going to be the case. >> well, you know what, it is what it is. i don't know that the democrats were selling that message so much as maybe democrats' opponents were trying to sell it. charles: thank you both very much. the dow up 31 points. holding steady. liz claman, waiting for the apple earnings. liz: we call it the company known as one of the biggest market drivers of all, right. charles: absolutely. no doubt about it. liz: it's preparing to unleash its latest results in t-minus 90 minutes. apple shares right now straddling the line. they have been slightly down, slightly up and right now, barely down. just by 18 cents. what are we looking for here? what will they say about the 5g upgrade cycle for your iphone? tariff disputes? services, a new shiny credit card and the coming content push that will solidly land the i-empire in the middle of stream's royal rumble. our all-star panel is gaming out the number one metric that should be moving your fingers to the buy or sell button.

jay powell and company's anticipated rate cut tomorrow leading the a dr. jekyll and mr. hyde situation for one of the biggest names on the street. the bullish call on stocks by goldman sachs that's giving some investors, and we here at "countdown," a little whiplash because it comes barely a week after goldman warned of no new gains for the s&p in the second half of the year. which one should you believe when it comes to your portfolio? we are going to take that question to the floor of the new york stock exchange and the cme. calling up china. trade negotiations have officially restarted in shanghai but here at home, president trump warning china's leader that trying to wait out a second trump term win in the hopes maybe of getting a better deal from one of his 2020 rivals, will be quote, a big mistake. those same rivals taping up their gloves as they prepare to enter the debate ring for another two-night matchup, from trade to the economy to medicare for all, it's a steel cage death match that's putting dem versus

dem so let's bring in democratic adviser and fund-raising guru robert wolf. he is here on who stands the best chance of a tko against both the democratic pack and president trump. capital one facing its own alarming battle. we are still keeping the stock up on the bug here, down 7.33%, blistering from the blows of this massive hack. we've got new details on the unlikely actor behind the data breach of 100 million customers and just how deep the bruising may go for one of the country's top ten financial behemoths. but for the russell 2000 extending its advance right now by just under a percent, it's almost as if the markets are sort of frozen in place, waiting for the fed. could there be a breakout? with less than an hour to the closing bell, good question. got to stay with me. let's start "the claman countdown."

liz: we are just getting this breaking news. commerce secretary wilbur ross just now making comments from sao paulo, brazil that his department has not yet received all applications from companies interested in licenses which would enable them to begin selling to chinese telecom giant huawei again. still, he does expect answers on requests and they should be forthcoming by next week. in case you don't know, the u.s. blacklisted the chinese telecom giant, banning it back in may from purchasing a whole range of american components and software that it needs to make its products, but the administration has said it will ease up on the ban as long as national security is not put at risk. despite the u.s. crackdown, this is interesting, everybody thought huawei would be crushed by the ban, today if you believe the numbers, it reported a 23% jump in revenue growth in the first half of the year. we will be watching this story and we need to switch to the markets.

even though they are very much in play, you can tell exactly the thought of the herd at the moment. flat as a pancake for most of these indices. dow jones industrials down just 24 points, earlier had been down 151. climbing back to the flat line, same with the s&p 500, which is down just seven as investors await tomorrow's big event, the federal open market committee decision on interest rates. now, a cut of a quarter point is baked in. there are things that have not been baked in that could be the catalyst for the markets and i'm telling you, i have been talking to fed watchers and they are expecting possibly that the fed will announce that it is done trying to draw down, trying to taper off the drawing down of the balance sheet. they will stop it now versus when they were supposed to stop it which is october. all right. over in equities, let's look at shares of beyond meat. they are actually recovering after plunging 15% in premarket trade. still down about 11%, but what's mitigating the stock drop, the

company does expect 2019 sales of $240 million, so profitable, right? but also, that's almost triple the level for 2018. now, the reason for the ipo darling fallout of favor is on the earnings call which was yesterday after the bell. the plant-based meat maker announced plans for another stock offering of 3.25 milli shares and that's really just three months after its initial public offering, so that would dilute the value, if you put out more shares to the market. beyond meat has had such a crazy runup since that point, up 660%. the timing of the secondary offering is still unclear, so stay tuned for that one. unbelievable, though, at the moment. also, sinking today at this hour, capital one financial. not able to find its footing at the moment. the stock is on track, look at this two-day picture here, for its worst day in more than four years. this is a huge company, the fifth largest u.s. credit card issuer, announcing a massive

