Closing Bell - Closing Bell Overtime: Global Bond Rout Continues 9/24/26

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

Deepwater’s Gene Munster breaks down the latest moves in Meta and where he sees opportunity as investors reassess the AI trade. HSBC’s Alastair Pinder looks at rising global yields and what they mean for equities around the world. Meantime, Oracle’s move to invoke force majeure on a massive New Mexico data center project raises fresh questions about the risks surrounding the AI infrastructure buildout. Longview Global’s Dewardric McNeal weighs the takeaways from the Trump-Xi meeting and what comes next for U.S.-China relations. BlackBerry CEO John Giamatteo discusses earnings, AI and the company’s growing automotive software business. Plus, the latest on the consumer as investors digest restaurant trends and Costco earnings. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The bells bringing an end to the trading day at the NYSC, the president of Peru, bringing the closing bell and at the NASAC, engaged for good doing the honors. Welcome the closing bell over time, live from studio be at the NASDAQ market site. I'm Melissa Lee, along with Mike Santoli. Stock slightly lower today, but off the worst levels, Dowdown about 150 points, SB 500, and the NASDAQ, all closing right near the flat line. You can see a big intraday move lower in the price of oil on reports of a potential deal between the U.S. and Iran to eventually reopen the Strait of Pormuz. But then oil started to move higher once again. We'll get much more on all that coming up. And once again, we saw big moves in the bond market.

Today the 30-year took center stage. The yield getting to its highest level since 2004. Let's get to the first word on the close right now. And it was all about that move. It happened about 12, 12 or so in the afternoon. Interestingly, though, yield still closed at session highs, basically. As much as it seemed like that move and yield seems very stretched. And yesterday actually was a little bit more of an acceleration higher.

maybe getting a little disorderly, there was no real break on it today. And the intraday move in stocks was interesting. We've down like half a percent in the S&P. And it felt just more like, okay, let's not lean too far negative if, in fact, you could get a helpful headline out there. Market continues to register the pressure from yields and oil. There were almost 900 new 52-week lows on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ combined today. It's more than 10, 15 percent of all listings. And yet, because Madowweight, was working and a lot of health care was working. It didn't matter that you had that pull lower from the majority of stocks. You also have things like, you know, DRAM was down a couple of percent

as a group. Oracle struggled. So, you know, the market keeps sidestepping these opportunities to have a little more pain. And I think the debate is going to continue as to whether this has been enough. The stealth correction's been enough. We don't need a real one or not. Or, I mean, as the 10-year yield gets up to 5.2 percent, basically, the steepness of how we got here is starting to really come into focus. Everybody's been saying, oh, it's how fast we get there. It's been pretty fast at this point in terms of... It has sped up for sure. And the bond volatility gauges have registered

that as well. And so in theory, you know, you should be, it should be pinching a little bit harder. Well, let's get more on the markets. The stocks making some big moves today. Christina Parts Nevelas is at the NASDAQ. Christina. Yeah, right across me, guys. And like you said, stocks shrugged off higher yields in oil today, the S&P NASDAQ flatline, while the

Dow bounced off its lows just within the last hour around headlines, obviously keeping things choppy with stocks recovering on a report that U.S. and around negotiators were weighing a phase deal to reopen the straight of harm moves back and forth. But the AI trade turned more cautious today after Oracle sent a force majeure notice on its New Mexico Stargate site, giving it cover to just delay payments if the project slips. Oracle says the project's still on schedule. That's why you saw a reaction in blue owl. Chips lagged AMD Intel gain, but analog equipment names and AI chip names fell.

Arm dropped off after a filing showed its CFO sold roughly about $3 million in stock, just under a pre-arranged plan, nonetheless, shares sold off. Everpure, the best performer in the S&P 500, after the data storage company gave preliminary fiscal 2028 forecasts above consensus as hypers, of course, and AI demand, really became a bigger part of its business. Everperse CEO joined CNBC earlier. Check it out on our website.

Healthcare was one of the top three sectors in the S&P, led by Moderna, Illumina, and Eli Lilly. There's a lot of options trading, adding to that movement today. And then MGM sank today. Barry Dillers, People Inc. walked away from its bid to take the casino giant private. Diller said the pieces just were coming together. But his firm is keeping roughly 27% stake.

And says it's still open to other deals. MGM says it's going to move forward as a standalone company. Shears down 11% today, guys. All right, Christina. Thank you. Well, oil, settling higher, but off the highest levels of the day on hopes for a deal. Pippa Stevens here with more. Of course, these reports of maybe some kind of process toward a deal.

