so when investors are looking actually at their portfolios, they need to notice what are they exposed to, enterprises or the consumer side. you need to be extremely picky on the consumer side. charles: well, the big names have shined big-time. thanks a lot. liz claman, i give you a 210 point rally. liz: thank you. what a nice gift. christmas in august. thanks, charles. breaking news, we've got wide divisions among fed policy makers that are moving the markets one hour after the federal reserve minutes reveal a raging debate over interest rate moves. how much to cut or whether the american economy needs any cut at all. while still gaining, markets are slightly dipping off their peaks right now after the report was released. the news coming just hours after president trump declared himself quote, the chosen one to take on china. the president making the comments before heading to louisville for a speech. he declared quote, we are winning in his trade war with the world's second biggest economy, but not everyone is

agreeing. you might not, either. once you hear from the ceo of the largest privately held toy company in the world, mga entertainment, makes this super-hot lol surprise doll. its outspoken ceo is here in a fox business exclusive to bluntly state how his company is getting shoved to the bottom of the toy box by tariffs. it's a battle between two of america's biggest corporate names. walmart taking on tesla in a courtroom fight that could change elon musk's plans to dominate the solar power landscape. plus, trade talks not with china but japan are happening right now. how are they going? we are giving you an up to the second update. america's deficit not just growing but exploding. and as the 30-year fixed mortgage rate plummets, charlie breaks it on the final touches being put on the government's plans to reform fannie mae and freddie mac. less than an hour to the closing

bell. let's start "the claman countdown." liz: breaking news. this is a big one. in just a few moments, president trump will sign a memorandum directing the department of education to eliminate all federal student loan debt owed by disabled american veterans. he is apparently going to sign that after the speech he's giving right now at the american veterans' 75th national convention in louisville, kentucky. no word yet on the rest of you but at the moment, people who definitely need it may very well get all of that debt forgiven. to the markets. for once it's not a headline out of d.c. but one from wall street that's juicing the markets in this final hour of trade. this powerful move in the dow, up 218 points, you can thank two stocks, not even listed on the dow jones industrials. exhibit a, take a look at target. surging right now to a new

record high of $101.73. a 19% gain on the heels of better than expected second quarter earnings. the retail giant's quarterly profit jumped 17% thanks to a couple things. its in-store pickup and same-day shipping services. target says the first half of the year hit the target so it's raising its full year estimates. it's not just clothing retailers easing recession anxiety today. exhibit b, the stock of home improvement chain lowe's jumping the most in 11 years after better than expected second quarter numbers. jumping 10.5% right now, lowe's is at $108.11. in-store revenue, same store revenue from u.s. locations jumping 3.2%. the ceo says the results were a reflection of the quote, solid macro economic backdrop. let me translate that for you. the consumer for now is confident enough to spend a lot. but from home improvement to

home building, the narrative does shift just a bit. we have toll brothers sinking 3.66% after reporting third quarter orders were actually down 3% year over year, falling short of analyst expectations. specifically, the california market saw purchase agreements drop by some 36%. this as we got july existing home sales which were up 2.5%. all right. take a note right now at a chart we will show you. this is an annotated chart. the dow had jumped 305 points at session highs earlier today, but look at what happened immediately after the fomc, federal open market committee meeting minutes were released. these were the minutes from the july 30-31st meeting where the fomc cut rates for the first time in more than a decade. you can see how the dow took a slight dip there. as you see it, it's slightly bouncing back up and right now, we are up 219 but the bounce back up was to 280. so as you see, we are not quite

where we were earlier today but what else did we see? treasuries. these have become more and more important to you guys. that's why we are showing them to you. two year, ten-year yield, the treasury yield curve actually flattened and came within less than one basis point of being equal here. so the two-year yield, 1.567%. ten-year yield, 1.577%. when it goes flat and then inverts, that's supposedly the signal that recession is somewhere on the horizon. key word is somewhere. could be two months, could be two years. one major stress point from the meeting, the need for flexibility with policy when it comes to interest rates. this of course is just one day ahead of the start of the federal reserve's annual meeting in jackson hole, wyoming and two days before federal reserve chairman jerome powell will speak before that crowd at the foot of the grand tetons. will mr. powell be able to give investors perhaps a more focused

