fbn, me directly at dierdre bolton. thanks very much for joining us on "risk & reward." "money" starts now. melissa francis is here. melissa: i sure am and it does start now, all of that stuff. stocks still plummeting struggling to fight off the biggest downdraft of the year and smoke got an upgrade. we're still feeling impact from this storm. first up, a double-whammy for u.s. stocks as investors react to durable goods data. 28 dow stocks in the red as the dow fights for a safe distance from the nearly 400 point loss we saw earlier today. it was the steepest drop in year-and-a-half. charlie gasparino, fox business senior correspondent is here. david asman is here as well. jack hough, senior editor at "barron's." what did you think of this big drop today? >> remember the stock market prices what they think earnings or the economy is going to be in the future and how the economy may affect corporate earnings in the future.

the stock market was saying it is not, the future is not very good for the u.s. economy based on the latest data but which i will say this, the market came back and came back the minute i thought, that morgan stanley came out it changed its estimate when the fed will finally start raising the fed fund rate and policy rates changed it from -- melissa: from later from january to march. >> 2016. melissa: indicating that the economy is worse off than we think. >> by the way morgan stanley, just caught up with a friend of ours who has been saying it right here a past couple months anthony scaramucci. he said that was going to happen. he was absolutely right. >> there is good reason to believe it will take longer. ask yourself why europe is buying all these bond to keep their interest rates low? >> you think that will help the european stock market? i won't. >> someone thinking about doing a piece of business rates at 2% is too high they're waiting for 1.75%. it is not about rates. if they're doing that in europe

and doing that in japan and starts to hurt u.s. earnings and u.s. stocks it will raise rates in that environment? no. melissa: it already list. look at caterpillar sell 70% of their goods overseas. earnings looking weak. the dollar is strong. >> break this down for the average american. we'll not see higher interest rates out of the fed more more than a year. we're going to maintain, it will be zero% interest rates since 2009. melissa: why? because the global economy is weaker than we thought. i said oil was canary in the coal mine. everybody laughed. >> the most important thing right now is the dollar. that is why oil is weaker substantially. as long as the dollar is weak as long as dollar is strong we have trouble selling our stuff overseas. that is why the feds will not raise rates. they don't want to do nor. dollar is strongest it has been in decade. melissa: dollar is not why crude has broken down. >> melissa, you're wrong. that is part of the reason. melissa: very small part. >> that is part of the reason why oil certainly part of the

reason why a lot of these earnings are coming in poor right now because they can't sell their goods easily overseas. melissa: that is true. but i don't agree with the oil part. >> oil is based in dollars melissa, there is relationship. melissa: no kidding. i traveled the world more than a decade covering it. >> stronger dollar affects oil. melissa: all keys. >> you're a trained economist. melissa: i'm not going to say what you are, this is family show. don't expect any action from the fed says morgan stanley. new note revealing it doesn't see the fed hiking rates. we already talked about this until march 2016. oil prices are forecast to go lower waiting on fed's target of 2%. we wanted them to wait and i told them you wouldn't and i was right. >> here's the thing i will never let you down. melissa: i am. what do you want? i am a trained economist. i have four years degree in economics. what do you want? >> he has a beard like

ben bernanke. >> i'm a trained journalist. melissa: you're a trained journalist. >> average guy that watches us should know this if you want to put money in the bank or take massive risks in the markets you're screwed. that is what the federal reserve is telling you. >> it is true what you said before the show you won't shave until the fed raises rates? are you going on record? melissa: you won't shave until the fed raises rates. >> i won't shave until the fed raises rates. >> you have a long beard. >> i won't shave until george, our camera guy, shaves his fro. melissa: that making more sense. look no further than microsoft leading sector to biggest plunge in three years. tale of two tech companies for microsoft and apple. microsoft reporting dispointing fourth quarter earnings. apple is gearing up for what analysts say could be epic report after the bell. is it going to be epic jack? >> it will be epic in terms of numbers. the stock is going to decline and the reason i say that that is what happened this time a year ago and this time two years ago.

