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tv   Fast Money Halftime Report  CNBC  March 15, 2016 12:00pm-1:01pm EDT

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got the primaries tonight john and then the fed tomorrow. speculation about what they'll say about inflation and jobs. >> apple is up 2.5% leading the dow and all tax stocks i cover. >> oracle tonight after the bell. a big show with cooperman. let's get back to headquaters and the half. ♪ >> welcome. stunning drop in shares of valeant pharmaceuticals which are plunging as we come on the air. joe, stephanie, josh brown and pete are with us for the hour and also joining us today exclusively is leon cooperman. he is the investor and chairman and ceo of omega advisors. valeant suffering the worst day ever after lowering it's outlook and then seemed to be doing it again on a conference call with investors. meg is following the call this
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hour. what in the world is going on here. >> that's what serve wondering at this point. you always have to wonder going into today who is shorting valeant because they wondered what else could happen. today we're seeing if it closes at these levels it will be the biggest one day drop ever in it's history. it's down more than 40% today so you mention that restatement of its guidance on the call. this is something they're beefing up their financial reporting. trying to improve their communications but in their press release the next four quarters is going to be 6.2 to $6.6 billion. and then on the conference call their cfo said it was going to be $6 billion. that's how it is written in the slides. somebody tried to clarify and said there is a typo on our guidance. this is the kind of thing that people cannot believe anymore. now you're seeing analysts saying we thought it was a communications issue. maybe they were bad at that. now we have serious questions. now the analysts that stuck with it have serious questions about the strength of the business.
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>> some are downgrading it as we speak. to some it seems to be more of the message or the communications strategy this company has as the stock is literally falling out of bed as we speak. it's down 45%. >> really truly bizarre statements made on the call. people asking what happened with the guidance. mike pearson saying we lost a quarter. the first quarter was really bad. a quarter. we're in the first quarter and he's saying it basically doesn't count. it's not in the guidance. nobody understand what is is going on. >> meg, appreciate it very much on top of the story and will be throughout the day. welcome to the program. it's good to talk to you, sir, welcome back. >> nice to be with you. thank you for having me. >> you're probably happy that you no longer own valeant as we sit here and have this conversation today. what do you make of this situation? >> well, i kind of see -- we have both seen this movie before. the company crew as a result of a roll up strategy. they took high priced stock for
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a lot of businesses, used a lot of debt and they lost their multiple which meant their equity was not a currency for acquisition and they exercised their debt on options so they couldn't put more debt on the balance sheet and the market is striving to figure out what the recurring earnings is and this company's here and we got out sometime ago an we're an innocent bystander. >> i'd like to get your opinions as well as we sit here and watch this unfold yet again. it seems like this story has been repeating itself as sort of lee said we have seen this before. >> and the potential bond defaults. i mean, there's so many different stories that are unfolding right before our very eyes and the uncertainty around this stock. across the desk we said the uncertainties are so high. it's really difficult to jump into these shares at any point in time. this is a stock that was $263 per share and here we are now trading well below 40, scott, so
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when you look at the volatilities of the options right now, the stock volume doubled the daily average in the first 30 minutes so there is a huge run for the hills as folks are doing their best and we just don't know enough about the inside workings of the company now. >> this was never complicated. sometimes you see these things and you say who could have known. there was more smoke around this thing than any stock i can can remember going back at least 15 years. it was not tough. you had multiple opportunities to get out and what should be well understood a very easy rule of thumb, any time a company's debt load gets to the point where it's above it's market cap, it's equity, as was the case with valeant. >> they had $30 million in net debt. >> so as soon as the -- usually it done happen where debt grows beyond equity. usually equity shrinks to the point where they owe more money.
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they're better off dead than alive. once you get to that point you can count on one hand the number of companies that come back from that without major recapitalization. you had a lot of opportunities. you didn't have to understand the ins and outs of the benefit partners, et cetera. you just had to look at this thing and say what am i doing here? i'm not a hedge fund manager. i didn't plant a flag. let me get out. >> valeant has been in the cross hairs of politicians this primary season as you know. it's a day that could all but cement the and as the debate intensifies over which candidate is really better for the markets. i want to begin with you on that very question. as you assess the political landscape today, what do you see? >> i don't like what i see.