message from the fed and will we hear a response to president trump's call for the fed to cut by 100 basis points? to our floor show traders. we have so many issues to talk about here. some with great earnings, the other with this big question mark over the fed. tim anderson, what are you looking at as a real driver right now? >> well, right now, clearly the market is benefiting significantly from good news from target and lowe's. there's no doubt there are pockets of the retail space that are still under tremendous pressure, i.e., the department stores still seem to be on the endangered list, but the retailers that have huge mass market appeal, a lot of stores, lot of locations, and can either deliver or arrange same-day pick pickup, those seem to be major beneficiaries right now with combination of the consumer and

internet economy. liz: clearly, i think what tim is saying is they are figuring out they better build a bridge with the online strategy to beat the amazons of the world, et cetera. as you look at what the federal reserve minutes revealed, again, folks, these are rear view mirror explanations of what happened in late july, do you get any clear message of what the fed might do next month? >> well, i think right now the fed's telling you that the most important part of their toolbox, most important tool in the toolbox now is going to be non-rate touching. they are going to look at possibly maybe buying assets, what asset they are going to buy is still unclear. it will likely be bonds. that's why you are seeing treasury yields remain low. i think at this point, the fed right now, where they are going to target their asset purchases like global central banks around the world have been doing and are continuing to do, could it be the stock market, the back end of the curve or the front

end. right now it looks like the back end of the treasury curve remains attractive to the fed and may be the area they target first. liz: i'm wondering, phil flynn, as we are looking at treasuries we should also look at the fed funds futures. we know 100% odds are in there for a rate cut of 25 basis points, certainly. yesterday or the day before, the odds of a 50 basis point or more aggressive odds were actually way lower, 5% chance. right now we're now even, yeah, for now a 50 basis point cut. look at this, we are now at 2.7%. would you go out on a limb and say it's going to be 25 basis points, a smaller rate cut? >> well, that's what you would think. for the first time on the record, we really have two fed officials at least in these minutes that were suggesting they should cut 50 last month, at the last meeting. they're on the record saying that's a possibility. the problem is, on the other side, he's got other fed officials saying whoa, don't do anything, we're fine, everything

is fine. it shows you that the fed is flummoxed. they say they will be flexible. i say flummoxed. they don't really know what to do. you have two sides of the equation, you have donald trump of course calling for a very aggressive cut. you've got other more traditional fed chiefs saying wait a second, our economy is doing great, the consumer is doing great, we're not really worried about this. but they did bring up some very interesting risk the market will have to focus on. for example, the capital ratios of big banks. that's a warning sign to some of these fed officials that maybe this easy money policy will start to have some problems. so there are some warning signs in here, but really, what i get out of this fed officials, they really don't know what to do. so they are going to let the market tell them what to do. if the fed funds futures say we will do a quarter, we will probably do a quarter. if the stock market looks scary, you know, then they are probably going to do a half. but if the stock market looks really hunky-dory we might not

get a cut at all. really, they don't know where they're going to go. that's why the fed funds futures will jump around. liz: i want to see the fed funds futures traders. are they human or algorithmic? >> no, they walk around like zombies. you should see them. they're great. they didn't do anything for three years, just sat there. didn't do a thing. liz: you guys are anything but zombies. you are my power rangers. tim, todd, phil, thank you very much. we appreciate it. i'm watching the dow. now we are up 228. we had been up 305. let's get to trade. when you talk about trade, i know we have been talking about things like, you know, farming and toys, which we will talk about in just a minute, but what about cars? will autos be a beneficiary or a casualty of trade talks going on right now in d.c.? not with china, but japan. that question is on a lot of people's minds at this hour as japan's economic minister meets with the u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer for the first of what will be two days of meetings.

they trying to reach a trade deal, folks. let's broaden this discussion about cars to mercedes. mercedes and the parent company daimler is up 1.5% after mercedes announced it's in talks with california to join that state's plan to reduce tailpipe emissions below the new national targets president trump would like to this according to governor gavin newsom. the trump administration has called this a quote, pathetic attempt and is also trying to pressure other car companies in the industry to avoid getting involved. now, just to give you a little history, california unveiled back in july that as it reached an agreement with ford, honda, bmw and volkswagen to reduce emissions, way more than what the trump administration wants. the trump administration actually wants to ease requirements until 2026. toyota, fiat chrysler and general motors were all then summoned to the white house in an attempt to keep them wit the

