Nasdaq closes at a record as Nvidia and TSMC hit highs, plus Trump’s $5,000 check promise

Hello and welcome to Market Domination. I'm Broo and we are live from our New York headquarters. There is just about an hour to go into the closing bell and it's a record-breaking day on Wall Street, at least for the NASDAQ. We're also seeing higher gains from Nvidia yet again expected to close at a record high. We also have Taiwan semiconductor moving higher after a potential partnership with Elon Musk. in consumer discretionary though getting crushed at the same time that 10-year Treasury levels are reaching their highest levels since 2022. And as Vereay, I know you're looking out on all the action. What are you watching? Right, Brooke? And if we take a look, as you just mentioned, the Nasdaq on pace for a record close. The S&P 500 not too far off from its highs as well, up 8/10en of a percent, hovering near there. And then the Dow went into positive territory as you mentioned in part because Nvidia stock is on pace for a record close. So it's really tech that is leading. Taking a look at the 10-year Treasury that has been climbing higher. So despite this move upward that we're seeing in stocks, you are still seeing the 10-year Treasury yield at its highest level since 2002. You can take a look at our Wi-Fi Interactive. It's at 533 right now. The 30-year is at 568 and the US dollar index that has climbed higher. But as I mentioned, when it comes to stocks, we are seeing the major averages in the green. You've got materials, communication services, energy stocks that are higher. And on the Dow, Nvidia is really the outperformer. Microsoft also up more than 2%. So, you've got some movement in the mega cap space that is sending these major averages higher right now. Over on the NASDAQ 100, you can see the left hand side of the screen, green o over on the left, you've got SpaceX also that's up more than 5%. Meta is also higher as well on the semiconductor space. It's just really Nvidia, TSM, and Broadcom that are the ones that are leading here. So you've got, as you mentioned, Nvidia, then also Taiwan Semiconductor on pace for a record as well. The rest of the chips space though is under pressure. And then just taking a look uh at commodities, we are seeing pressure on commodities. So we're looking at Brent crude and WTI is down about 2%. Brooke >> Anz, thank you so much for breaking all down. Appreciate it. >> Yeah, Nvidia shares are pushing toward a fresh record as another key piece of the AI supply chain flashes strength. Foxcon, a major NVIDIA server partner, reporting quarterly revenue up 47% from a year ago. For more on the chip trade, I want to bring in Matt Bryson, managing director of equity research, covering hardware at Wedbush. Matt, thanks for joining us because we're waiting on that fresh record high potentially from Nvidia. And some investors even saying that there's a 50% chance that Nvidia could reach a $6 trillion market cap by the end of this month. What do we need to see in order to get there? Um, I mean, six trillion, I I don't know. I I think the story with Nvidia, though, has been that it's uh constantly been beating expectations, but the stock's been underperforming. And in my mind, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that a company that's going to grow in the triple digits this year that's guided to 70% growth next year is trading at a multiple that's under 20 times. How much does higher memory cost still weigh on this company when you think about that outlook for revenue growth? >> I mean, I think as much as higher memory costs are a problem, it it's just availability of memory. And I think one of the things Nvidia has done and you've seen in their balance sheet is they've gone out and done the best job in terms of securing supply, not just for memory, but things like substrates and copper clad laminate and uh logic. And so in a way that allows them or sets them up to grow at least as fast market if not faster than the market in in an area of constraint or in a time of constraints and so I think they almost benefit from the tight supply. >> Do you think that this benefit will take them through fiscal year 2028? Because it seems like that's as far as we're seeing these targets kind of go to. >> I think that's exactly where it gets them to. And then you get to calendar year 28, fiscal year 29, and it's always been a bit of a black box, what two years out looks like. Having said that, in the near term, again, everything looks great. Foxon gave us great numbers. When you talk to Neoclouds, their payback times are uh are improving. So that means at the at the margin, you you're seeing what people are willing to pay for GPUs go up, which means there's more demand for AI. Like these are all things that are good for Nvidia. When you think about th those memory companies in particular, I think a Micron, a SanDisk, I mean, what exactly are we seeing in terms of pricing heading into next year because it seems like they kind of have control over what exactly it will look like, but then where do we go from there? >> Yeah. So, I I think when you're thinking about next year, it's always hard to project what happens in memory pricing beyond the next quarter. We know that pricing is up double digits again next quarter for both the RAM and NAND or it looks to be up. I I think contract will solidify uh this month um into next year. My best guess is there's still going to be short supply. So pricing won't go down. It's more a question of how much higher can it go because we're at a point that's unprecedented in history. Uh these guys have close to 90% gross margins and so how much higher can it push? I don't know. But I I don't think that there's enough memory next year. >> I want to ask you something in particular if you can sort of play ball with me here. We're hearing reports that a new model from an Nvidia backed startup called Reflection is coming out. They're sort of leaning into this idea of an AI factory concept. This openweight model compared to these closed models like Anthropic as well as uh you know open AI. So what would that mean with Nvidia's backing? What would that mean for the company? Can you walk investors through that? >> Yeah. So from a Nvidia perspective, you've got you've got puts and takes. So if you look at open AI and anthropic um those kind of models have been driving uh the industry in particular driving training uh de demand and so that that's good for Nvidia. Um and so if open wave models take off uh to to some extent you know maybe you lose some of training demand. Having said that we've seen a big shift towards inference. So use cases for AI instead of training models. If openweight models are successful all of a sudden inference becomes cheaper. Um and I think what's been driving that neocloud demand what's driving Amazon or allowing Amazon to raise prices for its GPU instances that's all this demand. And if all of a sudden you make it cheaper to use inference resources, I think that's a great thing for Nvidia, it's a great thing for the AI complex. Um, and it it benefits everyone because, you know, if it's cheaper to buy a resource, then you end up using more of it. I >> I want to get your take on something else that we're watching today, and that's Intel as well as Taiwan semiconductor. Now, we heard reports that Elon Musk potentially is looking to partner with Taiwan Semiconductor for that terra fab factory. What's the impact there? And what's the likelihood that we could end up seeing this partnership that of course would be a hit a bit to to rival Intel? >> Yeah, it's it's hard for me to determine what the probability is that that TSM would work with SpaceX. So historically they haven't been willing to share technology if you will. Um now certainly they they've done partnerships before particularly with with Japanese suppliers where they will build the fab uh and they will produce uh certain parts um for those for those customers or dedicate capacity for those customers. So that that's certainly something that that that we could see. Um, but it it seemed like Elon Musk wanted a a closer partnership where uh he had more