October 4, 2024 • 34 mins
Chuck Zodda and Mike Armstrong explain why retailers have no room for error this holiday season. Why are pandemic-era startups thriving and driving the economy? Why are oil prices not reacting to conflicts in the middle east? Paul LaMonica from Barron's joins the show to discuss AT&T's recent moves away from the tv business.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(01:07):
This is the Financial Exchange with Chuck Zada and Mike Armstrong.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Kicking off the second hour with the Financial Exchange here
on a Job's Friday. Big big numbers up for jobs
created two hundred and fifty four thousand for the month
of September, the unemployment rate falling from four point two
to four point one. It was a hair away from
falling to four percent flat. It's Chuck, Mike and Tucker
(01:36):
with you and the market response to this. The Dow
is up one hundred and thirteen points about a quarter
percent as a piece, up twenty four points right now
about half a percent, and the Nasdaq up one hundred
and thirty nine about three quarters of a percent. But
trading has been volatile. These indices were all about a
half percent higher at the open. They fell to the
point where the Dow was negative and the S and
(01:56):
P was flat on the day about I don't know,
oh ten thirty this morning, and subsequently a little bit
of a rally back, so some intra day volatility as
traders try to digest.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
This not a typical by the way, I mean, when
you when you have a big burnoff like this, two
big stories burning off. In fact, now I think about it,
you've got the job story continuing the show the decline
in unemployment, robust hiring along with the end of that
strike at the ports. Pretty common for markets to bounce
around like this.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And part of the reason for this, you've got the
ten year treasury selling off in anticipation of higher growth
than the Fed not needing to cut as much ten
years up to three point nine to six percent, up
point one point one percent. So you've got that move happening.
Oil continuing to rise, but not by too much today
only up fifty two cents of barrel to seventy four
to twenty three triple A national average for gas prices,
(02:46):
though continuing to slide. Remember oil prices do not necessarily
reflect gasoline prices, especially immediately, and so we've got the
triple A national average for gas prices down another eight
tenths of a cent to three eighteen and two tenths nationally,
and so those prices continuing to fall at the moment,
(03:06):
and we've got goal today up forty cents. Now it's
not much movement there to twenty six, seventy nine and
sixty cents, Mike, any other key points regarding the jobs
report that you want to touch on.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I guess I'm trying to relate it back to the
average person who might not care day to day moves
on the stock market. I mean to me, one of
the things that this reads is less likely for job
loss recession. This report, would you know, indicate a reversal
of the recent trend we've seen in unemployment and hiring slowdowns.
It also means more likely higher rates come the spring
(03:38):
housing market, right, if there is a probability of a
five three quarters thirty year mortgage coming in by the spring,
that was you know, wiped away a little bit with
this job's report, and so those things, again, trying to
relate to the average person who might be thinking about
this stuff. Yeah, a little bit less likely that we're
heading towards an imminent recession. Also a little bit less
(04:00):
likely that you're gonna get a great deal on a
mortgage anytime in the near future.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, this is We've already seen a little bit of
upward pressure this week on mortgage rates. Yesterday, the thirty
or fixed rate closed at six point twenty six percent.
That's according to Mortgage News Daily, this is probably gonna
get us back into this six three and a six
three five to six four range by the end of
day today. So again, this is kind of this give
and take where hey, we get good economic data, mortgage
(04:27):
rates move up and that potentially slows the economy a
little bit. So we'll we'll see where this all goes. Again,
it's it's one jobs report, so you don't take too
much from it. But quite honestly, and again it's I
probably give out, you know, maybe three or four of
these along the way. You know, historically, I don't think
you can give this one anything other than an A.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Now, this job report is, it's as good as you
could reasonably expect any jobs report to be.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I mean there's always something where you're like, well, we
lost seven thousand manufacturing jobs, okay. I mean, if that's
going to be the thing where you're like, no, it
has to be like an A minus or B plus,
then you're then it's impossible to get an ay.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, you're not being honest then, So it's a great
job support it is.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Let's talk a little bit about the retail sector. There's
a piece in Bloomberg Opinion today. It's titled retailers have
no room for error this holiday and it's uh specifically
looking at, you know, the upcoming holiday shopping season and saying, hey,
how much are you know, there's a ton of a
ton of different surveys that are done prior to the
(05:32):
shopping season on how much are people are going to
be spending because retailers want to get their inventories right,
and so when you look at this, it's you know,
kind of a question of, hey, what are we going
to be seeing from people? And there are some causes
for some reasons for concern heading into the busiest retail
season of the year.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah, estimates for shopping and spending increases this year are
coming around a three percent increase compared to twenty twenty three.
That's not too variable, but it's you know, below the
average increase over the last decade of about a five
percent increase. Most of that growth is going to be
coming from online shopping, not in store, but it is
still expected to grow in both segments. And so I mean,
(06:13):
who knows where this is going to land. But yeah,
if expectations are for a less significant increase in overall spending,
then each retailer is going to be fighting for those
scraps and looking to execute in any possible way that
they can. I think the good news is we're clearly,
in my view at least, back to a normal holiday
shopping season as opposed to still the COVID era of
(06:37):
weird shopping trends, unwillingness to go in person. We're back
to the maybe a new normal, but the normal.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah Busting. Consulting Group did a survey of five hundred
US consumers about, Hey, what are you expecting for the
or what's important to you for the upcoming holiday shopping season?
And no surprise that the number one thing fifty two
percent of respondents, So, price and promotion is going to
be a key driving factor. Thirty six percent said convenience
thirty three percent, products often in stock thirty two percent,
(07:08):
timely deliveries thirty percent, product quality twenty four percent. A
seamless omni channel experience. How important is that to you? Michael?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Omni channel very very big.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Where Where do where does one subscribe to the omni channel?
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I mean, this is a silly little word here, but
I do think that this is a of growing importance.
