billions of dollars in fines then there are the reputational issues, the naacp and other civil rights groups urge a boycott of facebook raising questions about whether big brands will stay loyal back to you. >> all right julia we'll see if the bounce can continue with all the concerns in the background. >> owe money even for facebook. >> i'm monitoring the nike call. stay with us >> "fast money" begins right now. "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq market site overlooking new york city's times square pete najarian, dan nathan guy adami. ton on fast the bears are not hieber naturing, coming from tech, the nasdaq, s&p 500 tech sector entering a bear market. down 20% from the highs. in the market loses the old lead leaders, a top technician tells us which take the reins.

the nike shares up 7%. the conference call kicking off right now we bring you the latest headlines first we start off with the selloff. dow was down 700 points i have dr. en by fierce of a looming government shutdown. let's get to ylan mui in washington, d.c. >> melissa this has been a fast moving story let me break down where we're at right now. the house is preparing to take a key procedural vote on that short--term spending bill fundingthe government through february 8th the bill would include roughly $5 billion in funding for the border wall as well as $8 billion in funding for disaster relief the whole exercise is driven by a demand for conservatives to take a vote on the border wall something so important to their base and earlier this afternoon at the white house, president trump made it clear that he has their back >> i am asking congress to defend the border of our nation for a tiny fraction -- tiny

fraction of the cost essential to border security is a powerful physical barrier, walls work whether we like it or not. >> now it is unclear if the republicans actually have the votes to pass this but whichever way this goes in the house, risk of a shutdown is growing. if republicans pass the measure to add money for the border wall to the spending bill it's dead on arrival in the senate therefore we are more likely to head to government shutdown. if the bill fails in the thousand that means republicans are back to square one unclear if they could pass a clean spending bill, something with no strings attached even if they did unclean if president trump signs it guys we are counting down to final hours before friday at midnight deadline to fund the government it's a long night here on capitol hill. >> ylan sort of like choose your own adventure. two pronged scenario but it sounded like both scenarios it

looked likely a government shutdown tomorrow. >> the odds have risen dramatically here. in the house right now one of the big questions is how many lawmakers show up to vote? we oep anticipate about 400 lawmakers voting in the house. that means they have to hit about 195 republicans supporting this measure to fund the border wall and the stopgap spending measure right now they are whipping the votes and making the deals we'll see what happens. >> thank you ylan. with the latest it's been a fast moving story today it's been the nightmare before christmas for markets and investors. the looming shutdown the latest factor weighing on stocks along with the federal reserve path to neutral and the escalating tension was china. the s&p spiraling toward bear market territory now down more than 16% from the september highs. with the markets in turmoil is there any end to the selling in sight? what do you do next. >> is it a nightmare. >> that graphic scared me.

i was going to run away. >> that was a nightmare it's disbelieve that music is haunt being, right it's interesting tuesday night tim said that -- i thought we'd have a dovish fed the market rallies he said a dovish fed is priced in he was right given the last couple days and the move down. what now the we talked about the need for the vix to print 30. guess what printed 30 today you had a big volume day today i think it sets up given what time talks about the oversold condition in rsis and a market corraly over the next couple sessions, mel. >> if you look at s&p at one point intraday peak to trough yesterday to today's lows 6%. but in rsi that's not built over two days it's something building to you know this from october. but 18 we haven't been there since march of 2015. so really oversold i tend to think that in government shutdown is -- is a non-event in a different marketplace. let's be clear

we've been there before. as much as d.c. dysfunction is something that's another ingredient for stocks, this is all about slower growth. it's all about credit. the worst chart you can look at is the high-yield bond market which has gone straight down the last two days. and then frankly the yield curve which is something you got down to 2.75 on rates if you don't hold the levels at 10-year uktd be at 2.30. >> it's not the shutdown itself it underscores the dysfunction in washington even a in a congress not held by the republicans. next year when it's not held by the same party it could be greater. >> with foreign policy we have seen people like lindsey graham break with the president about the pill out of syria. what did we see fed chairman powell do? obviously they are independent but he basically refused to be put into the box that the president tried to do. we are seeing unforced error out of the white house

