Speak, investors listen for clues and, hopefully, some clarity. But once in a while their remarks can create more questions than answers, and that was evident in the market today. Confusion reigned as Central Bank Officials appeared to walk back the chance of a more sizable Interest Rate cut at the next policy meeting later this month. Hopes for a half a percent cut were fuelled by comments made yesterday by president of the new york fed and they were top of mind again today when the head of the st. Louis fed spoke. All of the confusion though resulted in a down market with the industrial average down 68 points at 27,154. The nasdaq was down 60, the s p slipped by 18 and all of the major averages were lower for the week as well with the nasdaq and the s p turning in their worst performances since may. Steve liesman takes a look at the fed backandforth and whether investors are preparing for a quarter or a half point cut. Reporter kate lewis fed president james bull lard speaking in new york today, said the Federal Reserve needs to follow through on what essentially was a promise made to markets in june. We didnt ease at the june meeting, but signals were we were highly likely to ease at the july meeting. So now thats all been priced into markets, so if you try to take it out i think it would be very difficult at this stage. So you might as well follow through and ratify that. Reporter said a quarter point cut was appropriate for july, not 50 which some have been talking about, but the fed could revisit additional cuts in the months ahead. He went on to defend new york fed president williams saying he thought controversial comments williams made yesterday were more academic than a comment on where current policy from the fed is going next. Williams said research shows, quote, dont keep your powder dry. That is move more quickly to add monetary stimulus than you otherwise might. Not long after that, the new york fed said the comments were academic and, quote, not about potential policy actions at the upcoming meeting. Right now the fed funds futures market is pricing in a 100 probability of a july rate cut, and that divides like this. A 63 chance of a quarter point cut and a 37 of a half point cut. It had been as high as 60 after williams spoke yesterday. Williams continued to raise concerns about a certain tone deafness at the top of the powell fed, and that leaves markets wondering will the Federal Reserve cut by a quarter point or a half a point or should it be cutting at all. For nightly Business Report, im steve liesman. We should point out not every fed policymaker is on board with a rate cut right not. Late today the head of the boston fed had a different take on the need for looser monetary policy. As long as the economy is doing well, if that continues we dont need accommodation. We are also getting differo t pinions about the direction of the stock market. Black rocks ceo said he believes investors need to stay invested. We saw people derisking still and i still believe as i said last quarter, i think it is going to be a mistake. People are underinvested in equities, and i do believe with now the change in the tone of central bank behavior and youre starting to see corporate earnings are coming in pretty well, you know, we still are constructive on the world. But on the other side, the chief investment oicer at morgan stanley, mike wilson, said he feels investors should be patient and wait for a better time to invest. So tonight we bring together a stock market bull and a bear to get their respective views. Our bear is phil blancano, ceo of asset management, and our bull is ben cayman, president of arcadian asset management. Good to see you. Bull, make the case. Why not . The market has been doing very well. The old adage dont fight the fed has always been a good bull weather to look at, although i think there are reasons to question whether we need the rate cut. It is a little different point than being a bull, because i do think it probably would be better that they wait until september, keep it in their back pocket. I do have to say i think that is some risk for the market, but i have to tell you the market doesnt really look that expensive when you think about january of 2018 the market was trading at about an 18. 5 times forward earnings. With earnings estimates now on a forward basis down 6 from when they were a year ago, only about 16. 5. So it doesnt really seem that expensive and it is more towards the averages i think historically. Phil, you were with us the other night. You made the case for being cautious in the market. So were calling you a bear tonight. Make the case. You see a slowdown in the econy and trade tensions causing problems as well. I do. There are a number of things to me really concerning. First off, the fed cutting rate doesnt mean the economy is going gangbusters. We have become too reliant on the Federal Reserve to drive the markets higher and thats of great concern. You have earnings for the first two quarters that will be only modestly positive. In my opinion, i think stocks are expensive, trading 19 times with traditional earnings around 17 times. So stocks are not cheap and you dont have earnings to lift the prices, or the earnings up to justify the prices. So a slowing of the economy, today a leading Economic Indicator came out showing a significant slowdown in the economy. Flat earnings, and the fed having to come in and rescue us, those are not the signs of being bullish on stocks. What do you think . Well, i think that, you know, first of all you have to say are we looking to try to make a trade for the next week or two or month or investing for the longer time. I have been doing the network for a long time and i get called in when the market is down and the message is ride through it, you have to have a longterm plan, you have to know how it fits in with your overall planning. It should be the same thing when the market is high, that if you have a good allocation and you know where things are, then you shouldnt necessarily be afraid of marngts and tops. I have been around the industry long enough to know tops causes as much anxiety as jubilation, but right now im not that fearful. I think especially if we get the fed rate cuts like people are expecting, i think that some life is left in the bull. What about that . We have a lot of longterm investors that watch the program. What do you say to them here . It is a great time to go neutral. You made so much money. Take 5 out of your equities holdings, maybe take 10 . Earn a little profit. The investments are yeeling 2. 