charles: so every day there's a mountain of economic data to go through, it's a tricky process, but it works better when you have no emotions and get rid of those preconceived notions. yeah, i'm guilty of zeroing in on data that supports my thesis, but i force myself to look at other things. this is where i think wall street is making a huge mistake, right? and i bring it up because there's one area i'd like to focus on and and that's the activities of very wealthy people. they're beginning to load up on cash. now, i'm not saying day traders so it doesn't spell doom tomorrow the, but when their savings go up like in this, you want to pay attention. ride this wave right now, be very aware of what's going on, but remember, rich folks are stacking their money on the side. by the way, they're not the only ones, savings are going up for everybody. now i pass it over to cheryl. cheryl: charles, thank you so much. here we go. i'm cheryl casone in for liz

claman, welcome to the final hour of trade not only for the week, but for the month of june and for the second quarter. despite week's choppy trading, the bulls looking to pull out a big win today. the major averages also on track for weekly, monthly and quarterly wins. the dow and the s&p 500 up for a third quarter in a row, the nasdaq is notching a second quarter of gains, up 12% in q2. and let's get a live look at the dow heat map right now. nike sticking out like a sore is thumb, the only blue chip component in the red at this hour, as you can see down more than 2.5%. they reported an earnings miss. that is the first miss for that company, by the way, i, topping $3 trillion in market value today. and there is apple, $192 the.91 -- 192.91, a gain of

#.75%. shares are set for yet another record close there, but could the tech giant just be getting started? our next guest, trader keith fitz-gerald, about to to make that case, let's bring him in along with trader scott bauer. all right, keith, talk to me about apple. you said you were always like the broken record because you kept pumping that stock, but you were right. >> well, thank you for remembering that. people have argued with me for years about how that that stock's too expensive, how it'll never go higher, the the law of large numbers. you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink. the company is 1 in 10 people around the world using an iphone, probably going to be 2 in 10 with phone, data the, services, it's bigger than most of the economies in the world, and it's growing faster than the u.s. and global economies put together. all the things it's going to innovate drive profits. profits drive investment, investment drives our portfolios. i am very happy. chr. cheryl: scott, we look at the -- as we look at the incredible run

for these markets, the nasdaq up 31% for the first half of the year, a big case for that and what the gains are from is the big seven, it's those big, mega-cap tech names. but now as we look ahead to the second half of the year, you have got to wonder if some of those names are a little frothy. keith says apple's still a winner, but what about meta? what about nvidia? some of the big names we follow. >> you know, they're definitely frothy by the standard metrics that everybody likes to look at. and can these stocks keep going though? yes. and it's incredible to me that they've kept going even through the last month, six weeks or so as the fed has turned completely, completely hawkish. so it's incredible to me that we've seen that. and then just this morning we get some data finally that is a little bit less hawkish, right? that data that came out this morning, you know, things calming down a little bit, and we see these stocks and the

overall stock markets rally as well. so we're almost in this environment right now, cheryl, where we're seeing good news being good news and bad news being good news as well. cheryl: well, certainly we got the pce numbers today. real quick i want to go through you with that, keith, because if you look at the year-over-year number, 3.8%, that's what the fed looks at. their inflation target is 2, we're at 3.8% right now. there's more and more of a case to be made that maybe because we've had now ten rate hikes that the fed's destruction -- [laughter] of the economy some would say is actually working, and now is the time for them to the start to pull back with, put the brake withs on. >> well -- brakes on. >> well, i've been in that camp for a long time. a rational business person would have said, hey, what damage am i causing, and how can i regroup? what new forms of analysis do i need to take in? good news is good news and bad news is good news. there are so many people on

