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Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

It’s that time again! “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer rings the lightning round bell, which means he’s giving his answers to callers’ stock questions at rapid speed.

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Vale SA: “I am going to bless it for a trade. Why? Because copper is starting to fly, which means Vale can fly.”

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Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday said that it’s time to acknowledge that his group of Big Tech FANG companies are no longer market leaders.
The acronym, which was first coined by Cramer, stands for Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Amazon, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday said that it’s time to acknowledge that his group of Big Tech FANG companies — the acronym for Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Amazon, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet that was first coined by the “Mad Money” host — aren’t infallible market leaders.
“FANG has become worthless as a name, an acronym, an amalgam, because of sheer ennui. Nobody cares anymore, nor should they,” he said, adding, “The magic is gone. They’ve got to play by the rules.”

Stocks fell on Monday ahead of a potential interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve and a busy week of earnings, including reports from Meta, Amazon and Alphabet. 
Cramer said that one of his main issues with FANG is that the companies are opaque, which doesn’t allow investors to make informed decisions about their stocks. He discussed his concerns regarding each company:

Meta: Investors have no idea how the company is faring due to its lack of communication. But the company’s roughly $386 billion market capitalization, which is smaller than it should be, is a reason to own the stock.
Amazon: The stock will go higher if the e-commerce giant lays off even more of its workforce after already cutting more than 18,000 jobs. If the company doesn’t take that step, its stock will fall and the company will become unworthy of its $1 trillion market capitalization.
Netflix: While the company is the only name among the group that’s doing well, its roughly $157 billion market capitalization means it’s too small to matter. 
Alphabet: The Google parent company is largely an advertising business, which has been hit hard by the slowing economy, yet remains unclear about the challenges it’s likely facing.

Cramer said that Apple, which in recent years has been added to the original acronym to create FAANG, is a more transparent company with an attractive price-to-earnings multiple. Investors who own the stock should hold on to their shares, he advised.
He added that his thoughts on FANG don’t mean that he believes the stocks aren’t worth owning. 
“I’m not saying that these companies are unimportant. They’re too big to be ignored. What I’m saying is that FANG has worn out its welcome,” he said. “You have to make a decision about their worth as enterprises — not based on earnings.”

Disclaimer: Cramer’s Charitable Trust owns shares of Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Apple.

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Every so often a new technology captures the world’s imagination. The latest example, judging by the chatter in Silicon Valley, as well as on Wall Street and in corporate corner offices, newsrooms and classrooms around the world, is ChatGPT. In just five days after its unveiling in November the artificially intelligent chatbot, created by a startup called OpenAI, drew 1m users, making it one of the fastest consumer-product launches in history. Microsoft, which has just invested $10bn in OpenAI, wants ChatGPT-like powers, which include generating text, images, music and video that seem like they could have been created by humans, to infuse much of the software it sells. On January 26th Google published a paper describing a similar model that can create new music from a text description of a song. When Alphabet, its parent company, presents quarterly earnings on February 2nd, investors will be listening out for its answer to ChatGPT. On January 29th Bloomberg reported that Baidu, a Chinese search giant, wants to incorporate a chatbot More

Millions of people could lose Medicaid this year as pandemic-era coverage protections come to an end.
In April, states can start kicking people off Medicaid if they no longer meet eligibility criteria.
HHS is opening a special enrollment period so these individuals can apply for coverage through Obamacare.

An Obamacare sign is seen outside of the Leading Insurance Agency, which offers plans under the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) on January 28, 2021 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Millions of people in the U.S. are at risk of losing Medicaid this year when coverage protections put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic come to an end in April.
To make it easier for these individuals to transition to other coverage, the Health and Human Services Department has announced a special enrollment period for Obamacare.

People who lose Medicaid coverage from March 31 through July 31, 2024 can apply for Obamacare outside of the normal enrollment period at healthcare.gov if they live in a state served by the federal marketplace, according to new guidance from HHS.
A majority of the states, 33 in total, use healthcare.gov as their insurance marketplace. The 17 states that run their own marketplaces can implement a special enrollment period but are not required to do so.
Individuals who lose Medicaid won’t have to provide any additional documentation to shop for Obamacare. The application will simply ask them whether they lost Medicaid coverage.
Consumers have 60 days to pick a health insurance plan after submitting their application. Once they’ve picked a new plan, coverage will begin on the first day of the following month.
Typically, consumers have to submit documentation of a life change to apply for health insurance outside the open enrollment period, but HHS is streamlining the process for those losing Medicaid.

