normalize, does the fed need to hike >> is the cure for high prices high prices? and do the inventories build i have been looking for a car. i have not felt compelled to buy one just yet >> exactly sell it. dom, thank you thanks for watching "power lunch. >> "closing bell" starts, wait for it, right now. >> thank you, we're at session highs after a big afternoon upturn in the market most important hour of trading starts now welcome, everyone, to "closing bell." i'm sara eisen here's where we stand in the market very different picture than where we stood this morning. up .5% on the s&p 500. the nasdaq has gone positive as well it's up .25% the dow is up 133 points we were down 300 earlier today small caps are lagging, still in the red. but boy, what a turnaround just in the last hour or so what's taking us higher? defensive, health care, staples.

financials also popping into the green and consumer discretionary all doing well right now here are my top takeaways. berkshire hathaway becoming the largest shareholder of hp with a $4.2 billion stake reflecting some buffett style attributes deep value and one note, buffett's own steady portfolio has been performing well. berkshire is up 15 prs this year with the market down 6%. so boring, low value, cash generating stocks are working better in this environment and here's a chart for you for the moment the size of the fed's balance sheet compared to the s&p 500. we have a very strong correlation here and that makes sense the market loves liquidity and stimulus as that rose, as the balance sheet ballooned, so did the market when it shrinks, the market struggles. think 2018 the difference now, it's going to happer faster and more aggressively that's what the fed told us as it tries to tighten credit to

fight inflation. stocks may be in for a bumpy ride let's get to our top story the nasdaq comeback, clawing its way back from a 1.4% decline it's still down 2.5% on the week names like nvidia and salesforce down much more than that is there more pain and volatility to come in tech mark muhana covers the stocks. mike santoli, and kristina partsinevelos at the nasdaq. mike, though, kick it off with the turnaround that we have seen here, which now includes the nasdaq 100, up about .6% anything cause it? >> i didn't see a trigger except for the fact that the s&p 500 spent a lot of time today and yesterday at the exact same levels we did not break new lows. we're stim talking about a 3%, 3.5% pullback from the highs the other piece of it that's a little hazier and bigger picture is we have been inundated with so much hawkish fed speak. we got more today. yesterday, the minutes there was no further ability of

that talk in the short term to cost equities any further downside to me, it's much more about we have sort of arrived at a place where we think we know what the fed outlook is, gearing up for earnings, and you know, the market bent in the short term but didn't break >> are you saying it's all priced in? >> it's priced in for the moment based on where we see, i absolutely never know if there's a moment in time where it's fully priced in, but i feel like the next six months, the next few meetings seem relatively clear. and just based on the circumstantial evidence of the market didn't go down further after we got all this detail, i mean, i'll take that for what it's worth >> mark mahaney, has all of this crazy volatility and underperformance of your group make you think differently about the stocks you are recommending to clients right now >> i don't think so. i think i still want to be muted and cautious, and i want to stick with consumer tech i want to stick with the pe names, not the ps names. the stocks you can buy on price

turnings multiples, not the stocks you have to buy on price to sales multiples, because the futures are in the future. >> like what >> google, amazon, probably at the top of the list. facebook actually should still be in there if you're a 12-month investor and then i love this seconder, and i know you don't like the term i know you find it nerdy, but the venn diagram stocks that are high quality and recovery names. boo booking and even expedia names that have been battle tested, balance sheets and business models, but we're clearly seeing a recovery in summer travel, unless russia/ukraine takes it off the table. i think you'll have a robust travel season and some of the names look booging are a way to do that. >> booking ceo told us no resistance to higher prices for airlines and hotels. mark, i wanted to ask you about amazon because i know it's one of your top picks. it's been a little shaky

