oh, had a little upgrade have we? ♪♪ okay, so that's how you want to play. ♪♪ >> and welcome to power lunch alongside kelly. you just saw moments ago. i am brian sullivan. explosive allegations against. >> massive insurance company unitedhealth. >> the company accused of bilking. >> taxpayers for billions. >> the story will. >> blow your mind. >> and a new study. >> has a plan to beat a's energy needs without taxing the grid's power. couples could be the answer. and speaking of couples. >> why are baseball. >> and espn apparently breaking up? we'll tell you. and what it may say about the future of

sports streaming. >> absolutely. let's get you right to the markets which are lower across the board. and the losses have been accelerating over the past hour or so. the dow is down 700 points. call it. half of that is unh. maybe a little less now. but it's not just a unh story. as you can see the dow is down 1.6%, s&p 1.4, nasdaq 1.7. you don't see the russell's there but they're down two and a half. and with all of with today's declines all three major averages will finish lower for the week nearly 2% lower for the nasdaq. about that for the dow but still higher on the year so far. now in today's market, we're seeing a reversal of some recent trends. consumer discretionary the worst sector led lower by the travel names which had been hot. you see norwegian down 6%. airbnb expedia those were up double were up double digits in february. they're down 5% today. and consumer staples the only s&p sector higher today a very defensive bent here. many of these stocks have been lagging brian hershey's today up 4%. >> all right. there's a lot to

do today. but the big story of the day maybe of the year explosive charges against insurance giant unitedhealth group. as kelly just talked about the stock slammed right now which is helping drag the entire dow down. now like anything related to insurance and medicare, this is broad. it can be confusing. it is a complicated space. so let's try to boil down the story to the basics and the excellent reporting out of the wall street journal, the journal reporting exclusively that the doj, the justice department investigating unitedhealth's billing practices. there is concern that unh is extensively overbilling medicare and thus you, the taxpayer, by adding diagnoses to patients that would trigger extra payments. some doctors told the journal that they were effectively trained by united health to document income generating diagnoses that would be obscure or even irrelevant otherwise, and the paper says that could have amounted to

billions in extra revenue for unh. we've obviously reached out to unitedhealth group for comment. we have not yet gotten a response. the company did weeks ago put out a statement to a separate story by the journal, saying it is not aware of the doj actions. let's talk more about what we know and about the industry in general with doctor robert pearl. he is professor at stanford university school of medicine and graduate school of business, also the former ceo of kaiser permanente, one of the nation's largest not for profit health plans, i believe the largest serving more than 12 million members. doctor pearl, thanks for joining us. i don't want to go into the allegations specifically against unitedhealth group. it is a wall street journal story. it is not our story. but that said, what you know about how the industry works, would it be possible for an insurer to add on? somebody goes in and gets checked out and a doctor or a nurse or an

administrator adds billing codes to their systems without a patient's knowledge. you have to differentiate what you're calling. >> billing codes. >> which is i see you in the office because. >> you have a broken arm, and i fix the broken. >> arm, and i bill for that, as opposed to the way that united health care is being. paid by the federal government, which is what the allegations are about, which is specific to medicare advantage. there. they get paid a set fee. we call it a. capitation to take care of a patient. and it's based upon how risky, how likely it is the patient is going to. become sick. so if they're adding on diagnoses. >> but they. >> haven't yet manifested in a medical problem. that's okay. if they're adding on diagnoses that. didn't exist or exaggerating the diagnoses that do exist, that is both improper. and illegal. and we don't know. and i want to be very, very clear. we don't. this is a wall

street journal multi-month investigative piece. it's on their website. people can go read it. unh is clearly probably circling up the pr and the lawyers right now, and i'm sure we'll get more of a clear response by them. but this is also a company. it's under doj investigation for antitrust violations. and by the way, had one of their ceos, their group ceos murdered on the streets of manhattan just throwing that out there. largest health insurer in the united states. but would it even be possible for someone to add i go in i to your point. i've got a broken arm and i go in and they say, well, you're a little heavy. and they start adding some pre-diabetic codes without my knowledge or some sort of diagnosis without. and that's key, without my knowledge and therefore gets paid by medicare for something that i, as a patient am not even aware of. you would not be aware of any of the codes that they are submitting to the cms. that's just the coding for your diagnoses. they're not it's not the documentation of the care

delivered. it's a documentation of the diseases, the problems that you have. so yes, you could theoretically have obesity and as a consequence of that, have a set of measures that would indicate the hemoglobin a-1c that you pre-diabetic. and conceivably the doctor wouldn't tell you. >> i'd hope that. >> the physician would tell you about that. but it's certainly conceivable that there are diagnoses that could be added, that would be submitted for billing and added payment. and you as a patient would have no idea because you didn't come for that particular. problem and it wasn't relevant and very significant to why you were there that day. >> doctor pearl, the timing of this is all quite emblematic, right? we have a doge committee out there. we have this huge effort to cut the federal deficit. how much spend is potentially being wasted because of issues like this? >> there is a large amount of dollars in health care that i believe are being wasted. the real question, though, is how

are they being most significantly impacted? and i think that the fraud piece of it is smaller. and the government, of course, makes adjustments all the time to, in essence, decode, reduce the coding payments that are being made. i think though, the biggest problem is the whole health care system is broken. it's a system designed to take care of you after you get sick. it's not designed to keep you healthy. what we know is that 60% of americans have chronic diseases, and according to the cdc, 30 to 50% of heart attacks, strokes, kidney failures and cancers result from these. we do a poor job managing them. imagine the cost reduction that would happen, the reduced payments by the federal government if we had a healthier nation. well, separate issue, by the way, doctor, but i'm 53 years old. i swear, everybody i know has been sick lately either strokes, cancer, illnesses, or

