before, here's the problem, disinflation doesn't mean the cost of living is going down they said the cost of living is going down and it's not going down it's still going up and we had a forty-year spike in inflation $1.9 trillion that we did not need put us in a situation that everyone is suffering in the leisure and hospitality jobs those are still by far the worst pain jobs author, i want to get props, of all people they put out a piece today sort of being honest about this whole thing, the bottom line economic confidence is much, much lower under president biden, d.c. the arrow is where all the free money came in, speaking of free money, ashley webster and for liz claman. >> did someone say free money,

thank you. did you see how i perked up, great stuff. thank you so much. i'm ashley webster in for liz claman. we begin with the fox market alert stocks mostly lowered to kick off the week. the s&p 500 and the nasdaq extending last week's decline really the market treading wa water, they're down reversing course up 40 points or there about coming off the worst week since october, the s&p 500 and nasdaq also went off the lows of the session of the sour but still on pace to post the back-to-back losses. investors are cautious ahead of key inflation data this week we have cpi tomorrow, ppi on thursday and as we know those are two important measures that the fed will watch very closely as it decides what to do with rates, let's talk about nvidia also under pressure after posting the biggest one-day loss since may that was on friday

shares are up 75% this year. nvidia leading the way in the a.i. world nvidia in the magnificent seven as well, j.p. morgan today downplaying concerns over a bubble in the highflying tech stocks saying the magnificent seven are not too pricey there still magnificent. bitcoin if you been checking bitcoin hitting another all-time high today surpassing 72000 for the very first time are we verging on the crypto bubble later crypto winter and we have a crypto bubble were get a tackle that later this hour but first let's get right to the floor show joining me this afternoon asset management president and cio kevin man and prosper trading academy ceo scott bauer, thank you both are joining us. kevin let me begin with you. the magnificent seven is still the magnificent seven and were

treading water for a little bit as we wait for the next a lot of inflation numbers but overall magnificent seven still leading the way. absolutely got to remember magnificent seven encountered for 62% of the return of the s&p 500 this far this year it's accounting for 44% of the total return of the s&p 500 backout tesla and its nearly half the magnificent seven are leading the way, the good news this expansion is starting to expand beyond the magnificent seven and that's very constructive for the stock market. ashley: let me ask you this. if inflation numbers come in a little cooler than estimated this week both cpi and ppi does that mean the market will get revved up because i was enable that the fed to cut rates more

aggressively or are markets too optimistic about what the fed could do right now. >> i think the markets are getting incredibly optimistic look where we are is the market right were the fed right or maybe neither it was a couple of months ago the beginning of the year the market was pricing in six rate cuts, maybe 150 basis points where the fed has been consistent with three, now they have kind of come into line a little bit but the market has taken that the market has taken the optimism of six rate cuts and really hung in there were trading near all-time highs right now, is the sustainable and if those numbers are cool how is the market going to react, i'm not so sure we may not get a by the rumor sell the news type of event where we get a little breath of fresh air and a sigh of relief in the market

says maybe we were right and we sit still or sell off a little bit. ashley: let me follow up with kevin, is the market overly optimistic about what the fed can do with regard to cutting rates. >> i believe the market is pricing in a near perfect execution of a soft landing by the federal reserve and i do not believe that's given at this point time if we look back to history as a president the last time the federal reserve started cutting interest rates before getting the inflation back to the 2% target was in the mid-70s, what happened back then we saw inflation return in hit double-digit levels paul volcker had to step in and raise short-term interest rates to a record high of 20% to stamp out inflation but guess what that brought on every session in the fed is trying to thread the needle right here have a difficult job to do and rates are going to stay higher for

longer issues the question of how high and how long i would not expect to see a rate cut prior to july of this year. ashley: interesting, very quickly we are talking about bitcoin above 72000. it's been on a tear, what is your take on that. >> there's a lot of reasons, number one the massive inflows in the etf's and the helping coming up in a month or so there is so much optimism that people want to front run the event, history shows that in the run-up to two or three prior happenings we have seen a run-up in a little bit of a selloff, is it sustainable at this level i'm not so sure i would not be surprised if we saw a pretty decent pullback before the having and another run back up into it.