today, barclays recommended target as a defensive play if americans are going to cut back on discretionary spending. is amazon that as well how big of a component is the staples for amazon buyers? >> well, look, amazon is more discretionary than staples, but that's changed over the last five to ten years. we have all kind of lived through that look what's happened to your average amazon bill. we bought more staples into that why i like amazon here, there are going to be top line issues. currency is a big issue in tech. consumer weakness may be in, but i think amazon still holds as a margin expansion story this year if i'm right about that, that's the unlock on the stock. they created the pnl last year with so many one-time expenses related to covid and supply chain inefficiencies i think margins rise i think the stock works. also with two years of massive

investment they put in their shipping infrastructure, i think we're finally going to see an r in all that i, a return in all that investment. i love the concept of shipping elasticity the faster they ship, the more people will buy. you have a great value play in the internet space here's your chance, amazon >> chris kristina, you flagged cyber and some of the stocks that had got mixed in with all of the selling around technology and high raluation companies hot what are you hearing >> people saying maybe it's too low for the cyber stocks, especially given the near term, the push into the cloud, so maybe it's oversold. some people are quoting dan ives because he put out a note saying cyber is one to get into, the same thing with software stocks. maybe there's a point when it comes to software as a big push, but to mark's point that he just mentioned the vendiagrams, the stocks that overlap, that says

companies like data dog and the ones that aren't profitable you need to get out of because the high flying growth stocks we have been in and reaping the benefits for so long may no longer sustain you want to move over to those large cap companies with free cash flows that can play this volatility in the near term. so i don't know, i think maybe it was more of a question for mark to stay away from these high flying stocks because they don't overlap in your diagram. >> no, i think that's the point. hp maybe, kristina it's hardware, but steady cash flow warren buffett likes it. >> okay, so then it's a voalue play, but it's an example, where is this transition to software, this transition to make chips? you could argue hp has fallen behind the curve they need to speed up. they don't have the ecosystem like apple does to keep the customers on par and locked in to their systems so it's a big question mark. some people think it's a great value. warren buffett does of course and a lot of analysts, but long

term, where is their transition? >> or maybe his deputies we don't know, but either way, berkshire, top shareholder up 15% thank you all for joining me with this rebound continuing, up 150 on the dow >> after the break, mohamed el-erian weighing in on the market comeback, gives us his take on the hawkish turn from the fed. you're watching "closing bell" on cnbc.

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were down 300 at the lows. today's stealth mover, constellation brands the modelo parent near the top of the s&p 500 after earnings and revenue topped estimates beer was a bright spot, the company says distributor inventories have returned to more normal levels, constellation also announcing a $500 million accelerated buyback, and that stock responding well. up 5%. >> overall, big comeback today but still pacing for losses on the week this comes as we continue to hear much more hawkish commentary from fed officials. st. louis fed president jim bullard saying rates may still need to rise 300 basis points. joining us is mohamed el-erian, president of queens college cambridge and always great to have you i think that the key question for equity investors right now is how much of this new tightening talk and plans, which is very hawkish, is already priced into the market

bonds are getting it, but the s&p is only 6% off the highs is that priced in? for i think stocks have been incredibly resilient and there's several reasons why they have been more resilient than the fixed income market. they're confident in the labor market and we got a strong jobless claims number today. second, financial conditions haven't actually tightened that much, sara as much as we talk about it, we still have very loose financial conditions overall and third, where do you go you may not like stocks, but they are the cleanest dirty shirt. where else are you going to go for now, the resilient is totally understandable i think the market is yet to fully grasp the extent to which the liquidity regime will change therefore, you have heard me say this is a good time to take some chips off the table. >> take your chips off and move, what, to cash? to your point, where are you going to go? >> move to the short end of the

curve. take some chips off. keep, you know, keep most of the exposure still in, but have some dry powder we have seen the sorts of moves you can get. look what happened to the nasdaq earlier. so far it's been all about interest rate risk and the equity market has navigated that very well. but keep an eye on credit risk and liquidity risk because those are much harder to equities >> are you talking about the trimming of the balance sheet? what was your reaction to what the fed announced on that front and how the market could react >> i think the market is pricing in much more now qt. the reversal there has been significant. you know, $1 trillion a year, which will not just be passive, it will probably be an active part to it, is a significant number so that's something that you have got to take into account. and the reality is we don't have a playbook for this. so we have to stay incredibly

