Closing Bell 9/28/26

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1:01Scott Wapner: All right, guys, thanks so much. Welcome to Closing Bell. I'm Scott Wapner, live from Post 9 here at the New York Stock Exchange. This make or break out begins with surging yields and hanging in their stocks because that's really what is happening with these markets. Rates, yeah, they continue to rise. The S &P, though, barely off its all-time high. Well, ask our experts how long all of that can continue. In the meantime, the scorecard was 60 to go and regulation looks like this. We are red across the board. We have been for the duration. How about NVIDIA, though? It's a winner today after upping its buyback by a lot.

1:30Scott Wapner: We'll have a lot more on that in a moment. MongoDB sinking after Meta poached its CEO. Stocks down near 17%. And how about Disney in focus as well today as its former CEO Bob Chapek sounds off on Bob Iger. We'll tell you what he said coming up. It takes us to our talk of the tape, the markets, and more on that monster buyback from NVIDIA. In fact, let's start there. Our own Seema Modi is tracking that and joins us now with more. Hi there. Hey, Scott, it's the largest ever U.S. stock buyback, bringing NVIDIA's total to$235 billion, nearly double Apple's$110 billion buyback announced about two years ago.

2:08It's the latest sign of NVIDIA's growing AI riches and its deployment of capital. Now, two motivating factors. One, NVIDIA is bringing in more cash. It just reported record sales of over$96 billion in the last quarter, with 70 percent in revenue growth anticipated in the 2028 calendar year. Two is its stock performance up this year, but trailing its peers higher by 4 % this month, while AMD is up about 28 % during the same time period, which continues to be a topical discussion amongst those in the semiconductor community. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Wong saying this buyback, quote, reflects our confidence in the company's long-term opportunity ahead.

2:47But NVIDIA's valuation, Scott, has fallen significantly over the past few years, from 66 times forward earnings in 2021 to 19 times today. It's also well below its five-year average of 34 times. We'll see if this buyback changes things in its trajectory, Scott.

3:03Scott Wapner: All right. That's a good setup for us. Seema, thank you, Seema Modi. Now let's bring in NVIDIA shareholder Stephanie Link of Hightower, also a CNBC contributor. Welcome. Hi. I thought of you immediately. I did because I remember these conversations we had right before earnings trying to anticipate what they might announce. Whether they would announce a huge buyback, they did not. They announced a big one. but today is like the bazooka buyback. You told me at the time you didn't want a big buyback. No, I'm not going to complain about it. Well, who's going to complain about it? I wanted to see growth.

3:36I wanted to see revenue growth accelerate. And guidance actually last quarter did from 45 % to 70 % by fiscal 2028. The buyback today is great. It's 4 % of their market cap. And I like the fact that they have a timeline by the end of fiscal 28. So I think that's really good news. It shows confidence and I'm okay with them doing the buyback, but I like the growth.

3:57Scott Wapner: Well, and I like the margin. If I recall our conversation, you, you said you would rather have NVIDIA reinvest the money and continue to spend to grow, not lean so heavily into a shareholder return. Is that fair? Now I just, hold on, hold on, hold on. Just tell me, because I remember this conversation. Is that fair? I do, too. But they are spending, right, to grow. They have 13 different contracts with 13 different companies. So you think they can do both? I do, because I think they're going to do about$300 billion in free cash flow next year. So they can do all of these investments in all these other companies.

4:37That gives me more confidence in something like a Synopsys or a Marvell because they're investing$2 billion in each of those companies along with others. So there's that. They get to grow by themselves. They have a whole product cycle set coming. And I think I mentioned it earlier, but gross margins have been de-risked to 72, 73 percent. I think I was nervous that actually they were going to be under pressure more. But I don't think I don't. Obviously, that's not the case. So it shows confidence, good news. And I like to buy the stock with the company.

5:04Scott Wapner: What do you think it means for the stock itself? Well, we have conversations about Apple, for example. And I said on halftime, they out-appled Apple because they had the biggest buyback. And now NVIDIA obviously takes that place. but does it put a floor under the stock in some respects? That if growth slows, they still have a big, big buyback to point to to entice an investor base? A hundred percent. And if you think about all the numbers they gave us in terms of the guide, you're looking at something like$22 a share in earnings power. That puts this at 13 times estimates. And you just heard SEMA say the long-term average is 36 times.

5:43So this company is cheaper. And when I bought it over the summer, I said to you then, this stock is cheaper than Hershey's, the multiple. And that's crazy, given the growth that you're getting for this company.

