is an article about trump grill, the worst restaurant in america. on the front page of "vanity fair".com. maybe that was the. maria: comments? >> want to say thanks for having me. always a blast to be here. maria: thank you, governor, good to see you. >> very happy to be here. this tech group should meet quarterly. it is crucial. maria: have to get to start varney. appreciate your time. thank you very much. stuart, over to you. stuart: you have to get to me, maria, thank you very much indeed. the economy markets, trump team, lively, upbeat positive. the left? not. negative, sniping, whining. merry christmas. good thursday morning, everyone. there is a clear great divide. split the news in two. the postelection fox poll shows six out of 10 are hopeful for america. consumer confidence is surging. the dow remains close to 20,000. king dollar is at a 14-year high. trump is moving very quickly to fill a can-do cabinet. he holds a friendly meeting with his big tech opponents.

his thank you tour takes him to pennsylvania today, florida tomorrow, alabama on saturday. america is watching all of this and appears to like what it sees. but the media and the left, they're playing a very different tune. nancy pelosi and her daughter want a 9/11-style commission to investigate russian hacking. jennifer palmieri is still pushing the view trump is a racist. they still can't believe they lost. they're still trying to undermined the legitimacy of trump's win and america's standing in the world too. you have to ask, who are the haters now? positive, upbeat, versus whining negative. "varney & company" is about to begin. >> this is amazing group of people. i will make it easier for you to trade.

anything we can this go along we'll be there for you. my people call you, you call me, it doesn't make any difference. we have no formal chain of command earned here. stuart: if you listen to the president-elect, it sounds like a tech meeting was a love-fest, but if you look at faces of people, they do not look happy, cheryl samburg, elon musk, jeff bezos, they look sad. look at companies today by the way, their stock prices, this is premarket. amazon will go up a little, around 769. facebook, this is premarket. they will be pretty much flat. microsoft, i have to tell you a i own a very thin sliver of microsoft. where is it going in going up a little bit, approaching $63 a share. they hold the meeting. almost a love-fest. the stocks go up including alphabet, otherwise known as google. they will be a couple bucks higher as well. there is a lot of talk who is

not at the big meeting yesterday. in particular twitter's jack dorsey. what is going on? >> the trump transition team says the twitter wasn't invited because the company is too small. they have market cap of 13.8 billion. smallest company was tesla, 31.9 billion. the rumor is they weren't invited because they refused to put emoji that the trump campaign wanted under the guise of "crooked hillary," showing hillary showing a bag of cash. they offered five million for that. but they wouldn't put it on there, because it wasn't clear it was from the trump campaign. however trump's campaign says not true. we had public spats with many of the tech giants. as we know, jeff bezos, tim cook of apple, so that is simply not the case. they're too small. stuart: too small. >> too small. even though donald trump loves to use twitter about every five minutes. stuart: done two this morning i know of. ashley: exactly. stuart: we're a few minutes away

from the opening bell. we'll open just a little bit higher this morning. 10, 15, 20 points up. janet yellen threw many so cold water on the march to 20-k yesterday. i want to bring in a former market watcher and fed guy, david zerba with us this morning. fed puts up interest rates, momentarily punctures the rally, do you see us going to 20,000 soon regardless what the fed said? >> i do. i think we're switching punch bowls. we're taking a monetary punchbowl in place last seven years and slowly coming out of the market last 2 1/2 years and tapering in 2014 and replacing it with deregulation, stimulus, higher infrastructure spending. these are different forms of stimulus but they will produce similar economic responses but i have to say, stuart, i think the market people need to be very careful what they're buying in

the stock market because the type of stimulus difference will really matter. big companies with a lot of international exposure that are sensitive to the dollar, going to have some problems. that is why we've see diversions between the russell and zap. stuart: real fast i think janet yellen got it wrong. she project as growth rate in the future, 2% next year, 2% year after and 1.9 year after that. she is not buying into into the trump growth plan, is she. >> i don't think she seriously thought about the growth trump plan. stuart: she should. >> i think she deflected that and was a mistake. what the models say, response to monetary policy should be under various fiscal scenarios. that will come in q1. i wouldn't beat up janet too much, the economics profession over all is pretty awful forecasting economic growth. stuart: david, i have more for you in just a second. i want to bring our viewers new fox poll.

they look good for the president-elect. that will be donald trump. 47% now say they have a favorable opinion of him. last month it was 38%. he has gone up in the favorability poll. when asked if the russian hack had any effect on the election, 59% say, they believe it did not. donald trump seems to agree, tweeting this out, this is moments ago, here's the tweet. if russia, or some other entity was hacking, why did the white house wait so long to act? why did they only complain after hillary lost? lisa booth is with us. lisa, the democrats, look, big picture here, the democrats have not accepted the election result. that's my opinion. what's yours? >> i think that is absolutely true. we've seen them bake a billion different excuses. it the fbi. electoral college, racism, sexism, it was fake news. now it is the russians. so i mean we've seen them continue to find a scapegoat

instead of accepting the reality why they lost. they had a failed candidate with hillary clinton who is quite possibly one of the worst possible choices they could have picked. also someone who, by her own doing and her own actions of bleachbitting tens of thousands emails, setting up private server in the first place was facing fbi, criminal investigation by the fbi. they chose a candidate they knew under fbi investigation. stuart: this whining, makes them look like sore losers. i don't think it's resonating with voters and resonating with america. these polls suggest otherwise. it has got no traction really, except in the media and parts of congress. >> one of the reasons you're seeing his approval numbers around a little bit, there is mass hysteria if donald trump becomes president it will be end of the world. businesses and rest of americans are starting to realize, no. there could be some really positive things to come, especially economically.

we've also seen with donald trump acceptance speech being adult in the room. unitings himself with smart and capable people for his cabinet choices. people are starting to feel a little bit more comfortable and starting to come around to the idea that donald trump is the president-elect and there could be some positive things to come as a result of that. stuart: lisa, thank you very much for being with us. >> have a great day. stuart: thanks for being with us on a thursday morning. lisa booth. i want to talk interest rates. look at this. yield on 10-year treasury is 2.58% that key interest rate has gone straight up. by the way for the second time in 10 years, janet yellen or the fed i should say, raised interest rates. david is still us. i see a big change here. if you are living on a fixed income, or if you've a saver, not an investor, a saver, things are looking good. >> a little bit better. stuart: the trend is up.

>> the days of 5% cd's are a long ways away. let's not jump to conclusions. the spreads will not come immediately to the households. the banks will take their piece at first. stuart: if you're sitting at home and you don't want any risk at all with your money, i mean if you're my age, late 60s, you don't want risk, that interested in the stock market, i see this as opportunity for the in the saving market. >> i agree. i think it is very healthy to see a steep every yield curve with higher yields. it suggests the market is more optimistic. there will be rate hikes in the future. those yields will be coming to investors on a fixed income. i think when we see yields at zero or negative in parts of europe and japan, that is a sign of distress. not a sign of positivity. many people look at interest rate rises, get nervous about them. this is a sign of the market saying things are getting better. you. you want that. you don't want zero 10-year

yields like they have had in japan or negative 10-year yields. stuart: my, how times have changed. thanks for being with us. much obliged, sir. yahoo! now they're revealing personal information on one billion users was stolen. i think that is the biggest hack ever. emac, verizon want to buy yahoo!. i presume verizon will get a nice healthy discount after this? liz: that's what verizon said if they find something material. they could back out of the deal. it was supposed to close early next year. a billion accounts. it was 500 million accounts in september. when did they know about it? ash and i talked about this. was it 2014. when did they tell verizon? that is what is key. here is also key, yahoo! disclosed in sec regulatory filing that hackers are coming and going at will. they don't even need your password because they left cooks on these desktops. stuart: they should have told people this. >> stunning failure.

stuart: people should no. really is. must discuss marisa meyer's. >> and her pay package. 29 million, based on yahoo! stock price. stuart: got to tell you about this, polar vortex strikes again. dangerously cold temperatures coming to midwest and northeast. they have arrived actually. looking at forecast high temperatures, okay? this is as high of a temperature as it is going to get. below zero in parts of the midwest. we'll be in the 20s here in the northeast. again that is the high temperature of the day. forecasters say the freezing temperatures will last into the weekend. got it. here is an outrageous story, muslim woman says she was harassed on new york city subway by white men, trump, trump shouting and terrorist. nypd says she made it you will up. president-elect trump meets with african-american leaders

including football legends, ray lewis, trim brown. trump taking whole new approach to race relations. he wants to be a uniter. we're on it. back in a moment. [vo] is it a force of nature? or a sales event? the season of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the season of audi sales event.

>> as black americans we have to really reexamine who we really are because we're the only culture over here that seems to work against each other. i think all of us would like to see an improvement in the african-american communities because there is no reason for law enforcement to do the things that they have done. if we had a community took care of itself, law enforcement would work for us. a lot of people were saying that mr. trump did not care about black people, welfare of black people. we found that to be untrue. we found that with the program we brought to him he endorsed it and said he is in. he is accepting what we are

presenting and his people, his advisors have accepted that. so we're going to work together to help this community be a better community, help this country be a better country. stuart: wow, that was football legend jim brown on set with me yesterday talking race relations and his chat with president-elect donald trump. joining us now, syndicated radio host stacy washington. stacy, this was a whole new approach. it wasn't hostile. there was no outrage. it wasn't al sharpton. this is something new, isn't it? >> yes, it is. i don't think the discussion is new, stuart. there have been some of us who have been out here for short periods of time, decades, saying the same thing. fatherhood matters. what we see in inner cities with police departments and police officers, they have to do more than just police. they're actually acting as absent, they're filling the role of that absent father. an what jim brown said, the way

that he presented himself, his deal mean nor, it was kind-hearted, position of older and he lived through these things. most importantly, he is talking from the position of someone who voted for hillary clinton, but he still met with donald trump. he is right. you go and meet with the future president of the united states, if you're asked to come in, of course you go in, of course you go and take the time to give him advice and share your feelings and thoughts. stuart: well is that approach going to resonate in the black community? because it surely is different from what we've seen before? >> well, i think it is going to take some time. right you now everyone's emotions are still raw over the loss. the election seems to have amazing impact on people. there are millions of americans who still haven't got enin their heads trump is going to be president. but on the other hand, i do think it will work that he is talking about programing created by a couple of very respectable black men who have been in the black community. they will bring something new. stuart: do black folks think

that donald trump is a racist and became the president because he use, put out a platform for white supremacists? is that the view that is still held widely in the black community? >> i do think unfortunately due to the media just constantly beating that drumbeat, stuart, that that is the perception. i don't know you how that can be when he was on "the apprentice" and every season of the apprentice and celebrity apprentice blacks were represented, overrepresented for our percentage of the population. i think it is a part of the atmosphere out there but that can be changed. stuart: okay, do you hope it is changed? do you want it to change? >> i do. i really want people to take him at his word and see what he does. go by the results. think about personal responsibility and what we can do for ourselves. that is where it all starts, stuart. stuart: yes, ma'am. thank you very much, indeed, stacy. see you again real soon. thank you.

