♪♪ ♪♪ hey there, "mad money" "mad and welcome, jim cramer has the night off but we have got a big night for you. hitting hard on spending in america. what you're buying right now, why you're paying so much more, and who may be benefitting from it all also, new covid fears put everything at risk again here is your rundown for a special cnbc hour. we're going to hit a bird's-eye view of the american economy right now. and then what companies are saying about their outlooks. plus more on the home price

boom nearly panic buying out there. how long it might last and then maybe the key to everything right now and that is travel and leisure and what we all could expect heading into what could be a very shaky fall as cases rise particularly now in the northeast. so good evening, or good afternoon, everybody i'm brian sullivan thank you for joining us and let us start off with your money and why it may feel like you have i little less of it lately. now it is of course called inflation. which is just a fancy way of saying, i have to pay more for stuff which is costing me more of my money. now this is starting to hit the usually optimistic american shopper. today we learned that a key reading on how you feel came in at the lowest level in ten years. inflation concerns, a big part of that. the cost of so many things has exploded in the past year. and we have got new data this week too prove just that not just tv hyperbole.

have you tried to buy a used car lately good luck. and it will cost you more to drive that car gas prices over $3 a gallon nationwide and in california $4 and change home prices up 23% from last year and median sales price, now a whopping $357,000. it is not just the consumer. companies getting hit too. shipping costs, they're insane a 40 foot shipping container from china to los angeles now $20,000. it was just $3,000 one year ago. and if you own a business, and can find someone, anyone to take a job, you know this you've got to pay them more which is good for them because as we just laid out they'll have to spend more of the raise to buy everything they want with that money the big debate is not why the prices are up.

it is how long they'll stay up an that matters a lot to the federal reserve. steve leishman has more on what the data may be telling us steve. >> it was a split decision this week in the efforts to figure out if inflation is transitory or maybe more permanent than feared headline kpur prices came in as expected, up a strong 5.4% year on year but the first time the rate didn't rise since november of 2020 and core inflation and food and energy dips to 4.2% still high but going in the right direction for the transitory camp. but the producer price index came in at double expectation and inflation is still gathering in the economy and that could make the way to the consumer increasing producer costs are pressuring businesses in every nook and cranny of the economy concerns about inflation have prompted a group of hawks at the federal reserve to call for an earlier end to the bond

purchases. robert caplan told cnbc this week he wanted to start the tapener october. >> i'd rather take the foot off the accelerator soon and reduce the rpms and as we're on more level terrain and i think it will give us more flexibility down the road to have patience on the feds fund rate but what i don't want to do is keep running at this speed for too long and then we have to take aggressive an action down the road. >> there is enough concern to suggest some on the fed would like to act first on inflation and figure out later if it was temporary. brian, back to you >> all right, steve leishman let's continue this important conversation maybe the most important con voe for interrates and maybe the entire stock market. with us tonight, dana peter sorn and mark zandi, from moodies

dana, i'll start with you and the drop in consumer sentiment we're arguing if inflation is transitory, i wonder if the consumer drop is going to be transitory what are you seeing? >> well as you know the conference board has its own measure of consumer confidence and in july it was pretty constructive however since we've come into june we've have the dealt you variant crop up everywhere and the most people who are gaining, who are becoming infected are infected with the delta virus. however we haven't seen any changes in terms of restrictions on mobility. but people may decide that they just don't want to go out. and so that could certainly weigh on the economy and then there is inflation as we're talking about and prices are higher for just about everything and we have said that may weigh in consumption ahead >> yeah, mark, would you agree with that? because it sort of comes down to everything the consumer and

governments can say, well you can't do this or you got to do that but ultimately if people are nervous they may not go out. what kind of shocks are you seeing ahead >> yeah, i would agree with dana i think the delta variant possibly was the key factor in that big decline in sentiment. i think dana's measure of the conference board is better because it is tied in the labor market and key to the economic recovery going forward as long as businesses continue to hire. they hired almost a million people in june and almost a million and expect robust job growth going forward so then we'll be okay. assuming that the delta variant is not an issue down the road. if that is the case, then i think we're in good shape. and this dip that we've seen in consumer sentiment will be temporary. it will right itself pretty quickly. >> yeah. i mean, i think you have the

