the answer is 12 between the two of us. it is made of 1200688 crystal triangles, it weighs 12,000 pounds. thank you for sticking around. a new paycheck next week. we will be watching you on "the big money show" on fox business. i will see you at 2:00 pm for the charles payne show. let's look at the markets, up across the board, the dow up 117 points. good day to start the last week. coast-to-coast starts now. >> the us military unleashing airstrikes on groups after militants attacked an american airbase in iraq. i will ask republican congressman and house armed services committee member cory

mills. disorder on the border. 6000 people join a massive caravan headed to mexico, headed through mexico as secretary of state entity blinken is slated for trip to mexico to meet with the mexican president talking about the causes. retailers bracing for a billion-dollar return nightmare. consumers return $170 billion in merchandise this holiday season. a live report dealing with post christmas frenzy. i am edward lawrence and you are watching coast-to-coast. for a stop story, the final trading week of 2023 underway, stocks report a tear today as this whole week no matter what happens, the markets end of the

year defying the odds and expectations. let's bring in a man who defies the odds, kenny polcari, hope you had a wonderful christmas, santa claus rally came. is it going to stay the rest of the year? >> reporter: it feels like it is. they don't want to quit. the market has gone straight up. i'm becoming cautious because of the action we have seen. it feels like they are pulling forward of a lot of the good news and they are pricing in 5 and 6 rate cuts in 2024 which is illogical in mind box, that that narrative has gotten spun out of control the way it has with nobody pushing back. even goldman is talking about five rate cuts which is mind-boggling. edward: the market may be getting ahead of itself.

you believe there is going to be a pullback early january or february? >> look what happened last week with fedex, nike, general mills, they missed a little bit, guidance was weak going forward and they killed these stocks, they took 12%. you can argue these stocks rallied 40% or 50%, taking 12%. i hear you but it was the swiftness and speed at which they took that back that we start to hear the same week guidance in the earnings. you see the market take a breather and pool back. edward: will bca slow down from the consumer, what do you think is there growth left in those stocks?

>> i think there is growth left because a lot of them are all about artificial intelligence and being part of that story. that story is not going away. it changes almost week to week. do i see growth in those things? are they foundational? would you buy more microsoft or apple or amazon or any of those, nvidia? i absolutely am and i would and you have to pose addition that, your own portfolio but i think those names will continue to outperform so they are part of the foundation. edward: do you think this week, to prepare for that pool back to get those stocks that go on sale? >> we are three days or four days from the end of the year.

if you haven't made a sale yet don't make a sale now because you owe taxes on those gains in three months. if you wait until january 23rd, or fourth, you are out another 15 months. if you haven't done it yet my mind is i wouldn't do it now if you are a taxable account, do what you want but again, you have to look at the names you want to unload. i am not selling my tech at all. i may not be chasing it but i'm not selling it. edward: i want to ask about housing, home prices were up 4.9% in october according to the case-schiller index. the fifth month in a row that you are seeing home prices increase. october, and older index. what do you think of homebuilder stocks? home prices are not coming down. >> i like the homebuilding

stocks, some recent homebuilding and everything that goes with homebuilder stocks. think about appliances, whirlpool and the supply, these new houses with appliances and stuff you need inside but i am bullish on it and they have already gone 8% to 7%, the treasury market is doing the work for the fed, it is going to continue to support home prices. whether or not they shoot higher is one thing but i don't think they will correct as much as they should correct about with lower rates i think it will be difficult to see real correction unless the economy goes off the edge. edward: we are going to have you back later. appreciate it. now to the war in israel and gaza and the fallout throughout the middle east, the us struck iran backed groups in iraq

after an attack that her three americans at an airbase christmas morning. let's get the latest from trey yingst in israel. >> reporter: overnight, president biden ordered the us military to strike a series of targets belonging to a militant group in iraq. according to us central command there are three separate strikes and they destroyed the targeted facilities and likely killed a number of hezbollah militants. the airstrikes came in response to a drone attack, 3 americans were injured, one critically. that brings the total number of attacks against american interests in the middle east to 103 since mid-october as israeli forces remain on high alert after an airstrike in syria killed i rgc's commander. in response to that straight, the uranian president said, quote, this act is a sign of the zionist regime's

frustration and weakness for which it is paying the price. there were new attacks from southern lebanon into northern israel prompting this message from a spokesperson from the israeli government. >> the antitank missile attack on the greek orthodox church, a civilian in israel, reminder that hezbollah and its uranian puppet masters, nothing is sacred. there is no going back. either hezbollah retreats as part of an effective diplomatic solution, our preferred option or push it back using military force. >> reporter: there is concern about a broader war with iran and its proxies. israel's defense minister explained in 6 of 7 of the fronts that israel has been engaged on they have responded. edward: i want to ask about gaza. the jordanian embassy in