5:55Scott Wapner: Sure, but when we had this conversation initially and you pointed to Apple having their big buyback, it was almost as if you were making somewhat of a point that you do a big buyback like this when your growth is slowing. This is not that case, right? Not in any way, shape, or form. You did make that point. Yes, I did, because it was true. I mean, growth was slowing at Apple, and they offset it by this huge buyback, which was good news, too. But the growth slowing was disturbing to me, given the multiple that it trades at. This now is trading at 13 times. They're buying back stock. They're going to see 70 percent growth in revenue.

6:30So they're doing it all, and yet the stock hasn't done anything. This stock is up 21 percent year-to-date, and the stocks is up 76 percent year-to-date. That, to me, does not make any sense when numbers are going higher.

6:44Scott Wapner: The analog, too, to Apple, the issue is the valuation of that stock for you now. For sure. It's like 36 times. It is expensive for the growth that you're getting. And services, which is a big margin driver for Apple, actually slowed in the last two quarters. We don't want to see slowing because I think that that's going to have implications to margins as well. All right. Let's bring in Dan Ives. He's the Yorkville Ives partner, senior managing director and analyst. It's good to have you on because I wanted to get your take as well. I mean, your initial reaction when you saw the number was what?

7:17Scott Wapner: I think it was a genius move. Because if you go back to their last earnings, I mean, that was a blowout quarter. And when you look at the buyback, I think that's exactly what investors want to see. Because it's this tug of war between investments, a lot of stuff that Stephanie talked about, and the buyback. But it's taking a page out of the Apple playbook. And I think they're smart, sure there's further confidence. And at the end of the day, they are in the early days, like we've said, by third inning of this AI revolution. And there's only one chip in the world fueling it, and that's NVIDIA. Can you speak to the balance of reinvesting versus giving money back to shareholders that they obviously think that they can do both?

8:00Scott Wapner: Steph is the shareholder sitting here as well, agrees. Yeah, and I think they should. Like, Scott, if they came off a quarter, if you go back and the quarter was sort of a shrug to shoulders, maybe they don't do the buyback. But like we talked about from our Asia checks, demand to supply is 13 to 1. So, I mean, right now it's NVIDIA's world that everyone else is paying rent. And I think they're in a position where you do the buyback, continue to ultimately do these investments. And they are just in such a massive position of strength. And I think investors continue to underestimate the scale and scope in terms of numbers going out the next one, two years, just way, way, way underestimate.

8:39Scott Wapner: I think where NVIDIA is going to ultimately be. What about the other news of the day that I guess if you want to characterize it as the agent safety platform? I think that's looked at its chance and not just it's not just talking the talk. It's walking the walk because it goes back to all the safety issues, the Dario essay, need to slow it down. And I think Jensen came out right away and saying that's not the right strategy. You have to have guardrails around it. And now they're actually putting action right there. But you don't slow it down because no one like no one's going to slow down in the U.S.

9:13Scott Wapner: because everyone understands and Jensen more than anyone else. If U.S. slows down, China is going to accelerate and they win. You put safety guards, you don't go 55 miles an hour in a right lane just for no reason. Do you have, Steph, a reaction to that other news that I just asked Dan Ives about? I was very positive on it. I mean, it's monitoring everything. It's exactly what we were hoping we were going to get from last week's President Trump and she meeting. We didn't get a lot of detail, but I'm sure it was discussed. And I think it's a super home run for the company that they're getting in front of this.

9:47This is absolutely on the top of everyone's minds right now is safety. It's funny, when you look at the cyber-related names, they're up significantly on this news.

9:58Scott Wapner: What do you make of that reaction? Well, they're partnering with them. CrowdStrike and Palo Alto were actually named as well as many other companies. So I like that they're diversifying throughout a lot of different parts of software to get this product up and out the door in a very fast fashion. Dan, what about the overall mega cap trade itself, which is back clearly in a big way? Maybe not so much today. NVIDIA is getting a nice move, but certainly lately it's outpaced the rest of the market. Well, I think it's about the hyperscalers are going to lead it because we see acceleration 25, 30 percent of acceleration of AI deal flow sequentially.

10:38Scott Wapner: So the large caps right now, they will flex their muscles. And I think you're going to see just massive earnings from not just Microsoft when you look at Alphabet, Amazon and others. And then look at Meta, right? I mean, Meta shot across the bat what they did today in terms of, you know, trying to get talent from Mongo. But also just showing that like Muse, now when you look at the resources that these big tech companies are showing, they're not going to be in the background anymore. And I think this is an arms race playing out. And investors recognize we are going to go into just a massively strong earnings season as we go into October.

