all trading higher as you can see, the nasdaq the best performer with a gain of one half of 1%. from all of us, a very safe and happy joyous holiday and we will see you next time. time for "varney & company." rich, have a good show. rich: thank you. i am rich edson in for stuart varney. it is one of the most heavily traveled days of the year and a nasty winter storm covering a third of the nation. canceling flights trading traffic jams, major headaches for people trying to get home. fedex and ups cutting off last night deliveries. dow 18,000, a week left, will the momentum continue into 2015? stay right here. "varney & company" starts right

now. the skid right to the weather. golf coast thunderstorms using tomatoes of the east coast, flight delays, hazardous conditions could slow to a crawl. what does it look like? >> things are pretty smooth, not a lot of delays or cancellatio cancellations. it is raining but not too hard. the official numbers are 47 delays, nine cancellations. nationally the picture from flight aware 949 delays, 234 cancellations and that is not great if you are traveling but not the thousands of cancellations and delays we have seen in previous storms. philadelphia experiencing one hour delays because of the

weather. jfk is up there for an hour. flight arrivals in san francisco from the east coast have been delayed so that pops up on the delay list as well in th and a e others. it is still south of washington, d.c., moving up the coast slowly. we have record travel day today according to aaa, nearly 99 million people traveling this holiday season up 4%, 6 million of them are flying in part to the low gas and fuel charges. down $0.90 from last year. lowest level since may of 2009. some folks may have problems with their airlines if they are flying and you have to be careful trying to rebook.

take a listen. >> it is more, k for air travelers and four difficult to rebook your flight the time of year because the flights are very crowded so stay aware of the weather forecast for the destination and where you are departing from. >> it is a little different this time be at the cancels on you they might way they feel or something but if you are trying to change your flight to get had to follow this you may have to pay. rich: congress is out, the president is in hawaii, what was your commute like? pretty quiet in d.c.? >> three stops on the metro. have to love this week. rich: the economy grows 5% in the third quarter. "wall street journal" editorial board with us. the economy is growing, stock

market is up, the dow hit 18,000, is president obama going to get credit for this? >> there's a lot of excitement the consumer may be getting back on his or her feet. partially because of the tax cuts and that is true, that is a big structural change they say private sector and the innovation. on the other hand, a lot of the market again is also due to very easy my trip policy may be creating some distortions in the economy. how are they going to back out of that? nobody knows. we have a very strong dollar. not because of any strength in the rest of the world but because the weak economies are sending money here. cautious optimism. the market is very optimistic. lot of factors going into this. >> more expensive dollar especially with the weakening europe, particularly with exports, what does this mean for

the exports? >> don't tell me you are buying into that, i am shocked. a strong stable dollar is great for the u.s. economy. that is not the policy the obama administration or this federal reserve have pursued. it helps consumers, it helps the economy, tracks investments, that is great. my point is we are simply better than the rest of the world. you have japan on its knees, china is slowing. given all of that, the u.s. economy looks good. you need more than just falling energy prices. you need other measures such as that. we already have a bit of it. it had some dodd-frank reforms, the pension bailout ever did. the epa and the budget cuts.

i will take it, at least it is something. he can't get the grand slam when republicans are only controlling one part of the government. >> they look at what we could be looking at because it kicks back in at the end of this year, analysts say because the deficit has gotten better, washington cannot help itself. what do you think? >> i credit the tea party reorienting what they'r they are talking about. talking about tax reform, entitlement reform, revelatory reform, these are all good things. what will they be able to do with their colleagues across the aisle and the big question is when they do the bipartisan deal when is the president going to sign? it is up to him. >> tax reform is entirely

possible. the last time had really big tax reform was divided government. we will have that again with congress. rich: the dow still in record territory. the same five stocks hit new highs history in the blue-chip index of 18,000 for the first time. gas dropping another $0.02 overnight. $2.35. cheap oil boosting u.s. consumers, batter in russia. the plan to capture the west, the economic union starts next year. let's bring in lieutenant colonel ralph peters. a group of former soviet states, does russia's move into ukraine make these countries nervous and what challenge to the eu could it pose? >> it poses zero challenge to the eu.

this is a desperate attempt to show he can do it also. a good measure of how concerned the leaders of cap extent and belarus, how concerned they are is before meeting with putin bringing the deal to fruition, they both went to pay their respects, talk to them and look at the leader of belarus. he has been slavish in his relationship with moscow. he is showing some life between him and put them. a great deal of oil and gas and other resources, they are both worried about putin incursions of the ukraine because they have large russian minorities as well. the excuse he is used to into ukraine, he has to protect russians. as you know well, the russian

economy is becoming a basket case. the ruble is stabilized only because the government has been pouring money into stabilizing and now they have ordered the five biggest industrial players to start coughingv6c÷tf,y up ane ordered them to support the ruble and dro drop-down the cury reserves. putin has done a great job politically in many respects but doesn't understand economics is a public relations campaign. the russian version of santa claus, the russian media for trying put in as father frost giving way gifts to people around the country and the thing funniest today was there was talk russian government so

desperate for any kind of revenue they were talking about raising the price of alcohol, expect was so immediate that putin said i don't support it tax on alcohol even though he has been on an antialcohol crusade. bottom line, if you want to park your money in investments, don't do it in russia. >> why are we turning the screws on putin now? the president signed the ukraine freedom support act, it gives them all these powers to punish putin, and yet the white house essentially said thanks very much, now we will put it in a drawer. why aren't we turning the screws now? >> he makes woody allen look like a medal of honor hero. he has more important things to do like rescuing the castro government in cuba. it is really sad.

