and that's going to eat up a pretty big chunk of its cash. about one quarter of its cash on hand. maria: is that what the stock is down to? >> also the fact elon musk said they won't be profitable in the first quarter, more than likely, and all the changes, online sales, the $35,000 tesla. maria: have a great weekend, everybody. thanks. come back soon. stuart varney begins now. take it away. stuart: good morning, maria. good morning, everyone. yeah, march 1st, 2019, the year is going very well. january and february mark the best new year performance since 1987. don't get bogged down with what happened in october 1987. let's just celebrate a great start to the year, shall we? look at this. another big gain for stocks at the opening bell today. the dow is going to be up, what, 150, 160 points. i doubt it will hit the new high today, as i forecast earlier this week, but we may get within a couple hundred points. as for the nasdaq, you are looking at a gain of 47, 50 points.

that's two-thirds of 1% up. there are reports that a final china trade deal is being prepared. so, too, is a summit in mar-a-lago, florida. that sure helps the market. what a show we have for you today. larry kudlow will be with us. he lit up the cpac conference. he went off on socialism. we have governor cuomo begging amazon to ignore aoc and please come back to new york city. and "the washington post" no less says house democrats explode as moderates and socialists clash. this is must-see television. "varney & company" is about to begin. the green new deal would literally destroy the economy. literally. it would knock out energy,

transportation, airlines, jobs, businesses. we would probably lose 10% to 15% of our gdp. it's remarkable. stuart: well, he went on from there. white house economist larry kudlow talked about the far less green new deal. watch him unload again later today. he's going to join us around 11:00, 11:15 eastern time this morning. joining us now is adam brandon, with freedom works. welcome to the show. >> thanks for having me. stuart: you heard larry kudlow there. i agree with him. i'm sure you do. but look, millenials are turned on by free college, free medicine, free money. how do you counter that? >> some of them are. the first thing is, i love that you are talking about larry kudlow here. my favorite part about his messaging is he's such a happy warrior. that's what we need for our values, for the conservative values, is someone who defends them but is excited and sees a long-term positive vision coming from the policies that we create. as he starts identifying what the green new deal actually would do, it is a complete takeover of the economy.

including in this bill, you have to refit every home in america, every building. this is a complete government takeover of just about every aspect of our lives. stuart: you're right, i agree entirely, but that's the green new deal. free college. that's very attractive to people in their 20s and early 30s, saddled with a whopping great big student debt. it's attractive. >> we have free health care which will be debated. i predict one of the big issues emerging in this campaign cycle, democrats will talk about free retirement. you will start hearing the catch phrase retirement security. there will be a lot of freebies being -- stuart: how do you counter that? it is attractive, surely. you can understand youngsters being attracted to that kind of message. how do you counter it? >> what's interesting whenever i'm on a college campus, you do have those folks that are trying to look for the free stuff, those that are talking -- just tax the rich, they will pay for the whole thing. most college students, they are in college to get a job to go and join the middle class and be part of this economy. so i think at some point you

have kind of tuned out what's coming off the english departments and things and make sure that we are talking to a wide variety of students. stuart: you have to talk to the engineers. >> that's right. stuart: they are always on the other side of the fence, at least usually. stay there. i have more for you later. let's get to your money. stocks are off to a strong start this calendar year and are going up some more at the opening bell this day, march 1st, 2019. john layfield with us, market watcher. john, will this rally continue? >> i think so. i think it's very dependent upon what happens with president xi and president trump in mar-a-lago if they have a signing ceremony. you look at our economy, our economy is doing very well. we projected a slowdown which i think we are getting but we projected 7.8% corporate earnings coming into this quarter. we are double that right now. so the slowdown is happening globally. you see it in south korea, they came out with some numbers today and mentioned the trade war was to blame for a lot of this global slowdown, but this economy in the united states is doing very well. if we get a deal, any deal at

all with china, i think this market goes up from here. stuart: governor andrew cuomo of new york is trying to get amazon to reconsider setting up shop here. he's written an open letter, it's published in the "times" today. new yorkers do not want to give up on the 25,000 permanent jobs, 11,000 union construction and maintenance jobs and $28 billion in new tax revenues that amazon was prepared to bring to our state. cuomo goes on to say a clear majority of new yorkers support this project. he seems to be trying to undo the damage done by alexandria ocasio-cortez. think he'll manage it? >> i think there's a chance he will. there was rumor that amazon was using this withdrawal as a negotiation. don't know if that's true or not, but that was certainly the rumor that was put out there. you look at jeff bezos, i don't know why anybody wants to mess with this guy. he goes nuclear as his first option. you look at the national enquirer, you can't blackmail him. he will jump out in front of you. he uses his money. he's not afraid. anybody who built a company like

he's built out of his garage is obviously a predator in the business world. and i think new york is realizing what a mistake they made by letting these liberal politicians get out in front of this. stuart: yeah, okay, but the mistake has been made. now, if you are another big company thinking of coming to new york, you are amazon, you are thinking of coming back, why would you volunteer to have a crowd of radicals outside your personal home screaming at you in the middle of the night and calling you a racist, because that's what will happen to any big company that now wants to come to new york city. >> i completely agree. new york is closed for business. i think that's the message that's being sold. they turned down 25,000 $150,000 a year jobs. this is absolutely insane. you also had some conservative politicians come out and say well, we shouldn't have gave the tax breaks and so much money to amazon. you're not giving money to amazon. if they get $28 billion in revenue coming into the state, they get a $3 billion tax break.

you make that deal every day of the week. people, these guys just don't understand business and unfortunately for new york, it is a great city. i think it's the greatest city in the world. they are not open for business. stuart: you can say that when you are sitting on the beach in bermuda, john. thank you, john. >> i'm rooting for new york, though. old-time yankee fan and new york fan. stuart: you're done. thanks very much, john. i've got tesla. tesla is in the news today. i think the stock is down this morning. they had a big announcement, elon musk was promoting it yesterday. all right. kristina partsinevelos, what is the announcement? >> big announcement at 5:00 p.m. eastern time yesterday. what they said is they are going to be having all of the worldwide sales being online only. yes, they are also following through the promise with the model 3 basing $35,000 u.s. but the big move, the big shift for the company is that they are going to start closing a lot of their stores. they have about 378 stores and

service locations around the globe. they want to focus online. they made a promise that if you go on your phone, you could buy a tesla in a minute and do it all online. yes, it will save them money when it comes to real estate and they hope to have -- think of an apple store. when you go into an apple store they will keep a few locations, tesla locations, high traffic areas where you can just see the models, you can see the new mac computer, and this could potentially push out all the third party dealerships. think of all the car dealerships around the globe. it could change the way we sell cars. stuart: i think the stock is down this morning, though. not because they are going to sell online but because they didn't make a first quarter profit. >> they also have a debt due today, $920 million, almost $1 billion. could wipe out a lot of their cash. stuart: it would, wouldn't it. all right. now this. senator cory booker introduces a bill to legalize marijuana nationwide. adam brandon still with us. this is another issue which will be appealing to millenials.

>> we just crossed over $22 trillion in debt and cory booker is taking time to draft a bill on legalizing pot. what are your priorities? stuart: wait, wait, come on. it would be popular with millenials if you had nationwide recreational marijuana. that's a vote getter, isn't it? >> my experience is when you go on a college campus today or around young people today, they are not having a hard time finding pot. so legalizing it, i'm not sure is really going to be the issue that is going to get them to the polls. stuart: supposing we turn this around, supposing president trump were to get out there and say okay, we are going to make marijuana a class ii drug, not a class i drug, so you can finance pot shops all over the country. that would be a popular move. you think the president would do that? >> i never really heard the president talk about marijuana so i don't know where his positions would be. stuart: my whole point here is, here's another thing that the democrats want to give to young people or make available to young people and that's another thing that makes the left popular with youngsters.

>> i think that's true. i think a lot of it is also just tone. right now, the left, they sound so optimistic when they talk about socialism. we will take care of all your problems. at the end of the day, we haven't begun to discuss the bill. when we start talking about the bill is going to cost and the lost opportunity for these folks, when you go to college and don't get a job, you go to college so you have an opportunity to improve yourself. most people, that's what they go for. stuart: socialists have no humor. liz: what about the opportunities for the businesses who could legally start selling marijuana we see in canada and the rest of the globe? this could be a money-making opportunity. stuart: we are done. thank you very much for being with us. appreciate it. see you again soon. check futures. you will like this, folks. it's friday morning. end of the week in style here, up 160 points at the opening bell. nasdaq, 45 up. amazon making a change, big change. it will now let prime members choose which day of the week they want all of their packages

delivered. it's a great idea. the circus surrounding michael cohen far from over. he will be testifying on capitol hill again next week. republican lawmakers now want the justice department to investigate him for perjury. alexandria ocasio-cortez splitting the democrat party, reportedly making a list of democrats who vote with republicans, setting up primary challenges, maybe? mike huckabee on that, up next. we are just getting started. i'm begging you... take gas-x. your tossing and turning isn't restlessness, it's gas! gas-x relieves pressure, bloating and discomfort... fast! so we can all sleep easier tonight. let's talk about thisd when we meet next week. edward jones came to manage a trillion dollars in assets under care by focusing our mind on whatever's on yours.

stuart: little off-camera badinage there. i'm laughing. the gap, the retailer, yes, splitting in two. ash? the smile on your face, tell me what's going on. ashley: we will move on. yes. look, the gap splitting up its labels, creating one separate label for old navy. this is its strongest label fsh, strongest brand. it represents 47% of all their sales. but it's been struggling of late. they want to separate it out and focus more of their advertising on that one brand. the other yet to be named company will have other brands such as the gap, banana republic, athleta and hill city which i have never heard of. they will separate them out because they believe that's the better way to go in order to grow both of those labels. stuart: it's banana republic.