The half-life of these moves, though, is pretty brief. at this point. Yeah, and so the reported deal that we heard about today was a phase negotiation for reopening of the strait and easing of economic sanctions by the U.S. on Tehran. If it sounds similar to June, it's because it is. It's the exact same thing from the MOU, which of then, of course, fell apart. So we don't really know if there's any difference this time around. But clearly, it did take oil off the highs of the day. It had been up earlier in the day on more Houthi missile attacks against Saudi Arabia. But I do think it's notable here that we did still finish in the green. And there are some indications that there are some

supply worries, at least in the short term, because look at the spread between WTI and Brent. It's now more than $12. And so part of that is because the U.S. is net long oil, Europe is net short oil. And there's a free cost of that as well, since it's about three weeks to get oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast over to Europe. But then, if we look at the spread between the front month and the second month on Brent, that's now more than $6. Usually under normal circumstances, it's more like $1, probably $0.50 or so.

So that does indicate that there is a premium for oil in Europe right now. And then finally, take a look at Nat Gas. We haven't talked about gas in a while here because it's been under $2. But up 9% today, we did see a compressor outage on the Columbia Gas Pipeline. You can see that the move higher all started at 11 o'clock. That was when we got the latest inventory report showing a lower than expected injection into storage thanks to hot temperatures last week. I guess, you know, the very brief action that we saw is a little bit of a real-world experiment

on what might happen if we have some belief that the straight is going to reopen. I mean, how much downside do we think that? even would be in crude at this point? Because obviously there's other things going on than just how many ships are coming out of the street. Yeah, I mean, I think that the underlying, or sorry, the overarching theme right now is that nothing is going to happen until after the midterms.

And it's really hard to gauge what exactly we're hearing, even if you look at the diesel ban and is it a ban, is it a ban, is it quotas, you know, who knows what's going on. So it's hard to game out these moves. But I think the other kind of underlying current is that as soon as it opens, the market is going to be oversupplied at this point.

We have seen some demand distractions, especially in China, that looks to be stickier than initially thought. And so once that happens, you know, traders are still betting, we could see a plummet. So that's always kind of keeping a cap on the upside moves here. When you say nothing's going to happen to laugh at the midterms, so there's no thinking that he is under tremendous pressure to deliver something ahead of the midterms to help his party. I think it's more that there's going to be so much mixed messaging and that we have seen,

you know, we've seen what people have said is jawboating of this market or, you know, the idea that the diesel export ban is showing, okay, I'm doing something and this will help temporarily, but not long term. And so just until we get past the midterms, it's going to be really hard to suss out how sticky these deals actually are. Pippa, thanks. Pippa Stevens. It's been a September to remember for meta. The stock is up 35 percent this month, adding another 4 percent today after its big Muse AI rollout at its annual Connect conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg showing off a series of new AI powered gadgets, including a muse charm, a palm-sized device that fits on a keychain and is always available to talk to an AI agent in your pocket, if you will.

More companies are signing on to Muse, including Best Buy and Wayfair. But Wedbush is skeptical about how much shopping people will really do from their glasses or the Muse char. We have the concerns about stocks, which could be disrupted by Muse, remain. Financials and travel in particular. Turning us now is Deepwater Asset Management, Managing Partner, Gene Munster. Gene, great to have you with us. I mean, the run in Meta has just been extraordinary, Gene. Are we going to look back and say this was when Meta re-rated, or do you think all this sort of dissipates?

I think this is a moment very similar to April in 2025 when Google got a re-rating, that commentary around Google going into that for the few months before is that they're in a tough place when it came to the impact of chatbots on their search business. And then, of course, they started to show improvements in their models. And Sundar showed some strength as a leader around them being more proactive at AI products. And that's basically what Zuck did last night. I listened to the event. My sense was the stock was going to be down today.

They really didn't give any sort of key metrics related to the Mews adoption that has been, as you said, so breathtaking over the last few weeks. No real big updates. But one thing that he said that makes me believe this is a turning point for meta stock is he talked about Mews being at the centerpiece of the company. It's really important. I think that's why the stock is up today. What he's basically saying is I am one of the very few founder-led mega-capital. companies. He's a wartime CEO, and he is going hard after Agentic AI as the core of everything that they're doing. And so the move here gets us to plus 2% over the past year. That compares

to other personalized AI companies. If you look at Apple and Google, up 35%. So I think we got another strong run here in front of meta based on this just very simple fact that they're reorienting the company around Agentic AI. I mean, implicit in what you're saying, Gene, about, you know, making the analogy with Google is, you know, there was a lot of skepticism leading into it. The stock seemed very much underowned, and the success of Mews, at least at the outset, has caught the street by surprise on some level. What would it mean for Mews now to be at the center of the company in a practical, technological way? I think we lost. Oh, we lost Gene.

