maria: enjoy the christmas decorations was one more week until the new year. one of the last days of 2016. very fun. good to see you. lee carter, that does it for us, "varney and company" is up next, ashley webster is in for him. ashley: good morning, stuart varney is off today but don't forget we have four more trading days left to get to doubt 20 k. we could even hit it today. big, expensive, fancy graphics ready to go. it has been a couple weeks. the politics president obama a very confident man who says he could have won a third term, would have beaten trump. donald trump firing back. is real feeling betrayed by the obama administration saying it has evidence obama is behind a un resolution on israeli settlements.

more fights breaking out across the country. what is going on? police in riot gear using pepper spray on groups of thugs. it is a jampacked show. we have a lot to get at. "varney and company" is about to begin. >> if we don't get a strong push into the end of the year and we get 20,000, i am looking for small pool back that will be the best buying opportunity. >> i don't think it will happen. it will be a little before today or tomorrow or next week, i agree with cr, people say selling this market. >> we damp down on expectations and name the show dial 19-9-50. we might hit something. ashley: we have an smart guests. they are right. four trading days left this calendar year.

in unit option for stocks in the shortened trading week essentially flat for the future. oil moving higher up another 1/2%. let's look at gold, up $9 at 1143 per troy ounce. gas prices, 228, that is the national average on regular today. reports across the country, the day after christmas, what is it? you are looking at video from new jersey, connecticut, texas and illinois. what the heck is going on. lou: adam: in new jersey, 10 people in a food court were arrested after someone shot a gun and the fight broke out. the cross creek mall in fayetteville, same thing happened, fox valley mall in aurora, illinois. a big fight there. arizona mills in tempe, arizona, they put that under lockdown.

this one stunned me, beachwood, ohio. have you been there? ashley: i have not. adam: it is in beachwood, that whole eastern side -- i use to shop there. it is out of business now. ashley: is this coordinated? the same kind of things happening. adam: a discussion people are told to congregate on social media. they are going into stores and still stop, a concern that that is going on. if you go to beachwood place. we will leave it at that. 66 points from doubt 20 k. and beating this drum for two

weeks or more. markets keep moving sideways when you reach that level of resistance. >> we have for the time being. we are not getting additional good news on what might happen to corporate earnings. we haven't gotten great news on holiday shopping, relatively flat is a bit of a disappointment. we are bracing ourselves for auto plant shot down because of a large inventory of unsold new cars and light trucks in the united states. ashley: you are starting to be a downer. i thought there was lots of optimism, markets responding to a donald trump presidency, low taxes. >> the optimism is among people who are hoping for better job opportunities, faster income growth. ashley: your thing markets reached the level where this is on the promise, now we wait for the promise to be delivered? >> precisely. people want to see new

attractive job opportunities materialize, see the faster income growth acally happen. ashley: based on what donald trump ran his campaign under those policies provide the growth we need? do you see, if he can get this enacted we are off tthe races? speaking slower corporate income taxes, reduced regulation will help, at the same time we have a stronger dollar exchange rate reduced global competitiveness of output of services produced in the united states that are traded internationally. how in the world does a producer of internation traded goods and services raise prices with the dollar having risen so sharply? it can't do it, big surprise for 2017 might be lower than anticipated. we will move forward, have growth, faster growth in 2017, only 12.3% growth, it is going to be hard to hit the target

growth rate of 3% to 4%. ashley: we will prove you wrong. president obama says he would have been donald trump if he had run for a third term. listen to this. >> i am confident in this vision because i am confident that if i had run again and articulated it i think i could have mobilized a majority of the american people to rally behind it. in conversations i have had with people around the country. even some people who disagree with me, they would say vision, the direction you point towards is the right one. ashley: donald trump responded quoting president obama think he would have won against me, he should say that but i say no way, job leaving, isis, obamacare, etc. that coming back

from donald trump. a good friend of the show, rachel, thanks for being here. is the president, obama, just delusional? look how many seats the democrats have lost, nearly 1000 democratic seats on the state and federal level. the publicans dominate in the senate, the house, the oval office and herhe is saying i could have beat donald trump for a third term. what do you say? >> you are right, the democratic party has been devastated. look at a state like isconsin, we have a governorship, assembly, the republicans have the state senate, that has been repeated all across the country. he is trying to blame hillary clinton, you can understand why but it flies in the face of his own theories earlier in the campaign. he said listen, hillary isn't just on the ballot, i am on the ballot, my legacy is on the

ballot, i take this as a personal insult if you don't vote for me. he bears a lot of it and he has been known to be politically selfish. he has pursued policies he has known would devastate his democratic party on state and local levels. ashley: if you think about what he said, hillary clinton blewett, she thought she was going to win, left out a large part of this country who were ignored. if i was running, i am better than she is, i would have run a campaign of inclusion, i would have gone straight to middle-class america. that is very arrogant, is it not >> it is very arrogant and not true. he came in in 2008 at a time we had the financial crisis, the foreign-policy situation was very difficult but the american people gave him another four

years to say we know that was a tough four years come inherit a lot of bad stuff, give you four more years and they did and it didn't work out. and he made it very clear his legacy was on the ballot. when hillary herself said i will continue the policies and the american people said, we will vote for the exact opposite. ashley: the results speaks for itself. ashley: donald trump says america was gloomy before he was elected. people investing and spending again. we asked the former ceo of walmart usa about that. hillary clinton giving a year end of address, saying she won't be keeping quiet next year saying it is her responsibility to keep building, quote, a better a stronger and fairer future.

2016 takes with it another music legend, george michael unbelievably dead at the age of 53. adam, his achievements please. adam: 100 million sold, 100 top hits, several in the united kingdom, a lot of people remember songs like one more try, wake you up before you go. controversial 1987 song i want your sex which he never performed after his release. it was on his face out which went to number one in 1987 so he did not include it. ashley: talented person who will be missed, the age of 53, very sad. more varney next. hey gary, what'd you got here? this bad boy is a mobile trading desk so that i can take my trading platform wherever i go. you know that thinkorswim seamlessly syncs across all your devices, right? oh, so my custom studies will go with me? anywhere you want to go!

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ashley: in a show of force china sailing at first aircraft carrier passed taiwan into the south china sea. you have more on this.

adam: five battleships with a, as they passed taiwan at the archipelago, it sends a message to taiwan, the taiwanese government, the south china sea is a dispute in and of itself because china claims the entire south china sea has its own territory where the international community says these are international waters. that aircraft carrier you -- originally a ukrainian aircraft carrier they sold to china. it is fine's only aircraft carrier. the chinese are a threat in that part of the world is my neighbors do not like this show of force. ashley: the aircraft carriers -- they are building their own. they are a long way from becoming a force. >> compare them to us but an aircraft carrier, and aircraft

carrier groups. ashley: $256 million in tesla's us point, and located in buffalo, new york upstate new york economy. president-elect trump says the world is a gloomy place where he was elected and economic options, and there was no hope. the market is up 10%, christmas spending is over $1 trillion. thank you for joining us. would you agree with donald trump? >> i would, we have a president, he is able to do things,

optimism in america, where we are today, and excitement and energy, and coming out of wall street, reasonably good. ashley: characterizing eight years of the obama administration, criticized for smothering small business and regulations, higher taxes, and wanting to expand and hire new people, is that a fair characterization? >> i think it is. that is the counterbalance to mister trump's tweet for example, part of it is a president who is a ceo who is pro-growth and a big piece of it is easing of the burden of the last eight years, small business and investors and consumers that

were taken off and go forward. the optimism of trump, and the release of the burden of the last eight years. ashley: facing tremendous competition for amazons of the world, more people are clicking, and how is walmart handling that competion? >> it is a difficult play, walmart is showing a lot of courage to step up and deal with it. replicating amazon is not the answer, there is no technology in retail since the advent of the barcode or upc codes and the rest of our consumers's lives have changed because of technology and i think the winners in retail won't be the ones whoeplicate amazon or

defeat amazon head to head because they are an anomaly. the winners will be the one to figure out how to bring the amazing technology that exists today to a retail store and you will see that in the next week or 2 five years. ashley: do you think the walmart model, the he stores, great discount is still a viable model where people will get in a car, drive there and physically shop? you still think that is a good business model? >> speaking directly about walmart they have shown amazing resilience over the years, sam walton's original business model was a relatively small department store that sold products at a really great price which he then morphed into larger stores and into grocery with the supercenter from a relatively small box to a big box. over the years, 50 or so year history walmart has shown an incredible resilience and ability to adapt and they are going to have to do that now.

we commute to work with our cities were laid out for the most part after the advent of the automobile. you got to drive to get to work and drive to get school if you are a kid. i think there will be a place for physical retail. it is when technology is brought to the physical retail so the very best of the online experience can be brought to a physical location, those are the winning plays. ashley: thank you so much, we appreciate it. now this, president obama is the most transparent president ever? that according to josh earnest at the white house, more on that in a bit. six inmates escaped from a tennessee jail, removed a leaky toilet from the wall and flushed themselves out. they have been caught, one fugitive still on the run. that was shameless. because it is the tuesday after

christmas we wanted to show you this was a giant feel found sitting on a car in tasmania. looking for a place to sleep, that feel left behind a big dent which imagine the call to the insurance company, more varney next.

ashley: big names we checked, beginning with apple, slightly higher looking at the futures market. let's look at microsoft, just a sliver, slightly lower, looking at google, just a little lower, essentially flat, don't forget netflix, look at what we are expecting, essentially flat at the open. more bloodshed in chicago. weekly, dozens injured, 11 dead just over the christmas holiday. >> 11 dead, 61 shot. according to the chicago police, 90% of those fatally wounded had

gang affiliation, criminal history then were pre-identified, the department has strategic algorithm of potential suspect the victim gun violence 90% of these people had ties. ashley: the other interesting thing is chicago police blaming sentiment against police saying that sentiment, emboldening and empowering lebanese criminals. >> i live in chicago. it is amazing it is not just accepted as part of life, the entire city, and -- ashley: 753 homicides, december 12 25th. it is absolutely outrageous. we are seconds away or minutes away from the market opening.

19-883. stick around, we will be right back.

