and i'll be looking forward to all your instagram shots over the holidays. i'll be the first person to like, as always. maria: we are 30 minutes away from the if opening bell, a market that is off of the lows, but, ryan, i thought for a moment we were going to go positive on the dow industrials. nasdaq's up 43 right now, that's a victory with the momentum in this stock market. >> inflation's coming down, it's good. maria: inflation's coming down. are interest rates coming down. that's the debate for 2024, and we will tackle it. again, i want to wish everybody a merry christmas from all of us here on "mornings with maria" and a happy new year. i will see you all next year. join me in weekend on maria bartiromo's wall street, 7 p.m. tonight, and "sunday morning futures," sunday, christmas eve. doug collins, ryan partnership, thank you so much, gentlemen -- ryan payne if. david asman in for stu this morning. david: don't you love cardinal dolan? i saw that he was on fox and trends this morning -- "fox &

friends," so i ran out and and saw him. and ken land -- land gone, a lot of the work was done by ken langone. he spent a lot of money on fixing that a place up. we are so blessed to have all that here in new york. thank you, mara a -- maria, and is have a very merry christmas. good morning, everyone, i'm david asman in for stuart varney. pack your gifts and your patience. a record number of us hitting the road and the skies, of course, for the holidays. it's expected to be the busiest travel weekend of the year with. to the markets now, today we had a read on how much folks are spending and whether slowing of inflation is helping shoppers. well, the dow and the s&p 500 and the nasdaq at first took it in very much of a negative fashion, but at least the s&p and the nasdaq have come back in the green. the dow is still in the negative, down about 60 in premarket activity. the 10-year yield, by the way, is trading down a little wit,

1.5 basis points. the yield is now 3.87. the 2-year yield, if we can put that up, is actually in the green just a fraction, up .1 basis points to 4.35. and bitcoin, let's get a read on bitcoin. it is down about $250 to 43,720. well, meanwhile, president biden is talking to mexico's president about our border crisis but why not a direct meeting with our own lawmakers? meanwhile, the white house claims the president has, quote, done everything to fix the border even though many say it was his executive actions that caused the crisis in the first place. we're going to be asking a former border patrol chief who has it right. and we've got a big show for you with. we've got sean duffy, batya ungar-sargon and stephen moore. and as we love to do each christmas season, stuart is going to be here to read twas the night before christmas. it's a wonderful time of year with. it is friday, december 22 end.

, 2023. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ santa calm down the chimney if about half past three -- ♪ left all these pretty presents that you see before me ♪ if. david: ah, john legend. merry, christmas, baby! and to all of you focus for tubing in, god bless you all a. thank you for being here. let's start this morning with the latest read on spending and inflation. lauren, come on in. of i saw you taking maria through the whole deal, take us through the personal consumptio- lauren: things are getting better, i think that's the bottom line. prices are starting to come down. goods, actual things that we buy and put under the christmas tree, i know it doesn't feel like it, sentiment is down, but prices for goods actually fell in november. by .7. it's confined but good denation is out there.

services, inflation still very much exists. prices for services rose .2%. you're looking at the pce price index for november, it was 2.66% on the year. core pce continues to trend lower. the big number, the one the fed watches, is the number on the right, 3.2% annual increase. it's improving because in october it was 3.5%. this takes out -- david: it's actually a little lower than expected, so it was good news. lauren: when you take out food and energy, which is what everyone needs -- [laughter] the number is even lower. flip the screen back to the 2.6 annual number. that was the number that was above 7% last summer. so this is the all good with news for consumers because food, energy, gas, critical incomes -- items in every household. the bottom line is, yes, traders still very much expect the fed to cut rates starting in march. their next decision is january 31st, but, of course, it's that last mile, getting from 3.2% to hair preferred target of 32%

