Closing Bell - Closing Bell 7/8/26

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

From the open to the close, “Closing Bell” and “Closing Bell: Overtime” have you covered. From what’s driving market moves to how investors are reacting, Scott Wapner, Melissa Lee and Michael Santoli guide listeners through each trading session and bring to you some of the biggest names in business.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

All right, Brian, thanks so much. Welcome to closing bell. I'm Scott Wapner, live from Post 9 here at the New York Stock Exchange. This maker breakout begins with momentum looking to stabilize after a brutal trading stretch down 20% in some two weeks. We'll ask our experts whether a bottom is in fact close. In the meantime, we'll show you the scorecard with 60 to go in regulation. Pretty rough day for the majors. After President Trump declared the ceasefire with Iran is quote over. That drove oil prices sharply higher. Stocks, as you know by now, sharply lower. Tech Green, the as NVIDIA and Micron, we're trying to get a bounce, and they are holding there. We'll track it right to the finish. How about Broadcom today? Higher as well after a chip deal with Apple. Meantime, Apple, closing in on a new high of its own. We're watching that as well. Takes us to our talk of the tape, unsettled stocks, and what the best investing opportunities are right now.

Let's ask our headlider. He is Black Rock's Rick Reeder, CIO of Global Fixed Income, head of the Global Allocation Team. and as you see very clearly, he is sitting next to me once again at Post 9. Welcome back. Thanks for having me. So these markets, some say the makeup has changed. Is that how you see it, too? Yes.

You know, I would say there are a couple things. I mean, I would say the rates market, the fixed income market, not terribly fascinating. I mean, there is a lot of supply that's coming in different areas in credit, obviously, given the data center supply, related supply. Not that, you know, I don't think it's that exciting. The equity market, though, and the volatility, the single-name stock volatility every day, I have to say, I mean, you almost reach a point where you're catatonic or what you look at. Some of your big-cap equities down 15 percent one day, up 12 the next. And listen, I mean, it's part of I've become a bit more cautious about, you know, when you see that sort of there's clearly a lack of depth to some of these markets now.

So we've pulled back a decent amount of exposure and equities. I have to say that we have. Yeah, I mean, we reduced them a decent amount. I mean, you know, I still think on the year the equity market will have a pretty good year, and I think we'll end up, you know, up 15 to 20 percent on the year. But I think for the next couple of months, you know, people say July is always a good month seasonally. But there's a few things. That daily volatility of single-name stock, some of the leverage that's built into the system,

some of the margin finance, some of the vol you see in places like Japan and Korea. You know, I've thought, let's pull back. We've had a pretty good run. Let's pull back a bit. But I have to say the resilience of the equity market, Even days like today, you know, you watch, I don't know if this is going and selling up, but it seems like when London goes home, it's like, okay, now we can relax a little bit. But it is, the market's pretty resilient.

I've thought a couple of times that the market, you'd have a pretty good seller for the day. And, you know, there's a lot of cash out there. So it's pretty remarkable how well it does. But you're alluding to what's happened with the momentum factor. Yeah. That's where the wild swings have happened. Probably more downside than up in those violent swings lately. but it's been enough that it's made you sort of, you know, rethink where we are.

Yeah. And what all that can mean? That's a change for you. Pretty significant, as a matter of fact, in terms of the size, the extent. But we've done a couple of things that are significant. One, we've built more balance into the portfolio. We've talked about for years. I like tech a lot.

But we've created a bit more balance, things like financials, health care, some of what I would argue, quality, you know, stable, return on investing, capital, consistent ROIC types of businesses. And then the other, you know, I will say, though today, we did a little bit of work. I mean, I was going through your point about momentum. Some of the semi-semi-cap, you know, when you look at some of the valuations now, when you're looking at forward multiples, particularly if you're willing to go out two years and look at multiple,

you're talking about three to six times multiple, assuming you build in what their backlog suggests growth will be. So we did a little bit of work today in terms of buying some of that stuff for the first time. Do you think that we got over our skis in some respects of thinking that what have historically been cyclical areas, like memory and maybe even some of the semi-cap equipment names, had all of a sudden turned into secular things because of this time is different with what's happened with AI? Was that a misguided way of thinking, or is the jury still out on that? No, I'm in my perspective, and I think there are, you know, I always find like explaining what happened is interesting, hard to really evaluate. But I think, you know, you have to think about what the forward return on invested capital for this tremendous amount of cap-ex is going to be. And quite frankly, when you think about who is going to be purchasing that off-take and how much can they afford, I think there's been a bit of sobriety around, gosh, I mean, these prices can't keep escalating. the tech spend for the companies that are going to have to support that capital expenditure from these companies building it, gosh, that's going to be pretty hard.