majority of the country, adults that are vaccinated. certainly and what we've seen from the u.k. and india and the same thing here hopefully, delta burns hot but it burns fast. inflation is quote, transitory, whatever that means. and if yours a business owner and your rent goes up or you have to pay a worker more, which is good, wages are up, those aren't transitory. once you give a worker a raise, you're not reversing that. the biggest cost for business doesn't seem like it is going down any time soon. >> yeah, you're raising wages and how fast are raising wages in future. and it is very good. it is held up at mirablely well in the pandemic which is great for workers and keeping consumers in the game and spending and i do expect wage growth to continue to remain strong and even perhaps accelerate because this job market is going to be strong and unemployment is going

to decline and we're getting back to full employment and i would expect stronger wage growth that doesn't mean that that is inflationary, that that forces businesses to raise their prices more aggressively because a lot depends on their ability to generate productivity growth i produce just as more with fewer people or fewer hours and so far productivity growth has held up very well. it is accelerated in more than offset the effects of the wage growth on businesses so right now it feels good wages are getting higher and business are getting product gains and strong foft profitability. that is a good economy. >> well, dana, they better hope to get higher wages because based on the price increases, if they don't get higher wages, they'll have a lot less money in their pocket ultimately, though, when i said on "fast money" in the previous hour, i'm tired of talking about the fed because it is every day we're talking about it but it does matter.

it is the super tanker that leaves everything in its wake changed. do you see the fed changing its views because of covid's new rise and maybe staying low for longer, which could be good for equities >> well, it is really about substantial further progress on the two mandates so the fed in the last meeting said that inflation more or less is elevated but it is transitory and it will trend back down to something above the 2% target. the fed is waiting for that. there is still concern about the labor market yes, we have a great jobs report but we still have five million people unemployment and 57% are women and the fed believes we haven't achieved substantial progress on either however we do think that there are some key circuit breakers here and one big one is inflation expectations of consumers and not just short-term inflation

expectations but long-term expectations over the short run, those expectations have risen dramatically the delta is big but when we look at the long run, it is still pretty low. so unless consumers think that it is going to last forever, the fed probably will be willing to wait a little bit longer >> and if consumers think prices are only going to go up they might buy everything now and pulling that forward we'll see. great discussion inflation a big deal guys, thank you. we're just getting started here on a special cnbc hour. on deck, what companies are saying about their higher costs and why next week is so key to understand where we may be headed plus mom and pop still worried about their business and kevin o'leary is here on why small business needs to adapt or it is aistetng down on mn re he's ahead

millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments. that's why i started medhaul. citi launched the impact fund to invest in both women and entrepreneurs of color like me, so i can realize my vision and give everything i've got to my company, and my community. i got you. for the love of people. for the love of community. for the love of progress. citi. hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee...

yeah i should've just led with that... with at&t business... you can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need. there's an america we build and one we explore. one that's been paved and one that's forever wild. but freedom means you don't have to choose just one adventure. you get both. introducing the wildly civilized all-new 3-row jeep grand cherokee l

and there you have it- introducing the wildly civilized woah. wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. wow. -big deal! ...we get unlimited for just 30 bucks. sweet, i get that too and mine has 5g included. that's cool, but ours save us serious clam-aroonies. relax people, my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself.

