Trading the Pivotal Week for the Market 12/8/25

Summary

CNBC Halftime Report: "Trading the Pivotal Week for the Market"

Date: December 8, 2025
Host: Scott Wapner
Panelists: Joe Terranova, Bryn Talkington, Shannon Saccocia, Amy Raskin, Steve Liesman

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Episode Overview

This episode of CNBC’s Halftime Report dives into a critical week for financial markets, defined by the upcoming Fed policy decision and closely-watched earnings from Oracle and Broadcom. Scott Wapner and the Halftime investment committee examine the implications of monetary policy shifts, dissect the health of the "AI trade," and debate stock-specific catalysts and concerns—from tech giants Apple and Tesla to banking powerhouse Goldman Sachs and the resilience of Berkshire Hathaway post-Buffett.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fed Meeting and Market Impact (01:01–10:48)

• Anticipation of Rate Policy:
  • The central debate is whether the Fed will implement a “hawkish cut”—lowering rates with cautious rhetoric—or perhaps hold off, given uncertainty in economic data delayed by government shutdown.
• Global Context:
  • Joe Terranova notes, “84% of global central banks, their last policy action was a rate cut. You do not want to see that figure fall below 50%. That’s when...markets get into trouble.” (02:45)
• Liquidity vs. Growth:
  • Supportive liquidity from the Fed is underpinning positive outlooks, but risks remain if long-term rates rise.
• Data Dependency and Forecast Quality:
  • Steve Liesman argues the Fed's forecasts are “worthless” without current data, due to delays:

    "I don't understand these models that are going to spit out the Fed's forecast...They're going to be kind of worthless and the market's going to have to really take a key part of the Fed's forward guidance...with a huge grain of salt." (06:22)

• Inflation Concerns:
  • Inflation expectations remain sticky: >“There’s some talk out there that the economy is accelerating already and you have not brought inflation down. There’s a bunch of people...that think...we’re going to be above 2% for [years].” –Steve Liesman (08:34)

2. AI Trade: Oracle, Broadcom & Market Leadership (10:48–18:02)

• Oracle’s Debt-Fueled Ambitions:
  • Joe Terranova: “Oracle has to address the capex...Are they actually going to do this $35 billion plus private [debt] deal...to add upon the debt?” (11:18)
  • Bryn Talkington warns of risk: "I think that's going to continue to be an overhang because Oracle has to go build this and they're not even going to start until 2027 with Stargate." (12:40)
• Broadcom: The Rising Challenger:
  • Amy Raskin: “[Broadcom]’s up 70% year to date, 120% over the last year...Question is, is it going to be great enough? ...Are they going to announce new TPU customers beyond Google?” (14:32–15:19)
  • Joe stresses Broadcom’s growth opportunity: “Nvidia is nearly 80% [of AI chips]; Broadcom somewhere around 9–10%. There’s a tremendous amount of growth opportunity as we move forward.” (15:47)
• Market Breadth in Tech:
  • The shift from "Mag 7" (mega-cap tech) dominance to more diverse leadership is emerging; Ed Yardeni’s recent call to underweight Mag 7 in favor of the broader market is referenced.
  • Bryn Talkington: "We always expected there to be some narrowing of the delta between Mag 7 earnings and the rest of the 493...there’s going to be enough strength in the 493 to make it worth it." (17:22–17:44)

3. Company Spotlights & Sector Debates

Apple and Executive Departures (19:28–21:58)

• Discussion about ongoing C-suite departures and whether they threaten Apple’s lead.
• Bryn takes a measured stance: “I think Apple is still in pole position from a consumer product perspective...as long as Tim Cook is there then...the market...will continue to move itself higher.” (20:16)
• Amy Raskin on valuation: “Apple has a good core business...It’s expensive for probably its earnings growth but it’s not going away anytime soon.” (21:42)

Tesla Downgrade & Strategy (21:58–22:46)

• Tesla downgraded by Morgan Stanley; Bryn suggests selling calls at these lofty levels: “...this is like outer Earth orbit. I don’t think it’s going to get much higher...I would sell calls here.” (22:21)

Netflix, Paramount, and Streaming Wars (22:54–24:31)

• Joe sees a holding pattern for Netflix: “I think there’s something about being successful in investing...Don’t spend a lot of mental capital on something and you’re going to have to spend a lot...on Netflix now.” (24:06)

Goldman Sachs & Financials (24:38–25:15)

• Amy Raskin: “Capital markets environment is good but...that’s getting fully discounted. ...Again...it’s had a big move and there’s a lot of optimism in the stock.” (24:50)

Crypto Exposure: MicroStrategy & Ethereum (25:15–26:40)

• Bryn prefers Ethereum over MicroStrategy due to complexity: “MicroStrategy’s balance sheet is way too complicated for me...I’ve decided to play it with Ethereum.” (26:32)

Carvana as Turnaround Story (34:25–35:59)

• Joe on Carvana: “It is a company that is gathering significant market share...I think their execution is the reason you’re seeing the appreciation and the revenue growth. Congratulations to them.” (35:10–35:59)

Berkshire Hathaway Post-Buffett (28:57–33:33)

• Discussion highlights concerns over leadership transition and investment style.
• Amy: “Berkshire’s underperformed in part because it’s...viewed more defensively. ...I think Berkshire is the stock you want to own. If things start to go south, that’s when it shines.” (29:27)
• Joe: “It hurts to lose another strong investment mind...Insurance companies in 2025 have not performed well. ...It is identified as a ‘momentum stock’...it’s waning right now.” (30:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Questioning Earnings Forecasts:

  "I don't understand these models that are going to spit out the Fed's forecast...They're going to be kind of worthless and the market's going to have to really take a key part of the Fed's forward guidance...with a huge grain of salt."
  — Steve Liesman, 06:22

• On AI Chips Market Share:

  “Nvidia is nearly 80% and you’re sitting with Broadcom somewhere around 9 or 10%. There’s a tremendous amount of growth opportunity…”
  — Joe Terranova, 15:47

• On Equity Market Leadership:

  "We expected there to be some narrowing of the delta between Mag 7 earnings and the rest of the 493...there’s going to be enough strength in the 493 to make it worth it."
  — Bryn Talkington, 17:38

• Comment on Berkshire after Buffett:

  “Berkshire’s underperformed in part because it’s...not a momentum stock. It’s viewed more defensively...It shines when things go south.”
  — Amy Raskin, 29:27

