quick final thoughts? >> thank you, mike, i know i can do a face mask. >> thank you so much. ompany" begins right. now. start, take it away. stuart: i'll take it. and politics and money, that's what we do. here are the headlines. politics, keystone kops, money, stocks going way up. how about that? good wednesday morning, everyone. before the election, donald trump, jr. met a russian lawyer who promised dirt on hillary. now, he tells sean hannity, in retrospect, i probably would have done something. the left thinks it's the end of the trump presidency, treason sans tim kaine. a great day for democrats says charles schumer. and republicans worry it's a distraction, another way to block the trump growth program.

and investors totally shrugging it off. especially when news came after a possible deal on taxes. look at this, the dow will open way up about a half hour from % know you and that will put it about what, 100 points, roughly 100 points away from the roughly all-time high. janet yellen had something to do with the rally. now look at this, too, amazon, the prime day sale ended early this morning on pace for a billion dollars worth of sales in 30 hours. the echo speaker, one of the top sellers, along with dna tests. the stock will open above $1,000 a share. all the big tech names on the way up again. and especially facebook. keep an eye there, close to a record high. all of them on the upside. so there you have it. a political mess. and a wall street rally, oh, we've seen this before. "varney & company" about to begin. ♪

>> in retrospect, i probably would have done things different. again, this is before the russia mania and building it up in the press. for me it was opposition research, they had something, maybe concrete evidence to the stories i'd been hearing about, probably underreported for years and not just the campaign so i want today hear it out. really, it went nowhere and it was apparent that wasn't what the meeting was actually about. stuart: you heard him. that was donald, jr. on hannity. we'll have more on the program. check out the stock market, please, wednesday morning, going straight up at least 100 points at the opening bel&. janet yellen is going to testify in the next hour, we know what she's going to say. she's going to say that the federal reserve will start to sell its reserve of stocks and bonds and the market will ep 0

up on that news and that's fráz janet yellen. now look at oil. the saudis cutting exports. we will get the latest read on how much oil is in storage in the next hour. meanwhile, oil is up nearly $1 a barrel. reaching 45.93. the 10-year treasury yield an important indicator. down, that's interesting. all right, amazon, that's the stock of the day again. the prime day sale expect today hit a new record of maybe a billion dollars in those 30 hours. that would represent a jump of, well, close to 40% over last year. we haven't got the final numbers yet, but when they come in, it's going to be a record. well, another distraction for the president and the former trump junior's e-mails. joining us is senator barrasso from wyoming. mr. senator, the left thinks they've got you on the run. your response? >> well, there's a bipartisan

committee that's working, a select committee on intelligence to look at the whole issueç of russian interference in the election. we know they interfered in the election in the united states and also in england, also in france, also in germany and we know what putin is, he's a thug, he's obviously very cunning, opportunistic, aggressive. we're going to get to the bottom of this. the american people deserve answers and i'll tell you they'll find them. there's a special council for the election and russian involvement. stuart: we hear there is a possible deal with taxes, taxes on wealthy individuals on obamacare stay and taxes for business and others cut. and we hear this is a possibility. how about you? >> well, we need to do tax reform, that's one of the number of thingj that are very important. to me, it's about lower rates

and a simpler program, and that's w$at we need to do with tax reform. the health care bill is next up. you're right, we remove the taxes in the health care proposal and that actually contribute to the increasing cost of insurance. that's what people are worried about, the higher costs and we need to get the premiums down. stuart: senator, we hear from a freedom caucus member, a house member who says, okay, we can live with the taxes on wealthy people within obamacare, keep them, so long as you kid taxes at the federal level for individuals and businesses. that's the makings of a deal, isn't it? >> it certainly is. the question, if you keep those taxes, as you talked about in the health care law, how is that money used? i look at this whole thing, i mean the federal government spends much too much money on everything across the board. there are a number of us that would like to eliminate all t$e

taxes. if you don't eliminate some of those of obamacare, you use some of that for the deficit and debt. discussion. rt of the right now, the focus for me is actually getting rid of obamacare, replacing it with something that works better. that's what i wanted to do when i was a doctor, not just go back to the old ways, but to kind a better system for the american people in terms of the cost, in terms of the availability of insurance. so people can get the care they need from a doctor they choose at lower costs. that's what we're focused on right now. that we do both. t's important there's an urgency about both and i'm committed to doing both. stuart: okay. senator barrasso, look, thank you for taking time out, a very busy day on your position. >> thanks for having me. stuart: i want to bring in former reagan economy art

laffer. i was going to talk to you about cutting taxes and health care, et cetera, et cetera, and now i want to talk to you about what's going on on wall street at this moment. dow futures show a gain of 100 points at the opening bell, because we hear janet yellen will unwind the bond holdings at the federal reserve and the market apparently likes that. do you like this idea? >> yeah, i like it very much. they never should have done quantitative ease, one, two or three or operation twist. and all the unwinding will make it better than it had been. she's doing the right thing and it should be bullish nor the u.s. >> interest rates that are very, very low are bad for the economy. "tq' you have a robust economy, interest rates reflect the rate of return on a unit capital over the time period of the instruments. you can't have low returns and a good economy. and so therefore interest rates "táhe future prospects of a

better economy. stuart: let me ask you about this possible deal. high taxes on wealthy people stay within obamacare, taxes and tax rates are cut for wealthier people and businesses under tax reform. that's the makings of a deal. are you in it? >> you know, deals are deals in congress. obviously, the 3.8% tax that is included in obamacare and the .9% add on forever is, they are the two worst taxes in obamacare p'd they are now saying they're going to keep those to pay for the other stuff. you know, if that's what it takes áo get a deal. that's what it takes. thank god i'm not in politics, i hate that stuff. but if that's what it takes. it's wrong because-- >> but anything is better than nothing. >> look, i'm with you, stuart. it disgusts me to the core of my being. the 3.8% if you removed it you'd collect a lot more revenues than you would keeping that tax, but not according to

the stupid paid for static accounting model that these yahoos have. they think it's a good pay for, but pushed me to the wall. stuart: we'll come back with you when the market opens. how big of a rally would we have if we had a deal cutting taxes. i'll ask that question at 9:30. >> et cete it's a deal. stuart: we have bernie sanders critical of the republicans health reform bill. liz: he says that o[e than died in 9)s&ip &h(lc% stuart: he linked that to 9/11? >> by the way, he's using studies that p)e not set in stone. equating policv changes to the country's deadliest attack 9/11, on our shores, absent

pearl harbor. he didn't ask how people in d.c., washington and pennsylvania asked about the comparison. the second thing he used an outdated harvard 2014 study to use those numbers to talk about the recent senate g.o.p. bill and overstated the number of people who supposedly would die under it. stuart: the bottom line, it's the extended language like tim kaine and treason. >> the va-ig, hundreds of vets they found stalled records and they've passed away, waiting for the va. stuart: he wants single payer. liz: he wants single payer, but this is out of control. stuart: we expect some fireworks when the president's nominee for fbi director testifies later. question, will the democrats make this all about russia,

russia, russia? and it looks like yes. amazon big sales numbers from prime day, not official, speculative, but big numbers nonetheless. we're on it.

>> it's wednesday morning and you're going to see a rally when that market opens 15 minutes from now. we're looking at at least 100 point gain. nice gain for the nasdaq and also the s&p 500. more on at that in a moment. do look at facebook. that stock's very close to record territory. it's at 156. that's premarket. i think this is a record for the stock. maybe intraday or whatever, but, look it, 156 on facebook. here is the story. it plans to build a socip& housing village in silicon valley, ashley. ashley: yes, by 2021, 640,000 jobs have been created in the silicon valley in the last ten

years, but there's no housing to meet that flood of people coming in. so they're going to build the facebook homes and apartments, quite pricery. only 15% will be below what "t(rice. they're available to facebook employees. i'm going to say they're going to be in place by 2021. they say this is a step necessary becauseç there's jus no housing. stuart: i don't think that's why the stock is up. ashley: it's interesting. stuart: company-run housing for company employees. what was that song? i sold my store to the company store? >> sounds like johnny cash. >> we're going to open up on facebook and opening up on the dow jones industrial average. let me give you a little more on why the market is going to open so strongly. maybe investors think there is nothing to do with the president's growth agenda. this, the donald trump, jr.'s e-mail chain.

maybe the market thinks there's nothing in that, which will unseat the presr"ency. but, more important is what janet yellen is going to say around 10:00 eastern time this morning. she's going to savthey're going to unwind their huge holdings of bonds, that means they're going to sell them. that should probably raise interest rates and that she also says they'll be raising interest rates gradually and that will continue. investigators seem to love it. we're going to be up close to 100 points at 21,465. up about 100 points. president trump, here is another factor, reportedly, unlikely to nominate federal reserve chair janet yellen to another term. now we're hearing the national economic council gary cohn is the president's candidate to replace her. liz: this comes from politico. if this is true, it will be the "t#ederal reserve since the '70. and gary cohn was spearheading the efforts to sea)ch for janet

yellen's replacement. it's kind of like dick cheney was looking for vice-president for president bush and he became the vice-president. stuart: gary cohn as fed chair, it sounds like good news for investors. >> it's controversial because he's a long-time democrat and part of the swamp some people think was supposed to be cleared. the big knock against him he doesn't have a ph.d. in i think he will run into resistance and conservatives will not be happy. stuart: got to go to a break.

do you know what it is, if i keep going, i'm going to tell you the dow is going to open up 90 points and we'll be back. your insurance company

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and a member of the senate judiciary committee. senator, i suspect this is all going to be about russia, russia, russia, am i right? >> probably, unfortunately. i hope it will be more about mr. ray's qualifications. i can tell you, i've spent a long time last night looking at his record. i can tell you what i want in a new fbi director. i've used this expression before, but i think it's appropriate. i want an apolitical cross between socrates and dirty harry. [laughter] >> i want a director, this is socrates part, who has a little wisdom, who understands the maáár+e power of the fbi and will use it in a fair manner. at t at the same time i want somebody as tough as a $3 steak. someone who is willing, when he figures out who the bad guys

are he will if after them doesn't care what their politics are. and i'm not saying that that ideal doesn't exist, but i'd like to be close to it. the past two years, the fbi, no-fault to the rank and file has become politicized and not good for the people. they need to be confident in the fbi. stuart: you have a way with words, but another question. the donald trump, jr. trump distraction, is that going to get in the way of tax and health reform? it looks like it will. what do you say? >> well, it does. i mean, it's all the-- i'm not saying that it's not an issue, because it clearly is. but that's all the press wants to talk about.

it's a circus without a tent. i understand why some members of the media want to report it. and understand market share and all of that. gosh, i think that health care and tax reform and the budget and precipitations of the national flood insurance bill and they're at least as important as who the president son met with. i'm not saying we shouldn't investigate, we should, but it's not the only issue out there. i can tell you one thing, when american moms and dads lie down at night and worry, they're not worried about this, they're worried about health care, jobs and retirement. we hope to hear a lot more from

you later on today. senator from louisiana. appreciate it. stuart: okay, so there was some speculation that verizon would take over disney and buy it. that's been scotched. not going to happen. liz: this is a dopey idea, okay? and here is why. verizon's market value is 173 billion to buy disney according to wells fargo they'd have to pay a premium. verizon took a boatload of debt with the vodafone deal, they're working through. i think it'd be better to hook up with comcast. ashley: don't be grumpy, apparently. liz: i should be happy after prime day. stuart: liz never holds back,

is that clear? never holds back. lr-: forgive me. stuart: we'll take a break and then to wall street where you'll see a rally. you're going to like it. back in a moment.

>> it's beginning right now

the senate holding a confirmation hearing of christopher raye as next fbi director. you're@tájjt to see a rally from the get-go. three, two, one, it's 9:30, we're off. 78 points, 80, 82 points. ashley: 90. stuart: it's a rally, modest-- that's not modest at all. liz: it's a good rally. stuart: thank you. we have 26 of the dow 30 in the green. that means they're u(. we're almost 90 points, 21,500 we just hit it and we're what, about 50 points away from the all-time high. could have an intraday high today. >> the price of oil is way up this morning. $1 higher and the saudis will

cut oil to the lowest levels this year. treasury 2.31%, that is down from yesterday. very interesting. all right, amazon, maybe the stock o# the day, certainly the week, $1001 per share, likely generated close to a billion dollars in sales in the prime day sale. a lot more on that coming up. we'll get back to it shortly. i want to tell you who we've got on the panel. a loaded screen. that's okay. ashley webster. dr barton, all of them this wednesday morning. õwhat do we have? 106 point rally. i like it. art laffer, here is the question i promise to ask when the market opens, it's this. how much higher would we be going if we were to announce or congress announces they're going to have a deal cutting taxes? >> i think a lot higher.

i'm breaking myç arm patting myself on the back. we've been going through a long period, stuart, and we've been doing on the show. it's not at its peak. we have a long way to go because we've done run down so far. a tax cut dropping the rate to 15% would send this economy and this stock market to the moon. and it's going to happen, stuart. it may noá happen this year, but it's going to happen in the next six, seven years. stuart: dr barton, if we get this on obamacare and taxes, how high would we go? >> i find myself agreeing with art t$is time. we have a lot more upside to go. we've had a lot of broad participation in this rally as we've moved up. we had the tech stocks pull back and now they're playing catch up and again, so what i see is with that tax reform, if

we can get off the potential things with trump, trump, jr. and get people focused back on that, i think we'll see more upside. yellen's dovish comments this morning certainly helped as well, stuart. stuart: look on the left-hand side of the screen is facebook. liz peek, don't want to leave you out on this. if we get a reform on taxes and obamacare. >> clearly the market is going higher if we get that. the amazing news, the market continues to move up with all of these distractions and with congress appearing to be completely log-jammed, et cetera, et cetera. i think we'll see progress and i think that will be monumental for the stock market. stuart: monumental, nice word. >> i do. all of this, investors want to see progress. i think we will. i think there's too much negativity where we are right now. stuart: right now we're up 116 points.

