josh lipton taking a look at the landscape there. , let's take a look at the hack etf that tracks this sector up about 7% so far this year basically flat here for the last three months but gets more interesting when you look under the hood. fortinet up 140% in 2021 big move third best performer in the s&p, by the way zscaler up and crowd strike a different story there, though. it's in the red in 2021. dan ivs over at web bush expects another strong year for this sector in 2022 bottom line he says companies understand the threat and keep dedicating, he says, more of their i.t. budgets to cybersecurity budgets. his top picks he tells me zscaler and palo alto networks which is up 60% this year on track for its best year since 2014 back to you all. >> all right josh, good stuff josh lipton. >>> there is a lot more "techcheck" still to come. (swords clashing) -had enough? -no... arthritis. here. aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. >>

josh lipton is tracking chinese tech and seema mody with guidance on cruises. mike, start us off with the broader markets. nice steady rise. >> yeah. kind of a gentle lift. same percentage gain on the s&p 500 as yesterday .7%. led by some of the relative laggards and a mean reversion playin the large caps and smal caps today the former facebook as well as amazon not performing well as the growth names at the top of the s&p 500 and chinese tech, spacs, recent ipos up a lot. seems like the liquidations perhaps finally run the course they want to take a look at the divergences in stocks in the same industry that have di verged this year look at this a 50 percentage point spread citi is poor performer probably due to business and geographic mix but when you get a new tax year and performance year for professional traders starting soon, maybe there's convergence that might be due. another one, amd versus intel. this is about intel really not doing anything in a strong year for semis. amd with the fundamental momentum much more expensive. intel cheap but a struggle s

let's get to josh lipton for the details. >> melissa, micron did have some news for investors sayingt covid-related closures in the chinese city would impact its dram production. the company expects to meet most of its customer demand i checked in with matt bryson who covers the name. he argues it could be a positive for the company. historically pricing is more important than volume. his point being if customers think there could be more shortages coming, they might end up paying more for micron's chips. having said that, he does rate micron a neutral it appears like western digital, he says, are more attractively valued micron stock dipping in today's trade but still up 25% this year up nearly 40% in just the past two months now, is there a broader challenge that chip investors should start thinking about here i spoke to another chip analyst. he says this is a tough one to judge right now. but it does seem like these kind of impacts to chip factories, he says, will be short-lived. >> thanks so much, josh lipton so we saw micron and western dig trade lower on the back of this news t

. >> the semi etf hitting a record name today josh lipton with a break down. > check out the smh etf that tracks the chips on track for a record close unabout 15% in the past 3 months more than 40% this year. some names in etf, amd and nvidia up 50% this year. broadcomm hitting new all-time highs. investor demand is strong. investors sound optimistic where's the smart place for investors to commit call in 2022 back to you. >> thank you mike, to the point with the nasdaq not a record high again but the semis are. if you look at one-performance, pretty much every sector looking at 4% or so of gains other than real estate and utilities. this is risk on more than sector rotation. >> largely yeah. i think the market kind of bent a couple of times. once it seemed the pullback is not going to go deeper than 4% there's relief off the lows of the lows of 4500 now a year end grab for risk and set -- the scene was set by the liquidations from a lot of crowd and sort of speck lative positions and semis in the sweet spot with the secular thick working and what's fascinating

. >> bob pisani is tracking the moves at the new york stock exchange josh lipton at the nasdaq.ob, what are you looking at >> jon, again we are dependent on omicron headlines and take a look at the dow decliners all cyclical stocks dependent on the economy. see weakness in financials like american express and goldman sachs and a spattering of consumer names disney affected by omicron headlines. energy is a proxy for global travel essentially and growth. oil down a bit today chevron and the dow down in terms of new highs, we have several new highs in the dow it's defensive names like pfizer and united health. coca-cola and mcdonald's at new highs but these are smaller parts of the overall economy a group that's really struggled is travel names. they were clobbered in november. on delta concerns went straight down in november and clobbered on the omicron headlines you can see most of the big travel names down. >> tesla and ship stocks are under pressure let's get to josh lipton with more. >> start with apple actually so close to hitting that remarkable milestone 3 trillion in mark