something happens twice, i look for it to happen a third time. >> we know it will be epic in terms what they have sold people will look for projection. >> i don't think they come up with something bigger than screen increase on iphone 6. this was the mother of all upgrade cycles. i think having a hard time -- >> about as epic as that blizzard you will talk about. melissa: yeah, i don't know. i think it will be more epic than the blizzard. >> troublemakers today. giving you all kinds of trouble. melissa: there you go. all right here is live look at the blizzard that was supposed to be epic. supposed to be the storm of the century except for much of the tristate area wasn't. streets of new york city were bare as officials ordered all cars off the road and put brakes on every form of public transit. snowfall in some areas didn't even top 10 inches. i understand much more severe north of here, boston. very funny here in new york, got to tell you. >> lines coming out of whole food. >> started on sunday.

melissa: yeah. total panic. >> they closed subways. why close the subways? that is just dumb. people are less stuck in the subways and most corrupt institution. mta we're finding -- melissa: how do you turn from that from the snowstorm? how do you get corruption. >> the mta? >> the mta is part of the whole thing. i think they're responsible for the snowstorm. they're the reason why the snowstorm didn't -- >> i think joe ran the mta in very good way who served under -- melissa: how is this related to the storm? >> because they closed subway. melissa: derailed. >> how do they close a subway? melissa: all i know my upper east side it was perfectly plowed. for once ever, since de blasio. not a car out there. >> this is money show. this is money show. with four inches of snow we -- melissa: doing a whole segment later in the show. i think you're in it. >> new york state spent $700 million. melissa: okay. there you go. >> how much is that per inch? you do the math.

melissa: president obama sitting down with leaders in saudi arabia but i guess absence makes the heart grow fonder. president getting some good news on the home front. he will call it a comeback. stocks cutting losses but stocks still diving triple digits. more "money" coming up. ♪

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melissa: the dow is struggling to cut today's losses. let's go to nicole petallides on floor of the new york stock exchange. talk to me about a comeback here. >> what a tough day on wall street, right? the comeback well, we're off the lows of the day but sentiment still much of the same. you're seeing a little bit of buying. you have a few names in, you know johnson & johnson merck pfizer, holding on to some gains, some technologies. for the most part still a lot of weakness. some of this cops from economic news, durable goods for example.

so we're seeing a slowing economy coupled with earnings which have been a miss and disappointment. caterpillar in particular. caterpillar comes out and basically says commodity prices are hitting their profits. going forward, the low oil prices will bring a soft 2015. looking at copper basically five 1/2 year lows. iron ore coal these are things which they're involved with. with that down 7 1/2% for caterpillar. so right now the dow is down almost 250 points. we had been down 370 and on the these of some weak economic news in particular and tough earnings we're really just seeing selling across the board today. back to you. melissa: nicole, thank you so much. much of the northeast still digging themselves out from a massive amount of snow. some parts of massachusetts got more than two feet. it is still coming down. poor molly line braving the elements in boston. how is it going there molly? you look fantastic. >> thanks melissa. it is actually pretty surreal.

kind of interesting. the travel ban is still in effect for eastern part of massachusetts. just listed it for the western counties, four western county. we're told that area of the state got different storm nowhere near as bad as rest of the state. in massachusetts roads are shut down on eastern half. this is boston. pedestrians, wandering down main city streets. businesses closed. coffee shops closed. a lot of snow move apparatus on sidewalks and plows moving through constantly. the snow is coming down constantly. there were 30,000 power outages during the course of the storm. pretty bad as folks living through it. not as bad as it could have beenrd coulding to officials. the snow is if you have any and didn't have heaviness that brought down a lot of trees. pedestrians like crazy getting out here to enjoy the day. a lot of people taking advantage of a snow day. we had a chance to interview many so of them. take a listen. have you seen other skiers out? >> no. not yet. i've seen snowshoers and no snow

skiers. cross-country seems to be nice because the plows kind of packed down a little bit. >> have you been able to cross-country through a city? >> no. this is a first. >> rare opportunity. a lot of folks are taking advantage of it. there are still concerns about coastal flooding particularly in communities south of the city. inches on some streets, feet on others of the difficult situations overnight. some folks taken out of homes overnight and power shut down in some areas. it is not over yet. we're still seeing snow coming down. back to you. melissa: molly, thank you very much. president obama was meeting with the new king in saudi arabia. he wasn't traveling light with a team including secretary of state john kerry and con rise. and the -- condoleezza rice.