21,525. an't do the math in my head, but we're close to an all-time high. ashley: we are. stuart: i want to bring in more on amazon. ashley, did you buy anything? >> i did''t. >> i didn't either. liz: i was looking for the electronic spatula and i couldn't find it. >> i didn't, but here is the thing. what's so smart about prime dale, it's not about sales, it's about lining up more prime members and prime members tend to spend tice as much as other people on amazon, so it's huge fju them. stuart: i just want to bring this in. my producer said this in my ears. amazon prime members bought seven times more echo, did you say. ashley: that's right, echo devices. stuart: seven times more echo devices than the previous years. ashley: last year. stuart: seven times more. liz: i both the echo dot, they should call it dotty, not

alexa. >> that's the move. >> it's not about the sales on prime day, more prime members, more prime members ordering more easily. i mean, it's an unbelievably winning formula and genius, it's general genius marketing. stuart: dr barton, would you buy. >> i like buying it on a pullback, not when it's making-- touching new all-time highs. i think for the next year, two years, three years, you've got to have it in your portfolio. i was all over it yesterday, stuart. quiqiñ art laffer, is amazon the most powerful company in america? >> i thought it was obsession with brazil to be honest with you [laughter] >> it's an amazing company and something i admire enormously, stuart. it's part and parcel of the

process of making america great again. i love amazon. stuart: don't fo)get amazon's $igh is 1,017. it's at 1,003. liz: should have bought the dip yesterday. stuart: visa will pay to u(grade payment equipment only if the restaurant stopj accepting cash. ashley: it's part of their campaign to push cash out of business. i mean, clearly they don't want-- if you're a rurnt a' or a business that wants to take on this visa upgrade, they'll spend $10,000 on the upgrade, they will, the deal is you can't accept cash. >> how do they check on that? >> how do they check that. ashley: they look aá if you have anything that would deal with cash. the journey to cashless.

>> it excludes a lot of people. stuart: sure does. >> who may not have a perfect credit rating or perfect credit card. i think that's a weird-- >> i like to pay in cash. >> it is weird. stuart: it's weird. the dow-- >> what are you laughing at? >> and the dow is up 126 points. 21,535 as we speak. now, recent ipo's trading near or belowç their offering price take a look at snap, at $15 a share. no comeback from yesterday's drop, really. blue apron, a little further art laffer, doesn't seem to me like a very good time for companies to go public. >> oh, i think it's getting close to the right time for them to go public. and here is a long-term bull market. if they need a good market to come public in, if they don't

it's not a time to cash out, õstuart. stuart: i'm waiting for uber, because i think that's a disruptive company. >> it's amazing, isn't that company, just amazing. of it and a lot of small iece investors want to own a piece of it and i'd like the opp'eueáu+ip &h(lc% >> he have this' got the new company that does snacks and stuff now inside uber and lyft and the others. this is just the cottage industry growing like mad. stuart: you love it, don't you, art? you love it. >> i do. stuart: the saudis say this'll cut oil exports in august to the lowest level of the year, now $46 a barrel, up $1. what do you say, liz. liz: the u.s. could be displacing kuwait and nigeria as one of the biggest oil exporters, they could hit the top ten ranking there, so, you know, this is the oil and gas revolution in the united states that donald trump has hastened with keystone and that's giving a lot of odds on iran and

russia. stuart: how much oil and gas we use. that could look at the price. >> liz. >> the u.s. rig count has that's saudi arabia's problem and the u.s. technology has figured out how to lower costs. stuart: the technology. >> and even they've been rolled down, and there's incremental demand and demand is growing. and things are going up. stuart: you can take oil out of the base in texas. liz: and it's sweet oil. sáuart: and to 46 as we speak. that's a profit margin we can live with, keep producer.

>> that's exactly right. stuart: tesla says it's going to roll out 350 additional service bans to offer

i think it's going to be bull for the economy. stuart: it's been a long time since i've seen the market go up and-- >> it should be. the tips field is the return on a unit of capital over the period of the instrument. without a 4% or 3% tips yield, you cannot have a bull market. stuart: dr barton, am i right in saying had a large part of this rally is because of janet yellen and the federal reserve. stuart: you're right and there's a nuance, because for three hawkins company, remarkable relief and they're dovish.

they say they're going to do exactly what you mentioned, they're going to start unwinding at that balance sheet and push it off into the future. and that's what got the market excited not the fact that they're going to do the unwinding, like art says. stuart: she says she's going to say in about 18 minutqár time, they'll shrink the balance sheet appreciably eventually. "t carbon emissions, eventually. we've heard this language before. stuart: if she said i'm selling down fast they would go down. >> yes, the bond market is tricky now. jamie dimon was talking yesterday in europe how disruptive this could be. i don't think that people know when toç expect it's uncertain. >> is this also a plus for the

market? we hear that the national an economic director gary coulden is the president's top pick to replace yelle as chair to the fed. what's your thoughts on that? he is a democrat. >> i think that ga)y cohn is >> i get into work this morning early, russia, russia, russia, "onald trump, jr. and e-mails and lawyers.

you would have thought the mp)ket would go down. no, we had a huge rally on the back of the fed and amazon. >> and the back of russiptoo. it doesn't matter, the economy, as james said, it's the econááey stupid. >> and congress is staying in place. stuart: art, art. thank you toñyou all. an active day. the dow 21, 538. read that banner, dow highs, inches away from a record high. we brought you a story earlier, fox business getting verizon's ceo on camera, saying, no, it's not going to buy disney. roll tape. we don't have it, but. ashley: well, okay. stuart: the ceo-- charlie gasparino, our own fbn

guy, he is in sun valley with the rest of the millionaires and asked are you going to buy disney? and he said no. watch this. >> it's not going to happen? >> no, not going to make a move tore it, even to take it over? it was a rotten deal anyway. >> they would have to take on according to wells fargo, a 190 billion dollar deal and you got it from him, charlie, you're in sun valley, you got it directly. he's not going to buy disney. >> i'm here with my fellow billionaires, i like the way you toss to me like i'm a billionaire. in any event, coming from a billionaire, that's a great compliment. that's my producer who basically put the question to limb. and here is the thing. this deal, it's speculated it's definitely going to happen. and disney has the pipe and

distribution. some talk that it might not happen, but you saw a moment ago there, the ceo of verizon. i think it's explicit, he put the stake to the heart in the deal. i was hear when they talked about newáh(j warner. that didn't happen, but time warner was essentially in play during the time i was here. disney, i think it's fair to say, this is where it gets interesting, is probably in play for someone with distribution right now. so, if verizon might not be the vehicle, but someone else might be the vehicle, and by the way, now it's not just pure cable plays out there, google could theoretically buy disney. technology companies have cash-- apple could buy it.

they have everything out there. and if you've got content, guess what, your play. it's not verizon, he put the stick to the heart of that deal. i will tell you if you think that disney is not going to be sold, i think time warner was sold and i think that disney will be. >> you're right. the big tech companies, it's chump change, from apple to disney flat-out. you're right, may be. let's go to amazon, prime day with the biggest single sales day in its history. our next guest was the u.s. ceo of wal-mart. that would be the ceo of wal-mart usa. bill simon is with usment welcome back. >> hi, how are you doing? >> we heard that amazon is so big that it's going to draw a political response to rein is in and i think you believe that

amazon could be guilty of predatory pricing and could be taken on anti-trust grounds? >> i think if you look back, look at wal-mart, for example, and 2000 wal-mart was the company of theç millennium and could go no wrong. now they're start to go come under scrutiny for some of their labor and hiring practices and you know, it's admittedly-- well not admittedly, but well-known that they've got some difficulties with a difficult place to work. you're starting to see people campaign about the way they price and scrape prices across so i think it's possible given their practices, they're going to start in face increasing pressure. stuart: wal-mart is coming back

nicely against amazon. you have agot your own on-line operations. you've got the pickup line. you go on-line and place your

i think the reason that amazon will continue on that bath. it rewards, i'm going to make money, and grow the top line into a phenomenal rate. thev might come under more scrutiny. stuart: you make a lot of enemies when you're disrupting. >> this is the high for the day on the market. up 150 points now, 28 of the dow 30. 29 of the dow 30 are in the green. i can't quit-- apple is down and j.(. morgan is down. 28 up, a couple of dicey. comedian david letterman gets political. wait until you hear what he's saying about president trump. he's next.

>> well, this is kind of extraordinary, we're up 145 points, record territory all the way around. this on the day when russia, russia, russia was supposed to be all the negative news you could possibly get and look what we've got, record territory. same story with facebook. that's at an all-time high. hit it earlier and now it's at lm that, i believe, is the

all-time high. also, happening now, of little interest to the market, fbi director nominee, the hearing is going on. senator dianne feinstein õissuing an opening statement. mr. raye in the hot seat this if there's any fireworks you'll see them. now this, david letterman slammed president trump to the associated press. i'll give you the quote. if the guy, trump, was running a dairy queen he'd be gone. this guy couldn't work at the gap. why do we have to be victimized by his fecklessness and ignorance. liz peek. >> well, the answer is because he's our dually elected president and time that more people like david letterman grew up and decided the way to oppose donald trump is the next time there's a presidential election. if they want to get rid of it, that's when it should happen. and frankly, why we give a comedian enormous gravitas

talking to our president, but if we have to listen to him, õthat's the answer. stuart: i'd like to hear i >> they didn't have any. we didn't hear any in the last election and that's why donald trump is our president. stuart: you end up with personal attacks. i think turns a lot of people offment they do. stuart: obamacare taxes on t$e rich stay in, federal tax rates for individuals and businesses go down, that is the nature of a proposed deal that we're hearing about. my take on that next. i had frequent heartburn, but my doctor recommended...

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obama care taxes on wealthy stay. federal taxes fors businesses cut. is this the deal that gets us to health care reform and tax reform? our colleague neil cavuto pried that out of a conservative house member, repeat a conservative house member, okay with obamacare taxes as long as other side of the coin gets tax cuts. there is give-and-take. sounds somewhat promising. there is.

doing nothing is political suicide and highly irresponsible to boot. democrats have been given more ammunition with the latest, russia, russia developments. that may too encourage gop unity and republicans fail now, and democrat talk treason they will sink their own party and trump presidency. surely they don't want that. let me take you back to yesterday for a moment, when trump, jr., email story first broke. the market sold off very quickly. later in the day after neil laid out a possible tax deal stocks rallied and erased earlier loss. investors are very good indicator, investors are good indicate tore what would happen. if they believed end of trump presidency was upon us, there would be no market recovery and market would not be up again today. the dow would not be close to a record high as it is. watch this tax deal talk very

closely. perversely, donald, jr.,'s emails may have you put energy into trump senior's growth plan. second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ stuart: read this and smile. listeners, listen to this, and guffaw. the dow -- laugh, okay, laugh. out loud. lol. no buzzer for you. no buzzer for me. 21,561. we're in record territory, ladies and gentlemen. astonishing ain't it? facebook all-time high earlier today, right now, has not been at 157 before. it is there right now. it is up, almost two bucks. how about amazon, prime day. biggest sales day in amazon

history. it moved above $1000 a share again. 1017 is the all-time high. it is pretty close. how about the price of oil? the latest read how much we've pot in storage comes in 30 minutes. that could affect the price. right now the price is moving because the saudis have promised a cut of august exports way down. that reduces supply. therefore price up a buck as we speak. let's get back to the confirmation hearings for fbi director nominee christopher ray fox news contributor, gregg jarrett is with us now. as recovering lawyer -- >> you love to bring that up. we all make mistakes. stuart: yes, we do. what are the democrats throwing at christopher ray next hour? >> will you be independent to the white house. will you pledge allegiance to loyalty oath. they will try to use ray as

vehicle to go after president trump. will you go where the evidence take you. ensure whistle-blowers in the fbi will beç protected. they want assurances. stuart: i wonder if whistle-blower in the fbi should be protected, otherwise known as leakers. that is just my idea. give the picture of russia, russia stories. give big picture, please, is there anybody there, there? >> absolutely. tim kaine senator from virginia says it is treason. it is not. you have to be in a time of war. that doesn't apply. you have to have collusion. there is collusion statute of a government function, that is.

