might not be the deal, when you look at how much of the videogame market activision has, looking at 4%, it is not that anti-competitive but might be one where the administration is looking at these closely. jack: this is not a hill lena con wants to die on, amazon subsidizing retail, that is what she's worried about but 4%, the bottom line according to barron? carleton: we are looking bullish on the stock. if it doesn't go through there could be a quick adjustment of 20% but this will be a time for activision to reset. jack: my son things active call of duty is cool. supply chain is easing, some stores that had empty shelves last year are flush with last year are flush with merchandise today. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ (coughing) ♪ breeze driftin' on by ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ copd may have gotten you here, but you decide what's next. start a new day with trelegy. ♪ ...feelin' good ♪ no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and impro

might not be the deal, when you look at how much of the videogame market activision has, looking at 4%, it is not that anti-competitive but might be one where the administration is looking at these closely. jack: this is not a hill lena con wants to die on, amazon subsidizing retail, that is what she's worried about but 4%, the bottom line according to barron? carleton: we are looking bullish on the stock. if it doesn't go through there could be a quick adjustment of 20% but this will be a time for activision to reset. jack: my son things active call of duty is cool. supply chain is easing, some stores that had empty shelves last year are flush with last year are flush with merchandise today. lemons. lemons, lemons, lemons. look how nice they are. the moment you become an expedia member, you can instantly start saving on your travels. so you can go and see all those, lovely, lemony, lemons. ♪ and never wonder if you got a good deal. because you did. ♪ jack: rising retail inventories could mean deep discount for consumers. is now time to purchase that big-ticket item or get a jump on ho

i think once activision closes, and i do expect it to close, i don't expect too much anti-trust pushback, i think the value prop becomes only stronger. i think gaming will continue to be big. >> that long-term thesis is intact is it worth $70 billion for that activision blizzard deal at a time when the macro environment is flowing and so is gaming? >> i think so. i think most of us -- the only reason they were able to is because of some of the cultural issues and leadership issues going on at activision i think despite of the pullback, the price is right that's the big thing that's what makes game paso much more valuable is access and ownership of that ip. >> similar to what we saw with alphabet rms i was impressed by the overall performance of microsoft's portfolio. i suspected that linkedin might come in under expectations and more personal computing, also, for the reasons we're seeing happening in the pc environment and recruiting and advertising do you expect that to continue do you expect those areas to get worse or to stabilize? >> i expect those areas to degrade more you the impac

you have writers for microsoft and activision. >> okay. >> enough. >> we'll get to the opening bell inbout seven minutes 2-year flirtg thinwi 3 futures are green. don't go away.re an ow can help you get there. that's the value of ownership. >>> pretty busy thursday for the markets. got the claims data. trade deficit. bullard 1:00 p.m. eastern time looking for fresher commentary about the inflation picture than the minutes yesterday. opening ll iben 4:30 don't go anywhere. every search you make, every click you take, every move you make, every step you take, i'll be watching you. the internet doesn't have to be duckduckgo is a free all in one privacy app with a built in search engine, web browser, one click data clearing and more stop companies like google from watching you, by downloading the app today. duckduckgo: privacy, simplified. this thing, it's making me get an ice bath again. what do you mean? these straps are mind-blowing! they collect hundreds of data points like hrv and rem sleep, so you know all you need for recovery. and you are? i'm an investor...in invesco qqq, a fund t

microsoft is in the process of acquiring activision. we will see how that plays out.he other companies, it will be tough for them to deploy that capital to buy larger companies. the most logical way they can spend money is going to be through buybacks. kriti: thank you as always. always a wealth of information on the tech space. let's stick with earnings and go to mcdonald's. reported sales topped estimates as consumers continue to eat out. joining us is michael hale. thank you as always for joining us. it looks like higher costs worked for mcdonald's and i would argue coca-cola. that is not the dynamic of walmart earnings. what is walmart doing right? michael: mcdonald's is doing a few things right. really the sales were driven by price increases. they had not seen an increase in foot traffic at all. what they are doing better than others is they have scale. they can offer a value menu and price points their smaller competitors cannot match. jon: the other thing -- we were talking about shopify, a business exploding during the pandemic. in the case of businesses like

blizzard microsoft and activision first announced the deal in january. investigation said to focus on whether the deal will hurt competition. microsoft reports that acquisition will make it the third largest gaming company in the world. in a statement, a spokesperson for the tech giant says the company will fully cooperate with the probe and that they expect a deal to close >>> amazon striking their own deal this one with grub hub it gives amazon's 153 million u.s. prime members a one-year free subscription to grub hub plus that service is usually $9.99 a month. in exchange, amazon gets to buy a stake in grub hub. >>> and lockdown mode for iphones. apple announced today the new security feature saying only use it if you believe you're the target of a sophisticated cyber attack it's helping to help high-profile users guard against hackers. apple is offering up to $2 million to any researcher who finds a security flaw. >>> today at the pump, gas is $4.77 a gallon on average nationwide that average price has gone down 22 days in a row, but still up $1.64 fr