kristina: you shop there? no? i like the stuff. they will be changing their fashion. sorry. not fancy enough for you guys. stuart: let's get serious. more than two dozen moderate democrats sided with the republicans on a bill that would expand background checks for guns. now congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez reportedly said she's making a list of those democrats. mike huckabee joins us, former arkansas governor. that sounds like a threat to me, making a list, checking it twice, who's naughty and who's nice, that kind of thing. >> i think she thinks she's not only the boss, she's also santa claus. now she's going to start giving out the gifts and helping the people who agree with her radical left agenda and trying to punish those who don't. this is an amazing thing for a freshman representative to somehow honestly believe that she's got more of a role to play than the speaker of the house. it's truly the most arrogant

approach to being a congresswoman i have ever seen, ever. stuart: i have never seen anything like this. a newcomer barely two months in congress and she appears now to be running the democrat party. i've got one more for you. >> she is. stuart: she is, yeah. here's one. says not done with michael cohen. he will testify more next week. it's a circus. are we going to see more of this for the next two years? because if we do, i don't think the public's captivated by this. i don't think america wants this. >> i think we are going to see it for the next six years because donald trump is going to be re-elected because of this nonsense. the fact is, stuart, there's not enough cheese in all of washington for michael cohen, the rat. he just can't consume enough of it. but what he did the other day was perjure himself yet again by making these ridiculous statements that are on their face false by previous statements that he's made, everything from saying that he really didn't want a job in the white house. when you have videotape of him

basically begging for it. i mean, this guy just can't seem to get his story straight. but the one thing that's consistent is the inconsistency of the democrats in wanting to bring convicted, admitted liars who are convicted of lying to congress and saying he's our star witness. i mean, that's just incredible. it really does stymie the imagination. stuart: that's interesting because you have been blown away on both subjects that we have thrown at you today. blown away. michael cohen, and aoc, blown away. but you're right. you're right. there isn't a day goes by when i don't have at least one segment on my show about alexandria ocasio-cortez. every day. >> she's the gift that keeps on giving. but her radical agenda, the green new deal itself is going to be a real factor. when people think that we are going to in ten years get rid of all the airplanes, get rid of cars, get rid of cows, even though her staff can eat a

hamburger, we can't, i mean, that's nonsense. stuart: it is. >> i don't know how we are supposed to go to hawaii or europe. i guess we are going to take that underwater train she's going to create that somehow we will magically get there without using any energy. solar power, under water. i can't wait. stuart: i have to tell you that aoc is wonderful for my ratings. simple as that. governor huckabee, you're all right. thanks very much. see you again soon. thank you. >> look forward to it. thanks. stuart: how about this. baseball star bryce harper signing a record $330 million contract with the phillies. now, reportedly, he rejected an offer from san francisco. wait until you hear the reason he didn't want to play in california. here's a hint. it's got nothing to do with sports. you.

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stuart: baseball guy, bryce harper, signs a $330 million contract with the phillies. now, he chose philadelphia over san francisco. tell me why. >> taxes. big-time taxes. apparently the chicago white sox, the dodgers in l.a., san diego padres, the giants, all very interested in this player but all of them in very high tax states. he knows that. the giants wanting to make a 12 year, $310 million offer,

slightly under what the phillies offered, but then they realized because of the cost of living in california and the incredibly high taxes, they would have to raise that offer incredibly high. he's not an idiot, bryce harper. he looked at it, he said okay, why am i going to give half of this to the government and decided to go with a lower tax state. interesting. stuart: great baseball player and smart guy. ashley: smart. stuart: huawei is on a p.r. blitz. they took out a full page ad in the "wall street journal" which says don't believe everything you hear. huawei's top security guy joined maria this morning. what did he say, kristina? kristina: he's trying to change the way we view huawei, essentially saying they're not a security threat. he spoke to maria early this morning and pretty much said that it's more of a china problem and not just huawei. listen in. >> on the theft of intellectual property by the china government, that's not us. the china government does not speak for us. we don't speak through the china government. i applaud the efforts of the united states and others to try to crack down on the global

theft of intellectual property which has been a disgrace over the last 15 years that we haven't done enough about it. so i'm glad to see president trump is raising that as an important issue in the trade talks. maria: yet the united states is forcing possible criminal charges, looking at criminal charges against huawei and the cfo that was stopped in vancouver, canada. we also have australia, new zealand and the u.s. that have already banned or blocked huawei from supplying equipment. yet it's just a china problem. stuart: he denies a relationship between huawei and the beijing government. ashley: really. um-hum. stuart: that's what he said. i don't know about that. i would tend to disagree with that. i would tend to throw cold water on that. kristina: he's on a p.r. blitz. that's why he took out this massive page. stuart: exactly. thanks, everybody. look at the futures, please. this is how we are going to open this morning, up -- oh, look at that. gained more ground. up 55 on the nasdaq and nearly 200 on the dow industrials. it's going to be quite an opening ceremony. we will show you. minimums and fees.

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stuart: ladies and gentlemen, you are going to like this. we've got 30 seconds to go before this market opens this friday morning and when it opens, the stock market is going to go straight up. we're looking for a gain in the very early going of maybe 190

points, maybe 70 points up for the nasdaq. this is going to be a broad-based opening bell rally. it's ten seconds away. are you ready for this? they're ringing the bell. when the bell starts ringing, they start trading. that will go on forever, believe me. here we go. 9:30 eastern time on a friday morning. we are off and running and we are immediately up 103, 126, 167, 173, 182. any advance, yes, 182. left-hand side of the screen are the dow 30 stocks. there's only one loser. i'm squinting, i can't see what it is. can you see that for me? walgreens. walgreens is the only dow 30 stock that's down. kristina: we all need glasses. stuart: i do need glasses, maybe. any opticians out there? we are up 191. that's the dow industrials. the s&p, where is that, ladies and gentlemen? i will show you momentarily. it's up about the same amount, three quarters of 1%, 20 points. now, show me the nasdaq.

nice gain. three-quarters of 1%. we are at 7,588. david dietz is back, jonathan hoenig is with us, kristina partsinevelos, ashley webster round out the team. stocks off to a great start this calendar year so david, why don't you tell us the biggest reason for this upside move. >> i'm going to have to give you three great reasons. first of course is earnings. earnings are coming in from the fourth quarter almost double in terms of percentage gains that people expected. second, we have got the fed is now on the sidelines. it is no longer at war with the full employment economy and finally, it's all about trade. apparently there's a 150 page memorandum being prepared, there's going to be a summit meeting down in florida with xi and president trump. i think there's good news up ahead. stuart: jonathan, are you encouraged by all these factors pushing the market higher? >> the biggest factor in my mind is the trend. look, the trend is up. yesterday, 144 new 52-week highs. stocks like cisco, like boeing,

for example, the pharmaceuticals doing well. it isn't the old leaders. it isn't so much the fang stocks which led us basically for the better part of the last four years, but the trend is up. i have to tell you, i'm a little bit concerned. i mean, look, i believe in market trends but we have gone essentially straight up since christmas. i think now's a good time either to have a little bit of cash on the sidelines or to focus on some of the names that maybe aren't in the dow, nasdaq and s&p. be a contrarian but be invested. stuart: i will give it to you. let's talk tesla. a lot of debt coming due today, that will eat into his cash pile and get this, they are shifting to online sales only. that's the only way you can buy a tesla. by the way, they have also got the model 3 priced at $35,000. i want to bring in fox news auto editor. first of all, gary, what do you make of selling only online? >> tesla says they are already

selling most of their cars, about 80% of them, online anyway. still, remember, we are talking about early adopters here. now we are getting into the mainstream buyers and they like to go around and stroll around the lot and pick a car off the lot. they won't be able to do that anymore. what they will be able to do is buy this sfoeupposedly with oney delivery and will have a seven day, 1,000 mile test drive which they can give a full refund if they don't like it at that point. stuart: drive it off with your friends, enjoy it, and bring it back? >> big experiment. there's a lot of questions that need to be answered how this will work. stuart: here's another big question. will they be able to sell all the model 3s that they say they are going to produce, at $35,000? >> it's good news for customers who have been waiting. would have been better last year when you could still get the $7500 tax credit which is now cut down a bit. they didn't talk about demand last night. they said it's on sale, we will see how it does. it will be a couple quarters before we find out really how well this does. but they also dropped the price on their high end cars by as much as $18,000 yesterday on some models which indicates

there is not a lot of demand there anymore. you know, they are saying they reduced costs by getting rid of these stores. if you could sell a car for $18,000 more, then -- yesterday than you could today, you want to do that. stuart: the stock is down, in my opinion because in the first quarter they did not make a profit. that's a big deal if you are a stockholder. gary, thank you very much indeed. the brits are going after facebook and google, trying to slap them with quote, huge fines if they don't get more -- do more to get rid of this toxic content. ashley: it's the same as the gdp our rules, 4% of global revenue if you breach what they call or put harmful content on their platform. that's billions of dollars. 4% of your global revenue. the same as europeans are doing. stuart: go ahead, jonathan. >> another money grab. in the '90s it was big pharmaceuticals, then it was big oil. now globally, it is big tech. i tell you, my fear for big cap

tech stocks like facebook, twitter and the like, it isn't so much their lack of innovation but it's the presence of regulation. look, in europe we expected it. but i think you are going to see more and more efforts like this to tax, to regulate big cap tech companies here at home. that's a negative on the stock. stuart: not this morning. facebook is up a buck and a half at $162. google is up, too. kristina: one long-term issue could be the right to clear your history that facebook is launching which could affect advertisers because they want your history to target specific ads. if they get rid of this, how are they going to maintain them? stuart: i would have thought that's a negative for facebook but the stock is going up. kristina: it hasn't been launched yet. once it starts to seep into the numbers we could see a change. stuart: five minutes into the session on friday morning, where are we? we are up 200 points for the dow, three quarters of 1%, 26,100. the movie theater chain amc made a profit despite flat sales. look at that. 17% up on amc. higher sales at foot locker.

that stock is up 7%. nice move. higher profit at nordstrom, retailer. where's that? down 3.5%. there's got to be a reason for that. i'll figure it out. jc penney closing a couple dozen more stores. they are up five cents which actually is 2.5%. jonathan, i hear you laughing all the way out there in chicago. what's so funny? >> well, you look at a stock like jc penney, you used to say where is the floor, where do i see support? when a stock becomes a dollar, dollar and a half, you see support at zero. just goes to show how low it can go. it just seems to show how many of these retailers have had to do everything they can, you know, sell the silver, if you will, simply to stay in business and stave off amazon.com. stuart: hold on. i have another retail story here. the gap splitting into two separate companies. one of them's going to be old navy, spun off. they are closing some stores. all the other things -- ashley: banana republic. i'm working on it.

stuart: banana. that's it. would you buy this? >> i think they are unlocking shareholder value. they have one good unit at the gap which is old navy. they are increasing same store sales. now people, investors can focus on that. the other company is going to go in a different direction. during the whole course of this, they are closing 230 stores. it's covering up a real defeat on that side. stuart: up 18%. kristina: 230 stores, if you add jc penney and victoria's secret, that's 300 store closures within 24 hours that was announced. stuart: that's interesting. i didn't add them together. that's good. jonathan, go on. what have you got? >> just to say, what a sea change for gap. i think you were probably back in jolly old england but i remember when you couldn't walk 30 feet in new york without running to a gap store. another gap store, they blanketed this country. there are no monopolies in capitalism and the gap is just a perfect example of how a once dominant brand and store has had to retrench big-time.