that's very clear about this week i think mel's point is that you know next year it only gets worse in that regard because what did ylan mui just say even if the house votes on that c.r. tonight it's dead on arrival in the senate. the senate that the republicans hold. >> yeah, guy brings up the fact the huge move in volatility we got to move to 3030 huge move in the volatility index also massive volpe yesterday over 27 million option contracts. volume has been there for the last couple of days it's been surging in towards the end of the year do i think the volatility is over with? i think the surge to 30 is a great sign of something potentially. but if not i still think we are seeing volatility for a long time, mel. because the fact is how long do we think what i think is the most important thing on the table continuing to be the trade war? how long is that lasting i think it lasts a quarter or more. >> it sounds like you aring saying they are going higher are you running for cover. >> i think volatility is here to stay last night at it was too low

26 too low 30, 28 probably pretty accurate to are we are trading right now. bus i'm talking about the intraday moves i'm not talking just high to low. i'm talking the intraday and what we see right now a phenomenon we hadn't seen in a while. it's always one direction that's the direction. this rally and selloff has been up and down down and up and down the moves are amazing at the end of the day. >> the whip saw action intraday we mentioned at the top down as many as 700 points on the dow jones and then managed to end the day higher from there. can we take any solace in that, any solace that the banks upon a relative basis were trading better versus the broader -- you are shaking your head. >> you are looking at him i'm shaking my head. >> answer the question. >> i don't care about relative strength right now on graups like the banks or some strolls or transports. there is no leadership there is into no leadership i don't care we were at 2940 late september and now below 2,600 or

something. there is no leadership and i just like i thought in september that maga was the key. microsoft, amazon google apple it's the thing that causes this market to bottom that's the only thingthat can do it in my opinion. >> we have gotten to place where people don't care about equity multiples or valuations at this point. and i think that's a dynamic that investors really need to try to look through. because valuations do matter and we are getting a place here, you know, fedex which i was wrong 25 bucks ago saying it's a trough multiple but they are being treed as if they are not near record profits. that's something people need to think about. >> can i ask i call on myself to ask the next question. >> thank you. >> if we don't have a grip on what 2019 earnings will be how do we determine the multiple for next year? if we are at a point waiting for q 4 earnings and guidance coming

out in january or there abouts how we don't know how do we know if the multiples are fair? or is it because they are relatively to historically. >> multiple. >> or for the environment. >> i think s&p is not seeing 7% earning growth even with 2% with buybacks in other words roughly 40%, 30% the ground downgrades on some level have been priced to a number of stocks but i think vamgss can be read within the context where the companies are. i think the s&p in an environment where the fed is pulling back, the s&p multiple has been compressed dramatically and probably gets benefit from the fed. >> i think the market struggles with the same question on the way up as well we talk about it on the way down because it feels different i think in terms of 2019, listen, i'm with pete, i don't think this china situation is going to be rectified any time soon the worse our market looks and the lower it goes, the more i think it emboldens the chinese my opinion with that said everybody seems to be on the same side of the

market as collapsing boat and i think tomorrow is a day that could fake out a lot of people i think you could re-test the 2530 level we talked about forever. that's like a little bit more than a 2% move to the upside i don't think that's out of the question tomorrow as well. >> our next guest says the d.c. drama will lead to more stock pain let's bring in kim wallace now with the urjia group great soz you. >> thank you melissa. >> we were talking about a government shutdown and in any other market this event in and of itself may not be a market mover. what has investors looking twice at this event this time around. >> everything you all have been talking about. >> okay. >> markets -- washington matters most to markets if there is a sufficienter in fundamentals or sentiment. we are going through both right now. and washington is not showing up to restore confidence. that's why there is a focus on this you're right from economic and financial standpoint if there is a shutdown and lasts for two weeks that won't matter to anybody except for the workers

who don't get paychecks during the period this is the confidence game and we are losing the confidence game. >> in terms of extrapolating what the d.c. dysfunction may be what is the first thing that investors connect the dots to? this dysfunction in washington may mean this doesn't get passed or this other thing doesn't happen what do you think. >> this means as we go into the first half of next year, particularly the first quarter and you have testing of a divided government and how it wants to deal with fiscal policy, debt ceiling, funding for 2020, all of those issues will have a sharper edge to them going into the debate and then markets will be more keen to watch how it's conducted, because of the lack of confidence from in episode >> hey, kim, it's tim seymour. do you think anything is going to change in terms of either monetary policy? we heard a lot from the fed the last couple days but from the parts that you used to sit in whether the dollar is in a position it could continue

