Power Lunch - The Week To Watch, ‘Pros & Khans’ 7/24/23

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

It’s a big week on deck for the markets. 12 Dow components and 152 S&P 500 companies are set to report earnings. While the latest Fed decision on interest rates is expected on Wednesday. We’ll help you digest it all. Plus, FTC Chair Lina Khan is making ripples this year. She’s got some big antitrust suits under her belt, and is also working to get stricter guidelines in place for mega-mergers, too. We’ll speak to former DOJ insider about it. 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 Lunch, everybody, alongside Morgan Brennan. Welcome Morgan. Good to have you with us. I'm Tyler Matheson ahead on the program. A week to watch. A big one, another big Fed decision on deck. Last one of really the summer. A pause, maybe until the fall, but anything can happen. Who knows? And all while investors try to digest a huge slew of earnings,

everything from big tech to restaurants and industrials. Plus, the crusader against corporations, Lena Khan making ripples this year with some big antitrust suits. under her belt and working to set stricter guidelines for mergers down the line. We're going to speak to a former DOJ insider about the FTC chair. But first, a check on the markets, which are largely higher today, Tyler. We have the S&P up about half a percent, 45-61 is the level. There are the Dow right now at 224 points and the NASDAQ eking out a gain as well.

But of course, this is all ahead of a very big week with a lot of market moving, potentially, catalysts. Very much so between the Fed and all of the earnings that are coming out ahead. It is a big week for markets. Wall Street expecting earnings from some 150 companies in the S&P 500. About 40% of the Dow will report their results this week. Apple, Microsoft, Meta, all on deck. And while we await another Fed decision, that is there on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Let's bring in Jack Ablin, Crescent Capital's founding partner and CIO.

Let's start with earnings, why don't we? which ones will you be looking at most closely? And if corporate earnings are coming down, as many predicted, why is the market going up? I'm scratching my head with that one, too, Tyler. Yeah. So I want to look at tech earnings. Tech is really the only sector that's expected to be up year over year. I think consensus forecast has about 12.2% earnings growth for the tech sector in the S&P 500. Meanwhile, the S&P overall is expected to be down about 10%. So clearly it's the tech sector that I'm watching to see if it not just can deliver on expectations, but really needs to exceed expectations in order to justify the values that they currently have.

So how do you explain the market's performance during this very nice month of July so far? Is it as simple as, well, if you look at the S&P 500, it's capital, weighted and the seven stocks that are the most heavily capitalized are the ones that are doing best. How do you explain the performance that we've seen? Yeah, I think it may be investors are watching interest rates because really these are companies that you have to discount so far out into the future that any change in interest rates or any expectation of change in interest rates will likely impact that sector the most. And given the fact that it appears that the Fed has won the war against inflation, that perhaps

investors are saying, okay, let's put that inflation issue behind us and let's look forward now. Yeah. I mean, along those lines, Jack, you could make the argument potentially that this is a market, at least right now that is not trading on fundamentals, it's trading on narratives, to your point. And whether it's the Fed being close to done, if not already done with this hiking cycle, the disinflation narrative that we see take root in the market and has certainly been a little bit up for debate. But I mean, look no further than some of the data we got this morning to see that it's happening. How much does that shift as not only do we get earnings as the week goes on, but also as we do get the Fed and we do get Powell speaking. And, oh, by the way, PCE later this week too.

You know, that's it, Margaret. I think you're right on point here. The fact is that earnings season forces us to look at valuations. forces us to look at fundamentals. And my view is, even if companies deliver, let's say just the S&P, even if the companies deliver on expectations and maintain the current expectations for the next four quarters, earnings and dividends, I still believe the S&P is about 11% overvalued. Now, you're right, a lot of it's pretty top-heavy, and I think a lot of the under-the-radar screen names can catch up. But I do think that we could see a, you know, there is.

is a risk that we could see a pullback in in the S&P and the NASDAQ. And you think NASDAQ is even more overvalued than you think the S&P is, which leads you to some unloved sectors like REITs, which a lot of private equity and hedge funds seem to be dabbling in these days and also dividend growers, name some. Sure. So, you know, a lot of these dividend stocks and the REITs are bond alternatives. And investors decided, hey, why have a bond alternative when I can own bonds? But we like McCormick. McCormick Company, a spice company, has a very, you know, it's about a 2.2, I'm sorry, 1.8% dividend yield growing at 8.7% annualized for the last five years.

