Tech Helps Fuel Market Rally… And Sarepta Therapeutics’ Plummets 6/16/25

Summary

CNBC's "Fast Money" Summary – Episode: "Tech Helps Fuel Market Rally… And Sarepta Therapeutics’ Plummets" (Released June 16, 2025)

Hosted by Melissa Lee alongside a panel of top traders, this episode of CNBC's "Fast Money" delves into the latest market movements, geopolitical tensions, and significant corporate developments impacting investors. Below is a comprehensive summary capturing the key discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode.

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1. Market Rally Driven by Technology Stocks

Overview: The episode opens with a robust discussion on the significant market rally, prominently led by major technology stocks. The panel highlights how tech giants like IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle have been instrumental in pushing the broader market indices higher.

Key Points:

• Tech Sector Performance: All Magret 7 (a group of seven major technology companies) are in the green, with IBM and Microsoft reaching all-time highs. Oracle, despite a slight pullback, is tracking for its best month in nearly three years.

• ETF Movement: The XLK ETF, which tracks technology stocks, is on a record high, underscoring the sector's dominance.

Notable Quotes:

• Dan Nathan (Timestamp: 09:03): “The move comes across the tech sphere pushing the XLK ETF to its own record.”

• Emily Wilkins (Timestamp: 09:36): “The margins are incredible. So I'm hanging with those. They're getting a little more expensive ...”

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2. Geopolitical Tensions: Israel-Iran Conflict and Trade Negotiations

Overview: A significant portion of the episode focuses on the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, with former President Donald Trump providing his perspectives. The discussion also touches upon the implications of these tensions on international trade, particularly between the US, UK, and Russia.

Key Points:

• Trump’s Statements: Trump emphasizes the need for Iran to sign a nuclear deal, asserting, “I think Iran is foolish not to sign one” (00:01:36).

• Sanctions on Russia: The panel debates the feasibility and economic implications of imposing sanctions on Russia, with Trump highlighting the substantial financial costs: “Sanctions cost us a lot of money... billions and billions of dollars” (00:02:48).

• US-UK Trade Agreement: The formalization of a trade agreement between the US and the UK is discussed, with Trump praising the UK Prime Minister’s efforts: “He's done a great job” (00:05:23).

Notable Quotes:

• Donald Trump (Timestamp: 01:05): “You say Israel is doing very well... I think a deal will be signed.”

• Guy Adami (Timestamp: 04:32): “Israel can fully eliminate the threat that Iran poses...”

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3. Senate Tax Bill Developments

Overview: Emily Wilkins provides updates on the latest Senate tax bill, highlighting key provisions and the ongoing negotiations between senators.

Key Points:

• Clean Energy Tax Credit: The Senate has extended deadlines for tax credits on projects like wind, solar, and nuclear energy, albeit not as generously as the House originally proposed.

• Revenge Tax on Foreign Investors: Adjusted from 20% to 15%, providing a longer runway before implementation.

• Corporate Tax Provisions: Focused adjustments such as no tax on tips and overtime, primarily benefiting low to middle-income earners, with caps on deductions.

Notable Quotes:

• Guy Adami (Timestamp: 19:51): “The Senate has pared that one down a little bit, given it a longer runway before it would go into effect.”

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4. Corporate Spotlights and Stock Performances

a. Core Weave and Ad Tech Stocks

Overview: Shares of Core Weave surged over 7% despite a recent downgrade from Bank of America, driven by new contracts and strategic moves in the ad tech space.

Key Points:

• Core Weave Growth: Up nearly 300% since its IPO in March, supported by expanded contracts and lower-rate debt raises.

• Ad Tech Surge: Meta (formerly Facebook) announced ad placements in WhatsApp, boosting related ad tech stocks like Magnite and Trade Desk.

Notable Quotes:

• Dan Nathan (Timestamp: 30:32): “If you're going to grow, you can't grow that many more people on the planet...”

b. Sarepta Therapeutics' Decline

Overview: Sarepta Therapeutics experienced a sharp decline, with shares slumping over 40% following reports of adverse effects in patients using its Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug.

Key Points:

• Adverse Events: Two non-ambulatory patients developed acute liver failure, leading to the suspension of shipments to non-ambulatory patients.

• Market Reaction: Analysts suggest the stock may rebound as emotional sell-offs often create buying opportunities in biotech sectors.

Notable Quotes:

• Ryan Reynolds (Timestamp: 35:50): “Investors and analysts are getting somewhere around $30 to $40 a share, depending on spending.”

• Dan Nathan (Timestamp: 39:07): “Biotech blow-ups are typically buys when everyone sells on the day of the event.”

c. Kering and Gucci Leadership Change

Overview: Kering, the parent company of Gucci, saw its shares jump 12% following the announcement of Luca DiMeo as the new CEO, signaling potential turnaround efforts for the struggling luxury brand.

Key Points:

• Leadership Change: DiMeo brings 30 years of experience from the automotive sector, aiming to revitalize Gucci amidst declining sales.

• Company Performance: Kering’s shares have plummeted 31% over the past year, reflecting challenges in demand and brand management.

Notable Quotes:

• Emily Wilkins (Timestamp: 26:03): “The stock is down a lot. Is it cheap? No, there's a fair amount of debt as well.”

• Megan Casella (Timestamp: 27:04): “Despite the move today, you can take a flyer on the long side here.”

d. Estee Lauder's Surge on China Data

Overview: Estee Lauder shares surged nearly 11%, closing at session highs, buoyed by stronger-than-expected retail sales data from China and leadership changes.

Key Points:

• China Market Strength: Positive retail data from China has significantly boosted investor confidence in Estee Lauder’s performance.

• Leadership Changes: The passing of Chairman Leonard Lauder has sparked speculation about potential strategic shifts, including possible sale considerations.

Notable Quotes:

• Dan Nathan (Timestamp: 44:31): “This was more ceremonial than anything... a pretty significant breakout.”

• Emily Wilkins (Timestamp: 46:20): “It is not up for sale unless the family wants it up for sale.”

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5. Analysts' Insights and Strategies

Overview: Throughout the episode, analysts like Tim Seymour from Citi provide strategic advice on navigating the current market landscape, emphasizing a shift towards high-quality stocks amidst economic uncertainties.

Key Points:

• Investment Strategy: Emphasis on going long on high-quality, conservative stocks to mitigate risks associated with high valuations and potential recessions.

• Market Positioning: While growth stocks face challenges due to rising yields, quality stocks offer stability and potential for continued market ascent.

Notable Quotes:

• Tim Seymour (Timestamp: 14:20): “The recovery today is just reassurance to the market that basically if oil doesn’t dislocate to the upside.”

