excited that kevin durant and kyrie irving are coming to brooklyn. it's so exciting for the market. i hope wanda gets the most amazing apartment, kevin durant's mom, the real mvp. dagen: jessica, mitch, jonathan, right now david asman is in for varney. take it away. david: good morning, everyone. i'm david asman in for stuart today. it's going to be a big day for your money. i'm already getting e-mails from stuart saying you lucky dog, you got a good day in the market. we were looking at a major market rally in about 30 minutes. when the dow opens, it's set to gain about 250 points. nasdaq is also up very big. and the s&p is set to hit an all-time high when the market opens. this continues a hot streak for the market. the dow is coming aftoff its be june since 1938. imagine that. the s&p has its best june since 1955. the market is reacting today to president trump's big meeting

with xi jinping at the g20 summit in japan. the leaders agreed that there will be no more new tariffs at least for now and the talks will continue. president trump also making history during his asia trip over the weekend, becoming the first sitting president ever to set foot in north korea. he met with kim jong-un at the dmz. the two sides agreed to restart nuclear talks. we've got a lot to go at this morning, including new developments out of hong kong and iran. "varney & company" starts right now. david: more protests in hong kong. let's take a live look at what's going on there right now. they broke into government headquarters. susan, what's this all about? susan: it's interesting that the chinese president xi jinping, as he was meeting president trump at the g20 on the sidelines, he probably had some other issues

in mind including the ongoing protests in hong kong. these protesters have been ramming and making shall we say they have been looking at headquarters, trying to get in, a makeshift battering ram for the glass walls at hong kong government headquarters here, and they chose july 1st as significant and symbolic because 22 years ago whis when the brith flag was lowered and the chinese flag was raised. during that time they were promised 50 years of one country, two systems. they feel their freedom has been taken away for the last two years. they are calling for the chief executive to step down after invoking that very controversial extradition law which would have seen not only hong kong residents but ex-pats sent to china on trial. david: this story is still developing as we speak. let's stay on hong kong and bring in gordon chang, who watches asia for us. is it going to be a long summer for the chinese and the people in the streets of hong kong? >> it certainly will be, because

carrie lam, the chief executive of hong kong, essentially said only violence works. david: she is supposed to be independent but most see her as a puppet of china, right? >> stooge. stooge. what happened, i think it's important to go a little chronology here. they had that million person protest on june 9th. government wouldn't give way. on june 12th you had the violent protests at this same place, government headquarters. it worked. government backed down. you had the two million person protest on the 16th. government doesn't back down. so really, what the protesters are saying is this is the last stand for hong kong and apparently, only forceful action will move this government. so that's the lesson people have taken away. david: this is david versus goliath. of course, in the bible, david won. in reality it's unlikely hong kong can stand up to china, is it? >> you never know, david. that's a very long question because essentially what you've got, people in hong kong have made a decision that they want

to protect themselves, and china looks a little iffy right now. you just never, never know. david: well, this brings up the china talks because this seems to make the chinese even more desperate, what's happening in hong kong, for a deal with the united states. >> yes. first numbers for june are really bad in the manufacturing sector. david: they are in contraction, are they not? >> i think they could very well be in contraction, especially because may was a really bad month. you had, for instance, imports down 8.5%, showing very soft demand. the consumer numbers really showed contraction. right now, china as a whole, maybe 0% growth, if they're lucky, it's 1%. david: they are desperate. that's why they're anxious for some kind of deal with the united states. we saw some concessions from trump and the president. the market loves it. we're happy when the market's happy. i know you don't think a deal is worth its salt but what do you make of it? >> first of all, they decided they would continue talking but

i think there are political pressures inside of china that make a deal unlikely. the thing that is really -- really very concerning is in the weeks leading up to the g20 when trump sat down with xi jinping, the chinese ruler, you had xi jinping issue a public demand to the u.s. to relieve huawei technologies, the chinese company, and in explicably, trump gave that to china, capitulating to the leader in public. david: we will get back to china trade in a moment. stay with us. president trump making an historic visit to north korea, meeting kim jong-un and stepping on to north korean soil, the first united states president to do that. but the democrats were not so happy about it. roll tape. >> i don't want it simply to be a photo opportunity. >> this is a ruthless dictator. the president will meet with him but then we have no clear path and nothing comes out of it. >> we have added legitimacy to

kim jong-un. it seems like it's all for show. he's raising the profile, growing the strength of a dictator. david: joining us is liz harrington, rnc spokesperson. i had to laugh just because this is an historic moment, the first time a u.s. president has ever stepped on north korean soil, and all they can do is whine about it? >> well, the president could secure world peace and suddenly you would have the democrats calling for war. they oppose everything this president does even if it's positions they themselves have advocated for not too long ago. i guess the democrats also oppose getting our hostages back from north korea, getting the remains of our fallen soldiers back from north korea, no nuclear tests because a direct result of this president's diplomacy. so the president is winning, he's leading on the world stage and the democrats don't have any answer for it except resistance and obstruction. david: i try to imagine what would happen if president obama

did that. of course, conservatives would be screaming but liberals would probably be wanting to give hm a second nobel peace prize. >> right. that's exactly right. the democrats just look at how they treat russia now. after years of flexibility with obama and the kremlin and choking on russia, suddenly they are russia hawks even though this president has been tough on russia and he's been tough on north korea. the sanctions aren't going anywhere. he's been tough on china. he's been a very strong world leader. and the democrats, they don't have any answer for that. david: stay with us, liz. i want to get back to gordon chang now, talk about north korea. so what do you think of the optics of this? meeting with kim jong-un in the midst of the china talk that was kind of a spontaneous thing for the president to do. what do you think? >> this shows something which people haven't been talking about and that is president trump, through an act of will, forcing kim jong-un to do something which was historic. i think this shows china and it

shows other countries around the world that trump can change the narrative on very short notice. this i think is a good thing if it leads to actually denuclearization, disarmament of north korea. that remains to be seen, david. but at least right now, i think we should all rejoice in this historic reconciliation between north korea and the united states. david: i agree with you. it's kind of the nixon and china thing. it took a conservative republican to do something that a democrat liberal couldn't bring himself to do. >> right. well, you know, this is interesting because power in north asia is shifting. it's shifting in ways which the united states can influence really in our direction and for the international community. so we should be cheering right now. there's a lot of things that could go wrong but yesterday, something went right. david: thank you very much. good to see you. kamala harris coming on strong after the democrat debate where she confronted joe biden over the race, over the issue of race. here's what president trump said about it. roll tape.

>> i think she was given too much credit for what she did. wasn't that outstanding and i think probably he was hit harder than he should have been hit. i thought he was hit actually harder. david: back to liz harrington. i was on vacation last week. i had a chance to listen to rush limbaugh. rush said the best thing about kamala harris, she knows how to tell a story better than anyone he's seen in politics and that is a big political plus. >> yeah, but she also knows how to raise her hand to eliminate private health insurance in this country which 217 million americans have and she knows how to raise her hand to give free health care to illegal aliens paid for by the taxpayers so she's embracing far left policies, so she may be winning fans on the far left but she's not going to be winning fans in the middle of the country. david: but liz, they are all embracing far left politics. you look at any of them from liz warren who wants a confiscation

tax, de blasio in fact made sanders look like a moderate coming out with marxist/lenin rhetoric. >> it is a race to the left. it is very terrifying to see this mainstream bernie sanders has revolutionized the democratic party. they are all calling for 70% tax rates, calling to outlaw private health, calling for a $70 trillion green new deal, basically a government takeover of every aspect of your life. kamala harris is leading the way on that. she raises her hand to get rid of private insurance, then claims she was only calling to eliminate her own health care. this is after she's already come out and said let's eliminate all that. this is after she co-sponsored bernie sanders' bill which makes it illegal to sell private insurance. she can't claim that she's a moderate on this issue. david: they are calling for the end of capitalism. let's be clear about what they're calling for. liz, thank you very much. let's check the futures.

it continues to go up. we get 263 now on the dow. that's almost a full percentage point. but look what's happening on the nasdaq. go to the bottom there. you see the nasdaq is up close to 2% in futures. extraordinary morning. we'll see if it continues to stay there for another 20 minutes when the markets open. the hits keep on coming for boeing, meanwhile. it's accused of outsourcing development of the max jet software to engineers who are making just $9 an hour. big news coming out of iran. it's admitting that it breached the 2015 nuclear deal limits on enriched uranium. we have that story. and several states raising the gas tax as of today. it comes as prices are already rising across the country. how high will those prices go? we've got the answers after the break. "varney & company" just getting started. hey, who are you? oh, hey jeff, i'm a car thief... what?!

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david: iran has actually come out and said it, that they breached the nuclear pact. details from ashley webster. ashley: apparently they say guess what, guys, we've broken this 300 kilogram of enriched uranium level that was set back in the 2015 agreement with the u.s. and europe and well, the rest of the world. now they say we got more than that, we got more than 300 kilograms of enriched uranium. what this says is, and we know the u.s. under president trump pulled out of this deal saying it does nothing to stop iran doing what it wants to do anyway. this puts enormous pressure on the european countries who have been saying softly, softly, let's see if we can keep this deal alive, also puts pressure on russia and china because the u.s. sanctions are killing iran's economy. iran says we'll back off if you continue to have economic ties with us. like europe, russia, china. we are coming down to crunch time. david: looks like we do have the world growing in support with us against iran. ashley: let's hope.

europe is as always flip-flopping on this issue. we'll see. david: surprise, surprise. all right. let's bring it closer to home. look at the price of regular gas, national average is $2.71, up overnight. gas taxes are rising this month in five states, california, ohio, illinois, south carolina and tennessee. joining us, patrick dehaan, he's with gas buddy. how will the tax hikes affect these prices? >> obviously in south carolina and tennessee, some of the states where lower increases were seen, three cents and two cents, but illinois is about to see gas prices soar, ohio, 10.5 cents, california, 5.6 cents. watch out for tax increases that are going to hit gas prices mainly in those three states just as, of course, millions of americans are taking to the road for july 4. we are already getting it bad with rising prices because of iran. now kind of a double whammy. david: sometimes even if you're not in one of those states where

they have the taxes going up, it does spill over into other states, doesn't it? >> yeah, absolutely. you tend to see border regions that can see prices start to go up a little bit, if one side of the state goes up, that may incentivize stations on the other side of the border to lift their prices as well. keep in mind, july 4 is a major road trip holiday. it could affect people just simply driving through. ohio is a major corridor, so is illinois. california, of course, is a little more of an island but this will affect anyone driving the country this july 4. david: so far, they don't have regulators to go into your gas tank to see if you have california gas as opposed to a neighboring state where the taxes haven't gone up, maybe they don't have the same mix as california. i imagine you have a lot of cars going over state lines in order to get cheaper gas. >> absolutely. including the one i drive. i would absolutely -- chicago is a huge area. motorists can dodge the tax if they come from wisconsin or

drive to wisconsin or indiana is now going to be far lower and you see that as well as california, southern california waiting until you get to arizona. david: ten seconds, patrick. any reverberation from that horrible refinery fire last week? >> thankfully, not yet. it will bring more pricing volatility, however, to the east coast, especially in the spring. not now, but buckle up next spring. could get ugly. david: that was two weeks ago. last week i was on vacation. i forgot. two weeks ago. patrick, great to see you. thank you very much. have a wonderful holiday. here's a look at futures. again, they are still booming. dow jones up a little bit from when we last spoke, up to 272, and the nasdaq still booming, very close to that 2% mark on the upside. facebook stepping up the fight against misinformation. how it's trying to make sure lies about the census are kept off its site. the latest outrage of facebook, that's next. ♪

