Reasonable, but i dont buy it i i cant plug in the same numbers that they are plugging in but these are really smart people over at mkm, mel. You and i both respect their work a lot, but i think were going to see apple top 1 trillion long before alibaba does, and then i think it will be another American Company that comes right on their heels you mentioned facebook and microsoft. They are both close, and i think boast those could also beat alibaba. In terms of the numbers mkm makes the argument that the 720 multiple by 720 and heres the kicker, they point out, pete, that alibaba has hauls blown away consensus forecasts and thats why they seetrillion fo them first. And i tend to agree with jon. I think apple actually gets there first but i think alibaba is right on their heels. I think they are second, and they have a great opportunity. When you look at the Growth Numbers that you just cited and some of the ideas of what they have done in terms of acquisitions of late, including in the electric Vehicle Market also they expanded themselves in the Retail Market as well, one of the biggest acquisitions, when you look at what they are doing in the cloud space, there are so many different elements i think to the alibaba story, and we talk about this oftentimes and talk about an amazon, but they are the amazon. However, they are the amazon of china which is much larger in the United States. I actually do think with the growth projections that they have already put out there in front of multiple corners, this is a name that could easily be number two where do you stand, mr. Oleary . Baba is not complaint with many institutions in america the accounting is questioned and im not saying because its listed on an American Exchange and fulfills the listing requirements. I understand. When it comes down to a full institutional weighting. Those managers prefer to take amazon as a position this is a question mark thats still on top of the stock. Im not im not saying anything im just telling you i know many managers that wont touch it, and you tell me oh, x, y, zier in earnings. Okay, sure, but at the end of the day would i rather have the accounting thats implied in amazon or baba, i think im an amazon guy im going to agree with everything that has just been said, including, kevin, what is obviously true of what youre saying, but what i find interesting and what ill add to the conversation is of the names on the list its interesting they didnt go with something, maybe not apple, but something a little bit closer like an alphabet or where the Growth Investors here today would say amazon is the first to go to a trillion because valuations dont matter at the end of the conversation, im in complete agreement with what my three creation have said apple is the first one there you know, its a good 13 away from reaching, that and i think it has to stumble badly which i would look for this quarter to really define whether they will stumble or not i dont think they will, but i would look for this quarter to propel them to a trillion coming up. Pete, i heard your chuckle when mr. Wonderful was talking about the accounting issues. Institutional ownership is 39 as one of the top pricers, valley, gifford, blackrock, sga, capital research, some pretty big guys who own the likes of an amazon an facebook is this an issue for you yeah, well, no, thats part of my chuckle is the idea that, you know, its funny how easily we accept amazon, and we look at the pe of amazon and everyone is willing to say, you noey what, thats fine. They still have growth in aws and they have got this and that, and yet you look at alibaba. Even if the numbers are a little bit foege, kevin, look at the valuation level of baba right now versus amazon. Okay, if there is anything going on there, which youre sort of implying there, its still when you look at it from a Growth Perspective and a valuation perspective, it blows away amazon, so thats why i think the potential for an alibaba to get there faster really exists because of the fact that they have got the cloud they have got everything that amazons got they happen to be in china with quite a bit a bigger population as well as the rest of the world as they expand, but, you know, valuationwise theres absolutely nothing to compare there. Okay. Lets get granular riddle me this. Yeah. Their business looks almost identical to amazon, an their margins are Something Like 22 higher come on whats going on with that . Tell me how they are keeping that maintained . Whats cooking how is the accounting work that they get to have a massive gross margin when the biggest and the original cant get anywhere near them and is global, into whats going on . Why dont we answer that question. The r the biggest in the original is here in the United States and quite honestly look at what they do, kevin every single quarter we talk about amazon all the time in a very positive way and im one of those people who does that, but, they are in how about the fact that they bought into the grocery business, whole foods. What are the margins in the grocery business again, they put themselves in a position once again. Low margin business. When you look across and you see what baba has done over time, they have been expanding in areas where they do have more margins so i look at Something Like an amazon and its compelling and very difficult to get your arms around that pe, but when you do look at where their margins exist where are they they have got 99 annual for prime and they virtually have you have limitless abilities to ship in a single or in two days. I mean, that is the problem right now. Whats working for them is also something that