russia is a huge problem. it'll get worse worse before it gets better in the obama approach is he doesn't want to engage on anything that is tough. i firmly believe the reason he engaged on north korean attack on sony was because he knows how important hollywood is financially his democratic base. >> what should the u.s. do about that, what do you think? >> china won't play. china derives internally, they're taking north korea side side on this basically. so it is tough. denying international banking money transfers et cetera, but

north korea is such a basket case it is really hard to hurt them. the attack on their systems, internet connections may or may not have been the u.s. government but the trouble is it is hard to make north korea hurt because north korea has done too much damage to itself. >> we are considering that. unfortunately is a passive guy. he does not want to engage in think he absolutely does not have to engage on and i think you really just want problems to go away for the next two years, but we were talking in the green room and we agree on one thing.

the president is so obsessed with guantánamo that part of his fight with the castro's i think you'll get the base bag at guantánamo. rich: we could do this all day. colonel peters. thank you. expensive college degree may be useless. this study shows a surprising number of colleges give millennials working jobs they could have gotten without that degree. the figures after the break coming up.

rich: the dow up 53 points still holding 18,077 mark. time for your morning gold report. down 360. virgin america down, why is that? b3 the airlines have done so well.

march america's soaring 9%, very positive comment from deutsche bank. $44 price target, they initiated this with a buy rating and the company is in each player that should benefit from industry consolidation. on the other side of the coin, raymond james has a more cautious saying they don't have a dependable clientele stealing market share from competitors such as southwest and jetblue but they both agree on lower cost of oil and fuel prices will help the company with earnings per share. rich: thank you, nicole. former president george hw bush has been taken to the hospital after shortness of breath. he was hospitalized two years ago with bronchitis. president bush was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure the family is saying. santa isn't bringing you your

gifts, you're out of luck. a cap unless that express shipping because retailers have gone beyond their agreed-upon time limit. trying to stop last year's fiasco from happening again. last year nearly 2 million packages did not make it to their destinations in time for christmas. christmas shopping, are you done or what? >> i am done. i am all for drones, let amazon fly the gift to your home the day or hours before you get it. rich: this was on capitol hill a week or two ago, they were looking to have the faa expand licenses. >> they're going to bail out the postal service, throwing more money down the black hole. rich: a new survey suggest 40% of college educated millennials working in jobs that do not require a college degree.

our universities cheapening the education are just too few jobs for college graduates? for more on this, charlie joins us now. what do you think? >> i think it is a little bit of both. we are giving away money we do not have to have students study things that don't matter to find jobs that don't exist. i think we have too many kids going to college study visit not have a reciprocating value in the marketplace. coincidentally another statistic offshoot of the 40% o the survey shows his 42% of all college graduates studying degrees in social sciences like history and philosophy, things that do not have great reciprocating value in the market. if the student is studying western medieval history i think they are studying to be a brief the as starbucks.

there is nothing wrong with learning about absolutely. i'm awfully events an end of western literature and north african studies or whatever but students take out exorbitant amounts of money and taxpayers have to subsidize it should be asking more questions when we are looking at a generation already behind the ball because of increased litigation and taxation. you have a generation hex, i think. >> they have options, and look at what purdue is doing under mitch daniels. frozen tuition, going to his faculty to say let's equipped the students with skills they can use. don't they clue into guys like this? >> i wish we had a leader in the white house like mitch daniels. the department of education is almost acting like the banks

acted in 2004, 2005, 2006. seeking out young people in a predatory fashion pushing the student loans onto young people because you have to get a degree. now this in high school i got a daily e-mail from the federal student loan agency asking me to fill out a student loan forms incentivizing me to borrow money to study something i wasn't really sure of. a lot of young people aren't sure what they want to do with their life but mitch daniels is a great example, he said if you're going to get money from purdue university, study something with jobs and a vibrant market, don't go study children storytelling or poetry. the poetry majors are probably doing very well. i agree with you completely

strong governance bringing the model of indiana to purdue and the more we are able to incentivize college universities to have students no do not just vessels for profit but rather how are they reciprocating value producing people in society that is the way to move forward especially this generation. rich: isn't there something to be said for having a good liberal arts background education and learning on the job? >> i would say a lot of those liberal backgrounds are steering young people to big government believes and policies more times than not. my belief is an he must be 60s and '70s and information is held by books and libraries. liberal arts degree hello to of value. now youtube and google, information never more accessible, if you want to learn something, you can watch youtube video, as educated as you want to be as an individual and because of that a liberal arts background is decreasing in

value. if you look at the amount of money young people are forced to pay -- rich: i have to cut you off. appreciate the time. it is shaping up to be a wet christmas. we have a live report from fox news weather center right after this. ♪ (holiday music is playing)

