elizabeth macdonald who shows us the way and what it's all about with christianity in europe, and nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. thank you, one and all. neil, it's yours. neil: all right, stuart, thank you very much. we are keeping an eye on the corner of wall and broad where that pursuit of 20,000 on the dow comets, but a lot of -- continues, but a lot of this might have to do with just about touching that level might have to do with the fact that the assailant in berlin or at least the guy behind that truck attack might still be on the lam, on the loose. they haven't found him, they don't know where he is, but they're getting more indications of his muslim roots, and that is scaring the you know what out of a lot of folks there. obviously, that unsettles investorsç and non-investors alike. welcome, everybody, i am neil cavuto. we are on the dow 20k watch, and

we're getting the gauge of just how this can ebb and flow with whatever headlines are coming in. to market watcher gary b. smith on what he makes of the push and pull here. what do you think, gary? >> it's exciting times, for sure, neil. i don't think it's related to any kind of terrorism in europe. i think this is just natural as we get to near 20k. people are anticipating that maybe we'll stop there, and what we're about 11, 12 points short, they start to take some profits off the table. the worst would have been if we dropped down 2-300 points. but we've kind of stabilized. when i looked 30 seconds ago, we were within 60 points. if we're going to make the move, it's going to be from about 2:00 today. i think about 50/50, i definitely think we're going to get there this week. neil: i was exploring this yesterday with charlie gasparino yesterday, this notion of terror that used to totally unnerve us, we sold first and then asked

questions later. we don't have that anymore. i don't know if that's a sorry commentary on our times that we're, sadly, getting used to this stuff or that we don't think it's going to happen here. what do you think? >> a little bit of both. i kind of toward your first point. we've seen it now so many time, and we, you know, in the past people have sold only to regret it, so they're not as inclined to sell. second, if it's kind of out of sight, out of mind, i mean, look, i picked up "the washington post" today, and i can't even recall if it was on the first page or not. so if it's not here on our shores, it's kind of out of the minds of the investors, particularly traders. a lot of traders are technical traders, and they're just looking at levels. they're not, you know, the news that comes across is not even germane to them. so i think for all those points, you know, if we got something that hit maybe a new york subway system, yeah, then we'd have a horrible day. but over in europe and the fact that, you know, all the selloffs

in the past have not come to fruition, i think those are the reasons we're kind of stable right here. neil: what do you make of who's taking credit for this rally? a number of liberals have been saying this is a continuation of the barack obama rally, others are saying this really picked up steam since the election of donald trump six weeks ago today, a little bit of both? what do you say? >> it is -- any trader, and i think i even tweeted this -- any trader worth his salt that thinks this is anç obama rally has never looked at a chart, has never traded a stock. i mean, it was just so clear, neil, that right after the election the market is going straight up, and people are saying, oh, that's an obama rally? what has changed for obama other than that he's leaving office? no. the big change, if you want to correlate it, was trump won the election. you know, just previous to us coming on i heard stuart saying now is a time of great optimism. i fully agree. i mean, look, i'm going to give

the man credit. i don't agree with everything he's doing, but i'm giving him more leeway because maybe the things he's doing, maybe the pragmatic approach is awakening this giant economic engine we have out there, and i think it's great times for america. neil: what do you think would have happened if yesterday when electors around the country were voting and 37 of them had been peeled off for donald trump? and then it was throwing the whole thing into question? what would be happening right now? >> horrible. we'd be down, probably be down 1,000, 15, 2,000 points because it would throw everything that america stands for, democracy, the electoral college, the way we vote. it would be worse than the whole hanging chad crisis back when bush and gore went at it. it would beç horrible. i'm glad we weren't there. that was a very small concern of mine, but if it had happened, catastrophe. neil: all right. thank you, my friend.

gary b. smith. >> you bet. neil: want to go to senator joe manchin right now, democrat from the fine state of west virginia. senator, it didn't happen yesterday, there wasn't an elector revolt. i mean, it isn't official, official, official until january 6th, i guess, when they put the seal of approval on it in washington, but what do you make of efforts still afoot to deny donald trump the victory? >> well, neil, people just gotta get over it and go on i mean, let's get on with governing this country, making us the world leader and keeping, maintaining that superpower status. and that means we've all got to get behind our president whether you voted for him or not and work with him and try to make him successful and be respectful if we disagree and find a different path forward. i'm just, i mean, this is taking too much time and energy. there's too much, too many other things to be concerned about. and i think we have the greatest syem of democracy in the world. it's not perfect, they're going to make some mistakes, but it's

one we can trust. now, i trust it, and i feel very comfortable with it. neil: all right. you come from a coal state. donald trump has promised to bring coal jobsç back. are you confident he will? you want to see that? >> well, here's what's going to happen, we're going to have some coal jobs come back. we're going to stabilize. we're not going to be back to where we were because a lot of the markets has changed. cheap gas has taken over, a lot of the coal-fired plants have been dismantled or converted to gas, so we've lost a lot of the markets we sold into before. next of all, just taking the regulations -- and i'm not saying regulations that keep our water clean. we're all for clean water and careen -- clean air. but we've had an overreach to where it was almost a redundant nuisance. just trying to demoralize us from even trying to do business. and, neil, that's what happened. so, yes, that's going to unleash a lot more confidence, a lot more investment and try to

stabilize a market that was on a complete downward spiral. so i think we will be able to bring some back, but not the levels we had five or ten years ago. neil: you know, much has been made, senator, of rick perry likely becoming the next energy secretary, a department that he had promised to eliminate not too many years ago and had questioned its worth today. how do you feel about that? that was a job you were rumored for as well, but how do you feel about uxat? >> well, i think rick's going to be fine. rick -- first of all, president-elect trump has put people around him, whether you agree or disagree, that basically have run things, they've done things. they're just not picked out of thin air. rick was the governor of one of the largest stateses in our country for ten years. so he understands. he can pick people. i have confidence rick will do a good job, and i'm going to work to, hopefully, help him. i'm all for an all-in energy policy, but i think he needs to be pragmatic that we're going to use fossil for some time.

the rest of the world is going to use more than ever. don't you think that it makes sense to invest in a technology that would be able for us to use it cleaner and b being able to take the co2 but do it in a responsible manner n a cost effective manner and then be able to have this technology used around the world? it didn't make any sense just thinking that we were going to switch, neil, to a carbonless energy policy and the rest of the world would follow, and we've done irreparable harm to our economy. but having a balance moving forward with all of the renewables as far as the wind and solar, hydro, biomass, but you're going to have to have coal and nuclear -- neil: so you take the trump administration to come, sir, at explore all energy options, not favor one over the other because a lot of the clean air/renewable types are saying, no, no, no, this is the end of solar and wind at least under this president, they're talking about

donald trump, and that will be bad for us. come will be all in. >> neil, i don't agree with their evaluation of that. there's been more research and technology money spent on renewables in the last eight years than everyone, anyone could have ever imagined. and with that being said, we're still counting on coal -- neil: yeah. >> -- gas, nuclear to provide about 80-85% of our energy needs for our country. and very little technology was spent on that to develop the new technology. so we're not going to be able to spend what we had before on renewables, but renewables basically are coming of their own. they're going to be able to be more competitive. and they'll have a place. i'm all for that. i'm just not for disproportionately spending all of our resource technology money on an energy source that's not going to provide the energy that's needed for a baseload 24/7, rain or shine, and it's

going to be in the 20% range. doesn't make any sense.ç neil: a quick housekeeping item i want to get clear on. if you can't answer this, i understand. you've obviously met with the president-elect and he likes you a great deal, has been entertaining a number of positions for you, and there's still some out there. but are you more inclined to stay in the senate? >> neil, i think i can help my state of west virginia and my country right where i am as far as in the uted states senate. i will be that go-between person working with president trump's administration, paul ryan and mitch mcconnell, the republicans, trying to find a pathway forward where democrats can agree and move good policy. not just with be, basically, blocking something because we're on different sides of the field. that's not who i am. neil: so you'll stay in the senate -- >> we're very excited about -- neil: stay in the senate, but

there had been talk as well, sir, that you might become a republican. >> no. and i said this, my identity as a democrat, my brand is being common sense, centrist, pragmatic, in the middle, bipartisan. i'm not changing my brand, and my identity shouldn't change that either. so me being a democrat being able to work with everybody, i'm looking forç republicans in the same venue, looking to work with everybody. so i think that, basically, we're going to have to find that balance, and i'm perfectly comfortable. i'm a west virginia democrat, neil. we're a little bit different than washington democrats. we still believe you've got to get up, put them pants on, go out and go to work and make things happen. and we're going to help take care of those who can't, but we expect if you can contribute and do something, you better do it. neil: all right. senator, i hope you have a merry christmas, sir. thank you. >> hey, neil, same to you, buddy. thank you so much. merry christmas. neil: be well. all right, we are still on this dow 20,000 watch which, if it

does happen, could help the first 1,000 donald trump presidency watch. i'll explain after this. ♪ ♪

