The vibe on the desk at CNBC’s Halftime Report has been a bit different lately. Maybe it’s the way the 2026 market has kicked off with that weird mixture of AI-hype exhaustion and a sudden, sharp interest in "real world" companies. If you’re tuning in for the halftime report final trades today, you’re seeing a committee that is clearly moving away from the "buy everything" strategy of last year.
It’s about precision now. Honestly, watching the desk today felt like watching a group of people trying to navigate a room full of tripwires.
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The Big Shift in Today's Final Trades
Josh Brown, always the voice of reason (or at least the loud one), made a pretty compelling case for CBRE Group. It’s not the flashiest name. It doesn't make chips or Large Language Models. But his argument is basically that if we’re actually seeing the "return to office" stabilize or even rebound in 2026, the real estate services giants are the ones sitting on the gold mine.
It’s a classic Brown move. Go where the infrastructure is.
Then you had Malcolm Ethridge, who has been leaning heavily into the big banks. He doubled down on JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley earlier this week and stuck to that conviction today. Why? Because while everyone is staring at the Fed, the big banks are just quietly printing money on the back of rising investment banking fees.
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Other notable names that popped up in the final scramble included:
- Lockheed Martin: Defense is staying on everyone’s radar given the geopolitical mess.
- McKesson Corporation: A play on the boring but essential side of healthcare logistics.
- Amazon: It’s basically a staple at this point, but the committee still likes it for the cloud growth.
Why the "Investment Committee" is Nervous (But Still Buying)
The market isn't exactly a straight line up right now. Brad Gerstner recently jumped on the show to remind everyone that we are in a "stock-picker’s market." He wasn't kidding. The days of a rising tide lifting all boats are over. In 2026, if a company misses earnings by a hair, the market treats it like it’s going out of business.
The committee spent a good chunk of the hour debating the "AI supercycle." It’s still early, sure, but the constraint has shifted from "can we build it?" to "can we power it?" That's why names like Enterprise Products and energy infrastructure companies are suddenly the stars of the final trades. You can't run a data center without power. Simple as that.
A Closer Look at the Real Estate Debate
The back-and-forth between Josh Brown and some of the more skeptical members of the committee regarding real estate was the highlight. Some think the commercial real estate "cliff" is still coming. Brown isn't buying it. He thinks the worst is priced in. When he threw out CBRE as a top pick, it was a signal that he’s looking for value in the places everyone else is afraid to touch.
What You Should Actually Do With This Information
Let’s be real for a second. Copying the final trades exactly as they appear on the screen at 12:59 PM is a risky game. These folks have different time horizons than you do.
However, the trends they are highlighting are impossible to ignore. If you’re looking at your own portfolio and wondering why your tech-heavy bets are stalling, look at what the committee is rotating into. They are moving toward:
- Financials: Higher for longer rates are a gift to the well-capitalized banks.
- Infrastructure/Defense: Tangible assets and government contracts.
- Selectivity in Tech: Buying the ones that actually make money (like Amazon or Nvidia) rather than the ones just promising they’ll have a "cool AI tool" soon.
The market in 2026 is basically telling you to stop gambling and start investing in businesses that actually produce something you can touch or that people have to use every day.
If you want to follow these trades, the move isn't to jump in with both feet on Monday morning. Instead, look at the sectors being mentioned. If the committee is piling into healthcare and defense, maybe it's time to check if your own portfolio is a little too lopsided toward the "Magnificent Seven" clones.
Check the technical levels on names like Lockheed or McKesson before you pull the trigger. Momentum is great, but overpaying for a "defensive" stock kind of defeats the purpose of being defensive in the first place.
Keep an eye on the volume. When the committee mentions a mid-cap name, the "Halftime Effect" can spike the price for twenty minutes before it settles back down. Don't be the person buying the top of that twenty-minute spike. Wait for the dust to settle.