sidelines who have realized the world's going to move beyond the fed. i think that's what's happening. cheryl: they really are, and and we've got a lot coming up next week. scott, we've got ism, there's a couple of fed speakers, you have also got the june jobs report coming in, and after that big shock that we got, that huge build that we saw for may, we're looking -- the estimates are for 2 25,000 jobs, 3.7% if unemployment rate. jolts is coming out, so a lot of that could be market-moving. it could also really create some volatility because now all of our portfolios are set up for q3. >> and also you have to remember that we are in summer trade, so we may still see low volumes next week even with all this news which, to your point, that could spark some volatility. we could see some real outsized moves because of that. and, you know, i've been saying for the last few weeks or so that if we got back to these

previous highs which we went throughed today to, 4430 in the spx, we might see this vacuum or this whoosh up to the 4600 area. the reason i say that is, is because getting through this point right here, getting through the fed, getting through this week, all of a sudden the shorts may look at the market and say, you know what? aye got to start covering. -- i've got to start covering. and if that starts to happen, we may see 4600 pretty quickly. i think that one area to really watch though which has been the laggard overall is the russell, you know, the small caps. and this just broke through the 20-day the moving average on the upside, a very bullish move on the upside. ing and all of a sudden there is a lot of bullish option flow into the iwm which is the russell 2000etf. intypically on a daily basis we see almost two puts for every one call trading, today 1.3 calls for every 1 put trading.

lots of upside buyers and calls for next week and for regular july expiration. cheryl: all right. we are looking forward to a lot of that kicking off on monday, markets are open for at least half a day on monday. gentlemen, thank you so much for being here as we are finishing out q2 as well as the first half of the year. now, as far as what's happening in the skies above us right now, a little bit of a different story. air travelers getting their wings clip ahead of the fourth of july holiday weekend. severe weather, staffing shortages causing thousands of cancellations this week. but is the flightmare over? members of the southwest airlines' pilots' association one step closer to a strike. yesterday the organization filed a request with the national mediation board seeking to be released are from federal mediation for a new labor contract. the request states that contract talks between swapa and southwest have been ongoing for more than three years, and the two parties have been in federal

mediation since september of 2022. all of this to ono avail. joining me now is the union president captain casey murray. sir, it's great to have you here. update me on really what seems to be and is a very big move by you and your members, one step closer to a strike. how how did we get here with southwest airlines. >> well, thanks, cheryl, thanks so much for having me. you know, we've been in federal mediation, a lot of our contract negotiations have centered around what a lot of the media and our customers have seen which is really an unreliability of southwest airlines. so we've really tried to address a lot of the scheduling issues and a lot of how pilots are connecting to airplanes which is what's causing a lot of our delays. and we're just meeting with a lot of resistance. we haven't had a senior leader step foot in negotiations. we haven't had bob jordan, andrew waterson, our leadership many flight ops, habit been there.

so this is -- hasn't been there. this is just the next step, and it's what it's going to take to take away the uncertainty that is facing our can customers, wall street and southwest airlines as a whole. cheryl: many of the pilots, and our viewers know i was a flight attendant for southwest when i was in my 20 thes, a lot of the pilots that i still talk to say they're frustrated because hay don't feel like management is behind them. they feel they've been left out to dry not just with scheduling issues, but in the technology which those upgrades are supposedly underway under bob jordan, to be clear here, but also they feel like they're just not being -- they want industry standards when it comes to pay and to scheduling. is that a fair assessment? if. >> well, that's a very good assessment. and that is kind of what i had just relayed, that we really don't feel that we're being listened to or even taken seriously at this point even though, you know, we have been through and our customers have seen meltdowns, the numerous meltdowns. and that's what we're trying to get so, is a more reliable

operation. and, again, i can't stress this enough, this is more about scheduling and about the operation and about, ultimately, how that flows down to our customers. cheryl: real quick, i do want to ask you a house panel has voted to raise the retirement age for commercial pilots up to 67 from 65 right now. many say that would address the pilot shortage. do you and the union you, do you support -- union, do you support this move to raise the retirement age? >> well, i think we have to focus on the pilot shortage that's coming, and the numbers of retirements and the estimates of how many we're going top to be short over the next, the rest of this decade, really speaks to we have to address it at grassroots. and those that are coming up in middle school and high school to really have what we are going to need as we move into the end of this decade and the next decade. cheryl: and real quick, operations for this weekend looking okay at southwest? >> we're planing more passengers