5 , so you could take a little excess off the table, put it in short term. By the way to your point earlier, if the fed doesnt cut, and im in the camp where i dont think the fed cuts, i think it is good enough to hold on. The market will go through a tantrum here. Dont get in a situation where you could get penalized by overthinking this. Who takes us higher sector wise . Technology has been the goto, health care has done well. Are those still the ones to take us there or Something Else . I think if we get something from the president on trade, it could be International Starting to catch up. I mean because that has been lagging for quite a bit. I just have to kind it point out i think if you have been in a welldiversified portfolio all along, it is hard to say i have been taking 40 , 50 of my portfolio and earning , and i want to put more there, i get the idea of being defensive but thats why you put an allocation and try to hold it. I do think even the financials which really have not had the greatest time right. I mean you have to buy things, buying when theyre crying is one of the best adages on the market. Buy low, sell high. Thanks again for joining us tonight. Thank you. N developments on the debt ceiling talks in washington we have been telling you about. President trump says that the governments Credit Rating is sacred and he will not use the debt ceiling as lefverage to negotiate a spending deal with congress. He added he hopes a deal is close. It is estimated that the treasurys Borrowing Authority will be exhausted sometime in early september. Tensions continue to rise in the middle east. Late this afternoon irans revolutionary guard said it captured a British Oil Tanker for not following International Maritime regulations and it turned the tanker over to authorities. The uk says it is concerned by the seizure in the strait of hormuz and is attempting to resolve the situation. As you know, a large percentage of the Global Oil Supply does flow through that strait. Domestic crude settled higher to more than 55 a barrel. Two entertainment titans fighting over fees right now. If at t and cbs do not resolve their differences by 2 00 a. M. Tomorrow morning, it could mean that you will not be able to watch your popular shows like ncis and young sheldon. Julia boorstin is in los angeles. Catching at t, you verse customers, you could soon lose your cbs shows. Theyre at an impasse over conversation for cbs content, but the risk for a blackout for the 24 million subscribers to directv, directv now and at t u verse. Among the 18 markets as risk of a blackout are some of the nations largest including new york, los angeles and boston. This battle speaks to the issues of rising costs and cord cutting facing the tv bundle. Cbs is looking for higher fees to compensate for its higher costs and declining ratings, while at ts Video Services have been struggling with a shrinking s subscriber base. Cbs saying at ts willingness to deprive its customers of valuable content has become routine over the last few weeks and months. At t responding that prime time audiences have fallen while cbss fees have risen, saying broadcast stations, quote, continue to give their stations away for free but demand unsustainably growing fees. At t accuses cbs of being intent on blacking out any homehat chooses to receive cable or Satellite Service to up sell cbs allaccess subscriptions. At the same time at t tells its subscribers if theres a blackout they can find cbs shows on the cbs streaming service which offers a free trial. Analyst Craig Moffett says, quote, programming partners, particularly those with sports, have fixed cost input so they have no choice but to raise prices faster, saying directv knows if they accept faster affiliate increases it will translate into even faster subscriber declines when they pass through the higher costs to end users. Moffett calling the dynamic of the two companies and the pressures they face a death spiral. For nightly Business Report, im Julia Boorstin in los angeles. Time to take a look at some of todays upgrades and downgrades. We start tonight with shares of Phillip Morris. They were upgraded to overweight from equal weighted at barclays. The analyst there cited the companys new heated Tobacco Products saying they put Phillip Morris back on track. The price target 100. The stock rose 1 to 88. 73. Weight watchers was upgraded to buy from neutral at da davidson. The analyst cited a proprietary survey that pointed to improve brand sentiment for this company. Price target, 342, despite the upgrade though the stock fell more than 1. 5 to 24. 78. Alcoa was down graedgraded to h from buy. The analyst cited a lack of sufficient cash flow for the company. Shares were off 23. 