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neil: all right, we've got charlie gasparino here on this market that just teases this 20,000 level. we get close and then we step back a little bit. as you and i were talking yesterday, the resiliency in the face of terror attacks and everything else. >> and everything else. and, you know, here's one point i'll make for donald trump going in, there's a leftist movement that's being built up right now to, actually, to impeach him. neil: oh, yeah. we talked to one of the senate legislation to put it in place. >> i read something in new york

magazine about, you know, the sort of clause that's, essentially, a trip wire. if you somehow benefit a foreign government for your -- a foreign government -- neil: the appearance of a conflict of interest is enough to trigger it. >> so there's all this sort of leftist pressure to impeach him, and i will say this, look back at what happened with bill clinton in the '90s. it's a fascinating sort of scenario where republicans overreached with him, they accused him of crimes that they, many of them themselves committed. neil: yeah. >> and the economy was going great, the markets were up, and, you know, the average american who's, you know, center-right didn't care. they weren't ready to throw that away. neil: i always wonder what would have happened if the markets weren't doing great, if it was like a watergate time with richard nixon and, thereby, would nixon have survived if things were better at the time. >> right. we had stagflation, unemployment and inflation which is a little rough, and it got even worse.

neil: oh, yeah. >> i don't think he probably would have survived, and that's one thing -- neil: do you ever wonder, charlie, that this rally is happening ahead of his coming in, and it's going to be buy on the president-elect, sell on the president? >> well, there's going to be a dip at some point. i think we're going to hit 20,000 either today or tomorrow. it's light volume -- neil: more likely when you see that. >> right. but here's the thing, long term if he does what he says he's going to do with taxes and regulation, lower the taxes, get rid of the regulation -- he's appointing some amazing people in office. you know, vinnie viola, i will tell you, is a friend of mine -- neil: your only italian friend. there are a couple of others. >> scaramucci doesn't talk to me anymore. neil: why would he? [laughter] he's on dora the explorer, the cartoon. [laughter] >> but vincent, west point grad -- neil: amazing guy. >> 101st airborne, ran the

nymex, he's a billionaire, he understands -- neil: he's a billionaire? >> oh, yeah, easy. neil: wow. >> and he's going to bring technology, knowledge of the military, technology and knowledge of cyber -- neil: are you sure he's a billionaire? i knew him when he was just a hundred millionaire. >> he's a billionaire. not that he shares it, i just know this. he's going to be attacked by the left as someone who's unqualified because he's rich. neil: well, that's the thing that keeps popping up. >> it's absurd. i mean, listen, when you're rich, you're usually successful. neil: i've never seen a cabinet-to-be ripped so messlessly concern mercilessly, sight unseen. >> jack lew, say what you want, i'm sure or he's a very nice man. he came to be treasury secretary with almost no real qualifications. he was the number two guy at citigroup for a while, kind of an academic -- not number two, but he worked for bob rubin in some capacity.

the department he oversaw helped cause the -- neil: i never heard him being ripped -- this is like everyone. too many generals, too many rich guys. >> i mean, vincent viola did not start the financial crisis. steve mnuchin, no matter what you say about him, had zero to do with the financial crisis. i'm against gary cohn being part of his economic inner circle -- neil: why? >> because he's a progressive, and i think he supported obama. neil: it wasn't his wall street ties -- mr. no, couldn't care less. neil: does that worry you? regardless of their wealth, undue influence? that's what cynics say. >> here's what i would say, look at the individual. if there is a degree of group think among goldman sachs, then you have to worry about that. would you consider steve bannon part of goldman sachs' group think? no. neil: well, he left decades ago. >> he made a few bucks, and he's about as far from goldman sachs

group think as -- i think you look at the individual. i don't like gary cohn in that job because he's a progressive. unless he's had a death bed or -- unless he's had a conversion, you know, that some people do have -- neil: well, i'll tell you what, and you and i might argue on this, i don't think it's going to be the supply-side assault team that a lot of reaganites want to see. >> does larry kudlow get the job -- neil: even if he because, i'm not so sure this is going to be the big tax cut revolution group, you know, that the people think. i could be wrong. >> i agree with you. neil: and maybe they're, you know, they can't be so embridleed. >> just on the basis of who's in congress, paul ryan is much more of a deficit hawk than -- neil: and mitch mgcom, tax -- mcconnell, tax cuts have to be revenue neutral right out to the gate. look at the sweater vest,

though, you have to admit -- >> who? neil: mr. connell. >> that is weird that you noticed that. neil: well, that's the way i roll. >> you notice the weirdest things, and whether it's pumpkin spice. neil: no, this is tea. >> isn't it better to lower the loopholes? neil: don't do a mealy-mouthed tax cut. if you're not going to do it big, don't do it. >> 15% corporate tax rate is pretty good. neil: that's big. >> it usually leads to businesses hiring people. neil: and i hope you're right, and i'm not going to join this left-wing cabal that curses him from the open. but when i hear all this talk about about reining it in, if ronald reagan had pared around the edges as "the wall street journal" was advocating when he came -- >> really? jude winonsky. look, i think that's a legitimate worry.

i hate to say it again, gary cohn has his ear and not larry kudlow. neil: is there doubt that kudlow won't get the -- >> there is doubt. there's other people and, you know, larry, let's be clear, larry is what he is. he's not going to back down. i mean, he won't back stab donald -- neil: are you entertaining any trump positionses? >> he wants me to clean the floors. neil: he doesn't like you, does he? >> he actually does like me. he's mad i called him out on some of his -- neil: has he tweeted anything about it? >> no, i actually know him a long time. neil: you and i both have. >> he's a great man. i didn't like some of the stuff, you know, some of the stupid things he said. i could not condone that. but net-net am i happy -- neil: but if you call the campaign, they are going to get back to you, because that's the worst call in the world, charlie gasparino on -- >> hope hicks is actually very nice.

i give brian a call because i don't want to hear them curse at me. you've got to hear what somebody in the trump transition team said to brian recently when i had a call. neil: really? >> it was x-rated. neil: we don't want to repeat that. >> no, i won't. neil: this is a family show. >> it was i'm going to call your boss, and i said, add them to the list. [laughter] neil: charlie, thank you very much. i love him. he's my brother. >> brother from another mother. neil: all right. we've got a lot more coming up including the latest on what happened with this russian ambassador. what's more amazing to me, if you ever see the images of this, is the guy cooley stood behind him as the ambassador's making his remarks and then found his moment, found his time. and this guy was a security officer in the turkish police. so he was granted access. and then i thought to myself, my gosh, what if something like that happened here?