>> "the opening bell" will sound on wall street 20 seconds from now. it is a slow week between christmas and new year's but could the santa claus rally push the dow into the 20,000 territory? we will wait and see. it is slightly higher at "the opening bell" tapping away and all excited, there will be a lot of savings in the last push the dow into 20 k. we have been saying that for weeks and moving sideways for weeks. let's check the big board, the dow up 20 points, we are already 40 points away from 20,000, getting excited for backing off a little bit. let's also take a look at the dow 30. we saw the s&p up slightly, 2266, the nasdaq, the tech heavy nasdaq also about the same, up 7 points, looking at oil, and the dollar is very strong, normally

it is more expensive to buy oil denominated in dollars which uld be moving lower with a strong dollar and it is up $.50, 5349, look at gold, that too fading a little bit, still up $1140 a troy ounce. joining us for today's show adam schapiro, scott martin, todd horowitz, and the extra money in the paycheck. how do we get to doubt 20 k, sideways for so long. let's go across -- hello. what happened? who disappeared? go to todd, they say. with that scott martin who disappeared? we got to pay for more satellite time. you are still with us. it is a psychological point. it has spoken to the optimism but we are having a hard time

getting there. >> we will probably get there. they are going to print most likely before the year is over, probably try to take out some stops, short laggards, trying to short the market. we will get up there, i would be surprised if today or tomorrow we see what happens. the number doesn't mean a lot. all things trump is doing, will the correct what already happened? ashley: it is interesting, the initial exuberance on the economy, taxes and everything else, a little bit of reality sitting in. and investing on the promise. >> that is so true. you don't pay your shareholders with optimism, with sentiment, you pay them with cash. you got to see some hard proof

that indeed earnings will grow more rapidly and you have some justification for a paid multiple. this is not a cheap market by any stretch of the imagination. ashley: where does the money go? us equities is -- >> that is the problem. they are not already overvalued. ashley: do you think this market is a little pricey now? is there room to run? >> the market is very much overpriced. if you are an investor, you are not affected with much because markets are up 9% year over year. i am looking for serious selling after the first of the year at some point, the buyers will come in and buy it but next time there will be more sellers and buyers but take it down a little here. we have to watch, we are

significantly overvalued at this point. the 10 year treasury, not the best way to go with your money right now either. ashley: scott martin is back. the party pooper is here, this is not an expensive market, we could be moving backwards a little bit. >> i was busy with this computer. that goes on in chicago. the guys are somewhat right. the market is a little pricey but we are going into a new administration that put so much hope back in the american worker, so much promise back in the small business community this is what the market is riding on. that is why the market by and large in 2017 is going to go up. short-term after we hit the 20 k which i think we will do by december 31st, the end of the week there will be a pullback and that is when you get in, cash on the sidelines.

ashley: 20 by the end of the week. we check these every day, trying to keep tabs on those. people have interest on these, apple, netflix, amazon, microsoft all moving modestly higher but not bad. the market, the dow up 26 points, 42 points from the promised land of 20 k. it is fun to track it. looking at gold, gold was up 10 bucks, up 7 bucks or thereabouts falling a little more at 1140 and let's look at oil still moving higher up a little more, $.52, 53.54. donald trump tweeting about the effect he has had on the economy. adam: i wish i could share this comment with you, it was the world with gloomy before i won, there was no hope. the market is up 10%, christmas spending is over $1 trillion.

ashley: a very humble guy. is that true? would you give his summation -- >> market value is up just under 7%. you can round the 10. there are other markets in the world that haven't done well since his election. you have problems with emerging markets, worries in mexico, worries in china as to what his administration applies for international trade, week point on the outlook for 2017, trade has been relatively low if not shrinking at times. recession risks for 2017, it was 20% lowered to 15%, risk of a recession, that is helping sentiment and going to add to risktaking as we move forward.

ashley: based on what we had the last eight years anything he can put through that he talked about in the campaign has to be part of this economy, literally in quicksand the last eight years. >> is there anything economic in the last eight years this current administration, soon to be goodbye administration has put in place that has been good for the market for the american worker? i don't think so. that is what you got to look at going forward. john is right, some of the rhetoric from the trump camp months ago when mired in a tough campaign was histrionic i agree, some of the trade more than things thrown out in the trade site. some of those have softened and the market realize cooler heads will prevail and it will positive for business in the us and abroad. ashley: the longer it takes for these reforms to be enacted, nothing happens quickly in washington. even with the gop majority in the house and senate.

if there is a drawnout affair and he starts to back off or lose promise that he is making to that impact the market? >> it is a big impact in america. the biggest market you want to watch is the russell. 40% since february 11th. that is where the biggest amount of joy is coming because the biggest effect. as we get here we are so far overpriced and overvalued, based on a mathematical model that we will see some pressure. the question is will he get these things past in time to hold it from really selling off before we reason the next rally which i think we will have, but we have fairly significant selling, not 3% or 4 present but larger than that. ashley: how quickly can you get this achieved? in what form of a final rmulas be? reports of more fights across the country. we talked about that earlier in the show.

that has to be good news for amazon, right? >> that is a stretch. i don't think this is necessarily -- ashley: i can stay home in my pajamas and bunny slippers and have everything delivered why do i want to find a parking place in the mall and run the risk of having a fight in the food court? >> there might be something to be said for that but i never considered that quite yet as a risk that i will get beaten up. ashley: what do you think? i say isolated, 5 or 6 malls. it adds to that why bother when i can do it online? >> the holidays are tough enough when you are at home, in-laws and parents, that is why i am saying i don't think. you are right. it is tough to go shopping anytime these days especially the holidays because the crowds in the parking lots, if you look

at brick and mortar, it is dying because of companies like amazon. it is great for the online retailer because that is where you do your shopping. ashley: when was the last time you went to a mall? >> i did go to walmart at 4:00 saturday morning but other than that, doing my shopping on amazon. this is a very important point. you have to take not into consideration that shopping is no longer a family event or an event we look forward to but the cost of getting there. we get better prices from amazon, we don't have to pay for gas or time and a lot of benefit to sitting in your bunny slippers and ordering from home. ashley: among the site at 4:00 a.m. at walmart, never thought i would see you there. >> we talk about the death of brick and mortar and it is coming slowly. brick and mortar sales are a tremendous, hundreds of billions

of dollars, whereas online, 18% overall retail. it is happening but it is not happening tomorrow, maybe the day after. ashley: thank you for keeping us on that. let's head to the stock exchange where nicole has the stocks that moved the dow this year. nicole: one trader was jumping around jokingly because we are not far 20,000, we are 30 points from dow 20,000. at this point everyone is ready for it. how do we get to 20,000? boeing, travelers, jpmorgan, these are the five names that pushed up in point terms from dow 19,000 up to this 20,000 mark. goldman sachs is worth 200 points and we see united health and boeing big winners, 80, 70 points. what is interesting is the fact from 10,000 to 11,000 in 1999 it

was 24 sessions. we could beat that today if we hit 20,000 today. i will say also we had a quick jump from 19 to 20 if we can hit it now or this week. if you remember 18,000, 18,000 was two years ago. it shows you the momentum we have seen in the last couple months going into this year. ashley: 20,000 caps for 20,000 written on them. we are 29 points away, thank you very much. great stuff. tesla is in partnership with panasonic. remember them? building solar sales in upstate new york. some good economic news for upstate new york. >> they need jobs in upstate new york. i have a computer problem, don't have details for you. the commodore 64, i will get it

booted up. ashley: $256 million investments. >> do you want to put solar cells in that part of the world, in cleveland, ohio, not a lot of sunshine. >> they will work anywhere. ashley: the jobs are here, that is the thing. q the organ music. we won't put this on deathwatch. we are close. we are close, twitter down 10% since the election, not on deathwatch. why can't twitter make money. would you buy twitter shares? it is the best appetizing ever. twitter can't seem to make a buck. >> i am already -- twitter, so

are my clients. i make my hit that misses here. this is one of the worst ones we had this year. i would look to pick up some more because i think there is enterprise value left in twitter. after what happened with the election it is a surprise it hasn't rally. if you go on twitter you get your news and rhetoric but things are -- you never click on those ads so they have to monetize that stuff. ashley: maybe someone will buy them but you worry about patrols and nastiness which is why we discounted disney as a potential buyer, scott. >> i agree and that is the issue. you bring up something important, that is not why you buy stock. you don't buy stocks in other ones. you wait and wait and only get the price you paid for. by the stock because you like it. ashley: do you use twitter? >> i do use twitter but you can

put it on deathwatch. no chance it will take under if it is ever bought out because they cannot monetize, they have been in business too long and i had this problem solver. ashley: one of the most powerful leaders in the world uses it every day but you can't make money. >> it never will. ashley: good point. quick check of the big board, we have it on the left-hand side of the screen, 32 points away, we are so close it is teasing us. keep an eye on that. soon we will get to the promised land of 20,000. president obama said he could have won a third term and beaten trump. todd horowitz, you have

something to say on that was the president says if it was him what a major slap to hillary clinton. he said i would have won it. what say you? >> he possibly could have won it but i think he is on fantasy island with no idea what is going on around him. he might have happened to win, those who don't know what they are voting for but at the end of the day, he has no chance. ashley: would you agree? >> more or less, talk is cheap, don't knowh the purpose behind this would be but the odds were against him, the promise with obamacare and regulation and taxation. ashley: he seems to be in denial. we look out anemic the economic growth of this country has been, the fact that thousand democratic seats on the state and federal level have been lost to the republicans but obamacare has been an abject failure, foreign policy has gone nowhere, we sat on the sidelines and let other countries take the

initiative. here he is saying i could have beaten him if i was running for a third term, major slap to hillary clinton no doubt but does that speak to the arrogance of the man? >> somewhat which terrorism on the rise, americans fear of their safety is higher than it was when he took office. don't forget he threw his support behind hillary, he kind of did run for a third term. it was not him, it was democratic party, it was hillary, supporting hillary towards the end, she was on a tirade. he lost, she lost, goodbye. >> democrat under president obama last seat in congress, lost governorships, governor is weaker than it was in 2008. if my uncle had a sex change operation he would be my aunt. could happen, doubt it would happen. it is beneath the office of the president have this kind of discussion. ashley: let's bring in steve cortez, trump guy, money guy, great to have you on board. we hit 20 k on the dow, we are