data breach that affects 106 million card customers and applicants. very personal information has been stolen from their applications. now, federal authorities in washington say this is the woman that they caught who is responsible for the hacking. 33-year-old page thompson. she is a seattle-area software engineer. authorities are saying that most recently, she worked at amazon web services and as they look into the allegations that she's the one who single-handedly ripped off all of this information, we will look at the credit card issuers elsewhere and see if there is any kind of possible, you know, halo effect, negative halo effect. not really here. we do have mastercard down three quarters of a percent. amex down half a percent. visa lower by 1%. okay. so as we watch hour by hour, this does matter. now it's 23 hours away. we will finally find out just how much the federal reserve is set to cut rates. notice i didn't say whether.

they are going to cut by a quarter point. that is what everybody thinks. one financial firm is already raising its outlook on stocks because it feels that this will be the catalyst for stocks. goldman sachs upping its 2019 year end price target for the s&p by 3% to 3,100. currently, we at the moment for the s&p are at 3,013 so we are really not too far off. goldman also set a 3,400 price target for the s&p for the end of 2020. that's another 10% rise from current levels. so with consumer confidence hitting 18-year highs and analysts raising their market forecasts, how are investors supposed to react to a quarter point rate cut? to the floor show and our traders. guys, let me throw this into it. this caught our eye a week ago when goldman sachs, same people, also said the s&p was trading near its fair value with limited further upside, meaning the s&p

wasn't going to see much more in gains. what gives here? which goldman assessment do you believe? let me get to teddy. >> i'm not sure i believe either one. but you know, we have talked about this it seems like endlessly, liz. it got a lot of smart people out there just throwing a lot of flour against the wall and if you work in the bakery long enough, sooner or later, something's going to stick. i think at the end of the day, i don't think we need goldman sachs to tell us that the markets ought to be okay when you have a fed that's in accommodative mode and you have corporate earnings that are still very very good. when you add those two together, the lines of least resistance for the stock market is probably higher. not straight higher, but probably higher. liz: phil, teddy just used the flour on the wall. i thought it was spaghetti or darts. >> depends what neighborhood you're in in chicago.

some neighborhoods, you can do both. yeah, i think teddy's got it right. i don't remember a time personally when we've had such a divergent view of the economy and the stock market. it seems like you've got some people saying oh, my gosh, the end is near, biggest chance for a stock market crash in ten years, that was goldman sachs earlier, then you have other people saying the market's going to melt up. i agree with teddy. get rid of the noise, look at the charts. don't let them scare you out of the market. take protection, do your thing but don't let them scare you. liz: again, gdp looks good as we have up on the screen. we got the june consumer confidence number. that was unbelievable. it soared, right. then you have june personal consumption, wages up 5.5% year over year. june core pce, personal consumption inflation, that is what the fed loves to look at. it's still below 2%. larry, before i let you comment on this, because i know you're

angling to, here's what the president said about the federal reserve tomorrow. >> i would like to see a large cut and i would like to see immediately the quantitative tightening stop. liz: okay. so we've got goldman saying that the prospect of at least a smaller cut will be the catalyst. what do you think, larry? >> i think it will be the catalyst. however, we have to keep in mind, you look at january fed funds futures pricing in almost three quarters of a point cut between today and the end of the year. actually, 63.5 basis points. if powell does anything to compromise that assumption to the market, the market only has one way to go tomorrow and that is down. i mean, it's not an env ishious position. i'm not sure what he's going to do, a quarter point --

liz: il'll tell you. i think what isn't priced in is the balance sheet issue. they have been trying to draw down what was a $5 trillion balance sheet. it's now at about 3.8 trillion. they have been incrementally slicing away layers here. what do you get? it's supposed to end in october or september. i believe in a statement, what isn't priced into this market, what could really give it a jolt meaning to the upside would be that it will end that slicing off of the balance sheet now. what do you think? >> running off the balance sheet early would be a dovish surprise as it were. some people have talked about that. it is counterintuitive in a way to cut rates and also keep the balance sheet from running off. it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. however, they are a little bit different. yes, you're right, that could be a slight dovish surprise tomorrow. liz: quickly, phil. really fast. >> i agree.