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♪ ♪ neil: all right, i said it before, i'll say it again, it is amazing we're up at all in a market that has had a chance to witness terror incidents worldwide. the two big ones, of course, what happened in berlin last night, also what happened with the russian ambassador getting shot in front of the open media, and the guy who shot him yelling allahu akbar and allowed into that room as a police official, a security official with the turkish security team supposedly guarding and looking after the welfare of that ambassador. to terror analyst tara muller and tony schafer. tara, that's what amazes me. it's one thing when the markets shrug it off, but we see more of these incidents, and i don't know where it's a sign that

markets are, sadly, getting used the them, but this ones has,, at least in russia, a more terrifying implication here, that this guy was on the inside, and there could be others. >> absolutely. i mean, we've seen a series of attacks now, all very different in nature. we saw a market attack in berlin the other day -- neil: right. >> suspect still potentially on the loose. we've now seen something take place where they knew there was going to be media and cameras in this attack on the russian ambassador. the assassin knew this was going to get media attention. there were reporters in the room taking photos as this occurred. and you're right, it was an inside job which shows some vetting problems, clearly. and it's something that all, you know, governments should be looking at in terms of vetting of their security, their police. that's an important aspect. these are the people who are supposed to keep us safe, not carry out an attack. neil: you know, i'm old enough to remember, tony, the time anwar sadat was killed. his own military parade turned

op on him and killed him, and that ushered in the age of hosni mubarak who was in power for decades, but there is precedent for this, and i worry is there the possibility of this happening elsewhere? >> well, there's a saying, neil, in the case officer business, even paranoids have enemies, and i think you have to take that to heart. do have to look deeper, and as tara said, you know, there's been a kind of a trend of this sort of thing happening. and i think right now ahead of time we've got to do our own looking internally. i mentioned yesterday on your show on the other channel about the fact that i was aware of at least one security company attempting to gain work and access to the upcoming security, whatever you call it, the contracting world for the upcoming inauguration. the guy in charge has six convictions. and so i don't think, you know, that's a good idea. i think you've got to look deeper, you've got to look at secondary and third order, who comes up, who shows up. because you're talking about literally tens of thousands of people being involved.

and if you've got your enemy, you're literally inside the wire, there's no hope of -- neil: and a lot of them have already been granted permits for protests, i could be wrong, but the latest i have, tara, is a record number of protest permits have been granted. which is everyone's right. >> right. neil: but i worry about that because in the middle of all of that, anything can happen. what type of efforts are we making to make sure that everyone's safe? >> sure. i mean, you saw the state department issue a warning in november about holiday season and the markets. you've also seen isis come out with statements -- neil: about open-air markets. >> yeah, exactly, open-air markets. and you've seen isis actually as well make statements about targeting inauguration. so these are things that are on law enforcement's radar screen. specifical attacks have also been something law enforcement has warned about because terrorist groups are putting those kind of attacks in their prop began da. propaganda. i was listening earlier, nypd

john miller commissioner, you know, intelligence in new york city was talking about they were issuing and having collaboration with truck rental companies to inform them about signs to look for. so there is this sort of stepped-up effort in response to isis and other groups' threats that are in their materials and also in terms of the timing. holidays, dates of significance, large gatherings. those are always targets of attacks. that's not new. there's nothing new here in terms of the target selection. but it is coming on the heels of a number of lone wolf attacks, and in europe the problem is worse given the number of potentially radicalized cells there and fighters from iraq and syria. neil: do you with draw distinctions between the so-called lone wolves emboldened or inspired by isis or other groups or those directed by isis to do what they do? is there -- i always say in the end terror is terror. but how do you define it? >> well, i define it by the fact

that the lone wolf methodologying is an accepted method of isis terror. it is, it's part of their playbook, neil. so i think, you know, it's like is the hail mary a football play? of course it is. so it's the same thing here. it's an effective tactic -- neil: so in other words, even though they're not sending out the order directly or working in the planning stage, they are inspiring, you know, the disaffect or the anger or whatever. >> well, they're not only doing that, you or i could go on hine and get radicalized if so choose. they've set up training sites so if yo want to do it. so that gives you that capability. that is a capability they have established. so i think we have to accept that. so with that said though, that gives us an opportunity. obviously, if you show up to one of those web sites, gee, maybe you ought to be tracked. maybe someone ought to see if you're a reporter or some guy that's going to take this serious and almost to the point of, you know, you've got to stage this. there's a pattern to look for.

i think right now what we have to do, neil, is look at lessons learned from europe, what were the attack indicators, when whae these methods that were observable. apply those as a matrix to the situation to try to stay ahead of this. i am very optimistic that mr. trump coming in -- one of the reasons the market hasn't gone down, a lot of people feel globally that mr. trump's gog not going to be off playing golf during terror attacks. i think the team is going to take this seriously, and we try to get ahead of this, and we can prevent attacks. >> i do agree with some of what tony said, but lone wolf attacks by their very nature are usually one person not in communication with a lot of individuals and might make it harder for law enforcement to detect these attacks. on one side it's more positive because you don't necessarily have isis resources or coordinated effort or a large cell carrying out explosive training and being trained to carry out sniper attacks, for example.

on the other hand, because there's only one individual and they're not engage anything a lot of planning and training, it might make it harder for law enforcement to intercept. in this case there was a truck stolen, so there might have been a window of opportunity to catch the individual at some point before the german attack were carried out. we'll have to see what the reports are during that time period. but these attacks are very difficult when it's one individual and particularly when the radicalization time has been shortening. the fbi has said the flash to bang time is what they call it, the time of the initial exposure to radical content and the actual carrying out of violation, you're seeing that time frame shrink. neil: yeah, one of the german newspapers said the truck was stolen as recently as two hours prior to the attack. there's no way of certifying that, but we're watching it closely. i want to thank both of you. >> thank you. neil: in the meantime, the corner of wall and broad right

now, a rally ensues, the dow about 42 points away from that elusive 20,000 level. and it just made us wonder even these terror concerns and fears that are out there, what if these rebellious electors had succeeded? what if they had denied donald trump, 37 of them had been field off from donald trump and cast him in doubt as the next president of the united states? what then? after this. ♪ ♪

>> i'mny tole petallides with your fox business brief. almost 20u 20,000. -- dow 20,000. we got within 13 points, traders and investors awaiting that key milestone. we're still holding onto some gains. what's leading the way today for the markets? consumer stocks, financial stocks, industrials. these are the areas that are showing some strength. the consumer names that you know such as nike, home depot, disney, those are dow components. others include trip adviser and car max. take a look at some of the financials which really have been stellar here. goldman sachs, for example, we're seeing travelers also at an all-time high today, jpmorgan and american express. so we are seeing the fact that we are to the upside. so another possible record. yesterday we saw the dow, put me back on camera because here's

the dow almost 20,000 hat. not just yet.

neil: all right. well, it didn't work, the bid to get those electors to flip their preferences and maybe get 37 of them together to deny donald trump the presidency. it didn't work. now, of course, nothing is signed, sealed, delivered and done until january 6th when all of this is stamped and done in congress. but for now it looks very, very unlikely, and six weeks after he was duly elected president of

the united states, it looks like, indeed, donald trump will be the next president of the united states. to the daily caller's -- [inaudible] and democratic strategist -- [inaudible] obviously, you're bummed out, i'm sure. how do you feel -- >> you sound really sincere about that, neil. [laughter] neil: i'm kidding. how do do you feel about many liberals, democrats, whatever, who are frustrated and just cannot move on? is it time to move on now? >> listen, i certainly understand the frustration and the unwillingness to move on when we have for the second time in the course of five elections seen the republican candidate get, in this case, almost three million less fewer votes than hillary clinton and ultimately be the person who's going to take office. so that's -- neil: it would have been a different race if they were just campaigning on the basis of who got the popular vote, right? the whole thing was the electoral or vote.