works against them in terms of where they are killing their own margins. Yeah, exactly right exactly right. I remember the road show and that was the question that everybody had in the room. Whats with the margins . Why . Whats the difference . And they didnt really explain it that well, sorry. Im a skeptic, but the stock doesnt listen to me im just saying if i had two options and i want to play the space im going to go with the good ole usa accounting. Amazon versus alibaba this is a much broader question in terms of chinese tech you think f. A. N. G. Did well today, facebook up 54 and amazon 57 take a look at cena up 79 , baba is up 96 . Baidu is up 42 . Where do you put your money in 2018, jim . Well, look. What youre touching on here is behavioral economics and investing. Weve talked about it a little bit on this show there is home country bias we are sitting here in the Greater New York city area kevin it alluding to a comfort that i certainly feel with american accounting versus International Accounting even if the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange yes. As an asset the answer is yes because there are still standards look, i can translate the language difference from a British Company and the way they report, you know, gearing and turnover and what that means to american accounting, all right. Thats kind of easy. It gets a little bit more different when youre in some of the other countries, but at the end of the day i dont want to be bothered with that. Ive got a choice. Im not choosing alibaba or amazon neither them are in my category, but if i had to choose one, the home country bias does apply, and thats what youre seeing when you remark with appropriate incredulity that the chinese stocks have done so much better than anyone is really giving them credit for. Jon, where do you stand the accounting issues are something that i can look by, and thats why i say that they are perhaps number two or number through to get to a trillion, but i still think that apple with the sales, the growth, the fact that they are already in china, the fact that india has not been a significant contributor yet, mel, 13 , can they make that just on india alone . Not on india alone, but with the expansion of their midrange phones and things like that to bring people into the ecosystem. I think that works and that takes them to a trillion. Got to throw out a would you rather because i know you like that game. Would you rather fresh money to work to 2018 in f. A. N. G. Stocks or tech stocks in china in. Thats so difficult ill go with stab right now because the Global Economy has been something that everybody has been talking about if were talking about the infrastructure play here and Everything Else that that we continue to talk about from a global perspective, and the growth globally, if thats the case, then i would have to take stab it doesnt mean that i doesnt love the f. A. N. G. Names because i certainly do but given the choice would rather with the s. T. A. B. Which tech stock would you bet on i have made a big bet and im sticking with apple and the thing is and i would argue why they get there first, i dont know of an institution that doesnt have a 5 weighting when they hone Consumer Electronics, tech think about it it crosses over so many different sectors now in terms of how managers think about the stock that it probably gets there who is the incremental buyer then thats my whole point is that people when they say if i want exposure to tech, ive got to have apple if i want exposure to Consumer Electronics and Consumer Discretionary i want apple to me those are names that get to the finish line first because everybody has to own it and they do apple has been a great performer. Every time somebody said they are going to miss their quarter, had you bought on that,look where you are now. Youre up 1,000 in the last three years. Its ridiculous. The other day we were talking about, retail, you and i and one of the stocks i liked in retail because they wouldnt let me take apple. L brands. L brands. But apple has nearly or just around 500 stores. Thats almost identical to retailers like dicks, and and you cant compare the i remember that shows ge as a retailer on that one. Well, i think this one that was a real crossover stock. Jim, last word here. Im with my colleagues on apple here i want to be fair and point out the negatives though to the stock, be a maybe you give them a chance to respond. One, the multiple 14 times next years earnings, frankly im comfortable with it, but there are a lot of people out there who say for a Consumer Electronics company which really it is, not notwithstanding the services, that thats too high and then there is this matter that came out this week about the iphone 10 and whether its selling or not o. Now, ill answer that question for us which is that if its not selling its probably because the iphone 8 is doing very well and thats a high enough margin product that im not going to be too wooried about it. Could it be that the 7 is doing fine and the 6 is doing well well find out not a month. To the next sector with some pretty big winners and losers, Morgan Brennan is here with a look at how industrials are setting up for 2018. Hi, morgan. Happy new year. The industrial sector overall, six best performing sector in the s p 500. Up 19 for the year, but the story was much more dramatic for some of the biggest companies. Now, take boeing which has soared 90 , the Top Performing dow industrial component commercial business was the driver there caterpillar, also a big winner, up 69 maining and Construction Activity sprung back to life globally and just as