that is --% -- 2% that is very difficult to do. david: i think what spooked the markets were durable goods and core capital goods because the orders were much bigger that expected, and the markets still fear that that if there is a push, if the market is a little hotter, the goods market is selling better than expected, that might been increase -- lauren: it's also a very volatile number in general, durable goods. the number that no one's talking about that got my attention was november spending, the con us number if p. it rose e .2%, but the street was expect even bigger. this is when everyone's going christmas shopping, and that number comes in less than expected. david: always. every year. lauren, thank you very much is. kenny polcari joining us now. of course, he's not in the cold of new york where it is freezing now, kenny, you're down in f. good on you, and i like your santa claus hat. [laughter] i've got to first talk about the way in which the battle against inflation is going. "the wall street journal" had an interesting piece out this morning saying that the

inflation is closing in on the fed's target. of course, their target for core inflation is 2%, according to this "wall street journal" it's not saying the battle's over, but that it is conceive is bl that the fed has won the battle against inflation without a recession. do you agree or not? >> listen, i think it is conceivable they do that. my fear is that if they cut rates at, at the rate that they're expecting or the market is demanding that they do, then i think they run the risk of reigniting it. so they're in a very -- they're on a very tight line here, right in they have to be very careful which way they go. i mean, i heard yesterday there are some analysts expecting that the fed is going to cut rates at every meeting starting with the march meeting. that would be seven rate cuts next year which, to me, is completely off the edge. i don't see how that happens at all. but then, again, i'm not an analyst at one of the big banks. i just don't see how it's going to happen. inflation is coming down, that's a good thing. i'd like to see it when it

actually starts to decline versus continuing to rise, because it's still rising at 3% year-over-year. david: the one guy i like to listen to is austan goolsbee. he's being cautious even though this he's a standing member of the fed and he has been liberal about fed policy in the pennsylvania. s he sounds more conservative than ever. so it's not unified, the fed, on easing rates so much in 2024. >> no. and i don't think it's been unified. i think that's been part of the problem. i think there's a real, there's a real separation amongst some of the members. there are some, mary daly came out the other day and said rates absolutely have to go down. but most of them, john minnie williams -- johnny williams, rafael bostick, austan goolsbee, they've come out more cautious, which is the right way to be. i don't think you can say we're going to cut rates by x percentage point. i think it continues to be a

data-dependent thing. again, i'm in the camp that they shouldn't cut at all, but who am i? david: we only have five seconds, chef kenny, but what are you cooking for christmas? >> some of the seven fishes. making stuffed calamaris, lin quinn quinnny and clam sauce and on christmas day, shore ribs -- david: guess what? my wife is making short ribs too. we're going to be eating the same thing on christmas day. >> on christmas day. david: kenny, thank you so much. merry christmas to you. the cook political report is shifting two key swing states towards the republicans in 2024. they now consider michigan and north dakota toss-up states -- michigan and nevada toss-up statements. sean duffy joins me now. more alarm bells for the white house. question is, are they listening? if. >> no, they're not. again, they're trying to say if we have problems politically, we need a message to all -- all of our policies a little bit differently.

you and i both know if you really want voters to change their minds about you, you have to change your policies. david: of course. >> so you get different results so they'll feel better about your presidency and your administration. this administration, david, i am shocked, has been completely unwilling to change course on some of their most radical set of policies, and the poll results now indicate that the american people don't like it. and, again, i don't think, old joe biden would have changed course. i don't think joe's necessarily running the ship right now. he's got a group of people around him that are making decisions that aren't consistent with joe winning reelection. david: of course the election's going to be the big story of 20234, and the big question -- 2024, and the big question notes inly who's going to win, but whether it's going to be voters or the courts that make the decision about the election. that's not good, is it? that's not a good trend. >> you know, david, we have a democrat party who talks about, you know, the death of democracy and voting rights are so important.