We like Archer Daniels-Mindolin. Again, two food-oriented companies, 2.2% dividend yield, high-quality company, growing at about 5.4% annualized. And then alternative energy next era, 2.5% dividend yield growing at about 11.3% annual rate. If you go back in time and look at dividend growth relative to inflation over long periods of time, it's a great way of earning income from your portfolio. Got it. Do you stick with the U.S. specifically or in a week where you have ECB and BOJ on top as well? and a dollar that has at least, I realize it bounced back a little bit last week, but it has this year been weakening. Does that mean more opportunities elsewhere?

Yeah, I think, Morgan, I think that there are huge opportunities overseas, particularly in developed international. You have international stocks in general trading at about half the valuation of the S&P 500. They're in about the 30th percentile of their historic, if it's historical range, whereas the S&P is, is closer to the 70th percentile of its historical range. And then take on top of that, the dollar is expensive relative to some key currencies. So, for example, 20 percent overvalued relative to the euro, 40 percent overvalued relative to the end.

So now if you own as a U.S. investor international large caps, really there are two ways to win. Either the valuation catches up or at least closes that gap or that currency picks up. All right, Jack, thanks very much. Always great to see you, sir. All right. Thanks, Tyler. Jack Ablin. Well, let's drill into some of these stocks set to report this week. Obviously, big tech is always in focus.

But what are some of the other key sectors? First, restaurants, Chipotle, McDonald's, all on deck. Many analysts have been expecting a consumer spending slowdown, but maybe that's not the case. Kate Rogers has more. Hi, Kate. Hey, Morgan, we started the earnings parade with dominoes this morning and many more to come this week, as you mentioned,

including Chipotle, wheat green and McDonald's, which will give us more color on the consumer. And while menu inflation at restaurants is, of course, outpacing inflation at grocery stores, consumers are continuing to dine out. That's a trend that should continue this summer as tourism picks up. Now, while the traditional thinking may indicate consumers are cautious or price sensitive, which would boost stocks that offer lower prices for diners like McDonald's, Wendy's, and Yum, those names are some of the weaker performers on the year. They're up between 8 and 20 percent. Wendy's is actually lower on the year. The best performers of the year so far.

are actually those with a higher ticket cost for consumers, Shake Shack, Sweet Green, and Chipotle. And interestingly enough, the casual dining names are outperforming the fast food stocks. Darden, the parent of Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, and Blumen Brands, parent of Outback Steakhouse, are all up about 20% year-to-date. While many of these names dipped into takeout and delivery during COVID, they're most associated with that sit-down, dine-in experience that tends to be a bit pricier. And finally, we'll turn to pizza, Domino's this morning, reporting mixed results, they say, said delivery business continues to be challenged in the U.S. Domino's up around 12% year-to-date.

Papa John's is just flat. Pizza, of course, one of the cheapest ways to feed a family if you are choosing to dine out these days. Back over to you. A lot of pizza in the Brandon Conchati household Kate Rogers. It's very popular with a toddler set. I do want to go back to Domino's though, because part of what pressured the top line miss in Domino's was food disinflation and the way that plays out between the company and its franchisees. Is there an expectation that I as we see some of these costs associated with some of these food commodities, that that could be a situation that plays out in some of these other names, too, either positively or negatively.

We'll see. As you mentioned, Domino is obviously a supplier to the franchisee. So that's great for franchisees that costs are a bit lower. For Domino's not so great because they're the supplier. We have to see what some of these other big names mentions in terms of inflation. But it's interesting because we talked about both McDonald's and Chipotle, two very different price points for the consumer, but both mentioned that they weren't seeing too much price resistance. Again, McDonald's being a little bit cheaper, Chipotle's being a little bit more expensive.