it's another bullet in the arsenal people don't talk about. they say the fed is running out of bullets. they have all these tricks and that's another one that they could do it without a 50 basis point cut. liz: okay. stay tuned to this channel at this hour, because we've got it. teddy, larry, phil, tomorrow's a huge day but we're not done with what's happening right now. taking shots at china. president trump calling out the trade war foe and its economic growth which is slowing to near 30-year lows. the president's comments come as trade talks have resumed between the u.s. and china in shanghai, as we said, two months after negotiations came the a screeching halt. so these limos you're seeing right there on the left side of your screen carrying the delegations looking to hammer out some sort of agreement in shanghai. to blake burman live at the white house. blake, the president was not holding back any punches when it came to trade. in fact, he invoked the election in 2020 here. reporter: pretty remarkable

backdrop we got today. as treasury secretary steve mnuchin and u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer, the key u.s. trade team was in shanghai today to conduct those first face-to-face talks with their chinese counterparts since talks broke down in early may, back here at the white house, the president at the very same time was taking to twitter to heavily criticize china. the president writing that china is not following through on a promised large-scale ag buy and suggested again that china might try to wait him out until the november 2020 election, then he had this warning right here. he said quote, the problem with them waiting, however, is if and when i win, the deal they will get will be much tougher than what we are negotiating now or no deal at all. so that begs the question, if china's strategy is indeed to potentially try to wait out this president for another 15 months or so, then will there be a trade deal between now and then? that's the question i put to the president this morning. this was his response.

watch. >> china would love to wait and just hope, they hope, it's not going to happen, i hope, but they would just love if i got defeated so they could deal with somebody like elizabeth warren or sleepy joe biden. china is dying to make a deal with me. but whether or not i'll do it, it's up to me. it's not up to them. reporter: the president also took to twitter and then again in front of the cameras today to slap down china's economy, pointing out that the most recent gdp reading shows that it is its slowest reading in 27 years. a number the president has repeated several times today. liz: we are not sure because the government over there is not exactly transparent, but that is true, since 1992, but blake, he also mentioned, this caught my ear immediately when he said it, he gave a big shout-out to brazil, where wilbur ross is right now trying to strike a new type of trade deal, he said aside from their tariffs we

really like it. here's the brazilian real. watching this very closely. that i would imagine gives a boost to brazil. reporter: trade deals all across the globe. we focus on china so much and for good reason, because as the president says, it would be the biggest trade deal to date but it's a good reminder today as we hear the president, he was asked about brazil that there are trade deals in just about every corner of the globe that the administration is trying to strike at this point. liz: blake, thank you. blake burman at the white house. when we come back, with 45 minutes before the closing bell rings and the dow down about 20 points, we need to look at what's going to happen tonight and tomorrow night in detroit. whom should you watch tonight and tomorrow night specifically when it comes to the democra? we will take you to robert wolf. actually, he's here. he's the guy who knows. stay tuned. ♪

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liz: trying to trump president trump on trade? senator elizabeth warren just unveiled her trade plan ahead of tonight's democratic debate in detroit. warren promises that if she becomes president, america would only trade with countries that comply in full with the paris climate accord and on top of that, that the u.s. would cease to do business with any country that allows any form of child

labor or denies full union rights. she also insists on anti-corruption. warren's more liberal world views have actually put her right near the top of the pack of the democratic candidates vying for the oval office. according to the latest fox news poll, it is former vice president joe biden who is very much at the top, and he's seen as a more moderate voice. he is the clear leader among democratic primary voters in the 2020 presidential election. he's got 33%, bernie sanders 15%, elizabeth warren, 12%. so what's going to happen tonight and tomorrow night in this two-night debate? let's bring in former ubs america ceo and fox news contributor, robert wolf, also a former adviser to president obama. who will you be watching? huge crowd here but whom will you be watching specifically tonight? >> so there's a few different things going on tonight. first, you have to look at what warren and sanders do. do they square off or do they kind of have this truce that's been going on? i would like to see them go at it a little but they are very

