reversal, dow industrials right now up 58,s nasdaq's up 78. s&p 500 higher by 15.5. that momentum in tech keeps on going, adam. >> the three es, maria with. an economy that's grown, earnings that are growing and employment at record highs. >> and tonight's disney. >> oh, right. >> that's going to be interesting. how is your streaming business with, bob iger or? we're a little curious. we're going to find out. yeah, they've had a rough road. maria: you'll be all over that tomorrow. and real quick, amber, on the impeachment inquiry. further efforts? perhaps they bring it back next week? >> i think they're just waiting for steve scalise to get back, and they'll do it. maria: all right. great to be with you all a. thanks so much. have is a great day, everybody. see you again tomorrow. stay with fox business. "varney & company" picks it up. stu, take it away. stuart: all right, good morning, maria. good morning, everybody. congress is in disarray. unable to pass legislation, unable to impeach homeland security chief mayorkas.

dysfunction in the extreme. the border deal is all but dead. a bill to aid israel, defeated. chaos on the house floor. the democrats brought in congressman al green in a hospital gown to keep mayorkas in his job. meanwhile, donald trump consolidates his grip on the republican party. nikki haley faced no op opposition in the nevada primary, but she still lost. trump will almost certainly win the nevada caucuses tomorrow, he will take all the delegates. separately, ronna mcdaniel will ten down from the republican national committee. trump had called for change. finish he's got input. to the markets, a big selloff a for snap if shares, chopped off at the niece after analysts wer, if any -- company's future guidance. modest gains tuesday, modest gains this wednesday morning. dow up maybe 60, s&p up 16. nasdaq up 80 points. that's premarket. interest rates, show the 10-year

treasury still above the 4 level, you're at 4.11 there, and the 2-year just below 4.55% at 4.42. bitcoin, $43,000 and change. that's right, $43,100. no change for gas, $3.14 is the average price for regular. diesel, $3.94. all right, politics. antony blinken is in the mideast trying to get a hostage a deal. the latest proposal is more a months-long pause in the fighting and a phased release of the 132 remaining hostages, some of whom are known to be dead. another embarrassing stumble for the president. asked about the hostage a deal, he slurred his words, lost his train of thought and could not remember hamas' name. on the show today, a stunning report from the border. 1 million migrants have crossed over since october the 1st. so more have come in in the last four months than came in in the entire year. karine jean-pierre struggles to cope with questions about the president's cognitive decline.

she eventually cuts off fox's peter doocy. and king charles, he's home at the palace. prince harry visited but only for one hour. will meghan ever go to england again? yes, it is wednesday, february the 7th, 2024. on this day 60 years ago, the beatles arrived for the for the time in america. i remember it well. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ ♪ and i'll send all my loving to you. stuart: from the beatles' early phase. you won't remember this, lauren, but this is 1962, 1963. it's a good song. all my loven, from the eagles,th avenue. we're going the start with politics this wednesday morning, why not in homeland security secretary mayorkas survived impeachment yesterday after four republicans voted existence party lines.

karl rove joins me this morning -- against party lines. i say republicans are in disarray. my question is, who do you blame? >> well, i've got a simple answer for that, it's on the white board. i blame everybody. [laughter] i blame the members for coming up with stupid ideas. i blame the leadership for not being able to count the votes. president trump killed the immigration bill, the border bill by intervening. i'm not certain that's -- in fact, i know that's not a wise move. but there's plenty of blame to go around, ask and it starts from the bottom, goes to the top and goes back to the bottom again. stuart: rnc chair ron that mcdaniel reportedly plans to step down after the south carolina primary. this looks like trump's influence. this is trump's party now, isn't it? >> well, it's certainly in control of the national committee. look, that's normal, for a presidential candidate to have, you know, influence over the direction of the national committee. in 2000 after a george w. bush secured the nomination, we sent

our political director, maria ceno, over to make certain all the activities of the committee and the presidential campaign were being coordinated well with. and that's normal. what's unusual is to fire the chairman and try the -- and put in your own person. the national committee containses three members from every state and the territory. they like to have one of their own be the chairman, they don't like being dictated to. the former president has made it clear he'd like the north carolina chairman to be ronna's replacement, and and already there's talk of putting up somebody else. it's a very delicate relationship any presidential candidate has to have with with his or her national committee, party national committee. and the president's sort of putting, you know, his thumb on this, on the scale, and it's a little bit more delicate than that. stuart: is a trump-biden rematch set in concrete? do you think that is the way it will definitely be in november this year? >> you know, i don't know why i

say this, but i don't think it will be. i mean, you began today's program with the latest iteration of joe biden's memory problems. i mean, the other day he had a meeting talking about how shortly after becoming president in 2021 he had a g7 or g8 meeting, and he had a conversation with francois mitterand who died in 1996. so i just, for something, something inside me says minute's going to wake up on that side, jill biden or maybe his sister, valerie biden owen and say, you know, joe, this is not the way for you to go down in the history book with, ten the aside, let somebody else be chosen at the convention and go against donald trump in the fall. i just think the democrats are not going to allow this to continue. stuart: so you think that's how it's going to happen, somebody close to the president goes to him and says -- just like they went to nixon and said time's up, mr. president, step aside?