today at southwest than we ever have in a single day. we are having challenges, but, you know, our pilots are there, they're the best in the world, and they will be there for our customers. cheryl: they are and they will be, and you're not united today which is probably a good thing. heir not having a good day at the office. casey murray, thank you so much for joining me, i appreciate it. >> thank you, cheryl. cheryl: all right. well, fourth of july weekend means flying but also fireworks, and it means firing up the grill. the ceo of impossible foodses is going to join us next to discuss the faux meat products it's introducing for the summer, plus, we're going to get a gauge on the demand the for plant-based foods. "claman countdown" is coming right back with. ♪ ♪

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♪ cheryl: fourth of july weekend is synonymous with firing up the backyard grill and many of those webers and tragers may have plant-based products from companies like beyond meat and impossible food which just unveiled a premium version of the original impossible burger patty. ceo peter mcginnis if joins us now. and, peter, i've got some burgers next to me. they smell great. how's business right now? it seems there's been a little bit of a falloff in particular for beyond meat. their stock's down about 45%. are you seeing the same issues? [no audio] peter? i don't think peter can hear me. all right. we'll get back to peter many just a second. we've got some technical issues

going on. while we try to get his audio back, i want to take a look at the markets because it's a big day for the markets. kind of exciting. we'ved had a great first six months obviously year, 332 the on dow, s&p is up by 59, nasdaq up by 211 and the russell 2000 is up by 12. i like to the look at -- this is the fun part when i do liz's show, because i get to look at how the markets have been doing for the year. the dow, worst performer. year to date, up 3.91%. s&p is up by 16%. the nasdaq is up by 31%, and that has been such a wild ride. sounds like we've got peter mcginnis back on. peter, sorry about that, we had some technical issues, but thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me, cheryl. cheryl: all right. you didn't hear my question, but, you know, i was kind of wondering what's going on with business, because beyond meat, which is your biggest competitor, their stock's down about 45%. they've had a lot of pressure,

sales issues. are you seeing the same issues at impossible? >> no. and i think that's, you know, cheryl, look, we're a private company. i think it's easy just to peg you or compare you to a public company. but, no, we're not seeing the same dynamics. and, you know, what people think are comparable aren't always relevant or comparable. we're innovating, we're launching advertising campaigns, we just launched the indulgent burgering which i hope you -- burger, which i hope you have, you should have it in the studio. cheryl: i do. >> we have our own playbook, we're doing our own thing, and we're to going to continue to lead the category, innovate and invest in business and the brand. cheryl: you've got this really interesting fight going on with motif food works, and this is a patent issue. >> sure. cheryl: can you update us what's going on there? >> yeah, i wouldn't really call e it an issue, it's around ip. i'm not going to comment on active litigation.

but i will say i'm not worried about it. i feel really good about our position, and i think it will end in our favor. cheryl: okay. welsh in general, you know, we talk a lot about inflation and the numbers. we got pce price indexed today, but americans are dealing with food inflation. that's one of the biggest problems we've scene over the last year. because -- we've seen over the last year. i don't want to use the word fake meat, that's not the right word, because it smells great can. [laughter] manufactured meat. i've eaten your food, i've eaten the impossible burgers because they're at my store, they're a little bit more expensive. do you see the consumer kind of a little cautious this year to spend on impossible burgers? >> yeah. i mean, you know, cheryl, a really good question. and price comes up a lot, right? but the facts are that animal meat and products have gone up far greater than plant-based products. because, you know, herds have been culled because of drought and famine, and input costs are

up, all the grain, trucking costs are up, labor costs are up, meat factories are very, very labor-intensive. so we've gone down about 15-17% depending on the week you look at in iri or nielsen, and meat products have gone up anywhere between 20 the-22%. so gap is actually tightening. and if you look at our meat, it's already less expensive than grass-fed and organic. when you look at it against what i would call the base meat, not private label, but the ground chuck in the cellophane, we are premium to that. but the gap is much tighter than it's ever been. so i think it's more about value, taste, health than it is about price temperature. cheryl: uh-huh. well, a lot of the athletes i follow that are plant-based swear by impossible foods and the burgers. really quick, what do you make of this new, the chicken, the fda approving the manufactured chicken? is that the right way to say it?