merry christmas, by the way. >> merry christmas. stuart: we got that. some stocks to watch for you, 21st twenty-first-century-fox parent of this network wants to buy rest of sky news. it will pay above the closing price of sky. huge premium. what do you make of this, liz? liz: they're being really smart to buy it now. after the "brexit" the pound slid to a 31-year low. cut the price of acquisition. stuart: bargain price because of currency. shocking statistics for you, more than 50,000 americans died of drug overdoses last year. dr. marc siegel has some personal experience with this he is going to share his story in a moment. later this hour, actually. but first, a muslim woman claims she was harassed on a new york subway by white men shouting trump, trump! but the nypd says she made it all up. we have details on that in a

moment. generosity is its own form of power.

you can handle being a mom for half an hour. i'm in all the way. is that understood? i don't know what she's up to, but it's not good. can't the world be my noodles and butter? get your mind out of the gutter. mornings are for coffee and contemplation. that was a really profound observation. you got a mean case of the detox blues. don't start a war you know you're going to lose.

finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. on xfinity x1. stuart: what you're about to see is a direct result of king dollar. the price of gold is down $30 an ounce, back to 1133, after janet yellen raised interest rates yesterday. the dollar went straight up. it has had a 14-year high and

that has had a profound impact on the price of gold which is down. and price of oil, down about 70 cents now, but back at $50 per barrel. so what you have here is the fed, dollar straight up. and some of these commodities down. next one. 18-year-old muslim woman in new york city, she said she was the victim of a hate crime. that she was attacked by trump supporters on the subway. now she is under arrest. what happened? >> this story got a lot of play as you can imagine. all of this was done without alleged or anything in front of it. she claimed she was attacked by these men on subway while passengers sat by, watched it all, took no action. 18-year-old, was seyeid. plies could not verify details, went through cctv, all the images, eventually broke down she admitted she made it up. family problems.

she came back home late from some event. been arrested for filing a false report. stuart: two things here. comes from a very strict, muslim-egyptian family. ashley: yes. stuart: she ran away from home. she bass dating a catholic which is out of bounds. ashley: made it all up as diversion. stuart: the left jumped on it as example after hate crime instigated by donald trump. >> to ashley's point, this lady cited donald trump's islamophobia as reason for the attack. stuart: happening right now, left-hand side of your screen, that would be governor mike pence just arriving at trump tower. you see a lot of this on fifth avenue new york these days. the hits keep on coming for yahoo!. announcing yet another hacking attack. a billion customer accounts are compromised. called biggest data breach ever. what a story. federal reserve throws cold water on the stock rally. here is the question. is there a chance we hit 20-k by

christmas? you betcha. the opening bell is next. . .

stuart: all right, there is governor mike pence, i think vice president elect just arriving at trump towers. that's moments ago. they come in and go out. constant stream. fifth avenue is a mess, but very interesting.

you should go. take a look. the opening bell will be ringing in about ten second. we are going to find out how the market reacts to yesterday's dow side move. 9:30 thursday morning. we are off, we are running and we are up 26 points in a very, very early going. a lot of green on the left-hand side of the screen. a lot of buying going on. dow 30 stocks. up and nasdaq, what's going on there, i will tell you, it's up .12. stocks almost across the board fractionally higher. we are at $50 per barrel. that's what happens when you have a strong dollar. same as this. very strong dollar. down goes the price of gold, 11.33. we would like to keep checking

the price of gasoline because oil has gone above 50 bucks a barrel. gas is still rising holding steady overnight. we have news on facebook. their instagram, they say it's grown to more than 600 million users and the last hundred million joined in just in the past six months. nonetheless, facebook down about 20 cents. ashley webster, elizabeth are here, scott martin as well and deidra. the fed rate hecks, do we still have a chance of 20,000? >> yes, sir. we are 1% after 20,000 even after yesterday's drop. fluctuations of the market should send us there. i'm bullish in the longer immediate, stuart and a pullback is useful to bring buyers in.

the markets need to -- ashley: this is an opportunity to get in. i know he has to make it reality, the fact that the fed says we are going to try and slow this down, is a good thing. stuart: do you think the fed rate hike will interrupt the steady march higher? >> not until january. it's proving all the disbelievers. but i tell you what, two more rate hikes, potentially, in the first quarter of next year. that's what i'm looking. i think we will hit 240k but january can be the pullback month. stuart: speed bump? >> they hike rates and market tumbles. they did. pullback. stuart: now we are 46, 47 points

in dow industrial in the first three minutes of business. a little bit of bounceback from yesterday's loss. mr. trump met with people from apple, amazon, microsoft and google and a whole lot more, we were told it was a friendly meeting. afterwards, elon musk, tesla, they hood a private meeting with donald trump. i don't think we know what happened in that meeting, do we? >> we know elon musk was saying he's happy about it. we can expand our manufacturing fingerprint and they're trying to do that with a giga factory. they need approval for solar city deal. stuart: big technology stocks after yesterday's meeting and how they're performing first thing this morning. basically mostly higher only amazon is lower. now, twitter, they were not invited to the big meeting yesterday, ashley, why not?

>> even though donald trump didn't tweet about it, you know, listen, he said the transition team twitter was invited because it's just too small. 13billion, next smallest was tesla. it's not a matter of any bad feelings, there was pushback on emoji that the trump campaign wanted, 5 million for a crooked hull ri emoji that was rejected. the rumor is why they weren't invited. ridiculous. we had public spats with other people. tim cook of apple and so on. stuart: i can't understand why a company that gets so much publicity, twitter, mr. trump tweets constantly and they can't make money and they break out of the 17 or 19-dollar per share range? >> you're preaching the chior --

choir here. donald trump uses twit -- more than any politician, yet they don't get invited in any of the biggest tech meetings to have year with the president elect. they are out in the cold in a lot of things. stuart: now we are 63 points higher for the dow industrials. we were down 118 yesterday, bouncing back in about half of that in the first 30 minutes of business. going ahead with their plans to put -- make cars, i guess, self-driving cars or -- >> yes. >> stuart: stock is at 116 this morning. star wars movie comes out at midnight tonight. fans lining up to see it. a brief trailer for you.

i believe disney's stock went above a hundred bucks a share and now at 104. they are opening the gates tonight for star wars. amazon story of the day, interesting. when resorts is putting an alexa in the room, what is this about, nicole? nicole: an assisting, you say alexa, alexa plays. alexa is open mic, always listening microphone. the idea sounds great, 4700 rooms but putting some people on edge because it is an open microphone and while they say they don't store the sound it still is listening all of the time. that's what leaving those people who put a piece of tape over the laptops, cameras, the people who worry about these things are a little bit worried.

let's leave it at that. i want to bring you something inside on the floor. stuart: what? nicole: everybody is waiting for dow 20,000. this is for everybody at home, investing waiting, dow almost 20,000. [laughter] stuart: all right, nicole. that was interesting story about open mic in your open in las vegas. >> what can go wrong? [laughter] >> after you say the wake word alexa, it does record everything you say for you to see your next comabd and you can see that on your phone and anywhere. liz: do they give it advertisers. stuart: serious story. twenty-first century fox parent company is going to buy that part of sky that it doesn't already own. british news service. what exactly is our parent company getting?

>> 22 million homes in five countries in europe. it is the uk's paid tv broadcaster. it struck exclusive deal with hbo to show thing like gamof thrones. revenues are up nicely this year . coming in to the deal of a 350-year low after brexit. stuart: they're selling in pounds, you get a bargain price. yahoo says a billion user accounts were hacked and it gets worst. do you have anymore on that? liz: 150,000 u.s. government workers including military were hacked as well including white house workers, fbi agents. stuart: new report just coming out? liz: yes. stuart: including in billion hacks.

>> fbi agents, military officials. the problem at issue here multiple. yahoo is trying to sell itself for verizon for 4.8 billion, this could be material. they can walk away from the deal. yahoo almost sold itself, should have sold itself to microsoft for 45 billion in 2008. stuart: whole issue of marisa myer and should have revealed the billion user hack a lot earlier. >> from 2013, stuart. you're not going public with this three years or how long it took them to find out. that's one of the reasons the stock is down so much. stuart: something that we say all of the time, content is king. facebook now says it's in talk to produce original tv shows of its own. >> talking to tv studios, other video producers, gifted shows,

game shows and sports. we are a tech company, we are not a media company. well, it's starting to look more and more like a media company. stuart: they are media company doing this kind of thing, surely. >> facebook is pretty much anything they want to be these days. if they want to get in content-producing place, god bless them. i know they are going to be successful. you see the instagram numbers lately. they are going to roll it out and they are going to love it out. stuart: twice as many people trust markets and business to improve the economy compared to government and politicians. i want to go around the block. i say that kind of polling result shows that there's a new mood on wall street and in the country. am i right, dr? >> i am flabbergasted that the numbers are that low. how could you -- how could you count on government and politicians to help with the economy. what we need is to upgrade our economic and finance education

so that people don't vote in such a crazy way. i'm amazed. stuart: that's interesting. frankly, we are out of time. we are going to have have to take a commercial break. i'm going to say thank you very much to scott martin, dr, thank you very much, indeed. before we go, check out the big board, 40 points higher. we 41.42, 19,833. china continues aggressive posture against the west. now installing antiweapons on the south china, does this have anything to do with president-elect trump? we are on it. opioid addiction and overdoes deaths on the rise, one of the reasons why, prescription medication. doc seagal on that. more varney in a moment