>> yeah. barry goldwater led a group of senators to say your time is up with nixon, but i think biden is impervious to that kind of input. i think it would have to be a family meant i don't know, this may be hope rather than an expectation, this may be what i think is best for him, best for the country and, frankly, best for the democrats. joe biden thinks he is the only person who can beat donald trump in the democratic party, he may be the only person who can lose the donald trump in the democratic party. stuart: i keep hearing that michelle obama will be shifted -- no, you're shaking your head. it's not going to happen? >> no, look, she hates politics. read her autobiography, she didn't want her husband to run for the state senate, for the president. she is not a political animal. and besides, look, barack obama was my charge at the white house. i dealt with him for three years. he's a smart guy. he would know that if michelle obama woke up tomorrow and said, you know what? after a life of hating politics, i want to be the vice presidential running mate or run

for president, people would say that's barack trying to get a third term as a president,they wouldn't go for it. she hates politics. this is a weird obsession of the conspiratorial right, and it's just lunacy, pure lunacy. i had to deal with this in 2020 when this was running through the president trump's a re-election campaign. they thought somehow or another biden was going to be pushed aside by obama, andrew cuomo was folk to be the democratic candidate, and his running mate was going to be michelle obama with. and i told the trump people including the president himself, this is sheer, utter lunacy starting with the fact she hates politic, period. she loves the life she's got. stuart: we know exactly where you stand, karl rove. thanks for sharing that with us emphatically. we like that. thanks, karl. see you later. the white house was pressed on biden's mental and physical health after his recent gaffes. what was the response of the white house, lauren? lauren: well, press secretary karine jean-pierre was visibly annoyed by pieter doocy's

question, and she cut him off. watch here. >> reporter: how is president biden ever going to convince the three-quarters of voters who are worried about his physical and mental health that he is okay even though in las vegas he told the story about a recently talking to a french president who died in 1996? >> i'm not even going to go down that rabbit hole with you with, sir. we're going to go question dvd. >> reporter: he said he talked to mitterand. >> reporter: go ahead. you saw the president in vegas, you saw him in south carolina, you saw him in michigan. i'll just leaf it there. lauren: yeah. she's trying to say his travel, his actions speak crowder than his words -- louder than his words, but she's dismissing the polling that peter was mentioning, that three-quarters of the american public think he's incompetent for the job because of his mental decline. looked at that nbc polling that everyone' a talking about from sunday. trump is up 15 point points when it comes to mental competency. stuart: extraordinary stuff. thanks, lauren. david bahnsen's with me this morning. david is a money guy, but he

likes to get into politics as well. i want to get your take on the republicans being in disaa ray. >> it is disaa ray. it starts with the leadership problem. it starts with the9 fact that they lost a bunch of elections because they mom nateed terrible candidates, so they don't have is a clear majority by the way, the people who who voted against this impeachment of mayorkas, tom mcif clip tock is one of the most conservative members, mike gallagher is too in wisconsin. this is a ridiculous approach. and so they're just all over the map. and then you see the other side, this response from kjp about a biden's health, it doesn't match with what the people are thinking. it's obvious there's an issue. so on both sides you see realties function, in my opinion. stuart: okay. we'll talk about the markets. put up the premarket stuff, please. i see some green. dow 75, nasdaq up close to 100. i want the talk to you about the magnificent 7 -- [laughter] you think it's going to be down to the magnificent 2 or 3 by the

end of the year. who gets the cut? >> well, we'll have to see. i'm being optimistic there'll be 32 or 3 still rolling i -- 2 or 3 still rolling because meta is up so much this year, had the biggest single up day on friday. most market cap added in one day ever was facebook on monday. but then, you know, tesla's down big on the year, apple's down a little bit. there's a few names that aren't really moving, so the magnificent 7 is not all moving together. stuart: if it's town to two or three at the end of the year, which of the two or three? >> i would say if i had to bet that microsoft, nvidia and meta are in a better position than apple and, clearly right now, tesla and google. google a's already down quite a bit on the year. but all of them, i think, are overpriced. it's just you're asking me to pick which which ones i think are relatively healthier than the others. stuart: you are a dividend guy. meta declared its first ever --

