david: past, present and future, lou and i think 3. what the answer? four. i would like to know who they are. >> i don't know what all. i said it was just my lucky number. jacob marley. david: jacob marley. i forgot about jacob. he was the first person but of course which he was a spirit. i forgot about that. that is the answer. there were four. jacob marley. he saw first on the doorknob when he came into the house on christmas eve. unbelievable. thank you very much, everybody. great to see you. appreciate it. i will see you tomorrow. markets are continuing to do well but they lost steam, dow is at 165. that is it for "varney and company". coast-to-coast starting two seconds. thanks for coming.

neil: seo are not into the stock market but more into real estate, buyer home, sell a home, maybe maybe your interest rate mortgage has come in. the latest week, down from 6.95 just the week before, we were well over 7%. the trend in lower mortgage rates is on now. we are exploring that with manchin global host. katrina, we were talking about what could change the environment for a slowing down of those looking for homes or those not willing to sell their homes. will this change that? >> there is so much going on in the real estate market. the decrease in long-term interest rates will likely boosting land multifamily housing next year.

i cannot growth that we desperately need and minimizing a recession. mortgage rates are dropping, uptick in new home construction may revive the housing market as a result. mortgage rates is linked to the 10 year treasury bond yield and that coincides with a significant rise in new home builds. with existing home sales hitting a 13 year low builders are ramping up to rejuvenate the market but recent data indicates 0.8% increase in existing home sales does suggest lower rates are motivating buyers to get back into the market. i anticipate a gradual market improvement in 2024 influenced by the fed rate cuts and declining mortgage rates. as far as prices are concerned prices have continued to rise. there are -- they are rising at a slower pace but still rising as a whole, not to be confused

the by the list prices which have declined because builders are providing a lot of incentives and decreasing prices to try to get homes are sold before the end of the year so last month private housing starts to rise 14.8% to 1.5 million on annual rate marking a year-to-year increase of 9.3%. david: neil: let's step back and look at what sellers do. the big problem across the country. don't know how it is in florida, its own little universe. a lot of those with homes would be looking to sell are not doing so because rates aren't moving. they felt maybe the decline in valuation from high levels they can wait it out. >> reporter: there's very few homes on the market as far as existing home sales because they have no incentive to put their house on the market, why trade a 3% interest rate for

the current interest rate and people i have spoken to with large homes want a downgrade but it is more expensive for them to do so. in an environment where we will see lower interest rates, home sellers are more motivated to put their homes on the market so they won't have competition from existing home sales. i anticipate existing home sales are going to ramp up and hopefully have healthier market than we have had the past year because it has been challenging for the american people. neil: the bloom is off the rose because they get sticker shock with homeowners insurance that is prohibited in light of storms and the like. then there is the issue of rocketing real estate taxes particularly in palm beach county. the evaluation of those properties went up. how is that happening?

>> what you are saying is happening. insurance prices are skyrocketing, property taxes are skyrocketing in florida is becoming very expensive. prices are reaching levels we saw in new york specifically palm beach, northeast florida and tampa is on fire as well so you see the markets increase. what happening is a lot of people can't retire because of property taxes and insurance. florida is seeing challenges. as a floridian i love florida but we have challenges. david: susan: they are good challenges to have better recognition of the popularity of the state. be careful what you wish for. katrina, good seeing you, have a merry christmas. >> thanks so much, merry christmas. julie: have larry kudlow here on this fine network. i want to talk about the

interest rate situation before we get into other news and this idea that mortgage rates come down in an environment like this, topping rates on the mortgage side or the treasury market side. where are you on this? larry: i'm glad mortgage rates have come down and i know market rates will come down in treasuries but they are still very high relative to where they were a couple years ago, two or three years ago. i am not as euphoric as your prior guest. existing home sales are down 7% year on year and i think if you sell a house now you might have had a 2% to 3% mortgage or even a 4% mortgage, you still pay 7%, maybe 7.5% so i am a little skeptical about this housing story and the mortgage story. rates have come down, that has