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stuart: all right. day after a hundred point loss we are holding in the first 50 minutes of business. wind energy companies to operate high-speed turbines, great big things for up to 30 years even if it means killing and injuring a thousand of eagles. >> neither actually on the endangered list but they are protected but not apparently when it comes to wind turbines, some of them are 30 stories high. the combo of the birds and that not good. thousands of the birds could be killed or injury, they allow

them to populate. deaths of eagles is voluntary report. so how many are actually killed we won't know because we are relying on the operators to tell the truth. liz: good point. stuart: new satellite images show china has installed antiaircraft and antimissile weapons on the man-made islands in the south china sea. economics professor peter is with us. peter, i see this as another pushback from china from two -- to mr. trump. >> they are going try to -- nobody expects him to do much about this and so it's really going to be up to trump. one of the things they have to straightened in trump white house, it's not just about economics, if they are going to pushback on china and frankly put china where it belongs, back in its box, then they are going to have have to challenge china in the south china sea and investment here and there and

finally on trade. you can't just do it on trade. stuart: you can't put china back in its box, that's not going happen, peter. >> i don't know that you want to do anything else but that. considered how they are bullying their navy base in the south china sea and appropriating that body of water, carries 40% of the world's sea bound trade, you know, turning that into a sovereign chinese area. do we really want to see the south china sea to china. that's the question. stuart, i hear you, i have to move to janet yellen, i think she's wrong. 1.9%. i think she's wrong with her growth projections, let's say you? >> it all depends on how much trump's plan mr. trump can put in place and i have some questions about that. after all national economic council a democrat, yesterday's

meeting with high-tech advisers, right, three kids, mr. bannon, mr. miller, not an economist to be found, not an economic expert to be found, lots of happy talk, is he really serious about a change in direction on economic policy? although, you know, i think he is and more remains to be written. stuart: peter, you can't -- you can't question the man's direction. look at his cabinet. he reversed education policy, environmental policy. mr. mnuchin is pushing for big tax cuts, reversal of obama's policies, the list goes on. you can't question whether or not he's serious about reversing obama's policies? >> let's see how far he gets with those, how much can he really reverse regulation, how much is he really committed to cutting taxes, you know, he's getting a lot of pushback on the hill from mcconnell. it remains to be seen how

serious he is. naming the people is not enough. and on china, i'm starting to question whether he's really going to do what he says he's going to do. we will see. now, i would ask if i were him from mrs. yellen to write the numbers down that if he beats numbers significantly, he won't have to replace her, she will quietly resign. [laughter] stuart: you're all right. we will see you again real soon. merry christmas young man. merry christmas. >> merry christmas. stuart: check the market now. 50 points. a lot of green among those 30 dow stocks. you heard of the hyperloop, get you from los angeles in san francisco in what, 30 minutes. the man behind theyperloop technology. what on earth is the hold-up because it really is held up, could it be the lawyers? next sr. serious story, opioid

epidemic in america killing more people than guns, every community affected, dr. seagal on that in a minute. you do all this research

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stuart: chair of federal communications commission tom wheeler will leave.

what does that mean to republicans? >> majority 2 to 1. he could have stayed on keeping commission 2 to 2 until trump named a new member to the sec who would have gone through senate confirmation. he's just decide today step down so republicans get an edge. stuart: got it. nice and to the point. strong numbers from -- whoa. they raised the outlook and stock is up, 32%. >> wow. stuart: 8.55. that's a rally. gopro has touched a new all-time low. that's gopro right before the holiday. how about that? 52,000 and 44 people died of overdoes. how about is that?

extraordinary stuff. dr. mark seagel, you have personal experience of prescription of op roads and somebody who came to see you, go? >> we are enablers, you're 40 more times likely to become heroin addict if you start with vicadin. by the way, on the way out of the door, by the way k you refill my pervacid prescription. i said why, i've had it for a long time, i have a little bit of pain, chronic pain. doctors are not paying attention -- stuart: did you know that this patient, did they know that they were addicted to it? >> absolutely not.

i have to look it up in the website, they've been getting it for from someone else for months. they go doctor shopping. stuart stewart to do something about it, you start in the doctor's office? >> it's not just my opinion, it's leading to 50,000 deaths. stuart: if i come to you and i have chronic pain you will prescribe me prevacid and others. >> i'm not a pain expert. number two, chronic pain, the treatment for that is usually physical they they therapy or muscle relaxants. yes, yes, yes, it makes you feel good, it takes away your pain, you need more and more of it to get the sa eect. you can end occupy stopping your breathing. it leads to overdoes. stuart: i've got the chronic

pain and you say i can't give you percased, you better make an appointment to pain specialist, they are across town or different town, come on, that's not a welcomable system. i want relief. >> it's not how i do it either, let's try something else, who got you on this vicadin, who has been prescribing it to you, what about physical therapy, how about heat, stretching does wonders, that doesn't work for me, they only tried it for a week, how about losing weight. the biggest offender of back problems is weight gain. we have to crack down. by the way in west virginia, doctors who prescribe opioids that lead to addiction can be prosecuted. that's quite a law. stuart: i want you back on the program because there's a lot more to this. come and see us again.

>> doctor epidemic. stuart: i have mortgage rates coming up at the top of the dour, dow is up 74. back in a minute as i was researching my family tree, i discovered a woman named marianne gaspard. i became curious where in africa she was from. so i took the ancestry dna test to find out more about my african roots. ancestry really helped me fill in a lot of details. and her new mobile wedding business.tte at first, getting paid was tough... until she got quickbooks. now she sends invoices, sees when they've been viewed and ta-da, paid twice as fast! see how at quickbooks-dot-com.

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stuart: december 1 a young muslim woman told authorities in new york she had been attacked on a subway who shouted trump trump. yesterday she was arrested, charged with making false claims. her story did not hold up. she made it up. this young woman had run away from home. a strict muslim family from egypt thought she had become westernized. apparently she dated a catholic. she blend into america while her family had not. save your anger for the left and

the local media, not this precious teenager. they used it as a smear on trump. they said he did this and he encouraged this kind of muslim violence. this week the mayor said he would provide counseling for city workers who were anxious about trump's win. now silence. not a word about a strict muslim family living in america but not accepting american values. you are an islamaphobe if you say that. they are still pushing the narrative. the second hour of "varney and company" is about to begin.

the latest object mortgage rates. liz: 4.16%. stuart: six weeks ago we were 3.5%. i'm interested in the stock market. oil up $50 a barrel. now we are up close to 100 points on the dow industrials. we were down 118 yesterday after the fed raised interest rates. now we are back up almost 100 points challenging towards 20,000 on the dow industrials. we'll keep watching it for you. the muslim teen who told police -- police say she lied about being attacked on the subway. katie, you heard what i have got

to say, you have seen this case, what do you make of it. >> i prosecuted this type of case. if there are things that make me mad, it's people who will lie like this teenaged girl, waste police resources and time, but what really makes me upset, since when does supporters of donald trump become a protected class. how did she think she could get away with it if there was no independent corroboration on the claims she made. stuart: i'm not angry at this poor young woman. she is pressured by her very religious family that came from egypt. she ran away from home because she had been dating a catholic. my anger is toward this family who hold those values in america.

>> i'm angry at this young woman. she is an 18-year-old college student. her brother has been through the criminal justice system. if you are going to have an internal flame dispute have it. but don't lie. and don't go on facebook and demean trump and america. in her facebook post she said americans are bad because they are screaming this is trump america. the justice system is there to help true victims and this girl is not. stuart: katie please stay there, i have more for you in just a moment. new fox polls out, the first since the election. 59% say they feel hopeful about what follows the election.

but the left won't stop complaining about the results. watch this. >> you think russian hacking influenced the election? >> absolutely. >> you think it was her message who didn't reach voters subject to high you be employment states like wisconsin and michigan, that wasn't what did her in? >> there are several factors. neil: she lost. >> no, i don't know that you can say that. stuart: that was nancy pelosi's daughter, a democrat elector. eboni williams is here. the democrats have not accepted that they lost and they can't understand why they lost, they are frankly in denial. >> that's going to hurt them as a party. the fact that the democrats can be litigating the election result.

instead of not only accepting it, but doing internal analysis around what happened, why it happened, in an evident to prevent it from happening again. instead what we see them doing, how long has it been now? still continuing to want to come up with excuses and rationale and opportunities to try to create different results. i'll tell you aunt outside looking in. it's foolish of them as a party. not because they have to agree with donald trump and celebrate his victory. but it will help them as a party. stuart: some electors are being harassed not to vote for donald trump. ashley: these electors are being harassed. some them report getting up to 50,000 emails essentially bullying them to change their votes, just enough to vote for

donald trump he the electoral college goes into session monday. a grand mother in pennsylvania had 1,500 emails when she woke up one morning. she has gotten death threats, and some have been contacted by the harvard university legal group to help them change their vote. >> that's disheartening. a missed opportunity focused on the wrong thing. that's really -- doesn't even do it enough justice. it's a denial in a way that will severely hurt the party and prohibit positive agenda collaboration from moving forward. how is he supposed to work with his democratic colleagues with this kind of energy at play.

ashley: under the behest of a harvard law professor who is heading up the campaign. stuart: i want to talk about voting irregularities in detroit. 37% of precincts in detroit counted more ballots than actual voters. katie fanning i fang is still w. >> you will have find intentional conduct on the part of these is tributers. in one ballot box there were only 50 ballots, yet 306 ballots were cast? how do you reconcile that? it was either true criminal up tensional fraud or a level of gross negligence by these workers to inure to the benefit

of hillary clinton. stuart: it was a ballot box that had been sealed and it sd it had 30 ballots. but when they opened it up, there were only 50. >> that's accurate. that's an example across 0% of these precincts had examples like that happen. stuart: i don't know what to say to that. but thank you for doing your homework as you always do. the eiffel tower in paris going dark. paris says it's in support of the people in aleppo. a billion yahoo accounts hacked. it's called the largest data breach in history. should you get rid of your why who email account.

the hyper loop, it promises san francisco to los angeles in 30 minutes. but the prongs get constantly delayed. what's the holdup. could it be lawyers? [pony neighing] what? hey gary. oh. what's with the dog-sized horse? i'm crazy stressed trying to figure out this complex trade so i brought in my comfort pony, warren, to help me deal. isn't that right warren? well, you could get support from thinkorswim's in-app chat. it lets you chat and share your screen directly with a live person right from the app, so you don't need a comfort pony. oh, so what about my motivational meerkat? in-app chat on thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade.

stuart: why is the market up sky high? we have an indication confidence is sky high. janet yellen was wrong about the future growth rate of the united states economy. big tech names, the heads of all these companies that met with

donald trump yesterday, it was supposed to be a friendly meeting relatively. not much movement in the stocks this morning. liz: bloomberg cited a swiss magazine saying there was a merger between mondelez and kraft. people close to kraft say the merger is not on. stuart: yahoo there will be was an announcement yesterday that came quite as a surprise. yahoo stock is down 3.5%. the story is, a billion account holders and yahoo users have that personal information hacked. we didn't know about it until yesterday. liz: then they can go into your computer at will. they don't need your password.

they left cookies on your computer. >> it's called high phone. it would get you from san francisco to l.a. in 30 minutes. the ceo of hyperloop transportation technology. why the delay? is there some problem with the technology? >> well, we started roughly three years ago and built prototypes and made agreements with governments. we are getting ready to build the first full-scale passenger system. i wish more technologies would move at this pace. stuart: i have been told there are frequent delays. have you broke ground on the project?