washington says jordan made the seventh airdrop of relief supplies with operations continuing and gaza. how many civilians coming to the northern part of gaza and why would they come back? >> reporter: there are no civilians headed into gaza but there's a clear barricade between northern and southern part of gaza and the israelis, to floor further south, they have not wrapped up their operations in the northern part of the strip. there's an it in the coming weeks if things slow in the north they will allow some civilians to return to what is left of their homes but given the amount of destruction and damage to the northern part of gaza many will be returning to rubble. edward: stay safe. us positions have come under attack as they have a hundred times in iraq and syria since october 7th. i want to bring in florida congressman and house on services committee member cory mills. i guess the red line in all

this is americans getting injured because those attacks like they did this past weekend, what is going on here? >> as you talked about, they are ramping up the amount of attacks going on not just in the back of that area but in the north which used to be a relatively secure area in the kurdish region. the reason is you are seeing this increase in the uranian back militias, they realize the weakness biden has presented on the world stage but we need to understand these are not singular events but links, whether it is the houthis trying to disrupt commerce or the attacks we are seeing on hezbollah which is headed not just -- lebanon's hezbollah, you are seeing this, you're seeing the tax out of south lebanon going into israel, this is all an approach from the china/russia geopolitical

alignment whereby they are trying to disrupt allies and target western targets and impact the economic structure. this is all intentional. we need to take it very seriously the way the trump administration did when they launched counterterrorism attacks against the former defense force commander as well as the elimination of the iraqi based uranian backed militia leaders. edward: the nexus in the least diminished middle east is iran and they don't respect the authority of the united states. >> reporter: exactly right but you are seeing record high levels of petroleum export from iran ignoring the previous administration sanction, president biden removed the houthis from the terrorist designation, so you are seeing this weakening on terrorism by

the biden administration which has emboldened them to take more attacks against the west and against us allies. edward: the same problem exists. democrats and republicans still have to come together to pass a budget for the 2024 -- if you look next week, there' s work in the district, the week after that, congress comes back so you are looking at 8 session days before government shutdown. can congress get this done? >> we have been striving to get to a single point of progression for some time for the last 12 months. the issue isn't just in the actual ability to get appropriations. we need to look at the priorities, shut the border or shut down the government. if we can't protect the american people we should try to save them some money and congress isn't going to do their job.

our house has passed hr 2 to secure the border, the senate run by two key democrats, mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer who have refused to put this on the floor as they want the tethering to more ukrainian funding and other leftist aid packages so i think we have the ability to continue to move forward but the senate must take up the appropriation bills we 've already passed in the house as well as policies which will help secure america. larry: given the rhetoric we've heard in the senate how likely do you think a government shutdown is or are we going to get a continuing resolution down the road again? >> i never voted for continuing resolution. i will not kick the can costing taxpayers more money, we need to do our jobs. if we can't, stay in dc until we can get it finalized. we need strong leadership come make sure when the meetings happen with speaker of the house mike johnson, hakeem jeffries, mitch mcconnell and

chuck schumer, we hold a very conservative america first agenda approach. we need to look at not just trying to cut our way to prosperity but putting in necessary reforms and economic growth packages that will grow our economy. that is what hr one does. edward: thank you for your help. cory mills from florida. hope you had a good christmas. still ahead, not feeling it? more and more voters saying biden's economic policies are not helping them. why the president just proved he may not be getting the message. ♪

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 i'm so glad we did this. i'm so glad we did this. i'm so glad we did this. i'm so glad we did this.

i'm so... ...glad we did this. [kid plays drums] life is for living. let's partner for all of it. i'm so glad we did this. edward jones our future will demand more energy than ever. and with innovations in natural gas and oil, america can deliver. but washington keeps pushing extreme policies that limit america's energy. their plan? restrict oil and natural gas produced in america. government mandates for how we fuel our cars and cook our food. a future where energy could be less reliable and more expensive. tell washington - stop the extreme policies and let american energy deliver.

