Closing Bell - Closing Bell 8/12/26

Episode Date: August 12, 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.

Thanks so much, guys. Welcome to closing bell. I'm Scott Walker, live from Post 9 here at the New York Stock Exchange. This maker break hour begins with a big sigh of inflation relief today. As today's CPI matches expectations. Rate hike fears move a little lower right along with yields today. Stocks, as you might expect, they are green. To the scorecard we go with 60 to go in regulation. The CPI just one catalyst today. Corweaves blowout earnings report was another, and that has tech leading the way today. Look at that stock up near 19. percent. Take a look at Super Micro. It's higher as well after its own earnings report. And that's even better. Near 20 percent outside of tech. We're watching Kava today. It had a beat. Its guide was pretty good. The stock's up 15 percent. It does take us to our talk of the tape. The road ahead for stocks with targets and optimism, both climbing. Let's welcome in our panel. Fundstrats, Tom Lee, Robin Hood, Stephanie Guild, and Payne Capital's Courtney Garcia. Tom and Courtney are CBC contributors. Welcome everybody. It's good to have you, Tom. This was just what the ordered, right? It is. We got a nice CPI report and in the backdrop of good earnings,

stocks going up on good news. I think the rally is quite healthy and it's tracking to our view that we could get to 7,900, 8,000 by the end of the month. Well, that's what your call was, you know, the other day. Ed Yardinney says we're now tracking so well that we can get an 8,400 by the end of the year because of the earnings story that we keep talking about. Does that make, you know, sense to you? Yeah, I think that is sort of the underpinning of this because 2027 earnings probably 410 right now. It was around 395 at the start of earnings season and it's probably going to be by the end of this month close to 425. And so if you put a 20 multiple on that, you're already close to 9,000. So we keep saying that you've been bullish, you have, you've been right, but you keep calling for this maybe 10% pullback in stocks at some point.

Now, we haven't gotten it yet. And you lay out today in a note. that says, quote, positive drivers for stocks in the near term remain good AI fundamental demand, right? Strengthening U.S. economy, positive revisions to earnings, and the fact that inflation remains tamer than most expect. Those don't sound like catalysts for a 10% pullback. So what is? Well, I think pullbacks occur when we're least expecting it, you know, and usually when investors are bullish. So I think the end of August, getting to 8,000 is going to set us up for a period where stocks could disappoint, even though underlying fundamentals are good. Part of it is the margin debt's gotten so big. Part of it is we still haven't resolved how the market views Kevin

Warsh in his new framework, whether the bond market's going to have a tantrum. And the third is we have midterms coming up, and I think that's a source of uncertainty. And finally, I do think SpaceX, which had an initial unlock, there's still a lot of stuff. stock to be unlocked. So I think all of that represents potential traps ahead. Okay. Steph, what do you think about that? I mean, I agree that, you know, typically like when you have a period where a hedge fund, for example, blows up, it's a sign that there can be just easy credit conditions and leverage builds up. I think that kind of cleared, but I don't, I think we're going to have another one. I just think in this environment where AI is driving things, you end up having like

almost speed crashes. I've heard Jordi Visser from 22B say, And I agree with that because I think you have parabolic moves and then kind of consolidations. I also think interest rates are certainly a risk that could keep flaring up. But I also agree that there's strong fundamentals. So I think that's going to be a fight within the market. The resiliency of the market has been amazing in the face of what you've described, you know, a hedge fund blowing up, yields backing up. But aren't we a little cleaner now in number of ways, right?

You get a little bit of heat off of the inflation picture, and the positioning is cleaner. And we've de-levered a little bit. Tom's right. There's still a fair amount of leverage in the system, margin debt and whatever, but it feels like we've cleaned some stuff up. But I think with the rally continues, and then you start rebuilding that. And that's why I say, like, you could end up having another kind of pullback because the margin of debt rebuilds. Are people too bullish? I don't think so.

And I think ultimately, the markets are being driven by earnings right now, and the earnings are justifying what the markets are doing. People were getting concerned about KAPX spending, but I think the more that you see these earnings come out, and it really is justifying that. And I think when you look at the markets as a whole, if you look at the last three months, the things that are leading are health care, financials, industrials, those are all actually outperforming yes, NP 500, which means you're seeing this really broad-based rally. There's no longer just seven names that are holding up the markets, and the fact that even in days where AI is driving the story, you're seeing everything participate. I really like that as a good story. And if earnings keep holding up and the consumer keeps holding up, I think the markets will continue to drive higher. I'm glad you went there because if you look at the, let's call it the balance over the last 30 days.

