lori: good afternoon. 1:00 here on the east coast. melissa: out with the old, in with the new. the 113th congress sworn in. now the attention turns to john boehner face a tough vote to retain his title of house speaker. we're live on capitol hill with all the latest. lori: a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. yesterday the markets were euphoric, but today not so much. now it is all about tomorrow's critical monthly job numbers. melissa: victims of hurricane sandy still waiting for answers from washington. the congressman who represents the jersey shore will join us on that one. lori: an update on the stock market as we do every 15 minutes, let's check in with nicole petallides. dollar store under a great deal of pressure today, why is that?

nicole: they came out with numbers that were disappointing, and with that we have seen the stock down 11, 12% throughout the day. down $7.53. but basically they are not making the margins on the high margin items. instead they're having to sell a lot of consumer bulls and they just don't make as much on those particular items so as result family dollar stars under significant pressure. a nice 10-year chart. it had a nice run-up, but still selling off significantly today. we're getting two jobs numbers, weekly jobless claims somewhat disappointing. adp little bit better, and tomorrow is the monthly jobs report and that will be so key. holding onto slight gains after yesterday's wonderful day on wall street if you are a bull.

melissa: peter, what is the count at right now? >peter: john boehner, who is running for reelection can only afford to lose 17 republican votes, and so far but our county appears to have lost six. we have seen six republicans, conservatives, we have heard from some conservatives, there has been some discontent among conservatives and tea party members about the leadership we have had a few votes here. one for eric cantor, majority leader who is the chief deputy. a couple of votes for now former republican of florida allen west, he got two votes. nothing in the constitution says the speaker of the house has to come from among the members of the body itself, they can nominate and vote for whoever they want. we saw one democrat vote for former general:powell.

so far hit enough votes to keep the speakership. somebody has to get the clear majority of 217 votes out of the 433 members voting and present today. melissa: that's me ask you, he needs an absolute majority, he can afford 17 votes to go to somebody else, beyond that it goes to a second ballot, right? what does that mean? >> him as a second ballot since 1923, i believe so it is very rare, but it can happen. when asked if he was confident john boehner would get reelected, he said it is always a lot of surprises on the floor of the house, it is always exciting. never say never, but he does need to get 217 to avoid a

second ballot, and on the second ballot who knows what could happen. melissa: you can vote for kim kardashian if he wanted to make a statement. it means something different and they just vote present, right? what does that mean? >> if they vote present, that doesn't count toward the 217, the has to be 217, that is not a vote for john boehner. it subtracts from the number he needs. melissa: peter barnes, thank you so much. with the fiscal cliff averted, they will close out the widely controversial term in just a few minutes. what impact will this have on washington and the upcoming

debate over the ceiling? let's ask bureau chief for the "wall street journal." what is your take on the congress that just left? >> lets me see, where do i begin? they ruined my christmas and new year's vacation. and they set records for unpopularity lowest job approval, so probably not so great. it is a tough time to run congress, it is a tough time to run the country. the country is evenly divided not just washington, it is polarized and so was the congress, that is the difficult part of the path john boehner will have if he is reelected. and harry reid running the senate sms president obama. it will not look all that much different. there is a big election, mostly status quo election. two more democratic senators, if more democratic house members but those are pretty much changes in the margins. same as the old one.

lori: somehow we sent the same jokers back to washington anyway. i don't know, we only have ourselves to blame. one thing i can give them credit for, they passed 237 bills into law compared to 385, 456 in the preceding two congresses, so maybe half of what was done. i would say less is more, so i give them credit for doing less. >> it is an interesting point. never thought the number of bills passed with a good indicator of anything. that is a quantitative not qualitative measure and th effet not much happened suggested people in the house would tell you because we did some things, the senate became a graveyard, people in the senate would soon stop bad things from happening. the beauty is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to quantity. more problems solved i don't think a lot of problems were

solved, but the countries decided how to deal with things like tax breaks and infamous benes and those are the two big ones. i don't think there'll be much more of a clear path in a new congress. melissa: 95% of congressional members who made it to the ballot ended up retaining their seats, which i think is kind of amazing we put that up against how unpopular they were. widely unpopular. it bears repeating that the popularity peaked at 24% in 2011 but it dipped as low as 12% last year. how do you reconcile the fact no one approves of the job they're doing, yet we vote for the same people over and over again. do we like our own representative but we think is a body they're no good? >> it is pretty much that. 125 members of the new congress in the house of the new congress when the district with 70% of the vote or more.

they think they're doing with their districts have told him to do. that is because the country is very polarized and a lot more really red districts for republicans and very blue district for democrats and they send their people back with instructions to stick to your guns, not compromise and that is what you get because the country is divided, not because congress is divided. he said on the outset we only have ourselves to blame, that is pretty much it. melissa: right now we are watching the other side, john boehner trying to hold onto his speakership and one of the main reasons that is perhaps in jeopardy, although it is up for debate how much jeopardy it is, is because he did look like he was trying to cover mice and meet with the president one-on-one and that made a lot of people angry, so that sort of proves their point. you think you will survive the vote going on right now? >> i'll be surprised if he didn't, but a lot of things have surprised me in the last year with this congress.

i don't think there's a clear alternative to john boehner. also the good of the sewage of anybody else really wants. melissa: right? [laughter] you're right, you're right. it is a terrible job. >> it is not like eric cantor or somebody else could make everybody republican caucus lineup and democrats are not particularly cooperative. it is a difficult job and i don't think there's a logical alternative, eric cantor the number two republican in the house would be the next best guess. but he is not campaigning for the job as far as anybody can tell, and there is respect for speaker john boehner even if there is unhappiness. melissa: nancy pelosi just voted for herself. always a pleasure, thank you for coming on. lori: enjoyed that description of john boehner, do you think even he wants the job next?

he just had to be at his wits end with harry reid because what do i have to lose at this point. melissa: you can imagine how exhausted and frustrated they all are. lori: it is kind of nice to know that they are passion and fired up. melissa: human. consumer confidence playing out at the mall. lori: the sun shining on one solar company investors all thanks to warren buffett. we will explain just ahead. in the meantime, the trade on metals as we had to break. a big pop in gold over somewhat yesterday, so today down a little bit, down almost 1%. silver and copper are following suit to the downside. we are back with more after this.

lori: we do have some breaking news out of the state department saying the time is not right for google eric schmidt trip to north korea. joining from north korea not always west friendly and that could happen early as this month. travel with former new mexico governor and says there is no business plan involves with this trip. the first top executive from google to visit the country, north korea. it is believed to have the most restricted internet policies in the world. no reaction to shares of google,

still up. melissa: time to make some money with charles pena bringing us a retail and lifestyle stock for your portfolio. lori: sounds fun. charles: ralph lauren. you are familiar with ralph lauren. last time they reported they made a great segment for apple h lauren themselves. the availability is undeniable. we are well-positioned for the holidays. melissa: isn't that nice. charles: if you thought nancy pelosi was being modest. lori: what caught your attention now though? charles: last time reportedly didn't like what was happening with net revenue. market was up, that is where they have some big moves, the stock pulled back from a head and shoulders formation. we have a lot of resistance, but

through there it will go $180 per share. lori: i have noticed a lot of the betting is on sale, all the department stores are marching down ralph lauren. charles: that is one area they did not do well in that. they're actually diversifying out of that area. in the house where. that didn't really work out for them. melissa: i like their stuff. charles: everything else seems to be working for the company. it is one of these classic momentum stocks once it gets going, it gets going. just so many with this one. what is the first item ralph lauren sold? ties. okay bonus question, what was his original name?