say over what was happening in the facilities. I I don't know that that's something TSM would do. Um, in terms of what it tells you about Intel, um, look, the Intel trades on an EV to sales basis relatively at a relatively similar rate to Nvidia, to Taiwan Semi, to AMD. um yet their their margins aren't as good, their growth isn't as strong. I mean, what that tells tells me is that the market's already anticipating that that in that Intel's caught up. Um and we don't have a whole lot to tell us where Intel is. This Elon Musk partnership was one thing that suggested that Intel was catching up on the fab side. So, I I I guess if that goes away, it it's what what appeared to be a positive sign for Intel that it isn't there. Um having said that, I I don't have a strong stance on on where Intel is. I'm still waiting to see if they've got things figured out or if there's still a whole lot that they need to do. >> Yeah, Matt, I should point out here that Intel stock year to date up about 195%. We also Taiwan Semiconductor up about 42%. Matt, while I have you, I want to get your take on another report that we're seeing out there. There's a report that said that Microsoft and Meta are looking to wean employees from Claude. Of course, that's Anthropic's enterprise model there. For Microsoft, they're saying that potentially it could be up to by a third So, are there downstream effects for a company like Nvidia if these companies pull back a bit from having their employees use Claude? >> So, I I I've seen that article. I I haven't fully read it yet. Um, what I'd say is it depends what else they're using, right? So if that Microsoft employee is using uh an open way model, if they're using Microsoft resources uh versus anthropic resources, they still are using compute, they're still using accelerators. So they're still they're still using Nvidia hardware. Um Nvidia for Nvidia, it matters less what the model is and rather is is AI gaining traction? And I think from from that standpoint, it doesn't matter so much for Nvidia. From an anthropic perspective, it it matters more, right? And then it all comes down to can Anthropic differentiate so much that um Microsoft and Meta can't make this choice because they're just giving you a better model. >> So Nvidia is still kind of at the heart of all these different AI models no matter what. >> I I I think that's exactly it and I think that's why the stock's doing what it's doing today. >> Matt Bryson, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it. And coming up, one of the top movers on Wall Street today is SpaceX. We got a look at what's behind the gains. Heat. Heat. Down. Heat. Heat. Down. Down. Down. Take Heat. Heat. Ah. President Trump is doubling down on his promise to give every American adult $5,000 if Republicans win the upcoming midterm elections. But many voters are skeptical the checks will ever come. Joining me now to break this down is Yahoo Finance's Ben Worskll. Ben, what can you tell us about this? Yeah. And so this has really emerged as a real central part of President Trump's final final sprint here to the election. We're 29 days till the election as you mentioned and this is something that Trump is very focused on. Two fronts here that it's focused on. One is actually getting money out the door now. Getting out out the out the door this month to to Americans to to move votes right right now seemingly um based based on the critics of this. There's two areas here. One is $500 being checks being sent to Obamacare recipients. Those started at the beginning of this month. The second is something President Trump announced over the weekend, which is $90 direct deposits to Medicaid Medicare Part Beneficiaries. He he said those are going to go out immediately um and announce them over the weekend. This comes as what observers are calling an all hands-on deck effort in the government to find money that that can be that can be announced and go out quickly. Doug Holtz eken at the American Action Forum likened it to scouring every agency, every part of the government and suggested he's kind of quick that more could be in the offing in the days ahead, which I think is is a good analysis here. Second part is the is the $5,000 checks you mentioned. This is Trump's big ticket post election promise. He says that every adult citizen of the US would get $5,000 if Republicans sweep both sides. Um he he is really leaning into this. I looked back at his events in the recent days, Alabama, um Oklahoma and um um and elsewhere and checks come are the centerpiece of his stump speech each and every each and every time. He's going to be in Nebraska later today. I expect we're going to hear about it more then. This comes as a lot of skepticism that you mentioned about how workable this is. The price tag here is $1.2 trillion if he goes through with a $5,000 check idea. >> Wow. Quite significant there. Ben, let's let's put this into realistic terms though because there are just 29 days until the midterm elections. What are American voters saying about this? >> Yeah. So, I I wrote today about the the the polling we have on this. It's a little bit limited, but it does give you a window into how Americans are digesting this and there is a lot of skepticism about multiple facets of this proposal of these efforts from Trump um that I think illustrate the sort of different sides here. The starting point for Americans seems to be that there's few Americans who believe it will happen under any circumstance. There was an an economist Yugo poll that found only about 21% of registered voters believe Trump would definitely or probably follow through on this promise. That's against 57% who who who are skeptical it'll happen even if this Republican sweep materializes. So more definitely more Americans are skeptical it will ever happen under any circumstance. Other polls suggested that this is unlikely to move a lot of votes here and could move votes in the wrong direction from from the White House's perspective. It was an NBC poll that asked voters about a midterm candidate supporting or opposing Trump's proposal. Just 21% of respondents there said that suggested it would make them more likely to vote for that candidate if they supported Trump's $5,000 check idea. That's against again against more. 46% who said it would make them less likely. about a third of Americans are agnostic on it. They say it wouldn't impact their vote either way. There's also a lot polling out there that shows Americans don't really think it's a great idea. There's a Rasmmanson poll that has Americans evenly split and a poll of Wisconsin that found 59% of residents think there think that this would hurt the economy if if Trump went through this largely focused on this cost issue there. So, a lot of skepticism. It doesn't seem to be dampening Trump's enthusiasm for selling it. He's going to be in a lot of states in the coming days. I would expect he's going to keep talking about these checks whether it move votes or money remains to be seen. >> Ben Work, thanks so much and lots to watch ahead of that November election. So, appreciate you breaking it down. >> Shares of SpaceX are on the rise today after one bullish Morgan Stanley analyst wrote that investors only have a few weeks to catch an opportunity to buy the stock ahead of several key milestones. Joining me now for a closer look is Yahoo Finances Pro Subarinian. And so, what exactly did this analyst say and why is now the time? Well, Jonas is talking about he's Adam Jones a big bull on on on SpaceX. So, he's saying that around 159 bucks, 60 bucks is where he's seeing as a as a cheap entry point. He's a $3 price target. So, what they're saying is basically, you know, developments like ahead of the next Starship launch, which would be test 15. He's saying that that could be your your window to get in which would happen in late October, maybe November would when that when that launch would be. what what are you saying that investors are not properly valuing the stock because it's hard to value things like solving rocket launch problems and and AI compute deals right so the current valuation in his mind um he he's saying properly