listen, we both agree democracy and and voting rights, but every step they take goes against that very premise. i mean, the thought that colorado is going to take donald trump off the ballot, that the court will do it and not the voters deciding who they want as the republican nominee, new york is talking about it now, california as well, really challenging. and, again, i think the there's a couple of things at play here. democrats hate donald trump, but they're also afraid of donald trump. and they know that joe biden is weak, and they think that if donald trump wins the primary, membered beat joe biden and they could have four more years of donald trump. instead of letting that be the outcome, they're, like, we can't let that happen. we have to prosecute him, and we have to actually try to kick him off the ballot. of and in the end, again, we believe in a democracy, david. the people get to choose. david: yes. >> and, by the way, i want republicans to choose their candidate. i don't want liberal democrats to choose the republican candidate. you pick your candidate, let republicans pick theirs, but get

out of the way and stop trying to meddle in primaries. david: right. >> i think it's interesting colorado said they might come out and and have a caucus, the party might have a caucus instead of a primary -- david: well, i would much rather the supreme court decides on this with a unanimous decision, which they might do before any of that happens. >> agreed. david: i've got to read you a bit of kim strassel's wonderful piece in the "wall street journal" today talking about this. she said 'em bittered by electoral losses, unwilling to trust the will of voters, the left now routinely turns to extraordinary legal action in hopes of pressing the courts to impose its political objectives by judicial fiat. does she have it right? >> i think she does. listen, these are a group of authoritarians, right? they have more in common with the communist chinese than they do with traditional american democracy. and you see it, again, the pressure on the courts but also the pressure on the american people whether it's with evs or leaf blowers or disturb

washers. -- dishwashers. the authoritarianism of this party is outrageous. and, again, i think so many americans go leave me alone. i want to make decisions for myself. stop trying to pressure the courts. let's give power back to the people and let them decide what kind of country they want to live in and by what rules. david: the great thing the about america is you don't have to be political, or it used to be that way where you don't have to be political in you -- if you don't want to be. it's christmas season, so let's be faithful -- >> david, lollipop lamb chop, that's what we're doing at the duffy household. david: we're doing short ribs, but have a wonderful, wonderful christmas. i appreciate you being here, sean. check the futures, and the dow is still down about 67 points in premarket activity. the s&p and the nasdaq are up. the nasdaq is up 44 points. look at that, nasdaq at 17,000. we should make note of that. nasdaq is above 17 thousand.

just barely, but it's there -- 17,000. coming up, ron desantis shared his one regret about running in the republican primary this year. roll tape. >> if i could have one thing changed, i wish trump hadn't been indicted on any of this stuff. it distorted the primary and sucked out a lot of oxygen. david: and then to the border crisis. the number of migrants showing no signs of slowing ahead of the holidays. we're going to get a live look right after this. ♪ trading at schwab is now powered by ameritrade, unlocking the power of thinkorswim, the award-winning trading platforms. bring your trades into focus on thinkorswim desktop with robust charting and analysis tools, including over 400 technical studies. tailor the platforms to your unique needs with nearly endless customization. and track market trends with up-to-the-minute

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nasdaq is above 17,000.

♪ david: the crisis at our border showing no signs of slowing

down. december is on pace to be the busiest month if on record. our own bill melugin joining me now from the arizona border. what is the very latest there, bill? >> reporter: well, we just got some brand new numbers. cbp sources telling me just since monday there have been approximately 45,000 migrant encounters at our southern border, essentially filling up yankee stadium in just four days. i'll ten out and give you a look at the scene in lukeville. despite pouring rape, you can see underneath the lukeville port of entry there are masses of illegal immigrants who are being processed by border patrol. that port of entry remains closed down because of what ising happening out here. we'll show you what took place yesterday because it is nonstop. take a look at this stunning footage our team shot, a mass of well over 700 people crossed illegally all at once through a hole in the border wall. they continue coming in from all around the world. a lot of adult men from africa, border agents are completely

overwhelmed out here. of we had a chance to talk to a group of guys from ecuador who told me that they're here to work and planning to go to sanctuary cities. take a listen. [speaking spanish] [inaudible conversations] push push. [speaking spanish] >> pennsylvania, new york, chicago, chicago. >> reporter: and then take a look at this video from eagle pass this week. this week has been unprecedented. are remember, monday set the all a-time record, the single highest number of encounters ever reported with 12, 6600. i'm told in the -- 12,600. i'm told in the last 4 hours there have been upwards of 1 #,000. more agents than ever are going to be forced to work on this