>> yeah, that's right. neil: you mentioned it anyway. you had to mention it. >> well, of course, because it's important. neil: okay, sure. absolutely. >> the bigger issue is that, look, we had foreign interference in our election, that's been confirmed by our cia, by the fbi, and by russia who's not exactly our friend -- neil: are you convinced that that is what influenced the election to the point of flipping it? are you? >> i think it's certainly a factor -- neil: no, not a factor. they're saying, when i had a likes of christine pelosi and others here they said, no, it flipped the election. i thought, that's -- you don't know. >> that's exactly the point, is that we don't know what might have actually installed -- neil: no, we don't. so it's time to move on. we have to move -- >> well, that's definitely not how i feel. [laughter] neil: sarah, what do you make of that? >> well, the president-elect on november 9th concern i'm sorry, the president, president obama, welcomed the president-elect

into the office he's about to assume and said he hoped he did well in office. i think right now in terms of the russian hacking, it was not a decisive factor in this election. >> but you don't know that. >> i would say that people were voting on economic issues, they were voting on a pandemic of terrorist attacks they've seen for the last eight years and increasingly so. and so russian and the chinese have been hacking our system for years, and how did that, how did that flip our election? that's -- neil: well, we don't know. vince, all i can say is you've got to be a pretty bad candidate or your message is falling on deaf ears if you can't beat donald trump with all the controversies and the tapes that came out and else that was out there that almost every consensus view -- not on this show, by the way -- was that hillary clinton would win this in a laugher. she was heavily favored to win, and she lost.

so i'm wondering where the soul-searching is there at least on the part of hillary clinton. i know her husband was blaming james comey, harry reid is blaming james comey, others who are blaming the solar eclipse, i have no idea. but you do have to get to a point to say maybe it was our message. >> right. well, there's not a lot of introspection coming out of hillary clinton. it's all external. what are all the outside factors that contributed to my loss, as you just noted. whether it's russia, wikileaks -- neil: but, vince, you know, democrats aren't the only one who is played these games. eight years ago i can remember republicans doing the same, oh, if not for the meltdown, oh, if john mccain were a better candidate. there does come a point, and this is pretty late in the cycle, where you have to just accept reality and move on. >> right. but at this point there's still claims this was a rigged election. i guess the argument in the russia case, whether or not it affected the election results ultimately, is if only the

voters had known less information, it would have changed the election. and in this case of 538 electors where you have efforts to get them to overturn the results of the election, which is stronger? trying to convince 538 people to overturn the results of a proper election in the united states is probably of greater effort to undermine democracy than anything russia did by way of releasing information. >> wow. neil: sarah, help me out with this, what do republicans do to avoid the arrogance thing? by that, i mean any party that comes especially with a sweep or running the table in the case of getting the house, the senate and the white house, you're getting a little cocky. you can do it without the other side, but as we learned in the case of obama and the democrats when they first came to power, they did get a lot done. maybe not exactly the cup of tea that was wanted by the republicans, but they got a lot done. it comes back to bite you. how do republicans avoid that? what do you think they do now to work with the other side, or

cothey even bother? >> no, i think arrogance is an awful thing when entering office. i think president-elect trump has been showing by folding in democrats, having them come to trump tower, i think that when he enters office, reaching out to democrat senates and governors and house representatives is going to be very important to taking their counsel. i think that's one of the best things he can do. and i think even the cabinet secretaries to think very hard, you know, you think about scott pruitt who's entering the epa with 15,000 employees that probably are hostile to him. so what are you going to do to assuage their worries and to let them know that you're going to work together. so i think every, the president-elect and all of his cabinet secretaries should think very hard about how they're messaging to democrats and the entire united states -- neil: no, i agree with you. christy, the other thing that comes to mind is i don't think that donald trump is going to have as much a problem with

democrats as he might the so-called establishment within his own party. by that i mean mitch mcconnell, the way he's talked about dialing back the tax cuts so they're revenue neutral. some supply-ciders wince when they hear that talk -- supply siders wince when they hear that talk. so i'm wondering given the odd nature of the whole trump candidacy and now presidency to come, he might have more resistance from those in his own party. what do you think? >> i don't know. you might think that given that there are just so many issues on which trump's position is anathema to republican party politics. but we just haven't seen that yet. we just haven't seen republicans in leadership being willing to take a stance against him on anything yet. i mean, mitch mcconnell has even said, no, he would not hold a hearing on russian interference into our election. look, that really should not be a -- neil: i thought he did?

i thought he had gotten around -- >> he said senate intelligence. >> okay, all right. okay. i had heard that he -- neil: sounds like you're still a hater, christy. >> i'm definitely still hater. [laughter] neil: this is the season of hugs. can any of you guys envision this market, i know you're not market soothe sayers, but you have pretty good guts getting ahead of u.s., looking for -- ahead of us, selling once it happens? vince, what do you think? >> it seems totally unclear to me. at this point all of the predictions about market and trump's impact on it have been wrong -- neil: true. >> at least the predictions where the liberal media and mainstream media in general predicted market chaos with a trump presidency. the very election has sent a strong signal that it's time for a good experience -- neil: do you think this could hold? >> yeah, i do. i do think it can hold. neil: sarah, what about you? >> i think it will hold, and i

think my investor would say continue to invest. neil: okay. christy, what about you? i know you're really enthusiastic about what you have to look forward to here. >> right. no, i mean, yeah, i think it'll hold for the moment, but as you said, once he takes office and starts doing things that are going to show that he could potentially destabilize us again, then that's not going to hold. neil: i think you have to stop blocking and start loving. [laughter] i don't know. all right, i want to thank you all. great job, guys, expressing your very, very fine minds. all right. well, to hear many in the media tell it, donald trump would lead us to economic doomsday because of who he has on his team. who he has on his team. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> the politics have been challenging in the last few years. i think that there was more of a consensus around ideas than there was about getting something done. you have to want to get something done, you have to want to do it together. i think there were some in congress who were just as happy not to have a big accomplishment on something like a business tax cut during this administration. neil: all right. think of what jack lew was telling maria bartiromo exclusively, that it was the republicanses' fault. i'm looking at that and just thinking like a good producer, because that's how i roll. we need more books behind us to get -- [laughter] all right. anyway, this is a common theme not only from officials in this cabinet, and that's fine. democrats will say to republicans because, you bet, republicans have said the same of the president and democrats, so i know how this goes. but when newspapers don't even

give the administration to come a benefit of the doubt with some of the cabinet picks, that's all you really need to know about a bias. just, for example, the office of management and budget potential pick is going to ignite a worldwide financial crisis. and you know this how? and there are similar headlines. just from the washington post in the last few days, almost any pick that donald trump has is going to lead us to financial and, indeed, in the case of some of the generals here that'll with be looking at foreign policy, political ruin. ten back. step back. to the washington examiner's alex pappas. wow, talk about not even trying to give the benefit -- >> a tad dramatic, right? a little dramatic. neil: what do you make of all this? >> well, there's clearly a market for these hyperbolic stories that people aren't willing to admit and accept the fact that donald trump is going to be president -- neil: and i should point out they're not being listed on the

editorial page, they're the news headlines. but go ahead. >> right. well, i mean, the problem is it hurts the credibility of news organizations. if you look at everything donald trump does or every person he appoints and you say it's the end of the world, you know, it's going to make it the boy who cried wolf that when there actually is something serious that viewers and readers should know about, those viewers are going to be a little bit more skeptical. just looking at the fact of the days before the election, i mean, how many different headlines said if donald trump gets elected president of the united states, the market's going to crash and, obviously, that'sot happening today. so, yeah, i mean, i think it does sneak a little bit to the credibility of news organizations, and maybe they should tone it down just a little bit. neil: there might be skepticism about a pick or two, i can understand concern about a lot of retired generals dominating a cabinet. of course; it was okay when it was abraham lincoln, it seemed to work well under other prime ministers, garfield comes -- under other presidents, garfield comes to mind.

could we at least see how this goes before you enter snap judgment and just assume that a rex tillerson, even though he has visited more countries than all his other potential competitors for the secretary of state position had combined, that maybe, maybe he might have some expertise in these matters? but we just assume the worst. now, with the exception of maybe burt lance with jimmy carter, this is, by and large, a theme that goes against republican cabinets, and that worries me. >> let's look at mick mulvaney, there was "the washington post" story that said that trump's new omb director could trigger this worldwide financial collapse of sorts. i mean, go and look at what are they actually pointing to here? they're saying because he's a tea party republican congressman, deficit hawk who is against raising the debt ceiling, that that is why -- [laughter] what's going on here. without actually, i don't even think, mentioning the fact that when he has been outspoken against the debt ceiling, he said he would be for different

plans that, you know, in return for significant tax cuts or cuts to spending, that he would be willing to increase the debt ceiling. neil: yeah, and he said this game that we go through, raise the ceiling, encounter the same problem again, raise the ceiling, he wants to put a top to that merry go round, yet he's some sort of crazy guy. >> by the way, liberals are not the only ones. conservatives have also -- neil: absolutely. >> look at all the people he's appointed to his cabinet, it's hard to argue they aren't very conservative. neil: it's amazing. outside of your reporting can and insight and, of course, here, we wouldn't know. we would not know. alex, thank you very much, my friend. merry christmas. >> you too. neil: all right. a live look at a memorial there. president obama, we're told, has called the german chancellor, angela merkel, to offer condolences. he has publicly not spoke been out on this. we'll have a lot more after this. ♪ ♪