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:01 — Opening remarks; overview of the week’s importance
• 02:45 — Joe Terranova on global central bank actions and implications
• 06:22 — Steve Liesman critiques Fed’s data limitations
• 10:48 — Start of Oracle/Broadcom/AI trade discussion
• 14:32 — Amy Raskin on Broadcom’s stock performance
• 17:18 — Ed Yardeni's call on Mag 7 vs S&P 500
• 19:28 — Apple leadership discussion
• 21:58 — Tesla downgrade debate
• 22:54 — Streaming/Netflix/Paramount M&A conversation
• 24:38 — Financials and Goldman Sachs analysis
• 25:15 — Crypto and Ethereum/MicroStrategy discussion
• 28:57 — Berkshire Hathaway’s future post-Buffett
• 34:25 — Carvana’s S&P inclusion and turnaround
• 45:29 — Amy Raskin’s latest trades, healthcare focus
• 47:35 — Mike Santoli joins for “midday word” on the market

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"Final Trades" (49:24–50:18)

• Amy Raskin: Ascendis Pharma (ASND) – New biotech buy.
• Bryn Talkington (for Shannon Saccocia): Consumer discretionary; more optimistic about growth.
• Bryn Talkington: Sells calls against the Nasdaq 10; partially covered for some upside.
• Joe Terranova: Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR), a semi-equipment name up strongly YTD.

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Tone & Takeaway

The discussion is fast-paced, sharp, and often skeptical—typical of “Halftime Report” as panelists challenge consensus and each other. The central takeaway is that while the market is positioned for a positive outcome fueled by Fed liquidity and AI narratives, risks around inflation, leadership transitions (both company and institutional), and high valuations are front of mind. Selectivity in stock-picking is increasing, and the era of “just buy the Mag 7” may be drawing to a close in favor of broader market opportunities and defensive positioning for potential turbulence ahead.

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For those who missed the episode, this summary captures the essential debates, insights, and market calls of a pivotal moment for investors as 2025 winds to a close.

Transcript

[Joe Terranova]

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[Scott Wapner]

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[Amy Raskin]

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[Scott Wapner]

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[Amy Raskin]

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[Scott Wapner]

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[Amy Raskin]

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[Scott Wapner]

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.

[Bryn Talkington]

All right.

[Scott Wapner]

Welcome to THE Halftime Report. I'm Scott Wapner. Front and center this hour, another big week for your money. The Fed meeting along with Oracle and Broadcom earnings, that's big. We're discussing debate with the investment committee, what all of it means to these markets. Joining me for the hour, Joe Terranova, Bryn Talkington, Shannon so Kosher and Amy Raskin. We will check the markets at the beginning of this very important week. We do have a very mixed picture. So we're going to get the Fed decision. Brian, nice to have you in the house on Wednesday. Oracle and Broadcom are important, as we said. Tony Pascarello, Goldman Sachs keeps his responsibly bullish stance, says looking forward, my baseline view is net positive. Why the Fed's increasing liquidity into an upswing in growth. The flow of capital is supportive. And that's the core of my simple calculus. Other calculus today, Oppenheimer 8100 on the S&P. Next year, 7500 for UBS. How are you feeling ahead of this pretty important week. Enough that it brought you to town.

[Bryn Talkington]

It was I liked how Fisher Siegel said on closing bell on Friday a hawkish, a hawkish cut. I think that makes sense. Right, because you're going to have Mirren Waller. I think ultimately Jay Powell is going to is going to cut 25 basis points. But I think this really sets us up for 2026 that we have Kutty ending so we have more of an accommodative Fed. We're getting rate cuts, helps the short end. We also have the fiscal Impulse from the obbb, which goes into effect. And I think that tax refunds are going to be above average. And so I think we're in earnings. Don't forget earnings are all in place. So I think we're setting up for a good backdrop, albeit I think it's probably going to be pretty choppy.

[Scott Wapner]

Joe, rates are already moving up, right? The long ends been moving up. You got the 10 year at 417. What does that mean for the market?

[Joe Terranova]

It means that as the calendar turns into 2026 is something that you're definitely watching for right now. 84% of Global Central banks, their last policy action was a rate cut. You do not want to see that figure fall below 50%. That's when historically market get into trouble. We know what's going on in Japan. We heard from the ECB over the weekend that they are potentially ending their rate cutting cycle.

[Scott Wapner]

Is that the biggest card right now?

[Joe Terranova]

I think it is.

[Scott Wapner]

I think it is the long end.

[Joe Terranova]

I do and I, and I think what's going to be important from the Fed meeting today is and I understand Kevin Hassett doesn't want to look into the next six months to see where policy might be, but I think the trading community wants an understanding when the rate cutting cycle ultimately is going to end. Is it going to be two cuts in 26, is it going to be no cuts in 26 or are we going to be cutting one year from today, which means we have a bigger problem in the market.

[Scott Wapner]

Within the last hour, Fed Watch has come out said quote, given the economy is showing signs of strengthening yields may retest the 425 area in the near term, that could be a problem.

[Bryn Talkington]

Shan for stocks, I think for 25 will be digestible for stocks, I think that if you look at what they've been able to do over the course of the last couple of years and in a higher rate environment, particularly Scott, if the yield curve is steepening based on expectations for stronger growth. We also, you know, to Brent's point, if we're going into 2026, we have that stronger growth tailwind. We have a lower rate tailwind because I actually think they will cut a couple of times in 26 as well because the employment picture is not going to strengthen meaningfully over the next couple of months. There's no indications of an improvement there. Granted, not an increased deterioration, but no real improvement likely to come over the next few months. And so I think what stocks are really going to be watching is, you know, does this upset do, does higher rates Potentially upset some of the momentum of the tech trade, for instance. And will the rest of this broadening out Trade continue into 2026 and provide enough, provide enough of a support for the market to overcome some near term volatility?

[Scott Wapner]

We have people talking about the fear of missing out, Amy, between now and the end of the year, you have people who are chasing performance between now and the end of the year is a backup in rates. Further, the only thing standing in the way of this market having a nice little move between now and the end of the year.

[Amy Raskin]

Yeah, well typically in December people don't want to sell, especially after a good year because you just have so many gains that why not push it into next year? So I do think you're, we're okay for the next few weeks, but I do think there's a concern if the Fed can't get the long end down, if that's what the market concludes, then I do think you have a problem because the stimulus from Fed cutting is really in the housing sector. It's in those capital intensive sectors and that means you're not going to get mortgage rates down. And that, that is a problem in my mind.

[Scott Wapner]

You know, there, there's the idea of a hawkish cut sending rates higher, that's pretty obvious. But the counterintuitive play is one that Michael Hartnett bank of America was talking about last week, that a dovish cut could also do the same thing because it could stoke inflation fears. It is interesting today that you do have the New York Fed 1, 3 and 5 year inflation unchanged. You're going to get a forecast too, which is even more important because as Steve Liesman is going to tell us right now, you're going to get a forecast, Steve, based on data that the Fed hasn't gotten because of the government shutdown, to which for the first time I think I heard you suggest.