agile to navigate through it >> you're sounding bearish are you in the recession camp? >> so you have known for a long time i have warned that the longer the fed is late, and the fed is very late, the greater the risk that stagflation becomes the baseline that the right tale of goldilocks gets pushed way out and that recession develops into your left tail i think that's where we are. stagflation, lower growth, persistently high inflation. that's now the baseline unfortunately. it didn't need to be, but it is. and recession is a tail risk it's not in my baseline, but it's in the distribution of possible outcomes. >> so do you think the risk at this point is that the fed does more or less tightening than what the bond market is expecting right now? >> so if you put a gun to my head, okay, i would tell you the most likely outcome is that they

will try to validate what's priced into the bond market. so they're going to slam on the brakes including 50 basis points in march, in may, talk about 50 basis points again later in the year, they're going to realize that's too much so they're going to loosen up again. and then they're going to tighten again in 2023. i think you're most probably going to see a flip-flop, they're going to try to validate what's in the marketplace, but they're going to find the real economy cannot absorb these type of conditions. >> maybe that's why the equity market has been so resilient, because it's looking on the oother side of this as paul mccully said yesterday, and it sees an easing and not a tightening once they overdo it on the tightening. >> remember, i said easing and then tightening again. you have to get rid of the inflation issue. we cannot live with this inflation overhang

so i think there are easier reasons to explain why equity has done well, and most importantly, it's where else do you go you asked the question yourself, do you go into cash with inflation 8% going to 10%? >> bonds are yielding more now >> they are yielding more, but that journey isn't finished. that journey is not finished ee have come from very repressed levels we are -- this is payback for years of fed intervention in markets and artificial valuations in the fixed income market we haven't finished the repricing of the fixed income market yet >> how high do you think the ten-year goes? >> i suspect you'll see another 25, 50 basis points. you'll see -- but what i can't predict with confidence is what the shape of the curve looks like and at the end of the day, the shape is going to be as important as the levels.

right now, there's a price discovery process going in fixed income, depending on which bit of the curve you're looking at, you get a different answer there's also price discovery in the oil market there's so much uncertainty about demand, about supply, about liquidity, that we are in discovery mode right now >> mohamed el-erian, thank you very much. the right guest for the moment >> check on the markets. we keep building on the gains. a stunning turnaround we have seen the dow is up .5%. s&p 500 up .75%. most sectors turned green except for real estate, communication services and utilities and the nasdaq building as well on the tech comeback up .5% right now >> up next, banks turning higher along with the rest of the market we'll take a closer look at valuations in the sector as the firms gear up for earnings next week >> plus, check out shares of levi giving up a post-earnings pop after last night's results topped estimates the ceo chip bergh will join us

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bank stocks still under pressure this week the kbw banks index down 3% since monday as the big firms are set to report results next week mike santoli taking a closer look at bank valuations. >> yeah, the valuations specifically of the bellwether of the group, jpmorgan chase, it's down more than 15% year to date obviously, concerns about investment banking and trading revenues on top of the credit story. the forward pe for jpm is down around this floor since 2019 call it 12 times, a little under that obviously, not as cheap as it has been at some points over the past seven years or so this down here under 10 or so was around the dimon bottom where jamie dimon bought shares in the company and the market and shares shot up also the dividend yield back above 3% obviously, this is the covid crash when the yield shot higher because the stock crashed. it shows you some value is being

rebuilt if you can have confidence about the outlook for the consumer and obviously markets in general >> overall financials have held up better than some of the other groups down about 4% on the year. mike, thanks up next, levi strauss ceo chip bergh fresh off earnings on what he's seeing from the consumer right now and how much flexibility he has to keep raising prices