• Tim Seymour (Timestamp: 14:57): “We want to be long US equities, but we want to do it in a more conservative high quality way.”

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6. Final Trade Insights and Future Outlook

Overview: As the episode concludes, the panel reflects on the week's trading activities, emphasizing opportunities in sectors like ad tech, luxury goods, and biotech despite ongoing economic and geopolitical challenges.

Key Points:

• Trading Opportunities: Despite volatility, sectors like technology, ad tech, and luxury goods present potential buying opportunities.

• Market Caution: Investors are advised to remain vigilant about geopolitical risks, economic indicators, and corporate performance to make informed trading decisions.

Notable Quotes:

• Karen Feinerman (Timestamp: 46:55): “Top five drummers...”

• Megan Casella (Timestamp: 47:02): “Would you buy something gently used from Gaido?”

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7. Conclusion

The episode of "Fast Money" offers a deep dive into the intertwining of technology's robust performance with the complexities of geopolitical tensions and corporate maneuvers. While technology continues to drive market optimism, challenges in sectors like biotech and luxury goods underscore the nuanced landscape investors must navigate. The panel's strategic insights provide a roadmap for focusing on high-quality investments amidst an ever-evolving economic climate.

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For more detailed insights and live updates, visit fastmoney.cnbc.com.

Transcript

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Melissa Lee]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Melissa Lee]

Thing Mint Mobile Unlimited Premium wireless.

[Tim Seymour]

Everybody get 30, 30 better get 30.

[Karen Feinerman]

Better get 20, 20, 20 better get.

[Dan Nathan]

20, 20 everybody get 15, 15, 15, 15. Just 15 bucks a month.

[Melissa Lee]

Sold.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment.

[Melissa Lee]

Of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month. Required new customer offer for first three months only.

[Guy Adami]

Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of network.

[Melissa Lee]

Spizzy taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com you're listening to Fast Money in Progress.

[Donald Trump]

You say Israel is doing very well, as you probably noticed. And I gave Iran 60 days and they said no. And the 61st you saw what happened day 61. So I'm in constant touch. And as I've been saying, I think a deal will be signed or something will happen, but a deal will be signed. And I think Iran is foolish not to sign one.

[Guy Adami]

Iran is accusing Netanyahu of attacking them to deliberately derail your nuclear plan that you had.

[Melissa Lee]

What do you say to that? Do you think that's true?

[Donald Trump]

Look, Iran should have signed the deal.

[Guy Adami]

If it would help bring Iran to the negotiating table. Would you guarantee that the US Would not get involved militarily?

[Donald Trump]

Well, I think this, I think Iran basically is at the negotiating table. They want to make a deal. And as soon as I leave here, we're going to be doing something. But I have to leave here. I have, you know, this commitment and have a lot of commitments, have a commitment to a lot of countries, including the UK where we just signed our deal. We're going to let you have that information in a little while.

[Melissa Lee]

On us Russia talks. When will they restart?

[Donald Trump]

They're starting already.

[Karen Feinerman]

Minor, bracing.

[Dan Nathan]

European puts to apply more sanctions on Russia. The U.S. support that.

[Donald Trump]

Well, Europe is saying that, but they haven't done it yet. Let's see them do it first earlier.

[Guy Adami]

That you could sanction Russia. Why wait? Why wait to sanction?

[Donald Trump]

Because I'm waiting to see Whether or not a deal is that, can you.

[Guy Adami]

Guarantee the UK won't be.

[Donald Trump]

Don't forget, you know, sanctions cost us a lot of money. When I sanction a country that costs the U.S. a lot of money, a tremendous amount of money. It's not just let's sign a document. You're talking about billions and billions of dollars. Sanctions are not that easy. It's not just a one way street and just Israel.

[Guy Adami]

Is that still proceeding even if you.

[Dan Nathan]

Want to look at.

[Melissa Lee]

Yeah, we're proceeding with that.

[Megan Casella]

It's a really important deal to both of us. I think the President is doing a review.

[Dan Nathan]

We did a review when we came into government. So that makes good sense to me. But it's a really important.

[Donald Trump]

We're very longtime partners and allies and friends and we've become friends in a short period of time. He's slightly more liberal than I am. To put it my. We're standing slightly on the left for some reason. We get along.

[Tim Seymour]

We make it worse.

[Donald Trump]

There is quite a few British voters.

[Emily Wilkins]

Who worry who side more with the.

[Melissa Lee]

Russians over the Ukraine war.

[Donald Trump]

Can you reassure this? I just, you know what? I don't. Saving lives. I only care about saving lives. We have nothing to do with it except that Biden stupidly let us get into that mess and gave him $350 billion. 350 billion. And yet despite that, you saw how we did in the Middle east. We took in $5.1 trillion. We have $15 trillion almost looking around that number going to be invested in the US So the money is not the thing. In this case it's 5,000 young people are being killed every week in Russia, Ukraine and if I can stop that, I'll be very happy. They're Ukrainian and they're Russian, so you could say what am I doing? But I'd like to see if I could stop.

[Guy Adami]

Israel can fully eliminate the threat that Iran poses. This nuclear threat that they post without the United States military help.

[Donald Trump]

Who said that?

[Guy Adami]

No, I'm asking if you believe they can.

[Donald Trump]

It's irrelevant. Something's going to happen.

[Guy Adami]

Have you spoken to the legislature traveling.

[Tim Seymour]

To the Mideast as part of any talks if it was outbreak or deal?

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, yeah. But I think we're doing pretty well. We're talking. We have a thing called the telephone. So we're talking. It's always better to talk in person. I want to see no nuclear weapons in Iran and we're well on our way to making sure that happens.

[Melissa Lee]

And we've had a discussion about that this morning.

[Dan Nathan]

There's a unit in the G7.

[Megan Casella]

Absolute clarity in relation to the nuclear program.

[Dan Nathan]

We do not want to see it. Mr. President, do you ever say future tariffs?

[Melissa Lee]

Can you guarantee the UK Will be protected from any future tariffs?

[Donald Trump]

The UK Is very well protected. You know why? Because I like them, that's why. That's their ultimate protection. Thank you very much. The prime minister has done a great job. I want to just tell that to the people of the United Kingdom. He's done a very, very good job. You know, he's done what other people they've been talking about this deal for six years, right?

[Karen Feinerman]

Six years.

[Donald Trump]

And he's done what they haven't been able to do. So he's done really a very good job.

[Guy Adami]

What is your response to Tucker Carlson criticizing you, saying that you were complicit in the war?

[Donald Trump]

I don't know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen.

[Guy Adami]

And quickly, have you spoken to Zelensky before your bil.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, a lot of them.