president's job approval rating hitting first time in a year-and-a-half. david asman and kerrey sheffield. must be the glozell bounce. getting in the tub with glozell with the cheerios helped. >> but it is interesting, his trip, the saudis are really ticked. they are a close ally, probably closest arab ally we have. they think obama is giving much too much away to the iranians. they're scared to death of the iranians. they are to the northeast of them. directly north lebanon essentially controlled by iran and now to the south yemen looks like at least temporarily controlled by iranian substitutes as well. so the saudis are wondering, what's in it for us. melissa: if that is true, he is spending four hours in the kingdom. that is not a lot. it is a big place. >> going through time of transition and trying to show solidarity with a new leader coming on board. david is absolutely right. iran is posing enormous threats.

we're doing back channel secret negotiations and completely leaving our allies behind like saudi arabia. so saudi arabia is very upset. it is incredibly unstable. you brought up high approval ratings. melissa: why do you think he is getting a bounce. >> part of it is is the state of the union. pretty typical to get a bump. distinguish between the man and his policies. he said last fall my policies are on the ballot. we don't like your policies. like george w. bush. people liked him as a person but didn't necessarily like how he was governing. melissa: do you agree with that. >> i do. i think there is problem with the polls. only polls that really matter are elections. last election it was clear his policies and his stance for those policies failed miserably. we actually at fox news have polls that differ with those polls that we, show him at 50%. so who knows what is happening of the bottom line is, right now people are looking to the future and the iranians and people in

that area are looking to their own personal future. if iran has a nuclear bomb which it may get as a result of his actions now the whole world will change. melissa: let me play devil's advocate. i'm not saying i agree with this. why being close with the saudis? it hasn't gotten us anywhere? we're more i will independent. the way we deal with iran hasn't worked, why not try a new policies. >> the studies are much more reliable. we like the devil we know than the devil we don't know. if the saudis turn against us it would create more instability in the region. they're proven to work with us in ways that the iran is not working with us. the president of iran, he is going around charming all the rest, iranian press look what he says to his own people. he says the west are idiots. they will continue to developing their nuclear weapons. sort of this two-faced thing and they think they can lull us -- >> even israelis worked with the

saudis. yes they can be hard nosed. yes a lot of 9/11 terrorists were from saudi arabia but you can deal with them. iranians, i don't think you can deal with them. melissa: we'll leave it there. thanks guys. watch david "after the bell" at 4:00 p.m. earnings coming out. you have a huge show. apple, yahoo!, we'll break that down for you. the dow seeing biggest drop in 18 months. we're back with a check on the market and selloff we have going. drug dealers get a favorite new toy. we'll talk about the dangerous new ways drones are being used. smart money coming up. ♪

melissa: let's get back to the markets. we're way off lows of the day but still in. scott martin, fox news

contributor. scott, we're only down 200 now only. it doesn't feel like there is a change in sentiment in the market. we're looking at these earnings. they're not coming in as strong as folks hoped. look at case-shiller russia durable goods, whatever it is out there maybe oil was the canary in the coal mine. do you agree with that or no? >> i think so. you're wearing red today, melissa. good choice very fitting. i think the tone has changed. if you factor in durable goods the oil slide, the troubles in europe i mean, look what happened with the ecb you know just some time ago right? we had great announcement of qe or like thereof and markets rallied for what a day half a day and the euro got smoked. the staying power of stimulus packages fed intervention here seems to get less and less. investors are getting real about things. saying well maybe stocks might not be the best game in town

anymore. melissa. melissa: if you look at the flipside, charlie gasparino said the bounce off lows that morgan stanley saying fed will keep the punchbowl longer not march, but january 2016. could that help and change sentiment? >> it might. the market needs to keep fed doing what they're doing. i don't think the fed will raise rates before the next presidential election. i don't think if they do it this year that they will do it next year before the presidential election? i think rates will stay low. bond market is telling you that we need rates low, not high. if you're investing in our 401(k) that's okay you can buy bonds. buy high grade bond in 401(k) to offset equity volatility. bond prices are going up. total return is there. melissa: thanks so much. appreciate it, scott. >> see ya. melissa: concerns about illegal drug trafficking after a drone