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david: let's take a look at facebook. it's actually up a little bit today. the company announcing it will work to prevent misinformation about the census next year. lauren simonetti with us now. lot of people are suspicious but what do you feel about this? lauren: facebook is actually

down as a stock on the year, in a year when we have had such nice gains. 2020 is the year for facebook to prove themselves. they have two things coming up. the census and the election. they are treating them as one and the same. how are they going to make sure that people who go on facebook get the right information for the census. well, what they are going to do that's different from the way they police things now is if they see something that is inaccurate, they will actually ban it, take it down. now they keep it up there, they say you know what, it's not our job to say something is true or false, we are just going to down rank that misinformation so you can't see it as railroadeadily. now they will take it off completely when it's related to the census and the election. they have to prove themselves because they have come under fire several times before. david: jared kushner was very open about it, bragged about the fact he used facebook very successfully to target various groups to find out who he should

focus his advertising on. th th they're advertising through facebook. he announced what they have done, other groups do it, too. not just republicans. susan: total spending for the election on facebook will exceed $3 billion in this 2020 race. david: just social media. susan: just social media. lauren: can i point out one other thing about the census? 2020, and the forms were supposed to be printed today, they can be pushed back and they will make it but it's the first digital option for the census. the cost of all this is tremendous, $12 billion. david: unbelievable. lauren: they got to get this one right. the clock is ticking. we will see where the census question goes. obviously the president is trying to delay that. david: good to see you. our clock is ticking as well. futures are way up. we'll be right back with the opening bell. my body is truly powerful.

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all right brad, once again i have revolutionized the songwriting process. oh, here we go. i know i can't play an instrument, but this... this is my forte. obviously, for auto insurance, we've got the wheel route. obviously. retirement, we're going with a long-term play. makes sense. pet insurance, wait, let me guess... flea flicker. yes! how'd you know? studying my playbook? yeah, actually. david: stocks set to move higher and that's putting it mildly, at the open on the trade truce, but susan, where does huawei fit into the picture? because i am trying to figure out what's different about this proposal. susan: politicians on both sides of the aisle probably agree with you, given that we had that congressional report that said huawei is a conduit for chinese spying and hacking. but in those trade talks in

japan, president trump now suspending the ban when it comes to u.s. companies supplying huawei. this was put to larry kudlow over the weekend. take a listen. >> huawei will remain on the so-called entity list where there are serious export controls and in any national security inferences or suggestions, there won't be any licenses but having said that, i think all that's going to happen is the commerce department will grant some temporary additional licenses where there's a general availability. susan: so chip makers are set to rally today because they get to sell to huawei but this is the same playbook as zte. some see this as a negotiating tactic, given that huawei employs tens of thousands, almost 100,000 in china, so it's very important for chinese president xi jinping to get some sort of reprieve when it comes to huawei. again, on the entities blacklist, they will not be

involved in 5g but they still get a lot of the u.s. components which some see as a win/win. david: with all the questions about what it is, how it will work out, whether republicans will go along with it, look at what's happening to the market, ladies and gentlemen. we have a rally even before the bell rang. let's see if it sticks to its promise. again, we have a 255 -- right off the bat, 255 points. it's a little bit -- just about exactly where the futures said it would be on the dow. nasdaq really going up, about 2% in early market trading. by the way, record close for the dow is 26,828. we are already above the record close. the question is whether we'll stay this way until 4:00 this afternoon. i'm not sure. we do see one red on the screen. that's boeing and coca-cola actually down just a little bit. but again, the s&p, let's take a look at the s&p as we go up from

the dow. s&p is up over 1%. that's even a bigger climb percentage-wise. then the nasdaq is the real granddaddy of this particular market rally. little bit off where it was indicating it would be in the premarket activity, now up about 1.8%. i'm pushing for 2%. ashley: all right. why not. susan: if you want. david: check the ten-year. usually when markets are doing this well, they have to raise the rate to make the treasuries a little more attractive, as they go down in value the rates usually go up. the ten-year trading yield is now 2.01%. let's look at gold, because gold took a hit earlier this morning when futures were up as high as they were. it is now down about $17. it's still way above where it has been for the past couple of years but below that $1400 mark

which seemed a little too hot for some. joining us now, jeff sica, michelle mckinnon, susan li and ashl ashley webster. jeff, is this the market breakout we have been waiting for? it's been stuck in this range for about a year. >> keep in mind six months ago in buenos aries there was a g20 meeting that had a very similar outcome where there was nothing that actually transpired. the market rallied for 24 hours. this is not the sustainable rally the market is looking for. i think it's a celebration of nothing. i think what ultimately is going to happen is that i think the huawei decision was a negative. i think they have the market -- david: the market loved it. >> here's the thing. the market loves the fact that nothing happened. the market is afraid of somebody, china or the u.s., taking a hard line because

that -- david: you say nothing happened. chip makers disagree with you because they are now going to be able to sell some of their chips, unless the republicans who are opposed to this huawei decision come in and kill the deal somehow. >> that's absolutely true. the fact that the chip makers and technology companies who rely on chinese components are going to do better. there's no question in my mind -- david: that ain't nothing. >> but if president trump is going to take a hard line -- susan: you can't argue with the numbers. $11 billion, $10 billion, how much huawei spends each year in the u.s. buying these components. yes, they are going to rally today and it's a relief rally that things didn't get worse, that you're not paying 25% on $300 billion more of u.s. goods. that's not going to trickle down to consumers. that's a positive. david: let's check big tech for a second. boeing is down, that's got a whole other list of reasons which we will get into later. apple is up 2%. big jump for apple, up above the $200 point which is where

investors really like to see it. we all have apple in our portfolio at some point, in our 401(k). amazon is up big-time. microsoft is doing well. stuart, you can rest easy on your vacation. your microsoft is fine. michelle, what about the range? we have been talking about this range, we hit the 26,000, close to the 27,000 mark, then pulled down again, then go up. that's been happening for about a year. sometimes the downward move is dramatic, sometimes it's not as much. but this range, are we going to jump out of this range now, maybe up to dow 30,000? >> yeah, i mean, i definitely think we could be. exactly like jeff said, the fact that i'm kind of disagreeing with jeff but investor sentiment is definitely not -- david: more than kind of disagreeing with jeff. wholeheartedly disagreeing. >> he's hesitant and i'm seeing that with a lot of investors, they are skeptical. there's hesitancy if they think the market will move higher. that's often one of the biggest

indicators i have seen when investor sentiment is hesitant it's a very bullish sign. davi david: what about big tech? big tech had the huge runup over the last year and a half, is it getting weighty? >> i think it probably is but you will see new highs, just like with apple, apple is trading at a lower discount than the market. apple could really move here. ashley: hesitant, cautious, whatever term you want to use, it's still headline driven. they have agreed to start talking again. it is positive but it's not exactly, you know, uncork the champagne. we have a long way to go. david: keep the champagne on ice right now. susan: stop. stop. what about the central bank? it hasn't actually moved the needle and people are cutting back expectations of a rate cut. that's still on the table for this month. that's probably coupling with the positive rhetoric that we're not going up -- >> absolutely. susan: that's probably what's pushing markets today.

david: i have to say if, in fact, we have a deal, if we are closer to a deal than jeff thinks we are, that would make it less likely that the fed is going to do any rate cut. susan: they will still cut once. >> look at the jobs number on friday, you have to look at gdp. there's a lot of things the fed will look at. david: you also have to look at the politics. president trump is not going to allow a market decline in the midst of his re-election campaign. >> you are absolutely right. david: he knows the way the market can be happy. the market can be happy, look at what's happening just based on talk. you mentioned that i think jeff is right to a certain point in terms of we don't have a specific deal yet. we haven't had anybody sign on the dotted line. susan: nobody was expected a deal. they are expecting a truce. that's exactly what they got. what they expected. >> but intellectual property, the theft of intellectual property, president trump ran on it as one of his key points. china has been stealing intellectual property. david: nobody would disagree with you. this is the president who has

pulled back that curtain and showed the details that no other president showed us about what china is doing. and we have mr. lighthizer, the toughest trade negotiator in my lifetime, anyway, god knows historically, he is not going to allow some deal to be passed unless there's some assurance that we are dealing -- ashley: there's the problem. how are you going to get that from the chinese? they're not going to want to give it away. david: good question. they were going to put something into their law and that's when they pulled back. ashley: they walked away from that. david: we'll see what happens. let's take a look at oil. it is up after production cuts from opec. perhaps some good vibrations from trade. jeff, rising oil is usually a sign of a healthy economy, right? >> it's also a sign that president trump wants them to pump more oil and right now, they're not quite doing that. they're not pumping as much oil as he wants. that's slowing things down. david: he's had some success in the past with that. susan: well, yes.

we are sitting at the highest since late may when it comes to oil prices. i think he probably wants to see oil prices come down a little bit, so then it helps the consumer at the pump. >> we are in peak driving season. i think oil's going higher. david: with regard to the production which had been slowing down, partly as a result of these trade concerns, maybe it's beginning to pick up again. ashley: i think so. the great thing is we talk about it a lot on this show, saudi arabia just announced it will cut production by 600,000 barrels a day. know what? we are energy independent. we can handle that now. whereas in the past, news like that would have pushed oil a lot higher than it is right now. david: take a look at the oil drillers. they are doing quite well. let's take a look at the dow component boeing. as we mentioned, it was about the only one, coca-cola was a little bit in the red, of the dow 30. the software on the 737 max was reportedly outsourced, get this, to $9 an hour engineers. michelle, this looks like another headache for boeing. no? >> i mean, it's a headache but look at boeing's stock.