Maybe we shouldn't even have a meeting. You did that on social media.

[Steve Liesman]

Yeah, I've said that a couple weeks ago, Scott, when, when I realized that the data was going to be as late as it's going to be. There's my blue sky tweet, I guess you call it. And there's two reasons, Scott. One is that the Fed is making the current decision with the delayed without the data. But it's also putting those forecasts together. And maybe what people don't understand is that when you put a forecast together, a good chunk of what you think is going to happen is based upon what you think happened or what the prior data say. So I don't understand these models that are going to spit out the Fed's forecast for unemployment, CPI and growth. It strikes me they're going to be kind of worthless and the market's going to have to really take a key part of the Fed's forward guidance, which does come in these forecasts with a huge grain of salt. And that's going to stick around, by the way, Scott, until March. It's not until March they come out with another set of data. So all of this strikes me that the Fed is data dependent. I don't see what it would have hurt them to wait a week. If you look at what comes out next week, the jobs numbers come out and inflation data come out, and it's not just one month's worth of data, it's two months worth of data because you get October and November payrolls, no October unemployment, you'll get retail sales and you'll get a November cpi. So I think I'm just a lone voice on this issue. I don't hear a lot of people calling for this, but I don't know, maybe a couple late change fees for their airline tickets, it would have cost them, but I don't think it would have cost them much to wait.

[Scott Wapner]

It is funny and I couldn't help but chuckle for a moment when you talked about the idea of the outlook being, quote, worthless and that we should all take it with a grain of salt, as some suggest. Every time you should take it with a grain of salt and every time it's a little bit worthless because they have proven to be a little bit of that as the Fed tries to guess where things are going. But if I told you that according to the New York fed inflation expectations 1, 3 and 5, that they're unchanged and that the labor market outlook has improved, I would say, okay, that's a pretty comfortable environment to cut.

[Steve Liesman]

Well, I'd say two things to that. One is that inflation expectations are unchanged that are higher level. Right. Those 3% numbers are not what the Fed is looking for. They're a bit elevated from where they were before the pandemic. And I do not think it costs the Fed a whole lot to cut here if it ends up being wrong. I think it doesn't want to be wrong in not having cut. Right. It doesn't want this data, employment data, to come out super weak and say, well, we should have cut the prior week if it waited. I do think, though, there's some talk out there that the economy is extreme accelerating already and you have not brought inflation down. There's a bunch of people on the committee that think, hey, this is an issue that for four years going on five years, we're going to be above 2%, we're going to be closer to three, and that's something the Fed ought to be concerned about. We'll have more of this tomorrow, Scott, in the Fed survey, where I will tell you ahead of time here that the concern about inflation is now the number one risk to the expansion from.

[Scott Wapner]

399 on the day that the Hassett name was first put out there in that report to 418 today. Why do you think rates have backed up?

[Steve Liesman]

Well, Scott, there's always a lot of things going on in the bond market. There's inflation expectations, there's term premium, there's stuff happening overseas. But I will tell you that among the commentary that I've read, there are those who are saying it is the, the Hasset pick that is the matter of concern here, that you're going to have a Fed chair that is going to be more beholden to the President's wishes for lower rates than perhaps the dynamic of inflation and unemployment. So that is a concern out there for the market. It's a concern that the market ought to, in a normal course of business, exact some compensation for if indeed it's going to be a chair who is not going to be as concerned about inflation. Every chair, every chair comes along, every new chair comes along and has to prove his or her bona feed is to the market, Scott, about inflation, that they're willing to risk recession in order to stop inflation. And I think that this, if it's going to be hasset, this Fed chair would come in having more to prove than others have in the past.

[Scott Wapner]

It's an interesting thought, Steve. Thanks. Steve Liesman, our senior economics correspondent so let's check the box off on the Fed.

[Steve Liesman]

Right.

[Scott Wapner]

We covered that. We know what's at stake now and we'll watch it in the days ahead. Obviously, when the decision comes down. The other big deal coming down is Oracle and Broadcom Wednesday and Thursday. Why? Because there are so many questions about the AI trade and really as it relates to Oracle, about the level to which companies are using debt to help fund their AI ambitions. Jyoti, Joe has Oracle and Joe has Broadcom.

[Joe Terranova]

I do.

[Scott Wapner]

Joe has opinion on what's going to happen.

[Joe Terranova]

Obviously, I'm a little bit more excited about Broadcom, but in the case of Oracle, let's address that. First, the options market is suggesting you have a 9% move. They're actually in Broadcom. It's interesting the options market is only saying a 6% move. Oracle has to address the capex. They have to go right at what their capex intentions are going to be. Are they actually going to do this 35 billion plus private deal debt deal to add upon the debt that they've been building? I've said over and over again over the last several weeks if you have not bought Oracle and you're looking for a spot to buy use November 21st low at 185, you've got a low risk point of reference. Obviously Broadcom is where the real opportunity is. Hock Tan in the September call was very confident in talking about how there was a pivot towards the chips that they are currently utilizing and the relationship that they have as the design partner for the tensor processing units from Alphabet. So as this market cap approaches $2 trillion I think it's going to exceed that over the coming year in 2026. I understand the valuation is a little bit elevated, but the story surrounding the pivot towards other, other chips and the TPUs from Alphabet, it's represent its specifically in my belief in owning Broadcom.

[Bryn Talkington]

Yeah, I think with Oracle it's really important for people to understand historically Oracle's backlog was 80 to 90 billion and then all of a sudden they came out during the earnings report and said we're going to have what, 455 billion. And so right now open AI, a company which doesn't have the goods is like almost 70% of their future backlog. And so I think investors need to understand what Oracle has to do is in essence go build 4 million homes. Yet the people that coming to buy the homes don't have the money yet. And so I think that's going to continue to be an overhang because Oracle has to go build this and they're not even going to start until 2027 with Stargate.

[Scott Wapner]

Look at the, look at the cds. Right. This is. Now maybe the earnings call is going to be the most significant moment facing that chart that we've seen since the start of the whole AI thing. Right. Because they're going to be asked about it. They're going to have to address the amount of debt that they've been taking on, whether it's too much for too great of an ambition that may not pan out the way that they want you to believe that it will. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. But if you see the blowout in the cds, that's the biggest point of concern. With the stock, arguably more so than what the equity has done. This is, this is a credit concern.

[Bryn Talkington]

The call that credit investors will be.

[Scott Wapner]

Listening to, this call to understand what.