to possibly weaken, this is another thing we have been talking about on the show because a lot of people had bet in favor of a stronger dollar. with fickle doing what it's doing, economy doing what it's doing do you have a view. >> my view is that powell was pretty clear and the statement was clear from the committee they're going to normalize both in terms of the portfolio and in erms it of rates as long as they can. and right now they are less concerned about frankly the markets or for that matter elected politicians. more focused on the fundamentals which they find acceptable in the near term and really focused on trade, the issue with china you have been talking about. >> specifically on the issue, kim, we learned today that the u.s. is bringing charges against two chinese nationals when it comes to cyberespionage. corporate cyberespionage how does this influence the trade talks? >> well, it has to have an effect because it's about building trust when you sit down to a negotiation and there is very little trust between washington and beijing right now. as we go through every one of

these he saids, whether huawei or the recent espionage charges, that there give bureaucrats on both sides reasons to pull away from the table, whether they are real or trumped up -- no pun intended there -- people wil have pennsylvania hard time sizing the market for a healthy negotiation. that adds time to the back end >> so that's interesting because initially when i thought about the cfo being arrested and this event also, you think maybe it gives the u.s. more leverage in some respect to demand more out ut of china but you say this pro longs the trade negotiations and makes it less likely a faster resolution will happen. >> i think that's that's right because you have two sides overplaying their hand china believes that washington is coming after its economic base and can wait out this administration i think that's a bit of a miscalculation any also believe that the u.s. economy is going to continue to weaken and that will affect the president. on the u.s. side they look it at

the financial charts and they look at the economic data coming out and they believe they have the upper hand which i believe is a overcalculation on the u.s. side right now you don't have in my view at least you don't have an environment for a healthy negotiation much less successful negotiation. >> which doesn't bode well for markets. great to speak with you, kim thank you. >> have a good holiday. >> you too kim wallace of the. >> i don't think it's all that market moving. i understand i why are why we lead with the story like that but there are other factors at work i do think everybody is universally bearish and it's probably correct the next month or so i don't think it's correct the next three or four trading sessions >> who cares about the next three or four. >> that's what we do on this show. >> we're going into christmas week. >> how many days >> literally the market is trading on fumes the next week 1/2. >> the next three or four

sessions i understand what you are saying but i think they are important because i think the sentiment turn mere is the kind of thing we have been seeing. the retail community i mean the amount of people i saw freaking. >> it turned. >> especiallily with no liquidity in the market. you can have the exaggerated effect when people run for the door going off to get the fruit cakes and whatever their christmas cooking. >> you mean the christmas nightmare. >> i think there is a couple of things going on. i think sentiment to me in the r.a.a. community and in the retail community is starting to become unglued and that is something that in a low vol environment especially with the headlines is worth watching. >> if you are trading right now you are home alone. >> look at you >> mr. wallace talks about downside risk and we think about that but there are short term moves within that answering guy's question the about the next three or four days we could see up and down we are seeing bullish and bearish activity here tan there process everything is short in duration in terms what have people

expect and it's been like that for about a month or more where all the trade i see whether in big etfs, spdrs, you name any of big etfs i'm seeing stuff happening rapidly they play out well for the most part. we see a lot of that last night mike khouw talking about the protection on the downside in the triple qs. we see that every day but it's short in duration. >> the higher we go in week into the new year is the lower we go into you know january. >> but there is trade in between. >> year without a santa clause. >> dan is a die hard. >> no micer. >> see what i did there. >> coming up, talk about bad energy, crude crashing 4% and taking the energy sector down. every stock in that sector sitting in bear market is this group a no touch speaking bear markets. nasdaq entering one. down 20 from the highs a top technician weighs np check out nike jumping after hours.

the conference call happening now. live from times square in new york city. much more "fast money" right after this you always pay your insurance on time. tap one little bumper and up go your rates. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it?