>> .4%. you get mad at me when i mention a 3% dividend payier. stuart: i thought i'd bring it up. >> facebook is paying a dividend that is equal to the tip i gave my waiter on second avenue last night. stuart souther it amounts to $700 million if worth of dividend income for the guy, zuckerberg. >> it does. the dollars look big, but as a percentage of free cash flow, it's minimal. we'll see where it goes from here. stuart: you don't want to know about it. i got it. stick around for the hour. coming up, nfl commissioner roger goodell welcomes taylor swift's effect on his league. roll tape. >> having the taylor swift effect is also a to. i think it's -- a positive. i think it's great to have her a part of it. obviously, it crypts a buzzings, it credits -- buzz, it creates another group of young fans, particularly young women, that are interested. stuart: we'll see if she makes the big game. after denying the border crisis for years, president biden is now playing the blame

game and going after, yes, you guessed it, donald trump and maga republicans. we've got a full report on that next. ♪ ♪ if ameritrade is now part of schwab. bringing you an elevated experience, tailor-made for trader minds. go deeper with thinkorswim: our award-wining trading platforms. unlock support from the schwab trade desk, our team of passionate traders who live and breathe trading. and sharpen your skills with an immersive online education crafted just for traders. all so you can trade brilliantly. power outages can be unpredictable, inconvenient, and disruptive to your life, posing a real threat to your family's comfort and safety.

when the power goes out, you have no lights, no refrigeration, no heating or air conditioning. the winds are not letting up at all here. we're going to see some power outages. number one thing to prepare for is extended power outages. are you prepared? you can be with a generac home standby generator. when a power outage occurs, your generac home standby generator automatically powers up, using your home's existing natural gas or propane, so your life goes on without disruption. you and your family are comfortable, safe, and secure. stay tuned, to get over a $500 value free on the most popular home standby generator in the world. with the generac, we don't have to worry about whether we lose power or not. if the utility company does not come through, our generac does. having a generac takes a lot of the anxiety out of, there's going to be a storm. after the hurricane happened, we just want to be prepared for anything. generac generators are designed, engineered

and built in the usa. 8 out of 10 home generators are generac, and have thousands of satisfied customers. how many times have you heard people say, i never want to go through that again? well, the next time you go through it, don't make it so hard on yourself. have a generac home standby generator. call or go online now to request your free quote with one of generac's nationwide dealers. special financing and low monthly payment options are available, and if you call now, you will also receive a free 5 year warranty valued at over $500. the call is free, the quote is free, and there's no obligation to buy. call or go online now, so the next time there's a power outage, your home powers up. power your life with generac. call or go online to request your free quote today.

♪ ♪ stuart: president biden once again passing the blame for the border crisis. jacqui heinrich joins us from the white house. biden blames trump, the border patrol sources tell us that one million migrants crossed into the country since just october the 1st. take us through how the border surge has changed under biden.

>> reporter: well, stuart, good morning to you with. it's right, you know, cbp sources told fox this morning that crossings exceeded one million just so far in fiscal year 2024. that began in october, and this is the earliest that we've ever reached this milestone. also the fastest growing group of migrants trying to cross are chinese migrants, and we are on track to shatter last year's records. but house republican leadership declared the bipartisan senate bill dead before the effect text was even released, causing senate republican leadership to pull back their support for the bill. and new president biden is seizing this moment to claim republicans now own the border crisis, and they are going to drive this claim home every time a new headline comes out about the border crisis between now and november. >> the american people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is donald trumpment and his -- trump and

his maga republican friends. it's time for republicans in the congress to show a little courage, to show a little spine, to make it clear to the american people that you work for them and not for anyone else. >> reporter: the biden campaign's rapid response team is also trolling the gop on x with a quote from trump saying if the bipartisan border bill fail, please blame it on me. team biden saying, okay. white house deputy press secretary andrew bates also posted house republicans say they do this because trump told them too -- them to. why? in the words of the house gop, because trump told them to. these sock puppets having a rough day. there is unhappiness that leadership didn't get further engaged in this process, especially because system of the provisions in that bill that was tanked would have given border patrol authorities they have never had including under trump which could mitigate single