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neil: six weeks ago today donald trump was elected president of the united states, the dow has been sprinting ahead, 9%. small stocks represented in the russl 2000. connell mcshane at the stock exchange with what is driving the final push for 20,000. connell: quite a move, 19 days from 19 to 20,000. there is still time to go and what has been pushing it, 5 stocks here that have made half of the dow's moved from 19 to 20,000. it is one of the 5 but stand out from the rest. if you look at goldman sachs over the last month the stock has moved, 242 shares, 14.7, 14.8% move from goldman in a month. it alone has been worth about 200 dow points give or take a little more than that.

the other four on the list from 19 to 20,000 that standout, united travelers, boeing and disney. go a little more diverse to the healthcare sector, financial and travelers, aerospace and defense with boeing stock and disney. you and i are the only ones not obsessed with the new star wars movie. neil: beyond idiotic. connell: stock is going up 80%. let's go back to you with other financials. since trump was elected these stocks have been ripping through it. look at these numbers, citizens financial 33%, morgan stanley, wells fargo, 23% respectively. they are walking around with hats, which seems a little silly, dow almost 20,000. if we get there this is something dated.

neil: almost -- neil: dow almost 20,000. connell: like 2015 world championship t-shirt that i have at home. never heard of baseball before. neil: metz or baseball team i imagine? that is great. thank you. love you to death. connell mcshane, the markets are unfazed by everything that has happened including terror which in a lot of before. what is happening? >> according to retail me not, they did research and more

americans over the holiday season, 51% of people going out and spending more. talking about the market we are seeing earnings beating estimates so we see darden reporting earnings in line with estimates, people going out to restaurants more. people are feeling better about the economy. neil: you look at this all the time. a lot of people are always afraid, don't want to get ahead of myself. there are those considering getting into this rally who haven't been in the market for years. >> it is a cautious time to get into the markets. the numbers and analysis of price to earnings and expectations of growth of these companies have gone to an extreme that i haven't seen since the 1920s. we are going parabolic on expectations of that donald trump will do great things for

america. he was a better candidate but expectations of these companies earnings growing at the rate the stocks are growing doesn't match and even if we do get a 4% gdp, i would be very cautious throwing any money into the market at this time. neil: there aren't too many who are cautious about this so there might be a reason to dan's point to take this with some grain of salt. what do you think? >> if you look what the market is telling you and the tea leaves are undeniable. look at the sectors that have done the best in the trading day since trump was president-elect. financials, energy, industrials, these are all economically sensitive stocks which people are moving out the risk curve, expecting 3% to 4% growth and unlike other folks when people in the market who run america's company start betting on growth

they have the ability to make it happen by spending money, those who don't do well in the rising interest rate environment, consumer staple stocks, png down, utilities down. and i tell you that these are folks that make it happen. neil: we talk about the average folks making retail activity happened but could be a holiday phenomenon, christmas phenomena and going back to retrenching. >> we have seen christmas, holiday christmas rally. we have seen that in the past, i am sure we could incorporate trump in that having to do with the fact that we are 20,000 but let me go back to the fact, earnings beat expectations. that is not a lie.

to gerri's point business leaders are poised, creating by the fact that this is where they see the market going and they feel they are getting the support needed to keep companies forward. reporting earnings later today, same with nike. they expect estimates to be the companies to be at the midst and doing analysis on fedex out of ups in terms of holidays, and 96% from december 1st to december 13th. this company isn't just because we are looking at a rally and people are going shopping, these are proven bottom line factors pushing the company forward. neil: when you look at the market every sector, the technology that ran a great deal before the election, going along for the ride.

which sector seems most likely to continue doing that? >> it depends on the strength of the us dollar. the us dollar continues its stre well in the united states. large-cap have a problem particularly the dow stocks, 40% of their earnings are based on foreign oil overseas income which when translated into us dollars unless. i want to step back, these companies matching and beating expectations but expectations have been so low wall street plays this game, if they beat him it looks great. if you look at the price to earnings ratio historically as far as it goes, the russell 2000 is showing tremendous strength in small businesses in america and bank stocks have reached their peaks because of interest rates that worked on up, that

that is not the way it works, it is about earnings and fundamentals and baked in assumptions where growth is going to go. a potential downfall for this market is if trump can't make good on these promises if there is no spending bill. if he can't make way for fewer regulation is a price to pay. of coal miners can't go back to work there is a price to pay. i think this is largely a trump

rally and if you are stymied, obamacare stays in place, you got to start looking for a selloff. neil: that could be sell on the fact. >> when i hear the word animal spirits which is being thrown around the gets me concerned that everybody is all in. i have seen people change that are all in and with trump's policies if he lowers tax rates to where he wants to go and the deficit we currently have in this country, where is he going to get the money to do the infrastructuree is talking about especially with municipalities and pension pla in dallas and california, detroit, chicago, cutting back on benefits which puts less money in the system. there is a major head wins he is going to hit and once the market recognizes that it could be a big problem. neil: breaking news i want to pass along, german prosecutors say a man who was arrested after the truck attack in berlin has been released because of

insufficient evidence was no word if that was purported to be the driver who is still on the lam, no way to know but someone who is a suspect no longer is, more after this.

neil: german authorities released a berlin attack suspect. there wasn't enough to keep him and they do not have the driver of the vehicle. he mowed down and killed 12 people, injured dozens more. the secretary of the army, the deputy general counsel of the navy, good to have you. what do you make of this development? >> not surprised based on what we heard last night. looked like the gunman is on the

loose. polish national was shot before he was put back in the truck but isis and our qaeda have been telling followers for months to use trucks to carry out attacks on large groups of people. the bigger lesson is this with a hard lesson, when you have an open door policy and put out the welcome mat, refugees were hundreds of thousands of refugees from known hotspots to come in your country. if you don't have a border you don't have a country. that is why this is keeping our country safe and learning the lesson from this. those are the greatest challenges facing our president-elect when he takes office on january 20th. neil: it amazes me the driver could have gotten away but not close enough to know what is going on. that leads me to wonder whether

he had any help. >> it sounds like he did. this is the problem. nato that donald trump took a lot of grief, the president-elect took a lot of grief during the campaign when he said we wanted and needed 24th century nato. we have got to transform nato from fighting the cold war to a mission focused on fighting terrorism. i believe his appointment of the new nato ambassador will be one of his most important appointments was only five of the 28 members of nato are spending 2% of gdp on national security. one of those is not germany. neil: this happened the same day we had the russian ambassador in turkey shot and killed by someone disguised as turkish security, and no one was suspicious. we had very unusual type of

encouragement lately. i wonder what the impact would be. are we up for this sort of thing, the disguises could be security officials themselves. >> we have got to secure the borders of america. the best and quickest way was to enforce the 2006 fence act. neither president obama nor president bush did it. it is the law of the land, one of the first things this president has got to do. we got to make better use of open source intelligence. are intelligence authorities are not doing enough. we need a situation to turn social media on the terrorists. let's harness the power of social media and take the fight to them. as far as turkey is concerned, that was a turkish police officer who carried out the assassination. turkey is an unstable country, and unreliable nato ally. i have called for the removal of nuclear weapons from turkey, no business having them there right now.