values that launch business and la and Starlink but not you know uh the the the the chipm uh the the amount of money they're getting per gigawatt you know for for AI compute deals so that's why he's saying that once this kind of catches up when people understand what's going on might be too late if you wait too long to buy the stock. >> Now, what are some key moments that investors should be looking out for? Maybe key events because we're hearing a lot about these launches at SpaceX. Should we be watching them? What else should be watching? >> So, you mentioned that launch, right? So, Starship launch flight 15. Uh the hope is that maybe they can, you know, right now that that Starship is kind of landing in water someplace. They'd wanted to catch it back in the the Mechazilla arms that they have at the at Starbase. So, that's one thing. uh they want they want to see more about Starlink version 3 v3 launches and possible DTC uh Starlink product right to mobile people like people on regular telephones the Terapab which is their chip factory want to see about that build out uh any more AI compute deals which are producing one to one half billion dollars per month per client if you want to add more of those a lot of money there on a ARR basis and then anything on Grock you know Grock is their is their chatbot um and also they have an a agent uh component of that. What's the next iteration of that? Is that going to compete with the the open AIS, the anthropics of the world? >> I think bringing Starlac direct to consumer will be ultimately gamechanging here. >> Yeah, but I mean there's concern that it's going to be a lot of spend out. You got to spend a lot of money on terrestrial stuff, too. So, you know, we know how much AT&T and Verizon spend. So, there's some He's actually Adam Jones is actually not so big on the DTC component, even though SpaceX is seemingly going that way >> because the cost is just so high. >> Yeah. cost. Are you gonna convert people? Yeah. That sort of thing. >> Yeah. All right. Well, lots to watch. Thanks so much, Ross. Appreciate it. And coming up, we'll take a look at how consumers are stretching their dining budgets with convenience stores. More on that after the break. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. As high gas prices keep drivers from filling up their tanks, American convenience stores are finding growth at the lunch counter. That's according to new report by Placer.ai AI that shows regional chains serving quick, affordable meals are seeing an overall boost in foot traffic. Joining me now is Placer.ai head of analytic researcher R.J. Hatovi. R.J., great to be with you because it seems like the narrative here is that the vast majority of these convenience stores are actually making more money inside than they do actually at the pumps. So, who's winning in this environment? >> Yeah, you're exactly right. We have seen a shift away from QSR to more convenience stores. uh mostly these food forward convenience stores groups like Sheets and Wawa and Casey's and Bies which is probably its own category outright uh but they are doing a very good job and I think consumers in this environment where they are more cash strapped with higher gas prices are looking for alternatives and cheaper alternatives. Um, you know, gas stations are generally down on visits year-over-year, anywhere mid to low single digits, but there is a class of these convenience stores that is doing very well in capturing share at both the lunch and breakfast day part from QSR, which has traditionally been one of their strong their stronger day parts. So, interesting to watch interesting to see the consumer behavior changes. >> R.J., I got to I have to admit I've been dying to try that brisket from Bucky. So, eventually hopefully I'll try it. But I is it the price point that is what's drawing in consumers? because I can't imagine you're driving down the the highway and you're thinking, okay, instead of McDonald's, I'm going to stop at Cheats for lunch. >> I I think price is part of it, but I think one of the big things that's been overlooked coming out of the pandemic is some of these change have invested heavily in their food programs. That means improved food quality, better selection, even easier access to the food. So, a lot of ways these convenience stores are taking uh you know the baton from QSR in terms of mobile ordery, delivery, pickup windows, things like that. uh done a very good job and I think that combination of better improved product uh competitive pricing and uh you know better access has really helped them out and that's what we're seeing and that's a big part of why we've seen the shift. >> Now at the same time we're hearing from places like Circle K also my local 7-Elevens really leaning into deals when it comes to fuel in particular. I mean Circle K offering like 40 cents off a gallon on certain days and 7-Eleven offering the 7th and 11th less money for gas. So, are those sort of enticers working to draw in crowds? >> They do. They certainly work. And I think that in this environment, certainly the idea of cheaper gas or limited time offers really work for those cash draft consumers. We generally see pretty strong results on the day that those launch 20 even sometimes 30% above their daily average uh compared to the rest of the year. So, these things can be very effective tools, very effective catalyst in driving in visits. uh you know they still are down year-over-year on the rest uh you know from a visitation standpoint but these can be really effective in ways to draw people into the uh into the sea source. >> RJ while we have you I do want to get your take on some other trends that we're seeing within the larger QSR industry. It seems like during the month of August the month of September foot traffic at McDonald's at Wendy's and other QSR really have significantly pulled back. So what is the problem that they're up against ultimately here? Yeah, I think it's a lot of what we're just talking about. Competition with other areas within food retail, convenience stores certainly being one of it, but not limited to that. We've seen competition with value based grocerers like Aldi, uh Trader Joe's, uh we've seen warehouse clubs offer uh very uh expanded uh prepared meals. I think the combination of all these factors, all these new uh you know, potential substitutes within the quickservice space has really put a lot of pressure on uh the the QSR sector. um you know they're kind of reeling from some of the price increases they put in place the last couple years uh that's perceived that they're not as you know cost effective as some of the other channels that are out there and I think that's been one of the overlooked stories in the QSR space is that they are uh losing out share to to other food retail channels right now. So I think that's been one of the big things in certain cases too. Maybe there's just, you know, hasn't been anything new on the innovation front or, you know, particularly that low price point. I mean, we we really need to see more innovation at that level kind of at those, you know, $3 price point around there. That that's been where there's been kind of a lack of innovation yet the chains that are winning are the ones that have been doing have had success at that price point. R.J. at McDonald's Investor Day a couple of weeks ago, we heard from Sky Anderson that it seems like they are working on a new entry-level uh value meal. So, how much room does McDonald's and do other fast food restaurants have to offer more deals? Could we see more deals? And how much of an impact could that be to their margins? >> Yeah, it's it's always a delicate balance when you're dealing with a franchise system like a QSR operator like McDonald's or Burger King or anybody else. um it really does matter. Uh you can't go too deep down the discount route because that will eat into franchisee profitability and at the end of the day you need to keep those franchises happy but there is a balance and ultimately you do want people coming through those doors. So I think they have to be smart about the uh the promotions and really the ones that have been most