restructuring was starting to take root, united rental, deere, railroad, csx, three ceos this year also top performers, each up at least 50 . A recovery for many commodities, a weaker dollar, Stronger Economic growth around at globe, also a lot of portfolio streamlining thats whats helped propel many of these names overall, but in were also losers you just mentioned one of them began electric down 24 . New management came in, cash flow plunged and the dividend got cut in half. And next year Economic Growth should help continue the sectors move high also, if we do get an infrastructure package that materializes that would be a boon and also, there is tax reform which with a lower corporate rate the shift to a territorial system and the adoption of full expensing could also be benefits to this sector. Morgan, thanks. Morgan brennan where do you go in industrials because youre a value kind of guy. Is ge the kind of value that all of us dont see except maybe you do because youre a value kind of guy unfortunately its a value trap, and it is for i think the next year. Its look, the new ceo is doing what he has to do. Its just simply that this takes time to turn around, so i dont think that theres any rush to get in that name let me be clear. Im not saying its going in the dust bin of history but theres really no rush to get in there lets talk about it this time next year. I put it on the pad for a purchase at 13 its a 13 stock trading at 17, a very expensive stock. I also anticipate by june they will cut the dividend yet again. Estimates are about a dollar for the year. 2 at this time last year. Yeah. Now they are a dollar and they are also a dollar for the year after, so for the next two years you get no growth. Why am i playing 17 plus pfor a stock not growing at all that has major issues in terms of liabilities like pension, et cetera, and no ability to forecast earnings orflows at all this will be an interesting debate at 15. I would love to have that debate with you. Lets have that debate when it gets there definitely going get there. If you cant get them interested at 15 well visit it again at 13. Thats the way i look at it. This has been a disaster in every metric that update call in november was worse than a disaster. They should have cut the dividend to zero in my opinion and started to bring cash back in the business to restructure it. If they cut it to zero, they would have been dumped by every single Dividend Fund out there. The call was abysmal. How do i get my head around, pete, some of the winners this year, caterpillar, boeing . Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, i guess tax reform is one of those things, but, you know, its very difficult, mel weve talked about there time and time again what about the valuations when you look at them and then you start to revalue some of these names and youve talked about this with you not only at noon but also on the 5 00 show as well when weve talked about names like boeing, but you look at the cash generation from some of these Companies Like boeing and it starts to become a different sort of a measuring stick on how do you interpret where these stocks are trading presently . I think one other name i would add to that list is my local 3m with another great year as well. Up 36 when you see industrials moving the way that they have this year and across the board whether it is caterpillar or boeing or throw in 3m or any of these names, its been staggering, and i do think in some cases they are setting up for some kind of a pullback, but when you show the growth that many of these have, youre looking at Earnings Growth when you start to look at the forward pe in some of these names. They are not quite as unappealing as sometimes when youre looking at what they are trading at right now when you look at the forwards with that growth ill tell you. What some of these names actually i think still do have some upside. Such as well, i thinken 3 3m would one of those names. Such as caterpillar makes me nervous but put boeing in that category because they are acquiring so much cash and there are certain names out there that because of their dominance and because of the growth areas in their companies, because we all flows multiple segments in many of these companies, but if they are growing enough in some of the segments, wow, i think that theres plenty of upside still in some of the names for sure. Im had a little nervous about cat also and john deere, mel, because its been a 9 slide for the dollar this year, so when youve got a 9 . Ag looks good. But kamatsu and many of the other builders are positioned to talk away business if the dollar doesnt stay weak and im one of those that doesnt see the dollar with another 9 decline. After everybody talked about four fed hikes, that should have got the dollar up 10 , but that means a lot of people are skeptics about the fed hikes and when they come everybody seems to say three for four, maybe four that should have the dollar up 10 . You guys arent talking about tax reform Companies Like caterpillar or deere or Rockwell Automation for that matter and full expensing coming into the tax plan, that that incentivizes all of these other companies to Start Building or start buying their equipment right now. I think thats a great point. I just think for some of these names that may be fully prices in and boeing is the one that i really look at as the example there. Its a fabulous company. Caterpillar is up 15 let me finish the one september. Last word. 26 times forward earnings for boeing traditionally in a good part of the cycle 18 times. Last word for morgue pane. Nobody is talk about boeings defense business