11:13Scott Wapner: Yeah, how about this Meta run? I know it's given back four plus percent today, but the run recently has been extraordinary. Investors were counting out Zuck and Meta yet again, right? I mean, like we've said, New York City cab driver was bearish on Meta when you go back to that earnings. They were in, I think part of it, they were spending money like a 1980s rock star. and everyone thought they were just spending to spend. Now you look at Muse, look what happened. So this is really, I think it's a game changer for AI. It's a game changer for Meta. And also now they start to monetize that three and a half billion user base.

11:47Scott Wapner: Look at just like Apple. They could be late, but when you have an install base like that, they're going to continue to dominate. I think investors continue to underestimate Meta and Apple when it comes to the AI trade. All right, we'll leave it there. Last word for you. Thanks. Good to have you on. Of course, that's Dan Ives. Steph's staying. Let's bring in the rest of our panel. Solis is Dan Greenhouse. J.P. Morgan's Abby Yoder. Hightower's Stephanie Link, as I said, is still sitting here as well. Abby, it's good to have you on. So let's just start with the mega cap trade. Does this have more legs because of everything else going on in the market just keeps pushing people back to tried and true offense plus defense equals comfort?

12:26Yeah, I mean, I think, look, this obviously started a few months ago when we got earnings that were actually really strong, right? We got that ROI that we needed to see. And now you add on top of this that you've got this, like, macro uncertainty as it relates to rates. And you're seeing, you know, a lot of rotation out of the cyclical parts of the market, particularly, say, small caps, and gravitating towards these companies that have really showcased that they are earning money. They're driving the magnificent earnings that we're seeing in the S &P 500. And yes, that is expected to slow, but they've continued to beat those expectations.

12:57Scott Wapner: The great debate, I guess, now is as long as rates keep backing up and oil remains where it is, how can you convince people that all of these other areas of the market that have so dramatically underperformed? Steph's smiling because she's going to say this is how in a second, but hold on just a minute. I can see you. I see you. How do you convince people that that's going to work? All these other sectors, like cyclically natured sectors are down like five and a half, six percent this month. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out why. Yeah, I'm not sure in the short term that you can.

13:33You've got the rails down a bunch. Some of the airlines, the non-AI related industrials have sold off banks. Yeah, banks, discretionary. Yep. All the areas you're talking about. There's a lot under the headline here that's directly related to rates. Because if you look at like the equal weight S &P 500 and compare it to rates, when the 10 years started going up in response to the oil price increase from, call it, 80 to 100, that's exactly when the market peaked, not the S &P traditional because of the work that AI is doing. But there's a pretty clear relationship between the two. So in the short term, if rates are going to keep going up and oil is going to keep going up, then I'm not sure that you can convince people now is the moment to rotate it.

14:15Now, that said, for someone like Steph, the argument is going to be, well, I invest for a six-month, year, two-year, five-year time horizon, in which case any sell-off is to be bought. But for those of us that are a little more active in markets, this is probably not the downside if you think that bombing is going to resume and thus the risks, the oil prices, or at least for the short term, to the upside.

14:35Scott Wapner: Let's just take the final quarter of the year. Why should I believe that those groups are going to have a miraculous comeback as long as the environment stays where it is? It's going to be volatile, but seasonally, October, November, very strong months. In the face of all this, we're growing GDP at 5 percent. That's nominal at 8 percent. Credit spreads are fine, very tame, so there's no alarm there. I'm not saying that there won't be some stresses on parts of the economy, but in the face of all this, we just had record PMI. The composite was the best since July of 2021. I just think there's a lot going for this economy, and it's broad-based, the earnings.

15:12It is a lot tech, but it's also a lot other sectors. So the things that I've been buying are the things that are kind of been down and out, like the financials, Wells Fargo, Coinbase even. That's a nice diversifier. The industrials, anything tied to the data center. Data center construction last quarter boosted 57%. That's going to benefit the industrials on the data center. You're exactly right. I think we're sort of saying the same thing. I'm talking a little more short term. Sure. Yeah, there's a lot of pain, for lack of a better word, under the headline. And I agree the economy is doing OK.

15:45The PMIs are above 50 pretty much all year. The construction data is all for AI still doing pretty well. The economy is not going gangbusters, but it's doing well enough. My argument, again, is just simply the volatility that we've seen in the short term, which is directly, I would argue, tied to rates and oil, doesn't appear to be going away. Wait till you see earnings. We just don't have any companies reporting that many earnings. I mean, we do get Nike and Micron this week. I get that. But when we have earnings.