The productivity improvement you have to assume in your model may not offset the amount of cap-ax. And so I think there's a little bit of sobriety brought into the equation of, gosh, maybe costs have to come down. Maybe the tech, you know, the revenue stream on the backside of this for some of those companies may not be as robust. And so I think that's right. But the backlog for some of these infra-related players, like, are pretty impressive. So I think now you've reached, I mean, some of them, I think as you chronicle, are down 30% in the last couple of weeks. So pretty good.

You've always favored the mega-caps over almost everything else within the tech orbit, because we've had so many conversations about that. Yeah. So when I hear you talk about pulling back a little bit exposure in tech, it has to come from that. Yes. Yes. So are you making a broader statement about even the mega caps that you think that those are going to go through a more prolonged cooling off period? And that the other areas like the financials, like the health care and some of these other, you know, more perceived value areas of the market are going to outperform?

So, I mean, just to be clear, I still like those companies. We have rotated within that universe. And I would say, how do I describe it? Some of the companies that are more directly tied to AI, we've pulled back a bit and rebalanced a bit into some of that are less, haven't been associated necessarily with AI per se. I mean, they're all AI related, but the ones that are less acutely focused on AI. So we've done some rebalancing within that. I still like those companies.

We're not running any significant overweight there. Where we did reduce was some of the specific AI related, and quite frankly, some of those we were buying back today in, both in cash and option form. Like, actually, it's pretty incredible now with some of these volatility markets. You can get into some of these names by willing to sell some downside. With the multiples that some are trading at now, you can sell it puts down 20, 30, and you get paid real premium to get longer into, you know, a potential bounceback. That also does speak, though, to what I think is one of the underpinnings of this market.

People like you, right? BlackRock manages, the largest asset manager in the world. So you're looking at and you are in control of a lot of dollars, okay? And that investors out there who are still big believers in this trend, like you still are, are not going to let these stocks fall that much. You say you did some work there today. NASDAQ may very well go positive before I finish this question. Incredible, actually.

But that's sort of what is one of those real underpinnings of this market. The believability in the trade and the unwillingness to let these stocks go down too much. So if you take the multiple, the equity market today, it's about a 20 multiple, and earnings growth is about 20%. If actually, one of the people I work with, Dylan Price is going through it today, and if you actually take the multiple today and rebalance it to what it used to be because Texas is a heavier weighting, it's really about an 18, 18 and a half multiple. It's not that stretch. The valuations aren't that bad. And if you believe, I mean, you know the backlog on cloud. You know the backlog on semi-compute memory.

It's pretty hard to say, you know, part of the reason I sold, you know, we've reduced. the fair amount of outright beta is I just don't love the technicals on the market today. I still think there's a lot of cash out there. But gosh, when I see that sort of exposures, the length that people have on, the margin finance, the double-evered ETF, Korea, Japan moving with that sort of volatility. And by the way, you know, it's been a pretty good year. And the idea that, okay, let's scale it back a little bit. We got a lot of supply coming, a lot of supply coming, debt and equity into the fall.

it's not like you won't get a chance to buy some paper. Have you rethought how much you like or don't like, small caps, for example? The Russell is outperforming everything else the year to date. I still feel like it's not getting the love that it deserves.

Maybe now's that moment. What do you think? I'm love-free in that zone. Love free still. No, I don't, listen, I, by the way, I get that there is at times. It's got been a bit, bit curious as to why I've done them as well as they have.

Listen, I understand that some of the multiple, some of the valuations are reasonable. I think structurally the moats are growing for those companies that can utilize data efficiently. I think it is very hard for small companies to compete against some of those big, big cap companies. And I got really comfortable as long as the multiple is not egregious and I'm seeing that sort of earnings growth. I'd rather be in the bigger entities. And by the way, that includes a number of midcaps, you know, in the infrastructure, related to AI, energy, electrical equipment, et cetera, space-related investments. Like, there are still some companies that are not big market cops that are pretty reasonable.

