> well, what do dairy farm khouws and of a rick africa - [announcer] if you've tried college but never finished, snhu let's you transfer up to 90 credits toward your bachelor's degree. - [woman] it doesn't matter how old you are, you can do it. you can finish.

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will be largest net zero housing development in the nation. each will have solar and electric chargers and high-performance @ices to reduce need tore ventilation and pools will be heated through geothermal exchange technology and -- all of that is not enough to get to net zero so developers are ann earning carbon credits in creative ways. installing solar in disadvantaged neighborhoods in l.a. county and in the pine creek forest added a permanent conservation easement and is replacing traditional three rock cook stoves in sub saharan africa with clean stoves and saving the engager flower.

there's strong demand for millenials, unlike baby boom erp parents that like to brag about enormous mansions, millenials like to brag what they are doing for the environment. here it s guys. >> i'm disappointed. maybe i should have listened more carefully to aspects of the teaching of the day. this is offset, not that these are hugely energy-efficient homes. >> no they are, they get 50% there by doing all of the things to the housing but houses are some of the largest offenders when it comes to carbon emissions, you can't get to 100%, you get about halfway there and then they use the credits. that makes it net zero. >> there we go thank you very much. >> creative ways of doing it. >> yeah, africa stoves, no less. thank you. up next, we're watching tomorrow, alsos l rtof factors, we'll break down what they are

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information s.e.c. probe into trading info that shouldn't impact the company the stock is down 9.5%, kind of falling lower, the reddit traders will be disappointed to see the price action. >> i think so. it came in a position it really ramped recently, topped at 400 in january, inter-day high, bottomed in the 140 area it's really come a long way in a hurry. the more specific you get about the business and the plans it is almost as if it foils the crowd's mood because it's mostly about the vast universe of things you can imagine >> it's good we need to pivot sarah wants to talk cpi. >> cpi is out tomorrow, could get headline number 4.7%, taking out food and energy 3.5% these are very high numbers on inflation. >> yes in a while. >> but we're expecting it. we know there's an effect from last year, we've reopened and

there's a surge in demand. >> i think a lot has to do with exactly how the market is leaning with very strong year ten year treasure ri option with a lot of people re-upping their allocation with bonds, see if it accounts for the fact if people assume we'll get a hot number. >> and the meeting tomorrow as well >> we are out of time on "closing bell. "fast money" starts now. live from the nasdaq market site over looking new york city time square this is "fast money" tonight's trader lineup zpooirn, dan nathan, tim seymour and guy adami and karen finerman tonight on "fast money." the three words that sent the apes bananas. >> naked shorts. >> yeah that was it. >> so the question is are naked shorts driving wild swings in amc, you'll hear from a top s.e.c. enforcement lawyer who says it's happening in the market, what he says needs to be done to reign it in. plus gamestop stock mo