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Halftime Report
Stocks and AI Anxiety 12/17/25
00:46:05
Scott Wapner and the Investment Committee discuss the state of stocks as investors grapple with more AI anxiety. Rob Sechan details his latest portfolio moves. Pro golfer Rory McIlroy and Will McIntosh, Versant President of Digital Platforms and Ventures, join from Jupiter, Florida ahead of the inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games. Investment Committee Disclosures
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- [00:00]
Fidelity Trader Plus Announcer
Introducing Fidelity Trader Plus. With customizable tools and charts you can access across all your devices, Try our most powerful trading platform yet@fidelity.com TraderPlus investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Fidelity Brokerage Services, llc Member nyse, SIPC.
- [00:15]
Scott Wapner
The heaviest metal credit card of all time, rumored to be one of only 18 in existence, plated with the very same tungsten that forged the international space station and wielded at business dinners like a samurai sword. It's a classic corporate power move, but the real power move having end to end visibility on your most critical shipments. FedEx, the new power move. I'm Scott Wapner and you're listening to CNBC's Halftime Report, the podcast the most profitable hour of the trading day. We record this live weekdays at 12 Eastern. Listen in. Welcome to the Halftime Report. Thanks, Carl. I'm Scott Wapner. Front and center this hour, the markets, of course, investors grappling with more anxiety. A lot of data center names are in the center of today's sell off. We're trading all of it as always with the investment committee. Joining me for the hour today, Joe Terranova, Steve Weiss, Jason Snipe, Rob Seachin, Go to the markets. What sticks out like a sore thumb obviously is the NASDAQ once again. It is now down more than 1%, pretty much the lows of the day. So we're going to keep our eyes certainly on what's happening there, give you a little bit of an idea of what these stocks have done over the last week in terms of the mega caps. Let's just focus there because the only one that's up is Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Nvidia is down 5.5% in a week. Alphabet's down 6.5%. Wedbush is Dan Ives. See, when you have moves like this, you get people like Dan Ives coming out. In defense of the trade 991996 moment, not a 1999 tech bubble moment. I had Goldman's co head of public tech investing, Sung Cho yesterday on closing bell. I had him address this issue as well. I want you to listen to what he told me.
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Fidelity Trader Plus Announcer
What are the leading indicators of a potential slowdown?
- [02:16]
Scott Wapner
Right.
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Fidelity Trader Plus Announcer
I don't think that question is being asked enough like what are you looking at to say, okay, if this bubble going to slow down or not. And I think the two things that you really want to think about, one is the rate of model progression.
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Scott Wapner
Right.
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Fidelity Trader Plus Announcer
So Gemini was able to leapfrog, open the eye as I talked about. I think other models are going to continue to push the envelope. And as long as you have the ability to be able to continue to leapfrog, the spending is going to continue to persist.
- [02:40]
Scott Wapner
All right, that was sunk. Cho yesterday makes the point too. As long as you're beating and raising earnings, which is still the case, you're not going to run into a problem. He says no bubble. I've says no bubble. The market says, I'm not sure if it's a bubble. I'm concerned about certain areas. What say you?
- [02:55]
Joe Terranova
So it doesn't have to be a bubble for there to be a correction in terms of valuation, sentiment, positioning. If we can pull up a chart over the last five or six days for Broadcom, since they reported, I believe, on December 10th, the date that they reported, and from that close, the stock is down now 21%. It was Palantir, it was Core Weave, it was Oracle, and now it is Broadcom. So the market is not in a feel good position as we move towards the end of the year. I said yesterday, I thought yesterday was the day where you would have a bounce driven by the Mag 7. And in fact, when you went into the afternoon, we had the appearance of that overnight you had a strong market reversed overnight into this morning. Nasdaq selling evident once again. And it's all the names that I am citing. And I think it's the reason why as you turn the calendar into 2026, you have to have a little bit more of a defensive mind frame.
- [03:50]
Scott Wapner
What do you make rob of this conversation that's being had, the anxiety which is obviously within the market, those who are opining on the issues that exist.
- [04:01]
Rob Seachin
I agree with Joe. You have to be a little more mindful about valuations as you turn the calendar. People have made an extraordinary amount of money around this theme. You have. As long as you go into, though, where fundamentals are improving and valuation has reset to reasonable levels. We've bought in video several times. Every time that happens and it's paid enormous dividends.
- [04:25]
Scott Wapner
Did this again now we did it.
- [04:27]
Rob Seachin
We did it again. Just the other day you have a rerating, you have fundamentals improving. The valuation comes in a bit and we buy. And so the reality of it is as long as you can look to next year. And again, you saw JP Morgan saying this just I think yesterday, maybe even this morning, that they were expecting capital spending in this space to decline to 30%. Now it's. Now they're expecting 50% again and it could even be 60%. So I think those tailwinds are there. Yes, there's a Little cross dealing. There's a little stuff to sort through. But when valuations rerate, I think you can still be there.
- [05:05]
Scott Wapner
Now you're down 7% in a week in Nvidia, which is an example. Bernstein's defending both Nvidia and Joe's Broadcom. Today it's about AI sustainability worries and how they, they continue to increase. Weiss, what's your, what's your take here? We watch these stocks, you know, continue to pull back. We come on the air, we say, well, Nvidia is down 5 1/2% in a week. Five minutes later, now it's down 7% in a week.
