thing about america, we have fillon throw i. great things from this panel. happy holidays to all of you. that does it for "bulls and bears." we hope you join us next time. we'll see you then. [♪] >> from the worst december to the biggest single-day point gain in history, a huge market rally after a bloody december. the dow up 1,000 points five days after the government shutdown. this is "the evening edit." the market sky rocketing as president trump travels to iraq to that troops for their

service. hillary vaughn is at the right house with the details. reporter: the president and first lady melania left the white house in the middle of the night on christmas to visit his first combat zoning during this term. 5,000 military percent nell in iraq spent time with the commander-in-chief. the president said isis is nearly defeated and iraq will and launch pad for nip military action needed against the group. he pushed back against people saying leaving syria is hasty. he says he gave the military a 6-month extension to get the troops out. president trump: today they are not so dominant any more. you look at a map. two years ago it was a lot of

red all over that map. now you have a couple little spots. we'll be watching isis very closely. reporter: this comes in the middle of a government shutdown over funding packages, and the border wall is standing in the way. trump was asked how long the shutdown will last and he made it clear he's not budging. president trump: whatever it makes, we are going to have a wall. we need safety for our country. reporter: a white house advisor says once the government opens back up again, any slight changes will be complete lire reversible. jon: president trump may be slamming the fed, but the white house advisor says we are probably looking at the best christmas in history. >> if the fed is lifting rates, it's because the economy is

solid. i talk to the president almost every day about what's in the data. if you look at the even he can dotal reports. we are look at probably the best christmas ever. jon: he said fed chief jerome powell's job is secure. joining me is ar d art laffer. >> i think every policy in place is direct. the deregulation, the tax bill. i think the fed going six of nose interest rates are great. they shouldn't have don't last two. it had a del deliterous effect n

the market's you spell your last name a little bit wrong. the first letter should be an "l" not "t." somehow it has to be divine providence. jon: i'm on the street as a business person. where is the disconnect between the marketplace and the market? >> i don't think the market is out of whack much. we had a nice run since trump was elected and nominated in has been a big increase in wealth in this country. remember with reagan we came in 1981 on january 20 and we had our first tax bill passed that year. it took a while for that tax bill to catch hold and cause enormous growth. if that same type of pattern holds with president trump, 2019

and 2020 will be spectacular years. from january 11983 to 1984 we through at 8%. i think these policies if allowed to type into the economy, it will happen. jon: president trump slamming the fed tweeted this. the only problem the country has is the fed. they don't understand strong dollars or democrat shutdowns over the borders. the fed is like a powerful golfer who can't score because he has no touch. he can't putt. >> i think the president is brilliant. tweets like that are just brilliant. the fed and the president often

disagreed it was arthur burns who supposedly cost nixon his election to kenday difficult. i was in the nixon right house in 1970-72. you know, it was just amazing. those battles happen and they are happening now. i think the feds should have been far more sensitive to the stock market. there is nothing wong with taking a little time off from raising rates. if they had seen nose markets coming down, i think everything could have been a lot, lot better. i think the president has a lot better sense for the markets than the fed does. >> would you have liked to see the fed wait until after the first of the year to raise hikes. >> 8 rate hikes in two years. the most of ever by any stretch of the imagination. i wish they had taken -- six

would have been enough. maybe a year from now would have made some sense to me there they had to raise rates at some points. >> no question. but the last two rates were killers. it juggled confidence and had a negative effect. >> they could have waited six months. >> "the high road to china," my favorite movie. and they had to go by oxen. they said the o imrks en is slow but the earth, she is patient. deliberate and slowly is better than a rush and a crash. we have all the politics in place and all we need to do is wait for them to take their full effects. jon: how come your peers don't

share your view? >> i have had a lot of experience in warn and a lot d experience in washington and a lot of academic experience. when you look at the tax bill which nailed it on the head. there was a lovely piece by jason fuhrman and he conceded we are doing well on the gdp growth. i gave us a lot of credit and he does say the was due to the tax bill. he didn't concede he was wrong on his paper. but it was a newspaper he wrote. jon: i share your enthusiasm. >> it will be a great year in 2019. change that last time from "t"

