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Hey, I'm Cramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Cramer's friends. I'm just trying to make some money. My job is not just to entertain, but to do some teaching here. So call me 1-800-743-CBC. Tweet me at Jim Cramer. Wall Street is losing the battle of the narrative, and all sorts of stocks might end up getting hurt. Heaven knows this market has enough problems with this seemingly endless increase in long-term bond yields. Today, a real surprise, given that oil actually fell. Things got real ugly in the stock market before plunging oil helped us rebound from our lows. Dow finishing off 132 points, S&P falling 0.17%, NASDAQ only dipping 0.09%.
The rate on the 30-year Treasury is the highest in 24 years, quite a competitor to stocks. Although bond prices did rally from their midday lows as buyers, I think, are starting to think we got a lot of weaker data coming in. We might be due for a quick move down in rates. Stocks needed it, due to the more than 50% of the stocks in the S&P 500 trading below their 200-day moving average, the worst market breadth since March.
More stocks in the S&P 500 have hit 52-week lows than highs for nine days in a row. Only 1% of the index is at its 52-week high. 204 stocks are down 20% from their 52-week highs. In other words, over 40% of stocks in the S&P are in a bear market. Then there's the extraordinary story of the pulling of the Oura IPO. That popular health ring that was four times oversubscribed. Not good enough for management, which would rather wait for a better moment. They're blaming market conditions, but the NASDAQ 100 is only 1.3% down from its all-time high. Could there be better market conditions?
Okay, we have some slowing in the oddest of places. I like to read these Federal Reserve notes on certain key geographies. Today, the Dallas Fed put out a note entitled, quote, 'Growth in Texas service sector activity stalls.' End quote. It goes on to say, quote, 'The revenue index, a key measure of state service sector conditions, fell eight points to 0.9, with the near-zero reading indicating no change in activity from the prior month.' End quote. If it's weak in Texas, you can only guess how bad it might be in the other 49 states.
Consumer confidence numbers out today, worst in a dozen years. Yet rates keep rising. Now, I think that could change if oil stays lower or goes much lower. But I recognize that people have been saying that incorrectly ever since the bond selloff began. When I say we're losing the war for the narrative, though, I mean something's changed with the AI contingent and the data center, the greatest growth story of our era. The market's been carried by these themes for what seems like ages.
But now, as I look at the seating chart of today's lunch with the president, with Jensen Huang from the world's largest company, Elon Musk, the world's richest person, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, among so many other wealthy people, I think, oh no, I mean, who's going to come out and say, 'What a bunch of fat cats feasting off the newly AI unemployed, or the oligarchs, they'd kill us for higher earnings per share'? Now, a year ago, I would have thought that here are the people who represent the best we have. Now the critics, not me, but the critics are saying, quote, 'Here's the people who want to sacrifice your jobs on the cross of higher profits.' End quote.
18 months ago, people might have said, 'These execs are putting tens of thousands of people to work building data centers.' Now we think, how much have they raised our electricity prices? How much water do they desoil? How many talents just got had? Oh, and of course, there's the worst possible change in narrative. The two most exciting companies in America, Anthropic and OpenAI, are now openly admitting that their products aren't safe for society. We're hearing that the document Anthropic's putting out about this potential IPO is filled with grisly caveats, like Anthropic might cause mass death or human extinction.
The company might present, quote, 'existential threats or fundamental destabilization of global systems,' end quote. Wow, I can't wait to get some stock in that deal. 80 pages of the 261-page document are devoted to risks. Meanwhile, OpenAI wants to raise $30 billion at a $1.44 trillion valuation, about $600 billion higher than the last round, despite the fact that it's holding back its new iteration, ChatGPT 6.1, because of the risk that it presents, yes, to society.