Right If I'm going to feel comfortable buying something I
want to know that I have multiple ways to return it.
I want to hopefully go out and you know, maybe
touch it and see it in person before I actually
make the purchase. And some companies are executing on this
(07:42):
better than others, and so you know, being able to
provide a swift return if it needs to be returned,
being able to you know, have it in stock. If
it's you know, something that I see online or get
promoted to online, will I be able to go quickly
check it out at the local retail store. That's that's
of increasing importance to shoppers of all sorts.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Also interesting data this also from Boston Consulting Group and MasterCard.
They ask people, look when when does most of your
shopping actually take place? And MasterCard in their case, they
actually looked at, you know, their own shopping trends from
the last couple of years. Twenty nine percent of US
holiday sales last year came between October first and October
(08:24):
thirty first. Twenty two percent were November first to the
day before Thanksgiving. Only seven percent were Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday.
So for all the importance and all the talk that
we give to you know, Black Friday and Cyber Monday
seven percent of overall sales there, Cyber Monday to Christmas
Eve thirty six percent of sales, and Christmas to December
(08:47):
thirty first apparently six percent of holiday shopping concluded after Christmas.
Last year, I can tell you that my Amazon toy
catalog already came in the mail.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
I think last week.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Oh yeah, we've.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Gone through that puppy uh like six times already.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Really really tried to just put in the recycling bin
before it could be found, but that did not work
in case.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
The kids look forward to that.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I do just love just you know, the company that
puts Sears out of business is doing catalogs, is adopting
the business model.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Anything anything look good there?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
This year, I have not personally looked through it. It
was just stolen from my hands by my children who
ran away with it.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So pro talker. Did you get to look at it?
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Oh yeah, yeah. We sit down and look through it,
and you know, we talk about all the things that
I can't afford.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
He's buying.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
He's buying an ADU for his backyard. Is this a
toy catalog or is it a toy cat Is it
everything cattag I think it's mainly a toy catalog.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, it's too bad that they don't have like the
ADUs and they're like seis used to have the home
kits that you could buy, not the Apple Home Kit.
But hey, here's it. Here's all this. We'll deliver you
all this stuff you need to build your own.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Here's a nineteen sixties craftsman.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
You know, it's just it's it's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
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Speaker 2 (12:09):
Mike, there's a great piece of New York Times today.
It's talking about the wave of startups that emerged in
twenty twenty through twenty twenty two, and talking about the
fact that, you know, whether because of the pandemic or
just because of other factors, during that time, you had
this wave of startups that you know, kind of emerged then.
(12:30):
And according to data from the Census Bureau, businesses formed
in twenty twenty through twenty twenty two have created seven
point four million jobs by the end of twenty twenty two.
And so we may be ushering in kind of a
new era of entrepreneurship after you know, ten fifteen years
where that had kind of fallen on the back burner
(12:51):
based on most metrics.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah, I think there were Look, there were just a
ton of businesses that failed across the spectrum after the
Great recept and because of a unique set of circumstances
in COVID, it allowed for this new creation and that
seven point four million. I'd be interested to find out,
but it should be fairly easy for the Census Bureau.
(13:13):
I don't think that's a survey. I guess would be
my point here. If you are the Census Bureau, you
know which EI ends employer identification numbers were created back
in that time period, and you can actually go and
track this to the to the level, and you know
this is Look, this is important because traditionally and historically
(13:36):
throughout the United States, this is where you get your innovation.
This is where you get your tremendous growth. Is new
ideas from small businesses that take risks. You know, General
Electric or Microsoft is not going to be willing to
take the same risk that you know some guy working
out of his garage in Boston is going to be.
And this this should be a compelling and exciting piece
(13:58):
of information, and you know, looking back on it, we
should really study what about this period of time compelled
this type of innovation and creation.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I think let's let's dig in on that a little bit,
because I think it's a really good question, is to like,
why do people you know, pursue, you know, the idea
of starting their their own business and and and why
do they do it at a certain time, Because at
any point in time, anyone could drop out of you know,
whatever job they're doing, or hey, if you're not working, say,
(14:32):
you know what, I'm going to start this business today.
Why why did we see this this surge in twenty
twenty through twenty twenty two. And there are a couple
different reasons that that I come to. The first is
could have been necessity. Hey, I was working in an
industry that was disrupted, like you know, the restaurant industry
or you know wherever, and I wasn't sure where my
(14:53):
paycheck was going to come from, and so I had
to do something, and I decided to start a business
because what did I have to lose.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I think there was some of that. I think there is, frankly,
some boredom. You got some out of boredom.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You got some people who, hey, they saw all this
disruption and maybe it just you know, kind of knocked
them upside the head metaphorically and said hey, like things
can change in a hurry. I should do that thing
that I've always wanted to do, you know, and go
start this business that I've had this idea for part
of it. We can also look at it and you
had a whole bunch of money that was slashing around.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Then yeah, that's a key thing here too, and one
of those scenarios that will be more difficult to create.
Everyone and their mother wanted to become an angel investor
in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
So it's it's hard to untangle all of this and
find anything that is like the one reason people did.
