Power Lunch - Power Lunch 4/16/26

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

CNBC’s Kelly Evans and Brian Sullivan take you through the heart of the business day bringing you the latest developments and instant analysis on the stocks and stories driving the day’s agenda. ���Power Lunch” delves into the economy, markets, politics, real estate, media, technology and more. The show sits at the intersection of power and money. “Power Lunch” gives viewers a full plate of CNBC’s award-winning business news coverage, plus a healthy dose of personality from the show’s anchors and the network’s top-notch roster of reporters and digital journalists.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This incredible rebound rally rolls on as stocks are starting to break all kinds of records. Welcome to Power Lunch, everybody. I am Brian Kelly will be back here next week. Stocks are higher, and that means new records for the NASDAQ and the S&P 500. In fact, if the NASDAQ closes higher today, it will be the 12th straight day of gains. That is a streak that you have not seen in nearly 17 years. You need to go all the way back to 2009 to match. this kind of streak. But if you're thinking about spending some of those gains on a European

vacation this summer, you may want to think again because one major group now warning, some airports in Europe could run out of jet fuel in just over a month. We'll dig in and find out what the real story is. Plus, the big money and showbiz. As the great Kevin Hart is here to talk about his booming business, it is not about movies, it is not about comedy specials. We will have a very fun conversation with Kevin because there is nothing funny about money. Remember that. Money is a very serious topic. All right, that is all coming up. But speaking of money, let us start with these incredible, indomitable markets because investors seem to be insatiable in buying stocks, new highs across the board. And even the previously sad sack software stocks are higher. One big ETF heading for its best week in 3,000. three and a half years. Oracle, a part of that story, surging 30% this week, which makes it the best week for Oracle since Prince told you to party back in 1999. But don't get complacent. Your first guest today says there are still reasons to stay focused, although he is bullish and says,

we may just be at the foothills of a climb up. That man is Chris Cresonti. He is the chief market strategist at MAI Capital Management, and you are not without fear and risk because that's your job to worry for clients. But when you sat down, you said, Brian, I think we might be at the foothills. What did you mean? I meant, look, Brian, the story of 2026 for an investment perspective is not going to end up being the Iran War. It's going to end up being AI. No. And the sooner we leave that behind, the sooner the market can continue to, I think, head in the upward direction. We got great earnings that we're about to hear over the next two to three weeks. We got one big, beautiful bill, and we've got an administration that is pro-business.

And we have the largest cap-ex spending in the world ever in AI. So those are all great things for equities. They are, but I want to back up because we are not right now, if luckily there's no bombs flying. So it doesn't appear to be in direct war now, but we were. We may be again. There's negotiations. We hope for people. We don't know.

And we do know that we had the greatest energy supply shock, at least since COVID, if not going back further. Why are you so quick to, I don't want to say, overlook it, but look past it. Look, I'm saying what's most likely to happen. I think neither side Iran or the United States wants to go back in the shooting war. And I think both have great incentive to kick this can down the road. We'll see about the Strait of Hormuz. My belief is that it will be back open within the next two to four. four weeks. We shall see. But it will be open sooner or later. And again, the big stories are yet

ahead of us. Just like last year. Yeah, and it might be open now, given the U.S. blockade, which is designed, the word blockade implies like a stoppage, but actually it's designed to increase flow. A lot of people in my industry, if I think of unfortunately missed that fairly simple point. Moving on, if something were to re-escalate, would you be less optimistic about these equity markets, which a 12-day win streak. You heard the stats. Sure, sure, sure. But I think that just goes to how much pent-up demand there is. You're right. There's all these uncertainties, and yet we're on the 12-day streak. If we go back to hostilities, again, I think the hostilities won't last months, the last weeks. It would present, yet, I think, another opportunity to invest at somewhat

lower prices than now, and I would take advantage of that. I'm going to make a really weird connection because I'm a weird guy. So we have a chart of software stock soaring and one of them in the middle is called Data Dog. It's a cute little puppy holding a photograph and that dog got me thinking about Pavlovian responses. Right. Ringing the bell and the dog drools. I wonder if investors have become almost Pavlovian in the way we look at stock, you know, when the markets go down. Right. The instant instinct is almost got to buy it. Yeah. Every dip. Got to buy. Right, right. And this is especially true because we've got the deja vu all over again from tariffs last year. Same thing. If you had bought at that bottom, you had had a terrific return. Maybe this war is the same. But you're right. Be careful.