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Steve Weiss
Stock prices are not always a reflection of fundamentals. So and that cuts both ways. So on the way up with the hypervaluations, unreasonable valuations that we saw and I think Broadcom frankly is one of those and I've said that I was wrong because I said when stocks are in about 250, but that remains the case. So they were not, they were too optimistic on the fundamentals at that point. Arguably they're resetting that. I don't necessarily believe that the downside has been reached, but I think it's being irrational. And here's one of the reasons why. If the concern is that AI spending is going to decline and that you're not going to realize the benefits of the technology, the latter is obviously wrong. Right? Because we see it every day, that's replacing jobs, making people more efficient, etc. So, so I think that's there. It's the fastest adopted technology in history by a margin, despite the cost of it versus the Internet, which was free to most. Then what happens with a matter is that their capex will be reduced because they won't be the same competition to build out data centers and data centers, if you're following through, are going to be overbuilt. I mean that's a dialogue now, which means that their cost to lease those will be lower, which means there'll be less reaching for in video, which means they may not price power. So I think you got to pick and choose. So to me, having the ones that benefit from AI in terms of their ongoing product set and recurring revenues are the ones you want to own like a matter like Microsoft, like Google, like Amazon, because of the cloud, because their.
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Scott Wapner
Costs will go of course, I mean the streets out defending all of these names, right? Jason, Every day they, they go down, you have the questions and then the defenders come rushing in to say hey, focus on the fundamentals of, of this, of that I thought it was interesting yesterday that that sunshine of Goldman, when he made the comment that Gemini of obviously Alphabet was able to leapfrog open AI, I thought that was a really interesting statement from somebody of his stature at Goldman Sachs to make that kind of comment. Just because where we were with Alphabet, which I think everybody owns, where we were several months ago, asking questions now seems to be Gemini 3 is the real deal and everybody else better watch out. Right, right.
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Jason Snipe
And I think just broadly, as it relates to kind of just the mega cap and AI theme, I think it's really about execution and visibility. This story this year has all been about CapEx, when hundreds of billions of dollars were throwing that around like these are minimal, minuscule numbers and they're not. I think what, what the market is looking at is. And to Steve's point, I think the fundamentals are so strong. When we heard all of these reports, whether it's Broadcom, whether it's Google, whether it's Metta, Amazon doesn't matter. A lot of these names have done very well. I think, though they've run for three years. We're heading into the fourth year of a bull year bull run, and we're heading into the midterms Right. In 2026. So I think the other story that's been playing is what's going on with Russell 2000, what's going with transports, what's going on with even energy recently. I mean, I mean, oil has pulled back some, but I think the broadening story has been the story where that's the drum that's been playing loudly. So for me, that's healthy. And I could appreciate a bit of a pullback here in some of these names and look to the broader market for.
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Scott Wapner
So what's, what's pretty clear is that neither coreweave nor Oracle can stomach headlines that are raising continued questions about what's taking place in the data center businesses of both. In coralweave's case, we've showed you, you know, the stock is down like 25% in a few days. It feels like, yeah, there you go. One week down 25%. Oracle just continues to, for the most part, decline while the CDS continue to go up and up and to the right. The latest piece today is the Financial Times reporting that Oracle's $10 billion Michigan data center is in limbo. It's a word they use after Blue Owl funding talks stall. Which is why we got Seema Modi up again. Because, Seema, you just continue to be busy following every development here and how the market seems to react to it and then how Oracle is forced to respond as well.
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Contessa Brewer
Yeah, the market is becoming increasingly sensitive to any signs of a delay or suggestion that it can't find a backer. A source does tell me that Blue Owl did not did look at financing Oracle's $10 billion data center in Michigan, but ultimately decided that the economics of this deal not make sense, specifically the debt terms and the structure of repayments and also concerns that local politics in Michigan could result in construction delays. So this news is significant, Scott, given that Blue Owl has backed Oracle's two other projects, Texas and New Mexico. Oracle does confirm to CNBC that yes, Blue Owl won't be in this deal with Michigan, but adds that its development partner, Related Digital, is in final negotiations with a competitive group for their equity deal and that it's on schedule and according to planning. But as you share, the market is not taking this news kindly. The stock is down another 4% because it raises new questions. Right. Clarity on who the backer of this $10 billion Michigan data center will be. Any suggestion that this data center expansion will be slower than expected also then brings up the whole question around this $300 billion deal that Oracle has with OpenAI, which at this point is still its main customer.
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Scott Wapner
Yeah, never did you imagine you'd be following every in and out of this story as it develops. But we'll continue to talk to you. Appreciate your reporting, Seema, thank you for that. That's Seema Modi. Jason Snipe, you own Oracle and from best I remember, we haven't heard from you on this name. Give me something.
- [11:29]
Jason Snipe
I mean it feels like it goes down every day, right? You know, $600 billion, roughly a $600 billion market cap, $100 billion worth of debt. And I think for me the concern broadly and just making it plain and simple is they're relying on the debt marks to grow this company and they're not pulling from free cash flow.
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Scott Wapner
Right.
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Jason Snipe
So there's chinks in the armor. That's obviously the story that the narrative have shift dramatically since that major RPO number in the, in the last report and there was an earnings miss. And I think for me as well, I think the other point is they're heavily reliant on open AI. And if that, if that doesn't play out and that execution doesn't happen, the way the market is reviewing this story is that it's not going to go well.