So one month performance. Financials, almost 4%. Technology, 3.5%. Industrials, 2.5. Healthcare, 4 and 2 thirds. Materials better than 3%. This is just what people were hoping for, isn't it? Yeah, it's broad base.

I think this is a sign, and of course, as you know, global markets are doing well, and there's still several trillion dollars of cash on the sidelines. And I think that there's still a pretty level of healthy skepticism because I think a lot of clients of ours institutional think either the AI trade is extended or that we're in late cycle on earnings. It's like an earnings bubble that's about to burst at some point? Correct. And then, of course, they think the Fed has to react to that by tightening. So I think that there's people who are sort of keeping an eye on the end of the bull market, and I think that's what's keeping it healthy. I actually corroborate with that because if you look at like valuations have actually come down by two turns, but earning growth have more than doubled since the end of March.

And so I do think there's a healthy, that to me is the numbers behind the skepticism. And I welcome skepticism because I actually think it means that the bull market can go on for a bit longer. And so that's kind of like 1998 after LTCM. And like the market went up for another 18 months and 35%. I mean, sentiment indicators are kind of off the charts, right? I mean, you have now what I've been saying, you know, 8,000 feels like it's the floor in many people's minds because they keep raising their targets. Ed Yardinney, obviously is the latest example of that.

Now he's the highest at 8,400. Yeah, and actually, I want to echo what Tom's saying here, where you're talking to institutional clients. And we're actually in my firm talking to retail clients. And I think we're hearing the same thing. I think people are a little worried that things have done so well. when is the next shoe to drop kind of a thing. And that actually, I think, is a good sign. You're not seeing this euphoria, at least.

We're not seeing that, like, on the boots on the ground, which I think is good. That's more when I get nervous that there's a top in the market. We're not seeing that right now. What's the retail psychology feel like? I mean, the same. You can see that they pulled back on net buying sort of the end of July and, you know, kind of the time that I think you saw some wealth go away in and some of the names that they were owning.

But they've come back in, and they're buying Space 6th, they're buying Sandus. They're buying AMD, Micron. the names that pulled back. But that's an interesting signal in and of itself, that, you know, they're waiting for a pullback. They got it in the momentum trade. And now they're once again looking to put money to work because there's still believers in the bull market. They bought the dip. And they didn't get that scared off for the pullback we had.

Is that surprise you, Tom, or is that the way it's going to be? Well, I think that, you know, in retrospect, we know that from 2009 to, like, 2020, it was a period of a bubble and skepticism about, stocks, so we're six years into growing optimism. So I think this could last for quite a long time. Especially if their earnings, I think what's now being told, obviously, and understood, I think, a little bit better, is the broadening of the earnings story. Yes. The market isn't just broadening from a sector perspective. Earnings are actually broadening to the point where the average sector is up 14 percent earnings growth. So yes, while the technology numbers are huge, a lot of other things are participating, too. That's as much the story as this, you know,

reopening of the tech trade. That's right. And I think maybe just to help those who are worried about interest rates, since 1900, when interest rates move from 4 to 6%, it's associated with rising PE multiple. So I think as we get towards 4, 6, even 5, I think PEs can expand, but then at 6% is when it starts to hurt multiples. I mean, if you look at, let's just say the, you know, the 30 year has been backing up, really ever since Kevin Worse was giving his, the chair, Fed Chair, Kevin Worse was giving his news conference. You know, we saw the 30-year hit 520. It's been sitting now above that at 524, some people say that that right there and the rest of the curve, that's the biggest risk to stocks. I mean, to an extent, because right now, you know, interest rates don't tell

us why they're moving, so we just know the level. Part of this is a bit of a, you know, Kevin Warsh tantrum because he wants to move away from guidance. Part of it is inflation derangement syndrome, which I think is quelling because these CPR reports are tame. And then part of it is... Supply. Yeah. That's right. And there's huge deficits. But part of this could be that as markets start to price those things, actually yields could start to come down, especially if inflation cools. So I think in some ways I'm not alarmed at 524, even though it's a big level. Can we get a September hike out of our heads now? That today just sort of, take that off the table? It's probably off the table, but I don't think a hike in the next six

months is off the table because I think if growth continues, like you want to have something that shows they're willing to keep it under wraps at some level, some level. How do you feel about what the Fed may do? Jackson Hole's coming up in, you know, two and a half weeks. That's going to be a seminal moment for the new Fed share, and we'll further game out what we think's going to happen in September. It is. And we're also going to get more data between now and September. And I think that's what's really going to be telling here. But I think really when you look at this, if the Fed is going to raise interest rates, obviously that would be something that the markets aren't going to like to see. But I don't think necessarily that we're going to

see that right now. You're seeing about 40% odds right now that the Fed's actually going to raise next quarter. I'm sorry, in next month. But ultimately, it's where that data is coming from. I don't think that at this point in time, it's a huge concern for the markets. I think a bigger concern, to your point is the longer end of the curve, which arguably is growth expectations coming in And the fact that when you're seeing all of this reshoring, you're seeing this AI infrastructure, reinvestment. A lot of that is going to lead to longer-term growth. And I think that's really the story, the longer end of the curve is telling us right now. You don't think the Fed's going to hike this year, do you?

