follow me on twitter @loudobbs. like me on facebook, follow me on instagram @loudobbstonight. see you tomorrow from china wants to make a deal very badly. we're close to a deal where we think we could make a real deal and letting it get done, i could see myself letting it slides for a while. cheryl: president trump indicating he may be flexible on the march 1st dead line to launch more tariffs on china. gerri: stocks off and running because of that. will he or won't he sign, though, that's the question this morning. president trump says he's not entirely happy with the latest budget deal to avoid a government shutdown. the options he's weighing this morning as lawmakers get ready to vote on the deal. cheryl: it may be a rough day for president trump but not for this k-9 champion. meet the pup that just took best in show at the westminster dog

show. gerri: let's take a look at how your money is moving this morning. all in the green, the u.s. futures right now, the dow up 36, nasdaq up 19. cheryl: taking a look at europe this morning, global hopes that this could help global markets, pushing the ftse, cac and dax higher. gerri: asian markets are higher as well. "fbn: a.m." starts right now. cheryl: 5:01 a.m. in new york. it is wednesday, february 13t february 13th. the day before valentine's day. good morning, everybody. i'm cheryl casone. gerri: good morning, i'm gerri willis. stocks rallied yesterday after president trump said he is willing to delay the china trade deadline. all three indexes posted their biggest one day gains for the month so far. treasury secretary steven mnuchin and trade representative

robert lighthizer are set to sit down with chinese negotiators in beijing tomorrow. >> reporter: good morning, cheryl and gerri. president trump softening a bit on what it could take to move the march 1st deadline on tariffs. up until now, the president said he would need a deal in writing to hold off an upping from 10% to 25% for chinese goods. now the president is saying we may not need a deal in writing. listen. >> if we're close to a deal where we think we can make a real deal and it's going to get done i can see myself letting it slide for a little while. generally speaking i'm not inclined to do that. >> reporter: robert light lightr and steven mnuchin are in china. they will focus on structural changes that need to be made, specifically the u.s. wants china to protect intellectual

property, stopped forced partnership of companies an open market access. the chinese have yet to make actual change. in the same breath the chinese hardening their tone when it comes to huawei and the u.s. a spokesperson for the foreign ministry says the u.s. is fabricating china threat theories adding they have threatened to drive a wedge between china and other countries, tarnish the image of chinese companies and suppress rights and interests for the legitimate development and cooperation. mike pompeo is saying they u.s. is warning allies intelligence services believe there is espionage potential in installing huawei 5g equipment. >> it's an educational task. the individual companies will make their own choices. >> reporter: this could complicate a trade deal. it seems both sides are motivated to work something out. cheryl: for more on this, let's bring in hudson institute senior

fellow thomas gistenberg. mike pompeo is overseas. there is concern that huawei's strong influence, whether poland, hungary, slovakia, that that puts american defense technology at risk if we work with these countries and this could complicate trade negotiations as mr. mnuchin begins talks tom h tomorrow. >> china made in-roads in eastern europe. they he throw around a lot of money and the eastern europeans are looking for help in developing their infrastructure. i think what you've got to understand about huawei and 5g is that it not only has national security implications but major economic implications for the development of things like artificial intelligence and internet of things. whoever controls the infrastructure has access to big data that's needed for artificial intelligence. that's why in addition to

security concerns, you've got major effort by the united states as secretary pompeo is doing right now to convince others that huawei really is a risk. cheryl: huawei, 70% of hungary operates on huawei technologies. they're the world's largest telecom equipment maker. let's move to beijing. markets really rallied yesterday on hopes that a deadline, that march 1st deadline for tariffs going up to 25% from 10% on billions of dollars in chinese goods is actually going to be extended. the president said maybe it's 60, maybe it's 90, we don't know. markets are thinking even if it's a bad deal, we may have a deal with the chinese. what your forecast for this? >> both sides clearly want to make a deal. this is a heavy weight fight. we're in the late rounds of a heavyweight fight. the u.s. negotiators, especially

