growing fast >> pete? >> marvel technology i think it's going higher. >> tcb >> i wouldn't buy it. >> good stuff. thank you have been much that does it for us. "the exchange" with kelly begins now. thank you, scott welcome to "the exchange," everybody. i'm kelly evans. here's what's ahead at this hour airlines are ramping up their warnings about safety in the skies. we'll speak with the ceo and venezuela in turmoil are sanctions next we'll talk more. and post less, she said, and lurk more. why it's time to spend less time posting on twitter and more time reading and what that would mean for the company if everyone started doing it we begin with the volatile session in the markets seema mody with a look >> and those comments from 345r owe draghi, that's what started

it we were down 113 at the low. so we're just off the lows currently down 77 for the dow. the nasdaq, the bright spot. we're about to tell you why. but first on the earnings front, the big mover is mccormick & co. on pace for the worst decline since 1980 ouch semiconductors those chip makers that performed pretty badly last year outperforming today. some big upside results. that stock up, wow, 17%. that's helping intel gain ground here kelly, back to you >> the analysts kicking themselves on that one stocks have been fleck waiting all day since wilbur ross told "squawk box" this morning that the u.s. and china are still,

quote, miles and miles from a trade deal also incoming data has been weaker than expected and we saw that with the numbers today. also oil prices have moved higher as the political crisis in venezuela continues but the government shutdown is creating a mess in the ipo market bob pisani is at the new york stock exchange where today could be a test of this one. >> the government shutdown is beginning to seriously feel that wall street the critical issue of ipos. this morning gossamer bio would atrack little attention if not for the usual going public without the explicit approval. that's because the s.e.c. is down they're going to have a workaround to declare a price and go public in 20 days without the s.e.c.'s input another company may do the same thing tonight. new fortress energy is set to go

public postpone the ipo or announce this same workaround this is a lot of risk here going around the s.e.c number one, you got market risks. they have to wait 20 days before they go public and secondly, there's legal risk if they mess up the application, the s.e.c. could come back to them later and ask them to essentially do it all over again. that's a bit of a risk right now. that shows you how desperate people are getting. >> for sure. thank you. bob pisani watching that for us. now to the latest in the government shutdown. the senate is scheduled to vote on two bills today neither are expected to pass but lisa murkowski now says she'll back the democratic spending bill ylan mui has more. how big of a spend is this >> if you see any defections, it's likely to come from republican who is are going to be supporting me democratic proposal to go through february 8th. but keep funding levels unchanged and not include any wall funding

senator murkowski says she's going to support both proposals. but with if both of these measures fail, where do we go from here? mccarthy is calling on leadership from both parties to get together, lock themselves in a room and not leave until they have some sort of deal that's not that different from what we're hearing now with moderate democrats in order to reach some type of compromise that could be presented to president kelly right now these are ideas. there's a lot of talk, but there's not a lot of traction happening here on the ill. >> this is like what tyler was saying last week we need a conference or committee or something simpson bowles or something on this but stay right there let's bring in jimmy on this as well with more reaction to the shutdown and the comments from wilbur ross on china trade this morning.

so james, what ylan just said about this bipartisan idea, the fact that lisa murkowski is now going to vote for both of these bills, do you see movement here? >> you know, what do they say about bankruptcy it's slowly then all at once i think that's where we're at. it moves slowly and you see, you know, someone here willing to vote for the other side's bill and people start talking and then i think potentially it can move pretty quickly. listen republicans are getting murdered in the polls the real world impact whether it's airlines or it's people, you know, missing paychecks, that is not going to go on indefinitely this is not going to last for months or years. i think now we're really at the days, maybe weeks, but not many weeks. i think there's going to be a bill and in the end, if the president doesn't accept that, there would be an override in the senate

i thought that's how it ended. but it happens >> so you think the likely course is they give him something, maybe it has the border spending but not the wall he vetoes that, they override it are we out on a limb there >> i don't think so. listen the -- again, polls are really catastrophic the president, he's focused on just the core republican base. senators might be like gardner, murkowski. this will not go day after day, week after week. >> and an own goal as they say in soccer from commerce secretary wilbur ross this morning, you know, the comments about how oh it's fine for the government walking that back, what's that going to do you think to resolve this? >> you know, mccarthy was asked about this when he was talking