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>> the whole world got turned upside down. mitt romney was one of the most qualified people to run for president. now we have mr. trump telling everybody they're underestimating his beth and success and the wealth around me worked against him and the wealth of trump is working for him. so go figure it out but we survived the democratic convention of 1968 but there's unhappiness in the left and unhappiness in the right and we have to figure out a solution to deal with the problems and we need more to create more economic growth and we need more on the education side but we'll get through this period. the nation is strong. we'll survive. and uncertainty is not a plus
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for the market. >> you may have to be an investor under one of the two politicians that we just mentioned be it hillary clinton or mr. trump. who would be better for the stock market over the next period of time if one of those folks becomes the next president of the united states? >> well, assuming hilary moved to the center, probably hilary is less risky but my problems with hilary are substantial in all honesty. forget about the e-mails and what have you but i noticed as i paid attention to the democratic debates, she and her opponent senator sanders had no problems of constantly criticizing wealthy people. without regard to how hard these people worked to make their wealth or social good they're doing with their wealth and for me i'm looking for a politician that can rise above. that can basically not pander to
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the so-called 99% trying to tell them they're suffering because the 1% is abusing them. the fact of the matter is the wealthy people are not creating the problems for the less wealthy. we have had stagnant fiscal policy. the entire burden of dealing with this economic recovery has been placed on the shoulders of the fed. the fed felt what they had to do was get the stock market up to create wealth. they got the stock market up by dropping interest rates and as the stock market rose the vast bulk of the benefit went to a select few where as if we pursued physical policy changes, earnings overseas tied to employment and encourage a more probusiness environment we might have had a different outcome so that's my problem with secretary clinton. i say bernie sanders i think he is detached from reality and what i mean by that is about a year and a half ago i went to
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cuba. they're hard working good people. and they're prospering and doing well. they get a quarter of a chicken once a month for their protein ration. it takes them two hours to get from the suburbs to the city because there's no oorg nirgani transportation system. $3.80 or something like that a minute to use the television service no satellite service, no newspaper. same quality people. and one system is communism or socialism call it what you juan and bernie sanders is preaching a socialist system. it hasn't worked. we have the best economy in the world. we have plenty of deficiencies. >> why isn't trump your man? >> it's an issue of style basically. people accuse me of being
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bombastic, it's just his style. the way he has insulted people. he has not really advanced any solutions. it's beyond style. i mean, it's not substantive. we're going to build a wall. and they're going to pay for it. you know why i'm not releasing my taxes. it's ridiculous. he should be releasing his tax return. i don't want him suing me but my guess is he done want to release his tax return because maybe his income is different than people think. his tax rate is a lot different than he wants people to know and basically maybe his charitable giving isn't what he ought to give at his level of wealth. i don't know the answer. >> who are you. >> well, you know, i'm on the losing side. i'm registered independent so i can't vote in the primary in florida but basically i have given money to jeb. he dropped out. i have given money to marco rubio. i have not given money to kasich
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but i like him as well. those would be the three guys i would have no problem with but we'll have to wait and see. i'll be influenced by vice presidential running mate so we have to wait to see how things play out but, you know, the mocking of a handicap person, the new york sometimes staff, the criticizing of the looks of carly fiorina left me cold. his treatment of jeb bush left me cold. he is just a, not my style. he's obviously a successful guy but not my style. >> guys. >> hey, it's josh brown. so i agree with you that the election is weighing on probably the multiple that we're willing to pay for the market. maybe holding it to where it is. with all the uncertainty given the radical politics on the far left and right. but let me make the case and i'd love to hear what you say for why maybe the stock market wants to see hilary despite all of her obvious plaus, she is the status
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quo or as close to it this cycle as we're going to get. she has a pretty good chance of winning and a lot of the rhetoric you're hearing is designed to keep he lwarren out the race and she starts talking like a clinton again and any of the other candidates in that she has deep ties with the banks and probably doesn't want to change very much when all is said an done once she gets away from having to fight off warren and sande sanders. a agree with that. some people think she might not have a chance to run or get elect first degree she is