successful in our minds has been the ones that have been tied to more intellectual property. Um you know for example there was a Dragon Ball Z promotion that really helped out Burger King. those tend to drive repeat visits where the deep discounts tend to drive in that that customer for that one time and then they don't come back. So, I think it is a balance and I think you really do have to combine not not only low price points but something unique that you you can't get anywhere else. Those are usually the the the two recipes for driving repeat visits within the QSR sector. >> It seems like we're hearing more and more about these limited time offerings, these limited time collaborations like Chipotle offering at just just five locations, R.J. $6 margaritas, then potentially uh McDonald's unveiling another Happy Meal with Pokemon. Are these sort of opportunities working? Let's start with the margaritas, R.J.? >> Yeah, it's been a while since they've had that rolled out. Um, typically they drive, you know, a little bit of afternoon traffic, a little bit of evening traffic with that. Uh, but I wouldn't say, you know, in the past, we haven't seen it, you know, uh, outperform substantially. Uh, on the other hand, you know, like I mentioned with intellectual property type deals with Pokemon, that was a very successful promotion the last time McDonald's ran it. I expect they'll have success with it again. Now, the question is whether you bring those people back after that initial visit and that's always the key here. >> Are Cava, Chipotle, Starbucks are all down in the last month as far as other stock price goes. I mean, in this sort of environment, are they facing a value issue again like we saw last year? >> Yeah, I think it's an interesting question. And I think what we are seeing is that those chains, the three you mentioned, are outperforming right now in terms of visitation trends. And I think the message that we see is that if there is this perception of value, even if at a higher price point, consumers will pay up for it. And I think that's what you see with Cava and Chipotle. You know, the idea that I can customize the bowl any way I want. They are rolling out new products and they are innovating new proteins, new flavors, things like that. That does get people excited. So I think that's what brings Cava and Chipotle. That's what brings visitors in for them. Starbucks is a story where I think right now we're dealing with a consumer that is under pressure, but they're not willing to give up that everyday luxury. They don't want to feel like they've been, you know, uh, put under pressure. So, that daily cup of coffee, the coffee category as whole, both Starbucks as well as the drive-thru chains has generally been pretty strong, uh, you know, coming into the back half the year. So, I think it's more of a case where, you know, there is this resiliency among consumers and they don't want to quite give up on everything. And so that's why one of the success stories that we've seen with Starbucks in addition to some of the company specific initiatives, additional labor in the stores, uh you know, the remodeling efforts, things like that have really helped out as well. >> And I do want to get your take because of the impact that all this softness within the overall category is feeling. We're seeing IPO, recent IPO, Jersey Mike's not maybe do as well as investors had once expected. And we're also hearing reports that Inspire brands may not go public as soon as we may have thought. So, how is this impacting the bigger picture here for those that are listed on on the stock exchanges? >> Yeah, I think you're exactly right and I think it is a very competitive environment and it's not just, you know, your direct restaurant competitors you're competing with anymore. You are competing with all food retail and right now uh food at home is is winning out against food away from home, the restaurant category. And so, I think that's the thing that a lot of these chains have to be mindful of is making sure you put in a a a game plan to better compete with food uh food retailers. um you know you you better compete at the lunch and breakfast day part against sea stores, better compete with club and value grocerers at the dinner day part. That is the thing I think investors want to see is a better game plan. How are you going to navigate these waters as some of these companies look to go public? Um yeah, I think that's the big key question that a lot of these brands have to answer for their investors. >> So am I hearing that the Costco counter is doing really well right now? >> Yeah, they are doing it has been a very disruptive force in 2026. >> Interesting a trend to watch. RJ Hottie, thank you so much for breaking it all down. Thank you. >> Cyber security stocks have soared on concerns that AI is increasing the risk and scope of cyber attacks ahead of the company's investor day. Jay Chattery Zcaler CEO sat down with Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sazi. >> We were just talking about Meta and and Muse. What how are you starting to protect companies for this AI agent world? >> Today a user is the weakest link. Tomorrow there'll be billions of agents. they become the weakest link. >> The best way to secure them is don't trust them. >> Don't trust agents. >> Don't trust agent but give them this much trust for certain application and services and that's it. The problem today is that we let agent lose on our corporate network. It's like getting inside your building. They go where they need to go. >> I've said they they're running a mug. >> They're running a mug. Not only into your building, they get on the internet. Then they'd start scouting what websites are out there. It's easy to scan those websites. What's more challenging is the frontier model can find security vulnerabilities in a website and a firewall and a VPN and load balancers. They break in and they get in. That's the problem. >> Are you using Muse? Have Have you tested what the potential of something like this is? >> My team has been playing with Muse and a number of other similar things. This is this shows what can be done. But enterprises aren't ready for it. >> Our job is to make sure we provide enough security and guardrails so they could be used in a secure fashion. >> Well, Mark uh over at Meta, he's already thinking about getting into the enterprise with with agents. I mean, what's the what's the risk if agents start to run, whether it's from Muse or or even Openai, whatever it is, what's the risk to corporates? >> So, agents going rogue is the biggest risk today. a user get compromised and then the user infects everything else. Tomorrow all these agents, imagine an agent on your corporate network hacked or hijacked or it goes rogue. They're far more dangerous because they work at machine speed. They have no coffee break, no weekend, no sleep time and their number keeps them going. So they can get you confidential data out. They can bring systems down. Those are the type of risk that we have to deal with. Are people already putting too much trust in agents? >> So they aren't. I work with lots of large enterprises. Over 50% of Fortune 500 companies are our customers. >> Today we provide zero trust for users. That means the users of their companies, they go through our exchange, our switchboard to make sure a user can only access application A, B or C. We've taken the same approach extended to agents. So agents are only given access to certain application services. We are working with many of the larger enterprises who want to embrace AI. There's a lot of pressure on them because AI actually is delivering great productivity. It is reducing >> well they also have to protect the company at the same time. >> Absolutely. What's holding them back is security. That's what zcore is bringing in. The old approaches were firewalls VPN to secure. That world is not going to work. What we pioneered when I started Zscaler in 2008, a zero trust architecture is becoming more relevant today than it has ever been. >> As someone that has been this industry for for a long time, you just mentioned you started of course