stuart is watching at home. merry christmas to you because "varney and company" is up next, but ashley webster is in for stewart this morning. we've got to get this sweater to show you. ashley: you would never wear it but i will wear mine under my suit. maria: you want this one? ashley: bring it on over. maria: take it away. ashley: thank you in the. i am ashley webster. stuart is on vacation. here's the big story on this friday. market at its lows for the year, the final read on economic growth came in at 3.4%, that is the number. growth remains strong and futures near the highs for the morning after that news. where do we end up? nike helping the dow, sales and profits, the controversial colin kaepernick ad is adding

40 points to the dow. the clock is ticking, the house passing a bill that includes $5.7 billion for the border wall, expected to die in the senate. the president remains firm, he has been busy on the tweets, shut down today if democrats do not vote for border security, exclamation point. use the nuclear option and get it done. our country is counting on you. he is referring to mitch mcconnell getting the spending bill passed with just 51 votes, a simple majority, not 60. we expect to hear from the president during the 11:00 am hour. a big day for politics and that is what we do on "varney and company" which begins right now. ♪

ashley: first to the economy. we got the latest on economic growth. joining us his movies chief market economist, welcome to you. you don't have your christmas sweater on this morning. 3.4%, that is not ugly. >> not ugly at all. that is what the market wants to see. it is in a much improved economy but not seeing the economy galloping away in a manner that otherwise would lend credibility to rising fears regarding price inflation and that brings the market back. two rate hikes next year. inflation is under control. ashley: the markets are worried about where the economy is going. you don't need to raise rates regardless of inflation. things are slowing down in the global economy is very rough. >> domestically we had indication of a slower base for capital spending for the month

of november. capital goods orders declined, that is telling me that the support we got for business capital spending from corporate tax reform is beginning to fade a bit and there's greater uncertainty because the global economy, companies are willing back on capital spending plans. unfortunately if companies are showing more restraint with planned capital spending -- ashley: it is dangerous -- slowing down. >> you will not see it grow as rapidly as it did in 2018. if companies are more conservative with capital spending, they are also going to be more cautious with hiring activity, telling us that after a strong 2018, consumer spending might be slowing somewhat in 2019. of the 5 we talked about the global economy. i think europe is on the brink of recession and thing slow down in asia. it is struggling in china. does that have the impact of

slowing our economy down? we are a controlled economy in times of trouble. we are the only game in town. >> we are interconnected. if you have more slack overseas that puts downward pressure on prices. not only consumer prices, we see with commodity prices, the price of oil under $50 a barrel, industrial metals prices have been flat to lower. when the last happened, we had a global slowdown especially in china, 2015-16, we had profits shrink noticeably. at the same time we had a rise in default but the us economy did well. what kept the economy going with the global slowdown, still relatively low interest rates. we've got to keep the 10 year treasury yield under 3%. ashley: a message to the fed. stay right there. more for you. let's go to the markets, look at the futures, where we are

going to open, there you are, modestly, up 100 points. now it has flattened out, the dow suggesting opening higher by 21 points. yesterday stuart spoke to steve mnuchin about the market's ups and downs of late. roll tape. >> i am completely. with the advent of computerized trading which is such a big part of the market combined with the vulgar rule where you can't have marketmakers commit capital, you have much bigger moves in both directions. clearly you have a situation where the market has overreacted to the fed's comments and you see program trading taking over. ashley: joining us is john layfield. look at you as we suffer through a massive rainstorm in the northeast. you are kicking back in

bermuda. what is going on with the markets? it seems to ones to go down. for so long he wanted to go up, now it is going down. is this overblown? >> it is overblown initially. we will see some type of bounce. i don't think long-term we will see the market go up from here. we have great numbers, most are backward looking. we have a great gdp with consumer confidence at an 18 year high-end employment that is almost full. we will have probably the best christmas season in history. the question is what happens next. we have a global slowdown. looks like a us slowdown but the biggest concern, geopolitical concerns, the trade war that could escalate. europe is not just headed for recession, europe is headed for disaster. that affects what we are doing. ashley: as we watch market, you sneeze and it goes up or down. it is distressing. from a trader's point of view, what do you do? most viewers are not trading second by second, what is your best advice to them? >> a somatic approach.

find something that works, uranium this past year had 192 million tons used, 135 million tons were manufactured in the world. you are going to see uranium prices go higher. that is easy to follow. as far as the rest of the market, companies like apple look undervalued except if the tariffs get put on. the market is trading on market fundamentals right now. the market is trading on donald trump's twitter timeline which is very scary. ashley: thank you very much. now this. nike sales rose 10% in the latest quarter which is strong demand worldwide, christine joins us for the next few hours, no backlash from that colin kaepernick ad campaign. >> no signs whatsoever because the average selling price for nike climbed for the quarter and a lot of that was on the digital platform. they had a quote on the

conference call which went well. the quote literally said that they potentially have potential to have digital be the majority of their business, and we are talking whenever you mention trade war, their sales in china climbs 26% for the quarter. if you look at the past 41/2 years, revenue has grown 10% in china. a lot of strength there. literally no comments about the fact that there is a trade war. the us dollar is a little higher. ashley: which everyone was expecting. john layfield, nike, stock is going up. i was expecting to hear about tariffs, the uncertainty of the trade war with china hurting their margins, apparently not. >> it goes through economic numbers, full implement, gas prices at a low, christmas seasons are so good, nike is so

good, this commercial that came out, colin kaepernick is a polarizing figure but you throw in berkeley, serena williams, lebron james, this commercial was a massive home run for nike. they hit the ball out of the park, they have great product america wants to buy. ashley: was it a good idea or that idea? apparently it was just fine. do these results show the sprint of the consumer? john just mentioned lower gas prices, more money in our pockets. >> consumer spending is doing quite well outside of housing and outside of motor vehicles. we find wherever interest rates enter the equation as to whether or not the consumer purchases an item, the consumer has shown some hesitancy. we had home sales that peaked in the final 1:45,017 with the 10 year treasury yield averaging 2.4% and likewise auto sales have been flat to lower because of higher

financing resulting from a higher federal buzz rate. ashley: are you surprised china was not a factor? so many analysts said look for the impact of china, tariffs, early hurting those margins? >> the chinese consumer had the final say so they are doing pretty well regardless of the friction we have between the chinese government and the united states. ashley: let's check futures again, we are showing we are higher by 100 points but apparently more modest, the dow expected to open in 20 minutes from now, just up 9 points. flights resuming in london after a day of total chaos. be thankful you were not these people on screen. the airport shut down because of drones but the search for whoever flew those drones is still on. what a mess. defense secretary james mattis retiring at the end of february because we are pulling out of afghanistan and syria.

we will be asking that question. donald trump still tweeting about the border wall. the democrats will probably vote against border security and the wall even though they know it is desperately needed. if they vote no, there will be a shutdown that will last for a very long time. people don't want open borders and crime. the president digging his heels in. is he right to do that about shutting down the government? the white house press victory, sean spicer, will be here next. "varney and company" just getting started.

ashley: check those futures, 15 minutes until the open, we are flat showing up across the board but very modestly, the dow opening up 35 points. where it ends, who knows? we will follow it all day. a former canadian diplomat detained in china reportedly not being treated well by his captors. >> he was detained last week. what we are hearing is he's not allowed to apply for bail, not allowed to get a lawyer and not allowed to even turn off the lights when trying to sleep at night. according to canadian officials he's not being mistreated, just seems extremely stressed at the moment which i think rightfully so given the situation but they believe, china believes he is a national security threat given

his experience with korea and he's in china still and there are three canadian people detained, the third is an educator that has to do with her visa, canada is saying that has nothing to do with the first two. ashley: you don't want to be a captive in china. jim mattis stepping down after the decision to withdraw from syria. among other things, sean spicer, former white house press secretary, senior advisor and spokesman for america first action pack. welcome. okay, what do you make of the mattis retirement? he was upset, never consulted on the withdrawal from syria and possibly from afghanistan and he is leaving under a cloud. what is your take? >> he has served this country since he first illicit in the marine corps in 1969. he is within the marine corps, the military, considered sort of as close as you come to a

god and he is inspirational, a true leader and clearly he had physical optical differences between the president and this is the right thing to do. i'm disappointed because i have tremendous respect for him and i think he has done a lot of good for the country and the dod but there comes a point in time in anybody who is serving in an administration that if you don't believe your thoughts or views are aligned, you have to do the right thing and you have to step down so i respect his decision. i think the president also needs to understand general mattis he selected for a reason because of his experience, his leadership, his understanding, not just of the military -- ashley: should the president have consulted with him before? >> i don't know what did or did not happen, i don't want to second-guess the president's

decision-making but it is important to recognize there's clearly something that needs to be looked at in terms of what that relationship is and if you want people to serve those discussions on the front end. ashley: they are there for their expertise. >> at the same time, i don't think this decision came lightly. i do believe the secretary, a lot of others in that sphere, foreign-policy and military, had several discussions with my guess is having watched this eve all the over several months of the administration, they did discuss it but vehemently disagreed about the outcome. ashley: the government shutdown is looming, the clock is ticking the night tonight, the president very clear, i will not pass a spending bill if i have spending for my wall. is he right? >> yes. ashley: we know democrats will get control of the house. >> that is key.

if you don't, we are talking for the last two years, next time, next time, next time, this is it. if he doesn't get something this time nancy pelosi is not owing to move anything. if you don't stop and fight now, a shame it has to happen this way, at this time, but at the end is a this is an issue of national security, human trafficking issue, whether or not we are allowing drugs to come over the border. i think we are messaging this poorly. this isn't a discussion about a physical barrier. it is a question of whether we are looking at our southern border and protecting our people and other people being trafficked over the border. the president is right to fight right now because this is it. if you don't get it now he's going to go to his next reelection. ashley: does he go nuclear? >> they may try to figure out is there a deal to be had? is there a way in the 9 democrats that you need, you are not going to get them. if there is no way you have to

seriously consider -- ashley: other compromise? >> if they can find a way to get 9 democrats to agree to some scenario than that is the better way to go but i don't know that chuck schumer and those democrats have any will. the one supportive of manchin or mccaskill, they lost in the case of mccaskill or got reelected and are not up for 6 more years so there's less likelihood those individuals would be more inclined to side with the president have any incentive to do it. >> that the government shutdown? >> i think so. >> does the president get the funding? >> i think it will shut down. i don't know that it will be that long but at that point it becomes a discussion between him and mitch mcconnell about whether or not to pull the nuclear option and if you are not going to stop and fight now when are you? >> a lot of people enjoying this. >> everything is going to be all right. searching for that, there is --

it is there. thank you. stuart: ashley: a quick look at futures bouncing around, up modestly. we are up across the board, 17 points on the dow. workers getting big bonuses after the company reached a multibillion-dollar deal with out real. wait until you hear how much money they are getting. merry christmas. ♪ ♪ whoa! the mercedes-benz winter event is back, and you won't want to stop for anything else.

lease the gla 250 for $359 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. from capital one.nd i switched to the spark cash card i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. what's in your wallet? ♪ ♪ this holiday season, families near you need your help. visit redcross.org now to donate.

♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪

mom. ♪ ashley: we are 10 minutes from the open, look at futures up 20 on the dow, we shall see as they say.

finally, in london, gap airport shut down, those drones, but it is reopened. >> this is concerning. i used this airport many times. it shut down due to drones. they have some people in mind they potentially believe are behind the drones but i went a step further and looked at the pilots. the pilots ever in the comment that goes against what the authorities are saying, saying they remain extremely concerned at the risk of a possible drone collision going forward. that is frightening too. we were talking about this. couldn't people imitate this and do it in other airports? ashley: airports around the world are watching the saying what would we do? they think about shooting these drones that are worried about stray bullets. whoever is responsible is still free but they face a 5-year

prison term. a lot of christmases ruined because of that. another one for you. you'll employees are getting a $2 billion business after the company announced 35% stake in the company, 1500 people in the company, they get a big bonus. >> i'm using my abacus and my head, i am thinking $1.3 million each. that is huge. would you quit if you receive that much money? ashley: it is not enough. the tax man gets -- >> do you think the future of tool is possible given the regulations going forward? into many others too. the next thing is take jull and going to marijuana and you are set. ashley: merry christmas, $1.3 million bonus. >> each.

you need purpose in life and wants to have fun. ashley: and expensive lifestyle. >> clearly not. ashley: take a look at futures, we are 4 minutes away in the opening, up 100 points, down now 28 points. find out when we come back. alerts -- wouldn't you like one from the market when it might be time to buy or sell? with fidelity's real-time analytics, you'll get clear, actionable alerts about potential investment opportunities in real time. fidelity. open an account today.

ashley: opening bell ringing in 30 seconds, futures point to a flat open after a wild ride mostly to the downside.

many stocks in bed territory down 20% or more from their recent highs and there's a whole list of those, a daunting list, facebook 39%. oil too, under $26 a barrel. lots to talk about, bells are ringing, it is the first day of winter and it is 60 ° in new york. up we go. we are not down 464. we are up 32 points out of the bell. just getting going. we turned negative, it is going to be one of those days. david dietz said where is the santa rally? santa got stuck in the chimney because this has been a rough month. we are turning flat on the dow. look at the s&p if we can. also showing marginally higher up 0.1% at $24.70, nasdaq up 42 points, 65, 70, up 0.6%. the nasdaq coming back a little bit.

david dietz, the aforementioned, john layfield enjoying life. christine is with us in the studio. the dow pledged to a 14 month low-end it seems the market just wants to go along. it just wanted to go up, now it wants to go down. >> good holiday shoppers love a bargain. i am suggesting good stock investments should look for a bargain. if you put some money and now you will be happy the next couple weeks. earnings. we are in an earnings vacuum but i think earnings will be positive next year. nike may be a harbinger. they didn't see any problems with china. looking at evaluations, we liked it then. to the extent that we are close to 20% means dividends yields are up 20%, pes 20% better and we have low interest rates. 2% on the money market, 2.8%,

who is going to make their retirement promised land with that kind of yield? everyone is looking for bargains and jumping in. ashley: a little better now. we may have a government shutdown. john, does the market care about that or is it just another issue to pine on the misery? >> i don't think the market cares about the government shutdown because the money that is lost will be gained back at some point, people who lost salary during comes will get that money, it will come in later. what the market is worried about is the capriciousness of the white house administration or parent capriciousness. you had a government shutdown, first mexico was supposed to pay for the wall, now looks like he backed his counterpart into a corner and there is no wiggle room. looks like we will have a government shutdown but if we have a government shutdown is the president going to be that stubborn as far as trade policies? other policies using

commenting? >> i want to touch on we are going into 2019, you are seeing valuations that are overvalued and we need a correction going forward. if anything investors realize the fed will not need a safety net when it comes to quantity of tightening, you see them reduce the balance sheet, not just a matter of rebalancing going into 2019. you mentioned dividends and utilities still doing extremely well. it is in a safe place for how long? >> big tech getting hammered this year. you mentioned trying to buy values, is big tech at multiple highs or better deal now? if it is who the you like? >> i don't see how the market turns around without big tech doing well because they are so prominent in major indices. investors should remember it is not always the same group each

year. we are seeing strong performance by big healthcare. investors should look in that direction. we like the semi conductors and chip companies. we cite intel and applied materials because of solid dividends, market-leading franchising and with the internet of things everyone is getting a chip in everything. >> would you say forget investing in academic? if you look where facebook plummeted 25% and netflix doing well, forget acronyms. >> once an acronym is on a group, that is your -- no thanks. ashley: let's look at twitter. it got hammered yesterday after cintron research called toxic appetizers, they don't want any part of it. amnesty international studies so it was toxic for women, four human rights violations. on, let's bring you in. does the analyst have a point? is it too toxic for appetizers? what about the stock going forward? >> absolutely.

twitter does some wonderful things. i love watching live sports and getting newsfeed the problem with twitter is you have given idiots, basement dwelling idiots out there who now have a voice that never had a voice before and because of that, advertisers -- if twitter can't make money with the president having this much twitter activity, they are not going to make money. i don't like the business model. i love this weather for live events for news, but the toxic atmosphere, absolutely. >> i completely agree. i get so many comments, trolls, robots, manchilds -- it gets worse. it is bad every day, every day. ashley: are you on twitter? >> i am not on twitter. my assistants are on twitter. cintron has short positions to take whatever they say with a grain of salt. that your may be worse than the problem.

the ones twitter being like the big brother sensors? like a college campus? we can't have you one because we don't agree with your point of view. >> and regulation. ashley: let's get a check of the big board. the dow is up 100 points. we will take credit for that. they are up $122 and 962, it speaks to volatility. nike sales are up 10% in the latest quarter on strong demand worldwide, congratulations on that, that is adding to the dow gains. campbell soup naming mark clouse as its new chief executive, the stock down 20% this calendar year. campbell had a battle with third point over its leadership in strategy. the market like the change in leadership. breaking news from the white house, donald trump expected to meet republican senators next hour, it will take place at

10:30 a.m. eastern time. i'm sure he will give them an ear full. government shutdown the topic, the president tweeting which mcconnell should use the, quote, nuclear option, 51 vote simple majority, to get that spending bill passed. we will follow that every step of the way. facebook developing a currency towards what's apps transfers. what will that do to paypal? what is that? hugely popular especially in europe. >> not sure it will do much. we are seeing the big story, the crypto currencies have not gotten much traction, done 80%. not sure people are embracing crypto currency. and visa and mastercard, even if facebook is successful all the big tex jump in.

>> a block chain, they are focusing on that. they know how to get around regulation. >> amazon, the story, accidentally sent 1700 alexa recordings to the wrong person. how bad was it? >> 1700, i have to read more of the story but something you wouldn't want because amazon's alexa -- ashley: from the shower i believe. >> we have seen this happen before. there is one story where it contacted a person and didn't mean to because they said it in conversation. my alexa goes off all the time when it shouldn't and i ask why did you stop or what is happening? ashley: alexa says what? >> usually i am sorry, ask again. it is a continuous problem. it is listening in on conversations and sharing. >> i don't have it. it is on my christmas list. maybe i will have a the day after christmas. i want someone yelling at me when i am in the shower.

on the one hand this does not help the biggest techs. they are fighting calls from both sides of the aisle in terms of privacy and so forth and on the other hand, is this a backhanded advertising? we are talking -- talking alexa a few days before christmas and everyone wants to get one now. ashley: john layfield coming in bermuda, you have alexa? what this do you think of the story? it is greedy. >> i'm not going to get alexa. i bought alexa then fought why am i putting a spying device willingly in my own home? i have alexa but it is not hooked up or plugged in. ashley: you just don't use it. >> they probably love me. i got -- they got the revenue but i'm not using it and i will not use it. >> you should give it away as a gift. >> a free gift.

ashley: people turning to dollar stores for holiday shopping. that is not a great sign for the economy. >> maybe. it is too early to draw conclusions like that. there is some concern there is some weakness at the highest end because of what is going on in the stock market. the real test will be in january. most people don't realize what is going on because they haven't gotten a decent restatement but once they get the december statement we may see weakness in january. >> i love going to dollar stores. you can buy anything and according to the research if you are spending on average $171, these dollar stores, i love them. ashley: it is kind of fun. we are out of time, 9:40. thank you very much. john in bermuda, enjoy the beach and merry christmas to you.

thank you both for being here. quick check of the big boards. before we go to the break check this out, we are up 112 points on the dow. it is flat in the opening but something pleased the markets. it will be done another hundred if we sneeze. that kind of market. let's check the price of gas, down again today, $2.34 a gallon is the national average. somewhere, stuart varney -- oil is down again even though saudi arabia says it is considering bigger cuts to production. how much lower is oil going to go? we will be answering that question. we are hours from a partial government shutdown, donald trump meeting with republican senators in the next hour. kaylee mcinerney will join us to discuss, i say the gop will get the blame if the government does shutdown. that is my prediction. be right back. i knew about the tremors.

but when i started seeing things, i didn't know what was happening... so i kept it in. he started believing things that weren't true. i knew something was wrong... but i didn't say a word. during the course of their disease around 50% of people with parkinson's may experience hallucinations or delusions. but now, doctors are prescribing nuplazid. the only fda approved medicine... proven to significantly reduce hallucinations and delusions related to parkinson's. don't take nuplazid if you are allergic to its ingredients. nuplazid can increase the risk of death in elderly people with dementia-related psychosis and is not for treating symptoms unrelated to parkinson's disease. nuplazid can cause changes in heart rhythm and should not be taken if you have certain abnormal heart rhythms or take other drugs that are known to cause changes in heart rhythm. tell your doctor about any changes in medicines you're taking. the most common side effects are swelling of the arms and legs and confusion. we spoke up and it made all the difference. ask your parkinson's specialist about nuplazid.

ashley: let's check the big board. we expect modest gains, up 22,000 coming back to 23,000. not bad. we were considering this, probably another volatile day but the s&p and nasdaq up in the early going, very early going, to places millions of americans will be traveling for christmas, many of them will be flying, good luck to you but bad weather and parts of the country could be delaying flights in the northeast, up and down the east coast. hillary von joining us from lax. any spillover from the bad weather on the east coast where you are? >> so far none. everything is seeming to run on schedule but you are seeing

some traffic back up behind me because today is the busiest day to fly in the entire christmas travel season. airlines for america say 3 million people are headed to the airport today so get prepared to wait in line. last night at lax was particularly bad. the bridge behind me took people in our to get from terminal one to terminal 7 after they arrived at the airport. that is how bad it is in terms of traffic. the security lines last night very long, today they are starting to stack up but nothing too crazy. we did hear from the tsa choir yesterday they were singing christmas carols, people in line trying to calm them down. ashley: that will not work. i admire their ability to try but the fact is just pack your patience as they always say which i never do. hillary von, thank you. looks like the weather -- take a look at oil, trading below

$50 a barrel, below $26, $45.52, down 3 quarters of 1%. joining us is oil watcher stephen sure. every time i look a boy was going down. where does it go from here? >> it is not just oil. it is industrial metals complex that has fallen, it does not bode well for economic outlooks for 2019. to answer the question where do we go from here? keep in mind 15, 16 months ago oil was in the doldrums and started to break out 50, $55 a barrel. what did we see? we saw significant hedging taking place by producers. producers are willing to sell production of $55 a barrel. what does that tell you about marginal cost of production? it is below $50 a barrel. this past summer a lot of money was left on the table, $75 a barrel but once those hedges were $55 hedges rolled off they certainly had an opportunity to

re-had much higher prices so you can see robust production coming out, especially us producers but certainly with oil in the mid $40 range we are testing from an economic standpoint. ashley: says it will cut by $1.2 billion per day by next month. we are still swimming in this stuff. the globe economy slowing down. does that do a lot to raise prices? >> not in the short term because they said next month. what happens next month? the north american oil producers and european refiners are going into maintenance season, the turnaround season, they are buying fewer barrels in january, february, march. just because opec is going to pool oil off the market doesn't mean a lot because we are buying fewer barrels. barreling ahead it is certainly -- if they stick with it.

ashley: i think about what does the viewer care about? cheap gas, more money in the pocket. do you see gas prices continuing to fall? what is the average? $2.34 since nationally. many gas stations across the country under $2 a gallon. does that trend continue? >> that will continue because between retail, gasoline and what we are seeing crude oil markets, given the weakness in the crude oil market, the national average of $0.05 coming out of retail gasoline, that will last into the first quarter but we begin to transition to summer grade gasoline so you will get a boost at that point. the bottom line is you are looking at cheap gasoline. let's be careful what we wish for because cheap gasoline, cheap industrial commodities are not a good sign for the general economy. ashley: thank you so much for joining us. from oil to music, rocker neil

young starting his own music streaming service. why not? >> this is going to be the neil young archive, $1.99, you can get access to all his recordings, he promises to put new recordings on there as well. if you are a big fan you can spend $19.99 for the entire year and he figured why not have this direct connection? ashley: of fellow canadian. do you like them? not your generation? >> we covered him quite a bit especially with his involvement with the oil. ashley: thank you. for the lukewarm endorsement. let's check the dow 30. generally in the green, very nice indeed, adding 40 or 50 points after blowout numbers.