helped the stock market which is terrific but i am not sure how much more they are going to come down and i still think that is a problem. when you look at surveys, people are very worried about their finances, their real wages are still lower than they were three years ago, interest rates much higher than they were three years ago. even gasoline prices which have come down thankfully but still a dollar higher than they were. wents are still higher. there are issues out there that cloud this rosy outlook. neil: we are old enough to remember the presidential race in 1992, george bush senior who looked unbeatable and ended up losing because a recession took hold, the iron he was in the final few months of that campaign year the turnaround was on and americans weren't feeling it. fast forward to today where the

biden white house is saying the turnaround is on and you will feel it because the election is 11 months away, essentially saying the improvement we are looking at is going to resonate with people when they connect it. we are a long way from that because polls indicate americans feel otherwise. what do you think of that? larry: what are you asking me? it. 20 do we get a sense from here that the improving economic environment the biden white house saying is going on will be felt, just not being felt now, still in its early stages? larry: okay. i think the economy is a mixed bag. manufacturing and hard goods are in a recession. housing still i think is in a recession for maybe it is leveling off. what you've got is rapid

consumer spending has held the economy up. consumers have problems with debt, credit card and mortgage rates and so forth. food prices are still high. the inflation rate is lower yes, thankfully, it is not 9% anymore but the level of prices is still way above where it was three years ago. i was looking this morning, consumer prices basically up 18%. from where they were in january of 2,020 one. when you look at food prices it is 25%. when you look at energy prices it is gasoline a buck higher than it was. home heating is still way higher. electricity is way higher. i have to ask your self how good is this economy? i understand politics. i understand the bidens playing

it up but they haven't been entirely truthful about the economic situation and my sense is it is a mixed bag. you've got an inverted yield curve, 20th straight month of decline in the leading economic indicators. those are recession signals. you've got deflation blowing in from a poor economy in china. that could be problematic. at best, i think it is a mixed bag. at worst, you will see very slow, very sluggish growth and i would not rule out recession. the new york fed yield curve model shows 52% chance of recession. you've got to factor these things in. unfortunately, i am not willing to take the biden's's word for it that things are getting better. i don't think they are frankly. neil: i will put you down as a maybe on the biden chances here, thank you very much larry kudlow.

larry: as a may be. neil: the busiest travel day of the year. i don't know how they count these but this thursday before christmas is the one that will be for the record books. garrett tenney is at chicago's o'hare, on what he is seeing. >> reporter: airports will be busy for the next week. aaa expects this holiday travel season will be the busiest on record going back to 2000. today is expected to be the busiest in the skies with nearly 49,000 flights according to the faa followed by tomorrow at 44,000. the good news is so far today, things are working smoothly, some delays a few dozen cancellations and that's a huge relief for folks who were worried about a repeat of widespread cancellations we saw last year. >> absolutely. a holiday is waiting for us.

>> get tsa pre-check. i'm not concert with united but get it. it makes everything easier. >> everybody is a little anxious and worried after last year's travel experience. everything going good for the most part. >> reporter: santa told us they have done a lot of work. hiring workers, and upgrading equipment. with military airspace to keep traffic moving. tsa anticipates 2. 5 million people going through security every day from now until january 2nd, give your self a little extra time for security even if you' re going through tsa pre-check like the young man recommended because these days it seems those lines are as long.

neil: santa doesn't take the slide everywhere when you get to the bottom of that or not. >> reporter: mechanical issues. and the candidates in full force, nikki haley or ron desantis, desantis had the pressure on him to come in a strong second. a little less so in new hampshire. what's going on in the red sea half a world away. we told you about these shippers and energy concerns and obviously huge companies rerouting, 14 right now and the first sign this is reverberating in higher prices, ikea saying the products are

delayed due to the entire red sea versions. more after this. dad, we got this. we got this. we got this. we got this. we got this.

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neil: ikea is the first retailer to say these diversions a lot of companies, shippers, tankers have to take to avoid the red sea area sometimes they go all around the continent of africa to avoid this. each tanker that does that had $1 million in expensive. if there are goods in those ships the higher costs are real, leading to delays, at the white house, the administration's push to get a task force in place, hasn't meant a single one of those to come back to the area.

