robert frank, interesting story nonetheless on koss.ou very much, my friend >> >>> all right. so when you think of environmentally or socially conscious investing, you probably thing about things like solar panels, biofuels, tesla. what about generators, semico semiconductors we'll tell you why you should, next (vo) businesses are always making choices. here's a choice you don't have to make: the largest 5g network... award-winning customer satisfaction... or insanely great value. now, with t-mobile for business, there's no compromise. network. support. value. choose. all. three. t-mobile for business. ready when you are. when you switch to xfinity mobile, you're choosing to get connected to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $300 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra sav

carl >> robert, just so we're clear here, this isn't about hedge funds shorting koss.h from the retail traders so i guess we're attempting a short squeeze into the koss family themselves, right? and the directors of the company? >> the traders were buying and the koss family was selling. that is exactly what happened. now, again, we don't know whether these sales were part of a prearranged sale plan. we don't know what they plan to do with this money we don't know whether this reflects their confidence in the future but you're exactly right. the money that went into these purchases by these traders went to the family when they sold and, again, these are massive sales. $31 million for the family $14 million for the directors. this company was only worth $26 million before these traders got in so this is a huge profit for the family >> yeah, robert, it's amazing. of course we have "the journal" piece on the hedge fund that made $17 million on the gamestop trade. what disclosure restrictions were there or are there in place to make these types of sales more transparent >>

. >>> the headphone maker koss, this is one of the reddit stocks today we learned that the koss family it's down around 25% >>> it is time for trading nation we're going to go to seema mody for that. >> ahead of this earnings after the bell, that's despite news after the company said it would cut production due to a shortage of global chips, a day after general motors did the same. analysts are watching for details on ford's electric vehicle push how to get -- a revenue decline, up about 30% year-to-date. it what stood out to me is ford outpacing tesla year to date what do you make of that we've seen companies like ford and gm, what they're doing with their balance sheets, strong financials, trying to make a push, a shift in this race it's something that investor versus to watch and something we're watching closely. >> todd, what do you think is the best way to play this auto trade? >> seema, look at the technicals which can be the leading fundamentals gm is at the highest level since 2009 i hold gm, 47 was resistance, i love what they're doing with the ev push in 2035 to go all electr

amc, koss and blackberry joined in the mix. >>> joining me is jeff alexander to talk a little more abouti'm curious about this because the reddit revolution, wall street bets, what's happened with gamestop, amc, koss, all these other stocks was billed as a win, a huge one for the retail investor out there. is it, in fact, a win for the retail investors out there >> thanks for having me on first thing is the definition of retail is -- we use the wrong definition my clients are hedge funds, mutual funds, some of the largest in the world they represent people who have pensions, for example. policemen, firemen, pipefitters. and that's retail. it's retail and packaged up. what happened here was when all this new flow came into the market, what's really interesting when you look at the numbers, i don't think anyone is talking about this is the reddit revolution, the robinhood, the schwab, last year at this time was 20% under market volume. now it's one-third of all market volume what happens here, there's something called payment for order flow when someone executes a trade through a robinhood

almost humorous in a way because gamestop started surging, then suddenly you looked at blackberry, kossamc, and they are all moving together. caroline: what is the game here? pardon the pun. sarah: certainly now is different than late in january, and that is one of the main points. you still do not see the amount of short interest in the system that we did in late january. much of that has been baked out of the system. we saw the short squeeze, but at the same time, this is a very large community of traders here. they have not back down. if you look at wall street bets, nine point 2 million members strong, gamestop wall street data was not really out of hand today, but if you look at amc, surely there was more fundamental reasoning going on behind the amc surge we have seen over the past couple of days, but today, and amc call was the second most traded call in the u.s. on exchanges, and that just goes to show you that the option romaine: before gamestop stole all the thunder, we started the day talking about that treasury yield. joe: the original meme stock. at one point today, hitting

koss still up 65%. amc up 8%. we like to cover the housing boom. the latest indicator in pending home sales? susan: down in the month of january. down 2.8%. economists were looking for a flat read, zero. looks like higher interest rates, higher mortgage rates are biting into the home sales. down in the month of january. stuart: is that down compared to december or down compared to january the previous year? year on year one is -- susan: it is down compared to economists forecasts and previous month from what i see yeah. stuart: i'm look for the year on year number. let's see if it continues. >> the fact that it is down already tells you something, right, about mortgage rates biting in. stuart: it wasn't that big after rise in mortgage rates but hold on a latest on mortgage rates. we got it from ashe. good morning, ash, fresh in palm beach. what are the mortgage rates. ashley: put the tab on the "varney & company" bill. expect a surprise next month. to susan's point rates are going up. freddie mac 30 year fixed up

