CNBCfix - Fast Money Review

[CNBCfix Fast Money/Halftime Report Review Archive — January 2023]

Judge is basically declaring Joe’s Stock Summit a bust

On Tuesday (1/31), we at first breathed a sigh of relief when realizing the Halftime Report wasn't going to feature more conversations with Joe Terranova about whether MSFT will remain in the JOET and whether it's really "high beta" or "all of tech" that's been rallying in January.

Then, Joe turned up at Post 9 with Judge for Overtime. And the floodgates opened.

Joe said "the month of January" (sic first 3 words redundant) is "clearly the revenge of high-beta" (uh oh).

Joe said Jay Powell must "deliver" the Jackson Hole speech but "maintain that demeanor" (snicker) throughout the press conference.

"So you're expecting him to be hawkish," Judge concluded.

Joe protested that he thinks the Fed will "fail" to "temper the animal spirits (snicker) that are present right now in the month of January."

Joe added, "I don't trust the high-beta nature of the rally currently in a lot of the Nasdaq stocks."

Eventually (gulp), Judge asked about MSFT, which Judge said Joe has removed from the JOET even though it was one of Joe's Stock Summit (snicker) picks at the beginning of the year. Joe said the "rules" of the JOET "initiated" the kicking out of JOET; Joe cited "the loss of momentum" as well as "decelerating" revenue growth. But Joe said it's only a "quarterly" repositioning.

Judge said he has an "issue" with this move, that Joe knew about momentum and decelerating revenue when he touted MSFT for the Stock Summit (snicker). Joe said he'd "respectfully disagree," that he wasn't aware of the earnings that came in late January.

And now, Judge can move on to other subjects.

Judge suggests Fed simply ‘can’t fix’ the problem it’s supposedly trying to fix

On Tuesday's (1/31) Halftime Report, the penultimate day before we hear from Jay Powell (tip: Don't expect much from Wednesday's pre-Fed episode), Steve Liesman once again analyzed the rate-raising scene before Josh Brown offered his own take on what's really happening.

"Not every problem in society is something that monetary policy should be addressing," Brown said, suggesting "some sort of immigration reform" would provide "relief" but only in "3 years."

(Brown talked about not eating if you weren't working in the '70s; he could've just said the people of this country in 2023 feel far differently about debt than people of this country in 1977; if those 1977 folks had the same approach, Jimmy Carter would've been mailing out $500 gasoline cards to every home.)

Judge seemed to find Josh's analysis accurate, stating he wonders if "they blow it — by trying to fix something they can't fix."

Meanwhile, NFLX ace Rich Greenfield made a rare appearance, saying now might be a good time to buy META. He cited where the stock had been in the last couple of years (that would've prompted Melissa Lee to ask if it DESERVED to be that high).

Greenfield said the "HUGE" investment in algorithms by META is paying off. Josh Brown wondered about complaints from the Kardashians (snicker) and others that they want the old Instagram back. "Mark's proven us wrong multiple times," Rich insisted, adding that no company is better built for monetizing mobile. Brown said a lot of the engagement of Reels has been "forced."

Stock market facing ‘absolutely imperilous’ events

On Monday's (1/30) Halftime Report, Liz Young said there are a couple things that are "absolutely imperilous" (sic) (snicker) (we honestly spent about 10 minutes looking up that pronunciation and couldn't find a match, but then again, the tacks here aren't the sharpest ones in the shed) (chatGPT fodder) to watch this week in the financial markets.

Slightly echoing Judge's relentless and endless campaign to pitch this week as the determinant of whether 2023 markets are up 40% or down 40%, Liz said "the most dangerous time to trade is between 2 and 2:30 p.m. on Fed day."

Bill Baruch predicted we see "Jackson Hole Powell" this week. (His Final Trade was UUP.)

Bill contended, "The froth is coming back into the market too," citing "zero DTE options."

"The risks are now skewed to the downside," Bill added, predicting a "stock-picker's market" later this year.

"There's really some irrefutable evidence that things are not getting better," said Liz Young.

Shannon Saccocia sold Merck, saying there's not as much of a pipeline after Keytruda. But she bought MDT.

CNBC star Meg Tirrell was finally back, discussing JNJ's talc lawsuit situation. Joe Terranova said JNJ might "at best tread water."

Joe said UNH owners will "win out" over the next couple of years, though he advises holders to "implement some form of options-oriented risk management." (Translation: Buy a bunch of puts that will likely expire worthless.)

Bill Baruch said DIS has upside to 127 or 130.

Joe said during Final Trade he was "happy." Judge told Joe, "You're only irritable for 59 minutes and 48 seconds." Joe's Final Trade was DVA.

When a recession is ‘absolutely’ priced in but no longer ‘universal’

Days after a rocky go-round on MSFT and the contents of the JOET, Joe Terranova ... gulp ... got tripped up by Judge, as well as Joe's own terminology, on Monday's (1/30) Halftime Report.

Joe initially described the 2023 market this way: "It's a bear market bounce for high-beta." But Joe said he doesn't want to "pivot" toward high-beta strategies.

Joe then said January's tech gains are a "reflex reaction" from the "most intense tax-loss harvesting season that we've witnessed since 2008."

Then Joe said not all of tech is "high-beta." Judge kept interrupting Joe demanding to know if AMZN and AAPL are "high beta" and stressed that "all of tech has moved," not just high-beta.

Joe tried to claim "we're acknowledging the same thing" and that "some of technology" is having a "reflex reaction to the tax-loss selling" though they're "not high beta." (Which means, circling back to the original comment, that really "It's a bear market bounce for high-beta AND other tech stocks.")

But that wasn't the end of it.

Joe affirmed that he told Judge recently on Overtime that a recession is priced in. Joe said "absolutely" and added the Fed could "stamp the passport" (snicker) for "high-beta strategy" to "move forward" if the bankers do not take a "hawkish tone."

Judge, practically scratching his head, wondered, "How is a recession priced into the stock market if we've rallied off the lows to the degree that we have."

Joe then offered, "People are trying to use the word recession universally. You can't do it. ... This is not going to be a normal recession. It's not universal anymore. Don't compare it to 2000 and 2001, or 2008 or the early '80s or the '70s. This is different. There is going to be resiliency in certain industries where there'll be no recession. And then other areas, there's gonna be a very deep significant recession. Do you think there's a recession right now in the financial services industry? I'll tell you in fact there is."

"OK," Judge finally said.

Oh, and still one more. Joe sold WMT, citing not enough boost from the Bed Bath and Beyond problems and not enough oomph in groceries or consumers trading down. Joe said he was growing "very uncomfortable" with the loss in WMT in his portfolio, as he bought about 90 days ago around 149. Judge said the BBBY situation is "still playing out" and it seems "not a lot of time" to expect a lot of consumer trading down.

News flash: Jim’s bullish

It took until the 26th minute of Friday's (1/27) Halftime Report for Jim Lebenthal to say, "There are no signs of the recession, yet."

Judge said, "not- not- not from the consumer," but there are arguments to be found "on either side of the boat."

(Thankfully, neither one of them brought up whether MSFT will remain in the JOET.)

Jim said "we're setting up for a golden cross in the S&P 500."

Judge said Jim's thoughts on the market, not surprisingly, are "buy it." But Bryn Talkington said, "I would be fading this."

"The market is rallying because it was oversold," offered Kari Firestone.

Jim went on to explain how he wants "data dependency" from the Fed. Bryn agreed that Jay Powell announcing the Fed will be data dependent would be "better for the economy," but, "My sense is, he's not gonna come out and say that."

Jim cited the "rolling recession," in housing and tech.

Bryn said FAANG used to be the trade "for about 10 years." But now, the companies have different issues, and "Amazon still has way too many people that work there."

Steve Weiss dialed in to say he bought more CVX, saying an earnings setback is only "sort of temporary" and touting the buyback, which is "dramatically accretive to earnings."

Bryn Talkington, recalling previous commentary by Weiss, said, "Well, it's nice to see that someone who said the space was uninvestable is not only in the space but buying more."

Judge told Weiss, "You can't run from the digital tape library." Weiss said, "I still think energy is not THE most investable," but, "I still believe energy overall is very, very tradeable."

Josh correctly notes how people felt about their homes in 2020

On Thursday's (1/26) Halftime Report, Josh Brown said stocks have been having "the best 5-day stretch in, in maybe 6 months, or 5 months."

Brown said the year's rally is tied to both the China reopening and the fact that S&P 500 companies have done an "incredible job navigating the environment that we're in."

Josh astutely added, "How many people do you know that didn't do renovation or redecorating work in their house over the last 3 years. Everyone you know did something, yourself included. And, it became the national pastime. We were all trapped, we were all looking at our same four walls, and saying, 'This place is a dump, I gotta do something to, to nicen (sic) it up.'" (Hands going up around CNBCfix HQ.)

Joe visibly irked after Jenny plays Grade My Trade with MSFT

Even in the same show in which he claimed Judge's Stock Summit is "awesome" (snicker), Joe Terranova, once known as Dr. New World, was Dr. Grumpy on Wednesday's (1/25) Halftime Report.

It started from the opening moments, when Joe bluntly warned Judge at the top of the show that "you're not gonna get that answer" about changes to the JOET until next Wednesday.

Joe said there's a "conflict" between "negative momentum" and "resilient earnings" for MSFT and tech in general.

Joe seemed miffed acknowledging that MSFT was a curious Stock Summit (snicker) pick, conceding a "bumpy" road to December that he says is "obvious."

Jenny Harrington cited MSFT's multiple and told Joe, "No offense, but I don't think you're gonna have a home run on this."

"Did I say I'm gonna have a home run. Did I say the stock's gonna rally. I said none of that," Joe started to respond, irked enough to barely even look at Jenny (that's OK, the rest of us can take care of that) (Just paying a polite compliment).

"Why'd you pick it in the Stock Summit," Judge cut in.

"What I said was by the end of the year, the fundamentals, which are resilient and good for this company, will be restored, and I think that that will be what wins out," Joe continued.

Bill Baruch said MSFT serves as a "ballast" to portfolios and he doesn't think it'll get much cheaper. Steve Weiss said nobody has to own MSFT, a point echoed by Jenny a couple of times.

Eventually, Joe protested to Judge, "The Stock Summit is great. It's awesome. I love participating in it; it's a privilege (snicker; sic; he probably meant "obligation") to do it." But "95% of my money" is in the JOET, which currently holds MSFT, and there's a "possibility" MSFT won't be in there next week.

‘Why would anyone own 108 positions and pay a manager?’

On Wednesday's (1/25) Halftime Report, Joe Terranova pronounced the market in "purgatory."

Judge said we're "like 15% off the lows."

Joe insisted, "This is a U-shaped correction." (Pssssst, it really isn't, if you look at a chart.)

Joe insisted the Fed has the market "in a box." But Judge wondered, "What if the market has the Fed in a box."

Joe said the bond market is saying a contraction is unfolding, but that what the bond market is saying is a "separate conversation."

"Too hot of a stock market agitates the Federal Reserve," Joe declared.

"Incites," Judge said, noting Joe used that term last week.

"Whatever word you want to use," Joe said.

Meanwhile, Brian Belski said his shop believes we've been in a "big secular bull market for, um, since 2009," and he thinks "the low is in place" for the current market.

Jenny said companies may be doing OK, but "we are still overvalued" in stock prices and, for example, T is doing "amazing" because of valuation even though the company is humdrum. (We can think of sexier stocks, but whatever.)

Steve Weiss said he's "not a fan" of TSLA because it's a "capital-intensive company." Jenny indicated she's tired of hearing the "huge excuse" that TSLA is a "technology company" while it should be valued "like a car company."

The headline quote for this item came from Jenny Harrington, who said that people who want to own a lot more than 30 stocks should "just own the SPYders."

The ‘whale’ comment may have been uproariously funny, but viewers didn’t know what Judge was talking about

Judge bungled the comedy on Tuesday's (1/24) Halftime Report, failing to direct cameramen to show viewers why everyone was giggling, then backpedaling and issuing apologies through the chuckles for basically no reason.

It was during a discussion of LULU, when Josh Brown said he sees Alo "everywhere" and wondered if it's taking "meaningful share."

Brown said he doesn't shop at Alo because Lulu has a "husky" section.

Referring to Brown's sweater, Judge said, "You like the, the, the whale brand," before adding, "No offense, I mean, I didn't mean it like that, I really did not mean it like that," as everyone howled.

So, OK, all it amounted to was Brown made a self-deprecating size joke, then Judge piling on.

But then Judge tried to explain why he said "whale," in reference to Josh's sweater logo, without telling viewers what he was looking at. "It's got a whale on it!" Judge said ... while the semi-permanent blue bar on the screen blocked viewers from seeing what Judge was talking about.

(This page did manage to secure a screen grab from earlier in the show, about the only moment of the hour in which the whale was visible.)

It must've been a lighthearted day at Englewood Cliffs, as Brown noted "the microphone guy" is laughing and Judge clarified that "the newsroom is laughing."

Steve Weiss said he's been trimming LULU as Judge mentioned Bernstein's "reset" downgrade. Weiss said the Bernstein analyst previously flagged the margin issue, "so you gotta pay attention to what the analyst says."

Weiss said he trimmed LULU on Friday and Monday only to buy more of it on Tuesday's open, if you thought Judge's antics on this subject were head-scratching.

Jim seemed to think there are more newsworthy subjects than what Judge opened with

Struggling for subject matter aside from clothing logos, Judge on Tuesday's (1/24) Halftime Report opened by asking Jim Lebenthal about MSFT's pending earnings report.

Jim said he expects "very little" impact on the market. "I know that's probably not what we wanna say at a, at a news organization."

"Especially if it's wrong," Judge quipped.

"Exactly, Scott," Steve Weiss said, prompting howls around the table (that's correct, before the LULU/"whale" thing came up).

Jim said he's "honestly not that interested" in MSFT, partly because he's "underweight tech."