when we opened up walt disney world back in the middle of pandemic, there were a lot of doubters but through things like the nba experience that we have there and showed everybody in the world that we could operate responsibly. >> that was disney ceo bob chapek last night on "mad money. sales booming at the house of mouse. is everybody bursting into disney world and disneyland and spending more to do it next week all eyes turn to the biggest stores and bib pisani has a look at what you need to look at for massive retailers. >> the consumers in great shape, the question for the rest of the year is will the delta variant sush their behavior. the american consumer has never had more disposable cash or more leisure time than in the past year in theory it makes it a golden

moment for retailers which will begin reporting next week. that strong consumer has created high demand for goods but supply is limited due to supply disruptions. that means lower inventories which means more full priced items and that means for profit for retailers. the big wild card is the delta variant. the worry is consumer behavior could change very quickly. now the key test is back to school a strong back to school is good tor retailers and it usually implies good holiday sales as well so right now everybody is looking to the south which has an early opening for the schools. the big winners in the retail sweepstakes in the past year are the trio of what i call the supersellers walmart, costco and target consumers know they could get almost everything they need at these three retailers and taking market share from the competitors. the wild card for the second half of the year is clothing and

cosmetics anz the department stores apparel and retail stores like jewelry, autos, electronics, they remain strong but with covid variants out there, will everyone go out and refresh their wardrobe for back to school or work. we don't know yet. there was a lot of optimism in the first quarter. it will be tempered with a slightly more cautious tone from the retail ceos. brian, back to you. >> thanks, bob if you're not going become to the office you don't need a wardrobe all right. so we have heard what is happening with the biggest chains but of course they were some of the only stores in the area that were allowed to be open during lockdown so of course they did well small business largely cast aside. tens of thousands have likely failed across america since then but for those out there still fighting the good fight on main street, what do they have to do now to survive kevin o'leary and investor and

host of "shark tank" and tar of "money court" and investor in many small businesses joins us now. last year the government said, you win, you win, you win, and everybody else loses if you were going to advise small business right now, in boston, whenever, what is your number one piece of advice >> i've been advising small business during this pandemic because i'm a shareholder in so many of them and the ones that survived and let's remember something about american small business, there are way more small businesses than large ones in america small business accounts for 65% of jobs. and they did a massive digital pivot during this pandemic they basically said, okay, we can't sell to retail any more, we can't sell through two tiers of distribution, we're going direct to consumer and almost 70% of them survived. they went online and went back to the original customers and

said look we could sell direct to you and they set up all of the digital platforms. thank goodness for technology in the last year and a half and 70% are doing better than forecast this year. why? because when you ship direct to your customer your margins are twice that of when you were selling through walmart and target the only cost is the customer acquisition cost and the cost of manufacturing and shipping the product. the margins are 90% as opposed to -- and you could sell direct to gather the data from your customer, too. >> i got small businesses watching this show and watching you, mr. wonderful, right now. and they're throwing a hamburger at the screen because they're saying that is great, of course, super rich kevin o'leary could invest and i don't know how to invest in digitals is it a case where it is like

you can't afford not to, no matter what it costs. >> if you have a mobile phone, you're digital it is a load bearer to entry you have to be savvy selling direct to consumer is story telling. a better photograph, a better 59 second video setting yourself up on shopify and doing a deal, where your store is we don't spend a lot of money. do you vent to be rich to pull this off, you need somebody that is savvy with social media maybe it is your daughter or your son understanding how to make a commercial on instagram. what to do on tiktok, how to put a facebook ad out there. i saw companies with zero sales in march, april, may, explode to the upside in the back end of the year by selling direction to consumers. i'm really, i can't say pandemic has a silver lining. but if there ever was one, it

was shifting the whole pivot in america, 2.0 direct to consumer, really good cash flow. remember you don't get your money for three months on retail but when you sell to consumer, you get it that day on a credit card my companies are killing it because they have digital savvy. >> and it sounds like they have immediate receivables to to your point on the cash flow side. you invested in everything we've seen it. cupcake companies to technology, whatever is there any business that you've seen where that strategy would not work is there a sector better positioned or it is not good for them >> movie theaters, business travel on airlines sports arenas, indoor dining and shopping malls i had those businesses too and most of them are zero because consumer preferences have changed i know there is a lot of talk about amc and all of that stuff, but people are not going back to