news flash: nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪ welcome back to "fast money. crowd getting crushed. plunging 4%. the commodity on track for the worst year since 2014 and traging down stocks in the process. the sector hitting the lowest level in three years sending

every stock in the sector deep in the bear market how low can oil go in is it a no touch. >> a break on 50 on wti signals possibly a move to 42. and the dynamics are not just supply this is clearly look at the manufacturing survey we had a philly fed today weak a new york fed you are getting anecdotal evidence on the demand side. i think the names on the free cash flow yields frankly as good as you've seen in the companies. we saw it at $80 oil we see how they do at 56. you show up the sign for volumer o. they were. and i think sits something interesting to look at. >> we play a lot of games on the show we played trade tor fade at a few weeks ago. >> trade it or fade it. >> one was exxon mobil. >> are you starting to play a

game by yourself just trying to understand. >> recreate wlag we talked about. i had the red thing go on it was fade we talked about the potential for trade back down to $70. >> i like the trip down memory lain. >> dan is gratifying me here we are now. here we are now at 68.5. to tim ace point cash flow it's a great balance sheet. valuation is probably the cheapest in a long time if you don't think the world is ending tomorrow exxonmobil mat 6.5 is interesting. >> i own exon, chevron both of them it's painful. but you have to have some patience in this market. i agree with tim $50 i thought that was sort of a base. it wasn't we plunged through there. 42 is probably next. i'd say for now if you're in the there already why not be very, very patient and not just are jump in until we see some kind much turn in oil which we have not seen it's been down, down, down been, what three weeks a month straight it's down and why are we. >> what are you waiting for?

opec blew up all the shale stuff come china and asia demand in general fallen off a cliff i go back for the last time oil got cut in half in '15 and 16. global growth scares issues with china. i get a sense we are in a similar period now we did come out of that -- >> but we're in the we're not. let's be clear as much as i've talked about downward -- or headwinds on global economic, et cetera, i mean we are in an griermt where the global gdp is 3.5% global demand is growing every year part of in -- i think is just positioning frankly. >> that's a great one. that's the best look ever. >> you know. >> should have done this the split box we could seen the look. >> i can see it because i'm looking. dan has a chart he has the exxonmobil chart up. >> he does. >> and looking at potential double bottom going back to 2015 and he knows i'm right just admit it dan. >> take it outside. >> listen, i think it's fantastic that you want to buy

all the names on valuation as it seems like we just spent some time in the last block talking about how. >> patience, patience. >> the point is to not necessarily be caught in the moment momentum winds that blow at all times. because there are a lot of people looking for good companies at a built price that built the list and some of the integrated names are healthy so. >> all right. >> there you go. >> boom wrp was the split screen. >> we had one. >> late. >> there you go you have it again. check out shares of nike jumping after hours on conference call going on right now it's another dismissive look from dan deal i'llry you the latest headlines in the call. i'm melissa lee. you're watching "fast money" on cnbc first in business worldwide. here is what else is coming up on fast. yup. santa clause is coming to town, at least for cryptotraders as bitcoin soars this week. the president of the coin base will be here to tell us what it means.

plus, pete najarian is getting in the christmas spirit, too. and le step up to the plate to pitch the one stock that could be a gift for your portfolio eris mh refathe ucmo "st money" right after this the same iot technology on the ibm cloud that helps race teams improve performance and safety. bye. girls, don't wave at strangers. can now be built into everything we drive. when you apply expertise across an industry, bye! you can put smart to work.

breaking news out of d.c. trump tweeting moments ago that general james mattis will be retiring ylan mui with the details. ylan. >> we are learning this news as well here is the full tweet that president trump wrote. he said that he will be retiring at the end of february after having served my administration as secretary of defense for the past two years he said that during jim's tenure tremendous progress has been made especially with the respect to the purchase of new fighting equipment. he said that general mattis was a the great help in getting allies and other countries to pay their share of military obligations. he said that he will name a new secretary of defense shortly, just addeding to some of the changes chaos in washington.

