regeneron. they've had a lot of bad news in the last couple of days, but i think you rarely get a pullback in this name. >> karen? >> american tower. utilities are doing great and people need more cellular power. >> thanks, everybody. see you on "closing bell." "the exchange" begins right now. ♪ ♪ thank you very much, scott. welcome to "the exchange." it's a big hour here. i'm kelly evans. let's start with a quick look at the markets with stocks mostly lower. the dow and the s&p trading near those record highs, though. the nasdaq is slightly in the green. and the russell 2,000 is down 0.8 of 1% today. so the nasdaq, meta is also trading near record highs today. in fact, it's the second best performing mag seven stock this year, up more than 60%, and it's the stock of the hour as the company's connective gets underway. julia is live to bring us the

headlines this hour. we have the trade on meta and what investor also be watching and listening for. and sam lessen is also here. he says the hardware should be good enough, but can they build the ecosystem to take it main stream? welcome to all of you. julia, let's kick things off with you. >> reporter: hey, kelly. there are 1,000 attendees here at meta's headquarters in mineral park, getting ready to watch mark zuckerberg to take the stage. among the people here today are hundreds of developers across fortune 500 companies, startups, as well as academia. speaking for this hour, ceo mark zuckerberg will share meta's latest innovations and the company's road map. we expect meta to unveil a new quest headset. this one will reportedly be hundreds of dollars less expensive than the current $499 high-end version of the quest

headset. meta's investment in ai will be in focus today. we could hear more about what's next from meta's llama open source ai model and what updates are shared about his generative ai tools for advertisers. the big wild card today is augmented reality. we're waiting to see what innovation meta showcases. mark zuckerberg said they can't compete up with the demand for their ray band meta smart glasses. now we'll see what's next for these smart glasses, and whether they'll talk about maybe starting to incorporate augmented reality into those smart glasses. and kelly, don't forget, we have a big interview coming up with chris cox in the 4:00 p.m. eastern hour. >> julia, i'm thinking back to the last time we covered a meta launch live here on the show. usually, we cover apple launches, we cover that openai launch, maybe that was last year. meta, i'm sure we've done it, but this one feels like the

biggest and most consequential in recent memory. >> reporter: we heard a lot from mark zuckerberg about their investment in ai and how their commitment to the metaverse, remember, they rebranded from facebook to meta, is in so many ways about artificial intelligence and how these different things are working together. i'm watching the screen down here, because i expect mark zuckerberg to start talking any minute now. what's really important is this is a company that has ai at its center, and that ai is driving efficiencies in advertising, it's driving engagement with its chat bots. i'm sure we'll hear more about how much people are engaging with the chat bots, both consumers and also advertisers using these ai tools. then you have the developers using the ai tools, as well. you have that software piece of ai also alongside the hardware piece of the vr headsets. and then these meta ray band glasses. so everything that meta's been working on from the vr shift that we heard about, about three

years ago, to the more recent over the last two years focused on ai, those two things coming together in a series of announcements today. >> juljulia, we'll see you soon we continue to get more news. one of my next guests says meta is way ahead of apple, and the other says ai is the bigger stock mover and metaverse seems like overinvestment. joining me are my two guests. barton, you have the third highest stock price for meta. why do you expect the stock to continue to be on fire? [ no audio ] i was thinking maybe we'll get -- we'll fix that in a second. sam, we'll turn to you with a similar question. to explain a little bit about how and why these glasses and have kind become a sleeper hit,

haven't they? >> i agree with barton. i think on a short-term perspective, the ai story, specifically on advertising is enormous, and just an infinite wins that will stack up for meta over the upcoming short term years. but mark zuckerberg is long-term committed and willing to be patient through the hard cycles. so we have seen the ray bands, which are fabulous, the first version was okay. the second version is a hit, it's great. this is not a one cycle story. this is going to be a multi-cycle story. so the way i put it, ai is the short term story, but what you're seeing is a long-term focused, patient company and a long-term, patient ceo. >> barton, if we can hear you now, go ahead. we were talking about is it really the hardware and some of these new announcements powering the stock, or is it literally as simple as how ai has been better