boeing is up about 14% year to date. to me that's not really showing signs of a company that is in trouble. who knows, this could very much be a time to buy. boeing could figure out a solution and find a higher price here. >> i think they have put expediency, speed to market, ahead of safety. i think this is a nightmare for them. i don't agree that it's time to buy. i think the fact that they have outsourced a lot of their technology to india and then in turn, got a $22 billion contract from the indian military, i think that's -- ashley: $9 an hour to contractors who don't exactly have a deep background in aerospace, namely, india. that's very troubling. they get a lot of black eyes, boeing. however, their back order is immense. can they get through this? susan: what's the competition? ashley: airbus. david: bitcoin, everybody is interested in it, red arrows there. jeff, clearly bitcoin is very

volatile. is the party over there? >> i was on this show again at $5,000, i said to buy it. my target on bitcoin, it is going to get more volatile as it gets up closer. my target is $15,000. david: you are holding until 15? >> i'm holding until 15. i think the institutions are taking it seriously now. i think the fact that institutions have embraced it, the fact that facebook has their own cryptocurrency about which we will talk later, bitcoin is here to stay. get ready for the volatility. it is going to be a wild ride. susan: bitcoin has a 40% june, it's tripled so far on the year. don't forget, you know, we have crimped supply. david: we have been there before. susan: we have. it's volatile, yes. david: thank you, everyone. good stuff. let's take a look at the big board right now. 277 on the dow, that's pretty much what we thought. a big jump on the dow. all of it concerning china.

that really is what set the markets on fire today. meanwhile, a conservative journalist is recovering after being attacked by antifa protesters, where else. we have that story in the next hour. also, a guest is encouraging people to walk away from the democrat party. he says the left is not nearly as tolerant as they claim to be. he will be joining us in our 11:00 a.m. hour. and the 2020 dems claim small business are hurting in the trump economy but that's not what we are actually hearing from small business owners across the country. that story coming next. i switched to liberty mutual, because they let me customize my insurance. and as a fitness junkie, i customize everything, like my bike, and my calves.

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david: let's check the big board. the market is rallying today. this is just a good old-fashioned summer rally. let's take a look if we can at the dow. 266 on the dow. it's already, by the way, 26,853 is close to where the record close was -- oh, no, it's above where the record close was, little bit above where the record close. again, anything can happen between now and 4:00 p.m. but this is a record number, if it closes at this amount. let's focus on small business for a moment. the democrats continue to say that this rally's just affecting the richest of the rich. the democrat debate last week, some of the candidates were really downbeat on small business economy. roll tape. >> who is this economy really working for? >> we know that not everyone is sharing in this prosperity.

>> this economy has got to work for everyone and right now, we know that it isn't. this is actually an economy that's hurting small businesses and not allowing them to compete. david: joining us is juanita duggan, president of the nfib which advocates for small business. thank you for coming in. democrats slamming small business or saying that small business is essentially getting scla slammed by this economy when only the 1%, people with a lot of stock, are benefiting. what's your response to that? >> that's simply not true. thank you for having me. the nfib has been doing the small business economic trends report for 45 years, and the data is in. this is the best economy for small businesses in 50 years. it's been setting records for the last two and a half years. for the first time in a very long time, small businesses actually are benefiting from this recovery. they have been setting records for capital expenditures, for profits, for raising wages for

their workers. i mean, it just doesn't get any better. i don't know what data they're looking at. david: we got to focus on the personally owned small businesses, people who don't really make a lot of money because they continue to pour all of their profits back into growing their business. these are not rich fat cats. these are pretty much middle class people living middle class lives but have the american dream of having their own company. >> that's exactly right. you are describing the nfib member. the average nfib member has fewer than five employees and about $75,000 in taxable income. so this is the half of the economy that is not reflected in the markets. it's half of gdp, it's half the payroll and small business is booming. i'm really not sure what data they're looking at, because there's no data that suggests that anything other than that this is booming. by the way, our research does not show signs of recession. david: fact checking is

something you don't often see by the media at these democratic debates. have you asked to be on some of the media that refused to do any fact checking of the things that some of these nominees were saying or some of these candidates were saying? >> no, i haven't. but you need to understand that nfib is a nonpartisan organization. we represent exclusively the small business agenda. we wouldn't be playing that role. david: it's just extraordinary that there's no fact checking when they come out with things like this. next one, minimum wage increases go into effect today. minneapolis, new jersey, oregon, d.c., california. what's that going to do to small business? >> well, again, our economic research has shown this over and over again in places where the minimum wage has been increased. it's a very bad idea. we're having the longest recovery in history. as of today, 121 months in recovery. one of the best ways to destroy that is by increasing the minimum wage, either to the federal level or local level.

just look what seattle did a few years ago. they increased their minimum wage to $15. almost immediately, they lost 5,000 jobs. but most importantly for me, the lower age of workers lost 35 million hours of work. so who does that benefit? almost no one. it was the lower wage employees that suffered the most. our research has shown this over and over again. minimum wage increases lower gdp. if you did it on a national level it would be about $1 trillion of lower gdp. and you would have about 700,000 able-bodied workers who would leave the work force. that's the last thing we need in a tight labor market like this. the nfib members are telling me that their most important business problem is finding qualified workers. we need more people working, not fewer. david: particularly first-timers. that's who are hurt the most, people who are for the first time getting a job, still living with their parents, they don't

survive on the minimum wage but they're the ones whose jobs are likely to be cut. great to see you. we have to move on. thank you very much. >> thank you, david. david: we are coming down a little bit from where we were originally. now there are four stocks among the 30 that are in the red. walt disney and verizon and mcdonald's joining boeing and there's visa, too, down a little bit. one company is disrupting the auto repair industry. if you've got car problems, your car won't start, you just use an app and an experienced mechanic will be at your door in just minutes. are they going to put aaa out of business? we will ask the ceo coming next.

david: check the big board. we are off session highs. still, you're not going to sneeze at 226 to the plus side on the dow. but the session highs so far today, 290 and we are just at, actually a little below, 26,828 was the all-time closing high. there we go. we just talked it up a little bit. let's leave it at that before we do any damage. now we want to bring you an entrepreneur and a disruptor of the market. we love disruptors of market. the market always is looking for

a niche to get into and fill something out. this man has found one. instead of you taking your car to the mechanic, the mechanic comes to you. joining us is anthony rodio, president and ceo of your mechanic. first question is, i wonder about aaa. are you trying to put aaa out of business? >> i don't know that we are so much trying to put aaa out of business and thanks for having me, as we are trying to make your life better as a car owner, and help mechanics run their own businesses. our mobile mechanics are like their own little business people. they can make more money instead of you having your car out of commission for days. instead, we come to you and fix it the same day. david: what do you do that aaa does not do? >> there's a couple things we do that's very different than traditional shops. the first thing is if you think about auto repair today, they tell you to bring your car in and they will call you back later with an estimate, so it's a very opaque process.

they keep your car for days and tell you it will take a few days. you go on our site or our app, you get an instant quote of how much the job's going to cost and we stick to that. so you see pricing up front. more importantly, we come to your house and we will come there at the time you schedule the appointment, say 10:00 a.m. on a tuesday. we fix your car, and you are back on the road in a matter of hours, not a matter of days. david: one of the problems with aaa is, i might be a member of aaa but if i'm not at the house and my wife is trying to use the car, they won't come unless i'm there. i guess you don't have to deal with membership issues, and that sort of thing that you do with aaa, right? >> yeah. there's no membership for using our service. you just go online and make the quote or you can call our 800 number. aaa will still have its point for users, like if you need a tow. we don't do towing. when it comes to actually repairing your car, our customers much prefer having it done in their driveway than having to go somewhere.

david: what gave you this idea? did you wake up in the middle of the night with the idea or what? >> i would say more it's the pain of actually getting my car repaired. you take your car into a shop, last time i had my car repaired it was for a flat tire and they kept my car for five days. so the frustration of the experience is what led us to launch your mechanic. there had to be a better way and we found a better way. we can pay the mechanics more, we can charge the customer less and everybody wins. david: i love it. that is the market at work. the market finds a niche and finds a way to fill the niche and in this case, you were the way. great to see you. best of luck to you. >> thank you so much for your time. david: of course. absolutely. well, a "new york times" op-ed writer is calling for public shaming of border patrol agents. what does former acting i.c.e. director tom homan think about this? we'll ask him. plus anti-trump republican justin amash is facing a new

challenge from within his own republican party. the gop lawmaker who hopes to replace him in congress joins us next hour. you don't want to miss it. no matter what i wore, i worried someone might see my bladder leak underwear. so, i switched. to always discreet boutique. . .

david: good morning, everybody, i'm david asman filling in for stuart today. we're getting in breaking economic data. ism manufacturing. ash, start us off. ashley: 51.7. anything above 50 means expansion. that is better than the estimates. down from may's 52.1, go from april, to may, to june, it is slowing down a little on the expansion side. david: that is good news. we're getting word of construction spending, susan? susan: we're down .8%. economists were looking for a positive read, up .1%. that is not good especially home sales obviously for new home sales were disappointing as well

for the month. there you go. david: one thing that is good is the market. as you can see 237 points to the plus side on the dow. nasdaq percentagewise doing even better than that. in fact a lot better than that it is on pace to finish at a record closing high, the dow is. the s&p at all-time high already, if we take a look at that. 2971. the all-time high was 2954. that is doing quite well for the s&p 500. as i mentioned the nasdaq percentagewise is the best of the three. it is up about 1 1/2%. it was up 1.78% at one point earlier today. so it has come down from the high but it's still way over the 8,000 mark it was stuck at for a while. well the market is reacting to president trump's meeting with china's xi xinping. both sides agree into new tariffs at least for now and we will continue with the trade talks. we have keith fitz-gerald, one

of our top china watchers for you straight ahead. the president also met with north korea's kim jong-un and made history as the first sitting u.s. president ever to step into north korea. the pair have agreed to restart negotiations on a nuclear agreement. steve mowser is our asia expert this hour. he is coming up. also the latest on the protests in hong kong. they are going on right now. it is 10:00 at night in hong kong. you can see they're at city hall right now. they're already pushed through the barricades of city hall to get in. protesters want a change of leadership in hong kong. they think they are puppets, the leaders to china and they want that to change. we'll see if that happens. iran meanwhile, is breaching the nuclear deal's limit on enriched uranium. this is the second hour of "varney & company." we have a lot to cover. we'll be right back. ♪

where else do we start but with your money, ladies and gentlemen. all up because of china trade and president trump's meeting with china's xi xinping over the weekend at the g20 summit. come in keith fitz-gerald, money map president. great to see you. this was minimum amount of treatment between the two countries that set off the market. i imagine if there was something signed imagine what the market would do? >> if they come to actual deal, this will be a rip your face off rally if we get this on no news. david: the breakout we've been waiting for, up to 30,000, we've come close to the breakout before, but then we pull back. we come close, we pull back. is this final breakout we're in right now?

