cheryl: before i go, an important reminder for all of you, charles' town hall, becoming unbreakable, is on thursday at 2 p.m. eastern time. this is your chance to ask charles a question directly. so go to eventbrite.com, search for charles payne to get your free ticket right now. before i send it over to the countdown, i do want to check on these markets right now. we've actually turned down in the red for the s&p 500. we were up a few moments ago a but just barely. -- barely. the nasdaq is down by 13, dow is down by 1588, s&p is down -- 158. basically, a rough morning with all of those bankers, jpmorgan, bank of america, wells fargo, and it was a mess. i'm going to leave it right there. that is it for me. i'll see you monday on "mornings with maria." we'll be open for if business. for now i send it over to ashley webster in for liz claman. ash

thank you very much, cheryl. hi, everyone, i'm in for liz claman. let's get right to it. after falling for a majority of the session, the markets trying ever so hard to make a comeback. at least get back to where we started the session, as you can see the dow off 159 but generally slightly lower in the trade today. of course, this as wholesale inflation cooled in the final month of 2023. the december producer price index coming in softer than expected at 1% year-over-year, falling .1% from november. and while inflation is moving in the right direction you could say, it's the first round of earnings that's actually weighing on the markets. the dow on pace to snap a 2-day winning streak thanks to united health group shaving off about 130 points from the exchange even though the insurance giant beats on both top and bottom lines in its fourth quarter report. it did e veal medical costs have shot up by 16%. four of the largest u.s. banks reporting mixed results today.

jpmorgan, citigroup group, bofa, wells fargo all slipping although citigroup managing to turn it around, up 1%. we're going to dig into these reports, but first, let's talk about blackrock's earnings. the biggest asset management firm in the world posting strong fourth quarter numbers and announcing a $12 billion acquisition of global infrastructure partners. it wraps up an historic week on wall street as the sec finally approved the long-awaited spot bitcoin etfs for 11 firms including brach rock. by the way, they officially began trading yesterday and on day one i saw $4.6 billion in volume pile in. remarkable. so who better to talk about this than blackrock see owe larry fink himself who is here to break it all down can be with our charlie twos prix know? charlie, take it away. >> i'm a little nervous. i'm in liz's chair, but i think we'll get through it. >> you like it?

>> yes. [laughter] it's very comfortable. not too comfortable, she's back monday. great day for you guys -- >> thank you. >> big deal. >> yeah. >> you know, $10 trillion in assets, i'm going to ask you about that in a minute, and we're going to get into other issues including bitcoin etfs. but i've got to ask you this off the bat, i saw bill ackman today on cnbc, and for some reason he brought you up. he said, you know, larry thinks there's going to be two rate cuts, i say three. i don't know why he had to mention you, but i think maybe that -- anytime your name gets mentioned, ratings go up, i think. [laughter] it attracts a lot of attention. what do you make of this? are you going to stick with your predictions for two instead of three? he seems to think inflation's cooling enough, obviously. >> and we saw yesterday's inflation number a little highe- >> right. >> inflation's, in my mind, a little stickier at 3%. i'm not here to say it's going to be two or three, but i do believe flakes is stickier than

they -- inflation is stickier than -- i did not hear what bill said. but importantly, the u.s. economy's stronger than most people think. >> yeah. >> companies are having problems finding good talent. >> still, i keep reading finish. >> wage inflation. >> -- you guys laid off some people, citi group laid off -- >> yeah, but, i mean, net-net were up people. >> right. >> so -- and i think what we're, what's dominating the headlines are those type of points, but the headlines of all the people, people are hiring is not part of the headlines. so i think the economy's in a very good position. i think the economy is going to get stronger, by the way, if there are two or three easings into the latter part of this year. so i'm, you know, i don't, i don't think there's much of a debate here. i tend to believe that we have a stronger economy than some people believe. i think the innovation, the ingenuity is propelling this