that model they're streaming video. we sold products and services to business travelers that is not doing so well and it is never coming back. that is the bad news the good news is that the new digital america, you ask why the stock market is at new highs because they sense the s&p 500 is assuming like nike, the margins are way higher than two years ago. this is a good thing that is happening here it is not a bad thing. and many small businesses in america outside of the ones tay you can -- i talked about are doing well even my insecticide company and my gym in north dakota and they're killing it because they're shipping direct to consumers. >> by the way, fargo is a new hipster hot spots. did you say that business travel is never coming back come on. >> i'm saving so much money by cutting out business travel and

entertainment expenses because you don't have to fly there any more you can do what we're doing right now. i'm not saying it is never coming back. but if people are thinking it is going back to what it was two years ago, no kans chance. i want to make sure my people don't want to get back on the arm. you have to spend two hours online filling out a form explaining to me why i'm going to get a 17% return. otherwise don't bother we make it hard for you to do that there are other people doing the same thing the airlines are in deep trouble and i'm short so i'm just disclosing, i shorted the entire jets etf those guys are absolutely -- balance sheets are upside down and we're not coming back. we don't need them. >> two hours on a form that is why they call you mr. wonderful. i guess we'll see you in fargo or not catch him on his prime time series, "money court",

wednesdays 10:00 p.m. eastern. maybe he'll do it live from fargo. up next, the rent is too darn high and going higher and it is not just about buying a home, renters now getting into bidding wars how long this may last and the three biggest cities where americans are moving right now

♪♪ it was my dream to be an entrepreneur based upon the examples that i had growing up. and that was important for me because you can't be what you can't see. the ey entrepreneurs access network has a tremendous impact on my business and other african american and latino entrepreneurs across this country because they give access to networks, business opportunities and capital. if you're 55 and up, t-mobile has plans built just for you. switch now and get 2 unlimited lines and 2 free smartphones. because they give access to networks, and now get netflix on us. it's all included with 2 lines for only $70 bucks! only at t-mobile.

use a single hr software? nope. we use 11. eleven. why do an expense report from your phone when you can do it from a machine that jams? i just emailed my wife's social security number to the entire company instead of hr, so... please come back. how hard is your business software working for you? with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in one easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com for a free demo. hon? first off, we love each other... welcome back have you tried to buy a house lately well good luck and maybe good luck winning the lottery. which is what it may take to pay for the house. tales of 20 bidders, all cash, no inspection, running wild across the country but now it is not just buyers getting in on the panic buying renters doing the same thing diana olick is here with that

and whether the red hot real estate market is showing any signs of cooling down. what are you seeing? >> well, brian, we get two important reads on housing market next week and the story there is rising costs for building materials builder sentiment is falling due to the price spike in lumber and other materials and a new report out this week showed little relief building material prices have increased 13% year-to-date in stark contrast with the same period last year when prices were up just over 1% and 1% has been the average going back five years. now lumber prices, yes, they have fallen, about 70% from the peak in may. but they are still 66% higher than the last low if march of 2020 and that is inflating new home and remodels for homeowners as the prices continue to gain at the fastest pace in 42 years. up over 17% in june

year-over-year and we have a read on rents, for a one bedroom, up 7% from a year ago and for single family rental homes in may rent jumped well over 6% and that is four times the annual increase seen in may of last year so the short answer to your question, brian, is the housing market cooling, for sales, yes, for prices, absolutely not, brian. >> if the rent was too damn high a few years ago, it is probably some word i can't say on tv that it is. usually they go in opposite directions, don't they more buyers and let renners and if there is more renters and there is fewer buyers. why are they both so hot right n now. >> it is all about supply and demand even going into covid, we had a very large shortage of homes for sale and for rent and that all grew out of the great recession when the home builders didn't build any houses so we're trying to catch up and then people moving out of the

city trying to get homes in the suburbs. that caused more demand. and then their flocking back into the cities and there is not enough supply where they want it and prices are going up. the rental hopes which are now by investors, they have a lot of demands because they're out in the burbs and the rental hopes for sale are ow of the for sale market so any of the norms that we would gauge prices on, they're completely out of whack right now so the answer to your question is who knows. >> d, all of the above diana olick, thank you very much what a remarkable market let's continue now this conversation with gren kelman, the ceo of redfin. you listen to this i was on your site, by the way great site i was on site before the show because i wanted to find a house and i looked in california, sacramento and i'm not knocking the house. three bedrooms, one bath, 1100 square feet listed at 389 and it sold 18 months ago for 255 and

