say it's up to the brokerage firm and the regulate regulators to make sure they're not taking on too much risk >> kate, appreciate that very much fascinating stuff. rate rooneyy we continue to watch markets close to record highs. s&p 4506 dow needs 175 points of its own. have a great weekend let's get to sully and the half." >> thank you all and welcome everybody to the "halftime report" on this friday i'm brian in for scott today and jay powell, you might have heard of him, signaling the fed may start scaling back stimulus before the end of the year but adding that rate hikes are still a long way away. so what does all of that if anything mean for the record rally and your money from here we will debate that and more with our investment committee today on a friday. shannon saccocia jason snipe, gem lebenthal and pete najarian. first a look at your money and,

yeah, look at that green more new records the s&p 500 and nasdaq hitting new record highs, up for the sixth time in seven days all three major averages on track for a positive week. yields, they're also edging a little bit higher, the 10-year yield not doing a lot. but we are seeing the move to 1.32% as well. small caps, which had been kind of left out on their way back. let's jump right in and talk more about this shannon, starting with you, is this what it sounds like when doves fly? >> i think so. perhaps prince said it better than that. when you look at what happened today, if you think about what the market was anticipating, we certainly -- i think we're prepared to talk about a taper prior to year end. but what i want to stress is that there was talk of data,

data, data there is a dependency here that powell and the rest of the fomc continue to point to thinking about the dual mandate it's inflation and employment. and whether inflation is transitory or somewhat transitory, or potentially more sticky, the employment side of the equation is fallout back to where it needs to be in their view if you think about dissecting the statement and you separate tapering from rate hikes -- and we're looking out well into 2023 i think still for additional rate hikes -- then the market should anticipate a lower for longer interest rate environment. and for me what that points to is potential moderation in economic growth just from a year over year perspective. and then you couple that with likely this lower for longer interest rate environment. wow, that really to me points to high quality growth stocks as being a great opportunity in the next couple of years >> let's go to a guy actually in the movie purple rain,o, pete

najarian tapering is not tightening that's the key message some people views this first ind kind of semihawkish, the taper may happen earlier the reality is until employment, and powell hit us over the head with this -- until the employment pops up we're not tightening, are we >> well i went to high school with the purple man. but i will tell you this the tapering is going to be an interesting thing. because there is a divide within the fed. we know that we've heard so many on either side of this issue that are looking for things to happen at a much more accelerated pace than what we're hearing from chairman powell. so i tend to always look at the boss and the boss is chairman powell. and i listen to what he had to say, yes, some of the numbers they're looking at there are parts of the market that i think is makes some sense -- i was listening to shannon talking about she is looking for this definitely when she is talking about some of the areas that could be impacted most and what might actually accelerate even faster, if we're lowering for longer, i think

many of us already see exactly what potentially is out there, brian, whether that means we're talking about certain parts of the market in those sectors. but i think there is also just kind of a -- an ability to maybe take a breath. the reason i say that is you know everybody is trying to figure this out and it's confusing. and we're getting so many different mixed messages but when it's all said and done i think chairman powell will have the votes to keep it where it is and where he is comfortable right now given the data we've got we still have to deal with delta variant as well. >> looking at research from lpl and others they do not believe we will see interest rate hikes from the fed until maybe 2023. would you agree? >> i would agree, but i have to say that the confidence interval has to be pretty wide when predicting out a year and a half from now the major point to drive home though whether we taper in

november, december or january is totally irrelevant to the market those months are all the same as far as i'm concerned and were the first rate hike is december of 2022 or february ever 2023 is also going to be irrelevant remember the last cycle you saw the first rate hike in december of 2015. and there were three years worth of powerful gains after that now, i'm thinking also, sully, how you opened the show with pointing the records on the indices. and people may be saying it's too expensive for me for me. that's wrong you have to look underneath the indices and look at particularly the reopening trades which are still way off highs from back in may. there is a lot of opportunity there. don't miss the trees for the forest >> and jason, the -- planning for the show i sent the team a clarity of the forward pe ratio on the s&p 500 even as stock prices have gone up to jim's point, the forward pe has actually come down to about 22.1 because earnings were