adult crossings. >> i care about the number ifs of illegal crossings -- numbers of illegal crossings and how to reduce that. that's my metric for success. so we're going to keep work on this. our leadership has ab aty candidated their respondent to go straight to the white house and say we're the majority in the house, we want to negotiate directly with the white house. >> reporter: despite some desire for republicans writ large to continue working on this, there is no plan that we know about right now, stuart. stuart: all right, we got it. thanks very much, indeed. house ways and and means committee chair, congressman jason smith, with me now. congressman, please explain why the republicans could not impeach mayorkas. >> 212 democrats and 3 republicans voted at 215 yesterday. it's simply, when you look at a math issue, there's only one party that a cares about securing the border. what we heard or from president biden right before, stuart varney, trying to blame

president trump? if that is simply dishonest. president biden in his first hundred days in office issued 94 different executive orders reversing the successful policies of president trump. he created this border crisis. just in his first year in office as president more people illegally crossed the southern border than all a four years combined of president trump. he needs to go back to president trump's policies to secure the border. stuart: it was opposition by trump to the senate bipartisan border deal that sunk the deal. it looks like it's sunk anyway -- >> it absolutely wasn't, stuart. i disagree with that. it sunk because that bill gave more authority and more power to the president of the united states who has showed in this situation he's been irresponsible and made every wrong decision. stuart: well, will voters see it that way? >> -- don't trust president

biden. stuart: i don't mean to interrupt, i really don't, but will voters see it that way? >> 75% of voters believe that we have a crisis at the southern border. they know who created the crisis. his name is president joe biden. by 94 different executive orders that he did in his first hundred days in office, reversing the successful policies of president trump. and he only reversed them because he simply did not like president trump. stuart: okay. change the subject for a second. the house passed a bipartisan tax bill last week. it reinstated some business tax breaks. will they get through the senate? looks unlikely, count it? -- doesn't it? >> i'll tell you, this bill passed with more than 84% of the vote in the house. what passes with 84% of the vote in this congress is very rare, so i think that that shows, it sends a very strong signal that it'll make it through the united states senate. this started the out with field hearings we held throughout the country listening to small

businesses, work thing families and trying to -- working families and trying to figure out how the federal government can issue tax policy that would help their lives and then started in a negotiation with, a bicameral, bipartisan negotiate with the house and senate which which led to this package. so i look forward to its passage in the senate. stuart: there's no spending cuts, right? >> there absolutely is spending cuts. there's it's cutting $78 billion. we're eliminating a bad covid era program called the employee retention tax credit. it saves $78 billion. it makes these tax cuts complete budget neutral. stuart: okay. congressman, always a pleasure. thank you very much for being on the show. come back soon, please. >> thank you, sir. stuart: yes, sir, thank you,. check those futureses closely this morning. they're moving up. nasdaq now up 10 to points -- 100 points, and the dow is up 86. the opening bell is next, and we're going to take you there, to wall street. ♪ ♪ if

there are some things that work better together. like your workplace benefits and retirement savings. voya provides tools that help you make the right investment and benefit choices. so you can reach today's financial goals. and look forward to a more confident future. voya, well planned, well invested, well protected.

with the majority of my patients with sensitivity i see irritated gums and weak enamel. sensodyne sensitivity gum and enamel it relieves sensitivity helps restore gum health and rehardens enamel. i am a big advocate of recommending things that i know work. ♪ ♪ next. next. stop. we got it? no. keep going. aga... [ sigh ] next. next. if you don't pick one... oh, you have time. am i keeping you from your job. next. i don't even know where i am anymore. stop. do we finally have it? let's go back to the beginning. are you... your electric future. customized. the fully-electric audi q4 e-tron. ♪ ♪

stuart: checking futures, i see green. dow up 80, nasdaq up over 113 points. shah ghailani with us this morning. what's this, shah?

you think that there's a tech bubble, and you want to see a selloff? explain yourself. [laughter] >> i think we're getting a little bubblish s, stuart. bubbleiscious. when you see them popping like meme stocks, i think we're getting ahead of ourselves. i think that front-running in terms of betting they were going to live up to the potential earnings that they're going to have is a bit ahead of itself. i'm not saying we're actually in a tech bubble, i just think we're a little overdone here. i think the exuberance is perhaps a bit irrational. and as you know since july, i am a pounding the table, buy the dips, because we're in aal ally. but i think -- in a rally. but i think we're going to see a little bit of a selldown. at some point there's going to be the some profit faking, because we've -- taking, because we've gotten fluffy. stuart: how big of a selloff do you need to see before you call it a dip that's worth with buying? 5 percent? 10%? >> you start to add some