Josh Brown said MSFT is a great company, "but even the best companies go through periods of time that are just not a great environment for what they do."

Weiss insisted MSFT's results would have a much bigger impact on the market than TSLA. Liz Young said MSFT "already kind of prepared us for them to miss."

Liz asserted that being a bull in this market is like "you brought a Toyota Camry to the Indy 500."

"3M is also meaningless to me," Jim told Judge, saying the stock is "exactly where it was 10 years ago." But Judge kind of scoffed that Jim finds Scott Kirby's commentary "really meaningful" simply because Kirby "tells your story" that the "planes are full."

"3M is not relevant," Jim asserted. "Services are what's driving this economy right now, not Post-Its."

Weiss said, "You can't cherry-pick what's meaningful to you based upon what fits your narrative." Jim said inflation over the last 6 months is "0.9%."

Judge rightly grows weary of Jim demanding extra time to take his 3rd or 4th jab at Weiss’ great jacket

In the latest chapter of the Jim Lebenthal-Steve Weiss debate on Tuesday's (1/24) Halftime Report, Jim said RACE is one of the best stocks over the past year, and "If all of the white collar high-paid people are being laid off, explain to me Ferrari going through the roof."

"White collar workers don't buy Ferraris," Josh Brown cut in. "Sheikhs and sultans buy Ferraris."

Weiss said, "Ferrari has a long-term order book; they sell 20,000 units a year," so you can't "base an indicator of the global economy" on this stock.

Josh said "it is undoubtedly already a white-collar recession."

Eamon Javers reported the GOOGL news. Judge wondered if it only means "just write a check, no big whoop" for the stock. Brown noted that one uphill battle in these antitrust cases against these companies is that "the consumer likes it."

Weiss said the bigger issue is a "bipartisan" challenge to Google's "exemption from liability for what goes out on their site" which "opens up the liability floodgates."

Jim, who needs work on the standup routine (see headline of this item), touted defense stocks. Josh said the sector is "chugging along."

Josh Brown again touted BROS, calling it a "regional story that's going national." A viewer asked Weiss about POAHY. Weiss admitted "I'm probably the worst one to ask" because he "completely screwed up the whole investment and stayed way too long. The thesis played out, but the stock price didn't."

Liz Young is still touting the 2-year Treasury, or the equal-weighted S&P. Josh Brown touted LYV and noted the stock was up Tuesday amid Senate hearings.

‘A Jim Simons market’

Those wondering (seriously) if the Halftime Report is going to change its name to the Lebenthal Report surely noted that on Monday's (1/23) episode, even though Jim wasn't one of the day's panelists, 1) Judge still mentioned him in the 7th minute, and 2) Jim appeared on video during the show anyway.

Joe Terranova offered that sometimes the market is a Warren Buffett market, and sometimes it's a Jim Simons market, and this is a Jim Simons market.

Joe said "nothing's changed" about the fundamentals, rather, "This is about quantitative strategies."

A little more bluntly, Bryn Talkington stated, "None of this really matters because the Fed is still the visible hand in the market."

Jason Snipe thinks there's "continued runway" in NVDA.

Thankfully, Judge didn’t ask Bryn about COWZ and get an explanation about PJAN

Just last Friday, Steve Weiss told Jeremy Siegel that Weiss is "in awe" of Siegel's work.

On Thursday's (1/19) Halftime, it sounded like Weiss wasn't so awestruck, noting that Jeremy said that when everyone says one thing is going to happen, the other thing will happen, but Weiss said Thursday that's "not always true."

Weiss tried to liken Jim Lebenthal to Hervé Villechaize (something about being on "Fantasy Island").

Jim admitted that he and Weiss have been "having this exact conversation ... for literally 9 months." (And once it started up yet again, we decided to take a pass.)

Amy Raskin is "much more focused" on what bonds are saying rather than what Fed members are saying.

Joe says ‘bad behavior’ in the markets will ‘incite’ the Fed

We didn't know anyone was getting carried away with the 2023 stock market, but Joe Terranova suggested on Wednesday's (1/18) Halftime that the day's trading was a "classic example of managing your emotions."

Then, in one of the funnier lines we've heard recently, Joe said that what we don't want is "bad behavior in the market" that would "incite the Federal Reserve."

(We're not quite sure what "bad behavior" would mean ... buying stocks? But it does conjure up images of Jay Powell leading a Fed "it'll get worse before it gets better" session like Dalton on Day 2 at the Double Deuce (above).)

A day ago, this page exhorted Judge and his crew to keep doing what they've been doing. Jim Lebenthal took that to heart, asserting ... yes ... that chances of a soft landing "are going up." But he allowed that retail sales are concerning.

Jim admitted he told Halftime producers he's "hungry for risk," at least "at these prices." Jim said he's at "3% cash."

In a stark counterassessment, Kari Firestone bluntly said there are "dramatic changes" in inflation data and that anyone shopping at Christmas saw "fewer people" at stores.

Furthermore, Kari said, "Who cares whether you incite the Fed by buying? I mean, if the Fed is really reacting to people buying stocks, that's not their mandate." (No, but Joe's kind of on to something. The Federal Reserve simply doesn't want a too-high S&P 500.)

Judge wondered how 2 people such as Jim and Kari can have "diametrically opposite views" on the "reality" of the economy.

Kari wondered, "Who says it's great?" Judge said Jim thinks it's "really strong." Kari said Jim's point is that "there are attractive equities."

Jim said "manufacturing is weak" and housing has taken a hit but insisted, "On the whole, the data is quite strong."

Rob Sechan, meanwhile, said the "bottom line" is that "liquidity is still not supportive of markets right now."

Apparently troubled by the positive January thus far, Rob said "everybody's been seduced" by the market over the past week; "Don't buy it."

Jim questioned if it's "seduction" and not "true romance." Jim said over the past year, the market was "seduced" (snicker) by a "pending recession" and "bear market."

"It's not a narrative of, 'It's risk-on again.' It's selective risk-on, I think," Sechan insisted.

Judge noted that Redburn (that's correct, Redburn, not Redbone, of the sensational '70s rock hit "Come And Get Your Love") downgraded XOM to "sell."

Jim said Big Oil stocks are "inviting targets" for downgrades, but he thinks there's another 10% in the stocks.

Joe bluntly said "I don't understand the call" and pointed out the analyst's March 2020 sell with XOM at $36.

Rob Sechan said energy is "less of a layup" this year than last year.

Kari Firestone is buying INMD, saying "the aesthetics business is growing globally."

Judge gets more enthusiastic about ‘Grade My Trade’ than Al Michaels does for epic playoff game

Sometimes, a little perspective is everything.

This page occasionally notes that an episode of CNBC's Halftime Report may be a little ... uh ... unexciting, or perhaps (gulp) sleepy.

That's totally understandable when the topics center around Loretta Mester speeches or Cleveland-Cliffs earnings. It's a head-scratcher when broadcasters can't even get amped up about epic NFL playoff games.

Such was the case Saturday night, when the Halftime Report's biggest fan, Al Michaels, and broadcast partner Tony Dungy described the game-winning Jacksonville field goal, as well as much of the game, like a CNBC News Update.

(CNBCfix commentary: Dungy is an excellent analyst but is low-key and should be in a 3-person booth with more vocal partners. He did an awesome job with Mike Tirico and Jason Garrett.)

All of which makes us realize that whatever jabs can be pointed at an episode of the Halftime Report, Overtime or Fast Money, CNBC hosts, including Judge, don't get enough credit for simply bringin' it 5 days a week.

We're sure Al Michaels would agree with our recommendation to Judge and his panelists: Keep doin' what you're doin'.

‘Way too many ... stupid little streaming platforms’

Judge on Tuesday's (1/17) Halftime read off DIS' description of Nelson Peltz, and quite frankly, it sounded rather harsh.

"Lacks the skills" ... "no new ideas" ... "oblivious" was some of the terminology Judge used.

Stephanie Link though said DIS should listen to Peltz. "Why wouldn't you want Peltz in there helping you along the way," Link said.

Josh Brown said DIS' deal to buy Marvel was "one of the most transformative media acquisitions in the history of media."

Brown suggested that if DIS decides to "take a run" at WWE or ... and this was important commentary ... "one of these other stupid little streaming platforms, and there are way too many of them," how will Iger do it "with an activist breathing down his neck."

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Jim puts David Solomon on a clock (that probably no one else is)

On Tuesday's (1/17) Halftime Report, Jim Lebenthal said the problem at GS is "big expenses." (Translation: Cancel flights, go back to Zoom.)

Jim said with the "amount of rumors" out there, David Solomon has "got a quarter" to "get this fixed."

Joe Terranova said GS has "forgotten" that it's "one of the best if not the best trading company there is."

Joe said he's "waiting" to see WMT take off but has been "a little bit disappointed" in the stock.

Judge mentioned, a couple weeks after this page already noted its presence in the Call of the Year conversation (see below), David Einhorn's big year. Joe said "Congratulations to David" who "took a lot of incoming over the last several years," and it's good to "celebrate others' success."

Evidently not too impressive was Einhorn's new buy of THC. "Hospitals are like the airlines of, uh, health care," said Josh Brown, who said THC trades "at the same price it was trading in 1991."

Josh outlined price-to-sales and EPS growth for UBER and predicted "it's going a lot higher."

Joe's Final Trade was to buy GLW on a pullback in the low 30s.

‘Not going anywhere’

Judge opened Tuesday's (1/17) Halftime Report actually asking Joe Terranova about a "Summit" pick, MSFT (we'll maybe hear about the Summit for one more week).

Joe questioned the downgrade from Guggenheim, claiming "you have to be right twice," about both the company and the "macro." (Actually you don't, but whatever.)

Joe said MSFT "pays you to wait," and he thinks the Azure growth will be "enough," and he thinks there's a "calmness" in the stock market. (Let's see how long that lasts.)

Stephanie Link though asked Joe how is he "comfortable" with MSFT at 25 times forward and while "92% of the sell side have buys on this thing." Joe could've said P.E. ratio is not a driver of stock prices said we'll find the "valuation is justified" in 2023 (as opposed to 2024).

Josh Brown said the VIX at this level "is not the spot where you're adding new names."

"I think the economic news just gets worse," Josh said.

"I think overall the market's not going anywhere," Joe said.

"Dividend aristocrats are the right place to be," Josh said.

Weiss is a ‘pedestrian’

Friday's (1/13) Halftime featured Jim Lebenthal and Brian Belski (so you can guess what was said) and also Steve Weiss; between the 3 of them, it sounds like CEOs are telling starkly different things to different people.

The star guest was Jeremy Siegel, who told Judge he thinks risk/reward for investors has gotten better. Weiss, though saying "I'm a pedestrian and in awe of the work that you've done," asked Jeremy about distinctions between multiples when guidance was given, not after; Weiss added, we're "not at trough earnings of a recession yet."

Jeremy stressed the market multiple, not multiples for select companies, and pointed out a 20 multiple on $200 in earnings gets us to 4,000, and "I'm not sure yet we're gonna have a recession."

Judge asked Jeremy if he thinks we're on the "cusp" of a "new bull market."

"I think we are," Jeremy said.

DIS doing streaming is like John Deere building race cars

Thursday's (1/12) Halftime Report included another go-round on ... as CNBC hosts like to say ... The Mouse House.

Sarat Sethi said DIS needs to "refocus" on what made it great, but he's siding with "the company" over Nelson Peltz.

Sarat said "no offense" to activists, but sometimes they go away in "3 or 6 months." Judge insisted Peltz is "not a short-timer."

Jim Lebenthal said he's voting with Peltz but that a proxy fight is "exactly" what DIS does NOT need right now. He thinks there are "major egos involved here."

Kari Firestone repeated an observation she made from late last year, that "Iger has never presided over a consolidation." However, nobody mentioned a few basic facts, which is that 1) There's really no superhero franchise rights lying around anymore that can be scooped up at a steep discount (maybe Stallone will sell them "Rocky") and 2) This company media division is built for the megaplex and live TV, neither of which neatly fits into the streaming scene.

From ‘soft landing’ to ‘Goldilocks’ to ‘probably too much optimism’

In Thursday's (1/12) edition of the Cleveland-Cliffs Report, Kari Firestone said bearish sentiment has been "overwhelming" recently and it's "not unreasonable" that highly beaten-down growth names are "attractive buys."

Jason Snipe is "relatively defensive" but getting more optimistic.

Sarat Sethi said the market's in a "balancing act."

Jim Lebenthal (yes, he was on again) pointed out inflation is up only 1.8% on an annualized basis over the last 6 months. He also mentioned "soft landing" again.

"We're prepared for a recession but we just don't see signs of it," Jim said.

Star guest Ed Yardeni is using the term "Goldilocks," apparently, citing 0.0% inflation for the last 3 months annualized.

Steve Liesman cut in to say Bullard thinks there's "probably too much optimism" about how inflation can "easily return" to 2%, that it won't be a "smooth line."

Kari and Sarat both touted AMT; Sarat said "300's conservative." Jason Snipe said he likes a bull call on NOW, which he said is "trading at 54 times." Snipe likes UNH but grades it a "B." Kari Firestone likes FTV and Sarat likes JNJ. Jim suggested trimming WYNN when it stops going up. Jason Snipe's Final Trade was PYPL, a stock that's been recommended nonstop for about at least 3 years.

Mike Santoli said inflation "basically looks like last year's war."

Jenny writes a 7-page letter, then adds a P.S. to convey how painful the letter was to write

Jeffrey Gundlach, who wasn't on Wednesday's (1/11) Halftime Report, took center stage as Judge trumpeted Jeffrey's call that the Fed won't get to 5% and that foreign stocks and a 60-40 bonds portfolio (not the other way around) are most promising.

Rob Sechan offered that unlike Gundlach, he thinks the Fed will "stay steadfast ... They're afraid of tomorrow."

"The game of chicken I think is gonna be won by the Fed, not the bond market," Rob asserted.