[Bryn Talkington]

The risks are in other parts of the debt market, in what's happening in the private credit market. Scott, we keep talking about this potential contagion. This is what they're going to be watching.

[Scott Wapner]

You have Oracle, you have Broadcom.

[Amy Raskin]

I have also.

[Scott Wapner]

Entirely different story.

[Amy Raskin]

Yeah, entirely.

[Scott Wapner]

They've been trying to wave their hand the whole time and say, you know, yes, I know Jensen looks great, a leather jacket and all that. But hey, we got our own thing going on over here. Look at us, pay attention to us. The market's been paying attention.

[Amy Raskin]

It's up 70% year to date, 120% over the last year. So it's been a great stock and I think it's going to have a great quarter. There's no doubt about it. The most interesting thing will be how the market reacts to it. Nvidia had a great quarter, a lot of companies had a great quarter and the stocks didn't work still. So I think it's going to be, the question is, is it going to be great enough? Are they going to announce new TPU customers beyond Google? Are they going to be able to talk about them? But I'm not sure we're really going to get answers. I think you're going to get a lot of good talk right now, but it's going to be 20, 26 and beyond. Maybe we actually really find out.

[Scott Wapner]

I mean the information reporting today, Microsoft reportedly in talks to shift custom chips to Broadcom from Marvell. The Sox hitting a new all time.

[Joe Terranova]

High today and that's in addition to.

[Amy Raskin]

Amazon suggesting, well, get names. The question is how big is this really going to be? How big is the build out really going to be? Are you going to get the answer to the Oracle question on the debt? Because you'll get, you'll get them talking like we're going to build this, we're confident about it. But I don't know that investors are going to believe it with just words right now.

[Joe Terranova]

It's been an existing, it's been an existing tailwind but it's now raised the awareness into the headlines that they have this design partner relationship.

[Bryn Talkington]

Yeah.

[Joe Terranova]

With Alphabet's, TPU's. I do think it's going to be critically important that he speaks with confidence once again and he says yes, in fact, we are beginning to capture more market share because if you look at the global market share as it relates to AI chips. Nvidia is nearly 80% and you're sitting with Broadcom somewhere around 9 or 10%. There's a tremendous amount of growth opportunity as we move forward. If you get that pivot. I think that pivots happen.

[Amy Raskin]

Doubt that he's going to speak with confidence.

[Joe Terranova]

Well, he has. He, he actually hasn't until the last call in September that was the very first time that he basically said wait a second. To Scott's point, we are here along with Nvidia.

[Scott Wapner]

You're talking about Hock 10.

[Amy Raskin]

Yes, and I own the stock. I think, I think it's a great opportunity. The question but I think that the answer we're really going to get further down the road when we see what the capex spend really is and whether the companies are still getting rewarded for increasing their capex numbers.

[Scott Wapner]

How about this Ed Yardeni. He's as bullish as anybody on this market has been throughout however period of time you would like to make that mark go underweight the Mag 7 versus the S and P. He says today that's their new recommendation. He talks about the impressive 493. He says we see more competitors coming for the juicy profit margins of the mag 7 7. We also expect that the productivity and the profit margins of the impressive 493 will be boosted by the technologies available to do so. How about that caution?

[Bryn Talkington]

That was our, we agree with that call. It was our call in our solving.

[Scott Wapner]

For 2026 piece that we believe that AI adoption that we're going to move from enablers to adopters is being critical.

[Bryn Talkington]

And it's not just on productivity enhancement, Scott.

[Scott Wapner]

It's around enhancing and complementing existing growth profiles for these companies. And so I think again we always.

[Bryn Talkington]

Expected there to be some narrowing of the delta between max 7 earnings and.

[Amy Raskin]

The rest of the 493.

[Bryn Talkington]

What you've instead seen, you said them seen the move up in the channel together and I think that that there's going to be enough strength in the 493 to make it worth it.

[Scott Wapner]

Wolf today says that they also expect some violent rotations ahead. They use those words the biggest risk remains a major disappointment and slash permanent shift in sentiment on AI.

[Bryn Talkington]

I think that shift is going to be amongst the different companies. So if we're still Talking about the Mag 7 I think what's interesting since December of 2023 the Qs are up 64%. Microsoft's up 24%. And so where did that delta come from? It came from Nvidia. It came from Broadcom, it's come from Google. And so I think you're going to continue to see a dispersion of returns between these Max 7. I think realistically, investors don't buy Mag 7 and then buy 493. They buy the IVV or VO in the cubes or they buy RSP equal weight. And so I think that across the board you're not going to see asset allocators go mag 7 and then just for 93.

[Scott Wapner]

This is one of the points we've been talking about, the dispersion in returns among the Mag 7. I think, I think Ed Yardeni is referring to that where it's sort of going to be every. It's every company for itself. So you can no longer look at these things as you're just going to buy the Mag 7 and you're going to play AI now you have to be much more selective and as you get into 20, 26, maybe even more so.

[Amy Raskin]

Yeah, it has a really good track record of really good timing. That's all I'll say.

[Bryn Talkington]

He's.

[Amy Raskin]

He's one of the best in the industry. He has been for a long time. So I agree with him. He also interested, interestingly talked about going abroad, which he hasn't talked about for probably 15 years either. So I think this was a big call from him and one that people should pay attention to.

[Scott Wapner]

I want to talk about li' Apple for a minute because you've had all of these executive departures. Then rumors of yet another one to which that was refuted by the source himself. Was the chip chief going to leave as one report suggested? It was out there enough that he came out and said no, no plans to leave. And that was according to, as you heard, I hope our Steve Kovach talking about. Here it is. He quashes the exit rumor. Nonetheless, you have had a bunch of executive executives leave. Brian, I'll get you on this. First the target goes to 350 today from Dan Ives is going to be on closing Bell. BTIG says the stock is poised for a pullback. The target gets bumped to 325 at Evercore. How do we feel about this stock right here?

[Bryn Talkington]

I think the stock is poised for a pullback. I agree with that. The percentage over actually it's 50 day moving average. You could see it pull back just a bit more. I think when, when I look at these departures, the general counsel and the head of ESG or what happened, what would happen would have you with those two departures? Aren't going to move the name. When I think through the big departures where did they go? Metta and OpenAI and obviously Jony I was at OpenAI so in theory why are these people leaving? They're leaving to create products for consumers to buy. And so OpenAI has been really clear. They want some product that has no screen. And I think where this is very risky business for these other companies is the reality of them meta outside of the ray bans or OpenAI be able to pull off a new product that we as consumers want to buy I think has like a full 5% probability. And so I think Apple is still in pole position from a consumer product perspective of being able to not have the cap spend, still have great talent and as long as Tim Cook is there then I think the market after, after Q4 earnings are going to be solid. Will continue to move itself higher.