our josh lipton is looking at buying opportunities that investors should be looking at in the new yearlooking at three tech stocks and whether they are buys in 2022. start with apple that stock is up about 35% this year trading right around it always time highs here. now skeptics will say that stock does not look cheap and next year they bet is going to be slower others say they should bet on apple's loyal customers and think tim cook will take the stage next year and introduce new products, perhaps a mixed reality headset. bulls say that positions apple for a rerating, investors will be willing to place a higher valuation on apple's earnings. microsoft, another name to watch. big run in 2021. that stock up about 50%. i checked the with rbc and says microsoft is still a top pick for next year, saying it's levers of powerful trends, migration to the cloud, benefitting azure, the transition to business, benefitting office 365 and hybrid work models benefitting teams. we'll end on nvidia. what a run, that stock up about 130% this year matt bryson at wedbush does maintain a neutral rating

josh lipton with the details >> we have a headline on mercury systems.a partners reporting a 6.6% there. they think it is an attractive investment opportunity, they continue to have discussions with the board there in terms of maximizing value for shareholders and evaluating a strategic alternative. jana partners reporting a 6.6% position in mercury systems. >>> just about 41 minutes to go before the closing bell. look at the major averages we've gone positive for the dow, s&p 500 and nasdaq for december. session highs. nasdaq up 1% s&p up 0.8%. small caps are coming back, up 1%. >>> coming up, shares of jd.com under pressure as tencent makes a move to weaken its ties to the e-commerce giant. >>> and let's look at the top-searched tickers on cnbc.com tesla takes the top spot 5.5% higher after elon musk said he is just about done selling stock. ten-year yield up there. we have some buying of ten-year yields a -- excuse me, selling of ten-year notes. yields higher. kod e, s&p 500 surging, an nila labs up on news of its first orders (♪ ♪) whether it's a tec

>> turning to semis, chips, some of the biggest winners in 2021 stocks hitting an all-time hi 3 josh liptone on what names investors continue to like, josh >> let's start with sma to attract the chip, it's dipping right now, obviously, this one is hitting new reports now up 40% this year. under the hood of that etf, big moves from big names, nvidia, amd. how long will it last? they tell me they are getting a bit nervous, actually. there is growing risk, he says that some customers have actually purchased more than they actually need and won't order as much going forward. his check indicates that's particularly true for autos and pcs. piper says he agrees with that view, too long for some of the chip names and he says to look at sustainable, noncyclical areas for example, he likes semi companies that sell the big cloud giants and the big carriers building out the 5g networks broadcom and qualcomm. carl, back to you. >>> and muzuho likes the sector. bullish on names including micron and qualcomm. joining us, d.j., i'm wondering are you having similar trouble finding bargains in this environme

josh lipton has more >> carl, get to the movers start with micron.on a strong earnings report. coming off a strong november as well when it surged 20%. more broadly, step back, look at the tracks that chips. the etf still in the red for the month, first negative month in three, worth highlighting sit riks jumping on a report that they're considering a joint bid for the software maker that stock enjoying the first positive month in three best months since march 2020. solar edge technologies, yesterday, the worst day since may 4th. today, different named a top pick at cowen. julia, back to you >> let's stay with this theme. stocks bouncing after yesterday's sharp selloff. joining us, cnbc contributor thank you for joining us tell us what you're seeing now that the rally is over, what's the divergence you see in the tech space >> i think the everything rally is over. people dumped some more speculative growth focused names, they've fled those names and at the same time we've seen stocks like apple outperform i think it goes back to some of the growth fo

talk about high growth and high valuation and a lot of you are thinking about mega-caps and our josh lipton certainly is as well and he takes a look at three big ones for us. hi, josh >> so, scott let's dig into some potential buys here and let's start with apple and that stock having a solid showing in 2021 and it's actually trading right around its all-time highs here. some on the street will say, listen, stay on the sidelines and growth, they bet, will be slower bulls say, of course, that is the wrong bet, that the iphone 13 cycle, and that apple will introduce new products like a mixed reality headset and they think it will convince investors that apple is indeed well positioned to capitalize on new trends like the metaverse. microsoft, another name to watch, 50% this year, evercore telling clients that microsoft remains one of the favorites for next year. enterprise i.t. spending remains at an all-time high and microsoft benefits from that, he says given the product offerings across cloud computing, productivity and business applications and it is also in the early innings of several n

josh lipton has those details. >> so remember heading into this report, they were up about 30% this year. trading around its all-time high now reporting q4 results here. revenue, 7.14 billion. q1 forecast, about 7.6 billion versus 7.3 billion expected. bernstein telling us this was a solid beat gross margins good good dividend raise and the company announcing that $10 billion buyback. there is nothing here not to like, stacy says his rating outperformed. attractively valued. better control of the semibusiness less volatile software business. the highest margins in the space. on the call, hock tan saying enterprise demand rebounded sharply. strong wireless growth driven by the rise of next gen phones by apple. turning to software growing 8% year-over-year, reflecting the strong enterprise recovery we are well positioned, hock tan saying, in every franchise market back to you. >> thank you >>> let's trade broadcom dan, can you find any hair on this >> no, no hair on it another $10 billion buyback. we just saw oracle name that same number. again, here's a stock trading below a market multip

