Power Lunch - Dow poised for first close above 44,000 as Trump enthusiasm continues 11/11/24

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

The Dow surged more than 300 points today and was on pace for a record close as the benchmark’s postelection rally presses forward. Monday’s gains put the Dow on track to close above 44,000 for the first time. Bitcoin surged above $87,000, boosted by hopes of deregulation as well. We’ll tell you all you need to know about that and more.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Power Monday. Whoa, did I have that turned up in my ear too loud? Oh, what's at Kelly Evans. I'm Tyler Matheson. Welcome, everybody. Glad to have you here. On a Monday as stocks are once again hitting record highs following the election of President Trump, though off the best levels right now. This comes, as we're starting to hear about positions in the Trump administration. Who's going where? Don Peoples will join us in just a moment to talk about the Trump impact on the economy and the Fed. and right now the impact on the markets is almost universally positive, especially in crypto. Dramatic. Regional banks, Bob Bassani had a great stat earlier today. One of the ETFs saw inflows equivalent to 36% of assets in a single day.

As Tyler is talking about, we've seen not just the moves there, but Tesla up 43% in the past week, adding $400 billion in market cap. It's over a trillion in valuation again. Bitcoin is soaring to $85K today. Coinbase is up 80% in a week. One of my friends watching is very happy about that. It has been an incredible, like a sprung coil for some of these areas of the market. And crypto, none more, none greater than crypto.

Indeed. Let's talk about stocks of retailers, which manufacture in China. They, on the other hand, have been a little bit under pressure, as you see there. Five below dollar tree down this week, but they are lower end in the market and may not be able to pass on the cost of tariffs such as they may be. We're going to ask the CEO of the upscale athleisure brand, Zori, about potential tariff impact on his business. They sell there, they manufacture there, and we'll find out more when that person joins us.

Looking forward to it. Let's begin with President-elect Trump, starting to build out his new administration. Amon, you are in West Palm Beach, are you? Wow. Do tell. Everything. Tell it all. Well, Kelly, it's good to see you, too.

Look, this town is filling up with job seekers and Trump loyalists who are here for the Trump transition, which is expected to be a little bit quicker and a little bit smoother than the Trump One transition was, where remember they threw out the playbook back in 2016. This time they have a playbook, and they are executing on it. Just within the past little while, we saw a social media post from the vice president-elect J.D. Vance,

congratulating Stephen Miller on being selected as Deputy White House Chief of Staff for Domestic Policy. Miller, of course, is one of the hardline figures on immigration in the Trump orbit. Also one of the few people now involved in Trump, too, who was there for Trump wing. He was a regular figure in the Trump White House the first time around. He will be again this time around and clearly will be spearheading those immigration efforts by the president-elect. We also saw an announcement of Elise Stefani, the congresswoman, who will now be the ambassador to the United Nations for the Trump administration. So they are starting to fill out some of the

key slots here, Kelly, but a lot of slots still to fill. And that's why. this town really has been filling up. The flights down have been full of Trump people coming down to celebrate and also to triangulate and to get some jobs for themselves maybe in the coming weeks and months here as the president elect fills out the rest of his team. We do have an event later this week. The America First Policy Institute is having a big gala on Thursday night here. CPAC, the conservative group, is having an event on Saturday.

So you get the feel for what the tempo is going to be down here as the president. and elect is hold up at Maralago along with Elon Musk, who's been there since the election at the president-elect side, working through this list of names that they've been spending months now and preparing, Kelly. Very interesting. As you referred, the last time in 2016 after President Trump won the election, if I'm recalling, wasn't Chris Christie the head initially of the transition team and wasn't he ousted rather promptly? Who's running the transition effort this time? Well, Howard Lutnik has been a key player from Canter Fitzgerald in the transition.

Linda McMahon, also, you know, a regular figure here playing a big role in the transition. They've been drafting up these names. You know, former President Trump has said that one of his biggest mistakes the first time around to the extent that he acknowledges a mistake was that he hired people who were establishment Republicans who weren't sufficiently loyal to him. This time around he's determined not to repeat that misstep. He is looking for people who are loyal to Trump first before any political party or anything else.