Zcaler. Um when you hear Sam Alman say in an interview, I guess it was this morning, quote, "The world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of AI," is that okay with you? >> It's not. Human ingenuity can always find solution to the problem. It has always found solutions. So I believe each party needs to take responsibility to do its own job. Models need to do better work on their side. And enterprises need to puts bad better guard rails and policies in place. That's where we come in working with model companies, working with enterprises and bringing the two together. >> Do you think the model development needs to to slow down? If we have Samman saying this guy, look at this. I mean I have them right here on the political page. I mean to me bad things happening is not not acceptable. It's not acceptable. Do we have to slow things down? >> No. I don't think development of security needs to slow down. I think the models need to go through better tests and more rigorous but all overregulation of any of the stuff is not good for business ever. >> Now you have a an investor day coming up I believe tomorrow. First one since uh 2021. Now the street and this is from JP Morgan. they were they want to see greater visibility into the timing and magnitude of the AI and agentic contribution to your financials. Uh what will you tell the street tomorrow? >> So we will share the relevant information. I mean obviously I can't talk about it today but we are giving a visibility in our last earnings call. We talked about the growth of our AI security uh AR and revenues. We are bullish. We got some of the largest customers depending upon us, trusting us to secure them against all these AI agents and some of the attacks that front models can do against them. >> Where do you fall in the agentic stack? >> So agentic stack if you look at security there are few things that one need to worry about. Number one, you may not be embracing any AI. You are still uh target of these agentic attacks. All these security vulnerabilities that Methos preview of the world are found. Zscaler comes in make sure I can hide your application behind our exchange. If they can't reach you, they can breach you. That's number one thing we're doing with our customers. Number two is many of these companies will get breached. Once they get breached, the bad guys move on their corporate network and find very missionritical applications and bring them down. With Zscaler, we make sure the movement of the network doesn't happen because everything is untrusted. We are breaking the old paradigm of old school network and firewall based security. So those two things are the starting point from attacks. Then the third area is when you build application models and agents, we become the policy engine. the switchboard that says this agent can only access application A, B and C and they can't do anything else. That's how it needs to be done. The old model is the opposite. They let you run around on the network and then they try to put control. The zero trust is the right way to do it. >> Is this the most complicated environment that you have ever seen for your company? Protecting securing policy for AI agents is fairly complicated because user was easy. Your identity and you do this. Agents can change identity in a second and they have skills. They have tools. One agent can spawn five more agents. What permission should they have? What they shouldn't? Those are the type of hard problems these are solving and that's what our researchers and developers are working on. Jay, lastly, you're you're a founder, you're a CEO, you've been in this industry for a while. What would you tell the likes of, you know, I look at an Enthropic and Dario and and Open Eye and Sam and a lot of other private companies that have raised a lot of money. What would you tell them about going public and their responsibility to investors with the technology they're developing? >> Going public is a good thing. It actually makes you more responsible >> and you do the right thing that needs to be done. uh we have been public for eight years now. It feels like yesterday I remember when you went >> but I think it's a good thing it puts some discipline but at the same time you run a good business you have lot more brand and also enterprises like to work with public companies >> because the transparency is there Jay good to see you uh let's uh we'll see you again soon good luck with investor day I appreciate you coming down hope you like the new set bring me something next time like a like a like I don't know like an I don't know corporate swag or something thank Thank you, Brian. >> Thanks again to Jay Troy and Brian Sazy for that interview. Coming up, we got a look at a candy startup that's looking to disrupt the big brands by cutting back on sugar. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Down. Down. Down. Hey. Hey. Down. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hall Pass is a new candy brand aiming to be what they call the Coke Zero of candy. Lower sugar, lower calories, and priced to compete with traditional brands. The company is launching nationwide at Walmart with three products. And we have the co-founder, president joining us now, Michael Chey. Michael, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it. So, why be the Coke Zero of candy? What exactly does that mean to you? >> Sure. So, uh, if you look at candy today, you have the broadline players, your Hershey's, your Mars, your Ferrero. They're offering classic treats at really affordable prices. And then you have this better for you segment where you have candies uh, that are giving you some sort of benefit. Usually, it's an ingredient type benefit uh, versus a caloric benefit, but they're doing it at a huge price increase. And so what we wanted to create with Hall Pass was to take the price friction away so the consumer has the option to buy a lower calorie treat at an affordable price point. >> Now you were very meticulous with the way you launched this brand. It just launched in September and you launched exclusively at Walmart. >> We did. We launched nationwide at Walmart out of the gate. And part of that was to get the scale and the size to be able to create that affordability for the consumer. >> And what exactly is the price point here? because I read online that we're looking at about 20 packs of two peanut cups. They'll cost you about $50. So, how are we looking at >> our online business, but in store at Walmart, we're $182. So, we're lower right in line with the big broadline players. >> Hannah, how are you thinking about pricing in this environment? Because we are seeing consumers so stretched right now. We just had a segment where we're seeing consumers pull back from fast food restaurants. they're being a little bit more thoughtful about where exactly they're shopping and how much they're willing to spend. So why was price point so important in this environment? >> I think that was the unlock for us to take the category that we talked about earlier. So you have this better for you category that lives in a natural foods world but never really fully develops to a mass market play. And so for us we looked at this triangle and said okay the three things people care about are taste. Most importantly it's going to taste good or people aren't going to buy it or at least not twice. Two is nutrition. How do we create a benefit? So for us, it's delivering a third of the calories with the same taste. And the third piece is price. And so how do we remove the friction of choice by leveling the playing field and pricing it the same as everybody else? >> Michael, let's be honest, cuz this seems like you kind of jumped on the opportunity around GLP1 users, GLP1 households. >> Timing was good. >> How much thought was of that was going into this process developing over the past year? Right. >> It's a good tailwind to what we're doing. Um, yes, we started this project just under a year ago. So it took us about 10 months from inception to launch. Um and though the GLP1 trend where people are looking for high protein, they're looking for high fiber. These have uh quite a bit of