Bill Griffeth anchored the program alone from 1996 to 2002. Caruso-Cabrera joined as Griffeth's original co-presenter from February 4, 2002 to December 5, 2003, before being replaced by Sue Herera, who debuted three days later. Caruso-Cabrera and Dennis Kneale appeared regularly in their respective analyst capacities until both became full co-presenters in 2009. Mathisen joined the program on December 14, 2009, after Griffeth's leave of absence began.
Power Lunch originally aired for two hours (noon to 2 ET) until June 7, 2010, when it moved to 1 ET, with its run-time cut to 1 hour, making room for The Strategy Session at noon ET and the Fast Money Halftime Report at 12:30 ET. The show became a 2-hour program once again on February 9, 2015, with run-time then from 1-3 p.m. ET, replacing Street Signs (which aired its final edition three days prior). Sullivan and Amanda Drury, both of whom previously co-anchored Street Signs, joined the program the same day, along with current Fast Money and Options Action host Melissa Lee. They replaced Herera, who left three days earlier. Caruso-Cabrera rejoined the program for her third stint as co-presenter on January 19, 2016 after Amanda Drury's departure from CNBC U.S. (in the case of the latter, she rejoined CNBC Asia as a Sydney-based correspondent that July). On March 12, 2018, Sara Eisen (previously co-anchor of Worldwide Exchange and later co-anchor of Squawk on the Street, now co-anchor of Closing Bell) and Brian Sullivan swapped their respective anchor roles, with Eisen moving to Power Lunch and Sullivan moving to Worldwide Exchange. On November 30, 2018, Eisen and Kelly Evans swapped their respective anchor roles, with the former moving to Closing Bell and Evans moving to Power Lunch. On January 7, 2019 Power Lunch was halved in length due to the launch of a new program, The Exchange, presented by Kelly Evans. Consequently, Power Lunch is once again a 60-minute program, running between 2 pm and 3 pm ET.
On October 13, 2014, Power Lunch was launched in full 1080i high-definition as part of CNBC's network-wide switch to a full 16:9letterbox format.
Overview
This program examines the businesses, people, and trends that influence Wall Street, in addition to real-time market coverage at roughly the midway point of the U.S. trading day.
Present segments
CNBC 101:Bob Pisani presents the "CNBC 101" segment on Thursdays.
News Update: News headlines from outside the world of business, broadcast at 2.30pm ET.
Trader Triple Play: Seen on Fridays during the second hour as three Wall Street traders join the program (either via satellite or in-studio) to talk about the three key economic diaries in which investors and viewers need to know for the coming week.
Markets Minute By Minute: A guest (or two guests) join the program to tell viewers and the show's anchors what is moving the markets.
Around the Watercooler: This is a segment in which the anchors talk about the day's biggest topics (inside and outside the business world) from behind their respective desks.
Past segments
Dow Jones Halftime Report: Presented by Bob O'Brien and Ray Hennessey (both Dow Jones Newswires employees at the time), highlighting winning or losing sectors of the trading day.
Making Money Now: Seen during the second hour of the program from April to August 2005, ending with the "Lightning Round" (which was unrelated to the most popular segment on Mad Money) in which the stock pickers had 15 seconds to decide if the stock given by the anchors are a buy, sell, or a hold. This segment was discontinued as of September 2005.
Power Poll: Moved to the Closing Bell in April 2005, and was renamed the Closing Bell Poll. This segment was discontinued on Closing Bell at the end of 2005.
Power Topic
Power Lesson
Stock Specials: This segment, which was discontinued as of September 2005, featured Joe Kernen highlighting the day's stocks.
Fast Money Halftime Report: This segment, which featured Melissa Lee and her Fast Money panel highlighting a winning or losing sector of the day, spun off as a separate TV show of its own on June 7, 2010, when it debuted.
Your Digital Life This segment, which featured David Pogue in a humorous skit, ran from 2007 to 2011, and featured the latest in technology.
Sara Eisen (April 4, 2018 – November 30, 2018) (previously with Closing Bell, now back with Squawk on the Street)
Special editions
Power Brunch
In the week of October 4, 1999, Power Lunch became Power Brunch, because they broadcast the show live from Silicon Valley that week.
Big Road Show
In May 2005, Power Lunch went on the road for its week-long Big Road Show. Bill Griffeth hosted these week-long special editions from Miami, Phoenix, Dallas, and Los Angeles (Sue Herera was on maternity leave when these editions aired).
Making Money Across America
On September 7, 2007, Power Lunch began airing an eight-week series titled, "Making Money Across America",[2] which concluded on October 26, 2007. These special road shows were aired on Fridays as this program visited eight U.S. cities over as many weeks. The dates and cities were:
September 7: Chicago (Bill Griffeth and Sue Herera co-hosted from the Navy Pier)