Yep. We lost Jean. So we'll try and get them back. We will. Yeah. But I think it's a fascinating idea. of, you know, all of a sudden, the market seems to say, okay, maybe we now see where the spend has gone. Sure.

If it's now recreating kind of a technological core, and they're talking about ways they get paid for. Right, right, right. And, yeah, I think that the Wed Bush commentary really highlighted sort of the roadblocks or the obstacles that could be in the way of muse, actually being that holy grail for meta in that, you know, we saw Amazon saying, you know what? No, you're blocked off from here. So you see more retailers do that.

I mean, the AI agent is only as good as however many third parties are going to participate and how much information you are willing to give it. Right. So if you don't want to give it access to your bank accounts, et cetera, then maybe you don't see the full value of it. And you don't know the value of this little kind of head start that they have. Exactly. We know there's going to be others. We'll see how that goes.

Well, shares of Oracle falling again today. The stock has now lost half its value over the past year. New doubts being cast on the company's Data Center project in New Mexico. Sima Modi has more. Hi, Sima. Hey, Michael and Melissa, while Oracle says the use of its force majeure is commonplace, the question is if this legal tool gives them the ability to delay payments should its financier and the local and regulatory pushback continue at its New Mexico data center that right now is intended to be completed by 2028.

Now, RBC Capital analyst Rishi Jullery adds that this 2.4 gigawatt site represents one of Oracle's key capacity commitments, underpinning it that $664 billion a backlog. One of the key issues on the ground is greenlighting energy transfers natural gas pipeline that will support Bloom Energy's fuel cells. This will be key to meeting New Mexico's environmental standards that politicians have been concerned about. The question is whether these concerns and the opposition that Oracle is facing guys on the ground there, if that continues beyond the midterms, we're told some of the leaders in that state are up for re-election. I would imagine, Seema, this is going to be a test.

for other sites and other projects for companies who might be on the hook to say, you know what, force majeure here because the local government is pushing back. I mean, this couldn't be a major test case in a way. Absolutely, as you know, Melissa, force major. It's a legal tool that typically is used in unprecedented situations, earthquakes, war, terrorism, when a company cannot meet its deadline due to these unexpected circumstances. So to use it due to political opposition tied to a data center is certainly notable. It's the really first one we've seen of this type.

And the question now was whether other data centers across the U.S. that are facing similar pushback will also lean into this legal option. And if it does give them some level of flexibility on when initial payments are due, that's sort of the question at hand here for Oracle's high-profile project in New Mexico, which is getting a lot of interest given that it's part of Stargate. This is the massive data center campus that extends beyond New Mexico to Texas and Ohio and one that the president has spoken about many times. For sure.

Seema, thank you. Shares of Acomai jumping in after I was trading on news of a deal with Anthropic. Kate Rooney has the story. Hi, Kate. Hey, Mike. It looks like this is an $11.6 billion deal for cloud computing capacity between Akamai and Anthropic. Shares are, I believe, up double digits. Let's see.

Okay, up more than 15 percent on this news. It does go back to Anthropics, almost endless need for compute. of its IPO. It is the big way that they're able to train and improve their AI models and therefore sell into enterprises. We have seen a lot of other big major deals, similar deals from Anthropic, but it is the latest signal of that. And they're also diversifying some of their computing here. And there is talk of supply constraints. Akamai is a major cloud provider as well. Focuses in cybersecurity and infrastructure. And looks like that is sort of the story here, but we are just getting news of that. And again, this is a, I think it's about a $15

billion market cap, but shares are up more than 16 percent on this deal, obviously a major customer for Acomai now and a lot of demand here for computing capacity, guys. Yeah, I was going to say $11.6 billion contract over seven years is a lot of money for an Accomi, maybe not as much for Anthropic, but that's all you have to do is get a small piece of their pie. Kate, thank you very much. We want to bring back Gene Munster. I was just trying to get it. You know, when you mention that that meta has now essentially said that MUSE is going to be at the center of the company, practically speaking, what does that mean?

Does it actually mean it's the technological backbone or just the main way it's going to interact with and engage customers? So effectively, we've been algorithmic-based to date. That's what has basically driven as 3% daily active user growth month over month, quarter over quarter, just impressive. But when you go to Mews is the centerpiece. It's agentic. That means that instead of using algorithms to figure out what you're getting served, it will actually think for you. And that's why those of you who have used muse, it's just such a breathtaking experience.