16:08Scott Wapner: Well, Nike's really going to make everybody feel better. Well, they probably won't. But I bet Micron will. Micron's a different story. No, I know. But they're both important for different reasons. So I think, but I think my point is we have to wait two or three weeks for earnings. And I think, I like the setup for the financials. Usually they rally into the print. Now they're actually down into the print. I think the numbers are going to be very, very good. How would you address the broadening issue with rates? You know, what are we at? Let's show the 10-year. Are we at 522, 525? five, give or take a basis point?

16:38Well, your question was, if it stays the way it is today, how does the rest of the market work? It doesn't. I don't think it does. I think you need that reprieve in rates, and that is going to come from oil prices and what's happening from a geopolitical standpoint. So if rate vol is higher, equity vol is going to be higher. I think the one thing that was left out in terms of what's going well for the market right now that could bode well for the end of the year is positioning. Positioning is not at all extended. And that's on the institutional side, that's on the retail side. Like, I think that really does bode well as you head into the end of tax loss harvesting season, and then you get kind of the end of year rally that I think will actually be very strong.

17:15Scott Wapner: Plus, because you had people start to get super cautious and all bared up coming into September, knowing it's the worst month traditionally of the year. And while it's been volatile, it hasn't been a bad month. It just hasn't produced like many of the other months have. Yeah. And I mean, it also coincided with Jackson Hole, which ended up being incrementally hawkish, right? Like if you look at the rate move, either that's the 10-year or the two-year, it was primarily driven by oil until the end of August. And that's when you started Fed repricing. And that's when it became, OK, this is actually really hawkish.

17:49And this isn't that short-term oil price.

17:51Scott Wapner: Although like we were talking earlier, the minute I got, the second I got the words out, well, it hasn't been a bad month. I'm like, wait a minute. There are like More stocks hitting 52-week lows than highs. So this is part of the problem when we come on TV, because we talk about the market as if everyone's an index investor. And for a lot of us that pick individual stocks, if the median stock in the S &P 500 is down 16 % from the 52-week high, then whether you're a mutual fund manager or a hedge fund manager like us, there's a lot of pain there. If you're not in those MAG7 names that have done quite well, or some of the AI derivatives, Eaton has held up well, for instance.

18:31Yeah, but those are specialized plays. Sure, but as a manager, you've got to own something that's not the spider, and you're going to own individual names. And if you think AI is doing well, and I'm overexposed to Vertiv, which is down this month, but Eaton, et cetera, et cetera, then you're holding up better than if you're someone that's in, let's use Nike and McDonald's, let's say. A lot of pain, but a lot of opportunity, because you've had the valuation contract, again, of the overall market by over 17%, which is essentially recessionary levels. And you could say the same of the equal weight.

19:01You've seen valuation contraction there. Yes, but you're having earnings offset that. So this could be a lot of pain, or you can view it as an opportunity. That's probably one of the strongest arguments for a rally into year end, other than Steph's seasonality, which is, of course, that the P.E. multiples contracted almost 20 percent, which is about as bad as it gets in a median.

19:22Scott Wapner: As long as the market believes that the Fed's going to hike at least one more time, if not more, the short end of the curve is going to remain elevated. Right. The two year is going to be higher, which raises the issue of a flattening yield curve, which is not good for the banks. It's why people keep saying, are they peaking in terms of profitability. I get all the other things that are going on, but nothing really trumps the net interest income or the net interest margin. All those things you always talk about that are good for the banks. Well, right now it's getting worse for the banks related to that.

19:57Sure, but there's other things than just NIM and NII.

20:00Scott Wapner: I know, I just said the other things. There are other capital markets, investment banking. I get it. Activity in general is still very elevated. The pipelines are extended in a good way. I think that there's a lot and the valuations are so attractive. And the capital positioning is enormous. I would not be surprised this quarter or next to see increases in buyback activity and dividend increases in general because of the excess capital that they have. They are so well positioned. And every single bank, the big six banks at this last conference season talked about how resilient the consumer is.

20:37I wouldn't count that out either. I think that you have to, I agree with this. I think what you just laid out is a distinction for large cap money center banks over regionals, right? Because that's where regionals are primarily going to be net interest income related. They also don't have as much pricing power on the deposit side. So they're going to see that pressure from a cost perspective, whereas the money centers, I think, are in a better position to offset. They're trading at one times book value though. So they are awfully cheap. The regionals. The regionals. Yes.

21:03Scott Wapner: Which matters more for how we're going to think about the next few weeks? Micron on Wednesday or the bank earnings, which start before we know it as we're talking about this group? Micron on Wednesday. I'm perpetually of the belief. I thought that question was kind of obvious, but I'm glad Steph had a different reaction because maybe it's not. She can be wrong. That's fine. Occasionally. Occasionally, very infrequently. No, I think the AI story is what's driving this market, whether it's Micron or Broadcom on down to Vertiv and GE, Lenovo and the types of companies that we talk about all the time.