And for example, on the software stuff, I would be a little hesitant to buy into this big software rally indiscriminately because AI is not going away. And it's, I think, more disruptive than consensus think. So I'd pay attention. Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm not knock. I want to be clear, I'm not picking on any one company. It's certainly not my job. I'll leave that for others like yourself, by the way. But when I say to the audience, our beloved amazing audience, that Oracle is up 28% this week, I don't know if this sell-off was wrong, this week is wrong or nothing's wrong, and the market is just acting like that Pavlovian buy response.

I think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying. So if you're a smart investor, you do the math. Oracle, while it's up so much this week, is down almost 50% from its highs of six to nine months ago. And so you need to be careful of where you're getting in, but more importantly for these software stocks, what the prospects are. Do they do anything proprietary that they can protect from AI? So you're not a buyer of the software rebound? Not, no, I am not a general buyer of the software rebound. I'd be very careful. Because somebody's been buying it because it's rebounding. It's been one of the stronger sectors of the last week. Yeah. So now it's only down 25% year to date instead of 40%. So, but be careful there

because there is going to be disruption to business models that I think happens faster than consensus. I do wonder, and I'm going to end it with a question that I shouldn't end on because this is the whole segment, but we have to go. I wonder how much of this market Pavlovian response the last few years is that there's 36, 3,800 public-traded-traded stocks. There used to be 8,000. Right, they're getting thinner and thinner. Thinner and thinner. More money, 7, 8, trillion, whatever, chasing smaller amounts of stocks. Sure.

They go up. That's it. That's it. I think that's really true, but that begs the question which ones will go up more, which ones won't. And so that's my job. And sounds like software stocks you think are overdone. I would be careful. All right, Chris Cresanti, M-A-I Capital Management.

Chris, thank you very much. We have a news alert. Speaking of AI on Anthropics, powerful AI model called Mythos. Mackenzie Sigalos is back with the details on that. What's going on, McKenzie? Hey, Brian. So the White House is preparing to give major federal agencies access to a modified version of Anthropics' new AI model mythos, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg.

Now, this is not a full rollout yet. The Office of Management and Budget told cabinet-level tech and cyber officials that protections are now being set up with more guidance expected in the coming weeks. But it comes, you know, just after that federal government label of Anthropic as a supply chain risk that was in February, cutting off business with the government and many of America's biggest companies. That's still playing out in court in both San Francisco and D.C. And this new news, also coming the same day that Google reportedly is in talks to give the Pentagon access to its Gemini models for classified workloads. Brian?

Wow. So White House moves to give U.S. agencies Anthropic Mythos access. So I struggle to keep up with the back and forth news. The Pentagon, this is banned. That's maybe banned. This is not banned. It's unbanned. I don't know.

Banned on the run. Whatever. So where do we stand, McKenzie, right now? now with Anthropic. Would you say it's in the government's good graces? I mean, that's the standing question here, right? So you've got this split decision in two different courtrooms. In D.C., you've got judges siding with the government in labeling Anthropic, a supply chain risk in San Francisco. You've got a judge who's more sympathetic to Anthropics case. And so with that split decision, it's still facing that supply chain risk designation. Now,

at the same time, you have CEO, Anthropic CEO, Dario Amade, reported. meeting with the vice president, according to reporting from our CMBC reporter Samantha Subin two weeks ago to discuss mythos and some of these use cases, meeting with other tech CEOs. So it's unclear exactly where they are because a deployment of this model, this new model that's coming out to spot cyber security risks is independent of the kind of work that they were doing when they're embedded with Palantir's tech and being used in the course of battle. So these are two separate use cases. All right.

Well, fascinating. almost day-to-day back-and-forth news on AI. Mackenzie Seagallos, thank you very much. Maybe we call it the rubber band. All right, let's get a check on the bond markets. We know that stocks are at record highs. We just told you that. You've heard it on this network today, by the way.

U.S. 10-year yield, though, not moving lower. In fact, it's a little bit higher right now. It's at 4.31%. So Rick Santelli in Chicago, what exactly are you and the bond market focused on right now? Well, I think the first thing we have to acknowledge is what you've been talking about. Historic running stocks, 12 sessions for NASDAQ, S&P, NASDAQ, just cooking in Greece. Listen, there is a definite risk on notion going on there, and it's starting to rub off into the Treasury complex and yields in general.

