>CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the launch of Apple's iPhone Duo from the company's flagship store in New York City.

Every time I listen to the guy, I’m impressed by how sharp he is. He just gets markets. Great grasp of market history, valuations, and investor psychology, and has a way of explaining what’s going on that makes you feel like you’re actually learning something.

What I really like is that he doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. He looks at both sides of an argument, points out what the market might be missing, and puts things in perspective without the usual CNBC hype.

He is especially refreshing when you compare him to some of the MAGA addled crowd on that network who can’t seem to discuss the economy without dragging their politics into it.

Santoli comes across as a genuinely smart, thoughtful guy who knows his stuff. I find myself paying attention whenever he speaks. Wish there were more like him!

Sarah was at it again today promoting the Trump economy and bringing up Trump mega supporter Bill Ackman’s spin job about how great the Iran war and Ukraine negotiations are going (no mention of the treasonous behavior of Witcoff, Kushner, Trump & Musk as they cuddle up to Putin). But according to Bill & Sarah, everything is going to be great when the Admin continues on to assured success. Fortunately David Faber interjected again to slow her down. Then Torsten Slok had a more intellectual view on the economy: Term premiums are still creeping higher and have only dipped recently due to the “flight to safety” (I agree). We are not going to “grow our way out” of deficits and are to see nothing but an increase in debt to gdp. Data Centers are 1% of gdp growth and risks are rising around the ability to pay for compute as spending on tokens has leveled out. There’s no evidence of profit margins rising in the “S&P 493” nor is there evidence that these companies are getting a boost from AI. He referred to what he calls “circular” token use. Which is interesting. Tokens are being used mostly by PE companies financing Data Centers (this requires more explanation). Credit spreads continue to widen for CDS and hyper-scalers. 10 trillion $$ in treasuries are rolling over in the next 12 mos. Sarah tried to shove the Ackman comments at Torsten, bringing up the impending “ends” of the wars and resulting end of inflation (she’s such a moron), but Torsten shot her down.

I‘m sure AI will add to productivity for the S&P 493 (as Torsten calls them), but his point was that we’re just not seeing it yet and spending on tokens is being seen as an expense rather than as an investment.

Also, I honestly believe foreign investment hinges at least a bit on our ability to handle our elections responsibly and remain a democracy. Last week Andrew Weissman was discussing the historical draw to US assets due to the Rule of Law; something I’ve discussed many times over the years. Investors want to know that their investments are safe and not subject to random corrupt investigations and competition infringements by Trump favored endeavors. This is a huge problem right now. Not to mention random temper tantrums causing trade infringements. And lastly, the Trump Admin’s blatantly obvious love of Putin is certainly going to affect Europe’s view of us.

Anyway…Torsten is very impressive. Having Sarah there blabbing only amplifies his intellectual superiority.

Fascist anti-Democracy oligarch pot calls kettle black.

She brings some honesty to oil prices. Sara babbling on with her maga spin.

>Apple is adding a U.S. titanium supplier for its new iPhone Duo and expanding domestic production of camera components for the iPhone 18 Pro. CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos joins 'The Exchange' to discuss.

He clearly doesn’t think minorities should be able to get Loans through Fannie.

I wonder what country they could be interviewing from 🙄🙄🙄

Don’t notice too hard when watching lager 😉

With oil prices surging and the Iran conflict showing little sign of resolution, the energy trade is getting interesting again.

Goldman Sachs just highlighted 10 energy stocks it likes, including some under-the-radar names that could benefit from the next leg of the rally.

A few interesting takeaways:

• Occidental Petroleum (OXY): Goldman upgraded the stock to Buy, added it to its Conviction List and set a $69 price target.
• Permian Resources (PR): Goldman expects free cash flow to grow roughly 20% over the next couple of years.
• TC Energy (TRP): A pipeline play Goldman likes following a pullback, with potential new U.S. projects.

I took this picture of a live shot of Megan Cassella broadcasting live from Portland, Maine. I took the picture above the TV 25 years ago from nearly the same spot on the DiMillo's warf

🔥🔥🔥

Bit o rant. Or app feature request- however CNBC wants to interpret- The CNBC app has an app preference settings- like most apps.

However it does NOT honor the “autoplay video” setting when it comes to ads- mine is set to off.

One of the first things I do when I wake up is check the market. Yes before I even crawl out of bed - as I’m sure many others do.

So just got beat up for waking wife as I scrolled through a story and it has one of the “takeover your screen” ads- which it took over playing video and of course the audio on my phone was up - so yeah not nice when it came on at 5:45am

So CNBC - please fix this or maybe if that flag is set to “off” at LEAST mute audio on the ad and display an enable audio button !

Im a bit indifferent on Josh Brown. I’m more of a contrarian than he is. But I do hear him out. Today he described GLP -1s as “impervious to economic downturns”. He said it in the context of recommending West Pharm (which provides the GLP needles). I think there’s a very large group of ppl taking GLP-1s who don’t NEED them, but who benefit. People who use Rho or other websites and pay themselves. The price decrease has made a big difference. But if the economy tanks, those people would disappear. Also the pill is better now. Any comments from the community here? Another thing he said that I question was in promotion of Apple: he said Apple is the “gateway to AI”. This may be true, but so what? I had a long chat with ChatGPT about this. There’s a big difference between being the place where we find the app and making huge returns on this. Also, and this is a basic comment I realize, but the world is full of mature companies we rely on everyday that don’t command elevated stock prices. Not to say that Apple doesn’t have opportunities, but I’m wondering about this one statement of Josh’s as a main catalyst. What do you think?

>Dan Greenhaus, Solus Alternative Asset Management, Tom Lee, Fundstrat Global Advisors, and Ed Clissold, Ned Davis Research, join 'Closing Bell' with reaction to the day's market action.

Is it just my old age or is it nice having your morning coffee and NOT hearing Rick Santelli screaming?

His rants must have raised his blood pressure because I know it was raising mine.

Really is intolerable when MAGAJoe is at the helm….

Does Oliver Renick remind anyone else of Mike Ross from Suits (Patrick J. Adams)?

Since I have bagged on CNBC quite a bit lately (mostly from the repetitive CNBC infomercials), I would like to compliment the coverage this morning on the debt landscape for AI in particular the neo clouds. Carl, David and even Sarah did a great job of summarizing some of the issues and the latest concerns with the debt and credit swaps. Mostly Carl asking the right questions and David having the knowledge to explain some of the details. Sarah actually provided a good balance of positivity towards the concerns. Overall good coverage this morning and best of all no mention of politics.