Josh brown, i love your general thoughts and perspective on hitting this milestone. Im not sure many thought back in april we would be here today, maybe one day but not this soon. You and i talked about this a little bit yesterday. The number one thing the bears got round was not the macro, in fact, the bears talking about persistently high inflation and higher for longer Interest Rates, they got all of that right. The thing that was missed by the people telling you to get out of stocks or to prioritize money market funds over longterm investing, what they missed was the unbelievable earnings power at the 500 best companies in the world which comprise the s p names. And that continues. Were seeing some of the best Earnings Growth weve seen in years right now. There was no mean reversion in Profit Margins long prophecied. They laid people off when they were overstaffed. They raised prices on customers. We can complain about that, but thats what they did. When they couldnt do that, they found other ways to bring in new customers, and whatever this concoction was of levers they had pulled, they kept Profit Margins high, and even with mediocre revenue growth, they found ways to degree the bottom line. In the end, the most important factors for stocks, what are earnings going to do . And that is why were here. Not because of jay powell. Not because of anything else. These companies are incredibly profitable. One of the reasons youre here, i guess, stephanie link, is from the april lows, the close on april 19th, technology is the best performing sector. Just as people were trying to write it off. The best days are behind it. Revenue growth is dead. Late on a. I. , et cetera, et cetera. The stock is up today. Well call it 190. And you bought more of it. Thats what i was getting to. Thats our headline, youre more overweight your biggest position now overall is apple. Tell us. Its about 7 , the s p 500 weighting is about 6. 5 . Its a very big position for me. Even though its had a nice bounce its down 5 from its highs, and i think we know all of the negative stuff out there in terms of top line being sluggish and china being a problem. I think, though, that the Services Business is just a juggernaut, and what is exciting is it is now 26 of total revenues up from 16 sequentially, and its growing 14, 15 , and i think it will continue to grow double digits. I think, also, in the 10q when i was going through it, operating margins were up in every single region of the world other than china. Thats very impressive. I thought their gross margin story has been outstanding. Theyre buying back a ton of stock, raised the dividend, and you have wwdc in june, you have an iphone 16 cycle come up. We have a lot of a. I. To look forward to in terms of the cycle. I wanted to make it bigger. Its not cheap, and soap i think theres some value here. It was that record buyback they announced, which seemed really to jumpstart the stock again. And, if nothing else, reminded people of the engine that they have of the buybacks because the mountain of money they sit on and all of this doesnt take into account what may happen at wwdc where we get more clarity on a. I. You added to it a couple weeks ago. We did. Was it 110 billion buyback. I like buying things out of favor. I like this move by steph and continue to add to it on her end. Its a slight bit underweight for us against the s p 500, but its in the top five or top six where we are all heavy tech amazon, alphabet, micron, nvidia, synopsis and apple, all in there. And here is the thing about apple is they havent spent as much on a. I. Just yet. Josh, you said it. Apple doesnt come first, but they come right. We havent seen some tail winds as they start to spend on a. I. These conditions are investing in the future and there is this innovation to drive the growth. Apple was in a 17 drawdown from its highs as recently as april 19th and the narrative is this blue chip stock will go into its own bear market. Remember how quickly narratives can come and can fade away and go. Just sentiment, theres no fundamental change. Apple is still the worst performer year to date even with the recent rally. Its the third worst performer year to date behind tesla and j j. Negative 1 on the year. If you think you missed it, you probably havent. I like what you did there, and i think it will work out for you. Jimmy, mag seven etf, the record high a day ago, the tech sector hit a record high a day ago. Com services on pace for november. We talked about amazon at a record high. Alphabet is here a 52week high. Meta has been in a twomonth losing streak. Thats about to be snapped. Nvidia reports earnings next week, the super bowl for a. I. Coming on may 22nd. May that determines whether tech will keep up that leadership role since the april bottom or not. What do you think . I think nvidia earnings are obviously important. I think what you reported, scott, is unsurprisingly factual. I might take the conversation in a slightly different direction. Its not just tech outperforming. Look at things like financials and how theyre working. Look at discretionary stocks like auto manufacturers. Look at energy. And my point on this is not to be negative on technology at all, folks, but if you want to build a diversified portfolio this is a great time to do it. Energy is about the only bust you mentioned it, so well go there over one month, its down. Its the only sector thats down. The performance from the april lows from the close on april 19th, the only sector thats negative. There seem to be other places to be at the moment in time, not that. You quoted over a month and thats, again, factually correct. However, if you look over those six, seven months since the october lows, youll see energy has been a wonderful place to be. This is a little bit microscopic. One of the things weve been saying it dont look at crude oil. Look at natural gas. This is a month ago it was 1. 50. What is it now . 2. 