And so this is a total tech rework for meta. And that's why I think that this is in front of what will be a re-rating of shares higher. I do want to mention, too, Mike, is that when we think about the Metacconnect event, it was really built as this event around wearables. And if you're an influencer or a high school student, you may refer to these as kind of drippy in terms of their appearance, that most fashionable. But I do want to emphasize that just because they're fashionable doesn't mean that they're going to be successful, this wearable piece. And so Zuckerberg is trying to figure out something beyond the iPhone on the wearable side. Just basically throw all that out and just focus on what the core of what's going on. They're re-architecting the company's tech stack, and it's going to be a Gen-Tic.

And that creates opportunities for upsells on subscription and new advertising businesses. We were just taking a look at Chicago, the CBO there, XR trading, ringing the closing bell. Gene, one last question. How should we think about the revenues associated with the success of MUSE at this point? It can be huge, Melissa. I'm just doing some sensitivity. These numbers are hard to believe. This is why we get to this rewriting conversation.

I think Mews in the next five years could increase operating income anywhere between 8 and 80 percent. huge range there. But eventually, many, many, most people will pay for some sort of agentic services. They've got three and a half billion daily active users. They can turn the screws down on that. And I think that that will reward the operating income growth. All right. Yeah, it was a lot of concern with all the investment in AI that Meta felt its existing products maybe were, you know, vulnerable. And so this maybe gets them a way out of that. Gene, thanks for the time today. Thank you. Thank you. All right, the bond sell-off has been going global. Germany's 10-year yield is at its highest since 2009.

France, also 2009 highs. Japan at levels last seen in 1996. While rates here at home, we're still hovering near 2007 highs. So as rates reset higher around the world, how much pressure is there on global stock markets? With us now is Alistair Pinder. He's HSBC head emerging markets and global equity strategies. Good to see Alastair. Good to see you as well.

This is the question. A lot of folks would have thought that the U.S. yields going beyond 5% would have been a maybe more comprehensive gut check for equities? How are you thinking about this relationship? I think one of the key questions we always get is what level of yields break equities? And I think that's almost the wrong way to think about it. I don't think there is a level that breaks equities. I think what breaks equities is the speed of the move.

And, you know, apart from the last couple of days, actually, you know, yields haven't been going that aggressively higher in terms of the speed. It's been somewhat manageable. The last couple of days have been a bit more scary. But I think a lot of people look to compare things to 2022. when we saw the yields move, you know, significantly during that period. And I think the big difference today between 2022 and why we're stomaching things much better

is because we have earnings growth. I mean, we are getting earnings at 25, 30% year and year. In 2022, earnings were declining from 8% all the way to negative, you know, prints by Q4 of 2022. So it's a really different setup here. And I think if you do look at the market, you actually are seeing underneath that the higher yields are compressing valuations, it's just that earnings are outrunning that pressure right now.

And I think that's something that continues into 2027. Yields are mostly rising for the right reasons, basically. And that's the difference here. But when you take a look at approaching 5.2% of the 10-year yield, do you start getting worried that there is a lot? I mean, I understand the speed and all that, but 5.3, 5.5. I mean, those are big numbers. I think psychologically, it is definitely a big number.

I think from just an earnings impact, you know, most of the S&P, P-500 has their debt in long-term, you know, fixed contracts. I mean, take it to 2007, 40% of debt was long-term fixed. Today it's closer to 90%. And, you know, that is a very different narrative, though, compared to the small caps, like the Russell 2000, a much higher percentage of floating and in floating rate debt. So you could say that as yields move higher, there's a rotation out of the large cap into the small cap space. But, you know, beyond that, I also think, well, what is the broader economic impact here of higher yields? You know, it could start. to weigh a little bit on hyperscalor capex. That is something, you know, clearly they're tapping

the debt market to issue these bonds. I don't think it's again going to be significant headwind, but that might be a crunch point, which again unnerves the market a little bit here. Part of it certainly has been the market repricing the path of the Fed that it sees ahead and other central banks. I mean, if the Fed feels the need to tighten financial conditions in a way that at least helps bring inflation in the direction it wants, what does that entail? Well, I mean, look, to a certain extent, I think the impact that Fed policy rates have on the real economy is very negligible at this point. I mean, 95% of, you know, US mortgages are fixed. Actually, the average mortgage in the US is around 4.3%.

That's less than what the government is paying on their debt right now. So as the Fed high-inx, it's really not having a lot of an impact on the average consumer here. And so where that tightening of financial conditions has to happen is probably through the bond. But we just got to accept the fact that things take longer transpire here. And so, you know, what can cool down inflation, I think lower oil prices, improvements in the situation in the Middle East, and perhaps, you know, slightly less fiscal policy as well. These are things that I think really drive inflation right now, not what the Fed is. Some would say through the asset channel.