[laughter] >> you're talking about cell-based or lab-based? cheryl: yeah. [laughter] [inaudible conversations] >> yeah, listen, i think cell-based and has been-based -- lab-based, it could be big, it might not be big. look, i think some people think plant-based is strange, right? i mean, i was in illinois, in decatur, illinois, where our food is made, it's soy. it's ground in the ground -- grown in the ground. it's harvested. and we make it in chicago, l.a. and oakland, so it's grown in america, it's made in america. cheryl: yeah. >> and some people think that's weird, right? so i think when you go lab, cell, i don't know, it could be a hard sell. that remains to be seen. cheryl: well, we'll see if it becomes a competitor to you as well. peter, sorry about the tech issues we had. please come back again anytime and, again, thank you for the burger delivery. they smell great.

>> you got to try it, cheryl. cheryl: i will. [laughter] i have tried it. thank you, peter. have a great grilling weekend. for you and your family. all right. >> you do same. cheryl: you bet. we're waiting for remarks, by the way, from president biden. as of today, the supreme court has struck down his student loan forgiveness plan, that was a 6-3 ruling from the supreme court this morning. again, president biden expected to speak in the next few minutes from the white house and deliver some remarks. we will take those live. and also as the writers' strike is marching on through its second month, the clock is ticking for the actors' union to the strike a deal before the current contract runs out at midnight. how a second strike impact the streaming world? we're going to ask an analyst, michael pachter, coming up next. with we'll be right back. ♪

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cheryl: a fox business alert for you right now, take a look at your markets as we round out the end of the week, the month, the quarter, the first half of the year. dow is up 316 points. as you can see, s&p is up 358, maas -- nasdaq up by 210 points. some stocks we're watching, bausch & lomb has acquired the assets of front of eye ophthalmology for $1.75 billion in cash.

in this deal includes a medicine for dry eye symptoms. the purchase will boost their stake in the expanding dry eye market, the first significant move by ceo brent saunders since returning to the company back in march. carnival corp. cruising higher, jeffreys upgrading the stock from a buy to a hold. the price target raised nearly 45% from $9 to 45. the investment bank says the cruise line's benefiting from a leadership change as well as a recovery-imposed pandemic demand. carnival shares have more than doubled this year. remember, we had the ceo of carnival on this program on monday. carnival, that stock is up almost 10%. xpeng also charging higher after it priced its latest sport utility vehicle about to 20% lower than tesla's model y in china. the pricing comes at a time when tesla's sales in the world's largest market for evs were likely to hit another record

quarter. xpeng's vehicle is priced around $29,000, delivery going to begin in china mt. month of july. stock up more than 13 percent. well, all the major film and if tv studios sitting on the edge of their seat. netflix, disney and hollywood's other studios are racing against a midnight deadline to reach a deal with sag aftra, the actors' union, and avert a second strike this summer if representing 160,000 act ors including a-list stars like meryl streep, jennifer lawrence who say they are ready to walk off the jobtalks cannot reach a -- if talks cannot reach a deal. all of the stocks are higher right now. let's bring in in a fox business exclusive, manager michael pachter. michael, it's great to have you here. >> thank you, cheryl. which cheryl. cheryl: price target on netflix