i spoke too soon, koss was down 10%, now it's down 3%.>>> welcome back to "squawk box" this morning hedge funds are playing defense after "the game" stop squeeze by scrapping social media sites scrapping some as well leslie picker joins us with more on thisstrategy. what's going on here, leslie. >> yes, scraping and scrapping, andrew traditionally that practice is scraping social media sites to see how sentiment might impact stocks it's been used for sourcing investment opportunities, doing due diligence. over the past few months these types of data are being used increasingly for defense as a way of protecting portfolios >> these social media conversations, this attention that companies are getting has potential to be a risk, a risk to the up side, a risk to the down side but i think everyone is recognizing that's something they need to at least start to understand and at least start to take into account when they're making those investment decisions. >> reporter: scrape data to investors found an increase in mentions on social media for

koss at 18, it is down 48%. amc is at 6 bucks, down 50%.s now when you got these stocks falling so sharply. susan: yeah. stuart: you're right, susan, you're right, it is a pivotal point. this is a moment in the frenzy on wall street which is a very important moment. i don't see any sign of them coming back at this point. susan: this market move kind of makes sense. just about at the top of the hour we had s 3 analytics coming out with the latest data how many gamestop shorts are being put on. how much of float, actual stock traded has been shorted. from what s3 sees short interest five billion, much less than what we've seen over the previous three weeks. what that means when you have short interest falling, down below 50% of the daily float. there is nobody else to take the other side of the trade. does that make sense? so it can only go down from here. stuart: it does. susan: we have gamestop down almost 100% in the past few days. it makes you wonder where this money is going. it is probably going back into the big techs as we saw the sel

it is not just game stop today check out shares of other meme stocks amc, nokia, and koss, all up despite the broader selloff. >> the dow is back down 525 points, 2.3% down on the s&p nasdaq more than 3% lower. joining us now, back to game stop is dough chief marketing strategy ryan grace. thank you for joining us if you had to work out or try to explain to people why you think game stop surged as it did 24 hours ago, what would you say is the key reason. >> thank you for having me we have to ask the question, is this market structure or one supported by fundamentals? i certainly understand a lot of the excitement around game stop from the fundamentals standpoint, ryan cohen coming in there is potential for it to become an e-commerce provider. or participate in e sports while there is excitement for fundamentals on the other hand if we ask ourselves, is this another short squeeze? i argue it is different this time around. the short percentage, or the percentage of the flow that's short is down 140% to roughly 40%. i don't think it is going to be the same scenario if that's what some inves

those these two certainly the massively year to date, but you see what they did late back in january koss has gotten caught up in this. it was a dozen stocks back then, just a few today i do want to look at the arc investment flagship, arc innovation, a tremendously hot story in terms of the disruptive tech companies in here you see this great run, still up 47%. tesla the biggest holding here across the portfolio this is another to watch in terms of risk appetites. >> mike, thank you for the charts appreciate that. what exactly led to these stocks taking off again and really what is the long picture? let's bring in steve sosnick with interactive brokers thank you for being here i want to look at the two-day rally of gamestop here and what it was doing it's hard to not have motion sickness when you're watching this when you see it's up 55% today, i think something like over two days, you've got -- you can see the big bounce what was driving this? is there something specific? >> something specific? no, but i think what we saw again was the effect that the options market can have on the stoc

koss down 35%.this monday morning. got to tell you this, robin hood narrowed its list of restricted stocks from 50 to eight. gamestop is still on that restricted list, through robinhood, you can only buy one share of it. okay. still way down though. watch it, totally different subject. your taxes, you may have a problem if you're working remotely from another state. we got the full story coming up in my take. right now, let's have a look at the big show just ahead. ed yardeni, james freeman. acorn ceo, loren kerner. in the 11:00 hour, mike rowe, larry kudlow, lara logan. we have the ism manufacturing indicator. ashley, what have we got? ashley: good morning, stu, 58.7. the expectations was 59.5. a little short of that. but anything above 50 is expanding, it is growing. that is the 8th straight month we've recorded that. in december if was 68.7. we're down to 58.7. slowing down of manufacturing, production if you like of the economy in january. stuart: no impact on overall market right there. we're s

issues like gamestop and silver, amc, nokia, naked brands, koss, blackberry, we'll rifle through the other stocks where it spawned a new cottage industry, people look at stocks shorted by big funds, and a lot of investors on robinhoods and other venues target them. that could be a rolling cycle that continues. the impact of all of that with danielle dimartino booth, the former dallas fed advisor, brian brenberg, kings college professor of economics. brian, begin with you, end with you, the notion this ain't over. it will be always a battle between those targeting a stock to tumble and shows trying to reverse that very move but the theme in washington no doubt when hearings start out on this, the little guy is getting screwed. that is what will be the prevailing theme. do you think, in other words, that is traction. what do you think? >> yeah. it does have traction. that is the theme going to be at the center of what goes on in washington. we have a battle now for a while between the short sellers and those who want to challenge that frankly that's good. that is what a market should d