carries methaphetamine crashes near the u.s.-mexican border. did you hear about this? the drone was carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in drugs, possibly opening a new front for the illegal market. joining me is sheriff pal babu from arizona a town near the mexican border. first of all, sheriff thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. melissa: when this story originally broke, some people laughing how silly it was you would put drugs so heavy they couldn't be carried by the drone and use black sticky tape to attach it to the drone and send it over the bored per you it is a serious story no? >> absolutely and it's a new wave and a new technique, in this case for the drug cartels. we've seen them use actual catapults launch drugs over the fence or any obstacle. we seen them use tunnels and ultralights, any aircraft to get it so why not drones?

drones are prevalent use today both by our military and starting to see even amazon was talking about using drones to deliver packages so why not in this case, a criminal syndicate to use it to deliver drugs? melissa: how would you battle back against this? do you need the faa to come out to help you start monitoring the air or what's the plan? >> well this will be very difficult and it is complex. it shows some vulnerabilities weaknesses. you take another incident that happened this week and all of us are aware of, the threat to the white house. arguably the most protected building in our country in the free world and we had a drone actually penetrate three concentric rings of no-fly zones. that didn't stop it. so it is not about the fcc or anybody else in rule making. it is fact that this drone got into even the white house, went around the white house went back to the front, bumped into windows of the white house until

it was eventually shot down. so, you're asking me, can local law enforcement fight against these drones coming across the border bringing drugs? i think this raises the specter of very serious, alarming uses of these drones to harm our country. melissa: but sheriff, you can't just throw up your hand and say there is nothing we can do about this i know you're not going to do that. what would be your first step? what will you do about it? >> you're talking to a guy our sheriff's office has largest drug busts in history of our state here in arizona, $3 billion. we have heavy enforcement. we have three helicopters and an airplane. that couldn't combat the drones. drones often times evade detection by radar. that is one of the benefits of drones of the so it is going to really complicate things for us, the fact that there is some limitations in their deployment depending on how far they can deploy away from the operator.

so it is something relatively new in terms of the drugs yet, the other applications are far more concerning for me. melissa: sheriff, thank you so much for coming on. appreciate your time. >> thank you. melissa: calls for more drone regulations now. we were just talking about it. commercial drone flew over the white house, crash-landed on the lawn. senator chuck schumer call on faa to boost regulations saying quote, discovery of a drone on white house lawn the eagle has landed in washington. faa guidelines for drones are needed. carrie and jack are with me. asking the government to solve the problem? that always terrifies me. >> i'm much more bullish on drones. we have to own the drones because otherwise the drones will own us. faa bans commercial use of drones. he was private individual. i did this on accident. i was not causing actual threat. amazon is trying to use drones

for commercial use but we're not letting them. melissa: i thought they changed rule? >> no. melissa: you could do this with special training? i thought they relaxed the rule on that? in any case what do you think about that. >> there is a market opportunity for a company to come up with a way quickly and reliably kill low altitude drones. i've seen a couple ideas from companies. melissa: there you go. >> looking a at drones killing other drones or lasers. there is real urgency for it. melissa: absolutely. that will make sense. we'll leave it there. new york city dodging the worst of the blizzard but not everyone got so lucky. the chilling effect it could have on the economy and absolutely no heat in the markets. we're tracking tomorrow's fed statement. more "money" coming up. sting over $98 million dollars and creating over 2100 jobs. from long island to all across upstate new york, more businesses are coming to new york. they are paying no property taxes