And if you consider this, look at a week to date. It's also a technical issue. We have come around and basically held right around that four and a quarter level. As a matter of fact, right in the middle of that chart, Tuesday's close was a one month low going back to May 17. And we are building on that. But it isn't as aggressive as other countries and other regions of the globe. And that's significant because it underscores a strength in our economy. Let's look at boons and tens on the same chart right before the conflict started.

And you can see they both moved up. Now, you look at that red line, it's a little bit more aggressive. Now, let's look at the last time a 10-year yield was at that level, that peak level at 443, last July. So less than a year. But look at the orange line. It's way down there. When was the last time boons were hovering this far above 3%? Other than this run, boons haven't been over 3% drum row pleas since the summer of 2011, 15 years ago.

And I think that also goes to the same argument. that nobody wants conflicts, but ultimately there's an optimism that we're going to get some clarity and some solutions here. And I think that means the U.S. economy is going to be ahead of the other economies. And sometimes yields going up isn't necessarily a bad thing. Back to you, Brian. We have been running hotter than the rest of the world, and Rick Santelli thinks that we might still do it. And Rick, by the way, you know how you bet Kelly and I about we're going to hit 70 on oil before 125? I think you're going to win the bet.

I think it was 75 and 125, but either way, it doesn't matter who wins, Brian. I think that we both brought something to the table on that market, and I would be very happy to eat or deliver a cheeseburger. Fair enough. I think I'm going to be bringing you a cheeseburger to the table. By the way, they'll serve it up. I'll come to Chicago, put on like a tux outfit. Rick, man, I hate being wrong.

Rick Centellie, thank you very much. All right, we are just getting started. And coming up, a critical question for you and maybe your travel plans. Could one of the world's most important travel and work destinations be close to running out of jet fuel in parts? We'll talk about it. Plus, a big one, this Hollywood Power Player Kevin Hart is here live on where he is putting some of his money right now. And it may not be where you think. All right, if you were thinking about taking a trip to Europe this summer, take note.

As we have been talking about for weeks, oil-related product shortages may be on their way to major economies. They're already hitting some emerging markets. But now the head of the International Energy Agency says parts of Europe may begin to run out of jet fuel in as little as six weeks. Fatib Barol also added that the Strait of Hormuz blockade will result in, quote, the largest energy crisis we have ever faced. I don't know. We just came out of effectively Iran blowing up ships. We'll see. Either way, refined product shortages have already hit some emerging economies, but this is one of the first real warnings we have heard about Europe.

And let's be clear, this is not just a Europe story. We're telling you this because many U.S.-based airlines, like United and Delta, have huge businesses to and from Europe. And if that slows down in any way, it could mean a hit for the American carriers. And not just be a problem for those based in Europe, but with what? oil prices may be coming down. Hopefully, the blockade seemingly working near Iran, can all of this be avoided? Let's talk about the airline space. We see at Kaua Liu. She is aerospace and defense analyst at Jeffreys. Joining us by phone, Sheila, I'm not making too much of it. This may not happen, but is this something that as an analyst for the industry is on your radar at all?

It is. It is very much. And I'm sorry, I'm not on video. I'm deep inside a defense tech company right now where the Wi-Fi wouldn't let us get on. But, you know, I think speaking to the airlines, you know, the reason for aerospace Armageddon today across the share prices, what we're seeing is not because the IEA, the international energy, an agency warned that certain European companies that face jet fuel shortages, but because jet fuel is at 450 right now.

And to put that in perspective, what it means is at 250 at the start of the year, airlines earned about 12% positive EBIT margins. but jet fuel at $450 today means airlines will lose 15%. So a 30% change in margins. So they have to raise profits basically by 30% to get back to where they were at the start of the year. Yeah, so where do you stand then on this fuel issue? I'm not asking you whether you agree with the IEA or not.

They've been right about some things and wrong about some others, but there's no question that jet fuel costs, particularly in areas that rely hugely on imports like Europe, where they basically have torn down a lot of their refineries, that their prices are way above ours. Yeah, I mean, I think what will happen first is price increases. The jet fuel increase will increase prices. And what we'll see is airlines cut capacity.