to "l" and you got it. jon: change yours from "l" to "t." while visiting the troops president trump slammed the democrats on the shutdown. president trump: we need a wall. when you say how long is it going to take? when where are they going to say we need more security. dpoarnt get the democrats all agreed that you need a wall nil wanted it. once i want it, they didn't agree. jon: joining me now, tom borelli and al motter. ' why wouldn't we just build the wall, we are going to spend the money anyway on lost productivity. >> we should build the wall. at the end of the day it's about

national security and security for the american people. we know our border is porous. we have illegal aliens who come back the border and create serious crimes like rape and murder sometimes, and the drug problem. fenltd nil is pouring across the border. in 2017 it's almost 30,000 overdoses. it's a security issue. we need to build the wall now. >> we have known for years that drugs are problem. i'm not against the wall, i'm for border security. but what happened to mexico paying for it? why are americans paying for it? why are we paying $8 million to $9 million a day on the shutdown. the president ought to compromise.

maybe he should offer daca for the wall. jon: i thought we went down that road. if we all knew the wall would save a million you lives we would build the wall tomorrow. if we thought it would save one life we probably wouldn't build the wall. where does the benefits lie when it comes to a yes in benefits? >> it's pretty obvious illegal aliens coming across the border and some of them commits serious crimes and drugs coming over the border. in 2006 democrats were all in for building the border ferns. it needs to be a barrier. hillary clinton voted for it. joe biden which he was a senator voted for it. obama when he was a senator voted for it. even chuck schumer voted for it. the only difference is as president trump said, it's president trump.

it's endangering the american people. >> i disagree somewhat. most of experts on immigration policy don't think the wall is a solution. your other guest' alluded to what the truths is. it's mixturing of things to improve our economy. it doesn't have to be a magic wall that makes the president happy. we have a democratic house. we have 20 senators and a republican president. they need to come together and come up with a compromise. let's take care of the immigration and foreign problems once and for all and provide a path for citizenship, particularly for the dreamers in this country. jon: where will he get the wall funding? >> it's sitting right in the flat. unfortunately democrats under

chuck schumer is stamping his feet saying no. they think it appropriation in the house bill, keep in minds our defense budget is $670 billion. this is less than 1% for border security. i agree with the other guest the wall isn't a be all and end all. we need a comprehensive plan it wasn't long ago we saw children being hung over and dropped count other side. a better wall would stop that. and it would be better for people trying to break into the country. they know they can't get in, they may not come. jon: obviously that's not the american dream for them they can't get in. clearly the wall is not the answer. we need a full immigration policy to november forward.

coming up next, the their can consumers shah rugsing off the government shutdown.

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jon: holiday retail sales are coming in the strongest in years. christina has details from the new york stock exchange. report around had positive numbers coming from mastercard. retail sales climbed 5.1%. that was just the beginning. according to mastercard you had $850 billion this year during the holiday season. the largest growth that we have seen in 6 years. it's not just all in stores. it's online as well. you are seeing numbers coming from amazon that help with the retail rally.

amazon stated this has been the season best yet that they have seen just across the board. one interesting point that a trader did make with me is he highlighted a lot of these stores are discounting like crazy so that's eating away at margins. it's still too soon to say whether it's a big sign for retail in 2019. jon: it's an exciting report and shows it might be a heck of a year coming up. we note retail industry had a strong season. according to the international counsel of shopping centers. 70% of shoppers who stay in a mall more than 50 minutes will buy food and beverage. another tridoing well is the -- another industry doing well is the fitness industry. your business interests me so

much. you have made it relevant. you made it cool. you made it timely. >> we made it fun. ed the group fitness world. you have spin, you have a lot of running. we twoontsd bring boxing to the masses and we wanted to have fun doing it. we have 60 people in the room. projectors on the wall. and it's a blast. it's so much fun. jon: your revenue is off the chart. >> we launched our first one in january of 2017. the second one in november and the third one in west hollywood, los angeles. came back to new york, and we just launched san francisco last tuesday, the hardest weeks of the year. we had 600 paid customers day