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indicted. i think she is a less risky candidate but when obama was elected the hope was he would move to the center but he didn't move to center. she is more opportunistic even when she won in the carolinas she already changed the dialogue. she said we all have to work together. the rich people should pay more in taxes. i believe in a progressive income tax structure but we have to get both sides of the government working together to deal with the problems we have and the problems are substant e substantive. >> since i have been in the business i've been taught that gridlock is good for the moment. do you believe we're in a time where the market is maturing? monetary policy seems to want to hand off now to strong physical policy? what are your thoughts on that. >> i'd like to see the country move ahead. i don't like the idea of
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gridlock. if we're going to go with a leftist agenda i'd rather have gridlock. a more lightened approach to dealing with the economy but if the choice was a left ward leaning government i would clearly want gridlock but the best news for the stock market is it has not discounted a scenario. they would be 25 or 30 basis points. the government would be 190. economy would be growing 2%. it will be 15.5 times earnings. the malt m seems low relative to interest rate inflation and i think that's good. it's built into the market pricing and that's positive. little facts. number one, 50% of the stocks today in the s&p 500 now yield
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more than bonds so what is that telling you? investors expect interest rates to rise or they expect future economic growth to be more modest than historical economic growth but the fact is its discountying a more conservative set of assumptions is constructive. generally bull market cycles ended with a hostile fed fed. we had rising interest rates before the stock market peaked out and interest rate rises in the past and i think since 2007 it's about 8 or $900 million taken out of equity funds and that's the behavior at the bottom. you don't see that kind of
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behavior in the market so a lot of things i look at, most people that forecast economy, the most pessimistic of maybe a one third chance of recession. we're down around 20 or 25% chance which means 75 or 80% probability. you don't have recession and since bear markets are are generally associated with recessions, that's a constructive fact. we don't have the overevaluation and as i said before we don't have a hostile fed and optimistic sentiment and it's like i say i have a neutral plus view. my view is 18-10 which is the low for the year and i think that we end the year modestly higher than we began and i find a ton of stocks that are cheap.
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>> on that note, in fact, we me sneak in a quick commercial break. we'll come back and talk more with you about the market and the stocks that you see attractive in the current environment. just sit tight and we'll be right back and have some headlines moving on valeant as well. here's what's coming up on the halftime report. >> diamond or dud? tiffany getting a downgrade today. has the high end retailer lost all it's luster? we debate the call of the day. plus our exclusive interview with leon cooperman continues. he'll share the names he's buying and selling include a new position in a tech giant. and morgan stanley says, the panic over weak iphone demand is overblown. could it be time to get into apple? that and more ahead on the
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halftime report.
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12:20 pm saving humanity from high insurance rates. we need to be ready for my name's scott strenfel and r i'm a meteorologist at pg&e. we make sure that our crews as well as our customers are prepared to how weather may impact their energy. so every single day we're monitoring the weather, and when storm events arise our forecast get crews out ahead of the storm to minimize any outages. during storm season we want our customers to be ready and stay safe. learn how you can be prepared at together, we're building a better california. i want to call your attention to what's happening with valean stock. off by about 46%. one of the top shareholders in the company, the hedge fund investor there has issued a press release regarding the valeant stock move today.
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they talked about in the conference call regards of the outlook not being as robust as previously guided. they delayed a regulatory filing. the above factors have caused investors to lose total confidence in the the company to protect and maximize the value of our investments. we continue to believe that the value of our business are worth the current price. we also go on to say we will do our best to keep you promptly informed subject to any limitations and valeant shareholder, one of the top shareholders there, run by bill ackman has issued a statement with regard to its business and dealings with valeant. they're going to take a much more proactive role with regard to their investment in valeant
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pharmaceutical. >> when he got the seat on the board they didn't expect that two weeks later they would be back sending out press releases talking about the types of events that happened today and how they're going to deal with it moving forward. he is on and he pledged his support and it's what he is thinking today after all of this has occurred but that's an interesting nugget to consider the porn interview kelly did. let's bring back in lee cooperman now who if you recall is with us in mid january in the midst of the market's big swoon. here's what he said back then. >> i'm holding on because there's a growth scare rather than the bear market.