Medicaid enrollment swelled during the pandemic after Congress basically banned state governments from kicking people off the program for the duration of the public health emergency.
Enrollment in Medicaid has increased by 28% since February 2020 to nearly 84 million people as of September, according to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Congress passed a federal spending bill in December that separated the Medicaid coverage protections from the public health emergency. States can start withdrawing coverage for people in April if they no longer meet eligibility criteria or are unresponsive to information requests.
HHS has estimated that 15 million people will lose Medicaid coverage once the pandemic-coverage protections end. Eight million of them will need to transition to other forms of coverage, according to HHS estimates. But 6.8 million will lose Medicaid despite still being eligible for the program, according to HHS.
States are required to make a good faith effort to contact the individual whose eligibility is under review through more than one communication method.

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Paramount Global is integrating Showtime’s streaming service into its marquee platform, Paramount+.
Cable channel Showtime will be rebranded as Paramount+ with Showtime. Paramount+ original content will also be featured on it.
Pricing for the combined Paramount+ and Showtime service has yet to be announced.

In this photo illustration, Paramount+ (Paramount Plus) logo is seen on a smartphone against its website in the background.
Pavlo Gonchar | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Paramount Global is further joining its streaming and cable TV business by combining its Showtime TV network and streaming service, Paramount+.
The company said Monday it plans to integrate Showtime’s streaming service fully into Paramount+, its marquee standalone streaming platform and response to the streaming wars.

But the union doesn’t stop there. As part of this integration, the premium cable TV network, known for shows like “Yellowjackets,” “Billions,” and “Dexter,” will be rebranded as Paramount+ with Showtime. The TV channel will also feature content from Paramount+, which has produced original series that spun off from the popular “Yellowstone” and “Criminal Minds” franchises. People can subscribe to Showtime for an extra fee on their pay-TV bundle,
Pricing for the combined streaming platform and other details will be announced in coming weeks, a Paramount spokesperson said Monday. Paramount+ starts at $4.99 a month, and Showtime’s streaming service is $10.99 a month. A bundled offering of the two already exists, beginning at $11.99 a month.
In November, Paramount reported that Paramount+ had 46 million customers. The company reports fourth quarter earnings Feb. 16.
The move comes as media companies work to make their streaming businesses profitable. Competition is at an all-time high following a pandemic-fueled streaming boom, slowing the addition of subscribers. Stock prices have suffered, in part, due to this, and these companies have been experimenting to grow their streaming businesses.
Last year Netflix introduced a cheaper, ad-supported tier. While Disney was early to bundling its streaming options – Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ – it also debuted an ad-supported option and increased prices last year. Warner Bros. Discovery has been pulling back on content for its HBO Max, as it looks to cut costs, and also plans to debut a combined HBO Max and Discovery streaming app in the spring.

“This new combined offering demonstrates how we can leverage our entire collection of content to drive deeper connections with consumers and greater value for our distribution partners,” Paramount CEO Bob Bakish said in a memo to employees Monday.
During the fall, Paramount restructured its Showtime business. Executive David Nevins, who’d been running the network since 2016, departed and Chris McCarthy and Tom Ryan took over. McCarthy also runs Paramount’s cable-TV networks like MTV and Comedy Central. Ryan runs Paramount’s streaming segment.
While McCarthy and Ryan will remain in place, Bakish acknowledged that the integration “brings uncertainty to the teams” that work on each brand.
–CNBC’s Stephen Desaulniers contributed to this report.

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Washington, D.C., has enacted a zero-fare bus bill into law.
The policy eliminates the $2 fare for all the city’s buses starting this summer.
It is the largest city to institute a fare-free transit system and part of a growing movement nationwide.

A bus is seen in Washington, DC, on December 12, 2022. – The Washington government voted to institute free bus rides for all starting in the summer of 2023.
Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images

Washington, D.C., has enacted a zero-fare bus bill into law, according to the D.C. Council.
Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to officially approve the bill, which eliminates the $2 fare for all city buses, adds a dozen 24-hour bus lines starting in July and calls for a $10 million investment into other service improvements to the bus lines.

But the council enacted the proposal without the mayor’s signature, making Washington the largest U.S. city to codify a fare-free transit system as the movement takes off nationwide. Kansas City, Missouri, previously the largest city with such a law, made its own transit system zero-fare in 2019, though that city doesn’t have a train system.
In December, the D.C. Council unanimously passed the bill, but it had been waiting on a response from the mayor’s office before it could officially become law, said Councilmember Charles Allen, who initially proposed the Metro for D.C. bill in 2021.
Earlier this month, Washington’s chief financial officer approved the funding for the fare-free bus service, baking in $11 million for fiscal year 2023, $43 million for fiscal year 2024 and increasingly more for each fiscal year afterward.
The council was made aware of the mayor’s decision not to sign the legislation last week, according to Allen, and it was enacted without her signature on Thursday. The council officially announced the mayor’s decision on Monday.
It’s now debating whether to add an amendment that would subsidize rail travel for city residents, but the current version of the bill will go into effect in the meantime, Allen said.