you are right. absolutely. last bonus question. what was the other name he was thinking about? london. ralph london would have been successful. melissa: you learn something new everyday whether you do or not. as we do every 15 minutes, let's check the market, nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange with mma action. nicole: you can go to ralph lauren daughter's shop. now we're talking hormel and skippy peanut butter.

food is a 52-week high, the bottom 4% a short time ago, now 3.5%. down half a percent and $700 million deal roughly paying to buy skivvies peanut butter. also, we should note skippy peanut butters ranked not only in the united states but across the globe as the leading brand over in china first introduced back in the 1930s, 1932, but you can see i his sold over 30 plus companies obviously a big move for hormel foods in popularity for peanut butter. back to you. lori: solar power getting a spark thanks to warren buffett. this mid-american energy holdings has agreed to purchase two solar projects from some power. but american will on the two solar projects. some power will remain involved in the operation and maintenance of the plant. but american purchase the

project proved to be a boost. it was the capital of grade from neutral to a buy. helping out the entire sector read check out other solar companies on the move in the green as long as it is not our money going to alternative energy expended for companies i am okay with that. melissa: take advantage of the tax credit that doesn't expire until 2016 and that is as a result of part of the fiscal cliff deal. so he took advantage of one of the things that happened overnight. when your payroll taxes went up, he was kept waiting he wanted to get an advantage by investing in green energy. we will talk about this later on with an analyst to help you take advantage of this trend to keep up and doing it might as well do it as well at the end of the show today. lori: after two years of investigation, they are closing

against google. agreeing to make changes of practices and that will satisfy the concerns. essentially including loan websites to take away content from google search shares of google trading. talking about revving the engine, automakers post in the best euro sales since 2007 so we will dig deeper into those december sales next and see what is ahead for the industry in this new year.

melissa: we have some breaking news. john boehner received enough votes to be reelected as speaker of the house. let's go to peter barnes on capitol hill. he has crossed the threshold of 217.

peter: the vote is still underway. we had a handful of republicans holding back it appears to see how it would go but it appears john boehner has been reelected as the speaker of the house forr the 113th congress. he could afford with 233 republicans who could afford to lose 17 votes by our count, so far he lost nine which means he had at least eight votes, again they're still coming in but appears to show the bottom line is 217, more than 217 the majority of all members voting and it appears he has. melissa: thank you so much for that. lori: automakers reporting big sales numbers in the month of december. ford, gm and toyota hitting 52-week highs today. ihs director of automotive research on whether or not the auto industry would really turn

around. shares of major automakers across the board looking at 52-week highs today, its entrance in december because a lot of replacement sales because of the devastation caused by hurricane sandy, but the other side of that, concerns over the fiscal cliff leading into the weekends deal. it netted to the positive. >> it did. the average vehicle 11 years old on the road today, the oldest it has ever been. we have a lot of consumers saying i have to replace this car, truck, whatever they have. there is so much uncertainty of what is going on, they don't want to take on new debt. lori: they are saying 2012 is the best year for auto sales of 14.6 million units. what happens this year? >> we're forecasting 15 million units for 2013.

our gdp forecast from ihs global insight only 1.7% growth so we see a very conservative economic forecast. lori: toyota reclaimed the top title of best automaker from gm. it seems things are finally back on track for toyota but they still have pending lawsuits so will that be a bump in the road? >> the other issue i will be watching very carefully the next two years is the first time toyota buyers that push the retail sales numbers and market share so high back in 2007, '08, what did they replace the vehicles with? right now they're seeing good royalty rates but the question is if that continues. lori: talk about gm. we heard the government will get out of the way, will sell the stake in gm. gm challenged by volkswagen.

35% year-over-year sales increase. >> volkswagen is incredible brand locally. they have a new production facility here in chattanooga, tennessee. that is helping them with their currency and the euro issues. so they're able to fluctuate their currency and hedge by having local production. also coming up with really desirable vehicles like the jedi doing incredibly well. lori: there are all kinds of new models coming off the assembly line. >> gm has all the new pickup trucks coming out, there's a lot of new product. it is all the way across the board, some great small cars coming out. lori: you see a new ceo for ford this year? >> no. he will stay through 2014. lori: thank you so much.

we appreciate your analysis of the automotive industry. okay. keep it right here on fox business as liz claman and david asman talk exclusively with quality of america president. melissa: same-store sales figures for the month of december roll in. retailers fearing for their profits, so how did they actually fair? lauren simonetti has all the details. >> it turned out the final sales week of the holiday shopping season save christmas in the end. you can see december retail sales rose by 4.5%, better than expected and it beat last year's number as well. it was a december trip member for some retail winners. costco the big winner in the group. if you include gasoline sales,

the gap is worth pointing out. all three have had negative sales numbers this time last year and look at that up 5%. we saw a nice one for macy's, however macy's stock is down today, and only one down of the winners because they cut the fourth-quarter guidance and said they will be closing six different stores in the spring. nordstrom is another big winner. now it is time to get to the losers in the month of december. they want to forget this month and limited brands a rare miss the owner of victoria's secret, target and wet seal among the losers. so what happened? there were so many discounts and consumers used to discounts it takes a lot for us to open the wallet a little bit wider. they definitely hurt retailers profit margin and while the traffic was a lot of stars we were browsing more than we were buying and the overlapping issues of the fiscal cliff

superstore and sandy definitely have a huge economic impact. as we look forward to spring, not many people are optimistic it will be a favorable spring for the retailer either. melissa: thank you so much. lori: the dow holding gains, but how long? joining us with her 2013 market outlook. melissa: some of the winners on the s&p 500. first solar. the advantages they got from the fiscal cliff deal, and you can see up 10% on the day. we will be right back. [ male announcer ] where do you turn for legal matters? at legalzoom, we've created a better place to handle your legal needs. maybe you have questions about incorporating a business you'd like to start.

