Hello and welcome to market domination.

I'm Josh Lipton live from our New York

headquarters. There is just now to go

now to the closing bell and stocks are

rising here as investors digest strong

earnings results. Our very own Jared

Blickery is standing by with the very

latest. Jared,

>> thank you Josh. Uh we got a small rally

underway in the majors. You can see the

Dow's up not even triple digits here.

Nevertheless, a gain of about 81 points

or 17 uh basis points there. And the

Nasdaq up 3/10en of 1%'s been higher.

It's been red earlier this afternoon.

And the S&P 500 also up a small amount

right now, but kind of choppy action if

you're just looking at the today's

chart. Russell 2000 up one-third of 1%

and also looking kind of choppy there.

So, let's get to the bond market. I've

been on 30-year T-bond yield watch. uh

as that has been above 5% for some time

now it is down one basis point today not

always about the exact level but the

speed of the movements and so just

chopping around in the current range

really not that big of a deal 10-year

yield down four basis points to 4.54%

and the US dollar index down about half

excuse me about half of 1% and let's

check out the large cap sector action we

do have communication services in the

leadup about 1 and a.5% that's where you

find Meta as well as Alphabet Consumer

discretionary where you have Amazon and

Tesla that's up 1%. Then we got

financials those big bank earnings that

we've been talking about that's in third

place and healthcare staples that rounds

out the winners here. Whoops. And uh

tech taking on the chin once again. Not

the best day for semiconductors. Looks

like the socks might be losing a key

level. We'll get to that in a minute.

But uh energy down 1% and uh let's skip

over to the NASDAQ 100. So I mentioned

uh communication services leading.

That's Alphabet. that's up 3% and Meta

up 2%. Apple, by the way, very close to

being a $5 trillion company. Only Nvidia

has done that. It's up 4%. Uh, also

Amazon and Microsoft post posting some

nice gains. So, the mega caps overall

doing the heavy lifting here. But, uh,

let's dive into those chip stocks and

just see kind of the damage that's

unfolding here. Not Broadcom, not ASML,

but uh, Micron down 8% and Lumenum down

eight, SanDisk down eight, Western

Digital down 9%. And if I take a look at

the socks here, I'm just going to

quickly chart a year-to-day chart and

you can see down 12,000 has been my line

in the sand and it is getting very close

to that right now. So, you lose 12,000

and I think that's looking like a major

top in the semiconductors, but we are

not there just yet. Also, we got to take

a look at software which has done a lot

better this month and it's looking

better today. Already talked about

Microsoft, but Oracle's up 3%.

Meanwhile, Cisco down 4%. But for the

most part, this particular industry

group holding up pretty well. And before

we go here, Josh, I want to get to the

banks because that is a whole lot of

green. So, day two of big bank earnings,

and we're seeing Wells Fargo up 2%, Bank

America up 1%, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs

up, and by the way, both Goldman Sachs

and JP Morgan at another record high.

>> And Jared, I know you've been tracking

that rotation underway this month from

chip stocks to the MAG 7. Just walk us

through that. What's behind that?

>> Yeah, let's take a look at what we've

done in the month of July in the Dow.

>> So, it's been 10 trading days. Today,

the number 10. And you can see we are up

a whopping half of 1%. So, the Dow has

gone nowhere. NASDAQ has literally gone

nowhere, only up about two basis points.

The S&P 500 also up less than 1%. So,

that is looking like very choppy action.

And I can extend this. Let me show you a

year-to- date chart. You can see this

choppiness goes all the way back to May.

So the major indices have done nothing.

Meanwhile, we have seen this tremendous

rotation happen this month. So let's

take a look at the Magnificent 7, which

have really perked up. This is a 10day

look. You can see they're up 7% in July.

And meanwhile, the semiconductors are

off about 13.5%. So uh I did I ran the

numbers like a$1.8 trillion has gone

into the mag 7 in terms of market cap.

1.3 1.4 trillion has been sucked out

from the semiconductors. So, kind of a

wash and that explains why the indices

are going nowhere. Um, and that just

brings us to the main point, which is

earning season is upon us and I'm really

looking ahead to those big tech

earnings. I think that's going to be the

major decision point and we'll get we're

going to get a breakout eventually. Is

it going to be to the upside or the

downside? Only the future will tell

here, Josh.

>> All right. Thank you, Jared. Well, for a

closer look now at the tech trade, we

have David Bonson, chief investment

officer at the Bonsson Group. David,

always good to see you. Uh sounds like

you're you're you're calling Micron,

David, and parts of the semiarket a

bubble. Maybe start there, David. Uh

just define bubble for us. What do we

mean by that term? And why does a name

like a micron fit the bill in your

opinion?

>> Well, I believe that a bubble is much

like Justice Potter once said, something

that you can know when you see it. And

when we're talking about bubble, it's

when we see it burst. This was something

Alan Greenspan used to intellectually

struggle with is is a bubble seeable and

knowable before it's burst or only in

hindsight. My argument is that you don't

definitively ever know until it is

burst. But of course by then it's too

late. So you look to various elements

that have the consistency of history. So

you know things like going up a

thousand% very very quickly uh elevated

um valuations and a heavy ownership base

that is more sentimental than uh

fundamental. Uh Micron's a phenomenal

company. The growth is unbelievable. A

lot of great things going on there. The

price is disconnected from reality. I

have no timing call on this whatsoever.

But um there is not a doubt in my mind

that we will look back on this as a

place in which many in that semispace

micron being one of the great

beneficiaries right now were proven to

be in a bubble.

>> Now David there may be viewers and

they're listening right right now they

say well hold on David Batson hold on

let's look at valuations let's look at

multiples they might say micron's

trading at something like I think it's

like six times forward David they might

say how can that be a bubble what would

you say to that David? Um, you do not.

There's a reason why we never ever ever

ever ever used forward earnings until

the more recent times. And by the way,

since the financial crisis, forward

earnings have been a perfectly

acceptable thing to use, highly

consistent. But right now, it is just

nothing more than begging the question.

Um, the assumptions that go into those

forward earnings have about eight

different layers to them, and only one

of them has to be wrong for you to have

to have a rerating. Every bubble that

ever bursted, it wasn't merely, oh boy,

the valuations were so high, but the

revenues and the earnings stayed intact.

There was some assumption that began to

fall. In this case, what are Micron's

revenues that are driving those earnings

that are driving in some cases wildly

ridiculous assumptions of forward

multiple? It is the continued ordering

at continued growth rates into a

long-term place. that may or may not

happen, but that is the begging of the

question. And I would suggest that the

riskreward tradeoff in that assumption

is, shall we say, suboptimal.

>> David, let's switch gears. I want to

talk about SpaceX. Now, you own that

name through an SPV. Uh, it did fall

below its IPO price today. You saw that.

Um, it sounds like you're saying you

would sell this one immediately if you

could. Why, David?

Well, I'm up 15x from the round in which

I bought it and we bought for a lot of

clients at our firm and that I have

absolutely no way on God's green earth

to know what is going to happen out into

the future where this is not valued on

anything other than the grandiosity of

building data centers and Neptune and so

forth. Um, it's not been great to bet

against Elon Musk, but I don't see how

if you were to sell something at a 15x

return, you'd be betting against Elon

Musk. I also don't know that um any

human deserves to be deified when it

comes to some people's portfolios. All I

would say is that SpaceX is a phenomenal

success story. I'm proud to be an owner

of what we have in the SPV. Uh but um

yeah, I like a lot of people, if I

weren't locked up, I would be selling.