what about supply and demand the bigger the demand and the supply cost is limited the price goes up, it would be interesting to follow kevin, god, thank you for joining us this afternoon on this monday the market is treading water. we appreciate it. breaking news president joe biden in new hampshire at this hour wrapping up his speech where he pushed his plans to lower healthcare costs and prescription drug prices, the president appearing at the ymca in the last half-hour, it's his first visit to the granite state in two years and it comes as a president rolls out the budget request for the new year, fox business edward lawrence is at the white house he's been digging into the numbers, good afternoon, what did you find. >> it's been a riveting day going through the spreadsheets and numbers and the president are proposing a budget that will significantly increase domestic priorities and the smaller increase for defense spending priorities the fiscal year 2025

budget would increase the domestic discretionary spending by $28 billion while decreasing defense by $16 billion which is a negative increase when you factor in inflation. >> we actually need to understand what our interest what can we afford. how can we leave the globe and protect american interests abroad we don't have the budget capability to do it all in because we lost our industrial base were relying on china for most of it. >> the president spending on a number of social programs, childcare affordability and also calling to expand free community college tuition as well as expanding medicare to pay for this and president plans to increase tax revenue, the president wants to raise corporate tax rates to 28% law increase the minimum corporate tax to 21% from 15% the budget at the minimum billionaires tax of 25% and the president

believes will bring in $500 billion, the budget removes and repeals tax credits for oil and natural gas produced in the u.s., it raises an extra $403 billion in tax revenue. >> that is my goal to cut by 3 trillion to make the wealthy and big corporations finally begin to pay the fair share. i'm a capitalist if you can make a billion bucks, wonderful payer fair share. >> that was earlier today in washington, d.c. before he went to new hampshire, the budget has been delivered to congress and republicans as well as democrats will be going through the budget and we both know the president is not going to get everything he wants. ashley: no he's not, pay your fair share, that's about all he seems to say. i digress, thank you so much and taken the time to dig through the numbers i know it was thrilling, the grocery list seems to be shrinking as prices remain skyhigh thanks to

inflation, the foreign company is planning an expansion and promises of lower prices, we have the details on that straight ahead. as we head to the break, grocery stores stocks are trading, amazon, costco, kroger all over on the session, "the claman countdown" is coming right back. but starting it eight months pregnant... that's a different story. with the chase ink card, we got up and running in no time. earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase with the chase ink business unlimited card. make more of what's yours.

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ashley: investors are not the only one waiting tomorrow's february consumer price index report it will reveal how sticky inflation remain like eggs bread and milk. economists expected increase of 0.4% month over month and 3.1%

year-over-year, core cpi call for an increase of .3% month over month 3.7% year-over-year, still as you can see higher than the feds 2% inflation target. u.s. is also keen to see the grocery store but one foreign company is promising to bring lower prices to america with the major expansion, fox business k lisa barry was in chicago with more without a german-based aldi plans to grow its presence in the united states. it sounds interesting. >> i could be the inflation driving customers to come to this discount chain. some surveys estimate this is the cheapest option for shoppers for the staples like eggs and bread. all these known for being corky that is not just corky for the fun of it it's really the

specific characteristics of the store of what drive prices down including having to use a quarter to get your shopping cart and bagging your own groceries and labor costs are down and that means they can give you cheaper prices. in the statement aldi said wait up to 40% savings on groceries new customers are inspired to try us out in existing customers keep coming back if you don't have an aldi near you picture a store roughly the square footage of your kroger more than 90% of all these products are from the groceries on private label this happens as they skyrocketed 25% since 2019, outpacing overall inflation, the recent you got survey says a lot of people are blaming major food corporations for being greedy and the biggest grocery in the u.s. of walmart accounts for 25% of the grocery store market. in 2022 the ceo doug mcmillon asked companies to help us not

have to pass something onto a customer referring to the cost, they say grocery store profit margins are higher than pre-pandemic levels therefore consumers are going to be the ones feeling the pinch ahead of tomorrow's cpi report, meanwhile the biden administration has not gone after any corporations directly for price gouging despite calling the greed greed flechette at the same time aldi has also finalized acquisition southeastern groceries which runs winn-dixie and harvey supermarkets. for our viewers in the south you may notice the supermarket could have this aldi format. i appreciate that from a windy chicago which is the name of the city. let's move on the elephants may be gone but the ringling brothers is back working to talk to the ceo of field entertainment of the reimagining of the greatest show on earth.