No. In fact, I think if they hike, it would actually probably hurt Fred credibility, in my opinion. It would hurt it. Yes. Some people say it would help it. Well, the reason people are saying that is because they want him to establish that he is not a White House doing their bidding. But I think it actually hurts credibility because, one, it'll confuse people. Is the Fed just taking back a cut or is the Fed engaging in a hiking cycle?

I think it's actually more confusing if they start hiking. Interesting. Well, we'll see. We'll see what he says in Jackson Hole. I think one of the big stories of the day clearly today is that the AI Bulls are getting a lot of love because of a slate of strong earnings, giving that trade a bit of validation, if you will. Christina Partinevolo is tracking that action force and joins us. Now, what do you see?

Yeah, the names validating that. Foxcom, Momentum, Corrieve, Nebula, Super Michael, all delivered after a brutal July sell-off. The message seems to be pretty consistent among all these names. The world is still short on compute. And specifically, GPU pricing just keeps climbing. So core where you can see popping, what, 19, almost 20% after its best quarter as a public company, raising guidance across the board. Backlog came in below the whisper numbers, but it signed another $25 billion in deals right after the quarter closed. The catch, though, for Corrieve, and even in Nebius, is just debt. Ballooning interest bills is really keeping Corrieve in a net loss even as the business scales. Nebius, on the other hand, speaking of pricing, put it bluntly, saying, as fast as it brings capacity online, it can sell it with several buyers for every GPU.

So pricing power is driving this trade. Also echoes Corrieve and Nvidia's CEOs recently who speak to the longevity of GPUs, you know, the fact that you can rent them out six to 10 years later. Then Super Micro with its best gross margins in over three years and a record $60 billion in new orders. Super Micro, by the way, is an AI assembler. They guided next year's revenue to about 75% through margins, though margins did step down from here as lower margin GPU servers did fill the mix. You can see shares also almost 20%. And then after a tough July demand, we can see from these names still outrunning supply.

And that is exactly what the AI Bulls needed today. Christina, thank you. of Parsonavlos, another group getting a bump, I think, off of some of what Christine is talking about, the AI power names on the back of some of those results. Pippa Stevens following that for us. Hi. That's right, Scott. So the picks and shovels of the AI trade, that's names like Verda, Poina Services, Mass Tech, G. Renovina, Eaton, Eton, all in the green, building on big gains this year as the data center

CAPEX continues to balloon. And we are seeing growing backlash, including now in Texas, which previously had a more friendly regulatory environment. But there's no question. We will see more data centers, which will benefit. these infrastructure players. Now, we've also seen underperformance from independent power producers like Constellation and Vistra seemingly pointing to the picks and shovels trade perceived as a safer secondary

AI theme, especially as hypers increasingly look to secure their own power. Quantum Services reporting a record backlog in its latest quarter as data center momentum continues to build, though some analysts pointing to now seemingly stretched valuations. A new report from J.P. Morgan also showing record orders for gas. TURBins to power AI up more than 70% on the year. GE Renova, a big player there alongside names like Siemens and Mitsubishi. Scott? All right, but thank you very much for that.

That's Stevens. So let's talk about tech bespoke out today. Tech reigns supreme in one of the best earnings season ever. Out of every 100 tech stocks that have reported, 85 of them have beaten EPS estimates. That's why this trades back in a big way, right? Yeah, I mean, that's a huge percentage of beats, too, right? We normally would expect 65 to 70% in any quarter. Even for tech.