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rich: some breaking news for you, sony will stream their movie "the interview" on their site and will open in select theaters tomorrow on christmas day. please americans traveling by plane or on the roadways. it could put a stop to all of that. meteorologist marin maria molins latest. >> yesterday produced severe weather across mississippi and also went to alabama and georgia. we are seeing the risk in place across northern florida into southeastern parts of georgia and extreme southern parts of south carolina. we do have a tornado watch in effect running until 2:00 p.m. local time. we have multiple severe thunderstorm warnings for some

storms could produce strong wind gust preventing excess of 50 or even 60 miles per hour. a secondary area where watching for possibly of severe weather includes portions of the ohio valley and looking at some heavy rain from the storms that could produce localized flash flooding. rain in the southeast but the rain has also moved farther north into the northeast and parts of the northern states of new england, seeing the rain coming down already early today and it will be continuing throughout the rest of the day. it will stay in the form of rainfall. some hoping for a white christmas not getting that. way too warm for snow. in the 40s for new york city. the backside of the storm it will be cold enough some of you will see the rain transition over to snow. when she weather advisories and portions of michigan and through

indiana looking at snowfall totals two to 5 inches of snow. travel should not be that badly impacted by snowfall for the storm causing all kinds of headaches and portions of the great lakes that only because of precipitation but some gusty wind. otherwise parts the west a brand-new storm system moving in packing a punch in terms of snow for the higher elevations you could be looking at a foot of snow locally in some areas. winter storm watch in colorado, denver, wyoming as well and the rest of the region also blanketed in winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings. hours particularly. the economy is coming back.

we have hit the dow 18,000 miles on. the president obama get any credit for the recovery? after this.

rich: check the big board right now. the dow up 50 even still above the 18,000 mark.

travelers. new line relations could have a significant impact on the production next year. shares are moving lower. oil down more than $50 from the june highs. national average for a gallon of regular $2.35. we have 30 states at least one station has gas below $2 per gallon. no states averaging below $2 per gallon just yet, a type the cheapest gas in the land. we have been asking you for weeks to send your photos of what you are paying at the pump. here's what john sent us from new york. still sitting closer to $3 up there be at hang in there, man. the numbers the census bureau shows florida has officially passed new york to become the nation's third most populous state. a florida native, first one, why

are so many people moving to florida? >> great schools, great weather, great college football, what is not to like? >> florida man assaults grandmother for taking christmas candy, some other ones are probably cannot read here. >> rips the headlines from real-life news. it has created great literature. where do you think he gets all of his ideas from? free entertainment. look, more and more people will be moving south. paying taxes we are paying in new york, it is a miserable experience, why not go to florida and some the beach and keep more of the money you're ye working so hard to earn. rich: i look at texas, florida.

>> a wider and wider gap. people are leaving. rich: can they fund services with no income tax? >> they can do it because they have economic growth. they don't work. rich: let's talk about growth. better-than-expected growth last quarter. doug, will president obama get any credit for this? looks like an easy one for him, no? >> he will get some credit for the polls are showing some modest gains in the approval rating but it is just a couple of quarters of growth in the foreign to have to 5% range. we don't really have the kind of sustained economic growth we h had. it is not like the economy is pro-growth.

we still have tax reform and we still have to come up with a way to stimulate the economy, which really hasn't produced the wage growth or the full participation in the labor market that we need. rich: could simply be at a turning point? dow 18,000, investors like that. are we at possibly a turning point here with the present term economically pretty good? >> let's hope so. hope there is bipartisan cooperation to present the president with pro growth bills forward so we can continue what i would call very tentative growth we have had with oil prices declining as they have and the wages not going up. run the risk of deflation and a slowdown, i don't think out of the woods right yet. >> how can the president take credit when it is all happening on private land?

the fracking revolution is all private innovation. >> that would be his point. he is the president of the united states, he gets blamed when things don't work and askes your colleague wrote yesterday we have a unique energy market that allows for innovation and private property, the president will try to take credit that'll be up to folks like you to try to question it. rich: gas prices, remember how much heat president bush caught? >> we are in a fifth-year recovery. we have talked a lot about this. rich: quick question, republicans are talking about some sort of counteraction with the executive order. i have tried to figure out what exactly they can do attaching to the funding bill. what will they do? >> they're going to try to defund every aspect of his

policy but also think if they are smart from what mitch mcconnell was quoted as saying in the journal yesterday there is clearly an emptiness to move in this direction, offers a pathway to citizenship. if they do the latter, i have the possibility of not only defining utility but also a positive policy producing bipartisan support. go how about trade, how about opening up more markets for american businesses? >> that would be great. trade deals with latin america, trade deals with asia. we haven't gotten the transpacific partnership done at all. if you look at what the chinese are doing, they are doing their own trade deals. without us they are setting up their own bank bank to fund ecoc activities in asia and i can't think of anything that would be

more important for our government and our congress to take on the new year. rich: you guys are optimistic. >> i am in florida. thank you very much. rich: the guy has a tattoo on his face. thank you for joining us. >> i will be on south beach tonight. rich: and its back. more than 200 theaters across the country now showing "the interview" on christmas day with sony's blessings. we will tell you where you can see it after the break. help promote heart health. experience the meta effect with our new multi-health wellness line. ♪ basketball softball cannonball which sounds most fun to you? ♪

nicole: i am nicole petallides with your fox business brief. dow jones industrial average up 45 points. we did hit another record today for the dow and s&p 500. all of arrows. the nasdaq up 19. some of the dow leaders include visa, bowling, cisco systems, mark and american express. all winners. bowling and be sick inning 1% each. look at some of the s&p leaders. you can see this after yesterday we saw the group selloff most since april bouncing back u up 4.6. ebola vaccine, you have new funding the u.s. department of health and human services warning contracts totaling $43 million to fight ebola and