much aligned and you can see them waiting until the september debates when the field's halved. beto and mayor pete have to make some statements tonight. they kind of both leveled off to 5% or less and with mayor pete really winning the money race of last quarter, $24 million, you would have thought he would have been better in the polls. then you have an outsider. you have like tim ryan or amy klobuchar who are moderates, this could be a breakout night for them. liz: well, klobuchar did pretty well in the last time and people seem to connect with some of the things she said. what is your reaction to senator warren's trade plan and is it viable in this day and age? >> you know, i think for where she ois on the spectrum, it's pretty nationalist. it wraps everything in. you have the green new deal umbrella with climate and labor, you have obviously the child labor and they put the human rights part in. she wrapped everything in it.

i think -- i actually think it's a pretty interesting thing for her to go with. i don't think it would pass but i think some parts of it would pass, especially things on climate. liz: sounds protectionist in a way that would be similar to president trump. all right. what about tomorrow night? whom will you be watching? >> well, to me, all eyes are on the vice president, former vice president biden, because his last debate wasn't that strong. but then since the debate his polling has gone up. you had him up 12% in the month. so i think for him, he has to show a solid performance. then you have on each side of him, cory and kamala. kamala has had all the mojo the last month. it will be interesting whether she takes him on or whether she kind of takes a step back and talks about more what she stands for than what he doesn't. liz: let's talk about health care really quickly, because she has come out and said that her plan which was a little bit of a step away from what she had said during the msnbc debate, is that she would allow people to --

allow private insurers to jump into medicare for all type of thing, that medicare for all would be all infants and anybody who is uninsured. is that viable? >> she's trying to thread the needle here. she signed up with bernie medicare for all, then she wasn't for necessarily where the vice president was, which was he wants to make sure you can keep your private insurance. so she's trying to have the best of both worlds. she's trying to do you can keep your private insurance, but it's going to be a ten-year transition to a single payer environment. i think that because she's flip-flopped a few times, it was good to make sure everyone knew where she stands. i think it would have been better if she put this out at inception. liz: good to see you. >> great to be on "the claman countdown." loving it. i was here the first day it was on. liz: thank you. you were. that was planned. thank you, robert. good to see you. robert wolf. when we come back, much more. we are about 37 minutes before the closing bell rings. the dow has doubled its losses

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liz: you've got to love a job where you can play video games. i had so much fun back in march of 2017 playing on the nintendo switch with reggie. fast forward to today and investors are gaming nintendo's stock and whether to buy it. at the moment, we are looking at it slightly down. these are adrs, american depository receipts because it trades in japan. the company got a low score last quarter, reporting a rise in revenue but operating profit plunging 10% year over year. however, does nintendo have extra lives in the bank? to kristina on the floor of the new york stock exchange. kristina: extra lives, maybe a few things up its sleeve. nintendo has a lot. it's going to work with tencent

holdings, china's largest game maker, working on selling some of these switch consoles in that market. the market is relatively flat at the moment and so what we are seeing, they are working together to work on pokemon games. analysts saying pokemon games could come in november. that could help push up the sales of a lot of their consoles. we know this past quarter, you just mentioned the earnings report, they sold 2.1 million console units. they are hoping to expand that a little further. they rare also making a light version for those who may not be as intense into the gaming aspect. those will be about $200 u.s. we have a lot of -- gaming is so popular with e-sports, we have other gaming companies and semiconductors coming out after the bell. we take a look at electronic arts. their earnings right now, we are expecting in earnings per share at one cent. you are seeing it on the screen right there. relatively flat, $88.90. that one cent is a huge drop

compared to last year, down 99%. this is on revenue we are expecting at $719 million, this is after the bell. switching also to another company, semiconductor company, advanced microdevices, we are expecting earnings per share of eight cents on revenue of 1.52 billion. with amd, if anything, i was reading some of the notes, they are looking to talk more on what the china trade war tariffs could mean for this company going forward. i will bring it full circle. you talked about playing games. we talked about e-sports. we talked about this young kid that won, what is it, over $3 million and he's less than 17 years old. i just found out ea announced today they will be having a massive apex legends tournament september 13th. could be a win for the stock because when you think of all the gamers, you think of the merchandise that goes along with it, could help. i will throw it back to you. we are all such big gamers. liz: i'm in.