to reporters he very clearly said that he feels the pain of federal workers workers that this is hardship for them and neither party wants to be seen as sort of heartless or unsympathetic to those facing hardships here i will also point out to mccarthy that whether the idea of $5.7 billion in boshder security but that didn't include a new wall, if that's something that would be a nonstarter with republicans. he said absolutely so. so i think that even though the president and republicans may be getting murdered in the polls, i think amongst the base this is playing well i think that's part of the reason why the president has taken such a hard stance on this you know, conservatives have really gotten behind him on this we've seen some polling that shows support for the wall has grown. >> jimmy, you want to answer

that because from this to suggest republicans aren't going to move forward without funds for expanding the wall, then we're right back to where we started. >> day after day ratcheting it up you know, i don't think i'm being overly optimistic in saying that we're not going to be talking about this at the end of february. you're going to -- >> still a month out still more than a month out. >> yeah. well, that's a month out i don't think we're going get there. yeah i don't think we're going to get there. i don't think it's going to be tomorrow now it's a cliche we're seeing cracks in the ice but i think that's kind of true. >> i think the good news here is there's new elements being brought into the discussion. right? more money for border security maybe some potential movement on immigration. even though there's no agreement

on those things, there's other pieces -- there's other threads they can pull in order to weave together that compromise that has been so illusive i think folks are all sort of trying to figure out what is the path out of this maze and as they find new pieces, maybe they can put the puzzle together. >> jimmy, before we go, do you think this is a defining moment the way wilbur ross responded to that topic today talking about the shutdown workers >> right well, i mean, republicans don't want to be seen as being thoughtless, reckless, you know, indifferent to suffering the wilbur ross statements were -- that was what those were encapsulated in a couple of sentences. does not help the republican case >> all right thank you. i will see you soon. protests erupting in venezuela over who should run the country continues. saying the time for debate on venezuela is over. the government is bankrupt

venezuela was the fourth biggest supplier of oil to the u.s. last year many of our refiners rely on their cheap crude. let's bring in jeff ramsey of the venezuela program at the washington office on latin america. jeff, you know, it's such a difficult situation. is all of this international pressure going to push madur out? >> i don't think we can expect to see a transition if it doesn't include the military and some kind of split in maduro's circle unfortunately, we haven't seen that we have seen major protests across the country yesterday we've seen a bunch of pressure endorsement by the opposition. without that split, i don't actually see the equation changing on the ground. >> so if we want that split, we now are looking at the type of sanctions the u.s. could impose or might be coming one option is just to ban imports of venezuelan crude. it would hurt our refinders.

it might actually hurt the venezuelan people. how would we best have those sanctions target or create a split as you mentioned >> well, you know, i think there already are a series of important sanctions on venezuela. the u.s. has leveled strong financial sanctions that restrict the ability to get access to new debt there's a ton of sanctions within the maduro government as you said, oil sanctions would have secondary effects on the venezuelan people that are already suffering from widespread scarcity of food and medicine i don't think there's any shortage of pressure i don't think we can see some kind of solution to this crisis that doesn't involve some kind of negotiated settlement because this is a not a government that's going to hand over the keys without first getting certain guarantees. >> who should be in charge of that is the u.s. going to be able to strike some deal with maduro are you talking about cuba, russia which had some kind of phone call with those today.

maybe you can offer a way out of this even though they won't really come out and condemn maduro's speculation. >> there's a lot of speculation that cuba could play a role as some kind of good faith here i think there are a lot of countries that are on this issued a joint statement supporting the idea of some kind of negotiated settlement and suggesting they could provide some kind of good offices diplomacy around that. so i think again, there's a lot of pressure on venezuela right now. pressure without engagement is counterproductive. that needs to be channelled into something productive. >> what happens if venezuela collapses on what we already witnessed? they had an exodus out of the country. their crude imports have fallen

by half since 2016 again, that's one of the few remaining revenue sources. both for the people and unfortunately for the current government >> i mean, the situation on the ground in venezuela is heart breaking it's people who just a few years ago were enjoying middle class lives and they've seen their entire savings wiped out it's a daily struggle to get access to essential medications and affordable food. you know, i don't think that this can go on in any kind of meaningful way. >> thought that for a couple years now. i take your point, a negotiated settlement will watch for any movement on that front right now there's not a whole lot more we can do other than to put a lot of pressure on the government jeff, thank you very much. >> thank you >> here's what's coming up on "the exchange" -- >> ahead, are stocks stuck in neutral because trade is stalled and the shutdown rolls on? we'll debate flying high.