- [12:14]
Scott Wapner
So you look at the data center names I mentioned in the intro to our program today that they're all down. Dell's down. We'll try and cycle through some of these. Take a look at Dell. The power names are pretty ugly, right? Vistra, Eaton, Vertiv plays into it. Quanta Services. You could look at some of the other names too. GE that are relevant. GE Vernova. Really. It's a pick them kind of a story today. Weiss brings me to you. We got to do a little cleanup on aisle 12, as in 12 noon, the broom. Because look, your. Your vertive final trade of selling it on Monday looks like a good move relative to what's happening in the market. The issue that we had, and we know some of our viewers took issue with, is it was your final trade on Friday of, you know, talking about how the stock was going to continue to do very well. You've been in it a long time. You just clean that up for me. Because it left a bit of an uneasy feeling with many.
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Steve Weiss
So. So here's what happened. It was my final trade. I said it would bounce. It actually did bounce. So if you listen to me, you made money. And even after I said it, that I've sold it, it continued to bounce. But you know, weekends for all of us, when we have some time to read and to think and to talk to people are a time of reflection. I've been consistent early in that, you know, and still was on Monday. I said it because I'm reducing my exposure to AI. Just way too much beta there. Way too many companies I want to go to the permanent compounders. Vertiv, you know, I came to see the collusion. That's one of the places I want to cut exposure. I also mentioned on Monday I want to cut exposure in G Vernova and was prepared to do this, do that this morning until it fell out of bed. So again, it was a final trade. It wasn't a final investment. I had been in since 45. I got out once.
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Scott Wapner
Sure, but you were in it for a while.
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Joe Terranova
Yeah.
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Scott Wapner
It wasn't a. You know what can be. Sometimes you're nimble in the market. It wasn't like an in, out and out. You were in this name for a while.
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Steve Weiss
Yeah.
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Scott Wapner
You made part of the case was on valuation. Valuation didn't change from Friday to Monday.
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Steve Weiss
No, my thought process did change and you know, when I. When I've recommended it, keep mine. It was a trader's bounce I was looking for and it did bounce as a trade. It was not my intention to get out Monday when I said that at all, as a matter of fact. I didn't get out at the highs of the day. I got out at the lows of the day on Monday because I did it first thing in the morning.
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Scott Wapner
Okay. I just wanted you to address it today. I know our viewers question saw it, they were wondering about it. We were wondering about it. And I think the moral of this story, in part as we move on, is take your final trade seriously. Take your final trade seriously. People pay attention. And oftentimes I took it seriously, why I made it and may buy or sell something on the recommendation that you make for a stock that you pick in the final moments of our program. So we talked about all those. We talked about your buy. Rob of Nvidia. Nvidia buying a little bit more. Amazon might as well talk about that for a minute. Among the favorite ideas today at rbc, Open Eyes. In discussions with Amazon about a potential investment of $10 billion or more, CNBC has confirmed that Met is aiming to release a new AI model in Q1 of next year. Apple's price target gets increased today. Melia says don't listen to the haters. Apple has its groove back. Which is interesting. You believe that, Rob, does Apple have its groove back?
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Rob Seachin
We are underweight, Apple. If you look at what we are overweight, Significantly overweight. Our largest overweight and largest position has been Google this year, and that was newer at the beginning of the year. We are followed by Metta as a large overweight. A lot of that is driven by, when they come to the price that we want to own them. Again, Met as the best example for us in 22. Right. So when I look at Apple, that is a little bit of a different story than the others. I do think they're going to be able to monetize some, some of their ad, but I don't think they warrant the premium to the other names right now.
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Scott Wapner
Okay, what do you guys do with software, which has been a pretty dramatic underperformer, whether it's a snowflake or a docusign or an autodesk or a workday or a service. Now you. I'm gonna come back to you, Rob, real quick because you sold Workday, right? Why'd you do that?
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Rob Seachin
Tax. Tax loss.
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Jason Snipe
Really.
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Rob Seachin
It's not an indictment on the business. You're seeing some encouraging signs there of integration. We recognize we're swimming upstream, though. There's still this narrative out there that they are going to get disrupted rather majorly by that and it'll take several quarters for anything positive to happen. We think so. So we took the loss and rotated in something that we had more conviction.
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Scott Wapner
Service now. Your service now is not traded well at all. Downgrade this week. You're talking about other deals. We talked to people, you know, in the last couple of days who look at the news and like another. Another deal that was sort of the. That was sort of the deal.
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Joe Terranova
Yeah.
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Scott Wapner
Take from the market. What's your take?
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Jason Snipe
Yeah, I think. Yeah, yeah. No, I think broadly as it relates to kind of software and kind of this cannibalization, this AI cannibalization eating up software. And I think as it relates to just general workflows. General workflows. There's this kind of narrative playing on the market that AI agents are going to take over that space in its entirety. So. But as it relates to ServiceNow and a lot of other players, they're an enterprise and how sensitive Enterprises review data. ServiceNow has a customized solution and I think that's the reason we continue to hold it. But that's been the story that I think is playing around across the software space and that's why you're seeing names falling, CRM, ServiceNow and others. But I do think, you know, it's the customization sensitive data, enterprise to enterprise that I think is going to be important. I think that's why you can continue to hold these names going forward.