But I think ultimately I'm a big believer in one
of the key things that I believe about any business
or any person or whatever it might be. Stressed forces
change and forces you know, adaption and adaptation, not adaptation,
(16:02):
but whatever. You know, it's it's a Friday, and it
forces you to kind of get outside of your comfort
zone and look for better or for worse. If there's
one thing that we all experienced a lot of in
like twenty twenty through twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Two, getting way outside that comfort zone.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It was stressed. We're all a little like you know,
it was not an easy time to get through, and
so I think part of it, you know, I attribute
just to that overall, you know, mindset of hey, look,
we're all a little bit stressed out and trying to overcome that,
and stress forces you know, ingenuity and new ideas to
(16:38):
come to the forefront. So I've got a little confirmation
bias when when I look at these because that's something
that I've believed for a while. And so I kind
of come back to that in terms of, hey, why
did people pursue new things? And I generally think it's
because they had to because of stress, but it can
be all these different factors that play in.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
And I would also say that the counterpoint can also
be true, because there's a hell of a lot of
stress from two thousand and eight through twenty twelve, and
instead it led to a pretty depressed level of innovation
and creation and other things going on there. You know
that you think about the long term problems we're experiencing
now because of that, because of a lack of home building,
(17:15):
and so, you know, it does come to a culmination
of circumstances. I'm not sure you would have gotten the
same results had there not been all that cash slashing
around the economy for a few years, bringing.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
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Speaker 2 (17:55):
We've had the biggest weekly gain in oil prices in
a year following the escalation of the conflict in the
Middle East with Iran earlier this week, sending about one
hundred and eighty missiles towards Israel, some of which struck
their targets. And the challenge here and why I think
(18:19):
that energy markets may still be complacent is that, Mike.
For the last I'm trying to think how long now.
I mean, basically, for the last twenty years, any escalation
in the Middle East has been relatively minimal and confined
to you know, small geographic areas. It never became a
(18:41):
broader regional conflict. And even the stuff that's horrible that's
been going on, I mean, like the civil war in
Yemen has been confined within Yemen's borders and largely has
been horrible for the many people, but it has neighbors.
It hasn't caused any larger problems in terms of disrupting
trade or energy production and things along those lines. And
(19:04):
so here here's where I find this one to potentially
be different is again, like you you just kind of
game out the responses from each side and say, okay,
what you know, what what's at stake here and how
does this work. Iran decided earlier this week, hey, we
have to respond. And this is the second time, by
(19:25):
the way, this year that they have launched missiles towards
Israel directly. The first time they gave like a day
and a half notice. They pretty much said where they down.
They pretty much said, we're gonna shoot this at this
and so Israel and the United States shot quite literally,
I think it was like ninety nine point five percent
(19:47):
of the missiles down and the other ones just didn't
even hit anything. It was just it was all noise.
This one fewer missiles that they shot, but they actually
aimed them at you know, Israeli military targets, and they
hit quite a few of them. They didn't cause a
ton of damage necessarily, but there was stuff that got
through and actually hit Israeli targets. And so if you
(20:12):
are Israel, you look at this and you say, okay,
our concern is sure. This might have been like, you know,
your best effort where you said, okay, this is what
we're gonna do, but there was nothing that was nuclear
that was sent towards us. Right if in the future
one of those ballistic missiles is armed with a nuclear
(20:34):
warhead and it's the one that gets through, that is
an existential threat to the Israeli state and as such,
we have to be able to prevent that from happening.
Now that we know what Tehran's you know, real capabilities
are in conflict, and so we have to do something
(20:55):
significant in order to prevent that from becoming a problem,
in which case Trani is gonna you know, Iran is
going to come back and say, okay, we need to
do X. There are a few off ramps at this point,
is what concerns me.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Yeah, and you know what happens if Iran decides that
they can't successfully strike into Israel, do they go after
a different neighbor who is tacitly supporting You know, this
could yeah, it could hypothetically go in a lot of
different places. Is the oil market complacent. Are they underpricing
(21:27):
the risk? Yes, they are my answers, I don't know,
but it feels like it more than it does at
other times. But you did see a nine percent rally
in oil prices.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
I don't know. It's impossible to appropriately price this stuff
until you see the net result.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
What I mean is they're not pricing in the fact
that it could get worse at this point. It's basically, hey,
we think we've you know, priced this to where it
is today. It might be fairly price for where things
stay today, but not for where it could go. And
that I think is is because of complacency, because every
(22:07):
potential escalation in the last twenty years, the temperature has
gotten turned down pretty quickly, right, and this is potentially
different like it's It's a very different set of circumstances
that we find each other in right now. And I
just don't feel that this is being appropriately priced as
(22:30):
a tail risk in markets. I hope I am wrong. Sure,
I would absolutely love to be wrong on this, because
it has the potential to get very ugly here. But
we'll see, you know, it's it's a very minute to minute,
(22:51):
day to day situation at the moment there.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Yeah, I get the complacency argument. I also do get
the argument on the side of traders say, we've seen
echoes of this over the last two decades and this
is where it's landed, and so I do get the
complacency I guess would be my point.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Uh, let's turn to something that's a little bit more chill. Yeah.
McDonald's gonna be rolling out there Chicken Big Mac to
US restaurants on October tenth. Mike, why are they not
calling this the chick mac.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Because they're not good at naming things. I guess was
their last hit, the McNugget the McRib again in a
little while it has, But like Chicken Big Mac, the
chicken doesn't roll off the tongue. The chick mac Chicken
Chicken big four syllables instead of two.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
The chick mac. It's like the chick The chick mac
really hits, I think, But.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Yeah, October ten, this has not been created before, by
the way, especially like five years ago when the whole
chicken sandwich craze went through the roof, you.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Kind of figured that someone would have done it by accident,
you know, like, right, there's probably someone who ordered this
and was like, Hey, can you give me a big mac,
but give me two of the fried chickens instead of
the burger and and some you know. McDonald's order taker
was like, I gotta call corporate because this is it.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
I don't think so. No, I don't think this is it.
I'm not going here instead of chick fil A. If I've
got the options, the chicken mac isn't going to make
me do it?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Oh what, Michael? Michael. Now, we can talk a lot
of things, but we can't talk that way about McDonald's.
As someone who consumes large quantities of McNuggets on a
more regular basis than i'd like to admit, I think
we have to give McDonald's a little bit of credit
for be what it is, which is again, really good
(25:03):
fast food. Quite honestly, that's nice.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
What did you learn in kindergarten today, Chuck?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So? I have a buddy of mine who, as much
as you know, he went to smart Smart dude went
to Harvard Business School, which is why I kind of
dislike him but also crudgingly admit that he's kind of smart. Yeah,
he views McDonald's actually as the pinnacle of food because
he says that it is the most consistent that you
will get from restaurant to restaurant given the scale that
(25:31):
they have, which I appreciate that point of view. But yes,
So McDonald's rolling out the Chick Mac on October tenth.