And you could see all the people, the

average purchase price since it be went

public is in the 180s. Uh there are a

lot of people billions of dollars worth

that bought in the 210s. They've gotten

slaughtered and they got slaughtered off

of the belief that there was such thing

as free money. This thing could be

$1,000 stock in 10 years. I have no

idea. But again, I come back to

riskreward, which is what we're in the

business of having to judicate. So, if

you're not a big fan, Dave, of some of

these uh momentum driven AI names or

SpaceX, where is the opportunity, David?

What are you telling clients?

>> Yeah, for us as dividend growth

investors, clients already know what we

believe. It's never been momentum

oriented. Paradoxically, certain things

in the dividend growth space right now

have momentum. the rotation this year is

so severe that it's allowed momentum to

still be a leading factor even though

the things that have the momentum are

different than the things that had

momentum before. Um but but yeah, you

are correct that we're not focused on it

because of its momentum. We're long-term

fundamental investors heavily focused on

dividend growth and we see great

opportunities in some health care, some

consumer staples. You see a name like

Morgan Stanley doing well here today

after a great quarter. JP Morgan

yesterday. Uh those are names that we've

owned a long time. But I would suggest

if you're looking for deeper value of

things out of favor because those

financial names are not out of favor. I

would look at some of these consumer

staples, Pepsi, General Mills, things

these things are down and these are

phenomenal companies that have a great

entry point right now. I

>> I also want to talk about Kevin Wars for

you, David. You know, testifying today.

Um what what is your base case for the

Fed this year, David? You know, are they

standing pat? Are they hiking? Are they,

you know, selling down the balance

sheet? What do you think?

>> Base case is that they're staying pat.

That is contrary to what the futures

market is suggesting. Um, on the balance

sheet, I don't think it'll end up being

a reduction as much as a composition

shift. I think that you will see the

maturity structure come down and the

amount of mortgage securities

substantially come down, but be offset

by probably higher amounts of

treasuries. But the main thing I'd say

about Walsh is that he is just an anti-

Phillips curver. He doesn't believe that

growth is inherently inflationary and I

think he believes that the institution

needs a lot of reform including on some

of the habits that have happened with

balance sheet. But he's doing it the

right way. He's not just, you know,

coming in halfcocked. He's uh appointed

these task forces and I think you're

going to see them go about it in a very

methodical, sensible way. And I'm really

pleased with this selection as vet

chair. And do you agree with war? I do

on these new task forces. Do you agree

that the Fed as an institution requires

some, you know, material change in terms

of uh communication policy or or the

data they rely on? David,

>> yeah, I I have certain areas that are a

bigger priority to me than others. The

communication is a big one. I do not

believe in the Fed becoming an

instrument for hedge funds to frontr

run. So the forward guidance tool I

think is asinine. Um, I'm less concerned

about the data inputs, but he would know

more a lot, he would know a lot more

than I would about why there might need

to be concern for the data inputs. My

biggest concern would be balance sheet

and using the Fed as an arbiter whenever

something goes wrong with asset markets

that the Fed's supposed to come in and

be the savior. I think that's far

removed from their appropriate mandate.

And I believe in a central bank as a

responsible lender of last resort. And

so I would just favor a more humble

vision for the Fed. And in that sense, I

believe the chairman and I are pretty uh

ideologically aligned.

>> Finally, David, uh I just want your take

on the midterms. I had a smart investor

on the show recently, money manager. Um

that was a concern for him. And I'm just

wondering, is it a concern for you?

>> No. I mean, if the money if the money

manager you're talking about had a view

that something unexpected was going to

happen, but I believe the consensus view

is very correct that the House will move

to the Democrats by a slight majority

and that the Republicans will hold the

majority in the Senate by a slight

majority. And I think markets have known

that all year and believe that all year.

So, I don't see a surprise there. If the

Senate were to switch to the Democrats,

you still have divided government, but

in that case, you then now have the

Democrats in charge of committees and in

charge of cabinet appointment approvals

and things like that. And the markets

may not fully appreciate that,

particularly in energy and financial

services. But, uh, it would be, again,

I'm a finance guy and not a politico,

but I I follow the political side way

more than I want to admit. and I will

just be shocked if the Republicans lose

the Senate or if the Democrats don't

take the House.

>> David, as always, a pleasure to have you

on the show. Thank you.

>> Thanks so much.

>> Coming up, we look at the highlights

from Fed Chair Kevin Worsh's testimony.

That's next on Market Domination.

Heat.

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up

here.

Heat. Heat.

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Fed chair Kevin Worsh completes two days

of questioning from lawmakers with

Democrats testing the potential lines of

criticism against the new Fed head.

Yahoo Finances Washington correspondent

Ben Worskll joins now with the key

takeaways. All right, Ben. So Democrats

had two days there to get after Kevin

Worsh put him on the hot seat. Did they

find a line of attack that worked, Ben?

>> Yeah, good afternoon, Josh. So, the

Democrats definitely tried a lot of

different attacks. I think the way to

look at this first hearing, this is the

first of of what are expected to be many

Marsh will have in the years ahead is a

feeling out process, trying a lot of

different ways to criticize the the Fed

chairman and essentially seeing what

sticks. The big one that we saw today,

as we've seen since Wars was announced,

was ties to Trump. That's a back and

forth we've seen a lot before and it was

a major theme in the last two days as

well. What was more interesting to me

were some kind of frankly wonky Fed

policy matters that came up again and

again when the Democrats were set to

question. These task forces were a major

line of questioning on today was in the

Senate and three different Democratic

senators brought up the topic

specifically what's called the

productivity and jobs task force that

Worsh announced last week that's that's

that's focused on AI and it's going to

be led by Mark Andre. There's an

emerging line of criticism here, as Tina

Smith of Minnesota, one of the

Democrats, put it, that this is a task

force that's basically run by people

quote likely to get richer by AI. This

is this is a this is this is set to be

something we're going to hear about for

months and months, especially because

these task forces could give us give

feedback very quickly. War's push back

is that they're they're not the

deciders. He's the decider and they're

just offering input. But these are

bottom line is this is a task force of

three members associated with the AI

industry um leading it. Another one is

another wonky subject but it's this

forward guidance. It came up again and

again a similar underlying criticism

here from Democrats that basically Wars

is less willing to talk to the public

and more willing to talk to insiders

that we saw from a number of lawmakers

as well. So that's that that's what what

what they're setting up here is this

worsh will be back in front of these

committees in about six months time and

how these things go in that interim

clearly they're laying the groundwork

>> that line of attack you mentioned there

though Ben I mean Democrats would like

to paint Wars as too close to Trump when

that came up I'm just curious how did

Wars respond how did he deflect that

>> yeah so he has he has a pretty well-worn

line here he had more kind of ammunition

to respond on in this week's hearing

than he has during his confirmation, for

example, partly because he has a record

here. He has seven weeks in office where

he can point to actions that he has done

what Trump didn't want him to do or

Trump is not Trump's preference. Trump

or Worsh was part of the 120 decision

last month to keep interest rates where

we are where they are. He described it

in his opening statement to both

committees as part of the inflation

fight. He this was part of one of many

just really hawkish comments from war

saying inflation is his focus, inflation

is what he's going to do and even as he

avoids forward guidance making clear

he's wants inflation back down to the 2%

rate and he's willing to take any

actions there giving a hint here that

that low interest rates aren't in his

guidelines in the immediate future.

Another another line of criticism here

from the Democrats about Trump was

crypto whether whether the Fed would

help the crypto sector overall or

Trump's own crypto company specifically.

War made some pretty definitive comments

here that I think definitely is going to

be noted if he's seen as too close to

it. He said um he said he he said

basically I'm not in the business of

bailouts full stop. So he's he's not

interested in this. If he if he if that

changes down the road you can you can be

sure that Democrats are going to bring

up that too. So, do you think I just

bottom line, Ben, you know, you you

watched Worsh testify there on Capitol

Hill for two days. Do you think, you

know, mission accomplished, Worsh really

did establish credibility as an

independent Fed chair?