so good. we're not talking about earnings we're talking more about the fed. what are you advising your clients to be focused on right now? >> yeah, absolutely, so obviously this year has been about earnings growth. and to your point, sully, we have seen that this year and, you know, just taking a step back and looking at the fed commentary from chairman powell earlier today and some of the other presidents we listened to this week, you know, clearly as shannon mentioned, there is two mandates, a labor mandate and inflationary mandate it sounds like we met the inflationary mandate for sure. the labor market has been steadily improving the last several months for me whether we taper now or taper three months from now, i think it's all about the velocity in which we do it and the time line between tapering and tightening i think that's an important concept to look at as we look at it from an investor perspective. >> yeah, the taper, not the tightening here. jason, i don't know if you

hacked my email to steve liesman before the show or just precognitive or all three. let's bring in steve i actually e-mailed you about an hour and a half ago appear said have we seen a shift to more of an gmt mandate than inflation? i know they're focused on both indiana the dual mandate but it just felt like powell was focused more now on jobs rather than inflation what say you what was your take away? >> so, brian, i don't want to disagree with you publicly on national tv here >> do it >> i think the way i would say it is that powell is still more focused on employment. this has been true of thumb him -- this has made him the most employment-focused chairman that i remember and i've covered a bunch of them. i think he is my fourth over about 20 years here. he changed the fed as long-run statement to make it more oriented towards employment. so i would say, brian, he is still focused on that. and that's what he did today, if

you think about what jason was saying we thought it was a great analysis he tiptoed through the taper minefield in the speech saysing the fed is on strack track to taper this year but not revealing when. >> mind you the substantial further progress test ha has been met for inflation there has also been clear progress toward maximum employment at the fomc's recent july meeting i was of the view as were most participants that if the economy evolved broadly as anticipated it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year >> let's put on our college english hats clear progress is not substantial progress that's the bench test for tapering now investors, what do you do puzzle over whether powell might change the assessment before the september meeting based on the august jobs report or waits until november vickio quickly on powell he had

the outlook for jobs brightened. he is optimistic about getting to the substantial place to inflation will likely be transitory doubled down on that as you talked about, rate hikes are really have a higher standard than tapering we skipt skip the next sound except to say that basically he has had little disagreement with the committee. committee members are in a place where any think they ought to taper right way away more worried about inflation than he is with his focus on employment. >> a follow-up here steve, i think we answered what's a ten letter word meaning we have to wait the answer is substantial. that's the word if we're word clouds and stuff in fed comments going forward, that's the word, substantial substantial, literally the word we need to focus on if that comes out that may accelerate the time line earlier on cnbc with carl, you said that the fed and powell were all in. was your term a poker reference on the taper let me ask you, knowing powell, knowing the dato data and other

voting members who switch over some next year is he all in with a pair of aces or pair of jacks? >> you know, just to be clear, powell is all in on transitory inflation. and that's really the key difference right there he did say -- and i'm trying to check this out, brian. i didn't have time to figure this out he -- this is the first time he said we need to do the reduction this year. i want to be clear but the issue sess going to finesse this this i'm uetzing another card game metaphor bridge he has hawkish people saying let's do it now. he has dovish folks. he may get away with not forcing the issue in september but we did a bunch of interviews with fed folks last couple days. another one coupleo coming one richard clarida. and they maybe ready to vote in taper and may be ready to vote in dissent if they don't get

that in september. and that's something powell has to finesse >> jim, jump in here i know you have a question >> yeah, steve always good to get your insight on this because you're the best fed watcher i know i watched jay powell. >> thank you. >> i don't watch him as religiously as you do. i got to tell you, as a market participant, i felt he was putting his arm around my shoulders and saying doesn't worry let's get an ice cream i mean, it was focused on employment we're nowhere near and the indicators aren't showing it and really doubling down on transitory the question to you is, from a tone point of view, do you think i'm reading him right? did you read it that way i mean the tone was so dovish, it seemed -- it was remarkable to me. >> yeah, to an extent. i would like to remind you, jim there was a scene i believe in good fellas where the guy put his arm around joe peshi in the