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>> you don believe it's a bear market. in fact, if i heard you correctly you said that there were a ton of stocks in the market that you find attractive. let's talk about some of those. i have new names on my list that are now in the omega portfolio. why don't you share your best ideas with us, if you would? >> we can go from a to u. aig, aig, seven times this years earnings. 6.5 times next year's earnings. six times this year. 5.6 times this year. and in the case of air cap i was up to washington d.c. a couple of years ago visiting navient. very interesting environment.
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and a lot of stock in the last 15 months. and the company in the low 20s. and books to buy back with the stock this year. that's 23% of the company. don't let it escape you but if you buy back 23% of the company at 9 or $10 it's trading at 10.5. and here you have something where the ceo is in the process of buying back between what he has already done and planning to do. 40 or 50% of the company. trades around 5 times earnings. yields 6% and sells roughly half of the liquidating value of the
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company. >> microsoft is probably jumping out at people as a new, relatively new move that you made here. >> i think we bought around six months ago. maybe a little bit more recently. we liked that. microsoft is a premium to the market multiple. in line with the market multiple next year but probably twice the market excellent technology. participating in the cloud. it's very good value as would be google. google is the probably highest multiple in portfolio with 21 times this years earnings but growing over 20% a year. so next year is down 16 times earnings and for 20% growth rate that's reasonably attractive. so many names i could mention. the airlines, six times earnings. one main, sub prime lender, under seven times this years
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earnings and we think it's under five times next years earnings so we find a lot of things to do and i would argue in a sense that since we have been in a bear market, not for the averages but the avrerage stock that's a lot behind you and not ahead of you. i think the market has given you good opportunity but i want to be clear. there's a lot of issues out there. profit margins at a record high. you have to be impressed how bernie sanders can raise 20 odd billion in a month and average gift is 23 or $24 billion. it tells you the young people are disaffected and that's a concern. >> when you mention names like alphabet and google is your top holding you make the case for it and at the same time you make the case from microsoft and other stocks that would be more viewed as value plays, where do you come down right now on the issue of whether value is truly
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coming back in favor in a meaningful and longer lasting way than we have seen it in years. >> i would vote on the side of value but to be honest with you i would be a broken record on that. i'll a value investor. i practice what i preach. but i look at the market. what is the market? the s&p 500 is index of 500 companies growing about 5%. they yield 2.2%. they sell around 2.7 times book value. they have about 35 to 40% debt to capital and for that you're paying 16 times earnings and my game is to find more growth or more yield, the more underlying asset value at a lower valuation. we believe that the liquidating value is a low 20s. if i could buy something at 11 yielding 6% which is almost three times the market yield and selling at half the liquidating value, it's got to interest me.
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if i could by an air lease or aig or first data and half a market multiple and and unlike every other viewers and resources and i have to put it somewhere. i can keep it cash and earn yielding 2% does not have any fascination to me, i think the bond rates are far too low. relative to the way they ought to be on a normalized basis or i could buy my favorite common stock and there's so many stocks that look attractively priced that i would tilt my portfolio to a good common quality stock and have a certain amount of cash because there's uncertainly in the world and you don't want to be on margin or fully invested and stocks represen the
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financial asset neighborhood and the performance over the last year and a half is more reason to be positive than negative. you have to have a recession view. you have to see exuberant pricing in the market. you have to see very positive sentiment and hostile fed. the fed is concerned about income disparity. this is a real issue globally. not just the united states. it's more severe outside of the united states believe it or not. 99% of the wealth in brazil is held by 1% of the population. we have to deal with income disparity and the way to deal is force greater economic growth to create more employment opportunities and educate the children and parents on the importance of education. this is what the government has got to do and we can't do it by fighting with each other. we have to work together. >> lee, i'm going to ask you to sit tight again. we're going to take a quick break. the european close as well we'll have to hit. i want to talk to you about the stocks in your portfolio and
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why are you orange? that's a little weird. really? that's the weird part in this scenario? look, orange money represents the money you put away for retirement. save a little here and there, and over time, your money could multiply. see? ah, ok. so, why are you orange? funny. see how voya can help you get organized at i have an orc-o-gram we for an "owen."e. that's me. ♪ you should hire stacy drew. ♪ ♪ she wants to change the world with you. ♪ ♪ she can program jet engines to talk and such. ♪ ♪ her biggest weakness is she cares too much. ♪ thank you. my friend really wants a job at ge. mine too. ♪ i'm a wise elf from a far off shire. ♪ and sanjay patel is who you should hire. ♪ thank you. seriously though, stacy went to a great school and she's really loyal. you should give her a shot. sanjay's a team player and uh...