it's actually mind blowing. i know i'm getting older, but that that's a separate issue. i don't know what the hell is going on. it's not good. we need to fix the system. that aside, we have no idea where this is going. this could be settled. this could be the d.o.j. if this is not happening, basically let it go. but let me ask you this. just your professional opinion. should a company like unitedhealth group even have a medicare business? because when you get in bed with medicare parts a or b or d, and i was on the phone all day trying to understand it because medicare itself is complicated. should unitedhealth have a medicare business, as you're noting, medicare has four different parts. the a is for the hospital, the b is the doctor's office, the d is for the drugs. and this is part c, which is the ability to provide care through a capitated system. and i believe it's a good way to go. the problem is that rather than paying the insurance company this prepayment, which means that all they can do is require

prior authorization and other interventional ways to lower utilization, you should be paying it, as far as i'm concerned, at the clinician level, the doctors in the hospitals, because they're the ones who can change your health and keep you healthier. and i think if we were to move in that direction and united healthcare will required or did it voluntarily to pay the money directly to the people providing the care, i think they would do the right things investing in prevention, investing in better health, investing in better management of chronic disease, and avoiding many of these problems in the first place. but that's not the way the american health care system functions today. >> want to mention. united health response to cnbc about this report, they said the wall street journal continues to report misinformation on the medicare advantage program and united health, saying any suggestion that our practices is fraudulent is outrageous and false. >> which i think anybody's claiming it's fraudulent, though, are they? the article was. >> i they say. >> it seems like they're denying something that wasn't said. >> any suggestion that our

practices are fraudulent is outrageous and false. so going back, doctor, to what you said a moment ago, if medicare advantage and the way that these payments are authorized leaves it open for, let's say, abuse, then what what act of congress or what gesture could change that going forward? >> well, specific to the question you're raising, and the medicare advantage has come under two sets of complaints that congress is actually looking at right now. the first one is this question of are they getting paid too much by having higher diagnoses than reflect the disease, actual disease status of its members? and second, is the prior authorization. and as you well remember, at the time of the shooting of the ceo, this was had headline stories related around it. i think it could do various things at the congressional level. the first thing would be that it could do a better job of defining what needs to be done from a risk assessment, and then monitoring

and holding people to that. were that done with the rules clear, then if you break the rules that are created by congress, that's called a crime and it could be handled appropriately. but i think the more important part, the second part is it could really force insurers to pay the money, not into its own coffers, but directly to the providers of care, and then hold them accountable to make sure that the clinical outcomes that diabetes, which affects 30% of americans today, it's controlled appropriately less than half of the time, a hypertension, the number one cause of strokes, controlled only 60% of the time, ensure that the insurers do what the program was set up to do, which is to maximize the health of its subscribers with the realization that if you can keep people healthier, you will have lowered the cost of medical care. and that is what is good not just for the patients, but for the providers of care and our nation's health as a whole.

yeah, unfortunately, i've gotten to kind of know the health care system a little better than i should the last with between me and the family and whatever. and some of the stuff that i found has been very disturbing and kind of goes not to this story, but just in, in general. doctor. so but i guess my better question is how do we first off, does it is it just me or does everybody seem like they're sick like really sick the last couple of years? that's a separate issue. you can answer that if you want, but also how do you gave a lot of things. how do we fix it? i mean, do you think united health is too big and should be broken up in terms of why we are sicker and we're definitely getting sicker? we're seeing the chronic diseases that are increasing in frequency and not improving in terms of appropriate management, and they are leading to more medical problems. it's why life expectancy in the united states has been stagnant since 2010. so and you're also seeing right now, by the way, probably the

worst flu season we've had in a long time. so everyone you know is probably coming down with the flu with hospitalizations going up. so what you're seeing is a cancer and strokes. i can tell you that almost everybody i know has cancer, had cancer, know somebody has cancer or has had a stroke. it's unbelievable that those are the consequences of chronic disease. and i want to add a piece to it, which is obesity. what we know is that 40% of cancers come from obesity. what we know is that diabetes comes from that and that diabetes that leads to heart disease, heart attacks, kidney failure. so we're seeing this vicious cycle where americans are becoming sicker because we're no longer just suffering from the kinds of problems appendicitis and gallbladder disease and pneumonia that happened in the last century. we're seeing an epidemic of chronic disease, and it is not being effectively addressed. we have a model of care that's outdated, as though the stock market was still using pieces of paper to purchase and sell stock the way it did 50 or

100 years ago. we're still using an outdated system. we need to bring in new technology. i'm very optimistic, by the way, that generative ai tools, tools that are going to be able to help patients be able to manage their chronic disease, help them avoid the problems could be a solution, but it's going to require congressional action and executive leadership to make it happen. >> i think a lot of people feel the system is very, very broken and just it's just so entrenched and difficult to figure out how to fix it. and, you know, even little stories like this one hopefully can start to point in that direction, maybe shed some light. doctor pearl, thanks for joining us today. we appreciate it. >> thanks for bringing this important issue forward. >> of course, president trump speaking from the oval office last hour, giving us some headlines, some insight into what he discussed with tim cook yesterday, the apple ceo begging castelo, what can you tell us, kelly. >> that's right. so we previously had not known. >> what. was the focus of that. >> meeting in the oval yesterday between. >> president trump and apple ceo tim cook.