And that's who we expect will be the people who are selected for all these high-ranking positions, guys. I mean, to put it a slightly different way, because there's policy implications, Amen, they're people who want to implement the mandate they believe they've been given. And a lot of the people the first time around when you go back and read were sort of saying, you know, we know you were elected to do such and such, but that's not, you know, we don't really think that's what we're here to do. And so this time around, I'm wondering what a more emboldened.

olden administration will look like on the tariff front, on many fronts. Yeah. Well, look, it's a much more populist administration, even than it was back in 2016, 2017. I mean, I think, you know, people who are thinking that Trump 2 is going to be a rerun of Trump one haven't been watching Donald Trump for the past several years and haven't been watching what's happened to the Republican Party. A lot of those establishment figures who resisted Donald Trump the first time around are simply gone from the scene. You know, there is no Paul Ryan sort of leading the establishment wing of the Republican Party now. This will be a much much more populist, much more anti-corporate elite, much more hard line on immigration administration

than it was the first time around. And I think, you know, you can sort of fill out the policy implications from that as you go along. But clearly this is Donald Trump's party. He's now fully in control of it. And he now has a roster of people that he just didn't have the first time around who will be loyal to him and will execute on that mission. And as you say, you know, an overwhelming mandate winning all seven of the battleground states in the election last week.

That will be seen both inside this party and in Washington, D.C., as a very clear and strong mandate for Donald Trump to do what he said he was going to do. I think you really nailed it there. It is Trump's party now, number one, number two. He has both the House and the Senate, the House with a slightly bigger, I think, majority than the most recent House and the Senate with a couple of vote edge there. So he certainly has green lights to do an awful lot this time around. Amon Javers, I know we'll be hearing more from you.

Thanks very much. West Palm. Meantime, as President-elect Trump starts to build his new administration, let's get some insight on what the business community expects. Don Peoples is chairman and CEO of People's Corporation, privately held national real estate investment and development company. Don, welcome. Good to have you with us. Good to be here. As we talk about who may populate a Trump administration in my notes, I was struck by how strongly you feel that it may be time to replace the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who said, unambiguous. on Thursday, if asked to resign, he would not do it. Why are you so down on Chair Powell?

Well, I think the American voters rejected the policies that he's perpetuated. The president elect has indicated a lot of frustration and disappointment with the Fed's policies and believe that those policies were headwinds into the economy. I think that they made a very poor decision in terms of how they dealt with increasing interest rates. And then now he's now making some bad decisions on how rapidly and in what pace he reduces him. So I think that the president has a set of policies. He's been given a mandate, as we just pointed out,

both chambers of the Congress, all swing states, an overwhelming electoral college victory. So the people have spoken, and I think the president really has the right, to have someone who's somewhat consistent with his policies. Let me make sure I understand the reasons why you think the president has taken exception to Chair Powell's moves and maybe why you have as well. I assume that what your concern is that Chair Powell was late and feeble in moving against

inflation, number one, and now late and maybe feeble again in cutting interest rates back to a more normalized policy stance. Am I interpreting you correctly? Yes. I mean, think about what those actions have done. They have devastated the commercial real estate industry. Following the global pandemic with people working remotely, that has had a devastating impact on commercial office buildings,

a devastating impact on commercial retail. They have run up the cost for Americans to buy homes. They have in an environment where there's significant supply constraints. So there's a lot of, things that have flowed through these bad decisions. He got it wrong. I agree with you that obviously the cost of housing has gone up in part because mortgage rates were so much higher and that raises the monthly cost.

But for people who own homes, given the shortage of new homes that are coming on the market, homeowners ought to be pretty happy with the way the values of their homes have performed over the past four years, right? Well, yes, if they were going to sell them. But one, if they did sell and wanted to move, they wouldn't get the benefit of that because they'd have to pay higher prices because of the cost of high interest rates and the fact that the supply has been significantly constrained. Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about how you think the economy will perform under a second Trump administration and move away from monetary policy. and talk to me about why you think a Trump administration is going to be good for business, which I assume you do.

I do think it's going to be good for business. I think that we're already seeing the stock market in certain sectors, especially, performing exceptionally well and reacting to his election. I was just, for example, at an equestrian competition watching my daughter this weekend and, you know, other fathers who are business people. They're all excited about deregulation. Anybody who's in the broadcasting business, for example, is very excited about deregulation. I mean, and finance and other areas.