microsoft dragging at the back of the dow, generally in the green. did you know there are schools in this country that seat -- teach santa's help us how to wipe their beards and asked about trade? not easy to do. we talked to the guy who runs the santa claus conservatory and i went to know what the number one trait is for being a good santa helper. ♪ bells are ringing ♪ children singing ♪ all is merry and bright ♪ hang your stockings ♪ santa claus comes tonight

our dad was in the hospital. because of smoking. but we still had to have a cigarette. had to. but then, we were like. what are we doing? the nicodermcq patch helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. nicodermcq. you know why, we know how.

ashley: let's talk the business of santa claus.

joining us is it taylor of the santa claus conservatory. you look the part, let me say that off the bat. >> ho ho ho. ashley: how do you play santa's helpers? >> what we have is online school so we have santas from around the world, 2500 members worldwide, we have santas in japan, uk, australia, all over the us and canada and we go to online webinars that are recorded so people can ask the sum 24/seven. it is a wonderful way for santa helpers to become more authentic and build their santa business. ashley: it sounds terrific. the obvious question is what is the most important trait of being a truly great santa helper? >> having santa's heart. that is what it is about. we look at the beard and everything else but if you don't feel the santa heart, if you don't have that connection

with children and adults, then probably being a santa claus portrayal artist is not the best thing for you. we need to have a santa's heart. ashley: do you go to a mall or is this a full-time business? do you go meet with children? >> i do every day. i work a little bit in malls, i work a little bit in private parties. i did a corporate event last night and yesterday morning i delivered toys to a family that lost their home in a fire in california. it is everything from small little home visits to big tree lighting ceremonies and parades. ashley: is that a real beard? >> of course. ashley: how long have you had that beard? >> i've had the beard the better part of 40 years.

never this big and not this white. ashley: you have kids? >> i do have two children and a brand-new grandchild. ashley: lucky them. they must feel very privileged. >> it is great. i absolutely love it. we created a business a few years ago called the entrepreneur learning center to help people who are 50 and better, great retirement businesses. this santa claus is such a perfect business for so many people to go out and spread the spirit, the love of santa claus and earn extra income while they are at it. it is a wonderful way to go out and be santa claus to the world. ashley: you couldn't be a better santa's helper. merry christmas to you, sir. >> merry christmas! ho ho ho! thank you! ashley: thank you very much, doesn't that make you feel

good? >> i feel so good right now. ashley: maybe this will make you smile, we are up 85, up 100 points, still of 94 on the dow. defense secretary mattis is resigning. we will talk to pete hrgseth about who could replace him. because my body can still make its own insulin. i take trulicity once a week to activate my body to release its own insulin, like it's supposed to. trulicity is not insulin. it works 24/7. it comes in an easy-to-use pen. and i may even lose a little weight. trulicity is an injection to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. don't use it as the first medicine to treat diabetes, or if you have type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take trulicity if you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, you're allergic to trulicity, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of a serious allergic reaction,

a lump or swelling in your neck or severe stomach pain. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases your low blood sugar risk. common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and decreased appetite. these can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. to help lower my a1c i choose trulicity to activate my within. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity. at fidelity, our online u.s. equity trades are just $4.95. so no matter what you trade, or where you trade, you'll only pay $4.95. fidelity. open an account today.

ashley: it is just 10:00 a.m. on the east coast, 7:00 a.m. on the west coast on this friday morning. guess what? the markets are moving higher. the dow up 112 points, closing in back again at 23,000. where we end the day, we have no idea but we are higher at this stage. we are also getting the latest read on the economy. the michigan consumer sentiment, right? >> exactly. it's higher for december, 98.3. in november it was 97.5. it had been climbing steadily since 2010, actually. we are seeing stronger numbers today. ashley: very encouraging. all right. let's bring in david bronson.

let's start there, on a good number. consumer sentiment seems pretty strong. that's a good sign for the economy, right? >> no, it's irrelevant to the economy. i don't want to do the bah-humbug thing but i always get asked about consumer sentiment and always bring up business sentiment. business sentiment is the indicator that we care about right now. ashley: this economy is based on consumer spending, right? it's got to count for something. >> that's right. it's a huge baked-in number to the denominator but we're looking for what are the catalysts to grow, which means you need something additive. the consumer number, first of all, sentiment is backward looking to how -- ashley: oh, all right. >> by the way, you look much younger, stuart, today. ashley: thank you for saying that. i will take back the grinch comment. what's driving the markets right now, because you know, it's a little distressing. i said this earlier, you look down to pick up your pen and you look up again, you're down another 200 points.

what's driving this right now? >> well, let's go back to december 4th. it was a tuesday and i hesitate to bring up but there was a tweet that went out where somebody said i am tariff man. and we are 3,000 points down on the dow since that tweet went out and you can recall, we had been up 1,000 points in the week before that. november actually ended up on the month in markets. ashley: it's all down to one tweet? >> no, no, no. i'm just saying the timing, the beginning of everything started with trade war and obviously we have a lot of headwinds around concern about the fed and extracting liquidity out of the market. right now, there's my good news. here's the christmas cheer. this is not fundamentally driven. it is fear-driven. there's awful sentiment and right now, there is -- there are no buyers coming in and so prices have a difficult time being able to move.

fundamentally, the markets have gotten a lot cheaper. you have to believe that a recession is coming next year to believe that earnings growth will decelerate to a point to justify it. i don't believe that. i do believe we're going to see a rebound but i understand right now that the sentiment is negative enough, it's going to be hard to see a catalyst higher, at least until we get into q1. ashley: feels like the markets are telling us there's going to be economic armageddon next year but i don't see a recession in the next 12 to 18 months at the very least. do you? >> no, i agree with you. i will add, though, it is that business investment that i talked about when you asked me about the consumer. the cap x numbers feel like they're dropping and i think that represents missed opportunity. we need higher productivity and if the cap x numbers accelerate which comes from capital spending, business investment, and i think you are going to have to get the trade war issues out of the way to really put the gap down there but i agree, i

don't see any recession coming. the fed needs to avoid a policy mistake and for all the talk this week about interest rates, and this is maybe the most important thing i can share today, the biggest issue is the balance sheet extraction, how they are slowing down -- that's right. they have to slow down the extraction of liquidity from this economy. ashley: very quickly, as you look at this market, are you brave enough to jump in? are there some really good value stocks right now in this environment? >> the answer is yes. there are definitely some very good value stocks. we are not pouring in. we're not looking at this like back up the truck and buy here. primarily because we don't feel we have to rush in. we added a little yesterday to cisco, we are adding to ibm, to exxon, all the names we own and my family and my firm as well, but the fact of the matter is that we're going to rebalance client portfolios in january as we do every year. i think you're going to see us nibbling around the edges in a

lot of our equity positions. ashley: all right. you started off bah humbug but ended with a ho, ho, ho, i think. and you said i look younger. overall, very good performance. merry christmas to you. thanks for joining us. >> merry christmas. ashley: good stuff. now this. president trump will meet with republican senators at the white house, we're told, in less than 30 minutes now, trying to avoid a shutdown. blake burman at the white house. that's going to be a hard thing to do, though, right? reporter: yeah, because this now goes over to the senate. by this, i mean the bill the house passed last night that would keep the government funded, but also, includes $5.7 billion for what the president wants, a border wall, border security, so that house bill now goes to the senate. it has, i don't want to say a 0.0% chance of passing, ashley, but it's probably close to that. because right now, as you just look at the senate map, there's only 51 senate republicans and the spending bill needs 60 votes. you know the democrat stance on that. so within the half hour or so

here, senate republicans coming to the white house to talk to the president, probably about where they go from here. one thing that we know the president has talked about this morning, ashley, is that he wants the senate to get rid of the filibuster which would drop that 60-vote threshold down to 51. the president had talked about this for awhile, has reiterated it again today because he has control, as senate republicans do, and will have larger control next year but senate republicans are not behind the president on that idea. mitch mcconnell has said he doesn't want to go the nuclear option as it's known. orig orrin hatch tweeted out that's a bad idea. the senate doesn't have the vote to get the measure passed. the senate doesn't endorse the idea of the nuclear option. where do you go from here, considering the president has said he doesn't endorse the house bill that passed that would fund the government through february 8th?

we have no idea what we know it's 14 hours until the shutdown. ashley: it's looking like it's going to shut down. blake, thank you very much for the latest on that. appreciate it. here's what our next guest has to say about the shutdown. quote, dear president trump, you were elected in part to help stop the establishment from killing us with a deadly status quo. for our safety and security, please veto any c.r. that does not include border wall funding. the person behind that tweet was independent women's voice president and fox news contributor tammy bruce. like the president, there is no room for compromise, fund the wall. >> yes. he's campaigned on that, he was elected in large part on that. the republican party's known it for years now and of course, we're back to the status quo of funding something, you know, 14 hours, the government, before it's supposed to expire, when they know of course this deadline's coming up. i would disagree with our reporter there in that we also

were supposed to not have the votes in the house and then the president met with house leadership and suddenly it passed. we did have the votes, of course. this is what the founders wanted. they wanted a person of action in the white house, man of action at the time, that would move a congress that was designed to be slow and would have a desire for inaction. ashley: checks and balances. >> yes. this is called leadership. so clearly, mcconnell has changed the filibuster rule to get supreme court justices in, and that's appropriate. there is no reason for them not to do it. it's funny how they call it the nuclear option. it's simply you still need a majority to get something passed. ashley: simple majority. >> simple majority. there should be benefits to having one, leadership in the senate. keep in mind, of course the republicans kept the senate, they increased their numbers, another election's coming in 2020. the message from the american people was we don't like what the democrats were doing, we saw that with cavanaugh, we are going to give you more control, you know, to move the president's agenda, and this was

the chance. why they would pass that first bill without the border wall funding when we had the votes in the house is beyond me, when you can do it simply with changing it to a simple majority. ashley: the message from the president is we understand meeting with senate republicans in just about 20 minutes from now. will he say look, go for the nuclear option, even though we have the orrin hatches of the world saying not a good idea? >> i think this is where the president can be persuasive. we have of course, this is the last chance, it's effectively a lame duck control framework of this congress. this would be i think the first congress that would, you know, help along the agenda of the opposing party without doing everything they can to move something that is not even radical. the american people in every poll agree we need to enforce our own laws more strictly but we need that barrier. this is something americans want. you see nancy pelosi agreeing to that in her tweet saying oh, yes, border security's important. ashley: but not the wall.