edward: president biden blaming the media for giving voters a bad perception of the economy even though canonic data shows inflation is a problem for many americans. grady trouble has more details on these comments by the president. what can you tell us? >> not only is president biden

saying of the economy is in good shape but also making a positive prediction for 2024. >> what is your outlook on the economy next year? >> all good. take a look. report it the right way. edward: the president says the reporting on the economy is the problem. he is trying to sell voters on bidenomics. he visited the swing state of wisconsin last week to make the case for it but voters are skeptical and not happy with the current state of the economy or president biden's handling of it. 78% say the economy is in bad shape according to the latest fox news poll. 14% say president biden's economic policies have helped them so we are seeing inflation cooling but higher prices eating into americans budgets. >> 20% increase in prices bites into everything that you

purchase now, you pay your mortgage, telling americans how good things are makes it seem like he is out of touch with mainstreet america. >> reporter: the white house likes to deck out that wages are higher for inflation and that is true right now and has been for several months but it wasn't the case for most of biden's presidency. if you go back to when he took office, real wages adjusted for inflation are down since president biden's term started. edward: 3% down. the president is good at working on those time frames. thanks. experts broadly predicting a slowdown, not a recession, as we head into 2024 but expectations for 2023 were wrong. let's bring in former reagan economist art laffer. where is the recession?

>> don't know about where the recession is but biden is incorrect in describing that it is the press's problem. bidenomics isn't working because inflation is down, that is true but prices aren't down. they are up 20%. people purchase things that prices, not at inflation. they are 20% worse off than they were when he took office, gdp growth is less than 5% but people don't look at gdp growth. you can have rapid growth on 0 gdp, what you want to look at is the level of gdp which is down from the trendline it was under trump, and interest rates and participation, they are down. employment rates are even lower. employment rates, not unemployment rate so everything the president was saying about the economy and how it has been

good is just plain wrong. if he is as bad on his forecasts, hang on to your seatbelt. >> the president would like, back to the recession talk, could it be that all the government spending which is starting to be spent has pushed off the inevitable recession? >> government spending is not, transfer payments do not help the economy. when you give a guy a million bucks, that guy goes on vacation and have fun and enjoy life so all the transfer payments reduced the employment rate. employment rates are very low, that is a problem. when clinton left office it was

much higher. that is the problem. they pay these people and they've left their jobs even though the on employment rate is low the employment rate is lower and that is where the problem is and that is a long run problem, not just recession problem. given what's happening in government policy today, i am not joyful about prospects for next year's economy. taxes going up, spending going up. inflation. edward: how long do you think it could take, say a republican gets elected president, how long would it take to bring prices down? we've heard about inflation coming down but with the right policies in place could prices actually come down? >> it depends whether trump could get control of the fed, the fed controls its balance sheet. it shouldn't be independent.

it should be controlled by the administration. trump can do things like executive orders etc. that could have a major effect on prices. i don't think you get price level dropping back to when biden took office. i don't think that is possible but we can keep it from rising any further, that we can do very easily. edward: 17% is the exact figure. that is a lot of pain americans are feeling. appreciate it. still ahead, happy new year. still ahead. a migrant caravan reveals why they are fleeing their homes. we will tell you what they are saying and why it has nothing to do with seeking asylum. ♪

♪ ♪ 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? ♪

>> thousands of migrants awaiting processing after arriving at the southern border over the weekend as secretary of state antony blinken is such to visit mexico tomorrow to discuss the migrant crisis. >> reporter: mexico is a pass-through country. immigration is our problem, not theirs unless we make it so. slowing down commercial trucks or trains, threatening tariffs, or paying mexico to set up check points. the president lopez obrador has domestic opposition to any crackdown. as these caravans move north, migrants see strength in numbers and a way to avoid payment cartels and what they

call an exit from poverty. >> i was used to my christmas dinner, not spending in the street as we did yesterday. >> not as we expected to give the best to our children. it is our turn. >> reporter: that reflects many migrants seeing crossing the border as an entitlement or right of package assisted by president biden's offer of humanitarian, catch and release. 10,000 were processed in eagle pass, texas and similar numbers in the arizona desert where there is blanket, food, plane ticket and 6 months from now a work permit. they can earn more nowadays than in a month of working at home. >> we can't control what mexico

does or el salvador, china, can't control what anybody does except what we do right here in this country. we can do what is necessary to secure our border. this president doesn't want to do it. >> since october 1st the border patrol reported 730,000 migrant encounters at the southern border where context adds that's like adding a city the size of denver in three months. according to the white house the border is secure. edward: the rush to return christmas gift could be a crushing reality for retailers. why this year might be harder to return an unwanted gift. a live report alive report after the break. ♪