nuclear weapons only belong in regimes that are 100% loyal to the united states and stable regimes and that is not the situation in turkey. neil: you mention the possibility the attacker or attackers in berlin could have been inspired by what they saw online or galvanized but what they saw online as you probably heard. those who lost loved ones in orlando, the disco attack have set out to sue the likes of facebook, google and others who might have provided the means to do that. what do you think of that approach, whether they should crackdown on potential nut cases who are getting inspired by what they read and see. >> empowered the citizens. to be ever vigilant, empower the citizens. a situational awareness hotline separate from 911. if you or i as a private

citizen, we could text a photo in real-time to national terrorism database to compare in real-time what we have in the database, tied back into the state emergency management directors and in real-time we might thwart an attack or just as good, improve situational awareness during the attack but a friend of mine's daughter was hiding the bushes during the attack in norway, she could hear him reading and was able to get out a tweet to local people to help us and the locals where able to get there before law enforcement and save many more lives of those kids, 68 were killed, time for us to turn the tables and harness the power of social media and turn the tables on the terrorists. neil: former deputy assistant of the army, good seeing you. the berlin attack striking fears across europe, these open air open market christmas celebratory retail environment

here. jeff flock is at a popular one in chicago. >> reporter: chris kindle market is what it is called. i have been coming here for 20 years, it is on daily plasma but never have i seen the security i am seeing now. in addition to police presence additional police presence, chicago police squad parked, what was affectionately known as the paddy wagon, apologies to the irish, blocked, to potentially block any trucks from rolling in and getting any steam. as you can see, this place is packed, security guards told us it hasn't been this packed earlier in the week. this is the busiest day so far but i talked to one person who said we are coming out and would like to come to a market. these are high priority targets for an islamic terrorist. this is number one, capitalism, number 2, christmas and

christian, and also open air and easy access and right here in the heart of downtown chicago. if anyone is scared, if you thought they were staying away, i give you this picture to show that no one is scared in chicago. life goes on with the watchful eye of additional chicago police officers and patrols. neil: they blocked off the streets that would go into that area. all vehicles get access to it. >> reporter: very difficult because this is called daily plasma, the richard j daley building, the old mayor, picasso, this is blocked off by concrete barricades anyway because this is a government building. there are still openings, the streets are open and there are ways to get into it. that is why they police them, trying to stop anything that would coming to the vulnerable

points of it. neil: let's look at stocks, a weird way of not doing so. the dow once again teasing 20,000 within 24 points of that elusive level. it is one of the shortest times, one of the shortest times from 1000 point level to the next one but the we are once again teasing that incredible milestone. right after this. but there wil. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car.

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neil: closing in on 20,000, back away from and gotten really close and close again within 24 points of that elusive level. it press surprise the next guest, mark zandi. predicted a downturn, donald

trump was elected and predicting a good economy. i was still a good market for a while. mark zandi with us. what happened to change your mind? >> nothing was that analysis you are referring to is if during the campaign when trump came out with his proposals he got what he proposed so he proposed cuts over 10 years, proposed 45% on china, proposed the 11 million undocumented had to leave the country. he took that at face value and ran that through models and methodology. and one of the greatest that they go, exactly what he does get. neil: is it your notion the tax cut cutting regulations and whatever he wants to do, and

obamacare is not enough to propel the kind of thing we are seeing right now. >> if he is focused on corporate tax reform, lowering marginal rate and making it deficit neutral by getting rid of loopholes, and infrastructure spending and some changes on dodd-frank, obamacare, energy, that would -- the economy would be in a good place. if he does focus on limiting trade, currency manipulator and forces the currency to float. if he focuses on restricting immigration, and big tax cuts and spending increases that are deficit financed the economy will be in a worse place. we have a lot to see, and puts its focus on. neil: what do you put your focus on?

you look at the market and the economy, what is leading what? >> moving both directions was a fundamentally strong economy. the unemployment rate is 4.6%, a record number of open job positions, layout that record lows. the economy is very good and that is good for stock. the run up in stock since the election reflect optimism about policy changes. we have corporate taform and lower marginal rates on businesses you are talking sizable declines in marginal rates raising after-tax earnings, good for stocks and if you say i am going to deregulate the financial sector and pull back on dodd-frank, we don't know what that means, it reduces the amount of capital, that is good for financial stocks and the key sector that has been driving stocks higher, it is both, a good economy, expectations of policy changes

that will help the stock market in particular. neil: we are watching as you speak, this quest for 20,000, we are at 18, 19 points. these are big levels and this would be one of the shortest from 19,000 to 20,000 which we have seen, but what do you make of what the markets are saying right now, and whether this is a case of buying on the river and the prospect of president-elect trump and once he is president calling off? >> the market is reflecting the fact that we are in a good spot. it is praising in expectations about future policy. valuations are very high even though the economy is good and corporate earnings strong, look at current prices relative to earnings, i give you a number,

on average, the price-earnings relationship is 15, currently 20 on the high side of fair value. in that context is going to be sensitive for any disappointment. if we don't get corporate tax reform to the degree the market anticipates, if we don't get infrastructure spending, if we don't that deregulation, there will be disappointing and the markets will adjust and adjust very quickly because they are highly valued, pricing in really good news, if they don't get good news the markets will be softer. neil: do you worry when you see markets go nonstop? in and out of 20 points, this idea that people are getting their own stuff. it is good to see, they welcome interest rate cuts before they fear them, they are okay with a strong dollar where before they feared the us multinational,

what is going on here? >> i think if markets started to feel speculative, if people were buying because prices rose last month and last year, they rise next month and next year and people were leveraging up to make the purchases it is not just the stock market, real estate markets or whatever is that markets, there is speculation, i would get very worried about that. i don't think markets are speculative, very highly valued, very highly valued, i would not send off a red flare. even if we had that speculation would it become potentially an x essential threat to the economy. i don't see that at this point. neil: thank you very much. if we could go fool on this to

bring you up-to-date the dow jones industrials taking a second stand by going for 20,000 year level that have never been reached, we are well into record territory right now. the dow 30 components, almost every sector is participating which is at least driving this in its own right, technology sector still a positive donald trump's election six weeks ago today. financials have been a big beneficiary, oil is a big beneficiary but eight of the dow 30 stocks are not participating in this. the cyclical stocks, actor and finger robert dobby joins us. a lot of this is built on what happened six weeks ago, a surprising election of donald trump, growing optimism that his prescription might be this week recovery's your. do you ever worry that the

market would be getting ahead of itself? >> first off i went to say merry christmas and happy hanukkah to you and all the viewers. the market, we know there is going to be some difficulty. deutsche bank in germany tittering on a controversy, tween 9 banks in italy. there is going to be some kind of deflation so to speak. irrespective of that, today, i am hoping it reaches 20,000 because i had two kids born the summer 20th. ten years apart. what is going to happen? all the experts say it is going to happen at some point but who knows? who can predict any of that? except like i said, the danger

of deutsche bank and the rumblings of under -- other things like the economy out there. we have to enjoy this because we have a new president, president-elect donald trump. neil: a lot of your colleagues in the entertainment community are trying to make sure he wouldn't become president, a number of electors they would need 37 to switch yesterday when all the electors around the country were meeting, they didn't do that. so bar a natural disaster or something worse donald trump will be the 45th president of the united states. do you think had they succeeded yesterday we wouldn't be looking at what we are looking at on-screen of dow flirting with 20,000? >> absolutely. if there was a changeover like that, the world knows which i spoke to people in europe when donald trump won. there is optimism around the

world that we finally have some american leadership. the choices he is picking in the administration, everyone has to agree they are stellar. neil: not the washington post and the new york times. >> george soros contingent of the progressive socialist left, they are inundated, stuck in a certain kind of mindset that doesn't let them move forward. same thing happened with ronald reagan if you remember, the exact kind of from the left, they don't want to learn or they don't want to give it a chance because they have a different ideology. that is the globalist mentality, by george soros, this is two different things, know what is bad people, they have a different idea and view of america. we have a president-elect who sees america first. that is something. carlos slim, had a meeting with him, america is strong, good for