What do elevated real rates mean to you in terms of what you like in the bond market? What your real, you know, bread and butter wheelhouse is what's most attractive to you right now for credit investors? Well, sir, I'd like to keep equities in the wheelhouse, but the, I understand. You know, you're the CIO of global fixed income. So, listen, these real rates, so I think over the next, we've added back a little bit of interest rate exposure. We had cut some. We're adding back a bit of interest rate exposure. These real rates, there's something very significant that's going to happen sometime in the next month, two months, three months.

The correlation. So if you assume, hopefully, which we didn't get any love on this today, if you're getting of the tail end of the war, hopefully, and somewhat presumptuous now. There is, you know, what do interest rates do for you? The correlation can flip versus equities, so they can actually do something within the portfolio. These real rates, gosh, I've been doing this a really long time. These real rates are pretty attractive. I've actually added some duration, some interest rate exposure further out the curve.

In the next one month, two months, three months, we're going to add, we're definitely going going to add some interest rate exposure. Europe, you know, look at Europe got hit today. We did some work in Europe today. You know, Europe's going to try and hike rates three times into a slowing economy that we think, and you're pricing that. And so the real rate you get paid in Europe for years, you couldn't get any real yield in Europe. And now it's spectacular. As a dollar investor, it's really attractive.

Just when you say we did work today, that means you did some buying. Yeah. We sell stuff too. I got the feeling you were talking about the buying side, though. Let me ask you about the Fed. Okay. So, Worse is settled in. Right? We're going to have a meeting in the not too distant future.

You've maintained that they could cut rates. They can cut rates now, despite the fact that inflation is still, you know, reasonably elevated. Yeah. You hold that view. You think they will. The market still is pricing in a cut at some, I mean, a hike at some point. Is that misguided? What's your overall view here? So there's one thing of what I think they should do and what I think they will do. I've learned a position for what they're good. to do. Sure. And I think you have to build in the equation. You've got, including we saw in the

minutes, you've got a number of officials on that committee that think we should raise rates. I don't agree structurally that that's a good idea because the overnight interest rate doesn't really affect what you're trying to slow down in terms of inflation. Most of what's creating what's in inflation today is not interest rate sensitive, and that tool doesn't do a lot for you. I also think you have parts of the economy and housing, particular, small business that are struggling, low income is struggling. That interest rate tool, I think, can actually come down. Plus, we have a lot of debt on the country. Okay, so what would it actually do, though? We've been running a short, a low interest rate exposure because I think you've got

a hawkish fed, and I think inflation is above target. So I think you have to respect that. That being said, I think what we heard from Chairman Warsh, which I thought was, quite frankly, brilliant, there are multiple tools you have at your disposal. You have the balance sheet, you have the yield curve you have the money supply, you have regulation, to rely on the overnight interest rate to try and solve a problem that is, it's not just a blunt tool. It doesn't, flat out, doesn't work to do it. Use all your tools, investigate the complexities of where you need to move to create, you know, effective, efficient financial velocity. There are so many other tools you can use. And I think creating these task forces, taking a step back, taking some time, I don't

think they're going to hike, I don't think they're going to hike anytime soon. I think they're going to take their time and evaluate and then think about, gosh, what are the most efficient tools, what are the most efficient ways to prosecute with today is a higher inflation. Has he reached out to hear that view from you? I have a day job in the investing business. I'm in the investing business. Okay. I knew you weren't going to answer that, but I was going to ask because, look, you've been one

of the few who's been out there consistently saying, I hear that. they're hawkish, but I still think they can go, that they can make a move, which may mesh with his perspective too, which is why I asked the question. Yeah, no, I understand. Listen, I think there is a, you know, when you do the math and you actually look at as a country, what creates effective financial velocity, economic velocity, you can actually have weighted average cost of capital that's driven by the risk rate at a lower rate today, particularly when we have a massive fiscal burden.

