out of the last four week we ended higher in equities >> and people say, you often get a couple years before the recession or the stock downturn hits but again, look at some of the other indicators jobless claims, you know, there's a lot of demand out there still. >> we thank sara for joining us for a little bit of the show and now it's time for us to join her. >> thanks for watching "power lunch. "closing bell" starts now. >> thank you stocks are higher again, up 1% on the s&p and the two-year/ten-year spread is about to invert. the most important hour of trading starts now welcome, everyone, to "closing bell." i'm sara eisen we have a great show coming your way including an exclusive interview with starboard value ceo jeff smith in just a few moments. plus, we'll talk to the ceo of nikola in his first interview since announcing the start of production for nikola's electric trucks the stock is up 40% in the past month. but first, here's a look at where things stand in the market a 1% gain for the s&p 500. we're going strong nearing the end of march with a

more than 5.5% gain for this market the nasdaq is in the lead again, 1.7% higher. big cap tech leads the way, and today, we get confirmation from the small caps something we have not seen lately, up 2.5% for the russell 2000 the dow is lagging, up .75%. right now, it's up about 254 points the high of the day was up more than 400 here are my top takeaways on big stories today. robinhood spiking after extending the hours it will let users trade to between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m meme trading is back, too. that's great for robinhood amc is up almost 50% gam gamestop, up 25% the key for robinhood, it needs to prove it can do well when stocks are in a bear market too, not just when they're up and not just when amc and gamestop are going to the moon because that wasn't the case earlier this year, and the trading activity ground to a halt and the stock got slammed. united health spending billions to buy lhc group

the latest insurer going deeper into home health think hospices or at-home nurses it's a growing trend as it's considering a lower cost alternative to nursing homes and hospital stays with an aging population, it's all about finding lower cost solutions. covid also boosted demand for home health. watch the competitors in the space. it is a major trend. >> and rising gas prices get all the headlines and the hand wringing, but rising food prices are likely to be more painful for household budgets. for americans in the lowest income group, food expenditures account for 11% of overall spending, according to new research from wolf 7% for high income earners gas, on the other hand, only 2% to 3% across the board politicians worried about consumers should pay more attention to food. let's get straight to our big guest, starboard value ceo, jeff smith. welcome. good to have you on the show >> great to be here. thanks for having me >> we definitely are going to talk individual stocks and your

positions, but have to start with a broad question. because we have got this unusual thing happening. the yield curve is about to invert, the twos/tens. the stock market is rallying do you see that as a signal of recession? is that something you see in the companies you're involved with >> yeah, again, sara, great to be here. great to be with you you know, from our standpoint at starboard, what we look to do is look to invest in companies we think are undervalued. you know, the overall macro environment, of course, comes into play, but it comes into play in terms of how we look to analyze companies, how we look to think about their future earnings how we look to think through the volatility of the potential results of those companies and you know, uncertainty creates a larger gap in the variability as it relates to the future prospects of those businesses do we have some concerns of course, we have some concerns i always have concerns we're always looking around corners. so it's a market that we're

watching there's opportunities for us all over the place when you see stocks sometimes stocks of this kind of volatility, we get great opportunities to pounce on companies that get thrown down from our standpoint, we think it's a good environment. but it's also something that needs to be watched. >> is there a sector or part of the market that has seen valuations correct enough that makes it more appealing for you to take your activist stakes >> yeah, i mean, from our standpoint, it's about being able to predict again within a range of outcomes the top line results and therefore the bottom line results so companies with highly recurring revenue are ones we're really attracted to. ones that can sustain shocks you know, it's a natural occurrence with what we do in our business because when we take a position in companies, it's going to cause reactions inside the company management is going to be focused not just on the business or maybe even more so on the business, but also on what they need to do to improve the