mexico. all the leader guys understand that and the media is so -- i don't want to say -- they are so biased -- they are indoctrinated. i call it they have a virus, autoimmune disease, and autoimmune disease that doesn't let them you know what i mean? it is unfortunate they will not move off that market so let's rally around this president, look at the choices, they want to say that because he has people from successful businesses, that is bad for america? neil: well put. i want to talk about the december 20th, what you were doing in march, but always good having you, merry christmas. >> merry christmas. neil: let's look what is going on. you don't have to be bad or

blue, a lot more of it. we sprint toward 20,000, tease it, connell mcshane following this. we are teasing it again. we have done this many times. what do you make of we've done this many times, but what do you make of it and what are they making a pair? >> now that i'm here, they should eat that day. definitely doable. to your earlier point you are talking about taking the politics out of it, rad and blue and just making green. it is striking how much of a rally this has been. that's been the change over this last month or two since the election is there is a new president taking over and new policies being put in place and in a environment that is in a lot of peoples minds more friendly to business with fewer regulation at things that can drive stocks and have driven stocks higher in a short amount of time. that is understood out from 19 to 20,000 is how short is

happening. when we get to 20 it will be a 19 session move very quick to go a thousand points. seems like a domicile has been politically driven. neil: you know what is interesting is a read out of the energy sector from groups moving up, which should be inflationary at face value. a strong dollar would be problematic for multinationals that face value. growing bullish sentiment where everyone is feeling bullish would be counterintuitive if you buy the argument that whenever one feels the same way, run the other way. and yet, this is happening. what do you make of it? >> what i make of it as it is change the market can believe in. when he is seen in this market in the energy complex, we see in the stock market, optimism about the future. this is an economy that many feel has been held back for the last few years because of over

regulation, bad tax policy, you name it and now it feels like we are lifting the changeup this animal and it wants to explode. that is what we are seeing here. i say we are really, you know, considering what is happening, and a lot of people are concerned we will see a pullback from these levels. 20,000 i think is significant. it is the story. it shows america has come back from the worst coming out from a financial crisis since the great depression and we are ready to rock in the new year. neil: you always hear from people to say this is an impressive bull market rally. 9% or 10% on the dow in the last six weeks have had about double that for small stocks, but it is almost triple value since the

low days of 2009. it is weary to the people you talk to take in the politics out of it, worry about just that. it is a long, long bull market. connell: yes. been so quick in the last month after that, but that doesn't necessarily mean pretty much a lot of the people we talked to over the last week would expect a pullback in sometime in the last but it doesn't mean it's the end. a lot of optimists in what phil is talking about in a new administration in attitude towards business and in that environment, stocks continued to do well. for the entry mediator rather than the short-term, a lot of people's will see it that way even with concerns about valuation may be another index is other the dow. neil: you can stay right where you bar.

scott, one thing you always hear about a rally of this nature is that people are very optimistic and obviously they have reason to be optimistic. they are looking for big tax cuts. they are looking for the business friendly administration they have not gotten with barack obama. but whatever people's political views, do you look at the value because some people look at them and say it's a little rich. their argument has always been the better the economy can't come at the more earnings improve, suddenly it's not so rich anymore. where are you on this? >> i think higher earnings, better tax policy is going to let this market finally thrives. we've talked about this a lot. the market is a forward-looking indicator. it has the ability to book in the future which we all want to do. it is telling you, mr. and mrs. investor that good times

are to come. you mentioned politics. not only do i feel bad for democrats for what happened november 8, but a lot of them sold their stocks. this is one of the most heated rallies in history, one of the most un- trusted, but you have to get on board because it's for real. tree into there are so many young people do, to make, who will say in all seriousness that you know, i've been out of this market the entire time obama's then president. my parents were burnt in the housing crisis and the market meltdown. but now i want to if only because they hear and see these big levels being sliced or like hot butter. would you tell them? >> you have to look long term. that's a great question. sometime between 10 years ,-com,-com ma 15 years. if you talk about people in my age group which i will not

reveal, but looking at my picture on the screen hopefully, we do have a long-term trend and viewpoint. you mention barack obama. the funny part about the presidency as we had one of the biggest upward wrist and the s&p 500 by there he had anything to do with it or not is arguable. but it was still one of the greatest riffs in history. it goes to show you it doesn't know who tends to be president. maybe it's fiscal policy and tax policy going forward. if you are young and any products or cash, you got to put money in the market because the market will take you higher. it's disproportionate. goldman sachs is alone responsible for about 20% of its rise just from 19,000. so that is weighted and financial stocks, which had been taken not completely, but does that worry you that is favored by a few groups and everyone is

along for the ride are some a lot more than others. >> that's actually encouraging to me because that was the biggest problem in the economy. we are worried about the banks. we had to bail them out. now we will turn the corner and they are making money. what bothers me about that is more than not because that shows me the economy is getting the banking system is getting healthy. what about the average american who didn't participate in this? they have come back. they are back on a solid track which we will name for the rest of the economy to grow to start finding money to businesses. now we need to see that go down to the real economy and i swam so excited about dow 20,000. it tells me we'll see the economy come back and jobs come back. and that's why i'm very excited about this historic move.

>> they always gave look at them and say they call it the modern day melts appeared in people get it added themselves and others die out. there are some underpinnings that look promising beyond whatever happens here. we mention those companies that would benefit regardless if donald trump is that what the chinese are others who he deems not fit to trade with. that will be an average that will see only the good. what do people tell you about that? >> to pick up on a point i a point i was making is in the change we are either anticipating our already seen. the market is forward-looking on not, but if you have sent in before this eight years, it is a positive for equity at the

environment is positive. that will not continue forever. they will be more favorable and get another leg up. they have been under pressure for some time and make it harder to do the business. they make their business more profitable, hence the huge move, 200 the dow coming to your point earlier from goldman sachs. >> for those of you joining us right now, wen the 20,000 level with their undivided attention, is the 20,000 level. within about 20 points. it just seems like a few days ago about 14 trading sessions ago that we cross 19,000 would be a quick spray.

charlie gasparino joining us. the terrified and what's been going on with him astray to take the election away from donald trump. >> while coming to the vet to the 1990s and bill clinton with the same type of terrorist views. stop obviously have been. we were in the middle of a constitutional crisis in 1998. go back amok at the videotape. it's pretty amazing. because more than not, it was the fiscal policies of clinton which involved the socializing medicine, lower taxes and are particularly capital gains in all reducing the size of government, paying down deficit, not raising taxes. it involves regulatory reform.

all the same stuff for much of the same stuff minus one. donald trump has proposed why the markets are going up. the one thing bill clinton did that donald has the least alluded to that he while design trade. donald makes a big mistake when he starts talking protectionism. neil: and maybe they don't see it as a real possibility, but when people climb in and as always you can always have melt ups. >> it's going to trade off at some point. the fed will raise rates. neil: i can see the argument that the economy improves markedly. earnings are a lot better. >> pass them on your show two weeks ago, due prices and earnings, the sort of metrics of the stock market, today married a dow 23,000, 25,000, whatever,

something significantly more than 20 and he said no. in context what we have right now. markets priced in the future. if you tell me we are going to strip away eight years of his main regulations and corporate taxes and other measures, the markets are saying it does merit a higher market. that doesn't mean a wall trade-off and come back and there's a lot of bumps along the road. >> down 25,000, you know what i mean? these leaps are much smaller now. >> now he has to do something. he has to do it and at some point when we had 20,000 are whatever, he's going to have to prove that he is a free marketeer, that he will not spend money and is not going to do something with trade war with china. if he does that monitor and this is something you by capitalism

with the hands of government and does reform up on the care. you talk about average people and not the tax. that way you're up to the race. i am sounding like that classic anchor, what is the mood there? >> the mood is kind of wait-and-see type of mood. clearly we've been watching the dow trade higher and higher over the past few seconds and we continue to talk about dow 20,000, are we going to hit it today, not hit it today. it's a symbolic number and there's not this big confetti that goes up when we had 20 for the market isn't going to turn one way or the other dramatically. it is just more of a point to

notice that the market has continued to move higher. i think people are looking for the future and our pricing what they think our economy is going to do in the future. neil: do you remember appeared to regain so much so fast, talking about the 10% run-up in the dow in a little more than six weeks. if you want to include the election, charlie and i were here covering that when we dropped a thousand points in the future. you can argue 3000-point in then. a little heavier how do you feel? >> i think so. we are moving too far too fast. that doesn't mean i'm not a believer that the markets are strong, but like charlie was saying, the markets had to come back and every once in a while to prove it is a healthy market. tree into a city rich market? >> i don't think it's a rich market. as you are discussing, we are

pricing the future, expectations for what the trump administration can do and can't do at this point. if you look at where we are right now, and their son to the upside. trained to want to bring charlie into this as well, but the things that worry the market before that the fed raising interest rates more than earlier thought, it seems to indicate growth where before they were feared by the strong dollar, multinationals that could be had by that. now they welcome it because it's a reflection of confidence in the u.s. economic system. does any of this worry you that are not a worry now? >> it definitely worries me. look at the two negative headlines we had on our markets yesterday. clearly those were frightening headlines than the market really didn't react much from that. that definitely scares me. those are the opportunities to take a breather from the market and let the market find itself and regain some strength.