How is this possible? Simple: the culture has turned against these people, these products, and the proponents have been caught flat-footed. They don't know what to say, even though there's no empirical evidence whatsoever that I think the jobs are lost because of AI. They haven't demonstrated the productivity gains. We know that there are plenty of execs now saying that stopping the existential threat is a feat that can be done by engineering. Extremely smart people like Jensen Huang, George Kurtz from CrowdStrike, Nikesh Arora from Palo Alto Networks, who's with the president today, Tom Okonkwo from Okta, they have all offered serious solutions that are drowned out by the AI doomers.
It doesn't matter because when the CEO of the most richly valued private company, Anthropic, makes it clear that his business could potentially wipe us all out, hard to salvage. Look, I'm not a doomer. You know, I'm constructive on AI, but the companies have to start telling better stories. Tonight, we have Dina Paul McCormack. She's the president of Meta, and she wanted to demonstrate the positive side. And I found a total breath of fresh air. Maybe you will.
Meta is committed to lowering electricity rates where it puts data centers. It works with small businesses to help them grow. It offers bonuses to teachers, big ones. It's got videos supporting its claims. It challenges every other hyperscaler to do the same. But are they? Meta's Muse may be the best new tool for scaling a small business that I've heard of in years. We'll put a farmer on who talks about how his business is growing because of Meta's Muse product. Will anyone listen?
How about the existential endgame crisis, when we're all going to die if we fund Anthropic to the fullest and its agents go rogue? I recognize that there are risks here, but why not some moderation? Why not say, 'Okay, look, heck,' quote the Lincoln Tunnel scene from Stephen King's The Stand, but also say that they're slowing things down to ensure the product can't backfire, and there are real cybersecurity solutions that could have stopped the big Hugging Face solution,
the Hugging Face event, the one that Jensen Huang talked about, where I think he said it won't happen. It wouldn't have happened if he owned it. Right now, we have a president who says, 'Damn the guardrails, full speed ahead.' He believes self-policing is enough. Even as the record of private industry self-policing isn't all that great. Think tobacco, opioids, autos, fossil fuels. The president's big contribution today: he rebranded artificial intelligence as super intelligence.
AI goes to SI, morally binding. Somehow, I don't think the doomers will now get on board. Can you imagine what happens after the midterms in November, which are looking strong for the Democrats? If the Democrats take the House, you better get used to hearing that the time for the SI oligarchs has come. We actually can see congressional witch hunts that may start with today's guest list for lunch. Look, we've done it before in this country. We could always do it again.
Can the narrative still be saved? You can be the judge when you listen to Dina Paul McCormack and wonder what would happen if the rest of the industry would follow her lead. If we lose the narrative, if the war continues, October could be a mighty tough month. And a Democratic sweep won't make the AI, excuse me, SI narrative any better. Here's the bottom line: it didn't have to be this way. It didn't need to become a nightmare of the ultra-wealthy extracting their bond. But that's the new narrative, and it's going to be hard to break, even if rates are done going higher, because the new economic data is at last slowing down.
Grant in New Mexico. Grant.
Good afternoon, Mr. Cramer. This is Grant from New Mexico, and I'm 65 years old, and I live comfortably with my military retirement, and I have a goal of making money to pass on to my kids. And I have some cash right now that I want to put to work. I started a position with Capital One earlier this year, and I'm considering either adding to that position now or possibly starting a new position in Bank of New York Mellon. I also own Goldman Sachs, and I'm looking to add to that position as it drops down in the mid-800s. Thank you.
Well, Grant, first of all, thank you for serving, and I think you're doing exactly the right thing. 65, leaving money for kids, that makes a lot of sense. I like all of your ideas. The one that I think is the most down, that I think could turn if we get this bond rally, that anything could happen, is Goldman Sachs. It's come down greatly, and I think it's doing incredibly well. I think David Solomon's got 4x gains there. If you use total return, which is what I like to use. All right, people. AI companies need to come clean on the narrative. They got to get better.