business they need to be companies that have highly recurring revenue that can sustain catalysts can sustain someone getting involved and naturally, what happens with that is it's also companies that can withstand macro shocks usually because they're so insulated and have highly recurring revenue streams. >> let's talk huntsman that was one of your top holdings you staged a proxy fight for board seats, and ended up losing what happened there, from your perspective? >> yeah, sara, well, first, let's just define winning and losing for a second. so from our standpoint, we're looking to create value for the benefit of all shareholders, and our investors are also looking for us to create value for all shareholders of which we're usually one of the large shareholders so winning and losing for us as well as for investors and shareholders in huntsman is creating value for shareholders. since we have been involved in

huntsman, i'm sure you have it on the screen, stock is up about 50% since we have been involved in huntsman. i don't think any investor would consider that a loss now, that being said, you know, i'm enormously competitive so we're not happy about going through a proxy contest and not getting people seated on the board. but it's not just about that it's about how does a company improve? when we get involved in companies, the one thing i can tell you for sure as i mentioned before, management and boards are going to have more conversations. more conversations about how they can improve their business, about what needs to happen they're going to hear from shareholders so going through a proxy contest has many, many advantages. one of which could be getting people on the board, but it's not the only advantage the other advantage is that huntsman, the management team and the board, has heard from shareholders more than it ever heard from shareholders probably in the last ten plus years since it's been public and i think what they heard,

what i know they heard is what they have been doing isn't good enough they haven't been following through on their promises. so they have now made new promises, and shareholders are going to hold them accountable, including us shareholders, research analysts, and i hope the board is going to hold them accountable. most notably, they mentioned or promised they're going to sell their textiles business, promised they're going to improve their operating margins. if that happens, there will be a lot of value created from my standpoint, am i happy no, i don't like losing at anything but as a portfolio manager, am i happy? yeah, we look to create win-win scenarios for ourselves. that's what we do. where we sit right now, if this company executes, there's going to be a lot of value that's created. if the company doesn't execute, well i think the board is going to probably take some action and if the board doesn't take some action, shareholders or we can take action later.

>> so you're holding your stake? 8% stake in that company you're not selling because you exited box after that fight went the wrong way for you as well. >> well, you know what's interesting, sara, is it's not all or none. so one of the benefits of not being on the board is that we maintain our trading flexibility. and that means we can make a risk/reward decision with our position just like every other shareholder can make a risk/reward decision with their position and so that means we can buy, we can sell and if stocks continue to appreciate in value, then we can reduce those positions if it comes back down, we can buy it again so box has performed unbelievably well, from the ipo until our involvement in box, the stock was down 35% after our involvement, the stock almost doubled so that's fantastic. that's what shareholders want. that's the catalyst that they want us to be, and that's what our investors want us to do for the benefit of those

shareholders so does that mean we need to continue to own it after the stock has doubled? certainly not in the same size we had it before does that mean if the stock comes all the way down and they miss their promises, we can always buy back in again and then we can hold them accountable again. i would be thrilled if we could do that a second time. >> jeff, stay with us because we have a lot more to talk about. i want to ask about the bid for kohl's, of course, your big stake in godaddy and much more jeff smith, we'll talk to him on the other side of the break. bl we're at session highs. the nasdaq is up almost 2% as we head to the close with the dow up 300 points. you're watching "closing bell" on cnbc.

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another solid rally on our hands. s&p up 2%. we're back with starboard value ceo jeff smith i wanted to talk about some of your new positions including godaddy which you have taken a big stake in you had success in the past with web.com. what's the plan here >> it is a space, sara, we know really well. we love the space. we love the position with godaddy. it's a terrific company. we have had really a great relationship so far with the company. we're looking forward to continuing to work with them they just recently promised $875 a share in free cash flow per share and we think there's more that's available from our standpoint, we think it's a company that's undervalued and a company that is perform really well it's got a nice mote around its business >> is that an area ripe for deals? that was what happened in the