stuart: let me straighten you out. i left socialist england in the 1970s. it was anything but jolly old. >> we're delighted. we're delighted. stuart: non-alcoholic beers reportedly the fastest growing segment in the beer industry. anheuser busch launching 12 new no and low alcohol beers. all right. i will give you this one. they are going after health-conscious youngsters, is that the reason here? >> i think it's one of the reasons. you know, young people are more attracted to less alcoholic brews. cbd, cannabis, we heard about that. same thing with the big brewers. they need to retool their product lineups. you simply can't sell budweiser year after year after year and expect that subsequent generations are going to go for it. like every other company, they are doing what they need to do to survive, to innovate and bring out these low alcoholic brews. do they still sell everclear anymore? that's what we were drinking.

kristina: the answer is no. stuart: what is that? what is it? >> straight alcohol. kristina: straight. stuart: missed that. >> remember, the 800 pound gorilla here is the rise in the use of cannabis. maybe the takeaway is the young millenials would rather have that buzz, not the buzz from alcohol. they want the non-alcohol beer when they are smoking. kristina: and juul. stuart: are you serious here? are you saying cannabis is replacing beer? kristina: no. they are saying that could be the reason why millenials are more likely to favor marijuana over booze. the younger guys. stuart: i was going to get the amazon story in. we are out of time. if you are a prime member, you could pick the day of the week when you want your amazon deliveries. it's a terrific idea. >> of course, a lot of competitors also have two-day delivery. they have to do something different to distinguish themselves. it's about the experience, not just the delivery.

stuart: it's good for amazon. cuts their costs. it's good for consumers who might want -- kristina: nobody will steal. stuart: right. welcome addition to this panel. there you go. unfortunately, we are out of time. jonathan, david, thank you, gentlemen. we appreciate you being here. good stuff. look at this. the dow industrials opening with a 212 point gain, .8%. 26,129. check this. a fast food restaurant in denver is using artificial intelligence at its drive-through. it's a burger joint that is using a.i. to make sure customers get their orders fast. next hour, we will talk to the head of the company that created that technology. drive up, order from a robot. next, we have a guest who testified before congress about the dangers of the green new deal. he says it's all a scam. which will only end up hurting our country. and larry kudlow railing against socialism. he says it needs to be put on trial and convicted.

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stuart: friday morning, march 1st. it's been a great year so far and it's great today. we are up 209 points on the dow, 26,124. boeing in record territory. they've got a big order from british airways. the stock's hit $443 a share, up another three quarters of 1% today. that is a record. washington state, their governor jay inslee, democrat, is running for the presidency. kristina, his platform is what, global warming? kristina: climate change. he will be focusing on climate

change. he says, this is a quote literally from him, this is the first generation to feel the sting of climate change and we're the last who can do something about it. you may say he's had some wins and losses. they tried to put forth a carbon tax, didn't work, but they did get about $120 million to put towards renewable energy research. stuart: carbon tax was rejected in his state. he's running for the presidency on climate change. kristina: he's the 13th democrat to say they will be running in 2020. it's crowded. stuart: that's for sure. our next guest testified this week at the first congressional hearing on the green new deal. he bashed it. mark morano is with us, he's from the climate depot. i'm sure you're aware of this. there's a study in the journal "nature," a reputable journal, 99.999% of certainty that humans are causing global warming. now, this is a reputable journal saying humans are doing this. what do you make of it? >> well, a lot of scientists have been discussing this.

they are calling it the gold standard of proof. the scientists are coming back saying this is a fool's gold standard. for one simple reason. they cannot tease out natural variability versus man's alleged impact. in other words, hundreds of factors influence the climate and they are trying to say with certainty that carbon dioxide is the control knob. there have been words like nonsense and other things from harvard professors and other scientists who denounced this study. the author of which, by the way, is a u.n. activist scientist who is all about narrative building. so there's going to be a lot of pushback. this is more of an editorial speculation that's using a lot of this language to try to intimidate people. actually, the author of the study says we hope this study convinces skeptics. it's a study designed to convince people but it's not scientifically rigorous in any way, shape or form. it's being attacked by scientists. stuart: do you accept the view or the scientific evidence that the temperature of the planet is gradually rising and has been

rising for some time? do you reject that science? >> not at all. if you go to the roman warming period, around 0a.d., we actually cooled. medieval warm period, we were actually stabilized or cooled. we have warmed since 1850. what was 1850s? the end of the little ice age. yes, we warmed in the 20th century but prominent european scientists have said if we didn't have modern instrumentation, you wouldn't even be able to detect the warming of the 20th century. and the hottest year are claims that are within the margin of error. al gore mentioned this, the media, they are within tenths or hundredths of a degree. it's a fancy way of saying the temperature has not changed much. there is so much nonsense that they claim in this debate but yes, humans influence the climate but it is not the control knob. we are overwhelmed by hundreds of other factors and there's nothing unusual about our climate. that goes from storms, floods, draug

droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, on down the line. stuart: president trump has labeled climate change a hoax. would you go that far? >> no. because humans can emit carbon dioxide which can warm the planet. we also emit aerosols which cool the planet. no, the hoax involved here is that a united nations treaty and epa climate regulations or the green new deal can control the climate in any way, shape or form. that is where government cannot legislate climate, weather, temperature, sea level. that's where the hoax is. that's where it harkens to medieval witchcraft. stuart: i think the green new deal is a trojan horse. it's a vehicle that allows the socialists to take control of the economy using climate change as an excuse. that's my point of view. how far wrong am i? >> well, as i testified to congress, to the house western caucus yesterday, by the way, aoc was supposed to show up but she backed out at the last minute. this green new deal is all about the left's agenda since the 1960s and they are using

environmental scares to impose it. we originally started with these exact same solutions and overpopulation. now it's global warming. that's all it is. they talk openly, the climate activists, about planned recessions in order to fight global warming. the green new deal is nothing but a planned recession and degrowth. a permanent planned recession. stuart: thanks for informing us that aoc was supposed to be there but did not show up. that's very interesting. mark morano, thanks for joining us. see you again. check the dow 30. most of it in the green. we've got 26 dow stocks up, four are down. overall, the dow industrials are up 216 points. senator cory booker wants to legalize marijuana nationwide. up next, we have the ceo and founder of a company that makes all kinds of cannabis-infused products. he is also a marine who served in two wars. you can bet that he's cheering on booker and yes, he is. so with xfinity mobile

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stuart: ah, look at this. we are up 216 points, 26,134. look at this. nike -- ashley: i'm looking. stuart: all-time high. it's up 1.50 as of right now.

senator cory booker introduces a bill to legalize recreational marijuana nationwide. joining us, dan anglin with cam america, a company which makes thc-infused products. that's the stuff that gets you high. sir, i'm guessing you are happy about senator booker's bill. do you think it's got a chance of passing? >> good morning. thank you for the question. yeah, you know, i am happy about senator booker's bill as well as other bills legalizing, decriminalizing, descheduling cannabis. unfortunately, congress can't seem to agree on much these days, so i'll believe it when i see it once it passes. stuart: i know you're a former marine and it surprises me this a former marine should be in favor of cannabis for veterans. i mean, i know you're not promoting it for active duty, active service members. i understand that. but a former marine, i would have thought you would be opposed to it.

>> that's interesting that you have that distinction. in canada, they did legalize federally cannabis and they do have policies for their active duty military personnel. nonessential, non-flight personnel, non-security personnel actually can consume while they're in the service up to 24 hours before they go to work. so i think what's more important right now, though, in the united states is the group of veterans who actually need alternative medicines. 22 veterans a day commit suicide, and anything that the united states congress can do to provide veterans with alternatives, regardless of what they're wrestling with, without the risk of losing their v.a. benefits is extremely important. i said multiple times, congress talks about veterans as one of their most important and favored groups, but yet they don't do what's necessary to support those veterans in having those choices. it's a shame. stuart: may i suggest that you might have a better chance of

legalizing recreational marijuana nationwide if you went via president trump. he is in a position to reclassify marijuana from a grade i or class i to class ii and it would be a vote-getter, i suspect, amongst millenials. have you ever thought of going that route? >> well, i would love for president trump to do that. he has expressed support for medical cannabis and said he's looking at recreational cannabis. schedule ii actually creates more problems than it fixes because it makes it a pharmaceutical access for cannabis, which means that now pharmacists are involved which may eliminate the industry that's been created in the states that are legal in the united states, which is 38 states. so you know, i really prefer what senator booker has attempted to do which is decriminalize and deschedule, treat cannabis like alcohol. stuart: okay. dan, very interesting stuff.

we really appreciate you being with us today and your efforts. dan anglin, thank you, sir. >> thank you. stuart: i think this is all-out battle within the democrat party. moderates on one side, socialists on the other. in my opinion, the socialists at this moment are winning. my take on that, coming up next. , but i'm relentless too. mbc doesn't take a day off, and neither will i. and i treat my mbc with 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 . . diarrhea is common, may be severe, and may cause dehydration or infection.