christmas holiday. the union telling us in part, quote, while our agents are more than willing to sacrifice the holidays to protect fellow americans, that is not what they will be doing. they will be processing the illegal border crossers for release into the u.s. while large parts of the border will be left wide open. these are not be happy holidays for the hard working men and women of the border patrol. and back out here live, that's exactly what they're doing, is processing, processing, processing. agents feel like they've essentially been turned into social workers. back to you. david: by the way, the thing that those cities had in champion, they're all sanctuary cities, but they're also all freezing right now. i wonder if those migrants know what they are walking into. they're walking into a freezerrer, many of them are not prepared for that. bill melugin, thank you for the work you're doing now in the rain. god bless you. thank you and merry christmas to you. meanwhile, the white house says president biden is working with mexico to curb the ongoing migrant crisis. roll tape.

>> the president had a chance this morning to speak by phone with president lopez obrador of mexico. they had a chance to talk about ongoing efforts to manage the unprecedented migratory flows in the western hemisphere, building on the los angeles declaration for migration and protection that president biden launched in los angeles back in june of '22. the two leaders agreed that additional enforcement actions are you are i can'tly needed so that key ports of entry can be reopened across our shared border. david: and former border patrol chief chris column joins me now. i know a littlt am-lo, i used to cover the region. he responds to toughness. when trump came in and wanted the remain in mexico policy, he had to threaten to cut off trade with mexico, and then am-lo, which is the nickname for the president of mexico, listened and cooperated. i don't see that kind of pressure coming from this administration, do you? >> no. we haven't had any of that

pressure put on members coe or any of these -- mexico or any of these countries since this administration took over. look, i understand the department of state, makes sense, sending dhs, but this is about getting money, it's going to be about organizing this flow. if you listened to kirby's report, it talked about opening the ports of entry. it had nothing to do with shut down the mass if flow of people -- david: yeah, good point. >> yes, helping out commerce but, look, been there, done that,s and i just see this as a little bit more organized chaos than the uncontrolled chaos they're seeing now. david: now, the white house press secretary says biden has, quote, done everything to fix the border crisis. but, in fact, if you look at his e seems to have done everything to have caused the crisis, no? >> absolutely. look, i retired last year after 27 and a half years, so the first 25 years of my if career every administration was taking steps to secure the border. every one of them.

and we had gotten to one of the most secure borders in regards to infrastructure, policies, personnel and just the overall tone. and, yes, he turned it all back after the first few days of his inauguration, and i have soon nothing that has really been proactive to stop the illegal entry. it's all about expediting the flow of people and getting them out of border patrol custody and into the communities as quickly as possible. and that's just not how you secure secure a border. and they constantly conflate immigration, border security. they're closely related, but we have to secure our border. you've seen the numbers coming in. and one last thing, i mean, think about -- i mean, they just reported 45,000 arrests in the last four todays? david: four days. >> they're paying anywhere from $5-15,000 to the cartel to come across. that's 200 -- i can't even do the math that quickly, but that's several hundred millions of dollars in the hands of the cartels just this week alone.

david: chris clem, is have a wonderful, merry christmas. it's going to be a tough christmas surgeons general but we appreciate you coming here. let's check the futures. the opening bell is next, and we have a split decision on the futures. the dow is down about 57, s&p and nasdaq are up. and look at gnats damage, 7,000 -- nasdaq, 17,000 plus on nasdaq. the opening bell is next, stay with us. ♪ ♪ liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. with the money i saved, i started a dog walking business. oh. [dog barks] no it's just a bunny! only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪

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david: checking the markets, a bit of a split decision here. the dow is down in premarket activity, 52. s&p and nasdaq are up. and, again, nasdaq is over 17,000. it's a good day for the nasdaq. mark ma if haney joins me now, and you brought your top 2024 stock picks, kind of your christmas presents for us. thank you for that. [laughter] your top four large cap picks, i've got them here. the first one is amazon. >> yeah. amazon, expedia, meta and doordash. amazon comes down to whether this cloud business is going to

reaccelerate for them next year. we think it will because we're past most of the optimizations that we've seen across the industry. if that doesn't happen, thing stock won't work. fit does, the stock goes higher. expedia, this is kind of the catch-up trade. the other travel names have done really well, expedia's out there with the lowest multiple, about 14 times earnings, and it's probably going to have the best growth rate. meta, even though it's up 170% year to date, the truth is it's till trading kind of at a market multiple. as with the rest of the group, we're going to be doing come pounding, or so companies that can deliver high quality earnings growth can outperform the market. not like this year -- david: won't be 20%, but still be -- doordash? >> yeah. yes, and doordash is now about to hit profitability. it's kind of like the uber cap list, you know, over the last 18 months we watched uber hit profitability, positive free cash flow, watch that pile rise. stock rose. i think the same thing happens with door doordash.

david: pip test, warby parker and civil row. quick on pinterest. >> pinterest is another pray off advertising, a company that's improved, a great partnership with amazon. david: war by peaker, i'm wearing them now. [laughter] >> this is a very speculative name, small cap name, but we think there's a setup for accelerating revenue growth, expanding margins. david: and zillow. look, we just had the worst real estate market we've had in 13 years, so this is a less worse play. as real estate markets recover next year, zillow's the way to play it. david: and finally, bumble. enter people still need to date -- [laughter] and this stock is truly dislocated, so we'll see an outperformance -- david the evidence i stopped dating about 35 years ago, but i know a lot of people out there use it. have a wonderful holiday. >> merry christmas. david: mark mahaney, great to see you. and there you go, the opening bell, the last trading day before christmas. here comes the confetti.

take a look at the big board because we have a split decision between the dow and the others. the main thing that happened today was we got all these economic figures coming out, some of which the market was wary of, seeing them as a making the economy more hot hand perhaps they want it to be, indicating we won't haves in as many rate cuts. but fill, a lot more -- but still, a lot more balloon on the screen than red are. it looks like about 7 red -- 6 red and the rest of it is between or up changed. the s&p, s&p is actually doing better than the dow is, it's up 10 is points -- actually now 11.5. you see the dow bottom right of your screen, down 45. so different decisions with the broader stocks, all the s&p 500 stocks a lot bigger than the dow 30. and the nasdaq is doing extremely well. what is that, that's -- oh, there we go, 15,000. i'm sorry, folks, i said 17. we had the wrong number occupy there. it is 15,000 on the nasdaq, but we'll take 15,000.

it's up 54 points right now, and and that ain't a bad. we're also showing you big tech. let's take a look at the big tech stocks. we have alphabet, meta, apple, amazon, microsoft, all but microsoft are trading in the plus category, and microsoft is just down a tick. let's start with nike, lauren. take a deeper look. there's a big drop in nike. it's down about 11% right now. lauren: and it's one reason that the dow probably is the reason will be why the dow jones is down fractionally right now. i mean, look at that, my son wants a michael jordan -- he's n birthday party, okay? if all he wears is nike if air jordans. i don't think he knows who michael jordan is, but he loves the sneakers, okay? despite all that buzz, nike if comes out, their profits and revenue better than expected in the current quarter, but it's what they said about the future that wall street hates. hay that cut their full-year sales outlook. sales are going to rise 1% instead of around 5%.

and now the cost cuts come. those usually stop the rise when a company says we're looking to cut -- david: 2 billion. lauren: over tree years. job -- three years. nike is saying the customer turned cautious, they're trying to put their money where the customer is, women's and their jordan line. in sympathy, you have foot locker down, all the other shoe stores down also. but cost cuts usually make a stock go up. not this time, because this is a read on the consumer for a popular brand. david: all right. it's down 10.5% right now, but it's a different story for intel, right? lauren: doing well. actually, it's their best quarter in 20 years. the stock is up two-thirds of 1% right now. it does trade on the dow jones industrial average. it's up 31% in the quarter. look, ceo pat gelsinger, his turn-around strategy is working. he said months ago my goal is in 2024 to be just as a good as our competition. their chips are almost just with as a good as their competition.