bob lighthizer and peter navarro are tough on the chinese. they're going to insist on some structural reforms to things like subsidized state owned enterprises and theft of intellectual property. cheryl: i don't think the chinese will be willing to move on that do you? >> it's going to be in their interest to give something, because i don't think that bob lighthizer will recommend that the president sign a deal unless there is something there. and u.s. business is coming around to wanting to get results in the structural reform area. so my prediction is that there's going to have to be something in that area for a deal to get completed. cheryl: well u.s. businesses want to see it and markets really want to see those tariffs taken off the table in general. well, there's a lot that's at stake this week. thank you so much for being with

us this morning. >> my pleasure. thank you. gerri: investors following signs of progress in washington on the border security deal to head off another partial government shutdown. cheryl: we get the latest on that from blake berman. >> reporter: president trump has yet to signal whether he will sign the legislation coming out of can toll hill. the final language may not be unveiled until later this evening. the top line figures in the deal call for $1.375 billion for a border barrier that covers 55 miles of new barrier. that's less than the $5.7 billion the president wanted but in a win for republicans, there will be roughly 49,000 to 40,000 detention beds throughout the year. at a cabinet meeting tuesday the president said he's not happy with what the hill produced. >> the answer is no, i'm not. i'm not happy. but am i happy with where we're going? i'm thrilled. because we're supplementing things and moving things around and we're doing things that are

fantastic and taking from far less -- really from far less important areas. >> reporter: the president appears to be referring to what's known as transfer authority which allows the president to transfer certain funds. mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer are disputing whether or not the president can go down that road. back to you in new york. cheryl: well, president trump is set to hold a meeting with colombia's president at the white today. the two leaders expected to discuss the crisis in venezuela. nicolas maduro now blames what he calls president trump's extremists for creating chaos that threatens his power. antonio guterres met with venezuela's foreign minister saying he offered to broker negotiations between the maduro government and the opposition. gerri: senator marco rubio endorsing a proposal to limit stock buyback, something that's become a frequent r target of

democrats. it encourages domestic investment by making full and immediate expensing permanent as a way to discourage companies from purchasing share repurchases. rubio discussed this with trish regan last night. >> all i'm saying is, if you want to return it to shareholders, we're going to treat that fairly. if you're going to grow your company and as a result create jobs, that is what the tax code is going to incentiveize and it's going to do so moving forward. that should be made permanent. gerri: rubio along with other high fro fil profile democrats,n pushing for legislation to curtail the ability of companies to purchase stock buybacks, democrats sponsoring this and loving this. rubio on-board too. cheryl: mitch mcconnell said he will hold a vote on the democrats' green new deal. >> i've noted with great interest the green new deal and we're going to be voting on that in the senate.

we'll give everybody an opportunity to gon go on recordd see how they feel about the green new deal. cheryl: how are they going to feel about it? the bill, spearheaded by congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez and senator ed markey strives to cut greenhouse gas emissions entirely along with other interesting things. union workers in some industries say this deal may lead to poverty and members are worried about putting food on the table. it calls for workers to be transitioned to other jobs. there's all kinds of fun stuff in there. gerri: yeah, there is, more expensive than the old new deal. more drama for cbs and les moonves, this time allegations of insider trading. cheryl: tracee carrasco has that story. tracee: according to a shareholder lawsuit, les moonves and joe ianello and former

communications chief gil schwartz collectively sold more than 3 million shares worth over $200 million before cbs disclosed that it would investigate sexual harassment allegations against moonves in july. the suit alleges the timing and amount of the sales were unusual and suspicious and show a motive to commit fraud. both cbs and moonves denied the accusations. cbs is down 13% in the past ye year. gerri: lyft founderses are preparing for the ipo debut later this year. tracee: they are working to have new majority voting control of the company when it goes public this year, despite together owning a stake of less than 10%. the move appears to be aimed at strengthening the company's leadership as the two founders would have significant influence over major decisions at the company. cheryl: we saw this with feedback and the snap ip. tracee: control. cheryl: do you want to buy a

stock in a company like that. tracee:.tracee:. gerri: this is the new, new thing. you don't want to miss out on that. cheryl: interesting. molson coors is going to be targeting young drinkers. how young? tracee: molson coors said it will invest more on digital and social channels to, quote, engage and recruit 21 to 34-year-old drinker as the company tries to fight weaker sales in north america due to declining rates of drinking. molson coors sales volume fell 1.5% in the fourth quarter and the ceo, mark hunter, said we anticipate further contraction of the u.s. bee beer industry volumes. gerri: maybe aging of the population is responsible for that. cheryl: people thinking is not so good to drink beer. just a thought. tracee: drinking other things. cheryl: maybe try juice. gerri: tracee, thank you.