[Melissa Lee]

Japan, that was up. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Trump Speaking at the G7 meeting in Canada talking trade, Iran and Israel, Russia and Ukraine and much more. Let's get straight to Megan Casella who's got all the headlines from Canada. Megan?

[Guy Adami]

Absolutely, Melissa. That's not the first time we've seen the president on camera today. Had quite a few chances to see him, but it is the first time in the last few hours that we heard him there making some news as you mentioned, on Israel and Iran saying Iran is foolish to not to sign a deal. He also said, and I quote, here Iran is Iran is basically at the negotiating table where they want to make a deal. And as soon as I leave here we'll be doing something notable there as especially as markets were up today on hopes that there might be some ongoing negotiations and the Iranians might be coming to the negotiating table to strike some sort of an agreement. He's keeping that hope alive there. He also wasn't committing to sanctions on Russia. That's something that came up earlier today. A reporter asked if he'd be willing to put sanctions, sanctions on Russia. At the time he said it could happen. Today he just now he was again non committal saying sanctions cost us a lot of money. He didn't seem yet ready to be making that step. Then finally he also was saying that they had signed a trade agreement with the UK he was saying at the end there a deal negotiations that they've been working on for the past six years or so. And Melissa, you'll remember this framework of a trade agreement, not a fully fledged deal yet, but this framework was first announced in the Oval Office just about a month ago. It gave up a little bit on both sides, market access for US products like beef and ethanol while the US was keeping its baseline 10% tariff in place. In exchange, the UK could send some cars to the US without as high of a tariff and was committing to buy some products to Boeing as well. That's what we expect. They signed today sort of formalizing that because remember, Keir Starmer, the prime minister was not in the Oval Office for that. So advancing the ball a little bit further. Trade, of course, Melissa, being the backdrop to so many of these conversations today, and I'll flag just one last piece of news is just before this meeting that we saw with Starmer, the president also sat down with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der, like von der Leyen, the White House says at the EU's request. So that's of course a major deal we've been waiting for. We don't have a readout of that meeting just yet, but we can confirm that the two leaders did meet.

[Melissa Lee]

Melissa, Megan, thank you. Megan Casella. And you are watching Fast money. I'm Melissa Lee coming to you live from Studio B at the NASDAQ Market side. On the desk tonight, Tim Seymour, Karen Feinerman, Dan Nathan and Guy Adami. Let's get today's market rally. Stocks shaking off est escalating conflict in the Middle east, concerns about the oil market, the ongoing terror threat to inch back toward record highs. Every single Mag 7 stock in the green to kick off the week. But a handful of legacy tech names really stood out in the session. IBM, Microsoft, both hitting all time highs. And even Oracle, which pulled back slightly today, is still pacing for its best month in nearly three years. The move comes across the tech sphere pushing the XLK ETF to its own record. So will it be these stocks that keep the markets rising even higher? We might even also have some positive news out of the G7 meeting when it comes to EU and the US in a trade deal.

[Megan Casella]

Yeah, well, the math suggests it has to be, I would say 250, 300s and P points. A month ago Tim said that the pain trade was higher and it's playing out in front of us. And in terms of these stocks again, it sort of has to be these stocks that continue. It's just the names, which names sort of make sense. I think Oracle, which we've talked about for A while I think right before our eyes has gotten itself expensive. But IBM if you look at the quarter they just put up and look at the valuation look at the businesses are getting into. Steve Grasso talks about Quantum computing at 25 times next year's numbers. Despite the move I think IBM is the one that could catch people continually by surprise.

[Emily Wilkins]

So the Mag 7 I think you know some of them I think of value stocks even outside of the move they've had I still think of them as somewhat in value territory. So look name like Metta, the biggest position I think it's protected from a lot of the issues that plague the rest the of contrast of the market. And so I don't you know, no tariffs, balance sheets in extraordinary shape. The margins are incredible. So I'm hanging with those. They're getting a little more expensive me the most expensive one is actually Netflix. That's the hardest one for me to hang on to. Yeah, I mean sold upside calls doesn't work.

[Melissa Lee]

We've also been helped by this sort of re ignition of the.

[Dan Nathan]

Absolutely.

[Melissa Lee]

Nvidia CEO last week was all across Europe making partnership deals with a bunch of companies. I mean there's a lot of buy in that the trade is not over.

[Dan Nathan]

I think that's right. I think we were reinvigorated by kind of the call it the sovereign trade. We were reinvigorated by the reality that from Nvidia's numbers which came really well after the big move in the markets we had a chance to really not only hear reaffirmation from Nvidia but we haven't heard anything different. In fact the hyperscalers have kind of doubled down. We've had a couple of data center and kind of energy deals around AI energy demand. And we've heard from Constellation, we've heard from, we've heard from Microsoft. So you know I think that's all very important and the market needs this leadership to go to all time highs. It doesn't mean you can't have a great market without the tech leadership. But I get back to and if you're doing relative kind of performance trades or doing those graphs at home, if you graph the the triple cues by the spy you get to the high we were back in July which is essentially 0.89. We're right almost right there again which would mean could you be getting relative leadership by the group that really takes you higher. The outperformance by semis from the low of markets from April 8 is about 23% to the S and P That's all you need for markets to continue to move higher. Doesn't mean that I think you don't think about all the things we think about every day in terms of where AI and deep seek and really post deep seek. The world's a different place. And yet it's not.

[Karen Feinerman]

It's notable though. Four of the Mag 7 are still down in the year. Apple obviously trades very poorly. Google trades very poorly. Tesla trades very poorly on a relative basis. Right. And so they've come a long way when Tim just mentions the ratio of the S and P, you know, relative to semis, you know, semis have doubled up the performance of the S&P 500 off the bottom. You know, the NASDAQ 100 is up about 32%. And I guess you got to ask yourself is like, what's the ump? What's the thing? What is this not discounting? Right. And so at this point, I mean, it's been a tremendous rally in such a short period of time. But you know, if you look at a matter, here's a great example that everyone loves it, Karen loves it. And you know, I look at this expectations, consensus business expectations for earnings and sales growth are basically 13%. Right. And so I say to myself, at 24, 25 times, it's really not that cheap. You said margins are beautiful. They are beautiful. They're 81% or something like that. So I think that you have to make a bet that we're going to have earnings revisions higher for these groups. And you might, I mean, like that's the thing. If you start to get these kind of return on investment and these use cases and all this stuff play out. I mean, I'm still a little skeptical that that's a 2025 thing. And maybe you see earnings revisions higher and maybe Metta does prove to be really cheap. Maybe Google gets by some of these headwinds and that is the cheapest one. I'm just not so certain right here.

