strategy because we don't know what they stand for. we know what they stand against. standing against everything is not going to get us excited. maria: what do you think? >> they stand for reducing our quality of life and their climate change proposal is immoral. maria: let's get to "varney & company." stuart, take it away. stuart: i bet you didn't watch it all the way through, did you? maria: no, i didn't. how could you? could anybody? stuart: how could anybody? maria: seven hours on climate? stuart: i couldn't take seven minutes. but that's another story. good morning to you, maria. good morning, everyone. all right. as things stand right now before the market opens, the major indicators are again very close to their all-time record highs. hard to believe after all the anxiety and volatility of the summer but if you hung in there, you are looking good. when we open today, you might look a bit better. look at this. the dow is 2% from its high. it's going to open up about 60 points. the s&p, 1.5% from its high. it's going to go up a few

points, too. the nasdaq, 2.7% from its high. it will open today again, on the upside maybe 30 points. new trade figures suggest china's hurting badly from the trade fight and weekend disturbances in hong kong suggests xi jinping still has a problem in his backyard. all of that suggests president trump has a strong hand to play in the china trade fight. quick look at interest rates. another positive for stocks, maybe. the yield on treasuries no longer inverted and rates have at least for now stopped their plunge. look at that. the ten-year almost at 1.60. troubling developments for the vaping business. the cdc now reports five deaths related to vaping, and it's recommending that people stop doing it while they investigate the safety. here's the question. regardless of what you put into a vaping device, does the act of putting any vapor into your lungs cause harm? big deal for the vaping business. we've got news on at & t, news on apple, amazon is hiring big,

and what would you do if you woke up with an extra $120,000 in your bank account? we cover it all. "varney & company" about to begin. there's no question there's a considerable slowdown in the world economy both in china and in europe, but as you look at the u.s., we continue to be the bright spot of growth. i just came from the g7 with the president a few weeks ago and that's what everybody was talking about. i don't see in any way the u.s. recession. stuart: that was pretty clear-cut. treasury secretary on this network in the last hour. the threat of recession is out of the way. therefore, are we going to hit new highs on the stock market? we've got a couple market watchers to assess that question. keith fitz gerald and jack hough. do we get to new highs and if

so, when? keith first. >> i think by later this week, certainly mid next week at the latest. these things tend to become self-fulfilling prove si ining . the market wants higher prices. stuart: what's the big push making us go higher? >> i think it's going to be a lack of headlines. it's not going to be an overt push that comes at us. it's going to be what doesn't come at us, in my opinion, because that's going to install confidence, give traders the ability to put in new money and last week's rally was a good one. stuart: jack, do we get to new highs in the immediate future? do we get to new highs and when? >> yes, and soon. stocks are still quite a good deal relative to bonds. all you need, you don't need perfection in the backdrop. you just need signs that we're not heading into recession. we see those signs now. manufacturing is weak but services are strong. corporate america looks okay. i don't see recession in the near future.

i think stocks move up from here. stuart: it's fascinating to see the reversal of sentiment because just a couple of weeks ago, recession was the talk of the day. china trade dispute, talk of the day. any headline came across the transom, down we went. now, plain sailing towards new highs. >> what you are describing is a market for stocks where people lose their minds in the short term every week, but people who hang on for the long term make money and that's the market we have seen for quite some time. stuart: keith, did any of your clients, did anybody panic? sell out and regret it? >> no. fortunately not. that's a marked change because in years past, my phones would have been ringing off the hook, what do we do, what do we do. this week everybody is calling and say what do we buy, this looks great, i'm glad we stayed in. all the sentiment you just voiced was very reassuring and confidence-boosting. stuart: what brings us down? what can you see on the horizon that might bring us down on the market? what do you think? >> i think there's going to be

another tweet related to china because it's right about that sort of 10 to 14-day period where they will launch something and say we will do x and you will do y. there will be something out of china that will surface. don't pay much attention to it. that's how they play ball. stay with the companies and the economy that matters. that's ours. stuart: we shall do exactly that. thanks very much for joining us. this might be a black eye potentially for apple ahead of the big -- i think it's going to be an iphone reveal tomorrow. the company along with the manufacturing partner, its partner, reportedly broke a chinese labor law to build this new iphone. what did they do wrong? lauren: they hired too many temporary or dispatch workers, about 50%, the number is supposed to be around 10%. the china labor watch group is the one who told us about this. they said something that i found interesting. they said apple is transferring the cost from the trade war through the suppliers to the workers. so they are saying they are hiring too many dispatch or

temporary workers and not paying them enough and they are working in harsh working conditions to build the new phone that we are all expected to go out and buy because it's going to change our lives starting tomorrow. stuart: it was a complaint but won't affect the stock. lauren: it's up today. stuart: okay. let's get to the vaping story. five vaping-related deaths. the cdc and the state of new york issuing warnings on those vaping products. dr. marc siegel is with us. seems to me that no matter what substance you put in the vaping device, it goes into your lungs. vapor goes into your lungs. we don't know at this point whether -- how dangerous that is. >> that's very well said by you. 450 people across 33 states have reportedly gotten very very sick, and putting oil in your lungs, heated oil in your lungs, is not what your lungs are supposed to be seeing. stuart: there's got to be some form of residue. >> exactly. which is why the centers for disease control are saying stop vaping, period. but the fda is saying, this is

interesting, that they think it's related to cannabis oils in marijuana, thc type products and the fda is saying stay away from that. the state of wisconsin looked into this and found 89% of the people with problems are with those cannabis type oils and new york state thinks it's vitamin e that's literally vitamin e in the cannabis product you are vaping in your lungs and vitamin e is an irritant to the lungs. they haven't proven that yet. they are like sherlock holmes zooming in on it. we're not there yet. but vaping is clearly something we have to look at more closely and over time, vaping can damage your lungs no matter what, but not as much as cigarettes do. stuart: that's interesting. it can damage your lungs but it's not as dangerous as smoking tobacco in the normal cigarette fashion. >> right. stuart: what do we do? >> stuart, the problem is, when you start vaping when you are a teen, guess what you end up doing a lot of the time? smoking cigarettes. nicotine is so highly addictive. we have to clamp down on teens