optimizing their ad low? >> sure. i think it's the latter. their advertising has been on fire. that's why the stock's been on fire. you know, they're huge, and they're taking share, and nobody really does that. and they're crediting ai for improving return on ad spend from improving user engagement. they're deploying ai and they're a use case of ai improving your business. that's way ahead of the pack. that's where the excitement is. the devices, the reality segment, is where the concern is among investors. they lost cumulatively since they started breaking out, nearly $60 billion, on pace to lose $17 billion this year, a little larger than what they lost last year. and there's no one on wall street who looks at that and says yeah, you're going to get a great return on that investment right now. it seems like something a founder controlled company can do. that said, they're losing a lot

of money but the devices are starting to click. the ray bands are interesting. and so that's, i think, why cnbc and others are looking more closely at what they're announcing, because these devices are starting to resonate. the whole category was validated to a degree by apple moving in with vision pro and snap continuing to lead. >> i take your point about the glasses more broadly. we all left the product category. no one was that impressed what snap announced the other day that apple vision pro goggles haven't been a great seller. you said you like the stock in spite of their investment in the glasses, not because of it. but sam, these feel like a breakout hit. what separates them from the other eye hardware that we have seen or are they going to be a flash in the pan or a more durable product category? >> they've gone to the point of the consumer device. i climbed the grand tetones last

week using them. it took great photos is. that the killer thing, are we there? no. for the next several years, the story is going to be ai optimization, which is a massive freight train that meta is best positioned to take advantage of. but mark's in this for the long-term. when you think out ten years plus, the market doesn't care about. i'm glad they're making these investments and i expect to see a lot of long-term success. >> sam, is it a black eye for apple that meta has all the buzz around the headset and apple doesn't? >> it must be driving them crazy. they launched the vision pro with enormous fanfare, supposed to be tim dock's big win. they couched it like look, i have one next to me. i think it's probably the most expensive device per minute of consumer use in history.

meta, they continuously grind and grind and making them better. i would say they're already better than the vision pro at a tenth of the price. meta is overpositioned and it's a huge black eye for barton. >> i know you're not a -- you think you have this hardware take off, doesn't that make meta a mini apple? is mark zuckerberg the new steve jobs? >> you know, he's not going to be, you know, i think a hero until he makes money from wall street's perspective or has a path to making money on this, and they're spending too much. you know, look, i think that could it happen? maybe. you know, i do believe that they need to reset their spending. it's just this category is not consistent with where they're spending. but yeah, what they have done today is what spending more than anyone else is willing to spend.

they've come up with the best kind of products in a non-profitable category. there's a degree of victory there, but it comes with a huge asterisks. >> barton, i take your point how much they've spent, but if we just captured the amount they spent to partner with ray bands, is that maybe just a billion of the past 60? what is the real investment on this category if it's successful going forward? i can't imagine it will be that enormous, but maybe it is. >> is there something profitable you can carve out within this? potentially, but that's not their way right now. they way is big, expansive spending on a whole ecosystem design, generationally in the future. and, you know, wall street is just not there with them. you know, i wouldn't make that part of an investment thesis any time soon. >> sam, quickly before we go and hear more from zuckerberg to see what they're launching, it is ironic that the glasses seem to

be succeeding not because of ai but because it's nice-looking thick to have on your face with some cool features that are high tech but not necessarily the -- we get announcements about how they can change people's mouths, whatever they're going to announce with this technology, sit really an ai-driven product or is it something that succeeds in more of a low-tech kind of way? >> the glasses predate the hyperwave around ai entirely. this is about a platform that you can layer amazing technology on top of. the story is, meta's ai is pervasive, and their ability to use ai and do amazing things because of their pervasive touch points into people, including being on their face, is the real story here. >> yeah. like i said, very curious to hear more about it. i think it's nusual for us to be covering a meta launch like this, so it's worth noting regardless as the stocks near all-time highs and has a lot more room to grow. thanks, guys. appreciate it.

as julia mentioned, she'll have a rare interview with meta's chief product officer chris box on "closing bell overtime." microsoft has been able to skirt eu regulators in the most wave of scrutiny until now, thanks to another tech giant putting it on the radar. it could raise red flags across this side of the pond, too. details are ahead. the major averages are all lower after the dow and s&p hit record highs earlier on. both of the market guests said stocks are set to climb, one is pounding the table for a post rate cut rally in small caps. that's next on "the exchange." >> this is "the exchange" on cnbc. when it comes to amgen's life-changing medical breakthroughs, every second counts. but without investment, those breakthroughs are often paused. citi's seamlessly connected banking, markets