>> but trump hinting this afternoon. >> speaking to some governors. >> at the white house that apple is now planning to invest what he says will be hundreds of billions of dollars in the us, and that they'll be doing it in order to avoid the tariffs. take a listen. >> yesterday i had tim cook in the office. >> from apple. >> he's investing. hundreds of. billions of. >> dollars i don't know. >> i hope he's announced it. hope i didn't announce this, but what the hell. all i do is tell the truth. that's what he told me. now he has to do it right. so it's so good. but he's investing hundreds of billions of dollars and others to. we're going to have a lot of chipmakers coming in, a lot of automakers coming in. >> so automakers and chip makers, you hear him say there will be investing in the us as well, in addition to apple. all of that, he says, will be to avoid the tariffs that he has announced that are yet to take effect. i will say, guys, a lot of wait and see here. we did not get any details beyond what you just heard there. so a lot to wait for in terms of how much is going to be invested, where

those investments will go, whether any of this might have pre-dated the tariff announcements. that's something we have seen in the past. so a lot to look for there, but something to look forward to from apple and other companies as we wait to see some reaction to these tariffs. and just one other thing to flag for you guys. in just over an hour from now, we do expect the president to sign some more executive orders and presidential memoranda as well. we are still trying to confirm what exactly those will be. but one thing that's out there, bloomberg is reporting that one memoranda will open the door for the us to allow levies or tariffs in response to digital services taxes. so we know trump has long been against digital services taxes that some countries in europe and across the world use, and they really target tech giants. trump tried to do something about this in his first term. now bloomberg is reporting that this memorandum. so again one step down from an executive order. this would pave the way to potentially use tariffs to respond to those taxes. so more details to come potentially later this afternoon guys on that one. >> thank you very much megan costello. we appreciate it a lot more to watch this hour. and right here yesterday, carter

worth told us that energy has the highest return potential of any sector this year. coming up, we'll hear from a ceo in the lng space. jill ivanko of chart industries joins us next. >> the bond report is brought to you by pimco, a global leader in active fixed income. >> in a world of uncertainty and disruption. how will your investments stay resilient? we've been navigating change for 125 years, always looking forward, anticipating risks. i'm trusted to manage over $1 trillion in assets worldwide,

solving for the needs of investors today and tomorrow. investors today and tomorrow. that's the power (grandpa) i'm the richest guy in the world. (man 1) i have time to give. (man 2) i have people i can count on. (grandma) and a million stories to share. (vo) the key to being rich is knowing what counts. (♪♪) (♪♪) what took you so long? i'm sorry, there was a long line at the thai place. you get the sauce i like? of course! you're the man! i wish. the future isn't scary. not investing in it is. nasdaq-100 innovators. one etf.

before investing, carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco.com finding the right path takes experience. as a national leader in municipal investment banking and wealth advisory services hilltopsecurities can help you find the best path to reach your financial goals. with the backing of a diversified financial services enterprise, deep industry knowledge, and a 75-year history of innovation, we don't follow the herd. we lead it. for all those making it big out there... ...shouldn't your mobile service be able to keep up with you? get wifi speeds up to a gig at home and on the go. introducing powerboost, only from xfinity mobile. now that's big. xfinity internet customers, cut your mobile bill in half vs. t-mobile, verizon, and at&t for your first year. plus, ask how to get the new samsung galaxy s25+ on us.

get to use every day. >> welcome back to power lunch. the energy sector up more than a percent this week. while markets are struggling and trying to make sense of all the energy headlines ranging from reports of japan and india looking to up the amount of u.s. liquefied natural gas they import to the u.s. and russia. discussing the end of the ukraine war. joining us now is chart industries ceo jill vivanco. they make

equipment used in every aspect of the lng supply chain. jill, it's great to have you back. welcome. how would you characterize the mood right now? yeah. >> thanks for having me back. it's great to be here. so what i would say is, in general, we're hearing and seeing is just an increasing demand for global energy and specific to lng. this is again becoming a much more global market where the us lng exports have been increasing. we're hearing multiple different opportunities for doubling of importing in locations like india as you refer to. also, the japanese looking to potentially import more lng from the united states. but what i would say is as a whole, with respect to energy, it all things energy, whether that's artificial intelligence, data center driven. there is a need for more. and the hybrid of solutions is something that's going to be extremely important to this. and lng is at the heart and soul of that. >> yeah. i would talk a little bit about kind of its role in

what could be happening in europe right now in particular. you know, as we talk about and just speculate for right now, what could happen with if russia and ukraine come to some kind of truce or agreement? where do you think europe turns for its energy? i mean, would they ever turn back to those russian supplies that they germany previously relied on? >> so certainly, you know, the peace talks and there's uncertainty around what that can look like. and so to your point about speculating, i think it's important that we look at the demand overall for global energy. and i believe that europe is going to continue to need natural gas from multiple different sources. in particular, when you look at the growing demand for european natural gas, if the russian opportunity comes back online, that is going to be take time. what that looks like, how much of that all of that is uncertain. so what we believe is that there's going to continue to be a need to provide gas to, to europe from various different geographies in the us, being at

the center of that. we also think that there's the fact that you don't want to go back to as europe, what we looked like before 2022 and have that risk. that happened in february of 22 when the conflict broke out. >> jill, i don't know a lot about energy. it's brian sullivan, but i but i do know a lot about the stock market. and i'm looking at your stock and i'm seeing it's down 17%. and i'm thinking all we're talking about is how energy demand is going to grow. we've got pro energy in the white house. drill baby drill, all this other stuff. what are investors missing about chart industry stock. >> so overall chart we are molecule agnostic. so we serve a variety of different end markets with our process technologies, our engineering as well as our equipment and manufacturing. and we do so globally. so that allows us to play in a variety of different end markets. and with the growing increase in demand for energy, this is going to require a variety of different solutions in a variety of different geographies. what