[Emily Wilkins]

Well, for Metta, I think they are just spend, spend, spend right now. And this multiple is off of a run rate of spend, spend, spend. So if at some point they will slow down the relative spending, which I believe will happen, and the efficiency starts to come through, then I think that Meadow will look very cheap here at some point in the future. Not that, not that distant future.

[Dan Nathan]

Yeah. Matt also had some news today that they're maybe finally monetizing WhatsApp somewhat more with it, you know, ads at least being displayed and what, you know, I mean, there are so many different levers they seem to be able to pull and they are definitely in the pole position in terms of the digital ad world. I think it's also notable that Google really quietly over the last month has maybe been the best performer of that group other than Nvidia. And it gets back to again where I just think people got so negative on certain thematic elements of people have questioned the livelihood of some of the biggest companies in the world multiple times in the last three months and I think that's proven to be wrong.

[Megan Casella]

We got to get to that. What is it, Karen? About 740 level in Facebook that we saw earlier this year, number one looks like it's going to get there. The efficiencies have been there though, I'd say for the last four or five quarters from Facebook you've heard how AI has helped them in terms of their margins. So they are getting the ROI in the back of the IT for sure.

[Melissa Lee]

All right. Well, Citi's head of equity trading strategy recommends going long, high quality stocks right now. Stuart Kaiser is behind the call. Stuart, great to have you with us. Nice to see you.

[Tim Seymour]

Good to be here.

[Melissa Lee]

We're talking about tech all time highs once again as if last week never happened, as if a trade war never happened, as if a conflict between Israel and Iran isn't happening right now. What do you make of this market move?

[Tim Seymour]

I mean, I think the recovery today is just reassurance to the market that basically if oil it doesn't dislocate to the upside. Equity investors seem largely comfortable to kind of ignore some of the geopolitical risks, whether that's Russia, Ukraine, whether it's Israel and Iran. I mean that was the case other than call it a couple of weeks in March 2022 when you got oil up to like 120 bucks. Generally speaking, I think investors say that's the channel through which we're going to kind of handicap geopolitical risk. And since we didn't see that follow through today, markets kind of recovered, volume came in and we're kind of back on the march higher.

[Melissa Lee]

So how do you think about high quality stocks? What are those and what kind of environment are you bracing for?

[Tim Seymour]

Look, I think our view here is the setup for equity sounds a lot like it did at the beginning of the year. Right. Which is earnings growth looks okay, valuations very high, positioning looks quite long. You have attendant recession risks and a lot of headline risk as well. And in that environment, yeah, we want to be long US equities, but we want to do it in a more conservative high quality way. What's kind of changed for us is we like growth coming off the bottom. When you get those longer yields moving, the growth trade feels a little bit under threat. So we kind of rotated out of growth into quality as a result of what's going on in the interest rate market.

[Dan Nathan]

Stuart, you mentioned positioning and length. I'm just trying to understand where your clients are. I mean you're in the middle of the institutional world. You're talking the biggest hedge funds in the world, you're talking. I get the sense that if anything they had really pulled back exposure. It wasn't the retail community that had changed a whole lot in terms of their MAGA view, but that there's no question that the directional, the long short community. Any thoughts on that? Are they still, you know, underweight where they were six months ago or do you think they actually have really turned it completely to for long as they have been?

[Tim Seymour]

Yeah, I think we'd probably put positioning 7 out of 10 probably a little less heavy than it was in late February, but, but, but significant, significant recovery in positioning. Long short hedge funds I think got hurt a little bit in the initial 10% drawdown. Call it from midfield to mid March. They got their risk right and I think we're actually able to play a little offense. You know, coming off the bottom. The second 10% drawdown kind of got your macro directional guys a little worse. So they've been kind of a little bit later to reengage. So positioning is pretty full. It's probably not where we were in mid to late February, but it's not underweight.

[Dan Nathan]

Got it.

[Tim Seymour]

Yeah, you're getting pretty close. Getting pretty close.

[Emily Wilkins]

When you talk about real high quality companies and great balance sheets, where is energy? Where does that fit in? Because I thought that the move in energy down only a buck and change off the heels of what's been happening was pretty strong.

[Tim Seymour]

Yeah, I mean energy would not probably be right in the core of the quality stocks. There's probably a few that, that would put you in there. I think what happened energy today is effectively, yes, we didn't get the short term rip in oil, but it does seem like this risk is going to kind of be persistent and ongoing and maybe the market's starting to assume maybe you'll get those longer dated futures a little bit higher. Energy is definitely an under owned part of the market as you might imagine structurally. So I think what you're also seeing there is a little bit of positioning kind of getting forced into the market. Whether it's short covering or kind of. Right. Sizing yourself because look, I mean that's been a structural, structural laggard for a while. So I think it's a little bit of positioning and a little bit of concern. This might kind of linger for a little bit in the market.

[Megan Casella]

The weaker dollar has been a tailwind. At what point though has it become a concern because there's no bounce in the US dollar.

[Tim Seymour]

Yeah, I mean, it's concerning to the extent that it's volatile because it does kind of speak to this America. US exceptionalism is dead trade. Frankly, that trade was much more loud and vocis vociferous until about March and it's kind of calmed down 1Q earnings, you know, really changed things for us. I think when hyperscalers, to your point, doubled down on this capex spend, it convinced institutions and I think foreign investors that they just, they were underweight the trade, as kind of comical as that sounds. And the bottom line is you can't have the AI trade on in the size and depth and liquidity you need without being in U.S. equities. Right. So I think that's kind of pushed people back in the market. So for now with where the dollar is, I think you're okay investors, obviously foreign investors, it's a big impact for. And I think what you're seeing there is they're hedging a lot more of their dollar risk than they have in the past. So as long as we're under control, I think you're okay. But to your point, it is a headwind, particularly for foreign investment for us.

[Karen Feinerman]

Stuart Banks UK has not really gotten as close to the highs as the S&P 500 KRE regionals don't act particularly well. And then if you look at all of these kind of whatever you want to call them, you know, Apollo, kkr, Blackstone, they actually do not trade well off the highs here and really off the lows, actually. What do you take from that price action in general?

[Tim Seymour]

Look, I think banks were a little surprised that, you know, the deal calendar does actually look like it's picking up a little bit. You know, the circle IPO went pretty well. It looks like a little bit of regulatory relief. So banks trade is still something we like on Friday. I think the stablecoin news coming out of the retailing side kind of put a little bit of pressure on Fintech and some other parts of the market. So it could be that banks has been kind of a consensus long, so they're not getting sort of the Incremental flows coming in. But yeah, a little bit surprised frankly that this space hasn't performed better. We still do like the large cap banks, regional banks, a little tricky because that that small cap, lower quality trade is just really lack sponsorship. So it's a little bit hard to like that. But larger cap banks, it actually seems like a pretty good operating environment right now.