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negative territory as you can see following asia down as
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the bank of japan appears to back pedal on the idea of further cutting into negative interest rates. big story in this country is valeant pharmaceuticals. bill ackman has a vehicle that trades in amsterdam. it was suspended or halted for sometime today as a result of the losses that they experience there. currently down about 10% as things stand at the moment. also you have seen some of the mining giants suffer losses today. today had a run up in gains and the mining giant today disappointed on the results. halting the final dividend and suggesting there's a air pocket evaluation and you should go underweight on that. an the banks have sold off again as well today but don't forget where you're coming off a very strong gain. up 25% so far this month. still and over in portugal.
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cuts u.k. spending as the british government attempts to get through the referendum to stay within the european union and the polls are suggesting there could be a lot more volatility to come as we second guess that vote. in the meantime let's send it over to sue for a news update. >> thank you. here's what's happening this hour. turkey's interior minister says this weekend's deadly car bombing was carried out by a female attacker connected to a militant group. that blast killed 37 people. france says it's police officers are also taking part in a brussels manhunt. authorities are searching for at least one gunman that opened fire during a house raid linked to the paris terror attacks. an nfl official is acknowledging a link between playing football and brain disease. the comments came while the executive for health spoke to the house committee. >> mr. miller, do you think there's a link between football
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and degenerative brain disorders? >> certainly a number of retired nfl players are diagnosed with cte so the answer to that question is certainly yes but there's also a number of questions that come with that. >> on a lighter note, a weekend car auction is leaving jerry seinfeld with $22 million. he sold 18 cars from his collection which were actually projected to go for 28 million so he didn't make the benchmark there. that's the cnbc news update at this hour. halftime report is back after this. what are you working on? let me show you. okay. our thinkorswim trading platform aggregates all the options data you need in one place and lets you visualize that information for any options series. okay, cool. hang on a second. you can even see the anticipated range of a stock expecting earnings. impressive... what's up, tim. td ameritrade.