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a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. rich: first two starts, biotech stocks hit hard yesterday, and back today. the stock is trading up $2.29 at $91.74. stepping down after extensive recalls of the airbags. these are headaches that are

probably not going away anytime soon. >> was ever a good idea to put a bank that inflates into your face in a car that is in an accident? what do airbags incentivize people to do? incentivize drivers to not wear seatbelts. rich: they save lives. >> no, they don't. it is a terrible idea. number of people who died because he didn't have a seatbelt on. you know what we should have, which that technological innovation which is starting. automatic braking, new technologies, new materials for cars, all sorts of things that would save lives much more so than airbags. rich: if i could double the amount of airbags in my car, i would do that. i would have airbags walking down the street. >> good luck to you. rich: if you like stoner comedy is, sony pictures will release "the interview" nationwide

starting at midnight. we found out it will be available to stream also online be at google, youtube. michael, a little too little too late? >> who knew it was the official term for this movie. trademark that. i think at this point they want just get this out there and move on. this handle the whole thing from the beginning. with the trip of the constant e-mails and the scandals and all this and pulling it and now releasing it i think it is all about recovery and moving on. rich: what do you tell sony to do on a one? you know what will happen, what do you do if you are sony? >> it is an unprecedented situation. that should have quietly pulled in the studio chiefs, said guys, we need your help, we are in this together, today is us,

tomorrow it could be you. we have to stand together and everybody would have cooperated. instead they had this heavy-handed petition. telling us not to cover this thing. that is waving a red flag in front of a ball. who could not reported? it took a very serious turn with the threat to the theaters and all of that. just to get ahead of this whole thing. rich: if you're a reporter and told not to do something, what do you do? >> i immediately cover it. what did he say? he said isolate and embarrass her enemy. that is what they did. they set up sony by embarrassing them and isolating them and nobody came to the rescue. now the hollywood left is realizing freedom is good, we have to stand up to this. i wish hollywood when realize

that a couple of years ago. ever. >> they did a good job of dividing and conquering. see what happens. rich: will they recover from this? >> i think they totally can. this is being released the same day as video on demand, something hollywood wanted to do for a long time, break that model, comes out on dvd and video on demand six months later. rich: one more topic for you. another headline. "forbes" magazine: adam sandler and johnny depp the most overpaid actors of the year. and go. >> just numbers. >> how about successful? >> little hate on this christmas day. >> i think it is a skill if you are adam sandler and can command a salary like that. >> his movies have earned plenty

of money worldwide. the us have been so as of late recalibrate his career, just did a deal with netflix exclusive deal next couple of years, he will be fine. rich: how about giant death? >> i can't stand it. he can't act his way out of a box. it is like james franco or angelina jolie. two thumbs down. >> we are so full of hate this christmas eve. >> sorry. >> check it out tomorrow. >> do i have to pay for it? i'm going to go see "american sniper" and "unbroken." rich: big cut coming to coca-coa trying to slash their budget by millions. more details after the break.

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dropping the company voicemail. by the way, i hate voicemail be it i hate when people call and leave me a voicemail. >> people are drinking healthier drinks and this is what folks are doing. rich: shouldn't they join the energy drinks revolution? >> look at what happened with mcdonald's. the put the salads on the menu and saw the revenue fall off a cliff. he is thinking about what you want to buy. rich: should the companies be getting rid of voicemail? >> i don't use my voicemail a lot. if people want to get in touch with me they will keep calling me or e-mail me. rich: why don't you just e-mail me this, right? >> why don't you walk up to my desk if you are my college.

rich: a 10 minute story that they want to do. >> i just cut them off. rich: next topic. the price of oil getting cheaper by the minute, nobody hurt as much as vladimir putin and russia. before we break for christmas, your thoughts. >> this is absolutely terrific news. it is not just rushe russia whos hurt, it is iran, venezuela, the rogue states working against our interest or the interest of our allies. even saudi arabia is siding with us. wwe're not cutting back on production because they also want to hurt russia and iran. strategically this is absolutely fantastic for us, terrible for russia. >> is there a danger well become

so cheap we begin to slow our capital investment trying to retrieve oil? >> that is the natural economic cycle. if it becomes economic, you will see a natural uptake in the oil price. so sure, that will happen, that is natural but there is a structural change in the energy market because of this innovation. that is not going away, rich. >> u.s. companies turning out cars, he wants to buy, time to get rid of that content unit of the ethanol standards. rich: another hour of "varney" cap next. the market still near record territory. the second hour just a couple of minutes away. ♪ (holiday music is playing)

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change the second hour of "varney and company" starts right now. diane richardson in for stuart varney. shortened trading time, it is christmas eve and we have presents for this year. now the bad news. the storm causing delays along the east coast, in the rain, snow, before christmas, taking you up to the closing bell less than an hour away. a major system of thunderstorms moving up the east coast could hold travel plans for millions of americans today and tomorrow. peter barnes is live with the latest and the delays. when you stand at the airport all day long, the christmas songs, holiday songs. are they getting to you? >> we actually have competing

songs. singing wonderful christmas carols. and the news that one above us. and we have an hour or left and we could have that little eggnog. here is what is going on. in little worse in the last hour. not too bad out of washington reagan where we have light rain falling nationally about 1100, 1200 delays, 240 cancellations. we want to show this as well. they have the misery map showing you where there are more flights as a percentage of all flights that are delayed and the misery map shows people are most miserable in your neighborhood up there in new york, and the new york airports, chicago, dec as well and this is compounded

by the fact that this is the record travel day according to aaa. 98.6 million people, 4%, 6 million are expected to fly. thank all the low gas and jet fuel prices, the price of a regular gallon of gas fell to $2.35 a gallon today, down $0.90 from a year ago. the lowest price since may of 2009. i want to be sure you notice i wore my special christmas tie for you. i have six of these, most of them pretty tacky. this is the one with ornaments that my wife lets me where. got one headed your way by fedex. peter: possum with attack the christmas sweater. i knew you were going to wear

that. >> i got you one with elvis on it. rich: sure thing with santa. see you later. back to your money. let's bring in harry dent in tampa. we are a couple years from a selloff but has this caused you to change your forecast at all? >> it has. we are looking at 17,300, a critical resistance point, on

between $55 i think khalil is going to start to rally after falling farther for a few months. if you see oil the back to $74 to $75 and start to turn down that will be the trigger for the next crash in oil. we will see $32 in oil, not just 50 or 54. this is what triggers the next debt crisis and therefore not a good thing even though it is could for consumers.