25 points away. we stalled out the last couple weeks and wondered whether that was because we waited for donald trump to make good on his promises. >> it could be. it could simply be when you look at the mechanism of the market, we have come a long way in a short time. it is natural for the market to rest, it is frustrating for people, particularly people in business dying for that 40,000 print but we will get it this week. if we don't, we will get it in the new year. ashley: are we setting ourselves up for a pullback, how nervous would they be to jump in and make some money? >> a great point. as optimism as i am and have a trump guy i am optimistic about the future of american growth going into 2017.

of optimistic as i am, as a money guy i don't think this is the time to push your chips in an aggressive way so close to 20,000. i believe while the trajectory of the market and the economy is upward and very optimistic there will be some unsettling periods and generally with president trump will revolve around trade. we will have trade wars scarce, i don't think we will have a trade war but worries about it and when we get there i think the market will react negatively and those, that will be the time to put ships in the middle of the table if you believe as i do in this secular, emerging growth story. >> my problem with that argument is this is an old recovery. we have a demographic constraint. in order to make america great again you almost have to make america young again but that is

nearly impossible to do. we are going to add to the number of americans 65 years and older, 1.8 million people. at the same time the working age population 16 to 64 grows by 800,000. this type of balance is going to persist over the next we 10 years. that tells me real consumer spending, real economic activity. ashley: there is a way to make it younger by the country -- it is immigration. that is how we did it in the 1900s. ashley: isis is to begin. >> steve cortez make a fair point but also important to note it is a relative game. us demographics are not nearly as good as they were previously in the united states. look at the us compared to the rest of the industrial world and much of the emerging world particularly china our demographic are the envy of the world because we have a birthrate far higher than europe

or japan, we have immigration far higher than those countries would hours isn't as opportune as it was, compared to the rest of the world where in capital go if it went thickly appreciate another than the united states, demographics is one of the reasons why. our demography is so much better than the rest of the world. >> no escaping the reality that if the workforce is going to grow by 1/2% annually the next we 10 years in productivity growth is 1.5% if you are lucky, you end up with 2% gdp growth. equity prices can go higher but the reality is worries won't be able to grow as rapidly as they did in the past. ashley: let me bring you in on this. is that and issue that really could, as john points out, be somewhat of a handcuff to economic growth? >> steve brought something interesting, capital in theory has to go somewhere and it will go to the united states.

a lot of demographic are the envy of emerging market counterparts and how about the capitalistic system, the regulatory environment, improvements in taxation policy that will come with president trump that alone for the next four years will at least try to drag the capital here versus overseas and i think that will push the market up especially if the fed raises interest rates. ashley: what do you say? >> in 2008 you could put anybody in the white house, you could put the sc chair there but you have this rally. trump, i love this plan, voted for him, supported, he is great but just wanted to head over and until we deal with the debt and other problems with the markets they are not going to go too far. we can make all the excuses we

want but at the end of the day the money won't come until we resolve the problems with social security that needs to be upgraded to a higher age so we can not drain ourselves in the next 5 or 10 years out of money, we need to get the elderly to start spending money again which they are not going to do with no return on their money. ashley: i have to mention this, the nasdaq hit 5000 for the first time ever. we have a milestone as we continue to keep the down number up on the left-hand side of the screen, 22 points away. come buy some more stock, very close to 20,000, come, why not, between christmas and new year's, what a way to finish 2016? scott martin says we will do it anyway by friday. the stock exchange floor, to get her sense, getting ever so close. nicole: we came within 20 points of doubt 20,000 and then i heard the traders saying get the hat and i think it is a lot of fun.

we know it is the psychological level. the key is we had the last few months of the year for trading, this is also a week that traditionally is to the upside but i asked another trader what do you think? it just toys with us. do you think it is today? i don't know. hard to say and it really is. the truth is don't forget friday we went over the unchanged line, 171 times, it just shows you the momentum is to the upside, we are directional. they are waiting, some guys are giving thumbs up saying today is the day and others saying i don't know but there is a consensus that everybody is saying doubt 20,000 is coming. can't agree on the day. ashley: it has been moving sideways for weeks, toying with is exactly right. we have almost this invisible resistance line about 20 points

out at 9980, not sure why, what is going to push it over the hump but it could be the day. it is only psychological but does speak to the trump rally which has stalled out a little bit. let me bring in steve cortez. one of the things that could create some doubt is the cabinet picks of donald trump and the length of time even though it doesn't need democratic opposition, can still run through with the republicans in the house and senate at the attention that can be brought to these billionaires and multimillionaires that could create somewhat, not sure how to word it, some kind of air of doubt or concern around the trump cabinet, very unusual. the net worth of cabinet picks he had so far is off the charts compared to previous administrations. >> could be a cause for concern.

it doesn't concern me. i am a child of the 80s, i used to love the show the 18. this is the political a team donald trump is bringing in. the best and brightest of american business, this is not just a cabinet of politicians, it will be doers of the men and women who have done things in the private sector, and his only lasting legacy in the united states and it would be the read, we don't need them. it gets confirmed, the market consternation, and donald trump, part of it not just policy, and the attitude and optimism. ap, the majority of americans higher than this time last year believe next year will be better

for them personally then was 2016. that as opposed to looking backward, twice as many americans believe 2016 things got worse for them personally as got better. when we look backwards we see pessimism, we see restraint as we look forward, we see optimism and growth and a huge part of that is due to donald trump. ashley: let me bring back todd. we were talking earlier, the strong dollar has done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm in the commodities. look at oil moving higher, the greenback is strong and that makes oil more expensive to buy. if we see that dynamic turnaround is that bad looking? will that signal a market correction of some sort? >> the dollar, they caught a lot of traders and speculators short dollars based on going into the fed information a couple weeks ago. we are seeing the results of that covering those dollars and

take into consideration of those short oil. and the rest of the commodity spaces under good pressure as we see grain markets on their lows but overall significantly lower. many commodities getting hammered based on the stronger dollar. the dollar is -- owing to come down which is better for everything because it does increase our ability to export and do other things, the dollar will season selling pressure coming shortly to you. lou: ashley: we had to say goodbye to you but continuing to follow so closely to 20,000 on the dow, we are 26, 27 points away, 20 points, i see jeff joining us in the studio. he always rolls his eyes but you

seem to see what jeff makes of all this, moving sideways, is there more impetus te upside? >> i will try not to roll my eyes. >> what this rally is the rally we had for the last couple weeks has been primarily that, investors are looking at this, they want to -- when investors are starting to realize is some very dark clouds on the horizon and those very dark clouds on the horizon have a lot to do with the things they have been ignoring as they try to get the next inch out of this market. ashley: what are they ignoring. they are ignoring the fact the high dollar increasing value of the dollar is going to hurt multinational earnings.

no question about that. it is going to hurt multinational earnings and it will hurt multinational earnings a lot more than people think because a lot of multinationals have been relying on exports to grow revenue. the second factor is up to this point the european banking system has been a nonissue for a lot of investors, the fact we are seeing italian banks collapse and there is this interdependency between banks is an issue because interdependency will create an avalanche affect coming out of europe to banks around the world and the third which is i think extremely important is the central bank. the fact is trump before he got elected, no love lost between janet yellen and donald trump. it is going to be a battle at the central bank whether or not the central bank has

artificially inflated asset prices and if there is turbulence investors should know that trump is, without a doubt, going to blame the central bank for creating this artificial inflation. ashley: the ultimate party pooper, you have come we are down 30 points away, strong dollar, european bank crisis, central bank crisis and a partridge in a pear tree. >> talked about the european bank crisis, you should know the italian bank were saying when they got bailed out last week that they needed to raise $5 billion in capital, the ecb said it is more like mine billion dollars, almost twice as much. >> we have elections coming up in europe, in france, germany, who knows what this means for the euro long-term. ashley: you guys are totally bumming out, i turn my back on you. >> european central bank is broke. that is the problem. they are broke and keep making

promises and pretending they have the ability to bank and bail out these bad banks and it is quantifiably impossible fore promised. ashley: my christmas cheer is fast disappearing. i will look over here, brightness and sunshine, cheryl casone he joins us, let's get your view on all of this. i know 20,000 is only 8 psychological point but it is exciting and speaks to the optimism which have been stalled a little. cheryl: the bond market tells you the reversal between the weakness, 13 billion outflow in the bond market, in november. all of that going into stock funds but so many investors were burned by the recession who didn't come back to stocks even with record after record that we hit since 2016. you are finally seeing because of what happened with the election results, because of donald trump saying he will over the corporate tax rate of 15%, you are seeing the average

american willing to get back and it is a good thing, to the traders point, 20,000 and psychological number, we all know that but at the same time it is a good momentum play. as you come back and volume picks up, take that for what you will, when volume picks up after january 1st you will see a market that will go higher starting -- i respect you very well, known you for years but this train is on the tracks. ashley: thank you, feel better. let's go to scott martin, you're not rolling your eyes. to the point that strong dollar, hurting earnings, european bank prices overlooking a little bit and central banks artificial inflation of that, all those things have yet to play out, would you agree? >> jeff is right about the dollar and the fact multinational corporations and the s&p get a lot of their earnings 50% from overseas so a strong dollar, selling their goods overseas makes those goods more expensive and hurts

earnings but his correctness ends there. with regards to your of europe has been a disaster for years. this isn't new news, ecb stress test, the greek crisis, brexit, everything that has gone on for a week gdp negative in some cases, the market knows that stuff, the market has gone past that. as far as i believe investments go you look at the us because that is the safe haven, u.s. bank stronger than other global banks, that will keep the market up, not what is going on in emerging markets are europe. ashley: respond to that. jeff: the whole dialogue around europe everybody knowing europe has been a problem for a while i disagree with that. i don't think investors have grasped the interdependency between european banks, multinational banks, us banks, derivative exposure.