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take a look at shares of

levi strauss initially higher an its reporting last night the stock reversed course earlier today and now rebounding but still lower. joining me here at post 9 is today's closer, levi strauss ceo chip bergh welcome. nice to see you. the only person allowed to wear jeans at the stock exchange. >> they changed the rules just for us >> for the day >> they took the sign down >> totally >> the sign is no longer at the door >> did not know that we may come in in jeans tomorrow you have to be frustrated with the market reaction after putting up a quarter like this >> we're in it for the long haul we are a very, very strong quarter. our first quarter of the year, off to a good start. a lot of headwinds, a lot of uncertainty out there, but we beat our own internal expectations we also beat consensus across the board on every metric. and we maintained guidance despite all of the challenges and headwinds we're facing >> supply chain. >> supply chain, russia, you

know, there are a number, and inflation, just cost inflation >> is all that getting worse, better, the same >> let's say there's still quite a bit of uncertainty, but this company has a track record of navigating through the uncertainty really, really well. when we gave guidance at the beginning of the fiscal year, the war wasn't happening in ukraine. we have seen costs get a little more challenging over the last couple months. cotton is continuing to go up. and the macro picture is a little more uncertain today than it was three months ago. but despite all of those challenges, we have held our guidance in part because of the strength of our brand. i mean, the levi's brand today, i have been saying for probably two years that the brand has never been stronger. i think i can say confidently now, the brand is the strongest that it's ever been. and you see that in our gross margins. record gross margins of 59.4%.

and it's because pricing is sticking >> will you continue to raise prices >> we have more price increases baked into our plan. we don't have our head in the sand we're watching the consumer very closely, but the consumer is robust right now here in the u.s. demand is very strong on a global basis we have a big global footprint, and our business is healthy across all regions of the world. so we have got confidence that we can continue to take prices, if needed, to soff set continue pl price pressure >> a lot of stocks took a hit after the macy's ceo made comments at a conference where you were suggesting at the lower end of the scale, consumers might opt for travel and vacations and services instead of at department stores on clothing have you seen anything like that >> no, and in fact, mastercard released data today that suggests and they said in their release, the consumer is still

very robust, very healthy here in the u.s we haven't seen any evidence of any softening of demand here in the u.s., and in fact, we were in our new york sales office yesterday, i was talking with a couple of the sales folks. and demand remains really, really strong. i think it gets back to the point that levi's is such a strong brand we're not seeing our open buy budgets get cut by our key customers. we're seeing demand in our own store being very, very robust. the brand is hot and consumers are willing to pay higher prices. our business was up 22% this last quarter half of that was through pricing. the other half was through unit growth so demand is not abating, despite the fact that we have been successful passing along pricing. >> one thing that's helped has been the denim cycle we all threw out our jeans after the pandemic, our skinny jeans had to get mom jeans and tapered

jeans and flare jeans. how long does that last? >> you're right, there are two tailwinds helping the business one is the continuization of casualization. the casualization dynamic is now a global funomnon. that's a tail wnd, and then the second thing is we led a new denim trend to these looser, baggier fits which is the new style. unlike the last big trend, which was skinny jeans, skinny jeans was really a women's business dynamic. the new denim cycle cuts across both men's and women's business. the looser, baggier fit. the last cycle lasted over a decade i'm not going to brikt that this is going to go a decade, but there's still a lot of momentum behind this new denim cycle. it gives consumers, as we come out of the pandemic, a reason to go update their wardrobe a reason to go out and buy that combines with casualization and economy starting to reopen,

people going back to concerts, going back to parties, going out for dinner, you know, that is driving consumption. >> really quickly, any softness in europe or china because you are global i know you pulled out of russia, but there are more concerns about the global economy than even the u.s >> china is soft right now because they're dealing with covid and a number of big cities in china are shut down or are locked down. we have about 60 doors in china that are closed right now. so china is very soft. and in fact, since the beginning of the pandemic, we haven't seen traffic return to normal levels in china, and still off pretty significantly versus pre-pandemic levels. but for us, china is a relatively small part of our business, only about 3% of total revenues we haven't pulled out of russia yet. we have temporarily suspended our commercial operations there. but that also is a small part of our business, 2% western europe, which is a good chunk of our business, is very