This was last quarter, but neither really seeing pullback and not a lot of trading down away from a Chipotle to McDonald's. All of these businesses seem to be pretty stable. And as mentioned, a lot of the casual dining names, which are more expensive, especially if you're feeding a family, those stocks are doing really well. And those companies also were performing quite well last quarter. So we'll have to kind of see how inflation weighs on all of these names heading into the back half of the year.

but everyone seemed quite optimistic last quarter. So I'll be watching to see if that trend continues this quarter. All right. We know you'll bring us all of the details as those reports roll out. Keith Rogers, thank you. Let's also take a closer look at some of the big industrials that are reporting results this week. On Tap tomorrow, we have General Electric.

That's benefited from its health care spinoff in January with more spinoffs to come of its remaining energy business. What it will leave is the aviation business the beginning of next year. In the past 12 months, that stock has gained almost 110%. Check out that chart, largely outperforming big tech names like Apple and Alphabet. Joining me now to preview is Dean Dre. He covers electrical equipment and the multi-industry sector at RBC. Dean, it's always great to see you.

I want to get your take on GE ahead of results tomorrow. I mean, is this really just all about jet engines and the aviation recovery that's playing out right now? Yeah. Hi, Morgan. It's great to be with you. Yes. GE has been a story stock, a deal stock for really ever since Larry, culp arrived. And, you know, we're coming down to the wire now. It's two businesses,

for Nova, the power and renewables and the aviation business. That's what most investors are focused on the aviation business. That's going to be Remainco. That's where the growth is coming. That's where we see valuation. And the story is playing out very nicely. And the stock has been real strong this year. It's up almost 70% year to date. And we still see. upside from here on a sum of the parts basis. Which is exactly my next question for you is, do you buy at these levels or do you wait for a pullback? Oh, we still like it here.

Everything seems to be on track. We got an update on June 20 from GE at the Paris Air Show. The supply chain issues look to be favorable now. And we think it's a good time to be an owner of GE. What's left of GE? Just the aviation, basically? Yeah. It's two businesses. It's two segments. Vernova, which is the power and renewables business.

That's slated to be spun off in early 24, and that will leave aviation as Remainco. So is this then a lesson in financial engineering or corporate management or both? Tyler, it's all the above. We'll also call it, we've been talking about this for five years about this whole trend towards the, demise of the conglomerate, the urge to demurge portfolio simplification, addition by subtraction. Investors reward companies with a more focused portfolio. So the timing was perfect for GE to simplify the story and now it's down to its lowest common denominator aviation. Mark my words, long after I am retired, GE will reconglomerate, as will many of those conglomerates. The investment bankers will go to them and they will say you're going to be stronger

with these other bolt-on components attached and watch. In 20 years, it'll look a lot like the old company. I bet. Tyler, it's going to happen a lot sooner than that. Love that. We'll pivot from saying urge, we'll be back to an urge to merge. And we're getting pretty close to it. I think that pivot will happen a lot sooner than your 20-year mark. Oh, well, maybe I'll still be here then. Who knows? I do want to ask one more question. Another blue chip that's reporting tomorrow morning is 3M. They have not succumb to the urge to demurge quite the urge to demurge quite as

aggressively as some of these other names that we've talked about, like GE. Your thoughts on that company, especially since the stock has underperformed over the past year plus. Yeah, Morgan. So, yeah, there's 3M has really fallen out of favor. It's no longer the blue chip that it once was. we do have a cell rating. The whole earning story is completely overshadowed by litigation on two fronts, the PhaFOS and the combat arms.

And really that has, I think, rendered the stock uninvestable at this stage. All right. Dean Dre, thanks for joining us. That's about as clearer position as you can come by. Uninvestable. That's pretty firm stake in the ground for 3M. All right, coming up, fighting for Conventing for. control. The FTC and the White House ramping up their antitrust fights this year. And despite more guidelines and suits, companies are not backing down, but neither is Lena Khan. We'll discuss next.