So that's exciting.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
And we're still not sponsored by McDonald's. I don't believe.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Look, there's a lot of competition. I mean, I am
a fast food connoisseur. I mean you mentioned Chick fil A.
Also one of my favorites, Taco Bell. Wendy's has a
special place in my heart.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
You know, it's the what was the Wendy's the Double
down where Okay, yeah, yeah, it was the bread was
chicken innovation, people, innovation of what was in the middle burger?
I think more chicken.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Hang on, I can't remember what they Oh no, it
was bacon in the middle, bacon and cheese. Okay, okay, yeah,
it's a bun free sandwich with two chicken FLEs, cheese
and bacon.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Just had a burger in that. Now you're talking three
different animals sandwich heart attack together.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Oh that is not kosher.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Let's take a quick break here and when we return,
we're joined by Paul Lamonica from Baron's Right after this.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
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Speaker 2 (28:10):
Don't We're doing well? And AT and T has been
one of the probably worst shepherds of capital over the
last ten to fifteen years out there in my opinion.
But they finally have sold off their remaining direct TV steak,
they'veloaded unloaded WarnerMedia. At this point, what's the outlook for
(28:35):
the company going forward and how does this you know,
potentially shore things up for them financially.
Speaker 7 (28:41):
Yeah, that's a great question, man. I think investors are
hopeful that doing this deal, getting rid of the remaining
steak Interact TV to private acuity firm TPG, who will
then in turn hopefully merge that with Dish, which has
been a rumored deal for years. What this could do
for AT and T is it now makes them once
(29:05):
again a pure play telecom company that's going to focus
on five G and you know, fiber optic network and
obviously that is you know what you would think AT
and T should be doing. It's what Verizon obviously is
doing as well. The problem is that this is still
a slow growth business, and I think that AT and T,
(29:31):
even though it is now once again a pure play,
you know, they face the challenges from Verizon and T Mobile,
which is kind of the you know, the red hot
or magenta hot name if you will, in wireless telecom
right now. As I wrote in a story for Barons, yes,
AT and T will have some more financial flexibility to
(29:52):
spend on capex and maybe even increase its dividend, which
already has an impressive yield of five percent, which is
below Verizon's yield of six percent. But if you look
at T Mobile, you've got to yield just under two percent,
which is no slouch and higher earnings growth. Granted, the
valuations much higher, but you know, T Mobile might be
(30:13):
the best bet in this sector as opposed to the
sleepy mobel and equally somnolent Verizon.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
When you look at AT and T, is there anything
marginally exciting about them?
Speaker 7 (30:32):
I mean, if you are to buy the argument that
less is more, I do think it is a more
exciting potential stock given its valuation. In the fact that
it has finally gotten out of the media entertainment business,
which you know, I'm going to be careful to knock
(30:53):
them too much. As someone who you know, worked for
WarnerMedia before joining Barons, obviously, I was at CNN and
saw my fair share of corporate overlords, which at one
point did include AT and C. I think that, you know,
Verizon also learned with its Oath deal. Remember it had
(31:13):
AOL and Yahoo.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Hi.
Speaker 7 (31:15):
Content companies maybe are not the best fit for the
distribution firms. There was this whole notion for a while
in media and technology team and entertainment that you own
the pipes, you might as well own all the content
that you're going to lush down those pipes if you will.
I'm not so sure that that was the right strategy.
(31:37):
There's nothing wrong, there's no shame in being a networking company.
You don't have to be a media firm as well.
So I think AHT and T being more streamlined now
investors will appreciate that. The question just is what's the
growth going to be like? And even at a tennish
type earnings multiple, is low sluggish growth enough to justify
(32:00):
that type of stock price or is this back to
just the classic widow and orphan stock. Hey, five percent
yield when probably rates are coming down because the FED
rate cuts. It's not the worst thing in the world.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Is there any you know, engine out there for them
where you know there's Hey, this part of their business
is growing quickly and there's something you know to it
or is it just Hey, it's a mature company. Everyone's
got cell phones, everyone's got you know, cable coming into
the house at this point, and there's just not much
else that they can do here.
Speaker 7 (32:34):
Yeah, I think that is going to be the big challenge.
It's it's hard to imagine you know, unless you're really
looking at market share, stealing customers from Verizon, from T Mobile,
from some of the cable companies that offer broadband you know,
internet and phone services as well. That's really where the
(32:56):
growth is going to come from. Because you know, it
won't be too long probably before we start wondering about
what's next with technological advances, and will companies have to
spend even more on new network capacity for even more
advanced you know, I don't think we're at the level
of salivating over six G just yet, but we're eventually
(33:20):
going to get to a point where all of these
telecoms are going to have to spend more aggressively for
network improvements for even faster Internet speeds, and that could
be a challenge as well if you have high capital
expenditures and very little in the way of revenue and
earning scrow.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Very good, Paul, appreciate you joining us today and have
a great weekend.
Speaker 7 (33:43):
Thanks a lot, you two.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Mike, you a fan of chicken tenders? Sure, Chuck, piece
of New York Times. Have chicken tenders conquered America? Do
you know? They were only invented fifty years ago in Manchester,
New Hampshire.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Allegedly, right like you can't like?
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Is that the case? No one breded and fried a
chicken tender until then? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
To close things out, Spirit Airlines off twenty five percent
ninety percent for the year as they consider bankruptcy.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
That in the chicken tender will get you a cup
of coffee.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Stocks for remains slightly positive, that dows up a quarter percent,
s and P up twenty two points now and Nasdaq
up one twenty one. Have a great weekend everyone. We'll
see you on Monday.