they're also outsourcing. he wants intel to be a leader in the foundry business, can and all of this has revived interest in intel's stock. up now but, as a i said is, up, you know, 30% this quarter. david david okay. morgan stanley, where with i got my cash at the cheap, saying something about a jpmorgan's jamie dimon. >> yeah, he's the best bank executive the in the world. do we often hear rivals -- david: wow. yeah, that's quite a compliment coming from ms. lauren: james gorman, he's leaving in the new year, well telegraphed. he's been at the bank for 14 years, and he is going out praising a rival. he also -- david: the holiday spirit, merry christmas. lauren: i actually love this story. david: yeah. lauren: it's so rewarding and refleshing -- they've they've they're both smart guys -- laurenland i like this person and maybe he's better than me. he also said a stocks are going to take off, markets will take off when investors know the fed is done raising rates because this interest rate up

certainty -- uncertainty really put a damper on banking deals, and he's seen that as the head of morgan stanley. david: news on tesla? lauren: dan ives gives them a $350 price target, so up almost $00 from now, and they say tesla will be a $1 trillion company next year. tesla is increasing production around the world. shanghai, very successful. their capacity is over a million cars out of that planting s but now they're reportedly acquiring land in shanghai for a mega battery plant so ec up production out of -- so they can up production out of china. david: and then there's news on an apple watch ban? lauren: some watches are banned, they can no longer be sold online and starting in store this weekend. this is because of a patent infringement issue with the blocks oxygen sensor -- blood oxygen sensor. think about apple, all their lawyers and munch they were up able so far to prevent this ban from going into i effect. and and now there are reports they're not going to fix certain

watch models that are out of warranty. going with all the way back -- because the ban's on the ultra 2 and the series 9, this goes all the way back to the series 6 according to reports. apple a's up changed, but if you're in the market for a smart watch, would you choose an appl- david: i think i would. lauren: you would is stick with the brand? david: well, hey had so much experience, more than anybody else, as far as i know. bristol-myers squibb, they're buying somebody -- lauren: corona therapy, it's up 47%. they're buying it at $330 a share, so that thing might if keep going up to match the price. so corona makes a key schizophrenia drug that bristol-myers wants access to. they have certain blood drugs that they sell, blockbuster drugs that get generic if competition. david taye okay. by the way, we did not color coordinate. they do on outnumber, but it just happened to work out %. lauren: i was going to do red, i

didn't want to be as obvious -- [laughter] david: you picked the right one. check the big board, the dow was up before, dow was down before, now it has turned up a little bit. it's up 36. that's a good sign. let's take a look at the dow winners, if we can, put them up on the screen. there we go. amgen, chevron, dow, 3m m and cisco systems all the win ors in the dow, and if we could look at the same with the s&p, the s&p winners, newmont mining, gold corp., moderna, albemarle, zion's bank corp. all in the green for the s&p. and the nasdaq winners, moderna, enphase, dollar tree and american electric power. coming up, celebrity chef andrew gruel is fed up with the crime plaguing california. he's going to keep his remaining locations open, but he now refuses to create any if new spots in the golden state because of the crime.