Even for tech, yeah. How long can it keep that up? I think the reality is that because supply is going to take a while to come, I think there is going to be a supply response. Scott, it could be easily through the rest of this year and early next year. You agree with that? Yeah, I do. I mean, I still think there's going to be times when expectations will get a little past

what you can tell and we'll go through periods of quiet periods. and that kind of gets people spooked. But we have allocations like this in our own Robin Hood Strategies portfolios. We bought a bunch of stuff at the end of July to take advantage of the pullback. But we sold some stuff in June because you have to watch those things, like, kind of oscillating. But what you were saying earlier sort of validates what others are seeing from an institutional standpoint, too. This idea of putting more capital to work within tech, you said your clients at Robin Hood were buying some of the chip names, obviously. The SpaceX's of the world as they pulled back.

back, according to Bank of America and their client flow trends, tech was the second biggest inflow week ever. So people are looking to buy the dip. I don't care if there are institutions that have, you know, degrossed a little bit. Retail had lightened up to a point where they were ready to go back in. Yeah, I mean, you can tell, like, again, when it becomes a crowded trade, that's when I think things can get a little bit cumbersome. And that's what happened, I think, in the month of July. And we had that washing out. I think we'll hit pockets like that. the future, but I still think it's a good long-term trade. You just have to be able to bear that higher volatility. How are we feeling about the tech trade right now? We still want to own the tech

trade. I mean, as you're saying with all these earnings coming out, I think this is going to continue to be a story. Overweight? I know you want to own it. We're not overweight. No, I mean, if anything, over the last several years, it's done so well that we're making sure that we're maintaining exposure. But even this year, it has not been your best performer. And I think this is a good reminder of why you want to own a little bit of everything in here. Because look at this secondary trade, we're talking about the picks and shovels here. But regardless of if the, these hyperscalers can justify the CAPX, and the AI infrastructure has to get built.

The demand is there. So when you're looking at the energy plays, the infrastructure play is just like this broadening out of all of the less obvious AI companies who are going to benefit from that, I think that's going to continue to happen. So you want to make sure you're owning everything here because I think that broadening continues.

All right, we'll leave it there. Guys, thanks so much for being here. I appreciate it. Thank you. Very much. We're just getting started here. Coming up next to basketball bombshell, the Lakers changing hands yet again.

Bob Iger, Josh Kushner, striking a record-breaking deal for one of professional sports's most iconic franchises. We have details on that developing story straight ahead. All right, we're back on the bell. Stunning news today from the sports world, the Los Angeles Lakers, sold by Mark Walter to former Disney CEO Bob Eiger

and venture capitalist Josh Kushner for a report at $12.5 billion. Remarkable in that Mr. Walter bought a majority stake in the franchise less than one year ago for $10 billion. CBC Sports as Alex Sherman's been following this story all day long and joins us with more, look, a lot of people are still trying to get their arms around the entirety of this story.

And unfortunately, we may not be able to for a little while. Well, we're starting to get maybe our first hints of what's going on here. And again, we don't know this for sure because Mark Walter has not said anything. But both Bloomberg and the Financial Times are now reporting that there are insurance companies within sort of the holding company of TWG Global that Mark Walter owns that are. are rushing for capital to, in essence, pay off certain assets that they owned so that they don't, so that these particular assets don't have a credit rating downgrade. And so there's sort of a rush for capital among some of these assets. That may be the triggering factor here in why Mark Walther suddenly needed to sell the L.A.

Lakers after owning it for less than a year. Again, we don't know this for sure yet, but at least it's the first hint of something that may be going on behind the scenes with other assets that Walter owns that may explain the sale. Now, of course, if in fact that is what's going on, the next logical question is, well, does he need to sell anything else? Does he need to sell the Dodgers? Does he need to sell a stake in Chelsea? I mean, those are the questions, I think, that people are going to start to ask Mark Walter or people around Mark Walter if in fact that's what's going on. But again, we don't know this for sure. It could be as simple as he was approached with a bid,

and he decided that he wanted to make a quick buck, and, you know, there was a $2.5 billion profit that he made in less than a year. That's also still possible. It's also my understanding that, and to your point, we don't know if there was, if there will be anything related to the Dodgers, but it would be, I'm told, more difficult to do that because of the degree of partners that are involved with that franchise relative to his majority stake in the Lakers.

That's one thing. We talked earlier today, and I'd like you to give more insight on this idea of the ease at which an NBA franchise can trade quickly relative to, say, an NFL franchise where the majority owner has to be 30% liquid. the regulations around private equity are more stringent. You're not allowed to have any sovereign wealth involved. You can't have a private company, own a team. You go down the list, and it's just much more punitive, I think,

in the process of trying to buy an NFL franchise, even at lofty levels, than it is, as we're learning today, an NBA team as prestigious as even the Lakers are. Yeah, look, if Walter needs the money quickly, I suppose he lucked out by buying an NBA franchise rather than an NFL team, because you're absolutely right. It's easier to get a consortium of capital together to afford even a lofty valuation because the private equity limit is 30% for an NBA team as opposed to 10% for an NFL team. So that allows you to get more institutional capital in in order to up the bid. And again, in this case, at a valuation for the majority stake of the Lakers at $12.5 billion.