getting access to e-cigarettes. i know you hate regulations, but -- stuart: i'm with you on this. >> it's illegal for people under the age of 18 to be using e-cigarettes in every state in the union, illegal. dick durbin is saying get rid of the fda unless the fda clamps down on this and starts to heighten regulations and restricting access to teens. one out of three twelfth graders is now vaping. stuart: bottom line, as we speak, the vaping industry is taking a hit. >> and a deserved one. stuart: okay. all right. doctor, thank you very much indeed. i think at & t may be the stock of the day. the investor group elliott management says -- they bought a stake in the stock and said make a few changes at at & t and it could be at 60 bucks a share by the end of 2021. it's at $38 now. that's premarket. jack, end of 2021, 60 bucks a share for at & t? what do you think? >> that's ambitious but i do

think the stock is headed well higher. we have it on the list of stocks for impatient value investors, in other words, cheap stocks that latelyly sta started to ri you don't want to wait forever for your stocks to start working. a yield of over 5%, the cash flow is very strong, supporting the dividend well. not everything is perfect about the business. the phone business is strong, the tv business is not strong but they have some fixes they will put in place there. i think investors will collect a big dividend. stuart: i bought a little of it in the low 30s because i like the dividend payment. >> as investors become more confident about that dividend the stock will rise. stuart: look, we have the president just -- trump is tweeting about this at & t stuff. here we go. great news that an activist investor is now involved with at & t, as the owner of very low ratings at cnn, perhaps they will now put a stop to all the fake news emanating from its noncredible anchors. also, i hear that because of its bad ratings, it is losing a

fortune. most importantly, cnn is bad for the usa. their international division spews bad information, fake news all over the globe. this is why foreign leaders are always asking me why does the media hate the u.s. so much. it is a fraudulent shame and all comes from the top. all right. having said that, mr. president, let's go back to keith. would you buy at & t? >> you know, i'm with jack. i think this is a very interesting stock. the only question i have, stuart, is whether or not growing this stock means stripping the business. if it's getting rid of some of the tv stuff, where they got a lo lot of competition, fine. if it's going to digital and they grow it, that's a bet i think seriously about taking. stuart: i don't know what changes elliott management might make to cnn. >> exactly. stuart: exactly. >> i wish the president would tell us how he really feels on that twitter feed. i have trouble reading between the lines there. stuart: all right. gentlemen, thank you very much indeed. check futures monday morning. here we go.

real close to all-time highs. we will be going up at the opening bell this morning. 60 for the dow, 10 for the s&p, maybe 20, 25 for the nasdaq. all the top democrat contenders, ten of them, will be onstage for this week's debate thursday night. we will see senator warren against vice president biden for the first time in the same place on the stage, the debate stage. warren, by the way, has momentum. joe biden does not. more protests in hong kong. many of the protesters carried, look at that, american flags. the pressure is clearly on president xi. look who's coming up in our next hour. hall of fame running back emmitt smith. he's going to tell you how you can work out with him at the super bowl. "varney & company" just getting started on a monday morning. ♪♪ ♪♪

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elizabeth macdonald is back on the show. liz: forgot my name. stuart: there are so many elizabeths in this world at this moment. what have you got for us? liz: unexpectedly, china's exports dropped dramatically, 16% year over year in august, versus a 6% drop in july. global exports from china to the rest of the world, down 3% while taiwan, israel, the european union, the pacific rim, are exporting things like more advanced technology into the u.s. so the word on the street is that china likely will do something again, weaken its currency. here's the problem with that. its consumers get hurt when you weaken its currency. they have less powerful currency to buy things. so they are in a really really really tough spot right now. also, using satellite imagery, china is not likely growing 6% annually, probably half of that. stuart: ouch. we have trouble right there. so if we were to say look, china is hurting because of the trade

dispute, and for other reasons, we also say in hong kong the protests flared up again and we saw a lot of american flags in the crowd over the weekend. that seems to be two factors putting xi jinping, china's leader, in a corner. curtis ellis, former trade and jobs adviser to the trump campaign, is with us now. looks like he is increasingly in a corner which my judgment says gives president trump more leverage. >> yeah. xi jinping is under pressure from all sides. remember, before he was president for life, his portfolio included hong kong. if he's taking personal blame inside the politburo for the mess that is hong kong, he's supposed to be an expert on hong kong. how did he misplay this? as liz was saying, the economy is in terrible shape in china. in addition, pork prices going up 10% in ten days. they are rationing pork in the cities in china. half of the hog herd in china

has been killed by this disease, african swine fever. that's why they're not buying soybeans from the united states. they got no animals to feed them to. the consumer inflation in china is running out of control. on basic things like food. you've got the economy slowing down. he's under tremendous pressure and non-performing loans in chinese banks are going up so it's very weak. stuart: it's a bad situation economically. the trouble in hong kong rolls on. add it all together, do you think we will get any kind of trade deal with xi jinping before the election? any kind of deal at all? >> very very slight chance. we have to remember -- stuart: that means xi jinping is digging himself into his corner. >> oh, yes. stuart: it will get worse from here. >> he will want a deal. he needs a deal. he's now debating do i try to wait trump out, can i wait 16 months. we have to remember, this is not about trade. this is about do we want a nation of laws and freedom.

this is an -- china presents an existential threat to our way of life. stuart: from our point of view, from a financial point of view, we want to know if any kind of trade deal coming down the pike and you think it is very unlikely, any kind of deal? >> i don't have a crystal ball but i tell you what, from a financial point of view, we cannot have the second largest economy in the world violating all the rules of the game. stuart: fair point. fair point. you make a good case. elliott, thanks -- curtis, thanks very much for joining us. curtis ellis. sorry. elliott management is taking a piece of at & t. liz: there's a lot of news in your head. stuart: futures up 60 for the dow, 25 for the nasdaq. now look at amazon. they are hiring in six major metropolitan areas. you will hear about it first here, next. the world is built for you. so why isn't it all about you when it comes to your money?