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checkthe big board. you will love it. almost precisely 10:00 eastern time. when we hit that, five seconds to go, when we hit that mark, we'll give you the latest reading on consumer sentiment. this is the michigan consumer sentiment indicator. we've also got an indicator on the manufacturing sector. i think we have the numbers. do we have the numbers? no -- ashley: manufacturing 54.2 versus january which was 56.6. a bit of a slowdown on that side. stuart: anything over 50 means expansion. ashley: expansion, exactly. on the right side. stuart: okay. ashley: still waiting on the confidence number. not down yet. stuart: we'll find out that in moments. i want to bring in -- ashley: here it comes. stuart: wait a minute. we got it. michigan consumer sentiment. ashley: coming down very slowly. hold that thought. stuart: i will tap dance if you like? ashley: please do. a bit of fred astaire.

stuart: you will give me the confidence confidence indicator with we get it. hanz is with us. a chief investment officer. amazingly enough on the day the dow is up 200 points, you sir, have turned cautious on the stock market. what is wrong with you? have a nice day. >> it is an embarassment of riches. remember when we started this year, you and i spoke we said could we hit 26,000 this year? the environment was very different then. stuart: you said yes. >> we have done it today. we're up 200 points. we're past it. we have something like 11 or 12% return in roughly 60 days. that is the return i thought we would get over 365 days. my point, i think the market is fairly valued right now. it's a fair shake which is good news and bad news which means it gets tougher to make money from here. you need earnings to take a big leap or need valuations to expand. as we talked before, getting

valuations to expand at this point in the cycle is a bit of a tricky thing. stuart: suppose we got a trade deal with china, i don't know what kind of a trade deal it might be but looks like something is being written and could be summit in mar-a-lago, would that make a difference to you? >> i think that is in the pros he is of being baked in now. stuart: you're cautious. you wouldn't buy anything aggressively at this point? >> no. stuart: are you selling anything? >> i would go through the portfolio things i've done pretty well on, fully valued, things lower on the list, those would things i would like to cull from the portfolio. it is grooming exercise in one's portfolio. stuart: hans olsen, we always like your opinion. you gave it to us. thanks. consumer sentiment what have we got? ashley: 93.8.

that is a final reading for february. a little under what was estimated. january which finished 91.2. we're heading in the wrong direction. maybe not as strong as we like. stuart: let me put it like this. slightly weakly consumer discretionary are, slightly weaker manufacturing, the dow has gone down. >> pressure on the u.s. dollar. stuart: the dollar, the dollar. not dissing it. hard to deal with. boeing, record high, $443 per share. look at the gap, they are splitting into two separate companies. they will spin off the old navy brand, close a bunch stores. investors love it. the stock is up nearly 20%. big tech how are they doing in otherwise up market, all on the upside. big tech stocks are up. read them on your screen with the dow up 183. and now this, it is getting

pretty rough inside of the democrat party. behind closed doors, oh, it is open warfare. at the center of it alexandria ocasio-cortez. on tuesday 26 moderate democrats, these are non-socialists, they voted with the republicans and said yes on a bill that requires i.c.e. to be notified if an inlegal immigrant tries to buy a gun. does that seem reasonable? an illegal want as weapon, call immigration people, what is wrong with that? in aoc's world that is totally wrong. her spokesman says i.c.e. forcibly injects kids with psycho tropeic drugs? where does that come from in any democrat that voted with republicans on this, would be putting themselves on a list. presumably a list of democrats who would face primary challenges from the socialists. the left insists immigration enforcement be abolished. the moderates are up in arms. how are they going to get reelected? even "the washington post" admits this is fractured caucus.

it is split. and aoc is the main cause. her influence is a problem for democrats outside of congress as well. much to the dismay of governor andrew cuomo, amazon walked away from new york city, 25,000 high-paying jobs lost. again aoc was the main cause. now governor cuomo has written to jeff bezos asking him, please, reconsider. he writes we know the public debate was rough and not very welcoming. you could say that again. for the next 20 months the bad he will between moderates and socialists will rage on. at this point the socialists are winning. the power and influence of alexandria ocasio-cortez has yet to be rolled back. no animation? let's get straight -- >> i will be your animation. stuart: straight to tammy bruce, independent women's voice president and fox news contributor. >> good morning. stuart: i think this is a serious split and i think it will affect them for 2020.

>> i agree and she, i think the split and problem began when she was elected. the democratic party were not prepared for that, were they? she unseated an incumbent. remember the trajectory what this means. they weren't ready for that, they didn't expect it, they are still not ready for it. the problem of entrenchment of establishment, anything new moving out good or bad they can't see. if this particular situation you're looking at all the rest of russ affected. there is a responsibility of congress to hold back on a dynamic that is dangerous not jaws bus it's a bad idea but the ignorance attached to what is being espoused. stuart: there are 29 freshman democrats won sates in trump-leaning states and trump-leaning constituencies. >> right. stuart: how will they go back to the constituents, vote for me nationalized health care, free college socialism?

it's a nonstarter. >> this is the problem. they're held hostage in a way by a district in queen as, new york. the has national support and representation of a national movement. this is the strength of the president and if people, the media seems to want people to think that this one individual or two or three individuals from particular districts in the country are the new wave. that is a mistake. and it will, they will fail. the big issue for the president, for all of us is to remember the national movement that is behind, interestingly the president's commitment to freedom, to the free market, to capitalism, that is what the american people want, not this kind of strange fantasy dynamic, when it comes to costs of green new deal, how do you pay for it? doesn't matter. you pay for the rent. you pay the military. you just pay it. that is very childish way to approach the american economy.

stuart: we're on a roll. let's stay on a roll. let's hear what larry kudlow had to say about socialism. roll the tape. >> our socialist friends want to tax and regulate more of everything. we cannot permit that. stop prosperity killers. stop job killers. stop incentive killers. stuart: i think the battle lines are drawn for 2020, capitalism versus socialism. >> i understand what mr. kudlow is saying, this audience would understand the issue of regulation. for young people, a generation looking for something new, arguing about cost and regulation, when it comes to the scourge of socialism which destroys lives and destroys communities and countries, the argument has to be less about cost and more about what socialism does to the family and to people and to the future. this is the education that has to happen. if you don't, you will have more nonsense just ignore the cost and when you look at our budget,

young people might agree with that. that is a mistake. we need to talk about the scourge, the destructive scourge of socialism. stuart: we're definitely on a roll and i like it. music to my ears, tammy bruce. thank you very much indeed. >> thank you,, sir. stuart: lots more to come. president trump's visit kim jong-un was president trump's reykjavik. that was reagan and gorbachev. he will make his case. elon musk is in a fight with the sec he and his lawyers have until march 11th why he shouldn't be held in contempt. i will talk with the former head of the sec what would he do with elon musk? i will ask him. much more with the split in the democrats. it will just rage on all the way through 2020. i will talk to a reasonable democrat later this hour. we found one. you are watching the second hour of "varney & company." ♪

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stuart: we've lost some of the gain but we're still up 140 points. weaker consumer sentiment and manufacturing numbers came in at the top of the hour. we lost about 60 points. higher sales at foot locker. the stock is up 7%. higher profit at nordstrom. there is a retailer for but down a fraction.

jcpenney closing more stores. sales fall. no change for the stock, virtually no change. it is still at a buck 52. take a look at this headline, vietnam summit was trump's reykjavik. he just put north korea's kim and china's xi on notice. the guy who wrote that is christian whiten, former state department senior advisor and he is with us now. reykjavik, wasn't that the summit where president reagan said let's get rid of all nuclear weapons? >> exactly, stu. so you had going into the summit there was expectation they would talk about eliminating one class potentially of nuclear weapons and it got bigger and bigger, they were about to agree to give up all nuclear weapons. gorbachev had a catch, but you have to give up ballistic missile defense, strategic defense anitive at this was the plan to reagan said no.

he walked away from the whole thing. which really stunned the soviets. it was a good stunning. they came back a year later agreed to a big treaty eliminated a entire class of nuclear weapons in europe. proof that walking away can lead to negotiations. stuart: it puts kim and xi xinping on notice that our president is prepared to walk away. i got it. i want to turn to venezuela for a second, disputed president maduro, he went on a live stream rant for about 40 minutes i think it was, talking about a big carnival coming to the country. meanwhile juan guaido, opposition leader, hinted he was planning to return to the country. would that be a tipping point? >> it could be. guaido is doing a tour of sort with number of officials. he is in brazil meeting with the new president there, bolsonaro who is capitalist. he was in colombia recently, not only met with the colombian

president but assistant u.s. secretary of state that covers east asia, excuse me, covers the americas. really a strong show of support. paraguay invited guaido to come and visit. recognition by all of these countries, not just the united states, all of south america, that guaido is in fact a legitimate ruler. he said he would return. he admitted there is danger in returning. it is did. it is another one of situations presents maduro with a potential crisis. he has to make a decision. if he makes a decision, troops do what he says. another good example of poking this hopefully outgoing regime. stuart: look, we've been waiting for endgame here, waiting for maduro to get out and just restore the country to some sense of going forward but it's not happened. i don't think it will happen until there is real bloodshed, i hate to say that but i think the catharsis will be real bloodshed in the streets. i hate to say it but i think the only way this thing will come to

an end. >> well hopefully not as you say. it is always a possibility it could lead to that. if you look at other political transitions that sort of were in a crisis situation and then suddenly something breaks, dictator goes, people power worked in taiwan and the philippines and south korea without ever becoming too violent a little violence in south korea. there were wave of freedom movements in 1989 in central europe, largely bloodless. there is that potential. guaido, excuse me, maduro has to consider this. it will not get any better. he should leave now before there is bloodshed. while he can get out to cuba or somewhere else safely himself. because you know, there are alternatives to an orderly departure for him as well. stuart: i don't think the cubans will let him stage an orderly departure. that is another story. christian whiton, thank you very much, sir. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: great idea here from amazon, this is my opinion, i think it is terrific, they're

letting prime members pick their day of delivery, good for everybody, kristina. >> if you're a prime member you can say tuesday i want all shipments. change it from week to week f you're not there on tuesday, switch it to wednesday. it will consolidate shipments, ease traffic in cities, lower cost for amazons. shipping costs are climbing very high, part of the reason they increased prime rate from $99 u.s. to $119 very recently, but this could change the way we get shipments as amazon starts to lead the pack only have it once a week as opposed to every two hours, every single day. stuart: what was that about, porch pirates? ashley: porch pirates, people steal. stuart: steal it off your porch. if you want it on tuesday afternoon, i will be home tuesday afternoon, that eliminate as big theft threat i would say. >> unless the people know that you're getting it on tuesdays they somehow get there ahead of but that is worries. i live in new york.

you have to be careful. stuart: i know what you mean. how about this one? spacex launching a new dragon capsule. think launch it tomorrow. it will be used eventually to carry humans if it works. staysspacex hopes to fly real hs to the space capsule lighter this year. later this hour, a.i. at a drive-through? yes it is happening. in denver the person taking your order is not a person it is a robot. we'll show you. ♪ this is loma linda, a place with one of the highest life expectancies in the country. you see so many people walking around here in their hundreds.