Otherwise, I think we could be looking for a tough October if interest rates keep going higher. On Mad Money tonight: AI disrupted the software stocks, but could the consumer stocks be next? I'm explaining my thesis for how the technology could impact the sector, and there's already been some damage. Then, Meta's Muse is taking the world by storm, as you know. And I got an inside look at the real impact of this personal AI agent. Don't miss my sit-down with Meta's top brass. And nuclear energy player BWX Technologies just laid out a new long-term strategy. Is it enough to give the stock a boost? Because it's been just crushed. I'm finding out with the CEO, so stay with Cramer.
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How disruptive really are these personal AI agents? Like Meta's newly launched Muse, which of course is now the number one free app on Apple's App Store. I keep hearing that this could be a game-changer because of an idea called consumer inertia. Basically, once people pick a product or a service, they tend to stick with it, often out of pure laziness. I'm a victim of it. But what happens when you take the humans out of the equation? Muse can review all your subscriptions and cancel the ones you don't use enough, or it can do your comparison shopping for you. This might just be the first real AI product that can actually help consumers save money.
Ever since Muse launched three weeks ago, the gym stocks have all been hit. That's the gym kind, and those memberships often go unused. Planet Fitness is down more than 18%. Same goes for all sorts of subscription-based media outfits. And if these agents can do comparison shopping on their own, do we really need the online travel agencies? Booking Holdings and Expedia down 10% and 3% respectively since Muse launched. Heck, maybe all the aggregators are in trouble. I mean, that you could include DoorDash, Uber, Lyft, at least judging by the way they're trading.
And look, in theory, the death of consumer inertia could apply to almost anything. Do you really love your property and casualty insurance plans? Are you just too lazy to comparison shop for new policies every year? Even the banks have been getting hit hard because Muse can search around for the ones that pay the best interest rates and then move your money around. So, how seriously should we take this threat? Like with every AI displacement fear we have dealt with over, I don't know, years now, I think you need to use common sense, which is in short supply when we think about the consumer rapidly adopting anything as boring as cash sweeps or lightly used websites.
For example, the gym stocks haven't even been savage over the past few weeks. But not all gym stocks are created equal. Life Time Fit is an expensive, upscale gym with a very engaged membership base. People pay a lot and they go a lot. Those memberships aren't getting cancelled. On the other hand, Planet Fitness, well, let's just say membership-based. It's less dedicated, which is why the stock's been hit much harder. It is a cheaper alternative. As for the subscription-based media businesses, again, it depends on the property. I don't see people using Muse to cancel their New York Times subscription. Hey, but maybe some of the streaming services will run into some turbulence.
Online travel stocks, listen, those names have sold off periodically since the launch of ChatGPT based on the same general idea that the bots can easily replace them. So far it hasn't happened, and I'm not sure if Muse changes that. In fact, Expedia has already partnered with Muse to help you plan your vacation. At the same time, I think Airbnb is mostly insulated from AI competition, or SI, and that's not Sports Illustrated. It's easier for an agent to book hotels online than it is for them to comb through rental homes and book directly from the owner.
Plus, Airbnb sold off dramatically in the last month to the point where I think the stock's a steal. It may be my absolute fave of the Muse casualties. How about the food delivery services? Look, this isn't the first time DoorDash has gotten hit on AI displacement worries. Seven months ago, an outfit called Satrini Research published a doomsday fiction piece about how AI agents would make this business obsolete. The stock got crushed at the time, but then a fabulous comeback: 150 went to 240.
As for the banks and brokerages, I find it hard to believe that consumers will be happy to let AI move their money around bank to bank night by night just to get a few extra basis points of yield in their savings. I just don't think people will want to give their bank information to these agents. There could be some friction here, too. Doesn't seem safe to me. So, I'm skeptical about dumping entire groups based on this idea that agentic AI means the death of consumer inertia and companies that benefit from it. Remember when AI was supposed to be an existential threat to enterprise software? Okay, those stocks have been flying for the past bunch. They did get hurt, but they've bounced.