[ laughter ] cheryl: the westminster ken he'll club dog show named another wire fox terrier as best in show this year. 7-year-old king from brazil took home the prize. wire fox terriers have won 15 times in the nation's most prestigious dog show, more than any other breed. the dog show health at madison square garden right here in new york. a popular breed. gerri: that's right. still ahead, the left's plan to go green hit say speed bump. why california pulled the plug on a bullet train project. and no escape, no return, how officials are making sure el chapo stays behind bars for the rest of his life, plus senator ted cruz's plan on what to do with the drug lord's money that may have president trump smiling this morning. you're watching "fbn: a.m." ♪ there's a bad moon on the right.

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gerri: welcome back. let's get you caught up on what's happening now. checking u.s. futures right now all in the green, the dow up 40, the nasdaq up 22. el chapo is going away for good this time. he was convicted on all ten drug and murder conspiracy charges that carry a mandatory life sentence. he's expected to join the boston bomber and jun uni bomber at the supermax prison, known as the alcatraz of the rockies. he escaped mexican prisons twice before being extradited back to the us. senator ted cruz suggested using el chapo's $14 billion in assets to help build president trump's border wall. the new governor of california hits the brakes on a high speed train between l.a. and san francisco for now. the governor announcing the $77 billion bullet trainees too expensive and taking too long. he says he'll focus on finishing

the portion already under construction through california's central valley, a mainly rural area. the pentagon has a new artificial intelligence strategy to compete with russia and china. the technology focuses on gathering intel and finding problems with military equipment. use of autonomous weapons is not included. earlier this week, president trump signed an executive order prioritizing artificial intelligence research. and the home of where jeff bezos created amazon, well, it's up for sale. take a look. bezos rented the washington home in the 1990s while starting a business venture called cadabra that would eventually become amazon. it can be yours for about $1.5 million. cheryl: what? it's nice but -- gerri: a million and-a-half? cheryl: coming up, a senate panel has found no evidence the trump campaign worked with

russia during the 2016 election. is this now enough to close the case once and for all? and the numbers are in, guess who is leading the democratic 2020 field? here's a hint. it is not one of these guys. you're watching "fbn: a.m.." ♪ it started with a whisper. ♪ and that was when i kissed her. ♪ and then she made my lips hurt. great news, liberty mutual customizes- uh uh - i deliver the news around here. ♪ sources say liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. over to you, logo. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ with expedia, i saved when i added a hotel to our flight. so even when she grows up, she'll never outgrow the memory of our adventure. unlock savings when you add select hotels to your existing trip. only with expedia.

cheryl: there is no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. the senate intelligence committee releasing those findings in the latest report. gerri: todd pyro joins us live as some democrats insist the investigation isn't over yet. >> reporter: after conducting

200 witness interviews and reviewing more than 300,000 pages of documents, the russia probe may finally be seeing the light at the end of the continue. the intel community concluding there is no evidence of collusion during the 2016 election. jared byrd doubling down on that report. >> i'm not sure how to put it any clearer than i said it before. we have no factual evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. >> reporter: president trump retweeting this new report, saying thank you to msnbc. we rarely hear the president saying that. this is causing a partisan rift between byrd mar and mark warne. he said i won't reach any conclusion until we finish the investigation and we have a number of key witnesses to come back. john brennan appears to not want to put the collusion narrative to rest. >> the special counsel's team

i'm sure has so much more information we should be willing to accept whatever robert mueller comes out with. i am confident he had access to a lot more than the senate or house intelligence committees. >> reporter: one of the key witnesses democrats are hoping to hear from is president trump's former lawyer, michael cohen. but he's postponed his testimony once again. byrd slamming cohen saying there is no good will left for him now. cheryl, gerri. cheryl: todd, thanks for the report. appreciate it. great stuff. >> reporter: my pleasure. gerri: let's take a look at u.s. futures. your money all in the green here, the dow up 41, s&p 500 up 3, the nasdaq up 22. still ahead, washington on edge this morning over whether president trump will sign the compromise border bill. >> am i happy at first glance. >> reporter: ?i just got to see. the answer is no, i'm not. gerri: what are the chances he'll give a stamp of approval