>> but the wall's expensive. well, $150 billion to iran apparently wasn't too expensive. ashley: very quickly. we are running out of time. does it get done or does the government shut down? >> look, i think that if it does, it's going to be the schumer shutdown because now the president supports -- the gop supports it. this is where communication and making it clear to people is important. the president is a persuasive man. the president will make the argument and mitch mcconnell can do it and he should. ashley: we understand the president has tweeted out, we don't quite have it yet, but he says the democrats own the shutdown. he's already casting about blame. >> they're the ones saying we don't want to do this. they have known what the president's wanted. they know what they have had to deliver for the country. this isn't trump's wall. it's our wall. it's the country's wall. it's american security that should matter. ashley: this is part of what got him elected. >> it is. that's why they control more, the republicans control more in the senate coming up in january. ashley: we'll see. tammy bruce, thank you. merry christmas to you.

big hour this friday. drug makers reportedly taking steps to raise prices come january despite the president's calls to the pharma industry to keep those prices down. more on that story. plus defense secretary jim mattis resigning following president trump's decision to remove troops from syria. we will be joined by pete hegseth later in the hour. i want to know what he thinks of the president's decision. plus, if this isn't big brother, i'm not sure what is. amazon accidentally sent 1700 alexa voice recordings to a different user by mistake. we're on that one. creepy. we're not creepy. you are watching the second hour of "varney & company." we'll be right back.

ashley: well, the president tweeting this just moments ago. i mentioned it. the democrats now own the shutdown. short and sweet from the president but that's what he says. the president will be meeting, by the way, with republican senators at the white house in just about 15, 20 minutes from now. i'm sure he will be giving them an earful, get the spending bill through with funding for the wall. now this. drug companies are raising prices in the new year. that's not great news, is it? come in, bob hugin, former celgene chairman and former new

jersey senate candidate. thank you for being here. the drug companies, with your experience in this field, drug companies last year or earlier this year, i should say, put a pause on raising drug prices. a lot of it because the president was putting pressure on companies like pfizer. we come into the new year, now we understand these companies all going to ramp up their prices on prescription medications and whatever. how do we prevent something like that, or you have been in the industry, is that a fair thing to do? >> i think there's a couple things we have to step back and recognize. the system is broken. people are paying too much for their medicines. but understand the solution that solves the problem, it doesn't make it worse. we have patients paying way too much and there's no transparency to the system. last year, i think in 2017, pharmaceutical expenditures in the u.s. went up less than 1%, in 2016, 1.6%, but we're paying more ourselves. the government gets a 60% rebate on medicaid, 35% rebate on part

d prescription drugs for senior citizens, but the consumer doesn't get that. the system is broken. we've got to fix the system. democrats and republicans agree on a lot of things to do. ashley: they just don't know how to do it. >> washington is so dysfunctional. ashley: is it true that the u.s. consumer pays for a lot of the research and development? whereas people around the rest of the world who also benefit from these drugs that are developed, but they don't have to pay those high costs? >> there are so many free riders. new zealand, australia, canada, uk. we need fairer trade. trade needs to be enforced so we don't have the unfair burden. the other thing is i'm optimistic change can happen. look at what amazon, jpmorgan, berkshire hathaway are doing, they are trying to incentivize -- in new jersey there are labor unions providing great quality care for their members. this is private sector labor unions that are getting better outcomes at lower cost because they are doing the kind of

things we need to do. get information technology into health care. incentivize people for health, not sickness. don't pay for sickness. pay to keep people healthy. we know what needs to be done. but i'm not optimistic that washington -- ashley: do you look at washington with any optimism and say oh, no, these guys will figure it out? what do we do? just muddle along the same way we have been having? >> unfortunately, i think we have to stop bad ideas. the government should not be more involved. we need to make sure there's competition and choice. government needs to have regulation. when the fda doesn't make sure we have more than one generic, 90% of prescriptions are gene ricks in this country, make sure we have competition. we don't have competitions, regulators should come in to make sure we have competition. but market-based solutions are really the key here. we have to start talking about the real issues but make sure we don't have bad solutions and the private sector's got to start stepping up, like jpmorgan, amazon and berkshire hathaway with solutions to change this. ashley: want to change gears, as they say, and talk about state

and local tax deductions. they were done away with. pay in full for people in high tax states like new jersey, new york, connecticut, illinois, california. now there's words from the democrats they would like to reinstate the ability to deduct those taxes. somebody who lives in new jersey, would you like that? why wouldn't you? >> i think new jersey's in a tough situation, like a lot of these states. it's high cost, high tax, it's hard for people not to want to move out. we're seeing a terrible out migration. ashley: you're seeing an exodus? >> it's really bad. taxes are too high in new jersey. ashley: where are they going? >> florida, even pennsylvania and new york which is scary to say. that's how bad it is in new jersey. i think we got to deal with the taxes. that's not the solution. but we also have to make sure the subsidies, because we are talking about this is a bad subsidy, maybe it's a bad subsidy but we have to make sure we're fair on all the issues in terms of government relations with washington and the states. but taxes are not the solution. not more taxes. ashley: never have been, never

will be. >> it will never be. ashley: thank you so much for being here. appreciate it. merry christmas. i want to take a check of the big board here. we are flying again, up 360 odd points on the dow. the fed i'm told is moving the market. what's going on? >> you have new york president williams making comments right now saying they are paying close attention to the economy, they expect a strong outlook for 2019. however, they do attribute the possibility that the u.s. outlook could change. that's big, too. it could change. they are citing global growth and china being issues that could change the market going forward. they also said there's no decision yet to change the balance sheet normalization. ashley: by saying that they are suggesting they are aware of what's going on around the world and maybe they will take the foot off the gas a little when it comes to rate hikes, maybe reducing their balance sheet. >> but the fact that right now they are saying no decision yet to change the balance sheet and that they continue -- ashley: look at this. >> it's great, really reading into the positives for this.

they are listening, paying attention to the market and they expect a healthy outcome for 2019. they are looking at the economic data very, very closely. ashley: wonder if it's the algorithms again, the computer software that reads a head line and says that's positive. interesting. all right. kristina, thank you. we are up 300 points plus on the dow. now this. less than 14 hours away from a government shutdown, president trump about to host republican senators urging mitch mcconnell to go nuclear. simple majority, he's going to say, 51 votes. let's get it across the line. next hour, the rnc on how the gop deals with the p.r. of a government shutdown. we'll be right back.

♪ ♪ ♪ this holiday season, families near you need your help. visit redcross.org now to donate.

ashley: take it away! all right. well, today is a big day for holiday travel, of course. in all, aaa says more than 46 million people are expected to travel and your holiday plans could be complicated by bad weather. janice dean, always a bright ray of sunshine no matter what the weather throws at us. my goodness, what a huge storm on the east coast. it's affecting many, many people. how bad is it? reporter: the good news if this was a really cold weather event we would be dealing with a lot of snow over portions of the midatlantic and the northeast. this system has produced tornadoes. yesterday we had tornadoes

across florida, outside of the tampa area. we still potentially could see some hail, maybe damaging winds and isolated tornado as this system pushes northward across the midatlantic and northeast. mainly a rain event although on the back side of this, that's where the air will be cold enough for some snow along higher elevations of the appalachians and maybe the great lakes and interior northeast. by tomorrow it's done, so if your travel delays are delayed, it will probably be saturday, sunday that you will be able to get out. there's your additional precip. couple inches there, isolated snow across the appalachians area but very warm. 60 degrees in new york, close to christmas time, that's a little crazy. for much of the country, above average temperatures. that's why we are seeing mainly a rain event. weather delays tomorrow. we could still see some residual delays across the northeast. the next storm system moves into the pacific northwest so they will see delays certainly saturday and sunday as this next weather maker moves through. mainly rain along the coast and

the higher elevations will get the snow. will you have a wet christmas or a white christmas? depending on where you live, looks like the interior northeast, great lakes, you will have a little bit of snow there. along the coast, it's going to be a rain event. then if you like the snow, the rockies are a good option. ashley: there you go. i was going to ask, where would i go? reporter: vail, aspen. ashley: apres ski. reporter: i like the way you talk. ashley: merry christmas. thank you so much. now this. facebook under fire after reports that it allowed spotify and netflix to read private user messages. we will talk to a tech watcher who says until these companies are held liable for their lax security, there's no reason for them to change. we will talk about it. ♪ jardiance asked:

when it comes to managing your type 2 diabetes, what matters to you? step up to the stage here. feeling good about that? let's see- most of you say lower a1c. but only a few of you are thinking about your heart. fact is, even though it helps to manage a1c, type 2 diabetes still increases your risk of a fatal heart attack or stroke. jardiance is the first type 2 diabetes pill with a lifesaving cardiovascular benefit for adults who have type 2 diabetes and heart disease. jardiance significantly reduces the risk of dying from a cardiovascular event... ...and lowers a1c, with diet and exercise. let's give it another try. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration. this may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, or lightheaded, or weak upon standing. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, and trouble breathing. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away

if you have symptoms of ketoacidosis or an allergic reaction. symptoms of an allergic reaction include rash, swelling, and difficulty breathing or swallowing. do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. other side effects are sudden kidney problems, genital yeast infections, increased bad cholesterol, and urinary tract infections, which may be serious. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. so-what do you think? well i'm definitely thinking differently than i was yesterday. ask your doctor about jardiance- and get to the heart of what matters.

ashley: a classic. "penny lane." does stuart like "penny lane"? i think he does. >> you never know. ashley: anyway, there you go. quick check of the big board for you. up close to 300 points. how about that, up above 23,000 on the dow, up 1.33%, the volatility as you can see continues. take a look at the big tech names for you. a mixed bag. facebook and amazon down, but apple, alphabet/google and microsoft on the upside. let's take a look at nike. biggest gainer on the dow. its sales we found out were up 10% in the latest quarter on very strong demand. the stock's doing very well, up

more than 8%, five bucks, almost six bucks at $73.33. that's giving the dow a boost as well. take a look at foot locker, also up this morning on nike's gains. the tide rises and everyone comes with it. foot locker also up another $2.50 at $50. now to facebook. under fire once again following news it provided more companies more access to user data. come in, harvard and carnegie distinguished fellow. i know you are chomping at the bit to jump in on this. every day we seem to get these kind of headlines. what should the penalty be for this? >> first of all, zuckerberg was clearly lying to congress. he should be personally liable for when everyone else is being arrested for these days. secondly, when there's a data breach, for example, my e-mail address is stolen, i want the companies to give me an automatic $10. if they steal my credit card number or my social security

number, i want $1,000. there should be standard fines whenever there's a data breach. this is what you pay. watch what happens with tech industry. within a month, everything will be fixed. you won't have data breaches anymore because they'll have to pay. ashley: that certainly seems to be the eu's approach. any misstep and you get fined billions. a percentage of your annual revenue. certainly the eu i think hears what you're saying. next one for you, amazon we find out accidentally sent 1700 alexa recordings to the wrong person. the question is, are we going to see regulations because what is the headline i guess my question is, that is the tipping point? i feel like we reached that point awhile ago. >> yeah. stuart, let me give you a hypothetical scenario. the government told you have to put microphones in every room in your house. they are going to listen to everything you say. what's more, they are going to record it and they can store the

recordings for as long as they like and use them in any way they want. what would you do? you would be outraged. we would all protest and there would be riots in the streets. this is what amazon is doing with alexa. they are listening to everything we say and there are no regulations preventing them from listening to everything and storing it. i don't think people realize when they install that little alexa device over there, jeff bezos is storing everything he heard, everything he wants to store, forever, without telling you why he's storing it, what he's doing with it. this should not be allowed. it's one thing to provide a service to give you information by alexa. it's another thing for them to be able to store the recordings. that should not be allowed. ashley: what's fascinating to me, vivek, because we have these headlines every day, the stock prices don't get hurt that much and the average consumer seems to shrug their shoulders and say i like to use the service, i'm on facebook, i use alexa. it doesn't seem to be the kind of outrage that you're expressing.