and defense spending is expected to grow next year and onward as well, right . I said last word. No more after that i mean in. Melissa, its over between us thank you, morgan Morgan Brennan heres whats coming on the Halftime Report. A big change of heart from noted banking analyst dick bove. See why he just got bullish on one of the biggest names on wall street plus, the defense stocks to think hard about in the new year. Before the break, the top sectors in january since 2010 according to our data partners at kensho. Utilities, healthcare and heals. Rial t hftime report is back in two minutes. Whos the new guy . They call him the whisperer. The whisperer . Why do they call him the whisperer . He talks to planes. He talks to planes. Watch this. Hey watson, whats avionics telling you . Maintenance records and performance data suggest replacing capacitor c4. Not bad. Whats with the coffee maker . Sorry. We are not on speaking terms. Your bbut as you get older,ing. It naturally begins to change, whats with the coffee maker . Causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Welcome back weve had a record breaking year and lagging behind the rest of the world. Check out this lineup. Emerging marks up 34 leading the charge china up 33 as well as india, germany up 25, europe 23 there we are, u. S. , pretty solid 20, but its still 20 and the back of the pack here. Goldman sachs meantime moving on has underperformed the broader Financial Sector year to date but Outspoken Bank Analyst dick bove says now is the time to buy the stock upgrading goldman to a buy and joined us live from tampa for the call of the day. Dick, always a pleasure to speak with you. You know, this net was quite a turnaround that you had a couple months ago when you said the show lloyd blinkine should go has the environment changed that much that youre willing to forgive the ceo and say stay on . No. Im not making any changes about any of the things i said in the past about the companys model, lloyd blinkine ankfein. I think weve seen the exact right environment for Goldman Sachs to do its very best. Were seeing a surge in issues being offered on the equity side were seeing a surge in the m a business were actually even have some Commodity Prices going up, and if you take a look at where goldman stands, they are at the top of the list in terms of m a. In fact, they are so far up they have 13 of that market and theres 17 ahead of the companys number two position j. P. Morgan. They have 12 of the equity issue market, so everything that could go right in terms of the environment has gone right for Goldman Sachs, and Goldman Sachs is going to benefit by it, and i think this announcement this morning only makes the good better because whats going to happen is the companys equity is going to slink a bit here were going to see maybe 100 basis point increase in the return on equity. Right. Were going to see the earnings per share better than it was, so stock hat got to be black. This is what im focusing on, dick, and thats the first line in your report that implies that Goldman Sachs announced 5 billion is actually going to include a lot more stuff, not just the hit because of the new tax bill or the tax law, i should say, its going to be a kitchen sink approach to clear away some existing problems. Where are you getting that information and what existing problems are you talking about well, you know, thats my speculation. Obviously this company has hundreds of billions of dollars invested in the derivatives and trading. They have got 149 billion in loans now. They have got over 100 billion in securities, and it would be absurd to assume that they are making money on every one of those investments, so this, you know, writeoff, this writedown in the tax area is is basically going to create an opportunity for them to take many steps in terms ave justing the Balance Sheet if they choose to do so, but in addition, you know, companies have a wide leeway in terms of how they amortize their costs over given periods and i wouldnt be surprised if Goldman Sachs pulled forward some of the costs from 2018 into 2017. Right. So, you know, the outlook, you know, for goldman, even without todays events was extraordinarily good i think todays events make it much better. Right i know our traders have a lot of questions. I want to underscore the one point, dick, and that is you still believe that Lloyd Blankfein should leave that hasnt changed. Thats not changed in any way, shape or form Goldman Sachs earnings are down from five years ago, ten years ago, down from where they were a year ago and down from where they were last quarter and to assume that someone who is leading a company with that type of record should be given all sorts of accolades i think is a mistake. I think, you know, the company did not position itself for the changes in the financial market, and all of a sudden hes just lucky that things are turning and going his way. Exactly. Dick, its jim lebenthal, god to talk to you on this particular upgrade if im doing the math right were talking a less than 10 total return on the target is that your way of saying what you think about investment banks, the financials or the markets overall . I mean, unless my numbers are wrong, they are what they are, and it seems pretty tepid. Well, i mean, i think, you know, we havent yet seen, you know, the numbers that im projecting that were going to see. In other words, we havent seen a surge in lending activity. You know, this increase in straights has not result the in a massive increase in net interest margins at the banks, so, you know, were still operating on expectation and hope, and i and i know