president's proposal and away from the plan to keep emission standards low in california. governor newsom said one of these three holdouts is considering joining the california pact. right now, all of the auto names we talked about are higher. to hillary vaughn, live right outside the u.s. trade representative's office in d.c. give us the scoop. what's happening behind closed doors? reporter: liz, we just saw about an hour ago, japan's economic minister personally greeted by u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer. they stood outside talking for a few moments about the weather. it's a very hot day in washington, 90 degrees, but lighthizer said it is good golfing weather, if you're on the green and have this slight breeze. they have been talking over an hour, not about the weather, of course, about this mini trade deal they are considering. this is not a renegotiation of the overall trade relationship between the u.s. and japan, but more of a mini deal that would be a precursor to a larger,

broader trade discussion. the deal on the table addresses japan opening its agricultural market to u.s. goods in exchange for cuts to u.s. industrial tariffs. japan also wants the u.s. to give them immunity from a potential car import tariff the president threatened earlier this year. the benefit of a partial trade deal allows japan to really get ahead of a possible car import tax without having to do an overhaul of the entire trade relationship between the u.s. and japan. this is a two-day trip for the japanese trade delegation. they are here today and tomorrow and then of course, the two leaders meet later at g7 in france and the whole idea, the goal in washington this week is for them to come to an agreement, hammer out a deal so the two leaders in france can actually go through with it. liz? liz: autos, farming, all of this, big discussions. hillary, thank you very much. hillary vaughn. talk about a rush job. with the closing bell ringing in

47 minutes, boeing says it's putting out the we're hiring sign. it's right there, second in line at the very top of the dow 30. the aerospace giant hiring hundreds of temporary aircraft mechans, electricians and technicians in a push pending regulatory clearance to get its grounded 737 max fleet back in the air by early fourth quarter. boeing is flying to the top of the dow 30, up about $7.50. now on monday, remember when we showed you the little stuffed animal toys wrapped up in a fuzzy burrito blanket? the company behind it and the ceo told us he is bracing for the worst when it comes to the raging u.s./china trade war. but what kind of damage will the tariffs do to what is being expected, the number one hottest toy under the tree this december? the man behind the uber-popular lol surprise mini packet doll,

he is here. the always vocal chief executive of mga entertainment standing by and he is not mincing words when it comes to the grinch he says is threatening toy makers and your wallets this holiday season. that's next on "the claman countdown." ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing the all-new chevy silverado. with fifty industry-firsts. it's the strongest, most advanced silverado ever.

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the maker of the must-have toy for the holidays, the lol surprise doll in my hand, says it's a quote fantasy to imagine toy manufacturers will suddenly move operations out of china and back to america even though that's what president trump has repeatedly said he wants and is isaac larian is the man behind the largest privately held toy company in the world. great to have you on. thank you so much. cut to the chase, will you? what kind of tariffs are you paying right now? because the president and of course, peter navarro say people like you are not paying tariffs. >> we are paying -- good morning. we are definitely paying tariffs on certain products. we have a large variety of products, electric scooters, that we pay 10% actually on them

and the prices, i have heard mr. president say and i have a lot of respect for him, he has done some good things for this country, but when he said that china is going to pay for the tariffs, not the consumer, i call that fake news. it doesn't make sense. it doesn't add up. the math cannot be wrong. and i'm a civil engineer by education, i'm good in math, and at the end of the day, the consumer, the u.s. consumer is going to pay for those tariffs, not china. liz: we -- let me just say, we showed the ports and many of them of course are on the west coast for the chinese, the ships that are coming from chine ports, and there's a quick rush to get a lot of this product to the west coast before september 1st because this time around, it's got to arrive, not just be on the water by september 1st. do you have a huge warehouse that you are just stacking this stuff in just to store ahead of

what will be tariffs, whether it's september 1st or december 15th? >> yes, we do have, we are thankful mr. trump moved the tariff on toys to december 15th but we have a huge warehouse in the inland empire and yes, we are bringing massive amount of merchandise to meet the christmas demand. christmas is always on december 25th, i'm told, i'm jewish, but i think christmas is always on december 25th, and you've got to bring the merchandise to meet that demand. if the tariffs go into effect, it's going to disrupt the toy business. frankly, as a businessman, we don't know how to plan our business. one day the tariffs are on, the next day, i'm a big follower of donald trump on twitter, the tariffs on off but as a businessman, not only me, we