american airlines profit forecast beating estimates today. but will there be a breaking point as the shutdown lingers on and the controversial comments from commerce secretary wilbur ross that has everyone talking - in a crossfit gym, we're really engaged

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welcome back to "the exchange." check out markets. we're near session lows across the board. dow down 143 the nasdaq hanging onto a five-point gain. we had a pretty good start to the year the dow was up more than 5%. our next guest is saying the defensives are not working so far this year like they were at the end of 2018. let's bring in barry james he's president at james investment research. it's great to talk to you. we have been on quite a tear so far here but now a little bit of a stumble. are you still confident things are going to move higher, this rebound will continue? >> i do. i am confident we were due for a bit of a pullback, anyways. once you have a run-up, 8%, 9%, 10% in a lot of stocks, it needs to take a breather and digest things like the shutdown and the like which it ignored. the things we're seeing that support that are from a technical basis, there were

almost no stocks trading above their 50-day average price that's generally a sign that things are going to turn around. in addition you had more people bearish than bullish so this had some legs to it and we think it can continue at least for a little while >> i know you're a stock picker anyway sometimes bumpiness can give you that opportunity we talked about micron when you were on early december what are some of the areas that you think look like opportunities? >>. >> i think number one is value type of stocks we've gone through 11 years where it's been growth, growth, growth we've been going through this transition period which has been painful here recently. and last year company with no earnings are up 17%. companies with earnings down 7%. i think when you go back to a

more logical market where companies with earnings are going to do better, it's a good thing. >> you're probably not a big tesla, netflix, that kind of guy, right >> yeah. we think part of this is you should be getting a bit for defensive. buy things like perhaps some gold you never know what's going to happen in the world market or the government or the doctor and like a kroggers or verizon and have -- you know, just good solid businesses that should do well in this environment >> and on gold, you're actually saying that look at newmont which is in the potential big merger it's harder to get gold out of the ground these days. i won't get into the argument about the yellow metal, per se, but this company you think is one way to take advantage of that

>> it is the price is pulled back in newmont. makes it the largest with gold reserves in the world. and the one thing that newmont's always been good at is squeezing the costs. may take a little while, but the price of gold is generally kind of inverse to the dollar so if the dollar starts to weaken a little bit, that should be good for gold and good for newmont. >> you mentioned kroger and verizon. you think the economy, it's okay out there? it came up this morning in davos saying here in the halls everyone's pessimistic but out there in the american economy, it's still pretty strong and we had a great year until about september. and the latest hiring information we've gotten is still pretty good. so you're upbeat on the fundamentals >> yes the economy is going to be

strong this year won't be as strong as last year. but 25%? you don't have those type of repeat earnings. those will provide some backdrop and a cushion. but we do expect more volatility just because we're moving into a period of a little bit slower growth overall on the economy. >> barry, always good to talk to you. thank you so much. >> good being with you >> that's barry james joining us coming up, united health is suing the health over stealing trade secret we'll see what unh has to lose plus the tariff has hit one industry particularly hard we're live in louisiana with the fifth generation farmer at risk 3,0-rearg his 00ac fm straight ahead ♪ hawaii is the first state in the u.s. to have a hundred percent renewable energy goal. if we don't make this move we're going to have changes in our environment, and have a negative impact to hawaii's economy.

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around the world drive growth and save millions. he's very into this. yeah. is that the standard amount? yes. feels good. when your partners are obsessed with business and technology, you can put smart to work. welcome back to "the exchange." check out the airlines today a number of the stocks moving higher beginning with jetblue which beat estimates this morning with revenue coming in slightly above forecast. the airline warning the u.s. aviation system is nearing a tipping point. also strong earnings and an outlook for 2019 this despite a hit to problems and american airlines beat estimates. it, too, issued an upbeat forecast for this year and the airline says there's

been a slowing in some bookings, yes, due to the shutdown, but that overall demand is strong. american up nearly 4%. and the ceo doug parker will join us for a live interview coming up in a couple of minutes here on "the exchange. here's what's happening at this hour, everyone. the senate intelligence committee subpoenaed michael cohen to testify according to cohen's legal adviser lanny davis. this a day after cohen planned to postpone an appearance. national security adviser john bolton says the u.s. is working around the clock to strengthen venezuela's new government >> we're speaking with governments in the hemisphere which overwhelmingly recognized new constitutional government. we're talking to our colleagues in europe and elsewhere to