positions at 5% and personally i would like to see a 10% construction.. -- correction. i think that would be healthy for the markets. so 10% for me would certainly be add a good bit more at 10%. stuart: but they're the only companies making serious double-digit profit gains, so you do expect them to come bouncing back real fast. >> and the reason i like buying those on kips is -- dips is because when the market sells off, those are the ones that are going to bounce back first. so, yes, if they come down 5, 10%, i think investors who want to add to those positions, those are great opportunities because they will be the ones that everyone will pound, you know, right back into the momentum will pick up once again. so buy the dips, on those you cannot go wrong. stuart toort okay. outside of big tech, the magnificent 7 or whatever number it is, are you buying anything in. >> i'm looking, starting to look at some small caps. if if the market continues to do well and bauering some kind of

correction -- barring some kind of correction, a lot of the small caps are overlooked, and there are a lot of great values in the small cap sector, a lot of good health care stocks i like, some small tech companies i like down there, so, yes, think small caps are going to do well if market continues to do well. stuart: none of this 5% treasury, all stocks for shah ghailani. >> no. as a i said, i'm 80% in tech as far as my if equity positioning, but i do have some fixed income stuff now. my cash positions are in cds and in some small, you know, small positions in fixed income. stuart: okay. good stuff, shah ghailani. we will see you again soon. all right, they are clapping, cheering, pressing the button, and the market will open literally in about 3 or 4 seconds' time. we are expecting to see the dow, s&p and the nasdaq go up at least at the opening bell, but with we have no clue, of course, how these things are going to turn out at the closing bell.

we're off, we're running, the market is open, and the dow is up 100 points right from the start, up 98, 100 points. predominance of buying there, a lot of green among the dow 30. s&p 500 leaps to another record high. that's intraday, of course. 4,976. getting real close to 5,000. it's up 21 points. .43%. if the nasdaq composite on the upside, i do believe, a half percentage point higher there, 80 points. through yo go -- there you go. show me big tech. i presume most of them are higher, microsoft, 408. amazon, we've got that at 170. meta is up a couple of bucks as well and alphabet at 144. now, we've got a huge loss for snap. on your screens, it's down 31% now. what's the problem, lauren? lauren: meta and google are stealing the ad a dollars, so they're losing in advertising revenue. they're not keeping pace with the bigger players. their revenue missed the estimate, their forecast was weak. they already said they're

cutting 10% of staff. so this is your cost cutting, what now? stuart: you got any comment? >> they've lost money every single quarter, so what do they mean they're losing ad a revenue? they've never if made any money, and now it's a badwater? [laughter] now facebook's taking their -- stuart: they've never made a profit in any quarter? >> never. lauren: they're also blaming conflict in the middle east. >> oh, that's hurting snap. lauren they're we are seeing that for a couple of companies. >> yeah, snap. a lot of the middle eastern customers of snap. stuart: you made a solid point there, david, you really did. moving on, some of the earnings reports came out earlier this morning including cvs. lauren: cut full-year guidance. why? higher medical costs. more members getting elective surgery -- stuart: why's it -- lauren: health services. they're pivoting -- pivoting to a health services company. up 12% for sales, and if you look at same store sales, the pharmacy, up 15%. the rest of the store down 3%, so the pivot is working for them

thus far. stuart: the i bought some uber about two, three, four months ago. lauren: ooh. stuart they reported this morning. the stock is down 2%. they're i lauren yeah. the news isn't terrible though. better, gross bookings grew 22%, they're booking 28 million trips per day. stuart: what's wrong with that? is this one of those expectations things where the analysts said, oh, we're expecting this, they didn't quite make it so down goes the stock? is that it? lauren: i think finish. >> i have another theory, if you want to hit it. how about they're trading at 133 times earnings. could that be part of it? stuart: perhaps if i should not have bought it. >> if everything goes the way they say, because i think lauren's right, they were pretty much in line with expectations, they're trading at a 72 times forward earnings. lauren: yeah. the stock has doubled in the past a 52 weeks. that might be just some taking profits. they didn't completely wow everybody. they just beat. the margin of the beat. stuart: i've got to get in yum

brands. lauren: taco bell, pizza hut, yes. so fewer customers at taco bell, at kfc, at pizza hut. we're talking about the middle east, there's perceives to have -- perceived to have a pro-israel stance, a boycott there. but the stock is up 2.5%. stuart: ford. i know they reported after the bell. i think they're scaling back on their ev business -- lauren: and the street loves it. it's up 7%. i'm just going to give you some eye-popping numbers. the red red ink in their ev business, 4.7 billion in losses. per electric vehicle that ford sells, they lose $46,000. just -- exactly. try to get your mind around that. so what they're going to do is they're going to come up with a version of the tesla model 2. a smaller, cheaper ev that they can actually have a market for. who's going to buy that, that's what they're working on. they're also doing the high hybrid thing. and the reason they're up,