hate to cast a shadow over this. ashley: put a shiver through the market. >> their strategy has been let's just pretend everything is going to be oy and let's pretend we actually have a fund that can bail out all these institutions. it has been a lie so as much as it has been out there, growth in europe has been a disaster, we haven't seen the implosion of the european banking system and what the impact is going to be. >> us assets and us banks in particular are more protected than they were, look at the stress test from us banks that have seen this weakness in europe, to your point about growth in gdp, they are very well protected. >> as far as that is concerned, we need -- i agree they are much better off here than they we need to see how much these artificially inflated asset

prices and artificially low interest rates have the banks, have helped banks. when the centralring creates all this liquidity for banks to run the country in the u.s. government come in the central bank as a slush fund for them, they are going to show better fundamentals. that to me is an issue. when it comes down to it, they will become point where they are not going to have these artificially lower rates and liquidity to support. >> it's having the drug taken away. the withdrawal symptoms are going to be -- >> escaping the fact the u.s. is doing better than the rest of the world and perhaps another emerging market economy. even stronger dollar exchange rate. dollar parity against the dollar and 2017. i think you're going to have the chinese currency fall to the

dollar will depreciate against the chinese currency. for some rough going because there's an international exposure not only to companies, but the workers that have exposure to the global economy. >> you look at closer to travel around the world. it's getting cheaper to use programs in china or radiologist in india. >> steve cortez, to the concern about the impending implosion. how about that? >> i do share some of the concerns and when you look at the strong dollar by the lake in america is pricing now. small caps are vastly outperform big cap. that is than the untold story. it's obvious why investors love talking about 20,000 but the really better story for america, particularly the consumer who may not own a lot of stock if the small cop sends the election

have actually soared because the strong dollar actually helps work generally domestically focused. not only are they not heard, they can be helped. the belief in the stock market is all about helping main street. nationals of any great tenure under the last administration and this administration got whenever they want including the dollar. donald trump saying those days are over. this has been a great economy a fewer number of assets. it's been terrible and haven't had a pay raise in this century so far. the stock market is not. it's why small cap are doing so much better. i think we have some serious problems but what is the answer to to the awful policy. the only antidote i know of this economic growth. we need real growth. not 1% in 2%, we need breakout growth.

the product dvd growth. all that can come from regulatory reform and it will come under the leadership of trump. train to very good. hold that thought. the consumer confidence reading came in at its highest point in 13 years and the indexes now up 113.7. the key is consumer confidence. >> lots of times consumer confidence tends to speak at the end of an economic recovery. we have to be careful. just because you feel more confident doesn't mean you have the ability to spend much. >> let's go back to what steve minich and said. their goal, 3% to 4% economic growth. think about it, they've got two years or the republican congress, republican president to get it done and that was his number one push when he gets in.

>> the unemployment rate is at 4.6%. you need to have a percentage point drop in the unemployment rate to think realistically. very difficult to do. >> he's bringing jobs back to the country. >> you are listening to all of this. what are your thoughts? >> getting sick. the employment rate is a shrinking labor frce. you get the labor force to expand in the millennial set in the basements of their parents are made to get the unemployment rate to take up what should be good. with regards to the banks, i can't take this anymore. everybody was screaming about the banks. you guys mentioned a couple months ago. you know it's happened since those two incidents? financials have been the strongest factor since everybody ran out of the bank saying this is the death of the bank.

that's why should take this as positive signs, not negative ones. ashley we have to leave it right there. we've been going 50 minutes straight. we absolutely just jinxed the doused in 25 with dirty points shy are the only way to get it there is take a break and it will happen then because that is murphy's law. scott, steve, jeff, john kerry thank you all for being here. we did our absolute best to get it over the finish line. we will take a quick breather and try again. we will be right back on "varney." 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: welcome back everybody. i thought they might hit 20,000 thankfully we didn't. we want to be on-air live. still 30 points (-left-paren down 30 k. of 37-point. if we don't look at it for five minutes, maybe that will do the trick. let's move on. the u.n. adopted a resolution that opposes jewish settlements in the occupied territories and israel.

now the israeli prime minister is firing back. benjamin netanyahu is out of reach to say the least. the jewish republican strategist joins us now. thank you for coming in on this. we are shocked and surprised it happened that the u.s. did not veto this resolution? >> opponent disappointed, but it wasn't really people have been speaking for over two years on capitol hill about a name that surprised i barack obama given the animosity to the jewish day. >> this basically is a resolution criticizing the jewish settlements in the west bank and east jerusalem. at the u.n. generally has no teeth. what does this do? what impact does that have this anything? >> and positive impact his friends of mine in israel are talking about starting january 21, laying the groundwork for a new town called

morocco uprights dedicated to barack obama. his enormous sympathy now have a link jerusalem, which everyone means to be the poor jewish locality for thousands of years to somehow being illegal but judicious judaica america. the other thing in the states with a renewed discussion of defining the u.n. whether the u.n. is helping or hurting the united states. ashley the u.s. provides the funding. >> most of the programs can go a long way towards helping interests. ashley what is the key to peace because palestinians will tell you this is important. it shows the world that they believe the building of sentiment in this area is illegal, is not conducive to peace and that it's basically making the situation worse. how jurors onto that? >> they can say what they want,

but under international law at these times are completely legal. the u.n. will make them legal but it can't undo the conference established the jewish territory. by the way, the republican party with donald trump's team also passed a resolution that shared the new gop plot or officially says it's occupying enemy territory. but will certainly not bring peace is the idea that a belligerent terror state should be established into debt and samaria among the most vulnerable border. donald trump understands that and i don't see any scenario in which donald trump supports the islamic terrorists to good >> is the lowest point between united states and israel, have you seen it lower than this? >> people refer to advertise when the u.s. abstained. nothing has been like this. is coming from nowhere and he's leaving office and at office and as a parting blow.

this is his real moving along trying to get along with united states of america and barack obama but on the way out they decided to >> his face. stuart: why is it the jewish community as a whole votes for democrats and republicans in like this happens? >> you identify a democrat, but israel is low priority for them. certain sectors, orthodox, emigrated from russia and other countries on the other side of this and voted 85% for donald trump. it is secular jewish who have no real connection to israel and by the way, position some of these issues don't reflect either majority of americans or israelis. the majority of americans and israelis have never believed the idea of a palestinian state would bring peace. ashley are you confident the trump administration can reverse what happened here? >> i'm confident they will do everything in its power and its

not really afraid. donald trump is not afraid of pushing to get what he believes is correct. it will make a tremendous difference. 180-degree turnaround tried to force israel to create a terror state and see the capital jerusalem care about the entries can the safety and security of our ally israel. ashley: steve, thank you for joining us. as we continue to keep an eye on the markets for you, still 20 points away we will be right back with more news as "varney & company" continues.

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you in tease you and then they back off again and we seem to be doing that at least in the early going. it feels like already five hours. it's about 52 minutes. we are at 9968. we are at 34 points. we are not that. today. stuart varney would be furious seen as he's not here was a big supporter of that. let's move on and we'll keep an eye on that nearly 32 points away. coming up next, president obama's legacy. let's bring in figueroa for ken to talk about the market. we will start their and then move on. you were in the bernie sanders campaign. we are talking wall street and 30 k. you wouldn't think that would be a typical bernie supporter. however, this is a far ranging market that has a lot of exposure. 100 million have some form of exposure to the market. we are kind of enjoying the

fruits of a donald trump rally. >> well, i gss the people are excited about going into the new year in spending money over the holiday season. president obama or michelle obama if he will says people lost a benelux at google have been moving forward doing a lot of christmas shopping with the market up and marry some people, business owners in particular excited about seeing what the country will move forward as we start the new year. ashley: president obama said he listened if i was running for a third term i would've beaten donald trump. that's a major site to hillary clinton. he said basically ignored the middle of the country. not barack obama. he would yell in the ground reaching middle-class america and include everybody. was your reaction to that? >> then they go ahead and say what thousand plus democrats that foss can't say.

president obama, it's not about you. it's about organizing. over the last 10 years of 10 years a dozen states have been lost because the president has focused on himself. i prodded the president and have been the first african-american president, but at the same time year-over-year was because the dnc continues to focus on the shiny op checking out the house and senate. even if president obama would have done, which he would not comment the wouldn't make any difference or change because they lost the house and senate. is h going to the new year from the dnc and president obama will get a dose of reality as the new year's resolution and on how to get back in charge. republicans did next-line job taking it over one by one until it's done in the democratic party failed. >> you said you're a small business owner. are you sharing the optimism others are feeling? are you optimistic donald trump can get in those refunds that

fected small business? is that the platform and looking forward to is the head priest 2017? >> i'm in the staffing industry and it had to shut down because of health care reforms that i'm interested in seeing what would be performed on health care to allow small businesses to put people to work, to afford the way just to put them out to our clients. i'm looking forward to see what can be done. i understand a lot of people need health care. i don't think what we have in place is meeting the need of the small business owner because it's not affordable and certainly not affordable for the employees who have to be penalized for paying a very high health care premium for having a job. i'm looking forward to seeing that and also the tax breaks that will continue to allow us to put our money back into the business and continue to grow america appeared ashley: what a great idea that would be.

the times that by 1000 or 100,000 we create godjobs of growth. thank you for taking time out to join us today. we really appreciate it. as we head to the break, an eye on the dow. we could hit 20,000 in the great paired i hope not, but 28 points away. we will continue to follow it. more "varney" after this.