without looking at the big declines in the sold meme stocks, gamestop back below 100 and then amc and koss1% but changes, big winners on the year kathy wood in arc investments, draftkings shares part of the next generation internet etf and end with pot stocks, continue to rally as cannabis regulation more favorable across the globe. movement in portugal and france and many looking at mexico as the next country likely to legalize all the stocks on your screen have doubled in the past three months now let's get to seema mody for "trading nation. >> chipotle, that's the stock we're talking about today hitting a record high ahead of its earnings after the bell. t trifecta of menu innovation and a strong quarter will the company deliver and what can ceo brian nicholl to keep the bullish story in tact mark with strategic wealth partners and global and advisers what really stood out to me was chipotle's plans to hire additional 15,000 workers here in the u.s does that tell you demand is expected to remain strong as restaurants reopen and consumers are presented with more food options? >> i would

price, carl, on the other side by the way, some of the other ones are moving again, too, let's check koss, up it's doubling. >> amc adam aaron, last time, took advantage of it, because remember, the movie theaters so far are not doing that well. but if you look at, royal caribbean is the hottest stock in this market why? because the rates are going up next year. can you imagine? people are paying more for cruises that may not happen. >> i know. it was jarring because yesterday, they did, carnival, for example, did extend the pause through the end of may, but nclh, as you know, jim, wider than expected loss, but revenue was ahead, and by the way, i don't know how you're going to make room tonight between fisker and twitter and nvidia, which 3.10 crushes 2.81. needham high, street high 800. a lot to unhack on nvidia. >> i'm breaking all forms. jensen will start. i never have done this before. i thought the quarter was miraculous the numbers are extraordinary. it reminds me of intel 1996 to 1998, 1999 period, the 486 and then the pentium jensen huang, i want you to read this conference call.

the retail trade repel onis back gamestop, koss, amc on the move today.chouw >> what do you see >> when people go out and buy calls, there's a potential impact on the stock price. the reason for that is that if retail or institutional traders are buying calls from market makers, the market makers need to hedge to do that, they buy some measure of the stock the tricky bit about this, though, is that if everybody is buying options and the market makers are only short those options, as the stock prices rise, they need to buy more and more stock to maintain their heads. because movements in the stock price rises. if you look at the open interest in names like gamestop, you see there's 15,000, 20,000, in some cases more than 30,000 contracts. 30,000 contracts is the equivalent of three million shares as the stocks start mieg greating they need to start selling stock to maintain their hedges this exacerbates the volatility. i think part of it is retail buying and selling of the stock. part of it is buying and selling of the options, market makers to hedge those

at the center of the explosive rallies among -- including gamestop, amc entertainment, blackberry, kossnokia. you know those names by heart now. the reddit crowd, the trading ones, now turning their attention to what's happening with silver. the commodity climbing as much as 8% overnight. you can see comex silver up by 11%. that appears to be related to the retail traders in reddit which had multiple active threads on silver last night the phrase "silver squeeze" was, believe it or not bs trending on twitter. cnbc has learned that hedge fund melvin capital management lost 53% of its investments in january amid that record rally in gamestop and other stocks that the fund was betting against. sources say melvin's assets under management now stand at more than $8 billion, including the emergency funding, down from roughly $12.5 billion at the beginning of the year. cnbc reported last week melvin capital closed out short position in gamestop and sit dell and point 22 management infused close to $23 million into that melvin fund to shore up its finances. >>> back to the broader markets now,

you still have koss shares trading at $66, a gain of 4.25%. and then blackberry shares, which are up by 6.9% to $15.07 also check out silver prices this morning this is the last area that really looks like it's seeing a big run in things happening. silver prices this morning, up by 10% to just under $30 $29.62 joe? >> thanks, beck. johnson & johnson's vaccine candidate showed strong protection against covid-19 but fueling concern about mutant strains of the virus let's bring in former commissioner dr. scott gottlieb, also a cnbc contributor. in hislatest op-ed he tackles the different vaccines as well as the different strains of covid. it's good to see you this morning. we talked about this when the news came out, that it's a one-shot dose and that the pfizer and moderna versions after one shot, i don't think, were even 70 people that were looking at apples to apples needed to take that into account. the efficacy was impressive, in your view, even though we hear 95 i'd rather have 95 than 70 i'll take the two shots. >> i'll take what i can get