basement do you remember that snt. >> got it. >> i will pause for appropriate laster on that i would be careful about a fed chair putting his arm around you and the phrase was there was nothing that could be done afterwards. but in any event, the deal is this, he did sound dovish but he sort of points in this way he is going to taper but look, jim, what i love about you and most of the guys around the table they do a lot of short-term trades. but really you have a long-term outlook at the end of the day, september, november not mattering a whole lot to the investment thesis. at the end of the day, a quarter .6 months or a year from flou, at least i hope it doesn't matter i hope you're not out there i know you're not investing more client's money on the needle's head of the 8:45 of the does the fed do this a little bit more dovish or a little bit more hawkish? >> steve wsh, i just said that before you came on just so you know i just said that before you came

on i'm glad to get your endorsement. >> i'm picking -- and i'm picking up on that, jim. because what we're talking about, is there growth in the economy of 2, 2.5, 3%? do we have low employment, low inflation, those are the macroideas you build investment thesis around. quarter point here if the economy can't stand a quarter point a year from now, i don't know, i think i'd be all in gold or platinum. >> by the way, some calls out there today about buying gold. given that inflationary story as well steve liesman, i thought you said i'm okay, spider. >> pleasure. >> busy day. let's bring in now our headliner, is there a bigger headliner anthony scaramucci managing partner at sky bridge capital among other entrepreneurial endeavors as well great to have you back on. we have a lot to talk about including your conference. but first up, your take on the fed as a betting man do we get a rate hike next year.

>> i don't think we're getting rate hike next year. we'll see. but i don't think the -- the data is going to be there for somebody like jerome powell. and i would think he would want to last longer in delaying the tapering and last longer in the asset purchasing business, brian. of course, great to see you as well. >> we talk about unemployment and jobs the unemployment rate was what, 3.5% before the pandemic hit, jay powell talking about the strong economy pre-pandemic. we're at 5.3%. if we're focused that much on the numbers -- and it appears powell is -- is there an unemployment rate that you would point to anthony 4% 4.2 where you say now we have to start thinking about actually raising rates? >> so remember it's also the participation rate which is down a lot. and i think he is waiting for these transfer payments to end in september and then there will be a delayed mechanism there as people search for jobs once the

transfer payments are done but if you really look at the long-term numbers and not to bore people but that u-6 numbers which factors all of the things related to job search not job search that's got to be around a 7 handle, 6.5, 7 somewhere in that zone before he gets comfortable. that's where it was at the end of the fourth quarter in 2019. so i see him as very dovish. i think that's very, very good news for the economy and very good news for the long-term trajectory of the market and he doesn't take the punch bowl away any time soon. that doesn't mean people should be in a speculative frenzy over that stay long-term and stay invested don't try to time the market. >> you make a good point about timing because assuming those extended unemployment benefits are not extended again, let's call it september, to your point, we won't get real data until october, there is no way any use one month of data. push that hout a couple of months. >> correct. >> it might be late december's number or the january jobs

number. >> correct. >> until we start to get some real movement. that's what it sounds like you're saying. >> i believe that. and i believe that they are data dependent andhe is very, very cautious and i think he is by and large from a consensus point of view done a very good job with the overall economy right now. and so, you know, we like to pretend the fed is apolitical but there is a political game going on with as well. he does need the support of the president and the congress and so for those reasons i think he sits tight. >> you know are we underestimating the risk of tax hikes if in 3.5 billion-dollar spending plan does get through, probably through a budget reconciliation bill? are we underestimating the risk of tax hikes there was a guest on with carl private wealth management, saying they think they could have a 10 to 15% price move in equities us because of the tax.