>> i don't think so yet. i think there will be a little bit of posturing and chest beating. xi has to say to the chinese people, i stood up to america. trump has to say to the american people, we played tough with china. that when the real agreement will start and that's when you get the real breakout. david: politics, keith, this president knows what makes the market go up and what makes it go down, to what extent are you seeing he is stringing the chinese along before he gets most value for a signed china deal that could lead him into the election. >> that is interesting. i have given that a lot of thought. i don't believe honestly he is playing that card. i think he intently wants to get the deal done, but i don't believe he factored that component into the calculus. david: keith, you say apple is still chief besides the design chief leaving, up big time, almost 3% to the plus side. there is still room to move to the upside for apple?

>> i think apple potentially doubles in the next 24 months, david, here's why. david: wow? doubles? >> they are pivoting away from devices. doubles. higher margins. the medical device market is three times the iphone market. low side 20 something billion, 300 billion on upside. it is liquid, it is big, everybody has to have it. i think, i'm sorry? david: there is still a lot of competition. you're not only talking huawei in europe but you're talking google. google has a phone that is about $400 that they say just does about everything the iphone does for over a thousand? >> you're talking about prescription-related fda approved devices range from apple's watch, other things you wear, plug into the ecosystem, push into health care and insurance records where apple has the edge. why i think that company is going to springboard. david: keith, doubling in 24

months. that is quite a prediction. great to see you. tens of thousand of protesters are in the streets of hong kong. they are protesting government buildings. all over the controversial extradition bill. susan, you have the latest. susan: hong kong government is calling for democrat stores to stop the violence. all work on the extra distinction amendments, the controversial beale that would send hong kong expats and citizens to china for trial, that will automatically lapse in july next year. it is put on hold. unless they vote for it, the current government, the bill expires after this sitting of the parliament essentially in the city. but what they want, they want also the leader, carrie lam to step down. she is a puppet of beijing. she was not voted in. beijing basically selected her. that is their view. david: no question about it, she

is a puppet, she does the bidding of china? >> her argument is she has been a long time hong kong resident, been in government basically the entire career. hong kong people feel they did not vote her in and she acts on orders from beijing. david: we have bill mcgurn, "wall street journal" editorial board member. you know hong kong well. you love it. what will happen? >> these protesters are people don't like what china is doing. they also see what china is doing in china with the weigers, tibetans, christians, tearing down churches. a the lot of these people were born after 1997, after the handover. a lot of middle class people say we'll send to you school in britain and canada, prepare for your life over there. a lot of these people don't have that option. david: ultimately isn't it just

a matter of time before the chinese win out? the protesters have all the fervor, willing to go the distance as we see right now. again these are live shots, ladies and gentlemen. from hong kong. it is 10:00 at night. you're inspired by their dedication to freedom, to the freedom they have grown up with, become accustomed to. they feel that dwindling with china's omni presence but china is -- >> seven million people in this nation of more than a billion. david: by the way, these are pictures actually inside the government building. we have live shots from inside the government building now. go ahead. >> so what i would say, look, i think i said it before with you, watching china handle hong kong is like watching stradivarius in the hands of a chimpanzee. all they need was a light touch. susan mentioned, all chief executives if they replace carrie lam, there will be another puppet.

the chief executive gets the job from beijing. david: beijing needs hong kong as free trading post and financial clearinghouse. they need it. >> that is the trump card. communists crush demonstrators all the time. but xi wants china to be a world class competitor, world class economy. you can't do that without a world class city. all the other chinese cities, they have a lot of money but they're not hong kong. the chinese saw capital leaving. people are making all these decisions. that's the trump card the hong kong people have. they still, still learning they need hong kong. the world is watching hong kong. david: here at home a lot of us worry about losing capitalism when you look the wall street debates. "wall street journal" said bernie won the debate. >> from the last time. they're to the left of

barack obama in 2018. even bernie doesn't necessarily hold up to the new standards. david: bernie, was moderate compared to de blasio. >> he is being attacked from the left. that's what the extraordinary thing is. there is always a little bit of that. the look, the reason that bernie, not so much bernie himself, he was only one that challenged mrs. clinton. all the respectable candidate, governor cuomo, they bowed out in deference to the queen. that is why he is viable this time just because he was the one that stepped in. david: even though some of them like liz warren say she is a capitalist, all of her policies are socialist. >> yes. david: she wants to confiscate private property. >> her two favorite words are free and trillion. that defines most of their policies. de blasio, give him credit, he was most honest. he said there is plenty of money, it is just in the wrong hand, that is marxist leninism. >> give from a to b.

david: that is not democratic socialism. that is hard left. >> thank you, david. david: still to come, conservative writer andy ngo, beat up at antifa rally in portland, oregon. where is the outrage? mainstream media is basically silent. iran admitted they breached the 2015 deal nuclear limits. there is a story that justin amash could run as libertarian in 2020. we got them. that could hurt president trump's chances of re-election. some are saying that anyway. we have details coming next. ♪ ♪ all right brad, once again i have revolutionized the songwriting process.

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david: the big board is off its highs but still doing very well. 26,828. that is exactly, now, 828.67. that is exactly what the record close was. now, again, anything can happen between now and 4:00 p.m. when the market closes but for now, it looks like we may hit a record today. check the s&p, it hit an all-time high already. it is 2970.4. so, that is good. of course nasdaq doing spectacularly well today. at one point up almost 2%, it has come down from that. it is well over 1%. now this, iran says it has breached the nuclear pact. ash, at least they're willing to say they did it but still not good. ashley: for once they're honest, right? they're doing this for a reason. by the way u.n. atomic agency has in fact confirmed they are in breach of the 2015 deal where they could only stockpile 300 kilograms of enriched uranium or less. they have now gone beyond that

point. they're doing this because as we know the u.s. pulled out of this nuke deal saying it's a complete waste of time. iran will do what it wants to do. this move by iran is putting pressure on europe and china. what iran is saying, look, these sanctions put on us by the u.s., and they're targeting iranian oil, iranian mill sisters, they are really putting the squeeze on iran, iran wants europe and these other countries to soften the impact of u.s. sanctions. so this is a situation where, you know, if you don't, if you don't help us out, we are going to continue to go our own way, develop enriched uranium, other aspects of the nuke deal as well. david: not good. the administration is very concerned. ashley: shows the u.s. sanctions are working. david: absolutely. now this, republican congressman justin amash could run as libertarian in 2020 and that could hurt president trump's

chances. jim lawyer, michigan candidate, you're running for the congressman's seat if he does run as libertarian or come what may, you will go after him in the primaries? >> right. we're running no matter what. bottom line, justin amash is running anti-trump campaign whether as libertarian for president or candidate as supposed republican for congress. he is running a anti-trump be pro-aoc type campaign. look last week, one of very few republicans to vote against the border package. joined extremist like aoc voting no on that. he is anti-trump. wants him to be impeached. talked about running against him for libertarian. talking about running for congress. he basically wants to push an anti-trump narrative no matter office. david: i'm not sure exactly which district in michigan this is, in michigan, his constituent care about what donald trump is doing on trade, bringing back a lot of manufacturing jobs that help the people in the state of

michigan? >> absolutely. you know this district has benefited from trump's policies immensely. during the recession, the third, which is in west michigan, was hit particularly hard. policies on trade. you can't hardly buy a house in this district now because the economy is booming so much. there isn't even the supply. people are working who haven't worked in 10 years. people working who never worked before. people normally weren't eligible for jobs they are working that is why this district supports the president. david: jim, would it be fair to say the district supports the president even more than they did in 2016? >> i'm seeing that. they supported the president in 2016 by 14 points. i think it will be even more now with the time they got to know him better, to see how beneficial his policies are. they are going to votelawyer.com to support the president. they support me. i'm running a pro-trump, pro-trump type policies campaign. david: we'll follow it. jim, thanks for coming in.

thanks for being with us. >> definitely. vote lawyer.com. david: he plans to support various charities, and bernie marcus is going to help trump. the details next. ♪

david: check the big board. we're off the day's highs. but it is still in record territory. we'll see if it stays there. check wynn resorts. wynn resorts is up big time. almost 8% to the plus side. spilling over into las vegas sands and everything. the stock is a toppers gainer on the s&p. this is wynn resorts.

last month macau gambling revenue beat estimates. china may be down but people still gamble there quite a bit. billionaire bernie marcus says he plans to donate his support tune to various charities. ashley: he is worth according to "forbes," $5.8 billion. cofounder of home debow. he is 90 years old. i bought all the houses i need. my kids are taking care of. 90% goes to marcus foundation, which contributes to multiple agencies and non-profits. he is a big supporter of president trump. he was behind the 2016 campaign. he says i'm all behind him in 2020. i like donald trump because he is businessman and has a businessman common sense. he says do i believe everything he is does is right. he says the president's communication skills, quote, suck.

david: oy. ashley: but on other hand he loves business etiquette and does business. i'm behind him in 2020. david: by the way, give away 90% of your fortune, still end up with $500 million. that ain't bad. ashley: that's true. susan: he has given away $2 billion already. when it comes to bernie sanders he says he is the enemy of every entrepreneur in this country and to be born in the future. david: look what entrepreneurs do with their money. chick bitcoin. susan still volatile. susan: you bet. trading as high as 14,000 in middle of last week. we're down close to 10,000. possibly cracking 10,000. a lot of trading takes place over the weekend. so far this year, bloomberg did a study in terms of futures trading, bit copy, weekend trading accounts for a third of the gains. june, bitcoin rocketed 40%. we've tripled so far this year. some say if we break past 10,000, this might be a sign of investor fatigue but there is

still a lot of interest. might go up here. might be a buying opportunity given blockchain, crypto is legitimatized thanks to facebook. david: you saw oil up there. we put it up there for a reason specifically. there is breaking news. opec agreed to production cuts for the next nine months. let's put oil back up on the screen. you can see where it is going now. it is about where it was. we'll see how that affects. people take with a big grain of salt these announcements from opec but they have agreed to a production cut for the next nine months. we'll see if they stick to it. meanwhile more bad news for boeing. it is accused of outsourcing lower paid engineers in india to develop software for the new max 737 jet. new laws taking effect across the country today. we'll tell you what they are, including which state is banning vaping in the work place. wait until you hear this story. we've got it.

i'm going to ask the former ceo of mcdonald's, ed rensi what he thinks of the fake meat craze. will mcdonald's ever sell fake meat? that interview is in our 11:00 hour. ♪ your daily dashboard from fidelity. a visual snapshot of your investments. key portfolio events. all in one place. because when it's decision time... you need decision tech. only from fidelity.