finally, it is not a violation of the campaign election laws because foreign nationals are specifically allowed to volunteer their services on political campaigns. it is not considered to be a donation. so, i have run through all of the possibilities here. no law is broken by donald trump, jr., or anybody else that i can see. stuart: as recovering lawyer you make a president good lawyer, i got to say. thank you, gregg jarrett. >> i had to drag that out of you. stuart: more to come. stay there. i want to get back to the pop agenda on capitol hill. listen to what congressman mark meadows had to say about a potential deal that could lead to h alth reform and tax reform. oh. roll that tape. >> even if you left that in as a potential pay-for on the repeal and replacement we have tax reform on the back side of that. we know that lower taxes stimulate the economy. >> you would be open to that as part of a moons getting to the tax thing? >> the devil is in the details.

our official position is to repeal all of the taxes. at the same time i want to make sure before i weigh in on anything that i look at both the tradeoffs. stuart: well, neil pried it out of him. look who is here, governor huckabee, former government of arkansas. welcome back to the program. what is your reaction to what sound like making of a deal? keep tax on wealthy in obamacare, repeal the rest. lower taxes at federal level for individuals and businesses, a deal. what say you? >> well, if they truly lower the taxes on businesses and cut that corporate tax rate to 15, that would be magnificent. but you know, i tell you, every time i hear these kind of deals i think we're being played again. the biggest problem that i don't think the people in washington still see is that they're trying to fix something at the national, federal level and they can not do it. they should quit trying to do it. they need to repeal obamacare, take all of the money in

medicaid and grants to the states, give it back to the states, say, obamacare is repealed. here's the money. you figure out how to do it for your state, your population. and i guarranty you, stuart, there will be a much better solution than anything that these 535 twice are going to come up with. stuart: let me get you, let me put the question. would you rather have something rather than nothing? would you? >> if the something is better, sure. but i'm not sure that what they're talking about actually solves the problem. so they're not even talking about health care. they're talking about health insurance. that is what obamacare was. it is health insurance. it is not health care. they can not spend enough money to ever get this dog to catch his tail, and that's why i think whatever they're doing right now is still destined for ultimate failure because, they're talking about, let's figure out how to put some money and create an insurance program, when the problem is that the overwhelming

cost of chronic disease is escalating beyond any amount of money any that they can put it in it. if they don't address that, i'm sorry if they don't dress that stu, they are not going to fix it. stuart: do not kill the wall street rally, governor. not on this program, please. another one for you, president trump tweeting about donald trump, jr.'s meeting with a russian lawyer and how his son is handling criticism. my son donald did a good job last night. he was on "hannity" by the way. he was open and transparent. this is the greatest witch-hunt in political history. governor, looks like it is a distraction from the president's growth agenda. what say you? >> it's a distraction. that is from the democrats and media, i repeat myself, why they keep repeating, all they got. they have got nothing. they can't say the economy is going south with donald trump because it is doing better. they can't say we're in a big

mess internationally because actually we're doing better. there are thing that have vastly improved. what have they got? they have got the one thing press keeps salivates over and russia. here is my question for the press, stu, why is it that they are more concerned about the emails that donald trump, jr., released openly than they are about the 33,000 emails that hillary deleted? stuart: governor, interrupt you. going to christopher wray, taking oath as we speak. >> whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you god? >> i do. >> thank you very much. i think, more or less introduced you in my opening comments. so i think now, whatever timeç you take for the usual thing for a statement but also cite usual in this committee, that any introductions you want to make you can appropriately make those. that is your decision. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

mr. chairman, senator feinstein, members of the committee, thank you for the privilege of appooring before you today. also want to thank senator nunn for that really very kind introduction. there is no way i could contemplate undertaking an endeavor like this without the love and support of my family. with me here today is my wife helen, both of our kids, caroline and tripp. my parents, gilda and cecilway. my niece maggie, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law jason and two of their children, a meal yaw and clark. a commitment like this affects the whole family. i have no words to adequately express my gratitude to all of them. i'm honored by the president to be nominated to lead the fbi and i'm humbled by the prospect of working alongside the

outstanding men and women of the bureau. time and time again often when the stakes are highest, they have proven their unshakable commitment to protecting americans, upholding our constitution and our laws, and demonstrating the virtues of the fbi motto, fidelity, bravery, and integrity. former attorney general and judge griffin bell who you heard senator nunn invoke several times and who i had the great pleasure to work with quite a bit early in my career often used to say that it is amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit. i think in my experience the men and women of the fbi demonstrate the limitless potential of that saying day after day, in the way they tackle the mission. while the fbi has justly earned its reputation as the finest law

enforcement agency in the world, its special agents, analysts and support staff more often than not operate largely out of public view. they toil at great risk to themselves and at great sacrifice by their families but they happily defer individual recognition because they believe that the principles they serve are much larger than themselves. i feel very fortunate to have been able to witness that kind of selfless and inspiring commitment first-hand throughout my career in public service. as a line prosecutor i learned a great deal from working with brave fbi agents on everything from bank robberies to public corruption, from kidnapping to financial fraud. those agents are my friends to this day and they taught me a

lot about what it means to i play it straight and to follow the facts wherever they may lead. i continued my career in public service in the summer of 2001 by moving to washington, to work at the justice department with my friend and mentor then, deputy attorney general larry thompson who you also heard senator nunn reference. after 9/11 i witnessed again first-hand the fbi's extraordinary capabilities as the people there worked around the chock and moved heaven and earth to insure horrific attacks like those that occurred on september 11th never happened again. i know from up close, and i sleep better because i know, that the horror of 9/11 has never faded from the fbi's collective memory. the bureau has never grown complacent and continues to work tirelessly every day to protect all americans. as head of the justice

department's criminal division, i again saw countless examples of the fbi's unflagging pursuit of justice, free and independent of any favor or influence, from counterterrorism and counterespionage, to the then rapidly escalating threat of cybercrime, from human trafficking to public corruption and financial fraud, i worked with and learned from the machine and women of the fbi who put it all on the line to make our streets safer and our lives better. if i am given the honor of leading this agency, i will never allow the fbi's work to be driven by anything other than the facts, the law, and the impartial pursuit of justice, period, full stop. my loyalty is to the constitution, and to the rule of

law. those have been my guideposts throughout my career and i will continue to adhere to them no matter the test. thereç is no doubt that as this committee knows that our country faces grave threats as lots of other people have noticed, america's law enforcement and intelligence agencies have essentially to pitch a perfect game every day, while those who would inflict harm on just have to hit once to advance their aims. i consider the fbi as director's most important duty to insure that nothing distracts the selfless patriots at the fbi from the mission. in conclusion i pledge to be the leader that the fbi deserves, and to lead an independent bureau that will make every american proud. thank you, mr. chairman, senator feinstein. i look forward to answering the committee's questions.

>> before my first 10 minute -- stuart: there you have it, the opening statement from christopher wray who may well be the next fbi director. while he was talking the stock market held on to his enormous rally. it was up 150 points on the dow when i started. it is up 151 as he finishes. he will now be taking questions from republicans and democrats on the judiciary committee. when there is any fireworks we'll get there but my colleague gregg jarrett is with me, listening to mr. wray's opening statement. no fireworks there, nothing dramatic, nothing at all? >> no, pretty much milquetoast stuff, as i say, they will try, democrat on this committee will try couple things. they will ask him very serious questions why didn't you stop abuses at abu ghraib, enhanced interrogation technique. you found out about it early at department of justice. why didn't you stand against those abuses. so that very specifically, but

broadly they're going to go after him and say what if president trump comes to you and says, i want you to stop this particular investigation, what will you do? and i would expect him to say, you know -- stuart: can't answer question, hypothetical? >> no, he will say i act independently. i follow the evidence where it goes. i will not be influenced by anybody. that is what he is going to stay, mr.way's opening statement had no impact on market or relevance on the market whatsoever. it is over. market continues the rally. on capitol hill, janet yellen is testifying and that has moved market. janet yellen is the chair of federal reserve, she said in her opening statement she saw beforehand, she said we are going to unwind our huge position in bonds. that means she is going to sell those bonds, $4 trillion worth, but will sell them on a very

gradual basis, maybe starting this year, but certainly, tending well into next year. in other words, interest rates are not going to go up dramatically because of what janet yellen is going to do at the fed ral reserve. so she has moved the market. christopher wray did not. i want to get back to amazon. there is a story for you. prime day was the biggest sales day in its history so we hear. can you break some details, ash? ashley: this is interesting. only started three years ago, prime day are on amazon, to celebrate their 20th an havesry, this is huge event, rivaling black friday in november or cyber monday, all of those holidays. as you say likely generated a record one billion dollars in sales. they had echo on sale 50% off he which is 90 bucks, which emac got was the dot, which is the smart speaker that was 15 bucks off at 39.99. you got a great deal. liz: thank you.

ashley: 50% off callaway golf clubs, car seats, programmable crock pots, 47%, no matter what it was, they generated a huge amount of sales. more importantly they got prime members. adds to the market share. gets them into the amazon ecosystem, especially buying the echo and the dot, all of sudden you become a member of amazon land. stuart: you know what somebody bought for me? dna test. liz: show you're not british. going to show you're not british. stuart: i'm american. shall we move on? my next guest, a very important guy. hopes to unseat elizabeth warren in the senate in 2018. i have to get this name right. >> sheva, imagine saying i adore

you. stuart: you invented email. >> i invented it as 14-year-old kid in newark, new jersey, across the river when i was 14. on those days people used large mainframe computers. i had come from india, 7-year-old kid as immigrant. had great opportunity to go through the public school systems, finished calculus by ninth grade and went to nyu in special computer program. i was not just a nerd. i played baseball, soccer. it was american experience i went through. i was very fortunate and i love this country. stuart: i do too. recent immigrant, citizen that is. why have youç taken aim at senator elizabeth warren in the state of massachusetts? you can stand for the senate anywhere you like. you could do that. why massachusetts. why elizabeth warren? >> stuart i've been in massachusetts since eight sy one. since i was a 17-year-old kid. it is my backyard -- '81.

i went through education. started seven different companies. when i saw donald trump win. i felt this was call frankly for new american revolution. people like scientists, engineers, people that work for a living should participate in government, which i think ideal of our founders. i feel very fortunate to go against elizabeth warren. if you think about it, massachusetts is really center, belly of the beast where the academic elites exist. they think they know better. the reality is, most of these elites no little. they haven't had to start businesses create jobs. and i think it is time that we get rid of these lawyer lobbyists what elizabeth warren represents. stuart: that is very good. elizabeth warren stood up and said you didn't build this on your own. you needed government, you needed roads. you're going up right against that whole idea. you're going up against socialism, that is what you're doing. >> what we're saying these people are fake fighters. they pander, manipulate the masses and create fights that

basically do not exist. essentially what they want to do is create big things. if you look what she did with dodd-frank, supporting that dodd-frank essentially destroyed 1200 community banks. obamacare destroyed thousands of local doctors. and if you go back to sarbanes-oxley which the democrats supported essentially destroyed many small businesses because of regulations it put on. elizabeth warren represents not so obvious establishment. this recurrent in history where you have the establishment, which wants to keep things the way they are. people like donald trump who are change agents, then you have insidious element people like elizabeth warren, speak a good game and essentially confuse the masses to essentially funnel them back to the policies of the establishment, big business and destroy the small guy while they represent great pr. is so they are -- stuart: you will go through the primary process. you're not the republican candidate yet at this point. you have to go you there primaries. are you self-financed? i'm sure you're wealthy guy? >> here is interesting thing.

when i looked at numbers, i don't understand where a lot of this money goes. from an entrepreneurial level. so we are running our campaign as though it is an entrepreneurial business. the key is, the product is, the authenticity of the message, what we stand for. you do marketing and selling. i see a lot of career politicians raise tons of money, most of it going to consultants. a lot goes into it. v which is food but there are or the mediums now. social media, other vehicles where you can go direct. we're running this in very different way and running a very frugal type budget. stuart: you are. that is very different approach. i mean we've had social media as a factor in in elections last four or five years but it is coming on so strong. you know how to use it. that gives you a leg up i suspect. >> definitely. the technology, one of the companies i built, ecomil we created technology for analyzing email for the white house back when clinton was running it. bush campaign used us back in

2000. so i know digital media well. there is very cool things you can do with integrating digital media with off-line, what people call transmedia. when you integrate off-line and online you get much better lift. there is powerful ways to use media, technologists and media people know you do not have to throw a ton of money at a lot of this stuff. it is sort of dumb money. stuart: what is the timetable here? we like to follow your progress. >> april is the state convention. stuart: april of next year. >> april of next year. stuart: republican state convention. >> republican state convention where they actually select the nominee. september is the actual republican primary. then november, literally two months later is the general election. i'm looking forward to going against warren. i know how these elites work. i know i can defeat her. is the same process that people like elizabeth warren have done for a long time essentially to confuse people. in massachusetts, 46% of democrats have said that elizabeth warren should not run. so there is a significant

opportunity here. so for me, defeating elizabeth warren in massachusetts is driving a bigger blow at these institutions of power at belly of the beast. to support, i think, i love donald trump. i think he is doing a great job. he is my hero. and i'm very fortunate again to be part of this moment in history. stuart: i have to tell you way back, i was on with sean hannity on the night when scott brown won ted kennedy's senate seat in the state of massachusetts. that was a sensation. >> yeah. stuart: if you do the same and beat elizabeth warren, senator warren, that would be a double sensation? >> only real indian can defeat the fake indian. stuart: oh. >> i sent her a dna test kit for her birthday. i was very sad she returned it. i tweeted it out. it went viral all over the internet. the issue of real indian and fake indian. there is truth here. this is woman who checked off the box, native-american.