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stuart: this just coming to us. ups has announced they are hiring, wait for it, 100,000 people for the holiday season. the stock is up. i don't think it's related to that. maybe it's a sign they expect good business in the holidays. ups stock up $1.60. now take a look at amazon. they have a major hiring announcement this morning. 30,000 permanent jobs in six

cities. joining us first on fox business, amazon executive ardine williams. welcome to the program. would you tell us first of all, confirm these are 30,000 permanent jobs and please tell us where they are going to be located. >> good morning. thanks for having me. these are 30,000 permanent roles across the united states, and we believe that we have a role for just about everyone. amazon's very proud to have created more than 300,000 full-time jobs in the u.s. in the last decade, more than any other u.s.-based company. we like to fill at least 30,000 jobs as quickly as we can. stuart: may i ask if all of these 30,000 jobs that are permanent, do they carry benefits as well? $15 an hour minimum, is that it? >> absolutely. $15 minimum wage across the company and the full-time roles come with robust benefits, the same egalitarian benefits that i have are the same that our

fulfillment center workers do, that includes up to 20 weeks of innovative parental leave program. stuart: are you hiring seasonal workers for the holidays as well? >> we are, but that isn't what this announcement is today. we will begin seasonal hiring. we are focused today on the career days for those 30,000 roles. the career days will be held in cities across the united states, six of them to be specific, and it's an opportunity for candidates to come in, learn more about what it's like to work at amazon, explore the different openings, work on their resume, perhaps work with a recruiter on their interview skills, then decide which role they would like to apply for. stuart: it's a tight labor market. do you expect any trouble hiring those 30,000? >> you know, it is a tight labor market and that's good news for workers. we continue to believe that we offer really good jobs and we hired more than 80,000 people last year, so we are confident that we can continue to create

that value proposition that brings people to the company. stuart: ardine williams, amazon, thanks for joining us. we really appreciate it. come again and see us soon. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: we are opening this market monday morning in about five minutes' time. we will be up 50 for the dow, up 20 for the nasdaq. back in a moment. ♪

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stuart: got a new tweet from the president. let me put it in context. at & t is in the news this morning. the president tweeted about at & t which owns cnn. the president does not like cnn at all. now we've got this tweet from the president. here we go. as bad as cnn is, comcast msnbc is worse. their ratings are also way down because they have lost all credibility. i believe their stories about me are not 93% negative but actually, 100% negative. they are incapable of saying anything positive despite all of the great things about this administration and what we've done. they don't talk about the great economy, the big tax and regulation cuts, the rebuilding of the military, choice at our va, our vets, judges and supreme court justices, the border wall going up, lowest crime numbers, second -- and so much more. you get the gist of it.

the president having a go at the parent company of cnn which is at & t, time warner at & t and also against comcast which owns nbc, et cetera. busy day on the twitter machine this morning. it's 9:30 eastern time. we are off and running. i believe we will open just a fraction higher. okay. here we go. yeah, we are up -- that's it, look at that, up 74 points. not expecting a gain quite like that. now we are up 50. that's more like it. call it a 50-point gain right from the get-go. that's a fraction. how about the s&p 500? where is that? up about one-third of 1%. okay. no, sir d nasdaq composite up .33%. the ten-year treasury yield couple weeks ago, we were down below 1.40, now we are pushing 1.60. all right. 1.56. let's be precise. we are still up from the lows of the last couple weeks. activist investor elliott management has taken a $3

billion stake in at & t. they want to shake things up. they expect the company to shed unnecessary assets. that's what they are calling for. they think the stock goes to 60 bucks a share by the end of 2021. that may be the stock of the day. your grandfather's stock, too. joining us, jeff sica, jack hough, lauren simonetti and welcome back, elizabeth macdonald. i have a thin sliver of at & t. i bought it for the dividend. when i bought it, it was paying 6%. at this price it's 5%. should i be worried about at & t? >> i don't know if you necessarily should be worried but i do think -- stuart: i'm not. i don't know why that was in the script. i'm not worried in the slightest about that. the thing is up. i'm still getting a dividend. go. >> i wouldn't be overly concerned about it. these antitrust plays are becoming very common and i don't think it's going to affect at & t at all. stuart: an antitrust play? >> in terms of the breakup of at & t or the breakup of other companies. i think it's not going to make a

difference. liz: that dividend is better than a bond fund. stuart: sure is. at $37 a share you get 5%. if that dividend is safe, you're right. that's better than a bond fund. you think it goes to 60 by the end of 2021? you have written about this. >> they generate enough cash flow to invest in content and pay down debt. as they pay down debt, any anxiety about the dividend and whether it's sustainable is going to be reduced over time. that 5% whatever it is looks pretty attractive relative to any bond out there. i think the stock moves higher as investors come to fall in love with that dividend yield over time. stuart: could be stock of the day. it's a huge company, big stock. look at it go, up 4% in the very early going. now, take the big picture for a second. we are a couple major rallies away from record highs for all the averages. jeff, let's bring you into this. do we make new highs in the immediate future, dow, s&p, nasdaq? >> i believe the narrative that

the market is going to hit new highs but i'm very concerned of the market's ability to keep the new highs, primarily because two things need to happen. the fed has to lower interest rates or be willing to lower interest rates, and the trade negotiations have to be successful. if that doesn't happen, the market is going to turn. i think we will get momentum but i don't think it's going to last for too long. stuart: we are about 2% away from the high on the dow, 2.5% away from the high on the nasdaq, 1.5% away on the s&p. we are pretty close. two good rallies and you're there, new highs. let's take a look at google and facebook. big press conference taking place this afternoon and the press conference will take place outside the supreme court, on the steps thereof. some state attorneys general announcing separate antitrust probes into the two companies. so far, the stock prices have not been affected by these antitrust probes.