rich: first stop, do you agree with carey? >> i largely agree with what kerri said and i will add more to that. next year is the situation we have gotten, falling oil prices would hurt stocks, stocks are central-bank, in the far east started to believe them for a little more. oil prices make a difference and we will find the fed in a sticky situation whether there is emergency low levels of interest rates they can't cut any more or try to like them but they won't be able to because oil prices and stocks on the downward swing and the fed is going to be in a big pickle for 2015. interesting to see how they would lot of that quote. rich: where did they go? when did they get into a rate hike? we are so focused on when the first hike will be. what about the trajectory thereafter? >> i don't think they is the issue. is the sub prime crisis. bad loans coming out of nowhere

burst the last bubble. i don't think the fed will raise rates because i think the economy is going to slow. europe's demographic especially germany's get worse this year, china is slowing. the u.s. democratic starts to shift downward again. the economy won't see 3% growth in 2015 so it won't be the fed raising rates the things like this fracking and the emerging market bubble that will trigger other debt. when it starts to fail, everything goes wrong. all it took was four states, california, nevada, arizona and florida to have a sub prime crisis for global debt crisis. all it takes is the trigger when you are so much in debt and so stimulated by fed policy. dierdre: looking at what treasury yields are no one sees this. >> they didn't see the last one either. they never do. people are dead when it comes to bubbles. investors, everyday's people, bubbles are a high. they make everybody feel better,

stocks are going up, nobody wants it to end so nobody sees it coming and all it takes is a trigger. not even a big one. this fracking bubble, the high-yield debt market getting ready to implode is all it will take is to trigger a world wide debt crisis again. >> take us through oil for the upcoming year. where does it go, up or down? where does it travel on will? >> ultimately is lower. and the oil will trade heavy, rallies are meant to be sold and with shell oil industry getting 50% of jobs in 2008, that will weigh heavily on the stock market as well. one step farther i like what harry had to say. i am one of the few guys who thinks that, the delta or the chance for more stimulus or q e is going to grow next year but

we see something like that in the last quarter of 2015 or 2016. rich: that will be a sign that they fail, after six years they'd do it again. this doesn't work. how can the fed, what does the situation have to look like to continue to add to their balance sheet? i will throw that one to you. >> further weakness in the economy. they are thinking economy is honest and velocity and we are saying the last vestiges of positive demographics and a long time with baby boomers is about to end now. car sailors, housing years ago, for fluent people still spending, benefiting from the stock rally since they own the financial efforts, the peak later than the average, in the next few years including germany, including china. i don't see the is the velocity.

i agree with him, the fed has to turn around, capitulate and start stimulating, since last time. rich: thanks so much. governor mike huckabee joins us, looking at 2015, rand paul, chris christie, rick perry, rick santorum, who begins to emerge? >> too worthy to tell. everyone has their picks at this point, i go back to a couple cycles ago when we going to elected rudy giuliani to be president, mitt romney was probably second place, john mccain looked like it was no way, he was the nominee. the early prognosticators are almost inevitably wrong because there are so many things that happen in the course of the presidential election. i think it will be a very crowded field. you will see 12 to 20 people

that will put their toe in the water. a dozen will sign up and run by the time the iowa caucuses get there, six seven still in the game and by the time of march 1st and the sec primary will be down three four. >> we will see. it is of little early to tell. we are going out early and flint set up the infrastructure and spend a bunch of money, up and otherwise you can't sustain the level of what it costs to run a campaign. a lot of people go out early and set out a big organization end can't sustain it or have cash flow to make it work. rich: what is the optimal time if you were to run? hypothetically? when you do? >> allotted depends on the candidate. and they got to get some name recognition going can't put a message out there and start

getting traction. the more well-known a person is the less important to go out too early. if they think they have more money and they can know what to do with color and go out early. unless you know that the smart thing is to hold off as long as possible because the other factor is once you go out you might as well put a t-shirt on the front and back you are fair game for everybody and there is no reason to harry that part because it will be brutal enough as it is. rich: whoever emerges from the primary may face an improving economy and they may face an improving economy that the voters might think is because of president obama's policies ten years the best growth we've seen since then the president is getting a bum in the polls, 48% of americans approve of his job, john brennan month high. what is your take? can republicans potentially risk

running against not directly a popular president but a popular president and democratic successor? >> for six years he has done a lot of things that have taken his popularity downward, not upward. a slight bump in the polls over the last month i don't think is significant. i believe the more people feel the full brunt impact of obamacare and see premiums go up, coverages go down, there is going to be some things about this white house, this presidency that will make him much less popular right year from now. rich: thanks for joining us. check out the big board. still near session highs, a 54.91 over 18,000 as it has been, oil around 56, far cry from june when it was 100 bucks. more money stays in your pocket. the national average for a gallon of regular talking more about $2.35 dropping another $0.02 overnight. what are the biggest dow when is this year? nicole: we are looking at these