Plus, technical support for meme stocks, many of those names climbing over the past month and based on analyst targets, they could have even more room to run. We'll be right back. All right, everybody. Welcome back to Power Launch as the FTC and the DOJ release 13 new proposed guidelines for mergers, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lena Kahn, speaking to the Economic Club of New York, not long ago after losing two key antitrust cases. Here's what she had to say about how the losses affect the FTC strategy moving forward. We in federal court have lost two merger cases. We have brought somewhere between, you know, 13 and 20, depending on how you count, and have gotten abandonment. So in the scheme of our merger,

enforcement program. Losing two is okay. Obviously, we only bring cases that we think we should win, that we can win. Every time we have that type of setback, we look very closely at, you know, where could we have done better, where did we fall short and use that to inform our approach going forward. Turning us now to discuss is Bill Baer, former assistant attorney general for the antitrust division at the Department of Justice and a visiting fellow at Brookings. He's the only person to have led enforcement at both antitrust agencies of the FTC and the DOJ. Bill, welcome. How are you? Good to see you. Thank you. Great to be here. What do you, what is your response when you hear Lena say, hey, we've, we've won more than we've lost, but the two losses were pretty

significant ones involving big companies that everybody knows? Yeah, I think she's right that, you know, bring cases that, uh, that you think you're going to lose. You think you've got a factual basis for it. But many of the other challenges they've brought have resulted in companies saying we give up. We're not sure we can win in court. And so those numbers are relevant to an overall assessment of how well she's doing at the FTC and her counterpart, Jonathan Cantor, is doing at DOJ. As you step back and you look at Ms. Conn and Mr. Cantor's approach to antitrust, something you know better than maybe anybody in the country. What would you say is being articulated about their approach? Is it different from the way it was? Are they going after qualitatively

different kinds of combinations or concerns? Or what? How would you, what is the Biden administration, the regulatory philosophy that is holding true today? That's a great question. I think to try and put it simply, they are saying that over the last 40 years, antitrust enforcement has gotten too conservative. And what's happened as a result, we have more industries that are more concentrated, less competitive, and that does not serve consumers. It doesn't serve competition. It doesn't serve workers well. So they are going back to basics, these new draft guidelines say, you know, if two companies are merging, let's look at how they interact. act today and what's going to be lost in terms of competition if this merger goes forward.

So it is a more realistic, less dogmatic, less theoretical, and more practical approach to making sure consumers, workers, and the overall American economy benefits from competition. So if you're reimagining or revisiting or expanding the definition of antitrust, how much of that is actually the jurisdiction of the FTC and the DOJ? versus Congress, basically coming with new legislation? Sorry to interrupt you there. It's what the antitrust and forces under Biden are saying is we need to go back to what the statutes actually say when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.

Is there a tendency, a risk that a combination, you know, a live nation ticket master will end up harming consumers in competition? That's what the Clayton Act, which is the merger statute, says it's taking a look at risks that things will get worse. And it involves a prediction. And the Chicago School of Economics has basically taught us that, you know, let's just tighten the standard, require the government to prove a certainty rather than a risk or a tendency. So I don't think we need new law. We just need more fair application of the law that Congress wrote. So what is your takeaway then of what we've seen play out in the U.S. court system, because I realize there's still a European and UK, specifically regulatory situation going on, but specifically in the U.S. court system around Microsoft and Activision?

Well, first of all, you know, the FTC was unable to prevent the acquisition from taking place. But in the course of the U.S. investigation, the European investigation, and the U.K. investigation, Microsoft effectively conceded that without commitments, it had both the incentive and the ability to favor itself and its gaming system over its competitors. So Microsoft was forced to make ironclad commitments to make games like call of duty available to its competitors. So while the government did not successfully block the thing in its entirety, it extracted concession, which potentially, hopefully will allow Activision games to continue to be widely available. So the interpretation and enforcement we're seeing now of antitrust and sort of this rethinking, or back to basics, I guess, around antitrust and its application in the market in real time right now,

how sticky does it become if this administration logs some wins and or cast the pall over companies that maybe under different administrations of the past would have been looking to merge and are now not doing that, how sticky does that become for future administrations and future regulators over time? Well, I think it becomes sticky if the courts go along with it. We are a common law system and we rely on judicial precedent. And to the extent the courts agree that things are not perfectly okay in the U.S. economy, that consolidation is a problem. I think that will stick.