[Melissa Lee]

Stuart, great to see you. Thank you.

[Tim Seymour]

Thank you.

[Melissa Lee]

Kaiser City. Do you feel better about the durability of these market levels here versus a week ago?

[Megan Casella]

No. I mean I think the market's gotten more excited, expensive. But it's been wrong to have that view. But in terms of valuation, not that that is a timing mechanism, but the market once again has gotten itself expensive just about on any metric you want to look at, especially price to forward earnings in form of the S&P 500. Now if earnings continue to surprise, which they have sort of I guess on the margins, then we had a different conversation. Maybe that multiple is warranted. I don't think so.

[Melissa Lee]

All right, we've got a news alert with the details on the Senate tax bill. Emily Wilkins has got all the details here. Emily.

[Guy Adami]

Hey, Melissa. Well, yeah, the Senate just released their tax package and we can provide some updates on some of the things that we have been talking about here. Let's start with the clean energy tax credit. The Senate has extended a lot of the deadlines from what the House bill proposed, meaning that more projects, wind, solar, nuclear are all going to be able to get that, get those tax credits. Maybe not as many as in the original bill, but more than at least than was proposed in the House. We talked a little bit about that. The so called revenge tax credit, or revenge tax rather on foreign countries and foreign investors. The Senate has pared that one down a little bit, given it a longer Runway before it would go into effect, would only be 15% rather than 20%. It does keep a lot of the proposals in the House bill that Trump has been pushing for like no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. However, it does make those provisions a little more narrow, really focusing on those who are sort of low middle income and then capping the amount that can be deducted. Here we are getting a lot more details on this bill and of course we'll be seeing how senators react when they come into town. One senator who might not be too happy is Rand Paul. He told us all that he just did not want to see that debt ceiling increase as a part of this bill. And a $5 trillion increase is included. Of course, Republicans wanting to get that done. Make sure that they can do that without needing to negotiate with their Democratic counterparts. And then on salt, which has really been a big sticking point today between the Senate and the House members, at this point, the Senate's just saying, hey, we're still negotiating on that. And so we'll see what they come up with in coming days.

[Melissa Lee]

All right, Emily, keep us posted. Thank you. Emily Wilkins in Washington. Meantime, today we are watching shares of Core Weave up more than 7%. This despite a downgrade from bank of America analysts putting a neutral rating on the stock due to valuation concerns. They did, though raise the price target to 185 from 76, saying a new hyperscaler customer, an expanded contract with Open Air and a recent debt raise at a lower rate could keep the shares climbing. Core weave up nearly 300% since its IPO in March. Overall, though, the concern is that in order to fund this build out of data centers, it needs to keep borrowing. Those borrowing costs are getting higher and higher. They sold a bunch of debt in May at nine plus percent and that's a lot.

[Emily Wilkins]

I just, I don't know how you could think about fundamentals when there's something else structurally that's going on that I think is way bigger part, which is the short interest. Right. And that that manipulation, not calling it a manipulation in the SEC kind of sense, but that noise caused by that far outweighs anything, I think on a valuation standpoint.

[Karen Feinerman]

Yeah, very clearly this is a name that I've gotten wrong from the get go pre ipo. It is one of those situations became a Meme stock very quickly. I think a lot of that leverage that's on the balance sheet, some folks think it's something that they could take advantage of relative to the short interest, relative to the demand that they were supposedly sopping up. And they are sopping it up. And Microsoft obviously has been a huge customer at 70% or so. I mean, at some point Nvidia is building data centers. Microsoft's going to get done building some debt. They're all going to be competing with each other and the story will fall apart. And it's just not now it's a meme stock.

[Dan Nathan]

It just seems to me this is a case where a little bit of leverage is a dangerous thing and it's unnecessary when there's other places to get pure exposure to the space.

[Melissa Lee]

Coming up from gears to Gucci shares occurring, surging as the fashion company poaches an auto exec to drive its turnaround plan with a CEO switch mean all green lights ahead for the luxe retailer and Matter going all out on advertising, why the tech giant is monetizing WhatsApp for the first time and what it means for for the Stop back right after this. This episode is brought to you by Square.

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[Melissa Lee]

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Welcome to the now it pays to Discover.

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[Ryan Reynolds]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a.

[Tim Seymour]

Thing Mint Mobile Unlimited Premium Wireless 3030.

[Karen Feinerman]

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[Dan Nathan]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment.

[Melissa Lee]

Of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of networks busy taxes and fees extra. See mint mobile.com welcome back to Fast Money. French fashion house Kering up 12% today after announcing Luca DiMeo will take over as the CEO of the struggling luxury retailer. Demeo just stepped down as CEO of French carmaker Renault and has worked in the auto sector for 30 years will take over at Kering on September 15. The company, which houses brands like Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, has seen sales drop amid weaker demand. Shares are down 31% in just the past year. It's an interesting pick. I mean, he's known as a brand builder, a marketer. He was in the auto industry.

[Emily Wilkins]

I know. So that is an interesting pick. I think the more interesting thing why the stock, maybe why the stock was up so much is I think that Francois Henri Pinot, whose father was, you know, the beginning of this has not had a great run. To me, it started back when he decided to buy ca. Right. The distraction there, I don't know about the whole thing or not, but just a tremendous distraction. And then Gucci, which is the main driver, the most important fashion house they have, has been a disaster. Including their most recent hire, wasn't really seen as particularly probably out of, too out of the mainstream to be able to revitalize the brand. So. So the stock is down a lot. Is it cheap? No, there's a fair amount of debt as well. But I do think a change at the top is good. I'm still in Louis Vuitton. That has not been great at all. But I would rather be there at a similar valuation, maybe even a slightly better valuation than here because if I were the new CEO, I would come in kitchen sink, the thing.

[Melissa Lee]

Oh yeah, right, for sure.

[Emily Wilkins]

So then maybe look to buy.

[Melissa Lee]

Right. Guy, I know you have lots of thoughts about all the different fashion lines, I wear many of them, etc.

[Megan Casella]

But in terms of the stock, $92 stock, I think four years ago, you see where it's trading now, we traded the levels you probably saw in 2016. So that kitchen sink, maybe it's already happened in the price action of the stock over the last four years. But I'm with Karen on this one. But I do think despite the move today, you can take a flyer on the long side here.