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welcome back to "the exchange." stocks are lower now after the dow and s&p again hit report highs earlier on. investors seem to be weighing the benefits of a half point cut versus economic weakness. but my next guest says stocks rally because they're always higher when we're within 2% of all-time highs. joining me now is ryan detrick, and sandy villorry. ryan, how big is that sample size? >> kelly, tharpg thanks for hav

back. 20. yes, the fed did multiple times just back in 2019. when you close within 2% of the all-time high, the day before the cut, it is what it is, up 20 times out of 20, the s&p up about 13.9% on average. lots of other stuff to consider. we understand that. but that data point by itself is something that should comfort the bulls. >> especially as you've heard, ryan, maybe it's a mistake for the fed to be easing with stocks near all-time highs. >> you're right. we heard that, should they start with 50? obviously when they started with 50 in 2001, 2007, bad things happened. we were in the camp seven weeks ago they should have cut 25. but what's the economy is up to? labor is slowing, yes, but we had initial claims at a four-month low. so the economy is slowing, not going into recession. >> before i turn to sandy, do you see any evidence, we were talking about this this morning, that stocks are frothy,

overextended? in other words, that they're going to kind of push us to new highs but not in ways that are sustainable? >> we don't think so. profit margins continue to grow. yes, october and election year is the worst month in election year. so those near-term chopiness is there. but no, we don't think this is frothy at all. small caps are going to hit all-time highs. so it's hard to say it's frothy when big parts of the market aren't emaking new highs yet. >> mark zuckerberg has taken the stage, we'll hear much more about the hardware and their ai initiatives. sandy, instead of talking about the mag seven, i want to talk about what ryan was just about to allude to, which is people expect small caps to do well from here on out. you've been one of the biggest small cap stock pickers. but do you want to add any nuance to that to what you

expect in terms of performance? >> it's interesting. if you look at some other data, going back to 1950, all of the rate cut cycles, small caps have done about 27% 12 months a of that first cut. large caps about 15%. so in my opinion, the wind is definitely in our back. history doesn't always repeat, but it certainly rhymes. we think small cap and the other 493 stocks in the s&p have maybe some opportunity to outperform with the mag seven over the next 12 months. >> sit is strange that the russells have underperformed big tech since the fed rate cut. look at the price action today, the russell is sliding. >> yeah, i mean, i think we're going to get some volatility in october for sure prior to the election. on these dips, you can add to them. maybe we need to see a little bit more of a pullback, but i think this is the opportunity.

again, if you just look at history, it looks pretty bright. we should get another 50 in 2024, as far as rate cuts and another four 25 basis point cuts in '25. so it looks like, again, the wind is at our back. i think small caps are going to be a great place to be allocated. >> we talked about some of these names before. tidewater is on your list now. i don't know if you can talk about those or a few others. how long is the time horizon that you can own these and do well? >> i think 12 to 24 months, my favorite holding period is forever, so we plan to put these away for quite some time. with lower rates, you look at tidewater, that's a very specific story that just no new boats being built. they've got -- they're the largest osv fleet in the world. with no new boats coming on, their day rates have gone to 20,000 and we think it will go to 30,000.

i think there's going to be a lot of opportunity in tidewater, as well as freeport and ceasars has a little bit of leverage. so with lower rates, it's like pouring gasoline on a story like that, which should be good. >> i'm surprised freeport is down today given the china stimulus. what do you make of that? >> i was surprised, as well. when you look at copper prices, they have already gone up about 60 cents in 2024. every ten-cent move is about $420 million for freeport. it's been about $2.6 billion for them already. so i think copper does well with all the stimulus that china is throwing at everything right now. looks to me to be pretty good. it takes ten years to build a new copper mine. you have the electrification of the world, including evs and data warehouses for artificial intelligence. so a lot of demand for copper

over the next two years. >> i understand you do more balanced portfolios. stocks and bonds, kind of the traditional approach. but if someone could they own the russells broadly at this inflection point, would you acknowledge the broad index is the way to go, or are there problems trying to go that route? >> we're never a spray and pray type of investor. we're a rifle shot, so we would tell everybody to take a hard look. we do a lot of interviews and a lot of work when we buy these companies individually. but the russell in general is going to have an outperformance over the next 12 months, given the history i was just mentioning. >> ryan, last word on that. >> yeah. we like small caps also. our largest overweight is mid caps. but what do we know about small caps? earnings growth next year in the s&p 500 is mid teens. it's supposed to be more, and valuations are historically cheap, cheapest since 1999, which kicked off a 12-year

period of outperformance of small caps. not going to say that's going to happen again. we like small and mid caps the next 12 months or so. >> gentlemen, thank you. coming up, talking consumer staples, tracking for back-to-back losses. but more than half of the group is trading within 10% of their recent highs. meta's ceo mark zuckerberg is unveiling the new quest 3-s headset at this connect event. it will retail for $300. that's $200 less than the original model. "thexcng wl bk th more headlines.