you know, we just mentioned it check out activision blizzard.soft's deal for the game maker would be closing any day, there's a question why it should with it being 20% below, saying it presented unfair corporate market abilities they're arguing this is maybe the one to play. >> all right coming up, it's a critical week. just ahead, with gear doing speak with white house council of economic advisers jared bernstein about the upcoming fed meeting, gdp, and what exactly a recession is but first as we head to break, a few of this morning's earnings movers mining company newmont sliding profit fell more than 40% from a year ago and e-commerce platform provider squarespace tumbling its revenue guidance fell short. the sales are taking a hit stay tuned you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc >> announcer: squawk picks is sponsored by wisdomtree, the modern alpha pioneer - common percy! - yeah let's go! on a trip. book with priceline. you save more, so you can “woooo” more. - wooo. - wooo. wooooo!!!!! woohooooo!!!! w-o-o-o-o-o... yeah, feel the savings. p

microsoft buying activision, take two buying zynga and sony buying bungee. more expected to come.nnouncements, existing investors in unity, sequoia and silver lake putting in another combined $1 billion into unity after the deal closes. like we've been saying, unit shares falling about 15% on this deal despite that new billion dollar investment, and they're revising guidance down for the year, now guiding up to $1.35 billion which previously that was the low end of their guidance. by the way, unity is not alone coming off a round of lay-offs like so many other tech companies. the rest of the tech sector is seeing the same thing. unity is off 75% so far this year, carl i'll send it back to you >> steve, important story today, thanks >>> we'll stick with software and deal making. our next guest sees more consolidation in enterprise names, predicting companies will look to acquire cyber partners amid an evolving threat landscape. joining us gug en heim senior director robert bartlett thanks for joining me. >> thanks for having me. >> consolidation, why cyber now, especially since it

i would be remiss if i did not mention if microsoft has pending activision blizzard deal, that deal gives them exposure to ads in the game space as well because some of those blizzard assets and we know netflix will be investing continually in games. this is till way too early to think about how this ad partnership could shift into business, it's noting microsoft continued investment in games as well. >> it's really getting interesting ahead of the report coming next week extract turning to apple this morning, advertising could be the company's next big growth driver, projecting they could throw a $20 billion business by 2026. joining us this morning, analyst, we have watched carefully how you view this company, especially as we have worked our way to the last couple of years. why now? >> thanks for having me, good morning. i think it's important to understand that privacy, which apple has been super focused on, and advertising, are not mutually at odds with each other because of the capability apple specifically has. if you look over the last couple of years, apple took a hard stance on

his activision -- his oxygen levels are normal.gie: president biden has joined millions of americans contracting the virus even though they are vaccinated and boosted. breakthrough infections are incredibly common right now as the highly transmissible ba.5 subvariant spread through the country. a doctor says locally we have been in this new wave since may and there does not seem to be an end in sight. >> previous waves have been relatively quick. a lot of people get covid and then after a month or two, things start to settle down. we have not seen that at this time. reggie: he says vaccinations are helping keep this wave from being as deadly as others. he suggests the best thing to do is to continue wearing proper masks. kumasi: there is data this morning that a generational gap between how employers do remote work. executives who spent a long time in a traditional work environment were less interested in creating flexible schedules. younger employees are more open to the idea. surveys have found that women and minority workers are

again, talked a little about potential on tech check for the activision deal to be perhaps in jeopardy, but our trim of this was based on opportunity in oracle they're starting to capture from cloud perspective revenue from small and medium sized businesses we believe with 30% of revenue in the cloud, the cloud is an area we think will continue to be one where enterprise spend is focused. again, i hear the arguments. technology, enterprise spend will decline if going into recession. again, some of the digitization we have seen in the last several years is going to continue and a great point, acquisition of serner offers us to play health care, an industry that absolutely is right for disruption like this both sides of the coin haven't owned oracle in many years, happy to be back in the name with secular tail winds for the company now. >> interesting let's stick with technology. smh snapped a five day losing streak joe, here's a name i know pretty well from having my partner jim cramer talk of it endlessly, nvidia, why did you like it, why did you buy it >>. >> they're the two names i o