is 475. how concerned are you about a potential strike by the actors in. >> it'll hit them and it'll hit everybody, but if you look at netflix's content the, probably more than 50%, probably something like 60, 70% is produced overseas, so they can continue to produce that content and probably not muss a beat. miss a beat. we will miss some shows coming back like the stranger things probably, we're not going to get a new season anytime soon. but they can backfill that with korean, you know, language content that's dub or with british content the or scandinavian con end. they just had a ton, and they can promote shows and right now they're promoting suits which is an old, you know, television series, eight seasons, and it's trending number two on netflix. they're able to take archived content, push it up to the top of the recommendations and keep people watching something, so i really don't worry about them very much. at the same time, they have a tailwind for raising price. they're cracking down on

password sharing, they're kind of phasing out the $9.99 plan, pushing people into ad-supported, so lots of tailwinds to drive revenue higher. i'm really not worried about them at all. cheryl: all rightment i was looking at netflix, they rely heavily on content, certainly, and we're already at week nine with the writers' strike. seems to be a little bit of a one-two punch. i know you're not too worried about the delay maybe for netflix, but what about disney? what about amazon and amazon prime? that section of their business? i mean, you know, there's other streamers out there there that certainly are going to feel the hit from this. paramount+. >> the guys that get hit the hard are the guys who have content that comes out the most frequently. so daily television is hit the most. obviously, news writers kind of are part of this like "60 minutes," that's weekly. comedy write -- writers for the tonight show, those types of shows are in real trouble. so the networks have the biggest

problem, i think. next is the guys who have scheduled programming, so the major broadcast networks because they have shows that are supposed to start in september, and if they can't finish principal photography, they're screwed, heir not coming out. the streamers' content comes out when they peel like it, so i'd say guys who own fox, disney, comcast and paramount-cbs are the ones who are the most hit by this, and in particular daily and any type of live type of programming. cheryl: real quick before you go, everything spn just announced -- espn announced 20 the more layoffs, real quick on these layoffs at espn. what do you make of that? sometimes people want to -- hay watch for the personalities and a few of the on-air folks are gone. >> and van gundy, who a i'm not a fan of, was one of the few who could actually do in-game

commentary and was actually really smart about it. look, i think that disney is messing up really dramatically here. that's the golden goose, and, you know, they're not getting enough eggs out of the golden goose, so they're going to kill the goose? that's just dumb. everything they're doing on espn, separating it out as a streaming service is couple. you know, i think iger's a really bright guy, but i think he's getting bad advice on the streaming side. they're disappointing me. layoffs, sure, save your way to prosperity. the way for them to make money is to broadcast content the first on espn, keep the viewers live, and and that's where they're going to win. cheryl: okay. well, strong opinions there. michael pachter, it's great to have you here ahead of the fourth of july holiday weekend. thank you. >> thank you, cheryl. cheryl: all right. well, we are waitingig now on president biden, he is expected to make remarks any minute, actually, on the supreme court's decision today to strike down his student loan

forgiveness plan. we are going to bring you the president's remarks live when they happen from the white house. taking a look at your markets right now, you've got the dow up 328, the nasdaq, s&p higher, and it is a great way toen end the week, the month, the quarter and the first six months of the year. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ the biggest ideas inspire new ones. 30 years ago, state street created an etf that inspired the world to invest differently. it still does. what can you do with spy? ♪ ♪ cheryl: from wall street to washington right now, we've got some breaking news out of the supreme court as scotus has struck down president biden's $400 billion student debt

bailout. joining me now from the white house lawn with details, edward lawrence, and we are waiting on the president to make a few comments here, edward. >> reporter: we are literally any minute president joe biden will come out and talk about this decision by the supreme court to shoot down his loan forgiveness plan for students. the president plans to announce what steps he will take to try and continue the fight for borrowers to get some sort of relief related to this. the president will make it clear that republicans, he believes, are the cause of this debt issue, and denying the debt relief, the loan relief to students. he's also going to make some political points when supreme court decided all comes down to monday. the president saying i believe the supreme court's decision so to strike down our plan is wrong, but i will stop the at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to the hard working mid middle class family. chief justice john roberts says it would be odd to thinks the separation of powers concerns