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tesla. look at that. that is $27 lower. 292 is your quote. much more coming up on tesla. there are reasons for that decline. spacex getting ready to test a capsule to carry astronauts humans into outer space. phil keating is at cape canaveral. if this test works tomorrow, will they put real live humans in july going to the space station? >> that is spacex's target month but could be a little later depending how this mission goes but this mission is absolutely huge, it is historic and supercritical for both nasa as well as spacex. that is launchpad 39-a behind me, historic one the apollo capsules and most of the shuttles blasted off. right now the crew dragon from spacex that is the capsule sitting on top of the falcon 9 rocket and it is ready to blast off. for spacex and nasa, this is super important. this is demo test one of the

crew dragon the space capsule, as long as the mission proves space will take astronauts up to the space station this summer. americans on american-made rockets, once again launching from american soil. you remember star man, launching from spacex last year flying a car aboard mars? we have a a mannequin named ripley that will experience what humans will experience on the test flight. avionics telemetry, solar arrays, guidance and navigation systems, basically everything and launch time is late, late tonight or early tomorrow morning depending when you go to bed. official launch time, 2:49 a.m. east coast time. everything is looking really good, including the weather. stuart. stuart: if i was there i would get up at 2:40, whatever it is, a nighttime launch of one of

those giant rockets is a spectacular thing. i love to see that. stuart: >> there will be a lot i'm i'm sure. stuart: thanks for talking to us, phil keating. home prices lowest level in california in more than 10 years. could it be because of those salt deductions? it's a pretty good question. i will ask a real estate agent who works in the formerly golden state. more of the fracture for the democrat party. we'll see a lot of this going up to 2020 election. i found one, i found a reasonable democrat. we got him on the show. just wait, folks. ♪

♪ stuart: i'm not going to sing. stop it. stop it. [laughter]. ashley: there go the viewers. it is a good song. stuart: a positive song from the early days we lost at least half the rally. we were up 100. now we're up 200. we come back a bit. weak news on consumer spending and manufacturing pulling us back. the gap splitting into two stores or two companies. old navy on one side. everything else on the other side. that is almost $30 a share. big tech, all of them were up, about 10, 15 minutes ago. all of them are still up. apple, amazon, facebook, on the

upside. apple holding its annual meeting. our susan li is there. susan, some shareholders are not happy the way apple's stock is performing. what is going on? >> you betcha. after crossing a trillion dollars last year. shareholders are filing into apple's brand new 5 billion-dollar campus here outside of cupertino, california. they will be hearing from the management team and tim cook and the rest, lay out the objectives for 2019. apple has hit an inflection point. iphone sales are falling. revenue from iphones are falling. where is the company going? looks like we had a huge management, rare management shake-up, what the outlook for the company looks like. high flying burberry ceo for retail. she will be overheard by the head of hr, deirdre o'brien. we have the a.i. chief being

upgraded to executive management team. arguably the most powerful executive after tim cook is eddie q. he will get more engineering resources overseer for apple. that is the future of the company to keep you stuck and obsessed with your iphone. looks like revenue should be up to $62 billion from services. when i talk about services itunes apple tv and the rest that should be growing. revenue growth for apple next five years. but the main agenda i want to point this out, voting in the board, nominees, eight nominees, bob iger, tim cook, al gore. should be voted in. that is the expectation. back to you. stuart: susan li in coupe -- cupertino. thank you very much indeed. i want to bring in gene munster. gene, will the services business get the stock out of the rut? >> the simple answer is no, in

itself it won't but i think this team about investors shifting their view, not just the service sector, only 15% of the revenue growing nicely, call it 20%, this idea of apple becoming more of a staple of tech will get the stock out of its rut. let me illuminate that, this idea, instead of buying your phone on one, two, three-year kind of cycle, the idea buying it on subscription basis. the predictability element is something investors around apple yearn for. to put that into perspective as you look at apple's multiple 12 times, compare that if they get a similar multiple to coca-cola or clorox. that would be 20 or 21 multiple. this stock could double, if investors viewed this as consumer staples business. that will take probably a year plus, but undoubtedly i think there is optimism for this stock to get even much bigger, stuart.

stuart: that is absolutely fascinating, really is. i got to talk to you about tesla. you could call it the stock of the day because it is wildly lower, down about 7 1/2%. they are shifting to online sales only. they have a base, model 3, the base price is 35,000 bucks. they're coming out with debt but a bundle of debt is coming due today that could drain the cash hoard. gene, start with on-line sales only, is that going to work? >> i think it will. i think you see the rest of the auto industry to move there. when we talk about apple's stock, before we talk about online briefly, this is definition to missing the forest for the trees. there are major positives that came out yesterday that are being overweighed by the fact that the company will lose money in the march quarter. they will make the debt payment today but online stores, back to your question, elon circulate ad email internally last night,

that showed 87% of model 3s purchased without a test drive. don't need the sales force. by eliminating that, that saves 6%. it is critical to get to the 35,000-dollar price point. it will be a change for a lot of people how they purchase a car with seven day no questions asked, 1000-mile return policy, probably more generous. no one likes buying a car in the current model. they may find a way to improve the buying experience. stuart: big problem for the stock though today is that they going to have to pay down that debt, something like $900 million i believe which makes a big hole in their cash pile, right? that hurts them financially. >> it does but it is a big step back on their balance sheet but that will leave them with just over $2 billion. they need a billion 1/2 dollars to fund operations. so i think that is less of an issue here. i think the bigger issue on the stock today is related to investors debating whether or

not this new sales approach is going to work. stuart: okay, fascinating stuff on apple, gene, the idea it might double if its valuation goes up. that is really something is. interesting on tesla too, the idea that you can test drive for 1000 miles and bring it back, just have fun for a weekend, i love it. gene, thank you very much indeed. all good stuff. >> thank you, stuart. by for now. stuart: let's get back to my editorial at the top of the hour. alexandria ocasio-cortez is splitting the democrat party. she has done it already. doug schoen with us, former clinton pollster, fox news contributor. am i right, she is running the party and she split it? >> she certainly split it and if you read the headlines every day you get the impression which i think is mistaken though not unfair that she is indeed running the party, driving the bus as we say. stuart: we have an aoc segment every single day almost every single hour. she is good for our ratings. >> well she is bad for my party.

stuart: that is a straight statement, very good. >> it is, it is. stuart: bad for the party? i mean she is a real danger as you go into 2020. this is extremism. >> look, for the democratic primary she is a figure of, you know, great appeal. for the general election she is the type that could hurt in the midwest, swing states, the states pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, that trump won over hillary, she could single-handedly torpedo the party in those state if run runs the kind of campaign he will, stuart. stuart: go, aoc. here is how powerful she is. vice president pence, i'm sorry, joe biden said that he found, vice president pence a decent guy. >> right. stuart: he said that publicly. >> he is a decent guy. stuart: he is a decent guy. comes back with almost a apology, almost walk it back.

you're right, i was making a point in foreign policy context, a vice president would be given silent reaction on the world stage, there is nothing decent about being anti-lgbt, et cetera, et cetera. i'm not going to read whole thing. has power for biden to walk back a favorable comment. not allowed to say nice things about the republicans in the democrat party? >> i disagree with the vice president on lgbtq rights. that doesn't make him a indecent man, someone i disagree with, disagree vehemently. vice president, if he gets in the race, it is an if, will have real trouble with these landmines of praising republicans, he did it in the speech in michigan. fred upton i think he praised. stuart: that is a problem for him? >> our current democratic party, yes it is, stuart. stuart: man, you have lost control. >> i never had control. maybe for a brief while in '96 and '97.

stuart: not you, you know what i mean. >> when bill clinton was there, we centrists had control, that's gone. you're absolutely right. stuart: totally gone. >> it is moving in an adverse direction. stuart: can you get it back? i mean if joe biden does run, can he bring the party back to the middle or will he be bounced out in the primaries? >> that is what i'm hearing him say. he is worried, he called his race potentially a fool's errand the other day. i think he is worried as you put it, he could get bounced out in the primaries. i think it's a real possibility. stuart: if he doesn't run, your guy, mike bloomberg will? >> stay tuned. stuart: that is a tease. you're all right, doug schoen. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: now this, much more on our socialism theme in our next hour. i will talk to larry kudlow. he is becoming the white house's, dare i say attack dog on this sub is project? i wouldn't want to use that word. he is a great guy. will be with us in 30 minutes.

every day we're getting a concerning headline about facebook and what they're doing with our data. we're talking to the former head of the sec about this would he go after zuckerberg? we'll ask. ♪

♪ ashley: huawei's chief security officer told maria bartiromo this morning that his company is not controlled by the chinese government and does not pose a security threat. take a listen. >> that is not us. the china government does not speak for us. we don't speak through the china government. i applaud the efforts of the united states and others to try to crack down on global theft of intellectual property which has been a disgrace over the last 15 years we haven't done enough about it. i'm glad president trump is raising that as important issue in the trade talks. >> huawei technology is a chinese company. this is communist company. of course the companies are state actors as an arm of government in a communist nation, isn't that true. >> no it is not. we are privately owned company. there are number of companies out there that have government ownership. we are notot one of them. es. $4.95. no matter what you trade, at fidelity

it's just $4.95 per online u.s. equity trade.

stuart: it is still a gain but above 26,000 on the dow industrials. a judge earlier today told elon musk to explain why he should not be held in contempt. he sent two conflicting tweets about tesla production numbers. he responded that something is broken with the sec harvey pitt joins us now. former sesec chair, ran the

whole place. thanks for joining us. >> good to be back with you. stuart: how would you handle musk? >> the first problem musk thinks this is the sec what he has done here is violate the court's order. the court is the one that directed him to preclear his tweets and he agreed to that today. having failed to do that he has to answer to the court. i think there are a number of things that the court can do. one is, impose significant fines on him. but more importantly make it clear to him that if he continues in not having his tweets precleared he is going to risk losing forever the right to be an officer or director of a public company. i also think that the court probably should consider appointing an independent monitor to make sure that tesla is in charge with keeping tabs on musk but that somebody

independent will do that for the court. stuart: can i ask how you would have handled this if you were still chair of the sec? how would you handle a bad boy like elon musk what would you do? >> well let me say first i think the way the sec has gone about this is about as good as it gets for a regulatory agency. they are confronted with the terrible conundrum. musk is a bad boy as you certainly have indicated and it's true but he is also the creative between -- genius of this company and he has insights invaluable for the company and its shareholders. finding a balance between making him more responsible but allowing the shareholders to enjoy his creative genius is a very difficult task and i really commend the commission for trying to do this in a sensible

way. but i do think there are certain things that might be considered if this continues as i believe it will. i think musk is simply irrepressible and someone has to convince him like it or not he has to be a little more repressed so that he behaves like a normal ceo. one is have tesla implement a non-compete so that musk's threats to pick up and leave the company will be hollow. second, put his shares in a voting trust so that his shares are voted in the same proportions as those of non-affiliated shareholders. he keeps his ownership but the shares are voted the way the stockholders would like to see the company move in the direction. stuart: that is how you deal with a bad boy. i just want to get this in,

harvey. would you go after facebook's mark zuckerberg? >> i think mr. zuckerberg has shown what seems to me to be a disdain for the privacy rights of his users on his facebook postings and i think something needs to be done to cabin his sort of repeat performances of promises but never really living up to those promises. my understanding from reading the press there is an investigation going on. i don't know whether that's true and i don't know where it will wind up but i think there is a lot there that commends itself to being investigated to figure out if the statements being made and the actions being taken are all truthful and consistent. stuart: harvey pitt, you are a

quiet, rational, tough guy. pleasure to have you on the show. real pleasure. >> thank you. stuart: harvey pitt, everyone, former sec chair. good stuff, harvey. now this, a.i., artificial intelligence at drive-through? question mark? you talk to a robot to get your order. we could see a lot more of this. we talk to the guy that helped make this thing happen. check the big board we're not quite underwater. we lost half the rally. we're at 26,000 on the dow. ♪

stuart: we're desperate to hold on to a rally. when we opened market we're up 230 points. we'll take it just shy of 26,000. how about this, fast-food restaurant in denver has artificial intelligence voice assistant immune to stress, doesn't take bathroom breaks, doesn't get paid either. our next guest is the company that designed this assistant, rob carpenter, valiant ai founder around ceo. rob, take me through this. have i got this right?