When you look at, and I don't agree with the concept of a case-shaped economy, I think it's much more pernicious than that. I think you have, when you look at lower, middle, and you see this in the earnings of companies, restaurants, retailers, there is airlines, you see a significant dispersion in who's doing well, who's not. What is driving the economy today is massive CAPEX. All the CAPEX growth in the country is coming from AI infraspend, and you have a high-income cohort that's driving a tremendous amount of consumption. The point being is I think you have to think

about this in a much more complex way than, gosh, inflation's above target. Let me get the overnight funds rate up and that'll solve it. It just doesn't. You make us smarter every time. I don't think that's right. I appreciate the time as always on this show. Rick Tex. It's Rick Reeder from Black Rock. A still unsettled semi-trade is more downside to go, at least according to our next guest. Jonathan Kronski, the chief market technician, at BTIG, he joins us now. It's nice to see you again. You've been writing and thinking about what's been happening with this trade. Why do you think there's more downside to go? As we asked the question to lead off our program today, is a bottom close? Your research, your charting would

suggest it's not? Yeah, hey, Scott. So, look, we've had a decent pullback off the highs for the broad semi and AI complex. We pulled back into the 50-day for the broad semiconductor ETF, SOX. So, So we can definitely get a short-term bounce off this level. But, you know, as we've been writing, these what we consider parabolic advances tend to end in equal and opposite fashion. And I think, you know, you can look at the precious metals trade as an example. They peaks back in January if silver's down 50 percent and it's still moving lower, right? So I think when you look at the semis, not only is there downside risk from a price perspective, If you look at the way that the notional volume of stocks trading like micron after earnings,

it traded back-to-back days of over $100 billion on a notional basis, that's the third and fourth highest single-stock volume day on record of any stock we looked at. So that sort of inflection point can suggest a prolonged period of consolidation. I know, but isn't this all happening with the momentum factor, which is largely led by semis, for fundamentally good? good reasons, right? There's, there are backlogs in demand. The pricing is up. It's not like, I mean, I hear you when you make a reference to what happened with the metals, but this is different than that, isn't it? Well, so two points. One, you know, those facts are certainly

valid, but Micron, you know, just had blow at earnings and it's already pulled back 30%, right? And we saw that in March. And maybe that's all we get. But I think the other aspect, to look at go back nine months ago when Nvidia was making an all-time high in October of 2025. You could have made the same argument. Fundamentals were great. I don't think many bulls on Nvidia nine months ago would have thought the stock could trade sideways for nine months when the broad semi-index doubled. It was up 100%. Right. And so I think people just have short memories.

Just go back to May of this year when Mag 7 was hitting all-time highs and they were considered, you know, a pretty strong moat and impervious to the macro concerns. and then within two months there was concerns that their spending was out of control. Go back to software. I think people forget, in October of last year, the software sector was making all-time highs. And by February of this year, so five months later, people were talking about software going out of business, right? And so people just have very short memories. It doesn't mean the cycle's over. It doesn't mean we're not going to be hired by the end of the year.

But I think in the very short term over the next couple months, I just think there's more downside risk. I appreciate the perspective. Jonathan, thanks as always. Jonathan Krenski, BTIG. Now to our panel, CNBC contributor, Paying Capital's Courtney Garcia, and Robin Hood's Stephanie Guild. Ladies, welcome. It's good to have you here. Court, what do you think? So you got the perspective on the semi-rollover, has more to go.

As you heard Rick Reeder suggests, he's pulling back some of his exposure to tech to, which is a big, big story given how much money that they manage at Black Rock. Yeah, and I think the question is, is the tech story over, or should be adding money to other areas? but I think this can be, both can exist at the same time. I don't think tech has to be over, but I think it can have company with a lot of these other areas of the markets. Like you're seeing some of these boring sectors like your health cares and your financials, your small caps, are all really outperforming right now.

And I think that's likely going to continue, but I don't think the tech trade is over. I don't think the semi-trade is over. I think it just is going to have company and you want to invest in all of it here. And I think that's exactly what Rick was saying. Over versus a breather are two entirely different things. It feels like you would think with the last. than the former? Correct.

Breather. A breather. Not over. Correct. What do you think? I actually agree. I like it when we don't agree sometimes. Wait until my next question.