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(01:07):
This is the Financial Exchange with Chuck Zada and Mike Armstrong.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Kicking off the second hour with the Financial Exchange here
on a Job's Friday. Big big numbers up for jobs
created two hundred and fifty four thousand for the month
of September, the unemployment rate falling from four point two
to four point one. It was a hair away from
falling to four percent flat. It's Chuck, Mike and Tucker
(01:36):
with you and the market response to this. The Dow
is up one hundred and thirteen points about a quarter
percent as a piece, up twenty four points right now
about half a percent, and the Nasdaq up one hundred
and thirty nine about three quarters of a percent. But
trading has been volatile. These indices were all about a
half percent higher at the open. They fell to the
point where the Dow was negative and the S and
(01:56):
P was flat on the day about I don't know,
oh ten thirty this morning, and subsequently a little bit
of a rally back, so some intra day volatility as
traders try to digest.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
This not a typical by the way, I mean, when
you when you have a big burnoff like this, two
big stories burning off. In fact, now I think about it,
you've got the job story continuing the show the decline
in unemployment, robust hiring along with the end of that
strike at the ports. Pretty common for markets to bounce
around like this.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And part of the reason for this, you've got the
ten year treasury selling off in anticipation of higher growth
than the Fed not needing to cut as much ten
years up to three point nine to six percent, up
point one point one percent. So you've got that move happening.
Oil continuing to rise, but not by too much today
only up fifty two cents of barrel to seventy four
to twenty three triple A national average for gas prices,
(02:46):
though continuing to slide. Remember oil prices do not necessarily
reflect gasoline prices, especially immediately, and so we've got the
triple A national average for gas prices down another eight
tenths of a cent to three eighteen and two tenths nationally,
and so those prices continuing to fall at the moment,
(03:06):
and we've got goal today up forty cents. Now it's
not much movement there to twenty six, seventy nine and
sixty cents, Mike, any other key points regarding the jobs
report that you want to touch on.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I guess I'm trying to relate it back to the
average person who might not care day to day moves
on the stock market. I mean to me, one of
the things that this reads is less likely for job
loss recession. This report, would you know, indicate a reversal
of the recent trend we've seen in unemployment and hiring slowdowns.
It also means more likely higher rates come the spring
(03:38):
housing market, right, if there is a probability of a
five three quarters thirty year mortgage coming in by the spring,
that was you know, wiped away a little bit with
this job's report, and so those things, again, trying to
relate to the average person who might be thinking about
this stuff. Yeah, a little bit less likely that we're
heading towards an imminent recession. Also a little bit less
(04:00):
likely that you're gonna get a great deal on a
mortgage anytime in the near future.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, this is We've already seen a little bit of
upward pressure this week on mortgage rates. Yesterday, the thirty
or fixed rate closed at six point twenty six percent.
That's according to Mortgage News Daily, this is probably gonna
get us back into this six three and a six
three five to six four range by the end of
day today. So again, this is kind of this give
and take where hey, we get good economic data, mortgage
(04:27):
rates move up and that potentially slows the economy a
little bit. So we'll we'll see where this all goes. Again,
it's it's one jobs report, so you don't take too
much from it. But quite honestly, and again it's I
probably give out, you know, maybe three or four of
these along the way. You know, historically, I don't think
you can give this one anything other than an A.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Now, this job report is, it's as good as you
could reasonably expect any jobs report to be.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I mean there's always something where you're like, well, we
lost seven thousand manufacturing jobs, okay. I mean, if that's
going to be the thing where you're like, no, it
has to be like an A minus or B plus,
then you're then it's impossible to get an ay.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, you're not being honest then, So it's a great
job support it is.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Let's talk a little bit about the retail sector. There's
a piece in Bloomberg Opinion today. It's titled retailers have
no room for error this holiday and it's uh specifically
looking at, you know, the upcoming holiday shopping season and saying, hey,
how much are you know, there's a ton of a
ton of different surveys that are done prior to the
(05:32):
shopping season on how much are people are going to
be spending because retailers want to get their inventories right,
and so when you look at this, it's you know,
kind of a question of, hey, what are we going
to be seeing from people? And there are some causes
for some reasons for concern heading into the busiest retail
season of the year.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah, estimates for shopping and spending increases this year are
coming around a three percent increase compared to twenty twenty three.
That's not too variable, but it's you know, below the
average increase over the last decade of about a five
percent increase. Most of that growth is going to be
coming from online shopping, not in store, but it is
still expected to grow in both segments. And so I mean,
(06:13):
who knows where this is going to land. But yeah,
if expectations are for a less significant increase in overall spending,
then each retailer is going to be fighting for those
scraps and looking to execute in any possible way that
they can. I think the good news is we're clearly,
in my view at least, back to a normal holiday
shopping season as opposed to still the COVID era of
(06:37):
weird shopping trends, unwillingness to go in person. We're back
to the maybe a new normal, but the normal.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah Busting. Consulting Group did a survey of five hundred
US consumers about, Hey, what are you expecting for the
or what's important to you for the upcoming holiday shopping season?
And no surprise that the number one thing fifty two
percent of respondents, So, price and promotion is going to
be a key driving factor. Thirty six percent said convenience
thirty three percent, products often in stock thirty two percent,
(07:08):
timely deliveries thirty percent, product quality twenty four percent. A
seamless omni channel experience. How important is that to you? Michael?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Omni channel very very big.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Where Where do where does one subscribe to the omni channel?
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I mean, this is a silly little word here, but
I do think that this is a of growing importance.
Right If I'm going to feel comfortable buying something I
want to know that I have multiple ways to return it.
I want to hopefully go out and you know, maybe
touch it and see it in person before I actually
make the purchase. And some companies are executing on this
(07:42):
better than others, and so you know, being able to
provide a swift return if it needs to be returned,
being able to you know, have it in stock. If
it's you know, something that I see online or get
promoted to online, will I be able to go quickly
check it out at the local retail store. That's that's
of increasing importance to shoppers of all sorts.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Also interesting data this also from Boston Consulting Group and MasterCard.
They ask people, look when when does most of your
shopping actually take place? And MasterCard in their case, they
actually looked at, you know, their own shopping trends from
the last couple of years. Twenty nine percent of US
holiday sales last year came between October first and October
(08:24):
thirty first. Twenty two percent were November first to the
day before Thanksgiving. Only seven percent were Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday.
So for all the importance and all the talk that
we give to you know, Black Friday and Cyber Monday
seven percent of overall sales there, Cyber Monday to Christmas
Eve thirty six percent of sales, and Christmas to December
(08:47):
thirty first apparently six percent of holiday shopping concluded after Christmas.
Last year, I can tell you that my Amazon toy
catalog already came in the mail.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
I think last week.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Oh yeah, we've.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Gone through that puppy uh like six times already.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Really really tried to just put in the recycling bin
before it could be found, but that did not work
in case.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
The kids look forward to that.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I do just love just you know, the company that
puts Sears out of business is doing catalogs, is adopting
the business model.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Anything anything look good there?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
This year, I have not personally looked through it. It
was just stolen from my hands by my children who
ran away with it.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
So pro talker. Did you get to look at it?
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Oh yeah, yeah. We sit down and look through it,
and you know, we talk about all the things that
I can't afford.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
He's buying.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
He's buying an ADU for his backyard. Is this a
toy catalog or is it a toy cat Is it
everything cattag I think it's mainly a toy catalog.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, it's too bad that they don't have like the
ADUs and they're like seis used to have the home
kits that you could buy, not the Apple Home Kit.
But hey, here's it. Here's all this. We'll deliver you
all this stuff you need to build your own.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Here's a nineteen sixties craftsman.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
You know, it's just it's it's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
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Speaker 2 (12:09):
Mike, there's a great piece of New York Times today.
It's talking about the wave of startups that emerged in
twenty twenty through twenty twenty two, and talking about the
fact that, you know, whether because of the pandemic or
just because of other factors, during that time, you had
this wave of startups that you know, kind of emerged then.
(12:30):
And according to data from the Census Bureau, businesses formed
in twenty twenty through twenty twenty two have created seven
point four million jobs by the end of twenty twenty two.
And so we may be ushering in kind of a
new era of entrepreneurship after you know, ten fifteen years
where that had kind of fallen on the back burner
(12:51):
based on most metrics.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah, I think there were Look, there were just a
ton of businesses that failed across the spectrum after the
Great recept and because of a unique set of circumstances
in COVID, it allowed for this new creation and that
seven point four million. I'd be interested to find out,
but it should be fairly easy for the Census Bureau.
(13:13):
I don't think that's a survey. I guess would be
my point here. If you are the Census Bureau, you
know which EI ends employer identification numbers were created back
in that time period, and you can actually go and
track this to the to the level, and you know
this is Look, this is important because traditionally and historically
(13:36):
throughout the United States, this is where you get your innovation.
This is where you get your tremendous growth. Is new
ideas from small businesses that take risks. You know, General
Electric or Microsoft is not going to be willing to
take the same risk that you know some guy working
out of his garage in Boston is going to be.
And this this should be a compelling and exciting piece
(13:58):
of information, and you know, looking back on it, we
should really study what about this period of time compelled
this type of innovation and creation.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I think let's let's dig in on that a little bit,
because I think it's a really good question, is to like,
why do people you know, pursue, you know, the idea
of starting their their own business and and and why
do they do it at a certain time, Because at
any point in time, anyone could drop out of you know,
whatever job they're doing, or hey, if you're not working, say,
(14:32):
you know what, I'm going to start this business today.
Why why did we see this this surge in twenty
twenty through twenty twenty two. And there are a couple
different reasons that that I come to. The first is
could have been necessity. Hey, I was working in an
industry that was disrupted, like you know, the restaurant industry
or you know wherever, and I wasn't sure where my
(14:53):
paycheck was going to come from, and so I had
to do something, and I decided to start a business
because what did I have to lose.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I think there was some of that. I think there is, frankly,
some boredom. You got some out of boredom.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You got some people who, hey, they saw all this
disruption and maybe it just you know, kind of knocked
them upside the head metaphorically and said hey, like things
can change in a hurry. I should do that thing
that I've always wanted to do, you know, and go
start this business that I've had this idea for part
of it. We can also look at it and you
had a whole bunch of money that was slashing around.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Then yeah, that's a key thing here too, and one
of those scenarios that will be more difficult to create.
Everyone and their mother wanted to become an angel investor
in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
So it's it's hard to untangle all of this and
find anything that is like the one reason people did.
But I think ultimately I'm a big believer in one
of the key things that I believe about any business
or any person or whatever it might be. Stressed forces
change and forces you know, adaption and adaptation, not adaptation,
(16:02):
but whatever. You know, it's it's a Friday, and it
forces you to kind of get outside of your comfort
zone and look for better or for worse. If there's
one thing that we all experienced a lot of in
like twenty twenty through twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Two, getting way outside that comfort zone.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It was stressed. We're all a little like you know,
it was not an easy time to get through, and
so I think part of it, you know, I attribute
just to that overall, you know, mindset of hey, look,
we're all a little bit stressed out and trying to overcome that,
and stress forces you know, ingenuity and new ideas to
(16:38):
come to the forefront. So I've got a little confirmation
bias when when I look at these because that's something
that I've believed for a while. And so I kind
of come back to that in terms of, hey, why
did people pursue new things? And I generally think it's
because they had to because of stress, but it can
be all these different factors that play in.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
And I would also say that the counterpoint can also
be true, because there's a hell of a lot of
stress from two thousand and eight through twenty twelve, and
instead it led to a pretty depressed level of innovation
and creation and other things going on there. You know
that you think about the long term problems we're experiencing
now because of that, because of a lack of home building,
(17:15):
and so, you know, it does come to a culmination
of circumstances. I'm not sure you would have gotten the
same results had there not been all that cash slashing
around the economy for a few years, bringing.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
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Speaker 2 (17:55):
We've had the biggest weekly gain in oil prices in
a year following the escalation of the conflict in the
Middle East with Iran earlier this week, sending about one
hundred and eighty missiles towards Israel, some of which struck
their targets. And the challenge here and why I think
(18:19):
that energy markets may still be complacent is that, Mike.
For the last I'm trying to think how long now.
I mean, basically, for the last twenty years, any escalation
in the Middle East has been relatively minimal and confined
to you know, small geographic areas. It never became a
(18:41):
broader regional conflict. And even the stuff that's horrible that's
been going on, I mean, like the civil war in
Yemen has been confined within Yemen's borders and largely has
been horrible for the many people, but it has neighbors.
It hasn't caused any larger problems in terms of disrupting
trade or energy production and things along those lines. And
(19:04):
so here here's where I find this one to potentially
be different is again, like you you just kind of
game out the responses from each side and say, okay,
what you know, what what's at stake here and how
does this work. Iran decided earlier this week, hey, we
have to respond. And this is the second time, by
(19:25):
the way, this year that they have launched missiles towards
Israel directly. The first time they gave like a day
and a half notice. They pretty much said where they down.
They pretty much said, we're gonna shoot this at this
and so Israel and the United States shot quite literally,
I think it was like ninety nine point five percent
(19:47):
of the missiles down and the other ones just didn't
even hit anything. It was just it was all noise.
This one fewer missiles that they shot, but they actually
aimed them at you know, Israeli military targets, and they
hit quite a few of them. They didn't cause a
ton of damage necessarily, but there was stuff that got
through and actually hit Israeli targets. And so if you
(20:12):
are Israel, you look at this and you say, okay,
our concern is sure. This might have been like, you know,
your best effort where you said, okay, this is what
we're gonna do, but there was nothing that was nuclear
that was sent towards us. Right if in the future
one of those ballistic missiles is armed with a nuclear
(20:34):
warhead and it's the one that gets through, that is
an existential threat to the Israeli state and as such,
we have to be able to prevent that from happening.
Now that we know what Tehran's you know, real capabilities
are in conflict, and so we have to do something
(20:55):
significant in order to prevent that from becoming a problem,
in which case Trani is gonna you know, Iran is
going to come back and say, okay, we need to
do X. There are a few off ramps at this point,
is what concerns me.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Yeah, and you know what happens if Iran decides that
they can't successfully strike into Israel, do they go after
a different neighbor who is tacitly supporting You know, this
could yeah, it could hypothetically go in a lot of
different places. Is the oil market complacent. Are they underpricing
(21:27):
the risk? Yes, they are my answers, I don't know,
but it feels like it more than it does at
other times. But you did see a nine percent rally
in oil prices.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
I don't know. It's impossible to appropriately price this stuff
until you see the net result.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
What I mean is they're not pricing in the fact
that it could get worse at this point. It's basically, hey,
we think we've you know, priced this to where it
is today. It might be fairly price for where things
stay today, but not for where it could go. And
that I think is is because of complacency, because every
(22:07):
potential escalation in the last twenty years, the temperature has
gotten turned down pretty quickly, right, and this is potentially
different like it's It's a very different set of circumstances
that we find each other in right now. And I
just don't feel that this is being appropriately priced as
(22:30):
a tail risk in markets. I hope I am wrong. Sure,
I would absolutely love to be wrong on this, because
it has the potential to get very ugly here. But
we'll see, you know, it's it's a very minute to minute,
(22:51):
day to day situation at the moment there.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Yeah, I get the complacency argument. I also do get
the argument on the side of traders say, we've seen
echoes of this over the last two decades and this
is where it's landed, and so I do get the
complacency I guess would be my point.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Uh, let's turn to something that's a little bit more chill. Yeah.
McDonald's gonna be rolling out there Chicken Big Mac to
US restaurants on October tenth. Mike, why are they not
calling this the chick mac.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Because they're not good at naming things. I guess was
their last hit, the McNugget the McRib again in a
little while it has, But like Chicken Big Mac, the
chicken doesn't roll off the tongue. The chick mac Chicken
Chicken big four syllables instead of two.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
The chick mac. It's like the chick The chick mac
really hits, I think, But.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Yeah, October ten, this has not been created before, by
the way, especially like five years ago when the whole
chicken sandwich craze went through the roof, you.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Kind of figured that someone would have done it by accident,
you know, like, right, there's probably someone who ordered this
and was like, Hey, can you give me a big mac,
but give me two of the fried chickens instead of
the burger and and some you know. McDonald's order taker
was like, I gotta call corporate because this is it.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
I don't think so. No, I don't think this is it.
I'm not going here instead of chick fil A. If I've
got the options, the chicken mac isn't going to make
me do it?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Oh what, Michael? Michael. Now, we can talk a lot
of things, but we can't talk that way about McDonald's.
As someone who consumes large quantities of McNuggets on a
more regular basis than i'd like to admit, I think
we have to give McDonald's a little bit of credit
for be what it is, which is again, really good
(25:03):
fast food. Quite honestly, that's nice.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
What did you learn in kindergarten today, Chuck?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So? I have a buddy of mine who, as much
as you know, he went to smart Smart dude went
to Harvard Business School, which is why I kind of
dislike him but also crudgingly admit that he's kind of smart. Yeah,
he views McDonald's actually as the pinnacle of food because
he says that it is the most consistent that you
will get from restaurant to restaurant given the scale that
(25:31):
they have, which I appreciate that point of view. But yes,
So McDonald's rolling out the Chick Mac on October tenth.
So that's exciting.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
And we're still not sponsored by McDonald's. I don't believe.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Look, there's a lot of competition. I mean, I am
a fast food connoisseur. I mean you mentioned Chick fil A.
Also one of my favorites, Taco Bell. Wendy's has a
special place in my heart.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
You know, it's the what was the Wendy's the Double
down where Okay, yeah, yeah, it was the bread was
chicken innovation, people, innovation of what was in the middle burger?
I think more chicken.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Hang on, I can't remember what they Oh no, it
was bacon in the middle, bacon and cheese. Okay, okay, yeah,
it's a bun free sandwich with two chicken FLEs, cheese
and bacon.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Just had a burger in that. Now you're talking three
different animals sandwich heart attack together.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Oh that is not kosher.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Let's take a quick break here and when we return,
we're joined by Paul Lamonica from Baron's Right after this.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
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Ladies and gentlemen the weekend.
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This segment of the Financial Exchange is brought to you
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Speaker 2 (27:57):
We are now joined by Paul Monica from Barons and
we're talking a little bit about AT and T here, Paul,
how are you today?
Speaker 7 (28:09):
Good? Thanks? How you guys?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Don't We're doing well? And AT and T has been
one of the probably worst shepherds of capital over the
last ten to fifteen years out there in my opinion.
But they finally have sold off their remaining direct TV steak,
they'veloaded unloaded WarnerMedia. At this point, what's the outlook for
(28:35):
the company going forward and how does this you know,
potentially shore things up for them financially.
Speaker 7 (28:41):
Yeah, that's a great question, man. I think investors are
hopeful that doing this deal, getting rid of the remaining
steak Interact TV to private acuity firm TPG, who will
then in turn hopefully merge that with Dish, which has
been a rumored deal for years. What this could do
for AT and T is it now makes them once
(29:05):
again a pure play telecom company that's going to focus
on five G and you know, fiber optic network and
obviously that is you know what you would think AT
and T should be doing. It's what Verizon obviously is
doing as well. The problem is that this is still
a slow growth business, and I think that AT and T,
(29:31):
even though it is now once again a pure play,
you know, they face the challenges from Verizon and T Mobile,
which is kind of the you know, the red hot
or magenta hot name if you will, in wireless telecom
right now. As I wrote in a story for Barons, yes,
AT and T will have some more financial flexibility to
(29:52):
spend on capex and maybe even increase its dividend, which
already has an impressive yield of five percent, which is
below Verizon's yield of six percent. But if you look
at T Mobile, you've got to yield just under two percent,
which is no slouch and higher earnings growth. Granted, the
valuations much higher, but you know, T Mobile might be
(30:13):
the best bet in this sector as opposed to the
sleepy mobel and equally somnolent Verizon.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
When you look at AT and T, is there anything
marginally exciting about them?
Speaker 7 (30:32):
I mean, if you are to buy the argument that
less is more, I do think it is a more
exciting potential stock given its valuation. In the fact that
it has finally gotten out of the media entertainment business,
which you know, I'm going to be careful to knock
(30:53):
them too much. As someone who you know, worked for
WarnerMedia before joining Barons, obviously, I was at CNN and
saw my fair share of corporate overlords, which at one
point did include AT and C. I think that, you know,
Verizon also learned with its Oath deal. Remember it had
(31:13):
AOL and Yahoo.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Hi.
Speaker 7 (31:15):
Content companies maybe are not the best fit for the
distribution firms. There was this whole notion for a while
in media and technology team and entertainment that you own
the pipes, you might as well own all the content
that you're going to lush down those pipes if you will.
I'm not so sure that that was the right strategy.
(31:37):
There's nothing wrong, there's no shame in being a networking company.
You don't have to be a media firm as well.
So I think AHT and T being more streamlined now
investors will appreciate that. The question just is what's the
growth going to be like? And even at a tennish
type earnings multiple, is low sluggish growth enough to justify
(32:00):
that type of stock price or is this back to
just the classic widow and orphan stock. Hey, five percent
yield when probably rates are coming down because the FED
rate cuts. It's not the worst thing in the world.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Is there any you know, engine out there for them
where you know there's Hey, this part of their business
is growing quickly and there's something you know to it
or is it just Hey, it's a mature company. Everyone's
got cell phones, everyone's got you know, cable coming into
the house at this point, and there's just not much
else that they can do here.
Speaker 7 (32:34):
Yeah, I think that is going to be the big challenge.
It's it's hard to imagine you know, unless you're really
looking at market share, stealing customers from Verizon, from T Mobile,
from some of the cable companies that offer broadband you know,
internet and phone services as well. That's really where the
(32:56):
growth is going to come from. Because you know, it
won't be too long probably before we start wondering about
what's next with technological advances, and will companies have to
spend even more on new network capacity for even more
advanced you know, I don't think we're at the level
of salivating over six G just yet, but we're eventually
(33:20):
going to get to a point where all of these
telecoms are going to have to spend more aggressively for
network improvements for even faster Internet speeds, and that could
be a challenge as well if you have high capital
expenditures and very little in the way of revenue and
earning scrow.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Very good, Paul, appreciate you joining us today and have
a great weekend.
Speaker 7 (33:43):
Thanks a lot, you two.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Mike, you a fan of chicken tenders? Sure, Chuck, piece
of New York Times. Have chicken tenders conquered America? Do
you know? They were only invented fifty years ago in Manchester,
New Hampshire.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Allegedly, right like you can't like?
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Is that the case? No one breded and fried a
chicken tender until then? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
To close things out, Spirit Airlines off twenty five percent
ninety percent for the year as they consider bankruptcy.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
That in the chicken tender will get you a cup
of coffee.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Stocks for remains slightly positive, that dows up a quarter percent,
s and P up twenty two points now and Nasdaq
up one twenty one. Have a great weekend everyone. We'll
see you on Monday.
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