That's what we're seeing out of easy jet, Lufthansa, Air France, we're there. The U.S. carriers aren't doing that yet. So we'll see capacity cuts basically because of higher fuel, but also to conserve fuel where there's shortages. And then we'll eventually see demand destruction. But the U.S. carriers are being adamant. Delta reported last week.

Prices used to be flat in Q4. They inflected up 8% in Q1, mid-teens in Q2. So we're seeing a large inflection in U.S. demand, and pricing is being passed through. I was just in Europe for work a couple weeks ago. I don't want to name the carrier because I don't want to make too much of it, Sheila,

but I flew back to Newark, and I was shocked at how empty the place. They were empty, it's one flight, one day, so I don't want to make a thing of it. But are you seeing any demand destruction? I've posted some pictures on Twitter, X, of empty airports lately. I'm just kind of wondering where everybody is, but am I just missing people? Fine. Feel free to share.

We're okay sharing. What is when that was? I'm oversharing, Sheila. I am over sharing. We love those real data points. You know, we're not seeing that yet. In fact, United and Delta are adamant, but they are seeing bookings up, and they accelerated into March with this situation. So in the U.S., we're not seeing that demand destruction.

We are seeing some early cuts out of Europe, but it's basically because fuel is higher, not because they're seeing demand destruction, although EasyJet did call out some long-term bookings headwind. All right, EasyJet is the only one you've heard from so far? Yeah, the U.S. carriers are adamant, but we'll see. U.S. Airlines start reporting next week. We'll hear from United. We'll hear from Southwest on the latest from their strategy, American Airlines, and we'll see what they have to say, but so far, Delta came out strong. But, you know, our by-ratings are Delta and United, as we think they'll continue to gain share.

Ed Bastian was on CNBC last week saying, you know, this will force folks to consolidate or eliminate them. Do you think, by the way, I was at O'Hare recently, and it was packed? do you think United will really make a move to merge or buy American Airlines? I don't think so. I think it's quite unlikely that they will move forward. Just given the leverage it will put, again, we'll see capacity naturally eliminate themselves, and that'll provide the loyalty carriers, their pricing power, and their market gains they need without having to buy the debt on top of it. I love it. And no estimate cuts yet, Sheila Coel. By the way, we don't worry about not joining us by video.

If you're in the halls of defense tech, we don't want to see it because then it's plausible deniability that we have it. Sheila, thank you very much. Thank you. More of a brand-f guy myself. Anyway, remember, Europe's energy problems are not new. Look at that. We've been on the ground in the UK, Germany, Belgium, and there in the Netherlands. That was four years ago talking about many of the risks around Europe and energy.

And while few, if any, saw a war in Iran coming or the shipping problems of the Strait of Hormuz, remember, those are, no matter what politicians tell you, those problems are layered on top of more longer term structural concerns that as you can see there in our UK trip in 2021, we're on one of the first flights once they reopened post-COVID lockdowns. We've been, 2021 was when I was in the UK in London, as we've been reporting for years. That is 2022. Just a reminder, sign up for my energy related newsletter called Power Insider. It'll be a weekly piece. and the key news, meeting power players and more. Use the QR code and sign up today, and a huge thanks to all the people who have already signed up. The reaction has been tremendous, and we appreciate it.

Still ahead. The one medal that may be a real moneymaker for you, and it's not gold. It's not even that color, sort of. We're back with it. Right after you. Breaking news from D.C. making it sell what's going on. Brian, we just heard from President Trump speaking with reporters on the South on at the White House, And the biggest topic that the reporters were focusing on was the status of this ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran currently set to expire on Tuesday. And what President Trump said is that he's not sure that the ceasefire will need to be extended. But he said that if he needs to extend it, he would, if we're close to a deal. He said that Iran wants to make a deal. He said Iran is willing to make concessions that they weren't willing to make two months ago.

And he said he called the deal very close and said there is a chance to strike that deal. He did also say, though, if there was no deal, then fighting would, resumed. So sort of a delicate balance there, if negotiations are moving forward, he would extend the ceasefire. If there was no deal, then fighting, he says, would resume. He says the next in-person talks between the two sides will probably be over the weekend. And on a separate piece of this, the ongoing fighting between Lebanon and Israel, he says leaders of those two countries will probably meet at the White House over the next week or two. He also said that if a deal between the U.S. and Iran was ultimately signed in Pakistan and in Islamabad, he said, he probably, he might, he said,

go to Pakistan for that deal. So, Brian, a little bit of forward movement there as to what might happen next with the ceasefire. Okay. Just a quick question. Markets, S&P, turn negative. When I say negative, it's flat to down a touch. So just to be clear, he said that if there's no deal, war is going to resume soon?