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Scott Wapner
Yeah, this thing is. Is in danger of being in the Jyoti penalty box. I mean, or maybe getting a game misconduct and an ejection. If you look at what the stock has done quarter to date, you're going to have to make some decisions soon. You have ServiceNow in there. Even as Bernstein makes the argument it's the cheapest large cap software stock.
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Joe Terranova
No, it's a good argument that they could make, but it doesn't really meet the criteria for our holding it or maintaining it in the etf. But we'll see what happens there. While, while I'm talking, can we throw up datadog one month chart of that. That was a clear favorite name in 2025. I talked about it frequently. It is a software name in the ETF as well. Another example of a stock that has reported subsequent to that has broken down. What's peculiar about what's going on in software right now is you're seeing the software names that had a degree of leadership. They're experiencing the correction. And then there's other names like a Twilio, which I personally bought, like a Zoom, which I own and I know Josh owns as well, is approaching $90. You're seeing that those are seeing a modest rebound. So I don't think that in the entirety of the investment community, you kind of given up on software, because I still think software offers a defensive element when you think of technology itself. But I think you have to be very specific in the direction that you want to go. And understand a lot of these stocks in 2025 that perform really well, they need some relief. And I think capital shifting to other areas where there's been underperformance.
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Steve Weiss
You know, I think what we're seeing just across the board is a very nervous market. Yeah, I mean, when you take a look. So we had to.
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Rob Seachin
Negative.
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Steve Weiss
It's one negative announcement data centers today, which is being disputed as being negative by the company, and two positive ones, that being HUD 8, which is a $7 billion investment in data center that can grow to 17 billion that Google apparently is fully backstopping. And then we've got the Amazon news. So if you were back six months, the sector would be flying on this as well as all technology. But you're not. So, so we're seeing the downside of that. And so, so just keep in mind that, that, that, you know, weight. It was two companies, and this is not a way. I'm not saying that two companies really caused damage to every other company. And those were Lehman and Bear Stearns. Here it's really Oracle and it's core weave that's driving this resetting of it because, you know, and they're the outliers in terms of their models. So just pointing out it's a nervous market.
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Joe Terranova
See, I don't know that it's necessarily. It's nervousness that's the catalyst of the market rationalization also. Yeah, to a certain extent. But I, I absolutely believe it is, it is confirmation that we are way too bullish collectively. The entire financial services industry. And I think we had that report yesterday talking about that. So you have. When you think about moving forward into 2026, you say to yourself, well, what are the names I want to own? It's the names you're talking about. It's the Mag 7. It's what you bought in video. Right. Because why? It's offense and it's defense, but yet they continue to go down in an environment where the market's correcting. That's telling you that the market just wants to reduce positioning and work off some of that bullish sentiment. And I think that's what we are faced with right now. We are too bullish on risk assets moving into target.
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Steve Weiss
See, volatility just One more. I'm sorry, one more point is that we were at a point where a rising tide lifted all ships. Those are generally moments in time. The rational markets, which I believe is what we're getting to now is where you separate the winners from. Not winners, right, not sorry losers, but the ones that will be the permanent compounders.
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Scott Wapner
I should also remind Everybody we're only 2.4% off of an all time high on the.
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Joe Terranova
No.
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Scott Wapner
Before we declare everybody too bullish and.
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Joe Terranova
Whatever positioning 2.4% off an all time high. You can reach an extreme and bullish.
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Rob Seachin
Let me say this though. The data doesn't support that. Look at Deutsche bank consolidated positioning to the 60th percentile. It. So people might be saying they are bullish. The positioning is not reflecting that. Valuations do certainly, but positioning is not reflecting that. In the household market it does. Households are fully invested. So there's always room for institutions. When you have these fundamentals recalibrated and when you look at what's supposed to happen next year to drive this broadening out trade, I would just ask you do you believe that can happen or do you more believe that some of these hyperscalers in the investment theme that's happening here can continue to persist? Are we going to extract all these benefits of efficiency that we're supposed to see in every other business? Do you really believe that? Do you really believe that small cap which was supposed to grow at 40% this year in Grew 6 is going to grow at 50% next year when 40% of the companies are unprofitable?
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Steve Weiss
Let me.
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Rob Seachin
How's that work?
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Steve Weiss
I do believe that we will continue to see. Not start seeing, continue to see efficiencies with companies with.
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Rob Seachin
At what point?
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Steve Weiss
We're seeing it everywhere. We're seeing some.
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Rob Seachin
I agree. We're seeing it too.
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Steve Weiss
I think the pace is. Is immaterial to the end game. As long as the momentum continues on that and it will. I think we'll see being. You know, so why can't you drive.
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Rob Seachin
Weight on both skis? Would be my argument instead of just saying this is over. That has to begin. We have to, we have to reevaluate everything.
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Steve Weiss
I do believe that the Mag 7, not all of them, but most of them will continue to be leaders as they have been because they can better withstand a downturn. And I don't see a downturn. So that's where I am. I think the broadening is, is situational and happens occasionally. I'm not a big fan of, of the Russell because They don't have the dollars and the ability to compete to.
- [24:27]
Rob Seachin
Buy A in the S&P 500. Just one more thing, Joe. I know you know this. The X expectations for what's going to happen out of the Mag 7 seem very pie in the sky to us. You know, you could have this rotation that continues to drive it. No question it's about incremental dollar flows. But it does seem to me in us that if you get an opportunity to continue to invest in some of these names. Your point a second ago was you're playing defense and offense in there. We've seen that so several times in that space. And that's why they've been 32% of the market cap. They've been 24% of the earnings of the market. And those things 10 years ago were both 10%.
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Steve Weiss
Why?
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Rob Seachin
Because these businesses are systematically changing the market.
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Joe Terranova
I'll make this point really, really quick, but I think it's. You will. I think it's important. You have to understand what's going on right now when I say that it's where we're working off bullishness. I don't think the fundamentals have changed dramatically or deteriorated to discourage you from thinking about staying invested in 25, 26. Rather, whatever your strategy is, you want to. You want to be binary. You want to go max 7, you want to go broadening. I'm going to go a little bit of both. But I just think this is specific to positioning and that tells me that the fundamentals have not changed or deteriorated significantly. And it's not an inflection point. So you're 2.2.4 away from an all time high. You're going to see another all time high in 26. It will happen.
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Scott Wapner
Okay, so we'll take a break. We've got many moves from Rob Seachen to document all around the market too, which is interesting. Plus we'll tell you about the headline out of Washington that has defense stocks under some serious pressure today. We'll debate our top calls of the day too. We're back. Just two minutes. The heaviest metal credit card of all time, rumored to be one of only 18 in existence, plated with the very same tungsten that forged the International Space Station and wielded at business dinners like a samurai sword. It's a classic corporate power move. But the real power move, Having end to end visibility on your most critical shipments. FedEx. The new power move. We all take good care of the things that matter. Our homes, our pets, our cars.
- [26:51]
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- [27:17]
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- [27:47]
Scott Wapner
All right, welcome back. We have some moves to get to from Rob. As I said you're playing cyclical areas of the market. You bought Devon and you bought host hotels. You bought more Abbvie too. But tell me about Devon and Host. Those are new buys.
- [27:59]
Rob Seachin
Yeah. Let's start with Devon. I think you have to acknowledge some of this broadening out trade even though I just poo pooed it a second ago in left behind areas like energy which when they get cheap sometimes you have these runs and let's remember 22 what a great way to hedge your exposure. I know you were there to what a great way to hedge your exposure to the tech sell off. If you were long, if you were long energy that year. We're not making the all clear on that trade. I think we're selectively adding exposure in health care in reeds.
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Scott Wapner
Right. What about the host hotels?
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Rob Seachin
So that's just a play on the strength the of of the high end consumer which we think is going to persist. If you look at that they're the largest lodging rate in the US they own iconic properties supported by brands like Ritz Carlton, Four Season Seasons, JW Marriott. They have an interesting service mix in their business. They have some retail in there and it trades at eight times funds from operations.
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Scott Wapner
A lot of there's been a lot of time talk about this area of the travel stock universe. Marriott got an upgrade the other day. A lot of those stocks have been doing quite well.
- [29:12]
Rob Seachin
This is also at a 40% discount to the peer group which is interesting given the demographic.
- [29:19]
Scott Wapner
What was interesting to us is that Seurat joined us yesterday and said that he bought Verisk. I want you to listen to what he told us.
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Joe Terranova
What I really like about this business.
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Scott Wapner
Is 80% recurring revenue.
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Rory McIlroy
And if you look at their customer retention, it's 95%.
- [29:37]
Joe Terranova
You're picking up a really high quality.
- [29:39]
Rory McIlroy
Cash flow company that I think is.
- [29:41]
Scott Wapner
Just put out to the witch head.
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Steve Weiss
With all of the software companies, we.
- [29:45]
Rory McIlroy
Think they've got a really good management team.
- [29:48]
Scott Wapner
Okay, so that's Seurat from yesterday, why he bought it. Now you tell us why you sold it.
- [29:53]
Rob Seachin
Well, it's an insurance software business for underwriting optimization. So, yes, it does have some recurring themes, but it could be a poster child for AI disruption. And I don't think that theme is going away. We, we were in a little earlier, had a loss in it and took that loss. And it's really as simple as that.
- [30:14]
Scott Wapner
Okay, let's get the headlines now with Contessa Brewer. Hi, Contessa.
- [30:17]
Contessa Brewer
Hi there, Scott. Former Justice Department prosecutor Jack Smith is in closed door briefings today on Capitol Hill defending his investigations into President Trump.
- [30:25]
Steve Weiss
Trump.
- [30:26]
Contessa Brewer
The House Judiciary Committee led by Republicans, is deposing Smith as part of an investigation into the probes of Trump's alleged hoarding of classified documents and the alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Now, Smith dropped the cases after Trump's reelection, but he told the panel today his team developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A federal appeals court is issuing a ruling today allowing the national guard deployment in D.C. to continue while it's being challenged in court. A few weeks ago, a gunman shot two national guard personnel in D.C. killing one. That prompted President Trump to surge an additional 500 troops to the Capitol. A senior Trump administration official tells NBC News President Trump's primetime address will make the case for recent actions against Venezuela, but he won't roll out specific new policies. That address scheduled live from the White House at 9:00pm Eastern Time. Scott, that's the news. I'll send it back to you.
- [31:24]
Scott Wapner
All right, contestant, thank you. Contested brewer. Coming up next, Mike Santol. He's got his midday word. We're back right after this.