past, web.com was taken private. there have been a number of deals there. >> i don't know if that's the first choice as it relates to it i think it's a really good company. it's a good company, a good public company look, whatever we invest in, we're looking at companies that are undervalued, and undervalued and underearning so those can be good public companies if they continue to operate really well and improve their operating performance, but of course, any company that's undervalued and underearning can also be a target and something that can be acquired, but i don't think that's the first course of action here at godaddy. >> speaking of something that can be acquired, the firm that you back, acacia, was one of the bidders for kohl's put your hat in the ring at $64. it was rejected as undervaluing the company. now the company is looking at its options, working with its bankers add goldman sachs. are you still in the running to buy kohl's do you still think it's a good target >> yeah, we really love the

kohl's business. so we have as you mentioned, we have a partnership with acacia and it's a terrific partnership where we look for companies that are undervalued that have terrific cash flow,and kohl's is an underappreciated business that has terrific cash flow, and it's a company that we really would love to own. so that's, i guess that's mostly what i can say about it. it is a business we would love to own >> got it. i know you can't say much more, as there's a process unfolding you also had some big success in the restaurant industry when it comes to turnarounds papa's johns, is that industry at this moment ripe for activism and for some plays i know carl icahn is in mcdonald's for instance. trying to get better treatment for pork is that an area that still interests you? >> of course i mean, i'm still the chair of the board at papa john's, and i love that.

it's a terrific business it's a great brand, great products i love the restaurant industry we love the restaurant industry. look, honestly, from our standpoint, just about every industry is an opportunity for us what we do is we look for companies in each industry, and there's also companies that are the best performers in the industry, and then there's companies that are poor performers if the companies that are poor performs in the industry have terrific assets, then that's an opportunity for us to get involved and be acatalyst for change and improve the operational performance of those businesses so it can be any industry, but particularly in restaurants, again, yeah, we had a lot of success in restaurants you mentioned darden and papa john's, honestly, a true joy to work with the company and work with the management team on a really tremendous transformation >> trying to make some news here want you to reveal your next target, jeff what about spacs last time we spoke, you were

launching a spac you have done one with a data company. that's a part of the market that people group in with a lot of the speculative areas. bubbles even, that have popped as the fed started raising interest rates, with the meme trades and the cryptoes, and there have been questions about the quality of these spacs what would you say to some of that criticism >> look, i think spacs, and i have said this before publicly, a spac is just an alternative way for a company to go public and you know, it was more en vogue. it's now lessen vogue. it's another way for a company to go public it's more of a staetement about how inefficient the traditional ipo is, and the traditional ipo really needs to be revamped. it's too expensive, too inefficient, and the spac was a way to go at it. i don't think it's the last way.

there needs to be an evolution as to how companies go public to find the most efficient ways for them to go public. there are many good companies that have gone public through a merger with a spac six tara is one of them. it's a terrific company. again, it's undervalued compared to its peers and it has an opportunity to continue its assent and it's performed well, one of the better performing d-spac companies, and we have talked about this before. i don't really know when a company that has finished its merger and a d-spac becomes just a regular public company, but i would argue cyxtera at this point is just a regular company and we're going to need to move on from those labels because it doesn't really matter how a company knows public once it's a public company >> we're out of time, but karen writing in, do you think kohl's is going through the motions or is it going to be pursuing a deal here?

>> yeah, sara, i wish i knew the answer to that i don't know that any of us are going to know the answer to that until the end. by the way, i'm not sure if they know the answer to that. you know, which look, i have been, as you know, i have been a board member for lots of companies. my suspicion is they're running a very real process, and it's going to depend on the outcome as it relates to that process. as a board member, you have to analyze the proposals that come in, compare to your risk adjusted stand alone plan, and i'm not sure how they could possibly know what that -- a good board member could possibly know the end result of this until they know what the proposals look like and analyze it against their risk adjusted plan >> keep us posted on that, jeff. thank you. and all the positions. we appreciate the time jeff smith of starboard. >> give you a quick check of the markets here because we're going strong again visa is the biggest contributor to the dow gains today and we are seeing those gains accelerate in this final hour of

trade. up 1.86% on the nasdaq. every sector positive except for energy oil selling off on homes of a cease-fire or a deal between russia and ukraine real estate is your best performer sector along with technology, consumer discretionary, and communication services check out shares of nikola they are significantly higher over the past month, boosted by news it has begun production of its battery powered truck. finally. coming up, we'll talk to the ceo, mark russell, about that news and the impact of rinisg commodity prices on ev makers. we'll be right back.