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ashley: the ringling brothers of the circus has returned to the big apple after a six year hiatus, the circus wrapping up

estate in new york with a totally reimagined lineup, no lions, elephants or animals at all, clowns are being given the boot, the big boot in their place, 75 performers and one robotic dog, the greatest show on earth is officially back but of course as you can see with a much different look, joining me now the company that is behind the circus for more than 50 years, entertainment ceo kenneth feld, let me begin with the reaction to the new show so far it clearly is completely different. >> is completely different but it stands for the same thing and we've been overwhelmed with the positive response, it is a throwback but it is geared for today's kids in today's parents of the new grandparents of today

and the whole family could be together and everybody walks away with a great experience. ashley: it is interesting, are today's customers about different in times past, that's all families that's really what we want and all of our entertainment and it's geared for families in different generations to sit next to each other and enjoy what's going on and they all take home something different when they're talking about what was your favorite thing. ashley: based on your feedback what about the robotic dog, bailey circuit is a robotic dog has his own dance contest and for some reason he wins a dance

contest. that is a humorous thing that we added. the show if you really think about it at the largest playground and the circus performers come there and do the most amazing feats on this playground. we help people see this show and they leave and they want to play ringling, 365 days a year and every year will come back with a brand-new show with lots of surprises. ashley: i understand animals have been taken away from the show, why the clowns the people hate clowns what's the reasoning. >> the clowns are there in the humor is there, what is not there is the heavy makeup we want the audience to see these

are real people from 18 different countries around the globe doing things that everyone can understand its non- entertainment but it works for everybody. ashley: the younger generations in particular like to spend money on experiences that's what they tell surveys, there's a lot of competition for their dollars new to competitive world that you're in. >> is a competitive world but there is no experience like ringling brothers. that is another nomenclature, they say this is an expense that is an experience. what it is we create an environment and have a show and we are performers doing things that you cannot believe in every generation can sit there and next week other watching go home and the have a different conversation in the car on the way home because everybody like something else and that's a greatest complement that we can

get in it really fulfills what were trying to do. were showing the on the screening of other properties in monster jam, disney on ice, drastic world, to name but a few, how are they performing, the bigger question, how is the consumer doing? >> the business is better than it's ever been, a lot of it were a real value tickets are affordable for families and they come in they have not experienced and were seeing a tendency where people are making the decision to go a little bit later and they have a credit card and they want to wait until the next cycle but that's only difference, we are getting the volume and that is important. i think there is nothing comparable for the money that

you would spend a ringling brothers barnum now. ashley: so far the attendance has been very good? >> the attendance has been great and built every week, the new york market has been extraordinary, this friday we open in bridgeport connecticut. ashley: we got that invited the end, thank you for joining us and continued success with the show, robotic dog sounds fun. thank you. fox business alert, energy company eq t at the bottom of the s&p 500 after it announced it is buying back the former unit midstream and all-star deal the combined company expected to be valued at more than 35 billion including debt, the transaction expected to be completed in the fourth quarter 2024 pending regulatory app

approval. bloomberg reported the u.s. justice department has convened a grand jury as part of a criminal investigation into the mid air blow out of a boeing door plug on an alaska airlines flight in early january. but we not the bottom of the dow is the probe assigned investigation of the company is deepening even though it may not result in charges, boeing is down about 3%. ballet shares soaring after a buyout from a hedge fund general that values a casino operator is 684 million. he offered to buy all shares that it doesn't own for $15 each, the general larger shareholder of the gambling and entertainment company with 23's% ownership, bally is up more than 20%. oppenheimer raising his price target on netflix, over 615 to 725 bucks the investment firm is bullish in the long term subscriber, oppenheimer did

maintain it's raining at an outperform, not doing much for the stock, down about half 8%. here's the question will homeowners withdrawal rate mortgages finally put their properties up for sale as a spring homebuying season is nearly here. the ceo real estate firm compass will be along to give us the key to unlocking the golden handcuffs. we will explain. the vanguard real estate investments etf taking a beating, but about a preset down half 8% today. we'll be right back as an independent financial advisor, my promise to you is simple. as a fiduciary, i promise to put your interests first, always. i promise that our relationship will go well beyond just investment decisions.