Joe Terranova said that if you're trading futures and focused on volatility, "then tomorrow is a signature event."

Rob said in the "short run," then a "really good number" could cause an "explosive move up." But Rob said the "medium term" requires multiple expansion or increasing earnings, and that it would take a Fed "pivot," not "pause," to boost multiples.

Joe said the Fed "doesn't want the inflation reading to be bad," but for an "overtly hawkish" Fed, "this figure needs to be bad," because the market "has completely lost confidence that they have this under control."

"They do get it" but "they're trying to jawbone it," said Rob, but with every bit of jawboning, it becomes less effective, Rob said.

Brenda Vingiello sees "maybe 10% upside" for large-cap stocks this year, "and that's probably about it."

Jenny Harrington (picture above not from Wednesday) curiously said, "I'm wondering if we aren't weaning ourselves off of our dependence on the Fed to drive the market both up and down."

Jenny said she just finished her quarterly client letter. "This thing's 7 pages, it's painful," but she put a P.S. at the end about how she "can't wait" until this letter doesn't have to discuss the Fed over 5 paragraphs again. "I think that's what we're getting back to," Jenny said.

"I don't know about that," said Judge, skeptical.

"I think so," Jenny insisted, citing "a year from now" or "maybe 6 months from now."

Joe said, "The story is the lower dollar," which is the "outcome" of Jeffrey Gundlach's scenario being correct.

Judge evidently won’t ask Rob if Steelers should keep their offensive coordinator

On Wednesday's (1/11) Halftime Report, Jenny Harrington had more than 1 reading/writing assignment.

Jenny suggested reading Pages 47 and 48 (first she said 48-49) of JPMorgan's "really great guide to the markets"; you'll find the "relative P.E." of foreign stocks is "2 standard deviations below historical norms," which is "crazy."

But Rob Sechan said it's all about the dollar; foreign stocks were "cheap for the last 5 years" and you would've gotten "your face ripped off" every year in the last 5 if you invested based on valuation. "You need confirmation of that trend" of U.S. outperformance for 15 years, Rob said.

Engaging in hyperbole, Judge said "undoubtedly" the Call of the Day was a Bernstein downgrade of CRM ... even though the stock was barely moving. Brenda Vingiello talked about how great the company is and said she'll "stick with it." Rob said he's "not interested" because of the multiple and because "there's insiders selling."

Jenny Harrington called the JPMorgan downgrade of KMX "laughable" because of how far it's already fallen. "I would actually have upgraded it here," Jenny said.

One of Brenda Vingiello's Stock Summit picks was DIS. Jenny suggested that stock could regain its "popularity premium."

First Najarian ‘appearance’ on Halftime Report since 9/9/2022

For whatever reason, Jim Lebenthal on Tuesday's (1/10) Halftime Report seemed to think that a viewer who sold DIS and bought KMI was making a "parlay" play. (Perhaps he has seen too many of those DraftKings commercials.)

Jim said he understands parlays in general, "but I'm not sure I understand this parlay bet." (Neither Judge nor the screen text said anything about a "parlay.") (Since when is selling one stock and buying another with the proceeds considered a "parlay"?)

Josh Brown made an elongated case for Buy With Prime, whatever that means or however it's different from anything shoppers have been doing for years on Amazon.

Judge asked Jim about 2022 laggards CRM and INTC starting off 2023 with a surge; Judge wondered whether some laggards that are so far bouncing in 2023 should be sold.

After raising the issue of whether it's recovery from tax-loss selling, Jim admitted "I can't answer that question," but he does think tax-loss selling knocked stocks "way below" fair value, including (of course) PARA and CLF (couldn't get through a show without those 2).

Stephanie Link thinks Morgan Stanley will be "sorry" for downgrading BA. Jim was disgusted with BA "execution" until, as Josh Brown noted, the stock went up.

Josh said if not for the pandemic, SHAK would be $100.

In a bank discussion featuring (unspoken on air but shown) a famous Halftime Report surname, Judge revealed that someone's handing out $70 targets on C again (remember when it was $5 about 10 years and Joe Terranova kept saying once it got over $5 then all the institutional investors would jump aboard ... it finally got to $50 by doing a 1-for-10).

Fairly humdrum show, but at least Jim didn’t think Judge was asking about TSLA when it was really GM and Bryn wasn’t talking about PJAN when it was supposed to be COWZ

Judge opened Tuesday's (1/10) Halftime Report asking Josh Brown about NFLX and why Brown sold the stock after a good trade.

Judge said the show made a "big deal" about it when Brown bought NFLX, which was basically true. Brown said, "This one actually worked," that he bought shares in the "mid-200s."

Brown predicted a "good report" from NFLX but said he's not "comfortable" with what might be the market's reaction to earnings.

Brown said Netflix "let the press run wild" with negative stories about the ad platform, resulting in "a lot of stupid stuff," and "Netflix didn't say much back."

Brown thinks the ad platform will be successful, and he thinks NFLX "really should crow" about its popular programs, including "Wednesday," a "runaway global hit."

"This is the only profitable streaming service that exists currently," Brown declared, with "monster, monster hits."

He's looking for "another crack" at the stock under $300.

Brown also chided the analyst reports that are obsessed with "sub growth."

Fed has a ‘date with 5%’

On Monday's (1/9) Halftime Report, Steve Liesman suggested the Federal Reserve is in "forward-guidance mode" and has a "date with 5% rather than being data-dependent."

Judge suggested maybe looking at not what Fed members "say" but what they "do." Steve said what they say is the "best gauge" of what they're going to do. "What are you going to look at otherwise, Scott?"

Judge said some say you can't take the Fed at its word because "they were wrong before." Liesman admitted he's "surprised" that Fed members "haven't softened their rhetoric given the data."

"What they're saying is what they're doing," shrugged Steve Weiss.

Joe Terranova said rates will remain "uncomfortably high" for an "extended period of time (sic last 2 words redundant)."

Jason Snipe said the "reset" in tech is still "underway."

Snipe says he thinks energy still works in 2023. Liz Young said there's "a lot of pain to come" in real estate.

Weiss is trading the CPI (a/k/a Tom Lee says FANG could have a 50% year)

"Today is the revenge of high-beta," said Joe Terranova on Monday's (1/9) Halftime Report, but he's "not comfortable" being in those names.

Judge noted Joe's "dangling earpiece" in the opening statement.

Judge said Tom Lee says the opening days of the year are implying a "23+%" gain for 2023. (On Overtime, Lee said FANG may be the "easiest buy" to play a tech recovery and could be up "50%" in 2023.)

Steve Weiss gave a lengthy speech and faulted the market for looking at "single data points" ... only to launch into several stock buys during the rest of the show.

Weiss decided Friday "it's still a trader's market," so he bought MSFT, though he thinks he'll still be able to get it at $200.

"Right now, yeah, the runway's clear," Weiss said, adding he's "not gonna be a fool."

Judge said "I totally get it," that if CPI cools, MSFT will go up; if CPI runs hot, then "Weiss sells Microsoft."

"Exactly," Weiss said.

Weiss revealed after the break he bought LULU, he said we're in a "luxury goods environment" and that, "Anytime it's gotten hurt like this, it's been a buying opportunity."

Judge questioned LULU's revenue growth related to the pandemic, because, "To me, this seems like the quintessential pandemic stock from the retail group." Weiss said some companies were pandemic plays but others "found a whole new audience."

Judge wondered if LULU deserves a multiple that's "double the S&P." Weiss said analysts "firmly believe" the growth rate is sustainable.

Moments later, we learned Weiss also bought DVN, which he called a "low-risk buy."

Judge thought Bryn was talking about COWZ when she was talking about PJAN; Jim thought Judge was talking about TSLA when he was talking about GM

On Friday's (1/6) Halftime Report, one of Bryn Talkington's Stock Summit picks was COWZ; "let me explain what it does," and oh my, she lost us at PJAN and PFEB ... only to lose Judge as well, who specifically asked Bryn about the COWZ and thought she was talking about COWZ even though she for whatever reason was talking about PJAN and PFEB.

Rob Sechan said Bryn's "in a bunker" and will "win if the market goes down."

Rob Sechan touted META for his Stock Summit picks, "our friends in low places trade." His first rationale was that "it's cheap."

Some bonehead bought TSLA 150 calls for $10

On Friday's (1/6) Halftime Report, Bryn Talkington said she bought TSLA at 120 and sold calls against it. Bryn told Judge she has no regrets, "not even remotely."

"I bought it at 120, I sold the 150 April calls, and I collected $10," Bryn said. "I'm up 2 bucks on it right now because it's at 112."

Bryn said TSLA is not just a "car company" but a "semiconductor company" and a "software company" and a "much bigger story" than F or GM.

Furthermore, "Ford was the same price today as it was 35 years ago," Bryn added.

Judge asked Jim Lebenthal about GM being down 43% over the last year, although it seemed like Judge was actually asking about TSLA; Jim had to ask for clarification. Jim said GM is "doin' everything they can."

Jim said the bull case in TSLA is "starting to get interesting." Judge pointed out that Jim owns CRM and has made an "exception to your discipline when it comes to valuation."

It’s actually Day 4

We may be in a new year compared with a week ago ... but it's the same old stuff on Judge's Halftime Report.

On Friday (1/6), the jobs report gave Jim "If you haven't sold, you haven't lost money" Lebenthal the opportunity to reaffirm his approximately-1-year-long-and-running stock market outlook.

"That's what a, a Goldilocks, soft landing looks like," Jim crowed. "So if you're a bear, you know, this is a good day to call in sick."

Jim, who revealed his S&P target is 4,200, said the Fed may still "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" about 3 times. (But obviously he doesn't really believe that, because he's trumpeting a bull case for a year.)

Judge, who reverted to the sharp glasses look, said Friday's data is "one report" and not a "major game-changer." Jim asked Judge if Judge thinks Jim is exaggerating. "I kinda do," Judge admitted, asking, "Why aren't you?"

Bryn Talkington wasn't impressed with the rally and said it's "way too early" to declare a soft landing. "The Fed is still flying the plane 40,000 feet in the air, and they're probably gonna miss the whole airport," Bryn said.

Rob Sechan said "we continue to be cautious"; he said earnings will be a "ceiling for valuations."

"We think we're going back to 3,600," Rob said.

Jim trumpeted "Goldilocks" again. Judge noted that Jim is "undeniably on that island," though "it might be Fantasy Island."

Bryn Talkington called QT "one grand experiment."

Rob conceded that he and Bryn are on the "same side of the boat" that David Tepper and Lee Cooperman and everyone else is seemingly on.

Jim said earnings expectations of 229, 230 are "spot on." Bryn called that "a little high."

Judge wondered "why can't it just be that simple" as "don't fight the Fed." Rob said, "'Cause it's never that simple."

"It was that simple before," Judge says, citing Tepper's "everything" up call.

Judge said Steve Weiss "was supposed to be here" but was "under the weather."

Judge said it was "Day 3 (sic) of our Stock Summit."

Why are they hiking when we’re ‘already in recession’?

On Thursday's (1/5) Halftime Report, Steve Weiss said his market view — the one that delivered a second straight Halftime Report Call of the Year title (see below) — is unchanged with the onset of 2023.

Weiss said the St. Louis Fed says "26 states are already in recession," so "We're there, already."

Judge said maybe all those economic concerns are priced into the market. "It's still overvalued," Weiss insisted.

Whether he's right or wrong, who knows. But Weiss' argument started to crack when he was heard to invoke a variation of a popular CNBC slogan: "Inflation, that's the hardest thing to control once you let it get away from you." (We'll keep waiting for the scientific research proving that statement.) (Meanwhile we'll just chalk it up as another person who recalls the 1970s sample size of 1.)

Judge suggested Weiss start thinking about when the market might turn and what to do ahead of that. Weiss shrugged that he'd basically rather wait till it's safe. "Your return is defined by where you get into the stock," Weiss said.

Some yo-yo bought an out-of-the-money call in DVN

Judge's headliner on Thursday's (1/5) Halftime Report was Kevin Simpson. "Steve's right," Simpson said, referring to Steve Weiss (above). Simpson said picking a year-end target for the S&P is "certainly fun to do" (sure, just ask Brian Belski), but the problem is that "it doesn't make us any money."

Simpson said you have to look at AAPL's price as an "opportunity." He said it'd be "very, very attractive" at 110-115, but till then, he's doing "old-school dollar-cost averaging."

Simpson bought more VZ, noting it's "pretty much the same price Scott that it was almost 10 years ago," while EPS has doubled since then.

Trumpeting DVN, Simpson said that covered calls can help "navigate" a range-bound market, for example, he wrote a January DVN call that brought in what would be an "annualized" premium of 45%, which he said makes him look "reasonably smart" this week.

‘I would be very surprised if the market went up a lot’

"Inflation is coming down hard," said Jason Snipe, perhaps making his first appearance at Englewood Cliffs, on Thursday's (1/5) Halftime Report. He said his focus now is, "How long do they stay restrictive" at the Fed.

Judge continued with the "Stock Summit" (translation: too many stock picks without context as to whether or to what degree the panelist owns the names and which will be forgotten in less than a week by everyone including Judge). Steve Weiss said he's not high on Shannon Saccocia's pick of ETN, because "I'm short the XLI" and he sees "tough going" in the industrial space.

Weiss does like GXO, citing an analyst day catalyst next Thursday. And he again touted an old favorite, MRNA.

Jason Snipe's top Summit pick is GS, conceding there "might be some volatility" in Q1.

Weiss said SNOW is a good short and "goes below par."

On Overtime, Lee Cooperman told Judge his views are "largely unchanged" from his last appearance, when he said equities are the "best house" in the neighborhood, but he doesn't like the neighborhood.

Lee said some stocks have bottomed and there are stocks to buy, so it's a "market of stocks rather than a stock market," but he epxects "very little" in the "next few years."

Lee faulted the Fed chief and pointed to the "bunch of academicians" running monetary policy around the world.