>> reporter: the patients with these houthi rebels attacking rebel ships is running out. they did put that task force together. so far it has not done much to deter the houthi rebels from attacking vessels or to entice shipping vessels that previously pulled out of those routes to go back into those roots. the latest to be impacted by this is ikea. they are experiencing delays because of this, taking unplanned detours around africa because they can't go through the suez canal. this will cause availability constraints, they don't own any container vessels managing shipments. abercrombie and fitch is ditching the ships and going airborne to avoid the red sea entirely. the white house has not fired any direct military attacks against houthi rebels from

terrorizing the seas including houthi attacks on us warships. that's not off the table is the white house tiptoes not getting into direct standoff with houthi rebels main backers, iran. >> these attacks have to stop. they are unacceptable. the united states, allies and partners have to counter these ships. >> reporter: foreign policy applications aside their economic implications, 30% of global container traffic passes through the red sea. billions in goods and supplies. houthi rebels are aggressively making the red sea, gas prices globally, global trade overall. >> i'm deeply concerned about ensuring maritime cargo around the world. we can't lose control of the red sea and biden comes in, bumps the houthi is from the terrorist watchlist and by april of 2,020 they already

fire on the southeast. >> reporter: there have been 37 vessel attacks by the houthis over the last month, we will see if in the new year those attacks continue, more if they ramp up or if the administration can do anything to stop them entirely. neil: thank you for that. retired u.s. army major general, good having you here. the makeup of that task force, what would you want to see? >> good afternoon. the taskforces part of operation prosperity. the secretary of defense lloyd austin announced they obviously need more warships. the us, uk, france, the netherlands, shells but it would be nice to see china as part of that.

china has ships in that area. nice to see other nations participate. the problem with the houthis and where they are firing, firing at a narrow strait, 31 miles, minimum width is 16 miles and it is a gateway to the southern red sea. as viewers no, the red sea is the gateway to the mediterranean sea from the indian ocean. neil: what was surprising to me is the number of companies, bp, and oil as well saying they will believe it when they see it but not changing their plans until they know more about the task force.

>> i would agree that task force doing something. the uss carney and uss mason in the region where the straits are but at some point the launch sites in yemen need to be hit. and push back the houthis's ability to do that from yemen. that is tough but we act like we are afraid to do that. these are some houthi rebels who are in yemen, drones, firing missiles at commercial ships and warships. they need to answer for that. neil: are we waiting for some of our soldiers or key personnel in the area whether they are part of the military or not, then we will regret waiting so long. is it because they are based in yemen?

we had a countdown a couple weeks ago. we hope to go outside this area. i am perplexed as to why there is reluctance for their operations in yemen. >> it may be making sure that we have intel assets that are focused on looking for targets in yemen. it may be a matter of time before the us response. right now the clock is ticking. neil: real quick while i have you. there is talk that israel is open to free the remaining hostages, 129 supposedly remaining hopefully a life. but it is not a given. some feel hamas is using this to drag this thing out. what do you think? >> hamas is using this to drag

it out and also to lick its wounds, try to gather its fighters set up even more ambushes and defense of points against israeli defense forces. i agree with what israel is doing in terms of insisting there's not a cease-fire, maybe a temporary pause for negotiations but israel hasn't destroyed hamas because they are next essential threat to israel, they are a terrorist state. neil: i'm honored by your service to this country. have a merry christmas. in the meantime, taking a look at iowa. we are less than a month from the big caucuses. ron desantis working the rooms as is nikki haley. she has narrowed the gap between two of them in iowa, certainly in new hampshire so a lot hangs in the balance, donald trump still leads but you know the history of this

state, things could change and often do. a big corporate story, this could be a huge corporate story, warner bros. discovery, and paramount, a merger, who will run who after this? ♪ the biggest ideas inspire new ones. 30 years ago, state street created an etf that inspired the world to invest differently. it still does. what can you do with spy? ♪

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neil: what to make of talking with each other, warner bros. discovery, paramount, don't know where this is going but charlie gasparino does. charles: drip by drip i was this close to getting this, but i was right there. i will say this. a little bit. remember him?

neil: you and i are the only ones who got that reference. charles: i don't think they are talks based on what i am hearing. everybody is kicking the tires. the head of discovery clearly is kicking the tires. from what i understand, i don't have to work this weekend or next weekend. he is looking at specifically a narrow thing at least as of now. that is sharing redstone steak following the national amusements which is the holding company from paramount, where she controls 80% of the voting rights. it is -- the company is worth none.