cannot manage our business. we don't know but if the price goes up, here, i'm going to show you, this is going to be one of the hottest toys this year, twinkle is the name, and this on youtube has over 1.3 billion views, this product is coming to the market this fall and at retail it's supposed to be $15 which is the magic price point. liz: sure. >> now, if the tariffs go into effect, this item is going to become $18, $19 retail and that's going to put a lot of consumers out of reach to buy this product. liz: yeah. you talk about price points. the price point of the lol surprise doll, i just want to show viewers who don't have 7-year-olds like my floor director austin. you kind of unwind this and inside, i will hand this to austin because he's better at these, you take it and once it's

unwound, you have all kinds of little treats inside. it just captures the fantasy and imagination of kids like you can put the little sunglasses on the dog, this is so beverly hills, sunglasses on a dog, but what would the price point of the lol doll go up to if the tariffs go in? >> the particular one you're holding in your hand is $7.99 and if the tariffs go in place, they go to anywhere between $9 to $10 which basically reduce the number we are going to be able to sell because frankly, even though at $7.99 or $10, a lot of consumers in the usa are not going to be able to afford this, or moms will say we are not going to buy these for $10, we will buy something else or buy milk. so toy business is so sentimental for christmas, for

hanukkah and i urge mr. trump, i know he watches fox news all the time, to please at least spare the toy industry. liz: we love to have you back, we really would. thank you so much for an honest assessment from a real businessman. >> thank you. thank you, liz. good talking to you. liz: isaac larian. the dow is up 226. we are coming right back. (vo) the hamsters, run hopelessly in their cage.

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liz: breaking news. hope for at least some of the 44 million americans student loan borrowers who are drowning in loan debt. moments ago, president trump signed a memorandum easing all federal student loan debt for disabled veterans, but today's numbers from the congressional budget office are not painting a good picture for america's financial fitness overall. today's number from the cbo are not good for america's financial

fitness and for the future of the u.s. federal deficit. it's growing way faster than expected. a new report says the u.s. debt will expand to $960 billion this year. that is $64 billion more than originally predicted. over the next ten years the deficit will grow by more than $800 billion due to tax cuts and government spending. next year, the nation's deficit will top the $1 trillion mark, adding on to the national debt that has now topped $22 trillion. this as president trump said earlier yesterday he was considering cutting the payroll tax but then today, in an impromptu news conference, he said he's not going to cut that tax. all right. to the white house, where we are joined by blake burman. one of the president's major campaign promises was to balance the budget. reporter: yeah. liz: that's not working out as planned. reporter: a trillion dollar deficit, nearly, this year.

a trillion dollar deficit next year. they are projecting. year after year after year after year, as far as the eye can see after that. this is going to be the new norm even as stunning and frightening as the numbers look. just about everyone is saying gear up for this and brace for this. the committee for responsible budget today pointed the finger at lawmakers who have green-lit tax cuts, backed unpaid-for legislation and the recent budget deal as well. the trump administration, a senior administration official just sent me this over moments ago. this is their take on the cbo's numbers saying quote, cbo's recent report should come as no shock and the administration has repeatedly issued the same warning. it should be noted, they say, that the cbo with its secret formulas has been historically wrong on economic assumptions while the administration has been on target. we hope congress will join the president in reining in wasteful spending so future generations of americans can enjoy success and prosperity. that, the take from the trump administration. as you note, the report comes as the president today shut down

the idea of tax cuts in the near term. just yesterday, he said a payroll tax was something he had been thinking about but today, said it's not necessary at this moment. >> i'm not looking at a tax cut now. we don't need it. we have a strong economy. certainly a payroll tax cut, president obama did that in order to artificially jack up the economy. reporter: the president also pulled a 180 on indexing capital gains. yesterday he endorsed the idea. today, though, he said that potential tax benefits should go elsewhere. >> i'm not looking to do indexing. i've studied indexing for a long time. i think it will be perceived if i do it as somewhat elitist. i don't want to do that. i want taxes for the middle class, the workers, the people that work so hard, that's what i'm looking. i think indexing is really probably better for the upper income groups.

i'm not looking to do that. reporter: the president also once again today as we heard from him yesterday, blamed the quote unquote, fake news as he sees it, for trying to cause and talk up a recession. liz: blake burman, thank you very much. we are exactly 30 minutes, well, call it 29 minutes before the closing bell rings and the dow is up 232 points. tesla in certainly the focus of flame throwing. yes, and the thrower is walmart. elon musk's clean tech empire is involved in a major lawsuit that could send its stock up in smoke. we are watching that very closely. and fitbit announces a new initiative that has investors' hearts racing. that story and more straight ahead in today's fox business brief. "the claman countdown" coming right back. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from anyone else.