"I would be very surprised if the market went up a lot," Lee said.

It doesn’t really matter that inflation is on the way down; Grandpa Break The Back hiking rates either doesn’t agree or doesn’t care

Jim Lebenthal opened Wednesday's (1/4) Halftime Report stating, "I feel pretty good," apparently because inflation seems "on the way down." (When have we heard that before.)

Kari Firestone cited "3 higher lows" since mid-October and said "this is the type of day" that seems to indicate we're not retesting that October low.

Jenny Harrington said, "81% of the time after a down year, the market's up." Jenny said this is a "year of digestion" after last year's "reckoning."

Judge jabbed Joe Terranova about the MSFT downgrade. Joe said "the best thing" about a "high conviction" stock is lowered expectations, so "I feel even better about it."

Judge pointed out MSFT was in Joe's "Stock Summit" (Zzzzzzz) picks a day earlier and wondered if he'd "reconsider."

Joe said "I'm not being glib ... I've been doing this 30 years. If, if you're gonna sit there and you're gonna have a (sic) analyst downgrade come out and you're gonna change your view on something that you had such high conviction about 1 day before, you really shouldn't be doing this. So. Sorry."

"I think that's a good answer," Judge said.

Jim Lebenthal said he can't get enthusiastic about MSFT because "it's still expensive." Jenny Harrington said "maturation" is the "really important word" in the downgrade. "A lot of these stocks are still kind of rich."

Joe said MSFT has been in the JOET "since inception," but he said there's a "real possibility" that it gets taken out "before the end of next year" (which is only a 2-year time frame). Jenny referred to the "maturity" of MSFT at least a couple times.

Joe offered NEM as a Final Trade, "for a trade," while everyone else touted some of their favorite picks from last year.

Big Tech in 10 years will seem like ‘utilities’

Judge on Wednesday's (1/4) Halftime Report brought up Neel Kashkari's 5.4%-pause interest-rate outlook, only to find panelists basically ... just as skeptical about this subject as they were a year ago at this time.

Jim Lebenthal said if the Fed keeps up its "hell-bent-for-leather approach to rate hikes," it'll get a "blowback" that will "stop 'em in their tracks."

Joe Terranova called Kashkari's outlook "extremely hawkish" but "uncharacteristic" (apparently of Kashkari). Joe said if that happens, the economy and stocks will "contract significantly."

Jenny Harrington, fresh off her robust, impressive runner-up performance in last year's battle for Call of the Year (see below), said what matters is "it is going to be tighter for longer."

Making another 10-year argument (see last year), Jenny suggested that megacap tech names will be viewed not as snappy high-fliers but "kind of industrials, or utilities."

Joe bought the GLD. Kari Firestone said gold "certainly hasn't been an inflation hedge."

Meanwhile, Jenny Harrington's Summit picks included UBER and KSS; she said the latter is trading like the consumer "lays down and dies."

Jim's Stock Summit picks are the same ones he picked virtually every day of the past year. Judge questioned whether BA has another "massive burst" left. Jim said that's a good question, but he thinks people should "start adding" positions.

Kari Firestone is still in favor of PYPL, saying if you own it at Wednesday's price, "you'll make money on it."

New year, new ‘Stock Summit’

Tuesday's (1/3) 1st-of-the-year episode of the Halftime Report, undeniably flat, led off with Judge asking Josh Brown and Stephanie Link about AAPL.

In the 8th minute, Judge launched into filler under the title of "Stock Summit."

Last year, this page dutifully noted everyone's "Stock Summit" picks.

By a week or 2 later, we don't think we ever heard about the "Summit" again.

Compiling the year-end Call of the Year/Bust of the Year list (see below), we looked up some of these "Summit" calls from early January 2022. Many of these calls did quite well. However, 1) every or virtually every panelist had at least one bust of the 3, and how does anyone know in advance which one will be the bust; 2) Unless the panelists repeatedly trumpeted any of these names, they quickly fell off our radar and certainly viewers'; 3) Nobody (with maybe a tiny few exceptions we can't even think of right now) is going to, or should be going to, fill out all their portfolios in the first week of January and make zero changes until Dec. 31.

Judge mentioned Truist's "Buy" rating for PYPL, one of the absolute dogs of 2022 touted by many Halftime Report panelists only to be a bust.

The Halftime Report Call of the Year goes to ...

More than halfway through unearthing all the commentary on CNBC's Halftime Report for all of 2022 (yeesh) to determine who made the best calls, it suddenly occurred to us at CNBCfix HQ that 2022 was so bad, we could far more efficiently approach this question from the opposite end:

Did anyone short FAANG.

Did anyone short TSLA.

Did anyone predict sharply higher interest rates.

Did anyone call TWTR a buy.

Did anyone take a stand on NFLX — either up or down.

The answer to those questions are mostly "no," but with a few exceptions. The most convincing "yeses" involve David Einhorn, who announced a TSLA short in February and a TWTR buy in August.

But Einhorn did not appear on the Halftime Report (or apparently CNBC at all) in 2022; we don't know whether he was still short TSLA in December, when the huge gains were made; also, he's had a long-running feud with Elon Musk that sort of warps the scorecard.

So this page is not going to award David Einhorn the Call of the Year in some kind of headline-generating selection.

Frankly, we were tempted to hand the honor to Nick Timiraos.

2022 was not a good year for CNBC panelists who tend to advocate tech stocks. You'll be hearing from them below.

On the other hand, it should've been a big year for the likes of Jim Chanos. But Jim to our knowledge only appeared on Halftime once, on 9/28 at Delivering Alpha, and was not particularly vociferous about anything.

It's fair to ask, are 5 p.m. Fast Money folks eligible for this Call of the Year honor. Yes, and they were the original honorees, except ... due to time constraints in recent years, we've had to make choices on where we direct our TV attention span (snicker) ... and we haven't seen nearly enough of Fast Money to know how often Karen Finerman & Guy Adami & the gang killed it this year. We've had to make choices, and you know that when Al Michaels said the Halftime Report is his favorite show on TV, we had to take heed.

Anyone is eligible for the Call of the Year simply by making 1 great call. As our 2022 review took shape, 2 Halftime voices stood out with a series of excellent calls and, figuratively, fought a vigorous duel for the crown right up until the final days of the year.

This page is going to point out some great calls — as well as some busts. Please note we're not trying to insult anyone here and, as always, we want all the panelists and viewers to succeed.

Ah, but what about the rest of the show ...

The Halftime Report, as a production, gets a C- for 2022. Here are the facts. 1) Two of the show's best and most popular ensemble members were quietly booted. (This page is not taking a position on whether they should've been booted.) They haven't been replaced. 2) The transition of returning panelists to the same desk all in the same room, either at Englewood Cliffs or Post 9, has been choppy; those are the best episodes and there are still a lot of remotes on this program. 3) Judge has rarely scored big-get interviews in 2022. (We'll ask again, what about Dick Fuld, surely he'd like to talk about Hank Paulson ...) 4) Many panelists are on the air too much and oversaturating viewers (No. 1 is part of the cause of that) especially doing extra duty on Overtime; their commentary is reaching the stage where you can sorta say it's run its course.

On the plus side, Judge has brought some spark to Overtime, and Grade My Trade has provided some chuckles, and viewers no longer hear those IBM hybrid commercials.

For the 2022 Halftime Report winners (and losers), read on ...

First, memorable moments from 2022’s Halftime Report

Judge asks Jon Najarian on July 7 if Market Rebellion was paid fees for referrals by Voyager: "I can't comment on that right now." Doc says Steve Ehrlich was wrong to call Doc a "partner" in a YouTube video; Doc said he was just a "shareholder."

Jeremy Siegel on Sept. 23 complains about Powell's softball treatment from media: "There were no hard questions. There were 50 reporters there. I don't know, they basically said, you know, repeat the statement you made at the beginning."

Josh Brown on Feb. 24 describes Maria Bartiromo's approach while at CNBC: "She would like start every interview with, 'So — are you putting money to work here? Are you putting money to work here? Are you putting- she never got a no."

No 7-second delay: Carl Icahn on March 22 says "complete bulls---" on live TV.

Judge on July 21 doesn't know if Katy Huberty is still at MS. (Evidently, she is.) "We have called over to Morgan Stanley; we have asked if Ms. Huberty has left the firm, if she's moved on to different coverage, and we're waiting to hear back."

Anthony Scaramucci on Sept. 12 says some gave up on him: People recently were "ready to write my obituary, or at least my financial obituary. I don't think they can do that right now ... I'm like a human Swiss Army knife."

Movie star: Joe Terranova turned up in clip from the documentary (released around February 2022) "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing" with a supersharp haircut (pictured above). (Never know when a run-of-the-mill appearance on the Halftime Report will become famous.)

Movie star II: Jim Lebenthal on May 27 cracks that the movie "Jackass" is a "biopic on Steve Weiss."

Jim Lebenthal chides Josh Brown on April 5 for mentioning "genocide" in Ukraine war: "Don't bring up genocide, we're talking about stocks, and we're talking about the economy right now," Jim says, adding, "Let's leave the moral overtones aside." "Don't lecture me sir. Don't lecture me sir," Josh says. "I find it amusing for you to tell anyone to stop lecturing," Jim says. "Nothing's amusing about this. Nothing's amusing," Josh says. "You are, my friend," Jim says.

GURST-ner: Bryn Talkington, CNBC's funniest commentator when referring to other famous people, on Oct. 24 ("Gershner") and Kari Firestone on Nov. 7 ("Geistner") both mispronounced Brad Gerstner's last name.

Biggest in ... a ritzy California home for now: Jon Najarian on July 7 calls Sam Bankman-Fried "probably the biggest guy in crypto"; Anthony Scaramucci on Sept. 12 mentions Sam Bankman-Fried at least 3 times.

Happy memories: As of now, today, Pete Najarian's Twitter profile still says "Star of @CNBC's Halftime Report."

The busts of 2022

Sorry, but we can't report the good without the bad ...

26. Josh Brown, Aug. 11 and other dates, touts BROS (whatever it does), starts year at 50, ends at 28: "It's a drive-thru in a parking lot."

25. Wedbush, Jan. 3: Judge announces that Wedbush is making a "very big call" — that tech stocks will be up 20%.

24. Joe Terranova, April 21, WMT at 158: Predicts it reaches 200 because of his concerns over food inflation.

23. Bryn Talkington, July 29, admits "worst trade of the year": Selling AMZN in May around $110, buying META "in the 190s."

22. Joe Terranova, March 7, little early for the "recovery": "We're in the midst of a U-shaped recovery."

21. Jon Najarian, April 5, TWTR then at 51-54 in bidding war: "I think this stock hits 75, 80 by year-end."

20. Kari Firestone, Aug. 10, adds to PYPL: "Up 40% since mid-June" to 98; but 71 now.

19. Steve Weiss, March 22, actually they gained a seat: Says "high inflation has toppled governments," and "maybe it will" do just that to the Democratic Senate.

18. Jon Najarian, June 15, The Freevee Theory: Shifted position in NFLX (180) to AMZN because Freevee, the "former IMBD (sic meant 'IMDB')," is a "category-killer." (In fairness, AMZN did climb for a while afterwards before stumbling.)

17. Cathie Wood, Feb. 17, on selling TWTR: Says it wasn't one of her highest-conviction holdings.

16. Tom Lee, July 29, sees 1982 parallels: "That inflation-driven bear market was erased in 4 months. You had almost a 3-year bear market that was completely recovered in 4 months."

15. Mark Fisher, June 1: Nat gas is "definitely gonna trade double digits." (Not according to the 1-year charts at CNBC.com.)

14. Stephanie Link, Sept. 6, buying dip in META: Stock at 158 then.

13. Brad Gerstner, META at 149 on Sept. 15: "We're not selling the stock at 6 and a half times EBITDA," also, "Snowflake (196 then) has clearly emerged as a 4th cloud" and is "fairly priced."

12. Josh Brown, Aug. 25, SNOW-fall: At 196, "looks like it's bottomed."

11. Brian Belski, Sept. 7, the path to 4,800: "August doesn't matter" and we're entering "conference season."

10. Josh Brown, Dec. 31, 2021, trumpets RBLX "around 100, 101" in 5-minute speech: "I think this could be one of the biggest winners of 2022." (Steve Weiss called it an "excellent pick.")

9. Jon Najarian, April 29, bloody mess: Says Fed will "have blood on their hands" if they try more than 2 hikes of 50 basis points, "if they hit it too hard."

8. Adam Parker, Jan. 14, rate shrug: Says anyone who thinks the Fed is raising 4-5 times this year and 4-5 times next year is "really out of their minds."

7. Joe Terranova, Oct. 21, not falling for UAA: Judge noted the stock "under 7 bucks"; Joe said it's "the ultimate trap." (Or Call of the Year for anyone going long.)

6. Bryn Talkington, Nov. 4, not giving up on COIN: Says you can "actually buy this name here" around 60, and sell the January 75 calls.

5. Brenda Vingiello, Dec. 8, TSLA's "great margin story": Says she bought in Q2 and will hang on to it (at 173).

4. Brian Belski, May 2, undaunted: "We're wrong right now," maintaining "very aggressive" S&P year-end target of 5,300.

3. Cathie Wood, Feb. 17, redefining "permanent": Says her biggest concern is investors turning "temporary losses into permanent losses."

2. Tom Lee's new acronym, April 14: Judge announces Tom Lee's BEEF, which represents bitcoin, bitcoin equities, energy and FAANG.

1. Josh Brown, Dec. 31, 2021, "no chance" of 200 basis points higher: "This idea that the Fed thinks it's gonna be helping any economy by jacking rates up — Fed funds rates — by 200 basis points this year. No chance. They can't- First of all they wouldn't do it, and second of all, even if they wanted to, which we don't think Powell does, they can't. Like how can you do it. The governor is, what are 10-year rates. And they're not going to 4%! I wish they would! I would stop investing in stocks if I could get 4%."