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plug in some simple info and get up to 50 free quotes. choose the lowest and hit purchase. now...if you'll excuse me, i'm late for an important function. saving humanity from high insurance rates. volatility returned with a vengeance and continued into the early part of the year even though it eased lately. some are blaming the structure of the markets to continue to wreak havoc on investors. lee i know you have strong thoughts on the way that the markets are structured and the impact on all of us as investors. what do you think is the leading cause of the kind of volatility that we experienced over the last, say, six months or so. and i think that we had a series
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of regulatory changes which in the aggregate made this market, not the market, my father invested in, dodd frank, the demise of the system and for some unexplainable reason we eliminated the up tick rule. 1938 to deal with the abuses of the day the sec enacted the up tick rule that served us well for 70 odd year and in july 2007 was eliminated which basically aided the growth of the high frequency trading crowd and then you look at the new york stock exchange allows the high frequency traders to co-locate their computers next to the stock exchange to get a split second advantage over the public. when you ask why they do that they'll say if we won't do it somebody else will rather than saying is that morally right or the healthy thing for the market? and apparently it was the reveal
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that they had secret agreement with two high frequency trading firms and changes about the leaked information. so we have to come together again in this area to understand, you know, intelligent, you know, regulation. brokers, banks, they can't carrie inventory and there's no depth to the market so part of the speed of the sell off in the equity market in february is the high yield market lost a bid. you couldn't move your inventory and a lot of people were shotting off s&ps because they couldn't sell their high yield bonds so there's very limited liquidity and to the extent that liquidity is limited that means that risk premiums have to go up. if they go up that means multiples go down and if multiples go down the cost of capital to business rises so i think we have to deal with this and have more intelligent, sane, rational regulation but it's playing a role. how big a role, i don't know but i do know in the world we live
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in in 15 minute intervals the s&p should not go up or town 30 or 40 s&p points. there's something wrong and we should tackle it and try to figure it out. >> lee, it's josh. i'm more on your side than the other side but here's the other side of that. the new york stock exchange has to do this because it's pretty much most of the money they make outside of ipo listings and birthday parties so this is a big part of the business model and the second thing is, yes, it's more volatile day-to-day but it's also more cheaper for the majority of investors to transact and a lot more efficient and more liquid. what would you say to that? >> cheaper may be measured in commissions. >> if you want to sell something you may have to sell it down 5% but you can sell it down 5% for less than a penny a share. you have to look at the best realized price.
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it's the commission plus the spread we're giving up. i'm more of an investor than a trad trader. >> i think i said the 50 point s&ps move up and down. >> you said that but in general the critics of high frequency traders only seem to have their voices heard if you will when the market is careening rather than spiking. >> you know, i have been rich and i have been poor. rich is better. it's a logical healthy instinct
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to make money but we have to look behind it and see what's right and what's wrong and i think this combination, like i said, dodd frank, the up tick rule, all of that stuff is really sucked out the liquidity in the market. everybody says these high frequency tradings provide liquidity but they go home flat and come in flat and they're providing liquidity during the day. it's not quality liquidity. >> i'm not smart enough to give you an answer but it's an issue. >> i wanted your opinion certainly. we'll take a quick break. i want to talk to you about energy on the other side as well. back with lee cooper man in a moment. the microsoft cloud allows us to
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welcome back. watching oil prices fall for the second day in a row. fear of oversupply still lingering. let's get to the futures now. we're back to a story of fundamentals here. what's happening? >> we have heard that iran is maybe going to supply more in the market and pump out as much as they can so some of the fundamentals and everything that we heard out of the united states still leads to oil to the down side but for whatever reason we have seen the technicals break the other way and oil makes such a huge run getting above this 35.5 mark was a key level for oil. it's something that i'm watching here to see if it could stay above here and maintain this rally and otherwise volatility
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has come down. we have to hold it longer if we're going to move higher. >> yeah. brian is right. we're staying over 35 but we're still in the upper band that we have been watching for the last few weeks or so. what are the levels that you're watching? >> you have to use this lenses to view the market and you're right. i'm looking at $42. if you look at the chart it's a w. we want to finish that w pattern. look to last november when we had $42 as support. we broke through december and when there's this much emotion in markets and this much confusion about monetary policy the technicals take over. look for $42. not a big move but should happen in the last couple of weeks. >> futures now at he is saying there has never been a better time to buy energy and we'll tell you why. more halftime after the break. opportunities aren't always obvious.
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i'm michelle caruso-cabrera. here's what's coming up on "power lunch" n. need of a doctor. we are digging in on valiant's epic fall today. plus how to navigate the three big risks to your money right now. and why one big fund manager is betting on coffee, cabinets and cruise missiles ahead of the november votes. all coming your way at the top of the hour on "power lunch." first back to you, scott.