. >> straight to the market action and a rough session for the tech shares josh lipton is at the nasdaq with a closer look. >> you mentioned tesla lower in today's trade after the ceo sold more stock on monday. tesla down nearly 20% this month. for the year up 30%. check out beyond meat enjoying a day in the green piper saying a nationwide u.s. launch in mcdonald's appears to come next year per industry contacts that stock about 70% off the january high b of a with a new note on apple upgrades to a buy saying it could be a game changer for the company and still edging down today but up 30% in 2021 sticking here with the tech giants morgan stanley says microsoft is a top idea for 2022 saying data management should be a key source of upside stock up nearly 50% this year. back to you all. >> thank you, josh financials the only sector in the green today. bank of america is participating in that rally. let's send it to wilfred frost who's joined by bank of america chairman brian moynihan in a "closing bell" exclusive. >> thank you i'm indeed in the top of bank of america tower no less in the

mike santoli tracking the action and josh lipton with the rally. >> mike, start us off. led by technology. >> it's very inclusive with a rally it is all hard for the big technology stocks not to participate in there if you take a look we are back on the trend somewhat. raced right back to the levels of november 5th. strong jobs report and riding the streaks and seemed like time to cool off. it cooled off with this challenge we have been in for a while. that's arbitrary and kept to it as we have gone through the little rebound off 5% pullback a couple things didn't happen. we have not gotten incremental worrisome news ant the severity of the new covid strain. we have not seen the forced liquidations that we saw late last week continuing into this week and so oversold that the absence was enough for the springback all things together, credit markets improving. things are place and all we have done is a round trip in about four weeks yes it is a tech driven rally today but i'm interested in the global recovery trade. home builders with help on the rate side and demand for h

scott, back to you >> josh lipton, appreciate it very much. an all-star hour of halftime. kicks off the final trading hour of the year. see you at 12:00 eastern we've got tom lee on he's been right on the market. he said we're going to have a year-end santa claus rally and he's been dead right his base case, 4800 on the s&p now, he's going to tell us if we get some follow through into early 2022 unusual activity as always i just found out he's buying a stock you need to hear about we'll tell you about that. we'll also debate google, which is the best performing big tech stock of the year. i know everybody talks about apple hitting new highs and so forth, but google, alphabet, the best performing big tech sckto we'll debate that. stay with us >>> the u.s. and china face a deadline to decide whether the phase one trade agreement taking effect just one month before the world went into lockdown is working as intended. under the deal, china pledged to open up new markets to companies across several industries and buy hundreds of billions of dollars

conductor etf hit an all-time high back to its inception 20 years ago will it roll into the new year josh liptonith us that story. josh, what's the verdict >> so, kayla, you mentioned why etf. you mentioned the sfa, it's been on a roll and closed on monday on a record. setting down the past three months, it's up more than 45% so far this year. under the hood, we have big fames making big moves nvidia, a monthly decline, you will see it's up nearly 140% in 2021 amd also up big, nearly 70% this year broad.com, applied materials, all trading at all-time highs here at the manned has been strong off the charts on earnings calls, chip executives sounding very positively about business trends and governments increasingly recognize chips as a true national priority bernstein tells me he is getting a bit nervous here yes, they provide a tailwind chip makers have been semg everything they make there is a growing risk that some customers have now purchased more than they actually need and won't order as much from here he says his checks indicate that is particularly true for autos and cs so commit capital.

. >>> big tech stocks were investor favorites in most of 2021 josh lipton joins us right now with threees to watch as we head into the new year the big question is, is this going to continue in 2022, this tech love? >> so %, becky, that's the question we're asking, what is the smart bet for tech investors as we now roll into 2022 let's start with apple we pulled that stock, it's up about 35% this year. right here, the all time highs, skeptics are not excited valuation is not attractive they say and growth, so they bet it will be slower next year on the other hand, katy huberty says apple's strong loyal customer base and the pipeline upcoming launch, she thinks a rerate in next year, meaning investors will be willing to place a higher valuation on apple's earnings switching gears, microsoft investors, check out that stock, it has surged more than 50% this year and rba argues it's a top pick for next year saying the migration to cloud he says is benefiting azure the direct transformation of business, benefiting office 365 and hybrid work models benefitted teams they are trying to execute