evaporates because the government is providing benefits, in other words, congress controls pursestrings, rejecting argument that the heroes act was intended for this kind of program, adding the question should not be whether somebody should be done, but who has authority to do it. >> we're talking about billions and billions of dollars, there's no such thing as a prix lunch. every american -- free lunch, every american pays for that. government involvement in this whole student loan, education financing scheme writ large, that hasn't changed and, in fact, democrats want to, an paneled that even more. >> reporter: a recent poll found that 49% of americans believe in this executive action exceeded the president's authority, 44% are saying he had to right to do it. you a may remember the department of education at the end of last year did accept 16 million applications and preapproved them for loan forgiveness. that program, cheryl, that goes away. cheryl: edward lawrence live from the white house, we continue to wait for the

president, but we move on right now and stay with the supreme court because another major ruling set to significantly are impact the $10 billion diversity, equity and inclusion industry. charlie gasparino here on set with more on that. >> this is a story that goes beyond just the ruling itself. i mean, i know the news of of the moment is now the, you know, the student loan stuff. but dei is a huge part of corporate operations right now. it's $10 billion, it involves everything from ads to be inclusive, you know, pride month, hiring and firing decisions that have to meet dei standards that some people would say are quotas. all this, from what i understand, is essentially under scrutiny and review right now at major companies. and that's because, as we've been reporting on "the claman countdown," a i wrote a column about this, the affirmative action case, if they were going to rule against it -- they did yesterday -- then that would bleed are over to dei.

now, why does it need over to dei? because the premise of what the six justices ruled on against affirmative action on affirmative action carries over to dei. it has to do with fite the title vi and title vii of the civil rights act. they're virtually the same. title vii involves employment. it's going to be hard to argue just because we're talking employment as opposed to, essentially, college admissions, you don't apply the standard that was created yesterday about race not being able, not being a determining factor in hiring and firing and then using shareholder money for various dei initiatives. now, will this happen overnight? again, i've been doing a lot of reporting on this. no. dei is basically entrench inside every major company, but there is going to have to be a scaleback. they're going to have to be to be rethinking it because the litigation risk is huge. think of it this way, you go with before a judge and you say

i'm a white guy, i just got fired, and i believe i was discriminated against and you have good evidence because they wanted to promote somebody of color. the judge looks at it and says, you know, it a basically says here in this supreme court ruling that you can't do that. or say the judge rules against you and you a appeal it, it somehow gets to the supreme court. if that does happen, hen this supreme court will rule against the company. that's what this door has opened. and i'll e tell you, it's got a lot of corporations worried because corporations are incredibly, i mean, you read it every day about diversity, inclusion, it's part of the corporate lexicon. it's, you know, it's a big part of every hr department at the corporate level. they are going to have to rethink it in light of this ruling, and i'll tell ya, if they don't rethink it and someone i sues, well, then if it goes to the supreme court, it'll be another precedent-setter. cheryl: well, obviously you have, as you just said, been all

over this story. charlie, thank you for that. and, again, we are waiting to hear from president biden over today's supreme court ruling. again, his student bailout has been struck down, the student loan bailout program, that $430 billion plan struck down. president biden is going to be addressing the nation from the white house. we're going to take that live when he approaches the microphone. we're also, if we have time, going to head to nashville, tennessee, just for a few minutes here. we want to check out the monster truck world finals. it's the biggest event of the year, brings many in fans from all over the globe, showcases the best trucks and drivers, freeway style high jump and two-wheel skills competitions. and we're going to be counting down to the end of the session, the week, the month, the quarter, the first half of the year. it has been a great first half of the year. 320 the on dow. we'll be right back. ♪ muck what do you mean? these straps are mind-blowing!