teams that led the way on the dow jones industrial average. in percentage terms you are looking at intel and if you and owns these you are feeling happy today. intel, 44% in 2014 followed by united healthcare up 36% and microsoft, 29% so self far as we approach the end of the year 22 of 30 dow components have up arrows and the dow itself is up for six years in a row. do you remember the great recession, down 6500, here we are at dow 18,000. those are the dow all winners. rich: sony will release the interview today online for rental at 1:00 p.m. eastern. have you ever talked about, heard about, seen in movies this much? >> absolutely -- we are pretty positive it is not a great

movie. it is the decent movie and get worldwide or wide distribution this is going to kill the box office because everybody -- because of national pride everybody is going to go out and see it. it is all we have been talking about since november 24th and now sony has independent theaters starting to show it tomorrow and these other communications on youtube and other distribution methods it is out there. rich: i haven't seen it. >> it won't be a great movie. rich: the whole premise is so silly. this is the silliest move the to ever get this much attention. >> i can't think of any movie that has got more attention than this in history actually. rich: lineup for the rest of the hour. if your flight today getting wrapped gifts through security could be any issue but we have a list of some airports that might make it easy read 12:25 and republicans promised to chip

away at obamacare in 2015 while president obama promises vetos but the administration can't veto the supreme court at 12:35 and right after the break the elf on the shelf phenomena in another way to control your kids. gawker dr. keith ablow is on that after this.

>> new california regulations could have a significant impact on its production next year. and new robot but there is on the market. the 5 foot tall luna can serve drinks, watch your dog, clean up after him, lauren simonetti is here. how much -- >> i am not sure luna can clean up after your dog. rich: have to program it? >> our new best friend, your personal assistants, watch your dog, attends to you. the company behind this is robot dynamics, they have linda

selling for $3,000, up $1,500, we we get $1,000. the price tag, most people will be it for having a robotic personal assistant. rich: you like dogs. if you have a dog and you like that dog would you let this contraption what it? >> the park. >> and the robot, or guide it. >> linda is bigger than me. i am kind of scared of little. rich: it is the christmas season so we have abided topic for dr. keith ablow, the gulf on the shelf. you set this elf on your home and it watches your kids to see

if they have been naughty or nice and reports back to stand the each night. the parents moving the elf are around when the kids are in the us we. the old leads kids to become accustomed to nsa like surveillance with our resident psychiatrist dr. keith ablow is here to win in. this seems well beyond nsa serve vehemence with are recreating a generation of little paranoid people? >> it is not like the nsa because you know the elf is watching you which is a little different and might be the saving grace of the elf. the elf is good enough to literally be seen doing his work. the elf and the song about santa knows if you are naughty or nice, how does he know? i think it is not good for kids. i am not crazy about it. i don't think we want to have this notion that kids, their

behavior, their thoughts are known to some guy in a big red suit. i am not a fan psychologically but the elf is better than the nsa. this video is absurd. imagine being a kid and having your parents tell you this little thing is looking over you? >> that is the others thing. i know it is a popular item but who would do that? do we want to install a character in our kids? we could keep this doing, we could do it in grade school, the teacher in the shelf, the teacher goes for a break and a teacher is still on the shelf, the little teacher knows whether you are talking or getting out of your seat. we could keep going with this but i don't recommend it. rich: our producer actually does this. another topic for you. the psychiatrist on gush shelf would be good. i like that. >> i may do that in my office.

rich: got to talk back. kelley moore. >> should we be giving physical gifts or should we be giving experiences for the holiday season? if someone trips somewhere? >> people love tickets or trips. those are gifts and i do think there is some gift exhaustion sitting in for adults. not for kids. kids will generally communicate -- they are very enthusiastic to get it. i think adults often get gifts and are like i am not quite sure that is what i would have gotten. there is maybe a sense of a little guilt, spend too much money. i love the experience because then someone really has to have fought more than is this sweater going to look good on jack. what band does jack absolutely love? people are taken by that.

>> i have a question. what happens if someone gets you a ticket to something or a class and you really don't want to go and you have an expensive ticket to something and you are not interested. what does that say about me? >> i get that. if it is from someone who expects to go with you that is a bad idea unless you are really close friends or family members but other than that i think there is a danger that you have to be right on with these things. it has got to be that you have heard from somebody when is elton john coming to town, always wanted to see a menu deliver that and you are a hero don't guess that it. >> i didn't say i don't want to see it don't get it for me. rich: it has been a pleasure. a bit of christmas goodwill from the psa. it is easing one of its restrictions for holiday travelers. we will tell you what is going on next.