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melissa: we have breaking news we want to bring you right now up to speed on latest on capitol hill. john boehner winning enough votes to be reelected as house speaker of the 11th congress. we were watching a lot of votes come in. we saw eric cantor voted for speaker boehner. nancy pelosi voted for herself. lori: come on. melissa: well, i don't know. lori: does he vote? melissa: i didn't see that one go by. if you say in politics if you don't vote for yourself, no one else will either. eric cantor got two votes. i'm not sure he went ahead

and voted for speaker boehner. lori: it has been such a strategy session since the fiscal cliff, right? cantor voted no offer the fiscal cliff but after house got all requisite votes. i have to tell you i think boehner is going out for a cocktail right now. melissa: if he doesn't have one in his coat pocket i bet he is going out for one. i know i would have one in my coat pocket at this point. lori: he is happy to be holding on to speakership considering stress of late if. melissa: looks like a terrible job. he has got it once again. we head to the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole petallides is standing by with that. >> let's look at these markets right now. the dow jones industrials are up 14 points, packing on to yesterday's 308 point gain. if you're a bull, iras and 401(k)s, you want the market to rip and roar through 2013 so far so good, right?

we didn't give back yesterday's gains. we'll see whether we hold these. we have names hitting 52-week highs. we talked about autos. let's talk about other things such as homebuilders. we've seen homebuilders doing well as the housing market is improving. lennar and. visa, mastercard, oshkosh, honeywell and citigroup at new highs today. melissa and lori, back to you. lori: thank you, nicole. the first day of trading for the new year was a record-breaker. the dow had its best first day of trading ever. first day of the year of course. the s&p and nasdaq saw their largest gains since late 2007 ven. russell closed at all him highest all-time high, up 24 points. will we hold onto the gains or vaep rate over time as we're hit with the debt limit debate? that is next on the agenda for con vest -- congress. we have christine short.

great to have you back. i've been asking a lot of folks. when can investors focus on the fundamentals of the market and tune out washington at least for a while? >> like you said, after the rally it was collective sigh of relief from investors who welcomed any deal, congress came to any conclusion even if it wasn't the 11th hour. i think that will evaporate as we look to the horizon. there are concerns ahead. in february we have the debt ceiling debate. we still have issues coming up ahead. lori: why are these issues specifically affecting the stock market? if you look asset classes stocks will get paid the most? >> when we look at earnings we haven't seen analysts bring down or up their estimates based on the fiscal cliff talks. i think when we look at earnings estimates for the fourth quarter, even in 2013 there are not touching them either way. i think overall analysts and companies themselves assumed a deal would, resolution would be coming to.

therefore we would see more of the same going into the new year as far as earnings are concerned. melissa: if you want to get in and invest and looking for sectors, one you really like is technology. you think that even though, it has had a tougher time, that you're looking for 25% earnings growth? >> telecom. melissa: sorry, telecom. >> surprisingly tech isn't expected to do that well in the first quarter fourth quarter. it had a great run in 2012 but fourth quarter it is our biggest laggard, expected to be down 1.7%. 2013, telecom expected to go up 25%. we see based on lower base in 2012. looking only percent 1/2 growth for telecom for 2012 when it concludes but next year we're seeing somewhat improve. negative earnings per share each quarter. less negative than 2012 and gains in verizon and at&t which have been carrying the sector. lori: materials, you're

seeing up side here. why is that. >> materials, first quarter of 2012, pretty dismal. fourth quarter we're looking up 4.8% and a complete comeback in 2013. we're seeing an improvement in metals and mining. that was a downfall in 2012. 20% up on materials in 2013. lori: they caught a break with fiscal cliff deal. taxes were up only 20%. they could have gone up to 40. will that impact that strategy. >> i think so. investors and companieses themselves we're looking at 40% dividend increases. how will that impact whether we increase dividends or do they completely go away. at the beginning of the third quarter we had over 400 companies in the s&p 500 paying dividends. that was the highest amount since 1999. there was a fear that would go away. with that percentage being half of what it was i think that is a sigh of relief for sure as far as dividend payments go for 2013. melissa: christine, thanks so much. lori: thank you. melissa: so there is a new

congress in charge but how much has really changed? lou dobbs on his hopes for the 11th congress. -- 113th congress. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him twongs -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll wk his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and me from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, nd he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

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dollars in loans against fourth net new york. according to the "new york post" some of the proceeds will go toward funds mets day to die operations. >> wegman's instituted a price freeze for more than 50 products shoppers by through winter months. they will remain in effect even if costs go up for the product. that's the latest from the fox business, giving you the power to prosper.

lori: a lot of questions today. 112th congress is taking a bow but to how much applause? this congress adjourns to the least productive congress on record. melissa: less is more. lori: exactly. what can we expect as the new congress is sworn in lou dobbs is here. we've got all kinds of questions. melissa: lori has to the a lot of questions. let her take it away today.

lori: speaker boehner regains his speakership i'm sort of sarcastically if he really wants his job still? >> aren't you thrilled for the man? this is a position of the great power. he sits three steps from the presidency. my goodness --. lori: his party is in disarray. what a last couple of years they have had. boy. >> the idea this guy who had his posterior kicked by the president, by his own party, you know, you have got to wonder what is going through his mind. why would you want that job? he is just violated the, the hastert rule which, he represented the minority of the majority party in alignment with the president to get the president's bidding done. he's, is he a republican? he is certainly the speaker. it is a very confused time in washington, d.c. for the republican party in particular. lori: i wonder though if turning around the plan on the sandy aid package won him back any support?

obviously ultimate low point was chris christie yesterday just blasting the republicans and how that was handle, boehner in particular. did that help him at all? am i just reaching for straws at this point? >> the answer is it doesn't matter what a governor of new jersey says to the speaker of the house because he didn't say it directly to the speaker of the house despite offering four times. he didn't make those statements until after there was a decision made to hold the vote later rather than, which will be tomorrow. you know, it amounts to nothing, a tempest in a tea cup. let's be honest. governor christie is a creature of great drama. he said the people of new jersey were being treated like pawns by the, he left it open but apparently by the obama administration and the republicans. this man is the leading, he is the pawn in chief among all governors. he was played for a dupe by president obama in the --. lori: that bear hug.

>> he was played brilliantly. the idea that we're sitting here over two months from superstorm sandy and it is occurring to both democrats and republicans they might get an aid bill passed? this is the kind of nonsense that has got to end, these desperate, last-minute urgent measures. oh, yes, the president wants to come back and do a little more of that. he wants to do that with immigration reform. people should by now be getting wise to and sick of obama your againsy, which really means procrastinate to the last moment, set it up so that somethings had to be done before you think, before you read, know, understand, contemplate or a have a vision of the future trying to construct at a legislature. no one has the guts in that town, republican or democrat to tell the president to go to hell. melissa: it is really painful job. talk about service to your country originally what a politician was about going

to in to help serve your community. >> which one much these men or women, put this in context right now, which one of these men or women serving in the senates senate or the house of representatives has sacrificed much after a distinguished career and set aside family and fortune for the benefit of the national interest? versus how many of them are fulfilling ambition, the goals of ambition and their own ego? melissa: go there poor and come back rich. how does that work out, what you make under $200,000 a year and come back and they're worth millions. wait a second. how did that happen. >> bill and hillary clinton end up $106 million. hey. some jobs pay better than others, right. melissa: thank you, lou. lori: great perspective. you can catch lou with us every day at this time and "lou dobbs tonight", 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern. congressman james langford