we have is flexible manufacturing capabilities to address those various different end markets and geographies, as well as learning from the supply chain challenges that hit the industry back in 2021 and early 2022, where we, like many other manufacturers, have reinforced our supply base, having different regional supply sources as well as global supply sources. so all of that plays to continued demand across the end markets and participation in these various different energy solutions to meet the growing demand. >> you're doing a carbon capture deal. bloom energy does carbon capture work? it's kind of kind of like the i don't say willy wonka. what's the golden ticket? it's kind of like the thing that's the golden goose that's out there is potentially helping us solve some of our climate challenges. but yet other people say, well, it doesn't work. and if it did, it's too expensive. what's the reality behind carbon capture? >> so the reality is that the

technologies do work, and there's a variety of different technologies, whether that's aiming or membrane or cryogenic carbon capture like chart has and presents to the market. what we have seen be very successful is carbon capture for reuse cases, where co2 is generated in the process, and also used in the making of whatever it is that the operator is, is making. when you when you start talking about economics, you know, certainly in the reuse case, the economics works. in other cases, the 45 q is important to having the economics work, but we believe that this is going to be a key part of what we see in the energy transition. and also serving this this growing need for demand, whether that's for data centers or for other end markets, which is something that carbon capture plays an important role in. but certainly looking for continued certainty around the 45 q will help on the economic discussion. >> giovinco chart industries gtl

is s is the ticker and i do love the wisconsin connection. jill. you know that. jill. thank you very much. >> thanks, brian. >> all right. take care. all right. coming up. we're going to take another deep dive into the wild week for stocks, including some names that kelly and i really think you need to hear about. it's not all bad. the market is down big right now. a lot of concerns about travel and dining out and all kinds of stuff. but we'll do our stocks stuff. but we'll do our stocks the week coming up. at ameriprise financial we know our clients are so much more than clients. they're conquerors and champions, parents and caretakers, believers and breadwinners. the goals that matter most to you matter most to us. helping you achieve them is what we do best. with personal financial advice from an advisor you can trust, and goal-based investing in solutions. it's no wonder we have a 4.9 out of five client satisfaction rating. ameriprise financial advice worth talking about.

out of five client satisfaction rating. tracey from lillie's of charleston will watch 60 contestants eat 60 hot wings all covered in lillie's hot sauce oh honey, don't touch your face will be in this ad 60% of the time great job, bob! for it all. one place where you can invest in almost everything like stocks, options. bonds and crypto. you can even lock in a 6% or higher yield. >> because it's the. >> one place where you can. >> build your. >> portfolio the way you want. >> all your. >> investing in one place.

>> investing in one place. >> get up when emergency strikes, first responders rely on the latest technology. that's why t-mobile created t-priority built for the 5g era. only t-priority dynamically dedicates more capacity for first responders. dexcom g7 sends your glucose numbers to your phone and watch, so you can always see where you're heading without fingersticks. dexcom g7 is the most accurate cgm, so you can manage your diabetes with confidence. ♪♪ franklin templeton, we are expanding access to the growing opportunity in private markets, offering the potential for greater diversification and enhanced returns through our world class specialist investment managers. we are empowering advisors with solutions to build the portfolios of the future. today,

alternatives by franklin templeton, your trusted partner for what's ahead. >> get invested. >> join the club. >> the value you're. >> going. >> to. >> get from. >> making. >> better. >> investments more than outweighs. >> whatever the cost. >> of the membership is. >> join the club, new member savings and soon go to cnbc.com. join now. terms and restrictions apply. >> welcome back to power lunch. it's been a super busy week for stocks. lots of different movers in the news. i want to draw your attention to coinbase in particular today which is now lower. it's down nearly 7% down 8% actually 12% on the week. now this is despite a big win as the sec is dropping its case. coinbase was accused of selling unregistered securities. and this is a broader win for crypto. the issue is whether bitcoin and others should be classified as securities and subject to sec rules or not. now, speculation is building. they'll ultimately be classified as commodities and fall under the smaller cftc. coinbase ceo brian armstrong on squawk box

called it a huge day for coinbase, and said the company won't pay any fine as part of the settlement. on the flip side, the ceo of industry watchdog better markets, dennis kelleher, had this to say about the lawsuit. the unilateral surrender in its lawsuit against coinbase is a historic mistake that endangers investors, markets and financial stability. the sec used to enforce the law without fear or favor, but is now favoring the crypto industry and fearing billionaire crypto kingpins who are publicly belittling the agency. brian. >> all right, one stock to watch this week. is intel really an epic bounce lately? up 30% this month, down 60% from its highs of about four years ago. so talk kelly, as you know, intel could be broken up. 38 analysts cover intel. the average price target is $22.42. stocks at 24.86. right now it's down 5%. so it's about the average price. target's two bucks below where the stock is now. you don't see that a lot. so huge run. but if you go back in time intel has wiped out a lot of shareholders.