Counting down best of 2022 ...

Yes, we ended up somehow with ... 19. Who knows.

19. Jenny Harrington, July 1, a better 2nd half: "I don't think we're going to have nearly as bad a 2nd half as we had a 1st half. ... The bottom line is that you're buying way more cheaply today than you were in January."

18. Josh Brown, Jan. 20, knocking PTON: "Most Americans are slobs."

17. Joe Terranova, Aug. 1, on Elon's toys: Says the downside in TWTR (about 40) is pretty well priced in.

16. Bryn Talkington, April 11: Predicts more "fits and starts" this year and that a 2022 return of 0% would be "wonderful."

15. Phil LeBeau (a CNBC reporter, not a stock-picker or market pundit), Aug. 9, "momentum change" for Boeing: Shares then about 164 amid report of 787 deliveries.

14. Joe Terranova, Nov. 30, blaming analysts for CRWD overcrowding: "37 buys, 3 holds, zero sells ... On the close today (stock around 117), I am going to sell the stock. Do you know why? Crowdstrike is overcrowded."

13. Jenny Harrington, Sept. 15: "I think what it all adds up to is ultimately just a very range-bound market."

12. Josh Brown, July 5, avoiding ARKK: "The fake trend — no offense to anyone — is ARK stocks going up. That's countertrend ... that has no legs."

11. Jenny Harrington, May 12, tired of old market leaders: Says she wants Pfizer (flat), Cisco (flat), IBM (up).

10. Jon Najarian, May 26, buying the dip in TDOC: Says it "softened up" again and "virtually every target" on the stock is nearly double what it's at (about 33 then, shot into 40s in July).

9. Pete Najarian, April 13, maybe as good as it gets for airlines: "My last 3 flights on Delta have been half-full."

8. Steve Weiss, May 9: Says he shorted GBTC ($20 then). "I still don't know what a store of value means. Uh, nobody can really explain it to me. What is it exactly."

7. Jim Lebenthal, Dec. 31, 2021, affirms belief in CLF: "$30, takes a few more months, let's put it June 30." (Actually reached $30 by late March, but has pulled back.)

6. Josh Brown and Kari Firestone, April 20, dueling NFLX positions: Josh Brown bought NFLX on the open, which was 245. "Maybe Josh bought some of our shares," Kari said. (Stock slid to 160s for 2 months, then hit 320s in December. Brown was the only panelist touting the stock at times during the year; Firestone sold at a good time and hopefully bought it back.)

5. Josh Brown, March 9, vaccine-trade booster: Says MRNA reached his "ludicrous" buy price of $125 a day earlier.

4.Jenny Harrington, March 1, buying the dip in FL: "Fell like a gift from heaven" into her portfolio.

3. Jenny Harrington, Aug. 4, Devon heaven: Insists DVN (52 then) it will make money with oil as low as 60.

2. Steve Weiss, Final Trade instant offense, Wednesday, May 4, day of Fed announcements: Recommends buying SPY and QQQ right after the show ended and before the Fed Q&A, "and only stay there for the afternoon or through tomorrow morning."

Call of the Year: Steve Weiss repeats, predicting 2022 a much different year than 2021

In hindsight, it seems kind of silly. Rewind the tapes from late 2021 into early 2022, and you hear CNBC panelists scoffing and warning and even chuckling about the Fed funds rate somehow approaching ... 2%.

Nobody in the Halftime Report sphere at the end of 2021 outlined the rising rate market as beautifully as Steve Weiss, despite the fact no one really wanted to hear it.

Not only did he describe a market that, incredibly, played out practically wire to wire during a calendar year, Weiss, who last year cruised to the Call of the Year crown touting MRNA, had several blockbuster short-term calls that you've already seen above.

However, on the 2nd half of the year, Weiss and the rest of the crew were bested by Jenny Harrington, who maintained throughout 2022 that the 2nd half would be better than the 1st (it was), that the market was in a "bottoming process," and that there were actually decent stocks to buy throughout the year (some noted above) while most people were simply throwing up their hands at tech-stock quicksand.

The guess here is that most panelists, asked about their rate expectations from a year ago, would probably, like this page, express surprise that the economy has handled the hikes so well. In other words, we only got past 2% because the financial markets, and economy, didn't crash. Tumble, slump, yes. But not crash. Something that most in December 2021 would've had trouble accepting.

So the 2022 Halftime Report Call of the Year was actually made on the last day of the previous year. Here it is:

1. Steve Weiss, Dec. 31, 2021, on why 2022 will be different than 2021: "We had a lot of forces at work that we're not going to have this coming year ... very, very accommodative Fed, they're going the other way ... we also won't have the same momentum ... the fear of missing out ... I do see rates going up towards 2%, may even go to 2%."

Halftime Report Call of the Year/CNBCfix year-end report coming up soon

Yes, the holiday crush — and remarkable Pittsburgh Steelers playoff drive — got the better of us again.

This page had hoped/intended to post its 2022 wrap-up and Call of the Year on Dec. 31, but it's taken us a bit of time to get our act together.

Such a report is imminent.

Only 6% picked a worsening pandemic (a/k/a choosing ‘other’)

Friday's (12/30) Halftime Report ushered out a rocky year (to say the least) in the financial markets; Judge opened the show saying, "The good news is that the market tends to not have another down year after an already dismal year. For whatever that is worth."

Joe Terranova even said to think about playing catch-up early in 2023: "The beginning of the year is, is where the highest probability exists for there to be a little bit of a recovery rally."

Judge said "the problem" with the 2023 market is "people aren't lookin' for much."

Jenny Harrington questioned calling that a "problem" and said it's actually "terrific," explaining, "Expectations are being reset to reasonable," which can lead to a "decent investment environment for the next 3, 5, 10 years." (Translation: Jenny's hoping people will stop chasing tech stocks forever because they got slaughtered this past year.)

Jason Snipe also referred to how 2 bad years in a row is uncommon.

Judge said maybe the biggest question over the markets is whether the Nasdaq multiple has had a "re-rating enough." But Judge said "the issue" is that we "just don't know" what the multiple should be.

Joe said there's a "suspicion" that there needs to be more "valuation contraction" in growth stocks.

Judge said the biggest "concern" for 2023 in the CNBC survey (which included all the panelists) is the Fed; 2nd place at 12% is a "Chinese invasion of Taiwan."

Jenny Harrington questioned what people are worried about regarding the Fed. Judge asked Jenny what her own biggest concern was; Jenny said she would've picked "other" if there was an "other" or "might have" picked China-Taiwan. "That's REALLY scary," Jenny admitted, but it has "incredibly low odds."

Joe asserted that the Fed's "30% behind" in its balance sheet rolloff.

Steve Liesman stepped in for a few moments and requested a chart on the Fed's balance sheet, but the graphics crew didn't have it.

Judge gave Steve a nice tribute for his always excellent analysis of the state of things regarding the Federal Reserve.

Jenny made a lengthy case for "dirt cheap" AAP (that's correct, not AAPL) because "you cannot put off fixing up the car that you've got."

The only problem with that argument is that you could make that argument a month ago, a year ago, a decade ago, etc.

Jenny admitted AAP has long been a "messy" story and that last April's analyst day included a comment about its systems being "21 years old."

Jason Snipe said he "right-sized" TWLO early in 2022, but decided to unload on Dec. 29. He also sold SHOP. Joe recapped his experience with TWLO from years ago and said he "did well" with it. In a bit of a surprise, Jenny said it's not an "investment thesis," but the market cap of TWLO combined with free cash flow, "you can see a lot of value."

Judge's chart of the day was OXY, which is up 115% in 2022. It's in the JOET. We could be wrong, but we don't think the stock was recommended on the Halftime Report even once in 2022. (It's possible it was, and possibly was a Final Trade at some point.)

Judge noted the big years of Big Oil stocks and asked Joe why not sell after these outsized years, prompting a bit of Joespeak in which the "environment" is "still demanding that investors maintain positioning there." (Translation: They're still decent stocks.) Jenny said she was selling CVX in non-taxable accounts and replacing it with higher-dividend PXD and will do the same with taxable accounts in 2023. Jason said "energy can still do well."

Jenny gave a chap a D in "Grade My Trade" for buying UBER on the way down, but she sees "tremendous upside from here" and thinks he should add if he doesn't have a ton of it already.

Joe said the bottom is in some semi names, KLA, ON, MCHP, plus TXN, which he owns personally.

To Jenny's chagrin, Judge pointed out INTC is the worst-performing Dow stock of the year.

Jason Snipe said NVDA's a "long-term holding" for him.

November retail vs.
December Mastercard

Liz Young on Thursday's (12/29) Halftime Report said she'd advise people, "Don't have short-term memory" in which you get excited about a 1-day rally.

"I think tech will struggle through at least the first half of 2023," said Liz, dynamite in red at Post 9. (This page is just trying to pay a polite compliment.)

But if viewers thought Liz was rather "dour" (Judge's recent favorite word), they got a lot more than they bargained for from Rich Saperstein, who said earnings will be marked down, "And that's gonna lead to lower stock prices in '23."

Judge described to Saperstein that Jim Lebenthal "barely believes in an economic slowdown," and Judge wondered how those views could be so far apart. Rich said his clients have made "copious amounts of money" over decades, and "we get to choose when we're going to put money to work." He said he's "very comfortable" reducing stock exposure and owning bonds, which have done "exceptionally well" since he took this approach in September.

After Rich's comments, Judge said Jim, who joined Liz Young at Post 9, gave a "hand motion" that may be "taking issue" with how Judge characterized Jim's view. But Jim admitted, "You are correct," before attempting to parse, stating "the data" keeps indicating we're not in a slowdown.

But Liz said data has changed, jobless claims have moved up and retail spending is "at its lowest level in 11 months." Jim countered that Mastercard gave "really good" December numbers. Liz continued that savings are down and credit card balances are up, which means "somewhere a consumer is running out of money."

Despite his apparent market negativity, Saperstein bought more XOM as well as NOC.

Meanwhile, Shannon Saccocia told Judge, "It makes a lot of sense Scott that sentiment is so bad, because we are asking for a belief in resiliency" (snicker).

Liz Young did say that financials have been punished, "so how much further down can it really go."

Jim Lebenthal brought up what he and Judge think about Disney's "strategy" how Judge yesterday said tech has "executed well" but the stocks have been horrible, "which means this is about valuation in terms of higher interest rates."

Rich Saperstein said "we had to lighten up on tech because of our overall thoughts on the market." But he noted the gains in MSFT and AAPL free cash flow since 2019.

Judge promised a "Stock Summit" next week.

Good news for TSLA longs: Jim doesn’t think it’s the next CIEN

On Thursday's (12/29) Halftime Report, Judge said Adam Jonas is giving TSLA a 250 target (from 330) and thinks the "re-rating" is an "opportunity."

Rich Saperstein bluntly said, "I don't really care what the analysts have to say."

Shannon Saccocia said TSLA is having an "identity crisis." Shannon harped on the notion of TSLA being a "technology company" and shrugged that the Twitter noise is just "compounding some of this weakness."

Judge then had to ask Jim Lebenthal about TSLA. Jim insisted Tesla is a "car company." Jim questioned whether TSLA will be like AMZN of 20+ years ago, or will it be CSCO; he thinks the latter. He doesn't think it'll be CIEN.

Rematch of Super Bowl XXIX (a/k/a at least this page doesn’t have to say ‘NextGen stats brought to you by AWS’ 5 times every Thursday)

Introducing Al "FAS" Michaels, one of this page's (and everyone's) favorite Halftime Report guests, Judge on Thursday's (12/29) show called Titans-Cowboys a "big game."

Al noted the AFC playoff picture and said "the league is so wild and crazy."

Al said Amazon has gone "all-in" on football with "state of the art" production trucks.

"On balance I think it's been a helluva year," Al said.

Al actually wondered about Shannon Saccocia's opinion on IBM (Zzzzzzzzzzz), saying he's thought about selling for a long time but "glad I held on." Shannon said IBM is a "multi-year story" and she'd "definitely" hold the stock.

"My favorite show on TV," Al closed, and he wasn't referring to Thursday Night Football (although that probably ranks 2nd).

We get it — Joe is going to be on the show on Jan. 31 (a/k/a But what if Jim had bought TSLA 5 years ago, could he look the investor in the eye?)

On Wednesday's (12/28) Halftime Report, it took half the show to get to TSLA.

Judge for some reason felt the need to ask Joe Terranova the same question he asked Joe a day earlier about TSLA being in the JOET. Joe basically repeated everything he said a day earlier about the JOET's position in TSLA, about being on the show "the last day of January."

Rob Sechan said Tesla cars have gone from not enough supply and too much demand to too much supply and not enough demand. He said the stock is "politically charged" and might be buyable at a "lower price."

Joe said the "right risk management" is to tell someone who wants to buy 500 shares of TSLA to only buy 50.

Jim Lebenthal said if he had recommended TSLA 2 years ago, he wouldn't be able to look the investor "in the eye" and explain why he paid 60 times earnings for a car company. Jim said TSLA should trade at "6 or 7 times earnings." (Translation: All the stocks that Jim and Jenny Harrington don't like shouldn't go up.)

Kari Firestone curiously claimed "every generation" is using the American Express card, "it's everybody," including "you Scott" and "everybody on the panel" and "people watching."

Evidently, Judge has an American Express card

A beacon of optimism throughout 2022, Jim Lebenthal on Wednesday's (12/28) Halftime Report came up with yet another reason for bulls to feel satisfied, which is that losses are just "temporary."

In an elongated conversation about tech, Jim said, "When we say, 'Hey, you've lost 10 trillion dollars in the stock market this year, no you haven't, not unless you've sold Apple here, not unless you've sold Google here. ... I haven't lost money until I sell."

Well, we suppose that's technically correct. (But the flip side is that, if and when CLF returns to its 2021 closing price, Jim can't claim it's up 33%.)