and if not, what are his options. in case you didn't know, today is galentines day. >> valentine's day is about romance. february 13th is about celebrating lady friends. it's wonderful and it should be a national holiday. it should be a national holiday. dear congress -- gerri: we love it. it may not be a national holiday yet. if you're looking for a sweet treat for your friend today or significant other tomorrow, we'll tell you one gift you should maybe avoid. you're watching "fbn: a.m.." ♪ this one's for the girls. ♪ who have ever had a broken heart. ♪ who wished upon a shooting star. beyond chasing down network problems. to knowing when and where there's an issue. beyond network complexity. to a zero-touch, one-box world.

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cheryl: let's get you caught up on global market action right now. the optimism continues that maybe we'll get an extension of negotiations between china and

the u.s. and possibly a deal to end the shutdown. the nasdaq is up 20 and a quarter. the global optimism continues in europe this morning as you can see on your screen, all of those markets are higher. asia, again, positive movement between the u.s. and china that's really lifting asian markets, the nikkei up more than one and a quarter percent, shanghai up almost 2%. gerri: top republicans pressuring president trump to sign a bipartisan plan to keep the government open. with only $1.375 billion allocated for barrier funding, a wall, a quarter of what he asked for, president trump is just not thrilled. >> i can't say i'm happy. you i can't say i'm thrilled. but the wall's getting built regardless. doesn't matter. we're doing other things beyond what we're talking about here. gerri: joining us for more on the looming shutdown deadline is tiana lowe from the washington

examiner. thanks for coming on the show. trump, the president luke warm on border funding and his friends on the right like march meadows saying this deal is not good enough. will the president shoot this down, might he decide to veto it so he can show his constituents that he's representing their views? >> this deal is obviously a little less than half a billion less than what democrats initially offered when shutdown talks began. so trump is taking a cut. he doesn't have too much leverage to not take this deal. by taking this deal, he avoids the shutdown showdown and he does get some portion of the wall to begin with. and it basically takes away the primary incentive for democrats to stonewall this which is the attention that it's receiving. gerri: this is obviously getting a lot of attention. meanwhile, republican leadership's paying attention. they're practically begging the president to sign and not to continue negotiating.

richard shelby saying we want to do what we agreed on and the head of the senate had this to say. >> from a republican point of view, there is money in there for new barrier fencing, not everything the president hoped to get, but i think it's a good step in the right direction. i hope he'll decide to sign it. gerri: so will republican leadership get their way? will the president sign? >> i think that mcconnell's given trump a lot of leeway to do what he wanted. he let the first shutdown go on to a record length and obviously it hurt trump's numbers but his numbers are relatively sticky. trump can sign a deal that isn't perfect and get away with it. democrats seem a lot more willing to give some funding to whatever they want to call it, because apparently they're scared of the term wall, so long as it doesn't look like they're giving trump a win, while the shutdown is plainly in the center of the public eye, they

won't do that. gerri: what's the likelihood that the president declares an emergency, takes funds from disaster relief or you name the government department to put more money into the wall? will that happen? >> i think it's possible that he takes some form of executive action. i would hope that it his advisors are warning him not to declare a state of emergency. obviously the precedent that would set would be very dangerous, especially with democrats ramping up talks of green new deals and made care for all. gerri: i've got to tell you we're going to know the answers to all these questions in short order. the deadline is midnight friday. thank you for coming on. >> thank you. cheryl: to keep on this, investors are certainly keeping one eye on this deal, maybe avoiding another partial government shutdown and trade talks between the u.s. and china. our next guest says president trump and china's president both want an agreement of some kind.

let's bring in chris zakarelli. it seems that both sides want a deal but what is that deal going to be? and the question continues to be are the chinese going to move forward and at least begin to open up their markets or deal with intellectual property theft. investors have got to want some of that on the table, i would assume. >> that's right. investors definitely want to see progress with talks with china. i think it's in americans' best interest to have intellectual property protections and enforcement mechanism to make sure new protections are continuing to be given to the companies. so that's what the market's looking for. they're looking for a good deal. in the short run, if tariffs are increased on march 1st that's going to be bad for markets. i think you'll continue to see progress towards a deal. if necessary, they'll postpone the tariffs to keep the talks ongoing. cheryl: march 1st, 200 l billio$200 billion in chinese g, the tariffs go to 25%.