economy. let's be clear, those who are earning lower wages, we witness very large increases in minimum wage. >> you're saying the wage rates are now going up. >> oh, wage rates, we've raised minimum wage, many organizations are paying above minimum wage. so if somebody was being paid $10 an hour, now they're being paid, $20 an hour. all that money's going back into the economy. it's not like somebody who's earning lots of money and got an increase in that a money, they don't have to spend any more money -- >> this inflation still, aren't prices still high? we're talking about the rate of inflation that's coming down. is that a difference that should be made here? >> well, i think one of the fundamental reasons why inflation is coming down, we've seen a dramatic decline in energy prices. >> right. >> we've had opec reducing its production three times, and they're having a hard time keeping energy around $80 a barrel. >> so you think it really isn't a decline in prices -- >> in energy prices, in the gas pump there certainly is.

we're seeing that right now. but we're not seeing a decline in wages, we're seeing still increases, and that's what chairman powell recently said. they're now focusing on wages, focusing on other areas looking at inflation. and we'll see about the economy and where itened s up over the growth of the year. >> and this is going to be a wild year. >> yes. >> now that we're on ackman, i'm compelled to is ask about this because it's on ever -- and you're a reason sans guy, you talk about everything -- renaissance guy. he's now become some sort of a education reformist. [laughter] >> i guess. >> i mean, he's, he's basically, he took on claudine gay, the -- >> harvard. >> -- the harvard prime minister he's now saying -- president. he's going to create a think tank to reformings because it's too woke and dei focused. is this a waste of time? what do you think of that? >> i commend bill in what he's doing. i think he has an opinion, he's expressing it with facts.

he's expressing it with a lot of fortitude. look, he's spending his own money. he believes in this. this is what -- this is a democracy. i applaud what bill is doing. >> do you think he's right? about -- his assessment of u.s. higher education? >> i think there's some universities that have gone way too far and some that have not. i don't think it -- i don't want to put a blanket statement. my association with nyu over the last 30 years, there are, you know, i believe it has not been a target of some of this, and it's been governed better. >> right. >> but are there incidents at every university that i i see that kind of frightens me? yes. but, to me, this is not, this is not -- this should not be a major component of how we move our economy forward, but it is a big point. >> okay. assets are now back to $101 trillion. what was interesting -- 10 trillion. i follow your assets, that's what nerdy business journalists

like me do. >> yeah. >> i believe it went in 2022, the low was 8.5 trillion. >> yep. >> starts creeping up, and you're back to 10 trillion. >> yes. >> is esg back? >> no, no, no, charlie finish. >> i know you hate those letters, but, i mean, you know -- >> the fact that i believe is so important for our shareholders to understand and our clients to understand, in the last five years clients awarded us $1.9 trillion of new money. this is not market movement. forget about markets go up, markets go down. we were awarded a $1.9 trillion of more mandates. and that is across clients worldwide, that's eau clients in the pension fund community, it's in wealth management, it's insurance companies. no firm has been awarded this scale of assets -- >> even as some people pulled, meaning the red state guys pulled? >> well, let's be clear, if my

net assets is $1.9 trillion increase, how about this one? in the fourth quarter of this year we were awarded a billion dollars in new money per day. >> that's amazing. >> okay? so there are people who have pulled money from us -- >> right. >> and our job is to protect each and every one of our clients' money. our job to be a fiduciary to every one of our client's money. >> right. as a, as someone like me who looks at trends -- >> wouldn't you say that's an incredible trend? >> it is the incredible, and i won't use the letters esg, but is sustainable coming back? after taking a lot of knocks? >> if we want to take the subset of sustainability, it's growing. it never went away. >> okay. >> there is, you know, for example, we invested $550 million, charlie, in occidental petroleum as they are becoming the world's leader in carbon capture. and this is in texas. finish.