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announcer: only fidelity offers four zero expense ratio index funds directly to investors. and we have zero ant es for brokerage accounts. at fidelity those zeros really add up. ♪ maybe i'll win ♪ saved by zero gerri: i'm gerri willis with today's fox business brief. the children's place not sharing in the retail sector's joy this hour, shares touching a more than three and a half year low, intraday, after missing on sales in the third quarter and cutting its full year forecast. it is currently trading lower. millenial haven urban outfitters in fashion despite a miss on second quarter sales. a pop in its digital business not enough to offset declines in its brick and mortar parent. still pulling off a bottom line

beat for the second quarter and offering hope for recovery in the second half. urban outfitters up 6.4%. as we head [ inaudible ] signing a deal with singapore that will provide thousands with fitness trackers in the asia-pacific nation. shares are up 3%. up next, the legal throwdown hitting retailer's biggest names against the solar power world's most controversial player. "the claman countdown" coming right back.

liz: we need to look at tesla shares. they are getting singed in this final hour of trade. walmart smacking elon musk's electric empire with a lawsuit over its clean energy division formerly known as solar city. walmart is a customer of tesla's

solar rooftop panels and say those panels atop seven of its stores caught fire, causing millions of dollars of quote, significant damage. this jab to tesla shares coming as the tech giant looks to reinvigorate its clean tech business, slashing prices just four months ago for its panels and just two days after announcing a new solar panel rental plan. tesla's stock right now is down 2.5%. it started dropping yesterday after the bell when news of the lawsuit broke. you see the negativity spilling over and piling up even right now. the stock of tesla at $220.08. let's bring in to find out the effect on both companies, tech guru and "wall street journal" reporter tim higgins along with tesla analyst and oppenheimer managing director colin rusch. tesla and walmart have been partners for years, in fact, hundreds and hundreds me than, what, 240 walmart stores have these solar panels on the roofs for a couple of years now. what do you think is really at work here?

>> well, for tesla, it raises new questions about their ability to execute. that's been a big concern for the last two or three years, as tesla put all its attention on bringing out the model 3, struggling to bring out the compact car, making it, servicing it, delivering it, now you throw in this solar panel issue and it just highlights one of the big problems elon musk has, executing. liz: well, colin, let's get to that. executing the acquisition of solar city in 2016, everybody wondered it was a little bit expensive, i think tesla bought it for th$2.6 billion and everybody was questioning how would they absorb this different business. yes, there are shades of similarities here but this somewhat different business which was still in its nascent stages. what's still going on that it's that controversial? >> we didn't like the acquisition when it happened but they minimized this business in dramatic ways since they acquired it and all these

systems were put up between 2010 and 2016. they have been going through looks like an extensive process trying to mitigate this. i'm not sure why it's escalated to this level of litigation and they couldn't find a solution. it doesn't seem like the issues are particularly complicated. i'm just not sure why it hasn't escalated up to tesla. if we look at this all in, we are estimating about 100 megawatts worth of systems that are at risk here. to fully replace all those would cost about $150 million. it's not a huge number, we think, that would impact tesla but it is a hassle and certainly a headline here that's not nice. liz: yeah. it's not really what tesla needs or any company needs, but tim, you look at that green solar city, those little trucks that ran around installing solar, then you see this, and those solar panels on top of the roofs definitely trashed and torched, it just brings to note that california recently became the very first state to officially mandate solar on homes.

these are new homes. it will take effect for those homes built 2020 or later, but elon musk recently announced a string of tweets that customers can now rent tesla's residential solar panels. are they going to see these pictures of, you know, the aftermath of fires on the roof of walmart and think why would i choose those? >> that's the threat and the risk here. this might not hit tesla's pocketbook but the reputational risk is quite severe, potentially, if customers think these things are dangerous. we haven't heard from tesla yet. they haven't pushed back but the concern is this will be another example that raises doubts in the consumers' minds. liz: does it annoy you that at the moment, we haven't really gotten official comment from tesla about this lawsuit which i can hold in my hand right now, it is rather hefty, and a lot of it is redacted. note that.