>> native-american. this foretells a person who is% basically a self-serving elitist. is willing to cut in line as she needs. willing to promote policies, for example, illegal immigration so others can cut in line. i came in as legal immigrant. my dad came first. we had to wait about a year. essentially disrespect for the law and disrespect for the country. these people play a very, very good game. they're essentially un-american in my position. >> i would love to see you debate her. >> i would love to see me debate her too. it's a lot of fun. >> have you asked her? >> you know, i actually sent her a request, never got a call back. reality in massachusetts there is three interesting trends right now. there are the never trumpers, the trump loyalists and another emerging group called the fake trumpers which essentially the never-trumpers are using to convince trump loyalists to

manipulate votes. that is interesting dynamic that same process is occurring in different parts of country. it is historic fight. elizabeth warren is not just running for senate. she is running to stop donald trump. that is what her website says. so i think it will be historic campaign. it will reveal a lot of very, very important contradictions that are important for the american public to hear. stuart: how is that. >> very good. excellent. stuart: stay in touches please. i want to see how you're doing. >> appreciate it, thank you. stuart: the fbi stepping up its investigation into the wife of senator bernie sanders. jane sanders accused of defruiting a bank while president of a vermont college. the fbi seized boxes of records from that school, and federal prosecutors called on state official to testify before a grand jury. what have we got on that hearing? dianne feinstein, she is asking a question. let's listen in please. >> with anyone in the white house, my only discussion on topic at awe was deputy

attorney general rosenstein making the observation to me that at the time i first was contacted about this position by him, by didty attorney general rosenstein, now special counsel mueller had been appointed to deal with that issue and that in effect made a better landscape for me to consider taking on this position. >> okay. that was it? >> that was it. >> okay. let me go now to the things that we discussed in my office. my understanding is, you served as the deputy attorney general's most senior advisor when the office of legal counsel issued the so-called torture memos in 2002, and 2003. john yu, one of the authors of those memos testified in 2008 before a house judiciary committee on june 26, that you were one of the justice

department officials who would have received drafts of the memos and those memos would not have been issued without the approval of the deputy attorney general's office. in fact, you said, he believed that you provided comments on the 2003 orc memo, which concluded interrogation tactics don't qualify as torture unless they're intended to cause kind of severe pain associated with organ failure or death. what was your role in reviewing or approving that memo or any of the other memos issued by the office of legal counsel regarding the treatment? stuart: i'm going to break away from the hearing for a moment because in 30 seconds we're going to get some very important numbers on the supply and storage of oil and gasoline. now this may sound a little technical, and to some degree it is but the price of oil and the

price of gas makes a great deal of difference to our economy and literally in 10, 15 seconds we'll get the amount of oil in storage and the amount of goose lien in storage. that may well alter the price of oil you're seeing on your screen at 46.1a barrel. it is 10:30 eastern time. we're just digesting numbers. coming across. watch the price of oil carefully of the liz the number. stuart: liz: down 7.56 million in storage. stuart: big deal. liz: almost triple the estimate. it was looking for a drawdown of 2.85 million. now a little more than doubled. 7.65 million you drawdown. the second straight drop in the last five weeks. stuart: that is oil. have you looked through the numbers to see gasoline? liz: get them in a moment for you. stuart: you know how interested i am in $2.50 gasoline. liz: distillates are

up.1 million. stuart: does that include gasoline? liz: yeah. stuart: i'm not sure about that the price of oil is holding on 46-dollars a barrel, we used up, drawn down seven million barrels of oil from the storage tanks in america. we have a one dollar per barrel rise at 46. that rise is eroding a little bit. up only 89 cents. ashley: interesting. stuart: maybe the drawdown was not as big. liz: way bigger than expected. much bigger. stuart: no influence on the stock market. dow industrials up nearly 150 points. 21,557. oil at 46. we've got the dow at 21,557. everything is up at this point. liz: gasoline inventories down 11.65 million barrels. we'll watch gas prices for you. stuart: interesting. we wouldn't have drawn down as much on what i thought would

draw down because gas is dirt cheap. liz: looking for a build. it went down a little bit. stuart: let me get -- i want viewers to see facebook. can we get that up just for a second? facebook hit a record high earlier this morning. went to 157. that is a stock of interest to many of our viewers. still there now, that is an all-time high, 157, up $2 per barrel. per barrel. per share. 15, got it. want to get back to the health reform debate. senate planning to keep two obamacare taxes on well think, keep it in the obamacare reform plan. the wealthy will still pay higher taxes. in exchange, this is the makings of a possible deal here, wealthy people will get tax cuts for individuals and businesses. that will be part of tax reform. so you keep taxes under obamacare. you lower taxes untax reform. joining us now, congressman jody

hice. congressman, i outlined the deal as i see it. i think it has been presented to you in somewhat similar fashion. is this the kind of deal that will fly? >> we'll have to wait and see. i got wind of this myself a little while ago. i have not been able to see the details of it. to be honest with you, getting wind of it does not smell good to me. this is not what the american people sent us here to do. they sent us here to repeal obamacare. they sent us here to replace it with free market, patient-centered, doctor-centered solution. this is looking as though as another version of obamacare. you can not put a bandaid on something hemorrhaging as bad as obamacare is. looks to me at this point that might be exactly what we're doing. stuart: what do you think the political consequences would be if republicans can not come together and pass obamacare repeal? >> well, again that is is what the american people sent us here to do.

that has continued to be our focus. if by chance -- stuart: political suicide, sir, isn't it? >> we'll wait and see. obamacare is he collapsing. it is going to collapse on its own if nothing is done which i hope it doesn't come to that. we need to do it now. stuart: don't you have the responsibility to do something? >> absolutely, we do, absolutely. we've been screaming that for ages. stuart: something is better than nothing, isn't it sir? >> you want to do the right thing is better than nothing for sure, yeah, we're here to replace this thing, to repeal it, replace it. and it is extremely frustrating to see this ball going up and down. she loves me, she loves me not. it is going to pass, it is not going to pass. i am pleased the senate made a decision to stay in town in august to get this thing done. hopefully we'll get it done. when all said, at end of the day, again right now i will have to look at the bill that, with the tax increases as you mentioned, see where it goes.

but i'm very, very alarmed at this point. stuart: are you quite prepared to stay all, certainly for the first two weeks of august, maybe all the way through august to get something done? >> yeah. i mean, what you just said is exactly the point. get something done. that is what we've got to do. that is what we need to be doing this week. that is what we should have been doing last week and week before that and next week. the whole issue is to do what the american people sent us here to do. whatever it takes to accomplish that is what we need to be willing to do. i'm certainly on board with that. but bottom line, we've got to accomplish the promises we gave the american people. stuart: do you think it will come down right to the very, very last minute, right up to the brink? >> that is the way washington seals to work. so, we're prepared to wait until the last minute and then we'll be in a panic, we'll get it done. we'll deal the cards that are dealt. stuart: congressman, we would love to see something. >> i would too. stuart: we'll sew what happens.

thanks for joining us sir. much obliged to you. thank you. donald trump, jr., admits he could have done things differently. roll tape. >> in retrospect i probably would have done things a little differently. again this is before the russia mania. this is before they were building it up in the press. for me this was opposition research. they had something. maybe concrete evidence to all stories i was hearing about probably underreported for years, not just during the campaign. i think i warranted to hear it out. really it went nowhere. it was apa parent that wasn't what the meeting was actually about. stuart: joining me fox news contributor mercedes schlapp. this appears to be a very significant distraction, you agree with that. >> first of all do you have high pressure medication to send over to washington for me because i think i need it? stuart: you often told me to chill out, chill out, chill out. >> i can't. i'm done, i'm there with you, stuart. yes, it's a distraction. itç is not only a distraction. it is problematic.

i mean, obviously the democrats are playing their hand, that it could be treason. at that there could be perjury. they will go, they're going farther than where we actually see this. the problem is the fact that you have a credibility issue. the fact that for so long campaign members, trump campaign members had said they had not met with anyone from russia. there were no russian ties. all of sudden this email exchange pops up. and especially how the events, the series of events occurred. in addition to that, you know, i give donald trump, jr., a little bit of a pass in the sense that he doesn't come from the political world. he maybe didn't think twice, wait a second. i have a russian lawyer, operative, reaching out to me, wanting to have this meeting, they might have information on clinton. he doesn't view it in a way could be problematic from a legal sense. paul manafort, someone involved in campaigns for decades, for paul manafort not to step in, you know, i just don't like

this. this is not the way to go, i just feel that it was such a disservice to the president and to the campaign. stuart: yeah. but is it going to hold up health care reform and tax reform? will it -- >> i get that part off my chest but yes, look, here's the deal. mitch mcconnell will continue to push forward what he can to get the senate health care bill done. in a sense while the white house is kind of in that crisis management mode, believe it or not, mitch mcconnell is continuing to do what he can to get to a place where these republicans can agree on or if not, might end up being republicans and maybe some democrats if they go with a very soft, soft bill here. so it, so i do think you will see mitch mcconnell moving forward on the senate business even though the white house is still chaotic. what it does, it doesn't allow president trump to go out there to the american people and sell

the health care message, the health care package because as we know the favorability towards the health care package right now is at 17%, 20 something percent. it is not where it needs to be. you need to use the bully pulpit to go out there and talk about why it is important that we make changes to obamacare. why obamacare is failing in so many counties. and that is where i think it becomes not only a distraction but the fact the white house is not able to completely focus helping the senate push health care reform and sell it to the american people. stuart: mercedes, you've been often on this program. this is the first time you're looking down. you're not distraught. >> no. stuart: but your blood pressure is up, and you're not optimistic, are you? >> i always try to you know, it is like singing the annie song, the sun will come out tomorrow, stuart. i do think the sun will come out

tomorrow but there is so much going on with the russia story. like never-ending story. you feel like you're reading a novel. you feel like what is going to end you can really talk about the business that is important to the american people. when you have the drip, drip, drip of email exchanges, it is incredibly problematic for this white house especially you lose political capital as the year goes on, you enter into the midterm elections. stuart: what do you suggest the president does? >> i suggest, if donald trump, jr., any other campaign advisors have any additional emails they need to disclose it, let it all out. no reason to keep saying they didn't do this when in fact they did. i think for the president, i think, he obviously has to listen to his legal team. he was not involved in the exchange obviously with this russian lawyer. he has to get back to business. he has to use his rage in terms of transforming that into something that's productive,

that of going out talking to the people about health care reform, tax reform, talking about the economy and where, we're seeing positive, positive outlook, consumer confidence growing. i think if he is able to talk about that and reach out directly to the american people, i think being stuck in the white house, very clause -- claustrophobic. stuart: get out on the campaign trail an wow the crowd. >> that's right. stuart: i'm sorry to see you looking down. i i hope next time we'll see you are back up and at 'em. thank you. >> thank you. stuart: we're up 145 points. 21,550. the all-time intraday high, the dow never reached before, is 21,580. we're 20 odd points, 30 points away from intraday high.

make no mistake this is a rally. it has been holding a at this level for the past 10, 15 minutes. during that time christopher wray has been he have iting before the senate judiciary committee. he is nominated as the nextyt fbi director. he is taking some hostile questions but not that bad thus far. there is janet yellen also testifying on capitol hill and she has moved the market. she has been been inexplaining how she will wind down the federal reserve holing of bonds, that means sell them. she will do it very slowly. the market likes that. we're still up 135. now this. president trump touting a military success in fighting isis. here is his latest tweet. isis is on the run and soon be wiped out of syria and iraq. illegal border crossings are way down and ms-13 gangs are being removed. mike bake are with us, former cia covert operations officer.

mike, is, are we winning? are we beating isis hands down on all fronts? >> on all fronts? no. let me explain. from a territorial perspective, grabbing back that physical caliphate in syria and iraq, yes, we're absolutely winning. we have known we could win for a long time. we needed more aggressive, firm commitment to do that. it is happening. so, we have retaken mosul. the offensive in raqqa is going very, we well. they are scattering to the four wind. that is part of the problem. they have been moving for some time now. isis doesn't operate in a bubble. they understand what's happening. they have known they're on the losing side here in terms of this turf battle in syria and iraq. so they have been shifting their resources, their personnel. they have been going to libya and elsewhere. at the same time, you have to ask yourself are we winning sort of globally? the answer to that is not yet.