No, I think we have been focused all year on the framework of the three R's, which is like receivers of capbacks and resources and some recovery plays. And we've started to move a bit away from that over the last few weeks to focus on what I was calling, like extraction, companies that kind of benefit from the use. of AI. And that is everything from consumer staples to a company like Shopify. So yeah, we like to see the balance, but I also, I do like small caps. I actually think they can continue to run. I just think we're going to see fits and starts here. Do you all, you all feel like the market's still in a good place? When somebody asks you that, you know, we've got the second half of the year

right in front of us here. Are we going to end the year higher than we are today? And by how much do you think? By how much is the question, but I do think we'll be higher. And I think a lot of that you have to look at earnings expectations, which are continuing to improve. You look at the consumer, which is really holding up here. We're about to come into earning season. I think it's, you know, expected that that's going to be a positive earning season, which obviously we have to see, especially as the financials are coming out. That'll give us a really good read on the economy here. But you mentioned small caps here. They're in this really good scenario where you're seeing they benefit from U.S. spending, the U.S. consumers holding up. If rates do come down

here, which know, that's the question today with what's going on Iran, are rates going to stay low or not? guess the question, but if they do, this benefits particularly here, like your small companies in the U.S. And I think the economy is looking good right now. Do you think we're too optimistic on earnings? Because, I mean, Courtney's right. I mean, expectations, we'll do like 25%, 24 and a half for whatever it is going to be for this current quarter. And then we're still expecting great things for the quarters that are to come. I mean, full year 2026 has increased a great amount. And it does worry me. I just did like a deep dive. And most of it is coming from the energy sector because we got higher oil prices at least.

Yeah, I think expectations there are like a more than. 100% earnings growth, right? Yep. And then obviously in the tech sector, like in the microns of the world. And you can say, you know, I think the one thing is like they might be able to meet this, but you saw it with Samsung. Like, they did fantastically well, but it wasn't enough to make the market excited. They did this in the wrong place at the wrong moment, right?

Yeah. If you're in one of those types of names, you better blow the doors off of whatever earnings report you have or you're going to see what they did or what a look at Broadcom, for example, a few weeks ago. That was a tell to me of the start of this kind of back and forth. It feels like every day. Like, that's the part that I don't love about this market is that one day, AI and FRA's in, the next day is out. And that's why I think you need some balance.

Are you believer in all these other areas of the market that have woken up? I mean, the equal weight, for example, has been hitting record highs. That suggests that there's just a lot of other things in this market that can still work, even if tech doesn't lead you to the promised land between now and the end of the year. There are plenty of other things that can. Absolutely. And that's been the case all year. If you look at the MAG7, that had been down up until this week.

It's finally flat for the year. But the other 493 stocks, that's where all of the return has been coming from. And especially like with oil coming down, that's actually really good, particularly for things like your foreign markets. So I think whether you're looking at your small caps, you're looking at your foreign companies, when you talk about the AI, the data, I'm sorry, the demand is not the issue. So when you're looking at the buildout and the infrastructure there, that's going to continue regardless of if CAPX spending is too high, the buildout's going to happen. So I think there's all these other areas that I completely agree are really. good opportunities right now. They have been outperforming this year, but I think have a lot of room to run. Last word and quick, if you could, please. I think the one thing I'm worried about is the midterms

coming, and what does that mean for some of CAPEX spending, particularly from the government time? We'll deal with that in November. It's still a little early. We're trying to enjoy this summer. Thanks for being here. Thanks. All right. We're just getting started. Coming up next, we'll have more on Apple's $30 billion chip deal with Broadcom. We showed you Broadcom shares, which are sharply higher today. Apple approaching a new high in its own right. And later, big news in the world. of professional women's soccer. Alexia Puteus is leaving Barcelona after 14 years heading to London City. She joins us right here at Post 9 along with London City owner, Michelle Kang. You don't want to miss that. We're live at the New York Stock Exchange. You're watching closing

bell. CnBC. Welcome back. I told you earlier about that chip deal between Broadcom and Apple. Mackenzie Seagallos has more for us on that story today. Hi there. Hey, Scott. So Apple, it is committing more than 30 billion. billion dollars to Broadcom over five years in a deal that will produce more than 15 billion U.S. made chips, what Tim Cook this morning called a step toward building an end-to-end silicon supply chain in the U.S. Apple says Broadcom will make advanced wireless components and custom silicon for multiple generations of Apple devices, with Apple also helping fund Broadcom's domestic expansion. Those shares having their sharpest rally since February. Now for Broadcom,

this resets the Apple relationship. Under Cook, Apple increasingly brought critical components in-house, and that's long been the supplier risk with the company, that they want to own more of the silicon itself. And investors have spent years trying to figure out which iPhone supplier gets designed out next. And that had been shrinking Broadcom's old opportunity inside the iPhone. But with the chip supply chain under pressure and Washington, pushing hard for more domestic production, Broadcom now gets a new way back in, especially as Apple gets ready to launch its new Siri AI.