“It’s full steam ahead now,” he said, adding that the mayor’s resistance to sign the bill is largely symbolic.
“There’s no practical difference at all,” Allen said. “Maybe you might think of it as reflecting a different level of enthusiasm.”
Bowser had previously taken issue with the fact that Maryland and Virginia weren’t helping to fund the bill despite the benefit to their residents, NBC Washington reported. The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

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Boeing plans to add the new 737 Max production line in the second half of 2024.
Boeing’s Everett, Washington, factory also houses reworking facilities for the 787 Dreamliner.
Boeing and rival Airbus have struggled to ramp up output to meet airline demand.

An aerial view of the engines and fuselage of an unpainted Boeing 737 MAX airplane parked in storage at King County International Airport-Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, June 1, 2022.
Lindsey Wasson | Reuters

Boeing said it plans to add a fourth 737 Max production line in the second half of next year as it targets higher output of its best-selling plane, an executive told staff on Monday.
The new line will be housed in Boeing’s massive Everett, Washington, factory, where it has been reworking some of its 787 Dreamliners and producing 777s and 767s. Until December, it had also been producing the 747 jumbo jet there.

“This undertaking is significant,” Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a note to staff, which was seen by CNBC. “In addition to preparing the facility, we have begun the process of notifying and preparing our suppliers, customers, unions and employees as we take the necessary steps to create a new line.”
Boeing has been eager to increase production of the 737 Max, but CEO Dave Calhoun has said the company is hesitant to ramp up output too quickly because of labor and supply chain strains.
It is currently producing around 31 of the jets a month and last week said it is aiming for a rate of 50 a month in the “2025/2026 timeframe.” The manufacturer plans to hire around 10,000 workers this year, it said in a filing on Friday.
It has a backlog of more than 3,600 of those single-aisle planes, with carriers including United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines awaiting planes. Boeing booked 700 orders for new 737 Max planes last year.
Boeing still plans to operate three production lines at the Renton, Washington, 737 Max factory, Deal said. He pointed to demand for newer models like the 737-10, the largest in the family, which still hasn’t won regulatory approval.
Boeing plans to hand over the last 747 it has produced to cargo carrier Atlas Air on Tuesday afternoon.

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Molson Coors and DraftKings are inviting fans to bet on a top-secret Super Bowl ad.
The brands said they’re offering viewers a piece of a $500,000 prize pool for correctly predicting the contents of the brewer’s commercial
The collaboration marks Molson Coors’ return to advertising during the game after a hiatus of more than 30 years.

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Molson Coors and Draft Kings

Molson Coors is teaming up with online sports betting company DraftKings in a marketing campaign that allows viewers to place wagers on the beer company’s upcoming Super Bowl commercial, the companies said Monday.
The partnership marks Molson Coors’ return to the Super Bowl after a hiatus of 33 years, according to the company. Molson Coors, which makes Coors Light and Miller Lite, said it has been unable to advertise during the game since 1989 due to an exclusivity agreement between parent-company AB InBev and the National Football League. That agreement ended in 2022, and Molson Coors is making a splashy return to the advertising event with an ad campaign specifically leading up to its Super Bowl spot.

Molson Coors and DraftKings said they’re offering viewers a piece of a $500,000 prize pool for correctly predicting the contents of the brewer’s commercial, dubbed “The High Stakes Beer Ad.” It’s the largest prize pool of any free-to-play nonsport contest offered in DraftKings’ history, according to a Molson press release.
“After being shut out of the big game for more than 30 years, we wanted to do something that had never been done before,” said Michelle St. Jacques, Molson Coors’ chief marketing officer, in a statement. “By giving people the chance to predict every detail of the ad before it even runs, we’re bringing our fans along for the ride and getting them just as excited about our return to the big stage as we are.”
According to a new teaser for the ad, fans aged 21 and up will be able to place bets through their DraftKings accounts on multiple-choice questions such as “Which beer is mentioned first?” during the Super Bowl ad. The contest closes at 3:30 p.m. ET on gameday, and winners are expected to be announced the following morning, the company said.

Details of the commercial’s outcome are being kept a secret, the brands said. Multiple endings have been filmed, and even Molson Coors’ CEO doesn’t know how the commercial will end, they said.
For Molson Coors, the partnership capitalizes on the growing popularity of sports betting. Through the first 11 months of 2022, casinos and mobile sports gaming revenue stood at a record $54.93 billion, according to the American Gaming Association.

“This behavior is everywhere,” said Sofia Colucci, vice president of global marketing at Miller Family of Brands, in an email to CNBC. “It’s a part of culture, and so are our brands. Since we’re already celebrating a historic moment by returning after 30 years, we might as well make history twice by introducing the first-ever high stakes ad where people can predict every detail.”
Correction: This article has been updated to correct how long Molson Coors has been unable to advertise during the game. A previous version misstated the year.

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