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ashley: homes are flooding the market that's what realtor.com is saying, the new study from the real estate agency shows the median price is 415,500 but the number of homes for sale in the 200 - 350000 shot up by 26.6% compared to the same time last year here to break down in the ceo compass robert ref ken, great to have you, the average price is pretty high to say the least, the bigger issue is inventory are we seeing more homes come onto the market. we have more inventory 19% than the same time last year and 9% more homes are on contract, more inventory equals more sales was the year sailors sellers were on

the sideline but now they're back in the reason that there back, they are tired of waiting, it's been almost two years were rising mortgage rates kept them on the sidelines and they can only hold back the life of interest we call them the five d's diapers, diploma, divorce and death those events when they happen movement is required. ashley: okay we used the term golden handcuffs it refers to the fact that someone is sitting on a 30 year mortgage, 2.75% data would give that up especially in today's rate environment and that is what we have a shortage of homes is that still a factor. >> it is but much less so last year end 2023, january, 72% of homeowners were locked in at 4% mortgage rates were below and now it's 58%, 1% less every month that goes by.

ashley: we also hear the banks continue to be pretty stingy they have a lot of tight requirements on mortgages, is that still the case. >> were still seeing more requirements and mortgage than we were in the prepared endemic. , that said, mortgage rates went back below 7% last week, it feels good and i would expect more to continue to come down for the rest of the next year. ashley: as we head towards the spring season april through june, you seem pretty bullish, i am bullish compared to 2023, we still have only a third of the inventory that we had at the prepared endemic. , last year looks like to have been the bottom, last year we saw though that was level of home sales since 1995, 28 years ago and the population is 27

bigger now than it was then. we really had a historically challenged real estate market last year. ashley: are we still see in the movement of people that are buying are they still moving toward the florida and texas and moving out of higher tax states like new york and connecticut, is that still the issue. >> we see people move to the warm weather low tax states like the carolinas yeah texas, you florida and the real push in the tech hubs in the bay area and seattle where the sentiment, if your stock portfolio out of all time high you don't need low mortgage rates and a lot of people that are paid at the technology companies are paid in equity. ashley: that is a good point. let's talk about first-time homebuyers we know how difficult it's been the median price 415,000 that is pretty steep,

what is your outlook for those people that are desperately trying to save enough money for a down payment then go through the banks, what is the best advice. >> my best advice is to wait for the moment where inventory comes back to the market in a significant way. when inventory comes back there may be a case where prices decline and when they get to five-point something% we get to a big flood of inventory and you may see price of climes at that point. ashley: is american dream still live been buying your own home come the white picket fence. >> i suddenly believe so. i am the sign of the real estate agent i mom is an agent has been my entire life in the real estate is in my blood i work with 30000 agents at compass in

the brokerage in the country, selling more home volume than any other company. i certainly believe in the home it's more than just a home with the neighborhood it's a community, it provides a sense of belonging and it really matters. ashley: i only ask that because there generations that went through tough times and saw their parents go through the financial crisis. there little leery of jumping onto the homeowner ladder so to speak, they prefer the flexibility of renting even though none of the money is working for them. there is a fear. >> we are seeing younger people that are not buying homes as much they are renting, more so than the previous generation and we are seeing the average time of owning a home is longer so last year the average time that a person owns a home was 13 years and ten years before it was a and ten years before was

eight, less new people are coming into the market and the older generation is holding on. ashley: what would you say to the youngsters that say i'm going to rent i'm scared to put all my money in the basket. >> i would say when you look from a historical perspective more millionaires were created the real estate industry than any other, homeownership has a lot of incentives and not just personally but from the tax code to make it very attractive for you, even if you want to move from one home to another home there also tax benefits you can roll it over to the second home depending on how much the value is, there are a lot of benefits not just personally but not just financially of owning a home. >> absolutely i'll put you down

as cost optimistic of a family rule later's. great stuff. thank you so much i pressure your time. a two-month milestone approving spot that queen etf. remember the fanfare as the original hit an all-time high above 72000, the nation's top crypto research analyst will be here to tell us what exactly is driving the rally. take a look at the crypto ecosystem as we head to the break, most of them down block chain, micro strategy up a preset, block chain down 4%. we'll be right back with "the claman countdown".