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but it is recognizable tune. all right. that is for you, stuart, if you're watching somewhere in your vacation luxury. the dow has come down quite a bit. it was up as high as 290 was the session high. down to 173. still very much on the plus side. all has to do what happened at g20 summit. president trump and china agreed to a truce on trade, that included removing some of the curbs on china's huawei. susan, you have to the details on that. it's a little unclear what is going on there. susan: politicians on both sides of the aisle are unclear. we're having huawei put on trade blacklist after congressional report, so it was conduit for spying. trump-xi trade talks a bit of a reprieve. they're still on blacklist, but now they get access to u.s. components vital for huawei's

business. $11 billion, buying chips as we know. semiconductors probably leading rally. philadelphia semiconductor index seeing its best levels in two months. but they will not be able to participate in 5g putting huawei into telecom network is conduit an possible hacking point for the chinese government. david: we'll see what happens. a lot of republicans are against the move. the administration has to talk them into it as well. get more on china trade, steve moser, "bully of asia" offer. great to see you. those that don't know china one-child policy, you were an anthropologist, you really exposed the system to the world. you did extraordinary work in that reguard. >> thank you. 400 million people are missing in china because of one-child policy in china and now they face a labor shortage.

david: talking about making a deal with the devil, you would agree with that characterization, but we're dealing with a government that sanctioned and encouraged companies like huawei which susan talked about to engage in theft. how can you do that? >> well you can do it because you have a law in china passed in 2017 which requires every company in china and certainly including huawei, to cooperate with the government in gathering intelligence, cooperating with the intelligence services doing essentially their bidding so every company in china, look, has to have a party cell in it, if it has more than 50 members. any company of any size has to have a party member on the board of directors. if you're the chairman, i'm the party representative, guess who has the real power? david: given that reality, how is it possible for us to make a deal with china restrict what is they can do with their own companies? >> this is in effect a state-owned company. this is one of -- david: they of course deny it completely. >> of course they do. they say it is owned by workers

themselves. no doubt there is a connection between the huawei and chinese military going way back to its founding. look, you have got a company that china expects to use to dominate 5g which we have talked about. it means that if they can interfere with the routers, that they control, they can get access to all of the telecommunications traffic around the world. they can shut things down. they can turn things on and off. that would give them the high ground of the internet. we don't want them to have access to that switch. david: open up enough to satisfy companies in the united states that want to deal with that market, to satisfy the trade dealers that are trying to knock down a deal that would satisfy the market which has been under rumor of some kind of talk about getting a deal with huawei, has sent the market up today. is there any way we can work out a trade deal that would work? >> we'll see. trump has been focused on getting china to buy more u.s. goods, go from 110, $120 billion

a year to 200 billion on some sort of set schedule. all we have gotten from china and xi xinping he will make huge purchases. i think he has to fulfill that promise before trump moves on huawei. there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding huawei. make no mistake came to the g20 summit as supplicant. he has problems at home, problems in hong kong, the economy is experiencing a serious downturn. he wanted to get trump's finger off the kill switch for huawei. he has done that temporarily. he wanted to get trump to stop increase in tariffs. i think he won that particular conversation. but make no mistake, xi xinping has a lot more to lose in this conflict than trump or the united states does. earnings as i mentioned you were in china when it was coming out of maoism, the worst period, when tens of millions of people were killed as a result of their communist policies. is it sinking back into that era

of maoism? >> it has been for six years. ever since xi xinping took power, he has more power today than any leader since mao zedong. xi xinping is head party, head of the military, head of the government as president, and head of leading groups which control various aspects of the economy rand politics in china. he is center of anything. he is first core leader according to party documents since mao tse-tung. he is a primary person in power. the party produced a document few months later, document number nine of 2013, which says the rule of law, that property rights, that civil society, that a free press, all these things are simply western dangers that the party must resist because if we adopt any of these things, it will interfere with the continuing power of the chinese communist party. so when we go to china, say we

want you to row speck intellectual property rights, we want to you stop sealing our intellectual property, we want american companies to compete fairly in china on level playing field under a rule of law they basically don't want to do that because that means giving up the power of the party to dictate events. david: but you say they, let's focus on xi. he is not sitting on solid territory right now. he has got, we mentioned hong kong. the economy itself may be in contraction right now. how much longer can he continue to sit on a wobbly foundation like that without falling himself? >> made a lot of enemies. there are hundreds of thousands of communist party officials who are in prison right now on charges of corruption. their real crime they were not members of xi xinping's faction. so he has decimated these other factions. in doing so he made a lot of enemies. make no mistake, hong kong demonstration are not just about hong kong. they're about china itself. xi xinping has two million

chinese in hong kong not just demonstrating against carrie lam -- david: these are live pictures inside the government of hong kong. >> xi xinping himself is on trial in hong kong. the chinese authorities have been kidnapping hong kongers off the streets of hong kong. why they want the extradition bill, to give cover to illegal acts they're been taking so far. in 2017 they tore up the signed british agreement, which was supposed to stay in place until 2047. they tore it up, has only historical value. if you're a citizen of hong kong, i lived there for several years. i speak canton knees, i went to the university of hong kong, to learn mandarin and cantonese. i have a lot of friend. if you are a citizen of hong kong, you see freedoms eroding away. when you are in china, you see people protesting the party in

hong kong. that gives you heart. david: steve, so long as hong kong emerged from maoism, a state was hundreds of years behind the time of rest of the modern world, into one that became more modernized, we were hoping, particularly conservatives, that the economic freedom would engender political freedom. that did seem to be going along and happening for a couple decades. what happened? what turned it bad? >> it died at tianamen. at tianamen, the leaders of chinese communist party, led by deng xiaoping, maintain leading role of communist party and maintain control at all costs. that's why they shot down people in the streets of capital city. run them over with tanks. david: not just since the emergence of xi? >> no. it began at tianamen. that was the conflict between the then president and deng xiaoping came out of retirement. he said let's negotiate, talk to the demonstrators.

let's stop over bureaucracyization and control. let's control over civil side. deng xiaoping said no. violence followed. david: we have breaking news. edward lawrence as breaking news. go ahead, edward? reporter: david, it is staying on the entity list. we're learning from sources close to the talks with chinese, huawei stays on entity list. what is happening, temporary general license will be granted to u.s. companies to do business with huawei. that process has already started actually. google, for example, holds one of those general temporary licenses right now that allows google to sell all of its products to huawei. they can start doing that immediately. google said in the past, once huawei hit the entity list, they would limit the amount of resources that huawei phones could access on google's platform. now these general temporary licenses which are starting to

be released by the commerce department will allow american companies to sell to huawei again. a surprising thing, the president said out of the g20 summit. surprised most everybody in the business world who was watching this. again, u.s. companies will be allowed to sell to huawei but they will have to obtain one of these general licenses. david: edward, thank you very much. susan, quick comment. susan: we know huawei is the second largest smartphone seller. being on the blacklist would mean decrease of sales of 40% of the smartphones. now that they have access to components, google still participating, that is a positive for the company. playbook, zte, which was taken off its knee thanks to some reprieve from president trump as well. david: several new laws going into effect across the country. a number of cities and states will see minimum wage increases. our kristina partsinevelos joining us now with more. good to see you, kristina. kristina: good to see you. minimum wage is $7.25 but states

and cities can increase to their own liking. we're seeing that across the board. several states and cities we show you on the screen right now. minneapolis, $12.25 for companies with 100 employees or more. if you're small business, it is $11. new jersey, nearby, they are trying to go towards $15 per hour. as of today, it will be 10 and then incremental. these are other examples. not just minimum wage. we're seeing a lot of new laws put into effect today. another one has to do with the purchase of ammunition in california. now they're being a little bit stricter to stop felons from buying guns, stop people banned from the list, so you have to get a background check at the point of sale. that is something different. other states have these permits that you can use but california is taking it one step further. nra is suing. we have one more just about these laws in florida. you can no longer text and drive. if you do, you will have to pay $30 for first infraction.

$60 plus three points. last one, there is so much more, vaping now banned in work places in florida. this is according to what the people wanted. they voted for this in november. now it has come into effect. david: can you really smell it? kristina: people in this building sometimes do it. 5:00 p.m., "bulls & bears." david: coming up next for you, we're going to get media buzz host's howard kurtz reaction to video of antifa protesters beating up conservative writer andy ngo over the weekend. we'll speak to vice counsel general of the dominican republic. we'll ask him why are so many american tourists dying and getting mysteriously ill. is it just coincidence? ♪

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david: check the big board. we're off our highs but we're off our lows too, by the way. it came down to 170. the dow is up 190 points. all indices are up. now this, during a press conference at the g20 summit in japan, cnn's jim acosta questioning president trump meeting with north korea's kim jong-un. roll tape. >> with your coziness with some dictators and autocrats at these summits, with mohammed bin salman the crown prince of saudi arabia, when you were asked about the case of jamal khashoggi, you did not respond to that question in front of the -- >> i don't know that anybody asked me -- >> were you afraid of offending him on that subject. >> not at all. i don't really care about offending people. i sort of thought you would know that. david: mild response from the president at that time. howard kurtz, media buzz host. howie, great to see you. so what was fair, what was not

fair about what acosta was doing. >> first of all amazing part of that exchange the president trump said, i understand your knew book very well, send me a copy i will sign it. the whole book is anti-trump screed. a bit of diplomacy. i don't think question was out of bounds, echoeses liberal talking points of president. in stretch after few days i did praise the saudi crown prince. he did joke around with vladmir putin. he was joking, some people took offense about fake news and that sort of thing and about, you know, russia hacking the election. he was meeting with kim jong-un, which a lot of people, even critics of president gave him credit for. he is a great show man. he pulled this off at the last minute but nonetheless the argument is, is he too cozy with some of these dictators. david: i think they're getting used to each other in a strange sort of way, back and forth. another one, howard, andy gno a conservative writer in portland,

oregon, he was attacked by a left-wing demonstrator roll tape. [shouting] bleep. bleep, bleep. [bleep]. [bleep] david: now i have seen a little bit about this, mediaite had a spease bit. it certainly hasn't made front pages of newspapers the way it would have if roles were reversed, a left-winger being beaten up by conservatives? that is a fair point. the attack on andy ngo is appalling and disgusting. no we was targeted for conservative views. those views may be controversial. that is the not point. a left-wing antifa mob, roughed him up, stole his camera. it is inconceivable to me the portland police in oregon, were on periphery of demonstration, never intervened. never arrested anybody. it makes you wonder. i know ted cruz called for

federal investigation. there is no evidence that the city's mayor, ted wheeler, issued a stand-down order. the city of portland, mayor, the police department have a lot to answer for in terms of how this was handled. david: see pictures what happened to him. these were not superficial wounds. this guy got a beating. he is going to be on "varney & company" tomorrow. andy ngo will be here. we'll get his own testimony about what happens now. is it conceivable howie, that it is impossible for a conservative journalist to cover an event when these antifa thugs are about? >> it shouldn't be in a country values free speech. a country that values, law and order. the bruises on his face, video, are chilling to watch. i watched it several times. there is larger pattern, conservative speakers shouted down. barred from college campuses because of protests. trump aides hounded, harassed at restaurants, kicked out this is

building to a point where some action has to be taken. this i think is now perhaps clearest example yet. it involved actual violence police did not intervene. david: no they didn't, they were like campus police, rather than city police. howie kurtz, thank you very much. >> thank you. david: college professor written an op-ed in "new york times" wants to name and shame border control agents over what she calls the mistreatment of migrants. we're going to get into it with former i.c.e. director tom homan coming right up. wanna take your xfi to the next level?