>> yeah. that's because the public doesn't understand what it's doing. i wrote an entire book about this. "your happiness was hacked." i explain how the tech industry is now manipulating us. not only are they hacking our homes, they are actually hacking our happiness. this is impacting us, impacting society and we are letting them get away with it because we are ignorant. we are fools. we are idiots over here. i'm sorry. ashley: i hear your anger. when do you think congress, when does regulation and i mean real regulation, start to kick in? >> well, now you have the left and the right equally outraged. the fact we are having a discussion tells you we have reached this rubicon where there's no heading back and we have to now do something about it. so all of us have to agree that this is outrageous. amazon should not be storing our recordings. we have to agree that if they get hacked, we personally, i don't want the government to get this billions of dollars, i want us, i want me to get my cut of

the fines over here. this is what we have to agree to and tell our lawmakers these are the laws we want. ashley: i think we are getting closer to that point. thank you so much for joining us on this friday. very much appreciate it. thank you. let's take a look at oil. we haven't talked much about that but oil near a 17-month low. come in, john hoffmeister, former shell oil president and citizens for affordable energy ceo. every time i look at the oil price it's gone down even further. where does it go from here? how low does it go? >> i said a few weeks ago that it could actually get into the 40s and here we are in the 40s. but it's getting to a scary point now, actually, where i think 44, 45, we'll see slowdown in drilling. if we get below 40, we will see rapid stopping of drilling because the companies simply can't afford it. the business model doesn't work in the 30s. it barely works in the 40s. so it really needs 50s and 60s

to be viable, at least in the u.s. oil shale fields. so i think we're getting close to the bottom and i hope for the sake of both consumers and the industry that we are at the bottom. ashley: consumers love it, though. let's be honest. because of cheap gas prices, right? >> but there's a reverse impact months from now when they get a spike. so suddenly 25 cents a gallon spike and the consumers say whoa, what happened, where did the cheap oil go. then they blame the oil companies. ashley: i understand that. but aren't we swimming in the stuff right now? if we do start to slow down production, opec by over a million barrels per day next month, we understand, but the shock of that, there won't be a spike because we have so much in reserve that that will kind of offset it a little bit? >> there's a particularly large amount because we counted on the iranian sanctions to take several million barrels off the market and that didn't happen.

so yes, we have too much oil right now. ashley: i wanted to ask you this. on a different subject, co conicophillips backing an effort to impose a carbon tax. is this for show? what do you say about that? >> well, in the first instance, i think over the past three or four years, there has been a growing recognition by the oil and gas industry that a price on carbon makes a lot of sense in terms of the future legitimacy of their business or we call it license to operate in the industry. it's no different than the automotive companies voluntarily putting additional safety gear on a car to increase the value of the car to the consumer, and take care of them from a safety standpoint. remember, years ago it used to be a very different regulatory argument. why should we have seat belts? why should we do other things? ashley: good point. good point. >> so the companies realize that

by adding to the consumer perception of the value of the product, and a price on carbon actually adds to the perception that the oil companies recognize their impact on climate change or global pollution through co2. so by adding -- agreeing to price it, it gives them a sense of legitimacy. whether it happens or how it happens, i'm not sure. ashley: it also protects them from lawsuits by states who may want to blame them for climate change. >> exactly. it's an insurance mechanism, actually. ashley: very good. john, thank you so much. appreciate your time on this friday. thank you very much. now this. president trump meeting with republican senators about funding the border wall. next hour we will talk to one lawmaker who met with the president yesterday. does he think he will budge at all? plus defense secretary jim mattis handing in his resignation. general jack keane considered to be one of the candidates to replace him but he, like mattis,

disagrees with the president's decision to remove troops from syria. pete hegseth joins me next on this very subject. (toni vo) 'twas the night before christmas, and all thro' the house. not a creature was stirring, but everywhere else... there are performers, dancers, designers the dads and the drivers. there are doers of good and bringers of glee. this time of the year is so much more than a bow and a tree. (morgan vo) those who give their best, deserve the best. get up to a $1,250 credit on select models now during the season of audi sales event. ♪

moody's chief capital markets coeconomist john lonski says there are signs economic growth will slow down in 2019 following the release of the latest gdp report. >> it's seeing a much improved economy but it's not seeing the economy galloping away in a manner that otherwise would lend credibility to rising fears regarding price inflation. that brings the market back and scratching their head saying why two rate hikes next year? inflation is under control,

companies are more conservative with capital spending. there are probably always going to be more cautious telling us that after a strong 2018 consumer spending might be slowing somewhat in 2019. our dad was in the hospital. because of smoking. but we still had to have a cigarette. had to. but then, we were like. what are we doing? the nicodermcq patch helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. nicodermcq. you know why, we know how. from capital one.nd i switched to the spark cash card i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. what's in your wallet? hi.i just wanted to tell you thdependability award for its midsize car-the chevy malibu. i forgot. chevy also won a j.d. power dependability award

for its light-duty truck the chevy silverado. oh, and since the chevy equinox and traverse also won chevy is the only brand to earn the j.d. power dependability award across cars, trucks and suvs-three years in a row. phew. third time's the charm... ashley: check the big board. we're down another -- we were up 300 points, now we're kind of losing a bit of steam. still respectable, up nearly 200 points on the dow, above 23,000, put it that way. defense secretary james mattis, well, he's stepping down at the end of february. he's resigning, he's retiring, i guess. come in, pete hegseth, "fox & friends" weekend cohost. your immediate reaction to this? >> surprising. we knew for awhile there was differences. he put those out in the resignation letter, very clearly

laid out. i didn't agree on certain things and the president deserves a secretary of defense that more or less supports that agenda. i don't know if that, thinking more on it, if he had to do that letter. the letter was a bit of a backhand slap to the president. unnecessary to do. but i also, this shouldn't be five-alarm fire. there are other people who can be secretary of defense with as much respect as i have for secretary mattis. the president also had two years to listen to his side of things and make his own decision. this could mean folks like john bolton or pompeo have more influence but others have argued this is a reflection of campaign promises. hey, he said he wanted to leave afghanistan. he wanted to leave syria. i don't know where i come down -- ashley: is it a good move just from someone who has military experience and background? would you think this is a good move? >> what's happening in syria? ashley: are we protecting

american lives and keeping isis going longer than it should be? >> i'm seeing it from both perspectives. from the president's perspective, you say 17 years and all the experts told us we would remake the middle east, we're still there, what did we get for it, bring the boys home and rebuild the military. i understand that argument. the other argument is iran is waiting, china is waiting, russia is waiting, turkey is waiting and they will fill that vacuum. when they do, you get the rise of the taliban which already happened in afghanistan. you get the re-rise, the second rise of isis. guess who the media and others will rightly point out to blame for that? it is the commander in chief on whose watch those things happen. ashley: when you get putin congratulating you, is that another warning sign? >> it might be. that's why i'm legitimately conflicted. i don't want to be in these places in perpetuity. nobody knew how many people were actually in syria. keep the amount you need and not let isis reconstitute, do the same in afghanistan. couple thousand here, train the local forces. basically you are out with a

light touch fingerprint so you can kill terrorists, influence the political situation and get intelligence. that can still be a pulling out of the middle east without totally abandoning it. ashley: we got the news we are pulling troops out of syria. yesterday stu spoke about it. take a listen. >> this is a serious strategic mistake, in my view, and i hope he reconsiders it given the feedback he's receiving and i'm afraid if he does not, he will come to recognize that this has been a mistake. ashley: well, interestingly, he made the point very clearly there, general keane. he is also reportedly a contender to replace mattis. clearly he's conflicted with the president on his strategy. so i guess i'm asking you is jack keane a good replacement? he's certainly got the credentials, we know that. but is this going to be a problem for the president

finding someone who can align with his strategy? >> it might be. general keane would be a great pick. i have a mass amount of respect for him like i do with general mattis. mattis went into the oval office before he resigned and made one last ditch pitch to the president to not withdraw from syria. the president said sorry, i'm withdrawing. that was the last straw, apparently, so if that's how general keane views the world on syria, i don't know that the president would welcome someone coming in who immediately doesn't agree with that policy. ashley: is it hard to find a general that agrees with him? >> it might be because the general class is also, i'm not saying this about mattis or keane, can be very political, very politically correct, very invested in international institutions and frankly, globalist world views that says america has to be everywhere, have bases everywhere, doing everything. ashley: world policemen. >> that's the incentive for the defense department. that view has been baked in for a long time. most guys see the world that way. what general is that? i don't really know. i think it's okay to have dissenting voices inside the oval office. that's what mattis was for two

years. give the president credit for listening to and having this guy and ultimately, crushing isis. obama said there was a jay vee team, abandoned it and they spread like cancer. trump said i will crush them. he did. you got to follow through and make sure -- ashley: are you concerned, i know you're conflicted, are you concerned we will look back and say if we hadn't taken out the troops then, could we see the isis rising again in some form or fashion and then we look at this moment, because i don't know how many troops we are pulling out, 7,000? >> there's 2,000 in syria. there aren't that many. ashley: i was going to say, can we really say that's the turning point when it's 2,000 troops? >> we can if the kurdish forces that are holding off turkey are killed. we can if iran takes over that influence by consolidating power with assad. we can if iran further builds its relationships with hezbollah in the north of israel and threatens our ally there. ashley: is that likely to happen? >> yes. there's a lot of bad outcomes that come from this. like i said, i agree with the ethos but the actuality of the

outcomes of it could be really bad. i don't know that you have to take all 2,000 out. maybe you take 1,000 out and keep, maybe have a lighter footprint. that could be a halfway approach. i respect the opinion of someone like general keane. a lot of experts have also been very wrong for 17 years. ashley: very true. >> a lot of americans are frustrated. ashley: no easy answers. thank you, pete. >> merry christmas. ashley: merry christmas to you. there are reports one of the canadians being detained in china being denied legal representation. not being treated very well. what's going on? >> can't apply for bail or get a lawyer, can't turn off the lights while trying to sleep. this is michael kovrig right now, the second one that is being detained in china for national security threats at the moment. there's a third who was an educator. canada has said they are looking into this matter. they also pulled all tourism advertisements for china out of canada. they issued a statement to other canadians in china to lie low.

ashley: no kidding. i wouldn't want to be in china right now. >> they are advised to lie low. ashley: not a good time to be in china. >> if you are canadian. this is literally coming after the arrest of the cfo of huawei earlier this month in vancouver. so this is china's attempt to go back and get after canada. you have three people in china being detained. two on national security threats. ashley: thank you very much. now this. treasury secretary steve mnuchin was on the program yesterday and blamed high frequency trading for the volatility that we have been seeing in the markets, but how could that be fixed? our next guest says we need to better communicate to the robots. really? he will make his case next. as we go to break, check the big board. up more than 300. still healthy gains, up 230 on the dow. we'll be right back.

oh, and there's the closing bell. (sighs) i hate missing out missing out after hours. not anymore, td ameritrade lets you trade select securities 24 hours a day, five days a week. that's amazing. it's a pretty big deal. so i can trade all night long? ♪ ♪ all night long... is that lionel richie? let's reopen the market. mr. richie, would you ring the 24/5 bell? sure can, jim. ♪ trade 24/5, with td ameritrade. ♪

ashley: check the big board for you. well, the air is coming out a bit more. we were up more than 300 points. still up 180 points and above 23,000 on the dow. now to your money. yesterday, steve mnuchin was asked about high frequency trading. take a listen. >> i am completely. i think that with the advent of computerized trading which has such a big part of the market now, combined with the voelker rule where you can't have market makers commit capital, you just have much bigger moves in both directions. i think clearly you have a situation here where the market has overreacted to the fed's comments and you see program trading taking over. ashley: there you have it from the secretary.

come in ryan welsh. you heard what mr. mnuchin had to say. is it driving the markets, these high frequency trading, these computer programs, the algorithms, is that the problem for the volatility? >> yeah, i think so, absolutely. look, you said it earlier in your show, these algorithms will look at a headline and start selling. if you see the third paragraph of the fed statement, it said we are going to raise rates, algorithms key in on the word raise and just start selling. they don't actually understand the context and meaning of what the fed was actually communicating to the market. ashley: i guess the easy fix is to fix the algorithms, but is it that easy? >> no, it's not that easy. look, all of the advancements that we have made in a.i. and machine learning have come around computer vision. it's the natural language understanding or comprehension of language that still is elusive to the field. so first and foremost, as a field we need to build better algorithms and kind of retake on the task of building better algorithms for natural language,

but right now, we are just not there yet. so the fed and even the treasury may actually think about how to communicate with these systems better. ashley: well, we are such a high tech world these days, seems to me that that should be not easy, but there should be the technology already to do that. does your company do that? is that what your company does? >> no. so we build systems that do understand natural language so we build explainable a.i. products for financial services, government, health care, a number of other fortune 500 industries. ashley: it must be hard to do because we know sometimes you can make a statement but you don't get the right context. that happens when people text each other. sometimes it's misunderstood because the context isn't there. i don't know how you can build a.i. that will account for that. >> yeah. well, there's actually two fields of a.i. and a lot of people are focused on machine learning which is statistical machine learning, when there is an entire field of a.i. called knowledge representation and reasoning, kind of symbolic artificial intelligence that dealt with semantics of

language. a lot of people have abandoned that side of a.i., whereas what we're seeing moving forward is the field of machine learning being combined with semantics knowledge representation, reasoning and that side of a.i. deals with both the syntax of language, the semantics of language and the pragmatics of language which speak to the context and understanding of meaning. ashley: hopefully we can get that, the markets will keep a little more perspective as we watch these big gyrations up and down. ryan, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. ashley: we expect to hear from president trump next hour. he is meeting with the republican senators right now. stay right there. the third hour of "varney & company" right ahead. what if numbers tell only half the story? at t. rowe price, hundreds of our experts go beyond the

numbers to examine investment opportunities firsthand. like a biotech firm that engineers a patient's own cells to fight cancer. this is strategic investing. because your investments deserve the full story. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. metastatic breast cancer is relentless, but i'm relentless too. mbc doesn't take a day off, and neither will i. and i treat my mbc with new everyday verzenio- the only one of its kind that can be taken every day. in fact, verzenio is a cdk4 & 6 inhibitor for postmenopausal women with hr+, her2- mbc, approved, with hormonal therapy, as an everyday treatment for a relentless disease. verzenio + an ai is proven to help women have significantly more time without disease progression, and more than half of women saw their tumors shrink vs an ai.