♪ (alarm sound) ♪ amelia, turn off alarm. amelia, weather. 70 degrees and sunny today.

amelia, unlock the door. i'm afraid i can't do that, jen. ♪ (suspenseful music) ♪ why not? did you forget something? ♪ (suspenseful music) ♪ my protein shake. the future isn't scary. not investing in it is. you're so dramatic amelia. bye jen. nasdaq-100 innovators. one etf. before investing, carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco.com. welcome back. walmart is hitting another all-time high today, the number one name in the dow this year, up more than 50%. how are peers in staple consumers doing? dom chu has a closer look. >> not necessarily that good. but the value case stoation sto interesting. out of 11 sectors in the s&p, it's the sixth best performing sector.

but it's also the seventh biggest sector out of 11 in the s&p, it's worth about 6% weighting, compare that to technology with 31% weighting there. when it comes to valuations, the team at y charts took a look at valuations on a forward price to earnings basis, how much you pay in stock price today for next year's expected earnings and looked at the biggest gaps in terms of valuations now compared to their average since the year 2020. if you take a look at these names, they're the ones that are trading now at the highest premium to their average valuations since the end of 2020. names like kelanovia. mars is buying them out. costco is at 32% higher than its average pe ratio on a forward basis. and walmart at about 31%. the biggest premiums. now, the flipside of that coin which ones are trading at the

deepest discounts? estee lauder, a 70% discount to where it trades on average on the forward pe basis. walgreen's, about a 60% premium. and dollar general, we know how it tough it's been for them, trading at 48%. so when it comes to premium and discounts, those are the names and staples. again, a small sector compared to that 30% weighting when it comes to technology. >> there's been massive compression in some of these multiples due to those secular pressures that some are under. >> who knows, there could be demand for interest rates going down with dividends going up. >> now to tyler mathisen for a cnbc news update. >> thank you very much. evacuation and shelter in place orders are still in place after a chemical gas leak from a rail tanker near cincinnati. officials said the leak has stopped leaking and is under control and the epa says there are no air quality issues. the chemical leaking is a gay

u israel's army chief told troops earlier today that the air strikes in lebanon were designed to pave the way for a possible ground operation to destroy hezbollah's infrastructure. israel has widened its air strikes in lebanon and shot down a missile. ballistic missile by the way. but hezbollah says it launched a target at moussad in save. americans may not be spending as much for halloween. nearly half of consumers started shopping before october, up from 45% last year. halloween spending is forecast to hit $11.6 billion, 5% below last year's record of $12.2 billion. i'm guessing that halloween is big in your house. >> they're already asking about the costumes. i need help.

i do. >> i'll see what i can do. >> thank you. see you soon, tyler. it's climate week in new york. tons of traffic and hundreds of companies attending dozens of events. the focus is on ai. diana, what is in the works here? >> reporter: well, look, kelly, as we know at its foundation, a sir i -- ai is becoming a game changer in climate sustainability and measuring climate risks. that was the focus of the salesforce ai summit. >> the way salesforce thinks about ai and how we build products is we chain on data sets -- train on data sets that are very relevant. whether that's an energy company or a health care company, we're not scraping data from the vastness of the internet, which requires incredible compute power.

>> reporter: salesforce recently incorporated ai into its cloud program that measures its own sustainability. one of the companies at the summit, altana, analyzes everything from raw materials to consumption. >> we use ai to stitch in point course greenhouse gas emissions data, life cycle models, and understand where there's a heat map of carbon emissions in that whole global indirect network for retailer, brand, manufacturer. and then they can reach into that network for the first time and start to work together to decarbonize. >> reporter: altana just closed $200 million in funding and is now a yun unicorn. >> diana, thank you very much. speaking of ai, ubs is

hitting active managers. large-cap managers had a 4.4% exposure. for more on the firm's warning and the story, scan that qr code or go to cnbc.com/pro-pick. coming up, we're checking in with the country's second largest labor union. we'll get their top concerns and a pulse check of what's happening in the labor market. and check out shares of vista, up more than 6%. and on pace for its 13th consecutive day of gains and up 62% in that time. speaking of energy, don't misdz an interview with the ceo of cameco. he will be on "overtime" today at 4:00 p.m. eastern.