>> i was watching that interview. i have the opposite take that is what makes a market. i think the market is pricing in some tax hikes and i think the market is accepting that the current corporate tax rate is not going back to 35 but probably doesn't stay here in the low 20s so i'm taking the other side of that, brian. i think the market has priced that in. and i also think the market -- the reason we're in such a bullish phase right now is that the comps are actually going to continue to get better year over year comps as the economy accelerates. the 2022 numbers i think are going to be very good numbers for the s&p. you can combine that with this dovish feeling from the fed, in macroeconomic policy the fed is it putting in place, i think this is very very good for the overall markets. the global markets as well >> well, let's talk about something else, which is your conference, assault conference, generally in vegas you move to new york this year to the javits center starting

september 13th talk to us about what it's like right now to have a huge conference going on in two and a half weeks given everything that's going on, did you even think about changing your plans? >> yes, we certainly did think about changing it. i talked to scott gottlieb and others scott will be attending the event. we made a decision not to change remember, this is the javits vip extension. these are beautiful, spectacular ball rooms built by the state of new york ant city. erik adams will be attending the even with us i reached out to governor hochul as well. we're bringing the even to new york, brian, because we want to revitalize the city and the energy of the city, of course there is a vaccine mandate in place. remember, we'll be operating at less than 50% capacity so there will be lots of space there. we're going to ask people to wear masks internally. but there is a beautifulroof top venue. andrew ross sorkin will be

interviewing ray dalio over looking the hudson the chain smokers having an outdoor concert at the venue upstairs it's not the javits center people are used to it's the brand-new vip extension to the center. this is a hallmark event where we are showcasing new york i'll have the opportunity to do that scott wapner who you are subbing in for will be there to do interviews and some of the -- your economic advisory team like kari firestone jon najarian, et cetera. we're superexcited about the event. we except the fact that doevd is going to be with us. and we are taking the protective measures necessary to keep people safe inside that environment. of course it will be well spaced and there will be lots of outdoor activities during that week >> pulling it off september 13th kicks off at the new extension on the javits center as well and i've heard a few of those speakers anthony scaramucci, thank you.

good luck. >> thank you. all right. let's move on to technology. because big tech, a big part of the record rally what's new and stocks go up because people want to buy them more than they want to sell them. and that's really been true lately lnlz to the data from bank of america showing nine straight weeks of inflows into technology shannon saccocia, i want to read you another stat, pulled out by the hard working halftime team this is bonkers. every 60 minutes in the markets global technology stocks increase $780 million in value $$780 million in value every 60 minutes, globally going back a few years. that's just nuts >> yeah, i mean, the -- it doesn't surprise me. you know, one of the things we've been talking about the last few years is every -- you know, every quote, unquote, dip has been an opportunity. i think what's happened the last few months is the relative

underperformance of stock has provided opportunity we're seeing that. what we're looking at is thinking about where the aspen something going to be over the next few years and i -- you know, whether it's 2% or 2.5%, you know, gdp growth over the next two to three years, that's still sort of a low growth environment if we look back historically but enterprise spend is really picking up think about 2020 where companies were stalled out out, some projects in flight but weren't putting back into enterprise spend we're also seeing small and middle size businesses get into enterprise spend as well if you think about how that could potentially impact so much of the big cap tech companies -- not just microsoft and ibm and cisco which we own i think you should be kpilted about the potential of next two or three years and not lose sight of the fact that the companies delivered excellent earnings and execution along with strong balance sheets and incredible cash flow throughout 2018, 2019 and even in 2020.

>> jason, i know you talked on the program about nvidia, qualcomm, some of the chip stocks, amazon, particularly like an nvidia all-time record highs again one of the best performing stocks in the world. are you trimming these at all? at some point, you say, okay we made a bunch of money. we have to take some profit? >> yeah, it's a great question, sully. i'll say this in respect to nvidia it's the gift that keeps giving obviously the semis can be a very cyclical oriented aspect of the market you know, but nvidia, i believe is just the gold standard. they're in everything. you know, from gaming from machine learning, from from ai i -- it's marred to trim the napes because they keep on running. but n individuallyia is a great pick technology lass played different roles over the last decade primarily it's growth. but it has leaned more defensive