i'm calling out sick that day. i'm going to get in there. kristina: really? okay. i will let you do it. i will stand there and watch. liz: just cheer. that's all i need. thank you very much. what's in your wallet? with the closing bell ringing in 30 minutes, if it's a capital one credit card you might want to be on alert. after its massive breach of more than 100 million customers' information, does that nightmare make the case for apple's promised more secure credit card? what the company that steve jobs built may say about his coming foray into the world of plastic spending and the key metrics that will drive all the action after the bell as apple decodes its latest quarterly numbers, next on "the claman countdown." great riches will find you when liberty mutual

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liz: start the clock, because the last but perhaps most widely known of the tech titans, apple, is set to report earnings in the next hour. the iphone maker stock right now down a quarter of a percent today, has been zooming rather swiftly so far this year. it's up 32% year to date and well off its january low of $142, but after president trump last week denied apple's request to avoid tariffs on chinese imports, yes, they import their phones that are made in china back here to the u.s., many investors are left scratching their heads saying now what when it comes to the road ahead for the stock. here to slice up the metrics, chatham road partners director and all-around tech genius when it comes to analytical analysis, colin gillis along with mobile nations editorial direct or who has literally taken apart and built back up phones so he knows from what he speaks. i will begin with you.

what is the key metric you will be watching after the bell? >> i think for apple specifically it's going to be the non-iphone revenue. when you look at the company's portfolio, it's continually diversifying and even as their iphone sales continue to slow, which they will do because apple doesn't innovate in small phones like it used to, the company had so many other hardware segments like apple watch and specifically the ipad that they will continue to give rise to ensure at least the revenue remains flat if not increases slightly. liz: you're looking at the ipad and the wearables. let me get to you, colin. what are you focusing upon? >> let me put it bluntly. this is going to be the third quarter in a row where apple's revenue is declining. we are most likely going to get guidance that's going to give us four quarters in a row of revenue declines. this is a company that is not growing, it is shrinking. liz: it's interesting that you say that, because people have

denigrated apple over the years saying it's a hardware company, it's a one product company and that's the phone. however, i would argue that now the services component comes into play. are you not thinking that that might at some point lift back up or fill the void that's been left by, i don't know, too pricey apple phones? >> yeah, that's, you know, exactly what the positive case is. i understand that. services revenue is growing nicely, it's around 20%, but the iphone is still north of 50% of revenue. this is still an iphone company. we are moving into a cycle where there's going to be at least a full year before you get the 5g catalyst. what investors are going to focus on are all these new subscription products that apple has, how much traction are they getting and how meaningfully -- how meaningful can the company grow these services as the iphone retreats. liz: you throw in the tariff issue, donald trump has said that apple manufacturing phones

in china is not going to get a break or a waiver when it comes to tariffs of chinese goods coming back into the u.s. how is that going to affect the sock stock in the next couple quarters? >> i think as much as we hear donald trump say they are not going to get a buy, will they be subject to the same tariff as somebody else, who knows. the company also has a large enough margin that they could ride through many of these things and when you are willing -- the thing about apple products is when you are willing to spend $1,000, if there is an additional hundred, $150 on that, as we have seen iphone prices continuing to rise, you are going to be already willing to invest that much and $100 or $150 wouldn't make that big a difference. liz: but people are already stretching. what you have seen, it's not so much that people have fallen out of love with the iphone, i think. i think they have fallen out of love with apple trying to shove

them to the next iteration of the phone. they will wait until the 5g redo, right? >> no, absolutely. i think i completely agree. i don't think -- there was a time if you were an iphone user you would upgrade every year. now it's every two years, every three years. the key thing is, as an iphone user, you are highly unlikely to want to switch to android. so sure, you may not buy every single year but apple can pretty much rely on you to continue to be an iphone customer. liz: colin? >> apple has got great operations, a fantastic cfo. it's pretty clear the creativity is lacking. apple tv plus, it smells like a wet dog and is also very late to market. it's time to see more creativity coming out of this company that doesn't seem to be there. liz: i would be remiss if i didn't bring up what's going on with capital one and this hundred million customer breach by a woman named page out on the