>> right. >> they have ambitions, you know, to put 30 more of these type of factories which cost about a billion and a half dollars each, and we are co-partnering with them. that is -- so we're working alongside one of the great energy companies in the united states -- >> right. >> and they are, they believe they have the technology also, you know, to decarbonize. and that's where we're seeing great sums of money. i was in a asia recently and government alleyed arers throughout asia are saying we are very concerned that we need to get energy security. energy security becoming the tantamount conversation everywhere. heir e kind of annoyed that opec continues to lower production because they don't want oil to go town -- >> right, right. >> and they're asking us can we help them invest in their country in wind and solar. they're still going to use whatever they have -- >> is it fair to say esg's

growth now or sustainability's growth -- [laughter] i know that gives you shivers, but overseas more than it's here? >> well, with the i.r.a. in the united states, it's growing here too. and let's talk about texas, one of the great states. >> right. >> it's the number one state for hydrocarbons, but it's the largest state in the united states in wind and the largest state in the united states in solar. >> so there is a business here that's going to keep going. >> absolutely. and, look, like every trend, maybe it's going to be bitdown or something else -- [laughter] >> we'll get into that. >> -- things get overpositioned, overpriced, overhyped. >> right. >> but the reality is if there's a fundamental reason in doing this. and when i spend time with governmental officials worldwide, they want to find more independence of their energy if position. a country like india that's growing 8% a year, the energy if demand to grow at 8% a year is tremendous. they need to be investing in

wind and solar, and the amount of capital they're going to need is enormous. >> do you think you might have went too far in messagingering e sg at some point?? -- messaging esg at some point? >> well, i never believed, you know, where i should have been more focused on, most of the time finish. >> because i read your speeches. they were, like, pretty moderate, you know? >> correct. but where i believe i could have been more literate -- enter right. >> -- when i was talking about e e sg, i was really talking about sustainability. >> right. >> i was not -- and i would never refer to the other letters, and the other letters have different meanings for everyone. i think on the e side we all could talk about it, we all could debate it. and on the g side, actually, there's very little debate on governance of corporation. >> sure. let's get to bitcoin. >> sure. >> this is a huge thing. i mean, i see it as the minute larry fink put his inprim tour on this thing, it was going to go through.

you don't have to take credit, but was it you? gensler hates it. they were dragging their feet -- >> there's still a lot of people who hate it. >> gensler still hates it, apparently. >> i'm not going to talk about gary -- [laughter] but i did believe and it still remains, and this is the gary's position, that it's still one of the vehicles for illicit activity. i think no one can deny that. where i aim around to it and i came around to a different interpretation three years ago, there's a lot of merit to it. there's a lot of opportunity. it is a great store, and this is where you can debate, is it a good store -- >> you know how it's made, a bunch of computers figure out -- enter but the issue is if people believe that it can be an asset that can be crossed border. let's be clear, if you're in a country where you're fearful of your government and maybe this is one of the reasons why china has banned it, if you're in a government where -- if you're in

a country where you're fearful of your future, fearful of your government -- >> right. >> -- or you're frightened a the that your government is devaluing its currency by too much deficits -- >> like us. >> i'm not going to go there. [laughter] >> the little elephant in the room here. >> you could say this is a great potential long-term storer of value. and as i said, it's like digital gold. and i believe -- >> you still can't buy a slice of pizza with it. isn't that kind of odd -- >> but you can't buy a slice of pizza with palladium or gold -- >> no, but you can do stuff with them. i can get stuff. i mean, people use gold for stuff, right? >> but people -- you can buy and sell your bitcoin no different than gold. so it is -- >> but gold is put in, like -- >> jewelry. >> and, you know, iphones, i think in some electronics finish. >> more silver than gold. >> but you see what i'm saying. there are practical uses. bitcoin, it's literally a ledger. >> it is a ledger.