[Scott Wapner]

The stock's not that far off its high.

[Amy Raskin]

I mean it had a great run.

[Scott Wapner]

It's just had a really 277 to 77 to 88 was the high. People have questioned well why had the stock even made the move that it had towards the high or hitting that high. All it took was a little bit of optimism around iPhone 17 upgrade cycle. Right?

[Amy Raskin]

It's a little bit of optimism. I think there's a.

[Scott Wapner]

Well, because we waited so long.

[Amy Raskin]

Right? Exactly. And, and it deserves it and you know, and everyone's talking about Apple and I, I think that's a red herring. I actually think Apple has a good core business. It's price that it has a good core business is expensive for probably its earnings growth but it's not going away anytime soon.

[Scott Wapner]

Let's hit a couple of other things that are that are of interest to me. Tesla Brin downgraded today at Morgan Stanley. Not Adam Jonas. Adam Jonas, excuse me. The person who now covers that stock. The equal weight from overweight the price target at 425. While it is well understood that Tesla is more than an auto manufacturer. We expect a choppy trading environment for shares over the next 12 months. It doesn't sound so indifferent to what you've been talking about.

[Bryn Talkington]

First of all sad to see Adam Jonas leave because he was obviously a super bull on Tesla and wrote great pieces. I think from this analyst perspective, I think at These levels the 430-404-0450 this is like outer Earth orbit. I don't think it's going to get much higher than this until you actually see real breakthroughs. So I mean I continue to. I would be Selling call. I already have calls that expire on the 19th. Otherwise I would sell calls here.

[Scott Wapner]

Okay, Paramount, they go hostile for wbd. What does Netflix do next? Do you have that stock? How are you thinking about this?

[Joe Terranova]

I think this is the beginning of what is going to be a very prolonged, difficult battle going back and forth. Obviously, Paramount wants it all. That's not what Netflix wants. They want Hollywood studios, they want streaming. Let's talk about in terms of what you do with the positions. I have this name personally and we hold this name in the etf. I am uncomfortable getting out of Netflix personally as the stock is on the decline because it's still in the etf. This is different than Apple. I had maintained a position personally in Apple and in the etf, the stock's going up. Okay, so you're still making money if you own the etf. If I get out of Netflix now personally, while the stock is going down in the etf, I have a problem with that.

[Scott Wapner]

Well, would I get out of this? Yes. Would you get out of it? You would?

[Joe Terranova]

I?

[Steve Liesman]

Absolutely.

[Scott Wapner]

For the same reasons that Josh came on the other day and said he sold 85% of it.

[Joe Terranova]

Josh and I talked about this the other night. I think he's correct. This is going to be a very difficult process. There's going to be a lot of friction, a lot of back and forth. It's clear that David Ellison wants this.

[Scott Wapner]

So you think it's going to be this stock? That's really all I care about. Right. Is this stock for this conversation. You think this is going to be in purgatory for the next. Or at least in a holding pattern for the next 18 months?

[Joe Terranova]

Yeah, I think, think. I think there's something about being successful in investing and that's. Don't spend a lot of mental capital on something and you're going to have to spend a lot of mental capital on Netflix. Now trying to understand the varying dynamics as this unfolds over the coming year. Yes, you could call it. It's going to be in purgatory or.

[Scott Wapner]

Whatever you want to.

[Joe Terranova]

He was talking about however you want to define it. But it is going to now have the introduction of a variety of different dynamics that shouldn't exist for Netflix.

[Scott Wapner]

Okay.

[Joe Terranova]

It should just be about the growth, growth of the business, new areas of expansion and the ability to increase subscribers.

[Scott Wapner]

Financials have been crushing it. Goldman Sachs included. Target to 900 today at bank of America reiterates the buy. Amy, take that. So 870 is the high. It's not that far. Off of that at all?

[Amy Raskin]

Yeah, no, I talked about, I trimmed Goldman and JP Morgan a couple of months ago after the quarter was great and the stock didn't really move that much. It's been a rocket ship. It's a great stock I think, I think the capital markets environment is good but I think that's getting fully discounted. You will get a steeper yield curve or at least I think we'll get a steeper yield which will help financials. But again there it's had a big move and there's a lot of optimism in the stock.

[Scott Wapner]

Okay. Lastly strategy. Bring it up because the target gets cut today to 450 from 600 at Bernstein they reiterate their out perform. Joe owns it, talks about it a lot. You own an etf, you can't do anything. So it is what it is. Brian, you don't own it but you probably have the most bitcoin related or crypto exposure on the show. So crypto has been a mess obviously Bitcoin's been a mess today it's fractionally.

[Bryn Talkington]

Higher if we get I think Japan and crypto related yields yen are all related to crypto because that's been a carry trade forever. That unwind creates pressure. I also think the Fed stopping KUTTY is going to be positive. I think MicroStrategy has a complicated balance sheet and so I've just, I've never owned it. I think BMNR from a Treasury Ethereum treasury, they have a clean balance sheet. Obviously they're issuing shares but they're not doing preferred preferreds or converts. And so I think that this is an opportunity. I bought a theory more Etherium last week. I just think especially with Ethereum which is down quite a bit off its highs this is when you add to these positions, right was to buy low, sell high. But most people feel comfortable buying crypto at the all time highs, not when there's actually an event occurring. Whether MSCI fleshes out, I have no idea.

[Scott Wapner]

You're telling people to buy strategy, no Ethereum.

[Bryn Talkington]

I was like I don't understand. MicroStrategy's balance sheet is way too complicated for me to parse through. I've decided to play it with Ethereum.

[Scott Wapner]

And I bet I didn't go to you on it because I didn't know what else there is to say on it.

[Joe Terranova]

No, I mean what else is there to say? Let me give you something else. There's 15 buys on the stock, there's 3 holds, there's 1 sell the 12 month price target for this stock that trades 182 right now is $473. That's ridiculous.

[Scott Wapner]

All right. Up next.

Up next, big changes at Berkshire ahead of Warren Buffett's retirement. We'll get shareholder reaction coming up. Plus, we will debate some calls of the day. We're back after this break.

Hi there, it's Andy Richter and I'm here to tell you about my podcast, the Three Questions with Andy Richter. Each week I invite friends, comedians, actors and musicians to discuss these three where do you come from, where are you going and what have you learned? New episodes are out every Tuesday with guests like Julie Bowen, Ted Danson, Tig Notaro, Will Arnett, Phoebe Bridgers and more. You can also tune in for my weekly Andy Richter call in show episodes where me and a special guest invite callers to weigh in on topics like dating, disasters, bad teachers and lots more. Listen to the three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Joe Terranova]

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[Scott Wapner]

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[Steve Liesman]

All right, we're back.