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cheryl: the monster jam world finals will be held in nashville, temperature the, for the first time this weekend, so let's get revving. joining me live from music city, madisonal worth. hey there, madison. >> reporter: hey, cheryl. we are inside a monster jam ride truck the right now. autumn is going to the start or the gas, and we're going to the

actually do something really unique. we're going to go over this obstacle course that lloyd will show you at the front of the car as i do an interview with monster jam driver colton. all right, here we go. colton, the world finals, they've had 19 times in vegas, 2 finals in orlando, first time in nashville. why come the nashville, and what is it like doing this here? >> you know, nashville, it's got a huge nissan stadium, it couldn't be a better place to hold the world finals, you know? music city, entertainment, one of the entertainment capitals of the world, i don't see a better place for it. >> reporter: this is a ride that, as you can see, very bum i. it's -- bumpy. what is the scariest thing that has happened? you've to been driving since you were 18. >> one of the first things i learned at the test track was to take all my fear, throw it out the window and forget about it. when something scary's happening, i'm more worried about how can i make look cooler

or save it? >> reporter: here we go again. speaking of make it look cool or save it, you are getting ready to, hopefully, set a record this weekend at this event. what are you attempting to do? >> you know, here at monster jam world finals we like to go -- >> reporter: oh, my god! >> away like to go big. we're going to try to set a world record for the most monster jam trucks jumped by another monster jam truck. i set it a few years ago with seven, we're going for nine. >> reporter: okay, nine trucks you're going to jump in your own truck. how confident are we feeling? is this going to happen? are. >> yeah, absolutely. i think we got it. when i jumped seven trucks, i jumped way past 'em. i got no doubt we're going to jump all these trucks. >> reporter: you can expect to see this weekend, all that, clearly, cheryl, i'm having a good time. we're going to pan over, poor lloyd is trying to work the camera, i'm trying to work the interview, but we're having a good time. clearly, nashville is ready for a big, exciting event like this, cheryl. cheryl: madison, you've been on

a tractor, you were jamming out with some musicians playing guitar -- >> reporter: it's been a great trip. cheryl: you've had a week. [laughter] >> reporter: yes, i have. cheryl: madison alworth with live from nashville. all right. thank you very much, that was great. well, we've had had quite a week. we've had quite a month, a quarter, first six months of the year. closing bell, we are now, look at this, just about eight minutes away. the dow, the s&p 500, the nasdaq all positive percent year so far. the nasdaq really the big winner. thank you, mega-cap technology stocks. the nasdaq is up 31%. it's been pushed higher by massive gains of course in those, the big seven we like to call them. and nvidia jumped in there as well. as for the dow, it's on pace for its best month since the month of november, and then the nasdaq is on pace for its ninth up week in the last en. now, stocks -- in the last ten. stocks are up more than 3

percent for the quarter. look at these numbers, it really is an incredible performance that we've seen from this market, and i just gotta say again year to the date, s&p's up 16%, nasdaq is up 31%. really hope we can hold on to the these numbers as we now head into the second half of the year which is going to kick off monday for a shortened trading day. is so the top 23 u.s. banks have passed the federal reserve's annual health check. that test of the financial institutions can withstand an economic storm. our countdown closer is bullish on one of those names, dick feister is with me right now. what do you like? there's been so much talk and concern about the banks, there's going to be more regionals, smaller banks that are going to fail, get absorbed. you have those predictions, but no one is willing to say who's -- who that's going to be. >> right. well, there have been, obviously, some banks that have

folded. you lack at silicon valley bank with, you look at signature and then, again, first republic. at the same time, there's been some beneficiaries, and one of those is jpmorgan. you can see that on your screen right now. we're a pretty big fan of jpmorgan in that it's actually up on the year, but it's up nowhere near some of the large mega-cap tech names you just mentioned. so we're a fan of that. they've been a beneficiary of what's gown on -- gone on in the bank sector, and we don't see that stopping anytime soon. cheryl: let's talk about some of the other sectors you're watching, dick. we've had this huge move in tech for the first six months of the year, but now question mark is where does the money go for the second half of year? we had a discussion earlier about a.i., and if you want to chase that a.i., you know, that money, a.i.'s now going into everything, industrials, consumer, health care. you know, walmart's, you know, using a.i. to get rid of -- welsh it's going to cut some jobs, but they're going to automate their warehouses, for