. >>> one more thing, microsoft $69 billion takeover of activision blizzard.pen investigation into the deal, whether it could hurt competition through higher prices, lower quality, reduced choice microsoft saying they'll cooperate and believe thorough review will help it close with broad confidence not surprising this is baked into stock price, below $79. jon, offer price for microsoft is 95 bucks. well below that. >> soft deadline to decide whether they're going to scrutinize this. i am sure microsoft takes a close look but fast. >> yeah. cramer did express skepticism about that earlier on "squawk on the street." oil can't seem to hold 96. going to watch that. turn to employment in the coming 48 hours, with claims tomorrow and bullard and the jobs number friday halftime report starts now >>> welcome to the halftime report i am david faber in for scott wapner stocks are down, holding steady. what will policy makers signal about inflation and rate hikes ahead. are 75 basis point hikes on the horizon, what should investors do from here we discuss that and more w

. >>> gut check on activision bli rdupti touerrmtpfo this morning and keeping their $95 price targetng the microsoft deal announced six months ago will be approved, and with the stock trading below 80 bucks a share, there's an easy 20% to be made buying it here. easy and waiting for the $95 per share that microsoft is offering, calling it, quote an uncorrelated opportunity more tech check after this break. costs. so if you're on medicare, or soon to be, consider this. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare. medicare alone doesn't pay for everything. and what it doesn't pay for, like deductibles and copays, could add up to thousands of dollars. medicare supplement plans help by paying some of what medicare doesn't... and making your out-of-pocket costs a lot more predictable. call unitedhealthcare now and ask for your free decision guide. medicare supplement plans also let you see any doctor. any specialist. anywhere in the u.s. who accepts medicare patients. take charge of your health care today. consider adding this. call unitedhealthcare today about an aar

i mean, the additions that they made, it's one of the most activision's and i think they're ready topete. so all right. thank thanks. a lot case. >> well, people around the country are dealing with unusually sweltering temperatures this weekend today, more than 85 million americans in the midwest and the east coast were under either a heat advisory or a heat warning and more of the same is expected tomorrow. parts of california. >> including the central valley will be seeing temperatures in the triple digits. ryan bass reports and how people around the nation trying to beat the heat. >> we've got the combination of heat and a lack of clouds, the lack of precipitation. all that's just really causing a lot of the country to just bake. day after day after day from the northeast to the southwest, millions of americans are doing what they can to beat the heat with advisories stretching over 2000 miles from california to maine this week at 85% of the country is experiencing high temps topping 90 degrees. so hot. >> it's dangerous. the tri-state area in the northeast just recorded the hotte

an ad tech platform when google and comcast were rumored so the deal making will have to see if activisiongetting close to closing it puts together a broad portfolio for microsoft. >> okay, sanjay, now the reason we care about these companies or the market does is not just their cloud businesses but the effect on the whole tech ecosystem, right the worry of a domino effect maybe there is weakness at the other hyper scalers but they're already cutting costs. if cloud disappoints at all more cost cuts could come and that can have a knock-on effect some of these companies are so reliant. >> yeah, absolutely. listen, no one is immune jon mentioned that earlier to recession and if there is a cloud slowdown it will affect everyone that would be the ominous sign of slowdown it will affect the smaller players even worse i think everyone, you know, i think microsoft small tightening of 1%, everyone is tightening hiring and, you know, when you can't grow the top line as fast as your last speaker talked about so i think the service now numbers tomorrow which is sort of in between these two big sets o

i understand why they bought activision they have a games business so netflix can be the odd man outh its valuation i still think that you will see those media companies talk about they have to get consolidated. i think netflix if it does get cheaper, you could start adding some of the other older media companies into the mix but they can't buy it at this valuation, it's too diluted at this point. >> michael, great to talk to you. >> good seeing you, sara thanks. >>> let's give you a check on the markets, down 150 or so. so we have taken another leg lower in the last few minutes. the nasdaq is down about 0.7 of 1% energy is still holding in there. we've got a 5% rally or so on crude oil. that's helping energy, consumer discretionary staying positive health care getting hit the hardest, down 2%. >>> still to come, home builder sentiment just showed its second worst monthly drop in the history. we'll talk to ivy zelman about what that means for the stocks she covers and the housing outlook straight ahead this is the moment. for a treatment for moderate-to-severe eczema. cibinqo — fda a

t now all of a sudden they're connected more closely with x box and activision i don't think's crazyix be a fit absolutely there's nothing wrong with that concept over time. many years have to pass in between. microsoft is going to be a massive ad player. for years we've been talking about amazon now tiktok, now you're going to talk about microsoft over the next few years as the new company to watch in the ad market >> totally we're in 100% agreement there. separately, we'll hear from meta rater today. what do you think we'll hear a lot of people upset with what's happening on instagram. >> look, you've got so many things going on. you're basically chasing tiktok. this whole campaign is because facebook knows the future of facebook is not traditional feed on instagram 's it's not photos they basically need to pivot the entire company people still prefer tiktok it is crushing it. engagement is well over an hour per day per user tiktok is growing at an incredible rate and taking share. i'm more worried about what's happening in the ad space. if you've had tiktok growing at 2x maybe the