It was a confusing back and forth because he said multiple things. He did say at one point, if there is no deal, then fighting would resume. That's almost a direct quote. But he also said that if we're close to a deal, he would extend the ceasefire. He didn't think the ceasefire would need to be extended because he thinks we're close, but that if he needed to, he would extend it.

So it sort of seems to be a delicate balance there that as long as the U.S., it appears, feels that negotiations are moving forward, they would extend that ceasefire if they needed to. If they got to a point, though, where it feels like a deal is off the table, that to me was when he was saying, then the fighting would resume. And the markets are fighting to kind of figure out what this means. The ceasefire, Megan, as I understand it, is set to expire sometime on Tuesday, correct? So Tuesday is the end of the two-week period. That will be the end of that period. So it sounds like the president is saying, if there's some positive dialogue the next couple of days, that that ceasefire will be extended, but it's up to how the talks go. Is that correct? That's correct. He says, if we're close to a deal, if it makes sense, if he needs to extend it, then he would. And he even left the door open, Brian, to the possibility of a deal being struck before Tuesday, because again, he said there will probably be in-person talks over the weekend, because he started off by saying that he's not even sure that the ceasefire will need to be extended, leaving open that chance.

All right, yeah, markets pretty much flatlined right now after hitting record highs earlier. I think traders right now are doing what we're doing, Megan, which is trying to figure out exactly what all that might mean. A lot of scenarios there, but Megan Kassela, thank you very much. All right. Time now for your market navigator. Dom Chu, follow up that. I'm going to try to follow up on that. It's going to be related, though, because we've spent a lot of time lately looking at oil prices vis-a-vis what's happening with Iran.

But some traders are now turning more of their focus towards other assets like metals. Copper prices in particular have climbed more than 20% in just the past six months. So our next guest says these things they could go even higher than that. Joining us now for that case is Phil Strebel, the chief market strategist over at Blue Line Futures. Now, Phil, we talked about oil as being part of that straight-of-Hormuz story, but copper now is taking more of a center stage. Why? Yeah, we'll look at the price action. You can see all the volatile headlines everywhere.

copper is still holding firm, six-week highs, up 7% year-to-date. Just like crude oil copper has become a strategic asset that governments are stockpiling globally. The demand story, obviously, you've got the grid, but it's defense spending is surging everywhere. You've got the AI trade, and it's a strategic reserve effect. So tariffs are forcing countries to stockpile copper. Inventories are at all-time highs, but prices keep rising. You flip to the supply side, this where things have taken a turn. You got the global refined copper that's continuing to show a deficit. But Chile, the world's largest producer, just posted its lowest monthly output in nine years down eight and a half percent. And the story that no one's talking about is China ban exports

as sulfuric acid starting next month on a surface chemical story. But reality, sulfuric acid is the life and blood of copper mining here in the process of using it accounts for about 20 percent of global production. All right, Phil, what's the life? What's the trade with all of that in mind? The trade is copper stays bit as long as it's above $560, a pound here. A break below that would negate the bullish thesis. Above it, the structural story of tightening supplies, increasing demand, and strategic stockpiling really stays intact. All right.

That's the copper trade for you, Phil Strebel, Blue Line Futures. Thank you very much. I'll send things back over to you. All right, Dominic Chudam, thank you very much. Coming up, a brand new way to track the AI spending boom, and it's probably not what you think. All right, your RBI for today. The hourly price to rent one of Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs up more than 20% in the past month. It's now $4.12 per hour. All right, so what does that all mean? Well, the cost to run a Blackwell GPU was slightly under $3 an hour just two months

ago. It's about a 40% jump in just 60 days. What is the point of all this? Well, the point is that demand for what's called compute power is through the roof, and people are, will willing to pay for it. And the data for that RBI that you're seeing right there is courtesy of the startup Orne AI. Now, Orne has built a compute price index. It also offers futures contracts on the compute market and is attempting to financialize that entire space. So how can you use it or even profit from this new thing? Chris Bavaria is the CEO and co-founder of Orne and he is here on set. Good to have you on the program. Right. Thank you for having me. All right. So what does this index