>> I think this question of whether Wars is

going to be an independent Fed chair

will never be truly settled, especially

with Trump into office, but I think it's

fair to say he definitely did himself

some good this week. Um, this what we've

seen with most Trump picks is they go to

Capitol Hill and they get into these

really heated and screaming matches with

Democrats. That's not the case of what

we saw here. There was a heated moment

with Elizabeth Warren, but that was more

of the exception than the rule. Most of

what we saw was a pretty convenial back

and forth that saw Democrats Mark Warner

of Virginia had a moment today where he

said, "I didn't vote for you." No

Democrats did in the committee level,

but I I think there's a lot we can work

on. So, he's clearly making some

progress and kind of doing the outreach

to Capitol Hill. That's very important

for a Fed chair. This is an under

underappreciated aspect of the Fed

chair's job is to maintain relationship

with Capitol Hill. So, he made some

progress there. But he's going to he's

going to be pushing back against this

this question of Trump independence now,

next month, next year, for as long as

Trump is in office.

>> Ben, thank you. Appreciate it.

>> Well, PayPal stock jumping today on

reports of a buyout proposal finances in

Fere has the details. So anz walk us

through this report this deal why these

companies would want PayPal.

>> Yeah because the stock is cheap has been

cheap but let's take a look at what this

deal is. It would be worth 53 billion uh

$50 billion in financing that has all

been already been secured reportedly. It

would give Strike 50% of the company and

then you'd have Advent uh take the PE

firm take the other 50%. And why do they

want this? Because the stock has been

cheap. It has been it's down from its

high all-time high from 2021. It has not

been able to regain that all-time high

of $310 per share. It's around $55 now.

It's trading up today because of uh this

report. We did contact Stripe. We

contacted PayPal. They did not uh want

to comment. But look, there has been

fierce competition in this payment

space. You've got Apple Pay, you've got

pay now, buy now pay later. Uh so there

has been this competition over the

years. The stock has been lower. It's

down year to date. It's been down over

the last year. And Stripe is great at

the merchant end. They have that

back-end tech down pat. And so what they

would be doing here is they would be

linking their merchant business with of

course everything that has to do with a

consumer front end which is what PayPal

is very strong in because they have 439

million active users. They've got Venmo.

As far as Advent, this is a P firm that

uh takes that uh purchases also these

beaten down sort of payment processors

and then they whip them into shape. So,

this is why these companies would want

to do this deal.

>> And Nez, what what are analysts saying

about this report, this potential

buyout? What's Wall Street's reaction?

>> Look, there has been a bit of a surprise

on Wall Street um for with this deal. Uh

you had one analyst saying that they

were expecting to be M&A in the second

half of the year, but they this wasn't

necessarily on their bingo card. You

have KBW also that was saying look this

proves that this that PayPal shares were

too cheap to ignore. But there is some

skepticism that this would go through

and there are analysts that are saying

that you may see the price going higher.

And just if you take a look at the stock

reaction today it's up about 17% but

it's not up the 28% premium um that you

would see at the valuation for this

offer. So, the market may be thinking,

"Ah, we're not sure if this is going to

go through." You also had an analyst

from William Blair basically saying,

"Don't chase this rally. We're still at

a market perform uh with this stock

right now because he doesn't think that

this will get through the finish line."

He also doesn't see why Stripe would

want to get bogged down uh with PayPal

because Stripe is such a force when it

comes to their merchant payments and

he's saying that they actually are on

pace to process 40% more in volume than

PayPal. Uh so it's not clear that this

will get to the finish line and

certainly not at that price.

>> All right, thank you.

>> Coming up, we're calling in for tech

support with go finance tech editor Dan

Howie. That's next on Market Domination.

Heat. Heat.

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SpaceX stock is on watch as shares of

the company dipped to a new low during

Wednesday's trading day, fall below its

IPO price of 135. Here to discuss that

move through an options lens is YieldMax

ETFs chief strategist Mike Co. Mike,

it's good to see you. So, you know,

SpaceX SpaceX obviously comes public

with a a lot of excitement, Mike. Today,

though, it does sink below its IPO price

here. I'm curious, Mike, just stop

there. You know, give us your take on

what you make of that. Is that just, you

know, normal post IPO volatility? Is it

is it waning enthusiasm? What do you

make of it?

I I don't think it's that unusual

particularly for some of the really big

IPOs. You know, one of the ones I might

liken it to was uh when Facebook IPOed

actually you know that was also a

relatively big issue in its day. I mean

not as big as this one. 75 billion was

raised in this on more than a trillion

dollar valuation. Back then Facebook it

was a $15 billion raise on a much

smaller valuation. It was big for its

time though. But this is a fairly common

thing. you're you're going to see IPO uh

stocks chop around a decent bit. For us,

we don't really mind it too much because

we actually launched uh our product for

SpaceX today. So, effectively, we get to

participate at the at the IPO price,

which seems like as good a place to to

enter the stock as any.

>> Well, you mentioned that that new SpaceX

ETF, Mike. So, explain that product for

us.

>> Sure. So, it's WSpace. We actually filed

for this uh in late April. Uh we were

quite sure and this was this was

certainly borne out that SpaceX was

going to be one of the busiest single

stock options listed. In fact uh the

options on SpaceX listed only a couple

days right after SpaceX it itself IPOed

and it was the third busiest single

stock option on that day. It trailed

only Tesla and Nvidia and traded nearly

a million call options alone. So what

we're doing is we have a uh fund which

basically makes weekly distributions. We

try to harvest some of the volatility

and there's plenty of it here. Uh

basically we get long a proxy for

YSPACE. So effectively we're long we're

using options to get long the stock and

then we sell upside call spreads against

it. Right now we're short the 13943s.

So we get about an 80 basis point push

between now and the end of the week. 75%

probability we make a profit on that

short options trade and a 70%

probability that we keep all the money.

And if you continue to do that kind of

thing, try to harvest a little bit of

premium, you get some exposure to the

common stock, you get slightly lower

volatility and you get regular

distributions. That's the idea.

>> Who who is that product um designed for,

Mike? Is there a a target customer?

>> I think that the people that is probably

most appropriate for are people who

would like to have some exposure to uh

SpaceX stock. This should get at least

70% of the upside we expect um you know,

if the stock does well. and then are

also looking to get some distributions.

You know, I mean, way back in the day,

you know, if you go back to before World

War II, people bought stocks because

they wanted to collect dividends. Well,

most stocks these days don't pay

dividends. And certainly the high-flying

tech stocks and companies like SpaceX,

which are more in the capital raising

than distribution phases of their

existence don't pay any. So our funds

are basically designed to give people

some of the equity participation but

also to make regular distributions in

the form of uh options premiums that are

harvested which we sell weekly or

monthly depending on the product.

>> Do you think Mike there there are any

kind of um common misunderstandings that

investors might have about these sorts

of income products?

>> I I think there's a couple. I think

there's uh the first thing I would point

out is that you know there are what are

called covered call funds. That's that's

not what we do. we sell call spreads

against it so that we get a little bit

more upside participation, collect a

little bit less premium. Not that

there's anything wrong with doing

covered calls as well. That's the first

thing. The second thing is that when you

have an investment that makes regular

distributions, I think a lot of people

look at the price rather than the total

return. You obviously have to factor in

the distributions you receive as well as

the price of the underlying security.

And with things that pay, you know, big

distributions, that's something you

definitely want to pay attention to. It

would be like buying a bond but not

paying attention to the coupons you

receive. So you have to factor in both.

So total returns uh would be one thing I

would encourage people to keep an eye

on. And the other thing you want to keep

an eye on is number one, just make sure

you like the underlying stocks. Uh if

you like SpaceX, this is for you. If if

you don't think it's going to be above

100 at the end of the year, this is not

for you. So you know, there's uh there's

something for everybody, I guess. But

just make sure you're buying what you

like.