that is a record price. It seems like each one of these deals we get in both the NBA and the NFL are record prices. But here's yet another one. You know, the Walter owns more than a 70% stake in the Lakers. So at a 12.5 billion dollar valuation, you know, you can do the math. It's obviously somewhere in the, you know, let's say $10 billion range or whatever it may be. How are you getting your head around the idea of that valuations just continue to go to the moon? And this is obviously the latest example, but the other most recent one would be the Seahawks sale to Vinod Kozla for near $10 billion.

And the next NFL franchise that trades after that, whenever it does, will presumably go for a lot more than that. Well, there's sort of two reasons that are trickling around in people's minds these days. One is, and this was somewhat of the motivation for the Seahawks trade, it's the anti-AI play, right? It's like this is AI proof. We know that live events are more popular than ever, particularly coming off COVID. They just get more and more popular. Sports ratings are up across the board and sometimes up significantly. So that's one reason.

Then the other reason is there continue to be, it's related to the ratings, but there continue to be more and more money that's pumped into media rights. And the NFL is going to come up on their next media rights deal in a couple of years. and for sure they will be making a lot more money from their media partners than they're already making. The last deal they signed was in 2021. That was a $100 billion deal. They're going to be looking for an increase of, say, you know, could be 50% more, maybe even more than that, depending on how they can convince the various different media partners out there to pay up for their package of games. So that's obviously a bullish sign for all of these different NFL teams and yet another reason why the valuations continue to soar.

Yet another example as well as to how sports is now the hottest asset class around. And you just said the other day about the Bezos interest in Liverpool of the Premier League in the UK. Yep, right. We have not seen the wealthiest people in the world invest in majority stakes in sports teams. And yet again, even here, you know, Bob Eiger is not one of these Uber wealthy people, even though he's in on this transaction. Even Joshua Kushner is not one of the wealthiest people in the world. But maybe we are moving toward a time where we will see a Michael Dell or a Jeff Bezos actually by a majority stake in one of these teams. Again, we haven't seen that. I speculated reasons why the other day.

Perhaps they don't want the public scrutiny of it. But look, it may be that if all of a sudden these sports teams are on a rocket chip up because of this sort of anti-AI hedge, that we do in fact see one of these big tech investors finally invest in a majority stake where they are the majority controlling owner. of a major sports team. Yeah, because people are always looking over their shoulders. They were when the Seahawks came up. They're like, well, Bezos seems a natural. Obviously, wasn't.

And we'll see down the road. Good stuff. Thank you, Alex Chairman. All right, up next, Renaissance Macros, Jeff DeGraph. On the one sector, he sees breaking out right now. He'll tell you what it is when we come back. Welcome back. Top technicians are pointing to a breakout in one sector of the market investors should have

their eyes on. Jeff DeGraph, he's chairman and head of technical research at Renaissance Macro. So he joins us now. It's good to have you back. Welcome. Thanks, Scott. I see you. This is health care, right? Yeah, healthcare looks really good to us. It tends to be a beneficiary of some turbulence in technology. So I think it's it fits the bill. But look, it's been a long time. It's been an underperformer. It's had negative alpha for a long, long time. And finally, we're starting to see relative performance pick up. So I think there's good news there. It was led by biotech and pharma. And now we're starting to see it in life science and some of the service names. I mean, it's the best group over the last three months, but over the last month, it had a bit of a sleepy time. But you're suggesting that the charts say this is a reawakening, if you will, because others are mentioning that too, that it's primed. Yeah, look, I mean, again, it was such an underperformer for a long period of time. You finally are getting breakouts.

But important to us is that the relative performance is improving, right? So it's not just the stocks are moving up. they're actually outperforming the rest of the market, and that's usually a sign of burgeoning leadership. So I like what we're seeing there. What about market at large? You know, I keep saying, targets keep going up. We've got another one today from Ed Yardinney. He's been doing this a long time, says we are because of what's happening with earnings. We're in a bullish takeoff, essentially. Yeah, you've got a trending market. Look, I mean, you're not going to hear us fight about a market that's trading in a new high. I mean, that's just bad policy, you know, historically.