but it's a international languager -- ledger. it's cross-border. it's bigger than any government. >> you see, i agree with you with. it would have blown up, i believe, many ftx, and it didn't after finishing tx. >> there's a lot of bad players in all start-up things, and this was a great example i think it's becoming more legitimatized, i think the advent of bitcoin etfs is an example that we're creating more safety -- >> let me ask you this, would you do an xrp etf? i know you've got ether, can you answer that? >> i can't. [laughter] and you don't want me to. >> i do. >> well, i can't. >> all right. they're giving me the wrap. thank you -- >> charlie, thank you. >> you're a good sport. you are the best in the business. remember, he started, harry finm a geek -- started blackrock at zero. it's $10 trillion. it's amazing to me.

back to you guys. ashley: it is remarkable. larry, great stuff. charlie, the geek, thank you so much too. really interesting conversation. thank you, larry. all right, now to this: american jets strike houthi rebels in yemen to protect international trade routes from attack. but worries about the war escalating into a regional conflict has shipping prices and energy costs shooting higher. we're going head to the port of los angeles in just a moment. and as we head to the break, take a look at how big oil is trading today, all moving higher. v.aally row, exxon, conoco fill rips up, wow, .2 of a percent, but big oil moving higher. "the claman countdown" coming right back. ♪ dad, we got this. we got this. we got this.

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ashley: breaking news, president joe biden in pennsylvania to talk about small businesses, but just moments ago he answered a question about last night's strike against houthi rebel targets in yemen. the president calling the houthis terrorists. biden, of course, if you remember, famously took houthi rebels off the terror watch list early in his term, but he used that term, terrorists, to describe them. we're going to have more on the president's trip to pennsylvania later on in the show. but we're also getting new details on haas night's u.s. and u.k. strikes on the houthis. a senior u.s. military official telling reuters or just under 30 different locations were hit in yemen. the pentagon does not expect a high number of casualties since targets included missile launchers positioned in rural areas. it confirmed that the houthis fired yet another anti-ship ballistic missile today but did not hit any ships. the u.s. expects the houthis to attempt some sort of retaliation to the strikes. now, these attack thes have log

jammed global supply chains in the red sea. tesla and volvo are the latest companies to pause vehicle production as the attacks delay the delivery of goods. oil stocks also rallying on the u.s.' response in the red sea, as you can see. front line, chess e peek, have v.a.ler low are, phillips 66 all trading in the green. let's go live to kelly o'grady in los angeles this afternoon. kelly, how much has this increased tension in the middle east going to cost companies who want to export their goods overseas? >> reporter: so, ashley, we talked to a number of shipping industry experts, and they're telling me this could actually cause a mini covid, and i'm sure you remember how much the pandemic e supply chain crisis drove inflation. so it could be a lot. now, the good news is we aren't there yet, but the continued challenges in the red sea are causing a lot of concerns. so take a look at this map because the diverted ships from

the red sea, they need to travel all the way around the tip of south africa. so ma thens -- that means that's going to add on another 10 days of travel time and potentially a million in fuel costs. now, for you at home, that consumer, that means your goods are going to take longer to get here and cost more potentially. look at some of the weekly increases that we're seeing. the cost for a 40-foot container was up 50% if it's going to the east coast, 60% to the west coast. shippers have indicated that their long-term contract rates are going to increase yet again on monday. now, if you zoom out and you look at this graph, you're going to see a sharp spike right here on the screen. that's how fast the shipping rates are increasing since those attacks started mid december. so that rate is what's a causing a lot of concern among the industry. now, retailers, they're pursuing a lot of other options that can be with costly like shipping by rail or air, carriers are

diverting to other ports hike the port of los angeles that i'm at. but because of the quickly changing nature of the situation, those decisions often have to come last minute. we spoke and to the head of ocean freight for north america dhl, and he told us this week another slew of attacks caused chaos. >> we had another wave of attacks in the red sea which then forced i would say almost 95 a percent of all vessels that are going through that stretch to divert. definitely by the week the carriers are taking every single vessel and decide in the last minute what's the situation. >> reporter: now, what's causing the concern there, a retailer is not able to reliably plan for the goods to get there. that causes an inventory problem, and when you've got a shortaging that can drive up the costs. back to you. ashley: things getting more expensive again. kelly, thank you very much in los angeles there. all right, coming up next, liz claman spending the last few days out at las vegas at ces,