>> Finally, Mike, just a broader question

for you given, you know, longtime market

watcher that you are. I mean, SPX near

record highs here. advanced decline

lines hitting record highs. So broad

participation. What happens next, Mike?

Do you think, you know, you punch

higher, keep moving higher? Do we roll

over? I mean, how are how are you using

options to play this market right now?

>> Yeah, it is really interesting what

we're seeing. I mean, uh, it seems like

nothing will harm the market right now.

And that's not always the case. You

know, after Memorial Day, you know,

there used to be that old saw, you know,

sell in May and go away and and start to

participate again. That isn't holding

up. uh this year certainly uh one of the

things that's very interesting to me is

that index options premiums are very low

relative to single stock premiums. So,

if you're going to be long stocks and

selling options against those stocks,

which I think makes a lot of sense, one

thing you could think about doing is

structurally and using a strategic hedge

by buying some, you know, put options

and something like SPY or the Q's

because on a relative basis right now

they're quite cheap and there's

something else about that. It kind of

speaks to the degree of complacency that

we're seeing and and I think investors

are pretty complacent now.

>> Mike, as always, great to see you. Thank

you, sir.

>> Thank you. Open AI may be taking ChatGBT

off the screen and putting it inside

your home. Companies reportedly

developing a portable screenless speaker

designed to act as a personalized AI

companion. Here to break down all the

latest headlines. We're calling it for

tech support with Yahoo Finances, Dan

Howie. All right, Dan, let's start right

there with this new Bloomberg report on

open AI. What What exactly is Sam Alman

building, Dan?

Yeah, it sounds like this is kind of a

high-end smart speaker almost. Uh it's

supposedly uh has uh movable parts. Uh

you should be able to carry it from room

to room because it'll have a battery. Uh

and the big kind of to-do about it uh is

that it would be more personalized. It

would run on chat GPT. It would be able

to take advantage uh of your personal

context uh and have kind of a uh they

say companion-like uh aspect to it. you

know, using uh chat GPT's new voice uh

improvements through ChatBT Live. Uh and

so, you know, it does seem as though

this uh is is the direction it it's

going. It's not going to be seemingly a

smartphone uh replacement at all, but

more of something that would uh live in

your home, although you would be able

to, you know, I guess carry it with you

if you want. Um but it does kind of

raise a question of you know okay well

why do you need this if Amazon's Echo

exists or uh you know you have uh Google

has its own uh smart home capabilities

and you know it's adding Gemini to that

obviously Amazon's updated Alexa with

Alexa plus uh you know obviously it's

not Chat Gvt but you know it's it's not

as though similar capabilities aren't

out there and we've seen moving uh or

movable uh uh smart speakers in the past

uh that kind of follow you via a camera.

So, you know, it it's going to take a

lot, I think, for this to really blow up

uh in in, you know, the consumer space.

Don't forget, just because it has the

ChatVG name doesn't mean that it's

automatically going to be a hot seller.

Uh just look at Apple's HomePods, which

didn't exactly, you know, knock people's

socks off. Uh though they are from

Apple, uh and just seem to kind of exist

now. Yeah. kind of like as a almost hey

we still have this we're still in this

space kind of product for Apple.

>> Yeah. Why does Sam Alman you think? Um

why does he feel like he needs hardware

at all? Like what's the financial and

maybe strategic advantage? Is is it you

know is it open AI they feel like listen

we just have to own directly that

customer relationship is that it

>> yeah I think that's really what it comes

down to. Um you know you can use

obviously chatbt through the app. You

can use it uh through uh your web

browser. Um and you know, you're going

to be able to use it now, I guess,

through this this speaker, but you know,

when you're on your smartphone, uh

there's if you're on Android, Gemini is

built right in. Uh so why would you go

to Chatbt unless you're a huge fan uh

rather than just use Gemini right there

on your Android phone. And you know,

Apple is rolling out a new version of

Apple Intelligence, uh, using its Apple

Foundation models and a revamped version

of Siri that, you know, is powered by

some of Google's models in the back end.

And so, you know, if if you're using uh

your your iPhone and you need to, you

know, do something with an app or give

it a certain command, why would you then

offload that task to a secondary app

like Chatbt instead of just going

straight through uh your iPhone? And

yes, chatbt is available on your iPhone

now. uh you can ask a Syria question and

it'll say do you wanna excuse me do you

want to ask Siri do you want to ask CHDT

but you know I think if the the new

version of Syria is good enough why

would you then switch over so I think

it's a matter of saying look we need to

get into a hardware space so that we're

the default option and people will want

to use us rather than having that extra

friction uh there where people have to

open up a secondary app to to access us

you know I mean it sounds silly but each

little tiny step that you have to take

eventually adds up to a whole lot of

work that people just don't want to do.

And the faster you can surface something

to them, the better. Now, as I said, the

issue here is it's a smart home speaker.

And while, you know, those are in a lot

of homes, they really haven't done too

much outside of tell you the weather

over time, uh, or, you know, sports

scores, things like that. Um, you know,

with the new generation, we may see that

change. But I think, you know, it's

going to be interesting to see how

Chachi helps or or or decide OpenAI

rather uses Chachi to differentiate

this. Who do you think, Dan, if at all,

should be potentially concerned about an

open AI device? Like, would you say it's

Apple, Amazon, Google? What do you

think? I think it would be Google uh or

or Amazon. And, you know, uh I mean, you

know, Apple really doesn't play too much

in this space. Um the HomePod, you know,

is is there. There's the HomePod mini.

Um but, you know, it's nothing like what

you would get out of uh an Echo. Um I

think that you know when it comes to

those those devices for for Amazon in

particular the whole idea from that from

the jump was to be a place where you

know it know that you ran out of I don't

know tide pods or something and then say

you know you can just order it right

there right the the whole idea was to

set up a connection to buy things

through Amazon um stream Amazon music

etc etc uh same kind of thing with

Google it was you know okay we'll

connect you to Google it we'll use

you'll use their services uh and you

know uh your data would become part of

the the uh kind of big Google graph that

they have uh about you. That's kind of

the idea I think that you would get with

with this uh open AI product. Um you

know, they they said they were going to

be or there was rumors that they were

working on a marketplace. They kind of

put that uh to the side um just because

they said, you know, let's eliminate

some of these quote unquote side quests

um and focus more on the product itself.

But I think that o overall this could be

a problem for for Amazon's uh Alexa

side, Echo side, and Google's uh Google

Home side. But you know, I got to wonder

how much money those businesses actually

though bring in compared to their their

broader advertising businesses or in

Amazon's case AWS

>> and and Apple Dan uh you know listen

they are suing Open AI. I just wonder

how you think through that. Could that

slow down or even derail Sam Alman's

hardware dreams here?

>> Yeah, I mean that lawsuit uh is

interesting in that, you know, uh they

they discuss or in the suit Apple claims

that OpenAI uh had basically you know

worked uh or at least some uh OpenAI

employees had worked to gain access to

confidential Apple information and those

trade secrets. Uh ask you know Apple

employees to bring in physical hardware

products. Um, but you know, I mean,

Apple doesn't really have anything

similar to this that's out on the market

yet, and it's kind of hard to envision

them launching something that would uh

kind of directly compete with this in in

the the the near term. Um, it in in my

thinking, the original uh you know, when

the suit originally came out, I was

thinking, well, maybe it has something

to do with a pendant or AirPods, you

know, competitor or glasses or, you

know, didn't seem as though it was going

to be a smartphone because that that

market's already saturated. But, you

know, I I I think that regardless, this

kind of lawsuit could uh limit at least

OpenAI's ability to move forward to a

degree. Um, you know, if it if it slows

it down uh to a tremendous uh effect,

you know, I mean, we we may not see this

hit the light of day, but I think that's

really kind of a a very extreme

scenario.

