Welcome to closing bell. I'm Leslie Picker in for Scott Wapner. This make or break hour starts with the race for records, all three major averages on pace to close out the week at fresh all-time highs. Here is your scorecard with 16 minutes to go in the trading session. You can see the Dow of 3 tenths of 1%, S&P up by about the same magnitude, and the

NASDAQ up by about half a percent at this hour. Tech utilities and consumer discretionary

leading the way while energy is the notable underperformer. Treasury yields pushing higher with the

tenure, holding firmly above 4.1 percent in the small caps, taking a breather after the Russell 2000 hit a new high,

which takes us to our talk of the tape, which is where are the opportunities with stocks at such

lofty levels?

Joining me here at Post 9 to discuss Vandage Rocks Avery Sheffield.

Avery, thanks for joining us today.

Pleasure.

So you think that both the economy and inflation are likely to run warm to hot.

Yes.

So does that suggest you think stocks can also go higher from here, despite kind of these loftier

valuations we're seeing?

I think they certainly could, but I do think it creates a more opportunity for a more bifurcated market where those

stocks that benefit from pricing power that aren't over levered can really shine, especially

if the valuations are still low. And those that might be in a situation where rates might not

be able to come down enough to help them, could have a little bit more trouble.

But overall, I think that the environment is supportive

because the Fed really wants the economy to do well

and has a lot of opportunity to cut rates, should anything be wobbly.

So the goal then is to find those pockets that are maybe undervalued

but likely to outpace inflation because of their ability

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