[Scott Wapner]

We have some big news out of Berkshire Hathaway today. Todd combs, the investment lieutenant to Mr. Buffett, is leaving for JP Morgan. It's notable just simply because of the, you know, the point in time we are with Berkshire, but also because that stock, Amy, has underperformed.

[Bryn Talkington]

Yep.

[Scott Wapner]

The S and P people are trying to think about what the future is going to look like. Greg Abel's going to run the company. How should we think about Combs? Do you have an opinion on this as a shareholder?

[Amy Raskin]

I mean, not specifically on Combs. I think Berkshire has a very deep bench. I'm not worried about the management there and I think Greg's going to do a phenomenal job and has been doing a great job. But and Berkshire's underperformed in part because it's just, it's not a momentum stock. It's a low beta. It's viewed more defensively. I view it as more defensive, as a more defensive holding. I think when I trim Goldman. A couple of months ago I talked about adding to Berkshire. So I think, I think Berkshire is the stock you want to own. If things start to go south, that's when it shines. It doesn't do particularly well usually in a very sort of momentum market like we've had.

[Scott Wapner]

Well, I mean let's, let's be honest. So they, if you look at you have it too. Let's just call it like it is. I mean if you have been lightening up in some positions that have done well, right, like bank of America for example, they're much lighter today in Apple than they had ever been. Right to where the size of the position once was. Not that Apple has gone crazy this year, but it's 11%. Take that, bank of America's had a pretty good year. There are some other places as well. You want to weigh in on that?

[Joe Terranova]

Yeah. First of all, listen, I think it hurts to lose another strong investment mind there at a time where I think it's incredibly valuable. They have benefited over the last several years from exposure to insurance companies. Insurance companies in 2025 have not performed well. They have really been an albatross around the financial sector itself. In addition, whether it's Rails or energy, okay. Berkshire needs those real economy type stocks to begin to appreciate and to almost outperform technology itself. The stock year to date is up 8%. It is identified as a quote unquote momentum stock. It is owned in several momentum funds. And that's because, that's because it's linked giving off the prior 12 months, which is what most momentum funds, ours included, will do. So we're looking back, we're seeing that really strong appreciation in the into coming into Q1. That's what we're seeing. It's waning right now. And the fact that the Stock is down 2.25%. It's warranted and it's troubling, it's problematic and it's quickly deteriorating in terms of thinking about it as a momentum stock.

[Scott Wapner]

Yeah. I mean the moment market's just going to have to get its arms around.

Berkshire Hathaway after Warren Buffett.

[Amy Raskin]

Right.

[Scott Wapner]

That's no more complicated than that. I mean, but it's a very big. I don't know.

[Joe Terranova]

Well, is there a philosophical change in the way that they look at investing? Are they more open minded to some areas of the market? Correlating to AI that have performed so well because there seems to have been a hesitancy to move in a direction of the last couple of years.

[Scott Wapner]

Yeah, but aren't they an Alphabet now?

[Joe Terranova]

They absolutely are.

[Bryn Talkington]

And then everybody says, we don't know if Warren bought it. Like that's the problem with the stock is like he's always getting second guessed. And so when the next crisis comes.

[Scott Wapner]

Oh, people have been saying that though, now for years because he's had these lieutenants there. Well, was it him or was it the other people? It doesn't really make a difference. Right. They're all talking. They all talk to each other. Right. I mean.

[Bryn Talkington]

Well, I guess. But what I'm saying is that we've had what for five decades you've had Buffett and Munger right at the helm. So Buffett's retiring. And so I think when the next crisis comes is someone's going to say, well, what does Greg think?

[Scott Wapner]

No.

[Bryn Talkington]

And so I just think you have this seminal event until.

[Amy Raskin]

Until he potentially steps up with his balance sheet, as Berkshire did after the crash in 2007, 2008. And that's when Berkshire really shines, is when, you know, you have somebody who wants capital and they want Berkshire's capital because Berkshire's capital means something more than other people. People's capital.

[Joe Terranova]

In the last 18 months, I don't believe they have bought back any of their shares, which is.

[Amy Raskin]

No, they haven't. Yes. No, but because they know they're. I mean, their stock has went up a lot and now then it's like sort of stabilized and flatlined for a while, which it does.

[Scott Wapner]

Let's hit a couple of calls. Uber. The target gets cut by five bucks at Morgan Stanley. Joe, you have this both in the T and. And personally, I do. The target also, I should say got. Got raised at loop loop by five bucks. So it went from 115 to 110 at Morgan Stanley. It goes to 115 from 110 at loop.

[Joe Terranova]

It's kind of in this range between 80 and 100. I think you said you sold out.

[Scott Wapner]

Of some of it in 95, right?

[Joe Terranova]

Good sale. It looks like it's pushing back towards the upper end of the range. I think you kind of just have to sit and wait with this stock as we move through 20. 26. $80 is a real critical swing area that was previous resistance. We went down and tested it in November and we held. And that's why you're getting this little bit of a rebound. Right now. So I think it's more of a 2026 story and you just have to bide your time patiently.

[Scott Wapner]

Give me something real quick on Carvana. I bring it up because it's being added to the S and P. The target goes to 455 from 385 at bank of America. What do you I would venture to guess that a few years ago if you would have told somebody that Carvana was going to be added to the S and P as the short interest in that name was like I feel like it was among the largest on the street or certainly in the in the ball game. And now they're being added to the s and P500.

[Joe Terranova]

So in 2022 we were talking about debt defaults and potential bankruptcy.

[Scott Wapner]

Back this up guys longer. I want to see I don't know let's look at like a three year maybe. So I'm not sure if that's.

[Joe Terranova]

It was very, very difficult, difficult environment in 2022. And look, I'm going to be candid. I was wrong.

[Scott Wapner]

When we five year go ahead.

[Joe Terranova]

When we purchased this on Halloween and it went into the etf, I greeted it with skepticism. I spoke about it on air with you and I said to you wow, it really has to prove itself. It's up 43% since we made the purchase. Now a lot of the reasons behind is the profitability. It is a company that is gathering significant market share. They have the relationship with Ally. They're now diversifying that where they're less reliant on that overall. And the argument has always been okay, the macro environment is going to be the challenges. Rates are going to be the challenges for this company. But I think they're executing and I think there's something about the company that that actual specific execution is the reason why you're seeing the appreciation and the revenue growth. And now congratulations to them.