>> Dan, sticking with Apple, I want your

take on this, too. Reportedly getting

approval now to roll out Apple

intelligence in China. explain that uh

Dan and why is that potentially such a

big deal for the iPhone maker?

>> Yeah, this has been something that

Apple's I mean been trying to make

happen since they announced uh Apple

Intelligence uh in 2024. And yeah, you

know, we don't have the version that

they announced back then. Currently,

we're expecting to get a lot of that uh

later this fall, but you know, it's

basically just been kind of non-existent

for the the Chinese market. And in that

market, uh you know, AI has been a good

seller. the products that are available

there from uh Huawei and Xiaomi, they

they have built-in AI capabilities. And

so it was very important for Apple to

manage to kind of get into this space.

Now they're not there yet. This isn't

widely available at all. Uh but it's

it's taken that step forward um with

with uh the regulatory regime uh over

there. they do have to work uh with

Alibaba to ensure uh that they're in

compliance with the Chinese government

uh and they would use some technology

from BU. But you know the fact that

they're even able to start moving

forward with this is a good sign for

Apple especially you know after they saw

that kind of jump in Chinese revenue uh

through the sale of the iPhone in the

last quarter. Uh that really kind of

gave them a nice bump and they've been

seeing very good sales out of the the

iPhone 17 line so far. So, you know,

we're expecting a foldable iPhone to be

coming in the uh September time frame.

We're expecting this, you know, improved

version of Apple Intelligence as well

and then the the iPhone 18 lineup. Yeah,

if they can get all of this set up and

and ready to go by the time those launch

in China as well, then it could be a

real boost for them uh and their bottom

line overall. But if they can't, then at

least they have this kind of capability

coming sooner rather than later. And why

for this Dan did did Apple need Alibaba

and buy do? Explain that.

>> Yeah, it comes down to the kind of just

regulatory uh issues with China.

Obviously, there's certain things you

can't say or, you know, write about or

post online. Uh and so or search and and

so, you know, Apple had to kind of make

sure that it was in compliance with that

if it wanted to do business in that

market. And so that's why they had to

get in with with Alibaba to kind of help

filter some of that uh data out. uh and

then BU just being kind of the provider

that they needed uh for the models

overall. And so, you know, it it really

does seem as though this has just been

something that they've they've had to

kind of work through uh with regulators

over there. Uh you know, Tim Cook

obviously has established Apple's

relationship with China. He's going to

be staying on the company uh long term

as a chairman, not as CEO. That changes

on September 1st when John Turnis takes

over. Uh but it's still a good sign for

for Apple to have him there. uh and you

know obviously if they they do want to

do business in that country which is the

largest smartphone market around they

have to play by the rules.

>> If you're a Chinese consumer Dan is

Apple intelligence enough to convince

you to buy an iPhone rather than you

know a device from Huawei?

>> Yeah I mean look it's it's a different

market. I think more consumers there are

interested in what's going on uh with

AI. Um you know what it what it has to

offer. I think likely that you know not

having it uh is is a detriment but it

doesn't seem to have really hurt them

that badly when it comes to overall

sales especially if you look at what's

been happening as I said with the the 17

lineup over there. Uh I I do think

though that this puts them on an even

footing with the local competition and

that's very important because you know

if you can say that uh you have

something that Apple doesn't well

obviously people are going to see that

and think of it as a leg up on them and

so you know it's just important for them

to be in that space here. Here here in

the US I don't think that many consumers

are looking at AI just yet as being a oh

I need to get that with my phone. I

still think it's very much a, you know,

the phone has a new screen or a better

screen or a better camera, better

battery life. Obviously, that's one of

the most important things. Uh, or I've

just had this phone for so long, I I

need something new. And so, you know, I

think over here it's not not so much the

case. Uh, I've said this before, but I

think at a certain point, uh, AI just

becomes kind of table stakes for any

smartphone vendor. Uh we see Samsung has

it, Google has it with their Pixel line.

Uh Apple's going to be, you know,

offering something that's that's quite

comparable in in September when

presumably they they launch this new

version. It's going to be a beta. It's

not going to be the full version, but it

will be available. Uh I I think at that

point people will say, well, okay, all

these phones now have this. Uh if I'm

going to buy one, then I might as well

get one that has it as well.

>> All right, Dan. Thank you, buddy.

Appreciate it.

Coming up, NBA champ Jaylen Brunson

teams up with Just Salad. I speak to

that company CEO. That's next on Market

Domination.

Heat. Heat. N.

Heat

up.

NBA champion Jaylen Brunson is making a

new bet off the court, becoming an

equity owner in a popular fast casual

chain, Just Salad. Joining us now for

more, we got Just Salad founder and CEO

Nick Kenner. Nick, it is good to see

you. So, let's get right into this this

partnership. Nick, how did this all come

about with Jaylen Brunson? walk us

through it and what does his involvement

and equity ownership, what does it mean

potentially for the company, Nick?

>> Yeah. Well, first of all, I've been a

huge Dicks fan for a long time. Like

most of the people in the office, we're

based out of uh New York City, as you

could see with the Brunson jersey back

there. Um yeah, we we went to him two

years ago. Um it turns out him and his

team have been um a fan of Joe Salad for

a long time. Uh he's truly passionate

about healthy food in a genuine way,

accessibility, uh sustainability, uh and

he loves great food, and these are all

the things that um the Jos Brand uh

stands for. So we were driven by what

everyone else is driven by to him, which

is his leadership, his drive, his

authenticity, and he didn't want to just

do an Instagram post. It was actually

his team's idea. They wanted to partner

uh with a true New York um brand that

was going to be a true partnership uh

holistically what he stands for. Work

with his um charity second round uh

foundation um the dream culinary um

program that he has um and do some great

things together. And what can I'm just

curious like what do you think Jaylen

Brun can kind of do here to sort of you

know to drive traffic and brand

awareness and sales at your company

beyond you know just appearing in ads?

>> Yeah, great question. Um I mean he's

going to actually be in the restaurant.

So he's meeting with a ton of our

general managers. So from an employee uh

morale perspective uh it's never been

higher. Um, I think everyone's really

excited about Jaylen's um leadership and

energy um touching a lot of our our

store operators that make it happen

every single uh day. He um him and his

team, they're really um want to be

involved on the culinary side as well.

And so we're, you know, working on some

great products uh with with Jaylen that

we'll be uh introducing later this year

and uh next year. Uh we're developing

some other really cool um products. Uh a

reusable bowl is is is a huge part of

our brand. Uh and there will be a Jaylen

Brunson reusable bowl um at some point.

And like I said, we're working with his

um uh charity as well to drive a lot of

um awareness and and dollars towards

that. Also,

>> I got to ask you, Nick, I mean, does

Jaylen Brunson, does he does he have a

favorite style, Nick? Is there a go-to

for him?

>> Yeah, there's there's a go-to um rap.

Um, and it doesn't include red meat cuz

he he doesn't eat that. Um, and uh, it

will be coming out um, shortly. Um, but

I can tease he he definitely likes hot

honey and goat cheese.

>> That I I mean, hey, that sounds

delicious. Uh, let's talk more about

this business, Nick. I read that you

generated, and correct me if this is

wrong. I read you generated 195 million

in revenue last year. You expect roughly

20% sales growth this year. What is

driving that? Is that is that new

restaurants? is is that new

partnerships. Walk us through it.

>> Yeah, it's um so yeah, we've been

growing revenue uh at a very healthy

pace. Um we've been around for 20 years.