I would say the breadth is confirming, which is good news. So the trends are there. What's interesting is the deficiency, and this is a bit of a knit, so I don't want to make it too costic. But the 20-day highs have been really pretty, pretty anemic. They've been running in the kind of mid-teens. And you'd expect a market that's making a new high to be in the 30, 40-plus percent 20-day highs. So it really belies the rotational aspect of this. That's not bad. It just, you know, it says there's a broadening out. But we would like to see just for kind of the duration and durability, we would like to see a little bit more momentum in this. But, yeah, the trends are positive and breadth is confirming, and that's usually good enough.

By momentum, are you talking in both time and price? Because I'm looking at, say, one month of all these different sectors, financials are up near 4%, techs up better than 3, industrials are right there, healthcare is up near 5, materials are up more than 3. So for us, it's how many or what percentage of names are making 20-day high? which isn't a big bar or a high bar to clear. And you want to see a collection of those names do that on a daily or weekly basis. And again, it's, you know, this week, it's materials. Last week it might have been health care.

And again, that's fine. But we'd like to see kind of this surge in 20-day highs because that means money generally is coming back to the market broadly, more wholesale. So this is still a little bit more selective the way people are playing it. again, I don't want to make it sound bearish, but to give us kind of like, hey, we're good for the next six months. Don't worry about a 10% correction. We need to see those kind of numbers start to stick on 20-day highs. But, you know, between here and there, we're in a good spot from a trend perspective. Forgive me. I didn't mean to step on your toes there. Gold, you say it's overbought. Tell me quickly why. Very, very short term. You know, we had a bubble signal in this back in October. It peaked out in January.

It's been underwater for a long time. It's had a recent surge, and it's gotten overbought. bought. The trends haven't changed yet. I actually think it's building a base, so I think it's more good news than not. Tactically, I wouldn't be buying it right here, but as it consolidates as it comes in, as it weakens, I think you want to start building positions for a resumption of the uptrend that just got ahead of itself about this time last year. Good stuff as always. We'll talk to you soon. Jeff, thanks. Sounds good, John. Thank you. That's Jeff DeGraph. Coming up, top wealth advisor, Sherry Paul's back. She'll tell us what she's telling her clients to do with stocks hovering near all-time highs. We're back up to this. We're back. Stock's getting

some relief from that inflation report today, but several other economic measures are looming this week. Sherry Paul is a top private wealth manager from Morgan Stanley, joins us back at post night. It's nice to see you. You too. Sat down and you just said we're going to help people today. Yeah, we are. Help them make money. You've been doing a good job at that. What do we do today with this market? Well, if you're not invested in it, you should be putting together your portfolio strategy and definitely own equities and ladder and some fixed income and on a little bit of the commodity market and understand that we're in a super cycle. not get too caught up in a FOMO moment if you haven't already been included in this outcome. I was reading this Wall Street Journal story today about all this cash that's sitting around on the sideline. You think people are, you think there's too much cash on the sideline that it needs to be put to work,

whether it's in stocks or bonds or both or whatever. So, you know, what gets me out of bed in the morning is helping people make money, okay? And then helping them self-actualize in their lives with their money. And the thing that keeps me up at night is watching people stall out because they get into, to an analysis paralysis and there's so much information right now coming at people that has no bearing on really what the trend is telling us and that people are stalling out. So yeah, I think there's too much cash. You look at the inflation numbers and you look at the opportunities set in terms of the

cap-ex spending, we have a blowout earnings, we got the big beautiful bill, we have some political things to get through in the fall, but beyond that, people should be invested. Where do you like most right now in the market? Well, I mean, I think a core staple now is in tech. We've talked a lot about this in terms of the subsector, cybersecurity, and cloud. Obviously, the chip sector, which is now, interestingly enough, being debated as potentially a new asset class, which I think is a seismic shift in terms of the financial market, innovating in terms of how to fund this build out. And then obviously, the financial services themselves are a great spot. So let's go to chips real quick first.

When you say it's a seismic shift, I know what you're referring to. but then can we make the leap and say it's seismic enough that was a cyclical area of the market traditionally is now more secular because of the very historic buildout you're talking about? I don't think so. I mean, I think that we just look at this as a form of like, where is the CAPEX spending now going to occur? And if it's now, there's a possibility it comes off balance sheet. That was the big worry a month ago or two ago when people were talking about the debt ratios on corporate balance sheets borrowing to build out AI.

And now if they're able to offshore that into a new financial structure, that changes everything in my mind, especially when it comes to earnings. Earnings are broadening out. Yeah. I mean, that has to be a principal part of your bullishness, right? I mean, that's why Ed Yardinney goes to, you know, 4250 today. Well, yeah. I'm sorry. Not 4250.