didn't have any renovation inside have you ever seen a market like this even 2007 >> you remember how long i've been in this market. i've done this for 16 years. >> you and me both >> so, especially in places like sacramento where people are fleeing the big city they're willing to take longer commutes because they're going into the office once a week or once a month or not at all and so that starts in sacramento so you nailed it >> well, sometimes a blind squirrel could find a nut as well but i did happen to take a peek at where people were moving. what kind of traffic are you seeing on your site. your a leading indicator if trax goes up, home buying and home renting is going to heat up because you look at a redfin and figure out where you want might to look. what are you seeing right now? >> well the market was very hot

through april. and then starting in memorial day we saw demand take a step back people went to graduations and went on family trips and resumed normal life. and now in july and especially august, we are starting to see more sales come through, so it is not necessarily more demand, it is just actually more supply. sellers are starting the sense that there may have been a local peak at least and so they are listing the home in a hurry. we're getting more listings out there and it is easier to put together deals and we're getting more sales so june was a little softer. it almost returned to a normal market and now july and early part of august, it is heating up again. >> yeah and you're seeing things no contingencies, i will forego an inspection, i will pay all cash or i saw a house listed only all cash offers would even get a tour of the house. i mean, that is the kind of stuff that we're starting to see right now. how long, glenn, do you think

this truly can last? >> well i think it could last a little while longer yet. because the people who are moving from california were paying two million dollars for a house there and they're to ohio. and so an $800,000 house seems cheap. home prices in idaho could triple and seem like a deal. people are using monopoly money from coastal cities to buy properties in the center of the country and the reason folks don't want to risk an appraisal or take borrowed man because the appraisal will come in low relative to the bids so there is no check for the cash buyer what they d bid is what they pay because a lender doesn't have to underwrite it. that is why the market is bonkers. but i think we're starting to see a little bit of cooling in prices about 5% of listings had a price drop over the past few weeks that is a high for 2021 and it is a -- approached pre-pandemic

levels. >> although you wonder, glenn, if and i don't want to foend anybody, are those the homes that nobody want buy my dome out in the cypress swamps of central louisiana. maybe there is a price for a reason >> yeah, i think that a really hot market isn't very selective. so what we were telling people who owned a home three or four months ago was don't bother fixing it up strike while the iron is hot now, if the home needs a little love, we actually people tell to pute in a new kitchenin, to upgrade the bathroom and we'll help them do that because buyers have gotten one step pickier, even in the ugly houses sell and now we have reached a market that is more selective i'm talking about fine grain nuances here and i know i'm on television trying to do that which is crazy

but i'm telling you it is one degree normal than it used to be but it still ain't normal. >> you know how i know it is crazy. because we do this -- i do this every single day so i'm right with you, one degree more normal they've never said that about us glenn appreciate it. thank you. >> bye. >> happy friday, by the way. all right. after the break, would you take your kids to the movies and pay with bitcoin of course not. but some people apparently are we'll tell you why that may be a very bad idea, especially come tax time stick around

ready to shine from the inside out? try nature's bounty hair, skin and nails gummies. the number one brand to support beautiful hair, glowing skin, and healthy nails. and introducing jelly beans with two times more biotin.

sales are down from last quarter but we are hoping things will pick up by q3. yeah...uh... doug? sorry about that. umm... what...its...um... you alright? [sigh] [ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has powerful, easy-to-use tools to help you find opportunities, 24/7 support when you need answers plus some of the lowest options and futures contract prices around. don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today.