Scott? All right. Mackenzie, thanks so much. That's McKenzie Segalis. Straight ahead, major news out of the world of professional women's football. Alexia Puteus, leaving Barcelona for London City. She joins us here post nine, along with London City's owner, Michelle Kang. It's coming up next. Welcome back.

While soccer fans around the globe have been transfixed by the World Cup in the game's most celebrated stars on the men's side, one of the biggest developments in the sport in years is taking place in the women's game. Two-time Ballondeur winner, Alexia Puttehese. as leaving Barcelona after 14 years and four Champions League titles to officially sign today with London City. Alexia here at Post 9, along with London City's owner, Michelle Kang. Ladies welcome, it is so great to have you here on this very big day. Thank you for having us.

Congratulations on this deal. This is super exciting, obviously, in the world of soccer. I think many were surprised to see that you were going to leave Barcelona. You're second only in club scoring for total club behind only Leonel Messi. So that says how decorated your career in and of itself has been. You were a fan I read, and I think I heard you say since you were a child, you could have gone anywhere in the world. You could have forced a bidding war among all the women's clubs in the world.

Why London City? There's no just one reason. You know, there's many, one of them is because London City is an independent club, there's no main team behind. So that's totally different where I grow, so I want to try something different. This is one reason, the other is because WUSL is the most competitive league of the the world in my opinion so the way I understand my job is being better day after day and pushing myself and reinvented me so at some point my people told me you don't have to prove

anything so just go country with with son and enjoy the life and it's not the way I am so that's why I I join London City I read that you believe there's a shared mission, a shared vision of what the two of you can do together at London City. How would you describe that? 100% we share the same vision because our main goal, well, Michan has more goals and me. I have more inside the beach, but of the beach is just make the women's football bigger. So in different roles. But yeah, we share that mission.

This is obviously the most high-profile transfer in this club's history. What does getting the biggest name in the women's game do for you? Yeah. So I think the women's football has come a long way, especially in the U.S. It's been taking off pretty spectacularly. And I think that the people want to watch the most competitive game, right? Fiercely competitive, fun and entertaining game. And how do you achieve that?

You bring the best players on the pitch. And that's how the fans come to the stadium. So my goal is not only to bring the best players like Alexia, but give them the right tools and invest in infrastructure so that they can train well. And especially on women's side, it's very important that we train and we take care of them as women, not as small women. But this is what brings fans to the stadium.

Alexia alluded to the fact that you are an independent team, which for those who don't follow the sport so closely, most of the other clubs share the infrastructure, the sort of the financial backing and success of the men's club. You don't have that, which I would suggest proposes some challenges at times. But with that comes tremendous opportunity. Absolutely. So, I mean, I tell people that there is no right model, but in Europe, almost 99% of all the female clubs are basically part of men's club.

For whatever reason, recently, they all started women's clubs. So they share the resources. But clearly men's clubs are much, you know, more advanced. And, you know, economically, they bring more revenue. So if you are a physio who's taking care of players and you have to take care of both male players and female players, where would you spend more time? So the independent team is really 100% focused on our players,

female players. So everything is designed for women, not designed for men that just we happen to share. So the key theme is that we're going to treat our female players as female because our biology, physiology, all different. So you can't train them as if they're small men. So that's why I think it's also attractive. And I also want to prove that women's games can stand on its own. It doesn't have to be some little sister to men's club. That's fine. If you can make that happen, go for it. But even as an independent team, we can be as competitive and as hopefully profitable one day. But no team is profitable anyway. So the benefits of what you're going to get on the pitch are obvious, given the incredible talents that Alexia brings. But I'd

imagine this is a coup for business for you as well. At a time where I'm sure you could use it in terms of fan engagement, attracting more spectators. average Super League crowd last season, 6,850. You averaged a little more than 3,000. So on that level, what does this do? It's absolutely game-changing moment, right? It's a transformational, not only just for London Club, but I think for WSL because, I mean, I've experienced also in the U.S.

and WS.L I own Washington Spirit, and we invested heavily, heavily, not just on the pitch, but also in fan engagement, marketing, and branding. So we have a term now called Rowdy, Audi, the stadium is called Audi. And that's what we need to turn the game into the most compelling and most competitive. And I think when we go play another team in our opponents away game, I absolutely believe. I'm confident that their ticket sales will go up as well. I'm sure you're right.