34. It will propel earnings for the rest of the year. Thats where the puck is going, scott. You could look at commodities, speaking of energy, stephanie link doing just that. Bought more freeport mcmoran. Copper has been ripping. Positive notes this week. One regarding comer which basically said, dont fear the boom or something to that effect. Why did you buy more freeport . There are a lot of end markets in which to kind of play with copper. Its evs. We talk about the grid all the time. If theyre going to play a really big impact there, its housing, which you know i am a housing bull, though thats contrarian. It is also Global Growth that is actually better than expected. That is one of the reasons why ive been talking about inflation andthe last piece of inflation, getting to 2 is a challenge. You have not only better growth here in the states but better growth around the world. And so copper certainly will benefit. And for every 10 cents changed per pound of copper, thats about 400 million to ebitda. This company in the last quarter just actually saw a 1. 9 billion increase in free cash flow, and they are scheduled to probably do Something Like 7 billion for the year. Theyre paying down debt. The execution has been really good. Its improved massively. At 7. 5 times ebitda, i dont think its extended. I know its had a great run but i think theres more to go. The other thing that jumps out to me of something you did as well, you bought the ishares of india etf. Jeffrey gundlach months ago told us and our viewers, investors, that india is the place to be. Why is it today . Well, ive been talking about india for the last couple of months, but i just want to have exposure to a country that will grow 7, 7. 5 , the fastest in the world, which will translate into earning 15 . They have a favorable fiscal policy in place. They have a favorable demographics. We all know that. The largest population in the world. And so i wanted to have exposure. This is 132 names, so its more concentrated and their top position is reliance industries, which i like a lot, about 7 of the weighting. Its the largest position, as i mentioned, and thats a play on energy, power, grid, and telecom, the infrastructure buildout. We know they will continue to build it out. Josh, what do you think of these moves, whether its expanding horizons outside the u. S. , ive been getting a lot of that from the strategists and whomever ive been speaking with on closing bell that its time to look outside the United States for opportunity whether its europe or emerging markets like india. I mean, youre doing this a long time. You dont need me to tell you sentiment follows price. There are Financial Advisers who build diversified portfolios for clients and maintain International Weightings in their portfolios pause they understand that while u. S. Stocks in the last 15 years have outperformed everything, if you pull the lens back over 100 years, you will find perpdz of time where u. S. Stocks stall and other markets take the baton and run. I understand its the flavor of the month right now. People are bullish because you have emerging market stocks up 50 , 60 . Thats fine. I get it. But fundamentally, though, its important to point out, baidu just smashed earnings. Jd. Com just smashed earnings. Alibaba is up 7 today on no news. Theres money being made in the names again. You take a look at small cap europe, look at eufn, 52 week highs. Why . Almost doesnt matter. These are under owned areas of the Asset Allocation set, so im not shocked at all to see people chasing them as they move higher. Alibaba, though, david tepper and michael buerry showed holdings. That will do it. One of the reasons why, and josh is mentioning a lot of whats going on in the european markets is because of expectations of rate cuts coming there before here. And Steve Liesman is sitting at post 9 with us today, our senior economics reporter, because he spoke earlier with tom barkin. Loretta is speaking as we speak. I wouldnt disagree with josh but i would add to what josh is saying here. Smart decision, steve. Well see. Hes saying it will take longer to reach the 2 goal than previously thought. Prudent to hold rates at restrictive stance for longer, the key of where both he, powell and barkin are. She expects progress at a slower pace. Ill stop it there, josh, to say, i dont think can you love stocks and love the earnings. If the fed is hating on the economy and hating on where the rates are right now, i think this embrace you talked about earlier this big hug to earnings, the surprise, a precondition of that is where the fed is right now and what theyre saying about the current rate, which is that it is enough to bring down inflation. They dont need to do more. They just need to do it for longer. And exhibit number one, i will just show the tale of the tape from 8 30 a. M. Yesterday. Everybody focused on the inflation number. I think they missed one piece in there which was the retail sales. A revision down from march as well and somewhat lower inflation. The idea of a slowing economy, now i can give a warm, fuzzy big hug to my earnings and stock. And rate cut expectations i pushed so far out you can barely see them on the horizon a dream. A little bit closer perhaps. The bad news idea if you want to take the retail data is good news for prospects of a rate cut sooner than maybe we pushed out. Were still looking, scott. We brought it down 0. 4 yesterday, 0. 2 today. My rapid update is still 2. 83 . Respectfully, theres no daylight between you and i. We have both said good news is good news and stocks dont need rate cuts to work. If we get cuts, no one will cry. Agreed. The s p went up. The reason you dont need rate cuts for stocks to work is what you were talking about, earnings. Correct. Earnings have been the bigger surprise than anything. Everybody said, oh, inflation is here. Corporate margins are coming down. However they did it, they begged, borrowed, took a plane, they got there just the same and they kept Profit Margins up. There is a question right now, josh, that i am looking at, does the ability to keep the margins high, are we looking at companies that may not have that ability . Steph, housing plays into this story because it also remains a central part on the market. Youre a bull when it comes to housing. What was it, yesterday, some of the housing stocks were ripping . We have a decent amount of ownership but rates matter to that trade working, no . Absolutely. And even though housing is only 10 of the u. S. Economy, when you buy a home you have to put stuff inside the home. You have to buy a car to get from the home to anywhere else youre going to go. And i think the numbers today, even though they were disappointing, the Single Family starts grew 17. 