from oklahoma. he will pepper him with questions. >> pepper. melissa: i'm going to leave and come back later. it is quarter to. as we do every 15 minutes, nicole petallides is on the floor of the new york stock exchange watching delta air lines for us. nicole? >> the transportation index, melissa and lori is doing quite well today. it has done well yesterday and today. delta air lines is right in there. delta air lines is hitting a new 52-week high, up nearly 3% today. up 33 cents at $12.56 a share and this is on come key revenue gauges coming in here for delta. basically they're saying their revenue figure rose 4%. they benefited from strong holiday travel. they have seen their december traffic edging up. so that is good news for them there. so 12% increase in latin american routes. seeing pick up in demand for travel particularly in latin america. back to you. >> nicole, thanks so much. lori: after intense backlash

from both sides of the aisle, speaker john boehner, newly-elected speaker john boehner, agreeing to hold a vote tomorrow for the first part of the sandy relief bill but one congressman who represents much of new jersey's damaged coastline is furious about the issue. saying sandy aid could have been a got example of bipartisanship for congress. representative joins me now, frank lobianco joins me now. thanks for coming on from capitol hill. >> sure. thanks for having me on. lori: tell us your role and how you convinced newly reelected speaker john boehner to hold this vote on the sandy relief package. >> we in the delegation, our governor, governor christie, governor cuomo, mayor bloomberg, republicans and democrats, we all understood that we had a commitment and we had a deal, that after the fiscal cliff vote we would in fact be voting on the sandy relief bill. lori: i understand you really got into it with the

speaker. resulted in an actual shouting match. did it get that heated? >> i'm not going to comment on that. i'm going to comment that we need ad result. the day after katrina there was $60 billion released within 10 days. we have people that are hurting. we have people whose lives were ripped apart. we have people who lost everything. we have people who are pinning their hopes on the federal government coming in and doing what they have done for every other disaster community across the country. now we're at a desperate stage. lori: want to ask you if you just voted for, for speaker of the house boehner in his re-election? >> yes, i did. lori: you did. obviously you were pleased with the decision for him to turn around and hold a vote today, i'm sorry, the relief now? >> yes. the speaker turned it around in less than 24 hours. he met with us. gave us his commitment. gave us the promise. first stage of this is tomorrow. the second stage is on january 15th. it can can't come any too

soon for our people who are suffering badly. lori: how are things in atlantic city and the jersey shore? is anything life coming anywhere close to normal. >> there are so many things dependent on the supplemental. we're tourist-based economy. $40 billion of tourism over the course of a year. i represent 40% of the state and a good chunk of the jersey shore. our beach communities will not have a summer which will be disaster on disaster if we can't get the aid flowing from the army corps of engineers to get the aid together. this is pretty dramatic tishg and intense. lori: is the aid going to be enough? are you able to rely on other relief agencies, private charities et cetera? >> the aid will come in the second part of this on january 15th will be enough. it will help us to have our individuals, our businesses, our communities to get back on their feet and to rebuild and that's what we need right now. that is what everybody else

has been given when they have had a disaster. lori: we're just coming off the deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. we're approaching now the negotiation to raise the debt ceiling. where do you stand, congressman, on the spending cut that are so desperately needed to rein in our budget which obviously didn't happen in the fiscal cliff deal? >> well, we have to do it. i'm committed to doing it. most of the country is understanding and committing to doing it. i know we'll have a package in the next couple weeks that will be initiated in the house and sent to the senate we hopefully can start to get our arms around this problem. lori: thank you for your time, congressman frank lobiondo, representing atlantic city. thanks for updating the situation of your constituents. >> thank you. melissa: we have morning breaking news. we want to take you to the floor of the house of representatives where john boehner is about to be sworn in as speaker of the house. i believe starts off with the picture he is walking around, talking to people

and shaking his hands as he makes his way to the front. he will be escorted as speaker-elect, house sergeant and arms and introduced by house minority leader nancy pelosi. at that point he stands up and make as few remarks. there is nancy now. nancy pelosi. excuse me. let's listen in. >> colleagues. to my fellow members of the house of representatives, it is a high honor to welcome

you to the 113th congress. [applause] to our newest members of congress, it is a special privilege and honor to welcome you and your families and extend congratulations to the newest members of congress. welcome. [applause] melissa: all right. so that was nancy pelosi getting ready there to introduce john boehner who just won re-election of his speakership. he garnered 220 votes. she got 192 votes there. lori: they both had sections, -- defections important to point out but not enough for boehner to lose his speakership. melissa: we're digging through the bill for winners and losers. lori: a dollar ain't sure what it used to be. that fast-food value meal

will cost you a little bit more.

melissa: we want to give you a quick check of the markets

right now. you remember the dow yesterday was up better than 300 points, about 2.3%. today we're seeing decide i had he hadly less exuberance. lori: we had big jump in initial jobless claims. fed minutes coming out shortly after the next hour. so, there you have it. that is what is going on. on a brighter note seems nothing good can last. prices on wendy's value menu, that is not so bright --. melissa: lighter. lori: lighter. going to rise from 99 cents to a $1.99. the price hike comes as wendy's has switched up its 99 cents value meal and replaced with a list of options, right price, right size. with prices going up on meat, cheese and other ingredients it helps wendy's to provide budget sensitive menu with flexibility allowing to handle cost increases. both mcdonald's and burger

king risen past the dollar price point, offering options raise to two dollars. are you fast-food junkie. melissa: i'm terrible. i love it. i try not to do it. i love it. doubling, can't call it dollar menu. the $2 dollar menu doesn't have the same ring. lori: in a couple moments. fed releasing ratest round of minutes. tracy byrnes and ashley webster will have details for you on that next here on fox business. don't miss it.

s. ashley: good afternoon, everybody, i'm ashley web steer. tracy: and i'm tracy byrnes. house speaker john boehner is elected as republican leader in the house but now we go on to government spending and national debt. ashley: those two things. the strong finish for new car sales in 2012. u.s. sales were the best in five years. guess what, 2013 could be even better. we'll break down those numbers ahead. tracy: president obama bypassing congress to make it easier for thousands of illegal aliens to stay in the united states. the new rule will greatly impact our economy and no surprise. judge andrew napolitano will weigh in on this ahead. ashley: but first, with the dow up 15 points, we had a big day yesterday of course. settled down today. first breaking news from the fed. seen year washington

correspondent peter barnes has the latest from the fed minutes which should be interesting. peter. >> that's right, ashley. the fed continued to see moderate economic growth for this year in its last policy meeting in mid-december. here are the minutes for that metering. but the outlook was not strong enough for the fed to say no to another round of quantitative easing as you recall the, a fourth round. 45 billion dollars a month of new bond purchases to keep interest rates low and push them lower and the fed said at that meeting it would not start easing up on stimulus until the unemployment rate gets to at least six 1/2 percent. the minutes say quote, many participants thought the pace of economic expansion would remain moderate in 2013 before picking up gradually in 2014 and 2015. fed members debated the fiscal cliff saving quote, a major headwind facing the economy at the present appeared to be the uncertainty about is fiscal policy and ongoing

negotiations on federal fending and taxes. heightened uncertainty about fiscal policy was probably affecting economic activity adversely. a number about participants suggested that the business sector was well-positioned to expand spending and hire quickly upon a positive resolution to the fiscal cliff negotiations but of course we know that congress and the president only settled part of the fiscal cliff dilemma. the tax part this week. and still has to tackle the spending and debt part. now here's another interesting nugget from the minutes. they say, quote. in a few regions, contacts reported concerns about the expense associated with new regulations including those related to health care and in some cases indicated a shift to the hiring of part-time workers in order to avoidness costs. will that affect, full-time employment, the unemployment rate? we'll see as health care reforms unfold this is year.