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ashley: we have some breaking news for you. looking live at the senate select committee on intelligence's annual hearing on worldwide threats and just moments ago director of national intelligence avril hainess discussing your nation's security. hard to imagine how ukraine could mold territory it captured from russia without new u.s. aid. there is rapid increase of ransomware attacks in 2023 roughly 74% over 2022. with u.s. entities mostly targeted. iran backed mill likes that like houthis in iraq are using the gaza conflict to pursue their own agendas. we'll keep you apprised of any developments. that is out of senate right now.

bitcoin is kicking off the week blessing through new all-time high of 72,000 bucks after the uk's financial regulator, the fca said it will not object to the creation of crypto backed exchange traded notes for institutional investors. the london stock exchange announced it will begin accepting applications nor bitcoin and ether etns in fourth quarter this year. bitcoin rally fueling record inflows for the bitcoin spot etfs it is remarkable. here to discuss the soaring numbers and grey scale rally is the head. great to have you. quickly begin with the news out of the uk. seems that is another very positive step forward for your, for the crypto world, right? >> i would agree. we're seeing a continued maturing of the asset class. which means partly broadening of the products available to give

investors access, starting with etfs here in the u.s. market. we're seeing other jurisdictions offer a broader range of products to investors. that is something that continues over time, continues to drive demand for bitcoin. ashley: so where do we go from here, zach? obviously etfs enable ad lot more money to put into this currency if you want to call it currency but this asset class. how far can it go in your mind? >> it is an incredible start to year for bitcoin, roughly 70% as you were saying. the proximate cause for that is the demand for bitcoin spot etfs which have taken $10 billion after they launched in early january. this tends to be a cyclical market. it tends to be momentum. we're in a bull market here. i think prices can continue to rising. a big risk to the outlook is change in macroeconomic outlook

in the u.s. the bitcoin is macro asset that competes with the u.s. dollar. they should look ahead after inflation or federal reserve policy considering whether this bull market can continue. ashley: we're showing you an etf on the screen now, gbtc. it has seen continued outflows into other etfs perhaps with lower fees. i have to ask you, does grayscale plan to stick to the 1 1/2% fee, does that change at all? >> first i would say we're incredibly proud of gbtc, the role it plays in the bitcoin ecosystem and returns it has delivered for investors over time. we're committed to making this a competitive product and i do think investors can expect fees to come down over time. grayscale again is a die percent vied crypto specialist asset manager with a wide range of products. we encourage investors to check them out. ashley: very good.

i want to talk about ether this spot etfs. i was looking at the notes. the odds of getting approval by may down to 30%. it was 60 to 70%. how is the sentiment at grayscale on this? are you optimistic we'll see approval for the ether etfs in 2024? >> well, we think approval is a matter of when and not if and you know, to our eye the circumstances around a potential ethereum etf are very similar to the circumstances around the bitcoin etfs we have futures-based etfs in the market already. we have an active filing. we'll await more information on that over the course of the summer. i do think for the crypto industry an ethereum etf would be another important moment. bitcoin has a particular use case. etherium has a whole another set of uses. etherium etf could open up investors perspective to the

range of things happening in crip co. i think it will be another important step forward for the industry when it does happen. ashley: very good. we saw president trump today, you could say flip a little bit on bitcoin. he says his administration, if elected would not crack down own the use of bitcoin or other cryptocurrency through regulation which begs the question, how important is this general election coming up with regard to cryptocurrency? >> so crypto investors will be looking at a lot of legislative changes potentially after the election. we were fairly encouraged though that most of those discussions had a bipartisan nature in the current congress. so i think we can see legislation in the u.s. progress, for example, on stablecoins regardless of who wins the white house. beyond that though i think investors should remember to look at the macro policy issues on the ballot this year. again about it coin competes with the u.s. dollar, competes with physical gold. we should be looking at things like the amount of deficit spending that's expected, how

