Mega-Tech Spotlight: Microsoft Layoffs and Tesla Deliveries 7/2/25

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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David Faber (0:47)

Market insight and analysis. You're listening to the opening bell of CNBC Squawk on the Street. Good Wednesday morning. Welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm David Faber alongside Jim Cramer. We're live from Post 9 at the New York Stock Exchange. Carl enjoying a well-deserved day off. Yes, as we all deserve them as well. Take a look at futures. I don't know. What's that say to you? Anything? Anything at all?

Jim Cramer (1:12)

We have a whole show to do.

David Faber (1:13)

Yeah, we got a whole show. Exactly. That's what it says to me as well. Thanks, Jim. Our roadmap does begin with a pause for the big tech run up. This after a surge of more than 20% of the last three months, the NASDAQ did notch its first decline in six sessions. And as you just saw, futures, you know, well, it doesn't say much anything right now, but maybe a bit of softness. We're going to talk about the big banks because they're boosting dividends and that follows this week's stress tests. We're talking about Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, among others that are also trading at record highs. And OpenAI, Sam Altman, with some strong words from Meta and the company's recent talent poaching spree, that is Meta, coming out for a lot of OpenAI employees. And there you see it, missionaries will beat mercenaries. Let's start, though, with the recent run up in technology stocks. Last night on Mad Money, Jim unveiled a new acronym for three of the mega caps. Take a listen.

Jim Cramer (2:12)

Not Fang, not Magnificent Seven, just MNMs. The sole survivors of the brutal quarter from what used to be the most captivating group in the market. Yep, only three of the mega caps finished the first half at all time highs. And it's worth trying to figure out how that happened. How did Microsoft, Nvidia and Meta manage to triumph? Especially when all of their stocks had hit some pretty hideous darn levels early in the quarter.

David Faber (2:43)

All right, what's it all mean?

Jim Cramer (2:44)

I think it was marked up. I mean, it just went to 158 Remember, this is just who finishes the high. I'm trying to distinguish between the companies that came in hot and then faltered, and the companies that really delivered it. And look, and I think the ones that delivered, David, very interesting, Meta turned out to be cheap, as you knew. And Microsoft, where they're, think about laying off as many as 9,000 employees in the latest round. Microsoft may be the company that uses AI the most, or they might just say, you know what, we finished this Xbox acquisition. Why do we need it?

We are seeing, David, AI.

David Faber (3:21)

Well, you mean the Activision, the Activision, not the Xbox.

Carl Quintanilla (3:24)

Yeah, you said Xbox.

Jim Cramer (3:25)

Well, look, I think, well, that's not Xbox. But I do feel that there's been two, look, two waves of layoffs, May and June. They're firing employees. Now, they're firing employees and they're making the numbers. Remember, the AWS, the reason why they made the numbers was that they were able to do 33%. In the previous quarter, they did 31 People were looking for 31.9.

David Faber (3:44)

Well, you're referring to a Seattle Times story in which they say the company could lay off as many as 9,000 employees. Of a 228,000 employee worldwide base, that would be roughly 3%, maybe even as much as almost 4%, they say, of the employee base. I want to get to the ADP number, though, because we usually don't talk about it this early in the show, but it was a negative 33,000 or so. Remember, it was really wrong last time, so we don't even know. But I mentioned it in light of the market yesterday, Jim, where value showed some resurgence. Now, it may have simply been a function of the first day of a new quarter, of a new half. Momentum going the other way, but do you think that there is perhaps a bid for value in the market because of an expectation of, and I know I shouldn't even say this because we're not supposed to talk about it anymore, but a Fed rate cut as soon as July?