I mean, if the stock market were to have a 10% correction, I mean, who knows the Fed can't fine-tune that, obviously. but maybe that's the thing that would do it. I mean, that is definitely, I mean, if the, I think, you know, again, 50 to 60 percent of, you know, U.S. household wealth is inequities here. So I think one of the big things, though, that has always been the case is that when you get a 10, 15 percent correction, the U.S. retail investor in particular has this by the dip mentality. And so I think, you know, you can't just get a 10 percent correction. It needs to be 10 percent and then 10 percent lower for a sustained period of time. And we really haven't seen that for a very long period.

We're showing you a chart of the last six-hour move on the tenure yield, which we don't often look at it. That's right. Except for that it's notable because it is a 10 basis point move, which does seem like a lot. Yes. And so that was, I guess, the part we're saying, apart from the last couple of days, you know, that shift in moves, when it gets kind of jumping like that, that does concern me. And again, you know, if you look at historically, at any point, really, if you look at the real yields, is that what really hurts markets is the real yields. You know, it's really at the point where the real yield starts jumping more than 50 to 75 basis points over a three-month window. And with these kind of moves today, we're getting close.

closer to that. So that would be, you know, where we start to get concerned a little bit more. Alistair, good to see you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. President Trump meeting with Chinese President Xi today ahead of a state dinner this evening. Will there be progress on substantial issues such as AI or Iran? That's coming up next on overtime. Welcome back, President Trump and Chinese President Xi meeting at the White House today for a summit about trade, Iran and AI. The meeting comes ahead of a slew of a state dinner, slew of leaders joining a state dinner just a few hours time. Amen Jabbers is at the White House with the very latest. Amen.

Hey there, Melissa. Chinese President Xi Jinping has left the White House after a day of welcoming ceremonies here, although we can't show you pictures of the event. The day started with a Rose Garden military review that was capped off with a military flyover featuring a B-2 bomber and four F-22 Raptors. President Trump also brought President Xi out to his new helipad on the South Lawn. The two leaders climbed into Marine One to take a look at the president's new helicopter. There is some serious business to take care of here as well, although expectations are low for major breakthroughs on a host of issues on the agenda. You can see them there, but clearly China is feeling the pinch of the U.S. war with Iran, which has driven Chinese oil imports from

Iran down dramatically, though, as you can see here, it has not eliminated them altogether, There are 534,000 barrels per day in August of 2026. Now, Reuters reported today that U.S. and Iranian negotiators are exploring a phased deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the U.S. naval blockade. And China may be a key power broker in those talks. We'll keep an eye on that. But the most significant news of the day came on social media, as President Trump announced, that contrary to some of the speculation before this meeting,

neither he nor Xi Jinping want to make any significant change. changes to AI policy. The president wrote a big day with President Xi of China, super intelligence. Remember, that's the president's new name for artificial intelligence will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is. That is China's position also. Our guardrail is the Department of Justice. And Xi Jinping also weighed in on AI in his remarks saying we have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good and ensure that the development of AI is always under human control and serves the well-being of the people. Now, Melissa, we are expecting that all-star list of executives at the White House tonight for the

state dinner in the East Room. The list includes Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and a long list of others. So maybe there will be some AI chatter at dinner here this evening. I would imagine. Amen, thank you. Amen, Javers. So what would be considered a successful meeting between the two and what does Wall Street want to hear at the end of the two-day visit. Joining us now, DeWardrick McNeil, senior policy analysts

at Longview Global. DeWarder, great to see you. It's always great to get your take. I want to start off with what Eam and outline in terms of AI, since we heard both leaders chime in saying, everything is great, we're going to go ahead without any guardrails. I mean, what do you make of that? I mean, it wasn't more than two weeks ago, I think, that the Chinese Communist Party raised some red flags in terms of what AI could do to undermining the CCP's power in Beijing. They are worried about this issue in some ways. Yeah, I think when you talk about what the capabilities are for undermining state control in China, the Ministry of State Security is certainly concerned. I think we've heard a number of concerns in this country about what we're

seeing in terms of the development of this technology outpacing the human's ability to control this technology. And I'll be honest with you, Melissa, the biggest thing I was hoping to see come from this summit is the two leaders really take seriously the challenges that AI poses to human security. Now, I always knew this was going to be a challenge for several reasons. The economic model in China largely is driven on new productive forces, which is based on AI development. We know what the stock market in this country has largely been trading on, which is the AI trade. And then we understand what the national security implications are for whichever country is going to control this technology, at least what humans can control.