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rich: biotech stocks, the sector has been a big winner this year

salvaging the s&p 500 right now. severe weather across the south and southeastern portion of the country putting a roadblock on holiday travel causing a lot of trouble out there. tornadoes are to blame for four debts across the south, thousands remain without power, the tornado watches in effect from the florida panhandle up to the carolinas. reports a 60 mile for hour gusts in the atlanta area with pelting rain, steadily making its way up millions more on one of the busiest travel days. year. 36 flight delays across the u.s. according to flight where. also is extended flights have been canceled, most of these vicious affecting major airports in new york, philadelphia, boston and baltimore. folks are cursing act the airports but airport trying to spread some christmas cheer when it comes to traveling with those christmas presents. lauren simonetti has the details. what is up? >> go to the airport, people

travel right now. you don't have the business travelers in your pocket. so you can absolutely read your christmas present, get it through security. the tee as a reserve the right to unwrap and inspected obviously. that causes a delay. you have to wait, long line has to wait behind you. there is o'hare and midway in chicago and an airport in alabama. don't read your presence. rich: do they wrap it for you? >> they read it for you. >> that is what the as they should be doing to move travelers through. that is what everybody wants. you have opened the present. >> you have a little kid with you. >> you already ruined and so -- >> it is -- rich: for their flight, might as well wrap a gift. i am looking for something to do. >> you going to bring your scissors? you can't bring scissors to the

airport. rich: get through security and get out. >> it is christmas time. i think this is such a nice service where you can get your gift complementary wrapped and don't have to weigh on the security line. rich: of imus in the security line at an airport not to be named and i was number 3 and it took 10 minutes to show my boarding pass. you don't need to distract them with a gift wrapping. how much will these folks do? >> they are doing a service. santa's tracking radar following the big guy's annual flight around world. we will tell you what is right after the break. thanks.

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$1.68 in oklahoma city and costco in colorado. george h. w. bush taken to hospital in texas after suffering shortness of breath. the president's been tweet to month in hospital for bronchitis. the former president's office that he went to the hospital after an abundance of caution. check out norad's sand the flight tracker flying over kazakhstan headed to russia. he is getting close. >> doesn't make enough money for this huge journey. $140,000 a year, that is it, for all of this work. >> was the north pole has? that how we know how much? >> we to months of work for him. a busy final day. the gets tips. rich: $1.40? >> she is coming soon. to this tradition started in 1955.

skiers, the retailer put a gun a tag for kids to -- date put the wrong number. this tradition started. rich: if santa isn't bringing your gift you are out of luck. ups and fedex the cap on last minute express shipping because retailers have gone beyond the agreed upon limits, trying to stop last year's fiasco from happening again. according to tracking software from shift matrix last year 2 million packages failed to make it to their destinations in time for christmas. >> i am done the waiting and two items. i need to intercept santa claus when i get home. rich: he is over russia. >> basically december 26th is when these shipping giant prepare for the next holiday season. eps invested half a billion

dollars in new technology to be better able to deliver these packages on time after that fiasco last year when people didn't get their items. now they haven't the shoe. they have negotiations with retailers and agreed upon limits, you can't promise we can get it to you in this time when we can't and only a certain number of items can be promise that a certain time. the retailer is desperate for our business, they keep pushing the free shipping offer. by noon on december 23rd we would get it to you by christmas eve. ups and fedex can't necessarily do that. they are not miracle workers so the wall street journal is reporting ups is pushing back saying please stop with the promotional offers. is too late. recognize our agreed upon volume limit and stick with those and we won't have the fiasco we had last year. rich: you keep having retailers pushing the time closer to christmas but more people shopping online. look what happened on black friday. >> my message is just go to the

store. if you need something last-minute go to the store. the buildings, you walk or drive, you walk inside, you have a wallet usually. rich: republicans vowed digital at obamacare. phil klein of the washington examiner, the president will veto some of these changes but the supreme court is the real challenge. march 4th we will hear arguments. one of the chances a major piece of this law struck down by the court? >> keep in mind the supreme court wouldn't be striking down a law. what they would be doing is saying that the obama administration miss implemented the law by saying that subsidies could go to individuals who obtain their insurance through federal exchanges even though the law specifies they should be limited to individuals in states that establish their own

exchanges so i think there's a possibility the supreme court decided to hear the case so this could have major ramifications for multiple aspect of obamacare and force the reopening of the law. >> you are talking 36 states that don't have their own insurance exchanges and the way obamacare works is you expand medicaid to where you give insurance subsidies and you would be undoing the insurance subsidy portion for 36 states. >> the clear point, the irs said these subsidies could go to the federal exchange. however the law says that it should be limited to a state based exchanges so there are a number of practical ramifications to this. millions of people are receiving subsidies so the supreme court would say they can't receive these subsidies. the flip side of that is it

would be saving taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars because they would no longer repay and out the subsidies the supreme court said were illegal. another e shu is employers in those 36 states wouldn't be governed by the employer mandate, the requirement larger employers buy health insurance. reason is that requirement is triggered when a worker gets insurance subsidy from the federal government. if there are no subsidies going out then those businesses won't have to pay those fines. rich: realistically, where can president obama be presented within obamacare exchange bill that would realistically be signed a get to his desk? what can the house and senate action will be passed to get there to change obamacare? >> putting aside supreme court challenge, the medical device

tax, the tax was levied on the industry. it affects medical devices such as heart valves and it has become very unpopular, democrats and republicans, because there that is why you see liberals like al franken and elizabeth warren who oppose this and it is a change that if they got rid of it, it would fundamentally change the overall architecture of the law so it wouldn't be a problem really for obama to sign that with bipartisan support. dierdre: thanks for joining us. rich: sony is recovering from the big cyberattack but the hackers next target your personal medical records? good guy hacker says hospitals are not doing enough to keep your identity safe. that after the break.