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david: president trump, just tweeting out about new jersey. here it is, quote, congratulations to legislators in new jersey for not passing taxes that would have driven large numbers of high-end taxpayers out of the state. many were planning to leave and will now be staying. new york and others should start changing their thought process on taxes fast. now this a human rights professor at university college of london, slamming u.s. border patrol in an op-ed in "the new york times." here is a quote.

immigration lawyers have agent names. journalists reporting at border have names, photos, even videos. these agents actions should be publicized particularly in their home communities. joining us is tom homan, former acting i.c.e. director. it is outrageous. people who are putting their lives on the line every day for american citizens are now being attacked and advice to others is to attack them even further. >> it is disgusting. obviously person that wrote this story, nobody in "new york times" obviously have ever went to the border to talk to a border patrol agent. think need to talk to the men and women who put their lives on the line. they didn't sign up to change diapers, make formula. they're doing the best they can under difficult circumstance. we need to thank them and salute them. these men and women are patriots. stories are a false narrative from the beginning. david: not only kooky professors from overseas saying, it is even

presidential candidates, people who are running for office. liz warren and others at the homestead facility, outside of homestead making comments about what was going on inside that don't jive with the fact. >> talk about the homestead facility. these were not children taken away from their parents. these are children abandoned by their parents, came into the country illegally, in the hands of a criminal organization. the u.s. government is trying to take care of them to reunite them with a sponsor or parent. understand that. when you're talking about the 2500 children separated, no one wants to talk about the 15,000 children that were separated by their parents, hired criminal organization to smuggle that child into the country. that is inhumane. in trunk of a car, back of tractor-trailer. finish one more thought. if they are escaping fear and persecution, violence in central america, why are the parents here? why aren't they down there. this is wrong and people need to know it. david: lying about children to

make political points is totally inexcusable. >> lying about american patriots to make a political point, it is wrong and disgusting. david: tom homan, thank you very much. stay with us, more "varney & company" right after this.

david: it is 11:00 a.m. on the east coast, 8:00 a.m. out west. i'm david asman in for stuart on this monday morning. let's get right to it. story of the day, the market rally, fresh off of this weekend's meeting between president trump and president xi from china. we finally got the handshake. no more new tariffs on either country for the moment and more talks on the horizon. we are off the highs but still doing quite well. the market is loving that. let's get a check on the trade-sensitive stocks. we can take a look at them. can we get the big names on there? chip makers are doing quite well, of course, because of the possibility that they will now have a full market in china. that was part of what was discussed between president xi

and president trump. these are the trade-sensitive stocks, as you can see. boeing taking a hit on stories that it outsourced a lot of its software to a place where they only pay their workers $9 an hour and this is critical software that might affect the functioning of aircraft. that is hurting boeing today. but all the others, as you can see, doing pretty well. i want to bring in heather zumarraga for this. heather, this is what the markets have been waiting for. some kind of signal that things between china and the u.s. are not stalled, that they are moving in the right direction. >> yeah. you're right. the stock market is rallying because of this trade truce between the u.s. and china. that was agreed at the g20 and although we don't have specific details and clarity yet on intellectual property theft, china has agreed to buy more farm goods, agricultural products, from the u.s. and we are going to suspend tariffs on each other at this point in

time. so that's very important and markets love the outcome of this meeting. david: what happens if there's a real deal, that is, something where they actually sign on the dotted line? >> well, if you thought today's news was good, the market will rally even further. stocks are set to hit all-time highs again today in some indices and i mean, i think the biggest point of contention is how to enforce things like theft of intellectual property, so the president is expected to go to beijing one more time to have one last meeting to hammer out some of these details, but the timing is still unknown. david: i'm sure you saw the debates last week. we had democrats claiming that the economic boom that we're in is just benefiting the top 1%, that blue collar workers aren't participating in the glory of the economy right now, nor is small business. larry kudlow, one of the president's top economic advisers, was on fox news sunday. he responded to that charge. let's listen. >> the united states economy is

booming. it's running at roughly 3% average since president trump took office two and a half years ago. on this business about bad distribution, the blue collar workers, the non-supervisory workers, have done the best. they are the ones with wages at 3.5%. their growth in income and wages is exceeding the growth of their supervisor supervisors. david: for the first time in 20 years, it is now harder to get a blue collar worker than it is to get a white collar worker for a job opening. doesn't that tell you something, that this is more than just affecting the top 1%? >> yeah, there are seven million job openings out there and according to the bureau of labor statistics, average hourly wages have risen 7% since president trump was elected and they're far greater for blue collar workers. i think this is a losing strategy for the democrats if they are going to keep saying

that middle class is not better off, because the middle class is better off. david: but the media, mainstream media keeps parroting their line without any kind of fact checking. they are doing all this fact checking for republican candidates, none at all for democratic statements so they are clearly untrue. >> yes, kamala harris also saying during the debates well, the president keeps measuring the economy based on the stock market, and that that only matters if you own stock. well, i think most of our viewers own stocks and according to the dow poll, 52% of americans own stocks. while that's not everyone, if you own a retirement plan such as a 401(k), then you don't have to outright own stock, you own them through mutual funds. i think over half of americans owning stock would signal the stock market is a pretty good gauge of measuring the economy. david: so will americans, when it gets time to go to the voting booth and pull the lever, will they believe what they have been

hearing over and over again by the press, by the democratic candidates, et cetera, or will they believe what is actually happening in their lives? >> i think they will believe what is actually happening in their lives and you ask yourself when you go to the ballot box, am i better off now than i was four years ago. are my wages going up, can i pay my bills, home prices are doing okay. there is some softening in prices but if i want a job, can i get a job. those are things that matter to americans at the end of the day. david: before you go, there's something i hasten to -- i almost didn't want to bring it up because it deals with somebody that you and i appreciate, art laffer. we were both at the ceremonies that he had for being the great economist that he is, the medal of freedom at the white house. there was a recent piece from obama's former car czar, steve ratner. you may remember that name. it was published in the "new york times" titled "the dangerous folly of lafferism."

bestowing the presidential medal of freedom on a discredited economist was another gross trump injustice. he calls laffer quote, the most destructive force in economic policy since herbert hoover. i mean, this is a guy who had something to do with the reagan boom in the 1980s that lasted all the way through the 1990s. we have had this extraordinary economic boom coming out of the doldrum era of the obama presidency and part of that, big part of that is because of the tax cuts that were partly helped arranged by art laffer. how can this stuff stand up? >> it sure is. rattner is pointing out that under the reagan administration, under his first two years, when he cut the top tax rate from 70 to 50, that initially tax revenue decreased. but at the end of reagan's term, tax revenue actually increased. i think he can point to the fact we didn't have a balanced budget

during that time because we had to increase defense spending for the cold war. we had to fend against the soviets and we won the cold war because of our increase in defense spending. i think the laffer curve is a sound economic policy. if you cut tax rates from a higher marginal rate like reagan did, you do increase spending because more people are out there spending money if you have more money. david: let's make absolutely clear what happened. corporate tax revenues have come down but corporate tax revenue is just a small part, under 10% of the total. payroll taxes, because all these new people are being hired by corporations hiring people, that represents about 40% of tax revenue and that has gone sky-high. we have had i think a 4% increase in tax revenue from the more important payroll taxes, as more people are employed. so yes, corporate tax revenue is down but the other tax revenue

is up. that's because we have more jobs. >> leave it to a politician like rattner to screw up a sound economic policy like the laffer curve. david: heather zumarraga, thank you. great to see you. let's get to the latest out of hong kong. tens of thousands of protesters have hit the streets not only have they hit the town hall, so to speak, the place of government which they are protesting against, they are actually inside. they are inside government headquarters as you can see live pictures. a little shaky right now. but these are live pictures. you can imagine what's going on inside of there. these are protesters in yellow vests. deirdre bolton is with us for the hour. what are these protesters looking for? deirdre: you can see, as you said, they have basically gotten into government buildings. this is really serious. tensions, we can't underestimate this enough, are high. protesters and police clashing, and the police have been widely criticized by some for using rubber bullets and causing injury to some people

protesting. then on the other side there are people who support the police. essentially, the people who are protesting against the government want that extradition bill canceled. as we know, the city chief, carrie lam, apologized for it. she hit pause on it. but most of these protesters want it completely withdrawn and snuffed out. this is of course the idea that basically people could be extradited from hong kong to china to face criminal charges which many business people worry oh, i could just accuse my competitor of doing something and have that person chucked in jail. david: i think they also want miss lam out as well. deirdre: they do. they want to just maintain status quo and as much independence as possible. that's just always going to be that power struggle. david: good to have you here for the hour. let's get another check on the big board. the dow jones industrial average, it's about 169 now, not bad for a monday morning. most of it has to do with the good trade talk. we don't have any signature on paper yet but it is good trade

talk coming from president xi and president trump. that's helping all of the markets. let's check the price of gold, though. if you are a gold bug, you are hurting a little bit today. again, think of the way it has come up well over 1400 for a number of days last week. it is now under 1400 at $1,397 an ounce. bitcoin is down as well. this has been another one of those roller coaster rides with bitcoin. it is now trading at $10,197. below $11,000. coming up, we've got one of our bitcoin guys on the show. is the party over for bitcoin? and coming up, one of stuart's favorite topics. the rise of fake meat products like the beyond burger and impossible burger, getting a lot of hype lately. i want to know, is this a passing fad or is fake meat here to stay? former mcdonald's ceo is coming up on that. he should know. another story we have been following.

the mysterious deaths of tourists at all inclusive resorts in the dominican republic. what are dominican officials doing to get to the bottom of this? are they working with or against the fbi? we are talking to one of those dominican officials later this hour. plus the democrats going all-in on health care for illegal immigrants. the leader of the party, tom perez, says hey, look, most illegals pay taxes so why shouldn't we give it to them. they are paying for the free health care. up next, how does the trump campaign feel about that one. we will be asking one of them right after this. the mercedes-benz of tomorrow

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david: let's get a check on mayor pete. his campaign has announced that he has raised just under $25 million in the second quarter. he's doing better in polling as

well, although that may be a lagging indicator. he's gaining 10 points in favorability in a post-debate morning consult poll. we will see if that holds up. and meanwhile, staying on the 2020 democrats, i want to get back to a video of each candidate raising their hands when they asked if they would provide health care for illegal immigrants. dnc chair tom perez doubling down on that over the weekend. watch perez talking about it. >> democrats believe that you should be able to buy into a health insurance system. as you know, immigrants including undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes. it's not a handout. frankly, it's an essential issue of morality. david: tim murtaugh is with us, director of communications for the president's re-election bid. it's not a handout. they are paying payroll taxes is what perez is saying, therefore, they would be paying for what they would be getting from the government. what do you think of that?