demonstrate political support for the interim support. >> sergey lavrov blasting the, quote, rude meddling in venezuela. he urged them not to become pawns in someone's game. he was speaking with his algerian counterpart you are up to date back to you. >> all right, sue. thank you very much. just 30 minutes to go until "power lunch." i'm join bid melissa lee it was interesting to hear jim cramer talking about how maybe there should be people looking into that selloff on christmas eve. >> yeah. i mean, this was another one of these cramer impassioned cries i thought it was worth discussing we're going to talk about this much more in "power lunch. but essentially he was saying it was a thin volume day on christmas eve. the dow fell more than 650 points the s&p fell 66 points and regulators should look into it whether it be the exchange officials, the s.e.c., the treasury department. minor detail here.

nobody's on a shutdown that's besides the point it brings up this notion of is it against individual investors. is that the way they're going to feel i think this begs the question if we're going to investigate the downturns in the market on thin volume, you also investigate the markets that pop higher >> and what if that had happened on the 31st? it would have had a much bigger impact at least we rebounded a little bit in the last few days this stuff matters >> it's worth talking about. this notion of high frequency trading and the role of them in the markets and the impact on investor kpf eor confidence. >> and we'll do just that. here's what straight ahead on "the exchange." >> coming up, a key economic indicator hits a 49-year low and that's a good thing. is it time for reporters to post less and lurk more on twitter? and is rilbldeort e eflae odanth

future so, servicenow put your workflows in the cloud, huh? mmhm. your employees must love you. [ chuckles ] thank you. you could say that. i love you. servicenow works for you.

welcome back let's catch you up on a few h d headlines. it's time for rapid fire

here with their takes is courtney reagan, jon fortt, and making his debut frank holland no pressure, frank job less claim is the lowest than 1969. that had larry kudlow saying the jobs report was up significantly. the claims don't include government workers but it seems to point to a strong economy >> overall, yeah it also doesn't include a few states bottom line, strong economy. yes there are discouraged workers out there but at least people aren't getting laid off >> exactly again, we were talking about this yesterday, but there's a difference between when you don't get the data because of the shutdown, you are relying on these anecdotes. but it doesn't seem like the news flow is that bad. >> not at all. excuse me, courtney. we're also seeing wage growth which is good for consumer spending it's all around a sing o cyclical thing that's helping

everybody. >> yeah. so i'm hoping this tight labor market because it seems to be such a mystery continues to push wage growth higher i think that's really important. even just for morale for employees. walmart keeps moving up the pay because that's one area that's in high demand for walmart and across the board when it comes to trucking. >> every other commercial is about indeed.com can't find good workers? up next, wilbur ross making some waves in his appearance on "squawk box" this morning. listen to what he said when asked about government workers who have been furloughed >> the banks and the credit unions should be making credit available to them. when you think about it, these are basically government-guaranteed loans because the government has committed these folks will get their back pay once this whole thing gets settled down.

so there really is not a good excuse why there really should be a liquidity crisis. >> he later tried to clarify by saying i was trying to encourage people to know they could go to their -- what do you guys think is going to be the impact of all this >> i think it also leaves out the 4 million federal contractors who are not going to get back pay it seems tone deaf i just know how it sounded >> i was going to use that word. tone deaf. something like eight in ten americans in general live paycheck to paycheck that's a lot about a third of americans only have about a thousand dollars in their savings account. i'm not saying that is the case with all the federal workers that aren't working right now. >> but it's probably a good cross section of america. >> exactly and unfortunately we're not all in the position to pay our bills and live normally when we're missing one, two, maybe three paychecks or more. >> facts are important here. banks, especially the big banks we reached out do have specific programs for federal workers you can pay your credit card

bill late, miss a mortgage payment. but you have to call there's a lot of leg work that you have to do and in a lot of cases, you have to have direct deposit with the bank. there are a lot of people that could slip through the cracks. federal contractors, some of them are going to get back pay a lot of them will not so just the way he addressed it didn't really seem to leave a lot of compassion for the people who are in those situations. >> speaking of compassion, we talk a lot about financial stress and what that does to a person we talk a lot about it in marriage i looked it up in the american psychological association says financial stress is the number one stress that americans face i mean, this is a difficult thing to go through. >> larry kudlow came out with a full throated defense of government work afterwards i don't think that really came out in time. but it was pretty strong and he really tried to say, look, we value what you do and you are doing an important service. moving on. in the wake of the incident between catholic high school students and a native american