So I always we've actually uh grown

pretty slowly. Um our 20th anniversary

was in May. Uh we have 125 locations

across seven states, mostly uh the

Northeast, um Florida, and the Chicago

area. Um we just recently started

opening uh drive-throughs in Connecticut

uh and New Jersey. Um and yeah, we're

we're starting to scale up and open a

lot more uh locations. We opened 20

locations last year. Uh we'll open a

little over 30 this year. And most

importantly, we're just trying to gain

uh more customers that are existing

restaurants uh every year. And we we've

done a a pretty good job of that over

time. And um I think our name is a

little misleading at this point. We

started as just salad. At this point,

only 50% of our sales are actually uh

salad. So, we introduced market plates

last year, which was a huge success. Um,

which is more grainbased um hot items

compartmentalized instead of mix. We

have warm bowls, we have smoothies, we

have wraps um and those all are 50% of

our our sales at this point. So I think

we've gone from a place where people

thought of just for salad to a place

where I think people want to eat

healthy. They want to eat fast. They

want to eat affordable and have great

tasting food. And I think we fill a void

for that.

>> We're always looking for line of sight

into the consumer, Nick. And you have

that. I'm just curious based on what

you're seeing in your business. How

healthy does the consumer look?

Um, I would say, you know, I've been

doing this for a long time and it's um

it I would say it's it's very even. Like

I don't consider the consumer strong or

weak at this point. Uh it feels very

much a market share game right now.

>> Nick, I want to get you out there on

this. Um health officials are take, you

know, they're talking about produce and

they're mentioning possibly lettuce for

this food born illness, this uh parasite

outbreak. Nick, um I saw something like

I think 1,600 confirmed cases. Just walk

me through that. Is that is that

impacting your business, Nick? Could it?

>> Yeah, I mean, so first of all, um just

for all the just customers out there, um

yeah, we have no connection um to to

this and our um our restaurants, our

farms have not been uh connected to at

all. Um we we are like crazy about um

quality control. So we have a very large

supply chain um and Q8 team dedicated to

this. We do not use pre-cut lettuce. Our

romaine and our kale uh come in whole

prepped on site every single day. Outer

leaves are disposed of. We double wash

in a sink dedicated uh to produce. Um

and we most importantly we source from

established commercial growers who have

uh mandatory safety um traceability

programs uh verification and we have a

best-in-class program we're very proud

of and so uh at this point um you know

we feel fortunate we're not really

involved in this and honestly the the

CDC and FDA they don't even know that

this has anything to do with um lettuce

right so at this point um they haven't

named um an exact thing. It's very

possible it's not lettuce or produce and

it's been clustered to um really mostly

five states. Michigan, Ohio, West

Virginia, uh Kentucky. Uh and we we

don't have restaurants in in these

locations, so certainly haven't been

affected there.

>> Nick, so great to have you on the show

today. Thanks for your time. We

appreciate it.

>> Yeah, I appreciate it, Josh. Thanks for

having me.

Plus, there is a new hub to check out on

the Yahoo Finance website dedicated to

food and drinks. To find out more about

Yahoo Finance's food and drink hub,

click the QR code on your screen. Coming

up, we have you covered through the

closing bell on Wall Street. Don't go

anywhere.

Heat. Heat.

down.

Okay. Heat. Hey, Heat.

Stocks ending the day in the green here

ekking out gains as investors assess

earnings and inflation. Yana finds Jared

Blity joins now with the recap. Jared,

>> thank you. We got green up and down the

cap scale. We'll start with the Dow up

150 points for about 310 of 1%. You can

see a tiny little rally into the close

but for the most part kind of a choppy

day. Spent most of it in the green.

NASDAQ uh despite some big chip losses

uh nevertheless finished in the green

for 160 points or about 6/10 of 1%. S&P

500 a little bit less than that and the

small caps Russell 2000 kind of in

between there. So let's move on to the

large cap sector uh map here. We got XLC

that's communication services nice uh

turnout from Meta and Alphabet today.

That was in the poll position. Consumer

discretionary also uh up there almost 1%

financials up a little bit less. That is

the first record high for XLF since

January 6 of this year. Those are the

only three outperforming sectors. To the

downside, we got tech and utilities down

over 1%. Real estate also down about 810

of 1%. Now in the Nasdaq 100, we got

some uh nice action from Apple getting

very close to that $5 trillion mark. 4%

there. Alphabet up 3%. So is Amazon.

Microsoft a little bit less there. Meta

3% as well. But here's the carnage.

Another bad day for memory. And if I

sort by performance, you're going to

see, yeah, the top row here, or excuse

me, the bottom row here, we see Western

Digital, uh, Sandis, Micron, Lum, all

down about 8%. Marvel a little bit less.

Mobile, DRAM, the ETF still in a bare

market. Uh, that's down 6%. So, uh,

let's check out socks because it was

very close to my critical level, still

holding above 12,000. So, not at the

precipice just yet, but below that uh we

start putting in a major top, at least

technically speaking. Software, pretty

good day. We've had uh some decent days

uh for software this month in July. It's

been one of the uh surprises actually

after suffering so long this year. And

if we take a look at the Dow 30 here, we

go to the left, you got those mega caps.

We talked about them. Let's talk about

JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Each of

those up more than 1% for a record high

joining XLF. So, record highs there.

Cisco though suffering a bit, down 4 and

a.5%. Merc up two. And some other

standouts. Proctor and Gamble and Home

Depot each up 1%. And let's close with

some crypto. I was checking out Bitcoin

earlier only up about 610 of 1% over the

trailing 24 hours, but very close to

65,000. Leave you with a year-to- date

check on that. And you can see still

underwater by 26%, but it's kind of

flattening out here. If you can break

above, we got some decent room to run to

the upside. Back to you, Josh.

>> All right, thank you, Jared. Well,

memory and storage stocks add to losses

with the semiconductor trade under

pressure here. Bayer tech strategist Ted

Mortonson joins me here for a closer

look. Ted, it is always great to see

you, especially on set. Uh, start here.

I was talking to David Bonson um on the

show earlier, smart guy, and he told me

he looks at Micron, Ted, in other parts

of the semi-trade, and he says, "You

know what? Bubble, use the B- word,

bubble." Do you see that?

>> I don't think I don't think it's a

bubble in the near term. There's

definitely headwinds and it started back

in June of 29th of last month when the

South Korean government

>> and SKH Heinix and Samsung announced the

the thought process of putting $590

billion in capex. So that was the first

>> u pin in the bubble. The second one I

think the street is concerned about

sequential pricing trends. Uh if you

look at Micron, they've been up in the

60s sequentially on price. Price is

almost uh now affecting elasticity of

demand. So when you look at um pricing

in the next couple quarters, it

basically goes from 63% sequential down

to 15 then three then you know in in

that 3% sequential range. So where

seasoned semi-investors are looking at

this and saying I sell when prices start

to roll

>> and they may be elevated. Now the good

thing is uh this is a different market

these strategic customer agreements or

SCAS that you hear talked about uh right

now Micron's uh um signed 16 of these

roughly 25% of total revenue. These are

three to five non-year non-cancable

orders. So they've got visibility

potentially in the next couple quarters

of up 50% of their revenue being locked

in on price and volume. So valuation's

also changing.

>> This is just the normal I would say

sector rotation uh in the semi area of

locking in 85% gains. Most of that has

been in since April 7th. So you can't

blame a PM for locking in 70% gains. And

I think that's what's that's what's

happening. The other thing I would if

you really look at the trading volume uh

the people that can short all their

shorts are up and all their longs are

down. So I think they're also de-risking

their portfolios.

>> Can I on the memory chip pricing? I've

heard this argument that um you know

what's going to happen uh folks say is

that the folks buying those memory

chips, these CEOs, the CFOs, the CEOs,

they're smart people. They're going to

find a way around this. They're going to

get innovative and and and dynamic. They

always they'll find alternatives.