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dow is down about 320 points. we'll keep an eye on that. and more headlines out of meta's connect events. julia? >> reporter: hey, kelly. mark zuckerberg just announced meta's new lower price quest 3 headset, it will cost $299, shipping on october 15th. he calls it the best mixed reality device today, saying it's bringing some features from the higher end $499 version. they've been talking about features new fitness classes and better integration with microsoft so it can mare with your computer. zuckerberg announcing some new announcements about the company's meta ai assistant, saying that over 400 million people are already using meta ai with 185 million people using it across the products every single week, saying that some of the

news here is that you can now talk to meta ai using messenger and whatsapp and ai will talk back to you. translation, that great use case. julia, how many of these tools that you just mentioned have anything to do with the glasses and how many are accessed from different parts of the facebook

ecosystem, which parts are those? >> reporter: meta ai you can access from all parts of the meta ecosystem and how you can talk to the meta ai assistant on merpg, facebook, whatsapp and instagram. so it's fully integrated there. this tool is about keeping the users engaged and making sure that there's a great value staying on the platform. of course, the more time you stay, the more ads you see, and that boosts meta's top and bottom lines. now, we haven't heard anything ai tools. so a little bit of software, a little hardware, and now talking about the opportunity to use the ai tools to translate your communication and your videos on

the platform. >> one of the biggest possible use cases. we'll see if this catches interest. julia, thanks. starbucks ceo brian niccols saying the company is committed to working with the union. they have yet to agree on a framework three years after the unionization of their first cafe. today, nearly 500 locations are part of the workers united, an affiliate of the seiu, with 2 million members in the service and care industries and endorsed kamala harris and announced a $200 million strategy to engage other working class voters in swing states. joining me now, april verrett is president of the seiu. april, welcome. >> thank you for having me. good afternoon. >> paint the scene for us, how are your members doing financially speaki ing in termsf

job security right now? >> like most americans, de depending on where you fall, you can be doing really well or struggling to get by. many of our members are low-became workers who are indeed struggling to get by. they're worried about the cost of housing, the price of food, and those, you know, those concerns are what is -- is at the top of their mind, just like many americans as we get ready to go to the polls in november. >> about half of your members are health care workers, a third are public sector workers. i often think about the industries as being a little more stable, maybe even enjoying a little bit more wage power price increases, wage increases. has that been true in the past year or so? >> it has been. we're proud of what we've been able to accomplish at the bargaining table, securing raises for the members.

but they have not done enough to keep up with the rising cost of inflation. and just living. and many of ourmembers have to work two or three jobs. we represent 800,000 caregivers in the country, and we're talking about folks who do child care, home care. folks who do work that is, at the end of the day, all about love and taking care of our most vulnerable. those folks have to make a choice about staying in a job where they don't get paid as much as the spokes who works at mcdonald's, but they want to stay in these jobs because it's what feeds their stooul and the know the people that they take care of need them to continue to do the work. >> sure. >> that's why we're committed to making sure some of the most -- some of the hardest work in this country like care giving is actually jobs that can sustain a family. >> yeah. i was only going to say it seems as though the union vote is more up for grabs this cycle than it

has been. certainly in my lifetime, it's been a democratic interest group. but republicans, we saw one of the union leaders speaking at the rnc just this summer, that demographic has been less certain to go one way or the other. but you say you feel pretty certain that kamala harris is the candidate that your members will basically be encouraged and should vote for. has there been any controversy around that decision? >> there has been no controversy in our union about our decision to endorse kamala harris. our members have known her for a very long time. 700,000 of our 2 million members reside in california, so they have known her from the very beginning of her career. our members are all in for her and governor walz, because they have always been all-in for us. she's walked a day in the shoes of our members. she stood side by side with workers on the picket line. so we are more than proud of our

endorsement of her, and as you mentioned, our $200 million effort to get out the vote to make sure she gets elected. >> everyone says it's going to be really close, and those get out the vote measures could be the difference. april, thank you for joining us. appreciate your time today. >> thank you. speaking of washington, don't miss steve liesman's exclusive interview with janet yellen tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern on "squawk on the street." and we'll hear from billionaire mark cuban tomorrow morning on "squawkbox" at 8:30. he also backs kamala harris. coming up, microsoft one of the few tech giants able to avoid an anti-trust suit after battling the justice department 25 years ago. but that changed today, and it's not a regulator taking issue. google filed a complaint against microsoft's cloud business. we'll have the details and whether microsoft could now be losing its anti-trust edge, next.