so just a stock that i think everybody knows the name. but the trade has been very bizarre the last week or two. >> yeah. it is reviving now major questions about its future strategic strategically coming up, how some power couples can help the u.s. win the global ai race. we will explain after a break. >> welcome to reinvented with accenture. today i'm here with margarita della valle, ceo of vodafone. you were employee 25 in vodafone italy. >> today you're the ceo. >> of vodafone. >> what is your strategy and vision for the future? >> we are changing our culture to really focus on our customers. we need to acknowledge that change is hard, but if people understand it's but if people understand it's for the right reason, then you got eyelid itching, crusties and swelling

that won't go away? it could be... demodex blepharitis! and we're demodex mites. we're very common and super irritating to your eyelids... but we love making ourselves comfortable here! oh, yeah...steam time! if demodex mites are partying it up on your eyelids... it's time to eliminate the root of the problem with xdemvy. with one drop in each eye twice a day... you can kill the mites in just six weeks. xdemvy is the first and only fda-approved treatment that kills the mites that cause demodex blepharitis, a common eyelid disease. avoid touching the tip of the bottle to your eye or other surfaces to minimize contamination. wait 15 minutes before inserting contact lenses. in clinical trials, the most common side effects were stinging and burning in one out of ten patients. party's over folks.... it's not you, it's demodex mites. talk to your eye doctor today.

who has made this year's list. who has made this year's list. meet the new icons, the cnbc finding the right path takes experience. as a national leader in municipal investment banking and wealth advisory services hilltopsecurities can help you find the best path to reach your financial goals. with the backing of a diversified financial services enterprise, deep industry knowledge, and a 75-year history of innovation, we don't follow the herd. we lead it. you think those phone guys will ever figure out how to keep 5g home internet from slowing down during peak hours? their customers have to share a wireless signal with everyone in their area. oooh. you know, it's kinda like when you bring a really big cake for your birthday, and then there's only a little, tiny sliver left for the birthday girl. aw. well, wish her a happy birthday. happy birthday... -it's...

...to her. -no, it's me. have your cake and eat it, too. don't settle for t-mobile or verizon 5g home internet. get super fast xfinity internet you don't have to share. forty's going to be my year. >> that's my secret to better odor control everywhere. >> welcome back to power lunch i'm julia boorstin with your cnbc news update. the man accused of ambushing and killing united healthcare ceo brian thompson on a manhattan sidewalk last december is in a new york court right now for a hearing in his state case. he arrived wearing shackles on his hands and feet, and is luigi mangione's first court appearance since his december arraignment on murder and terror charges. the judge is expected to set deadlines in the case today and potentially a trial date. a new york jury found the man accused of attacking author salman rushdie guilty this afternoon of attempted murder. they were in deliberations for a little less than two hours.

authorities say hadi matar ran on stage as rushdie prepared for a speech in western new york and stabbed him more than a dozen times, blinding him in one eye. ireland's sinn fein political party says its leaders will not visit washington, d.c, for next month's traditional saint patrick's day event out of protest. the party's leader called the trump administration's position on gaza, quote, catastrophically wrong, in reference to his plan to remove about 2 million palestinians from gaza. brian, back over to you. >> all right, julie. thank you very much. all right. let's get back now to the markets and this big market drop. the friday curse may be striking again michael santoli joining us now. mike there's a lot going on. you know internet chatter this that and the other thing. it's huge options expiry day. do we have any idea what sort of causing this end of the week sell off. >> i think. >> brian it's a. >> it's a pile up of a lot of factors as. it usually is, but. >> it's kind of. >> accumulating to a mini growth scare if you. >> look at the way the market is

trading. it's cyclical stocks down. >> it's travel stuff down. >> it's this idea that we started. with pretty high expectations for the economy, the january. retail sales. >> not that great. >> it was a bit of a consumer hangover feeding into walmart subdued outlook. and then the university of michigan sentiment numbers today. yeah everyone focused on the inflation expectations blowout to. >> the upside. >> i think the market correctly is just saying consumers are in a bad mood. >> yields down hard. >> so we don't. >> know if how. >> much of this is kind of chatter or headline driven, but it is a market that has been getting. >> by and. >> hovering near the. highs with this very elegant rotation. if one thing's down, something else is offsetting it to the upside. today, the unh decline on its own news. is disrupting that a little bit, because everyone else in health care is kind of high, or trying to do their part to support the defensive side of this market. so i think all that stuff is, is happening. we are still within this range right now as we speak. the s&p 500 is just touching its 50. >> day average. >> we were here earlier in february, but it shows you it's

become a harder to please market. >> mike some headlines as well that were coming out of that investment conference that steve cohen is more bearish on the economy this year. yeah. and i remember the past couple of years, while some of us thought that a recession was imminent, he had said no. dean mckee his economist, said no. he was very bullish. and so that change in tone comes on a day when people are already sharing some of this concern about the retail sales, the consumer numbers, what's going on with inflation. so i just know the dow is now down more than 800 points. >> that's right. and what's really fascinating, kelly. >> is that. >> cohen said that as much to. us a few weeks ago. right. david faber had him. >> on and he was. >> pretty cautious. and he really did think and this is what the market's dealing with. it feels as if whatever really congeals into actual policy. among all these proposals, it looks like it has more. prospect to be growth negative in the short term before it's growth positive. we don't know if that's the way it's going to play out, but that's the kind of cumulative effect bundling together all these announcements. but it's funny that cohen more or less had the

same message a few weeks ago. mark. it wasn't ready to hear it. and so today you have a little bit more sensitivity in that direction. the ten year going well below four and a half. that is sort of telling you that the market is, you know, just a little bit bracing for something. but brian, you know, you mentioned the options expiration. that's very true. it doesn't mean it always creates selling pressure. but often the indexes will kind of notch down to the next area of cumulative exposures. next round number. maybe that could be what's happening. everyone also knows from here on out february is seasonally is a little bit tough. i don't know if it could be as neat and tidy as you know what that day is when the turn happens. but this is this is all the stuff on traders minds. >> well, it's a couple trillion dollars of notional options activity. goldman sachs pointed that out. so well don't yet i mean is it what. >> happens every month. >> on tv for a reason? i assume we're going to talk about the options expiry. >> no no no you're right. but the thing is it happens literally the third friday of every month. and it's not as if the third friday of every month. >> okay. >> so if that's not it, if