do you think they ever will be? >> what's the remedy here? you are going to break it up into google and schmoogle? people use these services, they like these services. facebook is a social network. i think it lends itself to monopoly control because everybody wants to be in a place where everyone else is. lauren: but the ceos are held accountable and there are calls for that to happen, if they are held accountable for disinformation, for breach of your private data, that could affect how the companies do business. there needs to be more than a fine or slap on the wrist for constant abuses of their -- >> here's how i look at it. you have a bipartisan effort right now and as long as there's this continuation of concern over whether they have responsibility for content, they are going to spend a lot of money fighting it. i agree with jack that it's going to be very difficult to break these behemoth companies up, but i do think that there is concern over their growth. >> that's the risk, it's

political risk because of the hyper partisan environment, they have no natural friends on either side. democrats think they threw the election for trump. republicans think they are suppressing conservative thought. there's no friends for these companies. that's the risk, politics. lauren: you might not be able to break them up but you might be able to prevent them from buying their smaller competition, getting bigger. >> the legislation they are trying to overturn is 1990 legislation that was made to make them responsible for content. they do need to update the legislation and that may take its toll on these companies. stuart: as we speak, alphabet google at $1200 a share. facebook at $187. take a look at big tobacco. five vaping related deaths and the cdc and the state of new york issuing warnings about vaping products. big tobacco is invested in these vaping companies, especially altria. they have a piece of juul, i believe. are they getting worried about that investment? >> i think so. for many, many years i would have told you the unpopularity of tobacco companies works to the advantage of investors.

you can buy the shares cheaply, you can collect big dividends, you can reinvest in more shares and make money over time. i think this is a huge existential threat to these companies. there needs to be a next chapter to the story beyond smoking cigarettes. it was supposed to be vaping and if -- stuart: wait, wait, wait. the question here is, is there real doubt about the future of the vaping industry? >> yes. stuart: could it be totally banned? liz: possibly. here's why. because vaping was seen as this magical new delivery system into your body for things like vitamins, vitamin d. also, they are seeing unregulated viagra products in some of these vaping, yes, coming out of japan. here's the irony. if you don't legalize pot, or you have less oversight, less regulation and more of these bad things coming into the vaping world. >> also because they are marketing these products towards kids. they are making the flavors like bubblegum flavors. stuart: that's going to stop. you can stop that. >> but what i see is i see the

flipside of this coin is the tobacco companies are going to look at how many of these deaths are related to black market type vape juices and they will look at it as well and regulate it. stuart: listen to this. the problem for these companies, for the vaping companies, is liability. if one of their devices is used in whatever context, they have provided the device which hurts somebody. they are liable. that's a killer. liz: that is a killer. it's a big headline risk for this industry. also, how do you vape if you don't have oil? what's the alternative delivery system? >> just a side note for your viewers, there is no vaping on the road to quitting smoking. just stop -- the thing that makes you want nicotine is your last dose of nicotine. stop doing it. viagra, i can't speak to. >> because of the accessibility it makes it that people can smoke all day in public places because you could take out a juul and no one will detect it and you can do it all day.

lauren: teenagers and kids who never smoked a cigarette have become addicted to these vaping devices. so they were put on the market to get you off of smoking and off of nicotine and they are creating a whole new generation of smokers. stuart: that is a hit on the entire vaping industry. well said. all right. we are now eight minutes into the session. we are up 22 points on the dow. let's have a look at at & t again. they just responded to elliott management's statement saying we look forward to engaging with elliott, we will review elliott management's perspectives in the context of the company's business strategy. at & t board and management team believe that execution of the company's strategy is the best path forward to create a long-term value for shareholders. they don't mind elliott's bid and $3 billion stake. >> lot of multi syllable words that didn't say a whole lot. stuart: took a long time to read it but no serious complaints. here's another.

add grocery store chain albertson's to the list of big name retailers changing gun policy. they will say even in states where you're allowed to full carry, don't do it, don't bring them into our store. it's another example of retailers and/or industries and businesses getting -- being part of public issues. >> it's such a bizarre world we live in. i grew up in a gun-owning household. stores out there have to say look, don't openly demonstrate firearms in our stores because it makes our shoppers nervous. i'm sure there's going to be a big hyperpartisan argument about that. some of this stuff just seems like it ought to be common sense. stuart: okay. well, look, i spent time in a full carry county. never seen a gun on the streets. >> my problem with this, this initiative, i agree with jack in terms of it being what they need to do, but my problem is that law-abiding citizens are the ones who are getting hurt by this that want to protect themselves in the store. no psycho that's going to go into a store is going to care

what the store policy is but those people who are in the store that could have protected themselves if they had -- were able to exercise their second amendment right are in far better shape. stuart: i want to get this in, because we have had a twitter storm already from the president. jpmorgan has launched an index that tracks how the president's tweets affect the market. what did they find? liz: it affects the bond market t short term, two-year and five-year. especially when the president tweets at 3:00 in the morning and the markets aren't open. so if it has words like china products, monetary policy in his tweets, those words, jpmorgan index covfefe, named after that mysterious tweet, it moves the markets. >> how much longer before someone launches an exchange traded fund, it's 9:40 now, maybe by 2:00? the. lauren: the president tweets on average ten times a day. stuart: ten times a day? liz: 14,000 since election day.

lauren: isn't that crazy? stuart: check the -- okay. 9:40. sorry. jeff and jack, gentlemen, thanks very much for joining us. see you soon. check that big board. we are up 30 points on the dow industrials. 26,827. several retailers rallied big-time last week on nice profits. does this mean the consumer is here to stay? will the consumer save the economy? are they saving the economy? sure looks like it. another for facebook. its dating app, how are they going to protect your privacy? that's an interesting question. emmitt smith will join us. he's going to respond to bernie sanders calling for college athletes to be paid. that's interesting. we'll be right back. at fidelity, we believe your money