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welcome back to "closing bell." check out some of today's top searched tickers on cnbc.com ten-year yield holds the top spot yields are moving south, but the big story is the inversion in the two-year/ten hch year curve, which is about to occur. tesla is number two, higher again today. it's been on a very strong hot streak this month. amc at number three after a huge rally in yesterday's session

and keeping it going today crude oil next, falling on hopeful signs from russia/ukraine peace talks, and gamestop giving a little back. 1.6% after a tremendous rally this week. apple was number six on pace for its 11th straight day of gains longest winning streak since 2003 shares of ev maker nikola rallying 20% since announcing last week it's started production of its electric commercial truck ceo mark russell joins us next for an exclusive interview on the outlook for new orders and how parts shortages can impact production we'll be right back.

shares of nikola have been on a roll since last week when the company announced it has begun production of its battery electric semitruck in the arizona factory. it does expect to deliver between 300 and 500 trucks this year the company announced a new partnership with a financing company for sales of nikola products joining us is nikola ceo, mark russell. good to have you on the show welcome. >> thank you >> i think the reaction from investors to hearing the news ibt the truck being in production was wow it's finally here, and it's a real thing what are you saying about where you are right now in this

journey? >> we're super excited to be at this inflection point where we have been shooting for being able to produce a truck since we were in the basement years ago so this is really an important milestone in our growth as a company, to be at the point where we can actually start serious production last week and have trucks in the hands of our customers starting next month. >> so tell us what you are seeing as far as orders and the timeline for those >> well, we have no shortage of demand everybody wants and needs zero emission trucks. when we go to customers and say, hey, we have got a truck that's in production, we think the total cost of ownership of this cost compared to a diesel is going to be competitive. and the response to that is when can i get one? when can i get started that's enabled us to pick and choose our spots in the market we're launching with customers who are very allied with us and

aligned with us in terms of how we want the market, and we're super excited about these launch customers and they're super excited about the truck. there's not a shortage of demand >> mark, i can't help but think of that fake truck demo that got you guys in trouble with the prototype rolling down the hill. obviously, it's been a huge source of litigation for you how much work have you had to do to gain the credibility of investors who wonder if it's the real deal this time around >> well, we're focused on hitting those milestones like the start of production. that's what we want to focus on. it's going forward continuing to hit our milestones so far, we have been able to do pretty much we said we would do. and so the question people have about us now is can we scale it? especially in the face of the headwinds of supply chain shortages that you see around the world today. >> you feel like you have won back the trust of the investor

community? i know the founder, trevor milton, is facing a trial that starts as soon as this week or next facing fraud charges >> that's water under the bridge for us we're focused on moving forward at this point. we're so excited to be in production with this truck to be on track, to be in production with our fuel cell hydrogen powered truck next year, and to have our hydrogen infrastructure going in. we think that potentially has a chance to change the world, to decarbonize one of the hardest sectors of the economy to decarbonize, which is heavy haul, long distance transport. that is extremely difficult to decarbonize, and nikola has a solution for that. which is of course why we have no shortage of demand. >> yeah, the stock is surging again today. 9.5%, mark so what about the supply chain shortages and the inflation we're seeing in different materials that go into these batteries? does that set you back at all?