ashley: thank you, peter. thanks so much. latest from the fed. of course they unleashed another round of qe. tracy: i love that they went on to say the potential costs could increase the size of the balance sheet and maybe we should start worrying about that. minor. add that to the list. we have to get a check on the markets. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. the dow did turn lower when peter started reading the minutes. >> that's true, and the word uncertainty is in there. when you talk about fiscal uncertainty and that could potentially be part of headwinds we face that is not good news there. as a result you're seeing markets turning now back into the red. we haven't been too far off the unchanged line. we've been up a tenth of a percent and down a/10 of a percent. the minutes, crushing that big gain i use it lightly. but took the gains we saw moments before the 2:00 p.m. hour. there is the dow sitting at 13,400 after yesterday's 08 point gain. we're talking about the gap

and family dollar, a couple of names we're focusing on. the gap is up 3 1/2%. the gap basically came out with december sales and those numbers were good. they had been up and they rose 5%. that beat the expectations. family dollar stores on the other hand has been down about 12% all day long. they came out with profit numbers that were disappointing. back then the analysts had been expecting, also they're not making the margins on some of the higher margin products and said they're selling consumeables like cigarettes. they don't make that much margin on that particular product. they are facing seriously facing some headwinds. back to you. tracy: thank, nicole. ashley: our next guest says the fiscal cliff deal is one of the worst deals he has seen in his lifetime. joining me heritage capital president paul schatz. we know where you're coming from. it could have been worse. we could have fallen off the cliff, right. >> i'm not sure that would have been worse.

frankly i thought the fiscal cliff was the biggest hoax since y2k the country would function on january 1 and january 2 regardless. it wasn't a cliff, more like a hill eventually we would climb up and eventually fall back in the second and third quarter. administration, politicians did a wonderful job of muddying the real waters and that is we're on no sounder fiscal ground than we were yesterday or the day before or week before or month before. so they somehow boiled it down to taxes. taxes are not our problem. spending is our problem. tracy: maybe our problem though is congress in general, right, the way they handle things. everybody is decided last minute. here we are two months away from a debt ceiling debate which arguably could be way worse for the markets than this fiscal chris ever was. >> you faded out for a minute. i didn't hear your question. tracy: that is okay. the debt ceiling at end of the day will end up being worse for the markets than the fiscal cliff, isn't it? >> yeah, most likely. the sad thing is we've come

down to making deals literally one second before midnight. we have done it twice. somehow this is now par for the course in congress. it is not good for the markets. it is not good for the economy. it is horrible for corporate america and bad for investors. if our behavior continues like this we'll end up a lot worse than europe. i don't think it will continue that bad but that is where we're headed. it is not good for anybody. we still have no certainty. corporate america is no more certain today than they were a week ago or a month ago. and what's changed? nothing. ashley: well, paul, you say any gains this year will be frontloaded. you believe by the end of this year, beginning of 2014 we could indeed slip back into recession. but, look, housing is looking healthier. the auto industry is doing better. consumer sentiment hit a eight--month high. surely there are encouraging signs there. absolutely. second half of 13 and 14 would be warning signs of me to worry about a mild

recession. corporate america is still in great shape. they have almost $3 trillion on their balance sheets. they're still lean and mean. if you're stock market investor, best tame for the market will be earlier in the year. pretty much what worked last year, industrials should continue decently, maybe a little technology, a little energy, a little health care and then at the backside of the year i would flip it all around i think you do better with statements and utilities and telecom -- staples. kind of stuff people don't really want to own right now. tracy: why do you think we're going off the so-called cliff by the second half of the year? but think you have to think everything will be relatively settled. >> no, i don't think it will be settled. we're in two year election cycle. in another six to eight months we'll talk about congressional elections in 14. the real reason because taxes are going up, so few people realize, the average person this is not 250 k and

above, the average person taxes will go up. that is less money going into the economy. nobody is talking about the obamacare taxes and surtaxes and charges starting today. all of this money comes out of everyone's pockets. if it is coming out of our pockets there is multiplier effect. it doesn't go into the economy. doesn't get spread out. ashley: right. >> i don't know how you can be so sanguine on the economy especially second half of the year unless you somehow think angela merkels will explode higher and lift everyone's ship with it. i don't think so. europe is mired in recession. maybe gets a little better but i think here we have a little bit of payback to give the second half of the year. ashley: paul schatz, thanks so much for joining us. we talked about the extra costs involved with obamacare. tracy: liz macdonald did yesterday. they're coming "fast and furious.". all right. speaking of getting hit with costs, at one point you really did love pay day but your first paycheck in the new year may not be as sweet as the fiscal cliff tax rates and obamacare kicks

in. ashley: surprise. but first as we do at this time every day let's take a look how oil was trading. it was up yesterday as was the market big-time, but today pulling back as is the market a little bit. 92.91 a barrel. we'll be right back.

ashley: well this just in. speaker john boehner just sworn in as speaker of the

house for another two-year term. from here he swears in all the other members of the 113th congress. reportedly wiping away tears. john boehner. tracy: getting all choked up. ashley: talking or crying. the taxman wasted no time making us all cry acting on the fiscal cliff deal to. i. are s sent employers new tax guidelines. tracy: i'm a dork. i printed them. ashley: some people will get their first post fiscal cliff paycheck this week. what will your paycheck look like? a little smaller perhaps. joining us fox news's william la jeunesse. william? >> reporter: ashley, basically everyone will get hit or whacked some way or another. some of us tomorrow's paycheck. others it will come in the second week probably and you will see that pain in the line that says, fica deductions. some will be really unhappy. take a die vernance over here to the .7% club that is

how many people will pay 40% of all federal income taxes. no longer 1% but .7% of individuals making over 400. couples over 450,000. the tax foundation has been crunching the numbers. out of 14 million returns, just 1.1 million people, or 7% of the returns will pay 40% of all income taxes. >> can not sustain a situation where the top 1% pays 40% of the tax burden while the bottom half, roughly, on average pay no income taxes. >> so for everyone else let's talk about that payroll tax. basically looking at at two-year reprieve being over. payroll taxes going up on basically 2% and let's take a look what those fica taxes are going to look at. so for a single earner at $38,000 a year, yesterday

the irs said with old 5400 a year. if you're 90 grand, you will pay almost 20,000 in taxes. 2400 more last year. make 185 grand? government will with hold 50 grand. an increase of $6,000. finally if you make over 400 your payroll taxes will increase by about $14,000 a year. >> pretty large majority of people will see that doop -- drop in the net pay in the first paycheck. the others maybe in their second or third during the month of january. >> now, remember, fica taxes pay for social security and medicare and according to the urban institute for a great majority of workers you get more back than you actually pay. in fact the numbers are this. over a lifetime you will pay 345,000 in fica taxes. and benefits are about 416,000. those are the numbers. maybe we'll get it.