do? What's the purpose of looking at those prices? What am I doing with that? Of course, the index tracks the price of an Nvidia B200 or B300, and we have multiple different Nvidia chips. And it shows how people are buying and renting Nvidia GPUs at what price, which helps inform decisions on procurement, as well as treating compute as more of a commodity, thinking about oil and gas at other markets that are similar. Because what people will not, may not realize, and why would they, by the way, is that like, they know oil is traded, right? You know gas is traded. Fertilizers traded. We've told people that. But DRAM, memory, computer chips are traded. Are you trying to replicate those markets with this rather, I don't want to say, closed part of the market, but the information's got to be difficult to get? Of course, it is. And I think that's what we've done an incredible job of doing. Building out this index has not been easy, but it's been very difficult. And so building out the index is the first step to create a liquid transparent market that tracks the price of compute, very similar to other markets like electricity, oil and gas. So you've gotten on the Bloomberg terminal. I've got to imagine, though, to your point, you said difficult. Is it difficult to get the people that trade this for a living to give you the pricing information?

Of course. We do a very similar approach as very other commodity markets. We work with multiple people in the space to get information about how the price of compute will change over time. So very similar approach to every single other commodity markets, but just applying it to compute, which is becoming more and more of a financial asset class in itself. So by tracking the index, the Orn Compute Price Index, OCPI, can we do? I guess we just labeled it right now. It's a national show, Kush, that we can see visually that demand and pricing, obviously, vis-a-vis demand, is going up. Of course, exactly. And as you said earlier today, Brian, demand for equities is insatiable. I'd say demand for compute today is insatiable.

Every single person wants to use an AI model. tokens are skyrocketing. Every single people in the stock of the whole AI economy, right now, compute is becoming more and more crunched. And so demand is insatiable right now. Stocks trade in a millisecond, though. We know that, right? People actually compete for compute to trade within milliseconds of each other. How liquid, Koush, is this market? Today we update the index on a daily basis. And the goal over time is to update, as you said, before, in a millisecond or even quantum seconds of time as we go forward. And then what would be the next step?

Getting the data is one thing, looking at it, understanding it is another, and then how do you financialize it? Of course, it's very similar to how every other commodity market started, right? If you look at 100 years ago, farmers wanted to see what they could sell their corn supply for. And so Wall Street created futures for that. Same way here. We're building out the index first to track the price of compute, and then we'll build the exchange to actually trade compute as a new asset class and a new commodity in itself. Fair to say, it's been pretty strong, right? I mean, we're looking at the chart now.

And you got a couple of different. I noticed we've shown the H-200. We've shown some of the Bs, the Blackwell chips. How many are you tracking that? So we have all the way from the Ampera series all the way to the Blackwell series, and we'll continue growing as NVIDIA releases more and more chips, and we expand to all sorts of providers as well,

including-Is it just NVIDIA right now? Today it's just NVIDIAs. Invidia controls most of the market. What other ones would you like to do? AMD, I think, is next on our radar. They've done an incredible job at building chips, and we'd love to track them as well. Is this a sign, though,

the fact that you're able to get enough price pricing information to create an index that the invidia market is that much bigger because there's just more data points. If you get very infrequent data points, your graphics are going to look weird. Of course, Nvidia's done an incredible job at taking a large share of the market. Today, it's evident by the market size of Nvidia itself. It's a $5 trillion company and growing today. And that's shown by just how many market participants look at Nvidia trips to determine what they will use and how they will use them. Well, we like it. We'll have to throw the Orn-compute price index up on C&BC at some points.

We actually just did. So there you go. And Cush, by the way, I know you're just starting out the career. You know who's following you up after you what our next segment is? I heard it's Kevin Hart. I heard he has a venture fund as well. He's the hardest working man in show. It's not bad to go from MIT to CNBC to be followed up by Kevin Hart.