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stuart: we are up but only just, 32 points higher for the dow industrials in the very early going this monday morning. the activist investor group elliott management bought a $3 billion stake in at & t. they want to shake things up. they are calling on the company to shed unnecessary assets. remember, at & t has more than $170 billion worth of debt on the books at the end of last year. stocks still going up, though. looks like stock of the day. however, boeing, that's a drag on the dow. kristina partsinevelos, come in, please. what's wrong with boeing now? kristina: there's another story that involves the 777x, long haul wide body plane. it failed a stress test. this is the plane that if you go on their website, they call this plane the company flagship. it's the world's largest and most efficient twin engine jet. it was supposed to be launched in 2020 but they had to do a stress test. one of the most recent ones where they test the plane to see

if it can carry heavy loads. according to the "seattle times" one of the cargo doors blew right off during the test. this as we know comes at a time where the 737 max 8 planes have been grounded well into december. not pleasing regulators, and the most recent news we are getting right now is american airlines has grounded that plane until december 3rd and united airlines has grounded it until december 19th, hence the reason why you are seeing the stock price down this morning. stuart: it does not stop, does it. kristina partsinevelos, thanks very much indeed. we saw retailers do well last week, posting some pretty good profits. we saw restaurants bringing in a great deal of money, almost record spending in restaurants. which makes me think it's the consumer that's really bailing out this economy, if it needs bailing out. brian wesbury, an economist, with us now. is the consumer the main source of strength in this economy? >> right now it is, stuart. the last six months at an

annualized rate, retail sales up 6.5% at an annual rate. so that's a boom in the economy. stuart: that's very strong. >> yeah. if you have 2% inflation, let's say, that means it's 4.5% real growth. what's interesting is what held down the second quarter gdp number and it's probably going to hold back the third quarter a little bit, is that businesses aren't producing as much as consumers are spending. so what's happening is inventories are going down and that's holding back gdp. we believe it's only a matter of time, i mean, businesses can tell me all day long oh, we're uncertain about trade wars with china and all of these other things, but in the end, if the consumer keeps spending, and i believe the consumer will, producers have to start making goods and services to sell them. stuart: okay. we are very interested in what

kind of rate of growth we are going to get towards the end of the year. 2% in the second quarter, what will we get in succeeding quarters. larry kudlow was on the show friday. hold on a second. here's what larry kudlow told me about growth last friday. roll the tape. >> as a rule of thumb, back of the envelope, real gdp equals productivity plus employment growth. that gets you to over 3% right now. so if we remove some of the monetary obstacles and we continue our incentives with low tax rates and rollback of regulations and cheap and plentiful energy, i'm going to play this on the bullish side, i'm sure you're shocked to hear that. stuart: larry kudlow there. look, the man's talking about 3% growth in the immediate future. can we get there? >> i think we can. by the way, i'm going to agree with him on the bullish scenario

and the growth. i'm going to disagree with him that the fed has anything to do with this. the fed is not tight, 2.1% federal funds rate, 1.5% ten-year yields, none of those interest rates are holding back the economy. what's holding back things, i think there is some trade uncertainty and that's keeping producers from fulfilling their in a sense duty to consumers, and i think they're going to come back and start producing in the fourth quarter. the third quarter, 1.5%, 2% growth. but we have 3.5% right now for the fourth quarter, and i think 3% growth for next year. stuart: we would like to see that. >> and deregulations are working. stuart: they are indeed. appreciate you being with us, brian. looking for 3.5% growth later this year. good stuff. thanks. check the dow 30. it's a mixed picture at the moment. we have mostly winners but a few

losers. the dow is up 19 points. here's a question for you. would you eat vegan cupcakes? our next guest says there's plenty of demand for them. so hot is the demand she's adding them to her bakery chain. vegan cupcakes. liz: delicious. stuart: back after this. retire. with my annuity, i know there is a guarantee. it's for my family, its for my self, its for my future. annuities can provide protected income for life. learn more at retire your risk dot org.

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stuart: i have a smile on my face for this one. plant-based protein meatlessness, meatless that, all the rage right now but vegan cupcakes? come on. joining us, melissa [ inaudible ] which has 14 locations in the new york area, employs 250 people and is a raring to go concern. is that right? >> yes. stuart: i have in front of me your vegan cupcakes. okay. before i taste these things, are you sure there is real demand for this? >> i am sure. our customers have been asking for vegan cupcakes for a long time. stuart: in new york? >> all over the country. stuart: not much in kansas, i suspect. >> well, we ship to all 50 states. we hear our customers all over the country. stuart: what is -- i'm going to pick one out. >> yay! you picked the super fruit cupcake. stuart: what's in this one? >> funny that you ask.

chia seeds and acai -- stuart: wait. wait. spirulena? what's that? >> a plant-based super food. stuart: super food? >> very nutrient-dense. this flavor was inspired by my three and a half-year-old. raw beet in icing, that's what makes it pink. the topping is a sunflower seed, sesame seed and cinnamon brittle. stuart: it's minute. >> it's delicious. it's a bite, it's just about 50 calories. stuart: a bite? 50 calories a bite? >> a hand-crafted morsel, the best vegan cupcake you will ever have in your entire life. stuart: it will be the only vegan cupcake that i -- wait, wait, wait. i'm going to eat the whole thing. is that allowed? >> yes, go for it. you can eat it however you want. my goal is to have cupcakes for everyone. our bite-sized cupcakes make the perfect gift. now if you have somebody who has

a vegan diet in your life, you could send them -- stuart: i could, if i knew anybody who was a vegan. doesn't taste like a cupcake. >> what does it taste like? stuart: spirulina, chia seeds and beets. >> you have to taste the cookie dough now. you have to have a second one. or triple chocolate fudge or peanut butter. peanut butter cake, peanut butter icing, salty peanut butter topping. stuart: you brought me a six-pack. >> and a 25-pack. stuart: leave those. how much for the six-pack? >> a little over $10. stuart: you are going to charge me over $10 for six of these vegan cupcakes? >> those are made entirely by hand with the most delicious ingredients. stuart: by hand? >> by hand. stuart: no, no, no. >> yes, yes, yes. stuart: you do not have a human being who squeezes those little things on to the top. >> like this. it's stuffed like this, iced like this and each one is topped slightly differently depending on what the topping is. stuart: last time we had you on

the show i think about a year ago, i don't know what line of cupcakes you were selling at that point but tell me, how much has your business grown in the last 12 months? will you tell me? >> we are up over 40% on e-commerce, on our website. our stores are up year over year also. we have an incredible product that makes people happy and the best gift ever. so if you decide to ship baked by melissa for someone you love because you are thinking of them, they get to experience it for the first time, they love it and use it as a gift after. it's that good. stuart: that good. okay. leave these here for me, okay? i will snack on them throughout the show and feel good about myself. melissa ben-ishay, thank you. we enjoy having you on the show. thanks for the samples, too. thashgs thanks, melissa. tasted interestingly, i must say. the top candidates will be on the stage for the debate this week. i want to see how elizabeth warren goes after joe biden.