special dividend on top of the regular dividend -- >> dividend is coming from real profits. they're losing money in ev because, wait for it, everybody loses money in ev. everybody. they still made, this is real ebitda, $50 million. we don't own ford. i love this dividend boost for shareholders, but the ev problem is being offset by other real profits. stuart: okay. so they sideline evs and make money elsewhere. >> snap should buy ford. [laughter] lauren: that would be a fun car, actually. >> yeah, it would. stuart: fox is teaming up with espn and warner brothers to create a huge sports stream thing platform. tell me more. lauren: okay. so sub subscribers would get the nfl, the nba a, the nhl, the mlb all in one place. launches sometime in the fall no name, no price. folks are saying probably around $45 a month. who is the market -- what

customer will pay $45 a month for all the sports that they a want? probably someone who's about to cut the cord, i'd imagine. look at some of the stock reaction, disney down on earnings anxiety. warner brothers is up. fox is up. we did report $4.2 billion in quarterly revenue. however, a decline in ad sales because of tough comparisons last year with the world cup. stuart: if the sports teaming platform which would include premier league soccer, i'd pay $45 a month. you would. let's bring in david. he's got his perennial and on instant dividend pickses, and he's starting with one we've heard from before, simon property group. >> they released their earnings on monday afternoon, and the stock was up 4.5% yesterday. they're still the yielding over 5.5% even though the stock's up 40% in the last few months. they have 96% occupancy, they've grown net operating income over 7 year-over-year. they're -- 7%.

they're getting more rent from if more customers ever. that death of the mall theory doesn't seem to be going very well. stuart: and they pay 5%? >> 5.5%, and they raised the dividend on monday as well. stuart: texas instruments. i never associated with them -- them with big or growing dave can tend. >> they've grown it about a 8% per year for 10 years in a row, so great dividend growth. what's interesting is they're trading at a much less multiple than other names in their spacious microchips, semiconductors. they're at a cheaper valuation than their customers. it's a well run company. they're going to need a little time. texas instruments is very much worth looking at. stuart: david, thanks very much, indeed. all right, we've been in business for six, seven minutes, and the dow is up 138 points. one-third of 1% higher. dow winners headed by, on that list, walgreens boots alliance, caterpillar, united health, honeywell,s microsoft is on the list at 408. s&p 500 winners topped there by,

i'm squinting, enphase energy, solar edge, emerson electric, ford's on that list. and nasdaq winners, any big techs? enphase energy, palo alto networks, cybersecurity. couldstrike, zscaler on that list. coming up, a democrat running for george santos' old seat admitted that his party's brand is unpopular in new york city. roll tape. >> the democratic brand is in trouble here, and we have a, do a lot to overcome that. joe biden is underwater here in my district but so is donald trump. they're both very, very unpopular candidates. stuart: that is not stopping biden, obama and bill clinton from heading to the big apple. they're expected to host a fundraiser all together at radio city music hall later next month. and there's this, credit card and auto loan delinquencies still rising above pre-pandemic levels. younger borrow es among the hardest hit. we'll break with it all down for you after this.

♪ untrouble, oh, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. ♪ feels like every time -- ♪ -- you come around and knock the me down again ♪ the new dexcom g7 sends your glucose numbers to your phone and watch, so you can always see where you're heading, without fingersticks. dexcom g7 is the most accurate cgm. so, you can manage your diabetes with confidence. ♪ ♪

at st. jude, the mission is just something that everyone can truly get behind. look at our little st. jude pin there on the fridge! we're just regular people donating. yeah. and i think it's cool to be able to make a difference in someone's lives in a way that is meaningful.

■ if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. ■ ■if you're happy and you know it, ride your bike. ■ ■ if you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. ■ if you're happy and you know it, smile big and bright. ■ thousands of kids just like me, are happy every day. and it's all because of generous people like you, who support shriners hospitals for children every month. all you have to do is call the number on your screen or go online to loveshriners.org right now with your monthly gift. because of people like you shriners hospitals for children is able to make an everyday miracle happen for kids like me. ■ if you're happy and you know it, dance around. ■ ■ if you're happy and you know it, play a song. if you're happy and you know it, ■ and your face will surely show it. ■