over the last several months as investors start to take into some volatility and say, well growth at a reasonable price is maybe fang is where i find it. >> but is it still a reasonable price on nvidia? are you still holding the gift >> so not -- it's not. it's not clearly obviously it's an expensive stock. but i think it's expensive for a reason they -- again they are the gold standard in the space. it's worth owning. and quite honestly if there is a pull back that's a name that's worth buying on the pullback >> nvidia. >> if the we ever get a pullback in the next 25 years lites talk about the cyclicals, financials they have been hot many of the financials are at or near record highs. the group is actually the top performing sector this month and this year. jim, i know you own goldman sachs. you own citi, berkshire hathaway which is a

semifinancial/insurance company. are you like jason with the semiconductors, still hanging on these have been the gifts that have also been giving. >> they've got a lot more to give, sully, that's my opinion you know, i've been saying this about two months now, that everybody is saying it's interest rates i think you're missing the picture. sure interest rates matter but what matters more is we're early in an economic expansion i have to stress that. this is the point where loan loss reserves go down. this is the point where loan balances go up this is the point where shares are bought back in the citigroup below tangible value goldman sachs, around book value. similarly for berkshire hathaway you just have positive forces going. and by the way, i think interest rates are going to keep climbing and the yield curve steepens i think we're still very early in this financial trade. this is part of the global picture for value. and cyclicals whatever you want to call it you're early in economic

expansion. this is when value stocks are supposed to work and they are. >> shannon, i know you trimmed a little bit of jp morgan. is ino it just jpm or trimming, selling some of the other banks as well? >> no just trimming jpm in order to accommodate a new insurance add in the portfolio but jim makes a great point. one of the things we talked about in 2019 is that we were waiting for financials to lead the value rotation and what we have seen is that we have seen the sharp increase in areas like energy and materials. and financials have lagged based on the yield curve but i don't disagree with jim at all. i think there is still continued opportunity in financials over the next couple years. the -- the yield curve doesn't have to be 3% for the prospect to improve from noi perspective for the banks. i think if you haven't been financials and perhaps you want tick take a little off the table in some of the steamier parts of the cyclical trade, i think there are opportunities to add to a broad basket of financials over the next couple months.

>> not dunking on jpm just wanted to use money to buy something else pete let's talk about calls. barclays with sofi, buying the callings, why the calls, not the equity >> well, i do have equity in multiple different types of financials, brian. i love capital one still look at the stock and can't believe it trades at a single digit pe. when you look at these from price to book and go arthrothrough bank of america which i also own, i think there is a lot of incredible upside to the points and a half already been brought up by jim and shannon. i think when you look at the names when i'm looking at sofi and some others they're a bit newer for me i'd rather test the waters by being in the calls i'm even sometimes leveraging up for instance i bought bank of americas calls today that add the stock i own i'm double dipping so to speak. but i agree, i think the financials have so much more room to the upside and have been on a great run in many cases back to the november and you look at where

many of the stocks were like in energy, materials and others, you will see there's been an explosive move to the upside i'm impressed with where we are. >> good stuff there on some of the financials as well and let's move on now, because airlines and casinos, both soaring this woke. but many of the names are still well off their highs is the reopen trade back we'll talk more about these two trades and what one of our investment committee members is doing with them. and as a reminder you can watch or listen live on the go from anywhere if you're reopening on the cnbc loed dp it today. "halftime report" with a record market is back in two minutes. d. "halftime report" with a record market is back in two minutes. oy "halftime report" with a record market is back in two minutes. wy "halftime report" with a record market is back in two minutes. ny "halftime report" with a record market is back in two minutes. ly "halftime report" with a record market is back in two minutes. oy "halftime report" with a record market is back in two minutes. a. "halftime report" with a record market is back in two minutes. .