healthy. it's because, again, the brand is resonating there with the consumer >> stock is off the lows, still lower. given the forecast you had i'm sure you're puzzled by that reaction >> give it time. i have a lot of confidence in the long term of this business the strength of the brand, the strength of our portfolio. we're going to be just fine. now may be a good time to buy. >> chip bergh, ceo of levi strauss, thank you >> inflation taking a bite out of conagra's earnings and guidance, despite price increases. up next, the big picture on why that could be a warning sign for investors in food stocks ight 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] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ good to have you back, old friend. yeah, eyes on the road, benny. welcome to a new chapter in investing. [ding] e*trade now from morgan stanley.

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conagra. the stock only slightly higher after some earlier losses and big picture, we triy to glean a macro message. taking a bite out of earnings, the economy. co conagra is behind slim jims and duncan hines it had a good quarter because it was able to pass along higher prices but conagra saying it expected gross inflation to rise 16% and lowered the earnings expectations as a result the company said it would pass on higher prices to consumers, but that would take time the bottom line, inflation is wreaking havoc, and just because companies have pricing power and see a stronger consumer, it's still a major increase in cost for these firms not just consumers. the stock does close higher. could be a signal that investors are looking past it and see a peak don't miss the ceo, sean conley, of conagra on "mad money" tonight. >> we'll get another read on inflation and consumer spending

tomorrow when we speak exclusively with -- tomorrow, with chipotle ceo brian niccol when we come back, shares of hp surging after waurren buffett's berkshire halthaway takes a big stake in the company that story and more when we go inside the market zone plus, during april, we'll celebrate financial literacy here is jim lebenthal on what that means to him. >> financial literacy to me means that an investor understands not just the potential returns from an investment but the risks and when i say investment, it could be more than just a stock or a bond. it could be an entire investment plan, an allocation it's very important an investor understands the returns and the risks that are inherent in any investment

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they're getting crushed by inflation. well, i feel for them. they're taking financial advice from memes. [baby spits out milk] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ good to have you back, old friend. yeah, eyes on the road, benny. welcome to a new chapter in investing. [ding] e*trade now from morgan stanley. 18 minutes left in the trading day. we're now in the "closing bell" market zone. stephanie link here to break down these crucial moments of the trading day with us, plus, bank of america's juany mohan on the new stake in hp, and erin browne on 3 sectors she's bullish on let's kick it off with the broader market what a comeback. stocks turn around and go higher after being deep in the red.

the dow was down 300 points. nasdaq was down 1.4% at the low. it is now firmly higher. the s&p is up .75% and the nasdaq is gaining ground to the tune of .5% stephanie link from high tower joins us now i don't know what's more impressive, the resilience we have seen in the stock market given everything the fed has thrown at us or just these crazy swings and the magnitude of the declines and the losses and the volatility, steph. >> yeah, we're in a trading range market, and it's going to be this way for some time. it's really because we just have so many unknowns to deal with. this week, it really has been focused on a very aggressive fed. but we have had to deal with inflation. and still the war is in the background, too, which shouldn't be because we know we're one headline away from the market spiking up or down depending on progress if they make any. but with regards to the fed, they know they're behind the curve and they're acting like they should. they should have done this 15 months ago

we have been talking about that for that long. if you add up what they're talking about doing, altogether, the balance sheet runoff as well as the 11 rate hikes, that gets you to a fed funds of about 3.5%, 3.7% by the end of next year anything can happen between now and the end of next year anything can happen between now and the end of '22, but i will tell you i think 2022 is fine. and that we're not going to be in a recession i don't think that the 11 hikes that the fed is planning on doing nor the balance sheet runoff is going to slow inflation. how do you slow inflation when you have health care inflation and education inflation? rates are not going to change that by anything so maybe they'll be able to impact housing maybe somewhat on outo i doubt that as well and i also don't think that the rate hikes are going to lead to a lot slower growth because you still have a lot of momentum in the economy. you have great jobs, good jolts numbers. and you have the services part of the economy doing very, very

