Closing Bell 9/1/26

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
At Edward Jones, we believe rich isn't about having life all figured out. It's opening yourself to all the possibilities. That's why your dedicated financial advisor provides long-term planning built around you, meeting you where you are, and helping you get closer to where you want to be. So no matter where you're starting from, you can move forward with confidence. The key to being rich is knowing what counts.
Let's find your rich. Edward Jones, member SIPC.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:30)
At Venture Global, we think about what can be done, not what's usually done.
Through innovation, Venture Global is not only building some of the largest energy facilities in the world right here in the United States, but delivering American energy at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the time. So while others are busy talking, we're busy building. That's Venture Global. That's unstoppable energy.

**Scott Wapner** (1:00)
All right, guys, thanks so much. Welcome to Closing Bell. I'm Scott Wapner, live from Post 9 here at the New York Stock Exchange. And this Make or Break Hour begins with tensions in the market, the spike in oil and yields, and what that means for stocks in the month ahead, one that is traditionally unkind to investors, as you know.
So we'll ask our experts over this final stretch in just a moment what's really at stake. Meantime, here's a scorecard with 60 to go in regulation today. We have been red all day long, led by declines in discretionary and industrial names, sort of playing in that higher yield story. Tech is also red today. Apple shares, though they're interesting, they're moving higher. New CEO John Ternes begins his tenure running that company today. Stock getting about a 3% lift. Elsewhere, some notable decliners in the cybersecurity space, and that coming ahead of Palo Alto's earnings report in Overtime. These stocks have been up a lot, so take that into consideration when you're looking at 5%, 6%, and even in some cases, 7% declines there. It does take us to our talk of the tape. Will September play true to history, or is there enough momentum in this market to keep stocks climbing? Let's ask Tom Lee. He is Fundstrat's head of research, he's a CNBC contributor, and he's back at Post9. Welcome back.

**Tom Lee** (2:14)
Great to see you, Scott.

**Scott Wapner** (2:14)
Good to have you with this month that's now upon us. How are you feeling?

**Tom Lee** (2:19)
Well, I know people are edging into September cautious because markets are down, oils up, yields are up, and people are talking about the seasonality. I'm going to be contrarian. I think this is a set up for actually September to be a strong month for stocks.

**Scott Wapner** (2:34)
Why?

**Tom Lee** (2:35)
Well, I think one is that the inflation fears are likely to quell this month. We have the jobs report on Friday.
Next week is August CPI. And then we have, of course, the FOMC rate decision in September. I think the sequence of those events is going to show inflation is weakening. And I think the odds of September hike might actually drop to zero.

**Scott Wapner** (2:56)
I mean, you thought that August, we could get to 79 or 8,000 in August alone. We obviously did not.
So are you overly, are you too optimistic about this market ignoring some of the challenges that you did mention? Inflation, higher rates, higher oil, more hostilities in the Middle East, among other issues around the AI trade, data centers, et cetera.

**Tom Lee** (3:19)
Yeah, and of course, it makes sense to be worried about these things, but 79, 800, 8,000 to me should be a level where investors are bullish. Like that's really when markets top is our people are bullish. You know, these highs were made in August when people are cautious and people are cautious here. So to me, I think there's a wall of worry here that actually should be buyable. I mean, war concerns, as you know, have historically been buying opportunities and the AI trade still has a lot of strengthening funding.

**Scott Wapner** (3:46)
Okay, so it is interesting to me that you do have now a growing chorus of caution. Yes, from many different corners, Citadel Security, Scott Wapner, I highlighted a lot of this on Halftime. I'm going to do it again because he says the near term risk reward has changed and he points out, say earnings were great, but they're gone now. They're they're behind us. Retail remains a buyer, but historically they become smaller in September. Systematic exposure has rebuilt. The corporate bid is going to fade. Blackout windows come back, so he can't do the buybacks. And then after a significant collapse in volatility, now that's behind us too. He says he would use strength to reduce exposure and add inexpensive protection.