and by that i mean the idealogical battle against jihad, against muslim extremism. stuart: have we turned the tide. >> all these various attacks around the world. stuart: have we turned the tide? >> physically turned the tide in syria and iraq, yes. we continue to make effort on other levels. there is the military conflict on the ground in syria and iraq and there is idealogical battle against extremism. there is an effort in various countries with our liaison partners in terms of minimizing and preventing and disrupting, whatever you want to call them lone wolf or small cell attacks. so it is happening on multiple levels. the fact we defeat them on the ground in syria and iraq is important. i don't want to minimize that. they have to be pragmatic and understand. that doesn't mean end of, dreamism of jihad, muslim extremism around the world. it will morph as it has over the years. they tend to adapt.

every time they lose one place they pop up like cockroaches somewhere else. stuart: you can say iraq won in mosul or iranians had a big influence in winning mosul but if you look at the actual city, mosul, it's a wreck. it is just ruins. >> yep. stuart: that is some victory, is it? who will rebuild this? are we going to be called upon to rebuild it? >> he will we will be part of the effort. tab talking about rebuilding that infrastructure is enormous. it is in multiple billions. you're right, the cost of taking that city in terms of the destruction of that same city is enormous. but we will undoubtedly be part of that. the goal here to pull in regional allies much bigger way than happened in the past. look, iran will not back out of iraq. just because we defeat isis we've still got some of these same issues.

iran has more influence in iraq than they have had in ages. they have more influence in the middle east than they have had in modern times, basically. so we've still got a variety of issues, again not to minimize the importance of destroying isis on the ground in those two, in those two countries. stuart: the mainstream media is focused on russia, russia, russia. is this a way of -- what you're seeing is, is there any there there in all this russia, russia, russia stuff? >> well, the way the white house, trump administration has been handling it, it leaves that perception. in washington, around the country, with the media, perception is an important part of the equation. do i think there is anything there? do i think there was serious collusion, some war room where putin's people and trump folks in the campaign were colluding? of course not. that is disappearing dobn a rabbit hole wearing a tinfoil hat but i think the trump administration has serious problem here. they have had a serious problem ever since the campaign started

in terms of lack of discipline. failure to understand messaging. look, they came out of this meeting with putin and they still apparently don't understand the importance of directing a message, getting out ahead of it, being proactive. here is what we talked about. i pushed back against this we had success here. there was no consistency in the messaging. they had real opportunity. that tells me they don't seem to learn how this works. that is a problem. stuart: i'm afraidç "the wall street journal" used expression, keystone cops to describe what is going on earlier this morning. sounds like you might be in agreement there. mike baker, i do appreciate it. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: dow industrials holding on to all of the rally they built up past near two hours. now we're up almost 150 points. christopher wray hearings on capitol hill. is the next fbi director? he wants to be. he has been nominated. that had no influence on the market whatsoever. what has influenced the market is janet yellen.

also on capitol hill, she says she will unwind the fed's bond position. that means selling a lot of them. that means gradually rising interest rates. liz: she said interest rates will stay below historical averages for some time to come. markets like that. rates stay low. stuart: they do like that. 21,557. record territory. we will be back. ♪ today, we're out here with some big news about type 2 diabetes. you have type 2 diabetes, right? yes. so let me ask you this... how does diabetes affect your heart? it doesn't, does it? actually, it does. type 2 diabetes can make you twice as likely to die from a cardiovascular event, like a heart attack or stroke. and with heart disease, your risk is even higher. you didn't know that. no. yeah. but, wait, there's good news

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stuart: the news is the rally holds and we are in record territory. the dow is up 140 points, 2/3 of 1%. 21 five where we are. also happening right now, and this is why the rally is happening, on the right-hand side of your screen that is the yellen testimony in front of the senate committee there. she has said she will unwind the big bond position gradually. that means getting rid oftrillion dollars worth of

ponds -- 4 trillion-dollars worth of bonds. ashley: also said rates will rice slightly. stuart: the fbi nominee hearing that is christopher wray, nominated to be the next fbi director. he is taking the questions from the senate judiciary committee, gregg jarrett, recovering lawyer, watching these events and i don't think they have laid a glove on him or made him make a mistake yet. >> he is twice as smart as anybody on that committee. the guy is unbelievably bright. yale graduate. worked in the department of justice. i mean he is one of the top, smartest lawyers in america. and they're just not going to nail him on anything. liz: there is news coming out what christopher wray, said, quote. no one asked him for a loyalty oath during the election process at the white house for that. he would not give one if asked. he also said he would never

allow the fbi's work to be driven by anything other than the facts. stuart: he has said, and i am quoting now, my loyalty is to the constitution. that is what he said. >> that is word for word what i said he would say you know. that is what anybody in his position would say. stuart: yes, absolutely. you know, there is no fireworks, not that i have seen. our produce remembers watching this very closely obviously. no fireworks. no real hustling backwards and forwards. liz? liz: he also said, christopher wray said he did not discuss james comey's firing with anyone at the white house. you're right, no fireworks coming out of this. stuart: remember please the committee members have ten minutes to ask questions. ashley: used to be seven. stuart: now they extended it into 10. maybe they get into this a little more later on but so far they have not laid a glove on the guy, the russia, russia, russia thing, though obviously present has not been a contentious element yet thus far. >> he can't weigh in on that because the fbi is still doing a

lot of the legwork for for robert mueller, special counsel, pending case. standard line you get out of guys like this, can't comment on a case under investigation. stuart: he knows the law. he knows what he can say and -- >> can answer these questions in his sleep. he will never get into any trouble. stuart: mercedes schlapp is still with us? mercedes are you still there? >> i am. sitting patiently. stuart: i didn't know that. i hope we cheered you up. >> he is absolutely right. stuart: there is no fireworks. they haven't laid a glove on him. you have been watching. nothing happened. >> this is interesting. this will give a platform for the senate democrats to hon in on the investigation, the russian investigation as well as i think one of the democratic senators brought up issue of enhanced interrogation. obviously an issue very controversial. we know president trump at some point talked about enhanced interrogation. they want to know what is wray's position on that.

it will give the democrats an opportunity to, although there will be no fireworks, to at least be on the record in talking about these different issues in regards to not only russian investigation but his time at the department of justice. stuart: look, surely the whole story here is is cleaning up the mess left behind by mr. comey. that was a politicized mess. it is up to christopher wray to sort that out, play loyalty to the constitution, get on the business of taking the fbi out of politics, am i right? >> you're absolutely right. i think that is the key, hear a lot of word being used of being independent, talking about his loyalty as you had mentioned to the constitution and the rule of law. how he really will rely on the men and women in the fbi to help him in his job. so i think that the key for wray is staying away from the political discussions which we know was something that comey could not resist.

he could not resist the limelight. he could not resist the politics. stuart: the only reason that we have got this on our screens at all is to see if the democrats can lay a glove on christopher wray. can they penetrate his legalized defense system? so far no. >> no they can't. he is very uncombly like. president trump called comey a showboat. he would walk a mile for a camera. this guy christopher is exactly the polar opposite. he is very low-key. he likes to diffuse situations rather than escalate and elevate them. they will not fet under his skin at anytime during this hearing. liz: democrats tried to go after christopher wray asking him, what about robert mueller's investigation, would you interfere in any way? he said no, any effort to interfere with the special counsel unacceptable.

if he hears about it he would alert the committee on the question. ashley: that was a softball question. stuart: christopher wray crack ad smile in response to statement from mr. leahy, a democrat of course. it is mild-mannered, easy going at moment. we were not expecting this. i keep using the word fireworks. what i'm getting at is controversy. this is probably the next fbi director. the fbi is coming out of a very difficult two years. can he set things straight? can democrats get under his skin and get back to russia, russia, russia. so far the answer, they're trying but ain't made it. >> they will try to tarnish him simply appointed by a guy that democrats on this committee don't like which is president trump. they will try to dirty him up. it ain't going to work. liz: donald trump, jr., the

email shows establishes intent to join in a conspiracy. so then the next leg of that, right, the next leg of that did the trump campaign, anybody say yeah, russia, you go ahead and hack. that is next thing they will be looking for. >> nobody even knew about the hacking when meeting took place. liz: i mean, the dnc said they were hacked within days. stuart: i have to tell you, this leaves me utterly cold. what warms me up is what's going on in the stock market. we've got a nice rally, folks. up 138 points. why? because on the other side of capitol hill, janet yellen is telling the world that she's going to raise interest rates only gradually. music to investors ears. up we go 21,548, almost in record territory. how about that? now this. the democrats are celebrating. and donald trump jr. has given the left a perfect opportunity

to hit the russia, russia, russia story all over again. they can barrel suppress their glee. it's a smoking gun. henry's vp choice senator particular mccain even calls it treason. my opinion, the celebration is premature. the word treason is clearly ludicrous and the democrats are ignoring the likely fact on the republicans. think about it. the republican party is under siege. at it divided. it can't get the big things done. and along with comes what looks like a threat to the trump republican presidency. are they going to just ditch him? or will they now -- and will this new threat pull them together? after all, if this presidency fails, then so does the republican congress. and then there's this possible deal on health care and tax reform. obamacare taxes on the wealthy people stay, the federal tax rates are cut to individuals and businesses. that's the deal outlined to our own neil cavuto. that offers a come together

agreement. that offers the chance to rebound from russia, russia, russia. think about it. congress will stay in session for at least the two weeks of august as well. the pressure to get a deal, any deal, could not be greater. and maybe the democrats are celebrating too much too soon. the third hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ ♪ . stuart: going to get that market alley, 28 of the dow 30 is in the green, up 131 points, 21,542. very close to an all-time high for the dow. investors are not worried about the turmoil in washington. they like what they hear from the fed chair. interest rates will rise

gradually. how about the price of oil? up $45 a barrel. we've got how much read was in storage. 7million less in storage. i'm surprised to see it drop before $75 a barrel. first, i want to bring in republican, congressman, welcome back to the show. it's always good to see you, sir. especially at a time like this. obama kept taxes stay but taxes are cut on individuals and for businesses. that's the deal, are you buying it? >> yeah. well, i mean, we have toes the whole deal because, look, we think all the taxes to be going, that's what we sent out of the house. that's what we told the american people we were going

to do. i'm more concerned about what happens with senator cruz, senator lee's amendment, which would actually give choice to consumers. the idea if you offer one plan that complies with all the ridiculous obamacare regulations, you can enter other plans that consumers pay into families actually want. that would be a marketplace. that would help bring down premiums for people in the small group and individual markets. so on that being part of the legislation then the so-called tax issue, but we'll see what the final package looks like when it comes back to the house. liz: well, can you give us a progress report on how the obamacare reform and repeal looks, both in the senate first, of course? how does it look? >> well, we'll have to see. we don't know what the bill looks like. senator graham is talking of a redraft. i tried talking with senator. i missed senator lee this morning, so i haven't got an update from senator lee or cruz with what's happening with their amendment, so we'll just have to see. but what we do know is that premiums need to come down to the families, and that's what we're focused on the house,

and we know that we sent out not a full repeal. i'm always clear about that, was a good step in the right direction towards doing what the american people elected us to do. stuart: what's the sentence? the pressure is clearly huge. >> yeah. yeah,. stuart: you know that you really can't walk away with nothing. i mean, that would be political suicide. is there a general understanding that you have got to do something? >> yes. stuart: and that something is better than nothing. that's my point. >> yes. no, i think there is that understanding. that's why six weeks ago the house freedom caucus called for us to be here in august. so it was good to see that senator mcconnell said that yesterday that they are going to stay here until they get that done. but frankly, they have got a lot of other things as well. they've got taxes, border wall security, infrastructure, all the things they talked about in the campaign, not to mention a bunch of normal things that has to happen between now and september 30th at the end of the fiscal year. so the idea that we're going to leave for five weeks doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. so it's good to see what leader mcconnell said we think

the house should do the same thing. stuart: do. stuart: you're on the house judiciary committee i believe. let's talk about what's happening on capitol hill right now. the fbi director testifying before the senate committee. your reaction to what we've seen so far of mr. ray's performance. >> haven't watched much of it, stu. we've been busy with other meetings. what i do know is you can't have a justice department that's political. that's what we had in the last administration. it became really clear three weeks ago when james comey testified and said he misled the american people at the direction of the attorney general when he called the clinton investigation a matter, not an investigation, which, in fact, it was. so think about that. when you have the attorney general of the united states telling the fbi director go out and tell the american public something that isn't true or accurate, that, to me, is the key thing. a justice department has to be focused on justice, not on politics. so that's the key change. i think mr. ray is going to be the kind of guy that will do that, focus on justice, focus on the facts, focus on the