it's her first chance on the debate stage with him at the same time. my take on that coming up, top of the hour. emmitt smith, you know him, nfl all-time leading rusher, he's on the show. going to tell us how to work out with him on super bowl day. we'll be back. mebody be listening? so. let's talk. we're built for hearing what's important to you, one to one. edward jones. it's time for investing to feel individual. . . i get it all the time. "have you lost weight?" of course i have- ever since i started renting from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off.

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stuart: politics is just fascinating, isn't it. okay, exasperating, toxic confrontational in the extreme, yes to all of the above but this thursday night i will be glued to the democrat debate. i'm setting an alarm so i wake up to watch it from beginning to end. for a start, it is just about the last chance for second-tier candidates kamala harris and mayor pete, to break through to front-runner status. if they can't do that, if they can't manage it, the money starts to dry up. they're going to be in attack mode. it is their only chance. for joe biden it's a chance to change the fumbling, stumbling,

gaffe-prone image. he will have to be focused and alert. he will be under attack. the others want his voters. if he falters again, he will have a hard time recovering. moderates are worried he can't stay the course. elizabeth warren has momentum. she wants to keep it going. she is rising in the polls. she is drawing in enthusiastic crowds. if she makes a big impact at the debate she can overtake the other far left candidate, bernie sanders. thursday will be the first time senator warren shares the debate stage with joe biden. she will probably go after him. friday morning we'll know a lot more about the idealogical state in the democratic party. i think it is going socialist. the juice in the party is going far left. not hapless joe biden or already trailing harris or mayor pete. the others are looking for a cabinet job or speaking deals. bottom line for me, none of the democrats, socialist or otherwise are electable.

that is where i'm coming from. the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ stuart: look who is here. fox news contributor jason chaffetz. welcome back, jason. good to see you. >> thank you, good morning. stuart: i'm sure you heard my editorial. i'm sure you were listening there. you have your fb plugged in. my point mayor pete and kamala harris last chance to break through into the front-runners. do you agree with me? >> i think you're right. they are going to dry up the money to come if they don't show something special. there are two things candidates need to do. they need to show they're presidential. people envision them taking on the top role and taking on donald trump but there is a saying in politics, stuart, you want to be everybody's number two choice. i don't think they will go after biden as much as they go after warren and bernie sanders.

something has to give between warren and sanders. they're playing for the far, far left socialist, democratic socialist. that is the self-described place that they play. one of those is going to give at some point and, everybody wants to be the number two. i think they also assume that joe biden will just die by himself. he will die a political death because he just cuts on himself every day. stuart: he has got to shine forth in this debate. he must not stumble or fumble. he has got to be alert. he has got to be focused. i'm not saying it is make-or-break for him, but time is running out to assert himself. >> i don't think he can get from here to there. that is who joe biden is. it is amazing. think about where we are, some 2 1/2 years after barack obama stepped down. most of those people on that stage are attacking joe biden because they're attacking barack obama. they have gone so far to the

left, i think they are creating a deeper and deeper hole for themselves they will never be able to get out of come november 2020. stuart: can liz warren keep up her momentum? she is doing well so far? >> i do. i think ultimately she is in in the pole position. i think you see more candidates going after elizabeth warren than somebody else. they see her as surging taking over the bernie sanders crowd, being more plausible as a candidate. when her policies are exposed to the masses, they will start to dwindle and dwindle fast. stuart: i just can't believe that america will elect anyone who is as far left as elizabeth warren or bernie sanders. to me that is just out of the question. am i going too far on this. >> no, i think people ultimately vote for who they like, who they know, who they agree with on policy and principle. the exposure of elizabeth warren's policy positions make her impalatable. i think she is michael dukakis

without the personality. she is so far out there to the left, once those policies get out there, they start to dwindle. stuart: okay. michael dukakis without the personality. that is nasty slam there, young man. you know it. that was deliberate. it was. jason, thanks for joining us. we'll see you soon. promise. >> thank you. stuart: take a look at at&t. i will call it the stock of the day. elliot management has taken a 3 billion-dollar stake in the company. they say if at&t listens to to them, does a few things the stock will hit $60 a share by 2021. distant future but a big gain by a major company. look at the overall market. stocks are up, closing in on the all-time highs. the dow and s&p are. nasdaq taking a bit of a back seat. dennis gartman is with us as he is most monday mornings. you are turning a bit more bullish, aren't you?

do you think we will hit new highs pretty soon? >> we are so close the momentum is there. the trend is from the lower left to the upper right. it is a been that way a long time. every time i fade it proves to be ill-advised decision. every time i buy it it is a advisable position. we'll make new highs, whether today, tomorrow, next week or next year. gravity is pulling us higher. it will be done, stuart. it is just a matter of time. stuart: i'm interested in wee work, not to buy it but you're interested in the company. they rent out office space to other companies. its parent company trying to go ahead with another ipo, an ipo but they keep on cutting the value of it. what don't you like about we work? >> internal make up of the company. the internal investments that the president, or the founder of the company has done, borrowing he made from the company itself at extraordinarily low levels of interest rates. the internal dealing, self-dealing, just i find it to

be, lack of a better term creepy. i would avoid it the all costs. they have already cut the valuation by half. they will cut it again before it's done. other companies are competing with wework in the same area. it's a matter of time. it will be ipo. somebody else can trade it. i won't buy it. i won't sell it short. i'm afraid of it. will i touch it on the long side? not with my money. stuart: adam newman on left-hand side of the screen. you still like gold. you're still buying into gold. tell me more, please. >> the monetary authorities around the world, whether it is the fed, bank of canada, ecb, whether bank of japan, central bank of, bank of switzerland all are expanding their money supply. they're all becoming expansionary. they have no choice. as long as it continues the trend for gold is lower left to upper right. the trade is long the stock market.