>> well, i think obviously tom perez is out there doing cleanup duty after his entire slate of 2020 democrats were onstage with their hands raised in the air saying yes, indeed our health care proposals would cover free government-provided health insurance for illegal immigrants. this is a proposal that is at a time when the prevailing opinion of democrats among the candidates on the stage there is to eliminate private health insurance for almost 200 million americans, at the same time 20 million american seniors will be tossed off their medicare advantage plans and they want to say in the same breath we are also going to give free taxpayer-provided health care to people who have broken the law to enter this country. it's just astounding. naturally, he's got to go out there and make it sound as palatable as possible because it is a unanimous position right now among democrats running for president. david: it's not only health care. there are so many issues on which illegal immigrants are actually entitled to things that u.s. citizens are not entitled

to. we mentioned in the past the fact that they now can get on planes with a lack of any kind of photo i.d. that we citizens would need to get on a plane. of course, the whole idea of sanctuary cities is that they could get away with committing crimes that u.s. citizens couldn't get away with. >> this is part of an entire pattern of things that the democrats are dangling out as offers to people to try to entice them to make this thousand mile journey through the entirety of mexico to come to our southern border to cross illegally. at the same time, these democrats for months denied that there was a crisis at the border. then they said it was a manufactured crisis and they still won't work with president trump to try to fix the crisis. they offer all of these enticements for people to make that dangerous journey to come to this country. they make it sound so attractive and they say and when you get here, we'll provide you amnesty and give you all these government-funded benefits at the expense of american

taxpayers. no wonder people want to make that journey and risk their lives. the democrats are making it sound so attractive to do that. then when that perilous journey turns deadly, they act shocked and they look around for someone to blame and naturally, of course, they blame president trump and when it's all of the enticements that are making it sound like it's worth it to make that thousand mile journey and risk their very lives to come here. that's just the wrong approach, we believe. david: the other thing that they were unanimous about, the democratic candidates, pretty much so, maybe there were a couple of exceptions, but those exceptions were practically booed by the audience, was their commitment to socialism and in some case, not only democrat socialism if there is such a thing, but hard marxist lenonnism from de blasio who said there's a lot of money out there, it's just in the wrong hands. that's the kind of thing you would expect to hear from vladimir lenin.

>> that's right. there's a lot of money out there, it's just in the wrong hands and who's the guy who's supposed to decide who has the money? bill de blasio. that sounds like a great option for most americans. de blasio, by the way, polling at about 0%, is also the guy who quoted che guevara in miami. how fitting for us, for the democrats, to be standing onstage in miami which is a city that has a tremendous cuban-american population, a big venezuelan-american population, these are people who either themselves or in their immediate families have personal experience with these authoritarian regimes and the way that the government just crushes the freedom out of people, and just limits their choices and ruins lives, and their entire economy. for them to be standing onstage and espousing -- david: we've got to go. de blasio is easy to dismiss but liz warren's wealth tax is nothing more than confiscation of property, too. that's from the same book, when she says she is capitalist, don't believe it, look at her policies. her policies are not capitalist.

got to leave it at that. great to see you. thank you for coming in. appreciate it. you heard how some of the democrats are reacting to president trump's historic visit across the dm sooshz. up next, we will tell you what the pope is saying about the trump-kim meeting. it may surprise you. some bad blood between taylor swift and music manager scooter braun. swift not happy that braun just bought a huge chunk of her catalog. she says he's a bully. we will explain what's going on there after this. ♪ fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard.

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david: this is ashley's favorite story. a freak hailstorm tearing through the mexican city of gof guadalahara. it covered cars and roadways. a low pressure system over the city and quick temperature drop supposedly to blame. we didn't see this coming. the pope actually praising president trump for his visit with kim jong-un yesterday. he said in his weekly address he hoped this would be a quote, further step on the road to

peace. we all hope so. meanwhile, no peace here. rock star taylor swift doesn't like where her master recordings are ending up. all part of a big record deal that just closed. what's going on? deirdre: scooter braun, talent celebrity manager, you know him from justin bieber, ariana grande, he bought this company called big machine, a nashville record label, for $300 million. it has sheryl crow. the problem for taylor swift, it has her first six albums under that roof. she says, quoting her, i learned about scooter braun's purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. all i could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying i have received at his hands for years. she says this is her worst case scenario. essentially she changed record labels and said she had always wanted to buy and intended to buy the rights to her first six albums but since she went free agent before changing labels, she felt like she didn't have -- david: couldn't do anything about it. deirdre: it's a done deal.

that ship has sailed. she's very upset about it. she has been blogging like crazy. pretty unhappy. david: minimum wage increase going into effect today in minneapolis, washington, d.c., new jersey, oregon and california. i want to know how is the fast food industry going to cope with that? former mcdonald's ceo ed rensi is coming up next. check the price of bitcoin, pulling back from certainly its highs last week and down below $11,000. question, is the bitcoin boom over? we are on it. more after this.

david: the big board, you know, some people in control think i'm talking down the market. it is down. the high, though, was 290 for the day. it's down to 118 right now. you can see a little more red on the screen. cisco is down, caterpillar, mcdonald's, et cetera. mcdonald's is particularly important for our next guest. if you watch this program often enough and i know you do, you know that we are obsessed with fake meat. just obsessed with it. i am. i know stuart is as well.

check beyond meat. the stock is now down a little bit, down about 2.5%. but it has been way up over the past few weeks. let's bring in a big name in fast food. ed rensi, chairman of fap brands and former ceo of mcdonald's. are we going to see fake meat as mcdonald's ever? >> well, based on the amount of production that impossible burger has right now, i doubt it's going to be any time soon. with burger king making the announcement they would start using impossible burgers, all the early adopters that were selling impossible burger got put on the sidelines and it's impossible for us to get the product now because it's all going to go to burger king. i think you will see more and more of this kind of development. beyond meat's a company that's certainly coming on strong. i know the people there, they're pretty good. i'm working with a couple young ladies in san francisco that own a company that's doing a very similar thing, i'm advising them on the food service industry so

that they make a product that fits right. i think it's here to stay but make no mistake, it's not beef, it's not pork, it's not chicken. david: beyond that, people are switching to this fake meat because they say it's healthier but they have this gmo yeast. if you talk to europeans, they think gmo is the devil itself. i'm wondering, maybe the stuff that makes it taste like meat is worse for you than just eating the meat itself. >> well, i am very upset with all the food fraud in the united states today. things like almond milk and soy milk. it's not milk. milk comes from an animal's breast. this is nut oil and bean oil. we're kidding ourselves about this. why not call impossible burger what it really is. it's a plant-based protein that's been altered by science to mimic a product that you can buy that costs 25% less and has more nutrition and by the way, significantly less salt.

it's going to stay because there are people that fear for animals' lives and they will eat -- i don't know why they don't fear for soybean plants because we are killing a lot of them, too. the whole thing is kind of nuts in a way. but if you are a vegan vegetarian, why not. i happen to like the impossible burger. i think it tastes great, it's got good texture. beyond meat, a little of that has been pretty good. yeah, i'm in. david: we are linked on that. we prefer the real thing. but you got to be open-minded on these things. to minimum wage, i got to get your take on minimum wage increases all over the country. we got it in minneapolis, oregon, new jersey, california, they are going into effect today. this affects your industry, especially because the profit margin for some of these is so small that you double the labor, it's got to be putting some people out of business, right? >> well, it's absolutely inflationary. if you look at where all the minimum wages have gone up across the united states in the last 18 to 24 months, small

businesses are closing all over the place. we've got a very robust economy. it's hard to find employees anywhere. now you compound it by taking unskilled entry level workers and paying them twice as much as they really earn for the company themselves. it becomes very inflationary. are you goi you are going to see a lot of price increases, you are going to see margins get impacted. the typical restaurant is running 8% to 10% profit. with the increases in rent and utilities and labor costs particularly, it's a killer. a killer. david: i got to get your view on this. we only have about 30 seconds. we have democrats, all of them saying the economy is lousy except for the top 1%. yet try to get a blue collar worker, it's easier to get a white collar worker because the job situation for blue collar workers has never been better in my lifetime. how can they say it's just the top 1% that are benefiting from this? >> it doesn't fit their

political narrative to get elected. it's all about buying votes any way you can. they are the biggest bunch of hypocrite ones ts on the face o earth. i want nothing to do with them. they better not try to take my insurance. i don't like that idea. david: always a pleasure. thank you so much for being here. appreciate it. good stuff. let's get back to bitcoin. come in, ryan patel, senior fellow at the drucker school of management. ryan, bitcoin seems to be pulling back a little bit now. is the boom over? >> buckle your seat belt because it's going to be up and down. we are continuing to see this. it raised too quickly over the last few weeks, especially around the facebook news, and i mean, just to be clear, it doesn't seem, you know, with this up and down of this market, it's not like there's a whole bunch of new users coming into the market. let's be clear. facebook's announcement made it seem it's going to be more mainstream, hence why you saw

bitcoin and the rest of the prices go up. obviously what you're seeing is there's a lot more supply going to be coming out this year, pushing the cost to go down a little bit more. but yeah, people were talking about a recession per se in the bitcoin pricing. david: what do you think about facebook's libra plan? unlike bitcoin, their currency, if you will, is based on a bunch of goods, right, a bunch of commodities so it's based on something more fundamental than bitcoin which is all in the air. >> correct. right. i think what facebook is providing stability whereas bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies we know we will see the prices going up and down because it's not really tied to a currency dollar value or currency per se like facebook does. but let's be clear. what facebook is trying to put down, they put out in their white papers, they are going to take over this payment system first before they kind of go after the cryptocurrency on getting people to use the platform. as you can imagine, they've got millions and millions and millions of people on their