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down 187 waves. talk to me about today's trade. >> we are coming back. we are certainly off the lows, melissa. i think it is more about how the market is interpreting those messes. we bottomed out near 1800. we are of near 13% from those lows. we saw crude oil go from $80 to under $50. the problem is, if we get this fourth-quarter data, earnings, so far, have been lackluster. if we do not see this cheap oil

i think you will see investors see what it really means. melissa: thank you very much. he had the nail on the head. everyone is waiting for these cheaper gas prices. >> we also got consumer confidence today. a seven-year high. case shiller came down today. how much of your home value points to how you feel. >> gdp and stockmarket earnings are not nearly the same thing.

generally bad for stockmarket earnings in the short term. melissa: what do you think happens from here, cheryl? >> i think we definitely will see a slowdown in 2015. wages have not kept up with these market highs. guess what, i am not making any more money than i was six months ago or a year ago. >> falling further and further behind. a massive blizzard in new york city. rick is craving the elements out in long island. >> it finally stopped snowing.

eight teen inches. blustery cold. very icy conditions. some of the sidestreets have side streets have a foot-two a foot and a half of powder on them. even though the travel ban has been lifted, the governor is still urging people to stay home. >> while the roads are still open that is not to say that unless you need to be on the roads, you should be on the roads. they are dangerous. if you do not have to travel today, you really do not want to be traveling. >> that ice will stay there for a while.

other good news, the rails are starting to reopen. amtrak is now back in action. because so many thousands of flights were canceled, minimal activity at the airport today. right next to nassau coliseum. they say that the game tonight is in fact on. melissa: think goodness. dodged a bullet with that one. i come to baytown this morning. everything is closed.

>> look at new york, philadelphia and boston. 12% gdp. >> we will not see that today obviously. >> it depends on what kind of a restaurant you are in. people will put off those purchases, but then they will go back. even the sushi was cleared out. melissa: that activity doesn't come back around. except for events like 9/11 and hurricane sandy. twofold. threefold.

>> look at all of the hourly workers around the city. they will not get that back. that is just lost wages. melissa: their goal recruiting college coeds and women. blame though ballboy. we have been focusing on these guys. at the end of the day it is all about finding that escape code. ♪ a great opportunity for an upgrade. sound good? great. because you're not you you're a whole airline... and it's not a ticket you're upgrading it's your entire operations, from domestic to international... which means you need help from a whole team of advisors. from workforce strategies to tech solutions and a thousand other things. so you call pwc. the right people to get the extraordinary done. ♪ ♪

♪ melissa: i am melissa francis with your fox business. millions of social media users were left in the dark after a facebook blackout. facebook is denying that it was a result of the third-party attacks. opec announcing that prices may have bottomed out. $200 a barrel. the win against isis. finally pushed out by turkish groups. over 100 days. that is the latest from the fox business network. giving you the power to prosper.

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melissa: the new york stock exchange targeted by russian spies. arresting one russian banker and charging two diplomats with espionage. looking into high-frequency trading.

this development please will not help troubled relationships between the u.s. and russia. the dow struggling to keep losses at 200 points. let's go to the nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole: we are seeing the dow down about 100 points. technology continues to be the loser of the day. later in the day we will get some news out of apple. a lot of tv names to watch. concerns about the economy. concerns about that earnings numbers. a strong u.s. dollar. some of the companies are still certainly talking about a strong u.s. dollar and how it is

hurting. we continue to follow. it came out with its numbers. we are seeing utilities give it a go and try to stay in the green there. the big picture is it is selling upon selling today. i know it has been between green and red recently. the transports in the russell are all lower. though global growth story continues to be a worry as well. melissa: thank you so much. insisting the nfl may owe his team heartfelt apologies.

>> if the investigation is not able to definitively determine that our organization tempered with the air pressure in the footballs, i would expect and hope that the league would apologize to our entire team, and, in particular, the coat and tom brady for what they have had to endure this past week. melissa: new reports identifying a patriots equipment manager as a "person of interest." claiming he took the footballs into the bathroom before the game. take it away snl. melissa: -- >> i would like to turn it over to the real brains of our entire operation. [applause] [laughter] melissa: that is exactly what

happened. snl predicting exactly what would happen. this is all a big skit; right? you are not laughing. is this not funny to you? >> the biggest distraction i have ever covered. it will not stop. the patriots deflated the ball. there is video of a locker room attendant leaving an area of the stadium and going behind a closed door. melissa: how do you deliver that