one. jon: you are the founding trainer. what surprised you about the reaction to your model? >> the biggest surprise to me is that the people themselves. it's not just a boxing world. it's not just a professional athlete world. people want to feel good and learn a skill. and it's a little bit of a therapy session. as much as it' it's exciting foe to train athletes and celebrities. i love seeing the average customer come back day in and day out and improve physically and mentally. jon: you have some terrific investors. >> sylvester stallone and justin bieber fell in love with the concept and it helps us take this to the next level. equinox being our biggest

investor. jon: with that type of investors and this type of growth, what do you attribute your success to? you are not just a health club. what defines your success? >> it's an experience. that's where health has been a big factor. people want to go out and do things. especially clients bringing qulienlts. they don't want to go out to dinner and spend $400-$500 on food and drinks. they bring them to rumble. it's fun experience. young millennials are spending -- we charge $32 to $36 a class. so for 45 minutes we are giving them best workout and we are giving them a fun experience. jon: so it isn't just health and fitness, it's relevancy.

>> they want to tell their friends and buy the swag. we don't consider ourselves cool my any means. the people are telling us we are cool. we love every moment of it. we love the people coming and taking photos and sharing it. jon: you have added excitement to the fitness industry. can we take some boxing gloves and send them washington. >> we are opening up rumble box in washington, d.c. in the spring. jon: bipartisan boxing. >> anyone can put the gloves on, how about that? it will be a good fight. jon: verizon is warning fios customers of a potential blackout of disney.

espn is almost using the college wayoffs as a negotiating tactic warning first os customers they may not able to watch. the death toll from the devastating tsunami that hit indonesia has reached 429. the volcano that triggers the tsunami is still erupting. the cdc is reporting high flu activity particularly in the southwest. it seems to be shifting to children more than older adults. justice ruth bader ginsburg has been released from the hospital and is recuperating at home. she had two cancerous nodules removed.

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jon: democratic socialist alexandria ocasio-cortez is -- does ocasio-cortez have the financial chops to be placed on the ways and means committee? >> she doesn't have any experience in legislating. that isn't necessarily a problem. but one of the concerns here is who do the democrats want to be the face of their party. if you give someone like her that amount of leverage and position you are setting up a

progressive movement and all of their ideas are not necessarily things americans love as the official spokesman for the democrats. jon: another democrat, tom sosi is bidding for the same seat. i's more economically conservative than alexandria ocasio-cortez. and he has more experience than a freshman representative. >> these are the folks who won democrats this last election. if you look at all of the races that were so important and actually got miss pelosi her majority were in the suburban districts with candidates like that guy who sounded more moderate and sound more like republicans in some of their positions. these are the folks that if you put them on those committees, they are going to leave a better impression going forward than alexandria ocasio-cortez who is talking about medicare for all

or the great green revolution. jon: i want to share a part of the editorial board on trump and the fed. the title is "overconfidence at the feodosiya." in apparently he has nominator's remorse. but anyone in mr. powell, place would have the same difficult path, enough gaiting nearly a decade of zero rates. the people who put powell in this position is yellen and bernanke. >> jerome powell has a terrible situation he's having to deal with, not one from his creation. one from the former fed chairman who engaged in an experiment of

quantitative easing and zero interest rates. nobody has a roadmap here. it's a very complicated question. i don't think the fed is necessarily doing the right thing on relying on all the usual indicators, lagging indicators like gdp or unemployment rates as a way of making decisions going forward. but we are all in uncharted territory here. it would probably be useful if the president backed off, gave them some space politically to make some of these decisions without feeling pushed into it by the president. jon: thank you, kimberly. >> thank you. jon: coming up. 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.