21:38So if Micron, listen, earnings are going to be up, what, 900 % for Micron? I mean, there's a lot going on here. And as long as that trade is in place, the broad market, if you will, the traditional S &P that we were just referring to, can hold up and withstand some weakness at the bank level. If something goes wrong in AI, not that Micron is going to be the tip of the spear, but if something goes wrong in the AI investment cycle, that's just going to blow everything up. I'm sorry. When that day comes, J.P. Morgan's earnings could be up a billion percent, and it's not going to stop the market from going down 50 percent.

22:10Scott Wapner: We're going to leave it there. Thank you, guys. It's good to have everybody here on set. But let's now get to some of today's top stock stories, starting with MongoDB. That stock is selling off as the company's CEO leaves for Meta. Seema Modi back with those details. What can you tell us? Well, Scott, we've been speaking to a lot of folks about this departure of CJ Desai from MongoDB to Meta. What we can tell you is that it was unexpected and abrupt. Scott had been told by a source familiar that Desai received an offer he could not refuse from Meta. CEO Mark Zuckerberg enticing enough for Desai to give up his entire pay package and severance at MongoDB.

22:46Pretty significant. The leadership move is seen as a loss for the cloud infrastructure company and thus the stock reaction. Desai brought in C-suite relationships and is credited for doubling MongoDB's backlog. Now attention turns to the company's investor day tomorrow, where interim CEO Dev Itertaria, who led the company for 11 years before Desai will try to instill confidence in shareholders and offer more details on the company's cloud offerings and its 2027 numbers.

23:15Scott Wapner: Okay, Seema, thanks for that report as well. How about Berkshire Hathaway loading up on Lennar? Diana Olek is following that. Loading up is the right word because they bought several times last week, and now they're over 10%. They see something in housing, albeit probably for the long term. Definitely the long term, Scott. Look, they're seeing value, value in a beleaguered builder. So Berkshire Hathaway, as of Friday, had reported owning nearly 25.4 million shares of Lennar, plus 549 ,000 of its Class B super voting shares. Add it all up, and that's 25.9 million shares currently valued at$2.1 billion.

23:52Scott Wapner: It's also 10.9 percent of Lennar's roughly 238 million shares outstanding for both classes and a 93 percent jump from what it owned at the end of June. And all of this, of course, according to SEC filings. One was mid last week and one on Friday. Now, I spoke with Lenar chairman Stuart Miller after the first disclosure. And while he, of course, wouldn't say much on the record, just that they were proud to have a credible investor like Berkshire as part of Lenar's ownership group. I did ask point blank if he thought Berkshire wanted to buy Lenar, as they did with Taylor Morrison earlier this year.

24:27I got no comment on that, Scott. But again, it's clearly a value play.

24:30Scott Wapner: Well, you asked the right question. That's for sure. Right. Because you'd never know. They got a lot of cash. So we'll see. Good stuff. Thanks, Diana Olick. Anthropics CEO Dario Amadei getting the SNL treatment over the weekend ahead of a high stakes private dinner with President Trump. Kate Rooney joins us now with those details. Hi there. Hey, Scott. So SNL and Weekend Update did parody Anthropics CEO Dario Amadei over the weekend and took aim at his AI safety debate. They've really been in the center of this, and Amadei has been one of the loudest voices calling for industry and international standards, as well as U.S.

25:07regulation. Meanwhile, a source did confirm Anthropix CEO dined at the White House last night for a private dinner with President Trump. This was their first one-on-one meeting, from what we're hearing, and his stance has been in stark contrast to the president. Trump publicly has said he wants no new regulations, says the existing laws out there, and enforcement agencies are enough. He's talked about DOJ's example, providing enough oversight, does not want the U.S. to slow down and risk losing to China. Amadei was noticeably absent from the state dinner last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping and some other industry leaders.

25:40But we are hearing that Amadei is expected to be in D.C. for a meeting this week with Mike Johnson and Trump, alongside other tech leaders as well. Anthropik's relationship with its administration, we should mention, has also been fraught. If you remember, Anthropic was labeled as a supply chain risk, and a panel of judges in D.C. did uphold that designation last week. In the meantime, the company is still on file with the SEC in what could be the largest IPO, Scott, in U.S. history.

26:07Scott Wapner: All right, Kate, thank you. That's our Kate Rooney. We're just getting started. Up next, Disney drama. Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek taking aim at his predecessor, Bob Iger. It's a new tell-all book, and he is telling all bombshell allegations. what he says really happened behind the scenes at Disney. He was on Squawk Box this morning. He talked about it. You'll hear what he said next.