A number of years ago when I was at DOJ, I gave a talk where I said there are just some deals that should never make it out of the corporate boardroom. And what you are seeing, I think, is companies as a result of a more progressive enforcement strategy. Taking a hard look at whether going after a particular competitor is worth the risk of the time and commitment. And that is, I think, a good thing. We're going to see less consolidation and more competition. I don't know all of the details of the Anheuser-Busch-Modello case, but I'm wondering, very quick answer, if I might, Bill. Would Modello ever have been the number one beer in the United States if that combination or deal had been allowed to proceed? Absolutely not. Anheuser-Busch wanted to buy Modello brands because they were competing.

effectively with the Anheiser-Bush brands in the U.S. And by preventing that from happening, Modela has succeeded and consumers have benefited. And as a beer consumer, I benefit it. Bill, thank you very much. Bill Baer, we appreciate it. Thank you. Well, Chevron, releasing some preliminary earnings highlights, and they're looking good. With the real focus for investors, the company keeping CEO Mike Worthon as CEO, and weaving its mandatory retirement age to do so.

We've got those details next with shares up 2.5% right now. Plus, further ahead of the Barbenheimer box office, living up to its name, bringing in north of $200 million combined. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Power Lunge. Stocks are higher again today, but bond yields rising as well. Let's get to Rick Santelli in Chicago for more. Hi, Rick.

Hi, and indeed, we see that the short maturity is like two and three earn nodes are powering yields higher. We had a two-year note auction today, the highest yields, by the way, since 2007 at an auction. And as you look at an intraday, you can see how it's climbed all session. And what's very fascinating is if you put up a three-day chart, we have cleared the zone on the short maturity two-year note yields, as you see there. But if you keep that same three-day chart and move further down the curve towards the 10-year maturity, you can see we're close, but we have not broken above the recent range right around that 386, 387 area. Traders are monitoring that.

Of course, that means we're getting more inverted, and not only are we getting more inverted twos to tens, but we're also seeing a widening between our yields and European boon yields. As you look, we are at the widest of the year, right around 145 basis point, so near 1.5% wider. And when you're wider, at this point, after central banks have definitely moved down the path of tightening rates, raising rates, you can see what it's doing to the dollar index.

Here's a dollar index one month chart, and we've turned the corner. Despite all the big legendary names that have been shorting the dollar, it certainly seems, though, handicapping these yield differences is certainly showing up in preference of investors towards the greenback. Tyler, back to you. Rick, thank you very much. Rick Santelli, oil climbing today, along with, with industry giant Chevron.

Pippa Stevens here with the details. Hi, Pippa. Hello, well, starting here with oil, it is at a three-month high, and it's on pace to close above a 200-day moving average for the first time in almost a year. So that's lending some technical support on the fundamental side.

There is some data showing that those OPEC production cuts might now start actually reading through into the price of oil. Then we've also got strong gasoline as well as jet fuel demand. But the big talker today is Chevron. They announced yesterday some highlights

from their Q2 results, with full results slated for this Friday. They also announced some management shakeups. The CFO will retire next March. And then Chevron also waive the mandatory retirement age for CEO Mike Worth, meaning he's sticking around for a little bit longer. And I think one thing that's interesting about this is that Chevron and energy companies more broadly have a lot of cash on hand right now.

And Mike Worth has overseen three deals over the last three years, including most recently PDC Energy, which is expected to close next month. And so with all of these calls for more consolidation, in the space, having someone at the helm who actually has the industry know-how and these deals under his belt was perhaps one of the motivating factors to extend his tenure. All right. And of course, we're seeing investors react positively to this news with shares up 2% right now. Pippa Stevens, thank you. See, we got the green memo today. Well, let's get over to Contessa Brewer now for a CNBC News update. Hi, Contessa. Morgan, thank you.

The deadline just passed for Texas to remove a 1,000-foot buoy border wall dividing the Rio Grande River. The Justice Department threatened to sue the state if Texas Governor Greg Abbott did not commit to its removal. The governor claims Texas has the authority to defend its border and is stepping up to address the migrant crisis, but the DOJ calls that buoy wall inhumane and illegal. The State Department says there's been no new communication between North Korea and the United Nations command about that American soldier who crossed over into North Korea last week. That counters an earlier comment from the U.N. deputy commander in the region who said talks had started about private Travis King. According to U.S. officials, North Korea acknowledged a message the day King went into the country, but nothing since.