and there wasn't enough time to show you all the cool things, so liz will tell us about the latest all-electric flying taxi being developed by hyundai. she'll talk to the ceo in a moment. and let's take a look at some of superknoll's competitors, vertical aerospace, archer aviation, blade air mobility, they're all moving slightly lower in today's session. if the request claman countdown "coming right back. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ ashley: not so smooth sailing for delta right now. the stock, as you can see, down nearly 9 at this hour after the company rereesed its fourth quarter -- released its fourth quarter earnings. while the airline nearly doubled its profit, investors disappointed with its full-year profit outlook which fell below previous guy dance. of course, as you can see, sending the stock downward. something that tell that didn't mention in its earnings, its $6000 million stake -- $600 million stake in a vehicle company joby. while delta may be soft pedaling a little bit the new technology, people were certainly out in las vegas at this year's consumer electronics show talking it up. liz claman caught up with the ceo of the ev company tied to automobile giant hyundai to get a look at their newly unveiled sa-2 model. watch this.

liz: we are outside the las vegas convention center's west hall in what's called a vertiport. this has been built by hyundai for its air mobility -- can okay, look at this. this is an air a taxi, at least a prototype of it. we want to know about this because hyundai has big ambitions. come on, let's e meet the ceo of supernal for hyundai motors, it's great to have you, thank you. >> very nice to meet you. liz: first of all, how did you get this in here? >> it's a top secret. [laughter] it's very difficult to -- we can disassemble and bring it over here and reassemble here. liz: okay. so it didn't fly here yet. [laughter] >> it's a mock-up. liz: how big is it? >> it's about 30 foot length and 45 feet wingspan. liz: okay. and how fast will it eventually be able to go? >> we can fly about, faster than 130 miles per hour, but with you don't have to. so about 120 miles per hour. liz: o.k..

in a perfect world, this is going to be the an air taxi, a flying car, if you will. >> right. liz: let's talk about the rotors. tell me about these. >> we have eight row to haves for safety, and -- rotor to haves, and they're i all driven by electric motors. so this airplane is completely powered by with batteries. so that's the beauty of it. no emissions, no -- nothing comes out of it. and then this rotors are tilting for maximum efficiency. during takeoff and land, these are four rotors that will tilt up, and the ones in the back estimate down. liz: show me where the batteries are. >> batteries will be right here. liz: okay. i understand the batteries are heavy. 40% of -- >> very heavy, yep. liz: -- the weight. okay, so how many people can fit in this thing? let's open the door so we can see. >> i'll show you. liz: oh, okay. okay, i see leg room.

i'm liking it. four passengers. >> four passengers and one pilot. liz: okay. >> one pilot sit and then we have actually luggage to havage space right by the pilot. so that actually serves another purpose. so when the passengers sit here, they don't really need, they don't really immediate to come up to the pilot so for the security reason. liz: 2020 we were here at ces, and you had a different prototype. >> yes. liz: you were partnering with uber elevate. uber elevate eventually sold itself to joby, your competitor. tell me where you stand in the lineup to get air worthiness approval because joby is supposed to get it sometime this year if you believe all the blogs, and not to mention a german company that expects to get a special permit during the paris olympics to ferry people back and forth. >> yeah. we believe the right product at

the right time really there is no reason to hurry up, build a vehicle when infrastructure is not ready and the regulations are not ready. so we believe 2028 is the right time for our right product. and in terms of certification, getting typesetterification and all that, we are looking at this year we're going to file certification application. liz: okay. let's walk around the front of this. eventually, did i hear correctly no pilot? >> no. there will be one pilot. liz: always. >> always, yeah. liz: that's good. that's definitely good. i want to talk a little bit about what it's made of. what are the materials? >> it's fiberglass because the weight is so important. a lot of, a lot use of fiberglass. and, yeah, that's it. liz: you built an r&d, research and development, area in