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welcome back to the "halftime report." i'm rahel solomon here is our cnbc news update school districts in florida can impose maverick mandates a judge ruling that governor desantis overstepped his authority with his executive order banning mask mandates. the just says the order is without legal authority. a milestone for vaccinating young people the white house says that half of kids 12 to 17 have now gotten at least one covid shot. the group also showing the fastest growth rate for vaccinations just now president biden said the booster shot program in the u.s. is promising and that his administration is

working on an exact time line for further shots. and in louisiana residents get ready for another potential hurricane, tropical storm ida expected to strengthen into a category 3 major hurricane before it comes ashore that's expected to happen on sunday or monday somewhere along the louisiana or florida coast. on the news preparing for another natural disaster on the gulf coast and a storm showing all signs of intensifying rapidly. tune in tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. brian, back stowers. >> they don't need that down there. lake charles louisiana had no power about six weeks during the last storms. let's hope the storm blows away. we have a news alert, storm of a different kind kate rooney is here. kate >> hey, brian we have news out from the s.e.c. putting out a request for information and public comment on some of the digital engagement practices by brokerage firm -- brokerage firms, has to do with a certain marketing tactics and outreach through mobile apps and use of

tech as well as they call it quote gamification, some of the behavioral problem prompts, different marketing they use, game like features as they say and some of the other design elements meant to really engage with retail investors on one the hand they say apps increased retail participation in the market on the other hand, they say, some of that digital engagement can potentially harm retail investors if they prompt them to trade too frequently using strategies that carry additional risk they mention options trading by name here. they say it's not clear that this will turn into regulation it's so the commission can better understand the risk and so that they can consider, quote, whether regulatory action may be needed here they're really asking for feedback from investors soliciting feedback over the next 30 days here on gamification shares of robinhood -- let's see if we can pull that up they do not mention robinhood by name but some of the brokerage firms, pretty much flat here ton

that news. back to you. >> the news just crossing see wlapds watch robinhood. pete, you own robinhood calls, does this make you nervous >> no, not necessarily, brian. i think it really comes down to educational process and are they doing the right thing? obviously the s.e.c. wants to look into that to make sure people are getting into things that they absolutely have knowledge about, what their risk is that's the most important thing. and as long as they can prove that they are doing that, then obviously that gives people the opportunity, everybody can make their own zbigso decisions and i think it's going to be interesting though, brian. we have always at market rebellion always pushed you need that information, educational side of things so you really do understand what the risks really are when entering. >> a trade i think everybody is trying to do their very best and educate people as fast as possible but i don't know what the time frame -- i don't know how anybody could ever say there's a time frame on what you do educationally. i think you have to go through a testering process. that's what we've done always to

make sure people are learning along the which and understand what their risks really are. >> all right, pete thank you very much. let's move on. talk vegas, baby, vegas. because it's also been a big week for two big groups of the reopening trades airlines and casinos the major airlines stocks up between 5% and 10% this week tsa numbers showing 1.8 million people got on a plane two days ago. and the casino names like las vegas sands, win/wino wynn and mgm each seeing double-digit gains this we can. but most of the stocks of course still well below the 52-week highs. and shannon, you were part of that you just sold your lvs, las vegas sands. >> yeah, which is -- it's such a challenge right now with in particular name. we have owned this company for self-years and actually purchased it on the back of great free cash flow and strong dividend. cutting, obviously know longer paying a dividend. for us the outlook over the next

couple months appears cloudy from a consumer perspective. they are definitely going to benefit from continued reopening in macaop but there is an overhang on anything associated with china even for a u.s.dom soiled company like lvs and it says either trim the position or eliminate the position in favor of better opportunity. we made the decision to eliminate. for us we're back down to much more positive on business cyclical than consumer cyclical and probably remain so the next couple months. >> good stuff there. and let's move on. while the markets hit new highs, disney is actually one of the worst-performing stocks in the dow and s&p this year. and it was kind of a mixed call out on disney today. we'll talk about why it's mixed and get our experts' take on whether or not you should be owning or buying or selling disney right now markets at new records hope you're having a great friday we're back right after this short break.