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28:25Scott Wapner: Welcome back. Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek out with a tell-all book in which he claims now retired CEO Bob Iger undermined him from the very beginning. Our Julia Borsten joins us now with more. Hi there. Hey, Scott. Well, Bob Chapek defending his two-and-a-half-year tenure running Disney in a new memoir called Behind the Castle Walls, saying that taking the reins from Iger back in February of 2020 ahead of the pandemic shutdown, there was no way for him to succeed. The worst situation possible. And it's one thing to deal with some of the social issues that were happening at the time. It's one thing to deal with the biggest shutdown in the history of American business with the pandemic.

29:13But it's another thing than to be shot at the same time by friendly fire. Chapek says his leadership of Disney from February of 2020 to November 2022, over which time Disney shares fell 31 percent, was hampered by Iger's ongoing role at the company. The idea that he was going to hang around as executive chair and that wasn't the problem. But then it kind of grew that he was also going to control the creative product and talent. And it gave him the degree of freedom to pretty much insert himself in any meeting at any time because he still had a role. And that became very difficult and forced people to choose, you know, Team Bob I or Team Bob C.

29:58No comment from Disney on the book or on the interview on Squawk Box this morning, Scott.

30:04Scott Wapner: You know, Julia, Chapek also referenced an interview that he did with Bob Iger on our network right when he got the job. That was with you. That was with me. There's been talk about some of the body language within that interview. And I'm just wondering if you can recall or recount or just give your own perspective on sitting there across from these two men as, you know, historic transition was about to take place and what any if anything you you got from that. Yes, it was a very memorable interview in February of 2020. We announced the news on our air that Bob Iger would be stepping down and Bob Chapek would be taking over.

30:47And then I was sitting there across from them and interviewed the two of them together about this transition. Iger had talked about retiring in the past, but it extended his tenure. So this was expected to a certain degree, but maybe felt a little out of nowhere in terms of the specific timing in the middle of a quarter, in the middle of that first quarter in the calendar year. And the body language that you're referencing is a lot of people watched my interview and said Bob Iger, who usually seems so comfortable on camera, sitting next to Bob Chapek, who does not have the same on-camera experience, They seem sort of uncomfortable next to each other.

31:24There was a lot of analysis of their body language sitting next to each other on that little stage that we set up for this interview. It's really very memorable.

31:34Scott Wapner: The other thing I'd love your perspective on, because I think at the time, I mean, I think you can look back and say, you know, one of the things that worked so well for Bob Iger was that he was so good at actually running the company of Disney, but he also had chops when it came to the creative side. They say, oh, he could run the company. He could also read a script. So he had credibility with both sides of the industry where some questioned whether Chapek was the right pick, questioning whether he, in fact, had both of those abilities, which are so critical for a company like Disney. What can you speak to in terms of that?

32:12Well, it's interesting because what you're really talking about here is the relationship with the talent. And this came up and you're showing now that that interview that I did with the two of them. But, you know, what came up pretty early in Bob Chapek's run as CEO was the question of his of the deal with Scarlett Johansson and some conflict that they had in managing the release of one of her movies direct to streaming during the pandemic and her payment over this. There was a lot of speculation that maybe Bob Iger would have handled it better. Maybe this is the kind of high-touch, very important, high-stakes dynamic relationship with a big movie star that you need to be very careful about.

32:51And perhaps that was mismanaged. Interestingly, Bob Chapek came from the theme park. So did the current CEO, Josh DeMauro, also came from the theme park. But the difference now is that Josh DeMauro has by his side in an elevated role, Dana Walden, who does have those longstanding relationships with talent. So it almost seems like the structure of the company now, having Josh DeMauro with all the operational expertise, decades at the company, running the theme parks, next to him you now have Dana Walden, who has years of those talent relationships and the respect from the talent within the industry.

33:24And now you see Walden in that chief creative officer role, complementing Josh DeMauro in a way that maybe Bob Chapek didn't have someone in that role, and Bob Iger was sort of filling that role from his executive chairman position.

33:36Scott Wapner: It speaks to the uniqueness of that job, I think, in general as well. Thanks so much for your insight, Julia. Thank you. That's our Julia Boorstin out in Los Angeles coming up. The LeBron effect hitting Philadelphia's bottom line already. Ticket demand surging, merchandise flying, hundreds of millions of dollars in potential economic impact. Hasn't even played any basketball for him yet. Alex Sherman, he's following the money at Media Day, joins us next.