>> we filed our building permits. and doing the environmental studies here in california. in the meantime we have done several agreements with governments around the world. one of the biggest issues was the technology like that. you need to do completely new regulations. so that's obviously to take someone. stuart: are you being delayed by legal challenges? >> not on the projects. but to move forward and build hundreds of miles of a new transportation system, you need to work with government to create this new regulation. stuart: when can you tell me you will have the hyper loop in place functioning and working. can you give me a date? >> the first project will start construction very soon the next couple months. and we expect three months from the moment we are breaking ground.

three years, actually until you can use the hyper loop. stuart: three years from now i can do this trip, l.a. to san francisco in 30 minutes? three years from now. >> not lax to san francisco. but the first pilot project here in california, we filed the building permits earlier this year, so we are finalizing the environmental studies, and we signed an agreement with the government of the slovakia and europe. stuart: how long is the california project. is it miles long or just a small demonstration? >> it's inside a newly to be built town it's a local transportation system 5 miles long. it will have a shopping mall and a theme park. stuart: and you will have that in three years.

>> yes, correct, from our side at least. stuart: i don't want to pour cold water on this. but we are so used to these extraordinary projects, and they never happen. the bullet train -- waste's supposed go to, it has not happened. it hasn't started to my knowledge. you are telling me in three years you are going to have a new town built. forgive my scepticism, but i'm a skeptic. >> we are not building a town, we are building a hyperloop system. if you look at it from an infrastructure system it's pylons and tubes, similar to any bridge system you are building today. the technology has been finished the last three years. we are ready to build version number one. one of the most important parts,

it's a private project, we are not depending on government subjects does. stu require's december 15, 2016, i'll give you $1,000 cash if i can take a ride on your hyper loop december 15, 2019. are you on? >> from the moment we start breaking ground it will be three years. it might not be december 15, but it will probably be early 2020. are you on? >> we spend theming to, i guess. stuart: thanks for joining us. please forgive my scepticism. it's california. politico firing a reporter saying something truly disgraceful about president-elect trump. we'll bring you the sordid details. a new senate report.

irs workers spent over a million doll adollars on luxury travel n staying at the ritz carlton. if you look at some of the faces of the executives who left the tech conference with trump, they looked kind of sad. [♪]

stuart: this is a difficult and ugly story. a politico reporter has been fired for what's been called an inappropriate tweet.

liz, can you tell us what happened? >> her name is julia ayotte. she tweeted and used the f word. you know how the white house would have an office reserved for the first lady. this ways she tweeted and that subject. either trump is f blanking his daughter or he's shirking nepotism laws. politico fired her as a contributor and sent out a warning to staffers. she went to "the atlantic." stuart: all politico will say is watch out, this kind of thing -- liz: they promptly fired her. they did also say this type of stuff is a tarnish to the good work they are doing. that's their only additional comment.

woman to woman, i think there is something very distasteful about that kind of connotation in reference to -- she is donald trump's daughter. stuart: i think you handled it well. it's disgraceful. that is typical of the far left and how they feel about america and donald trump. >> it's such an unnecessary way, way. stuart: give it maximum publicity. >> the outrage would be insane if it were the other way around. >> blood pressure. stuart: strong numbers, the stock is up 35%. i feel better already.

look at this. the polar vortex back. it returns. look at those temperatures. they are temperatures, not wind chill. this is a high temperatures forecast for those areas. single digits and below zero in some places. 20s here in the northeast, it's called winter. new fox poll says a majority of voters do not believe donald trump will build a wall on the border with mexico. but look at this. >> believe me we are going to build a wall. we'll have a trade deficit with mexico. who is going to pay for the wall. who's going to pay for the wall? [mexico]

stuart: the dow industrials are up 5 points. i will call that a very nice bounceback from yesterday's 118-point loss. i have got to say, 20,000 is still not that far away. i'm trying to do the math. it's 107 points away. liz: retracing, i'm waiting for the buzzer. home builders, look at them go. all of them are up. we just received the latest home builder confidence index it's at an 11-year high. it's helping the home builders and the dow industrials. mort game rates have gone up. the average is 4.16%. the price of gasoline, $2.22 and

rising gradually. you can got 60 cents above where we were a year ago. president-elect trump met with tech executives yesterday. he says it was a productive meeting. >> this is a truly amazing group of people. we'll make it a lot easier for you. anything we can do to help, we'll be there for you and you will call my people, you call me. it doesn't make any difference. we have no formal chain of command around here. stuart: we were told it was a friendly meeting. but look at the faces of the executives. jeff bay dose. sheryl sandberg. tim cook from apple on the left, and elon musk, a tesla guy.

they don't look too happy. steve hilton always looks happy and he's with me. i think the number one demand from silicon valley, what they wanted more than anything else was more visas so they can bring in skilled foreigners to work for them in america. am i right? >> i think you are right. i just wonder what kind of product we would get if peter cook the median -- stuart: you understand who peter chiropractors. >> i think you are right. i think every one of them was horrifies trump won the election. i think this relationship is going to be emerging between trump and the tech industry. he will expose the schizophrenia at the heart of silicon valley. when it comes to their political

pronouncements, they want to be seen as great liberal gurus saving the world through progressive causes. but when it comes to their businesses, they are the most ruthless free market capitalists. what they want from government is the same as trump's agenda. they want lower corporate taxes and less government regulation. even on the subject of visas. if you look at what trump was saying in the election. he was making the point it's crazy for us to be educating the world's best students at andford university and then exporting them to start their businesses elsewhere. i think what you will see in this relationship is more common ground than you might think from those gloomy faces. stuart: more visas, more skilled workers. but you bring the money back you have got overseas. and maybe you will spend that money on production facilities

to build your products in america. would such a deal be possible? >> i think it would. the focus for trump quite rightly is on stopping the import of cheap unskilled labor that's hurting the kind of people that delivers his election victory. that's going to be his focus. if you look at how the tech industry responded elsewhere in the world. if you look at places like india and brazil, they slap massive tear rifs on apple product and they said to apple, we'll put 100% tariffs on your products minneapolis you make them in our country. what did apple do? they told foxconn to build factories in brazil and india. so they respond to those market signals. and they are looking at the bottom line. i think a deal is possible.

stuart: how about peter teal? it looks like he's the point man for the administration in silicon valley. >> that's great news. he believes fundamentally in this notion of decentralizing power. breaking up big centralized bureaucracy and using technology to do that. one of the areas he's focusing on is this area of government procurement where for decade you have had that whole part of government, a huge, huge areas of government spending captures by those big companies that pay the lobbyists to get the deals done in washington. he wants to sweep away that system, open it up and not just save the taxpayers huge amounts of money, but get better results as well. the fact that he's leading the evident should encourage us all. >> thanks for getting up so early there in stanford, california.

we appreciate that. we'll see you again soon. i have breaking news on the trump cabinet. this comes from our colleague john roberts. he says he has a senior transition source saying pete hegseth is the top contender for va secretary. "forbes" did an article saying pete hegseth was a young entrepreneurial kind of guy, just what the va needs and said he's a grand slam pick for that position. another regular on the varney show. >> is there a hyper loop from here? i want to put the big board up on the screen. let's make this clear. 20,000 on the dow is less than 100 points away. we should be aware of that.

this market has recovered almost all the ground lost yesterday. here is the next story. president-elect trump met with the legends of sports yesterday. >> as black americans we have to reexamine who we are. we are the on coach over here that seems to work against each other. all of us would like to see an improvement in the african-american community. because there is no reason for going forth to do the things they have done if we had a community that took care of itself, law enforcement would work for us. a lot of people were saying mr. trump did not care about black people. we found that to be untrue. we found that with the program that was brought to him, he endorsed it and said that he is in. he is accepting what we are presenting.

and his people -- this advisers have accepted that. so we are going to work together to help this community be a better community. help this country be a better country. stuart: all right. there you have it. a former member of trump's national diversity coalition, god bless, and god bless america. good morning. stuart: i thought that was a completely different approach by those african-americans who went to trump tower yesterday. that was completely different from what we have seen from other african-american leaders and going at donald trump. do you agree with me? >> i agree with you. the african-american community, especially that 25% living in abject poverty. they need help. they are struggling and they

have been ignored. it's beautiful to see people humble themselves and accept the fact that donald j. trims our president-elect. he's our next president. it's sow nice and rewarding to see people finally accepting, swallowing, believing, and going in, sitting down with him, and making the real pitch to really help people on the ground who are hurting and helpless. i'm grateful for what they have done, and i'm proud of my president-elect donald j. trump for giving them an ear. i believed in him. i stood up for him. i still trust him and believe he's going to do the right thing for all americans. regardless of the color of your skin or your religion, whether you are a woman or a man. he is listening. he has a heart for us. and he's going to do the right thing by us as a nation.

stuart: i want to show you a new fox poll. when asked if president-elect trump will actually build a wall on the border with mexico, 59% said no. and here is another one. 52% say they don't believe he will deport illegal immigrants. you are abouimmigrants. do you think he will deport illegals? will he do what he said he would do? people don't believe him. >> i believe that he will actually deport criminal illegal aliens. he knows that is a big cornerstone of why people went to the voting booth and voted for him as well as that wall. that wall is important for all americans. we have to be protected. other countries have built walls to protect their citizens and there is zero wrong with donald j. trump our president-elect building that wall for americans.

i believe he's going to be a pleasant surprise to this nation. and to the rest of the world. i believe that donald j. trump was chosen by the most high god. god crowns kings and presidents. that's why he's the next president. i believe he will be used as a vessel to bless this nation that has been hurting so badly for the last 8 years. it has been a war on the working class, poor whites, poor blacks, palm us as americans have felt the horror of our jobs going overseas, and being abused and misused. what donald j. trump is bringing is hope, real hope. stuart: it's been a couple days since the election and you have not lost your fervor. >> absolutely not. god bless america and god bless you. if.