11. Still ahead, car share, bike share, and now theres this. When you think mobility, maybe you think scooters or bikes, but e mmopeds are emergi. I will talk to the founder of one of the companies, investors and also users. All of that after this. It is no secret that the market moves on trade headlines these days, so tonight we asked our market monitor for a list of stocks that should be able to weather the trade war. Tripp miller is with us tonight, founder and managing part at galane capital partners. Thanks for joining us tonight. Thanks for having me, bill. I have to say im scratching my head a little bit on your first pick. It would be fedex. If theres a company vulnerable to the trade war it is fedex, and it has been reflected in the stock price the last year or so. Why do you like this one . I agree with you. As longterm Value Investors we have been longterm shareholders in fedex and we certainly felt the pain in the short run, at least over the last year. We think it is a wonderful buying opportunity roughly at 11 times 4 earnings. We are optimistic something will happen with a trade deal at some point before the election and fedex will benefit from that, as well as benefitting from their at t acquisition from a few years ago and optimizing the utilization of Ground Network in the u. S. To benefit the growing ecommerce business. We think fedex has a lot of upside potential. Okay. We think theyve been doing the right thing buying back stock. Number two, dollar general. Certainly more domestically focused. Boy, this chart, we are showing five years, if you went back the ten years this company has been trading, it is a thing of beauty as they say. But as it sits near alltime highs, you think theres more growth . We do. We think it is a recession resistant business and we think it is one with the trade war going on right now has not been impacted as much as their competitor, dollar tree, family dollar. So when we look at this business Going Forward, we like the fact that theyre buying back roughly a billion dollars in stock per year. They pay a small dividend and they can grow their store count significantly over the coming years. We believe they can grow between 600 and 1,000 stores per year for the next seven years. Finally, this is a bit of a head scratcher for me. First solar, this industry suffered for a number of years. Yes, theres competition from overseas, especially from china right now, but here is a stock thats been side ways for seven years. It is almost like dead money, and it doesnt even pay a dividend. Why do you like it . We were buying into it earlier in the year when the stock price was much lower and we continue to like it in here. We think that they benefit from the fact that the trade war is benefitting them by hurting their chinese competitors that tried to saturate the u. S. Market for many years with panels. First, solar is really the only competitor left thats domestic in the space. We think Going Forward utility scale solar makes a lot of sense, roughly on parity with the other Energy Sources out there. We think theres a lot of upside here and we like the fact that lucas walton, sam waltons grandson, owns 20 of the stock. Some sponsorship you like. Some interesting stock picks tonight. Thanks again for joining us, tripp miller. Thank you. A strong consumer helps American Express, and thats where we begin tonights market focus with the company reporting better than expected earnings thanks to a 7 rise in card holder spending. Revenue was in line, but expenses grew because am ex paid out more rewards to customers. Shares of American Express fell nearly 3 to 124. 82. Shh lu schlumberger topped growth. The ceo of the company will be retiring next month, succeeded by chief operating officer. Stocks fell a fraction today to 38. 71. Kansas city southern posted better than expected results. It was driven by increased shipments of chemicals and petroleum to mexico. Shares rose more than 4. 5 to 123. 43. Engine manufacturer cummings is reportedly making an offer for volkswagens Man Energy Solutions which makes large diesel engines used in ships and power stations. They are looking to they have not confirmed the report. They rose to 172. 80. After more than 50 years as americas top selling sports car, the corvette is getting a major makeover. The result is a new look and a feel that General Motors hopes will rev up fans. Phil lebeau is in tustin, california for us tonight. Reporter with the glitz and glamour fitting an Opening Night near hollywood, gm took the raps off its latest version of its star car, the corvette. Here it is, ladies and gentlemen. What do you think . This car is very, very different in terms of what you see and where you point the car when you steer it and how it behaves. It is very different, but it is still very corvette. Reporter while the new corvette has many of the styling cues of a traditional vette, it looks more muscular, particularly in the back. It is the first one with the engine in the back of the car behind the driver. They moved the engine to the back over the rear wheels and that gives more weight holding the wheels down, allowing them to push more power down and to accelerate more. The sky is the limit, frankly, for power and performance now. Reporter for years corvette has been known as the sports car that delivers the most bang for your buck, power and performance for far less money than other sports cars like porsche and ferrari. Still, many vette fans clamored for a mid engine model taking of taking the iconic car to a new level. I think it chapnges the dynamics of who buys it and what. This is a chance to get everybodys ascensittention and im still a phenomenal car at a great price. Reporter to get ready for the corvette, they are expanding its plant in bowling green, kentucky, hiring 400 more workers. Expect them to be busy. The starting price point on the new mid engine chevy corvette is under 60,000. The company is starting to take reservations and deposits on the vehicle. First deliveries start later this year. Phil lebeau, nightly Business Report, tustin, california. And from corvettes to something not as big or as fast, but electric mopeds are taking over the streets in parts of new york city. Rahel solomon takes us for a ride on a shared scooter. Reporter in some parts of brooklyn and queens it is not a e moped revolution. You might call it a revelation. There are 1,000 of these rebel e mopeds on the streets here. While mopeds themselves are not shoo, shared electric mopeds you can rent by the minute are newer to what is known as m