that's not it, what is it. >> i told. >> you all the. consumer stocks down. >> i was telling you, we have this buildup of concern that the consumer fatigue we are. >> hearing that existed yesterday and the day before and the day before. >> that's right. >> it's a cumulative effect. and by the way, walmart tried to bounce didn't really bounce. and the high momentum stocks also very feeble bounces in the morning things like palantir and robinhood. and so i think the market just kind of takes that as a signal that, you know, buyer fatigue. and that's that's kind of where we. >> are buyer. >> fatigue more sellers than buyers. mike thanks very much. mike santoli. >> more selling pressure than buying i think would be a fair headline. >> selling dollars. >> buying fatigue. >> yes. as we head to break take a look at shares of fedex down today in reaction to president trump's plan to put the post office under control of the commerce department. fedex still does business with the postal service for some deliveries. it's down nearly 6% today. ups does not. and that stock is basically flat in a very tough tape. we'll be right back.

>> crypto watch is sponsored by crypto.com. crypto.com. crypto.com is actors. we can make you believe we know what we're doing. when, in fact, we do not. whoops. i have no idea what these buttons do. i've never driven a stick in my life. but my hardest role yet? small business owner. because i have no idea what i'm doing. but godaddy airo does, using ai to build a logo, website and social content... for walton goggins' goggle glasses. because if your goggles ain't goggins, they don't belong on your noggins. with godaddy airo, it's like you know what you're doing. then i found enhanced.

>> and it was. super friendly to the old wallet. >> we'll take it from here. >> guess what? in just one week, enhanced. completely transformed my kitchen. my kitchen went from drab to fab. we got a. whole new style with new door and drawer fronts, new organizers. and now i have a place for everything. >> i mean, look at this place. >> it's the best decision i've ever made. >> introducing the rex fang and innovation equity premium income. etf. >> fap invests. >> in leading. >> big tech stocks. >> while balancing growth and income. combining tech growth with premium income, fap offers a unique investment opportunity. for more information, including the fund's standardized performance, sec 30 day yield, and current distribution rate, visit rex shares. you've got a glow about you. inside and out. >> show it to the world.

>> with just. >> ten minutes of self-care, meet omni luxe. >> contour. >> an led light therapy mask. >> clinically proven to reduce. >> fine lines. >> and wrinkles. >> find out how you can improve. >> find out how you can improve. >> your skin at omni luxe what if you could invest in a future where skin cancer treatment is noninvasive and relatively painless? medicus pharma's groundbreaking solution delivers chemotherapy directly to the tumor site, offering a mostly painless alternative to invasive surgeries. with the skin cancer treatment market expected to exceed $20 billion by 2030. medicus is poised to meet the demand for cost effective non-surgical options. now advancing phase two studies. medicus pharma, leading the charge in skin cancer innovation. before he does it. >> join the club new member

savings and soon go to cnbc.com. join jim now. terms and restrictions apply. >> all right here's a little bit of good news in the energy space on what is a down day for the stock market. a new report says the data centers may not overtax our electricity system if we are smart about how we power them. part of that has to do with what the rocky mountain institute is calling, quote, power. couples talk about this and why you care was one of the coauthors of that report. rocky mountain institute's uday varadarajan. uday, thanks for coming on. it's a busy market day. i'm going to keep this very short. but if things are getting hit because there's a fear about power use, what have you and your colleagues found about how we're going to manage all this power use? well, i think. >> the. >> key is that. >> we can start to use the existing. >> grid better, ironically. we have a lot of existing assets in the grid, a lot of gas. >> generators, peakers. >> that aren't used very much at the time. and those. >> are perfect spots. >> to build a fair.

>> bit of additional. >> generating capacity. >> sites and data. centers and. do that. >> particularly with clean energy that you can actually buy and get installed in the next year or two and manage to do that at a price that's still consistent with the average industrial commercial cost. >> of. >> electricity of around $0.10 a kilowatt hour across the country. so we think this is an enormous opportunity. we see about about 70%. >> of the. >> data center growth that we're seeing could be met by what are we calling what we're calling these power couples using the existing grid and using these existing gas interconnection. points to build out data centers and renewables in ways that don't affect the rest of the grid, don't force you to do upgrades. >> but. >> still deliver the power that the data centers need. >> uday. this is gaining traction. just yesterday, the ceo of empire state realty, a commercial firm, told us he was concerned about what was going to happen with electricity costs and demand. there's more reports of people kind of being upset by their energy bills and seeing here in new jersey, ours are going to rise in the summer, for instance. so this this pressure

is only mounting. so give us some reassurance that this is a near term thing that can help relieve pressure on the grid. >> yeah. i mean, i think the thing that makes this so compelling is that this clean energy can be paid for. >> by the data center providers, and what they're. exporting to the grid is largely very cheap, excess clean energy that they don't need to use, which ultimately can help drive down both the emissions on the grid as well as the cost to the rest of the customers on the grid. you don't need to build a whole lot of new infrastructure that other customers will. >> have. to pay for with this. >> approach. >> which is, i think, one of. >> the reasons. >> that people. >> have been afraid. >> of the data centers before. if you. >> had to build a whole lot of new wires and a whole lot of new. >> generation. while everybody would have to pay for. >> that in this way, the data. centers pay for what they need. >> and export relatively. >> inexpensive power to the rest of the grid. and. >> you know, don't take anything. >> any resources out. >> of the existing grid. >> yeah, yeah, i think it's an important i'm going to post this