he is here. of. and christmas may be canceled in bethlehem, but that's not stopping the holy land from finding hope this holy season. theologian jonathan morris, we love jonathan, he takes that on, and he's with us live. and just in time for holiday gatherings, a new, highly contagious covid strain is actually driving cases up. does this mean if we're all getting sicker quicker? dr. marc siegel is in next. ♪ christmas, pretty lights on the tree -- ♪ christmas, i'm watching them shine. ♪ christmas, you should be here with me. ♪ christmas, baby, please come home ♪

you know what's interesting these days? bitcoin. look for bitwise, my friends. david: we're coming up on the new year, and it looks like we've got another covid variant to tell you about. jonathan serrie joining me now. what can you tell us about the latest variant? >> reporter: yeah, good

morning, david. it's called jn.1, and it's spreading rapid will hi in the northern hemisphere where we've entered winter and people are spending more time indoors and will do more so now that we're going into a holiday weekend. experts say it does not appear to cause more severe disease than previous variants, but it does appear to spread more easily from person to person. >> variant is spreading very, very rapidly, but fortunately, the current updated vaccine continues to provide good protection against severe disease, the need to be hospitalized, and and it'll protect you from dieing. what's wrong with that? >> reporter: mission to updated vaccines and improved covid treatments, new research from duke university suggests an inexpensive, over the counter probiotic in particular significantly increases protection against covid in general. >> if you're exposed to someone

with covid-19 and you are taking a probiotic and you were healthy when you started, you are 50% less likely to get symptoms of covid, and you are three times less likely to actually get diagnosed with covid. >> reporter: and duke researchers say they're not entirely prized because previoue previous research has suggested that bioprobye yachtics offer protection against other respiratory diseases including flu and rvv -- rsv. david: jonathan, thank you very much. we need a doctor, and we've got one of the best in the entire world. dr. marc siegel joining us now. great to see you, happy holidays. let me first ask about this probye yachtic business. could that prevent covid? >> i don't -- you know, it's new, it's a new study, and we've already known previously that work at the giing tract in the stomach is actually quite help. . -- helpful. it showed that certain stomach medications help so, yes, i

believe this absolutely decreases your risk of severe disease. a lot of the diseases you get is in the symptom a by the way, diarrhea, nausea, so is i think it helps against gi symptoms and definitely helps prevent spread as well. i think it's a really good thin- david: you know my wife, we have yogurt every morning, so we believe in them. how susceptible are we to -- >> you bet. david: it may not be as bad because we've bullet up all this immunity over several generations of covid is, but how spreadable is this particular variant? >> i dis i disagree with the doctor in the sound bite, i love him and have happened him on my own sound bite, but when he says this is spreading more easily, cdc says to me it really isn't. i spoke to the director last week. it's not more severe. but what it is doing is crowding out other strains. so that means it's outcompeting what's already out there. it doesn't mean you're more likely to get it, you're just

increasingingly more likely to get it than other strains. it's the same thing. and, by the way, it's a descendant of one we already have out there, so paxlovid works, the antiviral works. and as the doctor says, the vaccine is effective against this. so if you're in a high risk group and you haven't had a vaccine recently, it's certainly something to talk to your doctor about, not the government. david: of course, it was a terrible pandemic, but a lot of governments overreacted. are you concerned that we may have some government rereaction, school closings -- overreaction, school closings and that sort of thing? >> no. and i'm basing that on speaking to the cdc director. said ea david good. >> i don't think that. i think they've actually learned their lesson of the pull pit and the dogma and the talking down to people. they see the results of that. not only did those shutdowns cause tremendous corollary damage in terms of socialization and education and learning, but on top of that, distrust in public health came right from

all of that scolding, and they're not going to repeat that. taye dave yeah. this is a wonderful season. we all love the parties and everything, but sometimes people burn the candle on both ends, go out, spend too much time outside, then have to go if to work early, and people are losing sleep more often. there's new research that a says losing as little as 1-2 hours of sleep can lead to depression, anxiety. it's not good news for people that cut back on sleep, is it? >> i think we already knew this, but the american psychological association, david, did a deep dive on this and looked at many, many studies and concluded that each an hour or two of sleep -- even ab hour or two of sleep makes a difference it's like putting your car in idle. your brain is in idle. it's rejuvenating. literally. the glial cells in your brain are cleaning things up, getting rid of the debris from metabolic processes. you need those periods of time. but here's the good news. there's another big study that