fiber in them. Um and looking for low calorie options really we saw broader play for this calorically conscious consumer. So not the whole foods necessarily better for your consumer but more of that Coke Zero like you said or diet soda consumer who's aware of calories. They're looking to save there but not compromise on taste or pay more for it. That didn't exist in candy. And so that's what really Hall pass is all about. >> All right. Now, it is the beginning of October, so we can't help but talk about candy without mentioning a little bit on Halloween. NRF predicting that Americans are expected to spend about 13.5 billion dollars this Halloween. Do you see an opportunity? >> We're not taking a slice of that pie this year, but >> All right. Maybe next year. >> Maybe next year. Yeah. Work into seasonal candy over time. Right now, we're really focused on that impulse everyday occasion of candy. So, if you think about where candy positions for most consumers, you use it as a treat. It's a little bit of a reward mechanism at the end of the day. Uh, and so we want to be that offering, that option for you every day, not just at Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and Valentine's Day. >> All right. So, maybe next year we'll see a hallp shaped pumpkin. >> If we do it, we'll let you know. >> All right. Let me know. Let me know. But I do want to walk back a little bit because you previously built a company called Stuffed Puffs and you did launch in Walmart. It was one of the most successful brands at Walmart. So, what exactly did you learn from that that you're taking with us with this launch? >> Oh, a ton. I mean, being in the candy space previously and competing with the large manufacturers uh taught us a lot about how to approach what we're doing here and what we needed to do differently in terms of intore execution, what we needed to do differently in terms of talking to consumers and how we differentiate ourselves in the space. And so we think we've got the right mix of those things and the right differentiation with our calorie gap uh to delight consumers every day. >> How do you create a repeat comp customer with this product? >> It's all about taste. So we bring the prices down to remove the friction for that first purchase. But then once you've tried it, if we create a great tasting product that you can find and it's accessible, the repeat creates itself. Now with Stuff Puff Stuff Puffs, you were acquired essentially back in 2024. So when you think about this brand, think about five years from now. Where do you hope to be? >> Uh I think we're really focused on developing a portfolio across suites. So if you think about right now we're playing in candy, you could see adjacencies in cookies. You might see adjacencies in ice cream and things like that where we can broaden the platform and play under the same halo. So, can we give you a great tasting product that tastes like the classics? Can we do it at a fraction of the calories? And can we compete on price? >> So, is your competitor even these big brands like a Hershey's or is it more so like a a Halo top or things like that? >> Uh, I we're focused on Broadline Candy, the big players as you're putting it. But what we're seeing in early data is a huge proponent of lapsed shoppers are coming back to the category because we exist. >> Interesting. So in the first >> So maybe they gave up candy in the past, now they're returning to it. >> That's right. So in the first month, we've seen uh 50% of customers who are buying Hall Pass right now haven't shopped the category in the last 52 weeks. >> They loved candy. They want candy, but they haven't had a solution that's like that Coke Zero that you're talking about. That's what Hall Pass provides. >> All right. Giving up candy for a year and now finally returning. I mean, if you could do it, I'm excited to watch this journey. I appreciate it. >> And good repeat rates so far. So sounds like the taste is working. All right, Michael Tardy, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. I can't wait to try one, guys. Coming up, we have you covered through the closing bell on Wall Street. Don't go anywhere. Heat. Heat. Down. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Down. Down. Down. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Starts ending the day higher across the board and Fray standing by with a recap. I mean, Taiwan 7 duck a record high. Where did Nvidia end the day? And the NASDAQ leading the way to the close this afternoon. >> Yeah, that's right, Brooke. If we take a look at our Wi-Fi Interactive, you will see that the NASDAQ closing at a new all-time high for the NASDAQ Composite. Also, you're looking at the S&P 500 that is up 610 of a percent. And then the Dow also higher as well. We have been watching the longdated bonds. Those have gone higher. But look, you've got a market that is expecting the Fed to be holding rates steady, overwhelmingly expecting that to happen at the Fed's next policy meeting. So perhaps part of the reason why you are seeing stocks climbing higher. Over on the sector action, you're looking at materials, communications services that are in the green, but really Nvidia uh notching a new all-time high record, the first all-time high close since May of this year. And that has also helped lift even the Dow uh which had been in red territory earlier this morning. But also, I just want to mention that it's not just uh Nvidia that's been uh reaching a high. You've got Taiwan semiconductor as you just mentioned that reached a new high. And if you take a look at our cyber security map here, you will see PaloAlto Network, not a big move today, but that's a new record uh for for that company. Crowd Strike also at all-time highs. So, you've got cyber security that is also lifting that AI trade as well. Brooke >> and Ezra, thank you so much for for breaking it all down for us. I appreciate it. And for more on this, joining me now is Keith Learner, Truist Chief Investment Officer and Chief Market Strategist. Keith, what a way to end this Monday's trading session. I mean, technology just continues to lead the way here. We have the new record high for the NASDAQ. So, break down what's leading this momentum this afternoon. >> Yeah, well, great to be with you. Nice to see some green on the board to start the week. I think it is important what you just discussed. Um, you know, we've been saying that every bull market has a dominant theme. The dominant theme of this bull market is tech and really since June that sector has been moving sideways resetting valuations even though earnings momentum remains very strong and there's been a lot of questions about tech but this breakout today I think is important. It's you know as mentioned the sectors only up 3% since last June earnings continue to move up and at the recent lows the uh the PE for tech was around 21. That's the same level we saw when chat GBT was launched back in 2022. So I think all in all, you know, tech is is leading and we're also seeing an oversold balance in some of these other areas of the market today. >> So Keith, is that is that forward PE which is like you said down significantly year-over-year. Is that sort of providing reassurance for investors right now in this AI trade? Are the fears just suddenly gone away? >> No, I I think in some ways it's the opposite. I think all these concerns that we've been discussing in the last few months as far as um you know the pacing of AI models, dislocations as far as displacement of of of labor uh circular finance and I think that's made this PE contract. If we think about last October uh the the tech PE was around 35 so around 21 the premium to the overall market is just above 10%. That's one of the lowest premiums for tech that we've seen of the last decade. So what does that tell me? That tells me that all these concerns have really rerated down tech lower. That means expectations have been reset. At the same time this is happening, earnings continue to move higher. So I think at some point you've kind of priced in some of that uncertainty. The earnings aren't moving down. They actually continue to accelerate. And I think