[Scott Wapner]

The inclusion the has to be one of the best looking stock turnaround stories that we could think about of in recent history. For certain where the in the depths of late 22 to 23 to getting into the S&P 500 at the the precipice of 26. That's something. Let's get the headlines now with Mackenzie Sagalas.

[Joe Terranova]

Hi Mac.

[Bryn Talkington]

Hey Scott. An Israeli spokesperson says Prime Minister Benjamin.

[Amy Raskin]

Netanyahu will meet with President Trump on.

[Bryn Talkington]

December 29 to discuss next steps for the Gaza cease fire. The second phase is due to begin once Hamas locates and returns the remains of the final deceased hostage in Gaza. Netanyahu has said negotiations are close, but key issues still need to be resolved. Syria marked the first anniversary of the toppling of dictator Bashar al Assad's regime today, as the country struggles to overcome economic challenges and and find stability after years of war. Al Assad's tyrannical rule came to an end last year when he fled to Russia after rebels seized Damascus. Syria's new leader pledged today to rebuild a just and strong country. And FIFA says this summer's World cup in the U.S. mexico and Canada will include three minute hydration breaks in all matches, not just those in hot weather. Referees will stop play 22 minutes into each half, no matter the temperature, the host country or whether the stadium has a roof for air conditioning. The move comes after heat became an issue during last summer's Club World cup in the U.S. back to you, Scott.

[Scott Wapner]

Okay, Mac, thank you. MacKenzie Scales coming up, Goldman Sachs making a new $2 billion bet in the ETF world. The details in ETF Edge they're next.

Hi there, it's Andy Richter, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast, the three Questions with Andy Richter. Each week I invite friends, comedians, actors and musicians to discuss these three where do you come from, where are you going, and what have you learned? New episodes are out every Tuesday with guests like Julie Bowe and Ted Dance and Tig Notaro, Will Arnett, Phoebe Bridgers and more. You can also tune in for my weekly Andy Richter Call in Show episodes, where me and a special guest invite callers to weigh in on topics like dating, disasters, bad teachers, and lots more. Listen to the Three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts.

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Getting some news down in D.C. let's get to Eamon Javers who has this developing story. What are we learning?

[Joe Terranova]

Ammon yeah, Scott, that's right. The Supreme Court just wrapping up some oral arguments here on this issue of the FTC and the President's effort to fire Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter. At issue Here is a 1935 Supreme Court President called Humphreys Executor under which the Supreme Court said that independent agencies could have the ability to not have their leaders fired by the President of the United States. The ftc, they said, is a quasi independent organization. So it was not at all clear if the President had the authority to fire commissioners without cause to do so. What the Court's been weighing here is the extent of presidential authority over this and other outside agencies in a case that may also have implications for the President's attempt to to remake the Federal Reserve Board of Governors as well. We talked about this Humphreys executor precedent. That's the 1935 Supreme Court ruling that said Congress can put limits on the President's power over independent agencies. Reversing that ruling would dramatically expand the President's authority. Solicitor General John Sauer, arguing for the administration here, said that Humphrey's executor is a decaying husk. But justices appointed by Democrats pushed back aggressively. Justice Sotomayor told Sauer, you're asking us to destroy the structure of government. Arguing on behalf of Commissioner Slaughter, attorney Amit Aggarwal argued that the weight of history should preserve the current setup, saying any abstract theory that would wipe away so much history and precedent should be a non starter. And he argued that the administration's position cannot be reconciled with their own apparent position on the Federal Reserve. And that's one of the bigger overhanging questions here. Scott and can the court rule in favor of the administration on the FTC in such a way that does not impact the President's authority over the Federal Reserve? So far at least, this very conservative court appears willing to side with the Trump administration. But whether or not there's going to be limits to that will make an enormous amount of difference here. Scott, back over to you.

[Scott Wapner]

Okay, we'll stay tuned for that for more there. Eamonn.

[Amy Raskin]

Thank you.

[Scott Wapner]

Eamon Jabbers.

[Joe Terranova]

You bet.

[Scott Wapner]

Down at our bureau in Washington, Goldman Sachs today making a big bet on on ETFs. Let's get to Dom Chu who has today's ETF edge. Dom? All right, so Scott goes. Goldman Sachs announced last Monday that it is agreed to buy Innovator Capital Management, a provider of defined outcome ETFs for roughly $2 billion. So joining me now is Brian Lake, he's the co head of third party wealth over at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Brian, this was a very big deal and it just kind of expands the product offerings that Goldman Sachs Asset Management GSAM has in terms of ETFs and specifically actively managed ETFs. Why this deal and why these defined outcome slash income oriented ETFs.

[Joe Terranova]

That's right, Tom. So as I've been traveling around the world for the last number of years, in almost every client conversation I'm having, they're asking me about Buffer ETF, defined outcome ETFs. Because investors are always looking for ways to deliver great outcomes for their clients. And so as we, Goldman Sachs looked at this opportunity, we saw that it fit well within our identity as an asset manager. We do direct indexing, we do evergreen alternatives, and of course we do active ETFs. And so we have a great organic strategy on our active ETFs. But then by adding this in we understood that we could solve more client problems.

[Scott Wapner]

How much demand is there for these types of products? I mean you've done a lot of due diligence and kind of research about it. How much are your clients kind of clamoring for these types of products?

[Joe Terranova]

I mean this category has been growing extremely rapidly. It was invented back in 2018 by innovator themselves and we've seen it grow at about a 60% cumulative average growth rate over the last five years. Cerule put out a research report just last week that they think it could 4 or 5x over the next five years. We think this is a fast growing category.

[Scott Wapner]

Now some of these big kind of instruments track like the balt, the Innovator Defined Wealth Shield etf. BALT is the ticker there. It tracks the S&P 500 but then puts kind of limits around its performance. Let's kind of show a chart here for just what it's like. This is a one year chart showing that Bolt ETF versus the S&P 500. It's more than double the performance the S&P 500 has. Why would somebody want that blue line versus the orange line?

[Joe Terranova]

Well, you got to think about it as an overall portfolio and what you're trying to accomplish as an investor. I mean, you can, you know, it jumps out on the chart here that it provided protection during the tariff tantrum earlier this year. And so if you wanted to have a smoother ride but still maintain that equity exposure over that time, you could certainly do that. We also see a number of different uses for this. If you have cash, cash on the sidelines right now and you're looking, you're saying these markets are close to their all time highs, but it's important to get that equity exposure. These are great tools to start to work your way back into the marketplace and to build a broader portfolio that's aligned with the outcomes you're trying to achieve.

[Scott Wapner]

And it isn't just about some of these defined outcome or buffer products as well. There's also these types of structures to provide income generation as well. Take us through that story.