much debt growth we can expect in the u.s., what are the risks of inflation. these are the kind of things that are going to potentially drive demand for bitcoin beyond the specific legislative changes that we may see targeting crypto specifically. ashley: zach i will finish on this. you have come along way since the collapse of ftx. a lot of people were saying this is the beginning of the end. it has proven to be anything but, hasn't it? >> that's right. crypto is back. we're delighted to see that. i think the industry is excited to show the world what this technology can do over time. ashley: very good. all right, we'll leave it right there but thank you so much. zach, for being here today and we'll continue to follow the upward trajectory for now for bitcoin. thank you so much. >> thank you. ashley: all right, the closing bell, thank you, ringing in what, just about five minutes from now. as you can see the dow limping into positive territory up 14 points but the s&p down

slightly, same story on the nasdaq and the russell 2000 down close to 1%. really muted, treading water today waiting for those inflation numbers to come out this week. we have breaking news on tesla. according to its website the ev maker is raising the price of its model y to 43,990 from 42,990. it is up $1000. it also increased the price of the long-range model y to 48,900 from 47,990 in the u.s. tesla in early 2023 decided to trim the sticker prices of its evs because of increasingly crowded market but it seems to have reveried that decision. deutsche bank by the way cutting its price target on tesla to 218 from 250 per share. that was today, but kept its buy rating on the stock. tesla at 177.42 up 1% in a very muted trading environment. so okay, that is the latest on

tesla. price is going back up. now this, the 2024 oscars, well they're in the rear view mirror but our "countdown closer" joins us now what he calls award-winning picks for the year. see what we did there? joining us with 70 million bucks in assets under management, sound planning group ceo, david strewski. great to see you. let's get right down to it. give us award winning picks. >> great to be here, ashley, as far as the picks go go now we need to understand in history, that is very unique moment, if we look around the world, not just talking the s&p 500, dow jones, nasdaq at all-time highs right now. we're talking about the nikkei which is japanese's market, japan's market rather, for 304 years they have not found themselves at this level.

they are here today. europe, the same place, they have rallied up to highs. last week gold and bitcoin hit all-time highs the exact same day. zoo as far as the award winning picks we'll be looking for here, i will encourage people to understand that yellow metal that has currently no position in any 60/40 portfolios out there has been rallying in a very significant way. why is it rally? primarily because of china and china purchasing of it thousands of tons annually, central banks, essentially. i personally see we will see a rise here in these metals but be very, very aware metal miners have been beat up really bad for approximately two decades now. so i believe they're finally getting repriced. i think if you look at their p-e ratios, you look at the fact that gdx, which is the van eck gold miners, they happen to be like the largest etf out there

doing this, getting this exposure. i think that you look at the last 12 months and it has made 4% in total. how is that possible with gold being at $2200? i don't see it. i think that these things are poised to rally right now and you're going to see that significantly shift. ashley: i detech caution? your voice, david, you believe the u.s. and the world face significant risks escalating conflicts, growing deficits, inflation, political instability, oh, my, does all of this worry you that much? >> ashley i have to say i think there is a high probability we're going to see more challenges come out. we're literally sitting here at the anniversary right now of when silicon valley bank and signature bank both filed for bankruptcy and we had the biggest bank bailout in u.s.

history just one year ago today. the market is up. everything is doing great but everything has been priced to perfection in my opinion and if we understand with what is happening with inflation right now, we have a hotter read. happening in unemployment, guess what? the numbers continue to get revised down after the headline comes out. we look back at these numbers, they're not as bullish as we started to see. >> right h. ashley: right. >> i think all forward indicators stirringsnalling recession are there right now, ashley. i think the backward looking ones the fed is paying attention to will catch up. ashley: i hear you loud and clear. message received david. [closing bell rings] thanks for joining us as we head towards the closing bell, the dow, how about that, up 56 point now in positive territory at least. nasdaq down. that's it for us. larry kudlow. ♪. larry: hello, folks, welcome t