Banking. Banking. Yes. And I think that what's happening here is that what you'll see is a relaxation of regulations. I mean, the regulatory burden on housing, for example, is the biggest contributor to the increased cost of housing. And so I think we're going to see a better regulatory environment. We're going to see a much better fiscal environment. I mean, the runaway spending that our government has done,

they've been spending the money of our great, great, great grandkids. And this has got to stop. And I believe that will stop there. And the priorities of where we spend our money. Think about it. New York City spent $5 billion housing illegal migrants by giving them a hotel room, a cell phone, and a debit card loaded every month with $1,000. That is an absurd way to spend our money.

And so wars are overseas that we're funding. I mean, again, I think those priorities will change. That will kickstart the economy and we'll see a very, very strong and expanding economy that I believe will provide jobs and economic opportunities for working Americans. Don, I was very excited to ask you about the results of the San Francisco mayoral election as someone who, if I recall, were you looking at real estate there when it was very distressed? And do you think this is a significant enough policy shift that there's now a lot of money to be made there? Well, look, one, we are definitely looking in San Francisco because I believe it is bottomed out. I think we talked about this before, Kelly, that we thought that that market was bottoming out soon. And the voters, as I've said, in these very progressive cities, the quality of life is so bad that they are now losing patience with these progressive policies.

And that's why the mayor was in San Francisco, London Breed, was defeated by a much more pro-quality of life, pro-business environment. So I think that that will begin to turn things around. But look, the hole wasn't dug overnight. So it's going to take some time to dig out of it. But that's a step in the right direction to get new leadership. But let me put it this way. You know, I don't know how cheap things might still be there or, you know, how much. San Francisco's very tough place.

I understand it literally just physically to build. But are there opportunities there or in other? cities where you think, I mean, look, at the end of the day, where you think you could put money to work and actually do quite well in the next couple of years? Well, I think San Francisco for sure, for commercial office buildings, I think there's a tremendous opportunity to continue to buy there and convert them. I mean, before the challenge was converting buildings and building more residential, the quality of life was so bad that people didn't want to live there. As it improves, you'll see a greater demand. I think Washington, D.C. is going to get a shot in the arm,

because there's another example of the policy of the current administration. They're allowing the federal government workforce to continue to work remotely and pay rent on 40 million square feet of office space in the Washington, D.C. market. So you get a double whammy. I don't think that the federal government under Trump will allow people to continue to work remotely. And two, they're not going to pay rent for office space that they don't use. I think that is going to stimulate D.C., which the downtown market of D.C. has been devastated. So I think that's another place.

I think New York is turning the corner a little bit. And I think there's opportunity in New York. And I do think I still continue to be bullish on Miami, where I'm sitting right now. And I think South Florida in general. And I like Texas. And Texas is going to continue to do well. Dallas, great market. Fort Worth is, I think, the big sleeper in Texas.

And you're already seeing some progress here. So those are the key markets. And we like Charlotte, North Carolina and the Research Triangle in North Carolina, and Raleigh Doreham. I wish we had more time, Don, because I would love to talk to you about how you saw the vote on last Tuesday with respect to black voters and Latino voters. But let me ask a different question. If you had two minutes with President Trump and you were to give him advice, there are people

who are very concerned that the second Trump administration will be marked by, quote, his word, not mine, retribution. How would you advise him with respect to concentrating on the economic issues that you so clearly articulated there at the top of this interview that are important and potentially transformative for the country vis-à-vis a desire, perhaps on his part, perhaps on the part of some of his supporters, to exact retribution for wrongs either done or perceived? Well, what President Elect Trump said recently and consistently is that his retribution will be winning and governing and doing a good job. And I take him his word there. But what I would tell him is I think that the Republican Party has an extremely unique advantage that we haven't seen

since the 1960s. I believe that he has a chance to reach out to voters who are traditionally Democratic voters who were once Republican voters like African Americans, for example, and bring them into the Republican fold. And the way you do that is economic policies. African Americans voted for him, Latino Americans who voted for him, they all voted for economic issues and a better quality of life. I think he focuses on expanding economic opportunity, access to capital for minority and women entrepreneurs, and to continue doing what he's done. He just appointed the first female chief of staff in the history of the presidency, a very positive step to women. And I think that he's got to spend some time to get people who don't listen to him, to listen to him, because I believe if they do, then I think they will be receptive to his policies.

Don, it is always fascinating to talk with you. Always enjoy it. Thank you for your perspective today. Don, people. Thank you. You back. And still ahead on Power Lunch. More election implications. Copper and other medals are actually falling since Donald Trump's secured victory as Terra Fears ramp up.