[Joe Terranova]

Yeah, no, you're right. The defined outcome category as we call it is actually pretty wide. So you've got income oriented strategies where you can enhance your yield. You've got targeted buffer where you can do things like this where you see pretty substantial downside protection. And then there's growth stories with this as well. And by the way, I think we're just scratching the surface on the defined outcome space. We see dual directionals coming, auto callables coming. This is innovation that's existed for years that institutions have been using in their portfolios. But we're now delivering it through the ETF technology where you can trade it throughout the day. It's transparent, it's delivered at an attractive price point and you can, you can achieve the outcomes that you as an investor are looking for.

[Scott Wapner]

All right, Brian Lake, thank you very much. We're going to continue this conversation over at ETF edge.cnbc.com Brian's going to be joined by Nick Ryder, CIO at Cafmere Capital Management. We'll talk a little bit about ETFs, how different advisors use those. Scott, I'll send things back over to you guys. All right, Good stuff, Dom. Thank you. That's Dom Chu coming up with tracking the trades. Amy Raskin ready with her latest moves. She has several. We'll tell you about them next.

All right, told you Amy Raskin had some news moves. Excuse me. Kind of news. Let's go through that. Ascendance Pharma is a new buy as N D. Tell me more.

[Amy Raskin]

It's a $12 billion Danish biotech company. It reached profitability this last quarter. It's had a nice run year to date. It's up about 50%. But we think it has a really interesting technology which extends the half life of drugs which obviously improves the efficacy and safety of drugs and they can license out to other companies. So in addition to having two drugs on the market, another one coming, they have this technology that we think they could take advantage of.

[Scott Wapner]

Okay. Are you looking generally speaking for more opportunities within health care?

[Amy Raskin]

Well, I've been talking about health care for a while now. I think my last final trades for the last few months have been health care. We like health care a lot. We're overweight health care. We did trim a little Natera which has just been on a straight line up so which we still like. But we did trim Novartis and Novartis to, to fund some of the ascendancy we are adding to health care. But not just a full ad.

[Scott Wapner]

You added more CrowdStrike, more SLB.

[Amy Raskin]

Yep.

[Scott Wapner]

Fanuc. Fanuc, yeah, Fanuc, sorry, Cognix and Impinj.

[Amy Raskin]

So Fanuc Cognacs and Impinj are all automation plays. Impinj does the ultra high frequency rfid. We've owned this stock for a while. It's very volatile. We've traded around it. Well, it's had a pullback recently so we're adding to it. We like Cognex, longer term leader in Vision Technologies. Only 65 point billion market cap. We do think if we add some more automation it's going to benefit Fanuc as well. Crowdstrike got a little bit of a hit on its earnings last week. We like it from a longer term perspective so took a little bit of advantage of that. We do think it's the leader in cybersecurity and aia Also Air and Slab Energy has just been underinvested in.

[Scott Wapner]

Okay, Santoli, he is next with his midday word. We're back after this.

Our senior markets commentator Mike Santoli joins us now for his midday Word. I mean so we've had this nice V shaped bounce obviously yet again to on the cusp of a new high. We're not that far away.

[Steve Liesman]

Yeah.

[Scott Wapner]

Everything riding on Wednesday, what they, what the chair says and what the outlook is.

[Joe Terranova]

I think a lot's riding on gain getting through Wednesday and not having it disturb the overall setup. Now we didn't fully complete the V.

[Steve Liesman]

I don't want to make too much.

[Joe Terranova]

Of it but we kind of went there on an intraday basis and didn't really close there. I do think what's very interesting is that underneath the indexes we have had a lot of traction in the cyclical trade that's going to basically translate into we think the Fed's cutting for the right reasons and leading us into a reacceleration the economy, whether it's regional banks, whether it's transports consumer cyclicals as well.

[Steve Liesman]

So that's to the good.

[Joe Terranova]

I do think you probably going to have to test that premise a couple of times along the way here.

[Steve Liesman]

So it's one of those moments where.

[Joe Terranova]

You see why the market's done what it done. It all is plausible, it's setting up toward a positive outlook next year. But that does mean that I think optimism levels are rising and sell sides getting aggressive about 20, 27, 6 targets. So I think we're in that time of like you don't feel like you have an edge to bet against the December melt up but it doesn't mean.

[Steve Liesman]

That it's going to be that easy.

[Scott Wapner]

All right, good stuff Mike. Thank you. I'll see you on closing bell. We'll do finals next.

Hope you join me. Closing bell, three o' clock Eastern. Rick Reeder of Blackrock will be with me just ahead of this Fed meeting. He was said to be part of that final five so we'll also talk to him about what's in store for the Fed. Going ahead, Stephanie Link, Michael Baptist, dan Ives, Jeff DeGraff so we'll round it out that way in just a couple of hours time. Amy, final trade for you today is.

[Amy Raskin]

What I'm going to use the Sendis which I just talked about Biotech.

[Scott Wapner]

Okay, thank you.

[Bryn Talkington]

Shannon Sokotia, Consumer Discretionary Starting to feel a bit more optimistic given the growth expectations for next year.

[Scott Wapner]

All right. Right.

[Bryn Talkington]

BRYN Talking to GBIQ sells calls against the NASDAQ 10 2% bogey but only 30 to 50% covered. Some more upside.

[Joe Terranova]

JOE T. Semi equipment name Monolithic Power Systems mpwr Are the semi equipment names under the radar like Teradyne Performing well this is a name that's up well over 60% in the last why is.

[Scott Wapner]

It up 3 and a half percent today?

[Joe Terranova]

It is bouncing along with some other semi equipment names and it's more technical than anything else.

[Scott Wapner]

Scott well we did say earlier that the the Sox right. The semiconductor index was at a record.

[Joe Terranova]

High significant outperformance when you measure semis versus software.

[Scott Wapner]

Okay, good stuff. I'll see in the Bell.

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[Bryn Talkington]

Halftime Report participants consider reliable, but neither.

[Scott Wapner]

CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such.

[Bryn Talkington]

To view the full Halftime Report disclaimer.

[Scott Wapner]

Please visit cnbc.com halftime reportdisclaimer hi there, it's Andy Richter, and I'm here to.

[Joe Terranova]

Tell you about my podcast, the three.

[Scott Wapner]

Questions with Andy Richter. Each week I invite friends, comedians, actors and musicians to discuss these three where do you come from, where are you going, and what have you learned? New episodes are out every Tuesday with guests like Julie Bowen, Ted Danson, Tig Notaro, Will Arnett, Phoebe Bridgers, and more. You can also tune in for my weekly Andy Richter Call in show episodes, where me and a special guest invite callers to weigh in on topics like dating, disasters, bad teachers, and lots more. Listen to the three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts.