to an asteroid ooh called psyche. we're going to get minerals out of there, it's going to make life great on earth. do you like that, the possibility of mining asteroids? >> oh, absolutely. now, i don't personally want to go there and do it -- [laughter] and as to those, you know, whatever it was, 8 quintillion dollars worth of mineral values on an asteroid, well, that's true as long as those minerals are still in outer space. you bring that much gold onto planet earth -- [laughter] charles: don, i love these conversations, my man. by the way, gotta give you kudos the before i let you go. this market was in deep despair last year. you had one message, stay the course. it has worked out well. thank you, my friend, appreciate it. >> thank you, my friend. charles: all right, folk, over to liz claman. liz: happy friday as we kick off the final hour of trade for the entire week. the bulls are snatching back a good chunk of what the bears grabbed yesterday. flight the dow jones industrials up 180 points, look at the s&p,

up 45. the nasdaq, a nice 2% move here, gain of 274 points. russell 2000, small and mid caps, up 27 points. now, in this hour yesterday, the dow had fumbled all 200 plus points of gains and closed down 237. here we are today with a reversal rally red by intel. led by intel. intel topping the dow can jones industrials. we've got shares holdenning to -- holding on to nearly all the 6 gains after the chipmaker not only swung to a poft during the quarter, but signaled that its core pc chip business business is finally close to bottoming. yes, year to date we can look at that, it has gained 39%. but pc chips, here's the problem, they don't command as high a price as artificial intelligence chips. and nvidia owns that a.i. semi space right now. nvidia has surged nearly 220 points year to to date. amd reports next week with, and

invidia's up about 11.5% at the moment -- 1.5%. we'd lo to give intel and all the chipmerricks all the credit, but this also woke up the bulls, slowing inflation. the headline number for june pce, that's personal consumption expenditure, came in cooler than expected. and here's the point, core pce, this is the fed ooh's favorite inflation gauge, matched expectationses month over month and was one-tenth of a percent lighter year e over year. prices coming down and the bull market alive and kicking. our first half losers like energy and industrials, are they about to become the winners? as the bulls continue to run, let's get right to the floor show, trader j.c -- [inaudible] who says that kind of sector rotation, j.c., could push the s&p to 5,000? what's going to push it another, what, 4000 # plus points from here -- 4000 plus points. >> well, it's components, liz. good to see you, as always.

listen, it's about what's driving the indexes. it's a market of stocks. we talk about, oh, the s&p 500, the dow, the nasdaq, there are a series of stocks that dominate those. so health care, by the way, is the second largest component of the dow jones industrial average and the second largest component of the s&p 500. so it's not all tech. how do we get to 5,000 and beyond really, up towards 52, 53900 easy. the question is more of $5300. if interest rates are falling and remain mute ifed, that means, in my opinion, technology and these growth stocks can continue to do well. and in that environment, the indexes are going to crush because technology and mega-cap growth is such a big component. on the other hand, if it's a scenario where interest rates -- which have been rising recently -- stay elevated and inflation is not over and commodities start to come back with, interest rates start to creep, perhaps it's an environment where energy, materials, industrials, maybe even financials are the

leadership groups. like you said, that sector rotation. and it's during that period -- if during that period technology and growth is struggling, you could find yourself in a situation where s&p is flat and there's huge wins underneath the service. -- surface. liz: the rotation into what? we know that energy and utilities, health care's been a laggard. maybe materials, industrials. is that where you start to see this rotation, and is that enough? does that even match what we've seen with this a.i.-driven rally in tech? >> well, it depend on who you are and what you're looking for. if you think those stocks are going to drive the tin dixs -- indexes higher, it's only because you haven't looked at those indexes. liz, these energy stops -- stock could triple from here, and it's not going to make a dent. that doesn't change the fact that we could have monster winners. like you said, in materials, some of these chemical stocks have been absolutely ripping.

european banks are making new 52-week highs, liz. remember last time you and i were on together, we were talking about these are little, tiny banks disappearing, and and i was, like, nobody cares. it is a billion dollar bank. leapt it go. there's bigger things happening in this market. as you can see, those bigger things really driving these indexes higher. so i think there's going to be huge winners, and the s&p 500 might not go that much higher. liz: okay. if you think maybe s&p 5,000 within the next year, year and a half, it might be interesting to see this. as you look at energy, the xle hasn't really done much year to date at all, in fact, i think it's slightly negative. but now suddenly crude is rearing its head. we've got crude oil up 18% over just the last month. it's print stunning. and i think arbob gasoline, i was just looking over the last month, it's the up 20%. so will that mean that it goes to the drillers and it goes to the bottom and top lines of the

refiners and the integrated oils? do you buy those? >> i see you, liz, with the arbob futures. [laughter] i like that, i see you. liz: wholesale gasoline. >> i see you. listen, you know, i have to continue to be very impressed with the resiliency in energy stocks in general with crude oil getting cut in half. like, you would think, i meaning exxonmobil's pushing against all-time highs, so to me, that resiliency is really impressive. crude oil trading above $100 but then eventually back towards 130 #, you're looking at doubles and triples in some of these energy stocks. you're not going to to make a dent in the s&p 500, but that doesn't mean we have to give the profits back. those are two different conversations, and i think it's important for investors to remember particularly in the back half of this year, i think it's going to be very different than the first half. i think there's going to be winners and losers just like the good old days, there's nothing wrong with that, and i would look at health care too, liz. this has been a sideways correction over the last come of years versus down like so many other sectors. and look at something like abc

can -- abve, spun off if abbott labs. it's now bigger than abbott labs. this thing's a monster, you know? i really like this name a lot. health care in general, liz, i think rowation into that space. and, remember, it's a big component of the s&p and the dow. it's 20% of the dow, liz. liz: got it. j.c., thank you very much. j.c.'s had, i don't know, is it celsius? red bull? i love your energy. >> it's i cuban coffee, liz, come on. liz: my man, cuban cough feeful j.c. was just talking about abve being spun off, of course, from abbott labs. we've actually got a merger in the health care world to talk about. a rip-roaring rally need to show you with. that pharmaceuticals jumping 52% at the moment to a 1-year high. biogen has agreed to buy it for close to $6.5 billion in an all-cash deal, works out to about $17 172.50 a share. it's at 165 and change.

biogen reversed premarket losses to on the news. it is up just slightly, but just because biogen put the credit card down and has the funds does not mean the government will let the transaction or any merger these days go through. joining me now, rbc cap pal market -- capital markets deputy the chairman larry grapstein knows all about m&a activity. let's talk about the government breathing down these company' backs. am i right? just because they say they're going to merge, this whole thing could be thrown i off. >> yeah. we've had two major developments in the last few weeks. first we had enhanced reporting requirements for hsr which means a lot more information the companies have to provide when they file. and secondly, you know, equally and maybe more important, we had revised merger greens that were issues i -- guidelines that were issued by the ftc, the federal trade commission. liz: this government, at least this administration, is not exactly merger-friendly, you

know? complete opposite. >> it's been very clear since the beginning they wanted to reset the general merger rules. they've lost a number of cases, but they're signaling that they're going to continue to pursue mergers generally on a number of different rationales, opposition -- liz: listen, i think it's important to have guardrails, but when it impedes companies at least trying to survive, i mean, or we've seen that happen where companies have try to america just simply to survive, and the government says, no. take microsoft and activision, for example. this was not a merger of equals at all. it wasn't something that would have crushed competition, and yet the ftc, lena khan, that really stood in the way of this. with what message -- unsuccessfully, by the way. unsuccessfully, but at the moment as you look at that and the example that it sets for ceos looking to acquire other companies, what do they hear?

>> well, i'm glad you raised that because as you say, microsoft has prevail ised in its court, you know, in op opposition to the regulators. but not every company is microsoft. we know there's two major things that differentiate microsoft from many companies. number one, it's very, obviously, affluent and cash rich, so it can afford to litigate these things for an extended period of time. and number two, and this is also important, even though the game, gaming is an important part of microsoft, it's not all of microsoft. i mean, we use consumer software, we use their business software. so their company isn't really at risk by extending this kind of time period between signing a deal and closing a deal. when we advise companies, and this would include are, you know, the best lawyers on wall street, we always say that certainty of closure is often at least as important as valuation when you think about doing a deal. and if you're a company that's merging and you think there's some risk that the government's going to push back and it's going to take months and months,

you know, you might if at the end of the day hesitate to proceed. it'll depend on really the are risk tolerance of directors and ceos. liz: what does it mean for investors? for investors, i think when you see the deal that was announced today which i can't really comment on, but you see there's a spread between as you just referenced, between the deal price and the trading price -- liz: reata and biogen. >> exactly. you can see a slight widening of spreads for arbitragers because there's less certainty that a deal would close. but more broadly, you know, m&a is generally good for equity markets, and the two are interrelated. we've seen a very nice rally in the equity markets the last few weeks. ceo confidence is an important indicator. it's coming back slightly. but if you're a ceo and you're nervous that the government is going to litigate against you whether or not they have a winning case, you know, you may hesitate before pulling the trigger on a deal. liz: larry grafsteven, good to

have your brain on this period because there is a comment period before the guardrails get put in. we'll have you back, thanks. the barbie effect -- yes, i'm wearing barbie pink -- it's in full swing. ticket sales have topped half a billion dollars world wild, but with what about bar by -- barbie doll sales? mattel's ceo joins us live in his first interview since the movie clocked half a billion in sales. he is coming up, and general motors' self-driving vehicle company deploying robo-taxis to a city near you now. crews just rolling out today the service in nashville, tennessee. how's it going? kyle vote is here to tell us how he's taking on the likes of tesla and waymo in the autonomous if taxi space. dow is holding on to gains of 187 points. yes, the show must glitter on. we're talking barbie, cruz and so much more.

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liz: this might be music to commuters' ears, general motors' autonomous vehicles subsidiary cruise officially hitting the streets of music city, kicking off testing of its robo-taxis in nashville officially today as it ramps up commercial operations. a year ago cruise only operated in san francisco. now it also is in at least test services if not commercial services, austin, dallas, houston, phoenix, miami and, yes, now the capital of country music, in a tweet, ceo kyle vote said this is the first step in the company's new rollout procedure which will leapt cruise test its vehicles -- let

cruise test its vehicles in multiple new cities at once thanks to machine learning. kyle joins us us now in a fox business exclusive. first, how's the nashville testing debut going todaysome. >> great so far. we're just getting started, but we're excited to be in our seventh city. we're moving very quickly. are. liz: let's talk about what it means. typically, when you roll out test vehicles, there are humans in there not necessarily touching the driver's sphering wheel, but there to -- sphering -- steering wheel, true there to make sure things are going correctly. >> we started in san francisco because it's a tricky city, hills and fog and challenging construction zones, and our hope is if it works there, it will work in pretty much any city. and that's mostly true. each time we send human test drivers out this to survey it, and if there are differences about a new city, we want to know about those and validate it before we, obviously, put those cars out on the road without drivers behind the wheel. liz: you used the key words, machine hearning.

translation, artificial intelligence. how does that figure into what cruise does and how it adds on, i guess, layers on to what is already programmed within it. >> well, artificial if intelligence is the key enabler here. if you think about it or or just looking back at our first million mile, we looked at how well e these vehicles are doing compared to humans, and in this case we see the a.i. is leading to safety benefits which is really important for any community where these vehicles are going to operate. in particular, they're involved in fewer collisions, over 70% of the kind that could cause injury: so artificial intelligence, this is one of the first real world application ifs. we're seeing this in our real delivers, evidence layoffs concern lives, and it's having a positive benefit on society, and i hope that sets the sage for future advances in a.i. as well. liz: can you give me an example -- you just said that safety has improved markedly, and how does it learn? say, for example, it initially took a turn on a street that on the maps says is one way but isn't or vice versa. can you give me sort of a real

world example where it really improved safety? >> well, it turns out to improve automotive safety rather than adding in really intelligent behavior. you have to delete the really bad behavior that we all a make as humans. you know, in 95% of accidents, you know, it's human error that's a major contributor to those accidents. and so by having an a.i. that's consistent, always doing the right thing, always obeying the laws, you just see fewer incidents caused by distracted or impaired driving. liz: huh. and, you know, you have this humans are bad drivers -- [laughter] effort that you talked about. it's -- humans are terrible drivers, rather, advertisement that you just released. could you come right here, out here and say that cruise is actually a better driver than a human? and i'm from l.a., i drive really, really well. >> well, look, i think -- there are people who are really good drivers, there are people who like driving, but i think we also have to admit that as a society, we're causing a lot of incidents and even fatalities

based on the way that we as humans drive k. and so we did actually run a study, and and what we found, the data is very compelling that in the same environment when you compared humans to these new robo-taxis, they're outperforming. and that shouldn't surprise us based on what we all know about our tendency to grab a phone or you're a too a tire or maybe have had a couple drinks and shouldn't. this is just common sense. liz: we just tacked talked about mergers and acquisitions on the government level, now i'm going the ask about regulation on the autonomous vehicle level for you. you've got nhtsa, the national highway traffic safety administration, talk about specifically about waiting to unveil proposed rules. they are set to do it on autonomous driving this fall, but you've also got state governments and then the local yokels where you have a lot of local, you know, politicians who who say this is unsafe. imagine a car without a driver. how are you dealing with each

one of these? >> well, first of all, i mean, it goes without saying that any technology like in this that has an impact on public safety should have a certain level of scrutiny, and we've been working really closely with regulators both at the federal, state and local government level and providing them data about uh-uh how these vehicles are performing including the data i mentioned about the safety benefits relative to humans. but, you know, the federal regulators have a tough job. most of the regulations that exist today were written in the '70s and assume there's a human behind the wheel, so how do we interpret those or modify them to accommodate the new world is a tough challenge, and we're working very closely with them to help them solve it. liz: well, there's waymo. we know that elon musk is pushing hard and saying he's going to come out with a robo-taxi as soon as his full self-driving is approved and, therefore, not only do you have that, you've got on top of it residents, at least in one city the, putting traffic cones on top of the hoods simply to stop them. i guess that triggers something.

have you fixed that glitch where, you know, actual people on the street won't be able to stop them? [laughter] >> well, i think there's a lot of people who are asking questions about evs and appropriately so, but, you know, i'd encourage anyone who has a question or concern to go for a ride. we find that almost everyone who is apprehensive about them needs to actually sit in one for a few minutes, watch it drive. they get it and know immediately this is the future can and something that we need. liz: can you imagine for elderly people who don't have a driver's license, blind people, disabled people? if i've been in waymo, i thought it was fabulous, i look forward to testing out cruise. one last question, when are you going to test in new york city? >> we're coming as soon as we can. [laughter] liz: okay. leapt us know, and we'll follow along. thanks. so much, kyle. >> sounds good. charles: xpeng speeding higher at this hour on news of a major new partnership with a certain big car company. the details next. closing bell, 37 minutes away. look at the dow, up 184. s&p climbing 44 points.

the nasdaq up 268. that and, yes, mattel's ceo talking barbie dolls coming up. ♪ ♪ dad, we got this. we got this. we got this. we got this. we got this. yay! we got this. we got this! life is for living. we got this! let's partner for all of it. edward jones this is your summer to smile. to raise your glass and reconnect.

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liz: fox market alert. remember this time we had the vix, the volatility index, spiking about 12%? well, today is it is down 1%. markets in the green at the moment. let's look at some individual stock names.

xpeng investors slamming on the accelerator, sending the stock up nearly 16% at this hour. high of the session, at least very close to it, after the chinese ev maker got an upgrade from jeffries today. what's behind the analyst interest? volkswagen announcing it plan to invest $7000 million to -- 700 million to jointly develop e verys with its chinese counterpart earlier this week. today jeffries upgraded from a buy to the a hold and boosted the price target all the way up to $25.30 a share. we're almost are there, we're at $23.48 at the moment for xpeng. while xpeng is down about 5% year-over-year, year to date it has skyrocketed more than 1000% -- 100%, gaining 61% this week alone on that volkswagen news. boston beer investors clinking glasseses as the stock climbs 17.25% right now. the american brewery behind sam

adams' beer reported a big revenue beat boosted by strong twisted tea sales growth which helped offset slowing sales from hard seltzer brands like truly. at least four brokerages have raised their price target on the stock putting its median price target now at $326.50. well above that right now at $367 and change. sweet green shares, well, they are wilting right now, down nearly 10% after posting weaker than expected second quarter sales. the salad chain did report narrower than expected losses and hopes to reach profitability for the first time sometime next year. sweet green, you may remember, went public in 2021, and while it is withering today, it has gained 62 year the date. the sun is blazing on first solar which is gaining 6% after reporting a big earnings beat after the bell yesterday. first solar also announced plans to invest $1.1 billion in a new u.s. factory that would produce

its first series 7 modules. first solar's had a very bright year, gaining 175%. as first solar charges forward, it is not all sunny skies for solar companies. solar panel supply chain snarls are delaying projects including the one at maple hill solar farm in pennsylvania where we find our jeff flock. jeff, the dreaded supply chain snafu, that is still in play in solar? >> reporter: well, getting the panels, getting enough panels is a huge issue. and you think of a better example, maybe the poster child of a transition from carbon-based to green energy than a former coal mine that gets turned boo a solar farm? that's what you're looking at here. this is, indeed, the maple hill solar farm. 700 acres on the footprint of a coal mine. but all kinds of headwinds for these guys. first of all, take a look at the numbers on this, because it's

pretty impressive. 235,000 solar panels when it's all built. that's going to power 20,000 homes in terms of electricity and take about 100,000 tons of co2 out of the environment per year. great news there. but the problem is getting the solar panels, supply chain stuff, and hen getting connected to the grid. i want to show you something you don't typically see. this is a substation here. competitive power ventures developed this, another big company, they have to pay for this. this is what connects them to the grid. so they have to pay for this. and then they have to stand in line to get connect to the grid which takes literally years. it's a real problem. we talked to one of the execs at the competitive power ventures who told us us this -- >> one of the biggest obstacles that all power plants, all new power plants have faced is the backlog of interconnection requests expect time it takes to

get interconnected to the electrical grid. we've had projects that have been delayed. that is causing a delay in a lot of new generation coming on. >> reporter: it now makes maybe -- takes maybe up to four years to get corrected -- connected. that means between the year 2000 and now just 14 percent of announced new solar power installations have actually got connected to the grid. this one here, as we come back live perhaps, this one is pretty much ready to go. [laughter] but possibly don't get online until, say, september or move of this this year. they were originally supposed to be online last december. it ain't easy being green, as someone once said. liz: you know, i us was just visiting a friend who built a house all with solar and not only is it e going to be carbon-neutral, t it's going to -- it's going to make money by selling back what it saves to the town it's in. it's really, it's a brave new world here. yeah, we've got to get the supply chain unclogged. jeff, thank you very much.

dow jones industrials up 1 is 79 points. barbie movie mania sweeping the globe and now surpassing a key level. we've got the ceo of mattel, the company that makes the barbie doll and all her acue tremont. ynon kri e, and. and the bread crumb strategy behind the film's successful there goes barbie in her pink chevy convertible. hey, she's tooling around my studio. love that. ♪ ♪ watch me dance, dance the night away ♪ ♪ ♪ the biggest ideas inspire new ones. 30 years ago, state street created an etf that inspired the world to invest differently.

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i was told my small business wouldn't qualify for an erc tax refund. you should get a second opinion from innovation refunds at no upfront cost. sometimes you need a second opinion. [coughs] good to go. yeah, i think i'll get a second opinion. all these walls gotta go! ah ah ah! i'd love a second opinion. no. i'm going to get a second opinion. with innovation refunds, there's no upfront cost to find out. so why not check like i did for my small business? take the first step to see if your small business qualifies for the erc. my little family is me, aria, and jade. just the three of us girls. i never thought twice about feeding her kibble. but about two years ago, i realized she was overweight. she was always out of breath. that's when i decided to introduce the farmer's dog to her diet. it's just so fresh that she literally gets bubbles in her mouth.

now she's a lot more active, she's able to join us on our adventures. and we're all able to do things as a family. ♪ get started at betterforthem.com from big cities, to small towns, and on main streets across the us, you'll find pnc bank. helping businesses both large and small, communities and the people who live and work there grow and thrive. we're proud to call these places home too. they're where we put down roots, and where together, we work to help move everyone's financial goals forward. pnc bank. liz: well, it's barbie's world and a huge part of the globe is living in it right now. hook, we've got the red-headed barbie in there, okay?

the movie has now grabbed over half a billion dollars at the global box office in just the first week of its release and is on track to be the top blockbuster of the year. consumers dyeing into the -- diving into the life which has become a hot pink phenomenon, and mattel is looking to keep the ken-erjy going by expanding the a mattel cinematic universe and turning its highly popular toy into movies. mattel shares are down about 3% since the movie release one week ago but, boy, that doesn't take into effect the movie tickets expect sales, and, of course, the barbie sales that have come this current quarter. joining me now in his first interview since the film hit over $500 million at the international box office, ceo and chairman ynon conclusive -- ceiz. i'm going to guesses it is beyond your expectation, the adoption, the thrill, what

everybody is talking about with barbie. >> hi, liz. well, yes. i mean, you know, you remember when we talked about the movie back in the day. the goal us always -- was always to create something that is more than a movie. it was about creating a cultural event, a societal moment. and we couldn't be more excited about the reception of the movie and so much fun and engagement. we're seeing people going two and even three times to the cinema, we're seeing men come to the movie, very strong performance internationally. the movie is really playing out extremely well everywhere with, and it's exciting to see. liz: well, let's talk about the actual barbie doll and the life that this movie has breathed into the sales. you're looking attic by tick sales, minute by minute. we are heading into the second weekend of barbie. can you reveal here how the numbers are trending on barbie

doll sales and all the accessories? >> well, it's still early days, but we're seeing the movie-related products selling out very fast. if you go to any store that has product, more than 165 partnerships, consumer product partnerships all over the world, movie-related product is selling very fast. and on the movie, warner brothers just announced that this, the first week of the movie has been the highest first week of any movie warner brothers ever released in their history. so very strong performance out of the gate, and we expect to see continued momentum heading into the second weekend and beyond. liz: how closely did your team, your marketing team, you, work with warper brothers-discovery's marketing teamed to do what i've learned has been this bread crumbing strategy? i guess at cinemacon, this is months and months ago, you dropped a single bread crumb,

and that was that one image of margot robbie as barbie, and it was like a little, tiny drop, a little bread crumb. and then each week things started to come out, and all your partnerships whether it was with air b if nb or the gap, so many different companies, you know, beyond this single image which was that first bread crumb, tell me about marketing strategy and how it has worked to such an incredible advantage. >> yeah. warner brothers did a tremendous job marketing and promoting the movie with their resources and seeming platform and other outlets. and then we came and brought in our capabilities to amplify that with our relationship with thousands and thousands and thousands of retail outlets, social activation and our ability to create and manage the franchise at such a level. and we need to remember that coming into the movie barbie was already one of the strongest

brands in the world. barbie was the number one toy property in the world for two years in a row, so you have so much cultural resonance with barbie already in the marketplace. and then you activate it new warner brothers and our capabilities many terms of demand creation that turn it into a cultural phenomenon. much more than a great movie, which it is, very much so. and and also we need to remember that it all starts with a great movie, and this is really kudos to greta gerwig who did a phenomenal job creating something so special and unique that is really standing out as a masterpiece of a movie. liz: yeah. and promoting it in places where we wouldn't normally see barbie fans. for example, the nba games. that was interesting. so i want to ask just one more question about the barbie doll sales, and then i want to move on to hot wheels because that is sort of the next big project as far as a movie. this margo rob by -- margo rob

bidoll, about 20 to you guys said that you sold 100 million dolls per year. you exceed this? from what you can tell now, will that number be exceed this year? exceeded this year? >> well, we're seeing sales trending strongly for barbie overall already in the third quarter. we expect barbie to grow for the full year and, of course, this halo, this momentum we expect will continue for years to come. this is not just about this quarter or even about this year. this is about long-term franchise management. and what we're seeing coming out of the first week already is that the brand resonates at a very strong curl churl level -- cultural level. we're excite to collaborate and, of course, bring our marketing platform, our demand creation expertise to the table. liz: right. let's talk, ynon, about mattel expanding its sin mat ific

universe. hot wheels, obviously, is something that is going to be huge. you've got 14 projects, as i understand it, this active development including polly pocket. that would be starring hillary collins and -- lily collins and lena dunham directing. had the wheels, j.j. abrams is attached to that one. this teems -- seems like success and hype is moving in your favor at the moment. are you adding to this even at a time when we see that the hollywood actors and writers are on strike? >> yes, we're very excite by our clean slate. it's different demographic, different genres. j.j., as you said, is producing hot wheels with warner brothers. we have matchbox in development with skydance which, as you know, produced mission impossible and top gun. another exciting project, rock 'em sock 'em robots with vin diesel. barney and more coming. so it really is about creating a

unique expression of our brands, partnering and collaborating with talent and continue to find more ways to engage with our fans. and this is really important to say that our biggest transformation as a company was to realize that people who buy our product are not just consumers, they are fans. and and once you realize you have an audience, opportunities open up. and this is not just in film, t also television, it's location-based entertainment and publishing, it's new product and digital experiences. liz: oh, yeah, the whole ecosystem. well, what about this hollywood writers' strike? where do those projects that you have with j.j. and with lena dunham, where do they stand right now? >> well, right now these projects are on hold, of course. there is an impact and delay in some of the development work. but we've done a lot of work before the strike the, and we expect to continue the momentum after the strike.

liz: okay. it was announced this week that your president, richard dixon, who was a big force as part of this effort with barbie, is leaving, and he is going to become president and ceo of gap. that's, i'm sure you'll miss him, but tell me exactly how you feel about it, because there's a gap deal, certainly, with deal, but do you see any future type of relationships with companies like that? >> of course we continue to broaden our relationship with consumer-facing companies, with retailers, with other consumer product if partners. 165 partnerships tied to the movie alone. and, of course, the list is expanding. what happened here is an important moment. it's a milestone moment for mattel. it really positions us as an important collaborator with rethat tailers all over the world on -- retailers on top of what we already do. we sell product today in more than 500,000 stores, mattel product in more than 500,000

stores. and we continue to expand, broaden and strengthen our relationships with partners outside of the toy the aisleed s outside of the traditional toy business. and this is an opportunity for to continue to expand and and grow our business. liz: i'm going the make you choose, blond barbie or read-headed barbie eynon? be careful. >> first, i want to congratulate you on the pink that you wear today. and of course, one of the things, the amazing thing about movie is just the varian isty and so many -- variety and so many great characters, it's so hard to choose. this is one of the special things that greta that created. liz: all right, fine, i'll let you -- you're punting. all right, ynon, it's great to see you. thank you. we continue to watch the numbers come in, a a real success and a major transformation of mattel that started with ynon. good to see you. please come back.