instance. how do we kind of take that next step, if you will? >> it's interesting because last year's losers are now this year's winners, right? and you mentioned it, seven stocks in the s&p 500, heir actually controlling about 90% of the the returns so far year. and the big theme is a.i., those stocks all have some sort of relationship to a.i. what's interesting about now is you have this wide dispersion between the best performers and the worst performers or the laggards. that actually gives investors a lot of opportunities. those financial stocks we mentioned, there are some kind of consumer staples that we like a lot. so i think that world is actually going to give a lot of investors some opportunity even if they haven't caught the nvidias and amazons of the world. so dispersion leads to actually a little bit more active management. we like the world of active traders that have been kind of shunned for the last ten years. so if you're looking for managers that can go long or short, we like that spot to complement your index plays you have in the portfolio.

cheryl: all right. what are the other sectors and groups that you're kind of focused on? >> well, you know, for the first time in a long time the world of cash and money markets has become exciting again, right? laugh it's kind of fun funny to say that, but two to two years ago you were earning 25 basis points or 20 if you were lucky in your checking account. today if you go to treasuries, you can get 4.5-5%. so so while you're waiting to look for opportunities or dips in the stock market, you can actually earn some yield. so we're interested in complementing those allocations with long-term holds on the equity side complemented with what we call a third leg of the stool, alternative investment strategies. cheryl: all right. and as far as the next six months, i mean, there's a lot of concern about volatility, and i think that's a fair question mark. we're looking for likely another quarter point hike from the fed, telegraphing maybe two for the rest of the year. that seems to be from jerome powell, but at the same time, that's going to change the environment, and that could lead to more volatility.

we've had a very non-volatile first half of to 2023. >> yeah. one of the -- we don't like to pick individual equities, we also don't like to make necessarily very tactical trades. but one thing we can admit to is we do believe volatility will pick up. and what does that mean for investors? that means investors should be ready for volatility to take opportunities if you see is certain sectors sell off or certain commodity markets sell off to potentially take advantage of volatility. from our perspective, you need to have not only stocks and bonds, you need a third leg which is alternative strategies that can help protect you on the downside and then help you participate on the upside. cheryl: okay. and also too just looking ahead to next week, the markets are -- we're going to have a half day on monday and markets closed on tuesday, but we're actually getting the june jobs report next friday, on the 7th. i was looking at the estimates ahead of that, 2 25,000 jobs, unemployment rate 3.7%. we're also going to get the fed

minutes, got a couple of fed speakers coming up. so even though it's a holiday week, there's no shortage of news that's going to be crossing next week. do you have any expectationsesome. >> well, i think one thing that's clear is that jerome powell has told the market what he's going to do, and then he's followed through. so he's said before we might pause now, but i'm not necessarily done. so these one or two two more hikes before the year 's out, i think you have to take him for his word. and if these numbers come out next week a little bit stronger than expected or inflation stays higher than expected and employment stays lower than people would like or the fed likes, you better be ready for another couple rate hikes. and what does that mean? that means cash is still going to be a place to be, you'll still earn some yield, but volatility right -- might return again to the markets. cheryl: are glow in the camp of -- are you in the camp of we're going to get a recession in the second half of the year? more and more that seems to be off the table, dick. >> i think it's funny, you look

at different sectors, and some are in, quote of -- quote-unquote, in a recession. look at commercial real estate. you look at tech, we're in a bull market. so this particular recession might have different definitions for different people in the marketplace, and i think that might be the case going forward. different pockets are going to have different issues, but other pockets will give you opportunity. cheryl: dick, thank you so much for the commentary. what a month, a week, a quarter, the first six months of the year. it's been a fun ride. of it's nice to see high numbers, dick, thank you so much. big day for investors, the conclusion of, again, the month, q2, first half of the year. as you can see, the bells are starting to ring are, the bulls are out in full force as we go into the month of july and q3. dow, s&p and nasdaq all seeing gains. that's it for me, "kudlow. " if hello and welcome to special edition