it brings a little bit more um you know maybe there's some people who have you know maybe missed the trade or been out of tech that says let me look around that some of these valuations have gotten pretty attractive. At the same time, you can't help but notice that consumer discretionary stocks are getting hit by higher rates. We also have financials, materials, utilities seeing some of the worst returns in September. So, what's your message to investors there? And is there an opportunity with this pullback? >> Yeah, so it's interesting. If you look at the headline index and you know, you see you know the 10 year around 5.3% oil prices that have been up a lot. The question is why is this mo market holding up so well and the reality because the tech the headline index has been holding up below the surface there there were only two sectors that were up last month and we have seven sectors that are down more than 8%. So we've seen this kind of underneath the surface a correction and we we now have into this month only about 20% of stocks above the 50-day moving average. Historically that's an oversold market due for a bounce. So to your question, I do think some of these areas like financials, industrials are due for a bounce, but I ultimately still think tech is longerterm leadership uh in this bull marketing. >> At the same time, we have yields, 10-year yield, 30-year yields reaching the highest levels that we've seen since 2022, and yet we have a market that seemingly is shrugging it off. Does that worry you, Keith? >> Well, again, I would say from my vantage point, the market isn't actually uh shrugging it off um beneath the surface because you've seen um you know, small caps had a correction of almost 10%. And you just mentioned consumer discretionary, retail stocks are down a lot. Anything like home building stocks, they're they're well off the highs, actually closer to 252 week lows. Um, and a lot of people have been talking about the breath of the market uh being somewhat weak. So, I think the market has not been complacent. It has these higher rates are biting. So, I think that's something to keep in mind. And I think what's happened is tech has turned somewhat defensive because the thinking is even if the economy slows down because of these higher rates um or there's interest rates sensitive the economy slows down the consumer you know these tech earnings continue to move forward but listen I think on a short-term basis even these other areas are likely have some room to bounce and maybe the last point is we are in this midterm election year you know it's very normal to see very choppy markets from June to right before the elections before you tend to have not guaranteed of course but tend to have a a rally as you kind of get through some of the midterm uncertainty. >> Keith, at the same time, if you if you did have a crystal ball, will we see a historically record to end this year given that it's a midterm election year? Because there seems to be a pattern here. >> Yeah, there is. I mean, so when we look back historically, the fourth quarter has been positive about 80% of the time. In midterm elections years, that's 84% of the time, and the average gain is about 7%. Now, we've also looked back and said um or looked back at the last 13 fourth quarters in general, and they've been up um 12 out of 13 times. Now, the one outlier is 2018, and that should raise a little bit of a flag because that's when the Fed was also, you know, raising rates where there was concern they were going to be too tight. But all in all, to answer your question, I still in in our work, the weight of the evidence still suggests uh the path of least resistance into year end is higher. doesn't mean we won't see some bumps, but that you have that historical um study we just talked about, but you also have this reset in the market in valuations and sentiment that also suggests that we could see some upside before year end. >> Keith, you did just mention the Fed. We had that weaker than expected jobs report that sort of paired back the expectation that the Fed will raise rates again. Are you in that same bandwagon or do you think that we will stay higher for longer and we could see them raise rates yet again? Yeah, I think ultimately um it is somewhat likely that they they can raise rates again. I mean I I think you know they just raised rates. We had kind of a mixed employment report. I think it's more likely they'll give this next uh you know this next meeting a pause and then reassess the data and I think all all in all the market could likely handle you know one or two or maybe even three more rate hikes. If we start going you know five or six then it becomes a bit more problematic because you know I think at that point the uh financial conditions will tie in quite a bit. I will say just for a perspective, I think a lot of us know this, but you know, back in the 1990s, the 10-year Treasury yield averaged about 6.6%. And if you look at the 10-year Treasury now, more recently, there's a lot of factors why yields are higher, but one of the biggest factors is nominal GDP growth is also been moving higher as well. So, you know, higher yields isn't necessarily just just on inflation. It's also because we've had better growth. And I think that's, you know, somewhat of a positive for equities, but again, um, you know, we're moving to a point where the yields themselves are becoming attractive and competing against stocks once again. >> Keith, really quickly, I want to get your take on unemployment because it has stayed below 5% for 61 straight months. What does that tell you about the US economy right now? >> Yeah, I think it tells you a little bit why this economy has been has proven somewhere more resilient. If you look at consumer sentiment, it's very negative, but the unemployment rate, as you just mentioned, is staying low. And then the amount of people going to the unemployment uh lines each week is around the lowest adjusted for population we've seen in history. So if you have a paycheck, you're still spending. I think this that keeps the economy kind of pushing forward even though it's not gang busters. >> Keith Learner, great insight as always. Thanks so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Coming up, we're taking a look at the state of robotics with a company building the software that powers them. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Down. Down. Down. Down. Down to Heat. Heat. Down. Hey, hey, hey. A new report from Bane is saying the AI buildout could require nearly 6 trillion in annual revenue by 2031 to pay off all of this spending. For more, we're bringing in Yahoo Finance tech editor Dan Howie. Dan, what can you tell us because that seems like a pretty significant number there. >> Yeah, pretty big number, Brooke. And one of the things that I think is worth pointing out is that Bane said uh that companies at this point have or should have between 1.2 and 1.8 trillion in revenue by 2023 based on how they're using AI at this point. that's, you know, some of the physical AI stuff, uh, some of the, uh, search and automation, uh, that we're seeing, but that still leaves a, you know, $4 trillion shortfall, uh, for that. And so, I spoke to David Crawford over at, uh, Bane, and he basically said, look, what this requires is kind of a Cambrian explosion of innovation when it comes to AI. And you know, he said they're not calling whether or not uh they uh the companies hit that mark, but he said that if they don't, then they'll obviously have to start slowing down on their capex spending to kind of ensure that there's that equilibrium between what they're making uh and then what they're spending. If they do manage though to meet that $4 trillion and and hit that $6 trillion kind of goal there, then they could speed up spending even faster uh just to meet demand that they would see. Uh this all comes down to kind of finding new ways to use AI. Uh and you know, granted, it's 5 years from now. It's only been uh 4 years since uh almost 4 years, not even four years since Chad GPT debuted uh in late November 2022. And look at where we are now. So obviously there will