That said, there would absolutely be real victims here because plenty of companies do benefit from people being too lazy to cancel subscriptions or comparison shop. And Meta's Muse is a threat to their business. You won't hear me make a passionate case for SiriusXM. The company's been in secular decline for years and is further full since the launch of Muse. I'm just asking you to think critically about where these companies stand right now. It feels like some proverbial babies are indeed being thrown out with the bathwater, and that often makes for good buying opportunities, especially given that the consumer is not as focused on being more productive than, say, the small business owner.
Here's the bottom line. Consumer inertia has been a powerful force, at least for my entire life. But agentic AI platforms like Meta's Muse can push back against our inherent laziness. I don't think it'll destroy entire industries, but there are plenty of companies that could be vulnerable here. Just don't try to paint with too broad a brush. And remember, think about Airbnb. That selloff, I think, is the best of the buying opportunities. Let's go to Adam in Arizona. Adam.
Booyah, Professor Cramer.
Hey, I'm calling in regarding AXP. I know at the end of their last earnings report in July, you were in favor of a buy position on them. And since then, I know I've taken about a 10% haircut on it. And I was wondering what your position would be on it now. Are you in favor of...
I would buy more. Look, American Express is run by Steve Squeri. He has done a remarkable job. Periodically has these selloffs. People worry about credit issues. They haven't surfaced. People worried about growth. The growth has been excellent. I think American Express is a great long-term play, but you have to think long-term because right now we do not have a good situation with any company that's involved in credit. All right.
I don't think personal AI agents like Muse will destroy entire industries. There are plenty of companies that look more vulnerable now, and some opportunities much more ahead, including my exclusive with the president of Meta. Then, how is BWX Technologies shifting strategy amid a battle moment for energy and defense? I'm finding out with the CEO, and of course, all your calls rapid-fire in tonight's edition of the Lightning Round. So stay with Cramer.
Earlier this month, Meta Platforms rolled out Muse, their personal AI agent. It's already been number one on Apple's App Store since September 18th. Today, they're expanding it with Muse for Small Business. Same concept, except it helps business owners automate things on the much more lucrative enterprise side. I think this could be huge for customers and for Meta shareholders. How's it work? Earlier, I got a chance to speak with Dina Paul McCormack. She's Meta's president and vice chairman. Take a look.
McCormack, welcome back to Mad Money.
Thank you so much, Jim. I'm so delighted to be with you.
Well, I'm very excited that you're here, particularly because the number one app for days now has been Muse. Tell me about it, and tell me about your involvement.
Sure. Well, we are so excited about Muse. It is really taking off. As you said, it's the number one downloaded app on the App Store. Millions of people have downloaded it, and frankly, it is so different than any other AI product people have used. Usually you're asking the models a question. In this case, Muse is working for you. We like to say Muse is hustling every day and working for the people that are behind it. And we are seeing so many use cases. People are having fun with Muse. People are planning their kids' birthday parties, booking their travel. It's really just been exciting to see.
Well, I've always looked at you because, maybe because I worked at Goldman, as the person responsible perhaps for the most success in the toughest category in America, the one that fails nine times out of 10: small business. How can you be taken advantage of by a small business person?
Sure. Well, I had the honor of working on a great team at Goldman Sachs that launched 10,000 small businesses. Couldn't be more proud of where it continues to be today. And I'm really proud to exclusively on Mad Money launch that was great.
Muse for Small Business. It is the next iteration of Muse. It's basically allowing small business owners to take the most precious thing they have, their time, and to use it on building their business for the future, not worrying about the back-office work. So, it is starting customer conversations. It manages cash flow and inventory for small business owners. We're seeing small business owners have it design its website and actually communicate directly with its customers. And so, we're just thrilled.
And for us, Jim, we have 200 million small business owners on our platform at Meta. 200 million. And that really means we have connectivity with so many of these small business owners that are now going from using our products to operate them, to advertise their goods on the platform, but now to actually have Muse for Small Business hustle and work for them every day.