usually those move in contravention. they have been moving in tandem with one another. it is nice internal hedge. i've been long gold a long period of time. i'm not a gold bug. i don't think the world is coming to an end. there are times when you want to own polled, this is it. one last statement i like to make. brian wesbury, nicist guy in the business, smartest guy in the business. he is old friend but a brilliant young man. stuart: i will take that advice, young man. i will take it, why not. i put him on. dennis, thanks for joining us on monday morning. >> thanks for having me on. stuart: let's get to the protests in hong kong. more demonstration over the weekend. it is hurts demonstrations. how badly? liz: worse than the sars epidemic in 2003, 16 years ago. hong kong, cosmopolitan, booming city. tourism is down 40% in the last month, year-over-year. they make a lot of money from

tourism. hotels are half-filled. businesses are canceling. tourists and shoppers are finding themself caught up in increasingly violent clashes. the airport is paralyzed. roads have been shut down. subways are shut down. firebombs are going off. tear gas is going off. hong kong is still part of china. china has to figure this out. hong kong is in the cusp of recession because of what is going on. retail industry, hotel industry. big chunk of hong kong's economy. this is a big problem. stuart: xi xinping tried to give a concession by withdrawing the extradition bill. didn't work. still protesting over weekend? liz: they want more demands met. that is not happening. stuart: thank you, liz. liz: sure. stuart: dozens of states attorneys general will be on the steps of supreme court today formally announcing investigations into facebook and google. we have the judge coming up on that. google is up despite the news i should say.

pennsylvania couple, wait for it, they're facing charges for allegedly going on a major shopping spree after a bank accidentally put 120,000 bucks into their account. what a story. what would you do? , if you suddenly found a lot of money? i don't know. lucky contest winners will get a chance to work out with nfl legend emmett smith on super bowl sunday. he is the nfl's all-time leading rusher. he joins us in the next hour. you're watching the second hour of "varney & company" right now. just getting started. ♪

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stuart: monday morning we're up again. a nice gain. that is 84 point gain. 26,800. getting close to the high.

the 10-year treasury yield, look at it go up. 1.62% as of right now. in fact all treasury yields are up. that is bullish for the stock market. men we have apple going after google, after it released a report claiming the iphone is vulnerable to hacking. apple accuses google of stoking fear. kristina partsinevelos will, at the new york exchange will sort this one out for us. kristina? reporter: the two giants are going at each other. about a month ago, google researchers, more civil cyber researchers posted a blog post that apple iphones were attacked en masse. there were potential small number of hacked websites affecting a lot of iphones. you had today, apple retaliated, saying google is stoking fear, also creating a false impression, if anything, maybe, less than a dozen phones were hacked, non-iphones en masse. you can understand they're going

back and forth. the timing seems to be wonderful too because tomorrow apple is set to unveil a possibly, a bunch of a few new phones. susan li will thereby in california. this is weighing, not really weighing down on the stock. you can see them barely moving. as apple and google both try to enter the services space, focus on that. one is going after the other saying they're getting hacked. apple saying it is not true. back to you. stuart: we got that one. both stocks are up, kristina, thank you. the 100th nfl season kicked off this weekend. thursday's season opener saw 14% increase in viewers over last year. look who is with us, nfl hall-of-famer emmitt smith is with us. i understand you're one of the greats even though i know little about football. welcome to the show, sir. >> thank you. stuart: stop laughing at me too. you have a contest, if i enter, some lucky fans can train with

you on super bowl sunday. go for a workout together. what do i have to do to get into this, what happens if i win? tell me. >> marriott bonn voice courtyard is the master class. to enter into the national football league, most rookies or underclass guys have to go through this come fine. the combine, the master class that i'm teach something the combine master class. and that is done from marriott and its members. the members of of the bonvoy haa chance to meet me in chicago, october 17th. i will take you through some of these drills, combine drills, where we get you ready, really fit and ready for nfl draft. that is what this experience is all about. it is all around getting ready for the draft, understanding the game, going through it because a lot of people say, i can do that, i can do this. here is your opportunity. there are points.

i will see you in chicago if you're lucky winner on october 17th. we'll go through the combine. on top of that, everybody, including yourself. courtyard super bowl sleepover contest everyone can be involved in that one. that contest is pretty awesome courtyard will transform a suite in the stadium, into a nice little courtyard suite for you and three of your friends to sleep over on saturday night before the super bowl. and, that suite itself, you never know who may stop by. it might be me. it could be j.j. watt. it could be aaron rodgers. it could be jerry rice. could be anybody from the national football league, you just don't know. combine says welcome to the super bowl, enjoy super bowl sunday. stuart: that sounds really good, except i will play no part in this whatsoever, knowing nothing about the game, not being fit at all. emmett, you're on to a great thing. that is really school. the chance for everybody to join into a contest, work out with

you, that is good stuff. can i ask one last question, real fast? >> sure. stuart: bernie sanders, presidential candidate, he says college athletes should be paid because they're employees. you got an opinion on that? >> hey, i think they should be paid. they're making a lot of revenue throughout the ncaa. trust me, i was glued to my television on saturday. i know the se cnet work. i know the big 12 network, everybody got their network and all these games and so forth, they have so many bowl games. they have the bowl series playoff. they are paying universities 15, $20 million a year. coaches are paid, 6, 7, 8, $9 million a year to coach the teams. they can leave whenever they want to. so yes, yes, i do believe players should be compensated at the collegiate level. stuart: i am with you. throughout the interview, my producer is in my ear explaining

what an all-time leading rusher is. couple other things. we'll leave that on the side. emmett, an honor to have you on the show. we appreciate it, sir. thanks for joining us. >> pleasure is all mine, thank you. stuart: different subject -- cdc, warning people, stop using e-cigarettes after confirming five vaping-related deaths. next hour we'll talk to an early juul investor. that is a vaping company. he says the anti-vaping movement is being funded by big pharma. that should be interesting. purdue pharma expected to file for bankruptcy after settlement talks broke down. the judge as in napolitano, up next on that one. ♪