♪ students... students of any age, from anywhere. students in a new kind of classroom. ♪ using our technology to power different ways of learning. ♪ harnessing ai to plant new beginnings. ♪ so when minds grow, opportunities follow. sofi is helping me get

my money right to achieve my ambitions. want to see? (♪) like saving for the ultimate tailgate setup. with sofi checking and savings, i pay no account fees, and earn a competitive apy. sofi can help you fund all your ambitions, no matter how big... or small. ready break! like investing in the athletes of tomorrow. (♪)

edward: some gifts fell flat yesterday. retailers are facing a huge wave of customers coming back to return items bought for christmas. jerry williams has the latest in wayne, new jersey. what are you seeing? >> reporter: lots of folks are returning gifts. we expect some one hundred $73 billion worth of gifts to be returned and that is up to million dollars from last year.

mall managers say they are busy. >> expecting a large crowd. we expect a crowd here this week. >> reporter: retailers struggling with the amount of returns. one in seven retailers are limiting the return window to just a week. they are adding in the offers used to send their goods back to the retailer. no free fedex forms anymore. we are seeing more and more go to the landfill. last year, all of the christmas gifts that were sent to landfills were filled 10,500 boeing 737s. kelly: that is unbelievable. let's bring back chief market strategist kenny polcari.

retailers say they are heading for trillion dollar product. is this a product of buying online? it's not what you expect, and return. >> the other part of the problem is a lot of stuff is not up to par. how much of that is going to a landfill? it will be returned and go to a landfill which tells you just to begin with. it's a combination of both. people just purchased 2 or 3 items online because they are not sure of the size, try them on and pick the one that looks best. none of them look good. they return all three. it is part of what we have gotten used to since covid. kelly: going back to a brick and mortar store and cut down on it theoretically. >> you could at least try it on before you take it home and send it back.

next day delivery, in your pajamas, let it get going and return it. they are all going back today. something that didn't look good. they are going to return it. >> reporter: retailers hoping to buy something else but let me ask you, when you look at retail stocks. you have what they call shrink over the loss of theft. then you have this. returns. do you look at, when you factor into retail stocks. >> it is interesting you bring that up. i was thinking about that after i read that story in the wall street journal, always talking about shrinkage in the process. they never emphasize what the returns do, but this story that

came out today alternately going to affect margins. you hear that from retailers in the next earnings go around. when you talk about what the return has done to their markets. that is something people start to consider as we move forward. the problem gets bigger every year. edward: is this a space for innovation for a company to handle returns or some sort of idea that fixes or minimizes this to the bottom line of companies. >> i think there is an opportunity, any company or person or company to manage the process and squeeze something out of it. what i found interesting is the

amount of stuff that goes from the return count to the landfill. what does that say about the stuff people are buying? edward: if you look at retail stocks, are you looking at the high end of luxury or the lower end because people are moving towards the choice of target and walmart and higher end stores? >> retailers are not a large part of my portfolio. and if we are worried about the economy, with the online retailers, a lot of action, walmart and costco and at sees of the world. >> that will bring me through

the tour every single time. kenny polcari, thank you for being here and come back, happy new year. coming up, pro-palestinian protesters try to cancel christmas across the country. look at how intense things got in the big apple as police try to protect holiday revenue. 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 dad, we got this. we got this.

we got this. we got this. we got this. yay! we got this. we got this! life is for living. we got this! let's partner for all of it. edward jones (inspirational music) - [narrator] wounded warrior project helps post-9/11 veterans realize what's possible. with generous community support. - aaron, how you doing buddy? - [narrator] we bring warriors together and empower them to become stronger inside and out. - it's possible to begin healing - to get the help you need. - to find peace. - [narrator] and as each warrior's needs evolve, so do we. because these last 20 years are just the beginning.

that first time you take a step back. i made that. with your very own online store. i sold that. and you can manage it all in one place. i built this. and it was easy, with a partner that puts you first. godaddy. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network.

edward: border patrol braces for a massive migrant caravan, san diego has been seeing hundreds of migrants with 60,000 in the last three months alone. here is the san diego supervisor jim desmond. thank you for joining me. merry christmas and happy holidays to you. santa didn't give you a more strict border. where would you start with this problem? >> we have to have a secure border. we should hit the reset button, stop allowing any new immigrants into the country until we have a system that is safe, fair and manageable? sending like you said 60,000

people since september 13, 600 on christmas day. this is costing our county $1 million a month to provide services to get migrants on their way to other places throughout the country. they are stacking up at our airport but it is a no end insight issue that is decimating border communities along with other cities, chicago, mayors calling out saying this is a huge burden using our local tax dollars which should be spent on roads and infrastructure and other things on a federal immigration issue, the white house is looking the other way. >> reporter: sources telling fox news the four day christmas weekend, there were 35,000 migrant encounters at the southern border.