when you have a headline like we saw two of them yesterday in the market doesn't really get affeed by it, that is troubling for me. neil: i was talking to a trader last night that sent something to the effect every time a posthumous rally i've regretted it. it's really only been six weeks. >> is scary. short-term right now and jonathan makes a good point. the guys at that the market will go down, they are scared to death right now is getting involved in this market. neil: there's a pretty for not sure squeeze on it. >> they don't want to go short break now. that means there's not a lot of headwinds. but i'll make one point when you talk about why the fed mattered more under president obama and why it might matter less now. the fed under president obama was the only stimulus gain in town. you had the stimulation of

higher taxes. he stimulated from fiscal policy with higher taxes, obamacare and other issues. with tracks on the economy. right now you have the stimulation of fiscal policy. lower taxes, less regulation. so the fed is self becomes less meaningful. they will chat great attitude three, 4%. if you look at the 10 year at the tenure. the tenure starts baking 5%. referring to the tenure, no control of market rates have been rising. phil flynn, that is one thing that worries a lot of folks. interest rates backing up, oil backing up, commodities backing not. a lot of people say one or the other has to give here. are you in that camp?

>> no, i'm not. charlie has it right. when you have basically over the last eight years all the market has was back during quantitative easing, and everything, that was the economy. it was pumped up by fake money. neil: where do you think we would have been without rally without the federal reserve keeping rates so low? >> it now, i think we would be -- that's a hard question as it depends on the fiscal side of it. if we didn't go to quantitative easing back in 2009, we would have been a deflationary situation forever. neil: you're going to argue we needed it then. anything that refers to buy treasury notes and bonds to keep rates fairly low. to charlie's point that is keeping the price going and the

money flowing. jonathan, if there is now a rally that is a sound fundamentals more than just a printing press, is that a good development for the longer term? >> clearly it is. people have been too dependent on increasing capital into our economy and if the main street investor wheels like the market is able to stand on it now and continue to move higher on it down, that will get off the sidelines and back in. we've all talked about the crutch over the last eight years and we talk about raising interest rates and quantitative easing, turning to stick it out, it time to take the training wheels off, those are positive things that main street wants to see. when they move in the direction may the direction may have seen it gives them confidence to get back in. dream to joe was with us now.

very successful money manager. donald trump winning this election and the dow hitting 20 k. i think you and i talked about this, that what if the 20 k. level proves elusive delicate clothes, no cigar. the dow in 1966 touching 1000 documents in the closing over until 1982. that was a 16 year back and forth just to get 2000 of course it was in the rearview mirror. do you envision anything like that? >> now, and thank you for having me on. as you mentioned last week, this is the start of the market. the number might meet resistance because it's a psychological number. if you look back over the last 12 to 18 months, stocks haven't gone anywhere for a long time. it is what i feel is the beginning of a new bull market. to touch on charlie's point about interest rates, the last

three moves in the last 15 years have come during rising interest rate environment. it is a sign of growth anticipated ahead. neil: what are you looking for a head at this level? where do you see us going? >> not sure i could see a double-digit gain for the dow with corrections on the way. neil: a double-digit gain would be a few dozen points. >> it could have been from the beginning of a new bull market where gdp will move from 1.5 to 3% and have tremendous effects on the economy. >> i agree with him except he was my one caveat here. what could prevent obviously the market is pricing companies go in not in the price reacts. the one thing that could prevent that from happening is something on trade. if it's all rhetoric and it may

be the small to mid cap and the russell 2000 benefit. so i think there'll be companies benefiting that have less international exposure. neil: you and i have heard this before. don't go the big boys, the dow gets a little rich. >> it's going to hurt the economy. it's going to hurt corporate earnings -- neil: but they're, presumably, impervious to the trade war pressures, that's what the bulls are saying, the smaller guys. >> i don't think you can base an economy on those small companies.

these are -- when you look at economic barometers, you don't look at some small cap, you look at apple, major companies that hire here and abroad and do so in quantities. neil: fair enough. >> and i think that's an issue. listen, he might not go there. neil: but the threat alone. and yet so far they've been ignoring it thinking it's all bluster, no bite. joe, i asked you this a week or so ago, young people come up to me all the time -- usually for autographs, because i'm kind of a big deal -- [laughter] work with me, joe. neil, i'm thinking of diving into this thing. i've missed it for years, but this looks like the real deal, i want in. young people let's say in their 20s. how do you advise them? never been in the market, looking at it now, maybe burnt or saw their parents get burnt, and they're coming in now. what's the time frame you guide them on? >> i say dollar cost average on

an index and do it over 10, 20 years. if it's s&p, if they want to be more aggressive -- neil: charlie and i will be dead. >> i'm not going to be -- neil: really? i'm working out every day. jonathan corpina, 10 or 20-year time frame, you're fine. that's a good long-term investment strategy, putting the same amount of money in the market every week, month, year, whatever you want. what do you think of that strategy? >> one word, discipline. i got my first job on wall street in 1995, started investing soon after, and that was right at the beginning of the dot.com explosion. if you thought about getting into the market back then, people would say you're crazy, this market can't continue in this direction. look back now on a big chart. if you want to start investing today, look back on a chart on 20 years and say to yourself if i can invest in this time frame, where will this market run to? odds are it's going to be much higher than it is today over 20

years. neil: you could use that same argument from 1966-'82 where it did squat or the period many years after the first meltdown before you recouped your money. what do you do? >> you know, listen, long, long term, let's face it -- neil: we'll be dead. >> we'll be dead, and not only that, people go through a lot of changes over 20 years. they need money. i'm not a devotee of just saying let's dollar cost all your average because you have to survive sometimes ten years of nothing or five years of nothing. do some things that -- neil: well, you go to vegas. >> yes. and i lose a lot. [laughter] neil: when you talk to the guys who are watching this, all they are saying it's trump, trump, trump, trump? >> yeah, it's not him. i don't think they're investing because they like his hair -- neil: he has very nice hair. >> sure. neil: as is yours. >> i'd like to see him how long it takes him to do his hair -- neil: that's the kind of stuff we appreciate. >> no, it's policies. it's pretty simple.

neil: thank you, my friend. love having you. here's where we stand right now, the dow up about 93 points, about 22 points and change from 20,000. we're keeping an eye on it. remember these things whip saw back and forth, and doesn't trish regan know it. hey, trish. trish: hey, neil. gosh, it could happen any minute now. we may be on the verge of history here in the next hour as we are continuing to watch the big board. take a look at that, very close right now to dow 20,000. call it what you want, santa claus rally, donald trump rally, the point is this is a major rally, a big one, and it's been happening ever since donald trump was elected president of the united states. these markets have been supercharged. we have watched them soar more than 8%, and 20,000 right now within reach. welcome, everyone, to "the intelligence report." pretty much everything higher across the board, lots of green on your screen. we're looking at financials moving higher, industrials moving higher, and isn't in the kind of thing you like to see, right?