that's a pretty big jump. at the same time, the other question here with the government shutdown as well with traitrade talks what would be te next shoe to drop that would trouble the markets? is it language from the fed? is it perhaps economic slowdown, another lower read of gdp? i mean, what kind of keeps you awake at night right now? >> right now i think the fed's taken themselves off the table. they said they'll be patient. they acknowledged what happened with the market pullback in the fall. i think they're definitely taking a wait and see attitude. the next shoe to drop if there's going to be flocks the marke pre market outside of china will be a global growth slowdown. it's in the world's best interest that some type of deal is struck with china and we can take some uncertainty a off the table. the thing that worries me is will we have the global growth slowdown and will the trade talks with china continue to go too long. cheryl: if you look at market

activity, it's actually -- the dow and s&p are up about 9% so far this year. the nasdaq had a real strong run-up yesterday. the s&p and nasdaq are up higher the last three days, the dow snapping a losing streak of four days. this seems to be -- all of this positive momentum seems to be a good thing but the markets seem a little sensitive to h me. >> i think you're exactly right. the large part of the run-up is a bounceback from what happened last year. i would say markets overshot to the downside. we hit the bottom on december 24th. we've rebounded since then. the last few days you've seen the market push higher. the recent market move higher is on increased optimism a deal will be made. you're seeing chinese fast tracking legislation to potentially deal with intellectual property. whether or not they actually pass that remains to be seen. you've seen president trump say i could push off the tariffs a little longer. you're hearing the right noises out of china, the right sounds

out of the u.s. and the positive momentum is starting to be reflected in stock prices and it should continue as long as the news remains positive. if things turn around, that's where you'll see the pullback. cheryl: that's the question mark about the extension, and if they do extend the talks, we'll know soon enough. they start talking tomorrow. thanks for being here. gerri: hope springs eternal. cheryly eternal.cheryl: netfli, tracee, please explain this. tracee: according to buzzfeed apple will host an event on march 25th where it's expected to unveil its rumored subscription news service. apple has previously hinted it will launch new services this year, it hasn't revealed any details or confirmed that march 25th event. the wall street journal reports that the service is already running into resistance from major publishers over apple's

proposed financial terms that would give apple 50% of the revenue. apple is slightly higher in the premarket. gerri: sticking with the left coast, you've got a story about job cuts. tracee: activision plans to cut 77 a 5 jobs from its workforce as it deals with changes in how people buy and play video games. right now, video game makers are in a tough spot as more players put time and money into a handful of games. specifically, fortnite. they say they plan to boost the number of developers by 20% this year to ramp up new content for its biggest franchises, like call of duty. activision is up higher in the premarket. cheryl: who knew fortnite could december matdessimate these oth. a warning if you plan to buy your valentine perfume. tracee: bargain hunters beware.

fake designer makeup and perfume may contain toxic cyanide, arsenic, urine or rat droppings. this warning was issued after counterfeit items estimate sed to bed tobe worth $51,000 were d in a perfume factory in london. it can leave users with long-term health problems. officials suggest only buying these products from reputable sellers. gerri: even reputable products sometimes have issues with what they're made of. thank you for that. cheryl: she's like sorry for the bad news. we still love you. taking a look at futures this morning, as you can see this on optimism over china/u.s. trade talks and a possible deal to avert another shutdown, investors liking this. the nasdaq is up 24. coming up, the national debt

just hit $22 trillion for the first time ever. what does that mean for you? and why should you care? we're going to explain that one. and winter weather is wreaking havoc across the country, cancelling thousands of flights and causing headaches for commuters, what you need to know for your day today. you're watching "fbn: a.m.." ♪ rain, it's a good thing. ♪ tech. it's screening technology that helps you find a stock based on what's trending or an investing goal. it's real-time insights and information, in your own customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology, for smarter trading decisions. and it's only from fidelity. open an account with no minimums today.