platform so when you have millions of people already in the platform, it's a little bit easier to adopt this currency like money and that's where this has got even the federal reserve chairman powell even addressing it, how -- david: absolutely. >> -- there are benefits and concerns. digital currency is real, it is the future. you have former bank ceos coming on fox business stating we are going -- they are looking for a cashless society. david: i think powell and the other central bankers are scared to death because they realize if this catches on, if there's a way to do what facebook is trying to do, it could make central banks around the world sup superfluous. >> it is a worry. david: i don't mind if you take the power away from central banks. >> they still have a lot of influence, right, in this regulatory process and globally. it will be very interesting to see how that relationship goes

forward in other countries. right now if you look at take china and india and other countries on the cryptocurrency, it's not really adopted just yet but to your point, in the u.s., it is going to be a relationship that's going to be fun to watch because it is going -- innovation and technology is pushing the fed, the central banks, to move forward. if you don't catch up on innovation, no matter what company or regulatory agency you are, you will be left behind. david: no institution in the world is immune to the powers of the market. even federal reserve and central banks around the world. would you agree? >> listen, i think we live in the age that we are interconnected all over the world. we are living in a time that anything is possible and you've got to be open to that. david: your mentor, peter drucker, would have appreciated that. good to see you. thank you for being here. >> likewise. david: we are watching the price of oil, by the way. it's broken $60 a barrel this

morning. but then it pulled back. opec says they are going to extend their production cuts for another nine months but you know, promises of opec come and go. check gas prices, up yet again overnight now, $2.71 for a gallon of regular. that's the national average. i've got a little bad news, if you live in one of these states. california, ohio, tennessee, south carolina and illinois, gas taxes are going up this month. in illinois it's going to double, double in a state where they have about 19 new taxes, it's going to double from 19 to 38 cents for every gallon that you buy. check the big board now. we are now at 163, yeah, i was looking to see what -- we are way off the point at which we would be breaking a record if it ended the day at this level. but who knows what could happen between now and 4:00. keep it tuned in to fox business. we told you about this one last hour. a conservative journalist

attacked by antifa activists in portland. that's not the only example of intolerance from the left that we have for you today. the guy who wants reasonable democrats to walk away from the party just had a pride day event canceled on him because he is too moderate. he's on to tell his story right after this. ♪ carvana is six years old this year and is the fastest growing place to buy a car in the nation. it's because we have thousands of people working hard to make our customers' experiences the best. it's because we have tens of thousands of cars ready to be delivered to your doorstep. and it's why hundreds of thousands of happy customers have ditched the dealership and bought their car online, earning us an average 4.7 stars in the process. so if you didn't know about us before, you do now. we're carvana, and we want to give you

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david: two examples of the growing intolerance from the left. the conservative journalist andy no attacked by antifa activists at a portland, oregon rally. they threw milkshakes at him, beat him and actually sent him to the hospital. he was very beat up. plus the owner of the red hen, the restaurant in virginia that refused to serve sarah sanders, writing an op-ed in

"the washington post" as if it deserved that space, saying trump officials should quote, dine at home. our next guest has his own story of the intolerance of the left. come in, brandon straka, founder of the walk away movement. you've got a story from yesterday. tell us about it. >> well, yes. i'm the founder of something called the walk away campaign, an organization i started encouraging people to walk away from the democratic party. we have been around for about a year now. part of what we do is go around the country putting on these events which are geared toward minority groups in america that are typically marketed to by the democratic party which is to say black people, hispanic people, lgbt people, jewish people. we are having conversations within these communities, asking questions such as why are we voting democrat at such a high rate or high percentage, is this serving our communities well, should we possibly be rethinking this. these are very simple questions. i think very reasonable questions to be asking our communities.

so we came to chicago to do the walk away lgbt town hall chicago. this is the third town hall lgbt town hall we have done in the united states. we selected a venue in chicago, we had a number of conversations with the theater leading up to the event, telling them who we are, what the mission of our organization is. they knew exactly what we were up to. we signed contracts, we paid the fees. i flew my team and panelists to chicago. then less than 24 hours before the event, they called us on the phone and said the event was canceled, citing that we are quote unquote, protofascists, a term i never heard before, calling us a hate group, saying we were engaging in hate speech and they wouldn't allow this. so this was what i would say is a very coordinated attack and not the first -- david: but you are a democrat, right? aren't you a lifetime democrat? you were basically the kind of

tolerant liberal that liberalism in the best sense of the word is supposed to represent. don't they get that what you had to face yesterday was intolerance, is the exact opposite of classical liberalism? >> what i had to endure this weekend is exactly a living example of why i walked away and why so many people are walking away from the democratic party. yes, i am a former democrat. i am a former liberal. but here's the real kicker here. my panel for my event was a jewish gay man, a trans-gender trump supporter female and when we did this event previously in new york, we also had a black gay man on the panel. we were labeled neo-nazis, white supremacists. what kills me here is the media will jump immediately into action on things like this. the liberal media will be the first to spread this message and that's why i'm so grateful for you having me on this show to be able to correct the narrative

here. david: it's called tolerance. it's very simple. it's called tolerance. that's what liberalism is supposed to represent and it's come to represent the complete opposite. we've run out of time. please come back and see us soon. thank you for being here. check the big board. again, the dow has had a better moment today but is still doing okay at 134. whenever it's in triple digits, okay is too light. it's having a great day, particularly on a monday in the middle of summer. but it is off its highs. it was up at 290 at the session high. big money is being poured into free agent contracts in the nba. deirdre? deirdre: certainly. anywhere per year range goes to $7.5 million per year all the way up to $36 million per year. we will show you some of the players who have gotten some of the more lucrative contracts and what we are calling a free agent feeding frenzy. rodney hood was at the low end going to the trailblazers for $7.5 million per year, two-year

contract. all the way up to tobias harris, philadelphia 76ers, he's going there, $180 million for five years. that breaks out to $36 million a year. i mean, you could say okay, why don't ceos get criticized. the argument i might make is that these guys in theory have a much smaller scope to make their money and i feel like the definition of capitalism is whatever the market will pay for a price of goods and services. apparently people enjoy watching these athletes play. there you go. they bring value to the franchise. ashley: nothing wrong with that. they bring in the crowds and further the franchise. there's nothing wrong with that. people going on about disney, bob iger, all of those folks. they deliver the goods. right? if you don't, you're out. that's the way it works. deirdre: disney has performance pay since bob iger took over as ceo in 2005, the stock has risen, risen, risen, at an all-time high and a lot of ceos

are paid by performance which is how athletes are paid. david: if you were to take 100% of the ceo's salary and divide it between shareholders, nothing compared to the way the price of the stock -- deirdre: benefitting investors if it's a publicly traded company. david: at least 11 american t r tourists dying under mysterious circumstances in the dominican republic. what are officials doing to make sure your next vacation there is safe? the vice consul of the dominican republic is live on set after this. ♪ we're the slowskys.

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brazilian government, who said it is obvious given the amount of drugs he had on them he didn't just buy them around the corner and took them with him. he was working as a qualified drug mule. let's put it that way. embarrassing. he's facing charges. he's being held in spain. david: wow. all right. thank you. now to this. at least 11 american tourists have died in the dominican republic this year and now senator charles schumer wants the atf to investigate. come in, edwardo hernandez. what is your country doing about this? >> thank you very much for having us today. i think it's important for your audience to know first and foremost, the dominican republic and the united states are strong allies. we have a free trade agreement that results in $13 billion in two-way trade. we cooperate very closely on national security and defense. we even got an invite, our leadership visited mar-a-lago just a couple months ago. so what's been going on really is a series of misinformations

and misreporting that's been happening. david: deaths are deaths and with 11 americans dead in one season, it causes panic. you can understand why. >> so here i am to tell you the truth, as i say. ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free which is consigned in our bible, in our flag, i'm sorry. the only country that has a bible in its flag. we have 30 million toifurists tt came in the past five years. five million came last year. it's sensible to believe and understand some of them may have pre-existing health conditions. what's true is that the d.r. according to u.s. department reports is a safe country to travel to. david: the fbi is there now. are you completely opening your doors to fbi investigators? >> of course. david: they are due to come out with a toxicology report in the next couple weeks, right? you will accept whatever they come out with? >> as i mentioned, the dominican republic and the u.s. have a very strong relationship and we

welcome senator schumer's offer for assistance. we are taking steps as a government already to double the a inspections. david: we just have one minute. i have to ask this question. a lot of people are wondering whether the symptoms that have been associated with some of these deaths really mimic methanol poisoning. that is very often found in homemade alcohol, where people don't mix it right and that might be what some of these hotels and resorts are using. have you looked into that? >> we take these very seriously. tourism represents 20% of our gop. we looked at each case. each case came out as natural causes. now, that being said, we're not leaving any stone unturned and we have looked at everything already and we are taking steps to strengthen the level of control that we have in every single hotel. our ministry of tourism is doubling the amount of protocol and amount of inspection it carries out. as of right now, those are unsubstantiated claims but we take it very seriously because it's our livelihood. david: 20 seconds left. what is the cut in tourism since all this began? >> actually, we have seen

tourism increase 8% from the first six months. we have not seen a significant decrease in tourism as of now. david: we have had figures that show very differently, that there has been a dramatic drop. >> our minister of tourism rejected those categorically. in fact, we are seeing maybe something from the low season but we are actually seeing tourism increase. david: best of luck to you. we hope you find out what's causing this. appreciate it. more "varney" after this. ♪ . .

david: final check in this hour of the big board. my producers tell me i'm the one that killed this rally. it never would have happened with stuart varney. can you say that? ashley: no. david: panel disagrees with the folks. because you disagree with the folks in the control room, favorite story? ashley: how come no one else is

greeked out about this. five feet of ice in the middle of mexico. if it was in the movie you would say farfetched. it happened. unbelievable. david: i don't know how long it lasts but things warmed up. ashley: that is frightening. david: neil cavuto, hailstorm you start your show off with. neil: thanks for that hand off. we're watching what was a storm, at least for a while. stocks are rising. dow no longer in record territory. but the s&p 500 is. we're keeping track of that. oil off its highs. this idea that opec and russia are coming together to stick to these production cut-backs, has some worried that eventually it will lead to sharply higher oil prices, a little higher right now. then there is the issue of manufacturing slowing down a little bit. what is happening on the factory floor that could be permeating throughout the economy, or at least lead to lower interest rates. we'll see.