They'll look to they look to Chinese

memory. What do you make of that?

>> Well, Apple's trying to get approval for

Chinese memory right now. Um, most of

these SCAS that I talked about

previously are anywhere from 3 to 5

years. We just had a unbelievably good

uh conference call with Samsung that was

headed up by our semi uh team lead

Tristan Gara and it was a fantastic call

of getting a feel of the next three to

five years. there's going to be a

tremendous amount of capex in the next

three years where memory supply and

demand will not equalize until 29.

>> So, uh after that I think some of these

SCAS or strategic uh customer agreements

they they may wean in value as we go

into the end of the decade and I think

some of the street is looking out that

far.

>> Uh you mentioned Apple. I'm just curious

what do these higher memory costs mean

for Apple? Are iPhone prices going

higher in the fall?

>> Yeah, I'm I'm somewhat I'm very

surprised that Apple ma just made an

all-time high because if if I think what

we have to watch is iPhone 17

manufacturing trends coming out of uh

the Asia Pacific. We've gotten some wind

of cuts. So, uh if you look at memory,

it's affecting PCs and handsets and game

consoles on the consumer side

>> extremely hard. So PCs are down call 15%

handsets are about down 12%.

Apple's a hardware company and I think

where my PMs are are portfolio managers

are starting to ease up on Apple at

these levels is that memory increase

because

>> when they come out with the iPhone 18,

it is it's going up in price.

>> And if you look at the bottom 70% of the

population,

>> um they're going to have trouble.

They're going to have to make a decision

if they upgrade their phone or not. And

we're in a different environment from an

inflation standpoint.

>> Do you think though Tim Cook can, as

always, he finds the right levers to

pull and he'll ri he may have to

increase it, but can he find a sweet

spot, Ted, where he doesn't increase it

enough to dent demand?

>> It's a smart company. It's a brilliant

company. Uh they've they've got a lock

on pretty much the handset markets. With

that said, this is historic.

>> Sticking with Apple, I want to get your

take on that Bloomberg report we got

today. Uh Ted, China's regulators

approved Apple's ondevice Gen AI service

for mainland China. Evercore came out,

told clients, listen, this was a

meaningful win for Apple. They said it

unlocks the largest smartphone market

for the roll out of Apple intelligence.

What do you think? Meaningful win for

Cook's company.

>> Sure it is. But what the other side of

the coin is why they have to go to

Google to power Siri. That's

>> that's a pretty big slap in the face

internally. Why aren't they using their

own technology? So they're using Google

for sure.

>> What about Ted those who say you know

what fine like it what matters here's

the bullish take. I want to get your

your response. What matters I've had

Apple Bulls say on this show is that the

way people billions of people all over

the world going to access our brave new

AI world. It'll be through Tim Cook's

devices. That's what counts. They're the

gateway.

>> There's some some uh corre you know I

would say that's correct. But at the

same time, I'm a believer after doing

this for 30 years that you have to

control your own technology and you have

to be innovative internally. Most of

their AI team is gone. So that's what

I'm watching. I'm watching other other

new entrance and new form factors of Gen

AI, whether it comes from OpenAI,

whether it comes from anthropic, whether

it comes from Google Meta. Um, you have

to watch because I think the phones that

everybody's putting in their pockets

right now in a Genai world are going to

change over the next 3 to 5 years.

>> Finally, I want you to take on IBM. They

issued this rare profit warning,

historic drop in the stock, right? Um,

they talk about this AI related shift in

in customer spending. Did you see that,

Ted? You know, you saw that headline

drop. Did you say to yourself, okay,

that's an that's an IBM specific story

or no, that's a broader software

narrative.

>> That's a canary in the coal mine. That

is

>> yes and here's a way of thinking about

it. If you look at it budgets are up 4%.

in general global 2000

>> if those budgets are up only 4% and

component prices are up 25 to 30 the the

actual dollars in those IT um budgets

are being stretched and there has been a

major pull in of infrastructure in the

first half and I think you're seeing

that from some of our competitors that

said the pull in getting in front of

price and potential shortages in the

second half that's pulled in a

tremendous amount amount of hardware and

and whether it be servers or networking

gear.

>> The problem is that poll in has I'm not

saying it's depleted budgets, but it's

put a tremendous amount of pressure uh I

think on the back half and then you have

to look at these IT the head of it um

looking at what they spend in the second

half. Is it going to be old verse new?

Do they start transitioning to AI? uh

what happens to software on renewals on

a seat count basis. Those are the

outstanding issues that everybody's

looking at.

>> I mean, I had uh Ted, you know, very

smart uh tech analysts on the show this

week and he was talking about how I'll

tell you what he said, here's the

conversations that are going on is CEOs

are talking to CIOS across this country

and they're asking, can our can AI AI

tools replace this software I'm paying

for or at the very least I want you to

go back to that software vendor and tell

them I'm not paying as much going

forward. Is that true?

>> Yes.

>> Yeah.

>> So, these are why the Q4 returns. My

personal opinion is I don't think

software bottoms until we get through

the renewal cycle at the end of the year

because seats are going to be under

pressure. Everybody that I talk to, not

everybody, but the majority of people,

>> I think all of this the seale suite is

doing software audits right now. If

you're not using a seat on software,

you're losing it

>> because they want to be positioned at

the end of the year where not only they

put pressure on seats on the SAS

corporations, but um we'll have to see

what renewals are. They generally run

about 110%. In today's world, um I think

they could be a lot lower.

>> Ted, we're always lucky to have you on

the show. Thank you, sir.

>> It's a pleasure. Coming up, a shift in

dynamics between employers and employees

in the job market. That's next on Market

Domination right on the other side.

Heat. Heat. N.

Hey.

Heat.

Heat.

Down.

Down.

Down.

Down.

Today's hiring landscape showing a

change in dynamic between employees and

their former workplaces. You our finest

Carrie Hannon joining you with more. All

right, Carrie. So, so walk us through

this this boomerang trend you write

about here. Explain this for us, Carrie,

and what it and what it tells us about

employers and their workers right now.

>> Yeah, Josh. So, there's been an an

uptick and it's kind of been going on

for the last year, but definitely this

summer of employers uh opening up the

gates to let some of their former

employees get back in. those who may

have left for greener pastures and and

have decided that this is a good time to

go back to their former employer. And

and there are a couple of reasons for

this. Um for employers, there's three

things. The hiring managers say it's

they are hiring. It's just super hard to

find people with the right skills that

they're looking for. They're looking

for, you know, communication skills,

strategic thinking, and and they're

having trouble. It's harder than a year

ago, they say, to find these people.

Secondly, they're being inundated with

résumés because people are job hunting

like crazy. So, they're getting these AI

generated resumes and cover letters and

there's so many of them that they've

kind of thought to themselves, you know,

let's go back to basics and look for

people the oldfashioned way, the

traditional way of who do we know. And,

you know, hiring is very expensive. And

if you can find somebody who you already

know, who knows your culture that that

has already fit in with you, this is a

good way to sort of, you know, eliminate

some of those structures there. And for

the employee, you know, or the worker,

the job seeker, you know, there just

aren't that many opportunities out

there. And this is one of the easiest

paths to find a new job is to like look

backwards and say, what what's open at

my former employers? And this might be

an easy way to get in the door because

they already know you.

>> These boomerang employees you're talking

about, Carrie, do we have line of sight

about whether, you know, they make more

money when they come back? Like, does

leaving and then returning, can that

equal a bigger paycheck?

>> You know, Josh, it definitely can. And I

don't have hard numbers on it. I tried

to nail this down, but but the fact is

that the the um boomerangers who I

talked to uh all told me they definitely

came back at a higher pay uh than they

had obviously previously there, but even

higher than where they were at their

former employee, the former employer

that they had left for. So, um there is

an uptick and this is why because

they're coming back with more skills.