jon: 2020 is coming out fast. democratic contenders are following in the footsteps of vermont senator bernie sanders criticizing drug companies during this campaign for president. joining me is betsy mccaughey. >> this is good politics because americans are suffering from pharmaceutical sticker shock. it's the part you feel and see at the drug store cash register. unfortunately the approach the leading candidates are taking are wacky and in some cases actually dangerous. pass * wants to shorten or eliminate patents protection. that means investors would take their money out of the drug

companies. jon: which would impact research. >> elizabeth warren is even zanier. she is suggesting the government become the manufacturer of these drugs, ala venezuela where you can see the state-owned enterprises have not done well for the most of part. by donald trump has identified the real problem which is foreign free loading. americans consume about 46% of patented drugs. but they provide 70% of the profits because other countries like japan, the u.k., italy, they had pay only the cost of manufacturing the pill. they impose the entire cost of developing these products on american consumers. trump said end this foreign free

loading. he said when you sell the kind of drugs used in hospitals or by dakotas, you -- by doctors or hospitals. you must alleviate some of the burden on american consumers. it's going to work. and just last month he announced under medicare part d, that's what all the consumers listening are familiar with, that medicare part d will by 2020 stop paying for ex or and the-type drugs. that will put pressure on some of these drug companies to stop the gouge. jon: what prevents drug companies from raising their

prices in the u.k. or japan. >> the government buys all the drugs for the country. trims saying consumers here are getting whacked with the research and development expense. he's forcing the drug companies to abide buy this international index and they can't sell here for a higher price. jon: a patented product still has to be sold at a price that is less for the manufacturer. >> almost all cures are developed in drug company labs, not university and government labs. these innovations with by far responsible for almost all the increase in our longevity since world war ii.

jon: so bernie sanders's plan comes into place. there is no investment in the category whatsoever. >> unless you are happy with the state of medical knowledge right now, and nobody is. unless you are happy with arresting medical development right where it is, you can't support the bernie sanders approach. it says the future doesn't count anymore. jon: it would be like driving the same car for 20 years. what's fascinating to me is how genetic drugs are expanding, but they are not always the same. >> especially when you talk about psychiatric drugs. i hope voters will look carefully at the extremely bizarre socialist approach of elizabeth warren. her approach to drug pricing is like venezuela.

jon: so she would government produce drugs and end research and we would probably have shortages. >> imagine how the government would ever develop the infrastructure and hire the scientists to produce the drugs? why do that what he we have the world's most of sophisticated pharmaceutical companies. the dems have demagogued this. when you look at the profit margins of drug companies. they are right in the middle. they are not as high as computer and software companies. there are a lot of industries earning much here margins than drug companies. jon: they are not necessarily the evil ones. coming up next, the government shut down over a fierce fight or funding for the wall.

a bus dropped hundreds of migrants in el paso with no warning and no plan to handle it. ♪

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jon: questions are mounting

after immigration customs enforcement dropped off hundreds of migrants at a bus station in el paso, texas. no advance warning was provide to any of the local shelters. there is a course of real concern over the humanitarian issue. but there is the questioned how well equipped are me. if we don't close the border, we have to create more administrative judges. something has to give. >> you are right. our system is just being overwhelmed with floods of people. and our infrastructure today isn't really capable of dealingg with this type and this volume of people coming in. on the good news i think in this kind of scenario. mexico has woken up and found out we are not going to immediately allow people seeking

asylum to come flooding over and they decided to hold them there. maybe the next time mexican authorities will stop them at the mexican border on their southern border to prevent this huge mass migration. our system is being overwhelmed. jon: we have a close off the involve or create a bigger vehicle to run these people through. al, what's your solution? >> the solution, look, mexico isn't going to pay for the wall and they want stop people from crossing their border. the united states needs to aban don't strategy of chaos. you can't dump 800 people in el paso and expect there could be hugh main treatment. the other guest said we should be worried about rapists, and drug dealers. when you dumb people on bus

bunches. i think the idea that the administration is cracking down is fanciful. jon: typically the local authorities are notified. i don't know if this was the holidays. but still a major problem. i understand they will be dumping more in the next few days. >> on, you are right. normally that's what happened. therers prenotification and some of the other shelters. non-profits come in and take over. to the other guest's point, they have to be released because a law says children detained alone with their parents after 20 days have to be released. so we have to figure out how to turn down the valve. laws say you have to release them, then we are back to catch and release. and to al's point who knows who these people are. you have to get back to the wall