diarrhea is common, may be severe, and may cause dehydration or infection. before taking verzenio, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection. verzenio may cause low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infection that can lead to death. serious liver problems can occur. symptoms may include tiredness, loss of appetite, stomach pain, and bleeding or bruising more easily than normal. blood clots that can lead to death have also occurred. talk to your doctor right away if you notice pain or swelling in your arms or legs, shortness of breath, chest pain or rapid breathing or heart rate. tell your doctor if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include nausea, infections, low red and white blood cells and platelets, decreased appetite, headache, abdominal pain, tiredness, vomiting, and hair thinning or loss. i'm relentless. and my doctor and i choose to treat my mbc with verzenio. be relentless. ask your doctor about everyday verzenio.

ashley: it's coming up to 11:00 a.m. eastern in new york, 8:00 on the west coast in california. i'm ashley webster. a lot going on for you, as there is every day. president trump meeting with republican senators right now at the white house. he's also expected to sign the first step act, the bipartisan criminal justice reform. he will be signing that into law this hour. either way, we do expect to hear from the president in this hour so don't go away. coming up, we are joined by a congressman who met with the president yesterday. we find out how that went. as for your money, the dow off its highs of the day. more wild swings for the stocks. we did get the final read on economic growth for the summer quarter. 3.4% is the number. growth, yes, remains strong. very soon we will be joined by white house counsel of economic advisers chairman kevin hassett to discuss that. we're on it. all business, politics and your money. that's what we do. the third hour of "varney" starts now.

ashley: any moment now we will see president trump. a lot going on at the white house today as there is every day. david asman is joining us. great to see you. we understand he's signing the first step act into law. big bipartisan win. what's it all about? david: well, it only affects prisoners in the federal system, by the way. there are about 180,000 of them. there are 2.1 million prisoners in our prison systems, most of those obviously state and local. it only affects a small minority and within the federal system of 180,000 prisoners it only affects about 6,000 or 7,000. that's why they call it first step. because it's a first step. what they are going to be doing is pulling back on these punitive minimum sentencing charges, particularly related to drug charges. they also make it easier to get out earlier if you're on good behavior. the three strikes you're out rule is being bent a little bit.

so they are kind of bending the curve rather than really breaking the system. ashley: support on both sides of the aisle for this. david: both sides of the aisle. and of course, jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, is the one who really cobbled all this together and got support from both sides. another win for him. ashley: very good. david, thank you. the question is, will we get a bipartisan agreement on spending? probably not, but our next guest met with president trump about funding the wall. come in, congressman barry loudermilk. thank you for joining us. i would love to know from you, what was the president's mood like yesterday? >> well, it's good to be with you again, stuart. it was interesting. we went in and basically the president talked about the urgency of this national security crisis we have down on the border, and as we started telling him mr. president, we're here to encourage you that we can do what you told nancy pelosi a couple weeks ago that we have the votes to do this,

and we've got your back. he was elated and i shared with him, i said mr. president, look, there is a statue or a national monument in san antonio, texas called the alamo and that is a monument not because they won there, but because they fought there. and the american people are looking for us to stand up and do what is right and do what they want us to do, and we in the house are willing to do that. ashley: but it appears those in the senate are not, and so we have a standoff, if you like, to keep with the alamo analogy. so do you believe that something can get done in the senate? does the nuclear option, you know, get used, or are we going to see the government shutdown at midnight tonight? >> i think it's heading toward a shutdown simply because this is back in chuck schumer's lap as it was a year ago. this is their opportunity. they talk about compromise but their definition of compromise is our way or the highway.

they even came out and said look, we will do 1.6 billion but we will put so many restrictions on it you can't use it for what you need to. i think the president, i'm not speaking for him, but i think he would accept something with no restrictions. it may not even have to be five billion. i don't think they are willing to do it even though just five years ago they were all for border security, enhancing our barriers but today, they're against it, why, because the president wants it. ashley: another one -- while i have you there, jim mattis resigning, the announcement coming one day after president trump announced he's pulling troops out of syria. i know you are former air force, correct? what's your reaction to this? is this a good move or not? >> well, i think it's something we need to look at doing because look, how long have we been over there? how long have we been in the middle east? look, we dealt with radical islamist terrorists in the washington and jefferson administration. it's always going to exist. this should be no surprise. the president has been talking about this since 2013. it was a huge plank in his

platform running for president. i think we need to talk about the scale-down but he's not talking from my understanding, about totally just leaving, just pulling our boots off the ground, bringing them home. look, i also feel for the soldiers that are on the ground. my son was army air force and we need to make sure that where we put our soldiers, they are being effective and being used correctly. but on the other hand, we also have to look, we have a $21 trillion debt and jim mattis has also said that is the number one, the national security threat that we have. so we have to look at how can we save money, balance the budget and pay off this debt. ashley: that's the key question. congressman, thank you so much for fashion the time to talk to us today. we really appreciate it. >> thank you. thank you for all you do. ashley: thank you. let's check the big board. we were up 300 points, up about 100 now. we have slipped below 23,000 on the dow once again. it's volatility, folks.

let's bring in jonathan honig, capitalist pig hedge fund manager. when i hear that jonathan honig capitalist pig is saying put your money in gold, it makes me feel like i should run for the hills and assume the fetal position. are you that bearish? >> this is an ugly tape. i haven't seen a tape this ugly actually really in probably the better part of a decade. look at yesterday, 1500 new 52-week lows, only six, six new 52-week highs. this is a really ugly environment. in fact, this is the first year since the global financial crisis that both stocks and bonds are down. of course, the market might be down 5% or 6% year to date but some individual sectors are down in many cases upwards of 20%. picking bottoms has been a very dangerous expensive proposition. basically since october. even given the markets little bit of a bounce today, i don't think the bottom is in. david: david asman here.

not every money manager believes there's a recession coming. i would say it's a growing number, growing minority, but it's still a minority. aren't there a lot of money managers who look at the valuations right now and are saying gee, looks like a good time to get in to me? it seems like that was beginning to happen today. of course, then there was the fear pullout again. >> yeah, sure. absolutely. it always comes back to your own individual context and time horizon. absolutely. if you are investing for three, five, ten years out, this might be an opportunity as you said to get in and step in. but markets are wonderful forward-looking indicators. i can just bring you back to 2009 through 2015, there was a lot of fear and bad economic data during that period but the market was strong. the market was acting as the forward indicator. that's my fear that the economy is strong, unemployment, gdp, we have heard these stats, but the market is weak and i fear in this forecasting, as you said, a lot of economists and money

managers are now beginning to echo, it's forecasting tougher times in 2019. ashley: there's not going to be economic armageddon, is there, though? do you see a recession in the next 12 to 18 months? >> i don't want to be that cassandra forecasting blood in the streets but i have not seen particularly leverage loans and bank stocks act like this. you really haven't seen banks like bank of america, citigroup take 20%, 15% off in that period of time. i think this time might be different. that's why i think now's a great time despite the draw-down in the markets to still activate some caution when it comes to your own investments. i don't think we have seen the worst of it yet. ashley: jonathan hoenig -- >> merry christmas. ashley: thank you very much. merry christmas to you. thank you. let's check bitcoin, shall we, see what bitcoin is doing. it's down $64, just under

$4,039.81. check oil for you. every time i look it's gone down further. it was under 46 bucks. now come up just a little bit, up 32 cents at $46.20 a barrel. the national average, by the way, for a gallon of regular gas, that will make you smile, $2.34. many states still have it under $2 a gallon. okay. we have the final read on economic growth for the summer quarter. 3.4% is the number. growth remains strong, especially compared to elsewhere around the world. very soon we will be joined by white house counsel of economic advisers chairman kevin hassett. i will ask him about the housing market. doesn't seem to be booming with the rest of the economy. we are less than 13 hours away now from a government shutdown. the house passing a bill that did include $5.7 billion for the border wall but yep, it's expected to die in the senate. the rnc will be with us to talk about that in just a few moments. we also expect to see president trump sign the first step act

into law. david asman just told us about it. it's all about criminal justice reform. we are also waiting for headlines from his meeting with republican senators. so much news on this christmas friday. stay right there. ♪ ♪ toyland, toyland ♪ little girl and boy land ♪ while you dwell within it ♪ you are ever happy there daddy, it's christmas! ♪ childhoods, joyland never let go of your dreams. the mercedes-benz winter event is back. lease the glc 300 for $459 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

ashley: earlier this morning, we got the final reading of the third quarter gdp. 3.4%. that's a very respectable number. joining us, kevin hassett, white house council of economic advisers chairman. you happy with that number? >> it was exactly what we expected. there were a few small revisions but the fact is we are looking almost certainly, we will have a 3% year and that's something people really thought was impossible. don't forget, go back to 2016 gdp growth was only 1.6%. to have another 3% quarter, fourth quarter right now our models have about 3% so we really are in a sustained 3% pace. i was listening to the segment before, sure there's a lot of volatility in financial markets but the economic data continue to even surprise on the upside a little bit. ashley: is it getting a little softer? certainly when we look at the global economy right now, the fear is what's going on, europe on the brink of recession, the slowdown in asia, all of that will wash up on our shore and it's going to drag us down. what are your thoughts there? >> you're right that it's going

to drag us down at least a little. but the fact is that our exports to those places aren't exactly raging, because we have all these bad trade deals that we made. so when their economy slows, we don't actually respond nearly as much. in fact, if you look at it, europe has a big trade surplus with china, for example. we know how slow the chinese economy is right now. that's really harming europe at the moment. but it's not having a big impact on us because china has such a big surplus with us. ashley: another one for you. we know the rest of the economy is doing pretty well, but the housing sector has shown a lot of weakness. >> sure has. yeah. ashley: why is that? >> well, i think the housing sector, there are a number of factors. one of them is demographic, it looks like 30-year-olds aren't buying houses the way they used to. another is that mortgage rates have gone up. and there's also a lot of problems that in places that are really booming, they are starting to hit zoning restrictions where basically the land that's open is not a place where you can build a house. so there are a lot of factors. you're right, housing has been kind of a negative this year and for a little bit.

but as far as the outlook goes, don't forget that one of the things that kicks us into difficult times and financial crises and so on is a booming housing sector because that drives prices up and then all of a sudden, if the market turns just a little bit, people start defaulting on their mortgages so that can cause a lot of disruption. so the fact that right now we're booming, but we're not being fed by this housing boom means there's a lot of legs for future growth and much less risk of financial problems. ashley: but based on what you just told me, the economy is doing very well, so the fed could be, you know, allowed to raise rates which hurts mortgage rates which means the housing sector is made even worse. which way do you want it? >> don't forget it's the longer term rates that influence these things so if you look at what's been happening at the longer term rates, it's not exactly moving one for one with the movements of the fed. so absolutely, if we look ahead, then housing is a place where we're looking for a turn-around and it's definitely been a weak spot this year. ashley: it has indeed. kevin, thanks for joining us on this friday. >> merry christmas.