protester that went viefrl, "the new york times" has some advice for journalists. tweet less and lurk more the times is going to have a topic with him on twitter. >> i've been a twitter lurker. you dropped out all together you're a trend setter. >> are you a lurker? >> sometimes i search for my name on twitter. you know, i just -- i want to know i can take it, i can take the hate >> they're not talking about you. no, you're gone. but it's a lot safer especially as a journalist when there are things when we haven't done the research why put your opinion out there that's absolutely what so many people got dripped up doing with this covington thing all the details weren't out there and they were hair trigger with their opinions. that's what we don't do. >> i'm not a big tweeter myself, my dad says a craftsman doesn't blame his tools. twitter is a tool. if you're reporting, put out facts out there. don't put out a lot of scanners out there. make sure you have your information right. >> i do think it's interesting

and twitter does give anyone a voice. you can have access to it if you're anyone a journalist or not. for better or for worse, i think there is some value there as well but i like the idea if you're a journalist, stick to the facts right? if you use the tool right, i think we agree that. >> i think more newsrooms are going to say you know what when you tweet everything you say -- which directly represents us and needs to be vetted through us and better safe than sorry. >> and if they're not saying that already, we should assume that's true. >> this means they're probably coming for us next you know, everyone still on twitter. some of the world's biggest brands including procter & gamble are doing a test initiative so sell products like deodorant and detergent in reusable steel containers meant to be returned, cleaned, and refilled. this is all because of the war over plastic >> i love this if you monogram it, make it really nice. >> you want your deodorant --

you're going to mail in a steel canister to get your deodorant >> maybe it doesn't have to be going back and forth amazon is coming to my house every other day anyway if they get more efficient and give me nicer packaging, i'm okay with it >> it's retro. we saw that will milk back in the day. and it's another service it creates jobs. and a lot of us are kind of lazy if we don't have to go to the store and carry the tide or whatever -- >> because we're lazy like me, i just want to get my deodorant. i don't want next time to order it to take a canister and send it in. are these canisters actually going to work? >> i mean, i don't know. i think this is a really good intentions but can you make this work certainly not for a profit on a small scale at all i think we're going to get some information about consumer behavior and how willing you are to go through this i think about the compost bin at our building i would like to tell you that i compost my food and take it down never once not once

>> you're not alone in that. >> i would like to say i'd reuse my deodorant >> we're not talking about reusing the deodorant. >> just the canister >> anyway. finally, have we reached peak pot? the latest big names, carol bartz and joe montana. they helped raise $47 billion in funding. she was on "squawk alley" this morning. this is starting to remind me of the crypto craze >> except there's a real thing, a real physical thing that does something underneath it. >> for better or worse, by the way? >> for better or worse there needs to be more studies on the actual effects of cbd, marijuana, et cetera, et cetera, cannabis but there could be something there. but yeah again, the theme here seems to be more information and careful about reusing. but there could be something there.

>> respectfully there's been a couple hundred years research on marijuana. people like it and they want to buy it it's a commodity like coffee beans or grapes to make wine. you need to differentiate it and brand it if people like joe montana, they might like his cannabis. zblit just reminds me of crypto. i got an e-mail today from a lawyer i'm not launching my cannabis advisory business. >> i think we just need to learn -- for me it's not peak pot because i don't know that much about it. i need to learn more about the industry >> i don't know much about it either but those of us who have been law-abiding in the past are now penalized. >> how does this work? >> i don't want to why? why? >> i understand that too >> clearly we are not mainstream here. >> no. every time we do a pot segment, i'm like i got to do a lot of research >> it's like, geez, too bad i didn't break the law and smoke it up when i was growing up. then i'd have an edge in the market right now >> i could be an adviser with joe montana. >> catch up, kelly

>> no. i refuse anyway, thank you, all coming up, shares of american airlines are soaring today on strong fourth quarter results and strong 2019 guidance but will the government shutdown trip them up we'll talk to the ceo doug parker exclusively when we come back how do you gauge the greatness of an suv? is it to carry cargo... or to carry on a legacy? its show of strength... or its sign of intelligence? in crossing harsh terrain... or breaking new ground? this is the mercedes-benz suv family. greatness comes in many forms. lease the glc 300 for $479 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. ♪ ♪ our new, hot, fresh breakfast will get you the readiest.