well, if you look across the spectrum in the jobs market, services are coming back in the nonfarm pay roll numbers you saw t in the adp roll you saw it as well that's 70% of the economy, and that needs to stay strong, and i think you're just beginning because that's travel, leisure, hospitality, et cetera, et cetera >> russell 2000 just went positive, the small caps joining the other three major averages steph, just to play devil's advocate and take the other side of the argument, the way they get at it with higher rates is by demand. they weaken demand and that is something that is expected in this economy and if you look at cyclical parts of the market, the transports just the latest, the airlines, the retail stocks. some of the consumer electronics. you like cyclical groups these groups have nots been performing well, and they're signaling economic weakness. do you stick with them >> i do -- you know y do like cyclical groups, but you know i have been talking about this for

the last two months. i have absolutely balanced my portfolio to have some of the cyclic cyclicals, especially reopening themes i also have been buying some of the defensive growth names some of the staple like names that you know so well, mcdonald's you know i own and have owned forever, tjx is acting better. >> those are slowdown stocks isn't that why they're doing well >> well, i don't know if target is a slowdown stock. i really don't but the point of it is i think you're going to have to be more balanced i do not think you're going to so a recession and that's why i don't want to be overweight all of these cyclicals, but i do want to have exposure to them because i don't think you're going to see recession. kw you're going to see slower growth in my opinion, and i think the consumer will surprise to the upside. >> 55% of target purchases are discretionary, according to barclays today a good question. steph, stick around if you would. want to hit hp because it's surging after warren buffett's

berkshire hathaway revealed it purchased a 4.2 billion dollar stake in the company hp releasing a statement about the berkshire stake saying we welcome them as an investor in hp inc let's bring in bank of america securities senior analyst. does this change the thesis at all? i know you have not been a big fan of hp. >> thanks for having me. no, this really is not a thesis changer. when you look at hp, this is a stock that has held in extremely well because of the fact they were a huge pandemic beneficiary. you saw a big uptick in both pc spend, also saw a disproportionate amount of value come from the hardware side within printing, which is unusual. in fact, if you go back in time, pcs were 25% of profit in the pandemic, they became 40% of the profit. there is going to be mean reversion. we expect pc trends to start to

decelerate we think it could even percolate to our price over time spending on the print side, it's mixed. you're back to the office for toner, but you have a lot more of the higher profit margin ink at home that's going to come under pressure we think the earnings stream itself is going renormalize lower, and that's what keeps us cautious on hp, despite the fact that warren buffett is taking a stake in the company >> but the counter argument, isn't that already in theprice the valuation on the stock is pretty low both dell and hp have been driven lower even lately on concern about enterprise spending so is that not already there, and what you're left with is a strong cash generating sort of value tech stock which is why it might be appealing to a berkshire hathaway and also appealing in this kind of environment? >> yeah, so that's a great question and if you look at, sara, what the free cash flow has been, they're tracking about $5 billion in free cash flow.

can that rerate lower to 4 or 5? that's not in consensus numbers. that's not even in the estimates at this point in time. the reason that the multiple on the stock has been so low over time is because the people don't have the confidence entirely that this company will be able to alleviate and work up to some of the secular pressures they have, but that said, i think that some of what is reflected in valuation is a slowdown on the pc side. what is not reflected in valuation are more dire scenarios of a larger slowdown either in pcs or on the print side so free cash flow goes between $4 billion and $5 billion. the rate and pace of buybacks has to come down they're not saying that it's going to sustain that in the near term, and going into next year, since they have already done this acquisition that's under way, it's going to leave even lesser room for capital returns. it's predicated on strong free cash flow. pcs turn negative with the cash