i have been looking at some of this and walmart is really, really unhappy. they did file this in the state of new york for the commercial division, and elon, the ceo, is tweeting right now i believe about nuking mars. do we have that tweet? i'm not kidding. yeah. nuke mars. that was the last he tweeted on the 16th of august. we are waiting for some type of comment. have you heard anything? >> we haven't. honestly, these sorts of thing typically take time for a company to respond to it. there is obviously a conflict here, they have been trying negotiate behind the scenes. i'm not sure of all what's going on here. the one thing i do want to note is it's extremely unusual for these sorts of fires to happen, so there has been some sort of [ inaudible ] in terms of insulation and maintenance here. the solar industry has been highly safety conscious given its nascent stages and at this point it's become the cheapest source of energy on rooftops in

a distributed way in about 50% of the country. there is going to be significant growth for solar and it's kind of a shame tesla is minimizing this business because it is a real material opportunity for them. liz: colin, tim, thank you. we just saw the competitors in the solar installation world are moving higher. maybe they are the beneficiary short-term. thank you so much, guys. we are coming right back. the dow is still up about 235 points. who used expedia to book the vacation rental that led to the ride ♪ which took them to the place where they discovered that sometimes a little down time can lift you right up. ♪ flights, hotels, cars, activities, vacation rentals. expedia. everything you need to go.

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liz: i have to ask you guys something. have you ever dreamed of flying on air force one? well, you've heard the expression if you can dream it, you can do it. it's exactly what my newest podcast guest, wes barrett who as a journalist, did. he's flown on air force one not just once or twice, but through entire election cycles to cover the president of the united

states. he is my newest podcast guest. find out how he went from picking cotton and planting peanuts on a farm in rural north carolina to heading up crucial election and white house coverage for the number one cable news network in america. the amazing story of fox news edge managing director wes barrett who is a really nice guy, too. by the way, wes has traveled to six out of the seven continents and president obama knows him on a first name basis. tune in today on apple, google podcasts and fox news podcasts.com. good story. treasury department closing in on a plan to reform government-sponsored enterprises that are mortgage giants, you know them by fannie mae and freddie mac. but can the administration repair very deep cracks dividing the white house when it comes to the blueprints being drawn up for the two mortgage mavens? charlie gasparino owns the story. >> yes. this is breaking news because a lot of people thought this plan was going to be delayed

indefinitely, maybe to the end of the year. here's what we're getting from sources close to the treasury department. remember, a couple months back, the trump administration said it wanted a plan from the treasury department, wanted a plan from hud. it's getting that. here's what we know. it's coming, it's in its final stages at treasury. the white house had to send back some stuff to treasury this week or in the end of next week. i understand that is coming. treasury expects to complete their plan by october -- september or october. that's big news. everybody thought it was delayed. what's going to be in the plan? not exactly sure. recapping relief will be addressed. whether the ipo is addressed, the fannie and freddie is unclear. but this thing is coming down the pike. liz: look at this move, charlie. >> is that me? liz: no. that's the chart. the world does not revolve around you. >> no, go back. go back. that's an intraday. liz: exactly. >> that's me. liz: did you just tweet it?

>> i just tweeted it and you are running the story. we are moving the stock. i will say this, everybody, before everybody gets too ebullient about it. the devil's in the details. again, they are going to be discussing recap and release in this plan, this memorandum. they are not going to be discussing the ipo. they are going to be talking about taking fannie and freddie out of conservatorship. liz: freddie is doing the same thing. >> that's because of your story and because we're talking about it. give yourself some credit. liz: yeah. what he said. >> they are basically going to be talking about why fannie and freddie in this memorandum needs to be out of government control. you do realize housing is like a fifth of the economy. fannie and freddie controls a big chunk of that fifth. it's a $5 trillion market. the government essentially controls a huge chunk of the economy. liz: a 30-year fixed has just dropped to 3.6%.