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35:22Scott Wapner: Welcome back. LeBron James, Inc. has made its way to Philadelphia as the 76ers hold their media day today ahead of the upcoming season. Our Alex Sherman joins us from there with more. This is a traveling business. There's no denying that. That's right. The LeBron James Traveling Circus has made its way to Philadelphia. Technically, I'm in Camden, New Jersey right now. This is the Philadelphia 76ers practice facility. But it's also the home of where the 76ers had their media day today, as you mentioned, Scott. And, of course, the big draw, which really makes this a national story, is the addition of LeBron James.

35:58This was already probably going to be a more successful basketball season from last year for the 76ers because they added Jalen Brown in the offseason, the former Boston Celtics star. But the addition of James makes this a story bigger than basketball, becomes a business story. Just take a look at ticket sales to start out with. 76ers ticket sales are up almost sevenfold from last year. They are the number one draw in terms of ticket sales this year. They were 22nd in the league last year. This is an interesting stat, too. Since July 1st, LeBron signed with the team in July. The 38 % of all searches for NBA ticket sales are 76ers tickets.

36:39We were just looking. The average ticket price for the 76ers opener against the New York Knicks is well over$2 ,000 now in terms of a get-in price for that ticket. Beyond ticket sales, there's the apparel story. The LeBron James jerseys are selling fast and furious. in the first month of LeBron jersey sales. More LeBron jerseys were sold in that month than at any other month in his entire career, according to Fanatics. More LeBron jerseys were sold in the first 48 hours after he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers than any other athlete in the entire Fanatics fan base database overall, regardless of sport.

37:22He topped Shohei Ohtani transferring from the Angels to the Dodgers there in terms of any athlete that is changing teams. And then there's the sponsorship story. Just today, the Philadelphia 76ers signed a deal with Bloom Energy, which is the second largest jersey patch deal of any deal in the NBA. I'm told it is over$30 million annually per year. I caught up with 76ers owner Josh Harris, and I asked him, has LeBron James fever hit you already? Take a listen to what he told me. We're seven times oversubscribed for tickets. People are accosting me on the street to make sure they get the right ticket.

38:03And, you know, I'm feeling very excited, very pumped for the season. LeBron spoke today at Media Day. He said he's still getting adjusted to the Philadelphia area, but clearly fans are ready to see him in action. Scott.

38:17Scott Wapner: Yeah, how about the idea of what he said as part of Media Day? Quote, I had visions of playing in the Garden and finishing my career in the Garden, speaking of New York. But after they won the after they beat San Antonio and, of course, won the championship, I was like, hey, I can't. I couldn't do it. I mean, he sounds like he was close to coming to the Knicks until they won. And then he knew publicly he'd get crushed if he made that kind of move. Right. Yeah, for sure. You know, there's a little bit of juxtaposition between someone who I spoke with last week on our air, Steph Curry, who stayed with the same team, the Warriors, and LeBron James, who now is sort of hopping from team to team.

38:55He gets a little bit of a backlash for that as he kind of ring chases. But I don't know if you can see directly behind me or not, or if it's blurred out. But the last time the 76ers won a championship was 1982-83. So it has been a long time since the 76ers have brought a championship home. And, of course, it's a better story that way if by bringing LeBron here, the 76ers can finally win another championship in more than 40 years.

39:19Scott Wapner: Yeah, we'll see. Dr. J, Moses Malone, and maybe now LeBron. We'll see what he brings. Alex, thanks. Good stuff. Alex Sherman down in Philly. The Market Zone straight ahead.

39:34Scott Wapner: Now in the Closing Bell Market Zone, Mike Santoli, Truist, Keith Lerner here to break down these crucial moments of this trading day. Plus, Oliver Rennick, he is standing by. Live from the CBO Global Markets in Chicago, FIBA Stevens tracking the action in the energy market today. Michael, I begin with you. Kind of the same story. I mean, we're going to be focused on backed up yields and backed up oil, and it's going to cap stocks, but not, you know, not completely ruin the story. Yeah, it's capping them. It's not breaking the indexes. So it's allowing a lot of the stress to be applied at the lower reaches of the market, as you've been talking about.

40:06Now, you're seeing parts of the market start to notice this or the longer it goes on. There's some questioning as to how this, you know, how long this balance might be able to continue. You do see the volatility index above 16. You're seeing further oversold conditions. A lot of new lows pile up in the kind of rank and file stocks out there. And, you know, it's not so much a disorderly rise in bond yields, but it's a persistent one. And corporate credit is the thing I think people are looking at as maybe the linchpin here to see if it really starts to widen out in terms of spread. Hasn't happened in an alarming way, but it's inching that way.