secretary mattis now retiring. >> a lot of job openings in that administration thank you ylan and you are saying you think this underscores dissent in the administration. >> i think listen. >> what did you think he was going to say. >> i'm being sober about this. this is troubling. h.r. mcmaster are leaving. the generals were nicknamed by the resistance as the committee saving america keeping the president from his worst inclinations we have a situation right here. >> hold on. >> by tweet he pulse out of syria and praised by putin but people of his own party are up in arms and obviously mattis is up in arms and he is leaving. when everybody ises leaving ep accelerate zploos i think the dynamic here with the syria news the last 24 hours to posh to think about. let's be clear it's important from a markets perspective to think about where we were on the defense sector. companies like lmt and general dynamics and even boeing were the favorite places to hang out.

unfortunately i don't think this is supportive to companies that also that's a case where i don't think those valuations are terribly cheap i think this is more bad news for a sector that frankly used to be one of the fair statement. >> let's get back to today's selloff. a number of big tech names slapped dragging the nasdaq into the bear market for the first time since october 2011. bob pisani at the nyse with what's behind the move >> hi, melissa the nasdaq 100 was the market leader going into the fourth quarter. up 20% for the year. that was a long time ago then it all went south right in the beginning of october after fed chair jay powell made the infamous a long way from neutral comment. remember that. some of the biggest names had big falls. facebook hit a high in july. it's 40% off the highs, same with alphabet topped out in july 20% off the highs. most big names topped out in october. apple topped at the top of october now 32% off highs. amazon 28% off highs

microsoft holding down 12% these five stacks alone believe it or not comprise 45% of the market cap chip stocks doings worse nvidia, 54% off the highs. micron, 51%. applied materials. land research 45%. here is the most amazing number in the stats despite the carnage, the nasdaq 100 only down 2% for the year. amazing. back to you melissa. >> thank you very much forget about technology. who needs technology, right? it's a new year, out with the old with the new in. our next guest says there is a another sector that could did he thrown tech. >> thank you, melissa. we continue to see this rotation out of technology. one question i get from everybody is has tech bottomed

everybody has a fascination with stocks like facebook, apple and google these are down 20 per. if that's likely it's likely they have not bottomed people are sick of the red on the screens. but this is the tech versus the s&p. it shows this. we cracked nearly a three-year uptrend versus the s&p back in september. we are starting to show more signs ofrolling over and if anything that tells you that even if we get a bounce we really need to reclaim to think that tech is making a comeback we are not that oversold either when you look on relative charts look back in 2013 this was the area where tech was truly oversold when you can say, okay, here is the time you want to consider buying tech now we have just seen the break literally three months ago really on any bounce technology would be would be one you would consider selling not really thinking this is a sector you want to get into what is looking good, however is health care. okay health care has been one of the

worst performing sectors in the last month however it's the second best performer all year as you can see based on this chart we saw a huge three-year breakout of health care versus the s&p happening back in past summer it got extended pulling back if anything this represents a great buying opportunity consider buying into health care on the pullback thinking the secretarier is going to continue to rally in the year ahead if anything, my thinking is the obamacare ruling likely is going to be overturned the selling has gotten ahead of itself what groups to favor in health care you have to look at the pharmaceutical space particularly given the market volatility merck is one of my favorites you see this going back in the early 2000s. i think this gives great chance to buy in. look at former highs in the 90s. this hits near $95 you have a chance to buy it in

the 70s. my thinking is you find support in the next couple of weeks. as soon as this volatility stabilizes a bit but this would be my pick among stocks like pfizer, lilly, merck, abbott labs they offer relative safety and a bit more stability than you see in technology for sure final chart look at the s&p. so we have seen this break really in the last couple of days and unfortunately, you know, s&p has formed a pretty decent topping formation that started back in january. one thing i want to point out, everybody is saying momentum is oversold it has gotten oversold on a daily basis. however weekly basis we are not nearly at levels we saw back in 2008, 2009 on a monthly basis s&p really got oversold and we are no where near that also it's on a daily basis only that s&p has gotten to oversold levels we only see 2% of all stocks above the 10-day moving average.