■ if you're happy and you know it, take a shot. ■ and when you call or go online right now to donate $19 a month or more, we'll send you this adorable love to the rescue blanket as a thank you and a reminder of all the smiles you're bringing to kids faces every day. will today be the day you send your love to the rescue? when you call the number on your screen right now and give as little as $19 a month, just $0.63 a day, you'll be making a life changing difference for a child just like sarah. your monthly gift today could change your life forever. because of you, we are happy and we know it. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. please call or go online right now to give if operators are busy, please wait patiently or go to loveshriners.org right away

stuart: on the markets this morning, we're in business 12 minutes, dow's up 120, nasdaq's up 60, s&p up to points -- 20 points. and there's this, a new fed report shows household debt rose $212 billion in just the final quarter of 2023. edward lawrence with us this morning. of edward, who's getting hardest hit by this? >> reporter: low income americans. the federal reserve says low income americans feel debt and inflation the worst. americans now hold a record of $1.13 trillion in credit card debt, that is up about 47% from the day president biden came into office. the president has been trying to

remessage if his economy, so i asked the white house press secretary about a it. listen. americans have $1.13 trillion in credit card debt which is now another record. is there an affordability crisis? >> so, look, what we have been seeing, as you know, from the data, the data's been very clear here that wages are going with up, consumers are spending a lot more, and it's important. wages are meeting inflation. that's important. >> reporter: wages are meeting inflation over the past three months. if you go back to when president biden came into office and started his policies, real wages are down 2.4%, about 65 of people live pay he can to paycheck $65% -- an average interest rate of almost 21 percent, the interest rate up because inflation spiked under president biden. credit card and auto loan delinquencies remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.

experts say more people just can't afford their lifestyle. >> the fed raised rates 11 times, so now your average credit card rate is 20%. in addition to that, we've seen inflation go up collectively 17% so of course consumers are feeling that. i don't think you can ignore that. >> reporter: but prices are up about a 18% since president biden took office. life just costs more. stuart: edward, thanks very much, indeed. david's with me this morning. you don't think this debt situation a -- is as bad as they're making out. >> i think they're trying to make it political and partisan. the debt levels or credit card debts are a little bit higher than they are, but the assets and income ifs are mump higher, and that's the way everyone knows you're supposed to look at it. the ratio of the debt to the assets. so that's what happened in 2008. the debt exclosed -- exploded, but assets and incomes were lower. that race a -- that's real bad. right now, let's be honest about

it, it's against a denominator that is healthier. more assets, more income. it's hurting low income people the most. it's the not a non-story, but i want to tell the whole story. and i think that there is debt related assets that we have to consider. stuart: david, you made your point. i want to bring in economist ej antoni who joins me right now. i want some position on the state of the economy. the administration says this is a fine economy, doing just great. what do you say? >> well, i think it's a fine economy if you're a member of the political donor class, right? if you already went into this with high incomes, with a lot of assets, let's say, those things have all tended to appreciate fairly well over the last three years. but for the folks who started with no assets, low income, a lot of working class folks, they have been completely left behind for the last three years. their incomes have risen slower than inflation. they have not had a chance to do things like buy houses, for example, when rates were very low. and, you know, a big part of

this debt story is the fact that many americans were suck orerred into going further into debt with these low interest rates which have now risen. and because of the inflation, so many americans were forced to just put necessities on credit cards. and now we're seeing loan nonperformance, the defaults and delinquencies, go through the roof. stuart: the income inequality, the gap is winding, is that correct? >> absolutely. senator. stuart: significantly so. >> exactly. and it flies in the face of so many of this administration's talking points. he's lunch bucket joe, right in he's for the working class9 and the little guy. that's not the effect his policies haved had. stuart: when you sit around the kitchen table, you don't talk about a 3.3% growth rate in the economy, you don't talk about a 3.7% unemployment rate. you talk about things that actually cost more to you. that's kitchen table talk, and that's ooh why people don't think the economy is as a good as the administration says it is. go ahead. lauren: where's the hope?

when you're at that kitchen table and you're talking about junior going on to get a college degree, do you think you can rise up to the upper middle class, become rich because of that degree? the value of that investment is not worth it to many people anymore. you're in debt because of it. so i think the country has lost hope, and there'sty vice isiveness everywhere you turn. constituter tour that is all true. then there's this, existing home sales hit a near 30-year low, lowest since 1985. ej, what does that tell you in. >> the housing market has been completely frozen over by these violent changes in interest rates. and what that has the source of that been? the government spending so much money it didn't have. powell kept rates way too low way too long in order to finance those deficits that obviously brought on the 40-year-high inflation, and then they raised interest rates belatedly in order to fight that. and is what has the result been? a bunch of people with golden handcuffs where they've got a 2 or 3% mortgage and now they're