the nonvoting shares that average people own and she owns. the deal is more narrow, for $9 billion and assuming all the debt. it is sharing redstone's, with national amusements, the company of paramount. neil: they went that far. charles: it has all these programs. everybody knows it. neil: cbs and cnn. charles: you can do that. one is cable. other assets are described to me as are melting ice cube.

mtv, comedy central, things -- i know for a fact the cost of nfl rates, hugely expensive. based on what i have just seen, they cost money. streaming losing money at paramount. the positive on this thing, he can get assets on the cheap that are really good. paramount has a library, studio, great films. it can get some of that. he can mashed together hbo plus max which is known as max right now, breaking even turning a profit. he's done a great job and he is good at that. he's good with balance sheets and these synergies. on top of that warner bros.

is in a strong position with cash flow. they worked off the debt from the time warner discovery deal, this is the positive and negative. this is classic, or speaks to what -- this is bull. it has a 0% chance of happening in the next six months. paramount's distribution deals, you don't know what you are buying. very preliminary. you could say this, there are others. here is what it really says. business we are in. it is becoming, there is tiredness to the business of millennial tv. we can prints.

by hathaway, as we debate our futures, we can prints go first like the newsmagazines did, newsweek and time. it comes with the other ones. and paramount, they are desperate to say. neil: but -- changing times. time will tell. charles: or a melting ice cube. neil: remember talking about record number of migrants at the border. i would advise you, a good thing i did, the second, third, fourth, how are you going to look at it? after this. ♪

as an independent financial advisor, i stand by these promises. as a fiduciary, i promise to be the financial steward that you and your family need. i promise to put your long-term financial well-being above any short term transaction. everyone has a big picture. my job is to help you invest in yours. [announcer] charles schwab is proud to support the independent financial advisors who are passionately dedicated to helping people achieve their financial goals. visit findyourindependentadvisor.com

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neil: we were talking supply disruptions. a lot of tankers finding other roots around houthi rebels strike points. there's a bigger impact on the texas border where we've seen half $1 billion in railroad freight stuck because it is not moving and we got congressman dan crenshaw with us, sits on the house select committee on intelligence about the impact that is having. always good to see you. we have a far bigger disruption closer to home. >> we have not forgotten and it is getting worse every day.

you mentioned it before the break. the records keep getting broken. we had a record 20,000 illegal migrants come across over a weekend and 27,000 and 48 hours. these numbers are hard to to imagine. you've got multiple crises on top of each other so the first one is thousands of migrants illegally coming between ports of entry. what does that do? border patrol says we are overwhelmed, we need more personnel. instead of putting people back and saying you can't come across because the administration won't let them they have to pool other personnel. customs agents, include those railway crossings which is why now you are seeing another crisis which is an economic crisis. import, export, mexico is the number one trading partner.

we have problems and a leader, and you could use that problem, economic crisis problem as leverage with mexico. stop letting people use their country as a transit zone. the biden administration won't. especially in texas. neil: you are seeing some of our viewers, to take you look at how many are being processed but the numbers are staggering to your point. i am wondering what happens in this process. how many get away. whatever the process is, it doesn't mean we are safe from seeing them wandering into the

country and doing whatever. what good is this doing when you go through a process like this? >> that's the point we are making. there is no point in making the process pretty year. when the biden administrator and asks for more money for the border what they are asking for is more resources to make that process look nicer. make the lines look nicer, make sure everyone is getting water and it doesn't look like chaos. the same outcome occurs, paroled into the united states. this is something we are trying to fight or a defense of asylum case, i am being persecuted, they wait in the united states for years when the process plays out. most of the time in court hearings, the vast majority of those people don't have exact numbers because you can't get those numbers from the biden

administration on a real-time basis most of them get paroled inside the us. we know where they are, sometimes yes, sometimes no. they want to make the chaos look prettier but don't want to solve it. neil: they are in the impasse for security reform, doesn't look like it is happening this year. any hope for early next year? >> i do have hope. i said this a million times. the key deal to be made here is ukraine aid for policy changes. we can make that deal. for right or wrong it is very unpopular on the republican side. you want ukraine aid, we want border security changes, the administration is signaling to us about that deal. senators are trying to make that deal. you heard of senator lahngford,

it won't work because schumer has no incentive to make a real deal on the border because he's going to get reelected. you know who might not get reelected? biden. biden has more incentive to work with us in the house. we have the leverage in the house. we should be working with the white house negotiating with them saying these are our red lines on the border, that includes parole reform and asylum reform, we need to reinstate a policy to use the leverage like we are seeing now with this impasse on the railways against mexico and say you got to act and we can win, beat russia and secure the border. i don't see where anyone loses in that situation. neil: it is good seeing you, have a safe and merry christmas. we are looking at the dislocation in new york city.