Judge moments later said he's getting "several texts" about Jim's remark of not losing until the stocks are sold, and "a lot of people feel like garbage this year."

Jim said about 5 times that he speaks to investors all the time, and that when you buy a stock, "it can go down at any point in time," and that he can look investors in the eye and tell them they're looking in the "wrong time frame" and his clients "believe me" when he says PARA, GM and CLF are worth "multiples of what it is right now."

Judge said "Your track record speaks for itself" and that Jim is an "honorable person."

But Judge said Jim said "almost exactly" that "I haven't lost money this year because I haven't sold." Jim said, "What I said, was, I don't like the expression that people have lost 10 trillion dollars in the stock market. ... I don't know who you're getting texts from."

Jim twice mentioned "temporary losses."

"That doesn't make the loss feel any better because you didn't sell," Judge explained.

"I'm not saying that anybody feels good right now," Jim admitted.

Jim said one year is an "arbitrary measure" and he's "moved on," for example, from 2008.

Jim said "the worst mistake somebody can make right now" is take a "temporary loss" and sell a stock and "watch it recover," and "that's what happened" in 2008.

Jim said CLF "just raised prices." (Is there anyone who hasn't?)

Judge somehow still thinks someone out there might be counting on the Santa Claus Rally

Joe Terranova got to bat leadoff again on Wednesday's (12/28) Halftime Report, stating there's a "correlation" between sentiment and whether 2023 will be any good. He still likes "defensive positioning."

Jim Lebenthal again stressed the "growth to value leadership transition." (And we wonder if this "transition" will still be occurring with rates at 1-2%.)

"This economy is actually accelerating right now," Jim said.

"That can't be good," Joe said.

Judge actually asked Kari Firestone, with about 2 trading days left in the year, whether we're "throwing in the towel" on the notion of a "Santa Claus Rally."

"Definitely running out of time," Kari acknowledged.

Kari said for the past week she's done an "informal poll" of putting CNBC voices of the past week in "columns" of defensive or optimistic; she says there's "almost none" in the latter.

"For good reason, though, right," Judge said.

Kari said it feels like people are "too negative."

Judge then clarified that a "Santa Claus Rally" is the last 5 days of the year plus the "first 2 or 3 of the new year." Rob Sechan wasn't having any of this supposed rally, saying Santa got "run over" by the reindeer.

Invoking a term from a recent Judge-Jim Lebenthal donnybrook, Rob said "execution matters," and that's what he's looking for. Judge says he doesn't necessarily agree that execution is going to matter because Big Tech can execute and stocks are having their worst year since 2008. Sechan said tech is "expensive" and declared, "The era of being blindly overweight tech ... is over." Judge never asked for a definition of "blindly overweight."

Joe Terranova said "I'll give Steve Weiss credit" (snicker), that Weiss is "nimble enough to say, 'I wanna be out.'"

Judge has done the scheduling for a whole month ahead

Not since Bob Iger returned to DIS, prompting Jim Lebenthal and Judge to tangle several times, has the Halftime Report had a talker like the Fall of Tesla.

On Tuesday's (12/27) episode, Judge, who just returned from a week's break, brought up TSLA's market cap, prompting Joe Terranova to declare the April announcement of buying TWTR was the "beginning of the downfall."

Jenny Harrington was seated next to Joe at Post 9; Jenny said that driving in and listening to the radio (evidently Judge does a pregame), Jenny said she heard Judge say something "so smart," so she jotted it down: "We are re-rating everything, because of what lies ahead." (Well, that's better than re-rating everything because of everything that lies behind.)

That "encapsulates" what's going on in the markets, Jenny said, mentioning Tesla and Peloton and energy and utilities.

Jenny said she disagrees with Joe, it wasn't TWTR's purchase that sank TSLA, rather ... (Melissa Lee alert ahead) ... "The share price never should've been what it was." (Translation: Stocks of companies I don't like shouldn't go higher.)

"I think you guys can both be right," Judge offered, and Jenny agreed.

But Joe insisted, "Sorry I disagree with both of you." Joe said there was a "degree of resiliency" in TSLA until April.

Mike Farr said the stock had the "magic of Musk" and then the realization that Musk has "lost his focus" and that the shares had been carried by a "Musk premium."

Bryn Talkington said you can't "compare" the "reckoning of Tesla" with PTON or any other company. Bryn said TSLA will have "at minimum $5 in earnings in 2023."

Bryn admitted Tesla is a "falling knife," but it "will stop at some point."

Bryn predicted the stock will bottom "probably around the hundreds (sic evidently meant $100-$109)."

Judge said Elon Musk "may be the greatest genius who ever walked the face of the earth," but ... in another Missy Lee alert ... it doesn't mean TSLA "ever deserved" (snicker) to be a $1.2 trillion market cap. (Wonder if AMZN "ever deserved" to charge $139 a year for Prime.)

Jenny claimed it's not "owners" and "investors" that drove TSLA to $1.2 trillion, it was "players" (snicker).

Judge said the stock has "real investors" and that Cathie Wood is not a "player" and Ron Baron isn't either.

Bryn said she'd consider buying TSLA "for sure"; what she's not interested in buying is F, "the same price it was 35 years ago."

Perhaps invoking the first period of Game 3 of the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals (which, yes, is divided in periods, not quarters), Joe suggested Bryn is getting ahead of things, saying Bryn is "basically" saying TSLA will "win the game," while Joe is saying "we're playing the first quarter" and he just wants "a couple of first downs" and to "feel good about ourselves" before plunging back in.

"There's a lot of forced selling right now," Joe asserted. (Perhaps from the "players.")

Joe said TSLA has seen "one of the most dramatic equity liquidations" since 2000. Judge asked if TSLA may not be in the JOET at the end of January. "I'm on Overtime the last day of January," was Joe's answer.

‘That Lebenthal theory’

On Tuesday's (12/27) Halftime Report, Mike Farr said next week, we'll start hearing "whispers and rumors" about how the Fed "might take a break" until it "drops the hammer again."

Never missing a chance to knock onetime high-P.E. stocks, Jenny Harrington said 3-4% rates won't work for "the former Pelotons of the world." But of course, it'll work for "some of the things in my portfolio." (And what if those rates are 1-2% in a year.) (Ah, that'll work in the portfolio too.)

Bryn Talkington said if we're going into recession, you don't want to own financials, industrials and tech. Bryn referred to "that Lebenthal theory of like, Well we're building all these things in the U.S.," without sounding too impressed.

Bryn predicted energy will be "really volatile" next year but will continue "to catch a bid" even going into a slowdown. Joe Terranova said "we're already going into a slowdown" and have been for "multiple quarters" but look at the XLE quarter-to-date. Joe said you should not only be long energy but "maintain the overweight."

Bryn said BA could be a good stock in 2023 if the exec team can "stay out of its own way."

The Halftime Report graphics crew said Mike Farr likes "Dolandson."

New York trivia: Who was Shea Stadium named after?

Around CNBCfix HQ, about the only thing we might want to talk about more than '70s football is ... '70s baseball.

Certainly, a National League baseball team in New York City is a no-brainer. Yet, after the Giants and Dodgers announced their move to California in late 1957, New York as a baseball town was somehow Yankees-only.

In response, Mayor Robert Wagner (that's correct, the upstart Democrat, not the movie star who was twice married to Natalie Wood) asked connected lawyer William Alfred Shea to head a commission that would work on bringing a National League — or some kind of big-league — ballclub to New York.

Shea's commission first tried recruiting the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies, but all said no.

Undaunted, Shea joined forces with Branch Rickey to announce the launch of a 3rd major league of baseball. This effort got far further along in the process than we ever knew. Shea and Rickey lined up 5 inaugural franchises in 1959 for the Continental League, with actual owners: New York, Houston, Denver, Minneapolis and Toronto, the latter helmed by Jack Kent Cooke (in photo below). The upstarts vowed to field an 8- or 10-team league by 1961.

Right around this time, some folks aligned with Lamar Hunt were also seeking NFL franchises and being denied; they too launched a new professional league, got as far as making it work for a decade, and then joined the club.

But MLB, which was seeking important antitrust legislation in Congress at the time, heard the footsteps and yielded. The American League added 2 teams in 1961, allowing an existing team to go to Minneapolis and a replacement team in Washington, plus curiously putting a team in Los Angeles. The National League got New York and Houston in 1962. Toronto had to wait another 15 years; Denver, a regular rumor mill of franchise relocation in the 1970s, didn't get a team until the 1990s.

Bill Shea was hardly done. A permanent mover & shaker/power broker in pro sports, he was asked by Nassau County in the early 1970s to land an NHL expansion team for the county's new Coliseum before the WHA Raiders could try to claim it. The Rangers didn't like the idea of carving up some of their fan base but eventually agreed, and the Islanders took the ice in 1972.

Like Fast Money's Guy Adami, Shea attended Georgetown. Like Pat Ewing, Shea starred for the Hoyas basketball team.

Bill Shea, a visionary who understood the enormous reach of pro sports long before most of the industry even did, threw out the first ball at Game 4 of the 1973 World Series. He died in 1991.

Meanwhile, the market’s a 1 or 2

On Friday's (12/23) Halftime Report, guest host Sully asked Kari Firestone to rank the Fed's importance to the market on a scale of 1 to 10.

Kari chose 10.

"It's a Bo Derek Market!" exclaimed Sully.

Sully said this has been the best quarter for the Dow in 2½ years (which says a lot more about the end of September than about this quarter).

Kari said it's "true" that the quarter has been a "mixed bag" and that the S&P "keeps sorta crossing that 3,800 level."

Kari said the "brave" can make a case for buying, but the market "still has the jitters."

Rob Sechan bluntly stated "we are still in a downtrend," and he "will not chase anything higher."

Bryn Talkington expects continued "pressure" from global central bank tightening.

Bryn agreed with Sully that there's a lot of people on one side of the trade. Bryn agreed that "if everyone's a seller, there's no one left to sell," so there's a "tremendous amount of runway between today and December 31st of 2023" (that's a long wait), and also "the third year of a presidential election is historically the strongest."

Sully's feed actually froze in the 18th minute while talking about his tech "spreadsheet" with Steve Kovach; it wasn't a problem for viewers that CNBC's gorgeous Kate Rooney had to step in.

Demonstrating he's a great trader, Rob Sechan said he sold META "about 15% higher," which included "generating meaningful economic benefit (snicker) for clients." But he thinks it's a name to own for 2023.

Sully suggested there's a "weird political hot button" element to TSLA. Rob Sechan said it's a "tough one to touch in the near-term."

Bryn said PYPL "still looks weak in the short term," but for long term it's a 9 on a scale of 10.

Weiss says ‘Avatar’ sequel is ‘worst 3 hours I’ve spent in modern memory’

On Thursday's (12/22) Halftime Report, guest host Sully aired clips of Dave Tepper's leaning-bearish comments on Squawk Box. Sully said Steve Weiss is "good friends" with Dave.

Weiss said Tepper "very rarely" makes bad decisions, but he made 2 in the last few days, including (in the show's line of the month for sure) "taking my wife and I to see 'Avatar,' which was the worst 3 hours I've spent in modern memory."

The second Tepper mistake, Weiss said, was not ordering the eggplant parmesan even though "he really wanted it."

Anyway, Weiss said Tepper's point is that you can't, on the one hand, believe the Fed on the way up, and then not believe it on the way down. (Even though the Fed's "belief" in anything is good only until the next batch of data, but Weiss didn't say that.)

Weiss said the Super Bowl stock indicator is "voodoo."

Steve Liesman said the fact that Tepper saying listen to the Fed and watch the Bank of Japan is regarded as an "incredible font of wisdom" (it's not, but we'll leave the punch line alone) is a "measure of the hallucinatory nature of a good part of, of traders in this market right now." (He's publicly announcing he's bearish, Steve, that's what they care about.)

Josh Brown said he found it "startling" and a "huge story" that the QQQ has given up "almost all" of its "relative outperformance of the Dow" back to December 2019.

Brian Sullivan closed with a very nice tribute to Scott Minerd.

Quite frankly, Sully didn’t give Weiss enough chances to brag

As everyone on the Halftime Report continues recycling their Greatest Hits of 2022 (translation: Everyone says the same thing they've been saying all year), even guest host Sully was unable to ignite any fireworks Wednesday (12/21).

Sounding more like she was reviewing "Babylon" than analyzing the stock market, Jenny Harrington declared, "We are digesting 10 years of excess, excess valuations, excessive behavior, excessive liquidity, and we're digesting that, and that's not going to happen in a year.

"But you can still make money," Jenny assured.

Sully questioned that latter comment and said Jenny's view sounds like "sorta lukewarm grilled chicken."

Jenny said it's "completely cliche," but people need to find a new "playbook" (Zzzzzzz).

Steve Weiss started by saying, as always, that everyone including corporate earnings outlooks is too optimistic.

Grandpa Weiss said the problem with strategists and analysts is that "they tend to cherry-pick data or numbers or technical aspects that support their bias." Weiss went on to cherry-pick the S&P level from 1969 to 1979 to make a point about how stocks might go down for a long time. (Check out what they did from 1990 to 2000.)

Weiss said he's the "only one" on the panel who's been negative "all year." What he failed to say was that being negative was great in the 1st half; since mid-June, it's been an up and down traders market that is currently above the lows and not favoring any bears unless they've had perfect timing.

"I'm actually more in the Steve camp, which I hate," Jenny admitted, except she's really in the Jenny camp, which is there's always stuff you can buy but just don't buy high-multiple tech stocks.

Jenny and Sully quibbled over "sneakers" vs. "tennis shoes."

Jenny doesn't like 3 of the 4 stocks/holdings recommended by Bill Gross. (We'd already forgotten what they were.) Jenny said MLP ETFs have a "nasty double taxation."

Joe Terranova said TSLA's been having an "epic loss of momentum" this quarter.

Sully said "it feels like the stock trades with public opinion on Elon Musk, who knows."