gerri: powerful winter storms hitting the east and west coasts. cheryl: janice dean is live in the fox weather center. janice: it wasn't about the snow along the coast yesterday, it was about the ice, which is what we were trying to hammer home. hopefully everyone is okay. a lot of kids were off school. back to school this morning. let's take a look at the current temperatures. we've got 34 in new york city, 14 in chicago, minus 5 in minneapolis. it feels like winter. the worst of the storm in the east has now moved into canada, that area of low pressure. we're going to see the potential for snow and icy conditions across northern new england and the great lakes. the lake-effect snow is up and running. forecast precipitation, a couple inches here and there and then we're done with this storm system. we're going to see lake-effect snowfall. then we deal with the west coast that's been walloped this winter, storm after storm after storm. you can see more heavy rain and

wind along the coast of california. the northwest getting rain and snow, seattle, you potentially could see more snow in your forecast after a record-breaking winter. and there's the additional precipitation. so we're going to see flash flooding along the coast here and then in the mountains, a foot of snow, which is great for skiers and great for the snow pack. it will cause travel concerns especially along the coast and folks in california need to worry about flash flooding. we'll keep you up-to-date, ladies. back to you. gerri: janice dean, thank you for that. cheryl: something else. well, let's get you caught up on what is happening now. taking a look at futures right now, again, that optimism about that trade -- potential trade deal or extension with china and of course we might be averting a shutdown really helping investors yesterday an this morning. dow up 47, s&p up 4, nasdaq up 24 and a quarter. at a cnn town hall last night potential presidential candidate howard schultz wouldn't say whether he would drop out of the race if trump's re-election

depended on it. he didn't say if his stake in starbucks, if he would give that up if he was elected president. senator corey booker says he's going to be looking at female candidates first for a potential running mate in 2020. booker announced the launch of his campaign for president earlier this month. meanwhile, former attorney general eric holder will make a decision on a presidential run by march. holder says he's met with former president barack obama to discuss a presidential candidacy. he served under president obama from 2009 to 2015. this morning's survey found the top two 2020 democratic contenders haven't declared their candidacy but they're on the top. joe biden leads the field, 29%, senator bernie sanders follows closely with 22. lufthansa airlines is suing a passenger that tried to game the

system in an unprecedented case. the passenger booked a cheap flight with a layover in frankfurt and switched planes in frankfurt. he's being sued for $2,200. they said you can't game the system that way, switching planes, not taking other flights home. but it worked. [ laughter ] gerri: concerns are on the rise that the national debt hits a new milestones. democrats are pointing the finger at president trump's tax cuts. many democrats are backing the green new deal that could cost, get this, $2 trillion. so who to blame? you're watching "fbn: a.m.." ♪ i want to dance with somebody. ♪ i want to feel the heat with somebody. ♪ yeah, i want to dance with somebody. ♪ with somebody

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gerri: stunning news on the national debt. the numb burkes get this, topping $22 trillion for the first time yesterday. lindsey bell, investment strategist joins us now. good morning, let's start right there with the big number. i think, lindsey, americans look at that and don't know what to make of it, $22 trillion. let me deep dive here. that's $179,000 per taxpayer. that sort of makes it real. why should americans care about this debt? >> it's definitely important. when we cross $22 trillion from $21 trillion in 11 months that seems like a fast pace. of course, it's a number that we haven't ever seen. you need to put it in context. the best way to put it in context is by looking at debt versus gdp. and if you look at the consumer

side, you see consumer debt to gdp actually declining steadily since its peak during the financial crisis. gerri: that's certainly good news and surprising at that because normally we're used to seeing debt numbers all negative. but i've got to tell you, i'm not sanguine about this. i'll tell you why, republicans, democrats, they both continue to spend. they only put the numbers higher. the president put in place a $1.5 trillion tax plan, not of to be outdone, the democrats coming out with the $2 trillion green new deal. will anybody take responsibility for the debt? >> that's a very good question, gerri. it seems like us consumers are doing our part, being good about managing our balance sheets. the government is not. the cbo is projecting deficits to cross a trillion dollars in 2022, the last estimate. this is a may r juror problem for the country. the -- major problem for the

country. the biggest thing about the government debt, that as a percent of gdp is reaching new all-time highless. it's going to exceed levels that it was at after world war ii when we had to fund the war there. that's a huge number. the concern is, is as we issue debt to fund these spending plans by our government leaders, who is going to buy the debt? the federal reserve is winding down their balance sheet. china and japan are net sellers at this point. the only thing that's going for us right now is we're still considered a safe haven so othr countries want to buy our debt at the moment. then we've got pension plans. that situation can change very quickly. gerri: i'm sitting here thinking, are we the next greece. could it happen here? what is the risk of having debt this high? you brought up some great comparisons. >> well, i think the biggest risk at this point in time is we need to turn to the ratings agencies. remember when they downgraded our debt. there was a major implication in the markets across the world.