. >> microsoft is in a tough spot trying to get activision done. will be probably difficult.down the road, let's get her hand in. >> microsoft used to have stakes in facebook >> they do that. they sprinkle things around and look for opportunities.>> 50 points shy of going breakeven for the week. let's get to bob >> we are trying to reverse four days of declines and it is good start. 8 to 1 advancing to the blind spot. we have not seen that in a while. that is good news. we are off the high. the problem is there is not a lot of buying enthusiasm. for the moment, self pressure might be exhausted but nobody is enthusiastically buying. let's look at of the sectors. what you can see as a small group of people that are trying to buy the growth sectors. this small group of bulls arguing the bottom will be august, september. and you want to buy growth in the fourth quarter. the key picking at tech stocks. some consumer discretionary stocks. those are the ones that are eliciting interest. it is a long ways be here between here and the fourth quarter. when was the last time you saw cit

earnings though the latter is showing strong signs of expanding its footprint, with one medical activisionrting to see a trend of low expectations, netflix benefiting from that this weekend tesla so we could be looking at a comeback story given how bad the street is expecting tech earnings to be. neil: you have people doing slightly better than the worst you are on fire and people love it so these are the times, i built a career on it. thanks. let's go to gary, high expectations, he is brilliant, great market historian so high pressure. i go back at his record and say something but there is nothing but trust me i will find it. good to have you. something very profound, these expectations are really deciding how we react. if you assume the worst from these companies, so many have ratcheted down expectations, one of them says we don't have as much they will buy the stock like crazy so we are 60% through this, two of three companies are beating lower expectations and buyers rates are in. what do you make of that? >> the problem is that can only last so long. what happened recently when target

a second union before microsoft is expected to close its nearly $69 billion application of the activisionelieve that a direct relationship between the company and its employees is the most productive one. >>> china sneeze authorities are preparing to impose a fine on the ride-hailing company didi. it would bring an end to a year-long investigation to the cybersecurity practices. the report said after the penalty was unveiled, china's government plans to ease restrictions from banning didi to add new users it could also kick start a new share listing in hong kong the probe announced back in july 2021 days after the company's listing. shareholders voted in may to delist from the nyse. >>> coming up, a lot more on "squawk. we're going to take you to germany where they hope to restart the flow of gas tomorrow brian sullivan has that story. >>> and as we head to the break, a look at yesterday's s&p 500's winners and losers >> announcer: executive edge is sponsored by at&t business at&t is fast, reliable, and secure oh, i can tell business is going through the “woof”. but seriously we need a re

stuart: what is this ability microsoft they are under their investigation for their deal with activision a $65 billion deal , one of the largest if not the largest in microsoft history so the uk markets and competition authority this morning said they are now looking into that possible $75 billion bid, and that's because they're concerned about competition. the merger between two large tech companies, what does that mean for other players? also by the way we just talked about amazon. the uk is also looking into amazon and its use of data there in the uk. stuart: all right susan let's wrap it up we've got the dow up 40 points in the first few minutes of business. thank you, susan. all right you've got any top picks for us, tepper? >> i do, celsius holdings is one. it's my non-crypto crypto play. it is not the celsius crypto company. it is the celsius energy drink company, so it sold off tremendously over the course of the last few weeks that went from 70 bucks down to maybe 52, up 13% yesterday, back above 70 bucks. you gotta know it's not a crypto play on any pullbacks it be something wo

kingdom's competition and markets authority opening an investigation into microsoft's acquisition of activisionsaid it would look at whether the nearly $69 billion will lead to higher prices or less choice for consumers. it set a deadline of september 1st for an initial decision, and more trouble in crypto land, lender voyager digital says it filed for bankruptcy a week after it suspended withdrawals, trading and deposits, the company's ceo said the move was prompted by recent volatility in the crypto markets combined with the default of three arrows capital, from a voyager subsidiary. >>> and amazon striking a deal to add a grubhub membership to its list of benefits of prime members. the retail giant will have an option to take a stake in gru grubhub. rival players are getting hit on this news. >> let's get over to dom chu with a look at this morning's top premarket movers >> melissa, joe, if you take a look at some of the acceleration we're seeing in some of these stocks in the premarket, we are noticing some individual names getting some more activity we'll start with shares of altria, the b