how are you dealing with all of that >> we have been able to go forward in spite of it, but i have to say it's the biggest supply chain challenge i have seen in my several decades of trying to do stuff like this i have never seen shortages so pervasive and so acute really difficult situation, which is why you gotta give kudos to our team. we have a great internal supply chain, supply chain team, world class, and they are teamed up with world class partners. ee have world class partners and partners like bosch and echo people who are really, really good on a global scale, who are helping us deal with this. that's how we have been able to get parts to start production last week, and to shoot for producing at least 300 trucks. we think we have enough parts lined up to produce at least 300 trucks this we're. we think if we are good and

lucky, too, we might get up to 500 trucks this year and then we can scale up to multiples of that next year we're cautiously optimistic about being able to do that. >> well, keep us posted on the progress mark russell, thank you for the update ceo of nikola. >> thank you >> up another 10% now. here's where we stand in the markets. rally day again to end off what has been a very strong month for wall street. we're up almost 2% on the nasdaq session highs, s&p up 1.25%. every sector higher except for energy the dow also gaining traction in the final hour 322. activist investor carl icahn setting his sights on grocery giant kroger this news just breaking. he w details for you when we come back nice suits, you guys blend right in. the world needs you back. i'm retired greg, you know this. people have their money just sitting around doing nothing... that's bad, they shouldn't do that. they're getting crushed by inflation. well, i feel for them. they're taking financial advice from memes. [baby spits out milk]

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welcome back to "closing bell." some news just breaking on kroger this afternoon. the grocery giant saying activist investor carl icahn has submitted his intention to nominate two directors to the company's board. kroger saying it first heard from icahn last friday and he's voiced his concerns concerning animal welfare and use of gestation in creates >> here's the letter that icahn sent to kroger it's dated today and he has two issues. number one, he has issues with the ceo pay. which he says is unconscionable. sort of the spread between what the ceo makes and what the median worker makes. then he takes issue with the same thing he's taking issue with at mcdonald's, that is pork you mentioned these gestation crates he says, i'm going toread a portion. the wage gap between the ceo and median worker is unconscionable.

he nominated two people to the board, by the way. our candidates will take our concerns about what he calls deplorable animal suffering and these wage gaps at kroger seriously, and add proper oversight. our concerns regarding kroger's governance go beyond animal suffering and other terrible practices, taking place at industrialized factory farms that he says are supported by kroger's patronage when we first heard about the story, you're like, but kroger doesn't produce pigs well, they do support the farms where he has issue with the way that pigs are treated. he cites, as i said, the ceo of pay packet $22.4 million in 2020. he calls it totally reprehensible. that while you manage to personally profit from the extremely high margins caused by the pandemic, at the same time reneging on your hero bonus promise to front line workers. you know kroger better than anybody. i don't know the company that well

so i don't go what they promised their workers and what they're not allegedly following through on >> they promised a series of hero pay bonus bumps for frontline workers during covid this got a ton of attention at this time because they were the heroes, right, that were working throughout the crisis. as did a lot of other grocery stores, but then the company came under fire for the profits it was making and the ceo pay, and all that it's sort of largely moved past that it's been raising wages for its employees. i find it interesting that i con is sort of an esg investor >> he sided with mcdonald's in the conversation that we had on overtime that his daughter's work with the humane society and that at this stage of his life, he was thinking about different issues, that he wasn't in that to make money. and from what i understand, this is an equally small position in kroger as well, so money is not the object here.