welcome back well amc making some mean stockteres very happy that they'll accept bitcoin as payment by year end. and amc is not the ome one tesla will most likely restart accepting bitcoin as page on its later conference call. even soccer start lionel messi includes digital tokens. but let's talk honestly. are people going to use an asset that fluctuates so wildly in price to buy every day things? or are these just corporate marketing gimmicks, gimmicks with perhaps a really annoying tax implication. mckenzie is joining us now with more on this, writing about it on the website is this real or is this a pr

stunt by the companies >> hey, brian. so the short answer is not really real. i mean people aren't using bitcoin to buy every day items and that is partly to do with the fact that not a lot of retails give them the option to spend it do you have microsoft, over stock, your occasional restaurant that will let you use your crypto wallet on their website or in person but these are the exception to the rule. what you tend to see more often are companies that sort of let you pay in bitcoin home depot for example said that customers could use a third party platform called flexa in order to spend their bitcoin on a home depot gift card which they use at the store itself starbucks and ulta do something similar. >> or i could swipe my debit card in two seconds. i know it is cool and if you made a fortune in bitcoin, maybe

that is great and you might want to buy something but there are capital gains that could come get you, can it not? >> yes it can so in addition to all of these logistical acrobatics that go into figuring out how to spend your bitcoin, you're potentially facing capital gains taxes on top of the sales tax and that is because the irs considering virtual occurrence such as bitcoin to be property >> wow so bottom line, does it make any sense to spend, right now, cryptos on random stuff? >> no. not really i mean so many crypto experts that i've spoken to say that the use case for bitcoin as a currency doesn't kist right now especially not in the u.s. given all of the tax rules so at the moment bitcoin is just seen as a store of value asset, brian. >> mckenzie, it is great to have you on the program

can you path like 500 transactions come tax time i have one on turbo tax, good luck thank you. >> right up next, 27 positive covid cases -- you're welcome -- on one cruise ship. so is travel going to turn down once again or is it delta be damned when it comes to getting out. that is next and at the top of the hour, the latest on the escalating crisis in afghanistan. what is behind the cdc's vaccine booster decision, and the surprising benefits americans are willing to give up in order to work from home forever. the news with shepard smith just minutes away we're back rig aerhihtft ts. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ hey google, turn up the heat. ♪ ♪ ♪

at cdw, we get whether you're at home, in the office or on the go, staying connected and secure is what keeps you productive. and no matter where you're working, our experts can help you implement a secure by design hp chrome enterprise solution. you'll benefit from built-in virus protection and advanced security management to help secure your device and your data while keeping you in close contact with all of your coworkers. ♪♪ this past year has felt like a long, long norwegian winter. with all of your coworkers. but eventually, with spring comes rebirth. everything begins anew. and many of us realize a fundamental human need to connect with other like-minded people. welcome back to the world.

viking. exploring the world in comfort... once again. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ with a bit more thought we can all do our part to keep plastic out of the ocea.

the new pop in covid cases throwing travelers a curveball the new york auto show canceled some conferences canceled or scaled back. southwest airlines and airbnb warning that it could hit future bookings and over two dozen people on a carnival cruise ship have tested positive for coronavirus. so many of you may wonder once again even vaccinated whether it is safe to get out of the house. let's bring in roger, president of the travel association. quickly, are we seeing a downturn in bookings is that scaring people off or are the planes still full? >> the planes are still full we're seeing some shorting in booking cycles and some increase

in cancellations people are still traveling a lot. but we're getting concerned that business meetings are getting put off either canceled or delayed. >> yeah, i would imagine contessa brewer had a piece on this morning, people are buying more travel insurance. so it sounds like they're still traveling but they're traveling with some caveats, hedging their bets a little bit or literally with insurance. >> they're definitely traveling. we've had over 300 million flying and not one case related to flying. the theme park protocols are all in place and it is quite safe. but there is always a concern. we have to watch it. and we've seen a little bit of a downturn in people's intention to travel over the next couple of months. >> is almost all of this domestic leisure travel going somewhere for fun? because we know business travel has been terrible. >> domestic leisure travel is back and back strong almost in many areas exceeding