No, it's incredible. Put that in your own compute price index, Cush. Thank you so much. Khrmavarie of Orne. Great new stuff. Something else to check out. All right, let's get now over to Leslie Picker, who understands the thing about money or to herself for a CBC News update. Thank you, Brian. County prosecutors in Minneapolis today charged an ICE agent with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, accusing him of pointing a gun at two people in a car as he attempted to pass them in an unmarked vehicle. It marks the first time the criminal charges have been brought against federal law enforcement in the wake of the massive. immigration enforcement operation this winter. President Trump is expected to sign an executive order as early as this week related to the psychedelic called iBogaine, which is used in some countries to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. That's according to CBS News, which says the order is meant to

open the door to federal funding to research its effectiveness with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, especially among veterans. Ibegain is currently illegal in the United States. And And according to court filings, the owner of home shopping pioneers, QVC, and HSN, it's planning to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The word of bankruptcy comes as TV shopping networks struggle to compete with the rapidly growing online shopping options such as TikTok. I don't know how to shop on TikTok, but I also don't really shop on TV. So, you know, maybe it's e-commerce only for me. Can you buy Ticktacks on TikTok? Ticktacks.

Playing Ticktac toe, I don't know. That would be a good advertising for them, I would imagine. Yeah. I may need to go away for a few weeks. Tic Tacs at the drug store. It's just, you know, got to go with the old habit. Fruit ones, not the mint.

Leslie Picker, thank you very much. All the way. 100%. I knew I liked you. Kansas City was not the like. All right. Up next, your trending tickers of the day. Kevin Hart.

All right, quick hit on your trending tickers of the day. Thousands of you searching for one of the biggest names on Wall Street in the world, NVIDIA. Now, right now in jeopardy of breaking, it's already record 11-day wind streak, but NVIDIA up 20% in that time. See where it ends the day. Else we're in the AI space, Corwe, down a percent right now, but that's after Wolf initiated coverage with an outperform and $150 target. Stocks at 118, so do the math, create the ones like 32 bucks of upside.

Core weave down a little bit right now, maybe on track to snap a seven-day win streak. All right, coming up, he is way more than just one of the world's best-known actors and comedians. We're going to get up close and personal with Hollywood Power Player Kevin Hart and how he's building out one of the world's hottest spirits. All right, it's not even noon out there in Hollywood, California, but it might just be time for an early cocktail. Maybe a smooth sipping tequila, anybody? because actor and comedian Kevin Hart is part of the team building Grand Coromino. The brand launched about four years ago. It's already hit more than 200 million in sales.

It's got over an 80% jump year over year. And Kevin Hart joining us now, joined by his business partner, James Morrissey, one of the Grand Coromino team and CEO of Global Brand Equities. Not joining us are the two Eagles apparently featured and hopefully safe and well in the sort of the commercial. Those are, by the way, gigantic and terrifying birds. Kevin and James, thank you very much for joining us. So, Kevin, this is not some hobby for you. This is $200 million in sales, nearly a doubling of sales growth year over year,

but it's a tequila? I think I'm the only one that doesn't have one. Why the tequila now? And what are you adding to this team? First of foremost, thank you, not just for the introduction, but for, of course, the explanation behind the introduction. I think, you know, I'm really. into doing the things that I love.

And naturally, if I embrace something and I truly, truly enjoy it, I try to figure out a way to make a business out of it or around it. So in my extracurricular activities, drinking tequila was something of the norm, right?

I embraced it in my early stages. So figuring out a way to have my own, do my own, and build my own was a priority. And luckily, I came across James and his amazing team and we met Juan, Juan, and literally

figured out a way to do something that was unprecedented, which was so much more than just being a name in a face and slapping it on a bottle. It was more about building something, creating something, being a part of something, and truly caring about something. And then after that, presenting it to those that you will want to basically reap the benefits

of what you do and did. That's what it was. What a summary. No, no. No, no, listen, and also pricing strategy is critical. I have a wife that worked 25 plus years at consumer products, James. This is a crowded space. You've done a great job, global brand equities.

You've got Post Malone and Rose. You've got some. So what is the right mix of marketing, quality of product, celebrity endorsement? For sure. So there's four criteria that we believe are successful for outside success in the industry. one being quality of the product. You cannot succeed unless the quality of the liquid, the package, the brand, and the identity that you've created is really on point to connect with consumers in an authentic way. The second piece is distribution.

Distribution is a very complex situation when it comes to liquor in the United States, right back to the Prohibition days. And being able to navigate the distribution and retailer matrix with a partner like Proximo and Juan Domingo Beckman has given us real scale in the market. to enable us to be a mass market brand, but enable us to operate and function as an independent brand, making bold decisions, calculated risks, and delivering outsized results. On top of that, you've got to have an agile, super committed operating team.