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all right welcome back well if you haven't noticed disney shares pulling back 6% the past six months. not a huge move down but

certainly not participating in the record rally deutsche bank out of a kind of mixed call. any reiterated the buy rate on disney but lowered the price target to 200. saying it remains a attractive long-term holding but jason downgrading the price farther. recent new buy for you what's your take on disney and your take on this call >> yeah -- yeah, so obviously it's a new buy for us. for me, you know, as i look at disney -- and i didn't try and clays it last year it obviously performed very well it's definitely underperformed the market this year and the industry that it resides in. but what i will say is i think the opportunity long-term here -- i have seen what a great job they've done in restructuring the -- and how they've been on the offensive since the pandemic began there is pricing power from, you know, the theme parks and

advertising, i see opportunities there as well. so streaming -- streaming is a et competitive industry but i think there is also upped is from there this is a difficult call for me. obviously a new buy. but i'm hopeful that it continues- it will hopefully move here before the year is out. >> jim, you owned it a while talked about it many times on the program. you're sticking with it. >> you darn right i'm sticking with it. i've owned it a little over a year so bought it after the heart of the pandemic let's call it what it is, a stock in consolidation, nothing more, nothing less went up 70% from late october to early march of this year late october of last year. when you have a move like that, it's normal for the stock to consolidate. what you still see is great streaming business here, reopening of the theme parks, i'm not listening to anyone talking about valuation because this is a stock recovering from the pandemic still so a lot of carbon the balance sheet. i think what jason did is exactly right. if you don't own disney -- this

is exactly the time. the stock is consolidated for almost six months now. it's going to break out. which way? probably to the upside from the fundamentals i just -- i can't fathom the bear case maybe that's me being blinders on but i don't think so >> darn toothin' >> state with us piece pete is up with the latest trades in unusual activity that is next what is he seeing that's unusual? we'll find out right after this. e created for officers. but as we've evolved with the military, we've grown to serve all who've honorably served. no matter their rank, or when they were in. a marine just out of basic, or a petty officer from '73. and even his kids. and their kids. usaa is made for all who've honorably served and their families. are we still exclusive? absolutely. and that's exactly why you should join.

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all right, welcome back. time now for unusual activity. pete, hp and zinga what are you seeing? >> right i'm going right after your spot in the energy space which i know you no so well hem rick and payne trade bag $35 in june. pulled back significantly to 24. here at 26.25 today. and we have some 26.5 call buying out in september. 10,000 of those calls are getting bought out in september. 75 cents, very, very interesting to see that. i think that there is some upside here. the stock is well off the recent highs. i think this thing is ready to explode to the upside.

secondly i have zinga. zinga on a couple of occasions for unusual activity ticked multiple times stock as at nine now buying 109,000 of the september nine calls doesn't take a lot of move here. and the inexpensiveness of the options, talking about 21 cents to 34 cents on the options to the upside, into the moves to the nines these accelerate to the upside i'm in both trade. i like them i have a lot of exposure in energy i think there is upside right now. >> hp is big contract trailer down 10 bucks from the summer. you wonder if the buying is signaling, anybody is more bullish on drilling demand as demand for gasoline soars. traffic is brutal. more trades still ahead as we go break a check on some of the stocks hitting new highs you got to darden restaurants. equifax, inker sol rand, not names we talk about all e th time

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♪ ♪ monday, payday♪ ♪ tuesday, payday♪ ♪ wednesday, payday♪ ♪ thursday, payday♪ ♪ friday, payday♪ ♪ saturday, payday♪ ♪ sunday, payday♪ ♪ ♪ payday, payday♪ ♪ ♪payday♪ all right. welcome back let's take a step outside of stocks for a moment. because there is really big and important happening on cnbc. and that is a new documentary, meg tyrrell took a deep dive behind the scenes looks, the race to get covid vaccines to market in record time. i can't wait to watch. it's a hell of a story. >> that it is, brian

really it focuses in on the huge risk taking that companies betting on a technology that had not been proven yet took at the early day ever the pandemic. messenger rna, the obvious root for a company like moderna founded around the technology but for pfizer it wasn't so obvious. and in fact buy biontech told us when any approached pfizer late january, february, the drug giant wasn't interested. look at this >> it was not given that we were going for mrn. it was the most counterintuitive decision because of all the choices. because there was never a vaccine made with mrna so i wrestled a little bit with the decision we had another meeting and they convinced me. i said, yeah, let's take the risk we go for mrna, clearly for me very contradictory but we said let's go ugger called. >> uga called me and said, we have the construct we've been