2009 the real challenge is bring back business travel, and meeting and conventions international, why they represent 20% of the business, it is about 50% of the revenue. >> you know we just had kevin o'leary on from shark tank if you were able to catch it he owns all of the these companies and he said business travel is never coming back and you if want to travel you have to fill out a 17-page online form that is him. but do you agree with this comments is business travel going to come back >> i respect kevin on "shark tank" but i disagree i think it will come back slowly we've seen this before, after september 11th, they said business travel would never come back it will come back. but it is going to be a little delayed and we have to watch it carefully. >> yeah, i would tend to agree with you i think that what we've learned

is that human relationships, face-to-face contact which was cut off for so long may mean more than ever quickly on this. what is going on at the barder with canada. how -- my cousin lives in vancouver, why can't he come see me. >> he could come see you coming into the u.s., we're trying to get them to open the borders. canada just opened on monday you could go see your cousin, you could fly but we have to reip row kate and manage this disease and work with it >> roger dow, u.s. travel association. it is a pleasure to have you on. travel and leisure, a massive part of the american economy thank you, roger into all right up next, we're going to continue our focus on consumer spending by focusing on leisure side of travel and leisure one boast's most successful chefs and restaurant owners on

whether he's worried about new lockdowns and how hard it is to find the besemoys ght pleerit now. rush hour will never feel the same. experience thrilling performance from our entire line of vehicles at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. lease the 2021 is 300 for $379 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. ♪ someone once told me, that i should get used to people staring. so i did. it's okay, you can stare. when you're a two-time gold medalist, it comes with the territory. that building you're trying to buy, you should ten-x it. ten-x is the world's largest online commercial real estate exchange. and it's fast. if i could, i'd ten-x everything. like our lunch.

(laughs) amazing! see it. want it. ten-x it.

americans came back to restaurants the last quarter and both aiple bees and i hop gained shares applebee's is at 110 % of the volume. >> our sales growth has maintained and the customers that we gained in 2020 and throughout the pandemic have come back in 2021.

>> the consumer is healthier so they have more money in their pocket and with commodity and labor inflation we're able to pass on some of those item news price to the consumer >> well in person dining ground to a halt last year. and cities reopen and customers came roaring back. and it felt like the roaring 20s were on the way back but with all of the new scary headlines out there, what now? kate rogers had s a look at the latest spending numbers. >> taking a look at overall sales trends for the months of june and july, you could see momentum in the restaurant space from black box same store sales increased by 6.8% in june and 8.1% in july. july saw sales at the best levels in years, the group said. something that we've seen for many of the fast food companies that we track. but comparing in states where covid cases have been building,

sales are outpacing the national levels last month. mississippi seeing 17.3% same store sales in july. and louisiana seeing 15.9% and florida and arkansas seeing gains of 9% for the month of july that being said, we've seen some pullbacks in certain states like florida, texas, missouri and arkansas from june to july but overall it seems consumers are not really shifting behaviors even if the face of rising covid cases and sales overall are not pulling back in terms of restaurant stocks. many of the best performers of last year are seeing bigger gains year-to-date names like papa johns, chipotle and wing stop, we are seeing some gains in the casual space, but overall that sector has tiken a leg lower as we see covid cases continue to climb. two issues facing the restaurant industry labor concerns and raising prices we've seen almost 24% that say

they limit what they have on thur menu and that is likely due to staffing concerns back over to you >> all right, thank you. as kate mentioned, staffing and higher costs for everything are double-whammy for restaurants right now. and also now, in many areas, like kate said, new pops in covid have some owners concerned that customers may stay away or capacity could be cut by the government hawaii just did that overnight let's bring in chris combs, the owner of the boston urban hospitality group and a chef at one of boston's best raurptss. there is a lot to get there and i focus so much on dining because it is america's most owned small business hundreds of thousands, almost a million people own a restaurant, fast food or high end across the country so it is a major employer from your perspective now, are you seeing customers start to stay away or are they still filling tables >> well, brian, i believe it is