i'll quote you another part from the letter not my goal to tell you how to run kroger operationally, nor make money from my small in investment and proxy campaign. i view it as my mission to make changes where i can by doing what i do best in areas i consider to be glaring injustices i think it's this stage, this late stage of his career, he's focusing in part because he's still very active as an activist that we all know, he's just focused on some different issues >> goinger has been a very well performing stock up 25%, one of the best performing staples as far as agitating for board seats, it might be more challenging. the other thing i would ask, mcdonald's, they came out with a proxy statement yesterday and there's not been much traction from mr. icahn so the timing is interesting. >> it's a small position in mcdonald's there's only so much he can exert. and mcdonald's has pledged to

make changes and kroger is responding, too. they said they first heard from icahn friday, and he voiced his concerns they say their practices are upstanding, et cetera, but more to come. if i know anything about carl ika ic icahn, he's going to try to exert as much change as he can in the period of time he feels like devoting to this. in part it's motivated by family issues this daughter works with humane society. he says i'm going to exert the change i can >> i don't think it goes against anything kroger is trying to do, being humane to animals. >> the ceo pay is a whole other issue, and he has issue with that he nominated two people by the deadline to do so. that's why this all comes out now. he had to do it by the deadline, which was just recent, so he did

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near session highs up 1.25% on the s&p. this even as the bond market flashes a potential recession sign the ten-year and two-year treasury yield spread close to inverting. keith lerner, cochief investment officer, keith, is it odd to you that the market is rallying as this treasury, very reliable yield curve recession indicator is flashing red? >> yeah, first, great to be with you. it's remarkable that the market is now only down les than 3% for the year, and regarding your question, the yield curve matters, but it's not the only thing that matters as we look at the work historically, it does not -- it has not paid to sell just because we have a yield curve inversion. it does raise the risk, but if you look historically, we have studied seven yield inversions, and 12 month later, the market has been up five out of seven times with an average gain of 11%. again, it matters, but there's a lot of other things that matter as well. >> including what the fed does earlier this afternoon, i spoke

with the philadelphia fed president, patrick harker about the fed's plan for rate hikes and the pace of it i asked whether he believes there should be a 50 or double basis point hike at the next meeting. here's what he said about that >> not at this point, but i wouldn't take it off the table i am a median dautd if you look at the dot plot. i was in for seven 25-basis point increases. >> he did say he thinks the fed can accomplish what he says is a safe landing but there may be bumped along the way he also weighed in on what he thinks is the best way to shrink the balance sheet. >> my view is we start on a process of reducing the size and then put it on auto pilot. not use that as a tool of monetary policy. it's hard to do policy with two things moving at the same time put the balance sheet normalization on autopilot and then we can adjust if necessary the fed funds rate going forward. >> keith, how is the market going to take that last time fed chair powell said the balance sheet shrinking was on autopilot, market didn't like

it >> yeah, i think right there, it shows it's complicated historically, as we saw the policy early on, the market still tends to rise. this is a reason we thought we would have more significant corrections, more frequent corrections. this debate will continue as a whole. so one thing we look back historically, sara, we said where has the fed historically been when they started to first raise rates as far as the unemployment rate and inflation. it shows beyond the curve. if you look at the average unemployment rate, it's been 6%. today, we're sub-4, and inflation has been around 2.5% when they started to raise rates. today it's 7%. they have a big task in front of them that transition is going to create lot of volatility even though we think the market trend is higher, the amount of risk we're taking today is less than a year ago or two years ago. >> keith, we're going to come back to you before the close but i do want to hit movers

right now. robinhood jumping higher today after the company announced it is adding an additional four hours of extended trading. they'll allow trading between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m previously, they couldonly trade 30 minutes before the market opens and two hours after trading ends new hours match what many rivals offer. let's bring in kate rooney for more high is the market so excited about this how does it fit in with the broader strategy >> it's interesting. robinhood has really had to change its playbook since it went public last summer. the retail trading boom has sloaned down and that's been reflected in the stock it had to look to some of the other areas offinance like banking, spending products and 401(k)s, but the important backdrop and the reason the stock is up so much is trading and investing is still robinhood's bread and butter transaction based revenue maked up about 72% of robinhood's top line so by expanding the trading