law, and administering that in a equal way under the law, which is the way it's supposed to work in our country. liz: yes, sir. jim jordan, thank you so much for joining us, sir. >> thank you, stuart,. stuart: and i would love to get the first word of any possible deal from congressman jordan and anybody else who has to know anything about what's going on on the inside there. i want to get back to oil. inventory. that means the amount of in storage. down 7.5 million barrels. the fourth drop in the last five weeks. joining us now steven of the shock report. knows a lot of things or two about oil. steven, when you draw down so much oil, 7 million barrels, that's a lot. that takes a lot of -- that means demand is pretty strong. why does the price drop from $46 a barrel to 45? >> that's a very good question, stuart, and it's also about the narrative of what we're seeing now. and right now, trying to gauge these reports on a weekly basis is always a difficult task. but made more so by how the fundamentals have changed over

the past year. and namely, we have exports. that is to say that the u.s. now allows export to export he is excess crude oil. we are now exporting twice as much oil this year than we were last year. and of course, a lot of that oil is to the pacific rim. so when we start to see that oil prices are -- excuse me, oil inventories are falling by a large amount, and i'm not going to pooh-pooh 7 million draw is a large draw. so we're in the process of rebalancing the glut of supply that we do have in this country. the other side of that equation, stuart, is production. production, again, rose. we are now at another two-year high. one of the highest levels on record. this is the summer, the peak demand season, and yet prices are still falling or cannot rally at this point. and if you are a bullish investor, this has to be a very big concern of yours. over the next month or so, demand is going to start to

fall, we're going to take it by million and a half barrels of demand out of the market, and as we saw yesterday update by the eia, u.s. producers are going to continue to put a lot of oil onto the market. stuart: it's american flakers that are doing this. i'm an outsider here. but i'm told that the double from where it was last year, even the though down in the $40 range, i'm also told you can take oil out of the permian basis in texas and cost about 25 bucks a barrel to produce it out of that basin. which means you can profit. it's american frackers that have turned the energy market upside down. >> absolutely. and this is where wall street got it completely wrong in the fourth quarter and first quarter of this year. completely discounted the fact that now opec has taken itself out of the market, united states is now the world's

global swim producer. so as we talk about production, that is at a two-year high. plus 141%. when we look at the hedges that we know the producers are well hedged, so even with oil prices at this point, they're still going to produce. go they've already sold that oil at higher prices. so this is a very difficult road for opec to hold over the next six to 12 months. stuart: music to our ears. thank you for joining us as always. >> thank you, stuart,. stuart: i'm going to take you back to the hearings with christopher ray there and poignant questions asked about mr. comey. listen in. >> child pornography, you name it, they're out there doing it. and you're their voice. >> yes, senator, in fact, the reason i'm doing this is for this people. during the time when my name was released to the media

before i was asked, i got calls from all of these agents that i used to work, prosecutors that i used to work for and against different administrations, and the outpouring support and encouragement that i got was both humbling and gratifying. and i want to do this for those people and for the victims past and hopefully to prevent victims in the future. >> from my point, the right guy at the right time. good luck. >> senator. >> thanks, mr. chairman. you said a few words about mr. comey, who you have extensive experience working with in the department of justice. i believe you characterized him as a terrific lawyer, public servant, and colleague. i would like to ask you. we are at an unusual moment in history where mr. comey was fired by job and characterized by the president of the united states as a nut job and was fired by the stated reason by the president because the russian investigation was

underway and the president believed it was a cloud on his presidency. mr. comey told us a little bit about his direct dealings with the president of the united states. which may be unique in the history of the united states. he said on one hand that he, having been caught alone in the oval office with the president of the united states spoke to the attorney general and said i don't want that to happen again. i want a witness what i'm meeting with the president of the united states. that is an extraordinary statement by the head of the fbi. is no one else to ask the president of the united states as director of the fbi, what would be your approach. >> my first step would be to call deputy attorney general rosenstein. there's a policy that applies to contacts the white house and the department. it goes in both directions. and in particular it goes to any contact with respect to a particular case.

there are obviously situations where the fbi director needs to be able to communicate with the president on national security matters, for example. but in my experience, it would be very unusual for there to be any kind of one-on-one meeting between the fbi -- any fbi director and any president. >> unusual, but it happened. and it happened to mr. comey, and he decided that he was uncomfortable being in the oval office alone with the president. so as unusual as it may be, would you meet in the oval office with the president with no one else president? >> i think it would depend on the circumstance, senator. i think it would be highly unlikely, but i think there could -- i could imagine a situation, whether it be some national security matter that might call for it. but i, again, my preference and my presumption would be that there should be people from the department through -- working through the office of the deputy attorney general so that it's not a one-on-one meeting. i think the relationship

between any fbi director and any president needs to be a professional one, not a social one. and there certainly shouldn't be any discussion between one-on-one discussions between the fbi director and any president about particular -- how to conduct particular investigations or cases. >> the second thing, which i think is extraordinary, and i don't know if there's any precedent in the history of the united states since the creation of the fbi was mr. comey's decision after meeting with the president and discussions with the president to create a contemporaneous written record. you know as an attorney with the department of justice, that has evidentiary value. tell me your reaction. do you feel bound or at least do you feel the recommendation from comey's action to create contemporary written records of your conversations with the president if you become director of the fbi? >> senator, i think at a minimum, i would take the approach that i always do to talking to people, which is to try to listen very carefully

to what i'm hearing in the conversation. >> certainly, there would be situations where it would be appropriate for me to memorialize the conversation, just like there would be with other people if they were important conversations, i thought it made sense. >> i'm not going to let you off that easy. >> okay. >> of course, that is your responsibility as director. but we're dealing with an extraordinary situation here.

where a man you respected was fired, called a nut job, and the president said to russian visitors, we're putting an end to this investigation. this is not an ordinary course of business for the federal bureau of investigation. this is the highest elected official in the united states of america trying to stop an investigation by putting jim comey out of business. i think it's a little different than the routine requirements of the office, do you? >> well, certainly, i would distinguish, senator, if this is what you're driving at a routine conversation and a very significant, important conversation. and ones that fall in the latter category, i would think it would behoove me to make sure there's no appropriate record of that. >> we talked a lot about russia and this hearing and the threat to the united states. you've read the unclassified version of their attempt to have a cyber attack on the united states election campaign. now we have statements from the president of the united

states suggesting quote putin and i discuss forming an impenetrable cyber security unit so that election hacking and many other negative things will be guarded and safe. so now we've all started with the premise that russia was involved in trying to change our election. we all understand that russia has been a bad actor around the world and in many places, and now we have the president saying we do get together with them on the issue of cyber security. so if it is proposed to you by the administration to create this cyber security unit and to share information with the russians about the united states capabilities and vulnerabilities when it comes to cyber security, what is your reaction? >> well, my reaction. >> i need to know a lot more about the about the threats and talking to the career to be able to evaluate that responsibly. but i wouldn't want to do

anything a greater risk as opposed to, you know, greater protection. >> i would think there would be red flags flying in every direction. i guess that's a bad analogy with russia. but i would think there should be a cautionary feeling with any suggestion that we give to them information about our cyber capabilities and security. wouldn't that be your first interaction? >> senator, my reaction is that any threat -- any effort to interfere with our election systems is one -- whether it's from a state actor like russia or nonstate actor. something needs to be taken very seriously. and i would think that it would be wise for all of us to proceed with great caution in the wake of that information. >> i think i would go further. but i'll leave that question. you and i had a good conversation yesterday about president george w. bush's reaction after 9/11 when it came to the muslim american population of the united states. i would appreciate it if you

would retout -- stuart: you just heard the more poignant testimony and answer that we have had this morning from christopher wray, maybe future fbi director. liz: pointed? . stuart: about the firing of james comey, about the muller investigation, and what is should be the proper role of the fbi, should thereby a one-on-one meeting? liz: yeah, he pushed back, and he said the idea that robert muller is on a witc witch hunt, he said about james comey i cannot imagine giving a press conference about an uncharged individual and then talked about donald trump jr. and said if there's any threat to influence the election, it's a threat the fbi should know. so that's the idea that donald trump jr. should have told the fbi about that meeting. stuart: the man, i think you would agree with this, ashley. the man looks -- ashley: that's exactly the word i used. unflappable, very much at ease. he knows what he's talking about. he's very deliberate, very measured.

we -- as you said we went into this hearing, we could have some fireworks. we've had absolutely none. stuart: that is correct. ashley: they cannot lay a hand on him. stuart: poignant but not necessarily fireworks. ashley: right. stuart: guess who's with us? martha, how are you? >> i'm doing well. how are you? . stuart: auto i'm trying to cope with what looks like endless distraction. russia, russia, russia, comey, donald trump jr. the e-mail chain. it seems to me that washington is consumed with that. am i right? are they consumed with it? >> i mean, look, this is a president who was elected to do really big things; right? he was elected to do tax reform. something that has had the largest groundswell of support of probably any single issue and on both sides of the fence for years and years. he was elected to do health care reform. and he was elected to drain the swamp. okay. these are things that are not popular among the elite in washington. scandals, investigations, these things are hugely

popular in washington, and this is, like -- it's, like, a fire that feeds on itself and every day there's something else that keeps that going. it distracts from the underlying work that the president was elected to do, and it feeds -- they want to stay in power. they want to keep their positions. they want their big buildings. they want their bureaucracies, they want all of it. and this narrative continues to give them fuel for that plan. this donald trump jr. story is significant to be sure. it is not nothing. however, there's no crime in terms of anyone that i have spoken to can ascertain based on what we know now. so gives them a lot to talk about. and, of course, we have to talk about it as part of this story. but it doesn't move the ball dramatically. stuart: well, does it move the ball for president trump's base? and i ask that because it is an absolute barrage of negative coverage from the mainstream media. i suspect that it's going over a lot of people's heads and that mr. donald trump's core

base remains intact and remains supportive. how does it look from your point of view? can i go to has been that's very true, and i think in some ways, the more he gets attacked, the more they will rally for him. they do want the focus to be on jobs. they want it to be on the things that matter to them, health care, tax reform, and the like. now, the question is can the republicans on the hill get that work done? the smartest thing in my mind that they could do right now is to say that we understand the president has these issues he's dealing with, and it's difficult. but we're going to pass legislation here. all we have to do is put it on his desk, and he's going to sign it. we're here to get the work done. it is preposterous that they are at this point in the game, seven months into this presidency. what has happened for seven months. i mean, think of it in terms of, you put two companies together, you have to pleas

the shareholders on both sides. it's hard; right? but you have a deadline. and you get it done, or you say it's never going to happen. this deal is dead. they have none of this mentality in washington, and it's atrocious, and it really ticks people off. stuart: you're right. i suspect, though, it's going to go down to the very, very last second. way into august. they'll be horse trading, sausage making, all the way through the recess, which i don't -- first two weeks he's gone. i suspect most of august is gone. but what do you think? last minute, absolutely last minute, we've got. >> entirely possible. it seems absurd to that point. it's hugely complicated, and it is, and everybody. we know what the moderates want. they want more money for opioid programs and the like. we know conservatives really want this to be handled by the states. there has to be ground here. you can't just throw up your

hands. >> they expect him to vote. stuart: yes, do it. get on with it, please. well, we'll see 7:00 eastern time tonight. it's the story, isn't it? that's the story. you wish you were editorial, don't you? >> occasionally. fired up. i take a little moment to make it very clear that i'm about to say something that i'm thinking about. stuart: i do this all the time. >> i know you do. stuart: this is an opinion show, and i feel free to do it. >> good to see you. stuart: martha, thank you. >> great to be here. stuart: all right. we still got a rally. not as great as it was. we were up 168 points. i think that was the high point of the day. now we're up 123. why we come down a little bit? it's because janet yellen, chair of the fed says she will be unwinding the $4 trillion worth of bonds, the balance sheet.

she'll be unwinding that relatively soon, which means you could see an increase of interest rates relatively soon. so we're still up 128. but that's 40 points down from where we were. that's not the end of the world. individual stocks are very much in the news. in particular, facebook. i had that at 157 earlier. that's where almost 158 now. look at that. what else have we got, justin? amazon, let me have a look at that, please. the prime day sale is over. it's up well over 1,000 bucks a share. what's next, please? ashley and liz on amazon. why not talk about it? you bought eight things, didn't you? including the echo dot. liz: i think i bought a dozen things. and, yes, i bought a dot. and we were saying that the prime members purchase seven times more amazon echo devices around the world than they

have in the prior sales. stuart: let's hold off on this. ashley: biggest day in amazon history. stuart: that this echo thing, prime members bought seven times as many echoes this year than last year. liz: correct. stuart: now, just think about that for a second. echo is that little kind of tube sits in your house, you address it, you ask it questions. you can very easily say -- it's alexa, isn't it? ashley: yeah,. stuart: alexa, go to amazon and buy me a nail clipper. ashley: right. stuart: you can do that. and then the next day in the mail it arrives. ashley: you get a member that joins your club. and literally, yuve got your passport, very smart self -- it just grows and fuels itself. it's remarkable. liz: saying that amazon priming day sales to pass black friday and cyber monday stuart: whoa. liz: so that's what they're estimating over at dow jones. stuart: first prime day was 2015. they brought in 400 million. ashley: right. stuart: second prime day was 2016, they brought in