And the IRS is putting a stop to a decades-long practice of unannounced visits to homes and businesses. The agency says it's part of an effort to keep workers safe and undermine scammers who poses agents. It will instead send letters to people to schedule the meetings, and the change, we're told, takes effect immediately. Morgan? All right. Contessa Brewer, thank you. Ahead on Power Lunch, shares of AMC surging after a shocking court ruling against its ape stock conversion plan, putting the measure on hold. That story when Power Lynch returns.

Welcome back, everybody. We may be seeing a return of Memetum, the poster child of the group, surging today after a judge blocked the company's plans to convert its. so-called ape shares into common stock. Christina Ports and Evelace, who's been following this story, has more. Christina. Well, you'd think maybe Barbie or Oppenheimer would play a bigger role in AMC stock surge, but it's all about court drama between shareholders and management. On Friday, a judge-blocked AMC's plan to convert its preferred equity units,

also known as APE, AMC, APE, into common stock based on the belief that the conversion deal was just too comprehensive. Common shareholders would have to give up some legal claims if the conversion occurred. Over 3,000 individuals sent in letters to sway the judge's opinion, presumably out of concern for further shared dilution. AMC shares skyrocketed on the news post-close on Friday. That was also helped further by short covering because many investors have tried to take advantage of the price difference or price arbitrage between APE and AMC shares, which means going short AMC and long ape, and that's definitely a tough position to be in today. However, CEO Adam Aaron is concerned. He took to Twitter yesterday to almost beg for help by

writing, quote, AMC must be in a position to raise equity capital. I repeat, to protect AMC shareholder value over the long term, we must be able to raise equity capital. And that's because AMC needs to, needs the conversion to boost liquidity and reduce debt after theaters were closed during the pandemic. Aaron says they could run out of cash next year or by 2025. So AMC currently has filed a new, more narrow version of the settlement just over the weekend, which it hopes will address the court's concerns. Worst case, though, if the company can't convert these APE shares back into AMC common shares, AMC might be forced to issue even more APE shares to cover its upcoming cash requirements.

And then this whole dilution cycle starts all over again. guys. It is going to be quite the case study in terms of how all this plays out, Christina, not to mention the fact that you could see long-term impact from some of these strikes, these Hollywood strikes too, which I think Aaron is concerned about. Christina Parts and Avelas, thank you. Speaking of the meme stock, CNBC Pro out with a new screener, looking at some of the runups in those names this month,

many of which still have some room to run. That's according to Wall Street. While others have already seriously surpassed expectations, so here to chart some of the names. Is Jessica Inskip, director of product at Options Play. Joins us right here, Jessica. Let's talk about AMC. Yeah, so AMC from all fronts, I see a very clear downwards trend.

So very bearish. We're zooming in on a daily chart because it's a short-term traded security, so we need to talk about those short-term trading targets. That 200 daily moving average, that is your clear downwards trend, but you can see it is not enough even if you surpass that because there is a series of lower highs constantly. So what I need to see is that that short-term resistance of about 6-11 right here to be a new higher high, so overcoming those lower highs in order to have more of a bullish stance.

So that's going to take some time, but I would not touch this security until I have sustained closes above this line. Which kind of speaks to how much the stock moves and how big those moves have been, the fact that you could have a 30% plus gain today, and it's still not even remotely close to where we were at the beginning of the year. to your point. Absolutely. All right, let's talk a little bit about Tesla. This is another name, obviously, mega-cap name, but very meme-tastic as well. Your thoughts from the technical standpoint. So Tesla, I actually really love this chart. It's a beautiful chart. From what I'm looking for, when I'm focusing on a bullish trend for a security, I want to look at the weekly moving averages.

The 200 weekly moving average gives me indication of the bullish overall larger trend. So that's sloping upwards. In addition to that, I look at the weekly moving averages. I look at the the 26 and 40 because that's 2 and 3 quarters. And we look at the market from a quarterly perspective. So I want to see the prices moving upwards in addition to the security being above that. And those series of lower highs or higher highs, I want to see it switch over, which I see here. So what I was looking for in AMC, Tesla has done, but on a weekly level, which is more broad-based, which means it has more strength to that trend. So therefore, I'm targeting about 313, which is about here, and that's a zone of what I'm going to call a large area of supply.