7 year over year. That is a really big theme in my mind. Existing home sales will be challenged just given the rate picture. I think the first buyer, firsttime buyer, and the new home sales, are really going to be strong. And thats where im kind of tilting towards. D. R. Horton, 57 of their sales are firsttime buyers, and thats where i want to be. I thought home depot did a great job considering they had a challenging spring beginning of the spring. And just challenging on big ticket. I think these are places where you want to go. I think its a little more contrarian to be bullish on the housing stocks. Last year they had their recession. This year i think they will see the recovery and into 2025 i think it will continue. Lets look at a the intraday charts dont tell the story. Lets look at a six months of d. R. Horton, and maybe you can put up other housing stocks in a similar pattern. My question is, if these kinds of stocks are up, in part, because of lack of supply, and theres an expectation that rates are going to be be coming down on top of that to give you the cherry on top, how much of that move has already been realized . I think a lot of it has been realized. The earnings are going higher. Order rates are up sequentially. Theyre doing an excellent job in terms of executing on these orders and, again, the valuations are 10, 11 times earnings. Its cheaper to buy back stock than land. Theyre less cyclical. Youre 5 million homes short. Companies like d. R. Horton, k. B. Homes, they have been underproducing for 14 years. Its not a one or two year thing. The charts are really telling an amazing story about the movement and some stocks. I forget which one was up 50 plus. Jimmy, you make the argument higher for longer is hard to be bullish. Obviously not. Youre talking to somebody as you know, scott, who has been bullish. Listening to steve and josh and thinking to myself, im a little nervous. I understand the economy and ive been a proponent of this, has withstood higher for longer. I worry about credit card delinquencies. I worry about the banks. And here is what my point is. Can i finish the point . After i make this point. But for somebody who says theyre nervous, you werent nervous with General Motors. You werent nervous with citi. Its okay to have missed the trade, but, i dont know. Its obvious to me by looking at the charts, higher for longer has made it not difficult to be bullish. Good point. Allow me to elaborate that im not selling citi, General Motors or delta airlines, you would if you were going into a recession. I really would like the fed, steve, to be as the quarterback leading the receiver. Hold on. Let me take notes. Theres not a long track record of the fed theyre telling you theyre not going to do that. And it makes me nervous. You would be a fool to not be nervous. Im looking over my shoulder. They will wait for spreads to blow out yeah. Didnt we have a dress rehearsal for that last march . Convince me not to be nervous. You are correct. We had a dress rehearsal. A hyper localized bank one, and it wasnt even really in the feds hands to do much. The fdic said, guys, we just decided theres no limit. You know im long small caps. Ive been pounding the table on that. How can you be nervous if youre long small caps . Wait, scott, i see you laughing, but you know this, bravery is not the absence of fear. It is action in the face of fear. It is wise to be looking over your shoulder and saying can i defend jim. This is professional investing. At 40,000 you can put on the party hat for a second, take it off and start worrying about risks. Thats what you do for a living. Something other than stocks. You own bonds and cash. Whatever makes you comfortable, but thats what we should be doing, where were add adding value. How can we look and build into the portfolio if the market surprised us with some sort of move, im not ready to buy puts yet. Is it small exposure to something that is going to rally in the case of a surprise here . We need three cuts still. The fed is Holding Strong here right now, and well see it start to maneuver in the summer. There are a lot of answers as to what you do. It depends on how active you want to be and how much time in front of a bloomberg terminal. For most its Asset Allocation. At any time there could be a reason or not a reason. Stocks will give you heart stopping moments of volatility. They will enter cyclical bear markets during secular bull markets. They will do what they want to do. The standard deviation is about 17. This is the business we have chosen. The right answer for me is Asset Allocation. Im working for rich people. I dont need to be 100 invested in stocks. Its not the goal, not what were trying to accomplish. Your bond portfolio in the risky scenario does not protect you. Credit spreads. If youre going to have higher rates, it doesnt protect you is the point. Incenario we are furiously cutting. I have been very strong saying theres not a recession, theres not a recession. By no means am i saying there wont be a recession. No one should make that mistake. Of course there will be. Here is the stock trading at five times earnings. Hold on, scott. Someone is saying, should be at least seven times earnings. Thats 40 higher. My only point was its hard to criticize, if you want to use that word, the housing trade saying you dont needily trust it here im not criticizing the housing trades. But make the case you like all these other things. I am not criticizing the housing trade. That should work in the same way ge should work. Hold on, scott. Ive got you. One of the reasons is you suggest that youre nervous i have so much else that is tied to this economy doing well. Well have to leave it there. Do you want to go down the list of ge, winn, delta . I dont. Up next im trying to get you out of this. Liesman, good to see you here. Good to be here. As josh was just saying, we do have drops for cisco and deer, target and ibm. Well break it down next. Announcer are you following the Halftime