my thinking is this decline this put back to 2376 peace a 50% retracement since 2016 there are a couple of short term cycles now past fomc sentiment will turn bearish more quickly. people think there is no catalyst to lift the market. if anything you want to look for a day like tomorrow on quad which with heavy volume with more the capitulation. i'm a buyer from 2376 up to 2430 in s&p from an investment standpoint you need s&p back over 2,600 the bottom line it's a tough market right now and you really want to see more evidence of stability you know before you jump into the market. >> all right mark thank you so much mark newton. pete najarian, i know you like some of the pharma names are you concerned about a divided congress next year and this move by large drug companies to go ahead with price

increases come january. >> i think there are so many things to be concerned about about every part of the market right now. but i think the pharma names to the point there, they seem to be holding up, mr. pfizer or merck or some of the names lilly was another name looking at the triple qs, man has there been a lot of put buying in there for request quite a while. pef than short term and extended out when i say that two months out to february. they aren't seeing they being the huge buyers of downside are not seeing an end to reiterate what was being said up there at the board in terms of the charts they're saying they totally grow they see a fall off. the fall off continues maybe to the low 150 where we are now maybe into the 140s. >> the end of november unh gave this year's guidance and reaffirmed and all guidance for 2019 looking at earning growth they have le get eps growth given the guidance but this is a stock going down 16% in the trading

valuations dan might not agree but it's valuations you haven't seen are for some time it's been taken to the wood shed this is a stock looking for an opportunity in my opinion is as good as it gets unh is really interesting. >> what we have saying about health care the last four or five years especially when challenging on top line growth is that health care is insulated these guys grow eps as a secret north of 20% that's somewhat countercyclical, acyclical to where we are in the market overall but i agree with guy and i think dan would agree with this. the problem is. >> what. >> the problem is that unh is a leader. >> i don't. >> you should because this is your statement basically leadership that's been lost in a sector that actually had been defensive tp and that should be a concern i'm not sure i want to jump into health care. >> pd i want to talk spdr. he talked about the s&p fiefd. we know we had the low volatility the largest peak to draf because 3%.

the s&p 500 closed up 20%. that was the trump bump in anticipation of deregulation and tax cuts that sort of thing. this year has been the trump dump and i think it continues into next year. and i think like all things of his agenda that are going to be repudiated i think the stock market gains are going away next year we are on a round trip back to 2,200 i think all the rallies. >> but you've been thinking this two years, right i mean haven't. >> you not really. not really. >> well i just -- to just say now it's all coming down hard you're basically. >> in 2017 we had global synchronized recovery. the growth coming. deregulation there was a lot of things that people were looking forward to. >> do you writing off 2019. >> the assumption that it's coming tumbling down in terms of regulatory changes in the environment. >> everything that i see points. >> i can't think ofa single catalyst for the markets next year where is coming from.

>> swap out tim give me pete. >> that's not enough people it's not enough. >> you know the interesting thing is if there is anything we can get done in terms of the trade wars i think you're wrong. up to that point i think yes fl. >> how much damage is done by the time that happens. >> that could recover big time you know that as well as i do. >> we have to go to break guys >> have to pay the bills commercial. >> check out shares of nike story after hours. up 7%. conference call under way right now. we tell what you investors so excited about in quarter much more fast after this.

i still can't believe how incredible the screen is on the new iphone xs. and our unlimited plan really takes things to the next level with your choice of the best in tv, movies, or music. it's the perfect holiday upgrade. i know what i'm asking santa for this year. you still write letters to santa? no. please. i send him emails. can i get his email address? oh... i don't feel comfortable sharing it. get the iphone 10 s and our unlimited plan with your choice of the best in tv, movies, or music. more for your thing. that's our thing.

welcome back to "fast money. we have more details on the resignation of general mattis. >> we have a resignation letter from general mattis, the defense secretary who says he will leave his office in february this is the letter he sent to the cht of the united states and it's going to be parsed very, very carefully for signs that this defense secretary is leaving unld a cloud here, leaving apparently because of strong disagreements with the president of the united states on fundamental and core issues in america's place in the world. the defense secretary writes, one core belief i have always had is that our strength as nation is inextricably length to the strength of our unique and comprehensive systems of alliancen and partnerships while the u.s. remains the indispensible nation in the free world we can't protect our interests or serving that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing

respect to those allies. he also says similarly i believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to countries who strategic interests our strategically intentioned with our citing china abrussia as key kpafrmgs my views on treating allies with respect and being clear eyed by malline actors a strategic kpet remembers strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. the defense secretary goes on to say because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects i believes it right for me to step down from my position the end date for my tenure is february 28th, 2019. so the defense secretary there saying that his core values involve being forthright with our allies, treating them with respect and also being clear eyed about the men as to the united states around the world, particularly china and russia. and saying that his views in