west coast. what does that do for the credit card that apple says it wants to get out there? they are branding it with goldman sachs and with mastercard, i believe. it's been beta tested. if you believe some of the reports, they say it's coming out this month, maybe. >> well, we have been hearing about the apple card coming out for the last month, month more. no one quite knows when apple is going to take the plunge with it. what's interesting here is it's very much the final step in apple becoming much more about services than just hardware products. i'm not 100% certain that they can compete in the credit card space. liz: oh, really. colin, what about you? quickly. >> i love apple pay. i think it is an area for positive growth. it's still just very small. liz: so capital one's stumble does not necessarily mean a buildup for apple. >> doesn't help the iphone. liz: great to have you both.

keep it right here on fox business. the earnings action begins on "after the bell." apple's big release now under an hour away and melissa and connell will have the headlines as soon as they happen. all right. the closing bell ringing in 19 minutes. don't forget, tomorrow is wednesday. you know what that means. a new everyone talks to liz podcast. you thought i was going to say the fed decision. that, too. but this week, i'm talking to that guy. he's the ceo of the super-hot zoom video communications. so popular for remote conferencing. wait until you hear how many times it took him to get his u.s. visa, how many times he was rejected and what book he says inspired him to reach for his dreams and build a video conferencing giant that's crushing the ipo world. you can download my everyone talks to liz podcast now at apple, google or fox news podcasts.com. and coming up, the fcc taking aim at the states that

are looking to stop the t-mobile/sprint merger from happening. charlie gasparino has new late-breaking details. ♪

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liz: now the regulators have approved the t-mobile/sprint merger, it appears they may take it a step further, not just approving it, but charlie gasparino says they might actually undermine the lawsuits still being filed by the state attorneys general. before we get to charlie gasparino -- >> who's behind me? liz: i with like ould like to ia very special guest. >> very well. liz: just a minute. he has something to say. >> very well. where do i begin?

liz: the first line. very well, where shall i begin? >> you notice he left out the x-rated part of this. liz: of course. i had to go to ebay to get it. this thing cost me a fortune. 13 bucks. >> i want to put it on my desk. liz: you think i want this? it's yours. >> very well. where shall i begin? very well. what have you got there? liz: a microphone. >> should have put it back a little bit. it was a little blurry. liz: that's marco's problem. >> very well. liz: that's yours. let's get to this -- >> luge lessons. pretty standard, really.

liz: we have -- >> is that standard in your life? no wonder you become dr. evil. liz: get to your big scoop. >> what is my story? i forget. there is still a state a.g. case against this merger. it still represents an existential threat against the merger, led by the attorney general from new york. here's what we know. the doj and the fcc, trump agencies, doj has formally approved it. fcc's republican commissioners now in the majority say they will approve it but they have to formally approve it. they are plotting some sort of counterattack to blunt the state ags. here's what we know. one of the things they're looking at, this comes from the fcc's part, remember, doj already ruled, there's a consent decree, has to be divestitures, you name it, dish is involved buying -- that's to credit a fourth wireless network.

fcc has to step in and do something. one of the ways they want to strengthen this merger in the courts is to have the fcc in its rulings specifically lay out why this is not an antitrust violation. here's the sort of interesting thing here. fcc generally rules on fairness. it's the doj that rules on antitrust. it's the antitrust division. however, that does not stop the fcc where there's plenty of lawyers to put an antitrust ruling in their consent decree. what we understand, one of the things they are weighing, we say we, it's ajit pai, they will state specifically i the order, they will say this does not violate section 7 of the clayton act, the big antitrust act, and here's why. they think that can help them blunt whatever letitia james and company are doing in the courts. there's a hearing on thursday. they are up against, remember, they filed this, the state ags