california. you're serious about this. this isn't just some, oh, look, it's the consumer electronic, show, let's get a big crowd. you're believers in this. you partnered with honeywell to create the vertiports. this would be similar to where it will eventually go. >> right. hawaii his what's your time timetable on when this happens? >> again, we believe 2028 we're scheduled to enter the market. liz: okay. with pangs. >> passengers, yes. liz: the faa is very sort of staid in their opinionses and and views. they want everybody safe. i mean, the technology is almost far ahead of the regulations, is it not? >> in a way, yes, because it's the such a brand new market. no one has done this before. so we have formed a partnership like relationship with faa, so faa is trying to understand industry, and is we try to help faa to come up with the right regulations. liz: i mean, it's fascinating, it's great. we talk about safety, and i

think to myself, there are at least 10 companies who are vying to get in the air first as a real opportunity, business venture. how to you control the traffic? if i mean, who's going to be in charge of all of that? if a bunch of these things are flying around? >> right, that's another good we. so when i was at nasa, that's why we started -- liz: yes, and he was at nasa. [laughter] of course. >> that's why we started what's called uas traffic management, and it's basically vehicles that can detect themselves and separate themselves and also able to -- communication is much more robust than today's air traffic management system. so some of those will have to be employed. liz: why do you think hyundai is so focused on spending a lot of money? these are capital-intensive projects. >> yes. liz: why? >> because with we belief in integrated mobility -- believe

in integrated mobility. we want to provide this air mobility as an option to our customers not only ground, but also air. so by inte gate requesting them, you and i can save a lot of time. liz: would you be squared -- scared going in one? >> not me. [laughter] liz: not me, you're going in or -- >> i'm going in. liz: thanks so much. good to have you. ashley: all right. liz, thank you very much. good to know there's going to be a pilot. and, by the way, liz will be back on monday. she's going to talk to the star of pawn stars, rick harrison. theres this is. don't miss it. that's monday, right here, 3 p.m. on "the claman if countdown." all right, let's move on. the big banks kicking off the fourth quarter earnings season. what can we learn about the american economy by crunching the numbers of jpmorgan chase, citigroup, bank of america and wells fargo? we're going to ask one of the nation's top analysts.

gerard catty is here next. and by the way, the spider financial etf, a basket of financial stocks, the ticker is xlf, it is up more than 12% over the last three monthses. down a little bit today. "the claman countdown "coming right back. ♪ muck or moments that matter, but you can invest in them. at t. rowe price our strategic investing approach can help you build the future you imagine. t. rowe price, invest with confidence.

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2024. citi also raising its price target on the name of snap dragon processers from $110 to $160 a share. the stock up about three-quarters of a percent today. oppenheimer raising its price target on netflix from $475 to $600 on the news that we reported yesterday about subscriber acceleration. the streamer reported a jump from 15 million to 23 million new subs since november. the asset management fund did maintain its rating at outperform. netflix today just up by a tenth of a percent. and the news, well, not so bright for pixar as the disney-owned animation studio is planning layoffs for later this year. the finding nemo studio has completed production on some shows and now has more staff reportedly than it needs. the costs are part of disney's cost-cutting measures which could reach a target of $7.5 billion. that's following a decrease in ad revenue from abc and losses

within the disney+ streaming division. disney today up nearly 1%. meanwhile, four of the largest u.s. banks kicking off earnings season today. analysts are cautioning investors that earnings per share or and revenue if numbers are not telling the full story. citi, wells fargo, bank of america, jpmorgan, a mixed bag after reporting financial results today. of those, only citigroup moving higher. some seeing lower earnings per share because of hefty fees they had to pay to the fdic, the federal deposit insurance corporation. this past quarter just three -- just these four banks alone had to sell -- shell out a combined $8.6 billion to the government all because of those bank collapses we saw last year. so should investors give the big banks some leniency, or are these numbers indicative of some larger systemic problems in the sector? hey, guess what? joining us now is rbc capital markets managing director gerard