I was going to say, that feels a little like, I don't know, 5 years. 840, I think. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. My head's spinning with too many numbers. I say too many of these numbers too often. Well, you know what's funny is that that's what's happening to investors. Their heads are spinning over the numbers. And what we want to do is give them actionable ideas that they can actually put their money to work instead of sitting in the conversation of the debate. The fact that we're so balanced over the last month, more so than we've been.

I just read off to Jeff DeGraph, who's a technician that looks at the market. The balance in sector performance is pretty astounded. really what people have been clamoring for. Does that continue? I think so because I think now we're in, we're in the next phase of this, which is the rapid installation phase, and the ability to actually put evidence to the story.

And the evidence is in the earnings, okay? Because capitalism is always a story. Somebody comes up with a great idea. They sell us the story and say, invest in my idea. And the evidence of the story actually being brought to fruition as having some value in our economy is through the earnings cycle. And so the gap in between that idea and the evidence

is where people were sitting over the last three years far too long, and now we have that evidence. And I think moving forward across the board, it's one of the most well-balanced setups going into 2027. I mangled the Edgarteny combat. So I want to correct it. 8,400 from 80,000. 8250, 8, 800, 8250.

Just to make sure the record is set on where he thinks we're going from here. Do you think because you like cyber and software has done better that the death of that area this market was greatly exaggerated? Is it a place that you would like? If you think semis have had this seminal shift, what about software? I think that software was over-exaggerated, right? But the concern was warranted. And I think what investors need to be doing right now is actually placing investments instead of bets.

And the early days of this, there was a lot of maimstocks and the betting of either a cunt's consolidation or an outright death. And I think now we have the evidence to earnings of that is just not the case. Financials you like. We like financials. We're going for, I think, 11 weeks in a row. Yeah. We haven't seen a streak like that since like 1989. Just beginning.

It is? Just beginning in many ways. Because we're coming into like a full deregulation cycle, lending is starting to pick up. We've got, you know, productive IPO slates, not to mention the credit boom. And so all of those things really come into, I think, supporting financials going forward. Good to have you back. Me too. Enjoy the rest of the summer.

Thank you. It's Sherry Paul. 8400 from 8250. Coming up, a possible takeover bit, sending shares of one restaurant chain soaring details next. Welcome back. We have some news out of Washington. Megan, Kassela has that for us. Megan, what do we know? Scott, it was just announced the White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt will be stepping down from her role at the end of the month to spend more time with her family. President Trump just announcing this on true social writing, our wonderful White House press secretary and one of my most trusted aides.

Caroline Levitt will be departing her role so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and, family. He calls it a decision I totally understand and respect. He says, Caroline will now be one of my top outside advisors and an influential voice within the Republican Party as we work to defy history and conclusively win the midterm elections. And her own statement, Caroline, again attributed this to her family saying the truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart I cannot be the best mom while devoting the constant time and attention to the job of press secretary. So Scott, by my count, this is the fifth high profile departure in the Trump administration since the start of his term. It was Lori Chavez-Durreem, Christy Noem,

Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard, and now Levitt. Again, remaining as an outside advisor, but some turmoil now or some turnover, I should say is the better word, in the Trump administration. Scott. All right, Megan, thank you very much. Megan Kisela, coming up. Cisco and Cerebris, about to report earnings in overtime. We'll tell you what to watch for. Plus, Cerebris shareholder, Malcolm Etheridge. He'll join us ahead of that print next. I got some news on Wendy's. Let's get to Brandon Gomez with that. What do we know here? Hey there, Scott. Yeah, we talked about it earlier. Wendy's shares are up 13% on a report that Nelson Peltz's Tryon is preparing a takeover bid for the burger chain. People familiar with the matter told the Financial Times, Tryan, is working on a proposal with backing from an assortment of investors, including Blue Five Capital and the Flynn group. I declined to comment on the report when I reached out to them. But Wendy's just now sending us a statement saying it would, quote, thoroughly review any proposal submitted by Tryan consistent with its fiduciary duties. The board does regularly review the company's strategic priorities and opportunities with the goal. of maximizing value for all shareholders. The company did just pull guidance last quarter with Bob Wright

at the company's helm now. As they lose market share, the likes of some competitors out there, we'll see again how this deal might come together, Scott. All right, good stuff, Brandon. Thank you for that. That's Brandon Gomez. We're now in the closing bell market zone, Mike Santoli, and Capital Area Planning's Malcolm Etheridge here to break down these crucial moments of the trading day. Christina Parts of Nevelos covering two big earnings reports that are coming in overtime. Cisco and Cerebris get to that in just a minute. But Mike, Michael, let's get your thoughts on what we were waiting for today, which was the CPI, and the market liked what it got because we looked pretty decent for the better part of the day.