believe, which i didnt believe six months ago, i now believe were in the right type of position, you know, to where, you know, lending is going to pick up. Were going to see some improvement in margins, and i think the Capital Markets arena, which is where youre seeing the biggest exist, i think were going to see a surge in activity in terms of offerings, in terms of m a and in terms of even in the debt markets, so i i think the Capital Markets arena is where you really want to be. Dick, you skipped over one. You did mention m a and ipos, the fact that drop box and a bunch of other big ipos are likely to be coming and is one of the folks that is going to benefit from that, did you model in that and or did you model in anything about their Crypto Trading or what that mightbrin to their bottom line over goldman . I did model in the fact that i thought the ipo market would get much stronger. I think a lot of unicorns will come to market in 2018 and 2019 because its the perfect environment for if. Yeah. I did not make the assumption that they would get any benefit by the Crypto Trading because im a skeptic. In other words, for a currency to be a currency, it has to perform two functions. It has to be used in transactions, the most important of which is paying taxes to the local government, and this not of these currencies do that, and second it has to be a storage of value, around certainly its been a storage of value over the last year or so, i guess, but im not sure that its going to maintain that position. Why cant it just be like gold, dick lets throw the currency part of the equation out forever and lets just say its a store of value. They have made lots of money in the past trading the likes of gold and other commodities well, i think youre exactly right. It could be like gold but gold hasnt done that well this year. Anyway, the point is if its going to be like gold, at least can you have some physical activity with gold gold performs some function. If if the crypto currencies dont perform any function, you know, its hard to imagine why they should maintain a position like gold, particularly if no government is willing to accept them in payment of taxes. Well, i believe japan does. Pete has a question for you, dick. Okay. Real quick question for you obviously Goldman Sachs is a lag hand we saw the chart where many of the banks run 20 over the year and goldman is up 6 s. Goldman the best place to be going into 2018 though, thats my big question because i know some of these names have had great runs whether its bank of america or jpmorgan go through the whole list, but is is Goldman Sachs going to make a big catchup, or are those names going to continue to extend faster to the upside no, i i very definitely think that Goldman Sachs will grow faster than the group, and the reason is very simple. In other words, if if the problem at Goldman Sachs was that it failed to diversity to meet whatever the changes were in the financial markets, then its still a very focused business, and those businesses that its focused on are the ones that i think will do best over the next two years, so i would much rather own Goldman Sachs than any other of the Financial Companies at this point. What has changed in the Regulatory Environment that makes goldmans margin change and go up in the skepticism on goldman as a name, and im one of those skeptics is, they are not in a great place they dont have the high margin business anymore a lot of the trading platforms they have ive seen the mar jibs go down. Why does that change today what happened . Thats going to make that different in 2018 . Well, theres two answers to the question the first one is Investment Banking is a high margin business and Investment Banking is the core to generating other profits for these companies. If youre in Investment Banking and its active, youre going to make loans, and if your your traders will benefit by doing more activity. Youll see more customer activity in big the new activity and youll get more margin debt. Its the environment . Its part of it the m a market i think will be extraordinarily strong so the point is you get all those benefits, but i like to get to your regulatory point. Think about this every Regulatory Agency has scene a change in its leadership in the last 12 months. The fsoc, the fdic, the occ, the frb, you know, commodity futures trading is changing the members but not the chairman, the fhfa, anything that has anything to do with regulating banks has changed and not just the leader. Youve got 8 people on the fsoc out of a tenperson brecht thoors are going to change youve got five on the seven at the Federal Reserve who are going to change, and if you dont think thats going to mean a very dig change in the way stress tests are run, in the way capital is looked at and the way liquidity is thought about, you know, youre missing it because this is huge its never happened before. Right. Dick, always a pleasure happy new year to you. Happy new year. Dick bove of vertical group pete najarian, i go out to you is this the year Goldman Sachs catches up its been an underperformer obviously against the rest of its peers . I think this will play catchup but i still dont understand why bank of america is not going to continue to explode to the upside. Theres other names on there that will probably outpace goldman, but i do think goldman has some wind behind it right now. If youre going totell me Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley, right now im taking Morgan Stanley because of the Wealth Management as naekt Morgan Stanley has and thats been propelling them at a faster rate than Goldman Sachs i love