cassidy. gerard, let's begin there. is there something more behind these numbers, were was that money shelled out to the fdic kind of blurring the picture a little bit, we need to give the banks a break? >> i think we need to give them a break, because i think you said it well, it's blurring the picture. that was an idiosyncratic charge, as you know, and you identified it. it was for the bank failures we saw earlier in 2023. silicon valley, signature bank and first republic. that is not indicative of the future at all and, unfortunately, the industry -- the larger banks in particular if -- had to pay the tab for those tail -- failures. what we see going forward is some real opportunities for bank investors, in our view. finish. ashley: you know, it's interesting, you would have thought in a higher rate interest environment the numbers would be better with, but i guess that's only part of the story, isn't it? there are a lot of other factors at play. >> there are. and some of the numbers, in the case of jpmorgan, they had

record earnings, record revenues. now, granted, that was supported by their acquisition of first republic from the fdic. but you're right, you know, rising rates in the initial phases of a tightening striking -- cycle are very positive for banks. but at the end of a tightennenning cycle, it works in the opposite direction and starts to weigh on their net interest margin and net interest with revenue. and that's what we've seen in the second half of 2023. but what's interesting is we expect to see this net interest revenue, net interest margin start to inflect in 2024 which could lead to stronger revenue growth in the latter part of the year. ashley: one more quick question for you, gerard. bank of america, wells fargo, their net interest income dipped a little bit. should we be concerned about lower deposits at these banks? >> it's the an interesting question, and the outlook for deposit growth is going to be the slightly negative for the

industry as the federal reserve is still employing quantitative tightening which takes the deposits out of the banking industry. but that's okay if deposits come town a bit because the banks have very lower loan to deposit ratios which is a measure of liquidity. and there's plenty of liquidity in the system. but we do expect to see deposits flatten out toward the end of the year but continued downward trends in deposits initially in '24 is likely for most of the banks. ashley: gerard, we're out of time. i'm sorry it was so quick today, but a you've always got so much great information. i could talk to you all a day. gerard cassidy, thank you for joining us. >> you're very welcome. ashley: thank you. president joe biden touting bidenomics to small businesswing state. we're going to be headed to the keystone state for a live report. there he is shaking hands, smiling. but first, let's take a look at the dow 30 heat map as the dow is off some 127 points.

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ashley: president joe biden is in his home state of pennsylvania at this hour trying to drum up support for his investing in america agenda by visiting small businesses. but a hotter than expected inflation report yesterday e certainly has some consumers in the keystone state worried that prices are just going to keep on rising. joining us now, edward lawrence in pennsylvania outside allentown talking to hopings about what they think about the -- locals about what they think about the american economy. edward. >> reporter: right now the president is behind me inside a coffee shop there. he actually alluded to the fact that coffee was $6, alluding to that might be a little bit expensive. now, he is visiting a number of local shops here, i'll show you the situation right now. you see police have cleared the lawyer on this street here. the secret service making sure that people are not around for protection of the president, but i have not seen this level of control of a staged environment

since the presidential election. now, the white house official telling me this is an official event because it's one of the most important things the president does, engage with the american people. the president's walking into a very divided area. we have seen it here, about half of the people here supporting president trump, about half of the people here supporting president biden. >> things are getting better, and it's going to only get better because they put a trillion dollars into infrastructure and all the money into the, you know, green deal and all those things. that money's all hitting now. it took a while. things are going to turn around. >> yeah, it's been tough. everything's real expensive. i've got to work two and three jobs to make it. [laughter] so, yeah, it's tough. housing prices, rent has gone up so much. i mean, i'm in a two bedroom, and it's $1200 a month. [laughter] it's expensive to live by yourself. >> reporter: so the president, so the president is, the president is here for another, a number of events.