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welcome back to "the exchange." shares of american airlines are taking off today after the company reported a strong earnings beat. they're up 4%. as the shutdown rolls on, some are warning it could have more and more of an impact. how bad could it be? right now with us is our own phil lebeau with the ceo of american airlines on what looks like a trading floor welcome to you both. >> it's the operation center for american let's start with the fourth quarter. these were nice numbers and your outlook for 2019, this doesn't

look like an airline that's worried about business slowing down >> we're not we're seeing strong demand for travel 2018 was a difficult year because oil prices ran up so much, our earnings did fall. as we go to '19, fuel prices have moderated travel demand remains strong >> domestic and internationally. you're not seeing an area where there's some concern right now >> there are pockets such as south america. but yeah, no overall, you know, basic economies, strong demand for travel >> let's top the government shutdown and the impact there. specifically, are you worried that this is an industry that is stressed and a system that is stressed right now as we're hearing from the air traffic controllers, the pilots, the flight attendants. everybody is saying it's got to end soon because we're on the precipice of something not good happening. >> sure, we're worried the reality is we have a business that is largely

dependent upon federal employees, tsa screens all of the customers. faa, atc controllers direct air travel those people are working without pay now for too long they're professionals. they're showing up and doing their jobs we're incredibly thankful for what they're doing and, you know, but the reality is that's no way to be running the country. and we need -- the longer it goes on, certainly you start to worry about people not being able to come to work and, you know, i don't think that is truly a safety issue because our business is so careful about being safe, but it certainly means longer lines at airports it means less efficient travel through the air space. it's going to have a huge impact on air travel before too long. if we can't figure out how to get this resolved. >> kelly has a question for you. >> doug, appreciate it i was just going to ask on this point, we get a ton of questions about what's happening with the air traffic controllers. people say what happens if they

go on strike what's going to happen to the skies? are we talking about a shutdown or a gridlock in the skies, so to speak do you foresee something like that >> no, we don't foresee anything like that. the air traffic controllers, they're heroes in this they're great professionals who have a skilled job who do it extremely well you know, the reality is we're not hiring any more as air traffic controllers retire people can't go that long without pay before they don't all show up for work it'll slow the system down dramatically if we get to that point, yes and that's not going to be good for any of us. look it's time for us to get this resolved it's not good for the country. it's certainlynot good for the future of air travel we just encourage to get people together and get the government back open. >> doug, i'm curious shifting back to the earnings report and your business, your stock got hammered last year i think it was down 65%.

you've been doing this long enough that you've seen these periods where there's just not investor confidence not just in you but the airlines other than and airline stocks what do you see that it will take to sort of shift that confidence obviously you're putting up the numbers. now when do investors say i believe in the airline stocks again? >> just say weg believe it's going to be better doesn't tend to be enough in times like this. you see a little bit today just the fact that we forecast things like 40% eps growth into 2019 infor investors saying wait this is better than i thought it was it feels like the american industry is undervalued. generally in times like this, those are good numbers >> does this remind you of that period of consolidation. >> yeah. it took awhile before -- we were suggesting the impact on earnings was going to be profound

we took a little while for it to -- it took us proving it before the stocks really took off. >> doug parker, ceo of american airlines joining us on a day where they not only beat the street with their fourth quarter numbers but the guidance for 2019 is pretty upbeat. that's one reason the stock is moving higher. >> and they're not alone in that either thank you. commerce secretary wilbur ross saying a trade agreement between the u.s. and china is still miles and miles away one state in particular is already feeling the hit. we have contessa brewer with more >> reporter: boy, are they feeling the pain out here. this is a field of soybeans. if i come down here, you can see all this edamame set to rot. i've got more on the impact in louisiana coming up on "the exchange." ♪

♪ memories. what we deliver by delivering.

and the army taught me a lot about commitment. which i apply to my life and my work. at comcast we're commited to delivering the best experience possible, by being on time everytime. and if we are ever late, we'll give you a automatic twenty dollar credit. my name is antonio and i'm a technician at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. louisiana businesses are closely watching the march one deadline for a trade deal with china. contessa brewer, i just saw edamame but more on this tory. contessa >> reporter: it's sad when you look around here this is just, kelly, a crop that is ruined left to rot.