Yeah, I would say, Scott, that the CPI was so on target it didn't give markets a whole lot new to react to, which is good because that has the benefit of getting a potential negative catalyst out of the way. And that really just left the market to, I think, have this squeeze higher in semis and other AI hardware stocks as we got conviction billed throughout the last couple of days through Corweave earnings and obviously the Nvidia financing facility that seemed to say, okay, no end in sight for the spend. That being said, it's almost as if the market says how little can the indexes move if semis are up 2.5%.

That's the action today. The SMB is barely doing anything. It's flat for the week. Semites are up 2.5% because all we do is sell one thing against another. It's not really harming the trend, but it is showing you that it's a very kind of back and forth tug-of-war market below the surface. Meanwhile, that action causes volatility to bleed lower and the VIX is under 15. But the AI Bulls got fed yet again today after what Corweave delivered and Super Micro and then some of the other names.

There's no doubt about it. And again, I mean, there's a sort of a squeezy aspect to it. People feel underinvested in the theme after having probably liquidated during July. That being said, you know, they're selling the hyperscale. against it. So it's not yet this kind of market where we treat it as everybody can win, at least in a day-to-day manner. Good stuff. We'll see in a little bit less than four minutes, in fact, in overtime. That's Mike's in totally. Christina, Cisco and Cerebrus. Tell us more. Yeah, specifically with Cisco investors want proof. Cisco's surging AI orders are actually converting

into recognized revenue. Plus the first real read on how big that actual AI business gets next year. The goals of roughly $6 billion in fiscal 2027. The other talking point is campus networking orders. It's the other engine to watch after growing last quarter, about 25% quarter over quarter. You do have wild cards, whether memory, we know this, and component costs, keep squeezing margins. And then whether the security unit finally turns there was some weakness last quarter. Cisco stock has run roughly over 60% year to date, so the bar is set high. For Cerebus, which makes wafer-sized chips, supply is the whole ball game.

Watch for progress bringing its own data centers online because every month it leans on rented G42 capacity, so it's actually renting capacity. And margins then take a hit. We're going to listen for some color on the new AMD and Crowdstrike deals and any hint of a next generation ship coming just over the next week or so. There's also a big lockup that frees September 16th. So management has to prove it can execute before that point. All right. Good stuff. We'll see what happens.

And we'll look for it in overtime with those numbers. Christina thanks. That's Christina Partsinova. to Malcolm Etheridge, who owns Cerebris. You bought it in July. What are your expectations going in? Yes, Scott, I think for folks like me that bought post-IPO after that runoff happened, I bought it somewhere around 175.

A lot of the positive news has already been sort of baked into this story with the addition of the CrowdStrike relationship and then AMD thereafter. So it's possible that it could continue to run after they report. But you want to remember as a potential investor, this is a company that's still not super profitable. They're doing about $200 million in revenue so far. They're tied to one core client, which is Open AI. So it's still early days, is my point. I'd be willing to add additional shares if we do get a little bit of a sell-off after the print. But I think this is one where it's still a little bit early to get too excited just yet. And they're really beneficiaries of the timing

of when they're set to release their earnings more than anything, since chips have come more back into Vogue the last few days here. Interesting move going into the print, right? it up 12%. Well, I think that's the point. Investors are excited right now because everything chips is doing very well. And so it being a chip name, especially one that sort of going in the opposite direction of the traditional Nvidia typical approach to GPU build, we take the biggest wafer we can instead of breaking it down into tiny fractals. And I think that is potentially a long-term solution that plays out for shareholders. I just don't want anybody who's looking at the move today to think that this rocket ship is about to take off and get caught up in the hype that really wiped people out after the IPO.

I got you. I got less than 30 seconds before this bell is going to ring. Just give me a quick thought on this market, Malcolm. Yeah, I think that right now the market is not too worried about CPI. The jobs number just put one more feather in the cap of the bulls. And so taking that together with the positive earnings that we got from the four main hyperscalers, I think this bull market is going to continue to run for the next few weeks here. We'll see it back on the desk.

soon. Look forward to that, Malcolm. Thank you, Malcolm, Ethrids. So we do have those important earnings coming. Let's see if the tech momentum, certainly from an earnings perspective, continues, and a matter of moments coming in overtime. Looks like the Dow's going to be a smidge negative, but the S&P, the NAS and the Russell 2000 are going to get a lift again, an inline CTI taking a little bit of heat off the table. I'll send it into overtime. No?