report to social because i think it's very important. it's new and it's interesting. unfortunately a big market day. we're going to cut it right there. but this is big. we'll post it out. you'd really appreciate that guys. throw those energy stocks back up there if we can. we saw it listed like the whole markets getting hit today. we're seeing constellation some of these energy stocks nova ge nova anything related to power generation. vistra. you could see constellation which is nuclear down 10.5% right now. >> what they have in common. these are the big power providers for the big build out. so there is today a little bit of a sheen in the markets about kind of hey, this is what deirdre was talking about earlier. can we still have this ai innovation and spend, but in a way that doesn't necessarily require all of these resources. so maybe a positive for some of the users players long run. but again, the providers here are under some. >> you know what today reminds me of january 27th january 20th. sikh day was deep sikh day when the headlines said, well, but to be fair, deirdre bosa had the story. yeah, on the friday before the monday. >> it was the weekend chatter that. >> the weekend chatter caused this to happen. and to kelly's point, anything related to

energy and ai and data centers got kneecapped bring those charts back up. let's just keep running the charts. we can guys. constellation, vistra and anglo, they're all sort of well that's akamai. they're all connected to sort of the data center built. akamai is not but the rest are as well. and these stocks are down 910%. >> one stock in the green to kind of keep an eye on amid all this is alibaba. and alibaba is emerging as one of these ai players to watch again the extent to which alibaba deep seek any of these other whether it's in china or here showing that they can continue to innovate at the frontier without the massive stargate investment, let's call it you're seeing that's where the green is showing up on your screen today. alibaba is up 4.5% and up 14% week to date. a lot of the other chinese stocks as well have been perking up a little bit. we'll continue to track the market sell off with all the major averages down on the week. the dow having its worst week in two months, and it's down 778 right now. we'll be right back.

>> after running out of money in retirement. it's not an option. that's why more stock investors are now learning to trade options to boost their returns. look at the return of this option trade versus a stock trade on the same security. >> they can't even. >> compare after years on tv as the go to options experts, we wrote our new book to teach stock investors how to successfully trade options. get your free copy today at. it's your free copy today at. it's not an i don't play for money. my ambition is to play big—to help and inspire others. that's why i joined sofi. they help people earn more and save more, so they can realize their ambitions. sofi. get your money right.

at&t has a new guarantee. because most things in business are not guaranteed. like a distraction-free work environment. -yeah,i'll circle back around. -get those steps in, kevin. your coworkers keeping things confidential. [phone ringing] oh, she's spilling all the tea. ♪♪ or office etiquette. yeah, that's not guaranteed. i know you can see me! you know what at&t guarantees? connectivity you depend on, the deals you want, and the service you deserve. can i get that logo bigger? or we'll make it right. that's the at&t guarantee. to your brokerage accounts. become a smarter investor with the power of cnbc next on the red carpet we have gina costa... looking simply stunning... with this season's hottest accessory. -[ cellphone vibrates ] -oh, what's this? she's opening her fidelity app... to buy that stock... for exactly the amount she wants...

no fees or commissions... what will gina do next? gina has roller derby at 6:00 pm. i'm there. get started investing for as little as $1. talk about easier investing. nate jones... steps up to the mirror... lines things up... towels off... checks his fidelity app... looks to outside analysts to get a second opinion. nate likes what he sees... same page? -[ dog barks ] and he places the trade... before anyone hears him talking to himself. [ dog whines ] buy u.s. stocks and etfs for as little as $1, with no commissions. talk about easier investing. granger for the ones who get it done. >> welcome back. the market's down big this afternoon and we're here to get to the heart of it. talk about some of the

biggest decliners and a few that are in the green scott nations is president of nations indexes. and scott we wanted to start with the stock de jour which is unitedhealth group. a lot of bad headlines surrounding this. the shares are off their lows. we should mention down 6.6%. what would you do here? >> this is. >> a. >> sell insurance companies. >> or the companies that americans. >> love to hate. and while the murder of the ceo was just a tragedy. >> nothing else. >> but a. >> tragedy, today's news is a. >> very different. sort of problem. they are they are a it is alleged that they have. >> gamed the. >> medicare reimbursement system in a really unsavory way, being pursued, it seems, by the department of justice. you might look at the forward p e of 15 and think, that's attractive, but this is a relatively slow growth, low beta name. it now has a bunch of legal and pr problems, and this isn't its only legal problem. there are also some antitrust problems. a quick resolution of the news about medicare might be

impressive, but it doesn't mean that it's going to be smooth sailing, and investors just don't have to be along for this ride. so it's a sell. >> the company, again, is telling cnbc that the wall street journaleport is misinformation, saying any suggestion that our practices are fraudulent is outrageous and false. let's move along to alibaba, which is one of the few that's in the green today. what do you make of this? i mean, it's again, jack ma appears to be back in the good graces of president xi. the company has some positive ai developments. what do you think? >> yeah, this one's a buy. and you were just talking about it. it's done. really doing really well today. done well this week. up 68% year to date. the trader in me hates to say it's a buy given what it's already done this year, but it is the best or one of the best ai plays. it's taking more of the deep seek angle. so while they're going to spend more money over the next three years on capex than they have in the previous ten, it doesn't seem like it's going to be. their ai ambitions are not going to be some giant hole in