[Dan Nathan]

I just think luxury has been such a tough sell and it's interesting. We thought maybe it was just limited to some of the beauty lines and the less luxury than these, in other words, the Altars and the Estee Lauders and. But if you look at lvmh, I mean we're near five year lows, but I mean the valuation is very interesting and it's, you know, it's a 6 or 7% free cash flow yield. I mean the margins here are extraordinary. But you know, this has been a bad trade that hasn't really shown the signs of bottoming yet I think you.

[Melissa Lee]

Have to be careful and you have to wonder a little bit if the resale market is impacting these brands at all now that it's so easy to buy used. Gently used.

[Emily Wilkins]

Yes.

[Melissa Lee]

Of all of these.

[Emily Wilkins]

True. But they've, they've sort of helped make that so by increasing prices so dramatically during the pandemic when everyone had money, they're not in the position to cut prices. They never want to do that.

[Melissa Lee]

Right.

[Emily Wilkins]

So they have to sort of stagnate and wait and not raise prices for a while. And that differential remains big.

[Megan Casella]

Would you buy something, Seymour?

[Dan Nathan]

I was going to say would you buy something gently used from Gaido?

[Megan Casella]

What is gently used?

[Tim Seymour]

Me, I don't know.

[Melissa Lee]

I use it. But you don't.

[Dan Nathan]

I don't think. I think it's a contrast in terms.

[Megan Casella]

There's nothing gentle about me.

[Dan Nathan]

Exactly.

[Emily Wilkins]

That's not true, actually. I do have my inside coming up.

[Melissa Lee]

Matter moving higher. And news is expanding its ad push to WhatsApp. All the details and what it means for the tech giants. Competitive edge next. Plus a biotech tumble. Shares of Surrepta Therapeutics getting slashed today. The headline that sent the stock dropping what it means for the rest of the recently red hot biotech space. You're watching Fast Money live from the NASDAQ markets at in Times Square back right after this.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Are you still quoting 30 year old movies?

[Melissa Lee]

Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted?

[Melissa Lee]

If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past.

[Karen Feinerman]

Discover is accepted at 99% of places.

[Dan Nathan]

That take credit cards nationwide.

[Karen Feinerman]

And every time you make a purchase.

[Dan Nathan]

With your card, you automatically earn cash back.

[Melissa Lee]

Welcome to the now it pays to Discover.

[Karen Feinerman]

Learn [e-mail] creditcard based on the February 2024 Nelson Report.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a thing thing.

[Tim Seymour]

Mint Mobile Unlimited Premium wireless everybody get 30, 30 better get 30.

[Karen Feinerman]

Better to get 20, 20, 20 better get 20, 20.

[Dan Nathan]

Everybody get 15, 15, 15, 15.

[Melissa Lee]

Just 15 bucks a month.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront.

[Melissa Lee]

Payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only.

[Guy Adami]

Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of network's busy.

[Melissa Lee]

Taxes and fees extra. See mint mobile.com welcome back to Fast Money. Metashares rising today on news that it will show ads in its WhatsApp messaging platform. The ads will live in a separate tab from users Conversations. The platform has more than 3 billion monthly active users. Shares of ad tech stocks like Maggot, Magnite, pubmatic, Trade Desk and Taboola, all rising sharply on the day. Dan, you had some pretty sharp comments about this move.

[Karen Feinerman]

Well, it makes perfect sense. You have a platform that has 3 billion monthly active users. You might try to monetize it. After 10 years of buying this company, I remember sitting on the desk the day that they remember that we are.

[Melissa Lee]

All like, what is WhatsApp?

[Karen Feinerman]

I knew it.

[Dan Nathan]

I knew how to travel internationally. But yeah, no, nobody knew.

[Karen Feinerman]

You know, listen, privacy was a thing the founders wanted. No ads, you know, end to end encryption, that sort of thing. I listen, if you're going to grow, you can't grow that many more people on the planet. Right. They already have nearly half of them. You got to figure out ways to monetize the properties you have. I suspect it's going to be really good, you know, for them. I think it's for a user going to be really bad.

[Megan Casella]

When Tim travels internationally, maybe the slightly used things that he wears he could put back, you know, gently.

[Dan Nathan]

Gently.

[Megan Casella]

Gently used?

[Dan Nathan]

Yeah. I don't slightly use them, guys.

[Megan Casella]

Well, gently used, I would buy a gently used Tim Seymour, you know, so ex Soviet Union to your days back then.

[Dan Nathan]

Yeah.

[Megan Casella]

You know the blazers that you wore? One of the blazers, thin ties.

[Dan Nathan]

Look, I'll go through my closet guy. I can't wait.

[Melissa Lee]

Off the rails here.

[Dan Nathan]

Yeah, sorry.

[Megan Casella]

Well, Tim said that he travels in a landscape.

[Dan Nathan]

No, but I knew about WhatsApp.

[Emily Wilkins]

That's why he's an ambassador.

[Karen Feinerman]

WhatsApp.

[Melissa Lee]

This sounds great for Metta. This is a monetization channel that they have not explored yet.

[Dan Nathan]

I think, I think it is. And I do think it just shows. I mean, Metta, it's our world. It's their world. Excuse me. And we just happen to be living in their ability to also dominate. If you're a small business and you're not dealing with matter, you can't not deal with matter. And that's. I hear this constantly from, from various folks, so I think it's interesting. I'm not sure this is a game changer, but it's the kind of support to a stock that say, hey, it's expensive. They're going to have something new tomorrow.

[Melissa Lee]

They will, Karen.

[Emily Wilkins]

I agree. I mean, incrementally, it's nice. That's always been sort of part of the story. Maybe one day. WhatsApp will find some monetization, whether subscription ads, whatever it might be. So I'm not against it, but it doesn't radically at this point change the story.

[Melissa Lee]

Would you like to offer a trade guy or if you're just going to speak random things and I'm just going.

[Megan Casella]

To trade is like I said earlier, 740. That prior high I think in February is in the crosshairs. We'll see what happens when you get there. But valuation is not a concern, by.

[Dan Nathan]

The way, that trade somewhat gently used.

[Melissa Lee]

Coming up, Surrepta Therapeutics cut in half, share sliding by more than 40%. The details behind the move how the pharma and biotech space is holding up. Fast Money's back in to.

[Guy Adami]

Missed a moment of fast.

[Dan Nathan]

Catch us anytime on the go follow.

[Melissa Lee]

The Fast Money podcast. We're back right after this. Welcome back to Fast Money. Stocks rallying to start the week as investors digested the latest updates from the Israel Iran conflict. The Dow jumping more than 300 points, the S&P up nearly 1% and the tech heavy NASDAQ leading the gains up one and a half percent. Discount retailers continuing their climb. Dollar Tree Dollar General both higher today, adding to an improve impressive run over the past few months. Tim, you're commenting on this. I mean they're being helped also by big the bankruptcy of big lots, which is sort of clearing out some consolidation in the space.