stuart: thank you. prudential, their stock has been halted it's news pending. before it's halted at that level. of course the dow industrials were 117 points as we speak canceling out yesterday's loss. then we have italy facing a banking crisis. amy kellogg is in italy. amy, give me 45 seconds and tell me why america should care about this, please. >> americans should care because italy is such an important ask economy in europe. if the most precarious situation is the institution, the heart of tuscany. a bank founded before christopher columbus discovered america.

the world's oldest bank. but they are in a last-ditch effort to find investors. >> the bank needs oxygen. reporter: a row 5 nobody wants to touch. the bank was recently valued on the stock market as being valued at $500 million, but it needs to raise $5 billion by year's ends. stuart: the dow is up 116. we'll be back in a moment.

ashley: president-elect trump meeting with tech leaders yesterday at trump tower. >> how much can you reverse regulation? how much is he committed to cutting taxes? he's getting a lot of pushback on the hill from people like mcconnell. it re-mains to see how serious he is. just naming these people is not enough. on china, i'm starting to question if he's really going to do what he says he's going to do. we'll see. i would ask if i are were him from mrs. -- if i were him to write those numbers down if he beats those numbers significantly he won't have to replace her. she'll quietly resign.

stuart: prudential, the stock has been halted.

liz: it just reopened. it's moving. stuart: so they got a positive outlook on profits. they halted the news has just been out there. now the stock has gone back up again. that's the story on prudential. members of the intelligence community canceled a briefing for the house intelligence committee on russia's interference with our election. watch what congressman peter king had to say about it. >> they leaked it to the "washington post" and the "washington times," but they don't have the time to come to congress. they don't have any choice. they have to come in. especially when they created this. stuart: president-elect tweeted this, if was hack, why did the white house wait so long. why did they only complain after hillary lost?

colonel allen west is with us. can you tell me what's going on? >> good morning and merry christmas. it's simple, the obama administration and hillary clinton and others in the democrat party are looking at a scapegoat for this election. when you think about back in 2012 when barack obama talked about his flexibility he would have after the election with vladimir putin. he's taken advantage of that in every way. our intelligence officials should be asking what's going on in aleppo. what happened to the rebels we are supposedly supporting. vladimir putin has found a way to embarrass america and the democrats are using this as a tool to undermine the election of president-elect trump.

stuart: he help oh is totally destroyed. russia won, president obama lost. what do you say to that? >> there is no doubt about it. the president talked about a red line in syria. what happened after that red line was crossed. the president talked about bashar al-assad must go. he's been propped up by the russians. all there and they are conducting some after and and brutal instances of bushing women and children alive. where are the intelligence agencies, where is barack obama talking about that? stuart: doesn't this go back to when president obama laid down a red line. the syrians crossed the red line. we did nothing about it. up popped isis, syria is largely destroyed. >> on another cable news network

president obama sat down with a gentleman and said isis came fund his intelligence radar screen. we know that's a lie. he was briefed about isis but he chose to dismiss it. he wants john brennan and the f.b.i. investigate the elections and tie it back to russia. that's why the intelligence community doesn't want to go before representatives such as peter king. stuart: we have a rally back in progress on wall street. we are looking toward 20,000 on the dow. 94 points away. your insurance company

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stuart: i have been getting this for years, "varney" viewers giving me a different make. nikta says, hey, barney, you are a dumb expletive deleted brit. from david, i'm very disappointed in you for even mentioning a pardon.

last one from ronnie. dear mr. barney. i just looked up impactful and it's an adjective. totally wrong. barney, for anything, you love you, man. you make me proud to be an american like you. should we start with chrysler cars? the best vehicle i ever bought dollar or dollar, the chrysler town and country van. i still got one. i love the thing. liz: how many years have you had it? >> since the mid-1980s. this is my 7th that i have got right now. ashley: that's amazing. have you noticed on the keyboard "b" and "v" are next to each other. you are the purple dinosaur, barney the dinosaur.

my daughter was nutty for it. liz: you know what they call you in ireland? blarney. stuart: my name is varney, stuart varney. we'll be back.

. .

stuart: yes, would you believe it, it is 10 days before christmas? and america, i think, is brimming with hope and yes, some confidence. look at this. 59% in a new fox poll say they're hopeful after the election. the markets, hitting record highs almost every day and right now the dow is approaching 20,000 again. call it king dollar. it is at a 14-year high. gallup says the economic confidence is at a nine-year high. wait for it. i have another indicator, broke last hour. hope builders confidence at the best level in 11 years. this is the trump rally, both in

terms of our mood and the stock market. and now, he has another leg coming up of the thank you tour. the president-elect is spreading good will over the next few days, hershey, pennsylvania tonight. orlando, florida, tomorrow. mobile, alabama, saturday. that is a feel-good story for this holiday season. however if you watch the media you get a totally different story. russian hackers influence the election. the electoral college needs intel briefing before they can vote. his cabinet is filled with nasty generals and wicked billionaires. they are determined to throw cold water on the incoming presidency. this christmas we can realistically look forward to a froing economy. as president-elect trump said the other night in wisconsin, look forwards to jobs, jobs, jobs. merry christmas indeed! the third hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪

stuart: politics and money, that's what we do. let's start with money, why not? we're up 12-- 126 points on dow industrials. all of yesterday's loss canceled out. we're 81 point away from dow 20,000. quickly check the price of oil, down big and look at the price of gold also down big. why? that's because the dollar is at a 14-year high. dollar up. commodities tend to go down. john layfield is with us. i believe fresh off the beach in bermuda. he is with us. do we get to 20,000 today or tomorrow, what say you? >> what a trick question. i think we'll get to 20,000, i think it will happen soon. that is today or tomorrow. not to avoid the question. we're trading on a lot of positive momentum. this is real interesting paradigm.

you have rising rate environment. business confidence picked up. with the economy and structural reforms happen quick enough for the market not to take a dip before the economy does start picking up? stuart: you can expect a dip of some kind. what -- when a market goes up 1500 points in 30 days, you can expect a pullback. you think it will come in january or sometime earlier? >> i think it is. the problem when you start putting in tax rates, even if you make them retroactive. corporate tax rate is huge. personal income tax rate is not quite as much. that will take a while to filter through the system and come back with spending. same with regulations. banks are rising in a rising rate environment because of regulations and elizabeth warren frankly not being there to go after the big banks. i think there will be a dip first part of the year. stuart: john, the dow industrials up 134 points. i think the market says janet

yellen got it wrong when she projected 2% growth next year and 2% after and 1% after that. i say she got it wrong. >> i completely agree with you. we had under 3% gdp growth for 10 straight years. that is a measure since we've been measuring gdp. we would have seen same thing under mrs. clinton if she had come in. one of the biggest things bill clinton did in 1996, the fair business act where he lowered regulation. that gotten economy going for man internet boom he got credit for. since 199, we have year after year of regulations on business, and choking these business, especially small business. stuart: you have been a big supporter of marissa mayer at yahoo!. we just found out a billion users had their information compromised. are you still a supporter and the stock is way down? 5% down now. are you still a supporter of

marissa mayer right now. >> i didn't bring my white flag to wave. i would now. the strategy didn't work. the going up against bill belichick, going up against big tech companies because you have a great strategy doesn't mean you beat the patriots. the people put in place for media was the wrong people. the billion hack won't affect the deal. it may get a significant haircut. i'm not sure why verizon foes after this deal. seems like small change compared to at&t going after time warner. stuart: you might rethink that predict shun of 20,000 on the dow. we're up 145ents. we're getting very, very close, john. 60 points away from dow 20,000, historic day. you want to amend your forecast. >> i'm in the market. i'm only 15% cash right now. i'm all for dow 20,000.

i'm cautiously optimistic. i'm not buying new stock. i am getting into home depot. i you will see builders come back. i'm not buying a lot of new stock right now. stuart: john, thanks for joining us. we appreciate it. we're up 150 points on dow industrials. this thing is moving. video alert moments ago, pete hegseth arriving at trump tower. last hour fox news reported that he was the top contender to lead the veterans administration. our own pete hegseth was there. is that who it is? that is pete with his back to us. hegseth, turn around! that is tape. can't do that. ashley: he can't hear you. oh, he can. stuart: my take at the top of the hour, positivity returns. the market, economy, thank you tour and the left, total opposite. negative and they're whining. let's bring in mercedes schlapp, republican strategist. am i coming on too strong, calling them whiners and sore losers? go ahead, straighten me out,

mercedes? >> i have to tell you i believe the democrats are behaving like the grinch of christmas. so i view them along your lines where there is the sense that the democrats can't seem to get over the election results. they're still pointing the fingers at the russians. they now, as you have some of these electors, up to 56 electors we know are going to cast their vote next week asking for intelligence briefings to figure out what the russians have done in terms of hacking in their mind the election which we know that is inaccurate. so it is, it is a fascinating a fascinating group of democrats can't realize it is time to move on. time to saint the fact that trump will be the next president of the united states. one of the key points of stability in our nation, stuart, insuring we have a peaceful transition of power. that at some point trump is pushing for this message of unity for all americans.

unfortunately the democrats they just want to throw a tantrum which i think is hurtful for their party, not helpful. stuart: forgive me for throwing this at you, mercedes, i'm told, president obama when leaves office will keep an office in washington, d.c. and he will actually live there and he might see himself as still the leader of the democrat party. what do you make of that? >> well, clearly obama, it was mentioned he would move into back of what i would say into the community organizer role. as we know the democrat right now have a vacuum of leadership. actually a very, what i would call stale old leadership in congress between pelosi and schumer, who have been inn power over 14 years and obviously what we've seen with the democratic party has been a push towards a more liberal, what i call san francisco, not liberal agenda as opposed to those moderate democrats that we know

have been squeezed out in many congressional seats. i'm not surprised that obama will be moving forward in terms of insuring that he will still have an active and a, one of the oh spoken critics of donald trump -- outspoken. that is very different style we saw with george w. bush. when he left office, stuart, he stayed quiet. he let president obama make his decisions, lead the country and i think that would be the most respectful way to handle it. i don't think obama can help himself. stuart: that is a good out, her slades slap. i don't think he -- mercedes schlapp. i don't think he can help himself. go quickly to the markets. literally in the last hour we have seen the market take off. ashley: more hawkish fed. what is leading rally, financials are taking off again. goldman sachs, jpmorgan, they're all taking off. higher interest rates means more

money to loan. stuart: that is the thing, the yield on the 10-year treasury, let's not get technical. ashley: no. stuart: very important interest rate, around 2.60%. it has gone straight up. that believe it or not is good news for the banks. they're helping push this market up 150 points. >> to ashley's point, three rate highs project incomes year. homebuilder confidence to near bubble highs even on the back, even though mortgage rates are ticking up, two year highs for mortgage rates. banks are raising their prime rates already for lending. stuart: what have we been talking about all morning, a very positive environment. ashley: optimism, on market, on the economy, optimism. ashley: across the board. stuart: you know i think that translates into a solid rally. liz: really fun to listen to ceos and companies talk about forward earnings and profits projection and central bankers talking about their forward out look on rates. we have eight years of this. stuart: you love it, love it.