Dara urged to buy stock

Josh Brown, in one of his best shows, basically carried the load for Tuesday's (12/20) holiday week (it's not technically a holiday week but we all know that it is) edition of the Halftime Report guest-hosted by Sully.

Sully said Josh had noted it's "pretty doggone rare" for markets to be down 2 years in a row; Brown pointed out that even a single down year doesn't happen that often.

Brown also lamented why UBER can't get going. "Frankly I don't really understand it," he said, saying the company may get "lumped in" with the "stay-at-home stocks" or "unprofitable tech."

He said Dara should "step up" and buy some stock.

Brown called NFLX a buy and observed, "Alphabet unfortunately doesn't really have much of a, of a streaming, uh, or TV business. I don't understand why they don't buy one."

Late in the show, Brown said "inflation is falling fast," explaining that we should be "laser-focused on month over month."

And the Fed "may have already gone too far," Brown said.

Wondering why Bill Gross suddenly turns up on Halftime during a holiday week? So were we.

On Tuesday's (12/20) Halftime Report, guest host Sully probably caused a few chuckles when he said he's not throwing any strategists "under the bus."

Jim Lebenthal said that predicting the future is "in some ways a fool's folly," especially when talking about a full year ahead. Josh Brown made noise that stopped Jim in his tracks; Josh chuckled that Jim should "predict the future anyway."

Sully actually asked Stephanie Link if she's trimming any stocks.

The star guest of the show, Bill Gross, told Sully that the economy has been "bolstered" by "tremendous amounts" of fiscal spending but "ultimately we've got a recession."

Bill asserted we've got "potential chaos" in financial markets because of the rate hikes we've seen, and there's "caution for the housing market," but he doesn't see the same kind of "debacle" as 2007-08.

Sure. They’ll start giving TSLA the same multiple as GM right away.

With Judge off on Monday (12/19), Sully — the funniest host on CNBC — got the Halftime Report nod, but Brian failed to wake up a sleepy panel, let alone the stock market.

Jim Lebenthal opened the show still talking about the "from growth to value" trade (Zzzzzzz) that of course he thinks 1) is happening and 2) will continue.

Jim insisted people "stop" calling TSLA a "technology company" or "renewable energy company" when it's just a "car company."

Joe Terranova pointed out we had an "outside down week" last week and that AAPL is threatening its June lows.

Sully said Dan Ives is predicting a 20% jump in tech next year.

Joe said "logically," energy is "probably" not going to be the No. 1 sector in 2023.

Sully said stocks and bonds both had a horrible year, kind of like the "Houston Texans."

Saving us from consuming (cont’d)

On Friday's (12/16) Halftime Report, Shannon Saccocia actually said, "I think we have already had a great quarter."

That left us scratching our heads, so we checked the numbers. The S&P 500 did close September at 3,585.62. So 3,852.36 could seem like a nice gain.

Except the S&P 500 was over 4,000 in mid-September. So this isn't exactly 1999.

Actually, it's one of the worst markets we can remember, everyone waiting for some grandpa who's inventing job descriptions and chasing phantoms and thinks he's going to be a "break-the-back" (sigh) hero to sorta cagily tell everyone not to buy stocks until 1) we get to 9% or 2) Nick Timiraos tells you it's OK.

Anyway. "This is the easiest market to analyze that I've seen," claimed Steve Weiss, admitting, "This is gonna sound arrogant" (not to mention like an overstatement and almost certainly false).

Weiss said you have to follow where the puck's going. "The puck's not going to the net for the bulls," Weiss said, which of course is his goal — not being right on the markets, but having the bulls be wrong.

"The focus should be on what Powell's saying," Weiss said, as if it's not.

Jason Snipe said he agrees with Weiss that stocks will be cheaper in a few weeks.

Joe Terrranova said we've had an "outside down week," which signals "further weakness" in "coming days."

Joe said maybe the worst is over for semis. "I know I sold the low," Joe said. Weiss said he doesn't agree and is "long puts" in NVDA.

Judge said NVDA is a "good battleground stock." Jason Snipe said he agrees with Weiss on the "macro picture" but he'll hang on to NVDA. Weiss questioned why any semi stock should sell at 70, 55, 40 times. Snipe conceded "the multiple is way extended." But he's still looking ahead to "revenue growth" and "innovation."

Brian Belski, who all year has made the same bull case for this disastrous market as has Jim Lebenthal, claimed pessimism about next year is being pulled forward, so "the pullback's already begun." (See? There's a silver lining in this god-awful market!)

Belski thinks "the weakness probably's not gonna be as long as everybody thinks," only "into March," at which point he'll think about a little more "risk on."

Judge wondered why Belski keeps "fighting the Fed." Belski said "I'm not fighting the Fed," even though he clings to his 4,300 target for a year from now.

Why does someone who owns a stock that's down by about 1/3 in a year, or someone who owns a stock that's nearly doubled over 3 years, need a Halftime Report panelist to "Grade the Trade"?

We honestly can’t remember what the first bet was

The best way to get something going on the Halftime Report is to mention that 6-letter word:

Disney.

On Thursday (12/15), Bill Baruch revealed he took a new position in DIS on Tuesday. Judge quoted Cowen's negativity about Disney's Fox deal.

"Nobody likes the Fox deal," Baruch agreed.

"It's also 4 years old," chimed in Jenny Harrington.

Bill called Disney "the ultimate storytelling brand."

Josh Brown wasn't nearly as interested in the stock as Baruch or Harrington, stating, "It's most likely gonna have to challenge that 89, uh, 90 level, and will probably fail."

Jenny said DIS has the chance to "get a popularity premium back." Josh demanded Jenny explain any time when DIS was a "good buy" going "headlong" into a recession. Jenny said, "A lot of this is already priced in," citing the "rolling recessions" mentioned by Brown.

"The travel recession is next year!" Brown said. (Ah. We didn't know everyone's gonna stop flying next year.)

"No no no Josh, the travel recession was 2 years ago," Jenny said.

"I smell another bet," Brown said.

"Everyone gives me grief because I haven't given you your hamburger yet. That's on you, and you know it," Jenny said.

"First of all, it was a cheeseburger, and now it's gonna be a double cheeseburger," Brown said.

Brown said he'll buy DIS "when it breaks that 86.75 level."

Brown pointed out that JBLU is "half the price of its IPO after 2 decades."

"Sometimes, the math is just there," Jenny said.

Stimulus to fight inflation

Judge on Thursday's (12/15) Halftime Report said maybe the Fed took egg nog and "dumped it on our heads."

"The outlook was much more hawkish than some had looked for," Judge explained.

"The housing market is frozen," declared Josh Brown.

"They're willing to have a recession," Judge added.

Josh said, "The Californians, who are hilarious, actually did a stimulus payment to offset the, the inflation. And, I'll give you a second to finish laughing at that."

Judge says maybe Tom Lee
‘can’t handle the truth’

Once in a great while, Judge actually demonstrates an interest in the arts. (Although it's only the type of "arts" that's famous enough to be a pop culture jingle.)

On Wednesday's (12/14) pre-Fed-meeting Halftime, Judge's star guest was Tom Lee.

Judge asked Tom what he did NOT want to hear from the Fed. Lee indicated that there would be concern if the Fed says "all we care about is wage inflation," though the bond market may disagree.

"Maybe, I mean, it's time for, you know, Jack Nicholson in 'A Few Good Men,' you can't handle the truth," Judge suggested. "Because wages have become pretty sticky."

Tom called that a "great point" but insisted the bond market "will call the Fed's bluff on that statement."

Judge questioned Lee's new note titled "Less Crisis, More Opportunity" (Zzzzzzzzzz) being "like 63 pages long," and if Lee needs that many pages to predict a good 2023, "maybe you're trying too hard."

Lee said the chance of a double-digit gain in 2023 is "far higher than people expect."

As for panelists, Jim Lebenthal said he cares "much less than usual" about the Fed meeting.

Joe Terranova said Jeffrey Gundlach (more on him below) is right, "Once you turn the calendar to January, all that tax-loss selling, you're going to see some buying coming back into the marketplace that is going to lift markets as you move into the earnings cycle."

Nothing about the ‘legendary’ Tim Cook or Satya Nadella

On Wednesday's (12/14) Halftime Report, Jim Lebenthal argued that GM (yes, GM) is an "EV company."

Judge stated, "That's not an EV company."

"Scott, it is an EV company," Jim insisted.

Joe Terranova suggested Ford would be "considered more of an EV company."

Judge said "GM wants to be an EV company; Tesla's already there." Jim said he's talking about "the future 1 year from now."

Kari Firestone cheered a viewer's buy of PYPL, pointing out that if it gets to $85, that'd be a gain of 15%, and the stock would still be "down 70% from where it was." (That latter comment would prompt Missy Lee to say "BUT MAYBE IT NEVER SHOULD'VE BEEN THAT HIGH!!!!!!!!")

Someone else reported buying QCOM at 170 this fall. Jim predicted the viewer is "gonna make money on this." Judge, kinda forgetting that it doesn't really matter where a stock has been but where it's going, questioned whether the viewer will actually make money on this trade. Jim insisted, "I see a pretty good return over the next 12 months from this."

The ‘Mr. Magoo kind of thing’

Jeffrey Gundlach, billed in advance as the star guest on Wednesday's (12/14) Overtime, said "what's really important" about the Fed news is the "movement on the yield curve" (Zzzzzzz).

Gundlach said Jerome Powell once again kind of did this "Mr. Magoo kind of thing" about how the Fed will "feel our way" about the size of future hikes.

Gundlach said CPI in 2023 will drop from this year's alarming 9.1 to "maybe 4.1."

"I think they should not do any more hikes after today," Gundlach asserted, noting the 2-year is below the Fed Funds Rate.

Gundlach said there's a "better than 75% probability" of a recession; he cited M2 growing at a "super-slow rate."

"I just can't find the accelerant to the economy," Gundlach said.

Gundlach closed by telling Judge he's hoping for a "big W" in the "big Bills game" this weekend.

News flash: Stocks don’t care what someone’s cost basis is

The 5 p.m. Fast Money on Tuesday (12/13) had a rare treat in the form of Savita Subramanian, who frankly hasn't been on Judge's show in ages (but still gets mentioned often).

Savita said the "laser focus" on the Fed is "misplaced" because the long end of the curve is what matters.

Then, Savita took the opposite side of what Steve Weiss said on Halftime just a day earlier (see below):

"One thing we're realizing is that everyone is bearish now," Savita said, so there are "reasons to be invested" and "you can't be out of equities completely," which sounds just like what Weiss was complaining about.

"I think the market could go down, and then up. But the problem is, everybody thinks that, so it'll probably do the opposite," Savita admitted.

Finally, Savita offered advice that made us wonder why anyone should buy any stocks now.

"If you wanna be in equities for the next 10 years, you can buy today and you will make money," Savita said, cautioning viewers to be "very, very selective" about buying for the next 6 months.

Subramanian called energy "still a big underweight."

On the Halftime Report, Jim Lebenthal said he's "not sure" what happened to the morning rally, but "the probability of a soft landing is going up."

Stephanie Link said, "I think we can rally into the end of the year." Fine; there's about 10 days left.

Judge brought in Jeremy Siegel, who reiterated — without really throwing a tirade — that he thinks inflation is done. Siegel took a crack at Tuesday's inflation; "the housing at +.6% is a nonsensical number," he said.

Jeremy said the Fed is in "overly restrictive territory."

Jim Lebenthal said the BA turnaround is "clearly intact."

Judge did another round of Grade My Trade in which viewers describe the cost basis of their stock holdings.

Pretty much everyone is timing the market all of the time, but whatever

Monday's (12/12) Halftime Report started off as tepidly as possible — Judge asking some sort of double question, if there's a rally coming, what will cause it (Zzzzzzzzzz) — and then Steve Weiss said something rather curious.

Weiss said the "full force" of the Federal Reserve is "crushing the economy."

Really. The economy's being "crushed."

OK.

At the same time, casinos are shattering records. If you don't believe the news accounts of this, know that someone on ETF Edge on Monday's program cited casino traffic "at record levels."

Evidently, if you're dying to take a flight or pull a slot machine lever, you've somehow got gobs of money, while everyone else is getting "crushed."

Anyway, Judge said early in the program that Weiss was making the case that "everybody's negative."

"Everybody's NOT negative! Every strategist you're talking about is fairly positive. Tom Lee, the uber bull, is just stating the obvious to put out another note," Weiss said.

"Every??" Judge wondered.

"Pretty much," Weiss said.

Weiss said those who come on the show talking about buying industrials make the "most ludicrous of all comments" because "industrials are one of the worst-performing groups in an economic downturn."

That prompted us to check out who recently has touted industrials. Stephanie Link said Tuesday 12/6 that even if the market is "directionless" into year-end, you want to be "overweight" in "energy, materials, industrials." Jenny Harrington on that same program referred to Link mentioning "industrials" and touted URI.

Weiss on Monday made a good comment, that some people keep suggesting people "position now ... and don't try to time the market," when in fact, "They're the ones timing the market."

And Weiss said that people who perhaps sound bearish aren't bearish, rather, they're "sittin' with their butts firmly on the top of the fence."

Meanwhile, Bryn Talkington was handing out honors, stating, "Tim Cook will go down I think as one of the most legendary CEOs/statesmen. ... Satya Nadella I think is legendary as well."

Weiss said MSFT took a stake in the London Stock Exchange in order to get the LSE's "cloud contract."

Company buys back shares at higher price than they’re at now

So we noticed at the beginning of Friday's (12/9) Halftime Report that Judge's opening remarks about his call with Dan Loeb were billed as an "exclusive."

Which got the Spider-Sense tingling about what, exactly, Dan wanted to have trumpeted on lunchtime business television about his investment in BBWI.

It sounded to us like a first offer, like maybe just hoping for a conversation and one board seat, but could demand more if those don't happen.