So this is for the greater goods, not just for London. Alexei, you're the first Ballandora winner to play in the Super League. So right on that point of what Michelle's talking about, you realize everywhere you go, it's not going to be like anything you may be like what you've seen, but certainly this is going to be an event. It's going to be a spectacle every time you go play anywhere. How are you prepared for that? I don't prepare.

I just be myself. I don't know. I just play. And, of course, I've been 14 years in probably 1,000. one of the most pressure clubs around the world that is Barsa. So for me, pressure is normal. I don't know. The first person who put pressure on me is myself.

Some say it's a risk for you to leave Barsa for the WSL. How do you see that? Some people say it's a risk for you to leave such a prestigious place that you've been for your whole professional life, a club you've idolized since you were a child for something this new? I mean, it's not the way I understand this profession. Like, just being in a team for being in a team without a goal. I mean, I achieve everything in Barser.

So I need new challenges, new adventures, new objectives. So I'm going to try to win a new trophy, a new league. And of course, this is a process. I come now to London City, but this is about a team. This is about a way of playing. It's not just about one player. So it takes time, but I'm 100% committed in this. And, yeah, we want to try, and I'm going to give my best for sure.

Of course, every article that I read regarding this move mentions the criticism of others who see what you're doing and say, well, here comes a wealthy owner injecting all of this money and it's going to just change the dynamics of football in our world now. How do you respond to any of that? I mean, you know, there's probably, if you want to build a best team and you want to bring fans to the stadium, what do you have to? do you have to put the best product out there? How do you put the best product out there? You have to bring the best players. And the best players, especially on the women's side, they have been underpaid for a long time. So I think it's about time that we start actually making sure that the female players are, that they earn what they're truly worth. And so that's going to take some time and then it's going to be some numbers that some of the people are not familiar with, but

women's football is taking off, not just on the pitch, but off the pitch on the business side. So on that note, and it was striking to me when I read the press release today of this signing, quote, her presence will also strengthen the club's academy and youth development programs through world-class mentorship and inspiration. This in many ways, yes, it's about the current performance on the field, but it's about growing the next generation of female footballers. Yeah. So, I mean, both Alexia and I have a shared vision, which is really this is not some moment that we're trying to take advantage of. this is a movement. We want this women's football to be here long after we're gone. And Alexia, unfortunately, I think at some point, I hope she can have a very long career,

but at some point she's going to have to retire. So where is the next generation of young girls and young players are going to come through? And we want to make sure that both of us want to make sure that those girls growing up right now, actually from day one, this is going to be normal, that their environment in which they're going to learn how to play and how to develop, all those things are going to be comparable to what boys are used to. And that's what we actually have a lot of common interest in. She's already been doing that. So London City is going to invest heavily in Youth Academy to make sure that the next generation of players are going to continue so that when the current, you know, incredible players like Alexia and all others move on, we have

actually the next generation of players coming through. Well, soccer's having a moment in this country. We know There's a movement, not a man. That's fair. You've won a World Cup. Spain going to win this one? Oh, I don't know. I don't know the future, but I hope we are with all of them, and it's tough now.

It's a quarter-final, so it's going to be tough. But, yeah, we are confident with them. Yeah, well, I'm sure. Well, with Laminia Mall, you never know. We'll see you soon. Congratulations to you both, and thanks for spending. the time with us. Thank you for having us. Thank you for Mike.

All right. Coming up next, we track the biggest movers into the close today. We're back in two. 10 to the bell. Back to Christina Parts of Nevelos now for the stock that she's watching. What's on your list? Well, we've got to start with Draft Kings and Flutter entertainment. They're up slightly.

You can see Flutter moving more up almost 3% after Michael Burry said he bought shares of both in his substack article. Burry sees high returns on investment from the sports betting companies and actually believes competition from prediction markets like Cal She won't last as they become heavily regulated and tax. and taxed. This is according to him. And then Moderna, separately dropping roughly 7% after Morgan Stanley did reiterate its equal weight rating on the stock. It was a relatively positive note, but analysts over there also said they see COVID vaccines as a key valuation driver of the company, but that limits near-term upside. And so that's why shares are taking a hit. Moderna, though, still up about 129% over the past year. Scott.