[Dan Nathan]

But this, this was about a format that I think at one point late last summer we were wondering whether it was going to survive both because of the inflationary pressures that seemed structural and unable for them to and then you layered on tariffs and whatnot. But we were already remember they were the first ones in whatever cyclicality we've had in terms of the economy because I'm not even sure what cycle we're in when you talk about economic cycles. But certainly it looked like we were late cycle and it looked like the lower end consumer was suffering everywhere. These names are now back to essentially and these guys use this term a lot. We've almost backfilled those levels of where we fell off a cliff back in August. And it seemed again that the format was in trouble, let alone these names.125.

[Megan Casella]

Is that level Tim talks about in August where we dropped dropped down I think almost down to 80 something. I think you can get back to $125 in the thing I think about.

[Emily Wilkins]

When I look at the strength of those two is Target and the problem there, where is that share coming from? And I Can't help but think it's coming from Target.

[Karen Feinerman]

Worth noting, Costco does not trade well. It closed very poorly today. Is down, I want to say five and a half percent from those recent highs. Wal Mart also is kind of rolling over. So again, we talk so much about the trade down and the fact that these guys are maybe catching some steam. I don't know, maybe they're taking some sugar back.

[Melissa Lee]

All right. Therapeutics sinking 42% today after the company reported a new death related to its Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug. This marks the second time a non walking, non ambulatory patient has died after developing acute liver failure. The company suspending shipments of the gene therapy to non ambulatory patients with no changes. For patients with the ability to walk, the new setting shares to nine year lows. For more Seraphimist path ahead, Mizuho Healthcare strategist Jared Holz joins us here on set. Jared, great to have you with us. The management had a call this morning and you were on that call. You talked to investors about the call. They highlighted the belief that they think that the ambulatory patient segment being treated with this drug could support profitability. But then there didn't seem to be real comfort in this event not happening in the, in that group as well. Right. I mean, liver enzyme elevation happens in both. It doesn't seem to discriminate between non ambulatory and ambulatory patients. Which means that this acute liver failure could happen also in the other patient segment.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, that's right. No one really knows. I mean, we've seen the first two cases have happened in this non ambulatory setting. There probably are not enough patients that have been treated where we really have a sense of whether there's a greater than 0% chance of this kind of bleeding into the other side of the population. So it's really a waiting game. I think what we're seeing around the street is what is the company worth if you remove the gene therapy completely from the model as though it were pulled or if the company decided to withdraw shipments completely. And I think investors and analysts are getting somewhere around $30 to $40 a share, depending on spending.

[Melissa Lee]

30 or $40 a share. So it's a buy here.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It might be a buy. I mean these biotech blow ups are typically buys when everyone sells on the day of the event. There's a lot of emotional transactions that you're seeing today. If the non Exxon skipping franchise, which is the non gene therapy franchise, is a billion dollars in revenue and there's a pipeline. I think you can justify a higher price. It may not be much higher, but it might be higher than 20.

[Melissa Lee]

This treatment was approved by Peter Marks at the FDA, and Peter Marks was basically ousted and then issued that letter that was so critical of the fda. Is there fear that there's going to be additional blowback onto the company in some way that will make it more difficult for the company to climb out of this?

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's certainly possible. I think some of the comments out of the new regime, the Makari and Prasad regime, and Prasad is the one who's replaced Peter Marx. That, to me is a big variable. I mean, there could be a statement that, you know, that the FDA wants to make early on here, which would be to say, you know, pull the drug, at least for the nonambulatory patients and, you know, go from there. But I wouldn't be surprised at all based on what they've said about safety and efficacy of these drugs. And this has been approved in an accelerated fashion. So they could, you know, make Sarepta run an additional trial, see what those results look like, and then at a later stage, approve it again.

[Megan Casella]

I think all of us have been waiting for the bounce to change gears in Novo Nordisk. Seemingly happened a couple weeks ago. Is it out of the woods or are we getting ahead of ourselves here?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I don't think so. I mean, just too many variables at play here competitively with what Lilly's doing, all of the compounders, HIMS, etc. It was oversold. I think we all spoke about that. I'm not sure they're out of the woods. There's a lot competitively going on, and we got to see how this market shakes out.

[Melissa Lee]

When you get weekly scripts data, and some analysts say, oh, the latest weekly scripts data indicate that it's further losing share to Eli Lilly. Is that. I mean, does that still move the stock or is it assumed now? I mean, I'm just trying to figure out if it's still moving lower on this notion that it's losing out to Eli Lilly or if it's just moving lower on something else. Because if it's moving lower on the same news, that's very bad news for the stock.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think it really depends. I mean, we've seen a kind of plateau in a way. Right. It's traded between 70 and 80 for the most part over the past month or two. And sometimes the script data moves it, sometimes it does not. I think today that you had some additional headlines out of Lilly, you know, that they're offering more doses direct to consumer. So I think it just really depends on the day. I'm not saying it doesn't matter, but I think it's situational.

[Melissa Lee]

Jared, great to see you. Thank you.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Thank you.

[Melissa Lee]

Jared Holz.

[Megan Casella]

Well, the Sarepta, I think he's right. If you strip out the concern today, they still have $1 billion drug that's getting seemingly no value. A lot of people pointed that out. I think Jared's right. I mean these sell offs are typically overdone knee jerk reactions that maybe take a day or two. But I think Surrepta is absolutely worth look on the long side.

[Dan Nathan]

And so as we look at biotech overall, whether it's XPI or ibb, XPI is outperformed. I just think that this is the environment after also sentiment that was as bad as it could get and I guess it can always get worse. But I like the, the moves in the xlv. I like the moves in the xbi and I think they can be bought in this environment.

[Melissa Lee]

All right, we've got a news alert here on Warner Brothers Discovery, the media company drastically cutting compensation for CEO David Zaslav. His base salary will be cut from nearly 52 million last year to $3 million annually with his bonus opportunity reduced to 6 million. He will also receive almost 21 million stock options. The new contract will run through 2030 shareholders voted earlier this month, remember, against Zaslav's pay package. That wasn't a binding vote, but it was a clear signal that they were very unhappy with the amount of pay he was getting relative to the stock performance or lack of performance. We should say.

[Emily Wilkins]

I really want to know what the terms of those 21 million stock options are. That's important, right? And we got that spin. I don't know exactly when that's taking place, but good. I mean, glad the board heard the street. That was a pretty resounding thumbs down.

[Megan Casella]

Well, that's what Karen said that night. Hopefully the board is paying attention and they clearly did. I mean, the only reason we brought it up that night a couple of weeks ago now is because you never see anything like this on typically it's a rubber stamp. This time it wasn't.