hours here, it's expanding the opportunity to make money and analysts see that as a positive. the stock getting a boost as a result, and it has been sold off. it's down significantly from the high last year, and the expansion of trading hours also appears to be a reaction to people just going back to work so in a blog post, they lay this out. and explain that dynamic they say customers are telling robinhood they're either working or they're preoccupied during regular market hours and a lot of these new investors really got into trading while they may have been working from home, so they're sort of trying to accommodate that and letting people react to market news, just havemore time to trade. they also talk about sort of the eventual goal of 24/7 stock trading which would mirror crypto markets, and as we know, those are open 24/7 and on the weekends and a lot of robinhood traders do both. so socks and crypto tend to be in the same portfolio in a lot of cases for robinhood traders they may have grown to expect the ability to trade longer

hours, so it seems like robinhood is looking to pivot and accommodate here the stock up big on that news. >> the meme stock rally this week helps as well, i would think. kate, thank you. also just a shout out to steven shoe back who put out the first positive note on robinhood, said it's a tactical long good call there. >> lululemon gearing up to report fourth quarter results after the bell shares are rallying today. still down about 11% this year analysts will be watching for progress on the integration of the mirror acquisition plus any comments about the new footwear line they launched last week with us is jefferies retail analyst randy conic. for so long, this was the favorite of analysts like you. now that nike has had such a strong quarter and is continuing to grow share, where does lulu stand? >> look, i think you hit the nail on the head everyone knows lululemon is going to have a good quarter they preannounced the quarter at the conference in january. so it all comes down to what's the outlook and where do we go from here. if you think about lulu, the

growth algorithm expected by the street going into 2022 and beyond, it's over 15% revenue growth as you said, nike is doing a great job of coming back into the marketplace. nike is nike so if you take nike really on fire combined with a lot more competition for lulu, combined with what you just talked about, mirror integration of the acquisition of mirror, as well as the recent launch of the footwear line, we think lululemon has a lot on their plate going into 2022. we think that lack of focus or that added items to their plate could dilute their focus and create some issues of execution as we go into the back part of 2022 >> that's so interesting, randy, because a lot of analysts are excited about the new revenue streams and new products because lulu has had really good success with product and with resonating with consumers just for context, you're on hold with the price target of 340, which is basically where we are right now.

why are you not a believer in that case? because it's always been, sure, nike is maybe bigger and more competitive, but lulu has such high growth rate ahead it's coming from such a small base internationally and with product lines. >> yeah, i think what's interesting for investors to kind of consider is to look at other movies or other stocks that have done things like this before a company that comes to mind is under armour if you remember back 10, 15 years ago, under armour was all about selling shorts and shirts, and then they went into footwear, and then when they went into footwear, it diluted their focus off shirts and shorts and so on and so forth, or for apparel we think that's a key risk item for lululemon, from here, because since its ipo, it has focused on just selling apparel. now going into footwear and the mirror acquisition, very challenging to say the least we think that's going to put a lot of issues ahead for lulu in terms of being able to execute upon all of these items in 2022,

'23, and '24 >> randy, thank you for joining us on lulu >> the other mover after the bell will be micron, which reports shares are up nearly 3% as we head into the close. let's bring in cj muse, you're expecting a strong quarter, right? a beat and a raise, and say that the sell-off in the stock has been overdone? >> yeah, thanks for having me. you know, stock has underperformed by 15 points in the last four weeks, and so given our vision for a small beat on the guide, we think that's enough. obviously, there's fears around the end market consumer and inflationary environment and the impact on smartphone demand, but that's not it for the company. servers, cloud, auto networking, industrial, will make up for that and we think the second half will continue to grow versus the first half >> supply chain also going to be important. cj, thank you for your quick take on micron also want to hit injury because

is the only sector in the red. on russia/ukraine talks. joining us is chris wheaton. which way do prices go with these hopes now of some sort of peace deal and with the new developments around the chinese lockdowns which have pressured prices >> i think we all have to hope that the peace talks do go somewhere and that it will have an effect on oil prices definitely i think in the short run, what the market is concerned about, impacting china, and also the impact of high oil prices are having if you think of the impacts as being in a few hundred thousand barrels a day, the market has to get past the fact we have taken between 2 and 4 million barrels a day of russian exports off the market and that's a pretty big chunk of missing supplies to cope with. >> so chris, ultimately, what do you do with these stocks which have had already such a strong