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ashley: in nice graphics and better ones ready to go. we can't push the button. so tony for a plan to win the doubt. kind of floating between at 35 to 40 points. up 42 points certainly within striking distance. let's bring in more and simonetti who is here two minutes ago. did a little sign to adam

shapiro. so we're not going to hit 20 k. why? >> well, there is an energy there. there is a want to hit 20,000 than it should have been today. it's a record in the amount of time we go a thousand points. its holiday trading. having said that permits in a cause rather traditionally means to go up 1.5% two weeks of the year. now we are in the second week with four trading days left. drink tea with balanced around on the same number for two weeks. >> we've come over 2000 points and the election seven weeks ago. to how much further can the market go? we see a lot of resistance. trained to adam, are you more optimistic or regular point where you don't care? >> quite honestly counted out 20,000 means absolutely nothing. i said to stuart last sunday 2.4

cents. i said last week i don't think we would hit it and i don't think we would have for very simple reasons. the economy is not firing. i think it will take the trump administration a while to turn things around with regulatory reform and tax reform. you look at other things in a very simple things all of us can understand. americans are tapped out again. debt is rising. you can't discharge that. mortgage debt is rising. that is a problem. >> thoroughly depressed. good time to you well. cheer me up, katie. no pressure, but say something nice. >> nice type. ashley: thank you. this is all about a tribe rally. it has stalled out.

my question and address this question and address this to other guest this morning is saturday at the point for this is all predicated on believe this is going to happen now or at the point where he point where you show me the money. let's bring money. the spring and easter farms. >> in the post election. which is a month and i will be a couple months soon the people are excited we have some change in the economy that donald trump has put up people and his cabinet who will do some good for pro-business, anti-regulatory state, that kind of thing. now we have to see the results of that. we can talk a lot in the cdc in the cd sales like carrier come through. if the trump administration doesn't come through with promises to do tax reform and rollback regulation to decrease the size of government and this'll be a temporary high so to speak they cannot continue long-term. ashley: to adam's point, it's going to be a hard copiously trying to turn around an oil tanker. it takes forever to get it

turned around. his cabinet picks, yes they should get through but it could get a bit messy. five billionaires from half a dozen multimillionaires being caught to disclose all of their financial holdings. they could get complicated with the conflict of interest in the wind and all that could slow the process down. >> many of the people in this financial positions, will provide us, commerce department has to go through this extensive process of vetting their own financial holdings. that doesn't mean there's a problem. the apartment and assertion had to do this at the height of the economic crisis when he was a lack in 2008. this is just general process to seek transparency for the american people in the financial side of things and make sure fox is that watching henhouse so to speak good likely we are not in a financial crisis as we were. i think we will see some big changes hopefully moving forward. >> i feel a little more encouraged.

speaking of trump's agenda. dr. marc siegel is here. we want to talk about obamacare. the republican party, the gop split on obamacare. those want to throw away the whole thing out and say let's come up with something else or does that say there are parts of it to work quite well. why don't we throw out the stuff that doesn't achieve the good stuff. >> i love your tie, too. the prevailing wisdom is probably less cute those two pieces of obamacare working. preexisting conditions being covered and you get to stay on your parents policy to the age of 26. ashley: on insurance companies say in these preexisting things is wiping us out and the sick pay and the thicker. >> of course did the way that's working with over 20 million people if you include medicaid this is government subsidizes two thirds of which are premium amphibian which breaks the

taxpayers that. here's the solution and i'm not the first to say this. let's create high-risk groups and states. but the government subsidizesubsidize d that with preexisting conditions that they didn't bring on themselves but diabetes, heart disease. not someone to smoke their way there that has a true preexisting condition. but the government subsidized that interpretive exchanges which are supposedly supposed to as a ponzi scheme bringing the young to pay for the older sicker people. socialism hasn't been working. that's why premiums are soaring. >> fear as those that want to throw obamacare out it's terrible, collapsing, doesn't work don't have a good solution to replace it therefore there are people facing life-and-death situation. do they get the medication and so on? >> dr. tom price, trump's nominee has been coming up with very concrete solutions. obamacare costs us a trillion dollars.

he can scale back medicaid in ways that locker and a decreased six in nature by trillion dollars that's a lot of money saved. decrease regulation. government overreaches the word of the day today. is trump really going to come forward to decrease regulations? the health care sector is usually over regulated. one of these obamacare policies is a long list of what they have to include. do you know how expensive that is? get back to doctor patient relationship. whatever happened to determining what happened instead of a government overreach situation here >> a lot of doctors have given. they retired or gone into their medical practices in getting out of their own office, doing business. >> "the new york times" piece today isn't fair. doctors are pro-dr. tom price because a lot of running away would they don't have toward reform.

he wants medical malpractice reform. we need a situation where we get paid for the patient's face the year we don't get sued unnecessarily and where we can negotiate with insurance companies. ashley: the premiums on malpractice insurance are ridiculous. why should i have to defend a frivolous suit? if i do something rather put a patient a time, of course they should be sued. a situation in britain is loser pays. so why should i be sued if i don't actually do anything wrong? ashley: you think this can be achieved relatively quickly once donald trump gets into office? >> her. obamacare can be achieved quickly. except obama is balking at. it's got a bp spread peace. increase health savings accounts, decrease the crazy insurance that covers to match. increase catastrophic insurance at high polls gave patient choice, price transparency.

all of that will take time but all time but i'll bet his wife and will save money. >> great stuff as always. thank you so much. we appreciate it. getting back to the economy, $1 trillion spent during the holiday season sounds good. lauren simonetti come to you at the numbers. >> alert this holiday season until it came out with their spending report. spending will go up 4% this year to $1 trillion. and then you have this tweet from donald trump. the world was gloomy before i won. there was no hope and that's a play on michelle obama. now they're up to 10% and christmas spending over $1 trillion. a lot of that is true. it's more faster this time of year. this year versus last time a christmas tree sales to read. more people spending money at the moss. >> i'm not kidding. look at it.

>> we will worry about the credit card boom. big banks, by the way up since trump won the election. they expect he will rollback financial regulations. at least that's the theory. but it might not be as good for banks as they expect. why? >> first of all, you have to see if it actually goes through. higher interest rates to help his banks when they go to the landing. right now the 10 year bond at 2.57%. we are watching some of the things that have surged since the election. names such as think of america 33%. jpmorgan and wells fargo each gaining more than 20% each. this group in particular because so we talked about regulation or less regulation we will see what happens in the new year whether this comes to fruition.

a market leading event will be when trump and paul ryan move forward with policies and that will likely be our mover. right now we've got two good headlines. consumer confidence 15 year high. home sales, home prices surge again 38 points. i think we'll have to wait for the new year to send the big market. >> what's it going to take? who do we know they we know they can buy some big stocks? someone can. let's take a break. keeping an eye on it for you. the nasdaq is up nicely. the s&p dollar is strong. it is still trumps happy week. we can't get over the finish line of the doubt. we will continue to follow it and we will be right back.

ashley: president obama said he would be donald trump is donald trump if he could've run for a third term. fox news contributor rachel campos duffy calls it a jab against hillary clinton. here is what she said last hour. >> is trying to blame hillary clinton. you can understand why. aside from the face of itsown series earlier in the campaign. he said the same, hillary is just on the ballot. i'm on the ballot. my legacy is on the ballot. i take this as a personal insult if you don't vote for me. of course he is trying to put it

squarely on hillary, but he bears a lot of it and he has been known to be politically selfish.

ashley: welcome back, everybody. it feels like the graphic is stuck. we been up 30 points. it's not broken, it is that? i haven't seen that move.

the music of my computer quickly because i'm paranoid at -- paranoid about it. night t. 972. it's about right. we feel like if we talk about it enough it's going to happen. we mention close to trading this week will be extremely thin which can make it volatile. we are there. >> and volume and its 35 points from high to low. yes it does bring volatility. we haven't seen the volatility just yet. around milestones are purely psychological. the energy on wall street that we can certainly fail. more than 2000 clients since donald trump won, proving to naysayers that he didn't grow their economies. we didn't have this because hillary clinton was a lack it.

we need to see him put these ideas in action. >> the night of the election -- they just got eight, 900 points. here we go. >> here's the thing. i was down there last week. because volume is like there will be some play at some point. we will pull back. the reason i've been a naysayer instead bust money that it will still stick to my guns. very simple issues is bad for trump rallied was really legitimate, but as he said 15 minutes ago, show me the money. we still not tax reform or regulatory reform. there are a lot of headwinds. who was it that danced last week that talked about all of this added he saved lewis had 2150 by 21,500 by may. this is the guy whose bed a

mayor for years. that's the other thing. the analysts get to change their opinions all the time. remember ronald reagan are you better off today than you were four years ago. do you have more money in your pocket than you did three months ago and you expect to have more money in your pocket in three months. if you do, might be a good time to buy. if you don't come you might want to consider that your ashley: thank you, adam shapiro. that's the fun. let's get back to the u.n. foe. adopt a resolution condemning jewish settlement in israel. america abstained in the u.n. vote and went forward and was enacted. ambassador john bolton is here. i'm ready your opinion in "the wall street journal" with obama's parting betrayal of israel. refusal to use washington $3 more than it restless parting gesture. explain. >> the resolution itself is a

very, very significant shift in american policy. going back 50 years. it really reverses the iconic resolution 242 that people are always referring to. the resolution adopted at the end of the 1967 war, which establish what we all call land for peace. the idea of his relatives back territories that have won a battle and 67 and 73 wars and returned the arab states was actively make peace. that is that the camp david he supported 1979 was about. israel gives up back to egypt and israel signed camp david. this resolution in effect since it's not israel's to give back. it's illegal that they are there and activity and its occupied territories really is something foreign governments can impose sanctions on israel for engaging

in. it's not about israeli supplement. what is it about buying the palestinian political legal narrative since 1948 and trying to pressure israel to give up settlement act of the day. >> i wanted to move onto another subject china. moving an aircraft carrier into the south china sea. how significant is this in your mind? another sign of aggression, but should we be concerned? >> this is china's only aircraft carrier. that is because china bought this a couple decades ago. you can't say this enough. this is not a trip into international waters. they think the south china sea is a province of china. they've got a provincial capital building at the islands as we

all see enemies papers very frequently putting air and naval bases or the aircraft carrier like part of the chinese coast guard under their view of things at the time in the eye to the united states. they know how constrained during abs. it can be at the nations the south china sea from the philippines, others and the americans can't do anything about it. another bad sign of the world upon enslaving the new trump administration. >> see how the trump administration reacts to the source of provocation. ambassador john bolton, thank you as always. we are still up 35 points on the dow was 19 and 69. 31 points away from 2000. we are stuck in the same range. we will continue to follow it. we will be right back.