goldment. I think they do a lot of things right. Weve got to have an environment thats much more conducive and obviously volatility at these lower ends has been version very difficult for goldman to navigate with. Its probably going to pick up, and thats why i still would like goldman Going Forward is the environment going to be that good, jim . I think it is. It is. On all the fronts that dick was talking about. And goldman is the one to capitalize more so than the others. The one thing that i think goldman has the best of is the Investment Banking franchise i do think theres more m a activity coming up in 2018 and they should be in the sweet spot the variable and x factor is what happens in trading, and i also think volatility in general should pick up its not a provocative statement but if it picks up that helps trading going into 2018. The call dick is making that i think is more interesting than goldman is if you buy his deregulatory theme, why wouldnt you buy the midsized banks because think about it they are the most crushed by these Regulatory Environments. It will free up their Balance Sheets all of their customers will have 20 more cash because they are all domestic revenues with takes rates. Im going to say forget goldman. Ill buy a basket of midcap banks. The other part is it freeze up a lot of cash on their Balance Sheet, and it will allow them to potentially merge and consolidate. Thats also good news. Within the lower tier of banks. I like his regulatory camp i dont like his pick. I think hell get a bigger bump going in and use the same theme on small hand midcap banks. The potential private equity buyers made offers to buy this dvr maker. Jim. I guess i can believe theres a private equity buyer out there. Someone who can find a strategic fit for the intellectual property that tivo has absent that happening, this is a stock really going nowhere this is a hype every, hyper Competitive Industry in terms of how people receive their broadcast and television, et cetera. Priceline reaching an agreement after being sued for patent infringement. Youve been in this before. I have but not in it right now. I like the fact this is behind them now because this was one of the known unknowns as far as how big it could have been stocks down 11 bucks but its a 1,700 stock so i dont think thats much of a ding. I think you keep your eye on this one in 2018. Astrazeneca siting a strong growth trajectory for the drugmaker. I own it and im full weighting the sector because every time theres a concern about pricing, it never materializes the lobby group for the drug manufacturers, distributors are so powerful. This is going to be a theme as people age they eat more pills like candy im one of those people. I think this is where youve got to be. Peter lynch approach. Sandring energy, energy creek re reimbursing them billions. Carl icahn said no way, owning 21 of the company at this point in time makes sense and why were seeing the big bump energy space has been on fire. I like many of these names, sandridge i have to look at closer because i havent looked hat that name in quite a while. Next up, jon and peter tracking some unusual activity and how they are using the moves in options to track a retail stock and commodity play much more Halftime Report after this a tiny sword . Bread. Breadstick . A matchstick a lamppost coin slot no . Uhhh. 10 seconds. A stick a Walking Stick eiffel tower, Mount Kilimanjaro ding time sorry, its a tandem bicycle. What . What . as long as sloths are slow, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. daniel jacob for every hour that youre idling in your car, youre sending about half a gallon of gasoline up in the air. That amounts to about 10 pounds of Carbon Dioxide every week. malo hutson growth is good, but when it starts impacting our quality of air and quality of life, thats a problem. So forwardthinking cities like sacramento are investing in streets that are smarter and greener. The solution was right under our feet. Asphalt. Or to be more precise, intelligent asphalt. By embedding sensors into the pavement, as well as installing cameras on traffic lights, we will be able to analyze the flow of traffic. Then that data runs across our network, and we use it to optimize the timing of lights, so that travel times are shorter. Who knew asphalt could help save the environment . [vo] progress is an unstoppable force. The season of audi sales event is here. Audi will cover your first months lease payment on select models during the season of audi sales event. . Welcome back im contessa brewer. Heroes whats happening right now. President trump targeting amazon again tweeting that the u. S. Postal service is losing billions of dollars each year and only charges amazon and others, quote, so little to deliver their packages making amazon richer in the process at t announced today all 50 u. S. States will participate in its planned nationwide Broadband Network designed specifically for u. S. Government. At t was awarded the first is billi 1 billion market heavy snow, rain and high wind in glasgow, scotland forced the airport to temporarily suspend flights. And caught on camera in South Carolina dashcam video shows a 221yearold wopg slipping how the of the handcuffs in the back seat that. Takes some gymnastics. Back seat of the police card slid into the drivers seat and drove away she was caught again and now charged with grand larceny, failure to stop for blue lights and resisting arrest with Deadly Weapon is cnbc news update. Very agile. The najarian brothers watching the Options Market for signs of unusual trading activity jop, kick it off. All right, mel. Childrens place based right here in new jersey, this one has outperformed i mean, look at that chart just below 105 beginning of the year. Today 147. They come scrambling in and by the 155 calls, a shortterm play i believe its based on, of course, a great Christmas Season and they bought these calls paying up to about 11. 