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rich: in sarasota, fla. will stocks keep moving higher in the new year? >> i would like to think they have enough momentum to do so. they are probably going to -- we came in too far too fast and is not sustainable. we get to the point we are a little overvalued and we will see a little pull back. rich: what kind of pullback? >> 2014 volatility is any indication then we see some of those spikes coming back in 2014 could be significant. and a 20% drop in short order, it is out there. >> probably of little healthy, getting a little cheaper. i have a question for you. you know the wall street saying as january goes so goes the year, historically january of 2014 go back to january of this year, stocks were down and look

at us now, 14% this year. >> it was frightening in january, the central banks, the united states, and we see more of that in 2015 but underlying that the valuations of gotten far ahead of themselves. january won't be the indicator for the rest of the year but my expectation is we will have exceptionally volatile year and i wouldn't put it past the market globally to see some significant pullbacks. >> will we see a fed pullback first interest-rate increase if it does come. i imagine it would but will we see a pullback? >> with the new patient's language that is an indication they are little worried. a couple times in the past year in 2014 when the market felt a little bit they came, the french team to the rescue, everything is going to be fine and raise rates and the market valley's once again.

i don't think they will spook the market. they won't describe that themselves. with oil falling as it has we will start looking at deflationary again instead of the prospect of inflation. that give the fed more room. i don't see any rise in 2015 at all. >> they going to buy bonds again? would they go that far? >> only if there is a major global panic will the fed reserve come back, quantitative easing that would provide whatever is necessary to keep the markets functioning properly. falling global panic that won't happen and they stay the course with zero interest rate policy. that will be the way it is until global economy spic and we get some lift off from the economic growth in spite of the 5% revisiting we had with gdp in the last quarter. rich: thanks for joining us. south korea running

cybersecurity drills on the nuclear plants in the wake of the big sony had to believe to have come from north korea. chris, sony attack can be devastating but a hack and a power grid, could be catastrophic. what are the chances that happens here? >> we see a lot of attacks happening right now. the systems that control power grids and other volatilities across the globe so it is very valuable that attack like that could occur. rich: why hasn't it happened? >> really good question. i have been wondering that as well as many in my community. there are so many vulnerabilities, so easily act that it is shocking. we did see one in germany. a steel mill had their system hacked through a spearfishing e-mail and they were able to overheat the furnace. we expect a lot more of these

attacks this coming year. rich: what about reports that hospitals could be vulnerable to a hack attack? >> since january 1st, 2014, through to date there have been 41.5 million records lost due to hacking the tax on hospitals and health care networks. 2015, we will seize that on the increase especially some of the new laws and information sharing apps, how they're trying to get more sharing of the medical information online. we will see a lot more breaches. it is so valuable to attackers to have health care record. they can buy and sell those things on the internet, prescription drugs can be bought and sold. and that kind of information -- >> where do hospitals stand, bank, known as having the best

cyber some purity. >> and when it comes to the infrastructure, and understanding how important it is. a lot of these bernard: that the attacks in the past 12 months, not only hacking at tax system plastic things like w s b drive being thrown away with thousands upon thousands of records on them, from the trash or just because someone left it behind. there is a massive breach of personal identifying information on patients so when you couple that with the insecurity in the health-care industry and their systems being behind seven years, we will sienna massive increase in those attacks in the of coming year. >> other patients are nervous. what do we do as patients

hearing this from you? >> that is a good question. i go to my doctor and you have the sign in sheets and they ask your name and social security number. anyone else's information right in front of you. this is their policy and how to get signed in. first thing we tell people is refuse those things. don't do it. if they throw a fit just say i am sorry, this is my data, my personal data i don't want out there but the reality of the matter is there's not much else past that that you can do at the doctor's office besides take your patient records and put it on an insecure network and the trends that data through the internet and what can you do? there's not much because of some hackers in between some malicious hackers in between those connections. rich: thanks so much for joining us. more fallout from those faulty

air bags, the recall of millions of cars this year. the president of takata steps come. jeff flock has details coming up.

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>> takata says its president is stepping down, jeff flock joins

us from chicago. jeff: blaming him for this, he is out, it is his birthday today. happy birthday, merry christmas, he is saying on the takata board. they're not blaming him because he came in after the mess started. this brings the grandson of the founder to the for coming in every gave up the chairman and ceo title, a 48-year-old and grandson of the founder of takata, this happens with toyota after their recall. even ford coming in after the fires and recalling 90s. the numbers are pretty big. 12 automakers affected by the air bag recall. and total of 24 million vehicles. next hour rich will have the financial impacts of toyota. big yen loss. back to you. rich: congress had a field day

with this. more varney after this.

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>> i know it's a popular item but who would do that? don't we want to instill character in our kid? i guess we could keep this going. we could do it in grade school. the teacher on the shelf. teacher goes for a little break. the teacher is still on the shelf. the little teacher with the beaney knows whether you're talking or getting out of your seat. we could keep going with this but i don't recommend it. >> dr. keith ablow on the "elf" on the shelf. market is about to close. here is adam shapiro. >> sometimes an elf on the shelf is just an elf on the shelf. bells are ringing on wall street. let's look how stocks are finishing today. dow and s&p, we're looking on another record close for both.

russell near a record. aft the bevel starts right now. -- "after the bell" starts right now. adam: six seconds away from the closing bell with for trading sessions left in the year. looks like we will have still a record close but, with very light volume. let's get straight to today's market action. we have gary rand who says investors have great opportunity to get into one specific sector right now. kirk cabia is predicting big market drops in 2015 he will tell us why. todd horowitz at cme. nicole petallides at new york stock exchange. you're up first. tell me about it. >> it has been an exciting run obviously. we saw dow 18,000. on loud speaker michael feinstein. big picture here is 2014 really clocked in some stellar gains especially after worries we saw in october. as a matter of fact w'r