we're up 150 points. now this, members of the intelligence community canceling a briefing for the house intelligence committee on the russian election involvement. "special report"'s bret baier with us on that. first here is what new york congressman peter king had to say about it. >> they have somebody has the time to leak it to the "washington post" and "new york times" but they don't have the time to come to congress and it is their job to come. they don't have any choice. they have to come in, especially when they have created this. hey nicole. hey! i just wanted to thank your support team for walking me through my first options trade. we only do it for everyone gary. well, i feel pretty smart. well, we're all about educating people on options strategies. well, don't worry, i won't let this accomplishment go to my head. i'm still the same old gary. wait, you forgot your french dictionary. oh, mucho gracias. get help on options trading with thinkorswim, only at td ameritrade.

stuart: look at this. suddenly a renewed sense of excitement and possibility we'll get to dow 20,000 very quickly. we started out slowly this morn, modest gain. in the has hour we picked up the pace. now we're up 150. which means we're about 50 odd points away from dow jones industrial average 20,000.

left-hand side of your screen, some of the big movers among the stocks that make up the dow jones industrial average. american express, goldman sachs, jpmorgan. those are financial stocks. they're going up, i think because interest rates are going up? ashley: interest rates are going up. look, that means they get more money back on their loans. in a no-interest rate environment that is finally another revenue source for financials. less regulation per donald trump. stuart: look at intel going to 37. that used to be a door stopper. that is our neck name for it. never went anywhere. what else is going on? liz: u.s. is still the place to be. anemic growth in eurozone, japan, russia. we haven't seen the dow on a tear like this since 1999. stuart: goes back that far, doesn't it? liz: for to to go this fast this high. stuart: i believe we're up 1100 points since the election. ashley: since november 8th.

stuart: 33 days ago. that is explosive rally. ashley: absolutely. stuart: the dollar at a 14-year high. what does that do? it pulls foreign money that wants to be part of the action. we buy american stocks and american debt. you have dollar holdings. up they go. that is really extraordinary. nasdaq straight up. s&p 500, up about what, .8%. you are looking now at an explosive rally. back to the dow please. now we're up 157, 158 points. ashley: 50 points away. stuart: 49 points away, 49 an change. bret baier with us, host of "special report" joining us from washington, d.c. bret, i'm getting carried away with sense of optimism and this positive thinking here. of course we're all making money. we're kind of happy about that. am i right? is there a new mood in this country? >> well, first of all, stuart, good morning. should leave it up there and

talk about the countdown to 20,000. yes, there is this sense, if you look at our latest poll, of hopeful feelings out of americans and frankly business. you talk about it all the time of the regulations changed first day, executive orders that will be changed by a president donald trump. the taxes that begin today on the first block of the house action with the new administration. not only corporate taxes but also personal taxes. the optimism that gives to businesses especially in places like the energy sector, is significant. stuart: bret, donald trump has to deliver. he has got to get his cabinet picks approved. he has got to get the tax cuts. he has got to do something about obamacare. but he has got to do all of that, got to deliver to keep the sense of optimism going.

you're right in the middle of this. can he do all of that relatively quickly? >> talking to senior republicans in the house and senate, they have a plan for a very fast, off the, off the gate right january 20th, on, to get all of that done. so it's not really a 100 day plan. it is more of a 200-day plan. but they believe of the big-ticket items they can get that done. stuart: i think market would accept a 200-day plan as opposed -- i think they would accept that. we're taking your suggestion, bret, we left it up on the left-hand side of the screen so we can see countdown growing. very good advice, bret baier. >> thank you. stuart: tell me about this intel thing with the russians and hacking. seems like the right is positive, upbeat and lively. the left is dragging us back into some question about intel briefings for the electoral college. sort it all out, will you? >> there's a dispute whether

russia was pulling for donald trump to win or not. there is not dispute it was attempted, there were efforts that the intelligence community came to consensus there were efforts to disrupt the election the there is a dispute about the specifics in the intelligence agencies. so the house intelligence committee chairman, devin nunez called for testimony. the intelligence agency said no. well, that doesn't usually happen because congress obviously has oversight. and, it is a big dust-up on capitol hill today, trying to get to the bottom of why they said no. they basically said they're going to wait until the president's review that he ordered is finished. stuart: got to tell you, bret, at this moment in time, we find dow 20,000, a lot more important and instructive and excitingin . politics.

i'm very sorry to say that, bret baier, because you have the best political show in america. >> i'm with you. stuart: bret, thank you very much. appreciate it. back to the big board. look at it go. up 150 points. how about that, we're 49, 48 points from dow 20,000. stay with us. we'll be back. [vo] quickbooks introduces jeanette

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stuart: don't worry. just because we're stalled at gain of 150 points doesn't mean that we're not going to get to 20,000 fairly quickly. we may do that. we're now up 151. we have to do the math all the time. we are i believe, 45 points away from dow 20,000. this is remarkable performance by this stock market. it speaks volumes about the new mood in the country and the expectation of solid economic growth next year because of stimulus from heavy government spending on the military and infrastructure and private spending after those big tax cuts. we're up 151. going up in particular are financial stocks. american express, jpmorgan, two of the biggest gainers of the dow 30, they are up because interest rates are going up. normally rates up, stocks down but on this occasion, rates up,

stocks up, banking stocks, way up. that is what we're seeing at moment. goldman sachs is huge. ashley: goldman sachs is huge. i think what is happening here, investors and economy as a whole sees it taking off with donald trump policies. even if the fed throws in the interest rate hikes it is not enough to slow down the economy. they probably need interest rates to take off if the economy takes up as we expect they will. stuart: ladies and gentlemen, leave up what the dow industrials are doing. we have something very special for you right now. judge andrew napolitano is on the phone with us. he is with us because he just left trump tower. we're very proud of the judge, a regular, stalwart on our program, he was invited to speak to the president-elect this morning. he is with us now on the phone. judge napolitano, what can you tell us why you were there and what you spoke to mr. trump about? >> stuart, i can tell you that

the president-elect has begun to concentrate on the selection of a nominee to replace justice scalia on the supreme court. and he was interested in a broad range of ideas and attitudes about the type of person who would best fill justice scalia's seat. that is what we spoke about in the hour i was privileged to spend with him. stuart: you spent an hour with donald trump this morning talking about the supreme court? >> believe it or not, yes. now, it was a freewheeling conversation in which many other topics came up, not the least of which was the expectation that the dow will hit 20,000 very soon. but the vast bulk of what we spoke about was the intellectual, idealogical, temperamental qualities he

should seek from replacement for justice scalia. excuse me i'm a little out of breath from running. stuart: we're glad you chose to get on our particular show. did the president-elect mention varney at all because we have supplied a awful lot of cabinet members from this show. >> he was very praise worthy about fox news network and without mentioning individual shows by name. he has a nearby television screen where he watches "varney & company." stuart: i'm laughing because i'm very, very happy to hear this by the way. it must be a really exciting mood to be going up in the golden elevators right there in trump -- we call it as you know, judge, we call this white house north. it really must be an electric atmosphere. >> it was electric to put it

mildly. i arrived half an hour early. he came out to greet me. he says i'm doing a photo shoot. i want you to accompany me. i accompanied him and the vice president on a photo shoot somewhere in the bowels of the building. we went back upstairs and continued our conversation. it was truly remarkable experience, stuart. for one which i don't even know if i'm worthy but i cherished every minute of it. stuart: i want to wrap this up you held a one-hour conversation on many, many subjects on president-elect. you focused in on hom should be nominated to succeed justice scalia on the supreme court. >> not whom. but what are the characteristics who the person will be. stuart: fascinating. judge, congratulations, it is great honor to be invited to trump tower at this moment in time. we're so pleased for you and so glad representing our program you were there. thank you, judge. >> thank you, my dear friends. if we don't see each other, merry christmas, happy new year. stuart: we'll see each other.

guarranty that. thank you, judge. good luck. that is fantastic. i really do. meanwhile back on wall street we still have a whopping great big rally. we're now 58 points away from dow 20,000. we're on the march. it has been an extraordinary rally today. financials doing particularly well. i want to bring in another wall street expert, wall street guy. robert wolf is with us. you're ceo of 32 advisors, correct? >> no. it is. stuart: that doesn't mean you have 32 advisors on your team? >> it was my college football number. i hope to sit with you when we hit 20,000. you want to celebrate. i wish i had my financial stocks again, all i had to say. stuart: you had to divest. >> when i left ubs four years ago i got out of all my stocks but -- stuart: okay. let's get in. i think, janet yellen was wrong yesterday.