>> welcome back, everybody. 44 points 44.7 to 9967. let's bring the company back here. i know where plugging a dead horse. there was a study done in vancouver and investors somehow have a psychological barrier for moments like this.

the more zeros, i.e. 20,000 seems to be some sort of mental barrier. when you put 19 -- 190,099 bucks cheaper than 200,000. >> exactly. they went back nearly over 30 years of data and of data that there are resistance levels and we've been whitney seemed days. >> i'm going to go with that because i have no other reason. prices are going up people are feeling great again. we can't get another 30 or so points. drop the confetti and will be done with it. and that stuart would get annoyed. ashley: it would ruin our entire "varney & company" budget. they are gathering dust. we can't we are going to take a quick break. i'll be right back. don't go away.

ashley: it is eight a.m. in california, good morning, eleven a.m. here in new york. i'm ashley webster, stuart varney is out. hope he's enjoying himself. here's what we've got new this hour. president-elect trump almost finished filling out his cabinet. many of the current nominations have business ties, so is trump in for a long fight because of those ties? we'll talk about it. and in a show of force, china's sailing its first aircraft carrier past taiwan and into the south china sea. just a little show of force. peter morici is with us. he says besides growth, china will be center stage for president-elect trump. and we've got four more trading days left this year to get to dow 20,000. oh, my god, i keep talking about it. [laughter] will we hit it today? we're ready if we do. the graphics are all cued up. hour three of "varney & company" starts right now. ♪ ♪ didn't we almost have it

all -- [laughter] ♪ when love -- ashley: didn't we almost have it all? we're not giving up. we almost hit 20k. we've got another hour in this show. we are stalled out about 30 points away. we're stuck in neutral, it appears. take a look at oil hovering above $53 a barrel at this hour despite the strong dollar, the price of oil has been up about half a percent this morning. joining us now, peter morici. peter, come on in. it does appear that the trump rally has stalled out. we've been moving sideways for a couple of weeks now. why is that? >> well, i think the economic numbers that we've been getting haven't been great, and also this psychological barrier. you know, really the interesting thing would be for it to happen today, so you could spend the next three days -- [laughter] speculating whether stu's absence finally got us over the

hump and whether this is really now the webster achievement. ashley: oh, boy, don't say that. i don't want to upset him. god bless him. he would be upset if we do, but, hey, let's not junction it, just kind of -- jinx it, just kind of ignore it. president-elect trump says the world was a very gloomy place before he was elected. now we have the economic optimism. and here's what he tweeted. he said, quote: the world was gloomy before i won, there was no hope. now the market is up nearly 10% -- not really true -- and christmas spending over a trillion dollars. i think the market up about 8%, not far off, and a trillion dollars for christmas spending is about right. is it about his optimism? >> well, certainly president obama stole our hope and auctioned it off to the poor. [laughter] my feeli is that trump has created a new optimism, but now he's got to deliver. ashley: yeah. >> you know, a tax cut,

deregulation. deregulation's going to be very, very hard in this environment. if you recall, it was president carter that kicked off deregulation with the phone companies and the airlines, and it really only ended with the demise of glass-steagall at the end of the clinton administration. my feeling is it's going to be very, very difficult to pull off, is so it remains to be seen whether the trump folks have a focus to get it done. my feeling is this can be done, and it can be done quickly. for example, a reconciliation bill which you wrap together all the changes you want and push 'em through. that can be done. ashley: yeah, but there's always the danger of overpromising which every candidate does on the campaign trail, and he did put out some very big agenda items. i mean, you say he can get them done pretty quickly. what's his number one focus? >> well, i think his number one focus has to be deregulation. there's limit toss what we can accomplish with the tax code because we're in a box with perm income taxes -- personal income taxes.

you know, we had -- reagan cut taxes for everybody, then clinton raised them justin on upper income americans -- just on upper income americans. bush cut taxes on everybody, and obama raised them just on upper income americans. now we have a tax structure in which romney's right, most of the taxes are paid by the top 10%. 40 so how do you cut personal taxes without being called someone who robs from the poor and gives to the rich? we can rationalize corporate taxes and that would be useful, but deregulation is really where the news is. my feeling is we're all tied up in knots, can't get anything done because of all of the bureaucrats biting at our feet, and now is the time to get rid of them. not just deregulate, start slimming down the agencies. i can think of places in the labor department, in the education department and other places where we not only want to get rid of regulations and programs, we want to cut the head count. ashley: well, part of draining

the swamp, i guess, peter, i wanted to get your thoughts on president obama saying that, look, he would have beaten donald trump if he was allowed to run for a third term. [laughter] i can get your response already. >> ah, you know, universities are full of professors like that. you know, if i hadn't decided to be a professor, i bet i would be treasury secretary right now. [laughter] my department is just full of people who are going to head labor, treasury, this and that. you've got to remember, barack obama's only work experience before becoming president was as a law professor at the university of chicago. hubris is pretty big, that's a pretty big quantity there. after that he was a state senator who ran for u.s. senate, then he was a u.s. senator who ran for president. he never really had any work experience other than being a professor. it's absolute nonsense. ashley: well, it is, and no one's riding on his coat tails if he's that great bause the democrats have lost nearly a thousand seats on the state and federal level when, as he

leaves, that's a big part of his legacy, the fact that the gop is doing very well across this country. >> well, think about it. clinton won a majority in california and new york of four-plus million. in the other 48 states, trump won the majority. he won over 3,000 counties. you've done these data points over and over again here. if he was so popular, why did his anointed successor do so badly? let's face it, you know, trump was not a dream candidate. u might like his ideas, but he was a hard sell because of, you know, other issues. but, i mean, why didn't they do better? the answer is they promised another term, and that was defeated. so my feeling is, you know, he can't anoint clinton as a his successor and then make this claim. what this really comes down to is this vain man cannot exit gracefully. whether it's the issues with israel or his wife going on television saying, oh, all hope is lost. well, you know, they're going to

live right here in washington, a bicycle ride from my house. i want them to come on down for coffee, and i'll talk to them about why they can still have hope. [laughter] just a short drive, five minutes away, they can come on january 23rd to my house at 8:00, and i'll explain to them how the real world works. ashley: that's quite an invitation. i'd like to come to that too. >> i think it's reasonable. or i'll send them to stu's house. ashley: no one goes to stu's house. peter, you recently wrote an article, and here's the headline: the measure of trump's presidency, restoring growth is center stage and is so is china. sopeter, we know we've been talking about this this morning, china just sailed its first aircraft carrier past taiwan and into the disputed islands in the south china sea. quite a show of aggression, certainly for taiwan. what do you make of that? >> well, they're certainly pushing the envelope. you know, if trump comes in and just imposes a tariff on china, it won't cut it.

they'll push back on american investors in china, people like general motors, they'll make life miserable for taiwan economically. they can do things to further enable north korea. but most of all, they can bully their neighbors in the south china sea. we should not be foolish about this. we have to recognize that we need an all-fronts confrontation with china to put china back in the box. and that may begin with the tariff to try to renegotiate our trade arrangements, a good and noble thing to do. however, if we think we're going to get by just challenging them on economics and not dealing with the south china sea, we're crazy. but by the way, i volunteered to take my row boat out there and challenge that aircraft carrier to a race. [laughter] i would predict after the third or fourth mile, its old russian diesels will break down. [laughter] and i just cleaned that up. ashley: like a 1988 ford probe, it'll just be floating around in the sea -- >> no, like one of those 1932

vehicles that they still drive around in moscow. [laughter] ashley: we'll have to leave it, i love it. peter morici, thank you so much, we appreciate it. good fun, isn't he? >> take care. ashley: thank you very much, peter. now this, israel feeling betrayed by the obama administration. israel says it has evidence that obama is behind a u.n. resolution on israeli settlements, details coming up. plus, fights at the mall breaking out across the country. police in riot gear using pepper spray on groups of thugs. groups of thugs, no less. these reports could be good for companies though, perhaps amazon maybe? don't want to go there, just order online. more on that later this hour. and, of course, some sad news to report. the iconic singer george michael dead at the age of 53. he died in his sleep peacefully, reportedly of heart failure. he was found in his home near london on christmas day. we're going to remember him today and his music. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪

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ashley: back to politics, everybody. president-elect trump is close to picking his full cabinet. many of the current nominations have deep business ties. let's bring in karl rove to talk about this and other issues. karl, thank you so much. the general consensus is that donald trump could be in for a long and hard confirmation fight because of those business ties. we have, what, six billion -- five billionaires, have a dozen multi-millionaires that have to divulge their financial holdings and so on in many cases, wilbur ross, steve mnuchin, it all could get a bit bogged down and complicated, and there are concerns. do you think that's warranted?

>> no, i don't. look, there -- it could get bogged down if they don't play by the rulebook and avoid conflicts of interest, sell off holdings that might present a conflict, set up trusts for other items, but, look, they're all going to do that. the only reason this could bog down is if the democrats tend to be highly partisan and are attacking these individuals because they are wealthy in order to score political points. and now that's a real possibility, but it's not going to be because of the, in my opinion, the behavior of the nominees. it's going to be in a result of the behavior of the democrats in the senate. welcomeashley: right. and, karl, let's be honest, what else have the democrats got, you know? they're spill starting from -- still smarting from the election. talk about conflicts of interest, these global business titans are, have so many fingers in so many pies that it's going to make it very difficult for them to be impartial government

employees. i can't imagine they wouldn't do anything e >> well, they could do something else. remember, let's go back eight years when barack obama came in and nominated his cabinet. several of the cabinet members were approved on voice votes. hillary clinton was approved 9 94-2, the most contentious nomination was that of tim geithner to be treasury secretary because it turned out he hadn't paid $35,000 in necessary taxes. and the idea of appointing as a treasury secretary somebody who is a tax cheat garnered him 60 favorable votes and 34 unfavorable votes. but by and large, presidents are given deference on it. this will be -- if there's not deference given to president-elect trump, it's going to be because chuck schumer and elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and the left wing of the democratic party want to extract political points from this whole process, and that's not putting the country first. yeah, sure, raise questions about 'em.