happy holidays. ashley: same to you. gatwick airport in london shut down yesterday because of drones. they just wouldn't go away. we understand finally it's reopened. david: it is reopened but it's closed and reopened and closed and reopened about three or four tiements sin times since this happened. you used to live very near. they only have one runway so if you have problems with one runway you strand a lot of people. it is one of these places that relies on a lot of cheap fare airlines so that people come in and go out. it depends on things coming up and going down real quick. if you shut it down, a lot of people are affected. 200,000 travelers have been affected by this, shut down for 36 hours. it is open now as you mentioned but again, the question is whether they have got this, whether they really surrounded this person. they think it's a lone wolf. in fact, they even have gone further to say that they think it's an ecoterrorist, somebody trying to make some kind of political statement by this. the drone that is being used is not just one of these little things. this is an industrial scale

drone so it's a big drone, really would be a tremendous damage to any kind of plane that ran into it, let alone a big passenger plane which could lead to the death of many people. i mean, this is a serious thing. they brought in mi5, used the most advanced technology they have. we talked about this before. the sort of decentralization of technology in the world today means a lot of lone wolves know more about technology than some of the government agencies, even the mi5 or cia or some of the brightest people. ashley: there was suggestion they would shoot it out of the air. they brought guys in with guns but then they were concerned stray bullets could hit someone. david: imagine shooting, as good as those snipers probably are, why fire around an airport? that's not something i want to be part of. ashley: you would think they would have a better plan. david: well, they didn't expect this. we should, too. ashley: thank you, david.

nike sales, by the way, rose 10% in the third quarter on strong demand worldwide. check out the stock, up more than 8%, up 5.50. $73 on the money there for nike. check amazon. its smart speaker alexa accidentally, oh, boy, sent 1700 recordings to the wrong person. very creepy as well. she's back today. guess what, she was unfortunately, she was with us, then not with us, stars in "the real housewives of dallas" but she runs two companies that are hitting record sales and she says it's because of the strong trump economy. she will join us on set. we talked about the illinois tax exodus but one state tops them all when it comes to people fleeing the state. we will tell you which one when we come back. and "forbes" compiled a list of top-paid comedians and the person on top of the list rakes in $57.57 million. we will tell you who that is.

david: stuart varney. ashley: take a guess.

our dad was in the hospital. because of smoking. but we still had to have a cigarette. had to. but then, we were like. what are we doing? the nicodermcq patch helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. nicodermcq. you know why, we know how. ♪ ♪ this holiday season, families near you need your help. visit redcross.org now to donate.

unstopand it's strengthenedting place, the by xfi pods,gateway. which plug in to extend the wifi even farther, past anything that stands in its way. ...well almost anything. leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today.

ashley: well, we have a head line from the white house meeting with gop senators. senator jon cornyn, the second ranking republican in the senate, said there may be room for compromise on the government funding bill. the first sign of this. but the president does not want to zero out border money, so any compromise must include border money. of course, any comments from the president on this and you will get them right here. but first talk of perhaps a compromise. we asked you before the break, who the highest paid

mea comedian is. it is this man, jerry seinfeld. he reportedly rakes in $57.5 million. "forbes" compiled the list. the second highest paid comedian, kevin hart. david chappelle, and ricky gervais are next. we asked you which state has seen the biggest decrease in population. >> new york, new york! it's a wonderful town but it's got some bad people running it. ashley: it's lost 48,510 people from july 2017 to july 2018. they said we're out of here. illinois saw a large drop, too, 45,000. followed by west virginia, louisiana and hawaii. it's beautiful, it's just very expensive. one state actually saw a big increase in their population. does that give you a cue? utah. added nearly 400,000 people over a period of ten years.

that's the mormon tabernacle. beautiful. check this out. beautiful images from mars show a 50 mile wide crater filled with ice. it's located in the northern lowlands of mars. the center of it contains a mound of water ice that's about one mile thick. just like a lake in wisconsin in january. that's what it is. fantastic. now this. real estate scams, the latest. one couple lost $130,000 in a real estate scam. they wired money, of course, they didn't get what they thought they were getting. our next guest says it's more common than you think. details on that, next. plus the market, as dave asman just said, we kind of lost it. we were up 300. we're now up, let's be positive, but 88 points. just under 23,000 on the dow. ♪

ashley: well, check the big board. we're all excited, we were up 300 points. we're down -- we're up 56 points now, but certainly losing our mojo, as they say. the dow under 23,000. now this. our next guest is the star of the hit reality show "real housewives of dallas." she's also, by the way, the ceo of two companies, one focused on skin care, the other on nutrition, and she says the booming economy including those trump tax cuts, are leading to a record year. d' andra simmons joins us now. thank you so much. you were going to be here yesterday. mr. trump bumped you off. not happening today. >> you know what that's like. ashley: it's a daily, hourly battle.

d'andra, thank you for being here. you used to work in the bush administration. >> i certainly did. ashley: what did you do? >> i was at the department of energy and i was in the radioactive waste management office. i was back and forth actually taking people, senators and congressmen, through the project. we were in the middle of licensing application time. that was really basically what i did. ashley: how did you get from there to being on "real housewives of dallas"? how did that happen? >> i moved back home to dallas because my mother said she want to wanted to retire and she had a thriving skin care and nutrition business. i took a break, went to work in the bush administration and came home. when i came home i worked with my mother. she wasn't ready to retire. she told me that. it was great because i learned by her side. she's a cancer survivor. she developed a very busy and thriving business. i learned by her side and developed my own product line ten years after that and subsequently went on "real

housewives" because it's a great way to build your brand. ashley: is there any better advertisement. you have skin care and nutrition? >> skin care and nutrition. people said why would you do a reality show? i said you know, if you have a brand to promote or to build or a platform even, it's a great way to do that. it's proven true for me. our sales were record high in 2017. 2018, i perceive that the holiday sales are going to be amazing, off the charts. it was a great decision and my business is thriving and of course, the tax cuts, i gave my employees a big bonus. they were thrilled about it. they were thrilled about that. and you know, low unemployment -- ashley: you thank president trump for getting this economy revved up? >> right now the stock market is horrible. i'm not even looking at my stocks, barely. it will correct. i believe it will correct. we will just position right now where it's not right. i also am heavily into oil and i don't want to even look at that. ashley: you are on a roll, aren't you. what advice would you give to someone who wants to start, someone like you, obviously you being on a tv show helps to

promote your product, there's no doubt about that. >> you look at people, talk about people like kylie jenner who is a billionaire now and has a thriving beauty company. they are out there, doing the infomercia infomercials. if you want to get into the beauty business, being a beauty influencer is a great way to do it. also, learn about products, build your brand. if you want to build a brand, being on a show is a wonderful way to do it but you also have to have a lot of interesting things. i have a dynamic family aspect, my husband is a veteran and seven-time military photographer of the year. he's really a wonderful person. my mother also is dynamic. ashley: has social media changed the landscape when it comes to selling your products? >> oh, my gosh, it has totally changed. with the influencers out there, the people that try the product and then if they pick something up, literally the sales go crazy in a matter of minutes. it's amazing. it's wonderful because we don't have to do traditional advertising like we used to do. the indy brands are rising and

also rising so much that they are basically superseding your legacy brands. you are trying to scramble to figure out how do you get the way the indy brands are growing. ashley: stay there. we have more for you. thank you. >> i would add to that it's not just products, it's people. people are going to buy, like kylie and yourself, it's you, not just product. ashley: you jumped the gun there. good thinking. earlier, white house council of economic advisers kevin hassett talked to us. listen. >> go back to 2016 gdp growth was only 1.6%. so to have another 3% quarter, fourth quarter right now, our models have about a 3%. so we really are in a sustained 3% pace. i was listening to the segment before, sure there's a lot of volatility in financial markets but the economic data continue to even surprise on the upside a little bit. ashley: talking about growth. let's bring in samantha

dibianchi. you are the real estate guru, also reality tv star. talk about housing first and i want to have you both talk about reality tv. firstly, housing. housing has struggled a little bit. the numbers have been soft. from your perspective, you are down in miami, are you selling high end real estate? >> high end real estate -- ashley: what is high end? >> $750,000 and above. so the high end -- ashley: that gets you a studio in manhattan, by the way. >> i know. let's talk about $500,000, what you get for $500,000 here is maybe a closet. down in south florida, $500,000 gets you a condo with water views. or a very nice single family home. so when people see that, of course we are going to see an influx from new york to florida. we already have the strongest population migration is between states, is from new york to florida and i think come next year, when people are paying their taxes, south florida is going to look a whole lot

sunnier. ashley: have you talked to dave asman with a water view? david: i think so often about doing that. i have a couple of these closets in new york. fortunately i bought them in the late '80s, early '90s. i bought them for a song. they increased 10, 15 times in value. but you know, i got to live here. i got to work here. some people are stuck in new york. if i had my druthers i would be in florida. >> look, people who live in new york, there's plenty of die-hard new yorkers. people love new york. it doesn't matter what they're paying in taxes or prices or anything. they love new york. david: it is an exciting town. >> right. i don't think there's going to be this mass exodus from new york to florida but you will definitely see people moving because of the affordability and cost of living and just overall quality of life. ashley: i wanted to get into something we talked about before the break. the rise of real estate scams. why a fraud? we mentioned one couple who lost $130,000. sounds awful. explain to me what's going on. >> yeah. it's completely nuts. i have been seeing this actually

pretty often which is scary. people are getting their e-mails hacked and they are seeing these transactions happening, they are seeing that money needs to be wired and they are just responding via e-mail saying hey, i'm the title company, send a wire here. it's been happening left and right. so any time you see -- ashley: like the deposit on homes? >> for deposits, for the closing, whatever it is. any time you get any of these e-mails it's so important to call that source. call whoever is stating that they are the person to receive that money, because it's happening very, very, very often. it's very scary. ashley: i find it interesting you're up here in new york. do you come up here to kind of look for clients who may be heading there? you do the rounds? how do you do that? >> i'm in sales. you got to hunt for your business. ashley: you get leads, come up here and schmooze them, say this is what we have in florida? >> how do you think i'm so successful? think i sit back and wait? think it's just from a reality show? you got to go hunt.

ashley: the high vifsibility, te television show has got to help. have you gotten a lot of leads through the tv show? >> my show, "million dollar listing in miami" ended in 2014. it was like a one-hit wonder. ashley: that's it? you are still getting -- >> still. it's nuts. i still get tons of calls from people. the visibility factor is everything. it doesn't have to be, i mean, i don't have a product. i'm a service. ashley: you are the product. >> i am the product. i have to make sure that i am represented in the right way. you can't just be -- there's so many shows out there and everything represents something differently. but for me, i'm a business. and i need to go on, i need to have a goal. i'm going on the show because i want my business to grow, i want to make more money. as long as you have that mindset you will do very, very well, whether it's a television show or a vlog or whatever it is. your social media. ashley: you have to deliver, bottom line. >> you have to deliver. can't just be a smoke show. ashley: d'andra, same question.

is the show still going? >> we just wrapped the third season. hopefully we will go into season four. ashley: do you go many place sns are you getting a lot of recognition? >> i do. basically whenever the show is on -- ashley: especially in dallas. >> of course. i try to travel every week and do as much press as i can because not only do i talk about the show and what's happening on the show, i can also talk about my product and my business, and what's happening in my business. i always made my business the center part of my story. that's something that if you want to promote a brand, make sure your story line centers on business. david: we have so many bad stories, horror stories to tell about social media. here are two ladies who survived, who thrived because of social media, right? yes, there are bad stories, there are people that take advantage of situations, but where would you be without it? >> funny you said that because you always have the haters and people who say horrible things to you every day. i'm used to that now. then i have people that send wonderful messages, that ask about my products. what product should i use. i'm glad to answer that because

i'm selling product all the time. ashley: so glad we got you on the show. thank you very much. dave, we need to be on a reality show. that's what we learned from this. david: we are. called the "varney" show. ashley: ladies, thank you very much. now this. tesla's ceo elon musk's foundation will give more than $400,000 to pay for chromebooks for seventh and eighth graders in flint, michigan. great move. the students who received the laptops will be able to use them in the classroom and yes, be able to take them home. musk has focused a lot on his time in flint, vowing to get clean water to every home in the city. good for him. let's get a quick check of the big board. we were up 300, then we were up 50, now we're up 129. this is the market we live with these days. very volatile. we are on the upside on the dow, just under 23,000. campbell foods named mark clouse as its new chief executive. the stock had been down about 20% this calendar year. remember that campbell had a very public battle with activist hedge fund third point over its

leadership and strategy. the stock is essentially flat at $37.69. now thchltis. ibm has developed a fingernail sensor to help manage disease. ibm on the show today to explain exactly how that works. we are less than 13 hours from a government shutdown. the house passing a bill that includes $5.7 billion for a border wall. the president is meeting with gop senators right now. there is talk, i say talk, of a possible compromise. the rnc is with us to talk about that. while lawmakers clash over funding for president trump's border wall, one veteran has raised millions to pay for it. details, next. ♪ metastatic breast cancer is relentless, but i'm relentless too. mbc doesn't take a day off,

and neither will i. and i treat my mbc with new everyday verzenio- the only one of its kind that can be taken every day. in fact, verzenio is a cdk4 & 6 inhibitor for postmenopausal women with hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer, approved, with hormonal therapy, as an everyday treatment for a relentless disease. verzenio + an ai is proven to help women have significantly more time without disease progression, and more than half of women saw their tumors shrink vs an ai. diarrhea is common, may be severe, and may cause dehydration or infection. before taking verzenio, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection. verzenio may cause low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infection that can lead to death. serious liver problems can occur. symptoms may include tiredness, loss of appetite, stomach pain, and bleeding or bruising more easily than normal. blood clots that can lead to death have also occurred. talk to your doctor right away if you notice pain or swelling in your arms or legs, shortness of breath, chest pain or rapid breathing or heart rate.