she projected growth next year 2%, the year after that 2%, the year after that 1.9%. that is really weak. i think we'll probably do a lot better than that. was she wrong? >> you know i found it equally surprising. i think 1.7, to 1.8 was her range. exactly what you said. she didn't include any of the fiscal stimulus of the future that trump will bring on. stuart: right. >> so that was surprising to me. it seems low to me. i would agree. and i didn't actually think in the past year, was surprised they didn't raise rates as wealth. we're not in a crisis anymore. so something we agree upon. seems to me we'll do better than that. we'll outperform. but i'm nervous about the strong dollar. stuart: okay. >> i'm nervous about the strong dollar as you were talking about earlier. stuart: let me get back to growth for a second. next year we'll almost certainly get significant tax cuts for individuals and for companies. i think that is going to happen. >> yeah. stuart: i think we'll almost certainly get a big

infrastructure bill, heavy spending on infrastructure. an and probably up stick on the amount of money we spend on the military. add that lot together you have massive stimulus for our economy. i got to believe it will get close to 4% somewhere down the road. >> yeah. stuart: do you agree with me on that? that 4% is doable here? that is why the market is up so much? >> i want to say getting those things through congress is not so easy. so i think we'll definitely get business tax reform. i'm not so sure on the personal side. stuart: really? >> but i definitely think on the business side. stuart: why won't we get on personal side of it? that is what he is in office for? >> i'm not saying we won't. in the first year you have to pick and choose a few battles. it i was president-elect trump first one i would do is business tax reform. okay? because i think that will stimulate the economy more than personal tax reform. we already have such consumption. i think on infrastructure, i

believe more in the public/private partnerships than tax credit to development. i'm not sure what will get passed. it will definitely be infrastructure there. will be debate whether there are public/private partnerships or through tax credits. all i say getting through cookie cutter of congress is tough. i'm with you. stuart: you're a democrat. >> yeah. stuart: supporter of hillary clinton. >> yes i was. stuart: we had our disputes on run-up to the election. >> we did. now i'm a fox news contributor. stuart: you're all right. you're all right. do you agree with me that we have a new mood in this country and the new mood is because of the election of donald trump who goes for a growth policy and america first? >> yeah, there is no question his whole, the aura around donald trump, buy america, build america, bit of a, you know, i would say nationalist approach with trade. stuart: no question it is, you're right. >> it is an aura about it and right now he is in this period

of dating with everyone. when he gets into office it is a lot different to go through congress. it will be interesting what he does with his executive powers. then it will be interesting what he can pass through congress. i hope he had a easier job than president obama had. stuart: don't call up democrat friends in congress to hold up the tax cut. you tell them, stuart varney wants it backdated to january the 1st, real stimulus. will you do that for me? >> i'm a capitalist at heart. i have no issue with that. stuart: you are a fox news contributor now. stand up, man. robert. stay there for a second. ii want to go to nicole petallides on floor of new york stock exchange. watching what is going on. give me dow winners please, there are a lot of them. >> there are a lot of them. most of the sectors with up arrows and financials technology are leading the way. financials have led the way since donald trump was elected to be our president. here is a look at some tech names. you have a mixed bag. microsoft, facebook, your

darling microsoft, apple with up arrows right now. other names, intel, ibm, cisco. that is what really driven this market, names such as goldman sachs, jpmorgan, winners on dow jones industrial average. just for this quarter, quarter to date, october, november, december, goldman sachs up over 50%. jpmorgan, 30%. we know that obviously since president trump now, president-elect trump was elected november 8th, we've seen the groups running hot. idea of fiscal policy, tax cuts, spending on infrastructure, military, our trade deals all of these ideals, we heard it from a fox poll as well, really brought hope and optimism not only to the country but also to the market as well. stuart: yeah. >> coupled with fact you have improving economy, slowly but has been improving. stuart: very important stuff, nicole. you put your finger right on it. that is the new positive, upbeat mood. it's a can-do cabinet. looks like we've become more of

a can-do administration and can-do country. that is one of the big reasons why the dow industrials are up and getting very close to dow 20,000. moments ago you saw right there the banking stocks, financial stocks. let me remind you, dick bove, one of the very few analysts whoever appear on this program, frankly we don't like analysts, i don't trust them, dick bove has been on the program device. both times he said bank stocks. they have been way up. he owns them. he is invested in them. he says they have a lot further to go. dick bove. liz: we have three financial stocks in the three, in the dow. american express, jpmorgan, goldman sachs. stuart: they're huge winners. liz: look at other ones are big winners, unitedhealth and caterpillar. watch the russell. what is happening here, that corporate tax cut comes in, the companies that get most of their sales in the united states are going to pop. we're also talking mid-caps. we're talking smaller, medical

plays that get most revenues here in the united states. united and insurers are also a play on that. stuart: very tough situation for many investors watching this show now who are not at the moment invested in stocks. do they bet in now at this kind -- ashley: market also reacting, stuart, to good economic news. we had homebuilder sentiment going through the roof in december. manufacturing reports out of philadelphia and empire state both showing strong gains. we have weekly jobless claims came in even lower. put all that together, optimism and what we hope will come from president-elect donald trump, where else will you put your money? a lot of money coming out of the bond market getting crushed. we want to jump in on equities. liz: forgive me, it is worth repeating that people like paul krugman saying stock market would crash. a nobel prize, enron consultant and. stuart: publishes for "the new york times." he said we'll have a crash.

we're at 19,929. liz: watch who you read and listen to. stuart: watch "varney & company." charles hurt is with us. hold on a second. trump tower watch. we're back there. peter king walking into the golden elevator right there. peter king, congressman from long island, republican. there he is. one of many, many visitors to trump tower. leave that picture up as long as we have action in the elevators. come on in charles hurt. >> good morning. stuart: am i going overboard, charles, about upbeat lively mood in america? is it just me or do you share it? >> it is palpable. i happen to be in washington this morning and it's not so palpable here. people are losing their minds here. they're very terrified and running around but i think that is exactly why we're seeing sees upbeat mood all around the country.

i think a lot of it has to do with the fact the guy is doing it differently. like the fact we have a camera set up on elevators at white house north as you call it. people, you know, there is a there is hopefulness. there is movement to it like, wow, something really is going to happen. things may change. that's what people want more than anything else. that is what, that is what they wanted when they voted for the guy. stuart: why is the left pursuing this, going down this rabbit hole of the russians and hacking and wanting intel briefing for the electoral college? i mean, i'm astonished quite frankly. if that is the best you've got, that's not very good. that's my opinion. >> think about this though, what was revealed by this election was the democrats didn't just lose this year, they have been losing for eight years. they have lost over a thousand seats since president obama first won election.

he won re-election, that sort of concealed the fact that, because that was a big victory for him it concealed the fact his party was continuing to hemorrhage power. they are in shambles now. and so i think they're in complete denial. they will do anything that they anything to avoid having to talk about the real problems which is they have got to remake their party. they have got to learn, they have got to figure out how to appeal to actual americans. their decades of playing racially divisive politics is not working anymore. they're in terrible shape. so of course they're going to come up with, spend all of their time spend all time with ridiculous theories and conspiracy theories and complaining. they don't want to face the facts. stuart: but for this stock market rally to continue, for the optimism to continue, mr. trump has to deliver. he has got to get his cabinet picks approved. he has to get tax cuts. he has to get deregulation, he

has to get rid of obamacare and have to have plan to do all of that, accomplish a lot of that very quickly. last question to, charles, do you think he can do it? >> i do think he can do it and the reason i think he can do it what he proved during the campaign he really doesn't care what the media thinks. he is willing to talk over them. he is willing to talk directly to the american people. he is not afraid to meet with people that he disagrees with but he doesn't, ultimately doesn't care. what he cares about is results. and i think as long as he focuses on that, stays focused on that and ignores all of the, all the noise that you hear, here in washington, i think he will be able to accomplish a lot of those things. stuart: charles hurt. i hope you're having as good of a time as we are. >> oh, yes. stuart: good stuff. see you again real soon. look at that market. i'm not going to say we paused. we went down to a gain of 130 point. now we're starting to move back up again.

liz, you know what is striking. we passed, he were breaking out champagne and horns on dow 19,000 on november 22nd. stuart: it was november 22nd that we hit 19,000, is that accurate? liz: correct. ashley: this will be the quickest thousand point gain in market history. i say that without knowing the actual facts. i want to point out forex being currency, strength of dollar quite remarkable. british pound threatening to drop below 1.24. it was 1 to in-- 1.26. euro close to parallel at 1.03. but strong companies will be hurt by the strong american dollar. that will hurt earnings at some point. stuart: that i understand, a strong dollar pulls in money from all over the world. ashley: people want action and to get in. liz: start investing here in the united states. stuart: if you're a european, i

used to be european, if you're over there, you got money to invest, put it in america, buy in now, because you will win on currency transaction. ashley: yes. stuart: if it you buy american stock, american company, buy it in dollars and dollar keeps going up, your investment has gone up. ashley: yes. stuart: regardless whether the company's stock goes up. you have made money. >> liz: great point. ashley: very good point. stuart: it is pouring in. i wonder if this pause, we went to a plus 150 about 20 odd minutes ago. ashley: seems to be a bit of a ceiling there. there is a bit of resistance. stuart: on way up, we saw it before, pause middle of the day, boom, took off in the afternoon. dow 20,000 this afternoon is a long shot but it is not impossible. liz: by the way we're not polly yana, fatally naive, misleading people, we're reporting what we see. when you look at polls we reported earlier who voters think will do better or trust more to improve the economy, now

it is markets and business, not government and politicians. stuart: well-said. liz: that is what is key here. the democrats in the white house and president obama, you know they acted like they were high priests swinging incense over something mysterious going on only they knew how to handle and walk through the hallways of power. donald trump is saying something different. you know what? there is a different approach to government. ashley: free market, baby. stuart: free market, baby. ashley: free market, baby, let lights. stuart: senator scott brown is joining us right now. i want your comments, senator, what i am calling a new, upbeat, positive mood since the election. am i right or am i right? >> you were just on with bob wolf who i have a lot of respect for. even recognized there is a new mentality out there. you see it not only in the stock market but see it in a lot of public polls about. everywhere i go, stuart, in new hampshire, massachusetts,

new england, yes we can finally say merry christmas. we can have confidence our taxes will be lowered. there is a whole host of things going on. people are excited. that is great. stuart: president-elect trump, he's got to come through with his promises. he has got to get his cabinet confirmed, he has to have tax cuts for individuals and business, got to do something about obamacare. asking you same question as i have asked all of our guests this morning, can he do it in a reasonable length of time? >> well, i think he can do it, specially because we have control of the house and senate. if the house and senate want to do confirmations, be vigorous, go through the vetting process i have no problem with but give him the team he has taken a lot of time to assemble, give them tools to do their jobs. we have opportunity at least for two years. hopefully get more pickups in the senate and house in two years so we can expand and get a supermajority like the democrats had before i got in there. absolutely he can do it. stuart: last one, senator, you were in line for the veterans

administration job of the now we hear that maybe my colleague pete hegseth is the front-runner. do you have any comment at all, mr. senator? >> well, pete and i speak regularly. he is a dear friend. you love him just like i do. we speak all the time. there is no competition but, i'm honored to be considered. the vetting process has been very interesting. and you know the president's going to take time to make this decision because quite frankly, stuart, i believe it is the most important position aside from the secretary of state because veterans are dying. so i have no problem with him making sure that he makes the right choice. and whoever he is choosing, has a lot of work to do. i'm willing to certainly help in any way i can. stuart: i understand that elizabeth, senator elizabeth warren is on your side, scott brown, which i find absolutely extraordinary. >> yeah. stuart: good to have support like that, sir, from massachusetts. >> it is. she called me and, showed her support not only publicly an privately. she cares about veterans.