run-up if the environment still looks pretty bullish for the companies, the u.s. now asking these producers to get back into production mode. >> you're still looking at a pretty constructive oil price because you're looking at stocks of oil and refined product they are still pretty tight. if you're looking at the refined market product, it's clear the gasoline and diesel prices are going to stay elevated for some period of time you're looking at refining margins that are probably going to stay elevated for a period of time, certainly into next year that's going to be quite positive for the whole stocks. >> yeah, what does it do for earnings expectations in the group and where do you see the biggest dislocations with the prices there >> i think you have focus on things like refining margins i think the market is missing

the fact refining margins are gauche to be quite levated and i think the market is quite fixated on where the oil price, the brent benchmark is actually there's an awful lot of trading around that moment, and brent is less of a benchmark for the global oil industry than is being thought probably as long as i have been an analyst, over 20 years and that's because you're seeing this big dislocation in global trade and seeing some countries being able to buy cheap russian crude and benefit from that. obviously, china and india are two good examples of that. they're still keeping trade with russia going >> chris wheetaton, thank you f joining us >> let's get back to the broader market because we are still going strong up 311 on the dow as we go into the close. keith lerner rejoins us. the vish is below 19 yesterday, we closed below 20. fear coming out of the market as well i think you mentioned you're still long, but wouldn't necessarily be adding a whole lot to risk. how do you think about this?

is this a technical move based on positioning or have the fundamentals really changed for you to be a buyer? >> well, i think it's a little bit of both. the technical move, we got way oversold, very negative sentiment and people were not positioned for the rebound as i speak to clients, everyone is like, why is this market going up i think we continue to squeeze up over the next few days into quarter end. i will say the fundamentals are strong earnings this year have continued to rise as a new cycle high i think that's a positive. but what i think as we move into the quarter, we're more in a range, moving toward the upper end of the range with a 20 multiple on the s&p or near a 20 multiple today i still think we're going to be somewhat more range bound and digest some of the recent gains as we head into the next quarter. >> keith, thank you for being with me into the close i want to review where we are. the ark innovation fund surging 7% every stock in that etf is higher right now a lot of these stocks have a lot

of catching up to do, but robinhood is part of the story there, up 23%. some of the biotechs cathie wood likes as well are higher real estate is your best performer sector in the s&p. every sector is positive except for energy technology is number two, right there, remember, we have micron earnings after the bell. consumer discretionary also going strong tesla up around .5%. up 8.6% so far for the week. and it's only tuesday. still about 12% off the recent highs. what else is working right now communication services, utilities, staples, industrials, all green. the dow jones industrial average up almost a full percent right now. more than 300 points visa is the biggest contributor to the gains nike also adding about 26 points boeing, 35 points to the dow the nasdaq is doing the best with the tech rebound today. apple up for the 11th day in a row. longest win streak for that company since 2003 again, coming up to the end of the month of march, and it has been so solid for the stock market a big surprise as the fed began

hiking interest rates and hinting at more rate hikes to come, and of course, the war in ukraine. some hopes of a peace deal, but nothing on the table just yet. there goes the bell. near session highs, up 1.2% in the s&p 500. that's going to do it for me here on "closing bell. have a great evening, everyone i'll send it into "overtime" with scott wapner. >> they got a big crowd down here welcome to "overtime." i'm scott wapner you just heard the bells we're just getting started we havea busy hour ahead earnings from micron and lulu breaking any minute now. pete najarian reacting to both he owns both and in just a little bit we'll be joined by jpmorgan's top stock strategist we begin with our talk of the tape this incredibly resilient rally. even as a key recession siren very close to sounding for the first time in years. t'