convergence cycle, that puts more pressure on the capital returns story. >> taking the other side of the berkshire buy today. thank you for joining us with the $33 price target on hp let's go to the other side of the tech spectrum and talk fintech. names in the space are well off their worst levels but it's been a rough week for these firms affirm, sofi, all down double digits kate rooney caught up with cathie wood earlier and discussed her positioning within broader fintech. what did you learn >> that's right. yeah, cathie wood still very bullish on fintech she's bullish on bitcoin itself and block in particular, formerly known as square ark's sixth largest holding. their cash app announcing it would allow customers to invest their paychecks directly into bitcoin as well as implementing something called the lightning network for instant transfers. cathie wood not as bullish on another fintech name, ark recently selling all of its

paypal holdings. wood says paypal may still be one of the winners in fintech for the long term, but ark analysts had a lot more conviction on block, in part because of bitcoin >> i think the way cash app is growing organically as opposed to more of a top down let's get this thing moving, stretch stretch stretch, i think there's an organic movement. i think it's going to be fired up now by bitcoin. >> she compared ark to a publicly traded venture capital fund she said it's very much a long term bet, and the retail crowd tends to understand that vision better than institutional investors, as she put it, and regardless of ark and the etf's underperformance this year, wood is still very much a celebrity with this bitcoin crowd here people were lining up for selfies with cathie wood before we started the interview there was a line of 10 or 12 people really looking to meet the great cathie wood.

back to you. >> good color on that, kate. is she still planning -- isn't she launching a bitcoin etf of her own? >> bitcoin etf that has hit a couple road bumps. we talked a little get about gary gensler and she had comp limits for gensler she was on stage with the ceo of microstrategy talking about the idea he's been a good thing for bitcoin because she's provided some clarity not as much on the etf side. they're looking to launch a spot etf. it's looking more like the futures etfs are the near term thing, but she's hopeful for an eventual etf, but no progress to speak of quite yet >> kate rooney, thank you. in miami for the big bitcoin conference >> stocks continue to gain steam as we go into the close after two straight days of selling, this as earnings season kicks off next week. joining us, erin browne, pimco managing director and portfolio manager. take your pick because there's been a lot of damage

which setup, which sector setup do you like the best heading into earnings? >> firstly, i think earnings really is going to be the pivotal key for markets as we look forward right now, wee really at an inflection point for stocks. i think stocks are waiting to see how much has the bite from higher energy, higher food costs, inflation really hit the bottom line? as well as how companies are managing to deal through this sort of conflict and much more challenging operating environment in terms of demand and whether there's been any signs of demand destruction thus far. i think what you want to focus on right now is first companies that are not big -- that don't have commodities and food costs as big inputs into their costs and secondly, being really focused on which can continue to drive demand in a difficult environment. and so i'm focused on companies that have high free cash flow growth, really solid balance

sheets, are a little more defensive in nature, and are not as cyclical. i think large cap tech does really well as a screen, as well as the health care sector, which has really been forgotten about for several quarters and i think you'll start to see that really shine and outperform as we move through the rest of this year, particularly into first quarter earnings season. the other sort of angle that i continue to want to own in my portfolio is commodity exposure, so being long commodity inputters. so examples of that are energy and mlps as well as copper names as well. that i think will really stand to benefit from continued appreciation of the underlying commodity. >> so large cap tech, health care, and energy got it the only question i would have is is this a market that is going to be driven by earnings i look at what happened with levi's today they put up really good numbers and did not change guidance. they reefirmed it despite the

worsening inflation picture, and all the headwinds on the supply chain. i just heard from him, no slowdown in consumer demand in the u.s. and not even in europe, yet the stock is lower because macro headlines and concerns about economic slowdown. so is that just going to be pervasive despite what we hear from the companies which so far you haven't heard a lot of slowdown commentary from companies. >> i think that's right but i think the market is also discounting what the forward estimates are and projections are of corporate managers because in the past, we found a lot of times companies are the last to be able to see, you know, the writing on the wall. so i think for certain sectors where you have -- where everyone knows there's really high input costs and they're going to hit and that they're exposed to the consumer, which is waning, particularly on the low-end side, i think the market is going to allow the macro to drive the narrative as opposed to corporates driving that narrative. but i do think that earnings will be important, particularly for differentiation and