According to Judge, Loeb said there are "several issues" with the company, including doing a buyback when the share price was higher (not great, but doesn't sound to us like the worst sin in the world), and also "governance issues," but it's "too soon" to say how many board seats Loeb wants and that Loeb got "politely rebuffed" by the C-suite.

Steve Weiss said this is a "kinder, gentler Dan Loeb."

Lee Cooperman ‘cautious’

Rob Sechan had a scoop of his own on Friday's (12/9) Halftime, stating he had lunch with Lee Cooperman on Thursday, "and he's cautious like we are."

Rob suggested Wall Street might be a little overeager on the rate front. "The Fed's gonna keep at it until the job's done," said Sechan, saying that's not "fully appreciated" by the markets.

Marko Kolanovic, whose recent bearish call sent Judge into a tizzy, affirmed he turned "more negative."

Kolanovic said Q1 of 2023 will be "pretty ugly," and maybe even the beginning of Q2 will be the same, but then "the Fed will basically fold" and even "sort of fold completely" by the end of 2023.

Kolanovic thinks the 2022 lows aren't safe; "probably they will get broken through." He suggested 3,200 or 3,300.

Judge demanded to know why Rob Sechan has COST "under review." Rob said "it's just based on price." Judge said it sounds like Rob is selling it and wondered "what is this 'under review' nonsense." Rob started to say "we have a committee"; Judge said "you sound like your dog died."

Judge claimed they're getting "inundated" with "Grade My Trade" queries. (Several were from Steve Weiss.)

Shannon Saccocia advised a viewer to "take a little bit off the table" in AMD.

Rob Sechan first warned someone with a gain in LLY about the valuation, then seemed to indicate the person should keep holding, then basically gave the same advice to a BX holder who's made about 1% in a couple of days.

Damn those companies for
‘overearning’ money

In the category of complaints, viewers heard a new one Thursday (12/8) on the Halftime Report.

Bryn Talkington (3 times during the show) said big tech "overearned" over the last decade, and we're just "peeling some of that back."

That's curious terminology. Usually people who think a stock is pulling back will just say it got "extended" or "over its skis."

Now, some companies are accused of "overearning."

It's like saying Wayne Gretzky was "overscoring" in 1981.

Anyway, Bryn said big tech still has "some of the most pristine balance sheets." Steve Weiss said tech will reemerge but not till the "2nd half of next year," predicting a bottom in the 2nd quarter.

Judge asked Josh Brown what stops the tech slide. Brown said not to "fixate" on it (which didn't answer the question). Brown said we're in a "little bit of an unwind."

Can’t remember anyone on Halftime Report recommending a short despite this year’s hideous bear market

On Thursday's (12/8) Halftime Report, Steve Weiss wondered why anyone would own TSLA given how busy the CEO is, particularly with the "complete nightmare" of Twitter. But he admitted "it wasn't long ago that it was a great stock." (Back when it "overearned.")

Weiss said he's less enthusiastic about EVs because "you don't have enough infrastructure."

He said he'd be more "predisposed" to shorting than owning TSLA.

Josh Brown said there's been "no signal" in the chart (snicker) to get long TSLA.

Brenda Vingiello said "Tesla definitely stands out" in terms of growth and innovation and EV growth and has a "great margin story." She bought in Q2 of 2022 but will hang on to it.

Meanwhile, Bryn Talkington said she's not interested in SalesForce because there's "so much competition within the CRM space."

Bryn also said she sold BA at 274 a year and a half ago, however that helps viewers.

Weiss said he sold DKS because he made a "great trade." (That's helpful to viewers too.)

Weiss said he sold MRK because it's a tough market; "I'm sure I'm gonna regret selling."

Bryn predicted "a lot of volatility" in energy but asserted it's still a "really strong asset class."

Josh Brown said he's "very bullish on electricity," pointing to nat gas outperforming oil.

A viewer named Gary submitted his trade of buying 550 DIS shares at 99.97 on Iger's return. Brenda Vingiello said she'd give the trade a "B+."

A viewer named Mike bought CRWD at 114.84 and AMZN at 87.83. Josh Brown said he owns both "at higher prices than those" and that he's a "long-term investor" in these. He conceded AMZN's terrible year but thinks it will have "great times ahead."

Weiss said he "lost a fortune" when he invested in BA and that the management is "among the worst I've seen."

‘Other than when they go to the grocery store or everywhere else’

Viewers of Wednesday's (12/7) Halftime Report heard an interesting theory about why stocks just can't get much momentum, courtesy of Jim Cramer, who for some reason joined Judge at the NYSE.

Jim seemed to fault corporate leaders for expressing negative sentiments about the economy; "these people do not seem to know how important they are," somehow likening the current stock market to how Brian Daboll supposedly made the Giants better by being confident.

Jim even said that after hearing from Jamie Dimon, he'll "rethink" the holiday gifts he gets his wife.

Joe Terranova again opined, "Main Street thankfully has had a better 2022 than Wall Street."

To that, Judge said, "Main Street hasn't felt a lot of the pain other than when they go to the grocery store or everywhere else seemingly to go spend their money to try and live."

Kari Firestone said some Wall Street leaders have recently decided to "throw in the towel" on the economy, which "seems like bad timing."

Jim said he doesn't want CEOs to be so negative; he wants them to be "constructive" when they speak.

Jim said there are some "individual" stocks he likes now (which is why he has his whole other show(s) to talk about them), but "the negativity's so great."

Kari pointed to a chart, which was put on the screen, that multiples in large-cap stocks have had "tremendous" multiple compression.

Kristina steals the show

Tuesday's (12/6) Halftime Report might've put viewers to sleep if not for the presence of CNBC's stunning Kristina Partsinevelos in fuchsia.

Partsinevelos took part in the show's discussion of this Arizona Taiwan Semiconductor announcement, which CNBC was trumpeting throughout the day as though it were bigger than the Treaty of Versailles.

Jim Lebenthal didn't do his brick-wall thing with Judge again over DIS again touted chip factories and said this type of TSM investment in the 1-2-year term will boost "value stocks" and explained how Caterpillar and Cleveland Cliffs and JPMorgan will all benefit (he didn't actually say people could maybe watch programs about this event on Paramount+ or Disney+).

Jim suggested people "relax" about inflation.

Jenny Harrington will be "thrilled" if we end the month "directionless."

Everyone seemed to like the idea of buying bonds, though Judge aired a clip of Jeffrey Gundlach recommending the longer end rather than the short end.

Sarat Sethi, who touted corporate bonds, said when you buy bonds, "Make sure you ladder them."

At the end of the show, Judge referred to "Toll Brother" (sic).

Judge is suddenly interested in SHOP 250 calls

Judge on Monday's (12/5) Halftime Report debuted a "new segment" involving viewer trades ... and the first one they came up with is a doozy.

But first, we noticed Bill Baruch at the table and thought, "That's curious, that's one of the guys who used to deliver options hits for the show years ago."

And then it finally hit us like a ton of bricks — Judge is seeking replacements for the Najarii.

Judge said to Bill, "We haven't seen ya in a while."

Bill mentioned selling SHOP; Judge said "that's interesting," because apparently totally coincidentally, "we have a new segment" that's called "Grade My Trade," in which the Investment Committee members are going to opine on viewers' trades.

This new feature on Monday involved someone named J.R. curiously buying 3,000 calls on Jan. 24 SHOP 250 strikes and 30 calls on the 100 strike. Bill decided, "That's a bit of a YOLO trade," adding that when you're trading options, "Your timing has to be right too." (Well, yes, because timing is the trade.)

Bill said there's "a lot of resistance overhead" for the shares at 45, and those trades are in "really a tough spot."

Meanwhile, after Jim Lebenthal downplayed the importance of AAPL, Joe Terranova said that believing the market can rally without AAPL "is like saying the Kansas City Chiefs can win the Super Bowl if Pat Mahomes isn't the quarterback."

Kelly Evans is back on The Exchange. After Halftime ended, Bob Pisani told Kelly, "I love seeing that beautiful face of yours on TV again."

Weiss hasn’t begun to explain why Fed-ravaged consumers are breaking casino records

In the opening moments of Friday's (12/2) Halftime Report, viewers got the usual spiel from Grandpa Steve Weiss.

It wasn't until the 44th minute that they heard from Contessa Brewer about WYNN and the gambling scene.

"The Strip is on fire ... way ahead of 2019 levels," Brewer said.

That's interesting, because earlier in the program, Weiss had told Jim Lebenthal, "We're going into recession, and you're going to feel it."

So ... Americans have been shattering casino records this year, apparently not realizing or caring that they're going to be in a recession next year. (As the Federal Reserve speechmakers continue to work up solutions in search of a problem.) (Oh, check that — Nick Timiraos told Judge on Friday's Overtime that "Inflation's a huge problem right now." (Just not a big problem for the casino industry.))

(Then again, Weiss is also sure that airlines, which can't charge enough at this point in time, are going to ramp up all kinds of extra capacity next year just as everyone decides they no longer have enough money to book a flight.) (See a few days below.)

Weiss claimed Friday that it's a "bifurcated market" and suggested, as he always does, because his goal is only for the bulls to be wrong so he can feel like the Smartest Guy in the Room, that investors are "hearing what they wanna believe."

Weiss asked no one in particular, "When in the history of the world has a Fed tightening like we've seen, which we've never seen, led to the beginning of an economic expansion and strength in the economy. ... It's not just insane, it's stupidly insane."

Jim Lebenthal, who like Weiss has maintained his same outlook for the entire year, said Weiss is "angrier than I've seen him" but is just a "fish swimming against the river current" who needs to "recognize the facts on the ground."

What are the chances, in a couple of years, people are astounded that rates in 2022 crossed 4%

Sounding an optimistic tone (as always), Jim Lebenthal opened Friday's (12/2) Halftime Report saying "the probability of a soft landing is increasing."

Jenny Harrington agreed with some of Jim's outlook but said there's a "strong lid" or "heavy cap" on the market; she's "not enthusiastic."

"How much more is there" on the upside, Jenny asked.

Jason Snipe suggested "Maybe we avoid a recession," or it's "much shallower" than feared.

Judge said Michael Hartnett is "pretty dour" (snicker) (second use of that term in a week) on the markets, with Hartnett suggesting the "buy signal" is "close to an end."

5-star fund manager Kevin Simpson sat in with the crew; he said, "We're getting a little bit more defensive."

Judge promised Jeremy Siegel on Overtime; on that program, Siegel noted that "hours worked" fell in the latest jobs report.

Jeremy said Jerome Powell made a "quasi-pivot" on Wednesday.

Judge told Siegel, "I'm not gonna judge their policy. I leave it up to people like you."

"I wouldn't be surprised by the end of next year, we have a 2-handle on the Fed funds rate," Siegel said.

Bryn ‘didn’t sign up’ for turbulence in the crypto world

Every so often, Halftime Report viewers hear interesting rationalizations about why certain stocks or holdings didn't work out.

Such was the case Thursday (12/1), when Bryn Talkington discussed selling ARKK and COIN.

Bryn first sought to assure that she has somehow traded ARKK extremely well, mentioning twice how she bought it in March 2020, then saying she "reduced" the stake at the end of 2020 and "2 more times in 2021."

Bryn cited Zoom and others as having "pulled forward a decade of growth."

Fair enough. Bryn then pronounced COIN, essentially, a victim of "all of this nonsense that's happening" in crypto, where Bryn predicts "another shoe to drop here."

Then came the money quote: "I didn't sign up for this," Bryn said.

Hmmmm ... someone buying stock in a company tethered to the crypto ... um, let's call it an "industry" ... (because "marketing campaign" sounds harsh) ... evidently didn't think that turbulence in this sector was likely.

It does appear, according to our limited chart skills, that COIN, which traded at $340 about a year ago, peaked on its first day.

The problem for the stock ‘has always been the price for the shares’

Judge probably overstaffed his panel on Thursday's (12/1) Halftime, but the result was several moments of spirited conversation.

Steve Weiss curiously borrowed a term from Jim Lebenthal's playbook, mentioning "deglobalization" and how it'll potentially "jam up the supply chain again." (He didn't mention China "goin' after" Taiwan, probably for the purposes of establishing more COVID lockdowns.)

Judge later asked Jim for a strategy on CRM. Jim said he's not going to sell, it's a great company; "the problem has always been the price for the shares."

Jim said he's not buying CRM Thursday but is "looking to buy more of this."

Meanwhile, Josh Brown affirmed he bought CRWD on the slide but said the key for names in growth tech in 2023 is "don't own your 7th-best idea." (That's probably good advice for any time.)

Jim frankly admitted, "In general, these high-priced software stocks are not my gig."

Brian Belski, the star guest of the show, has a range of 2023 targets from 3,600 to 4,800. (Judge, for reasons we can't fathom, thinks those numbers are significant.) (But not as significant as whatever Marko Kolanovic's note this week said, or whatever Andy Jassy said about the consumer.)

"I think consumer staples and utilities are no longer defensive," Belski said.

Jim made a good joke about Weiss sitting next to Brian Belski.

Josh Brown said he owns CHPT, "probably one of the most speculative stocks that I own." He said he'll hang on "regardless" of what management says about earnings.

It may or may not be hotly debated, but it’s surely the most anticipated

On Thursday's (12/1) Halftime Report, Liz Young suggested there's a "chance" that this is "the most hotly debated recession in history."

Steve Weiss said Jay Powell didn't "double down" on his hawkishness, that's why the market soared.

But Weiss said he thinks "it's gonna be recession next year."

Liz said any expectation that "something more dovish" from the Fed would be bullish for stocks is "misguided."

"I still think there's caution that needs to be had by investors here," Young said. (As opposed to all those other times in financial history when people should ... buy stocks without exercising caution.)

Weiss sold UAL looking for more upside elsewhere, predicting "more capacity" next summer without offering any proof or any reason why that extra capacity, if it happens, would even be counterproductive if the price for flights is so high. Judge let that go without questioning it.

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