maybe we won't. but for the average worker you get more back than you put in. back to you. ashley: that dreaded fica. william la skra necessary. thank you. tracy: i know william does not believe we're actually getting that back. he just read the script like he was told. come on now. ashley: barely a straight face. dpoo. tracy: good love him. ashley: thank you, william. tracy: back for the knew year. you will not have much left in your paycheck. time for charles payne. he has a stock to get tech dollars in your portfolio. >> guess what? the highest risks idea i've had all day 2013. ashley: bring it on. >> we talked about universe sal display company. based out of the new jersey. the stock broke out yesterday based on huge volume. volume hasn't carried over but momentum has. a callan analyst said at consumer electronics show they will probably give greater details on really

thin, have you seen the new tvs? ashley: razor thin. >> oled, organic liquid emitting diodes. living it is alive. it is green. all you have to do is feed it. not money because we won't have any. tracy: green slime. >> they unveiled it at the last year's show. everyone got excited. the stock shot up. they had problems. had to push out orders. the big question if sometime next week if we could have the thing shipped sooner rather than later the stock could make a huge, huge, move. listen, higher risk because ultimately this will go out. ultimately this should do very well. they're using display, samsung galaxy 3 and other products. people love it. the resolution is phenomenal. just a matter when they get it out. meantime they have missed the street, three quarters in a row. insiders are buying a whole lot of stock. consumer electronics show should be big. liz claman will be out there.

shibani will be out there. this could be big news for them. ashley: happy new year. >> happy new year. tracy: every kid will want a green slime tv. >> every parent too. ashley: green slime tv. tracy: it is organic in. that is nasty, like bugs live in it. ashley: it lives and breathe. as we do every 15 minutes, let's check the markets. nicole petallides on the floor of the nyse. transocean shares are jumping. >> this is a big deal. a big deal on the fact of money they set aside what they will have to pay out is actually less than what they set aside. this is news for them, great news for them to have clarity. to have the whole thing done. let's start off and let's look at transocean. rig is the tickle symbol the up 6.7%. you remember of course the terrible explosion in 2010. there were lives lost. but they are trying to move forward and settled the claims along with the justice department over the deepwater horizon accident. there's a look at the stock. it is up $3.11. they will pay $1.4 billion

in total total claims to settle this and this is obviously as i noted less than they had set aside. so halliburton has to settle up. its shares have been to the upside. this is breaking down, the 1.4, a billion in civil penalty, 400 million for criminal penalties. all this dates back to 2010 when we covered it so closely here on the fox business network. here today doing quite well. this is nice one-year chart. still not back to where it was last year but still gains nonetheless. back to you. ashley: nicole, thank you. we'll be back in 15 minutes. tracy: coming up the big sales numbers for the car industry in december, best in five years actually. why some say next year may be even better. i don't buy it. ashley: we'll see. but first see how the good ol' greenback is doing. this is what the foreign curren kiss doing against the dollar. all of them now, clean

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>> at 20 minutes past the hour i'm arthel neville with your fox news minute. transocean deepwater is agreeing to pay $1.4 billion to the u.s. government for its role in the 2010 bp oil

spill off the louisiana coast. the company also pleading guilty to violations of the clean water act. the settlement includes one billion dollars in civil penalties and another 400 million in criminal fines. a coast guard salvage team finally able to board the shell oil rig that ran aground off the coast of alaska during a vicious new year's eve storm. officials now claiming there is no evidence of a fuel leak and no indication other debris was ripped from the ship. weather had kept a coast guard helicopter from reaching the disabled vessel. students from sandy hook elementry are back at school today a month after the tragedy that killed 20 students and six adults. they're attending classes at a refurbished school with the same name as the old one. back to you ashley. ashley: thanks, arthel. gold and oil giving back most of their fiscal cliff gains. so where should you put your

money now with it down sharply? sandra smith in the pits with today's trade. sarn dra? >> ever since. we saw a lot of commodities hit lows of the session along with the stock market on word that the fed does see an end to their bond buying program that really moved the markets down here today. there has been big questions among traders looking at the selloff in gold prices whether or not the big rally yesterday was warranted or whether or not it will last. i can tell you one thing, credit suisse is of today. the wti contract, the west texas intermediate oil, that is our benchmark here in the united states, they're saying now is the time to own oil because they're predicting that this will be a much more global reflected market in the new year rather than the locally reflected one where we were hitting multiyear highs as far as oil production was concerned. china, india, all these

countries will play a much bigger part in the oil consumption going forward or the rising oil consumption going forward. so they say own oil at these levels. guys, nonetheless near the lows of the session on that news t was a big market moving event down here on the trading floor. back to you. >> sandra smith, thanks very much. tracy: 2012 proved to be a rebounding year for auto sales. actually many automakers posted big sales numbers in december. joining us edmunds.com senior analyst jessica called well on whether the promising sales will carely into 2013. why was december so good? we saw great numbers, year-over-year december sales, gm up 5%, ford up almost 2, volkswagen up 35%. how come? >> well december is a time where we're mitt with all the holiday advertising and people have the deal mentality like other sectors in the retail market. you combine that with also pent-up demand from hurricane sandy and, really

made for a very good december this year. tracy: a little over 19% increase in november. let's talk about individual automakers, gm, everyone saying it is struggled. they sold the most vehicles for the month, right? 2.6 million vehicles sold yet they're not maintaining their market share, are they? >> they aren't. they had a pretty good month but the industry has become so competitive over the past few years, not only just, amongst the domestics have gotten a lot better but the japanese brands have gotten a lot stronger in 2012 following inventory shortages last year. hyundai and from korea is doing well and you mentioned volkswagen. so that market share is hard to maintain and grow. tracy: is it because the small car is starting to become more and more in vogue? ford not set selling as many trucks and gm's little passat, i'm sorry woke

woke's passat -- volkswagen's pa sat flying off the shelves? is that what is happening? >> the market is diversifying into smaller cars. they want fuel-efficient vehicles whether they drive a small car or a large car. what they have always considered over time so i think that the increase in types of vehicles out there and nameplates making them helps because consumers have more options and find the car that meets their needs. tracy: as you noted a lot of discounts and things like that. so what's 2013 look like? what does the credit market look like for 2013 as well? >> i think it is going to be a lot of what we saw at the end of 2012. credit is very cheap. that helps people financing or leasing their car which is a big portion of the market. so if that stays low the market will be friendly for lots of people to get into it. so i think we won't expect as big gain we saw from 2011 to 2012 but we will expect 2013 to be in the 15 million range which is, you know,

going back in time, that, not quite prerecession levels but getting closer. tracy: can you pick a winner for 2013? >> that is going to be tough. i think that the japanese imports are going to do better. i think honda especially is doing well. they had a new accord and refreshed their civic and those are big volume players with owners out there. people looking to come back into the marketplace they got two new cars and you think those are big with them. tracy: i had a bunch of hondas. you can't kill that car. trust me i tried. chrysler,fy i can't think, what do you think how will 2013 be for them. >> i think that ram will continue to do well. it will face competition next year with the new gm pickups that are coming out. i think when you have more interest in the pickup market segment which will be helped by housing, that is positive and also fiat. that is not a brand they had

a few years ago. adding 40,000 plus to the bottom line. chrysler has momentum t will be hard to sustain but they surprised us so don't be surprised. >> that is italian influence. jessica, thanks for being with us. ashley: guess what? good news on american debt a new report finds americans are paying it off but, well, with the payroll tax hike reverse that trend? gerri willis is crunching the numbers. she will be here next. tracy: but as we head out to break, dow is down 19 points. we sold off a little bit. let's take a look at some of the winners on the s&p 500 though. first solar up over 7%. netflix, wow, up almost 6%. we'll be right back.