[Melissa Lee]

All right, coming up, we will dig into Lennar's results, the details and numbers from the quarter as soon as we get them. Plus, no need to conceal the move in Estee Lauder, the numbers out of China that are helping feel today's jump and whether the beauty stock could see a makeover sometime soon. Details and fast money returns welcome back to Fast Money. Lennar on the move after reporting earnings. The numbers just crossing. Our Diana Olek has more on the homebuilders results. Diana? Well that's right Melissa. Lennar's had some mixed results for Q2. It is reporting EPS of A$81 per share versus versus estimates of $1.94. So that's light but a beat on revenues at $8.38 billion versus estimates of 8.16 billion. Year over year new orders increased 6% and deliveries increased 2% both within Lennar's guidance. But new orders slightly lower than the Street's estimates. The average sales price of homes delivered was $389,000 in Q2. That compares with 426,000 in Q2 of last year. That decrease according to the release of was primarily due to continued weakness in the market. Now backlog is significantly lower than estimates and the value of it is also lower. Lennar's chairman Stuart Miller said in the release as mortgage interest rates remained higher and consumer confidence continued to weaken, we drove volume with starts while incentivizing sales to enable affordability and help consumers to purchase homes. Still gross margins of 17.8% was in line with expectations. As for Q3 guidance, both new order and deliveries modestly below street expectations. Melissa, Back to you Diana. Thank you Diana. Alec, so we do see weakness show up in the results especially as they continue to buy down mortgages offer which.

[Megan Casella]

We'Ve talked about average selling prices coming down across high end, low end. They're all seemingly coming down. They're talking about the weakness in the environment. Obviously interest rates don't help. There are no bounce in these stocks. I mean Pop. Lenore I think it traded down to maybe 98 on that low. Maybe we've bounced up to 110. But here we are now I think these homebuilders Lennar told DHI can all continue to trade lower.

[Dan Nathan]

Yeah look on a trailing basis you could say wow, this looks really interesting relative to itself. But this is a case that I just think the operating environment is very different in that probably it was really a rolling 18 months back. Things were almost as good as they got. And the chart tells you that guys, right. That 110 level takes you all the way back to what was the December 2021 highs. I think it forms a very important place. The stock needs to hold. It's been grinding around there. I don't think you're, you're trying to dip into this weakness yet.

[Melissa Lee]

Yeah, I mean how long can they Keep buying down mortgages. Right. I mean, mortgage rates are really not budging.

[Emily Wilkins]

Right.

[Melissa Lee]

And consumers are still on the sidelines.

[Emily Wilkins]

Plus they're getting squeezed on other parts. Right, right, right. So I don't know how long. I mean, this is a totally transformed industry. It's nowhere remotely close to what we saw, you know, 15 years ago or so. But, you know, it's not good for Home Depot and Lowe's, both of which I own. We want to see transactions. We want to see, you know, new projects. We did talk about that. Home equity loans that are increasing. That's helpful. We need way more than that. We need rates down.

[Karen Feinerman]

You know, if you see the market loosen up and you see buyers come in, you might have a real problem with this deportation stuff. I mean, like, if you think about it, like, workers are going to be hard to come by if you think the dependence on this industry. So again, I just don't think it's such an easy trade here. And I think these guys are right. And Home Depot trades very poorly.

[Melissa Lee]

Coming up, a mascara move from the mainland helping fuel Estee Lauder surge the China data pushing the cosmetics stock higher and whether the beauty company could be a potential takeover target. That's next. More fast Money into. Welcome back to Fast Money essay. Lauder having its best day in over a year, rising almost 11% and closing at its highs of the session. The move coming on the back of stronger than expected retail sales data from China. The passing of Chairman Leonard Lauder over the weekend also sparking speculation the makeup giant could now put itself up for sale. Tim, I feel like was this in an acronym?

[Dan Nathan]

So we point out, but I think there's never been a more important time to point out that being early is being wrong. And this was the E and Bly Sep I think in calendar year 23. I don't think this is even. Maybe it's 24. I don't. But, but my view was that the worst of the China luxury trade was. Was behind us and that that Estee was, was also doing some very interesting things on Amazon with some of their core brands. I mean they had distribution. They were what they were. That we were seeing cosmetic and beauty as a segment hold up. And I thought it was time. It wasn't time and the stock traded a lot lower. But the China strength here is important. I think some of the change the company, the sense that there was stuck in some of its ways and that I think you've had a lot of the family that have dominated this company for a long time. I think today's move was probably more ceremonial than anything. I think it probably was related to China News, the stock now through the 200 day. That's interesting. It is interesting because in fact it's been below that and this is a pretty significant breakout. So I'm not sure the fundamentals have changed so much today, but I do think that the stock has been looking for a base and a breakout for a long time.

[Melissa Lee]

Well, when a family is involved, you have to wonder how much control this family still has.

[Emily Wilkins]

A lot it seems as we were looking. So it sounds like, you know, people wonder, oh, is any part of this? Well, maybe it'd be up for sale. It is not up for sale unless the family wants it up for sale, which at the moment I don't think is the case. There has been a fair amount of turmoil in the last couple of years in the C suite in the boardroom. I think there are several lauders on the board now. I don't believe Leonard was one of them.

[Melissa Lee]

Up next to final trades, Final trade time.

[Dan Nathan]

Tim in case you don't want to know, Guy and I on the commercial break, we're just talking about how Karen Carpenter is very underrated. Just you know, nothing anybody was amd though I think also underrated in the semi space.

[Melissa Lee]

Karen I am going to dig at.

[Emily Wilkins]

Guys suggest dig down and look into to carrying more closely.

[Karen Feinerman]

Fallen a long way Dan yeah, here's a bit contrarian. The $UUP ETF to play it double.

[Megan Casella]

Bottom at 27 the haunting vocals of Karen Carpenter and the great drumming one of the top five drummers.

[Melissa Lee]

Can you sing a verse?

[Megan Casella]

I would if we had more time.

[Melissa Lee]

3 part macaron Mel promises promises thanks for watching Fast Money Mad Money Jim Kramer starts right now. All opinions expressed by the Fast Money participants are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBCUniversal, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, Internet or another medium. You should not treat any opinion expressed on this podcast as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of an opinion. Such opinions are based upon information the Fast Money participants consider reliable, but neither CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. To view the full Fast Money disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com fastmoneydisclaimer Imagine what's possible in your business career when learning doesn't get in the way of life at Capella University. Our game changing flexpath learning format is available in select business programs and lets you learn at a time and pace that works for you. That means you don't have to put your life on hold while earning your business degree. Instead, enjoy learning your way and earn.

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