80 for them ill be in it for two weeks and these expire in four weeks, like the trade. Pete, in the commodities space, what are you looking oat in. The gdx, the gold miners and will we see one of the pops like weve seen in the past if you look at the chart on the gdx, based around 21 and spiked up and hit around 25 on a couple of occasions today somebody, about 15,900 of the february 25 calls were purchased. Around 23 cents, mel stock trading around 23 been the 25, somewhere in that range. Im in this trade as well. I like it and ive been waiting to see papers come in and some of the miners in the gold and silver space now were starting to see some of that paper. Ill in this for at least a month. Thanks, guys. Thank you, mel. Some say kevin oleary is an astute business m. Weve got a Rock Star Fan who likes hisgy star skills. Hell join us next on halftime and coming up on power lunch, is amazon pulling one over on the post office . The president thinks show . Hes right 2017 was a big year for restaurant m a and will competitors continue to swallow each other up and who will be next and taking a chance on gaming stocks. Casinos have been on a tear. Will investors stick with this winning bet . That and much more on power lunch. Meantime, Halftime Report is back after this. Taking care of a Family Member can lead to plenty of questions. Fortunately, theres a place to get the answers, for them and for you. Find articles, tips and tools from experts and others who have been in your place. The Caregiving Resource Center at aarp. Org caregiving. Yesterday, kevin oleary picked up a new fan with his guitar skills. Today that fan is with us on the phone. Zz tops Billy Gibbons youre had a man of music and a man of money as well what are you investing in . Well, we, first of all, those are some nice guitar licks i happen to be a fan of those kinds of sounds, and that billy, you have no idea what that means to me and how jealous people i play with you are the man well, youve got the first two chords im waiting on the third dont learn the fourth dont learn the fourth as far as investment goes, you know, its a good place to start its no secret that the that the sixstring guitar has become a favorite of millions, and its still quite an appealing endeavor to go after what suits your fancy, and it doesnt have to be something thats 50 years old these days, some of the great guitar makers are turning out some very, very fine and very collectible instruments, so dont turn your back on it just because its new. Bill, a quick question. I was a shareholder in fender for a long time and we began to realize, quite depressingly so that the older guitars were worth ten times the ones we were putting out with much Better Technology a lot of i did tars you own because you owned them back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. How do you get around that problem because thats where the buyers want to be in the older axis. Well, they are not making them any longer, and like anything else, as soon as the well dries up, everybody is looking for more water but as pointed out, and, of course, if you if you dig deep you can always count on a guy like george gruen and Carter Brennan who are in nashville and seem to dredge things up wherever they can, but the instruments that are starting to emerge, i think they are taking some from that famous book, the glory days of the early 50s and 60s, they kind of marked that as thats the badge of courage that you strive to be. Billy, you know, youve told us you invest in cars, guitars, art and oil. So how are you investing in oil . Well, you know, i reside in california but my roots are in texas, an ive always been able to count on my buddies that still find time to punch a hole in the ground. The Energy Sector has really been rather robust in recent times, and it doesnt show signs of slowing down just yet its its not its not a bad place to be. Not at all. Not with oil prices at 2. 5year highs. Bill, a pleasure speaking with you, ever here in englewood cliffs, new jersey, stop on by. Wed love to. 2019 marks the great anniversary of 50 years of zz top so well come see you. Heres to another 50. Thanks so much for phoning in, billy. We appreciate it Billy Gibbons. Well be listening for the closing licks there. We should only be lucky the third chord. The third chord coming up much more ahead on the Halftime Report including the traders fit vein01 rsmos 28. See thats funny, i thought you traded options. Im not really a wall street guy. Whats the hesitation . Eh, it just feels too complicated, you know . Well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. Jj, will you break it down for this gentleman . Hey, ian. You know, at Td Ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until youre comfortable. I could be up for that. Thats taking options trading from wall st. To main st. Hey guys, wanna play some pool . Eh, im not really a pool guy. Whats the hesitation . Its just complicated. Stepbystep options trading support from Td Ameritrade whats Critical Thinking like . A basketball costs 14. Whats team spirit worth . cheers whats it worth to talk to your mom . Whats the value of a walk in the woods . The value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. Morgan stanley im contessa brewer. We are watching two drugmakers following the final settlement of a complex legal