600 million. the estimate is the speculation is likely a billion this time around. ashley: it's incredible. stuart: it's extraordinary. and the dna tests, apparently they were big, solid as well. and the average discount on stuff that they got rid of, so to speak, 35 to 40%. ashley: pretty good. stuart: that's not bad at all, is it? ashley: the alexas were 50% off the echoes. stuart: they have started a brand-new shopping holiday. ashley: yes,. stuart: in the middle of july. ashley: yes. stuart: retailers do nothing in the middle of july. amazon does. ashley: to celebrate its 20th anniversary. now it has turned into a phenomenon. liz: amazon just put out a statement and saying the number of people buying on prime day was 50% higher than the year prior. so it was a heck of a day yesterday for amazon about it stuart: and that's why the stock was up eight bucks at 10 1,003.

not bad at all. i believe we have a mic. how high will the market go? how high would the market go if wonders, we get obamacare reform, and we get a tax cut. >> that's a great question. there is no ceiling. there is really no ceiling. if we get those things done, the market could go up -- i don't know 10, 15% in a matter of months from here. that's already up big this year. so there's nothing holding it back, except whatever ceiling is there, if they break through that. clear skies. stuart: now, the premise of my question is clearly almost wonderland here. i mean, i don't think it's likely that you'll get rid of all the taxes in obamacare and repeal it and replace it, and you'll get rid of much lower taxes on individuals and on businesses, et cetera, et cetera. i don't think you'll get the whole lot. but supposing you did get obamacare reform, and you did get some cut in the tax rate on businesses, if that's all

you've got, would you still get a nice, solid market rally? >> that's a lot because we haven't gotten anything like that and look what the market is doing. we're getting new highs yet again today. the market likes everything that's going on in terms of growth, in terms of the companies that are leading, in terms of the growth, the tech companies, the banking stocks are doing well, the strong leadership inching the market higher. so without any background political positive news, the market is just making its own way higher. if we get anything positive out of washington, there is no ceiling. stuart: you know, for the last couple of years, you've been on the show, and you've been one of the biggest cheerleaders for what we call the fabulous five technology companies. you've led them all the way. you consistently said they're going up, they're going up, they're going up, and you buy on a dip. well, amazon is not at a dip. it's $1,003 a share. >> i actually would. it scares me with the metrics and prices and how i look at things and how analysts looks at things. it's expensive.

but it's worth every penny. it is the brand. it has the market share. it's doing everything right. its logistics and prime is -- the prime day is just an example. it is christmas in n july. they've created this. this is also a setup for them for christmas. they're honing their delivery strategies, bezos is a genius. this company is brilliant. stuart: one second, liz. liz: yeah, sure. stuart: your picks of all the big buys was facebook. and facebook today is at 158. >> and i think for years i've been touting microsoft. stuart: that's why you're on the show. >> in the 20s, we were saying this is going through the roof, but it has. and this is strong. and this is a gigantic company and still has a lot of growth potential. facebook, tremendous. it owns that space. . stuart: okay. let's get specific. if -- and i'm pushing you, i know. facebook now 158. where is it going? >> again, there's really no ceiling for some of these stocks. these big stocks, doesn't mean it won't have a pull back, but

there is. they command their space. >> huge revenues and huge profits. this is not about 2,000 where they're just looking for names and eyeballs, they're generating real profits and increase -- amazon's profits are up 41% from last year. it's tremendous. the growth is tremendous. . stuart: i really -- you know, has been. and you've always cheerleader for the big five. they have everything that you want in stock ownership. they are the market. stuart: stay there. i have more for you. we love this. we want more from you. herb london is with us. and we're going to ask the same question. to be a market analyst in a moment. but i'm going to ask you anyway. let's suppose that we did get a deal on obamacare and a deal on cutting taxes.

if we get that by the end of august, where does the stock market go? >> i think the stock market goes to 22,000 in a relatively short period of time. i think that that is a distinct possibility. my favorite analyst is on the other side of the table, so i very often agree with you. i don't know about the limits, however. i do think that there's always competition, there's always likely changes. and too many in the market to say with any assurance what's going to happen. i think that i am very sanguine about the market. but i recognize the fact there are always limits that occur. an asymmetry in the world largely because we can't predict what is going to happen on the international stage. we can't be sure about some sort of crisis. all of these things have some bearing on the market. stuart: it's just been a long time since i can remember five companies dominating the market and the economy and the future of the economy like the big five technology companies do. i've never seen that before. >> i haven't either. and, in fact, i think it's

really quite remarkable. but they dominate that space. and when you dominate a certain space, you have distinct advantages. bezos today and amazon clearly have a market advantage over all competitors. that is certainly something that i think has to be recognized. stuart: are they going to reign amazon in? there's lots of talk about predatory pricing. >> well, and you have predatory pricing. but i think at the same time, despite the predatory pricing, there's still a space that amazon holds that will not be challenged in the short-term. liz: you know, obama's critics has said he's the worst president in history when it comes to what he did with small businesses. formation collapse and went upside down during the obama years. that's a fact. what amazon is now saying in its press release is watch this. they're talking about small businesses and entrepreneurs selling millions of products yesterday on amazon. so amazon's been the technology sector, they're helping the small businesses to get back on their feet. small businesses and entrepreneurs from around the

world. and that's the amazon play. they have more entrepreneurs and small businesses than walmart via jet.com. stuart: so are they now the small business platform? liz: they're bringing small businesses back, yes, because they've got thousands and thousands of small businesses selling things on the amazon platform. stuart: and they'll take a piece on those. liz: which is why the amazon business model caveat, which is why that border tax adjustment would never have hit amazon because they take a piece of it and get their revenues from cloud; right? so amazon border tax, that would never hit amazon. >> the other side of that equation, however, is that the strip malls in america are dead. stuart: yes. >> so when you talk about commercial property in the united states, that's the other side of the equation. here we're starting to see a real depression. stuart: that's the right word now, we have had some commercial real estate people on the program who loathe to admit that rents are way down, but they are. >> they are indeed. stuart: you know this for a fact. >> absolutely no question about it.

and this, of course, is the other side of the equation. you start to look at the commercial market, and you say what am i going to do with these? put them together and sell them for something that's worthwhile. but buy in large, they're not. stuart: and all the air is coming out, though. >> exactly. stuart: investment trust. out it comes. >> exactly. stuart: i mean, who would take a high rent store on mainstream, usa? who would do that? liz: to get into that space, it could be a church, a medical clinic. >> these malls in the region, the owners and operators of the malls are trying to repurpose these large spaces. so as the large box retailers lose share, and they go out of business and, certainly, we know a lot of the stores are being closed, they're trying to repurpose those into everything from gaming halls to restaurants to theaters. and they're going to have a hard time doing that. they're not going to get the same amount of rent. ashley: it's not the strip malls about go down on lexington avenue here in manhattan. a lot of empty stores. liz: and this is a shot at the

democrats who have hijacked the state and local budgets because remember, walmart came in, and they were thinking, oh, we're going to pencil in all sorts of spending because walmart was going to bring all sorts of economic growth. they have to now get on the stick and knock it off with abusing taxpayers with their overspending on nonsense. i mean, this is happening across the country as we have a pension crisis. that tidal wave coming. so this is a shout out to those idiots. i'm sorry. i never use the i word, but that's what i care about. . stuart: i want to take a second to pat ourselves on the back. there are two stories, which we concentrated on. not exclusively, but we concentrate on. number one is the retail ice age. ashley: yeah,. stuart: and i think we're dead right. i really do. and secondly, it's the big five technology companies. we're right again because i have never seen an impact like this before. and tax cuts. i've been pounding the table

for tax cuts. now, we haven't got them yet, but you told us if we do get them, to the moon. >> there's now an outside chance that we could get something, and i like the fact that congress is not taking a recess. i like the fact that we're going to make moves. and i don't mind the fact that the upper margin taxpayers may not get cut. i'm fine with that. middle class needs a cut desperately, and they deserve it. stuart: i want to bring this up, this talk of a possible deal here on obamacare taxes and cuts in federal income taxes. the deal would be taxes under obamacare, you still pay the 3. whatever it is surcharge. they stay. on the other side of the coin, individuals and businesses will get significant tax cuts from the federal government. that's the nature of the deal, which we are -- which has been talked about at this moment. is that a deal which you think would fly?

>> i think the deal will fry. the freedom caucus is looking for is some competitive measures within health care. and i think if you had a situation where you lowered taxes, you created an environment where the deductibilities are reduced, where the actual cost of insurance's reduced, there is no doubt that this will pass. now, again, i don't know exactly when it will happen, and it might be five minutes before midnight, but i have every belief that the republicans will do something before august. stuart: because they have to do something. >> they have to. there is no doubt. one of the reasons why i think the market is doing well because mcconnell said, you know, something, we're not going to take this vacation in the summer. we're going to continue to operate. i think that's a factor. i think that people are looking at this saying when are the republicans finally going to get their act together and produce some sort of bill? and i think that this will happen. stuart: i remember back in the day when obamacare was going through congress. ashley: yeah,. stuart: and there are constant stories -- oh, we'll never get

it. we're a vote short here. liz: i'm sorry. i don't know what i ate this morning. i'm some n some kind of mood. if the democrats were honest about obamacare, what the real impact would have been, it would never have made its way through congress. i mean, the effect of obamacare, less doctors, premiums and deductibles going up, they have completely -- democrats are completely dishonest and president obama's completely dishonest and deceived the american people on obamacare. . stuart: but if the republicans cannot reform it and replace it, they get the blame. ashley: that's right. stuart: it's hung around their neck. it is trumpcare. liz: yeah. stuart: no matter what it is. they'll take the blame for this. which goes back to your point. they've got to do something. there's no way on god's green earth that they can walk away and do absolutely nothing. it won't happen. >> bring you back to the markets, that's why if they get something, anything done, it will be a victory for the president, a victory for this administration, and that will set the stage for victory. the market's going to love that. stuart: i see health insurers, by the way, on the upside today. maybe there's a hint there that we're going to get something done on health care. we keep talking about the big

five tech companies. you're in the market. that's what you do for a living. is there anything else you like out there? >> well, that's where the growth is, so really, you have to concentrate at it and given the trend toward investing, that's also helping the big cap tech stocks. as strategies, as more money goes into the strategies, what's happening is the index strategies. so people are buying all of the indexes and so you buy an etf, it represents an index whether it's the dow or the s&p or the nasdaq, the sponsors of those trusts have to buy all of the shares in the same capitalization weighed in, the same relative numbers as those -- as the components within the indexes. so naturally, all at the same time, it doesn't mean that the stocks down here really deserve to get bought. because this past investing. $388billion in the past five

months has gone into investing strategies. so this year looks to be on balance if we continue this trend, it will over $800 billion going into the strategies. that's also lifting the markets. stuart: there's also fewer stocks available to buy. now, we often talk about the wilshire 5,000, which back in the day, there were 7,000 companies within that index. they called it the wilshire 5,000 from way back. it went to 7,000. do you know how many stocks or companies. >> stuart, -- stuart: my privatization, warren buffett put them into berkshire hathaway. >> investing in stock. fewer stocks available to buy, so the price goes up. >> in 1998, there were a little more than 7,500 list of companies on u.s. exchanges. today there are around 3,500. stuart: that's right. >> more capital being created, the market has to go up. stuart: we have not talked about this before, but that's

very important. >> it is very important indeed, and i think a very interesting development. when you have fewer stocks of this kind, and you have the market moving in the direction of etfs, there's no question investing is going to change the character of the market, and we've seen a lot of signs of that already. stuart: i have to ask a political question. let's go around the block here. we've got politics in washington. russia, russia, russia, comey, donald trump jr. e-mails, russia, lawyers, et cetera, et cetera. is that list -- liz, let's start with you. is that going to hold up obamacare and tax reform? liz: it shouldn't because the president still has his base, as you point out. the gala poll shows 85% of republicans still support the president. martha is right. vote. it's your job. you should be on the deadline and get it done. stuart: so you think that it will be done? despite the turmoil. >> i mean, they're so spineless. the dc gotcha politics has hijacked the whole thing. yes, it should get done. . stuart: okay. ashley.

ashley: i think distraction is hurting. the discussion has been russia, russia, russia. i don't want it to be russia, russia, russia. it won't go way. some cases may be legitimate. smoke, no fire. is it slowing down the agenda of donald trump? i think it is. liz: this should expose how lazy washington, d.c. is. they more care about dc gotcha politics than doing the work and the heavy lift. ashley: but the republicans have been shooting themselves in the feet by the democratic obstructionism, the republicans have hurt themselves every step of the way. stuart: shooting one self in the foot as opposed to the republicans shooting themself in the feet. ashley: yes, thank you. feet, you name it. they've got it. stuart: political turmoil, is that going to get in the way of obamacare reform and tax cuts? >> it may get in the way, but i think eventually we'll get over it. to me, it's a lot of noise. i look to the markets and find out really, where is the action? the action is positive, it's moving forward and the markets are going up. it is taking the noise and brushing it away.