and fundamental immigration reform. >> both democrats and republicans do not want to budge. they each think they have leverage and they don't want to gift up. if democrats would give on security and republicans would give on path to citizenship we could avoid these problems and put funding where as tom says it should be to make sure security forces have resources to deal with the influx of people. i think the three of us should get in a room and we could do a lot better. but to al's point, this is all politics. something has to give. at the end of the date american people will be the final judge of what's going to be resolved here. jon: the facts are powerful. when we look at just the facts. it all makes sense itments you

the -- -- it mission sense. the --. >> we had the same problems when george w. bush was president and he had democrats in the congress, he couldn't do it. we had the same problem with president obama with republicans in the congress and he couldn't do it. it's time folks stop playing politics with immigrants and the american public and come to compromise. jon: will something happen this year to make things better? >> i don't know. it will be an election jeer soon. i'm kept -- election year, i am sceptical. jon: coming up, u.s.-led coalition group that killed hundreds of isis fighters. the president announced he's

bringing home the troops.

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>> that was president trump today in iraq. highlighting his success on fighting isis. the president declared there were no plans to withdraw u.s. troops from the reason. trump's comments coming on his decision to withdraw troops. joining me as fox news contributor, a retired army major general. is this a good strategy following this syria withdrawal strategy? >> i don't think so. i think most of the military people i have spoken to would rather stay in syria. it's not about isis. it's about the other factors in syria that are so vital to our national interests. that includes protecting and securing the kurds. it includes having a small enclave of u.s. forces to act as a brake on iranian expansion into the mediterranean. third, is an attempt to try to keep the russians from dominating that region of the

world. finally, as you saw with the israeli air force bombing has blood positions in syria, it is a backstop for israel's attempt to secure the border. isis is defeated. the president is 100% correct. the other war in the middle east is a long way from being over. >> the president continues to face criticism on his decision with to withdraw troops even from his republicans. do you feel they are right in their position? >> we can push that a little too far. let's stick to the facts. the fact is isis no longer owns territory in syria to any great extent or in iraq. what the president has done his campaign against isis has transformed isis from a territorial entity into a classical terrorist entity. it makes them far less

threatening in the region. but, there still some 30,000 isis fighters around. they are dispersed in syria and iraq and pose a threat over time if not confronted. i'm not sure the kurds left alone or the turks can really do a sufficient job in reducing that threat over time. >> i want to turn this true story on russia. they tested a hypersonic missile system overseen by vladimir putin. it can reportedly travel at 20 times the speed of light. the country said it that would be too fast to intercept. should we be concerned about this? >> yes, no. first of all, anytime vladimir putin opens his mouth about defense you have to assume he is lying. the other side is hypersonic is a technology been around for ten or 15 years. we have developments in both air and lost the missile launch. what it is is a little military 101.

it's a glider that stuck on the top of an icbm that the missile fired in the air. it uses gravity to accelerate down 510 or 15 times and act as a kinetic missile. it makes it dangerous from the speed and the fact that it's almost impossible to shoot down. russia has so many military vulnerabilities. just this one system which is not yet operational does not put the united states military at risk. >> the u.s. is outspending russia $610 million budget compared to their 66.3 billion. is this a question of spending more military than on humans? >> the other factor is that oil is $48 per barrel and russia's military is funded on petroleum sales.

the russians have a few niche technologies they are trying to exploit. this hypersonic's is one of them. but that's about it. >> thank you all for watching. lou dobbs is next. >> good evening. i'm david. lou has the night off. our top stories tonight, wall street poses best day nearly a decade with the dow having a large is one point gain in history. this is fueled in part by a surge in retail and energy shares. it comes the day after president trump kept the heat up on fed share and told investors that now is the time to buy. >> is good for a lot of people. they have money in the bank and can get interests. for many years nobody got interest on their money.