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sleepovers just aren't what they used to be. a house full of screens? basically no hiccups? you guys have no idea how good you've got it. how old are you? like, 80? back in my day, it was scary stories and flashlights. we don't get scared. oh, really? mom can see your search history. that's what i thought.

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i move so much better because of cosentyx. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. liz: we have breaking news earlier this hour, we were talking about antitrust enforce p.m. shares of live nation are fading fast and plummeting about seven and a third percent and a big reversal in the fine couple memberships of trade and -- final couple minutes of trade and might file against the promoter and subsidiary ticket master and the lawsuit could come by the end of the year. you remember the taylor swift debacle with all of the tickets and regular folks couldn't get so we'll be watching that story. can tenants ever catch a break? a new report from rent.com shows that rent prices continue to rise for the fourth consecutive month in june since bottoming out all the way back in february. enter possibly a free market solution and gerri willis here

about free market sueding and rent and all kinds of reward. >> that's right, liz, the rent even know, even more so is just too dam high; right? if you're looking to buy a home, well, that goal may even seem more outof reach. now a company called built rewards and that's b-i-l-t is offering if not a solution but help. they offer points on rent payments and that's no small thing. rent is typically the largest monthly payment for consumers but tiply can't get points or earn rewards for paying rent. despite the startup, bilt with mastercard and wells fargo launched a credit card that will have a check sent to your old school, old fashioned landlord. bilt's founder says the app has long term financial benefits. listen. >> you now pay your rent and you get rewards.

you build your credit, you build a pathway to home ownership, you know, try to make rent a more positive experience than unfortunately most of us have had to deal with historically. the company is upping the ante with free rent all together and to get that green, you'll have to participate in bilt's free app game and it's a series of hypothetical questions and correctly guess the most popular answers and if you do that correctly, you qualify to become a winner. you've got to get on it, b-i-l-t. leliz: paying up to $2500 of yor rent? >> if you put it on your credit card, pay it off every month. liz: oh, yes, don't want to get hit with the fees. that moves you backyards. gerri, thank you very much. gerri willis, app and will

amazon are surging a-- apple and amazon surging ahead of earnings next week. right now apple up about 1.25% and surging we mean year to date absolute winners. we have creative planning ceo peter maluk. which names will crush it but are they still fairly valued or too expensive to buy right now? >> a lot is carried by apple, amazon, big tech and s&p 500 and the s&p 500 has a long way to run with gdp at 2.4%. 80% of companies beating expectations and we heard a gold goldy locks speech from powell and there's stocks overvalued like nvidia and other parts of the market like international

ford pe of 12 instead of u.s. close to 206789 but really if you're -- you've got a year or more, this looks very broad and very strong and seems like there's a soft landing that a lot of people thought was impossible. liz: yeah, pe of nvidia, 243. that is -- that's hot. i mean that, is very sizzling, and people -- it's like a momentum play. people are piling in and talking about international investments and which ones giver you a much better valuation? >> i think looking at europe in particular, that pe ratio is low relative to the the dividend yield is higher and in the u.s., if you stick with the broad market index you're good. big tech despite a big run like apple is sustainable. if you want to carve something out, nvidia is the thing. it does not make sense. even with ai and everything heading their way now, it's just unsustainable, it's a momentum play, a technical play and, you know, those always have their

day where they finally expire. liliz: indeed. we got another quarter of a point tightening and you think it's the last? one more or two more? >> i think it almost doesn't matter and we've got ton a point where we know it's not barring something crazy really changing the set of circumstances. we don't have four more to go, probably don't have a couple cuts coming fast. we are near the top of that mountain and it happened without things staying out of control, which some worried about or a crash landing like a lot of people were worried about. regardless of whether it's one or two more, it's worth us to spend time on. liz: peter, markets closing higher for the week, we're thrilled you tuned into the "claman countdown". see you next week. sean: welcome to a special edition of kudlow. i'm sean duffy in for kudlow