ashley: 30 past the hour, markets moving slightly lower. nicole on the floor of the new york stock exchange, dropping on the fed minutes. >> that's right. we heard words like "uncertainty" and "head winds". a day going back and forth, and what do you make of it? >> the more important thing is

it's a signal they may be taking a piece of the qe4 out in 2013, and they figure out they are not getting the drugs anymore. there was a nasty reaction to it. what's interesting about the market is six months ago, if we got an announcement like that, the market would have sold off hard on it. the resiliency, the bulls in charge, and we can move higher. i would be buying on dips here. >> interesting how you talk about the drug add kicks, drinking the kool-aid and more and more easing, free money, printing, ect., and to your point, talking about resiliency, it's basically say, hey, maybe the economy's getting a little better. >> it's at an infliction point. up 220% from the trough in 2009. we got far ahead of ourselves so people analyze on the economic fundamentals sioux they take a little bit of -- i think we are

getting stronger, not great growth in the first quarter, but see what 2013 does and hinges upon policy and regulations from washington. >> i know. so closely tieded here on wall street. >> exactly. >> to washington, keith added sadly, but never before in my entire career down here have i talked about wash the way we have over the past few years, back to you. ashley: no doubt. thank you very much. back in 15 minutes. tracy: john boehner sworn in for his second term as speaker of the house as the 113th congress is now underway. peter barnes in washington with the latest. all right, peter, so was it close? >> well, here's -- it was a little bit of suspense here. he lost nine republicans. he would have been in trouble if he lost 17, but he did not. let me tell you how the final math shook out here. the -- he won by 220 votes so

that was a comfortable enough margin to get him the speakership. nancy pelosi, the democratic leader and former speaker herself got 192. thinker ten others voted -- thirteen others voted for somebody else or one voted present. there were 427 total votes, and he needed 50.1% of those, and he got exceeded that, 214 the magic number for him, and he got 220, getting it by six votes, but more importantly, in the acceptance speech after he was sworn in, he keyed up the next major battle over the fiscal cliff, take a listen. >> at $16 trillion and rising, our national debt is draining free enterprise and weakening the state. the american dream is in peril. as long as its name sake is weighed down by this anchor of

debt, break its hold, we set our economy free. >> six members, including boehner himself, did not vote lowering the threshold just a little bit, but he is going to be speaker once again. ashley: i don't know it's a job anybodiments. tracy: nancy pelosi voted for herself apparently. >> boehner did not vote so, yeah, didn't vote for himself. tracy: so maybe he didn't want the job. ashley: he didn't vote for pelosi, that's for sure. tracy: oil closing down 20 cents following the market down to $9 2.9 # a barrel snapping two days of gains. ashley: the americans did not sop paying down their debt last year. fewer americans were late on loans in the third quarter, but new year tax changes could be

putting them behind once again. willis report host, gerri willis, here now to look at the numbers. >> unfire about the story, but not the reason you think i am. all the harvard economists who say people never pay their bills, americans pay their credit card bills at rates better than any other time in 18 years. they are paying their bills. i think this is important because we talk all the time about how american consumers are delingwent, spend money, and don't pay it down. the bad news is the categories of lateness are rising. the american association measures it in a variety of ways, and consumer confidence is down, down hard, that's not good news. now some believe that this set of -- this set of thoughts is the set of facts mean americans are in more trouble and may pay that mortgage even less often. that is not good news, and this

is on top of the news about taxes rising, and i don't care what the president, frankly, says about what this deal means. you are going to be paying, all of us will be paying higher taxes in the new year. tracy: you know why i think you are right? things like mobile home delinquencies, auto loans, can't buy food with your auto loans. the credit card has to stay current for the food. >> i need it, absolutely true. tracy: put your electric bill on credit cards if you had to. >> americans learned a lesson in the last round of free credit for everybody, and they are trying to become a little more responsible with their money. i just get tired of all of this east coast economists saying americans are stupid with their money. enough already. they know. tracy: they cur bed holiday spending. >> much to the chagrin of

retailers. ashley: encouraging to spend, spend, spend. >> talking taxes tonight. ashley: thanks so much. >> lots of them. ashley: tonight at 6 p.m. here on fox business. tracy: coming up, china and south america could shape what you pay for energy prices this year. that, plus other top commodity stories. all of that is next. ashley: first, look at the 10 and 30-year treasuries. the note on the 10-year, still under the rate of inflation, is.88%, and treasury just over 3%. ♪ change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections

of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. >> here's your fox business brief. well, after a nearly two year investigation, the frat trade commission is closing its antitrust probe against google

after the company agreed to make changes to search practices to satisfy fcc concerns including allowing websites to remove content from google search. the state department says timing is not right for google's trip to north korea. google chairman set to join a humanitarian trip to north korea early next month. they are believed to have thee most restricted internet policies in the world. home prices gaping momentum in december climbing more than 5% last year. overall 2012 was a huge turn around year for local housing markets with prices higher in 82 of the 100 largest metros. that is the latest from the fox business network giving you the popower to prosper.