about 400,000 in losses for this farmer he actually harvested about another $400,000 of these soybeans before they were left to rot but got put into bins and left to storage because there's no market with the trade war and no end in sight, the farmer, daniel richard, really concerned about what the future holds. >> if you grew a crop all yearlong and we couldn't sell it so how do you grow another crop in hopes of not sell it? it will keep you up at night >> reporter: the farmer actually says he doesn't know whether he's going to be able to leave this farm to his son louisiana is a trade dependent state. looking at more than $9 million paid in tariffs. eight times more than the previous year. new orleans, one of the nation's premiere ports, one of the most important ports.

that imports decline 46%, much driven by steel louisiana state is clearly an area that needs that trade war resolved >> trump took 58% of the vote down there, contessa you've got, you're talking about the tariffs and shutdown and its impact on the ports. louisiana sounds like, frankly, it's taking the brunt of the hit so far >> reporter: i mean, it's definitely been krufrcrunched b tariffs for sure the farmer voted fordonald trump, litrum trump. all the incumbents kept their seats. i know there was a change in the house. none came from louisiana and even this farmer, even with all this mess, he says, look, something needed to be done. i support the president but it's got to be done now and the shutdown is not the way to do it these are all guys dependent on the farm service agency from the usda which has been closed for services to farmers.

the government gets up and running and figure out a way to compromise >> great stuff thank you so much. contessa brewer. amazon's new health venture has a new foe in united health that's next on "the exchange." alerts -- wouldn't you like one from the market when it might be time to buy or sell? with fidelity's real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts about potential investment opportunities in real time. fidelity. open an account today. fidelity. about medicare and 65, ysupplemental insurance. uh-uo pay for the rest. that's where medicare supplement insurance comes in: to help pay for some of what medicare doesn't. learn how an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan,h insured by united healthcare insurance company might be the right choice for you. a free decision guide is a great place to start.

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. welcome back united health getting territorial. the company suing amazon, berkshire and chase's joint health care venture for a former vp and possibly trade secrets. joining us to discuss that, anna gupta. thank you for joining me >> i heard you say or it was announce earlier that amazon is the new foe of united. i think united has the new foe of amazon and the venture and traditional competitors. i've covered the stock for 11 years now and they've built truly a platform of insurance for the eunited health care, optum, that's helping them grow share. their expanding margins, moderating trend, they're growing in the teens to 20% eps,

double digit on revenue growth >> sounds like they have nothing to fear. they'll hand that over to abc as it's been called and must feel this could really do them harm >> i can't pretend to know the legal details but no patent protection or period of exclusivity and they have a secret sauce and everyone is trying to figure out what it is. trying to hire senior people from united. there was some buzz in the media that the venture said that i separate from amazon but hard to say here, right?

and they have deepest pockets. they can get the essence of the strategy it's about organization, implementation, a whole bunch of things but i could see why they're concerned. >> while you're here, i wanted to ask you, reports today there's a drop in the number of insured americans to the lowest level in four years. so for the likes of united health and the others, is this because, you know, you could spin this a couple of ways while every insured person is a positive for them, the other is people who are falling off the rolls were not as profitable what's happening there >> yeah, so as you could see, they have changed the rules of the game the only changes exposed before we go to what's happening, all the others including united left the exchanges. they've never been a hugeable

profitable segment for anybody and a way to have a role fulfilling on behalf of the government in the public/private governorship what i think is happening is there's short-term insurance plans and association health plans. those rules are not being observed publicly on exchanges and we need to know how that is increased over time and then monitor the end of the selling season what the actual uninsured are and the numbers. >> do you think it will keep l falling hothough >> they should be between 10:00 a -- 10 and $11 million. for now, that's holding up the marketplace. >> thank you so much great insight and final thought today. maybe it's okay for russia and

cuba to be involved in venezuela if our guest suggests they can get a negotiated settlement to get the maduro regime out of power and open it up for someone more democratic. >> tyler matheson, melissa lee here as well the shutdown showdown there. not much new there and the trade stocks and the talks, the state of play at this hour the massive christmas eve sell-off should regulators investigate what went on a hot area for years and a major slowdown may be coming "power lunch" starts