be some new products that come out, some new innovations, but $6 trillion, that's a lot of cash. >> It sure is, Dan. Now Dan, you're also following something pretty interesting, this debate around AI consciousness. So walk us through what exactly that means and where do these companies stand and what does this mean if they start treating AI as potentially conscious I guess. >> Yeah, there's this this debate uh in different schools of thought between uh different uh AI companies or different AI I should say uh leadership. Uh so over at anthropic they have kind of a AI constitution and you know part of it is they kind of are saying well look we don't know if AI is currently conscious or you know uh if it could be in the future so we're going to on the side uh that it is and treat it as such uh and ensure that you know they have certain uh kind of pieces in place to provide for the welfare of of AI. Uh then if you look at Mustafa Sulaman, he's the the head of Microsoft's uh AI uh uh segment, he basically says, "Look, there's no uh consciousness here. It doesn't AI doesn't have feelings or or anything along those lines. Uh and assigning it some kind of welfare uh protections is dangerous." Uh and you know, this debate continues to kind of go back and forth. you know, as some experts will say, you know, there there really is no definition of of what consciousness is or or how you reach it. Uh and so that adds even more tangled web to this. Uh on top of that, we had representatives uh meeting with the pope at one point from anthropic uh and different AI labs uh kind of going over his kind of thoughts on on AI. uh and at at a point this is according to the New York Times the anthropic representatives were threatening to pull out uh of this kind of conference uh because he would not say that there's the possibility that AI has consciousness uh or or could at some point and you know so it just adds to this kind of back and forth and and kind of uh uh I guess loggerheads that we're seeing between some AI companies and and the way of thinking at others and this whole idea of are these things that we tell to, you know, I don't know, order more paper towels on Amazon. Uh, are they conscious or or are they not? I think it's going to continue to be a debate that we'll see going forward. >> Dan Hi, thanks so much for breaking it down. Definitely a trend to watch for sure. >> Robotics is attracting a fresh wave of investor interest. Open mind highlighting the race may come down to who can build robots cheaply and safely with China already holding a major major manufacturing edge. Joining me now is open mind founder and CEO Yon Lipart. Yan, I want to sort of break down first what exactly is open mind and where does it fit within this AI cycle and also this buildout of these humanoid robots? So we care about making machines smart and the way we do that is we build software to snap together many different functions and capabilities so we can build robots that are maximally responsive to what particular customers want. Do you need spatial navigation? Do you need language? Do you need manual capability? And uh so we're in this camp of building agentic robotics. Now, for anyone listening out there, they might think, "Oh, oh my gosh, are we are we already there? Where exactly are in this buildout of these humanoid robots? Are we is it still the early innings? Are we already well advanced here?" So from a business perspective uh we get very little customer interest for the humanoid form factor and that's because most of the business we see right now is for industry and manufacturing. In that segment what people really care about are things like reliability and safety and that means generally the platforms we use there will have wheels but they will have a torso, a head and two arms. Um in terms of uh where is the technology right now it is um getting dramatically better dramatically quickly. So every week uh we wake up and we're able to add another capability uh to these systems. So it's moving just as fast as the broader AI uh uh AI technologies moving. Yan, are are you seeing demand solely still from that manufacturing facility standpoint? Are are we see going to see, you know, robots within homes? What does the demand look there and how realistic is it right now? >> So, that's still very early and that is based on many factors like safety and reliability and what kind of things people want robots to do in their homes. The first thing we always find when we deploy humanoord to someone's house, the very first thing we learn is that their Wi-Fi is horrible. So, um there are many additional barriers to deploying robots, whatever form factors to a normal household and that business is still extremely small. There are early signs of interest for example in memory care facilities uh where um some people love to interact with robots that are social uh but that's still very early. Most of the business we see is manufacturing either understanding their factories or making them more efficient or better. >> Yan, there are a lot of conversations happening about robotics and this race that the US is currently competing with China for. Now, you say that Chinese vendors account for nearly all humanoid shipments in the first half of 2026. Do you think that the US is behind in this race? >> Well, there's no question that the majority of the supply chain for advanced physical AI is currently in China. And so, there's no argument about this. Um it is good that there are new rules um that um bias uh companies in the US from uh bias towards building out our own supply chain here. But that's not going to happen overnight. Uh but it's good to see um that more and more companies are taking this seriously and deploying resources towards that. >> How long do you think that that buildout could take here in the US? That depends on the vertical. Uh defense robotics um is probably most mature here uh because we've been building uh robots uh for defense use cases for a while in the US. So that's uh further ahead. But when it comes to making large numbers of reliable high performance robots on a shoestring budget, we're way behind. uh uh robots you can buy here in the US that were built here are typically three to eight times more expensive than anything you could buy out of China. And so this is really a question of which markets you're going after and what your price points are. So we're way behind when it comes to massive scale manufacturing of lowcost robots. >> All right, so low cost eventually but not anytime soon. But meanwhile in the next say 12 to 24 months what should we be looking out for? How quickly could this all evolve? >> Well the first thing that people will see is that robots are becoming um much better at uh interacting with unstructured environments with um kids, people, pets, parks, hospitals, schools and so forth. Um, in the old days, robots were only good at doing deterministic tasks, but they're getting ever better at reasoning, tactics, making plans, and dealing with unstructured environments. And uh, people will be amazed when they see robots uh, interacting naturally at uh, conventions, in parks, and in schools and so forth. The numbers will still be very small uh because of these issues of scaling the numbers, but certainly people will see more and more examples um or videos of how these robots are uh much more functional as um teachers, as colleagues, as co-workers. >> Yan, really quickly, what's your message to Americans who fear this adoption? Please. The number one message is Hollywood movies are not real. So, Hollywood movies are entertaining and they can scare you, but that's not reality. And please educate yourself on all the amazing and awesome things advanced robots can do for old people or to make traffic safer or to make manufacturing in the US more efficient and faster. So Hollywood is not reality. >> Yan Lipart, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate your insight. >> Thank you. >> And that's a wrap on today's show. Thank you all so much for watching. Much more young finance straight ahead. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. I'll be Heat. Heat.