We'll check the charts to see if a turnaround could be brewing in our market navigator. Plus, Lulu Lemon has fallen nearly 40% this year as a athleisure loses steam. And now a key competitor just raised some fresh funding, nevertheless. Why? How do they do it? Do they see different prospects? We will check in with the CEO of Rory ahead. Power Lunch is back in two. Welcome back to Power Ledge and check out the major averages hitting new highs once again. For the Dow, it's above 44,000 we could close at.

The S&P looks like it could close above six, maybe for the first time. We're a few points shy right now. Is this a Trump-fueled rally? Is it Fed-related? Remember, they cut again last week. Is it all of it and the continuation of a bull market? We ask Stephanie Link, Chief Investment Strategist and portfolio manager at Hightower and a CNBC contributor. These are very loaded questions, Steph.

And, you know, I love the technicians sometimes because they can just go, I don't have to worry about why I just look at the charts. And I, you know, bull markets are bullish. So kind of provide some perspective analysis on what we're witnessing here because it's pretty extraordinary. Yeah, it absolutely is. But you know this just as well as I do that. The markets in general just don't like uncertainty. And we had that in spades with regards to the election, with regards to the Fed, even China and the stimulus. We didn't even know exactly how much they were going to stimulate their economy.

And we got answers to all three last week. Of course, the election is probably the most important of the three. But adding them up together, we have a little bit more clarity, a little bit more visibility. We have now a new administration that is coming. That's a little more program. You were just talking to Tom Peoples about it. But pro-growth, deregulation, less government spend, offset by higher business investment spend, which is much healthier in terms of the composition of growth.

of growth. Sure, we have to watch tariffs. We have to watch a little bit of elevated inflation, but overall, very positive, seasonally, November, December, very strong for the markets in general. And you have $6.4 trillion of cash on the sidelines. And so I think there's this fear of missing out situation happening too. And then like one last thing, we have an economy that's doing pretty good, right? So you have a Fed that's lowering rates in the face of 2.5% GDP growth and inflation coming down and a pretty solid consumer and a manufacturing renaissance. So there's a lot of good. Seasonally, I think we could run, though, into the end of the year.

We'll talk about 2025 at another point. Let's enjoy this now. So, you know, we kind of knew what we were supposed to look at there for months. We were supposed to look at the election. We're supposed to look at the Fed. We were supposed to look at earnings. Now what do we look at? It's all over.

What do we look at now? What do we watch? Can we just enjoy two, two and a half percent GDP growth and inflation moderating? Can't we also enjoy the consumer? We get a big, this is a big week though, CPI, PPI, but retail sales is also pretty big. But look, I mean, you have ISM services that came in last month almost near 60. True. That is enormous momentum in the economy.

So consumer has hung in there. And as I mentioned, you've got this manufacturing renaissance with the grid and power. And so you got this double whammy happening. So yeah, I kind of just want, Tyler, I just want to enjoy it for now. We have plenty of things to worry about. next year. But is it too good to be true in a way, Stephanie? I mean, that's so, you know, because I have to worry about something. So now I'm worrying that this is the late 90s all over again. And the interesting analogy about that is, you know, people right now will say, look,

you know, things can't be that loose because long-term yields have gone up. But, you know, from 97, 98 until 2000, long-term yields went up a lot. And it wasn't a break on the economy. It was a sign of too much liquidity. It was a sign that we were overheating. And you just wonder, are we seeing some of those dynamics all over again? Well, I think that rates and yields have gone up because we have better growth. And maybe that brings a little stickier inflation. I'm not so sure.

I mean, Trump just ran on lowering inflation. So and the composition of the spend has been crazy on the government side and not as much on businesses. And that's in the last six months, if you talk to companies, which I have, they'll tell you that, they were waiting for the election results before they really would implement a new CAPEX cycle

or a new M&A cycle or just business activity in general. Now they have it. No, but back to your point on we have to worry about something. I 100% agree with you. I always worry. And you've heard me say this before. I worry when I don't worry because that means that we're complacent, right? So there's always stuff to worry about. But I think adding it all up, economy good, an administration that's going to promote better growth, should be good for corporate earnings. And that's what I care about as an investor. Corporate earnings are running at about up 7% right now. And revenues are running mid-single digits.