Christina, thank you. Christina Parts of Nevelas. Market zones coming up next. closing bell market zone. Mike Santoli and Northern Trust, Joe Taney is here to break down these crucial moments of the trading day plus Oliver Renick standing by live from Sibo Global Markets in Chicago with his options action. Michael, you first. Your thoughts on this market today? Market remains in Ben But Don't Break mode. You had this little selling squall. Market always looks for something to grab hold of today. It was, I guess, short-term oversold. Semiconductors managing to hold things together. Tactically, everyone wants to keep this index on the rails. The S&P bottomed intraday right at its.

50-day average. So not going to jump to any broad conclusions, although I do think there is still this kind of very contingent rotation going on. It really depends on the macro for it to broaden out. And today you're seeing the average stock deeply underperform the S&P. So, you know, we live to fight another day. We'll see at top of the hour, less than five minutes in overtime. Oliver, tell me about some options. Action, please. Okay, Scott, start to get worked up on a day with VIX at 166. We're watching bullish positioning and crude oil from this morning also. cool off a bit now with just twice as many calls bought, that ratio was five to one this morning.

However, in the airline stocks, put buying was persistent, accounting for almost half of all options traded in the Jets ETF, despite Delta rallying 2% intraday and traders bracing for a 6% swing around earnings on Friday. But perhaps the most notable ripple effect of the jump in oil prices and bond yields today is in the high-yield corporate bond sector, where options traders in the HYG ETF are almost unilaterally, betting against bonds and on higher yields. Of the 264,000 options contracts traded today, 110,000 were outright put purchases compared to just 6,000 call purchases and 95% of total options premium tied to puts. So if you're looking for ways to play cracks in the economy as a result of tensions flaring,

HYG might be one to watch. All right, good stuff. Oliver, thanks, Oliver Renick, at the CBO. All right, Joe. How about this market? What do you make of this action today? What's it mean to you? I think today is a perfect example of just how fragile the ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran has been. But, you know, taking a big step back here, we continue to believe the underlying drivers, which have been supporting the equity markets and driving risk, those still remain in place. It's just, again, brace yourself for volatility, prepare it. And I think we got a perfect example of that today. Interesting move in tech today. Some buying. What does that tell you about where we're going from here?

I think overall we think about technology and we continue to believe this AI train is going to continue to move forward. This is, without question, a huge positive and a huge tailwind, not only to the economy, but also to the underlying S&P 500. I mean, just take a look at what's happening with earnings season and expectations heading into this coming quarter. We are expecting, yet again, another strong quarter of earnings results and, of course, technology and all things AI doing a lot of that heavy lifting. We don't think that story is coming to an end anytime soon, and we want to continue to capitalize on that growth. Can we afford to lose semis for a bit if that's what happens? I think, look, I mean, some consolidation is perhaps a little bit healthy here,

just given the rally that they've had in the run that they've seen. There's many legs to this, right? I mean, you have to think about the picks and shovels, obviously, in semiconductors. You have to think about what's happening with hyperscalers and think about their pricing power. But then, of course, the third phase of this, which is only beginning to emerge, Scott, is enterprise-wide adoption? How are all of these companies and in different businesses from sectors around the U.S. going to begin embracing artificial intelligence?

That's something we're really going to be focused on this coming earnings season, is listening to these calls and trying to understand how companies are leveraging artificial intelligence, what it means not only their profit margins, but of course what it also means to their growth and their revenue. A lot of love these days, it seems, for financials, health care, other areas of the market. What about you? I think, look, we have to acknowledge, again, the technology sector has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting. But even when you look outside of tech, we saw this last quarter, you had other sectors in the S&P 500 delivering spectacular results. I mean, I forget the exact statistic, but it was, you know, the first quarter in over four years, I believe,

where you had some really meaningful revenue growth across all 11 sectors. This isn't just concentrated to technology. I think you also have to acknowledge what's happening with profit margins when you look at the equally weighted. S&P 500. We know technology is doing the heavy lifting, but I take some comfort here in understanding and recognizing the equally weighted S&P 500 is also expecting to see a nice booth, their profit margins, and ultimately to profits. All right, Joe, we'll see you soon. Thanks for being with us. That's Kirtanias joining us. You can obviously hear the clapping. That means the bell's going to be ringing. Interesting price action, too, as we head towards the close. We'll be lower for the Dow and the

SEP, but some late-day buying in the NASDAQ sends that into the green. Very interesting. Mike and Mel will follow that. over time and I'll see you tomorrow.