and that could happen again. and i think the rating agencies need to be honest with us because if it wasn't for them, they're actually having a problem right now within their ratings within corporate credits. there are issues within the credit space right now. gerri: i want to get to corporate debt for a second. if rates were to rise, all those people with triple b credit out there, i mean, it's going to be a big issue. is that something that keeps you up at night? >> yes, trip l he'l triple b cra major concern, it's the highest level its ever been. moodies said triple b and above investment grade is at the riskiest levels it's been at during any recession. that's a major concern and something we need to watch. the small cap companies are bigger concern, versus the large cap. large cap companies have been deleveraging, the small caps they've been taking on the debt in this low interest rate environment. gerri: we love that dent. thanks for coming on.

great to see. cheryl: love it too much. we do love our debt a little too much. all right. well, coming up, the knives, the forks, the dgger stils still our theresa may. she's trying to work with parliament to move forward. despite, the stocks trading higher on optimism for u.s./china trade deal. we go across the pond coming up next. ♪ i belong with you. ♪ you belong with me. ♪ you're my sweetheart. ♪ i belong with you, you belong with me. aw, stop. this is why voya helps reach today's goals... all while helping you to and through retirement. um, you guys are just going for a week, right? yeah! that's right. can you help with these? oh... um, we're more of the plan,

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it stick? >> yeah, i think that's the big question but i think it was important mr. trump words yesterday. because i think this, this became inevitable last week larry kudlows was trump are chief economic advisor suggested that u.s. and china would be apart and trade deals you know aren't easy to win. and in the time allotted i think most likely outcome would be the president trump would be forced to actually defer these tariff rises and it does appear to be the correction of travel that he's leaning towards even if it is not his preferred outcome, obviously, investment have latched on to that back of the rally that we've already seen over the course over the past four or five weeks giving us optimism that discussion will continue beyond that deadline. >> i have to tell you down on exchange floor a ton and a most of them want to see some kind of deal, a sign but let's move on to brexit that drama continues

can prime minister theresa may can she come up with a new deal that will be approved by the e.u.? >> i think that's the big question and you touched upon it one of the investors want to see a deal signed it is pretty much the same when it comes to brexit vote it is apparent to me that theresa may biggest problem is getting deal past the u.k. parliament and then being able to get that past the european parliament. fortunately she has a deadline on her sides and ultimately i think what she's doing here is she's trying to run down the clock, concentrate minds on both sides of the english channel to try to avert a no deal brexit. europe is not out of the woods we have industrial production numbers this morning. which were really, really bad worse since 2012 down 4.2% so europe's economy cannot withstand no deal brexit eat on both parties, to come to some form of agreement. >> it is interesting you say that because there have been talk that she might try to extend the deadline to try to

kind of push this out have the u.k. remain in the e.u. while all of the differences were warninged out you don't sound like you think that's possible. >> i think it -- i think that anything is possible given the political world ultimately we've run out of time to pass legislation in the event of a late deal in any case. so i think we will have to extend the deadline but they don't want to acknowledge it right now. sm l we've run out of time too michael houston, thank you. >> and mornings with maria starts now. >> hey there ladies good morning to you. good morning everyone. i'm maria bartiromo happy wednesday it is wednesday e february 13th your top stories before 6 a.m. on east coast final round of china trade talks on tap. chinese president xi jinping planning to meet with u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer and treasury secretary steve mnuchin with the last negotiationses with this week before the the deadline. investors are optimistic markets

are higher closing in on a border dealing until now trump signaling support for the agreement even though he's not happy had about it. he said, forcing democrats to go on record over green new deal. senate majority leads or mitch mcconnell saying there will be a vote the fallout as a 2020 race gets on. taking on tesla a.m. son and general motors reportedly eyeing investment in an electric pickup truck maker mornings with with maria begins right now. ♪ top story this hour averting second shutdown lawmakers have reach aside tentative deal days before the big friday