40:40So, So, you know, there's a lot of suspense building up. You obviously have the makings of a very strong relief rally in the majority of stocks if you start to get, you know, some help on the oil and yield side. But, you know, that's an if, not necessarily a when, I guess.

40:55Scott Wapner: Get an earnings reminder, at least on Wednesday, with Micron. That's obviously critical. You guys start looking ahead to that yet in overtime today? We will in the context also, though, of course, of talking about this NVIDIA deal. So we are going to talk to Ben Reitz, this is Milius, who's kind of been bullish on the big AI hardware trade. We'll see if that continues. All right. That's a good get. We look forward to that, Mike. Thank you, Mike Santoli. To Oliver at the SIBO, where are we playing options action today? Hey, Scott, Mike mentioned many stocks hitting oversold territory. What was interesting today is the TLT ETF did as well on a two-week basis.

41:34And some options traders are taking that as a sign to buy the dip in bonds. Call buying is outpacing put buying almost 2-1 in the long-term bond fund today. And eight of the top 10 trades by dollar amount in TLT were sellers of puts, betting on something more like sideways action rather than straight down like we've seen. This runs counter to bearish conviction that's building in small cap trading. The IWM ETF has been the subject of some heavy put buying for at least a week, and that continued today with someone buying$16.5 million of the$272,$275, and$279 strike puts expiring in mid-October.

42:16With a net break even just over$272, they need a 3 % further sell-off in the next three weeks for the$16.5 million bet to work.

42:25Scott Wapner: Oliver, thank you. Oliver Rennick, let's talk energy with Pippa Stevens. Tell us. Hey, Scott, so we did see oil ease from its overnight highs on reports that Saudi Arabia's key pipeline is ramping back up. That's after WTI earlier hit a session high of 96.54, following President Trump rejecting Iran's offer to reopen the street. That's according to The Wall Street Journal. Now, energy equities just barely hanging on to their gains, one of just three sectors in the green and on track to be Q3's top performer by a wide margin. But much of today's activities, thanks to Exxon, which is by far the largest component, the majority of the sector is in the red, led to the downside by Nat Gas, Drillers, Expand Energy and EQT.

43:03Now, refiners have been the big outperformers, but only Valero in the green today. It's seen as the purest of the big three, given the majority of its earnings are directly tied to the refining side, while Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66 have more diversified operations. Scott?

43:18Scott Wapner: Pips, thank you. That's Pippa Stevens. All right, Keith, I'm thinking a lot about the fact that on the index level, the S &P is less than 2 percent away from an all-time high. even as interest rates back up and oil remains obviously elevated. You really have to think about this as a tale of two markets. It's the mega caps and tech and AI and kind of everything else, because everything else seems to be the most susceptible to rates and oil. Does that change anytime soon? Yeah, you summed it up really well. You know, it's an open question. We probably do need lower oil prices to bring down the yields.

43:55But I think if we zoom out a bit, if we look at this bull market, the dominant theme is still AI and tech. And since the bull market began, it's outpaced the eco-weight index by 50, 60 percentage points and small caps as well. So I think all roads lead back to AI and tech as this dominant theme with these higher rates starting to bite. Even if they come down somewhat, I think the play is still being long AI and tech. And we've had a notable reset there already. And I think even on the margin, the buyback from NVIDIA is a positive have shown that there is cash out there for buybacks, but the secular earning story is still very much in place.

44:34Scott Wapner: It just raises the stakes, doesn't it, that you just can't afford a slip-up. I mean, obviously, I'm thinking of Micron midweek. You just can't afford a slip-up in the AI trade as long as interest rates keep backing up and oil is around$95. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, the good news is at least we've seen the tech premium really contract to about 10%. But, you know, when you look underneath the hood and the discussion you've been having all day, there's only about 25%, 26 % of stocks above their 50-day moving average. So you can look at that half empty, meaning there hasn't been participation, there's been weakness below the surface, or the market is getting more towards this oversold level, something below 20.

45:15So I think it's maybe somewhere in between. I think ultimately we're setting ourselves up still for a year in the rally where we'll see broader participation. But I think in the interim, tech is still to play. And I would say even in a rally, as we look into next year, the prospects in our work still favors tech as the primary beneficiary of this bull market.

45:34Scott Wapner: Keith, we'll talk to you soon. Thank you. That's true. It's Keith Lerner as they're clapping in the clothes on this Monday. You'll see it's red across the board. So we're going to give some back today. Interest rates elevated 10-year around 522, 525. Oil obviously is much of a story, too. We'll send it into overtime with Mel and Mike.

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