And that is going to be your shark in the water, essentially, because it's a large area of supply where I need to see there's a lot of people who own that security. There are consistent prices. It is become a form of resistance here. A form of support here is form of resistance here. So therefore, is this demand going to overcome the supply that I see? Are the sellers going to leave the market? That's where the supply is. It's consistent of sellers.

I want to see them leave the market. But that's a great target from here. 313. Once we see it consistent closes above 313 on a weekly basis, then we have another really great bulkcase. Yeah, and of course this is one of those names that doesn't always trade on fundamentals or analyst upgrades or downgrades.

So the technicals matter perhaps even more here. It absolutely does. Okay, let's talk about Delta Airlines, which is a name that reported very strong earnings earlier in the month. What are you seeing in this chart? So Delta Airlines is, I want to call it consolidation. So same type of view. We have the 240 and 26 weekly moving average. You'll notice that there was a crossover in the 40 and 26 moving averages are sloping upwards. So that gives me an indication that we're in a bullish trading cycle. However, that 200 weekly moving average, it's still down. I want to see that move start to move upwards. And I still need that consistent close above. those old lower highs, which is right here around 5217. So once it reaches that point, now we're in an area of consolidation.

According to the Dow theory, once we have an area of consolidation, then that's when we really move up into a bullish cycle. So for Delta, I'm calling that sideways short-term target of 5217, which is going to create the top of a new trading range. And if we see consistent closes above that, then I would reconsider a bullish case. All right, so perhaps poised for a takeoff here. Perhaps. We'll have to see.

Yes. Okay, Jessica Inskip, thanks for breaking down the technicals with us here. Thank you, Morgan. And the machines worked. You did it beautifully. I know. It was really good. Very nice, straight lines, too.

I don't think I could do that. Yeah, I was going to say before, these things never worked. So just be ready. But you made it work. We had a great team. All right, good. Coming up, a battery breakthrough, the cutting edge technology that could help produce big amounts of energy with a much smaller carbon footprint.

Time for a clean start when we return from this quick break. Welcome back to Market for Vehicle and Home Batteries expanding exponentially, but there is another battery opportunity that is just barely getting off the ground. Diana Oleg joins us to explain in her continuing series on climate startups. Hi, Diana. Hi, Tyler. Yeah, heavy industry requires a lot of energy and reducing its carbon footprint is a tremendous task. One way it can be done, large-scale batteries that go beyond what vehicles. vehicle and home battery systems are capable of. Textiles, food, chemicals, cement, all the things we make require massive amounts of energy for power and heat.

Factories can use energy from wind and solar, but since those are intermittent and not always nearby, they require large batteries that are both difficult and expensive to produce. Now companies like Form Energy, Atmos Zero, and a startup called Antora are tackling the technology. We've developed a new class of battery, which is a thermal battery, which stores energy as heat instead of as electrochemistry or electrochemical bonds. And because of that, we're able to store energy for much lower costs. It works like this. Electricity from wind and solar are run through coils like in a toaster to heat solid, well-insulated blocks of carbon to over 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, storing a tremendous amount of energy. The blocks can be shipped cold in a battery module to the factory.

where they're then heated. They're now being tested and an electric company in Fresno, California. We're just getting started and the cost to produce these are still relatively high. But long term, these can be an order of magnitude less expensive than a conventional battery such as lithium ion. Clean energy is, of course, a top priority for climate investors, and this one could be particularly lucrative. We think it's a multi-trillion dollar market opportunity that addresses 40% of all industrial energy. And it's because Antora is one of the few companies that we're working with that has proven technology and is ready to scale incredibly quickly. Along with breakthrough energy, Antora is backed by lower carbon capital, Shell Ventures, BHP Ventures, GROC ventures, and Trust Ventures.

Total funding so far, $80 million. Years ago, this field was basically empty, but now there are about a dozen thermal energy storage companies using either sand, rock, brick, or other types of ceramic. to store energy as heat. It just shows that there is a lot of momentum in the space, which is good because the industrial space is huge. Back to you guys. And you have been reporting on that. That was great, Diana Oleg.