But I have come to evolve my view of this, Melissa, after the last couple of weeks, and believe that we have to look at human security in addition to national security. And I think the two leaders are missing the forest for the trees on that particular question. Are they missing it or just the incentives just not conducive to having them come together on this? If China perceives that any talk of slowing things down is meant to leave them in a disadvantaged position in terms of AI development. And the Trump administration is kind of actually saying we don't want to slow down in terms of domestic development. They fundamentally see it as a competitive thing and not a collective problem. Yeah, I think this is a good point.

Let me go back and really make it clear here that on the Chinese side, it is pretty clear to many of us that the Chinese models have not reached this. level yet. So in many ways, the Chinese are taking our word for it, and that's not good for much. And so I think there is an issue here where we have experienced, we've experienced things that their models have not yet experienced, given the lag. And so it's a larger leap for China. For the U.S., I think you're right. There's some misaligned incentives here. But still, I've evolved my view of this, Mike. I think we've heard some real human security implications for the pieces of this technology that humans cannot control. And that's what I think we should be discussing.

Do Orrick, how would you assess the U.S.-China relationship right now? And do you think, because you indicated that in order for this to truly be a success, I mean, there was a laundry list of different items, an extension of the Busan Treaty, etc., but ultimately you want to see an institutionalization of connection between the two countries, communication. Do you think we'll get that at the very least? I'm afraid not, Melissa. Look, I don't want to downplay the importance of leader-to-leader diplomacy and the perceived friendship between Trump and she. I think it does provide for some

diplomatic space here to get some things done. But I'm concerned that the progress on the myriad of issues, and we're not just talking about economics and trade, there are a range of issues in this complex relationship that are not really being addressed. below the leader-to-leader level in an institutionalized system-wide manner. And so we creep at this steady pace, as the saying goes. But, you know, we have to try to institutionalize this relationship in a manner that allows for multiple levels across multiple issues to be managed by the experts, not these periodic leader-to-leader engagements that's largely pomp and circumstances.

And while that's important, it doesn't move the policy dial. Yeah, we'll see. It seems like kind of cementing the disengagement for now. We'll see maybe after the election, things could go in a different direction. DeWartrick McNeil, thank you so much. Thank you. Our rising interest rates causing trouble for some rate-sensitive sectors such as utilities and real estate. So has the damage been done or could there be more selling ahead? We'll be right back. A lot of attention recently on deteriorating breath. The market started to get top-heavy again. More evidence today? Only eight stocks on the S&B 5. hitting new 50-week highs, but among them were meta, AMD, about $3 trillion of market cap. There were about 35 new lows on the index, 14 of them in the utilities group, and that's actually an area that Mike is taking a look at, a dividend group. For sure, really pronounced weakness in utilities.

That's the XLU right here. You see it really just chasing down the TLT, which is, of course, the long-term Treasury bond ETF. That's the prices of treasuries going inversely to yields. And then you have real estate, XLRE, also having a similar path down. not quite as dramatic. So yes, they are dividend sectors. And the question is whether the weakness and the prices are making the dividends look rich and may be attractive again, take a look at how the utilities dividends as a group compare now to the real estate sector, not quite caught up.

Again, you see most of the last 10 years, they've been mostly in sync in terms of level of dividend yield. And then this gap right here probably was because utilities appreciated in part on some AI hopes, the power demand story. It was not just the yield sector. So now you've seen the yields go back above 3% at least, but not really showing as if, you know, they're sort of beckoning income investors with yield levels at this point yet. Yeah, S&P 500 overall dividend yield is 2 plus percent. It's like a record low. It's below 2%. Yeah, it's like 1.7 or so.

So on a relative basis, this still looks like it's, you know, decent income. But historically, dividend yields rarely been this low for the S&P. Wow. Time now for CNBC News Update with Sima Modi. Melissa, here's what we're watching at this hour. the Senate rejecting a resolution today that would direct President Trump to end the war with Iran. Four Republicans joining Democrats in voting to advance the measure while Senator John Federman was the only Democrat to oppose. The resolution which passed in the House in July does not have any legal force behind it. California's highest court ordered Republican Sheriff Chad Bianco

to return the 650,000 ballots he seized during last year's special election in the state. He made unfounded claims of fraud in the statewide vote on congressional, redistricting which favored Democrats. The court said the move was illegal because ballots must remain in control of election officials, even during a criminal probe. And a bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiling a new bill today aimed at bringing more film production back to the U.S. It would create 20 to 30 percent tax incentive that would stack on top of the state tax