getting slammed for a second day in a row game stop down 57% rit now you can see the carnage across amc, koss, exprerks blackberry, all of those shorted names mohamed el-erian joins us. there was always going to be a limit to how much money retail traders could put behind these names. is that it did we see the end of it >> in large part i mean the limit came much faster because they were restricted from buying more. if you are going to implement a short squeeze you need to continue to keep the pressures on the shorts. because they were frustrated and distracted to talk about silver, talk about other things, yes, that trade has now died down enormously, which means it is a green light for the rest of the market to go upbecause we no longer have the threat of de-grossing. >> explain that further. what does it have to do with the rest of the market, the broader market >> where was the pain trade? they always tell you figure out where the weak hand is if you don't know where it is, it is you. the pain trade was in hedge funds that had shorted way too much of a handful of stocks. so when they came

neil: with all the attention given to gamestop, amc, koss, all that other stuff.hat is a big, big issue right now. taking a peek at the five-year it come off the worst levels. this backup in rate, come tugs for stocks, i sound like a broken record but it is a concern. we have been watching this very, very closely for the last actually couple of months. we'll continue doing that. we like to stay ahead of the curve. jackie deangelis, more than ahead of the curve and more than a lot of the time. jackie, what is interesting here is that the confluence of events. rake rate backup, the up and down nature of bitcoin all coming together at the same time. >> it is. you make a great point. we unfortunately don't know how it will play out. it is this push and pull in the marketplace we thinking about a recovery a strong economy, watching rising rates and deciding as an investor where the best place individually for you depending on your investment time horizon to put your money and where you get the most return for it and that is why we see choppy sessions he have day now un

the astounding amount of money that the koss family made by selling shares in the head phone maker whileetting caught up in this crazy trading frenzy that's next. your grooming business is booming. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base. claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/groomer time for a cnbc news update with leslie picker. hi, leslie >> hello wilf. here's what's happening at this hour, everyone former president trump will not testify during his impeachment trial next week. a lauer for trump tells nbc news the democratic's request for testimony is a, quote, publicity stunt. trump has resigned from the screen actor's guild after they threatened to expel him after the capitol hill riot. he says the union has done nothing for him but he is proud of his roles in home alone 2 and zoolander. samsung is building a new plant in texas, saying it will create 1,800 new jobs and the house of representatives is intent on stripping marjorie

matt moses worked for contra koss take water district from 2004 to 2013. his work for us is focused on planning analysis of future water supply conditions and strategies for new water supply projects. matt has bachelor of science in bioresource and master in environmental engineering from uc berkeley. last is bill sears science and policy scientists. for five years he was project manager for watershed and river restoration and planning studies in california, oregon and washington. he joined in 2007 and coordinates 12 new system efforts and served to partner agencies including yosemite national park. he has a bachelor of science in biology from california state east bay and the uc santa barbara. we have other experts available to answer questions from the commission. they are doctor ron yoshiama. he has worked and as assisted san francisco as a consulting biologist since 1993. doctor hume has 25 years of water quality and supply and treatment. he has worked on the river in particular on some of the modeling efforts there. john divine has many years of consu

shares of amc and koss also saw a spike as berkshire hathaway's vice president said he was slamming theod trading app. he compared retail investing there to casino gambling. what's your take on the gamestop situation? >> i think on the one hand, robinhood has made gamification the outlook for that. there's more under the surface that we don't know yet. for the stock to act like this and the company to say nothing after we've seen the volatility, suggests there's something going on and people outside of the company know about it and if there's a major news item that's going to come up, really the rules suggest that the company is supposed to come out and announce there's a major event that's happening. if the market is reacting, if the stock is reacting and there doesn't seem to be relevant information and the fact that that jeffrey belgo got thrown out the other day, it's not enough of a headline to see the stock rally the way it did. i think probably there's something going on. i think the regulators should say, listen, you have to say something. this trading action is not making any s

koss up 60%, as we head to a break, check out shares of churchill capital, coming off a second straight day of massive losses, closing down 18%, after announcing the deal to make lucid public through a reverse merger stocks trading at $26.78 we're back after this. flexshares are carefully constructed. to go beyond ordinary etfs. and strengthen client confidence in you. before investing consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. go to flexshares.com for a prospectus containing this information. read it carefully. when you switch to xfinity mobile, you're choosing to get connected for a prospectus containing this information. to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $300 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. stop in or book an appointment to shop safely with peace of mind at your local xfi

matt moses worked for contra koss take water district from 2004 to 2013.k for us is focused on planning analysis of future water supply conditions and strategies for new water supply projects. matt has bachelor of science in bioresource and master in environmental engineering from uc berkeley. last is bill sears science and policy scientists. for five years he was project manager for watershed and river restoration and planning studies in california, oregon and washington. he joined in 2007 and coordinates 12 new system efforts and served to partner agencies including yosemite national park. he has a bachelor of science in biology from california state east bay and the uc santa barbara. we have other experts available to answer questions from the commission. they are doctor ron yoshiama. he has worked and as assisted san francisco as a consulting biologist since 1993. doctor hume has 25 years of water quality and supply and treatment. he has worked on the river in particular on some of the modeling efforts there. john divine has many years of consulting on