the ground that they're shoveling money into. they have ai grafted onto a very strong existing business forward p e of only 14.5. so there's a floor, you would think a rock solid floor underneath this business. and just a great way to speculate on ai. >> yeah, i keep going back in, you know, thinking about those bullish bets on china a couple of months ago. and here we are. so let's talk block. this is a very different one i don't know if it's they just had the bad luck of a bad day. but this is down 17% now. tickers now x y z weaker than expected revenue and profit. and what does this tell you. >> yeah they missed on both the top line and the bottom line. they missed on eps by quite a bit $0.71 versus $0.87. and the q1 guidance is not particularly good either. so this is a buy. but it's a buy at about $68 where it's at now with a stop at $60. why is that? well, cost discipline for the company has been pretty good. but most importantly, they are rolling out their after pay program and

they're going to attach it to their cash app card after pay is their buy now, pay later program. and so the company is going to essentially change itself into essentially a lender better business to be in than the point of sale or point of purchase systems forward p very reasonable below 16, but traded with a stop. because if the company can't pull out of this nosedive, then you don't want to be along for that ride either. >> yeah. >> so, you know, speaking. i don't want to say speaking of nosedive, scott, but what do you make of the broader market right now? >> yeah we don't. traders hate uncertainty. and there's way too much uncertainty right now. the stock stock market had done very well all time high for the s&p earlier this week. this is to be expected i think actually. and if you're not if you can't handle this sort of a sell off then you shouldn't be an investor. the option market is

relatively sanguine. so option prices are are up. but they're not just they're not to the moon. >> yeah. gotcha. >> so lots to worry about because of uncertainty. but the option market is not panicking. >> all right scott thanks. we appreciate it today scott. nations nations indexes. >> all right. just to be clear we did that. we did the top of the show the unitedhealth group story. it's a wall street journal story. it's their exclusive months long reporting. we did the story at the top. want to make sure the full statement from unitedhealth group is read, even though it's a wall street journal story, here's the statement. the wall street journal continues to report misinformation on the medicare advantage ma program. the government regularly reviews all medicare advantage plans to ensure compliance, and we consistently perform at the industry's highest levels on those reviews. we are not aware of the launch of any new activity as reported by the journal. we are aware, however, that the journal has engaged in a year long campaign to defend, i guess, a legacy system that

rewards volume over keeping patients healthy and addressing their underlying conditions. any suggestion that our practices are fraudulent is outrageous and false. it is the full statement false. it is the full statement from good morning. dad, what is this? how many did you post? they're all from last night. it's going to go viral. and then you're not going to be so upset. don't forget to like and subscribe. center of every decision. >> our business. >> is built around being responsive to our client's. >> ever changing. >> needs as an. >> advisor. >> as there are a custody. >> services provider. >> i see my client's. success as my own. >> because when. >> they grow. >> we grow. >> with them. >> for over. >> 25 years, we've been committed to arias. >> and that's why i chose

tradepmr. >> zip this. >> for mary. thank you. >> zip doordash didn't. >> zip just have an earnings call. >> i wonder if. >> their take rate finally improved? >> did management provide an outlook for. >> future performance? i have a question about. a stock appeared. just swipe down and ask. alpha i for investors only. at public.com. >> the number of public companies is shrinking. while the number of private companies is increasing. at franklin templeton, we are expanding access to the growing opportunity in private markets, offering the potential for greater diversification and enhanced returns through our world class specialist investment managers. we are empowering advisors with solutions to build the portfolios of the future today. alternatives by franklin templeton your trusted partner

for what's ahead. >> we're mizuho. >> sound familiar? financing the aluminum giant. >> building better homes. mizuho was there. >> the merger of two logistics titans. >> also us anywhere. >> in industrials. >> in industrials. >> company needs a that moment you walk in the office and people are wearing the same gear, you feel a sense of connectedness and belonging right away. and our shirts from custom ink help bring us together. we make it easy to wow all your groups with high quality custom apparel and promo products, all backed by our guarantee at customink.com. your shipping manager left to "find themself." leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. sponsored jobs on indeed are two and a half times faster to first hire. visit indeed.com/hire (vo) what does it mean to be rich?

maybe rich is less about reaching a magic number... and more about discovering magic. >> all right. very quickly wrapping it up, chris murphy from susquehanna is nice enough to join us by phone. chris, you're the you're the options king. what's going on with the stock market right now? >> well. >> you know, we're not. >> seeing any kind of broad panic. >> it's been. >> a somewhat orderly selloff. >> you know, you're seeing. >> the expected. >> increase in volatility that you'd expect for a move like this. but no liquidity issues. certain sectors maybe not as much the case. you know anything retail related xrt consumer related home builders a little bit more panic there. but broadly, it's much more of an orderly sell off with a slight increase in volatility. >> i guess we'll leave it there.

i would ask another question, chris, but then the segment will be over and have to cut you off. and then people would accuse me of interrupting. so chris murphy, thank you. what a day. >> i get that a lot when i'm. like literally have to go. >> thanks for watching power lunch. >> this sell off now is not just today. it extends the last couple of days. it's going to raise a lot more questions into the weekend. >> we'll get answers on closing bell which starts right now. >> welcome to closing bell. i'm scott wapner live from post nine here at the new york stock exchange. this make or break out begins with the uncertain road ahead. the market's more defensive stance lately and whether it's a worrisome sign now for stocks. we'll ask our experts over this final stretch. in the meantime, your scorecard today is not a pretty one with 60 minutes to go in regulation. it's another down day for the majors. the selling pretty split as well. you can see the nasdaq is off. the russell is down almost 3% for the nasdaq is ugly today. the other majors are down. united healthcare the big blow to the dow today on that