Well, look, I have to ask you because Meta has been an incredibly large position for my charitable trust since it came public. What I need to know is how Muse makes money for Meta.
Sure. Well, take a step back. I mean, we are very proud and hope that people see that Meta is a great long-term investment. When you think about what we bring to the table, 3.6 billion with a B people are on our platform every single day. 200 million small business owners, as I mentioned, and we have a core business that, as you know, is really growing, and we're very proud of that. And these artificial intelligence products coming out of our MSL lab are only making the core business stronger. And so we're really thrilled now you're seeing us grow into these products like Muse.
And of course, we're thinking about monetization. Muse right now helps a lot of people save money, and so we're thinking through, as Mark described last week, a potential of taking a fee when we help you save money. And we're already seeing people that have downloaded Muse are so excited to use it even more. So, the more you use it, we may have opportunities obviously for subscriptions as well.
Okay. So, you mentioned AI, and I've talked with you back and forth about what we think should be done by data centers when they move into town. And you've got a plan that if everybody did it, would mean a lot more jobs, a lot more growth for the country. And I just want you to explain it to people because nobody else in your business has it.
Well, I would say that we have to start again here with the fact that not every community wants a data center, right? We have found partnerships across the country in states where we really partner with the local leadership, and we have a compact everywhere we go. Not only do we promise to pay for our own electricity, we actually drive electricity costs down. In Richland Parish in Louisiana, a town of 20,000 people, our investment grew the tax surplus revenue so much that every teacher in Richland Parish got a $50,000 bonus.
The superintendent, Sheldon Jones, actually recently told me he used to have a hard time attracting teachers to come to Richland Parish. Now, every teacher in the state wants to move there. He's going to end up with the best school district in all of Louisiana. And small businesses, it's remarkable. When you go into a town with this much of an investment and economic development, you see small businesses doubling their revenue and their employee base.
Okay. So, let's say everyone had Muse in Richland Parish, but how would they grow their business? What do you think? How would they save time?
So, we're seeing a lot of small businesses do a unique set of things. I mentioned designing their websites, but they're actually, you are able to tell your Muse to go talk to your customers, bring you back the feedback of what they want, and implement some of the feedback. Obviously, we are partnering with Shopify, with Slack, and so we're actually bringing those products on the Muse platform right now. And so small business owners are managing all of their inventory. It alerts them when something is down. And then you can actually have Muse go buy what you need to keep your inventory up. So, we're just so excited about Muse for Small Business.
Dina, I want to be sure of something because it's a little confusing to me. For Muse, my plan was I would go to Amazon and ask it a question about, well, show me the best raincoat that has got the highest rating, whatever. But that would be in the world of Amazon. Would it be better to do Muse, to maybe even if it separates me from the Amazon world? I'm not being obtuse about this. I mean, I have fun with Amazon. It's always worked for me.
Well, Muse does a lot of what our product partners... By the way, we're so thrilled to be partnering with Walmart. I mentioned Shopify and others. And frankly, you can use Muse for a lot of those tasks. I used it this weekend. I'm trying to buy...
My mom a car, and I put in exactly what kind of car she wants. I tested the safety. I asked it to go scan every website that sells cars about an hour in her radius in Plano, Texas. It brought me back three of the exact models that I was looking for and found me the cheapest price. So, you can use it for so many different things. But what's different, and this is important, Jim, is it's not just giving you back research or feedback. It's going to go buy that car for my mom. It's actually acting on behalf of what I'm saying. You don't have to go to the dealership.
Well, she has to go to the dealership.
She has. But the idea is that it's a complex process transaction. I could do that full transaction.
And how about entertainment?
Oh, well, actually this is an interesting thing. Dave and I have six daughters between us. We only every time we want to watch a movie together.
Senator McCormick of Pennsylvania.