quite the opposite currently and during the pandemic we talked about pent up demand and the truth is that americans have plenny of money in their pockets right now. and they are spending it generously we have seen more demand across our restaurants than ever before we believe that is a result of two factors. number one is that people have money. and number two that the consolidation that occurred in our industry, our industry saw 100,000 restaurants close across the country. here in the state of massachusetts, we lost 3900 of our 16,000 restaurants so when you have the same number of people, if not more, going out to eat and less places to go, it is a recipe for a busy restaurant >> yeah and that is so sad, those numbers. because many of those are places that are family owned, that is their only source of income or revenue or been in the family for generations, just literally wiped out overnight. but let's hope they'll be new capital that comes in and pain opening up perhaps somebody like

you. would you look to expand, is now the time to invest in the industry >> well that is an interesting question so right now one of the things that looms largest in our industry is the restaurant revitalization fund which was funded with $28.6 billion distributed to about 30% of the $75 billion worth of applications that went into the federal government currently there are a couple of bills in congress to refill that fund there are still many, many restaurants that are out there and struggling or have never reopened and that -- those restaurants still need help. they still need help from the federal government we're hoping to get it now for me personally there is also great opportunity on the other side of this right now there is still a lot of restaurants that aren't sure of their future. that shake out is going to continue to happen over the next six to 12 months and those who have will certainly acquire those who don't will see consolidation within our industry and i believe our industry is going to re-emerge even stronger on the other side

of this pandemic >> and i'm sure you've dialed in and you know the numbers, chris. tell us about the process. all of the help that was provide and the different programs for loans and relief funds, were they easy to tap did you talk to people that did or is it still sort of a false promise out there by the federal government >> right now it is really difficult. so me personally i did not receive any funding. so that leaves boston urban hospitality with three restaurants that are open doing record sales and one that is still closed and has been closed for 16 months and without the liquidity from the rrf program, we'll never reopen that restaurant again by the way, we employed 89 people at that restaurant. their families, they rely on that income, it affects a lot of people and what we're seeing right now, one of the reasons we're seeing record sales is actually an extreme food inflation. everyone is talking about inflation not being that high. but if you're a small ru

restaurant, your invoices have never been higher. the larger groups when you talk about publicly traded companies, they have contract prices on many of their commodities. smaller restaurantures are absorbing the brunt of that inflation and in luxury increaseds, inflation could be 100% or even more on certain ingredients right now. >> and i posted last week a tweet from a local restaurant that was empty but they were turning away reservations and i could hear the owner on the phone, well you have a bunch of empty tables they have no staff and i posted that and all of the haters said pay people more. i get it we want people to earn a fair wage, a living wage, a good wage it is a hard business. but there has to be a max to what you could pay i know you're a high end restaurant but are people going to pay $100 for a steak. >> there are two sides to the story. i could tell you with confidence that i've had five jobs vacant

for the last 60 days and the base salary of that jobs is between $100 and $140,000 a year so i don't know too many people who can't make $100,000 work here in the city of boston there is something bigger going on here. there was a mass exodus from our industry some of the most talented folks in our industry, pivoted, they went to real estate or construction or industries that will be reliable our industry was notorious will you unreliable for its employees for last year and half coming back to it at this time still comes with great risk. so, yes, there are people taking a nice leisurely summer, going to the beach and enjoying federal unemployment benefits that expire in september but then there is a sub set never coming back to hospitality and leisure because they found other employment in more secure places and if that is good for them and their families i support that. but we're still struggling our labor is up through the roof our prices are through the roof.

our consumers are happy to pay those prices because i believe their very well aware of what is happening. but at what point does it stop >> chris, i have to jump in on you. i'll say to the entire audience, treat staff well they're out there working. it is our part as consumers to make sure they feel welcome andeny their job chris combs, appreciate it thank you for watching this special friday hour of "fast money. hope you enjoyed it. tip generously if you're going out this weekend have a great >> the taliban and. >> this is the news on cnbc. >> we are certainly concerned by the speed with which the taliban has been moving. >> situation critical. the taliban on kabul's doorstep. afghanistan unraveling back home the political prsu