working on this for a while. >> five weeks later, yeah, i did a second call, called kathryn johnson and told her we have now candidates and developing a vaccine. and at that time the -- the outbreak was already i >> truly dramatic story. >> and of course the rest is history. >> i had the opportunity to speak to someone in the room when they got the results of pfizer they were crying and hugging as much as they could at the time with social distancing and everything the one thing about the document i, are you going to go into the history of mrna. it may be new for a vaccine, but it's been around for 50 years. >> well, in fact mrna itself has been around for as long as we've been around. >> fair point, yes >> as long as biology has been around but as a technology, trying to apply it to medicine, of course it has been something that's

been worked on for years this really focuses in on using it for the coronavirus vaccine, but it's such an important point. >> it's kind of like a lego for other medicines. they may be able to use it for other vaccines down the road, maybe even cancer. >> absolutely. that's something we talk about with all of these. biontech had to pivot away from personalized cancer drugs using mrna to focus on this vaccine. that is going to be a big frontier for this technology as well >> truly remarkable stuff. meg, appreciate it everybody, do not miss that. "a race against covid. you can find the documentary at cnbc.com and cnbc pages as well. worth the tcwah. traders are making more moves in their portfolios. you're going to learn them next on "halftime."

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all right. your investment committee is making more moves in their portfolio. why are you adding to medtronic? >> so, for me, i was slightly underweight here on medtronic and just added additional capital. i really like their print. i think 19% organic revenue growth, 190 launch new products, which is a record for them i like health care in general. i think preventive care and elective surgeries are on the way to a comeback. so, i like medtronic here, so i decided to add additional capital. >> pete, there's a company

called target. i don't know if you've heard of target you've owned them for like 72 years. you're adding to target. why? why now? >> i added calls, brian, not stock. the reason i did that was the stock had an odd reaction to unbelievable earnings. if you just go back a couple earnings cycles ago, you would have heard they called about peak earnings. the stock has reversed and pulled back significantly off of its highs, so it looked to me there was a great opportunity with the options because i see this being potentially a nice snap back. if i'm wrong i might move over and have stock rather than just the calls themselves but i think this could be a quick move potentially but depending how the markets play out ask appnd the delta vat and other things going on out there, i thought it was prudent to use calls rather than stock >> pete. your final trades next on

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it is final trades time. shannon, why don't you kick it off? >> we talked about financials

earlier. take a look at cne largest derivatives exchange operator in the world, and they have a lot of cutting age innovative interest rate products that are going to continue to be important in the inefficient world of bonds >> jason >> crm, five consecutive quarters of growth i like this. >> salesforce plug there what about you, farmer jim >> well, you know, he's not on the show today but i've got to tweak him anyway steve weiss would certainly not approve but boeing is my final trade. the airlines are coming back, traffic is pickingup frankly you just need new planes you do and there's only boeing and air bus. there's going to be more orders coming in. >> by the way, pete, your final trade? >> he will >> unique oil and gas company, a pennsylvania play. >> yeah, i'm going right in your backyard, man. i'm going to capital oil and

gas. i think there's a lot of energy names that can work. i think this is one that can work in a hurry. >> operations entirely focused on the marcellus shale in the northeast corner of pennsylvania appreciate it all. thank you for watching "the halftime report. "the exchange" with kelly begins now. thank you very much, brian and we'll see you in just a moment hi, everybody. here's what's ahead in the next hour as we make substantial further progress toward the weekend. the fed is ready to start tapering, but apart from taper talks today, he spent most of the time talking about how inflation will be transitory we'll dive into this paradox and what it means for the markets. it's hard to build a bear when the supply chain is this messed up. apple's deals with developers, china's play and a popular stay-at-home play gets hit. stocks