shows you can make it up on weekends. david, you and i don't sleep during the week, we're up early, we go to bed late. on the weekend, sleep in. you can make up for a lot of it. taye dead interesting. that's good news. by the way, another problem we sometimes have on the holidays, i certainly do because sometimes the i work late, sometimes i work early, it's when you disrupt sleep patterns that can also cause a lot of problems, right? >> yeah, that's true. edison was wrong about that. i mean, a little cat nap here and there isn't enough. trying to sleep through the night or if you have to get up, going back to sleep, absolutely. the less disruptive, the better. david: good advice. well, have a wonderful holiday season, doctor, and to your entire family. god bless you. thank you for being here. >> merry christmas to you and your wonderful wife, david. david: i appreciate it, doc. coming up, we are wrapping up 23023, and what were the way to celebrate hand some of the best missouri. moments? let's not forget about this, roll it.

stuart: i'm sorry, folks, i id -- i did not realize that i was on. i was about to send a message on my iphone. i'm just learning how to do it. i got caught. moving swiftly along. is something goes wrong in television, the secret is you smile. you don't get angry, or you don't lose your temper. no, you smile. david: now the -- oh, okay. the best part of that -- all right. this is the just video. but the best part of what we just heard or for stuart, he said i'm just learning to do this. [laughter] he's just learning to use the iphone right now. stuart is allergic to high-tech, right, lauren? [laughter] lauren: man. [laughter] he's better than he thinks he is. david: oh, okay. all right. lauren: he has sent text messages in the past. david teafd that's a good way of putting it. of. lauren: is that diplomatic enough? david: by the way, stuart is watching right now from sun gnu florida so, stuart, we wish you the very best. have a happy christmas, stuart.

i know you guys don't say merry christmas the way we do, but have a happy christmas, and merry christmas to everybody out there. we have got more where all that came from. stay with us, you don't want to miss it. ♪ ♪ 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 nexium 24hr prevents heartburn acid for twice as long as pepcid. get all-day and all-night heartburn acid prevention with just one pill a day. choose acid prevention. choose nexium.

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♪ ♪ ♪ david: that's elton john, folks, step into with christmas. we are going to run into christmas right here. we're going to step into christmas with holiday foe i toes of the "varney & company" team. always nice to look behind the scenes. this is producer juliana sharp with her parents and siblings ask and her husband, isaac a, the night before their wedding. god bless them. here's a christmas picture from our core producer, rob mcal lu, those are his sons robert and walker in front of the christmas tree. i love that. and production assistant peyton jennings with her parents tracy and john and sisters sidney and houston on a a family vacation in florida which is are where stu is right now.

and beaker ari with her boyfriend -- booker ari with her boyfriend rob in their favorite place. and our director jason cook with his wife becky, and sons nathan and drew, on a disney cruise that he says was terrific in the bahamas. and technical director brendon rater's sons jackson and dylan, great names, are very excited for santa. here they are -- lauren: where's santa? david: welsh he's busy coming town the chimney, they got a tight one. remember the mcallisters' lavish mansion in their vacation to paris? if roll it. [inaudible conversations] >> ma'am, ma'am! >> hi. >> having a reunion in. >> no, my husband's brother was transferred to paris, and i guess he missed the whole family. he's giving us all this trip to paris for the holidays so we can be together. >> you're taking a trip to paris? >> yes,sing whop to leave

tomorrow morning. >> kevin knew who the guy was. finance experts just put out a report on how much for the mcallisters would have had to make to keep up with that lifestyle, how much, lauren? lauren: 665,000 in 2022. they did live in a mansion in a chicago neighborhood, and they flew the whole family first class to paris. that's a good point. lauren: 333 years ago what was that -- 33 years ago; what was that salary? they'd tafd i bet 200 grand. lauren: 350,000. what did the dad do? david: advertising? lauren: i think he was in business. they don't really say. and the mom lake likely in fashion. david: still ahead, bhatia unger sargon is here, new york congressman mike lawler, erica donalds and jonathan morris. the 10 is a.m. hour of "varney & company" is next. ♪ santa, hear my prayer.

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