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>> we'll see you in about ten minutes. lee, let's talk energy. >> you were a holder of kinner margon. now it says you are out of that. what? where? and why? >> not kinder morgan specific. we own target, gulf point, pioneer natural. we made some swaps this the portfolio. in terms of the energy outlook i believe in the invisible hand of capitalism. and essentially, the way the system works is when companies and industries have excessive returns, it attracts capital and capacity which depress returns. when companies have inadequate returns, capital leaves the industry tightening up supply and demand and setting up the base for urn are. if you look at the domestic energy industry at the current price of oil and gas that defines the revenues for the domestic producers. subtract out their capital investment and dividends they are running a negative cash flow
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today of approaching $100 billion. you do the same analysis for opec. take their revenues for oil and gas sales. subtract out capital expenditures and social costs instead of dividends, they are running a negative cash flow of $500 billion a year. those are not sustainable numbers. if the world grohs, global economic growth of 3%. there can be a increase in demand that we are consuming and i would expect to see oil at 50 or $60 per barrel. the current price is not sustainable. that's assuming we don't have a recession. >> lee, let's move to financials. >> i notice that you sold some of your jp morgan position and you have a new position in sinkronny? >> i absolutely admire, respect, and love jamie diamond.
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the man is is in a class by himself. he has to deal with the regulators and they are crazy. so we put money into other financials, increased our weighting. but in a less controversial area. but he's the best. and so, you know it's very hard for someone to see you changed the name but we don't know what we put in its place. i think one of the big head winds for the stock market is what's going on in the credit markets. you know n may, june of last year the high yield index was maybe 400 over treasuries. it got to 950 in february. it's now around 750. those are potent numbers. those are potent -- it's very potent competition for equities. keep your eye on the credit market. it's very important. portfolio swapping has to do we
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know more about what we are buying versus what we are selling. we have increased the yield or reduced the multiple. i want to make it clear, if i were to make a five year investment jamie diamond would be at the top of the list. >> lastly, joe terranova has a question. >> are you willing to make that five year investment in apple. lot of headlines. lot of concern about mature products. how do you feel about apple these days? >> we are uninvolved. i don't know that there is anything big enough to replace the iphone which will become more of a commodity. great company, great balance sheet but our interest lies more in google, microsoft, probably even facebook or amazon. we don't own amazon or facebook presently but we have had positions with them in the past. not interested because we don't see what's behind the iphone which has been an extraordinarily profitable
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product. >> lee i look forward to catching up with you soon. thanks for coming on the halftime report. >> my pleasure. >>lyon cooperman of omega. quick break. second half trades on the other side of this break.
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umm, maybe keep your hands on the controller. look out!! ohhhhhhhhhh... you know what, i'm just gonna email it to you. yeah that's probably safer. ok, cool. i want to call your attention to cnbc make, a new platform launching today to recognize entrepreneurs with how to guides, testimonials and success secrets. that's at cnbc make i want to call your attention to shares of valeant, which are having their worst day ever. the stock is now down some 46% after the company cut its guidance, held a conference call, seemed to cut it once again. blamed a typoon the official press release. certainly investors who are already lost patience with this one are not feeling good today.
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they are selling it hard. yet again. it is down 46%. oh, yeah, by the way, $10 billion in market cap lost today alone. a stunning story. i know "power lunch" is going to have more on that coming up. before we go, the fed, two-day meeting. we don't expect a major shocker pete, right? they could set the stage for the next couple of months. >> they could. but i don't think we expect anything immediately coming out of this one. second slowest trading day of the year. and today we outdo that. it's unbelievable how little interest there is right now. people want to be on the sidelines. want to wait for the fed. >> what happens if the fed says something to lead us to believe that april could be on the table, june? >> i think the market would be surprised. and i think there could be strong language in there to suggest that june is clearly on table still. so i think you have got to watch out for a little bit of hawkish language. >> they are going to focus on being data dependent.
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the data is softer than expected. >> retail sales -- if we were speaking to that specifically -- >> right. we are continue to be in the vacuum, look at the data see what they are going to do. june is definitely on the table but i don't think anything before then. >> valeant and the markets itself down. "power lunch" starts now. welcome to "power lunch," i'm melissa lee along with tie tie, michelle caruso-cabrera, and brian sullivan. we kick things off this hour with new developments on the stock disaster of the day. that would be valeant. purging square out just within the past hour saying it will take a bigger role at valeant and believes the stock is unvalues. valeant enduring through its worst day in trading history, down 46%. losing $10 billion in


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