dispute involving the two companies. And bill ackermans Pershing Square they suit goes back to trying to buy allergen in 2014 valeant will pay more than 96 million. Valeant originally agreed to pay 60 of the settlement, but the two sides couldnt settle on the original amount in the first place. Shareholders alleged that allergan and valeant illegally had talks before the bid well have more on bitcoin, next or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Another day of work. Why do you do it . Its not just a pay check, you actually like what you do. Even love it. And today, you can do things you never could before. Youre developing ai applications on the cloud. Finding insights hidden in decades of medical documents. And securing millions of iot sensors. So get back to it. And do the best work of your life. And we are here to tell you about bitcoin and putting it to the test. More businesses are accepting the crypto currency. Can i give you 10 worth of bitcoin . Worth of what worth of bitcoin. I have never heard of bitcoin. You have never heard of bitcoin. Our system doesnt take that. So you dont accept it . We dont accept it here i got turned down quite a few times which made living on bitcoin difficult. One restaurant accepted bitcoin cash despite the gain in bitcoin this year, the Business Owners were highly skeptical calling it a fad. But there were a couple who said five to ten years from now, they could see it as a means of payment. Perhaps it is too early right now. Think about a few years back when bitcoin wasnt considered legal tender anywhere in the world. Where it was not widely accepted at all and here we are today for it to be accepted as legal tender. Do you pay taxes in japan with it . I believe you can it is just like the yen. Paypal were awawear bitcoin now. Exactly now theres legislation in the house that basically removes the friction from Bitcoin Transactions because the problem is, if i had a coinbased account and transferred it into u. S. Dollars and made a project, it would be subjected to taxes so basically this house bill would remove the taxes you would have to pay on transactions under a certain amount so it will remove that tax description. Something between crypto current sicies you pay on the amounts you have taken if you are paying for a soda in bitcoin and taxes on your gains every single time. Thats a big story to watch in 2018. Especially as more Mainstream Investors buy bitcoin. And the implications on whether people know how to pay taxes on the new digital asset. And its a Swiss Bank Account in your pocket when carrying bitcoins or any crypto currency. Thats why we need a coin backed by a central bank. Israel is doing it. That will allow more transparency to it. When you fly from geneva to new york city and come in with your phone, and the officer asks you, do you have more than 10,000 of currency on you what is the answer my answer is always no. No, but the point is, you do. Virtually, you could have much more. Virtually, you have money in your bank account but dont declare that its the same thing. The same thing is the key is on the wallet. Not necessarily it depends on where you store it it could be in the alps. True. Well see it will get tested somebody is going to test this at the border. Youre a skeptic. I am a skeptic. But you are intrigued by it. I am. But any time you go to a regulator and they say, we dont like it because it is not regulated, theres trouble ahead. I dont know where, but im concerned about that and i play in the real world so i dont want to get a hammer hitting me out of the blue, even though i am intrigued. Yes, i own some bitcoin, but im watching it. The scc has a newlyminted unit called the cyber unit dedicated to purely icos and looking at Digital Currency to catch the bad actors using bitcoin or ether to fund terrorist activities and illegal activities so perhaps more regulation in 2018 it will be interesting to see when you do that same package next year how many more people accept it. Yeah, well keep trying it out. Living it out, bitcoin is like dieting, youll starve to death. There are a few merchants, you just have to keep going back. We are going to get the first trades for the new year. Kevin to leoleary. Subset 2000, those companies will have a cash inflow. I love it. Data corps, one of the largest processors out there and we have had unusual activity and Stephen Cohen has been adding to a position that is fully disclosed. I like this Going Forward. Buy roku. This is not a traditional that is not a traditional stock. I know, but the growth is there. We have had debates on the desk. I see kevin looking at me. It is one of those things, that is not relative. And i know im seeing this, so youre saying, what if i lost my mind the growth is there, the debate we have had on this desk, if its the next netflix, its going to have a very volatile year but a good year all right i think petes gone. Is pete here yeah, pete is not here so we wont get his trade. But we wish him a happy new year and happy new year to all you folks watching the Halftime Report. Kevin oleary, thank you for joining us power lunch starts right now all right. Melissa, thank you very much youll be back with us in a few moments. Welcome everybody to power lunch. Im Tyler Mathisen and here is what is on the menu for the final trading year for the blowout year of the markets. So, can we keep up the pace next year or a payday slow down ahead . And it is in the mail, the president going after the post office and amazon in a new tweet saying the tech giant is making the post Office Dumber and poorer youre right and game on, investors have been betting big o