So pretty good. And, oh, by the way, there are other sectors beyond tech that are pretty attractively valued. And that's what you're seeing. You're seeing this broadening out, which has been happening over the last couple of months, but really in a huge way over the last couple of weeks. Well, let me tell you this, Stephanie. One thing you don't have to worry about is, getting your Christmas tree up early. You've done that. It's always the most beautiful one.

I'm sure all your packages are already wrapped, so you don't need to worry about that. Yeah, she left that off the list. She said we learned about China. We learned about the election. You put up the green tree stuff and we talked about this. That was the sign. It was red last year. It was green this year. All right. Thanks, Stephanie. Link. Appreciate it. Absolutely. I'd be sure to join. Be sure to join me, me at the CNBC Delivering Alpha Investor Summit in New York City. That's Wednesday. Investors and leaders will convene to provide ideas and analysis to help you deliver meaningful returns. A little alpha. Scan the QR code on your screen to register or visit cnbc.com slash delivering alpha. Those folks will be there. So will I hope to see you. Be right back. Welcome back to Power Lunch with a quick check on the markets, which are largely holding of their gains from the morning, although not completely. The Dow's up 337, the S&P, a couple points.

rustles up nicely, and the NASDAQ, Dom, is actually down about 28 points. Record highs for all three of those major indices today at one point. So today's market navigator is all about another part of the market that hasn't been going really well right now, and that's the metals, particularly copper. Now, many traders have been exiting the market since last week's election. Our next guest says that that could just be part of a panic selling spree, and that there is a possible metals upside trade coming up. So joining us right now is Phil Striebel.

he's at least right now, the chief market strategy to the blue line futures. And Phil, let's take us through the trade for metals. It's not just the precious ones. Gold's been on the decline, silver. A lot of that is being attributed to at least dollar strength, which tends to put a damper on dollar denominated commodities. Is it just dollar strength? Is there something more at play here? I mean, it's been a big picture. We've seen just a burst of volatility and a recalibration of prices. I mean, the traditional poor drivers, supply, demand, consumption, and speculation. They all had to take into account, President-elect Donald Trump, as well as digest China's latest stimulus pledge for new price

discovery. So it was not only copper, but many of the metals, they are under pressure. And the markets tend to overshoot. You take the election implication. You've got under Section 232, the president can implement tariffs with just by using an executive order. So previously in January at 2016, we saw tariffs on solar panels, we saw it on steel and aluminum. So you look at the dynamics of the tariffs. They drive the dollar higher. Inflation expectations rise, yields, rides, and what is that trickle effect? Lower gold, lower silver and lower copper. So if you take the positives real quick, you look at China, they are the largest importer of copper. Last week, we saw their copper imports reach 500,000 tons. That was the first time since May. Their exports hit a two-year high.

13% year over year. So really the wild card is, you know, buying the dip and doesn't make sense. And we think that the communication between China and President Trump has been mostly positive. And they do maintain their 5% real GDP growth target for 2025. I think that they're taking a bit of a wait and see approach. That's why I think you'd be patient. You look to buy the dip on some of these commodities. So what is the trade there? How exactly would you go long copper in this case?

Yeah. So looking at it, now historically copper has rallied. If you look at the March contract from Thanksgiving and New Year's about 13 out of 15 years, construction industry replenishes supplies. But the trade itself, when you're buying a declining market, it's essential to get the position sizing right. So the December micro copper, every one penny move is $25. So we're looking at buying it on a dip to $420, putting it a stop in at 410. That's a $250 risk. And we're looking at a target back up to 450 that reward their $750. All right.

There's the trade on copper in the micro futures, allowing at least a little bit more access and liquidity. Phil Strebel, thank you very much. We'll catch you soon. Thanks a lot. Dom, what's interesting to me about that as well as I was just looking back at the behavior of the dollar under Trump's first term, and it was basically sideways for the first three years until COVID hit.

So we're seeing right now it move upwards. That's fine. There's a lot of knock-on effects of that, but it's very unclear what significant direction it's actually about to take. Well, and if the economic story plays out, right, if you do see a boom in the economy, a boom in markets that leads to a construction build, maybe copper does catch a bit fundamentally. Not to mention the electrification, right, of the entire global economy. The PhD in economics, right.