i drive up to this restaurant, i say i would like a burger please? a voice takes my order, yes, mr. varney and prepares it, is that it? >> that's it. good morning, stuart. we have a -- we have a very warm and friendly inviting voice. it recognizes a car pulled up, takes your order. you can ask for whatever you want. our cloud software handles the response, sends it back down to the customer. the hope to make the customer journey far quicker, getting them through the ordering process, making employees lives a little easier. stuart: what you're really doing here is replacing humans who might at some.in the future earn $15 an ounce. your technology invades the 15-dollar an hour minimum wage laws, doesn't it? >> our technology makes lives easier for customers and employees. average employee, taking one,

two orders from different drive-through leans, processing credit cards, handing food out the window, suddenly soft drink is overflowing we're automating what customers do. more face time with the customer. makes them hirsch efficient. stuart: it is a way replacing human? it is a job lost isn't it. >> it does take some tasks done by full time many employee. we hope to make small business owners that own the restaurants more profitable, allowing them to open up more locations. i think you will see a net increase in job across the entire brand. stuart: i remember a few years ago, i think it was los angeles, driving up to a mcdonald's, ordering a burger, that order went to someone who was in india who then punched up on the computer the burger that i had ordered in los angeles. i don't see that much -- look, it's a human being in india, i got that, but really just

cutting down on costs, that is what it was, that is what you're doing? >> that is part of it, yeah. we also hope to increase the through-put. you get more cars through faster, reduce the mistakes that happen in the type of environments increase average order size. all that place into it. companies that do the things you are talking about are reaching out to us seem pretty interested in the technology. stuart: at the moment, it is one restaurant in denver, that correct? >> yeah that is correct. currently just brevard county fast. we plan to expand to lunch and dinner in the next 60 to 90 days. stuart: but you're off and running with it? you started in? >> we're up and running. stuart: how is it going? >> it is going well. we're obviously iterating when you bring cutting-edge new technology to the market. one of the wonderful things we've been surprise by, employee response. it is stressful job. this takes a lot of pressure off them.

the employees go out of the way to turn the system on. we're not quite ready for this. the employees are super motivated. stuart: rob carpenter, thanks for joining us, sir, very interesting stuff. we appreciate it. >> thank you. no problem, thanks for your time. stuart: blockbuster performance from larry kudlow yesterday at cpac. he said it is time to put socialism on trial an convict it. wait until you hear what he had to say about the green new deal. larry kudlow will be live with us on the show in our next hour. ♪ as the one who is always trapped beneath the duvet i'm begging you... take gas-x. your tossing and turning isn't restlessness, it's gas! gas-x relieves pressure, bloating and discomfort... fast! so we can all sleep easier tonight.

stuart: larry kudlow is the president's chief economic adviser. i think he's also the point man, some would say attack dog, for the president's re-election campaign. the president said america will never be a socialist country, and that is the theme. capitalism versus socialism. larry kudlow leads the charge. he's playing a very strong hand. the trump growth agenda has worked. you cut taxes, you cut red tape and you get growth and prosperity. that's what the president did. and growth and prosperity is what we've got. record low unemployment across all groups. cheap gas, inflation's under control, rising wages, low interest rates. you watch this program for the last two years, and that's what you've seen. shared prosperity.

what are the democrats offering apart from naked trump hatred? they are offering a complete reversal of president trump's capitalism. raise taxes, stop the wicked banks, government-run health care, and of course, the fantastical nonsense known as the green new deal. that's a marriage of extremist environmentalism and radical socialism. the green new deal gives larry kudlow a very easy target and he took it. watch this. >> the green new deal would literally destroy the economy. literally. it would knock out energy, transportation, airlines, jobs, businesses, we would probably lose 10% to 15% of our gop. it's remarkable. stuart: he got it. campaign 2020, capitalism versus socialism. larry kudlow is the president's point man. he lit up that cpac conference and in ten minutes, he will

light up this program. he's our guest as the third hour of "varney & company" rolls on. stuart: okay. let me repeat that. in about ten minutes, larry kudlow will be with us. yes, he's on this program live. can't wait. here we go. check your money. look at the big board. we are up 80 points. we were up 200, now we're up 80. we will take it. 26,006 right now. as i said in my editorial, the president has delivered on his promise of growth and prosperity for the country. the markets have shown that month after month. they have gone in step with this growing economy. come on in, market watcher donald luskin, cio with trend macro. it's been a terrific year so far. can it continue? >> sure has. you bet it can continue. everything's in line for it to continue.

all of the risks, all of the mistakes of last year are now resolving beautifully. our fed chair has gone from being an auto pilot hawk to being a born again dove. you see that speech he gave last night? he's got a brilliant idea. we need to have more government policies that will help productivity. whoa. wish i had thought of that, right? okay. that's better than telling us he's going to raise rates every fomc meeting. now we have a president who is pacifying north korea, pacifying venezuela, has the fortitude to walk away in hanoi yesterday because the deal wasn't good enough, and that wasn't even about the -- some kind of nuclear deal with north korea. that was a signal to china that this president will walk away unless there is a fantastic oh, my god trade deal and that is what we are going to get. xi jinping is going to come to mar-a-lago in march and egg trump to take a deal and when

that deal happens, the global stock market is absolutely going to explode to the upside. we just had a small down payment in these first two wonderful months of this year. stuart: do you care what kind of trade deal it is? i mean, it could be just cosmetic where they buy $200 billion worth of our stuff over the next couple years. would that give you the market lift you are talking about? >> stuart, they offered that to us last summer, and we said no. so we just know for a fact that that isn't good enough. it's been an offer, we rejected it. we added to our tariffs after rejecting that. we took prisoner, you know, one of their top executives after they offered that, right? so we are obviously going for a tough deal and a real deal. here's the amazing thing about it. trade is such a wonderful, mysterious thing. the communist party doesn't want to do the kind of deal that we want to do because it means them giving up a little power. but when communist governments give up a little bit of power, the economy that they preside

over explodes to the upside. the people get wealthier, the whole world gets wealthier. the only reason china has slowed down the last couple of years is because the communist party has cracked down on capitalism. all trump is asking them to do is open up again. when they do, that will help the whole world but it will actually help china more than anybody else. trump is aware of this. this is the greatest humanitarian gesture in history. stuart: okay. wow, okay there. luskin, i will label you our resident super bull. i hope that's a total you're proud of. >> that is. you give all my love to my friend larry. be good to him in ten minutes. stuart: i promise. i promise. donald luskin, thanks very much indeed. appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: got to get back to straight politics now. new jersey democrat cory booker is running in 2020. he's announced. he's introduced a new bill to legalize marijuana nationwide. lawrence jones with us, fox news

contributor. lawrence, other dem hopefuls have chimed in in support. warren, harris, gillibrand, sanders. they are all in support, legal marijuana nationwide. i see that as a vote winner for the democrats in 2020. do you? >> yeah, of course. you brought the libertarian on to discuss this because you know i'm in great support of it. my advice would be for the president since he [ inaudible ] for the opioid crisis, that presents an opportunity for him to do the same thing but advocating for legal marijuana as well. as we know, stuart, getting people off of that sometimes is just a means of marijuana. stuart: i'm sure the crowd behind you was cheering your appearance on "varney & company." probably not. nonetheless, we like it. let me turn this around. let's suppose president trump made an announcement that marijuana would be reclassified not as a class i drug along with

heroin and cocaine, but as a class ii drug. that would open up the country to recreational marijuana, but would it lose the president his base of voters? >> i don't think most americans, especially when it comes to [ inaudible ] care in that way. the progressive movement has moved more to the libertarian side. there are social conservatives who want to hold the line but when you talk about states with the veteran suicide rate and you talk about the recreational use compared to alcohol and all this other stuff, i think most practical people are in line with it and quite frankly, a lot of people just have the view that the government shouldn't be involved with it. i think this would be a win for the president if he was to take that approach. now, remember, back in the day when this was started to bring up during the administration, jeff sessions was in office and was totally against this. i think now we have a new

attorney general, that he may get support. stuart: cue the band, everybody. they are playing hard along there. lawrence, we will let you out of this because you can't compete with a band and roaring crowd of conservatives. that's a fact. you did well. see you soon. with a quiet background. thanks very much. i want to turn to the stock of the day. it is way down, tesla. we teased the big announcement yesterday on our show and elon musk came through with a big announcement. it's this. model 3 is available today, starting at $35,000. got a range of 220 miles. tesla also will be going online only, shuttering most of the bricks and mortar stores in order to trim expenses. the company will not turn a profit in q1. look at the stock. with that as a backdrop, the thing is down 7% as we speak,

$22 lower. they have a bond problem today. the stock is nowhere near where it should be so they will cash out a bond -- ashley: over $900 million. stuart: $900 million cash. and they didn't make a profit in the first quarter, as we said. that's why the stock is down 22 bucks. it's below $300 a share. that gentleman right there, governor andrew cuomo of new york, trying to get amazon to reconsider setting up shop in new york. he wrote an open letter to jeff bezos in today's "new york times." remember, it was just a few days ago that governor cuomo slammed aoc for her hand in ruining the amazon deal. he's trying for a comeback. speaking of ocasio-cortez, she's the face of the far left socialist youth of america and it seems larry kudlow is now the socialist attack dog. i want to know, what's the plan for 2020? we are talking to the man himself, larry kudlow, next. don't miss that. my experience with usaa