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we could be on the brink of a new chapter of regulatory scrutiny against microsoft. google filing a complaint in the eu, accusing microsoft of unfairly locking clients into its cloud product. deidre bosa brings us this story today. deidre? >> reporter: kelly, the last thing microsoft wants to hear, it knows all too well what that regulatory scrutiny can mean. but this time it's big tech taking on big tech. microsoft argue mably has the m to lose. it has enjoyed a more under the radar status. there are doj and ftc monopoly lawsuits against several companies, but microsoft has avoided that scrutiny, perhaps in part because it already went through its anti-trust battles in the late '90s, or maybe because regulators have focused on privacy. but this google complaint puts a

spotlight on microsoft's cloud business, saying essentially that microsoft uses its market power to push clients to use azure. this has been a strategy for other smaller players that filed a complaint against microsoft's 365. now, game concessions in the form of fines or the lowering of those walled gardens. i was chatting with steve covak who noted that co-pilot is not bubd bundled. we don't know whether that's because microsoft doesn't want to attract regulatoryscrutiny, but now there's more reason to play it safe and keep it separate. at the end of the day, all of this regulatory pressure matters most if it impacts their ai strategies. and as microsoft learned, lawsuits, even if they are defeated, because remember, they can go on for months and years,

they can be costly and distracting when platform shifts require all of the innovation and resources that mega caps can muster. >> that is fascinating. i can imagine some people pushing them, saying just bundle it now and deal with the pushback later. maybe not at this juncture. deidre, thanks. meantime, meta announcing an update to its popular ray bands. back to julia with those details. >> reporter: i have a copy of the ray bands. they now have traditional lenses. they're going to roll out ai improvement to these glasses, including the ability to set reminders you can put in the glasses and ask meta ai to remind you of things like if you're looking at a box of cereal, remind me to order this cereal. or remind me to buy this gift for my friend at this time and this date. you can also scan qr codes or phone numbers from the glasses.

and they're also adding video to meta ai, so the glasses will be able to see what you see in realtime and help you do more things like tell me what ingredients, what kind of smoothy i can make. or remind me where i park. you won't have to say i parked in row 2-b. itwill see where you are. and when you're looking for your car later, it will remind you where you are. they will be integrating these so you can just app them to play a song or play an audio book or a podcast just directly from your glasses. it's all about making it more conversational and using ai, kelly, to make these easier to use. back to you. >> i love that you have them. julia, thank you. let's get some reaction from one who has used the glasses before. sam, i like the use case, it could be intuitive for me if it

connected to my phone. as a stand alone meta product, i'm more confused if i ask you to remind me or do various functions, where is all that taking place maybe later in the day? >> we'll see. this is a long game. i think what's been demonstrated here is that this is going this the chains. people obviously want to be able to look at something and say remind me of this or play nicely. it becomes a very obvious consumer platform that everyone is going to want. will we get to the point where an apple product right now, everyone has to upgrade every cycle. where i have the second version and the third version is so different i have to upgrade. we'll see. it might take awhile. but i thus we're going to see these are more and more pervasive and more basic use cases starting to come online. >> do you think on the margin they sort of disintermadeuate use cases that apple wants to run through its devices?