And I think the partnership with Kevin has been a true business partnership for us. We work on this 24-7, 365 days of the year. We're four years into the business, and we're doubling down on the energy today versus when we launched. We're not going to let up. And then finally, these businesses require a lot of capital. We collectively were in this business four years.

There's between $50 and $100 million been invested in it to build this into a real long-term legacy brand. But capital is a core requirement. And there's, you know, it's no surprise, but it requires a lot of money to build these businesses in a very, very specific and target. Yeah, I've never had the privilege of meeting either of you, but I suspect that. that Kevin Hart guy is pretty successful. I think Capital may not quite be a problem.

You might want to ride along with Kevin Hart's pocketbook. See what I did there because I suspect it's doing well. But Kevin, you know this. So if I go to, like, Tokyo and I'm in a hotel, I turn out. I see, like, American movie stars that are in ads for products that, like, I've never heard of. And they're, like, they don't do it here, but they'll, like, buy this brand of whatever. And you're like, that sucks. Like, I shouldn't say that stinks.

Sorry about that. You should probably, do you get the veto power on some of this stuff to be like, no, I can't put Kevin Art's name on it because it's not good. Well, absolutely. You know, I think when you understand that you are a brand that your name, image and liken, when used, it elevates or should elevate whatever it is that you're aligning or attaching yourself to. So, yeah, you have to have word.

You should have a high level of alignment as to what best suits or fits you and the brand. For me, if it doesn't fit and it doesn't have the right shape, then it doesn't work. I only do and have done things that I can truly embrace and be authentic and transparent within. So in this particular space, I love the fact that I've held off for such a long time, right? Like, you know, in a wine and spirit space, there were tons of offers about things that people wanted me to do or business opportunities that Some felt were good for me, but none of it was true to who I was. None of it was what I felt that I naturally could embrace or would embrace on the day-to-day.

So when you have the opportunity to develop something of your own with people who share and match your vision, well, it's a no-brainer. And it's ultimately hard to lose when you do it correctly. All right. You've got Jumangi Open World coming up with that rock guy, Johnson. You've got to stare at his face all day. I don't know how you do that. And then you got a new show on Netflix called Funny A.F. And as an old guy, I think AF stands for almost famous, but I'm not sure.

No, as fuck. Oh, yes, that's a first on CNBC. There we go. That's what it was. That's it. And there's power. We're showing the video right there, Kevin. So what is it about Netflix?

Because you got Paramount buying WBD. You've got all this maneuvering in Hollywood right now, right? We're off on our own with a new company called Verson. Why Netflix? What are they doing? for you. Netflix is an amazing partner. You know, you're looking at a global, a global brand, right? A global, a global entertainment conglomerate. I mean, you know, when you have the opportunity to be in front of the masses in a major way like that platform presents you,

you try to maximize whatever the opportunities are. And I think we've done a great job of shaking each other's hands. It's not just about what you can do for me. It's also about what I can do for you. And I think having, the quality of star power on their platform and that star power giving them an embankment, you know, IP, right? Whether it's through film or series, they build these relationships. We hone on ours. And I think I've fell in love with the way we do business and have done business.

And we've created and done a lot together. So the ecosystem that we built and that we're building is one of we're committed to. Funny A.F. is an opportunity for me to put other future comedians on display, right? Who has necks? I'm getting older. I've had a fair amount of time sitting in the chair that I've sat in and I've loved it. But I would love other people to get an opportunity as well. So it's about me finding an opportunity and finding a way to shine a light on those that are coming up and deserve the same world of return. I know you're a Hollywood mogul, but you're really, I think a Philly guy, thus the Go Bird. in that ad with the Eagles. Again, next time you come on,

we got to get the actual birds because those were very impressive Eagles. They're dangerous, man. Are they okay? Are they safe? I don't really, people often, like we've had attacks in my house, and it's been, you know, kid,

let's just say we lost some babies. Okay. What they'll do, man, they've got them. Kevin. They get you. They got you. Kevin Hart.

that they got is nothing I could do. Kevin Hart branded bird cages will be the next big product. Kevin Hart, James Morrissey. I made Kevin Hart laugh. I'm going to retire now. Thanks for watching. Closing bell starts now.