she has three brothers who are in the military. stuart, i don't care what your political affiliation is, vets are dying. we have to help them. you need to put somebody in charge take it right away to do it. stuart: well-said. don't call up senator warren to tell her what is happening with banking stocks at the moment because they are taking off. >> amen. stuart: senator scott brown, thanks for joining us. see you real soon. >> thank you. stuart: look who is here now. ashley: what's your name? stuart: my name. >> charles, doesn't matter. stuart: this is the animal spirits. >> this is the animal spirit we're talking about. let me give the animal spirit update. stuart: please. >> this isn't from main street but from the world of business. two things you had this morning were huge. empire state manufacturing number. highest number since january 2015. six-month expectation number went through the roof. that was great stuff. we haven't seen that in a long time but then the housing sentiment number, guys, really this is all donald trump right here.

housing sentiment, the number of itself at highest level since july of 2005. the biggest one-month jump in 20 years, 20 years. single family homes up, six-months expectations up. buyer traffic, first time it went to expansion from contraction, i think in a couple of years. so you've got -- ashley: even with higher mortgage rates. >> even with higher mortgage rates. here is the thing they're excited about. in the past five years, obama's regulations added 30% to the cost of a home. we talked about why aren't people are not buying home, why prices are going through the roof. think about that, you can lob off, we can't go back to do that, slow down rate of increases based on some regulations which are sort of onerous obviously. industry is extraordinarily happy. they're seeing foot traffic going with optimism. stuart: we will really get growth. we will get robust growth?

>> you make a great point, you keep asking everyone as long as donald trump gets this through. you hear somebody like rand paul an mitch mcconnell talk about debt. which by the way was bailiwick gop for a long time. president obama was spending all the money an mortgaging the future but trump team is saying hey, ignite the economy first. let's go pack and clean up some of the debt mess. stuart: i envy you being on your show tonight, you might be staring at 20,000. >> i might. i will save you some excitement if we get it. stuart: thanks for being with us. >> you got it guys. thank you very much. stuart: look who else is with us, the stars are aligned. liz claman with us. welcome back, good to see you again. >> thank you. i just ran down. the viewers didn't see me they narrowed camera shot. i got off the phone with a trader on floor nyse. he says it will happen today or tomorrow. just in time for the weekend newspapers.

scott rid letter on the floor. he said what charles said. it is perception that trump has business-friendly opportunity people perceive will happen. stuart, said look at russell, small caps. they tried to fall. they couldn't. so the only way up is to the upside there. so the only way out there was to move. so he said look at the small and mid-cap names in the russell 2000. stuart: all of this money is pouring into america. they want to jump on board the strong dollar to make currency gain as well as stock gain. i think it is pouring into american companies as you mentioned like in the russell 2000. you go on the air this afternoon, is it 3:00? >>h, like you didn't know. stuart: just want to give you a promo. >> "countdown to the closing bell," 3:00 p.m. eastern. this is all important hour. we may very well. stuart: what are you now, 66 points away from dow 20,000. you have got a very good shot at presiding over the first broadcast in america where we

hit 20,000, you, yes. >> actually who is down there with me, lori rath man will be with me -- rothman. fox business has been focused on potential for happen, beyond other guys do, fourth day in a row, maybe dow 20,000. we have never want to put on cheerleader skirts. you never know, sometimes we see corrections. dollar at 14-year high has some consequences for businesses that do business overseas. stuart: i insist dow 20,000 next ten minutes or my show tomorrow, 9:00 p.m. eastern time -- 9:00 a.m. ashley: calm down. blood pressure, really appreciate it. this is a big deal, big day. thanks for sharing it with us. now, we have paused. we're up 136 points, okay? we were up 150, 155. came down to a gain of 135 you but we have seen this pattern before.

we've seen the market go up modestly in the morning, pause and really rally in the afternoon. look, i'm not cheerleading this thing. i'm not saying it is going to happen, james freeman is laughing at me. he is from "the wall street journal." he has heard what i'm saying he is laughing. hold on a second, you may repeat the pattern. there is an extraordinary sense of optimism come out in america very, very recently. i think that transferred to the stock market. animal spirits are aloose, look at us go. we're up 132. so, freeman, why are you laughing? >> i was laughing at myself too. a lot of us have this sense, i don't want to call it irrational exuberance, i think it is rational now we're getting a big change in policy. now we're getting a turn toward really more open markets less taxed markets, and why is the

market shaking off the news from yesterday. they're looking at policy signals in the right direction. stuart: i said all morning that i think janet yellen got it wrong especially growth in the future. >> right. stuart: she said 2% next year. 2% the year after, 1.9% the year after that. that's tepid isn't she considering tax cuts juicing economy with government spending on economy and military. >> i won't say she is political but you have to wonder, their policy decisions now we're comfortable raising, and we're comfortable raising couple more times next year, suggest they're heading for faster growth. they're comfortable knowing economy can deal with little bit higher interest rates but don't seem willing to acknowledge it in the economic forecasts. why is that? stuart: you did what donald trump does.

i'm not going to say this is political but, she is political. state here for a second, i want to go to nicole petallides on floor of new york stock exchange. you have the big dow winners for us? >> no doubt. we have winners and financials and technology names leading the way. nine of 10 sectors higher. only energy is faltering to the downside. we had pnty of dow leaders, american express, goldman, those are some financials leading way. i mentioned technology, intel would go into that group. those are some of the names leading the way. we're about 71 points away from dow 20,000. i showed you the hat earlier today, said dow almost 20,000 because the traders like investors at home, getting a little frustrated, waiting for it to happen already. and it hasn't happened. what i just finished talking with keith bliss on the floor of fox business network, whether it

happens today or tomorrow, it is definitely going to happen in a week or so. by next week the trend are up particularly in december. this month is always a good month. then you have going into the christmas and new year's. sometimes they call the santa claus rally or end of the year rally where they adjust their books for trading, you need up arrows, you need 70 point, come on, stuart, you know 20,000 is coming. all the hats are around here. 19,000 throw it out. 18,000, throw it out. bring in the 20,000. stuart: nicole, thanks very much indeed. i will revert to this. i noticed big tech names were present at big meeting with mr. trump yesterday, like amazon. amazon is down two bucks at this point. it is down to 766. amazon is down. google is down. the big meeting was yesterday. i would have thought you got a bounce after that meeting but

apparently was fairly friendly, but no, it is not happening. no big bounce for technology. ashley: very cautious. stuart: very cautious indeed. james freeman, big meeting, technology guys yesterday. supposedly went well but i don't sigh much response on the market today to technology. >> well i think, you shouldn't see, here's the difference between the trump policy and obama policy trump policy is about creating growth for everybody and i think technology will share in that. the obama white house, a lot more focused on their friend in silicon valley, how do we help them? net neutrality, which we've seen diminishing investment in broadband internet networks. but, with this trump meeting here, i think maybe, maybe, a few of those ceos who don't like him i think for non-policy reasons in many cases are thinking, well, we have something in common here.

tax reform, repatriate all that cash overseas, these could be good things. stuart: my heart goes out to the investors and some of our viewers who are not in the stock market. ashley: yeah. stuart: they have got some money. they're not in the stock market. come january the 1st, their 401(k) contribution has to be invested. are they going to put this into stocks when the dow is about to hit very close to 20,000? that is a dilemma for these people. ashley: yeah. >> if they have a long time horizon as we say, stocks over time, a couple hundred years now they have delivered almost 7% after inflation. i also, i would think, maybe, maybe some of these foreign markets have gotten beat up lately since the election look a little more attractive. stuart: people like me, in our late 60s, you know. >> you have a very long time horizon. liz: rates are going up. stuart: i should become a safer. liz: always be a safer. stuart: at my age, don't take a

risk, go for bank cd? liz: i advocate that for you wholeheartedly. stuart: conventional wisdom says jump in. liz: when is the pullback? goldman sachs saying trump effect, stimulus from his plans will come in 2018. when we see how the market acted unrising rate environment since 1966, only goes up single digits for the s&p 500. without that, it went up double digits. so you get in on the pullback. stock market says coming in january. don't know when it will happen. stuart: nothing goes straight up. this is one of the most explosive rallies i've ever seen. i've been reporting on wall street 40 years. never seen the dow go up 1000 point as -- liz: november 22nd. stuart: november 22nd. neil cavuto is with us now. he will take over in, no, you are there, neil?

i know you are. >> yes. stuart: you will take over in approximately two minutes. you think -- you don't forecast the market. i was going to say, are you going to see 20,000 on your show? i can't ask you that, but you don't forecast the market, do you? >> you keep mentioning this 20,000 thing. what is going on with this market? stuart: you are on the fox business network and run a financial program, is that accurate. >> you were mentioning something about the rally. you never covered anything leak this. there was that coverage second to none during the fillmore administration when you were all over it. nothing goes straight up. we have not seen anything like this after presidential election ever. people are doing their darnedest

to look at this to put it in perspective tiff you know what even if fed hikes three times next three years we could deal with that. that is in response to better economy or optimism about better economy. i think market taking over from central bank. i am reading into the market they expect growth. serious growth for the economy. an for profits of americans corporations. am i so wrong with that? neil: no, i don't think you are. what can happen, best laid plans can sort of get undone. if speed isn't there. i was noticing, his name escapes me right now, another fox contributor, former painewebber guy, ubs -- stuart: robert wolf. neil: that's it, exactly. he w neil: bad sitcom exactly. he was bemoaning the fact that you're not going to be able to

get all the tax cuts you off. if we don't let the business tax cut through without individual rates address, that will be a big downer. a lot of people are looking forward to not only tax cuts, but big ones. >> i just want to thank liz, ashley, very important show. when you can't remember someone saying it says a lot about your age. but go ahead. neil: all right, thanks, pop spirit i will. [laughter] i think you just criticize my age. we are in this march to 20 k. what is interesting is we were just pointing out the same stuff that was whirling and rattling investors as expected move to hike rates and that's the number of times it might follow that. three times next year, three times 2018 or three times 2019 by time which the signal seems to