ask tough questions in the confirmation hearings. but if this is all about scoring political points, then they're not serving the country well, and it's not good for the cup over the long haul if that's their attitude. ashley: let me change gears, karl. the u.n. security council voted against jewish settlements on the west bank, condemning them, calling them illegal. mr. netanyahu says he has direct evidence that presidenobama was personally involved. what do you make of this? certainly, a parting shot to both israel and, i would say, donald trump. would you agree? >> yeah. yes, and very dangerous to the united states and to our ally, israel, because this is the first time that the united states has allowed a resolution to go forward that basically calls for israel to return to the '67 borders which have widely been held to be indefensible and would leave israel as insecure. and this is the first time, i mean, it literally says israel is illegally holding this territory that it won as a

result of the '67 and '73 wars. and this is the first time that this has ever happened. parting shot by the administration. i think it's less aimed at donald trump than it is by the obama administration aimed at netanyahu. remember, netanyahu is invited to the white house, taken to the private quarters of the white house, not given a glass of water, not given a meal and hot boxed for hours and then allowed to levi ya the door of the white house where they take out the trash. and the press is alerted that he's going to be leaving. remember the photograph of him leaving the big mounds of trash in plastic bags to his side. well, this is the contempt with which president obama has treated, prime minister netanyahu in the past, and i think this is aimed more at netanyahu than it is trump, but it is going to be, again, bad for the united states, bad for middle east peace. from now on the israelis are going to be in a negotiation with the palestinians where the palestinians say we no longer

have a u.n. resolution that gives you the authority to trade land for peace. we now have a u.n. resolution that able going toes -- obligates you to give up all the territory as an opening condition of any discussions. ashley: well, see how quickly donald trump can get in and perhaps turn that around. karl rove, as always, thank you so much. appreciate your time. >> thank you. happy new year. ashley: same to you. let's take a look at this market. we've been open now nearly a couple of hours or thereabouts. we're fading just a little bit, still up 25 points at 19,958, we're 42 points away now from 20,000. we were within 20 points at one point. we got very excited and, of course, that ruined it. let's take a look at some of the big stocks we look at every day. start with apple, that stock moving higher up nearly 1% at $117.61. take a look at microsoft, of course for stu, he always says he owns just a sliver. not so sure about that, but it

is up nearly three-quarters of a percent. google also moving higher, up about six points, and we always like to look at netflix as well. that, too, up 2%. not bad. 128.28. all right, or reports of fights at malls across the country on the day after christmas. you are looking at video from xxx it says on the prompter. i'm not sure where that's from, but we know it's been happening in various locations around the country. that is not good. these reports, well, they may be good for companies maybe like amazon. let's face it, just avoid the mall altogether. we'll have more on that coming up. also, a headline in "the new york times," trump's health secretary pick leaves the nation's doctors dieded. we'll deal with that as well -- divided. we'll deal with that as well. stocks at this hour, they're all moving higher at this hour, not bad in a market that is just slightly higher.

we'll be right back.

ashley: now this, oh, yeah, check this out. fights breaking out in a dozen malls across the country, sparking a social media storm. was it coordinated? i don't know, but, adam, you have more on this.

>> yeah, when you look, it was rouga dozen differt malls with a dozen different fights. you're looking at footage from new jersey on the left-hand part of your screen. but 8-10 people got into a brawl in the food court at the mills in jersey gardens, just across the river from here, after someone shouted gun. then there was a fight at the cross creek mall in fayetteville, north carolina, in aurora, illinois. they had to lock down arizona mills in tempe, and then, of course, in ohio, an upscale -- ashley: your old stomping grounds. >> my old stomping grounds. >> he's a celebrity in ohio. >> hardly. ashley: was it the same, basic m.o., a bunch of young punks -- >> people getting into fights in the malls. you've got to ask the question if part of this is, you know, instigated by people. everything now is captured on cell phones, and then you put it out there -- ashley: but, lauren, in this age of terrorism if someone hears a chair being thrown and it sounds

like a gun going off, that's terror. >> they react, overly react in some situations. i know moms who won't take their kids to the mall ever or only on a quiet time -- ashley: does this help the amazons of the world? >> in a withdraw, yes, they -- in a way, yes, they had a record-breaking holiday. this does help amazon. things are easier online and, quite honestly, safer. ashley: well, that's true. i'm impressed there's still a dozen malls open. >> hey, i went to the mall for the first time ever on christmas eve -- >> you've never been to a mall? >> no, on christmas eve. i'm ahead of my shopping -- >> you should see the picture of her daughter on santa's lap. crying, save me. [laughter] ashley: we've got three and a half more trading days left this year to get to dow 20k. we could even hit it today. we keep saying that. i've jinxed it. we've got the big, fancy graphics ready to go, because we hope you'll stay with us to see

them. we'll get me new year's stocks om one of our favorite market guests coming up. also this, more bloodshed in chicago, at least 11 dead over the christmas holiday. we pose this question: in the last eight years under president obama's leadership, have we become more divided? we'll be right back.

ashley: back to your money. let's check the big board. ever so close to 20k. dare i say we've even lost a bit of oomph, we're up 23 still about 43 points away from the magic mark. let's check oil, still hovering above $53 a barrel, up 74 cents at$53.75. so there you have it. we're up but we're not where we want to be as far as the magic number. joining us now is keith fitzgerald, money map press chief investment strategist. great to see you, keith. i always know you're in beautiful seattle with the needle behind you. keith, is in the day? do we get to 20k? why have we been stalling out for the last two and a half weeks almost? >> well, there's two things to think about here. traders are not just concerned about the 20,000 that's going to create all the fanfare, what they're concerned about is what happens next. so the decision they're making is, hey, what can i buy now, what can i get my hands on

that's going to take me through this sustainable rally that's really in 2017. so that's the decision that's going to here. the longer we wait, the more it's going to drift, but i wouldn't read into that too much because a lot of traders are quite literally out with their families right now, so the volumes are very low. ashley: that's true. and there's a bit of a psychological block right around 20,000. for those people who haven't enjoyed in this donald trump rally or trump bump, whatever you want to call it, they're hesitant to jump in because they feel like they've missed it. >> well, you know, that's an instinct that dates back millions of years in our dna. if you're sitting in the cave, you want to know if there's a saber-toothed tiger out there, and you're wondering if that thing is going to take a swipe at you. but come on in, the water's fine. i think quality companies, good ceos, those are things that are going to matter no matter who's in the white house or running congress. so you've got to take a view that looks forward, not in the rearview mirror. ashley: you know, one word we haven't used at all in the last

two and a half hours is the word fed. stu would be so proud of us. we know there's going to be a rate hike, two, possibly more next year. how much does that play into, i guess, what we have is the fed raising rates slowly, but the promise of a trump economy that starts the fire on all cylinders which will offset the rate hikes, right? >> well, i think that's a very good line of thinking. what's interesting to me is the fed is really something for policy wonks at this point. for traders, it's alady irrelevant. they know it's going to be the slowest rate normalization in recorded history, so all janet yellen can do is come out and have an occasional press conference, try to appear relevant when traders have already moved on. ashley: keith, i know you have some stock picks for us. we always like those. let's begin with he's -- tesla, you like tesla. >> absolutely. this time of year is really interesting because a lot of people try to make bold moves. i want best moves.

tesla, to me, is very undervalued because people think it's all about electric cars. it's not. elon musk wants to remanufacture the entire electric grid there solar power to your car and everything in between. people don't understand how valuable that's going to be until thground. ashley: yeah. it's turning into a massive battery company, if anything else. how about atlas -- am i saying that right? >> yes. ashley: what is that right? >> well, we can put our emphasis on a different sill billion, right? [laughter] -- scylla bl, right? >> what people don't understand is they have a single achilles heel, they cannot code fast enough. there are not enough humans on the planet to create all the information that we need. this company provides the software tools that helps 85 out of the fortune 100 companies code 30, 40, 50% faster than humans alone. ashley: and then there's disney.

haha. [laughter] what do you like about disney with espn and all the cord cutters? isn't it a bit risky? >> that's exactly the catalyst i'm looking for. i think disney is a great entertainment company with an espn problem. i think 2017 we may see a divestiture or restructuring. i'm looking at that very, very carefully with that in mind. >> hey, keith, it's lauren simonetti. whato you make of the record box office for disney between moana, rogue one, they're going to be the first film studio to hit more than $7 billion in revenue this year. >> isn't that exciting? what that shows you is something we've talked about a lot, intellectual property is really valuable especially when you attach an entertainment franchise to this. "star wars" is not just a movie, none of these things are just movies anymore. but until they shed that espn nonsense, i think they're going to be held back. ashley: thank you so much, keith fitzgerald. always great stuff, appreciate it. >> my pleasure.

happy new year. ashley: happy new year to you. now this, more bloodshed in chicago. dozens injured, at least 11 people killed just over the christmas holiday period. adam, you have the details. >> and some of this took place in the morning, in the middle of the day. this was three days starting on friday, through the holiday weekend. as many as 61 people shot, at least 11 were killed. and age really is not a factor here. two girls, 13 and 14, were shot. young teenage boys were shot. and apparently, according to the police, 90% of these shootings are gang-related. the violence just out of control are. we were -- ashley: the same areas, the south and west sides of chicago. >> south and west sides of chicago -- ashley: never ending violence. >> and we were asking the question, i lived in chicago years ago, you know, how is it that people there -- i know people who live in these neighborhoods are outraged by

this, but how rahm emanuel doesn't call for the national guard or somebody to do something is beyond me. ashley: right. >> if you live in chicago, to accept this just seems deplorable. bad word to choose there. ashley: 753 homicides shore this year. >> and almost 350 shootings. ashley: that's incredible. let's bring in larry elder, salem nationally syndicated radio talk show host. larry, what do you make of these shootings in chicago? i'm not saying we're blase about it, but it's not a problem that just began recently. this has been ongoing. i mean, some of these violent statistics are worse than some of the most troubled regions in the world. >> i agree, and i think there are two things that are going on. one of them is a large percentage of black children who are born without fathers. obama said that a kid raised without a dad is fife times more likely to be poor, nine times more likely to drop out of school, 20 times more likely to wind up in jail. the second problem, chicago has

had a couple of high profile killings and investigations recently, and there's a ferguson or black lives matter effect where the cops are literally putting themselves in the fetal position and being passive, and the bad guys, these young gang members, know that and they're out in the streets killing and robbing and stealing. ashley: yeah, it's interesting you should say that. the chicago poli suspect, eddie johnson, now calling for stricter gun laws. and chicago already has incredibly strict gun laws, right? >> indeed, it does. it's one of the most stringent anti-gun cities in the country along the washington, d.c., and they have more murders in chicago than any other city this year, not the most per capita, but about the fourth or fifth most per capita. it ain't the gunses, it's the people using the guns and their lack of values. ashley: i want to talk to you about this too, larry. the white house coming up with a list of accomplishments, basically to save president obama's legacy. one of those items, social progress and equality. and, you know, look, let's be

honest, i would say the legacy that's being left here is one that he's left a divided nation more than ever before. would you agree? >> well, i think that can be overblown. i mean, divided as in the civil war, as in the battle over jim crow and segregation, as in the vietnam war? no. but obama is the most left-wing president we've ever had, and as a result there has been a resistance to it just as there was to hillarycare, there's a resistant to obamacare. we just had a contentious election, an orderly transition of power, the electors didn't defect, the hollywood stars didn't leave the cup. [laughter] we quite get along well. we disagree and because of twitter and other social media, we're able to vent more and better than before, but by and large, we are a country that is far more civil with each other than virtually any other country. ashley: well, that's true, but he came into power, barack obama, on a wave of -- you know, the mantra was hope and change. the hope we have now is that donald trump can do a whole lot better.