whole thing without laughing? someone taking the balls into the bathroom and deflating them? a lone wolf story about though ballboy. am i wrong to laugh at this? i must be. >> no one thought that tom brady touched the footballs. everyone knew that bill and the owner did not touch the footballs. it was always the locker room attendant and the football manager. this is no longer an investigation. it is an interrogation of one or two individuals that disappeared with the footballs. i am sitting here in phoenix and

this story is not letting up. melissa: thank you so much for coming on. a big day for the markets. let check in with liz claman. liz: we are trying to get off the lows. what is the next dollar bob to drop? many people are focused on apple earnings coming out after the bell. this is the all important holiday quarter. those phones on your screen, the ipad -- why is john sure expecting that earnings per-share will come in so much better than the rest of the

street? telling you exactly what to look for. we are all over the apple story. speaking of investing over all how do you gain when you have three different companies saying the dollar is really hurting us. we have a really strong panel including a super bowl winner from 1989 did both of them have great investments. melissa: thank you so much. looking forward to it. have you seen this? a relaxing flight to hawaii goes awry. the pilot is forced to use the parachute system. they are upside down.

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the 12 legs take a look at the markets. does this change for you, do you

think? >> not relate. i have been on this side of the market for a while. other than that the fleeting ball story who is deflating the [laughter] at the end of the day there is no knight in white shining armor to rescue us. where is this big growth that we will see? look at the housing market. 0% interest rates. we are not seeing the jobs number. we are not seeing what needs to be seen. i think we will be talking about

some sort of stimulus again. melissa: review by the lone wolf ballboy fame? thank you so much. snl had its fun. they are the investigators. how companies are getting the snowstorm to work for them. at the end of the day it is all about money and dairy queen. ♪ the first multi-player game built and run on microsoft azure. empowering gamers around the world to interact in ways they never thought possible. this cloud turns data into excitement.

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time. here now is bruce try dell cheryl casone back as well. bruce, it was awe amazing to watch a lot of the funny things go by on twitter during this storm. what was your favorite? >> well, i like anyone who makes sense and makes it funny. so things that are relevant like dairy queen selling the blizzard those are great. but what i really like is victoria's secret telling us there's lots of ways to stay warm. melissa: that was good. dairy queen did the stay warm spoon it. red vine very cute, not chancing it stocking up. cheryl, bruce had a few good rolls on tweeting during can events like this. had to do with staying relevant and also, you know making sure it doesn't get deadly dangerous or not funny. >> that's my problem though and i think companies have to be very careful not to be a downer. you've got to be careful and not attach yourself, there was a teenager that had an accident up in long island and he died

during this storm. do you want to be that company? i just think they're taking a dangerous path. look the victoria's secret thing, pretty darn funny. if i was a company i'd kind of watch my back. we can make a lot of mistakes on twitter, many journalists already have. melissa: bruce what's your advice without being a buzz kill? >> the most important thing is keep your eye on the news. know what's going on in the news. it's okay to be making jokes until something bad happens, as cheryl pointed out. once you have a tragedy, there's no place for it -- melissa: but bruce you say stop being funny before disaster happens. how do you know disaster's going to happen? >> well disasters always happen, and with a 24/7/365 news cycle, anything that happens is going to get promoted. you've got to pay attention. you have to be relevant, and you can't just send things out that are clever and funny and not -- >> i think there are other ways

for companies to get involved in tweeting that don't have to involve a natural disaster. that's my final -- melissa: there you go. we've got to leave it there. i'm sorry it's time for liz. that's all for now. we hope you are making money today. countdown starts right now. liz: thank you, melissa. just like the star wars battle between darth vadar and oh by won denobody by the negative market forces were clearly in demand this morning, but now you can say obi wan's positive forces are trying to make a comeback. at its worst the dow was down 390 points this morning, and in a stunning drop, look at this, the tech-heavy nasdaq was losing 112 points. but to the positive forces first, january consumer confidence hit the highest level since august of 2007. why are you so happy? coming in way with over analyst expectations. that's thanks in large part to falling energy prices. new home sales these are the signed contracts