locked in. they have to get a mortgage at 6-7, sometimes even 8% depending on where you are in the country. you're looking at buying half the house or less in order to try to keep a monthly payment that's roughly the same. stuart: that's not going to change for some time, is it? i can't see mortgage rates coming down to 3, i can't see that. >> and even if powell does give us 1-200 worth of basis points this year, that's still not going to be enough to bring us back to that 2-3% range. so it's going to have a limited effect on thawing this frozen housing market. stuart: david, you got a comment? >> you have to build new houses. you have to build more houses. it's a supply problem. we haven't built enough homes. it's primarily a blue state problem, has nothing to do with with jay powell or joe biden. stuart: you have to get around the planning -- >> to david's point though on new house, one of the reasons that has slowed as well is the

fact that the price indexes faced by home builders is at a record high. so they can't really bring their prices down. stuart: not good all around, is it? okay, everybody. thanks very much, indeed. ej, in particular. coming up, we should be clear right up front, please, hostage taking is a despicable act of terror. it has become standard practice in middle eastern countries, and unfortunately, it's been used successfully across the region. that will be my take, and t coming at you at the top of the hour. ♪ ♪ if rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. but i'm protected with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. rsv can be serious for those over 60,

including those with asthma, diabetes, copd, and certain other conditions. but i'm protected. arexvy is proven to be over 82% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease from rsv and over 94% effective in those with these health conditions. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. i chose arexvy. rsv? make it arexvy. the day you get your clearchoice dental implants makes every day... a "let's dig in" day... mm. ...a "chow down" day... a "take a big bite" day... a "perfectly delicious" day... - mm. [ chuckles ] - ...a "love my new teeth" day.

because your clearchoice day is the day everything is back on the menu. a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation.

stuart: you know, we'd better take a look at tesla. it's down to $185 a share as of right now. bloomberg reports that performance reviews have been post postponed. uh-oh. tesla managers are being asked which jobs are critical. david, does that mean layoffs are coming or a big shuffle is, another big shuffle at tesla? >> it's very possible. we should remember what elon musk did when he took over twitter. he fired quite a bit of people. he's always been a very big believer of lean and mean, and i don't think he would hesitate to lay people off. stuart: the stock is down 25% just this year, this calendar year, i believe. >> it's more than that, i think it's down in the 30s, but it was up 100% last year, so it's a very volatile stock. stuart: i would not wish to work for elon musk, having read the book about him.

>> oh, i think people that own stock this in tesla and spacex are very happy to work for him. [laughter] stewart stuart what was that, producer? that would be this calendar year or -- okay. this calendar year tesla is down 25%. now, i have in my hands here a new book. it is called full-time work and the meaning of life, and david bahnsen wrote it. so, okay, i've got a comment here. in america we live to work. in europe they work to live. >> well, i think that's been true for about almost 250 years, and it's becoming untrue in america. that's my big concern. each generation we've had a marginal decrease in our appetite for work, our love of work, our belief in the purpose and dignity that comes from work. if we lose that, that more than any political issue accelerates america's move to be more of a european-like state. i want to fight it with every ounce of breath in my body. god made us to work. there's dignity in work.

stuart: but are we just being oldsters looking at the new generation -- >> first of all, i'm critical of some of the older people. i admire guys like you that are still working. i'm not going to say your age -- [laughter] but i don't like 60-year-olds, i don't decide to play golf seven days a week, okay? this is not a generational thing. at each level -- look, prime working age men, 25-49, have the lowest labor participation they've had in forever. stuart: that is true. >> that's the area i'm most concerned about, is that at every age level i think we see a decline in work appetite. stuart: work is good, i'll leaf it at that. >> it's made by god for our benefit. stuart: david, i appreciate it and like the new book. still ahead, liz peek with the real reason why joe biden will not punish iran. britain's prime minister sunak says king charles' cancer was caught early on. prince harry is headed back to l.a. after just a 24-hour stay in london. nile gardiner will join us.

kjp offended by the decision to skip the super bowl interview. more of the media are picking up on this. martha maccallum will discuss. the 10:00 hour of "varney & company" is next. 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 news and insights. trade brilliantly with schwab. a force to be reckon with. no, not you saquon. hm? you! your business bank account with quickbooks money, now earns 5% apy. ..

yup, that's how you business differently. if your business needs a new application then developers will have to write code. a lot of code. if an application needs to be modernized then you'll need time, resources... and caffeine. if this sounds daunting then use watsonx code assistant ai designed to multiply developer productivity so you can generate code quickly. let's create a more modern foundation for business, with watsonx code assistant. ibm. let's create.