Dom, thanks very much. Tie back to you. All right, coming up, the active wearmaker of worry, reaching a $5.5 billion dollar valuation in its latest funding round with plans to expand its reach into Europe and Asia. But is there enough demand? to keep up with competitors like Lulu Lemon in the athleisure space. And what about athleisure overall? Well, that's the CEO of Worry next.

Welcome back to Power Lunch. I'm Kate Rogers, and here's your CNBC News Update at this hour. Boeing announced today that the head of quality control at the embattled plane maker will retire next month. Elizabeth Lund is a 33-year veteran of the company and was named to the position by then CEO Dave Calhoun back in February, after the mid-air panel blowout aboard an Alaska airline 737 Max 9. More than half a million space heaters sold on Amazon have been recalled over a fire and burn risk. The Consumer Product Safety Commission warned the Govie Life and Govie Smart space heaters can overheat. The space heaters were sold between September 2021 and September 2024.

There have been 113 reports of the issue, including seven fires and one report of a minor burn injury. And Amazon is reportedly in development to create smart glasses for its delivery drivers to speed up package deliveries. Sources tell Reuters the glasses could give drivers turn-by-turn navigation in an embedded screen along with their roots in order to save precious time during the last mile for deliveries. Tyler, back over to you. All right, thank you very much. Once a pandemic winner and poster child of athleisure, shares of Lulu Lemon are down, almost 40% this year, and it's not just for macro.

economic reasons it's facing increased competition from rivals like Rory. That's a private label now available in 18 countries. Worry just raised $825 million in funding last week, taking its valuation up to $5.5 billion. For more, let's bring in the CEO of Rory, Joe Kudla. And here on set to begin the conversation is Courtney Rang and welcome back. Thank you. Thanks. It's good to see you and good to be here. Joe, thanks for joining us here today. Obviously, Tyler sort of mentioned the news of the new funding round 870.00. $125 million, bringing the valuation to $5.5 billion. At one point, there was reports that you might have considered an IPO in mid-2020. We're past that point. Where are you now? Look, we're excited to bring on General Atlantic and Stripes as investors. We're on a global growth journey. They're both proven track records in supporting iconic brands, both in consumer and technology, that have bold visions for the future. And that's what we're up to. We're expanding the

business globally. We have a lot of room left here in the United States, but we're thrilled to have them on board for their know-how, for their network, and being supportive on this journey. And SoftBank was the initial investor at $400 million. Joe, I'd love to sort of get you on record to talk about your company's growth. We know it's growing, but put some numbers behind it. Have you indeed been profitable since your second year in existence, 2016? What's your revenue like? And as you expand to other countries, what are those expansion plans looking like? Yeah, our business is very unique. We were built, we started our business 10 years ago in a garage with a little friends and family investment. And we were profitable by 2017. We built a working capital model that self-funded the business. We've always been very methodical and calculated with how we've grown our business. We've always had a long-term mindset with how we've managed our growth, never acquiring a customer for a loss. And that's the mantra that we're going to continue marching forward with. we're on a global expansion, but the fundamentals always remain the same. We aren't planting

flags just for growth's sake. We want to meet the customer where they are. We want to develop authentic connections with customers and introduce them to incredible quality products. That's been the recipe that's made us successful, and that will continue to be the strategy as we march forward bringing the business to more markets across the globe. I understand, obviously, you have a business in China that where you're selling in China. Lulu Lemon, as you mentioned in an introduction, also sells there and has been having great success, which is interesting because the number of the other consumer brands have been struggling as that economy is tending to falter a bit.

So I guess I want to ask you a double-sided question about China. What is your revenue stream looking like in China? And then on the flip side, what about the manufacturing? I have a pair of joggers. It says made in China on them. What's going to happen if you face a much higher tariff? under the new Trump administration. Yeah, I mean, with respect to our business in China, it's very early days.

We opened two stores in China this year. Those were our first two stores. So we're building an omnichannel business there. We're reaching customers digitally. We're expanding the business through Viori-owned retail stores. But albeit, we're planting seeds. You know, the lion's share of the growth opportunity for Viori is in the U.S., where we opened just over 20 stores in the U.S. this year.

and we'll continue marching forward. With respect to our supply chain and manufacturing, look, you know, the only constant in our business is change. You have to be nimble and adaptable. That's part of the recipe that's made VORA successful. And so when we look forward, it's going to be about building a resilient supply chain and counter-sourcing products in multiple markets and being able to pivot and adapt to wherever the market goes. I am, Joe, a repeat customer and a fan. I would say the materials that you use are what set your your company apart from a lot of the competitors. I don't know where you get them, but they're the softest in the business. But that's not my question.