essence are not compatible with those of the president of the united states on those issues. therefore he is stepping down. so the president's tweet earlier suggested that mattis would simply be retiring but the resignation letter from the defense secretary indicates he had core and fundamental disagreements with the president of the united states on key issues involving the united states place in the world, melissa. >> eamon, there are a lot of vacate youcies or will be a lot of vacancies it seems in the administration typical at the 2-year mark of an administration to see this turnover or atypical. >> we have seen atypical turnover in the trump administration generally it's typical at the 2-year mark that people leave after the mid-terms. what's not surprising and see the defense secretary would send a letter indicating he disagrees with the president of the united states on smus like russia, china and u.s. alliances around

the world. >> eamon thank you eamon javers at the white house for us. >> well, i think we -- you know, this makes sense and again, series, a big deal we threw putin two christmas presents in syria and r. us l.a..ic soo that's an issue. >> the nike on fire all year plus christmas came early your cryptoinvestors as bitcoin soars 20% this week and the coin base ntesident says key developmes could send the space booming in 2019 he will be here to explain

welcome back to "fast money. as you know the santa rally never came for the markets but you know who did make the nice list this year bitcoin if you can believe it in the last week the cryptocurrency surged about $1,000 a rally sending it over $4,000 after a terrible year. bitcoin has down a whopping 80% from the highs a year ago. let's bring in a man at the center of the cryptocraze. president of the largest cryptoexchange asef great to see sfwlu good to see you too. >> i'm not sure the last time we spoke, bitcoin 14 k or 14 k kwab to a it was higher though what makes you think this is the start of a move higher that we'll see continue into 2019 when 2018 was so terrible after all the prognostications that it

was a terrific year? >> yeah, look, if you remember about this time last year when when bitcoin was up near 20,000 we put out something at that time saying, hey, sometimes things get ahead much fundamentals effectively reminding people to take a hard look and see ifs in right for them or not and asking them to be careful and we got a lot of negative press for doing that but you recall we did that and i think it's the old adage are things are never as good as they seem. never as bad as they seem. to quote buffett, bee greedy when others are fearful. i think the amount of innovation that's happened in cryptocurrency in the last year has exceeded everything in all the years before it. if you look at the number of engineers going to yoipt currencies and the projects being launched we have never as much information as we have had today. >> how has the decline in bitcoin change your business if

at all asiff because the platform announced many more kwoins people can trade and invest in. when i heard this happened it happened when the bitcoin was in 3 thousands or 4,000s. i wondered volume is drying up and they are trying to juice the volume numbers by offering more products to trade. >> yeah, look, i can see why people might think that. the reality is that three or four years ago bitcoin was the only thing that mattered in cryptocurrency then ethereum came along and now there is probably three to four thousand cryptocurrencies. probably 200 that should matter. and you should assume we will over time add all the cryptocurrency that is matter in as mageoographies that matter zbloots you should expect more over time. >> this is dan

obviously the price momentum was driven by retail traders you spent a good part of 2018 building out the suite of institutional dwrad things like -- like custody and that sort of thing. >> yes. >> are you seeing uptake of the custody product? do you see that as a catalyst into the next stage of whatever that is for cryptocurrency is the stage set i guess for institutional investment. >> yeah, great question. i think the -- institutions need -- they need a valid venue to trade on. they need a qualified custodian to store with. and they want to make sure that the -- that there is actual liquidity, right we built a lot of liquidity. we have the best most regulated most compliant venue on the planet and we have the only qualified custodian solution in the space. and so we think we laid a lot of the infrastructure to allow institutions to start to invest in cryptocurrencies. we also -- our market data underopinions many of the derivative products out there. and we think having a healthy

derivative market is essential to the formation of pennsylvania healthy cryptomarket we think we have done a lot. we actually had hundreds of institutions onboard on our custodian. we have blown by the internal goals we set for that business just today we were have having a review of the business we feel good where about where we are with the business and we think 2019 will be a good year for the institutions going to crypto. >> back to my question about institutions, i don't want to beat a dead horse. i mean future volumes has droid up as bitcoin went down to 3,000, 4,000 et cetera i ask that in terms of the context of the valuation for an ipo. >> are you valued lower versus when bitcoin was at close to 20,000. >> okay, yes, so you would know we did a round earlier this year where we were valued at 8 billion. i think we looked at where the