- [31:33]
Contessa Brewer
VRBO makes it easy to claim your dream summer spot with early booking deals from homes with pools to poolside loungers. When you book a vrbo, you don't have to reserve any loungers. They're all yours. Get that early booking deal@vrbo.com.
- [31:49]
Scott Wapner
Before the.
- [31:50]
Fidelity Trader Plus Announcer
Trophy and bragging rights are rightfully yours. Before your sleeper turns. In a season no one saw coming, before stats and projections turn into points on the board and your lineup falls perfectly into place, you Flip the lid on a can of on nicotine pouches. And as you make your first pick, you know this is the season where fantasy's going to surpass reality. It's on products for tobacco consumers 21 years of age or older. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
- [32:18]
Joe Terranova
Sling is the live TV service that.
- [32:21]
Steve Weiss
Puts you in charge.
- [32:22]
Scott Wapner
Choose your plan. Orange for sports and entertainment favorites, blue.
- [32:25]
Joe Terranova
For news and reality or select for the essentials.
- [32:28]
Scott Wapner
Only pay for the stuff you actually watch and pause your subscription anytime because.
- [32:32]
Joe Terranova
Paying for TV or not watching, that's just rude.
- [32:36]
Scott Wapner
No long term contracts, no nonsense. Pick your plan, add what you want. Sling lets you do that. Visit sling.com to learn more. We're back on the half senior markets Commentator Mike Santoli joins us now with his midday word. It's like as goes Oracle, so goes, so goes the stock market. I mean certainly so goes the AI trade.
- [32:57]
Mike Santoli
It feels like, yeah, so goes I guess the conviction level lower in this whole AI building out. And you know, it's interesting, it's second day in a row where it threatened to get pretty disorderly this sell off and in some part of the market and kind of compromise the index's ability to stay in this range. Not quite. But you wonder just exactly how much slack can continue to be taken up on a day by day basis from the non trading. Now yesterday as I mentioned, we did get a bid in Mag 7 late in the day and so it's kind of the pendulum swinging back and forth here. But we are kind of spinning wheels. I mean on a prolonged basis, 6,750 in the S and P goes back a couple of months. And I just wonder if it's, it's kind of the deal where people are wondering if there's just sort of unfinished business for this reckoning into the beginning of next year if we're going to get it out of the way right here as people mostly are repositioning and buying laggards and taking profits in the NASDAQ, which by the way was up 60% from low to high from April to, to October.
- [33:56]
Scott Wapner
I just wonder what gets you Mike, out of this malaise with AI. There's nothing that seems to be out there to answer the questions that are being asked.
- [34:03]
Mike Santoli
No, I mean, I guess you could have said the same thing about deep seek sort of things run their course, everything at a price once you get valuations a little more subdued. And then maybe if you just get more assertions of, you know, that, that these orders are Real the build outs are going to happen. The credit markets absorb it. We'll see if that might be enough before we get into January earnings reporting season.
- [34:26]
Scott Wapner
All right, good stuff, Michael. I'll see you at 3 o'.
- [34:28]
Contessa Brewer
Clock.
- [34:28]
Scott Wapner
Thank you, Mike Santoli. Coming up next, a halftime exclusive with one of the biggest stars in golf, Rory McIlroy. He joins us live ahead of the first ever Optum Golf Channel games. Excited about that? We'll discuss next. All right, welcome back. Golf fans, get ready for some prime time action tonight as the inaugural Optum Golf Club channel games tees it up down in Jupiter, Florida. The Made for TV event pits two teams captained by Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in five total competitions. And in addition today, Versant, which is CNBC's parent company, is announcing a long term partnership extension with Rory and the launch of a new production venture. Rory joins us now along with Versant's president of digital platforms and Ventures, Will McIntosh. Gentlemen, nice backdrop. It's great to have you on our program today.
- [35:20]
Rory McIlroy
Thanks for having us.
- [35:21]
Will McIntosh
Yeah, great to be here.
- [35:22]
Scott Wapner
Let's will first break some news. This long term extension of Golf Pass's partnership, as I said, with Rory and this new production venture in what is a pretty special day for this company.
- [35:35]
Will McIntosh
Yeah, I mean, it's pretty amazing from our perspective. We've now had this partnership in place with Rory and his team for just over six years and it's been one of the best we've ever done. We think this extension made sense for a variety of reasons, but who better to be an ambassador and business partner in a venture like Golf pass than Rory McIlroy? When we launched this, we set out to build the most comprehensive digital membership platform in all of golf. And you know, Rory was willing to take that risk with us. And you know, as we sit here today, we feel like we've accomplished that, but we have a lot more that we're looking forward to doing together.
- [36:14]
Scott Wapner
It feels like this risk, as you say, has clearly paid off. Rory, you're going to continue to be the face of Golf Pass as well as a partner. And it's a pretty comprehensive membership. For those who might not be fully aware. You get instruction from people like you, you can stream original content and you can get access to teatime credits and had some pretty nice courses as well. Tell us more.
- [36:38]
Rory McIlroy
Yeah, it is. It's really like a digital one stop shop for everything that you need in the world of golf. You know, when Will and his team brought us this idea of Golf Pass as he said, like, you know, six or seven years ago, we sort of jumped in with two feet. We thought it would be a great way to try to bring golf into the 21st century. You know, it's just another evolution of the Golf Channel and you know, obviously thrilled to be a partner and be involved, but. But then to, you know, extend that partnership as well that, you know, Will's team are amazing to work with and, you know, we can't wait for what lies ahead.