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stuart: well, he wowed them at the cpac conference yesterday and i hope he's going to wow us today, because larry kudlow is with us right now. all right, larry, i'm going to say that you are the administration's attack dog. i will rephrase that. you are the point man of going

after socialism. now, what's your line of attack, because free stuff, free this, free that, is very popular amongst millenials. how do you attack that? >> well, look, i think the first thing to do is be very specific. i want to put socialism and all this, you know, green new deal stuff, i want to put it pen and pencil, i want to make sure people understand what the cost is. so let's put socialism on trial, let's challenge it and rebut it specifically, then let us convict it. we've got to stop this before it destroys the economy and destroys the whole country. as far as the millenials go, again, i think they will listen to reason. they always have. those millenials who are working will understand how the world works, who pays the taxes, how businesses operate. i notice the fox poll, i was doing this a week or two back here, and the vast majority of people that were polled favored

capitalism over socialism, like two to one, as i recall. so i think we have to just put it on trial, put socialism on trial, challenge, rebut, put pen and pencil to paper, i've got some staggering numbers here, then just convict it. before it destroys america. stuart: i want to ask you about china trade. can we get a deal with china that is more than just they buy a couple hundred billion dollars worth of stuff from us? can it really get into the nitty-gritty? can we get a deal like that? >> by the way, we dealt with socialism. i'm crushed. stuart: i'll get back to it at the end. i want to get you on record on trade because that's very much in the news. >> well, look, we made so much progress last week when the chinese were here. it started very slowly. bob lighthizer really lit a fire under it thursday, friday, they extended the talks to saturday and sunday, and really, whatever

it is, 120, 140 pages, the agreements made last week represent tremendous progress on i.p. theft, on forced technology transfer, on ownership, on cyberinterference, and maybe most importantly, on enforcement. some very smart, clever things put together by ambassador lighthizer on enforcement. now, that was agreed to by vice premier liu he and his deputies and bob lighthizer and steve mnuchin and our deputies. what remains to be seen is if president xi and the chinese politboro will okay it. what we have is vastly greater than just buying soybeans. trust me on this. it's virtually a revolution in america/chinese trade. it could be a historical breakthrough. i will play this one on the optimistic side. stuart: are we moving toward a summit in mar-a-lago later this month? >> lot of talk about that. it's not quite buttoned down yet

but yes, i think you can expect that with president xi and president trump in mar-a-lago. again, it has not yet been buttoned down. that's the thought. those two leaders, you know, maybe they are going to be the ones to sign and seal this, for example, on some enforcement issues. we have a multi-layered enforcement process. if we see that china is violating, we will be raising tariffs according to this process and the process permits us to do so and they won't be, i think that's a very clever approach, probably the most inventive thing i've seen. we dmoon't know if china will sn on to that. maybe the two leaders have to figure that out and that will be the end of it. i don't think people understand how much progress was made last week. even, you know, ownership in the financial services and other areas, ownership which has been for the chinese, now that's going to shift to american companies operating in china. that lowers the chances of a

technology transfer. currency stability and transparency for any currency interventions. all these things were tied up in the so-called structural issues. so you get the commodities, they are going to open the door and if they do, america's export sales will soar. we are the most competitive economy in the world but the structural changes will give us the kind of free and fair and reciprocal trade that president trump has encouraged and fought hard for and by the way, i got to tell you as the free trader in the building, one thing trump has taught us, taught me, tariffs are part of the trade discussion and tariffs can be very effective in negotiations. sometimes you have to use them. i think in this case with china, the tariff strategy has worked. stuart: real fast, very short question, did it help when president trump walked away from the summit with kim jong-un? >> well, look, i think as he has

explained, he didn't get what he wanted. he has a very clear vision. i'm not an expert on this, but he wants the denuclearization in its entirety, not just in one or two places but across the board. sometimes you have to walk away from a bad deal in order to get a much better deal down the road. we saw this years ago when i was last year under ronald reagan. he did it in reykjavik, if you recall. he had to walk away from a bad deal. the soviets wouldn't sign on to sdi and i think president trump is taking a page out of that book. i think it's very smart negotiating strategy. again, i wasn't there, i'm not an expert on the matter. it also sends signals. after all, one thing leads to another to another. i think as he mentioned, as good as things are going, as much progress as we've made on china, if that deal winds up falling short, because of president xi and the chinese politboro, then it may not be the right deal for

america so there is that. stuart: you remember your days in broadcasting when you were coming up to a hard break. well, i'm coming up to a hard break. therefore, i can't let you go on about socialism much as i would love to. come back. come back any time you like. i want to riff on socialism, please. it's the mainstay of the program. >> this could be $100 trillion, taking 15% out of gdp and even worse, it would destroy incentives, it would destroy business, it would destroy entrepreneurship. you put government in control of an economy like that, remember the failure of the soviet union years ago. take a look at venezuela today. we do not want to demoralize america. america's on the way back. it's the strongest economy in the world. why undermine that if the policies are working, let us stay with the policies. stuart: we got it in, larry. we got it in. what a pleasure. thank you very much for joining us, sir. see you again soon. quick look at the big board. we are up 61 points, 25,979.

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stuart: all right.

we've gotten wind of yet another whopping great big baseball contract. the man on the screen, bryce harper, going from the washington nationals to, where is he going? the phillies. philadelphia. 13 years, $330 million contract. my question to you, ash, is why didn't he go for the offers from california? ashley: he got a bunch of offers, from the giants in particular who really wanted him but also the dodgers and padres, all three california teams. but guess what? high taxes. mr. harper's not stupid. he knows that a large chunk of his money will end up in the coffers of state government so he did not, he thought it through, seriously. the giants were very close to matching that but the giants realized they had to go way above what the phillies were offering because of the high tax in california. stuart: there's a price to be paid. ashley: yes, there is. stuart: thanks, ash. last week the treasury reported that tax refunds were down 17%. this week, the treasury reports returns are up 19% from last week on a par with last year's

numbers. sounds weedy. we will try to explain? three senators are trying to push through a curve on stock buy-backs. up next, the man who says they have it all wrong. the markets right now, barely budging. up 50 points, 25,969.

stuart: now, we have still got a gain of 58 points, just a few moments ago larry kudlow was on the show talking about real progress being made in the china trade talks, not just them buying a bunch of our soybeans, but china looking at the structural issues of intellectual property theft and forced transfer of technology. he was very positive on it. it did not move the market. we are still up just 60 points. i want to bring in david nicholas, the president of nicholas wealth management. david, you say i believe, i read your stuff, you say look, if we don't get a china deal, if there's no deal, the market comes down 15, maybe 20%. make your case. >> stuart, thanks for having me.

you know, if we don't get a deal and it was great to hear how positive larry kudlow was on this deal but if we don't get a deal, this could be a nasty fall to the bottom. if you look at the december 24th lows, we are about 18% off those lows. i'm very optimistic about a deal but the issue right now is that the market has priced in so much that we are going to get an effective deal done, that if we don't, this is what investors have to be careful of. because as quickly as we saw markets rise over the last two months, we could see just a fall down i think more than what most investors realize. i think 20% drop from here if we don't get a deal done. so something has to get done and it has to be a deal investors think will fix the problems we are seeing. stuart: it's very hard to predict, very hard to say after what we heard from larry kudlow there's not going to be a deal at all. you can't really say that. you can't predict this. difficult environment, though, because if there is no deal, i think you're quite right, down we go. let me talk to you about stock buy-backs. i've got three senators who are

pushing a curb on stock buy-backs. they are senators rubio, schumer and sanders. they say restrict these stock buy-backs. what do you say to that? >> you know, stuart, you know, stock buy-backs are a sign of a healthy economy, not a sign that businesses want to punish workers, right? so the point of a business provide value to shareholders, provide value to customers. the point of a business is not to pay wages. competitive wages are a byproduct of a profitable company. so when it comes to buy-backs, this is all about the efficient deployment of capital. what this really ticks me off is politicians in washington, many of which have never created a job in their life, they think they know better than some of the smartest minds in business do when it comes to deploying capital. this is why i actually just was shocked senator rubio, who i had the utmost respect and admiration for, would join into the narrative that somehow by businesses buying back their stock, they shouldn't be doing

that but they have some sort of moral obligation to americans to increase wages or invest in infrastructure and r & d. it's a narrative that i think we have seen before and i don't think that narrative should be at the -- stuart: i absolutely agree with you. a company which earns money, makes profit, creates capital, i think should be allowed to decide what it does with that capital. it doesn't have to spend it immediately. that's ridiculous. you should be able to plan your future use of capital. if that means putting the money into your own stock so that you can decide in the future how to use it, that's fine with me. i put it to you, there's every chance that a stock buy-back curb could be put in place. >> yeah. i think the chances are very real. here's another unintended consequence of government, right. i think socialist bernie sanders thinks well, if stock buy-backs are legal, corporations will

magically start paying higher wages. here's what happens. here's the unintended consequences. instead of investing or paying wages, corporations will likely sit on cash. so what that effectively does is stop the effective deployment of capital. i just think it's a dangerous thing. we need to get out of this narrative. if i can give senator rubio one piece of credit, he isn't saying we shouldn't allow stock buy-backs. he's just trying to change the incentives for taxation. i think even that's a little misguided, if i can say respectfully. just because for most americans, if a couple makes under $73,000 a year, they don't pay any tax on qualified dividends or capital gains. so the tax law right now is not geared towards dividends or buy-backs. i don't know, i see this, i don't like it. i think we got to get out of this narrative. companies like you said, corporations know what's best on how to deploy their capital. let's let them do it. this is the free market. it works just fine. stuart: for such a young man, you make so much sense. david nicholas, good stuff. thank you very much indeed. see you soon.