My question is this, I have bought some of your items online. I can't remember whether I've certainly never bought one from one of your retail stores. What percentage of your sales are kind of online sales and what percentage are through direct, you know, go in the store, try the stuff on and walk it out? with it. Yeah, it's a great point, and it speaks to the opportunity that we have. You know, today, the business has about 79 retail stores globally. The lion's share of those, about 70, north of 70 of those are in the United States. But we were organized as a digital first brand. You know, that was how we brought this differentiated positioning, this product ethos have built

to move in style for life, those fabrics that you're speaking to. The way that we reached our consumer with that message was through a direct consumer strategy selling on our website. And so today, that continues to be the largest single point of distribution for the brand. But our stores are phenomenal, not just because they're profitable and they do great, but because they introduce the customer to a variety of products that we make. I mean, we stand by so many other types of products than what you see marketed online. And it's a great way to build authentic relationships with our customers and the communities that they serve. So we're very bullish and excited about our stores,

and we think that there's a big opportunity to continue to expand that point of distribution. Joe, frankly, we're out of time, but I have to ask you about pricing. Consumers seem to be extremely price-sensitive inflation on everybody's mind. It seemed that that was the case when they went to the polling booths on Tuesday. Will you keep your prices where they are,

or are you looking at more promotional strategy going forward? You know, this time of year, everybody's always interested in promotional strategies, You know, Viore has kind of excelled in the holidays by maintaining a full-priced business and introducing new styles that the customer is excited about. We do not believe we're in a highly inflationary period today and don't plan on raising prices as we enter next year. All right, Joe, we've got to leave it there. Alas, thanks very much for being with.

It's Joe Cuddler. Courtney Reagan, good to have you back. Thanks. Good to be here. Shares of Bristol Myers are on pace for their best day in 24 years, up 11.5 percent. after rival Abbey reported disappointing results from trials for its new schizophrenia drug. Bristol Myers makes one of the current leading ones. We'll get the key details when Power Lunch returns.

Welcome back to Power Lunch. Two big movers in the pharma space today, as we mentioned into the break. Bristol Myers is up 11% while Abbey is sharply lower by about the same amount. Angelica Peoples is here with the details and it's all about schizophrenia drugs, Angelica. Is that right? Exactly. So Abbey today saying that its experimental schizophrenia drug failed a pair. of phase two trials. Now, this is bad, of course, but it's especially bad for AbVie because just

last year they spent $9 billion to acquire the company that makes this experimental drug. And on the flip side, that's good news for Bristol-Myers-Swib because they have a new schizophrenia drug that was just approved in September. And they also went out and did a deal to get that drug. They spent $14 billion. So now that is looking like a really good investment on their end. And Ab-Vie is still analyzing the data. They say that they could. They're evaluating. whether there are any ways to move forward with this. But at this point, it's not looking like that's going to be the case. So a really interesting story here today that we are following, Kelly.

All right, Angelica, thank you very much. And the road to mass adoption of electric vehicles seems pretty clear for personal cars and SUVs. But what about big trucks and freight and other industries? We're going to highlight the hurdles for that market when we come back. Welcome back. In the transition to electric vehicles, cars and small trucks certainly are getting there. but the big rigs pose bigger hurdles. Diana Oleg has details on one startup

that's changing the thinking about electrifying those vehicles. Diana. Well, Tyler, the trouble with electrifying big tractor-trailer trucks is that the tractor component, the front part, needs a tremendous amount of power, more than the current charging infrastructure can handle, not to mention that the charging time is very long. But what if you focus not on the tractor, but on the trailer?

Big rigs make up just 10% of the vehicles on the road, but they account for nearly 30% of vehicle carbon emissions. Major truck manufacturers like Volvo, Freightliner, and Tesla are introducing electric tractor trailer trucks, but it's still a tiny and inefficient market. Now, one startup, California-based range energy, is introducing electrified trailers. They power and propel themselves, so the tractor part has less to pull. When I push this button to activate the system, the trailer follows me. It doesn't matter if I'm an old Peterbilt semi truck or a brand new Tesla semi or just me pulling on it with the system activated.