tracy: the story of the day, maker of the iconic meat in a

tin product, spam, buying another american icon, skippy peanut butter in a $700 million deal. now, the move gives hormels a path overseas because skippy is sold in 30 countries and thee number one peanut butter in china. wow. they expect sales of 370 million which would at 13.17 a share to earnings. ashley: peanut butter and spam. thars a friday night right there. >> there's a multitude of recipes created. ashley: what is in spam? just pork and ham and potato binder in there, and a jelly around it. yum. remember the monte python sketch? trash trash -- tracy: yes. ashley: on to smpg --

something differentment fiscal cliff deal fades, but what drives the market the rest of the year? joining me commodity indexes, thank you for being here. whether -- what are the key stories you see this year? >> a lot of eyes on china, and the most economic sensitive commodities are the industrial metals as well as the dmrnlg so in the dow jones, the s&p gsci is production weighted, heavy energy weighted 70% and wfi -- wti is the main commodity there quickly taken over by brent oil, and s&p copper. ashley: revving up again, impacting a broad array of commodities, and you mentioned some there. if china does not, and it's

vague what's going on in china, is there an impact from that country on the numbers we'd like to see? >> it could. the oil demand estimates from china coming out are 3 ,000 barrels a day incrementally justify setting the climb. latin america, middle east, collectively, looking at 800,000 barrels a day being added, whereas the nonopec supply is only 700,000 barrels a day. ashley: those areas driving demand you think? >> yes. ashley: what's that do to the price of oil? >> always driven by supply and demand. ashley: right. >> it's the demand against the expectations, and we'll see on some of it that might depend on the natural gas situation in the u.s.; right? the over supply of the natural gas from the fracking technology has to some been able to become a replacement. the u.s. last year had converted from being a major importer to

now a net exporter. ashley: and people changing from crude to natural gas impacting it as well. >> right. ashley: gold. everyone has an machine on gold. what do you say for gold this year? >> much depends on the quantitative easing, and the quantitative easing is a mixed story for commodities. people are concernedded about inflation. during the qe1, the economy was heating up a little bit, and metals and energy fared well. qe2 was not as good. commodities mixed, and qe3 should be strong, but if the crisis continues, and they are low interest rates, weakening dollar, that could be good for gold and might be the only commodity to fair well. ashley: there's a race going on all over the world as you outlined, but there's not the reaction gold that we could have. did not go as high as i thought

it coull. why is that? >> again, it all comes back down to the supply and the demand in gold. it's often a safe haven. ashley: because inflation has not been an issue? >> right. inflation has not ever historically been an explanation in the price of gold whereas other metals like copper, the returns are explained by inflation so generally, wide baskets of commodities and s&p, others with the same foot in energy and cpi move with inflation whereas metals individually may or may not so gold has not whereas copper has. ashley: interesting stuff. jodi, s&p dow jones, appreciate it. >> thank you. ashley: a flat year in 2012 overall for commodities. tracy: gold even up only 7% after all of that, huh. quarter past the hour, time for stocks like every 15 minutes, nicole's on the floor of the new

york stock exchange. we kind of -- we're not moving much. fell when the fed minutes came out, but now up a little bit. >> that's right. there's strength in the dollar over the last couple hours here. the dollar gained, and the fed minutes key here pushing us. that's another reason why we went from positive to negative territory. among the committee, some say slow or stop purchases before the end of 2013, and one said additional purchases are unwarranted and others are still all gung ho on keeping the kool-aid flowing. a lot of chatter in the years to come. two names talking about administration changes. the top spot, quick silver and safeway. now, both names are 20-year-old stories. the first is quick silver. the ceo, robert mcknight, a co-founder, executive chairman, replaced by andy moony, and

that's january 11. safeway ceo, steve byrd stepping down, joined safeway about 20 years ago. there's a look at the stocks for you. back to you. tracy: thanks nicole, see you at the top of the hour. ashley: a new rule making it easy for illegal imgrants to stay in the united states, but is it another end run around congress? judge napiltano joining us next and may be fired up about it. tracy: we'll see. staples up 3%, and priceline up almost 2%. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪

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ashley: we said how new car sales finished strong in 2012, but what about overall retail sales? lauren has details on december. same store sales, lauren?

>> ashley, a little bit better than expected for the the month of december. sales grew by 4.5%, and that was better than last year's growth, but there are still problems. before we talk about the problems, let's talk about the winners out of the 17 retailers that have their retail sales tracked on a monthly basis. costco, a huge winner up 9% incoming gas sales. macy's a winner, although, i point out with macy's, while they beat expectations for december sales, they cut the q4 guidance three cents and closing six stores in the spring. not all good news there, and that stock is under pressure. nordstrom another standout. a december not to remember. limited brands, a rare miss here, the owner of victoria's secret. all year posted numbers above 5%, and now they just got 3%. target sales flat, and wet seal near 10% decline there. the problems for the retailers

were a couple of things. all we did is talk about the fiscal cliff. nobody knew what the taxes would be in the new year so that was definitely a head wind facing retail sales. we were in the stores, browsing, we were not buying, had super storm sandy, and those lingering effects to deal with, and, also, the shootings in connecticut just passed a cloud over the holiday season. those are the numbers. now we have to look forward to spring, and now we know where our tax rates will be, and everybody's essentially getting a tax hike because of the expiration of the payroll tax cut, and that's not favorable for discretionary spending going forward, and we also have not heard from heavy weights like walmart and best buy because they do not report monthly chain store sales. we'll get more information, but back to you guys. ashley: a mixed bag. tracy: no one's going to take

blame for maybe you got crap in the store in ashley: yeah, maybe. tracy: wet seal, come on, i mean, how many leopard pairs of leggings can you sell? ashley: three or four? how many do you have? tracy: don't play the blame game. it's garbage. you need a better line. ashley: but that garbage is half off. tracy: the judge is looking at me. time to get serious. buying back congress, illegal aliens stay in the country and possibly become citizens. a new administration effect illegals with thousands of childrens or parents of u.s. citizens. senior judicial analyst here to weigh in. you cannot be happy about this. >> well, look, the way the laws have been written and the way the congress has basically deferred to the executive branch as to how to enforce the laws, it has given the president

virtual power to rewrite the laws. for example, immigration is a perfect example where he basically said i don't like the immigration laws, and i can't rewrite them, but i decide how to enforce them so i decided if you're 23 years old or younger, if you came here with your parents, even though the entry was illegal, if you are graduated from high school or served in the military and don't have a criminal record, i'm not going to prosecute you to deport you. translated? you can stay here for the rest of your life. i'm going to make it legal by not prosecuting you. now, the flip side of that is he won't be president forever. whoever succeeds him can reverse it. it's not a law to be rev.ved by congress, -- reversed by congress, but a law that regulates the justice department enforces the law that congress wrote. my gripe, excuse me, which is why you said i'm not happy about it because you're right. the notes i sent you, the gripe is that congress and the courts

defer too much to the president. they give the president too much power either by giving him or her discretion or by looking the other way when presidents do things that they are not supposed to do. the effect of the change in the law, whether it's a good law or a bad law, whether you are for open borders or for very strict quotas, this is a decision that should be made by the congress, by the people's elected representatives, not by the president. the president's job is to enforce the laws that congress wrote whether he likes them or not. tracy: surprises me. we have the most ego congress in history and you'd think they want power over everything. >> well, i interviewed members of congress who disagree with what president did, but were in the party. congressman rangel, condemned the doming, why didn't he stop it? well, he's our president, he's our democrat, he does good

things for us, but the argument is, you know what? it's a give-me. we'll let the president have this one because he's with us in everything else. too much of this, and the president becomes a prince or king and not a president. ashley: right. tracy: judge, setting us straight. thank you. >> pleasure, guys. are you going shopping or not? tracy: yes. ashley: liz claman going through the last hour of trading, and we have a fox business exclusive, and daniel moore not happy about the new medical tax. find out what it means for the jobs and innovation. "countdown to the closing bell" is next. ♪ [ male announcer ] where do you turn for legal matters?

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