market was looked at where we were. and we had a number of -- we had a number of institutions come and proactively want to invest in us. we basically took money for a rainy day. none of those investors were betting on the price of asset today, tomorrow or even a year from now if that's your time horizon you shouldn't be -- as an institutional investor you shouldn't be thuchg right. but if you have a long-term constructive view of where cryptois going we are the best leveraged bit bet on cryptoyou can find that's why a institution like tiger led the round and we have great people following and we are happy with who came in in terms of are our valuation, our revenue is directly tide to the amount of trading volume and the trading volume is lower today than a year ago. our revenues are down. just like everybody else in the space. >> ip the o. asiff let's fast forward and get to that. >> we have a long way to go before we do the ipo so many things we do as a

business and we are focused on building a great business. >> great thank you happy year. >> still ahead nike soaring after the earnings beat. we hear from the company ceo right after this break (indistinguishable muttering) that was awful. why are you so good at this? had a coach in high school. really helped me up my game. i had a coach. math. ooh. so, why don't traders have coaches? who says they don't? coach mcadoo! you know, at td ameritrade, we offer free access to coaches and a full education curriculum- just to help you improve your skills. boom! mad skills. education to take your trading to the next level. only with td ameritrade.

not long ago, ronda started here. and then, more jobs began to appear. these techs in a lab. this builder in a hardhat... ...the welders and electricians who do all of that. the diner staffed up 'cause they all needed lunch. teachers... doctors... jobs grew a bunch. what started with one job spread all around. because each job in energy creates many more in this town. energy lives here.

♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪ we have an earnings oorlt on nike soaring in the after hour sahr are eisen with more. >> nike giving a bullish forecast on what was a very

strong quarter expecting the growth to continue the cfo just citing high single digit to low double digit growth for earnings into 2019, continued margin expansion, obviously the strong dollar does chip away at some of that. says they have visibility into 2020 and what they see is strong demand they call this sustain ability in our growth going forward, and they said it looks stronger than previously expected for the year why? well, the nike executives including ceo mark parker talking a lot about the groesht growth initiatives on the call women's digital apparel and turn around in the jordan brand listen. >> with the jordan brand we are seeing positive results from the strategic shifts that we're making in q 2 jordan grew double digits and we returned to healthy sustainable growth in north america. at the same time, we have continued our pace of double

digit growthonly we are making great progress in diversifying jordan. >> and melissa, added bonus, international strong cfo said he sees no impact on the business as a result of the u.s. china trade friction and tensions in the relationship after 27% growth quarter in greater mc. >> wow sarah, quick almost out of time piem time when you say visibility into fiscal 2020 they have a different it's not calendar year, correct that's going into what time frame. >> correct correct. so they're on a little bit of a different calendar year. making projections for 2019 and fiscalle 2020. all we got is insight there and strong demand. nothing specific on the guidance there. but i think they put in place structural changes and have such a strong innovation pipeline that's sort of anecdotally what he was speaking to. >> sarah eisen at the nyse

tim you hold nike. >> i think it's a great company bounced on the key 65. china revenues up 25% in the quarter. many came in slightly better than other people expected. >> up next, final trades

final trade time pete. >> i love seeing option paper today. short-term microsoft love it for a bounce in a week. >> tim. >> check out altria making critics in ee sigs and cannabis. >> nike.

two thirds of sales outside of north america. i don't get that. >> who do you like thursday night football no one playing. >> foot locker on the back of nike. >> "mad money" with jim cramer start s right now. my mission is simple -- to make you money i'm here to level the playing field for all investors. there's always a bull market somewhere, and i promise to help you find it. "mad money" starts now hey, i'm cramer. welcome to "mad money. welcome to cramerica other people want to make friends, i'm just trying to save you money. my job is not just to entertain but teach you. try to explain the darn thing. so call me at 1-800-743-cnbc or tweet me @jimcramer. why own stocks at all? who wants to be subjecte