particularly as we start to see more names and more companies report and we get a broader macro narrative being driven by corporates as opposed to one-offs >> erin browne, thank you very much just want to point out the nasdaq, we're losing a little steam, heading back to the flatline dow also lost a chunk of gains remains positive keep an eye on it as we head into the close we're also watching ev stocks. senior officials at the white house hosting major auto leaders yesterday, and that includes tesla's elon musk. that's a first also mary barra was there from gm the administration saying there was a broad consensus that charging stations and vehicles need to provide a seamless user experience regardless of which brand or car that you have let's bring in phil lebeau now how important is the building out of the charging network and what can the federal government do about it? >> oh, it's critical because what the biggest impediment is to mass adoption of evs is people realizing, a, if they go somewhere, they can do a charge, hopefully a quick charge at some

point in the future, and b, you need more vehicles, more evs out there so that the cost comes down that's not going to happen unless the federal government continues to pump money into the ev infrastructure, charging stations is one way that they can work with the automakers and say, where do we need them how quickly can we get them installed and let's make sure regardless of the model you're driving, you can use the charging station >> you also drove the hummer last week. what was your impression, and how big it can be for gm when it comes to evs >> it could be a real halo vehicle. in other words, it could be a vehicle that makes people say, wow, gm can compete with tesla when it comes to evs look, it's impressive. it has the acceleration, the performance, the power everything you're looking for, and it's a true off-road truck if you wanted to do boulders, to go out into the mountains, into the desert areas in zarizona, yu can do that.

they realize most people will be driving it in the suburbs. it's a pricey ev, but an ev they believe can turn heads and they believe it has momentum. >> phil lebeau, thank you. just two minutes to go before the bell hightower's stephanie link is still with us. let's stick with the autos for a second if you look at ford, for instance, which is a really popular stock for retail investors, it lost so much of those gains, the ev hype gains it had over the last year. which just shows really how painful this correction has been we talk a lot about tech and the nasdaq and the index holding up. but take a look at a company like ford. just how much is priced in here in terms of tightening fed, weakening economy. >> yeah, they're always cheap. that's the issue with these companies, because they're very cyclical up until recently, they haven't been able to execute they're getting so much better at executing they have great long-term stories within ev, but that's more of a speculation kind of play, and that's not what the market wants right now sara, the big news next week,

earnings and inflation so we have banks that report there are 30 rsis right now, down 10% to 20% year to date, like the setup there cpi, ppi, retail sales a real busy week >> and you're sticking with the cyclical and big cap tech sort of defensive theme and some staples in there as well that's the link portfolio? >> the link portfolio is barbell, absolutely. i think that's the way to go for now. >> got it. stephanie link, thank you, from hightower. >> as we head into the close, look at the dow, up 94 points. we lost a little steam, but not too far off the session highs. what's working today and taking the dow up higher? names like united health care, stephanie link favorite in health care. home depot, which is coming back mcdonald's so it's pretty defensive as opposed to cyclical visa, goldman sachs, and honeywell, the biggest drags s&p 500 showing strength in the final hour of trade. still up about .4%

health care is your leading sector, along with energy, staples, materials, consumer discretionary, technology, and financials so a recovery here off the worst levels and for some of those hit groups, real estate, the worst performing sector. innasdaq also recovers, barely positive on the day, but that is a big comeback from where we were at one point down 1.4%. that's it for me and "closing bell." see you tomorrow send it to scott into "overtime. >> welcome to "overtime. i'm mike santoli in for scott wapner today you just heard the bell, but we're just getting started and we kick things off with our talk of the tape the big about face, stocks staging a stunning turnaround this afternoon the dow erasing a 306 point loss to finish in the green, but just off the highs by the bell. our lead-off guest says enjoy the gains while you can. the clock is ticking on a recession. and the consumer is going to get caught in the cross hairs. let's welcome in anastasia