filed this case to stop the merger in federal court in the southern district. i believe they have a clinton appointee judge, judge marone, federal judge, you would think maybe would be against it although bill clinton on regulatory issues was somewhat much more libertarian and market-oriented than obama po t appointees. clearly what they are going to be doing over the next i don't want to say weeks, is figure out a way to stop -- liz: why this intraday dropoff? for both of them? >> where is the market today? liz: flat, pretty much. slightly down. >> i think it could be what we are reporting, they take a little dive on our story? liz: took a little move up. >> listen, who knows. maybe it's profit taking. they made a lost money bt of mog this deal. liz: both are up. >> could be profit taking. did move the stock up a little

bit while we were reporting this. look for the fcc ruling to address the state ag lawsuit and also the fact -- come on. do it again. i know you're dying to do this. let me point out, the state ag -- >> very well. where do i begin? my childhood was typical. summers in rangoon. luge lessons. liz: that sounds like you. >> my dr. evil is better than this. liz: this is however old the movie is. >> when i was insolent i was placed in a bag and beaten with reeds. liz: charlie gasparino. breaking major market-moving stories, too. closing bell ringing in seven and a half minutes. our "countdown" closer says the tail wind for stocks is less than 24 hours away. what's he buying ahead of it? jardiance asks:

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♪ liz: four minutes to go before the closing bell rings. some of what we read across the screen, what we pointed out at the top is still in play. small cap russell, 2000, small and mid-caps, only major average moving higher in the final minutes of trade. it is up nearly a percent. holding on to 13 points of gains. would i like to tell you, it looks like risk off ahead of tomorrow's federal reserve meeting. widely expected quarter point rate cut is probably what will happen. please, as i have stressed today, you want to watch the balance sheet, what they announce about it. it is currently at $3.8 trillion. remember it ballooned during the financial crisis. as of late they were trying to cut it down, trim it, slice it down, deflate it.

that pros he is of deflating it or tapering it not expected to last as long as people thought it would. kristina is back on the floor live from the new york stock exchange. what are you looking at with a couple minutes left here? >> i spoke to a trader. he said this is the longest day ever. why? it is literally wait and see. stocks popped higher the president speaking about china that could potentially be delayed. they are waiting until tomorrow to get results. we're looking at some dow leaders. we're seeing proctor & gamble, beating pretty high. that is has to do a lot with strong earnings. we're seeing pfizer dragging down. that has to do with bank cuts overall. the dow leaders and dow, pfizer, verizon, usually common once. one i was talking about with one trader, ralph lauren. sales being a problem for them. they talked about getting rid of their company jet because after

cultural shift. these are little tidbits i heard on the floor this afternoon, liz. i will throw it back to you. liz: we heard that during the financial crisis. kristina, we're looking at flows. we're saying risk off, people are waiting for gadot. >> if you talk about the balance sheet. we have not brought that up enough. seems like a lot of traders around me are wondering if they continue withing tightening, 50 billion, shrinking it lower. should there be further tightening? or will they hold off, taper off. that could create more volatility in the market. everyone is expecting a 25-point basis cut. a few expecting more. you're right in that sense it will happen. liz: once again we got a new data point, consumer confidence. we also got, it soared basically. we get that data point, that for

some makings them believe it gets harder to justify even a quarter-point cut but the fed has been very clear. es especially with the vice-chair on of the federal reserve. he said we're looking elsewhere a slowdown globally. >> liz to that point. just this morning i had a debate with somebody, it has been nothing but a sugar high the past year. 2017 change in tax cuts, that brought a lot of money back into the united states. the latest gdp numbers we got last friday, we're seeing business investment relatively soft. overall, people, discussion i had this morning with two trader s, they had the tax cut policies, they overshadowed some weakness in the market which is why this cut is needed. liz: kristina partsinevelos from the floor of the new york stock exchange. here comes the bells.

somewhat anemic day of trading. [closing bell rings] nasdaq is down 21. i cannot stress enough with you while the announcement comes at 2:00 p.m. eastern, jay powell will have a long form news conference. that is when the data comes. >> apple set to release quarterly earnings this hour. find out numbers here first before it impacts your wallet tomorrow. stocks ening in the red after president trump cast doubts on a trade deal. i'm susan li in for melissa francis. connell: i'm connell mcshane. the s&p 500 and the nasdaq also ending in negativeri