tell your doctor if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include nausea, infections, low red and white blood cells and platelets, decreased appetite, headache, abdominal pain, tiredness, vomiting, and hair thinning or loss. i'm relentless. and my doctor and i choose to treat my metastatic breast cancer with verzenio. be relentless. ask your doctor about everyday verzenio. david: in the last hour, ed taylor says santas from all around the world can access online santa training to spread the love and the spirit. roll tape. >> what we have is online schools so we can have candidates from around the world, in fact we have 2500 members worldwide, surprisingly. santas in japan, uk, australia, all over the u.s. and canada, and we go to online webinars and

of course, they are all recorded so people can access them 24/7. it's terrific. it's a wonderful way for santa helpers to become more authentic and build their little santa business.

ashley: this is a remarkable

story. a triple amputee veteran has now raised $12 million so far to help fund the southern border wall. brian lost both his legs and one of his hands in iraq and started a go fund me page with a $1 billion goal to help fund the border wall. remarkable. in the fundraiser description, he says president trump's main campaign promise was to build the wall and he's followed through on just about every promise so far. this wall project needs to be completed still. can you believe, $12 million already. we will continue to follow that story. now this. republican senators meeting with president trump about funding that border wall. senator cornyn saying earlier that compromise could be possible. let's bring in kayleigh mcennany. great to see you. >> good to see you, ashley. ashley: i guess the question i have for you, what would the rnc, what would the republicans be willing to give up in a compromise? any ideas? >> well, we have already put forward a plan, president trump

did, he said hey, i will give you daca legalization if in return you give me border wall funding. that was a very fair compromise. i suppose that's still on the table, if nancy pelosi and chuck schumer should take interest in working with us but they haven't yet. we also put in the $8 billion for disaster relief in the house bill and so if democrats want to vote against disaster relief, by all means. if they want to shut down the government, by all means, but it will be on the wrong side of the american people if they choose to do so. ashley: what about less money, trying to find that money elsewhere in the budget? would that fly? or is this just all or nothing? >> well, president trump has tried that. he had the agencies look and see what can you bring to the table for this border wall funding. he's tried that, but nevertheless, he needs the $5 billion from congress. it's the easiest way to get it done. if democrats came forward with another number, is there room to compromise, that's up to the president. but so far, they haven't agreed to anything more than the $1.6 billion previously agreed upon earlier in the year. so it's up to them to come and

put an offer on the table. they haven't done so so far. ashley: what's the president saying to the senate republicans right now? >> what he's saying is hey, it's time to use the nuclear option. it's time to get rid of the filibuster. the 60 vote threshold has kept us from so much. of course, it kept us from repealing and replacing obamacare. now it is keeping us from getting the border wall funding. he's ready for the nuclear option. the ball's in mitch mcconnell's court to make that happen. ashley: we are already hearing from some republicans who say that's not an option. orrin hatches of the world. >> that's right. you are hearing that from some senators. they take pride in their senate rules. i understand their perspective but i understand the president here. he made a promise to the american people. he's going to go down fighting, whether it means the partial government shutdown, nuclear option, finding funding from other agencies, he's pursuing every avenue possible for him because he made a promise and he's someone who makes good on his promises. ashley: how does this play out? do you think we are headed to a government shutdown and if we are, who wins the p.r. battle?

the president has already tweeted out that the dems will own this shutdown and of course, the other side will say no, it's you, the republicans in charge that are the cause. who wins that battle? >> that's right. well, as you recall, the last government shutdown, the schumer shutdown, republicans won, public polling showed us this. for this one, i think it was very smart for the house to pass this measure. nancy pelosi said you can't even get the votes in the house. well, the house put together a plan. now it's in the democrats' court. i do think the democrats will own this. this will be a second schumer shutdown. this president has compromised. democrats haven't even taken one step towards the president. this is very evidently, very clearly schumer shutdown 2.0 if we go down that road which is looking increasingly more likely. ashley: it may catch on. it's one of those things, kayleigh, where if they wait until next year, the democrats are taking over the house so it's now or never. is this the waterloo moment for the president?

it was a key part of his campaign that got him eventually into the white house. >> that's right. it's now or never. that's why he's been unmistakably clear. he tweeted it said, we will head toward a government shutdown if democrats don't come on board and get to work. so he's ready to do this. i think that's definitely where we're heading. sarah sanders said he's prepared to stay in d.c. should that happen and it looks unfortunately like we're approaching that midnight deadline with a shutdown on our hands because of the democrats. ashley: who blinks first? >> i think schumer. schumer blinked last time. i think he has nightmares when you start talking about a shutdown because he got blamed for the last one. the american people have long memories. we remember just a year ago what schumer did. ashley: have to leave it there. kayleigh, thank you so much for joining us. merry christmas to you. >> thank you. merry christmas. ashley: let's check the big board for you. we have been all over the place. we started up, went up to 300 points plus, then came down, back up 120, now just up 37 points, just under 23,000 on the dow.

we're up about .1% is what we're saying. big tech names, we check them every day. take a look at these. all moving down. they were a mixed bag, more up than down, but now as we have seen the market lose its mojo, we are seeing the big tech names all move lower. one analyst, by the way, lowering their price target on the stock from $170 to $215 on facebook. there you go. my eyes aren't great these days. facebook at $126.75 right now. let's take a look at twitter. it's called toxic for advertisers. lots of nasty people on twitter, not great for advertisers. taking a hit, down $1.67. twitter down to $27.61. of course, this after studies showed the platform was indeed toxic they say for women and was full of human rights violations. of course, we keep a check on oil. it had been heading lower day after day, coming back, flattening out a little, up 16 cents on oil. still right around $46 a barrel on oil. now this.

ibm has developed a first of its kind fingernail sensor which can help manage disease. they have also created artificial intelligence that debates trained human debaters. ibm on the show next to explain how it all works. ♪ i switched to liberty mutual because they let me customize my insurance, and as a fitness junkie, i customize everything. like my bike and my calves. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

a business owner always goes beyond what people expect. that's why we built the nation's largest gig-speed network along with complete reliability. then went beyond. beyond clumsy dials-in's and pins. to one-touch conference calls. beyond traditional tv. to tv on any device. beyond low-res surveillance video. to crystal clear hd video monitoring from anywhere. gig-fueled apps that exceed expectations. comcast business. beyond fast. comcast business built the nation's largest gig-speed network. then went beyond. beyond chasing down network problems. to knowing when and where there's an issue. beyond network complexity. to a zero-touch, one-box world. optimizing performance and budget. beyond having questions. to getting answers. "activecore, how's my network?" "all sites are green." all of which helps you do more

than your customers thought possible. comcast business. beyond fast.

ashley: now this. our next guest is here to announce the first of its kind fingernail sensor which can help manage disease. come in, dario gill, ibm research chief operating officer. i just killed your name, sorry. and vice president of a.i. and quantum. that's quite a title. dario, welcome.

thank you for being here. i'm actually fascinated. we were talking about this story. what can analysis of fingernails tell you when it comes to health? >> they reveal quite a bit. what we have developed is ma sensor that attaches to your fingernail. when we do everyday things like grabbing a cup of coffee or putting the key into something, those everyday activities tell us something important about our health. and the way the fingernail deforms and the strains associated with it as we do those types of -- they move very, very little. a few microns, the width of a human hair is 50microns. turns out with this sensor, we can detect this previously invisible signal and from there, apply machine learning on top of that, we can detect things that have to do with modern coordination. for example, a tremor or things of that sort. so if you're being treated for parkinson's disease or there's a new drug that is being tested, we would be able to decouple from that tiny, tiny signal that

is in our fingernails how well that's working. ashley: could it provide a warning sign to say cardiovascular, something like that? could you say watch out? >> that's right. i think what is beautiful about it is that we have signals in our world and in our bodies that we don't see. and through technology, we can discover those and it can give us the early warning system so the combination of sensing what was invisible plus machine learning can tell us something about fundamental that is going on. ashley: these little sensors sit on top of the nail or under the nail? not under the nail. >> you can just attach it on top of the nail. some testing is going on, you can carry, go about your everyday life, then -- ashley: is this available to doctors now? is this in the early stages of being developed? >> this is from the ibm research division. we just published our scientific piece of work. we have created base technology to do it. now that we have this, our goal is obviously to bring it to life. ashley: another one for you. artificial intelligence, the

debate trained human debaters, you have developed that. a robot or whatever you want to call it can quite actively debate a human. >> yes, that's right. this has been in the field of a.i., there has been this wonderful tradition of pursuing grand challenges, whether build a machine that can play chess or play on "jeopardy" and so we created a system for the last six years that can engage in a full live debate with a human being. ashley: and adapt to wherever the conversation goes? >> here's what it does. say you want to debate something, we should ban the use of drones in cities. just say that. so given that notion, just with one sentence you have to generate a four-minute opening speech so write an essay and deliver it, essentially. the human then delivers a four-minute speech. the system has to be listening for four minutes and create automatically a four-minute rebuttal of what was said. ashley: they will rule the world one day, you know that. thank you so much for being here. fascinating stuff. appreciate it. we told you about this earlier. amazon accidentally sent 1700 alexa recordings to the wrong

person. creepy. scary stuff. details next. ♪ . . so, the whole world is talking about ai. big, bold promises like... it'll find life on mars! but here's the thing. you don't live on mars. (beep) you build wind turbines. supply car parts to thousands of cities.

answer millions of customer calls a year. like this one: no, i didn't order this. it's terrifying. and that's why you work with watson. hello. it knows your industry, protects your insights, and works with tools you already use. that's why it's the best ai for the job. and works with tools you already use. our because of smoking.ital. but we still had to have a cigarette. had to. but then, we were like. what are we doing? the nicodermcq patch helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. nicodermcq. you know why, we know how.

ashley: amazon accidentally sent 1700 alexa recordings to the how bad was its david. >> 1700 is not terrible. the fact that there is 1700 audio recordings that they had in their reserve that could be sent around the world is scary because it shows many billions and billions alexa is actually collecting this is one shriller of a problem that i think will expand dramatically. ashley: this was in germany, right? >> in germany. took care of it quickly. this is only tip of the iceberg.

ashley: very creepy. much very creepy. we were up 300. now essentially right where we started. flat at 22,860. that is the nature, david asman. where it finishes we have no idea. neil cavuto knows. neil: if that were so. if that were so. dow slipping into negative territory. nasdaq in and out of bear market territory. did not close at that level, but as our resident genius stocks editor charlie brady we would have in other words falling 20% from highs reached a little more than a few months ago, a couple months ago. the concern seems to be the same issue it was yesterday, before that. the federal reserve whether it is doing enough to combat what seems to be market jitters. the expectation the federal reserve