- [37:15]
Scott Wapner
This extension. Will is of course, just one piece of the news. As I mentioned off the top, the other exclusive announcement today is the launch of Firethorne Productions. What kind of content will Versant and Rory like to produce?
- [37:30]
Will McIntosh
Yeah, I mean, if you look at what we've done over, you know, these past six years with the Golf Pass content that we've created together, I think that would give you some indication for what the plans are. And I think a lot of it, it's a testament to Rory's team and our team. I think Rory got very comfortable with our creative capabilities as we were producing. The great content we have, we've done with him, along with a lot of the commercials that you'll see on Golf Channel and CNBC and other Versant properties from time to time. And it will range from things like short and long form documentary series. We did a great series following the creation of TGL and Boston Common Golf. We also last year released the first of a three part series documenting the creation or the restoration of Cobbs Creek in Philadelphia. So we'll do more of that. You'll see us continue to do a lot of world class instruction content with Rory and other, you know, professional golf instructors. And then really what's amazing about being in business with Rory is the, you know, he's this magnetic force with all of his partners. And we found opportunities to work with, you know, a lot of Rory's other more strategic partners in terms of producing content for them as well. So a wide range of opportunity and we're excited to be in business with Rory again.
- [38:54]
Scott Wapner
I think it's become pretty clear to me, Rory and probably others too for that matter, that if you put these announcements today together with what you've done recently, for example, with TPG and what we discussed down at TGL just a handful of of weeks ago, you have your eye pretty squarely on business brand building, establishing yourself as a force in business as well, just not on the golf course.
- [39:25]
Rory McIlroy
Yeah, I think, you know, I think I said to you a couple of weeks ago when we talked I know I'm not going to play golf forever. And, you know, I'm going to have the second half of my life to live after my career is over. So what better time to put the wheels in motion with things that I'm interested in than when I'm most relevant? I think this is the time to put these things in place so that when the day comes that I feel like I can't compete with the best golfers in the world anymore, I can hopefully seamlessly step into this next role. So whether it's having great partners like Versant or, you know, as you said, the launch of the Sports Fund with tpg, you're just trying to position myself for, you know, that. That second part of my life, which I think is a really important thing to do as well.
- [40:15]
Scott Wapner
You're going to have some fun tonight. The Golf Channel games, obviously, which is what I want to discuss with you now. I said there's five competitions, a time drive, time short game, a relay, a captain's challenge, among other things. Who's on your team tonight? Because you're going against Scotty and. And some guys, too.
- [40:32]
Rory McIlroy
Yeah, yeah, it's so on my team, it's Shane Lowry, look, Donald and H. Tong Lee, so obviously a little bit of a European feel from, from the Ryder cup, you know, a couple of months back. And then Htong Lee, who, you know, people will get to know him more tonight, but he's one of the most entertaining characters in golf. And then obviously on Scotty's team, you have Scotty, who is the best player in the world, and, you know, he's got Sam Burns and Keegan Bradley and Luke Clanton, who's a great young up and coming player. So a little bit of a, you know, a sort of Ryder cup rematch in some ways, but we're going to have fun tonight. You know, I think it's a way for us to try to showcase our skills in a different setting, in a different environment, maybe have the guys show a little bit more of their personalities and do it in a way that keeps the audience engaged. You know, golf has had a tradition of, you know, doing these made for TV events, especially at this time of the year. And look, some of them have worked and some of them maybe haven't. But I think what we're trying to do tonight is a little bit different and, you know, hopefully everyone watching on TV can appreciate that and, you know, hopefully everyone enjoys it. I know the players are looking forward to it. So we're excited for tonight.
- [41:45]
Scott Wapner
Yeah, Will is This something that you would foresee doing every year with Rory, Something like this, if it turns out well tonight.
- [41:55]
Will McIntosh
Yeah, I think first, this doesn't happen without Rory. I mean, he. He's. He's the anchor of this event, and he's what was. You know, he made it very easy for the other players competing to say yes. We think what we're doing tonight is. Is maybe one of the most innovative formats that you've seen in the last few years, and certainly the plan would be to do more of this, and. And we'd be silly to do it without Rory, so. Absolutely.
- [42:20]
Scott Wapner
Before I let you go, Rory, I'd like to ask you one question about the PGA Tour, which we also discussed down in Florida a few weeks ago. This notion and expectation speculation, if you will, that there are going to be some substantial changes to the schedule coming up in the new year under the new CEO, who comes from the NFL, wants to kind of, you know, clear the decks from the NFL getting out of the way, and maybe the schedule would start later. You told me down there that you thought some changes were, in fact, needed. Tiger woods has been talking about that, as well, as he leads the future competition committee. You think we're on the road to doing something substantial and change when it comes to the schedule of professional golf?
- [43:04]
Rory McIlroy
Yeah, I think so. You know, I think bringing Brian in has been a great thing for the PGA Tour, to get an outside perspective. And. Yeah, I mean, really what we're trying to do is streamline the product. You know, sort of. There's so many, you know, the equation wasn't quite adding up, so there was only so many weeks in the year, and there was just so many golf tournaments, and, you know, the product was getting very, very saturated, you know, so to try to streamline the product, make events, you know, maybe a little more scarce, but more meaningful at the same time. So I think that's when Brian talks about scarcity and simplicity and competitive parody. You know, I think professional golf has got the competitive parity part, Dawn. I think they do that really well. You know, every given week, anyone can really win. But the scarcity and the simplicity parts are the things that we need to concentrate on, and I think that's what Brian and his team are digging in that. And, yeah, I mean, I, you know, I think it'll take a while for these things to get set in motion. But, you know, I would say, you know, maybe by 2027, we're going to see a pretty different look to the PGA Tour schedule.