nothing has happened. there is nothing that has come out that has been so damaging or detrimental to the presidency. nothing. it's noise, and it will eventually just i think fade. >> well, it's a very significant distraction. therthere is no question it's a distraction. but there's no crime. if there's no crime, i don't know what you say if you're members of the fourth of state. except you try to build this out of proportion. there will be a bill on health care. that's going to happen. there will be some tax reform. i'm convinced. and that will happen not withstanding all of the distractions that you get in washington, d.c.s with the cbss and the nbcs and the new york times. i think that's nothing more than a lot of noise. stuart: but fox business, the shining light of the market. we're americans. we believe in profit and prosperity. welcome aboard, everyone. by the way, we have a nice rally on wall street. we're up 117 points. not as good as it was. at one point, we were up 168. and then janet yellen, who is testifying before congress today as we speak, as a matter

of fact, she said that she would start selling the fed's big stock or bonds relatively soon. that could mean that interest rates will rise a little relatively soon. that tempered the market rally. have i got that right? >> absolutely right. if the market continues to go, hi, if we get some economic growth, that will offset whatever the fed does in terms of easing up their balance sheet. but it has to be equal measure. we have to have growth to offset that. stuart: look who's with us now. fred barns, the executive of the weekly standard, a powerful man in washington, d.c. let's hear his voice here in new york. fred, welcome to the program. >> thanks. i'm glad to be here. stuart: now, we've got around this panel, we've got people saying, yes, something ultimately will be done on health care and tax cuts because it has to get done. are you in that camp? >> well, look, what i fear is that something that republicans really want, the mitch mcconnell wants won't pass, and then he'll have to -- his plan b is to bail

out obamacare. stuart: wait a minute. do you really think that the republicans, they've got a front of them, and they reject it knowing that the voters will kill them next year in the election and that the democrats will step in with their own? do you really think the republicans will allow that to happen? >> well, i think some of them are leaning in that direction now. look, democrats understand the politics is a team sport. so all 48 of the democratic senators are going to vote against whatever the republican health care bill is. but a lot of these republicans seem to think that, well, gee, if i vote against it, i can save myself, you know? i'm appeased these voters who might get mad because medicare is cut in the republican bill. it doesn't work that way. you rise or fall, depending how your team does. dean of nevada is not going to help himself by voting against the bill because what will happen? he'll lose a big chunk of the republican vote. stuart: so what are you saying? that at the end of the day we

get something? >> well, i just fear what we're going to get. i mean, right now, it's not there. i'm a great believer in mitch mcconnell and his ability to put together a package. but, boy, this is a big task. the republicans are going to have to act like a team, and they haven't been acting that way. stuart: what's it like living and working in washington, d.c. in the first seven months of the trump administration, bearing in mind russia, russia, russia? >> yeah. well, you know, russia, russia, russia, and then nothing ever develops, you know? foolish of young trump to go to this meeting, but that wasn't collusion. i mean, nothing seems to have come of that. but the media just won't let go. but mainly, when you see the washington post and the new york times and the big papers here and the networks and so on, the thing that is different is the determination of the mainstream media, the elite media to bring down president donald trump. it's not just they're covering him critically, they're

covering him with a negative purpose. stuart: can we get to the point where the extreme language is so extreme, i mean, you've got senator tim kaine talking about treason. >> i know. stuart: does it get to the point where voters say this is ludicrous, it is nonsense? it goes over my head, i just want something done. no? >> i think that's beginning to happen. but certainly from the media, there's no penalty against that kind of talk. and the word treason pops up and collusion. you know, a lot of -- some of the press had said that it's collusion just because donald trump jr. met with some russia nobody. of course it's not a collusion. but the press is just jumping all over this story because what do they think? they think you prove collusion, and trump is going to go. . stuart: what do you make of the washington post, the principle trump hating machine

in america in terms of the media owned by jeff bezos, founder of amazon, third richest man in the world, and amazon's the most powerful company in america, it seems to be that way, at least. do you think there's going to be a move to reign in amazon and reign in jeff bezos? >> well, i think there's going to be whether or not he owns the washington post or not. i mean, he -- the company has gotten so big, i never worry about antitrust problems. but i can see why a lot of people would about amazon. i own amazon stock and, of course, i benefited from that in recent years. but i wonder about jeff bezos. he's going to -- he may be overstepping here. stuart: so you don't put your politics in front of your investment, do you? >> i don't. and i've benefited from the separation of the two. stuart: did you buy anything on amazon's prime day sale yesterday? >> i didn't.

but my wife usually buys something every day. stuart: really? >> well, it has become habit for me. really, it's addictive, you know, to get a package in the mail every day. sometimes three or four. stuart: see, that's the whole point, isn't it? you're locked in. >> it works. stuart: it may reach 80 million prime subscribers. ashley: yep. stuart: they've got 79 million now. i'm sure they'll sign up a million fairly soon. which means they will have as many subscribers to prime as cable tv has subscribers. now, that's quite something, i would say. >> that is quite something. but when you're the -- you have to look at at the same time, some of the effects that this has, that amazon has. i mean, how many towns have you been to that look like nothing downtown has been blown out and because there's a walmart outside of town or because everybody shopping on amazon, you know? look, in my family, we do

that. stuart: you can't see it, fred, but on the left-hand side of the screen, we're showing amazon since 2005. can you get that graphic, please? since 2005, it has gone up $961, which is 2,262%. so here's a very serious question. when did you buy? >> well, it wasn't quite as far back as 2005, but i think it has been about ten years, so i've -- stuart: whoa. >> i have to say, i've done pretty well. i have advisers. and, look, i don't pick my own stocks. i realize that there's something i may pick my own political people, but not stocks. . stuart: perhaps to celebrate your eminent retirement. you want to tell us any other investment tips? >> look, the tech stocks have been good to millions of people. i'm just one of them.

stuart: have you bought any microsoft? >> well, not at the moment, but i've had it from time to time. stuart: i think you should seriously consider buying a whole lot more because i own it. that's my retirement fund. okay? have you bought any google ever? >> google? of course. i mean, how can you invest -- why would anybody invest without buying google? . stuart: how about -- let me see now. how about -- ashley: facebook. stuart: facebook. >> of course. stuart: what do you mean of course? >> how about apple? >> i don't think you have to be a great stock picker to realize that facebook is a great stock. and, look, what did it open at? 38 or something, and then it went down and the adviser i had sands capital management bought a lot of it at 19. that's awfully good. where is it now? 130 or something? . stuart: check this program

more often, please. it's 158 as i speak. 158.19. if you still hold it, son, you will make a fortune. stuart: watch this show and make some money and retire. hey, fred barns, thank you for being on the show. >> glad to be here. stuart: the dow industrials have dropped 111 points now. we were down 168. that's still a rally. still up about half a percentage point and 21521 means that we're still what? 40, 50 points away from the all time intraday high. you really in record territory any way you slice it. and our own, we call him our own now because he led the way on the fife big technology companies. you say the sky is the limit if we get tax cuts, and if we get obamacare repeal and reform. okay. of all the five big name stocks, which one do you like best?

and i'm talking amazon, alphabet, apple, what is it? microsoft, and facebook. which one? >> i would have to say facebook and amazon are probably tied. microsoft -- we have a portion equally to all of them because that's just what you need to do. you need to be in all of these. they're all great stocks, they all have growth, and everything you're looking for, in terms of the stock ownership position. stuart: i know you're not a stock picker. >> i was listening to fred barns, and the first part of his comments i thoroughly disagree with. because politics is a team game, the six or seven or eight republicans in the senate who might oppose the bill at the moment are not going to be poster boys for the failure of the republican party, come congressional election in 2018. i can assure you that the republicans are going to come together precisely because at this point, which seems to be contradictory. if it's a team sport, the team will have to stay together. if republicans want to be successful, they're going to have to act as a cohesive group. so the notion that somehow there are going to be these

people that are going to be outliers, the poster boys whose pictures will appear all over the country as the people who are responsible for the republican failure, i don't think so. i don't think that's going to happen. stuart: did you know this from personal experience? or the inside of republican circles and this is -- >> well, i can only tell you that the people i know who have been in the freedom caucus and elsewhere who have been somewhat opposed generally find themself in the position where with some modest change, they're willing to support the bill. the modest change may vary from person to person, but buy in large, that's the sentimen s. stuart: now, what's going on in washington as we speak? i will tell you. we were expecting some real fireworks from the hearing from fbi that may be the next fbi director that is christopher ray. didn't materialize. the democrats asked questions, they probed about the firing of james comey. they questioned about mr. muller and his investigation. they questioned about would you have a one to one meeting with the president of the

united states? and christopher ray said, no, you don't do that. that's unprofessional. i wouldn't do it. that satisfied his democrat questioner. on the other side of capitol hill, we have real movement. it created real movement in the market, and that is the janet yellen testifying before a senate committee there. and she has said fairly clearly that, yeah, we're going to unwind, that means sell off at some point, the $4 trillion worth of bonds held by the federal reserve. now, when you flood out their supply, that means the price goes down, which in a bond, means the yield goes up. so what she was really saying was, yes, interest rates are going to rise. but she qualified it and said rise only very gradually. music to the market's ears. art laugher told us early this morning that rising interest rates are a sign of a good, strong economy. ashley: healthy.

stuart: and investors like it i am not. ashley: yes. stuart: so we're reversing the old rules which if rates go up, stocks go down. that's not true down. rates go up mildly, slowly, stocks go up nicely. are we onboard with this? >> absolutely. and this is the symbol of economic growth is when interest rates start to rise. this means that there's more demand for money because there's more production, more manufacturing, and more purchasing of goods and services. so there's going to be pressure on interest rates. it's positive. stuart: it's a real turn around, isn't it? >> you're also looking at the jobs report, which clearly suggests that the economy is doing reasonably well. modest increase in interest rates also means that the financial sector is going to do very well indeed. stuart: xlf, that's something that i follow. xlf is an etf of financial stocks. it's nearly $25 per etf share. that's a nice rally that it had there. >> well, the financials had a great rally. the stress test, there's no surprises there. there were positives for all the banks. their ability now to increase

their dividend payouts also to buy back more shares, makes them a buy. liz: get back to oil. opec is now just calling an emergency meeting this comes on the heels of the report that by 2020 the u.s. will surpass opec members in exports. so surpassing kuwait and nigeria and u au rae as well. so we had that draw down more than expected but still, again, an emergency meeting being called by opec about oil cuts. stuart: hold on a second. did you just say that by 2020, america may be the biggest exporter of oil? >> well, no, i said it would rank in the top ten. place some opec members on the side of the exports. expected to quadruple by 2020, so displacing kuwait, nigeria, and the uae. stuart: that's a very big story. another reversal. we just talked about the reversal of the federal reserve, the reversal on the market, and now we're talking

about a complete reversal of america's energy position. who would have thought a few years ago. >> it's quite remarkable to see the changes that have occurred. liz: they did list that, however, donald trump is going full bore on this, and it's really upsetting iran and russia. you have. stuart: sarcasm is a low form. but i like it. thank you. that's the efforts we have with the russians. no question. and when putin looks at this oil market, he sees oil at $40 a barrel, he cannot sustain his economy. stuart: his economy is half the size of france. >> that's right. liz: and it's lower than india. . stuart: exporting energy, we're lining up permits to

allow the qibbleify natural gas, which is huge. europe at the moment gets almost 40% of its natural gas from russia. cheaper and probably much better natural gas. >> much, much cheaper. we produce natural gas. we burn it off, we have so much of it. liz: sanctions on steroids. this energy policy. stuart: that's the way of putting it. >> it's an interesting way of putting it. but it's also a matter of eliminating the political exportation game that the russians have been playing. with ukraine and western europe. stuart: it's leverage. american energy policy gives us leverage with opec, it gives us leverage with russia, . if you are energy independent, and then, as mr. trump wants, you are energy dominant, game-changer. absolutely so. liz: something to certainly watch. stuart: quite a know. glad r with us today. her london, thanks for being with us. we just love you, baby.

amazon, microsoft, go for it,ç lad, excellent stuff. in 10 seconds we switch to neil cavuto, who came out with that brilliant interview yes, maybe a deal with taxes and obamacare and. well-done, neil. neil: we'll see what happens. devil is in the details. never copastetic swapping out a tax hike for a tax cut but they have got to do something. they are in this two-week extended work sphere where they have to get stuff done. stuart: better to do something, than nothing. neil: i agree with that. absolutely agree with that. scares me. have to rethink everything. thank you very much, stuart. the dow liking all the news they're hearing, broker some sort of a deal on that. stuart getting into this idea of maybe accepting some tax hikes within a health care