he was supposed to have left about 30 minutes ago, so he is a little bit late. we don't know exactly who he is talking to inside, but he's talking to those business owners about what, again, we don't know. he says he is going to a fire station after he finishes this event. back to you guys. ashley: edward, thank you very much is. appreciate that. let's take a look at the markets. the closing bell ringing in less than four minutes from now. the dow off 109 points, as you can see. by the way, the markets are closed monday, so investors perhaps taking a little bit of money off the table, but not too much. we're essentially flat. gold prices, by the way, up more than 1% to a 1-week high on friday as tensions in the mideast fueling that flight to safety. producer price index data boosting bets that the fed might cut rates sooner than expected. gold at $2,050, and what's good for gold, good for the miners, right in one of them happens to be our closer's pick. joining us now, my good friend

todd "bubba" horowitz. let's talk about the minors. who in particular? if -- the minors. who in particular in. >> ashley, great to have -- to be with you. listen, i think the minors are in very good shape. i think when you look at the overall picture, i think the metals are going to start to go higher. we're using them not only for a safe haven play, but also a potential currency with what's going on in the banking system which is not very good. i know gerard was talking about there's not a problem. i think this is a big problem in the banks which makes even the minors more valuable because of the things they're going to mine. and i think we're looking at a potential real catastrophe in the banking services, so i think we could see a big move up in the metals mines. metals markets. ashley: that's interesting. i have to ask you about the fed, bubba, because larry fink was at the top of the show saying he doesn't think there's going to be three cuts to the rates this year. what do you think? >> i don't think they can can

cut, ashley. i know there's a lot of talk. i know we've seen about a 25 rally on the fact that they may cut rates, but how can they cut? inflation is not any better. they're nowhere near their 2% target, and yet they're thinking about cutting. again, we have to allow the free markets to determine what rates should be, not the federal reserve nor the government. i think that the markets will tell you what is a fair rate, and there is still a big demand for money even at these higher rates. so why would we be cutting when we see a demand for capital? ashley: well, you like miners, you're worried about the financial sector. what other sector do you think could do okay, let's put it that way, in this environment? >> well, i think the crypto space is pretty good. i gave you one, bit q. i think that, again, you have a potential here of another secured or stored asset class, and i think with all the gambling going on and with the casinos, now 37 states have legalized gambling, i think a

place like wynn is a great play because, of course, they're part of the gambling space. and it is legal in all 50 states, it's a question of whether the states want to put it in. i think the the casino, the crypto and the mine ifrs are the real place to be right now. ashley: that's interesting when you talk about the gambling. what about the psyche of the consumer? we hear that there's a record amount of credit card debt which is not good at all, and perhaps there's kind of a nasty underbelly when it comes to the state of the consumer. >> you're 100 right, and we've never been in a position where this many people have been at limit on one credit card in our lives. ashley: yeah. >> but when it comes to gamble bling, people find money to gamble because they think it's an easy route to win, and it's the easy route that pays their bills. when they get the rude awakening that gambling is not good, hay find out they're deeper in debt. but with what the and a see knows are giving away with the promotions, it is drawing in a lot of people that never thought about gambling before and that

industry. ashley: so if i tie this all together, bubba, are you more glass half full or glass half empty kind of analyst? >> i think we're in a lot of trouble, ashley. i'm not going to fight the market. i'm still long equities, but i do think that we're -- there's a lot of warning signs that suggest that we could be in for a major collapse in these markets town the road. -- down the road. ashley: well, on that happy note, you have yourself a great weekend, bubba. we hear what you're saying, we pay attention to what you have to say is. great to see you. as you can see, 20 seconds going into the closing bell. the dow off 124 points. again, the markets will be closed on monday, so a 3-day break in the trading alaska. they're all waving. by the way, liz back on monday. do not miss that. thanks for joining us this week. it's been a fun week. stick around. ♪ ♪ # larry: hello, folks.