lady gaga's dad and other things. good to see you again. this is causing that to happen. >> from the top down, the leaders led us down, the payer is not doing much for us in the neighborhood. neil: what is it like? physically uc this, customers see it, it's a distraction. >> right now, a lot of people are coming to see the nutcracker etc. . that is keeping the restaurant business going. one of my guys forgot their keys.

and across w. 70th st. the city was dead. and no 1 on the street. locals roll up the street 9:00 or 10:00. i saw one man walking his dog which is unusual. neil: is a crime, we don't know what is going on? >> i think it is a crime fear. when i was out last night, the kids from the shelter were playing on the street with no jackets. they are not prepared. not only that but they let the

refugees, they are not prepared for this. they thought they were going to stay in new york city hotels and life was going to be wonderful. instead they are staying in tents on roosevelt field, ben franklin field in brooklyn. the other night when we had the bad rainstorm, must have made it uncomfortable. neil: other things happening in the city, pro-palestinian protests and all of that, you have a city where people don't know what is going to happen next. >> we get them closer to the central park area. they start convening. that is not a problem believe it or not. the problem is traffic is down. at midnight not a car on the

street. taxicabs were parked on the side. neil: we didn't have this situation, the president isn't helping out and a lot of opportunity, we didn't have any of this. the restaurant, the area. >> i think things would be back to normal. after covid, now we are dealing with this and this prolonged the atmosphere where people don't want to go out. tourists are coming, people from long island and new jersey. they are bringing their kids. neil: want to see you to stop by. >> they want good italian food. neil: what is the most popular dish? >> chicken scott perella or the

chicken artichoke. neil: have a merry christmas. wonderful family at that. >> he loves that story. more after this. they're waiting for you. hey, do you have a second? they're all expecting more. more efficiency. more benefits. more growth. when you realize you can give your people everything, and more. thank you very much. [applause] ask, "now what?" here's what. you go with prudential to protect, empower and grow. with everything you need to deliver, you guessed it... more. one more thing... who's your rock? learn more at prudential.com you can't buy great conversations

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adam: we were up close to 300 points earlier today, trying to reverse a disruption in 9 straight days of advances, still looking at our strict eighth straight up week. let's get the read, what do you make of this, and one day versus the other but the trend. >> many companies are morning blend flexible and a lot of people think including myself earlier this year. we know inflation was running hot, rates were going to rise but what we didn't realize is how resilient the job market was going to be. many companies are healthier than a lot of people think. who isn't better off is the consumer. that doesn't matter to the stock market. the s&p priced at 12% earnings

growth and a lot of people think that's coming from the revenue side. 2,023 was the year ai reared its head. 2024 is a year of implement new technology to achieve that 12% earnings growth. earnings growth will come with technology, not necessarily extremely sharp consumer action. neil: on interest rates the eighth week in a row where mortgage rates declined. we are at 6.67, close to 7.5%, more rate cuts that could materialize. how does that factor in. >> it factors in hugely. why are more rate cuts priced into the market above the three rate cuts they said they were trying to do for a total of 6

rate cuts being priced into the market? is that because economic conditions are predicted to be bad next year? is it because inflation, we don't have to be as restrictive? what matters is perception of rate cuts coming up happening in the market. we think you could ride some longer duration bonds into next year, not so much as a long-term player but short-term trade. neil: we watch closely. i want to go to a quick break, rudy giuliani filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after facing $148 million judgment, he cannot pay that. more after this. ♪ ♪ ringing up for christmas day

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julie: rudy giuliani has filed for bankruptcy after having to pay $148 million in a defamation lawsuit, he can't afford to pay that. he lists his overall debts at $153 million, with no assets to counter them. brian brenberg and "the big money show".