- [44:15]
Scott Wapner
Interesting. Well, continued success Congrats on all of the success that you have had. Enjoy tonight. And will, it's a big day for our company. And congrats to you as well and all the folks at Versant.
- [44:27]
Will McIntosh
Yeah, thank you guys.
- [44:28]
Rory McIlroy
Yeah. Thank you.
- [44:29]
Scott Wapner
All right. Talk to you guys soon. Be sure to watch the Optim Golf Club channel games tonight, 7 Eastern on Golf Channel and USA. Coming up, the trade on Robinhood. That company taking another big step today into the prediction markets. And there's a sports angle, too. We'll trade it next. Big IPOs just opened Medline for trade at the Nasdaq. Leslie Picker is there with more. Les.
- [44:52]
Contessa Brewer
Hey, Scott, you can hear the cheering behind me. Medline just opening for trading up about 2021% from its IPO price of $29 per share. This was an upsized IPO raising 6 of upwards of $6 billion, the largest IPO globally this year by offering size. You can see those shares up 21% here after pricing at $21 29 last night. This is a company that sells products used in surgeries and medical offices, things like masks and robes and kits that they can use for that doctors and surgeons can use. It's grown its CAGR for net sales about 18% since inception in the 1960s. It was taken private or purchased by private equity, a private equity consortium back in 2021. This is the largest ever LBO to go public in history. So a lot of firsts, a lot of historical moments that we're seeing here with Medline beginning to trade. You can see shares currently up about 22% right now. Scott.
- [46:03]
Scott Wapner
It's a biggie. We'll keep our eyes on that less. Thank you. That's Leslie Picker. How about Robinhood today taking another step further into prediction markets? Mackenzie Segalos is following that story for us. Had shares on the move a little bit earlier today. Mac.
- [46:17]
Contessa Brewer
Hey, Scott. So this is all about Robinhood making prediction markets a much bigger priority now that it's the fastest growing product line in the company's history. The big change here is that Robinhood is moving closer to the sportsbook model, letting users trade what amount to parlay and prop bets on NFL games and players, but packaging it as event trading inside of the Robinhood app. Now, this new set of features make it possible to trade preset combos tied to winners, totals spreads and bet on player moments like touchdowns and yardage as the game is happening. And early next year, the company says that users will be able to build custom combos that bundle up to 10 outcomes across games. You've got CEO Vlad Tenev calling this a template that could be extended beyond the NFL over time into other sports and eventually things like economic data and policy. This also shows just how crowded the competition has become in prediction markets. Kalshee remains the regulated specialist, Polymarket, the crypto native giant. But Robinhood is betting that distribution wins, especially if you can put event contracts next to next to stocks and crypto and make it more of a one stop shop for all trading.
- [47:25]
Scott Wapner
Scott Mackenzie, thank you. That's Mackenzie Seagal. Joe, you got stock. I mean, Robinhood has positioned itself as being in the right place in the right time with the right products for the right people.
- [47:37]
Joe Terranova
They have and they've built the executive team with a lot of strong leadership and experience in various industries that are all integral, integral rather to the growth of this company. So I think it's coming to fruition now. They clearly have established themselves as one of the leaders for online brokerage.
- [47:55]
Scott Wapner
We bounce. We come back after the break. We do finals next. I hope you join me three o' clock Eastern on the closing bell today with Adam Parker, Sarah Malik, Robert Kaplan, Sonali Basak, Stephanie Link and the Wall Street Journal sports reporter Jared diamond on the next big Japanese baseball star. It's a picture. You'll find out where he doesn't want to play. Coming up at 3 o'. Clock. Let's do finals. What do you got, Abby?
- [48:20]
Rob Seachin
Broadening out trade continues.
- [48:23]
Jason Snipe
Microsoft down 12% since the end of October. I like this one here.
- [48:26]
Scott Wapner
Stephen Weiss, Netflix.
- [48:27]
Steve Weiss
I think it's putting her bottom here and dead money. But I still, still think it's interesting.
- [48:32]
Scott Wapner
All right. Because that saga, it doesn't seem to be close to over yet. We'll have to see Joe Tulio pushing towards 150. All right, good stuff. We'll follow the markets. I'll see you on closing bell, 3 o' clock Eastern Time. The exchanges now. You've been listening to CNBC's halftime report, the podcast. You can always catch us live weekdays at 12 Eastern only on CNBC.
- [48:54]
Contessa Brewer
All opinions expressed by the Halftime Report 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 Halftime Report 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 Halftime Report disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com halftimereportdisclaimer.
- [49:35]
Fidelity Trader Plus Announcer
Before the trophy and bragging rights are rightfully yours. Before your sleeper turns In a season no one saw coming, before stats and projections turn into points on the board and your lineup falls perfectly into place, you flip the lid on a can of on nicotine pouches. And as you make your first pick, you know this is the season where fantasy's going to surpass reality. It's on. Products for tobacco consumers 21 years of age or older. Warning. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.