you are seeing migrants crossing the border dropped in transit centers by border patrol. do you know how many were dropped off and how you are handling that? >> that's the 62,000 that have been dropped off in transit centers in san diego county. the other ones, border patrol encounters, the other people not turning themselves in to border patrol, but thousands coming across the border without this encounter but we are concerned about the safety and the number of people on the watchlist the last few months that were picked up. we had 17 on the terrorist watch list. concern about safety and we are spending locally on this issue.

edward: should president biden and the federal government be paying the cost for his border policies to local jurisdictions? >> absolutely. we are bearing the brunt and it is hurting us locally and this is their problem they won't deal with and they are leaving it up to us and it is unattainable and unsustainable and no one insight. larry: edward: a beautiful city. i've been there many times. hopefully we can figure out a solution to this at some point in the near future. appreciate it. ♪ >> another day another massive protest. protesters not backing down, flooding manhattan to disrupt christmas festivities omma police arrested several people yesterday. here now to dig into why this

continues to spread, gordon chang, i know you usually focus on china but this is kind of connected in a way. the message to protests, this has been spreading across tiktok which is owned by chinese companies. >> tiktok is amplifying pro how mass messages from the beginning, october 7th. china did this with regard to russian information and ukraine, clearly china had a hand in this. it has been in the background but very effective because tiktok is very addictive. edward: are we in store for more of being stoked by social media outlets? >> certainly. china not only through tiktok but other things is creating this, these services throughout the united states.

beijing love this for various reasons and we've got to understand that this is being fueled by foreign powers but consider the united states to be its enemies. edward: the chinese president told president biden the china plans to take taiwan one way or another. how to the president have reacted to that message? >> president biden should have told the american people that xi xinping said that and president biden should have said the united states will defend taiwan, the chinese will huff and puff but won't take this on because even if they think they can invade taiwan they will not accept the casualties that will entail. we can prevent that invasion but need to be strong and resolute and do that by word and by deed. edward: do you feel the us

reaction was not strong enough? we don't know what the president actually said in response to that but the fact is we didn't learn this until weeks later so was this too soft? >> we didn't learn a lot of things about that meeting until later. what we heard from president biden during his press conference after his for our meeting with xi xinping, we heard a lot of happy talk and since then we learned things that undermine the narrative the president tried to spread during the press conference. >> president biden said he does not want to decouple from china but to the risk from china. the chinese are decoupling from the united states. >> xi xinping believe the chinese market should be reserved for state enterprises so he has gone after foreign companies like apple for instance which is under unrelenting assault from beijing but also gone against domestic chinese private

entrepreneurs. xi xinping's vision for china is similar to that of mousy tongue. mao say tongue. edward: he's upset at apple moving the investment over to india. that's one of the things the chinese are concerned about. the last 20 seconds or so, what does the president need to do at this point to get china to back off? >> what he's got to do is say the united states has costs that are greater then the benefits china gets from stealing us intellectual property, and i believe we need to cut investment relationships with china in a i and technology. every chinese company, civilian or military is actually military. edward: happy new year. >> happy new year.

edward: some areas had a white christmas but too much of a good thing, returning home might be tricky for some americans, we have the latest after this. ♪ ♪ on the road again ♪ can't wait to get on the road again ♪

..

edward: alive look at st. louis lambert international airport in missouri. heavy snow, blizzard conditions, freezing rain already impacted holiday travel, it is excited to continue throughout the day. >> reporter: a lot of folks are trying travel home for the holidays. we have some life light in the air right now but also a sprawling system over parts of the northern plains that will be slowing folks down. whether you are flying from the southeast of the northern plains or anywhere in the country you could be dealing with a delay as you head out the door. we have just over 3000 flights en route. 83 have been canceled, not bad in terms of cancellations. and we have trouble spots,

denver topping the list, some fog started us out in the northeast slowing things down as well. we have ten flights that have been canceled. when it comes to this system we are looking at a mixed bag to the north across the midwest. we have rain that has been the main talk about the snow is taking over part of the northern plains from the dakotas, kansas into parts of missouri as well, wrapping around. we've seen some gusty winds. 47, to 55 miles, 32 mile-per-hour wind gusts. snow falling and winds gusting so hard, blowing wind affect and blowing snow effect, and they are in place until tomorrow morning, we have to get through a good chunk of this storm but we could see

some snow piling up in the planes. denver 64, we have top snow totals in nebraska, topping 9 inches. we want to be mindful of that, check in with airlines as you head to the next couple of days. edward: i appreciate it. thank you very much. dow is up 118 points, we can pass the baton on. now we go to "the big money show". brian: thank you,. "barron's roundtable" i'm jackie deangelis. madison:i madison alworth. welcome to "the big money show". >> president biden: all good