The trailer's mission is to make itself feel weightless. The electrified trailer can also refrigerate itself as well as power onboard communications and security systems, all at a fraction of the cost of diesel. If we were to take one of these fleets that runs 3,000 trailers and run it through the range system and essentially incorporate the range system into their fleet, we're looking at 100. million pounds of CO2 save per year, but even better than that, it equates to about $50 million in fuel savings alone. Northern refrigerated transportation is piloting the range trailers in California. COO Ricky Sousa said they've tried electric tractors, but the long charging time for drivers is a hurdle.

The trailers seems more of a natural fit because we have to load them and we load them at night, and so it's not more dependent on a driver waiting for it. Range Energy is backed by R7, Up Partners, Trusdale Ventures and Yamaha Motor Ventures. Total funding so far, $31.5 million. Now, just like in the EV market for cars, charging infrastructure is still not where it needs to be, but Jeviden says trucking companies can leverage the power that's at the loading dock, as Northern is already doing. He also said they're able to size the battery pack much closer to what you'd see in a passenger vehicle than what you would see in the other large commercial vehicles that are coming out.

Back to you guys. Thank you, Diana. Elsewhere, Coinbase is rallying huge along with the rest of the crypto space. The stock is up something like 80% in the past week. We will trade it in three-stock lunch next. Welcome back. It's time now for a three-stock lunch. Let's trade some of the big movers today, shall we?

And there's plenty to pick from Victoria Green is our trade. She's founding partner and CIO of G-squared private wealth, and she's a CNBC contributor. Victoria, welcome. Let's actually start with Cigna because those shares are soaring after the company dropped its bid to merge with Humana, its fellow insurance carrier. They're up about 7.5%. Do you like the stock here? Absolutely. This is a buy for me.

Sometimes the best deals you make are the deals you don't make. And you know what they're going to do with their free cash flow? Share buybacks. You know what they're going to do with their Medicare business. They're selling in Q1, 2025? Bob, share by-batch, 3.7 million. They've already said we're allocating that to share by-bats. This is an extremely shareholder-friendly company. Could get some uptick from tax reform, all the other things the market is excited about. For me, Cigna is now pivoting from, hey,

we expand to let's make our shareholders happy. And to me, that's a great place to be owning a stock. Well, let's move on to Coinbase. Pretty much anything tied to cryptocurrencies continuing to rally, bullishness over Donald Trump's victory. Bitcoin now topping 86,000. Is the play done here or is this a rip to ride? No, this is get on board. The plane's still taking off. If you look back, this chart here, obviously, it's parabolic. But if you go back to 2021, we are still below its peaks.

And then it hit the crypto winner of 2022. And it's been struggling a little bit. But look, they do great with volume and they're going to have more trading volume. Everybody's piling in. You're seeing crypto expand from just the millennials and the under 40 crowd into everybody's saying, oh, I might actually need a crypto allocation. and they're one of the best platforms for that. So I see so much upside to them.

They're going to get a huge benefit to their earnings from their average daily users, their monthly daily users, as well as the trading frequency is likely going to go up with Bitcoin going up. So for me, this is still not hit new all-time highs. I see the crypto market continuing to move higher. I want a piece of a pure play in the crypto market, and Coinbase is one of those. Up 76% in a week.

Amazing. What about Draft Kings? Several analysts are out with bullish notes today. Berkeley's Deutsche Bank, JMP, Macquarie, they're all lifting their price targets. We got October sports betting numbers for New York State. 2.3 billion wagered across all platforms. Gross revenue 176 million. Draft Kings has about a third of the New York market.

Victoria, why the 7% pop on a stock that's actually underperformed somewhat year-to-date? And does that make you want to own it here? For me, it's still a hold here. I see it as a positive thing, but it hinges on the fact that they can continue to get more market penetration. And the next big market is my great state of Texas. But it's only seen as 50% likely they're going to break into the new market. So yes, they're competing with Flutter, which is Fandual, bet MGM. And they have about one-third of the entire sports betting market.

But we don't see legalization as coming lately on the national level. So they're still fighting the state-by-state battle. They're winning. New York, they've got a great take rate. All the states that have legalized sports betting, it's a great take rate. It's just for me, what's the next catalyst? And look at Kutatha Brewer. She does fantastic reporting on this stuff.

And she covers draftings fantastic. I just think it's a hold here for me. All right, Victoria, thank you. Victoria Green, three stock lunch. And thank you for watching Power Lunch.