>> i think what we have is the beginning of a new category of these wide glasses that take over some of the functions. meta is here first. apple will get there. and this will take time to kind of penetrate the population at large. i would say more evolution, this could be another use factor that is part of the landscape out there. maybe generationally where we're going from iphones to something that's more integrate d. the question i have is the numb of people that want to wear these glasses and how often they want toer wear them, is this a niche or something that goes mainstream? i'm not clear it's mainstream, but time will tell. >> curious your take on that. do they have enough of a mote in this product category? if i'm another of the big tech platforms, can i say we'll throw some glasses out there too? >> i think two things come the to mind.

hardware is hard. these are long things to figure out. there's a lot of cycles that go them. there's nothing in these glasses that's so revolutionary no one could think to do it, but i think there's a grinding reality to who gets good at these. meta is ahead. there's a real meaning in that. in terms of use case, you say the same thing about earbuds. you had headphones that were around. i'll tell you as a user on a personal perspective, i would prefer to have the ray bans on. it just feels better. it's easier to have that. you'll get to the point where you're putting on sun glass, would you rather have them play music, pick up a reminder, it's clearly just a better form factor. that's the direction of history. exactly who wins it, we'll see. meta has a heck of a head start. >> the minor player is f fascinating. they always knew how to design nice-looking eye glasses. even as meta is unveiling orion

glasses as well. we're going back to julia for more on that announcement. what is this orion ar all about? >> mark zuckerberg is talking now. he's saying they are not a head set. they are less than 100ment g grals. they have a live field of view and they have holographic d displays sharp enough to see types of images and a screen or multiple monitors. you can also see through them. you're able to make eye contact through them and be able the to see effectively holographic images projected on to glasses. what he's saying is that the images you're able to see within these glasses is it's actually not a screen. it's a totally new type of form factor with tiny projectors that are projected on to what's the glass there that you're looking through. so this is a proet type, but he says this was difficult to

figure out how to create this kind of prototype. and he's calling them the most advanced glasses the world has ever seen. and they look a lot like sort of chunky-framed glasses. but the fact that they are less than 100 grandmothers, it's promising to bring them to market. no mention of when consumers might get these. they are stressing this is still a prototype. >> i thought you said a hundred grand at first. >> grams. the weight. they are not very heavy. >> what's our english? thank you. appreciate it. barton and sam, appreciate your thoughts. we'll switch from the high end to the lower end because it's been a pretty tough year for the dollar stores with dollar tree losing half its value. dollar general down 40%. loop is doing channel checks to get to the bottom of what's been ailing these discounters and write in a note respondents are

looking for lower prices. also more convenient locations and a better experience. they have a hold on dollar tree and dollar general. and anthony joins us now. s it's dollar store's loss. walmart's gaen gain. >> it certainly seems that way. to be clear, i don't think it's a complete loss. i don't think it's necessarily a zero sum game. what is happening is what the dollar stores are primarily losing is that discretionary purchase. think apparel, think toys, think home decorations, and the problem with that is that's a higher margin business. they make much higher margins on those purchases than consumables. think food and health and beauty. it seems like walmart has raised their game and looks like they are probably picking up the market share in those discretionary items. >> you have a hold on the stocks. what do they do in order to make them a buy? >> honestly, one of my takeaways from the survey that was most

disturbing is i'm not sure what they can do. in terms of what consumers are looking for to shop at dollar stores more, they mentioned two things. the first is lower prices. that's problematic because their prices are already very competitive relative to walmart. they are cheaper than drugstores or convenience stores. and then the second thing is higher disposable income that's obviously not within the dollar store's control. >> not only is it not within their control, if shoppers are seeking out groceries, do these chains offer enough variety and low price and value that they can compete in that category? >> i actually think they can because of the shopping occasion. so what i mean by that is that mainly when you're going to the dollar store, it's a midweek shop trip. you're looking to put food on the table that night. this store is small the and conveniently located if you're talking about your weekly shopping trip where you're

spending hundreds of dollars, you're going to go to wall part mart. the consumable the business, the food in particular has been pretty strong for these dollar stores, even as their profit margins have waned. >> you could be a special correspondent. >> happy to do it. just have to pay me. >> we'll talk offline. anthony, thank you for your time today. that does it for the exchange. tyler is getting ready for "power lunch." i'll join him on the other side. ♪♪ ♪♪ citi's industry leading global payments solutions help their clients move money around the world seamlessly in over 180 countries... and help a partner like the world food programme

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all right, everybody. welcome to "power lunch." good to be with you. stocks right now are mixed. once again, the dow and s&p 500 hit record highs earlier in the is session. today, we're going to hear from someone who says a correction back to 5,000 on the s&p 500 is possible. i guess it's always possible. >> i always pay attention when barry say it is. he has a decent nose for calling these turns. at a time when we're hearing about stocks running higher, i'd like to hear his case for the opposite. we're also hearing from vice president harris today with more