They're coming back with a larger

perspective and often management skills

and things that they didn't have when

they initially uh went to find their

greener pastures and now they're back

and they've come with new new things in

hand and they're valuable and I think

the employers value that and uh workers

know to to showcase what they've got.

this boomerang trend, Carrie, would you

say it is sort of um is it part of that

kind of just lowhire, lowf fire labor

market narrative we've been talking

about? Does it fit into that story?

>> You know, Josh, in a way it does because

the job market is just pretty stagnant

there. There's just not a lot happening

there. But there are pockets of

opportunity and there is a need to hire

people that actually can come back and

do the job right now. And so these

companies are very uh more open than

they've ever been. You know, the job

market is more fluid in a way, but also

it's not like one and done with an

employer. And so I think the low hire

thing, they're afraid of making a

mistake of taking a risk. And as I

mentioned before, hiring to hire someone

is expensive. And so this is a one way

to sort of everyone kind of uh kind of

quietly makes these uh new opportunities

appear. It's not as much front and

center, but it's definitely happening

behind the scenes. What is your, you

know, advice to job seekers, Carrie?

Maybe they're listening right now and

and they're thinking, you know what, I'm

curious about returning to this this old

job I left. What would be your guidance

to them, Carrie?

>> Yeah, just five quick things. Number

one, be open to the idea. If you're if

you're out there look unhappy where

you're working now or you're looking for

a new opportunity, just open your mind

to, hey, there might be I might maybe I

should look at going back to where I

was. And the second thing is then do

some soothing. go to the website, see

what jobs they may have open uh that

would interest you. It doesn't have to

be the job you loved, of course not. You

want to move into something new there.

So, look at what look at the job boards.

What's what opportunities might be

there? The third thing is really, you

know, be honest, get brave, you know,

screw screw up the courage, pick up the

phone, call your old manager and say,

"Hey, you know, I left, I learned, and I

want to come back and share these new

skills I have with the company." Because

it's always about the company. how you

can make things better for them. So ma

have that honest conversation. And the

fourth thing is is showcase your skills.

Make sure you know what you want to tell

them that you've learned that you've

added to your quiver so that you in fact

are a desirable hire for them. And the

final thing is this is obvious, but

really be honest with yourself. If you

were not happy there the first time, you

are not going to be happy there the

second time. So really be clear that you

like the job and you like the employer

the first time around.

>> Carrie, great to see you as always.

Thank you.

>> Thanks Josh.

>> Philanthropic is launching Claude for

teachers giving verified K through2

educators free access to AI tools

designed to help inside the classroom.

For more we bring in now Elizabeth

Kelly. She is a tropics head of

beneficial deployments. Elizabeth, it's

good to see you. Maybe start high level.

Elizabeth, just walk us through this.

What does Claude for teachers do

exactly? And and how is it different,

Elizabeth, than teachers using, you

know, a standard version of Claude or

Chat GBT or or Gemini?

>> So, yesterday we launched Cloud for

Teachers, which is a free version of our

Claude Pro actually built with and for

teachers. And so we've gotten a lot of

feedback about how teachers have been

using AI and essentially built cloud for

teachers to address what the gaps were.

For example, um teachers are leveraging

AI to develop lessons plans and

curricula, but they actually need that

to be mapped to the standards in the 50

different states where they're working.

Cloud for teachers includes that. We had

to make sure that Cloud for Teachers had

privacy standards that are in line with

the privacy standards being used at

schools across the country. And with the

sort of gold privacy standards being set

forth by the American Federation of

Teachers, one of the most exciting

things is the way that we built it to

actually enable teachers to

differentiate, meaning that they can

build lesson plans. They can build tools

that are designed for students who may

have different abilities, different

interests, and really customized, which

is part of what just sets teaching

apart. So, can you Elizabeth just give

us a few like good hard examples of of

how you imagine teachers using the the

the the tools? Like you mentioned lesson

plans. What what are some other

examples?

>> Yeah. So, right now we're in July.

Teachers are getting ready for school to

start in August or September. They have

the standards that are put out by the

state in terms of what they need to be

teaching for that year. And so they can

leverage Claude for teachers to start

developing the lesson plans, but they

can continue to iterate and improve. So

if they've got a group of kids who are

really excited about soccer this year

because the World Cup will just arrive,

they can customize those lessons and

they can get real-time feedback from

this is what's resonating. This is where

my kids are stuck and continue to evolve

and improve. I'm I'm also really excited

about a lot of sort of the plugins and

connectors we created because we really

situated this product inside the broader

education ecosystem. So, for example,

leveraging Canva Education through Cloud

for Teachers, teachers can create

interactive materials from their

classroom materials that meet kids where

they are and help them master the

material even better.

>> And my understanding, Elizabeth, was if

you're a teacher, you get access to this

um for a year for free. Is that

accurate?

>> That's correct. Any K12 educator in the

US uh gets free access for a year. This

is really part of who we are as a

company. We are founded with a public

benefit mission of making sure that AI

was developed safely and responsibly.

And two, that it's being used in a way

that really benefits everyone. And we

can think of no better use case than

helping hardworking teachers. Um, even

better inspire and teach their students

and get to spend more time with them,

which is what they love. Since Claude's

doing a lot of the hard work,

>> let's say, Elizabeth, um, you know,

after a year though, a teacher says,

"Hey, you know, this this tool is pretty

helpful. I want to stick with it." What

then, Elizabeth, like how much would it

cost?

>> The program is presently free. Um, and

we do not have plans to charge at

present. We're we're not scored on

revenue. We're actually scored on impact

in our education department, which again

goes back to who we are as a company and

why we're making this tool available to

teachers.

>> How much time, Elizabeth, do you think

this could actually save teachers? Like,

have you been able to, you know, sort of

quantify that or even get a give a good

guesstimate?

>> So, teachers are using it in all sorts

of ways. And part of what was fun about

this launch is that we were actually

developing it with teachers, piloting it

with them, improving it with them over

the last couple of months. And it really

just depends on how a teacher uses it.

So we've built into the product

something called co-work, which means

that a teacher who's especially keen on

using AI could actually have lesson

plans or other materials being created

overnight as they walk away and get a

hard night's sleep. So, it really just

depends on how the teacher is using it

and plugging it into the classroom and

there can be huge unlocks and time

savings.

>> Do you think Elizabeth, you know, is

there data or information that you think

teachers should not be uploading?

>> So, obviously we've built this to comply

with the privacy standards that schools

are using. Um, but in general, imagine

teachers are going to be careful about

uploading any sort of PII or other

things. They're really focused on the

broader educational context. Um, making

sure that the curricular standards are

brought in, that they're thinking

through different examples, um, all of

the things they would use other tools

for previously.

>> Elizabeth, great to have you on the show

today. Appreciate your time.

>> Thank you.

>> Coming up, I speak to the creator of an

AI actor about how the tech could impact

the entertainment industry. That's next

on Ask It for a Trend.

Heat.

Heat.

Heat. Heat.

It's the next evolution.

AI are the enemy.

It's the key.

>> That's AI actress Tilly Norwood, created

by the studio Particle 6. She will soon

star in her featurelength movie debut.

who join me now is Particle 6's founder

and CEO Alen Vandervelddon. Alen, it is

good to see you. So, maybe start here,

Elen. I mean, for viewers who haven't

been following the story, who exactly is

Tilly Norwood? Like, AI technology

platform. How would you describe Tilly?

>> I call Tilly an AI actor because I saw

what was happening with AI influencers

and I wanted to create a new vehicle for

storytelling. I'm an actor myself and I

thought well I need to future proof my