Yes. Yes. And we often argue about what movie we're going to watch. And so I used Muse over the weekend as another example to pull up what are the top hundred movies that we should watch and kind of got a vote going.
Now I know that there's some people who think that it surveils you, but it doesn't do anything that you don't give it.
Well, first of all, safety has been paramount both in this product and everything that our AI lab has developed. Mark has made that extremely clear that you can't have a product that isn't safe and secure. He even talked about that last week when he said that we delayed the launch by 30 days because we wanted to ensure it was absolutely as bug-free as possible, extremely safe, of course, encrypted, and so we're very proud of how safe it is today.
So I'm trying to figure out whether there's a what time is worth. For instance, the calendar is you right. I am my calendar and if it can organize my calendar in a way that tells me say what the weather's going to be. I came back from Italy. I wanted to know everything. I wanted to know what the best way route home. I was just guessing.
Right. It ends the guesswork.
Now you can use your Muse, Jim. You can say, tell me what my calendar is. I need you to cancel these three meetings and get other times that work for the people I needed to meet with. Tell me what the weather is so that I can know what to wear. But again, it's acting for you, and if you give it permission, it's going to be able to communicate with your team, reschedule meetings, bring you the deck that you need for every single meeting. It really is kind of your friendly assistant.
Well, I think speaking of a friendly assistant, I want to bring in someone who is a real life real life.
Well, before Henry comes in, can I give you a little surprise?
Okay, here we go. These are Meta glasses. Custom Meta glasses for you.
Fly Eagles fly. And you know what? I can't thank you enough. Last time I saw Senator McCormick was at an Eagles game, but it's not whether he's a Pittsburgh fan or.
Well, I'm going to no comment on that. He loves all Pennsylvania teams. He did grow up as a Steelers fan.
But we love all Pennsylvania teams. Yes. We're so excited to give you those custom glasses.
Oh, that's sensational. Well, I'm glad and I will wear them. I was also hoping you would give me, but I'm going to buy the ones. Mark was correct. One out of six people have a hearing problem. I blew up my ear a long time ago and I need to have glasses to be able to do it and I know you've got that.
We will get you another pair. These.
No, I mean I want to get them fitted.
People are embarrassed. I'm not embarrassed. I have it. I wear it. I blew up my eardrum years ago and I'm just sick and tired of being embarrassed.
Sure. Well, why should you be? One in six Americans have hearing loss. But it is nice to have glasses sometimes if you don't want to wear a hearing aid and you kind of you're able to be in the world.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, why don't you introduce your friend and tell me.
So excited. Henry actually has been working with us for years in our small business working group to kind of give us advice on products and how to make them better. And we're so delighted that he is one of the first people in the country that used Muse. Maybe tell Jim and everyone about your business. This is Henry Bennett who is from Delaware, a couple hours below Philadelphia, and has got a thriving sixth generation peach business.
Yes. Thank you, Jim, for having me. Thank you, Dana, for having me here. I'm Henry. I'm with Bennett Orchards. I'm a sixth generation farmer and we sustainably grow peaches, blueberries, and nectarines in Frankford, Delaware, which is about 7 miles from the coast.
Okay. So I mean look, my first reaction when I heard that a farmer go, 'Oh, come on. A farmer.' I mean I understand I was a restaurant. I could have used this thing before we had to sell our restaurants. But how's a farmer use it?
Well, when I first started beta testing this product, I gave it, you know, I asked it to revise our website. Here's our website. I'd like to give it a refresh. It did that within a matter of minutes. I then went on to give it very more complex task. As we've seen along the East Coast this spring, drastic temperatures during the spring have wiped out entire crops. So, I input thousands of Excel logs and it was actually able to compile graphs of frost mitigation methods that I was able to share with industry colleagues and stakeholders across the Mid-Atlantic, allowing us to see which type of frost mitigation technologies to incorporate moving forward to prevent these types of issues.
So, grow the business, save more money, hire more people. Where does it take you?