yes, we do want a change. we want a change from the last eight years. >> agreed. but that also shows aon i just saw the consumer confidence index higher than at any point since 2001, the small business confidence index also higher than anytime in 2009, and most people believe we're on the wrong track which is why republicans took over and are controlling most statehouses now, most governorships, most state legislatures -- welcome ashley: right. >> the white house, the senate and the house are all in control by republicans, so that to me suggests a certain kind of consensus on the kind of change that we want. less taxes, rez -- regulations and a much more pro-business environment. and we get back to that 4% gdp growth, and a lot of people will be singing "kumbaya." [laughter] ashley: we'll have to leave it right there, larry elder, in the very heart of the liberal state of california. [laughter] you're a brave individual. >> belly of the beast. ashley: thank you very much.

belly of the beast, indeed. larry, thank you. staying on president obama's legacy and the democratic party, we have the number of exactly how many democrats lost office in the last eight years. amazing. don't go away. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪

♪ >> i'm nicole petallides with your fox business brief. right now the dow's up 24 points, just toying with us, and that's exactly what's happening here. we got within 20 points of dow 20,000, but we've pulled back off the highs. right now dow up 24 points, s&p up 7, nasdaq up 37. some of your dow leaders, and we have mostly up arrows for sectors and winners, apple, merck, microsoft. you can see those are leaders. goldman sachs is also a leader and is the best performer since the election. since trump won to be our new president. on the other hand, we're seeing trump, goldman sachs and the trump bump, well, visa's one of the names that has not participated in that trump bump, and that actually has been declining. we're also watching amazon. amazon had its best holiday ever, one billion shipped globally, more than that, and

the echo sold out.

ashley: president-elect trump close to filling out his cabinet. he's chosen some pretty conservative picks, we know that. many of those nominees have deep business ties, some billionaires, multi-millionaires in there. let's bring in fred barnes, weekly standard. fred, thanks, as always, jr. phoning us. >> good to be here. ashley: would you assume that

mr. trump is up for a long and hard confirmation process with some of these picks who have such extensive business dealings, it may be hard to take care of that pesky conflict of interest issue? >> well, it can, and certainly with the billionaires, they had -- i don't know where their money is, what stocks they're in and bonds and what sort of investments they have -- ashley: yeah. >> -- trusts, but they're going to have to reveal it all and then put it somewhere where there won't be a conflict of interest. the bigger problem though is, i think, the nominees of donald trump who are going to have the biggest fights against them are those who have ideological faults according to republicans. in other words -- i mean, according to democrats. jeff sessions at the justice department, scott pruitt at the environmental protection agency, texas governor with -- rick perry at the energy department. democrats will have strong

ideological opposition to them. ashley: all right. let's head to the next issue. there is a bunch of democrats up for re-election in those deep red states or states donald trump won. do they have to go along with the trump agenda or risk losing their seat? is how -- what kind of position are they in? >> well, there are five of them whose states were won by donald trump by more than 19 points, and so for those you'd have to say are pretty good republican seats. ashley: yeah. >> and i think they're going to want to make some deals with republicans. look, republicans, to get, for instance, obamacare through the house -- not the repeal now, that can be done on a simple majority, but to get the replacement through the senate they're going to nd 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. so i think those ten senators and particularly the five that might be in the most trouble going to be in a position where they can make some deals with republicans on that and wind occupy voting for the new --

wind up voting for the new health bill. ashley: very good. all right, how about this one? i want your response to this, democrats have lost -- this is remarkable -- 1 thrkz -- 1,030 seats. >> it's breathtaking. it shows not only many of the things obama did were too liberal for the country, but also the way they were handled, you know? he didn't seek compromises at all. i mean, no republicans voted for obamacare, i think only two or three of them voted for the stimulus package back in 2009, then you had any number of other pieces of legislation that obama doesn't want to compromise. ashley: right. >> so he went to executive alaska, executive orders -- action, executive orders. and that was unpopular around the country.

ashley: well, and let's not forget he's, of course, now proudly announced that if he were running for a third term, he would have beaten donald trump. he wouldn't have ignored the middle class. what a slap to hillary clinton. >> yeah. well, it is a slap to hillary clinton, but, you know, it's, you know, here he is beating his breast, you know, as he's leaving, you know? ashley: yeah. >> oh, i could have beaten them all, you know? i'm the greatest. it's very unbecoming of someone leaving the presidency. ashley: and i don't think he's going to go quietly into the night, as they say. from all accounts, he'll hang out in washington -- >> i know. ashley: -- start weighing in with his opinion on things. that's not really how it's done, is it? >> it's not how it's done but, look, the pretty will certainly -- when he wants to say anything, the press will be at his door. i think you're right, that we're going to hear a lot from him after january 20th. ashley: yeah. i can't hold my breath long enough. [laughter] anyway, fred barnes, thank you so much as always. thank you for joining us.

>> you're welcome. ashley: now this in sports, the female athlete of the year has been named, simone biles, she won four gold medals in the rio games. she beat out fellow olympian swimmer katie ledecky, serena williams coming in third. i want to get back to that headline though in "the new york times," trump's health secretary pick leaves the nation's doctors divided. dr. segal is back, he's fired up. he's calling it a hit piece. stay there.

ashley: president-elect trump promises he will get rid of obamacare, replace it with a plan by proposed health secretary tom price, but price has created a rift between america's doctors, at least "the new york times" says so in this headline: trump's health secretary pick leaves nation's doctors divided. now listen to what dr. marc siegel said about that earlier. >> dr. tom price, who's trump's nominee for hhs secretary, has been coming up with very concrete solutions. obamacare's costing us a trillion dollar, medicaid, he can scale back medicaid in ways with block grants that decrease the expenditure over a decade by

a trillion dollars. that's a lot of money saved. increase free choice, decrease regulation. government overreach. that's the word of the day today. ashley: that's the word of the day today. look who is back by popular demand? dr. marc siegel. you said this and you said this earlier, this is a hit piece by "the new york times." what do you mean by that? why such strong language? >> well, first of all, let's start with the fact that dr. price is in the great tradition of dr. lewis sullivan who served under bush 41 and started the morehouse school of medicine. huge accomplishments of a physician. there's been only a few physicians at hhs secretary, but sullivan is a great predecessor here of trump's nominee. now, why i'm calling this a hit piece, ashley, is because the ama, the american medical association, 235,000 members, one of whom dr. price is a delegate, guess what? they were for obamacare, and i came on this show many times and criticized femme there are that. they're a huge -- criticized

them for that. they have now come out and given very strong support to dr. price. that's the headline. so why is "the new york times" saying that the doctors are divided when the ama, who has every reason not to support price, gives him a strong endorsement? they give as an example 5,000 physicians who circulate a petition, but maybe they haven't done their math properly. how does 5,000 compare to 235,000? and why would a physician not support dr. price -- ashley: that was my next question. >> right. dr. price wants medical malpractice reform. ashley: right. >> we all love that. he wants less regulation in the doctor's office, we all love that. ashley: who are the 5,000 that don't? >> probably those that are receiving salaries from an obamacare-related activity. ashley: i see, right. >> you know are, obamacare never, never, never focused on the physician shortage, it never focused on -- ashley: right, which is chronic. >> right, croppic. never -- croppic.

never focused on malpractice and never focused on our problem with not being paid. ashley: right. >> so doctors out there, i ask you, i think you would support this nominee. we want a doctor in at hhs. ashley: we do. >> and a legislator who's done a lot on health reform. ashley: how easy will it be for the trump administration and mr. price to get these kinds of reforms through? >> well, as i said previous, i think getting obamacare repealed is going to be easy, as your previous guest said. you can do it through the same budget reconciliation process that got it passed. you don't need 60 senators. you're going to have to replace it piece by piece, and i think that's how it's going to be done. once it's repealed, the next stop will be let's keep pre-existing conditions, but let's create high risk pools, let's make all premiums tax deductible, let's expand health savings accounts, do medicaid block grants, let's keep the medicaid expansion, but let's make it more efficient. so piece by piece over a couple of years.

ashley: dr. marc siegel fired up. >> price is the man! ashley: you are fired up. thank you very much. appreciate it. all right, now this. merry christmas, the buffalo bills firing head coach rex ryan after nearly two seasons. offensive coordinator anthony link will take over -- lynn will take over for the final game of the season this sunday. ryan ended up with a 15-16 record with the team. stay there, we're not quite done yet. we're keeping an eye on dow 20,000. we'll be right back.

.. ashley: starting to slip away. now 45 points away from 20,000. maybe we jinxed it. would've been too lazy to do it today, first day back after the christmas holiday. friday, 348.

neil: talk about trying to time the market. >> 20,000 minus 19954. ashley: nice tie. i can do math. you are going to be back. connell mcshane and for neil cavuto today. you'll be lucky to get 20,000 you never know. connell: very disappointing, actually. and i blame you for it. the dow 20,000 american dollar to stop shop on "cavuto: coast-to-coast" up by 21 points. last week at one point during the 13 points of the magical dow 20 k. if it is bad. 19,955. some sort of the milestone out of the way. the longer period of time this last week we've been watching it seems like on a tick tick basis that they can pass this number. what