credits. President Trump previously voiced support for Hollywood incentives and called on both parties to work together to save the industry, which has been struggling. Mike? Sure has. Seema, thank you. Well, BlackBerry has been a big winner this year, which shares more than doubling. Up next, the company CEO joins us for an exclusive interview on today's big earnings beat and its ongoing push into physical AI. Closing Bell Overtime. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Closing Bell Overtime. Live from the NASAC market site. It was a quiet day for the market averages, S&B 500, NASAC composite, and NASAC 100, all basically on change. But there's always excitement somewhere in the markets. Today, it was an oil which jumped in the morning on new attacks by the Houthis. Then a sharp move lower on reports of progress on a deal to reopen the straight of Hormuz, but some skepticism entered the market and oil rose again.

Another big day for bond yields, the 30-year rising to its highest level since 2004, and the 10-year yield continuing to rise in even just the past half hour, about 5.2 percent is a level there. Akamai, a big after-hours mover after reaching a deal with Anthropic, which could be worth more than $11 billion. Well, let's stay with tech. Most remember Blackberry for its revolutionary cell phone that launched in 20, 2002, I'm guessing, selling more than 50 million devices a year at its peak in 2011.

But the company has since evolved, and his main focus now is software, particularly in vehicles. That's proven effective so far. BlackBerry reporting earnings this morning and raising its annual revenue forecast due to strength in that automotive software business known as QNX. Shares of BlackBerry up 130 percent in 2026. Joining us now in an exclusive interview is BlackBerry's CEO John Gia Mateo. John, it's great to have you. Talk a bit about why this kind of automotive operating system business is so fruitful for the company, given that, you know, it's not as if global volumes are accelerating in terms of autos or even, you know, some of the component makers have not had that easy a time. Good afternoon. Thanks for having me on the program. And you're right, auto production has been relatively stable over the last few years. 90 million cars get made a year. One third of those cars are moving more towards a centralized compute architecture.

And in that one third of the segment, that's where BlackBerry really shines. We have about 90% market share for the operating system on a third of the market. So as that continues, more technology continues to go into the car. The other two-thirds of the market moves in that direction along with the lines of, you know, companies like Qualcomm and Nvidia, adding in more technology, more software than ever before, that's where the Q&X real-time operating system. So we see an opportunity to expand our addressable market, as well as more content in the car, as more technology and more innovation is going in the future software-defined vehicle.

We were just looking at some of the other places or industries, if you will, that are using Q&X. and it's basically everything physical AI. So as we look out beyond automotive, John, how should we think about the use in, for instance, robots, whether they be humanoid robots or industrial robots, in devices used for surgery, et cetera. Where is the next growth driver for Q&X? Melissa, you hit on exactly where we're going.

Physical AI, you know, physical AI is what happens when AI moves beyond the digital world and starts to interact. you know, with the physical world. So we're seeing these applications in robotics, in medical instrumentation, industrial automation, the new software-defined warehouse

as more and more industrial automation companies are using things like AMRs, automated mobile robots, autonomous forklifts, skateboards that are doing, these are all new applications, new robotics that require a real-time operating system to power those things in a safe way as the digital world combines with the physical world. And that's one of our fastest growing segments. Right now, it's early innings. I would say that. If you called it a nine-inning game,

we're probably in the second inning from the physical AI really kind of taking hold. But, you know, announcing wins with Uber, announcing wins with a number of major industrial automation companies, we think this is a future growth opportunity for the Q&X business. What's the distinction you draw when you mention that, what was it, a third of global automotive production is in software-defined vehicles, and it's obviously moving further in that direction. What is it exactly about the technology platform there that makes it software-defined? Yeah, there's different software domains that go inside a car, things from digital cockporn. pit, to ADAS, to body control. So as all of these software domains, you know, continue to become

more software defined, an operating system like Q&X, like our SDP8 is a next generation capability that can power all of these domains simultaneously in a centralized compute architecture, that's where the future is going. That's why these other, you know, 60 million cars as the future continues to drive in that direction, we really look forward to the opportunity to expanding our addressable market and the strong position that we have in it today. John, there's been so much discussion about whether AI could get rid of humanity. I'm wondering, you know, as the CEO of a company that makes a software that will power physical AI, how do you think about that in terms of how not only safe is your software, but all the

inputs that your software is getting from various devices that may or may not originate from the United States or Canada or maybe what is perceived widely as a foreign adversary like a China. How do we make sure that that physical AI remains safe? Yeah, yeah, that's top of mind for us. It's actually one of the things that we feel like we've been pretty resilient and pretty immune to that because the nature of the software that we provide, it's determinants, deterministic software. So safety, certified, critical, foundational software, things that where predictability matters, where failure is not an option, these are applications,