>> thanks for having me. stuart: breaking news on lyft. they just filed to go public. ashley: they did indeed. we thought it might happen this week and here we are on friday. they filed to apply to list class a common stock on the nasdaq. filing for an ipo of up to 100 million. we know that jpmorgan, credit suisse are some of the banks handling this, among the underwriters for this ipo. there you go. if you use lyft, if you like lyft, i'm assuming you can get part of it. stuart: that on your screen, $68.14, that's not the ipo price. ashley: no, no, no. stuart: just a shot of a ride. ashley: exactly. stuart: they are going public, sports fans. now we know. here's something you may have missed in the fray of the week. congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez saying she's going to put more moderate democrats

on a list. she says she will try to unseat them. trump 2020 advisory board member is with us. madison, seems to me this represents a dramatic and dangerous split among democrats. am i going too far? >> no. it is a very dangerous split. i think when you look at the majority of people in this country, she does not represent their views. i'm not sure where she gets her false sense of authority and power but guess what, she may be the boss of her staff but she's not the boss of the american people and she's not the boss of her party. her boss is the american people in the 14th district of new york. i would be willing to bet she won't be around very long if she continues to go farther and farther and farther left. because guess what? these policies aren't going to work. stuart: i think she is, to a large degree, the boss of the party. she is -- >> but she shouldn't be. stuart: okay. but she is. maybe we in the media have made her that. look at the power she's got. 26 democrats i think it was who

voted with republicans on some kind of gun registration bill, the idea you would vote with republicans is anathema to aoc and she's threatening to unseat members of her own party. that is real power. >> yeah, but if she's able to actually do that, it remains to be seen because when you look at this legislative amendment specifically, it talks about expanding federal background checks for buying guns and of course, this is something democrats have supported for years. so they went against it simply for the fact it also included that i.c.e. has to be informed in illegal immigrants try to buy guns. i think while some people may or may not agree with what it included in regards to i.c.e., the majority of democrats would agree with wanting to expand federal background checks which has now been denied in large part because of her and nancy pelosi rallying the party. of course, these tactics aren't anything new but i think democrats need to put a stop to this. like i said, she doesn't hold a leadership position within the party and she is being given too much deference and too much power in a lot of ways. we need to make sure we put an

end to this in the best interest of the country and of course, for the democratic party as well. stuart: i think it's the media that did it, myself included. we have an aoc segment just about every hour on this program. madison, thanks for joining us. we appreciate it. >> of course. stuart: see you soon. thank you. if you have been worried about how much money you will be getting back in a tax refund this year, look at this. the average refund is up 19%. that's this week compared to last week. ashley: it changes weekly. stuart: that's not a very relevant statistic. ashley: what does it really mean? there are statistics, lies, damn lies, whatever it is. you can use numbers to make them work however you want them to. i don't put a lot of store in this. stuart: neither do i. thank you, ashley. let's get to spacex. they partnered with nasa. they will resume testing on their crew dragon capsule. that capsule is eventually going to take humans back into space.

this test launch will not have real humans on board, no. its purpose is to test the project's electrical and communications equipment. but if it's successful, the test is tomorrow, very early morning tomorrow, then that capsule will be used for humans to the space station in july. budweiser. non-alcoholic beers reportedly the fastest growing segment of the beer industry. anheuser busch launched 12 new no and low alcohol beers. the brits planning to slap facebook and google with quote, huge fines if they don't do more to get rid of toxic content. both stocks up. two real estate items for you. first, home ownership in america is at the highest level in nearly five years. the increase particularly driven by 35 to 44-year-olds. however, a new bankrate survey finds 63% of millenial

homeowners regret buying a home. i don't know about that. we'll deal with it. different story in california. home sales have plummeted to their lowest point in a decade. this could be another high tax horror story. we are on it. what do you look for when you trade? i want free access to research. yep, td ameritrade's got that. free access to every platform. yeah, that too. i don't want any trade minimums. yeah, i totally agree, they don't have any of those. i want to know what i'm paying upfront. yes, absolutely. do you just say yes to everything? hm. well i say no to kale. mm. yeah, they say if you blanch it it's better, but that seems like a lot of work. no hidden fees. no platform fees. no trade minimums. and yes, it's all at one low price. td ameritrade. ♪

stuart: lyft, the ride sharing service, has filed. they are going public. do we know any more? ashley: under the symbol lyft, l-y-f-t on the nasdaq. the ipo valuation could be $20 billion. their revenue last year came to $2.2 billion. they are doing very well. the number of riders went up in the last quarter by about 60 to 70 million. the company is doing well. we don't have a date when this will actually happen. stuart: that's a lot of riders. ashley: a lot of riders. stuart: thanks, ash. look at the market, please. we are up 50 points on the dow. a few moments ago, larry kudlow, the president's chief economic adviser, was on this program. very enthusiastic and very positive about a china trade deal. not just any old deal, a broad deal. it didn't move the market. still up 50.

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earn 4% cash back on dining and 4% on entertainment. now when you go out, you cash in. what's in your wallet? stuart: ah, the housing market may not be in quite such a bad shape as we thought. the commerce department says that home ownership, the rate thereof, has reached a four-year high. millenials are buying. how about that. aaron kerman is our california real estate guy. i think this is very, very good news but i'm surprised to hear that now all of a sudden, millenials are buying. what's going on? >> thanks for having me. millenials are buying, home

ownership is still something everybody wants. we have been on an 11-year high of home sales, price increases and millenials are in positions where they are making a lot of money, they have strong jobs and they recognize that real estate is the ultimate way to gain wealth. and you know, ten years of price increases, of, you know, anywhere between 5% and 18% a year really has been a very strong earning pattern for millenial individuals. stuart: it's a very good sign for our america, because america stands out in home ownership. we have a much higher home ownership rate than say most of europe does. and certainly most of asia as well. but i digress. you are a california guy. we find that home sales in california have plummeted to their lowest point in a decade. is that about taxation, high taxes, salt? >> i think it's about

everything. home ownership and our transactional volume is down 17% this quarter. we are as low as we were in 2008. i think there's so many reasons as to why that is. interest rate hikes happened, the stock market volatility, trade wars, political instabilities. buyers are very nervous right now and they are just saying look, we're uncomfortable with the market and we are going to sit and wait and see where we are. on top of that, we have sellers who just are pricing their homes back to two years ago and that's not helping the situation. stuart: surely that's got something to do with the very high level of taxation in california, and the fact that you cannot deduct those high taxes against your federal return. california's not an attractive place for people with money. >> hundred percent. california has some very difficult taxation right now and there are a lot of people, a lot of millenials that are opting for other states right now. where taxation is better, you

know. at one period in time, california was a dream. schools, lifestyle, decent taxation. right now, it's a tough market here. i do think, though, that in l.a., california in general, we still have so much commerce, we have so much business, we have so much opportunity that there is a segment of the market that is absolutely going to want to stay here and live here and there is a cost to living in a state that has all of that abundance. stuart: have you ever thought of moving? >> i'm sorry, say that again? stuart: have you ever thought of moving? >> i am a california guy day in and day out. i will never leave the state. a lot of my clients, most of my clients feel the same sentiment. this is the best state to live, work, make money and i stand by california. i think it's always ebb and flow. i think right now, with where we are, we are seeing some changes but i think it will rebound and get better.

stuart: aaron, you are a financial masochist but that's your problem, not mine. have fun there in l.a. have fun. thank you very much indeed for being with us. we appreciate it. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. stuart: here's a story for you. the makers of the ak-47 rifle have unveiled a suicide drone. it reportedly explodes when it's near a target. i want to know what stops a crazy person from strapping on a bomb to a regular drone and using it. we will deal with that in a moment.

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stuart: how about this for a drone story. the makers of the ak-47 rifle, that is the kalishnikov, have unveiled a suicide drone that explodes when it gets near a target. let's bring in our strategic analyst, author of the book "drone warrior." okay, they have this suicide drone but what's stopping anybody from strapping a bomb on to a drone they already own? there's nothing stopping them, is there? >> well, i think that the

situation is even worse than that. there are global implications involved here, more so than i think most people realize. first, let me tell you it would be probably surprising to your viewers to learn we actually have suicide drones in our own arsenal that our soldiers used against the battle of isis in the battle of mosul. the irony is not lost essentially that we are up at arms that the russians have a similar capability. here's why this is a bit different. we are very cautious, overly cautious, about our export control laws. the russians are not. so now we have got the creator of the ak-47 which to this day is still the most widely used assault rifle on the entire planet, it fuels insurgencies, it's the terrorists' weapon of choice. now they have made a killer drone that is low cost, highly efficient. they bring with it mass production, mass marketing. i mean, it wouldn't surprise me if we started seeing these things end up in locations like

venezuela with the maduro regime, syria with assad. all organizations the russians support. stuart: dramatic stuff. real fast, bret, what's this about russia's underwater nuclear drone? this is the first i have heard of it. what's going on? >> right. this is a big deal. we have entered a new era of warfare. this is how future wars will be fought. the thing that concerns me about this underwater drone that russia has basically created and given it the capability of putting nuclear weapons on it is the fact that underwater drones, if you understand the industry, they are not as capable as aerial drones at this point. i have seen underwater drones, if they get stuck in the ocean, they sit and go dark for months at a time until they rise to the top and reconnect their gps to the operator. now russia wants to nuclearize that. so this is pretty scary when we are talking about this and understanding how these guys think, but by far, we have entered a new era of warfare.

stuart: just to establish your creds, you used to operate drones for america's military, right? >> yeah. i sure did. i was involved in our u.s. military's drone program and now i see just the implications of drone technology on the consumer side and the commercial side. that's what i focused on. i specifically focus on a lot of counter-drone technology. when i hear that kalashnikov is making these things, we will see the mass production of this and in turn, we need to see counter-drone solutions being developed to help combat this threat. that's what i'm focused on very heavily now. stuart: bret, thanks very much for joining us, as always. i will switch to the big board, because just a few seconds, we went negative. we were down about a half point for a moment, now we're up three, but we have lost the 200-point rally we opened the day with two and a half hours ago. how about that. here's something for you. vinyl records and cds now make music companies more money than

digital downloads. what a shock. we'll be back. . .

stuart: more money is spent on vinyl and cd music than on digital downloads. these music people, they get

about 11% of their money from digital downloads but get 12% from vinyl, cds. >> old school. very old. stuart: does anybody have these? ashley: what about your eight-track collection. stuart: ruined. stream something still king. over 70% of their revenue from streaming tell me, ashe, what is difference between download and streaming. ashley: download you buy it. if you're streaming to it in a subscription it goes away. stuart: i pay 99 cents for the download keep it forever. other streaming services i listen -- ashley: when you finish the subscription it goes away. stuart: i think i got it. i'm close to understanding. we bounced back. not a lot, but we bounced a little.

momentarily in the red a fraction of a point. bounced back to a gain of 23. we started out at 930 eastern this morning with huge 220 point gain. we lost that. my time is up. stuartneil it is yours. neil: thank you, stuart. we would need 181 points to notch 10th consecutive weekly gain. that precedent would go back to 1991. the s&p 500 would need that to go back to those levels. doesn't look like we'll bet close to that. things have changed. we keep track what is going on, back and forth who said what, progress, lack thereof of talks with north korea. vice president pence addressing cpac on that issue. >> remarkable to think when i stood at podium two years ago, the north korea was engaged