Thank you for joining us. More than 30 years have passed since the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law, and yet decades later, just a fraction of employees with disabilities disclose them to their employers. We're going to dig into why and how corporate America can help change that

with power electric turns. Welcome back. This week marks 33 years since the landmark American with Disabilities Act was signed into law. And while most corporations encourage workers to voluntarily disclose a disability, a new report found only a fraction due. Sharon Epperson is here with more on why that is. Why is that? Well, Morgan, you know, of the 485 companies that were recently surveyed by the nonprofit disability in, 93% of them encouraged employees to confidentially self-exemptively self- identify as having a disability. But only 4.6% of U.S. employees at those firms are disclosing a disability to their employer. Meanwhile, another survey found the prevalence of people with

disabilities in the workplace is about 25%. Now, many employees may stay silent fearing stigma or losing out on a job or promotion, but to Rob Koch, who is deaf and a key manager at a technology consulting firm, the first hat hurdle is actually getting in the door. A lot of hiring managers typically like to hire people that are similar to them. So that's the challenge that we have to overcome. HR leaders say company-wide initiatives to increase awareness about disabilities can make a difference. We'd be excluding a huge pool of potential employees if we weren't focused on that population and not just bringing them in the door, but making sure they had the resources and the comfort

that they need to feel included and want to stay. Now, after an awareness campaign at the New Jersey-based energy company, PSEG, the percentage of employees who self-reported a disability tripled. So making it accessible, making people feel like they are a part of the organization included no matter what, seems to definitely encourage other employees who may not have said anything. All right, we've got about a couple minutes left in the show, maybe three, and a few more stories you need to know about, so let's get right to it. First, the Barbenheimer box office, not disappointing at all last week.

We talked a lot about the hype around Barbie and Oppenheimer and whether they would live up to the hype. Well, it seems they did. Warner Brothers Barbie tallied around $155 million during its first three days in theaters. Oppenheimer, around $80 million. The total $235 million. We got a special guest to help chat this one out. That would be Julia Borsden. Julia, it's not just U.S. and Canada box office.

it was big. It was global box office as well here. That's right. And I have to say, I'm going to actually update your numbers. The estimates for the weekend were originally $155 million for Barbie. They added $7 million to that because so many people came out to see the Barbie movie on a Sunday night. So this has really been an unexpected and unusual phenomenon to have a double feature that an estimated 200 million people bought tickets to see these two films as a double feature. I'm certainly nothing that. Either filmmaker could have intended when they first conceived of these films years ago. But really a confluence of a number of factors that really shows interest in getting back to theaters.

And now there's some hope that there will be momentum behind this. You had unprecedented numbers of people going out to the theater this weekend. They all saw trailers, which means they might be encouraged to come back and go to the movies. How much did Hollywood need this? How much did Hollywood need this, Julia? It needed it a lot. Now, we look at the summer box office period, which starts May 1st up until now. Up until this past weekend, the summer box office starting May 1st was down 7% from the year ago period.

But after this weekend, that same period is now up 1% from the year ago period. So this could be a turning point, Tyler. Okay. We'll have to see how all the strike stuff plays into future content pipeline too, just as maybe we hit this pivot point. Julia, next up, bye-bye birdie. Elon Musk, officially rebranding Twitter to X, ditching the, iconic bird logo on the platform, at least starting that process.

CEO Linda Yaccarino saying it will transform into an everything app centered in audio, video messaging and banking. Elon Musk said tweets will also be called X's moving forward, but no word if that's actually official yet. I mean, this does feel like maybe what Musk has been saying he was going to do. Musk really likes the letter X. I'm not really sure about the concept, are you Xing instead of tweeting? Do you post an X?

I'm not sure how that works. I'm waiting for more guidance on that one. But I just want to read a line from Lindy Akrono's memo that she sent employees. She said, our usage is at an all-time high, and we will continue to delight our community with new experiences in audio-video messaging payments, saying they're going to create a global marketplace for ideas, good, services, and opportunities. So I think the thing to watch here is the role that commerce and payments will play in this new X-App. All right, Julia Borsden.

Thanks for joining us. Major averages are higher right now. I'll see everybody on closing bell overtime in one hour. You can come a box later in an hour, right? Good to be with you. You too. Thanks for watching. Power launch, everybody.

Closing bell starts right now.