these are high-level certifications. In the car industry, it's ISO 26262. In the cyber resilience industry, it's things like ISO 21434. All of the software, all of the software, that we provide maintains the highest level of certifications. And we think that's, uh, uh, helps us be resilient because taking a Linux stack, adding an AI agent to it and thinking that you're going to control all the functions of a car, we think we have a, a lot of, you know, stability around staying ahead of the curve there. All right. John, great to speak with you. Thanks. John, Joe Hiteo, Blackberry. Restaurant stocks have been hit hard over the last month, and there is fresh news putting these companies under even more pressure today. That's next.

Investors continue to show a weak appetite for many restaurant stocks. Darden restaurants under pressure after missing Wall Street's earnings estimates due to a same store sales slowdown at its Olive Garden brand and concerns about cyclospora outbreak in the company's as well. The company's CEO did note that its chains are seeing better performance this month and commodity costs are expected to improve in the coming months. Starbucks shares, meanwhile, are also lower after announcing it will close 250 underperforming cafes in North America as part of its turnaround plan. That's roughly 1% of the total stores in that region. It's the second round of store closures under CEO Brian Nickel since taking the job two years ago. Starbucks shares are basically flat under his leadership. Fast food, obviously, we know McDonald's is multi-year lows. Darden, clearly in the wrong spot there in terms of the Olive Garden concept.

because, interestingly, other casual dining chains of them very well. So Brinker, Cheesecake Factory, BJ's restaurants, I wonder if it's just the perception of where the value is, you know, in terms of fast food or sit down. All you can eat breadsticks is not enough to get somebody to come to try them. Maybe it's not all you can eat. It's in particular what they're serving. I don't know. I couldn't read the mind of the customer on that, but it is interesting that like a cheese cake factory has had this weird revival. The commentary about commodity costs coming down in the coming months.

I mean, that's hopeful, but I wonder what that is based on because there are certain commodity costs where you don't necessarily have the visibility like fuel costs. That's right. Labor costs, I imagine, are not coming down in the coming months? And so those commodities, are we going to see that offset the other? I mean, wheat's been up. That can't help Olive Garden. I don't know.

Right. So it's going to be a tough one. All right. Up next, find out why Viking Therapeutic shares are getting hit hard just days after announcing strong data from a weight loss drug study. Closing Bell overtime, live from the NASDAQ market site. We'll be right. Viking Therapeutics shares sinking today after raising the size of its planned common sock and convertible senior note offerings, despite today's slump. The sock is still up.

More than 20% over just the last week after announcing encouraging data on its experimental weight loss drug. You can't blame the company for, you know, doing this. I was going to say this is how biotech works. You know, you have some success. Stock goes up. You need more money to fund it. But, yeah, the net net ahead for the week. Right.

I wonder if there's a little bit of thinking, maybe they're a little bit less of a target. If they're making plans, raising so much money, they're not necessarily on the table. Not that they've said that they are. But that was the thinking about that. That would work against that idea. All right, let's get you set up with tomorrow's trade today. There are no earnings on the calendar, but we will get the August durable goods report, as well as September consumer sentiment reading from University of Michigan.

We've got some late-day action in bonds. The 10-year yield rising throughout the last hour, getting above 5. percent before pulling back just slightly, still around 5-2. Similar story for the 30-year yield. It reached a 22-year high today, sitting at 4.484%. Those gains in yields could weigh on stocks in tomorrow's session. We'll see if it gets applied broadly or not in after-hours trading. The SPY and QQQQEFs both are slightly lower.

Some commentary about at this point you're looking at these technical targets maybe for yields. 5-3 for the 10-year yield has been one that's been out there. for a little while. We're very close to that. If that's where it ends, and we haven't sustained more damage, who knows if that's considered a net win. But, you know, this is blown through a lot of areas where I would have thought it seemed very stretched. Exactly. And it was a logical place for it to stop. Obviously, you've gone through the Fed meeting. And I will say there was that line that, oh, when the Fed hikes on the short end, it's going to cause a rally to bring his foot. No. It wasn't really set up that way and it has not happened. Yeah. In terms of the site,

I mean, we've met and gone through, blown through every single level. And so far, so good. So, you know, 5.3% is it. It feels like there's a pull to that. Yeah. It could be the bottom market's kind of searching for that pain point as it keeps going. Let's test it. Let's test it.

Yeah. So we'll see if it finds it at some point. All right, that does it for overtime. Fast money starts right after this.