there is a huge rush to write mortgages and refi. does fannie mae, freddie mac, do they -- >> they are all involved in that. and they're big when it comes to a lot of the borrowers who may not qualify for traditional loans. here's the catch here. this is why i don't want people to get ahead of themselves that this is so great for the common or the preferred. it is really unclear what's going on with fannie and freddie in terms of its footprint going forward. my guess, this will be addressed in the plan, is that both the treasury department and the agency that has to implement the treasury's recommendations, fhfa, they want to reduce the footprint of fannie and freddie to do less of this stuff, because they want it to be privatized and when the government is out, they will reduce the footprint and they don't want a remake of what happened in 2008 where both of them did so much insured so much stuff, guaranteed so many mortgages they went out of

business. again, let's get the headline. treasury department waiting for the white house, for its weigh-in on this plan. the treasury department putting together a plan. that should be out in september, october. recap and release will be in it. liz: charlie, thank you very much. we are coming right back. we will take a look at the bond market in a moment. - did you know that americans that bought gold in 2005 quadrupled their money by 2012? and even now many experts predict the next gold rush is just beginning. so don't wait another day. physical coins are easy to buy and sell and one of the best ways to protect your life savings from the next financial meltdown. - [narrator] today, the u.s. money reserve announces . . ficial gold coins of the united states and are being sold for the price on your screen.

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liz: we're seeing a recession signal almost like a flare gun going off. it happened briefly. we're just about there. inverted yield curve between the two-year, 10-year treasury yields, briefly inverted first time in a week. we do have it, if you look on th screen, i will explain it to you, the two year yield at 1.575%. the 10-year yield is at 1.581%. that is barely, barely away from

inversion at the moment. let us go to u.s. leapfrogging over russia and saudi arabia to become the largest oil producer in the world. is there a way to kind of make a deal on that or some type of investment? let's go to go hennessey bp midstream fund portfolio manager, ben cook. can i get you, ben, with limited time, yield curve inversion many say signal recession is coming. we saw it again for the first time in a week. can you venture to guess what is going on? >> whether yield curve inversion or macroeconomic data coming out of china, there are a number of warning signs at least has market, oil market focused on demand worries. from our perspective. we don't see meaningful decline in demand. we've seen a modest decline in demand over last six months. nothing of significance to worry that recession on the horizon. melissa: do you think bond

market is sending out warning shots of recession in the united states -- you said you didn't see any problem with demand. is it more what is going on in europe? germany today, float ad 30 year bond at a negative rate. granted it was minus .1 of 1%, but that has never happened before. so now, 30 years out, it is a negative return? do you think that that may be kind of nudging our bond market to do these types of things? >> well, again, i think, you know, what is happening in germany, the demand for loanable funds falling off there, rates, yield curve under zero, is indication there are warning signs. potential for slowing economic growth is on the horizon. as i mentioned, you know, from our perspective, from our work, as relates to the outlook for demand, we think that, demand should remain robust and grow on order of a million barrels per day this year, which sets up nicely for oil and gas companies. liz: i would think. what are your favorite names out

there. >> there are a number of sectors of the industry that we look at, we favor today, in the upstream space. we like conocophillips and midstream sector, we like energy products and midstream transfer. liz: okay. when you envision what will happen with crude oil, we have the movement where people are buying hybrids, electric vehicles, do you see that as an issue at all? >> the growth in hybrids is something to take recognition of, we recognize there is growth in renewable technologies that will offset some demand. the impact today is diminimus. there will be probably be no significant impact for another decade in terms of global demand for oil and high droved carbons. the real driver is a population growth in southeast asia and india. we're seeing lifestyle improvement. pursuit of better quality of

life. [closing bell rings] that implies use of hydrocarbons. liz: ben cook, hennessey midstream fund. thanks. the markets charge higher. see you tomorrow on "the claman countdown." connell: wall street throughout the day all three major averages we follow in the green. upbeat earnings reports really upbeat on the retail scene. that is a sign of consumer ng that we'll talk about. as we await more retailers, nordstrom reporting second quarter result this is hour. so we'll have that. as breaks. we'll look at impact on your wallet for tomorrow. as things stand, the dow settling higher on the day by 242 points. so, that's a pretty good gain. we will take it. good to be with you. i'm connell mcshane. melissa: i'm melissa francis. this is "after the bell." the s&p 500 and nasdaq also ending in positive territory on the day. look at nasdaq up almost a