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stuart: purdue pharma, they make opioids, expected to file for bankruptcy because settlement talks with state attorneys general have broken down. judge napolitano is with us now. if they declare bankruptcy, what does that mean for the money flow? >> all right, so they have been negotiating with state attorneys general and other lawyers who represent large groups of people. there are 4,000 litigations. they put 13 billion on the table. why they announced the amount, i don't know. whatever they announced either the state attorneys general couldn't divide it up in a manner pleasing to their clients or it wasn't enough money. so now, purdue pharma will declare bankruptcy. that is tremendous advantage to them. bankruptcy doesn't care about pain and suffering. bankruptcy doesn't care about emotion. bankruptcy cares about numbers. this is either a negotiating

technique on the part of purdue pharma, or, it is a way to defeat all the emotional advantages that the plaintiffs would have before a jury. stuart: it means that the whole thing is spread out. >> correct. stuart: for a long, long period of time. >> correct. you owe 40 billion. you have 15. so somehow we're going to divide this up so you can stay alive, you can survive the bankruptcy. stuart: the choice was, money up front, get it now, get working, or you file for bankruptcy and we go on forever. >> you get a lot less money in the long run. a lot less money from a single bankruptcy judge than from a dozen different juries. stuart: did the state attorneys general blow it? >> i think they did but i wasn't privy to negotiations. purdue pharma set aside, they have to announce the amount, 12 or 13 billion. they may have offered more. we don't know the demand from the state attorneys general was. when they did this for big

tobacco, they got 200 billion. stuart: they did. on the steps of the supreme court today -- >> the same state attorneys general. stuart: same state attorneys general hold a press conference pursuing antitrust grounds primarily facebook and google. >> they want to do to big tech what they did to big tobacco, extract a lot of cash. okay the supreme court has ruled when the behavior of a person or a group implicates state and federal law that there is no constitutional problem with dual investigations, dual lawsuits or even dual prosecutions. so can they do it? yes. even though we know the ftc and the doj are pursuing other parts of big tech for allegedly the same thing. stated differently, if big tech violated state laws, by not securing privately the information it has, or by engaging in anti-competitive behavior with its advertisers, they can be pursued by state attorneys general, even if the same behavior also violated

federal law. stuart: okay. i'm not sure i understand that but here is what i do understand. the end of the day, are these two companies going to be shaken down for tens or, a hundred billion dollars? >> hundreds of billions of dollars. stuart: you think that is possible? >> plug the holes in state budgets, put new buildings on state universities. stuart: that is a long way in the future. will the supreme court go with that? >> i can't see this supreme court in light of recent cases it just delivered interfering with that. but this is either, the prudent enforcement of state law or a shakedown. you can decide which it is. stuart: i want to know whether it is successful. if it's a shakedown, is it successful. hundred of billions come out of companies? >> yes it does. it's a pittance to them, stuart. stuart: whatever you say judge. >> a pittance to you. stuart: get out of here. good to see you again. got a question for everybody. what would you do if a bank accidentally put $120,000 into

an account. don't even ask. it happened to a pennsylvania couple, they're facing criminal charges. what a story we've got it for you. we're built for hearing what's important to you, one to one. edward jones. it's time for investing to feel individual.

♪ stuart: i mean, me, mine. 50 years ahead of its time. liz: i never heard of that. stuart: you never heard of that? liz: no. i thought i was a beatles fan. clearly not. stuart: i -- here is what it is. fascinating story. british airways, they're dealing with a big strike or a walkout. that means chaos at heathrow, doesn't it? liz: it is happening right now. we're tracking the images. 1700 flights. that is a two-day walkout. 1700 flights canceled.

two-day walk out by the pilots. first time in british airways history they have been hit with a strike. watch this the a little over two weeks time the pilots are threatening another strike, another walkout. two days of cancellations. people are racing to find other flights. it is affecting hundreds of thousands. 200,000 passengers. we'll stay on this story. it's a big one hitting heathrow airport and major airports there. stuart: brexit, heathrow chaos, what's next? liz: exactly. stuart: check the big board. not a bad rally this monday morning. we're up 88 points at the moment. that is exactly 1/3 of 1%. look at that level, 26,886. the s&p on the upside. just a fraction al gain. same story of the nasdaq. by the way all three major indicators are within couple percentage points of their all-time record highs. the price of oil this morning, we check it every day, $57 a barrel. we are up a buck today.

national average for gas is down a bit. we're at 2.56, as of right now. down over the weekend. last week facebook announced it is launching facebook dating. that is a new dating service. ryan battle is following this for us. a senior fellow at the drucker school of management. doesn't this seem like a bit of a contradiction? here is facebook playing defense against charges they're playing fast and loose with personal information. now they have got a dating service? isn't that a contradiction? >> why are they doing it? they need top line. they need more top line from what they needed to do. what their mission as core consumer t was a natural progif they weren't in trouble anything at all this would happen faster. now they're bringing in something they needed can be separate from match.com or tinder they can create from instagram, influential matches, behavioral patterns that can suggest to you matches. that is what they're taking advantage of.

that is the information we're talking about they're in trouble having, using that information to make a profit. stuart: now i have not looked into this. i don't know whether they're charging for this service. whether there is some kind of a fee involved? >> there will be. it is free to sign up. of course like in anything, any company, the subscription service is always where you make the most money. they will have something where you can have $20 a month you can come out with. you can sign up for free. if you want more attributes to it, there it is. that is a kicker. using what they have, advertising dollars. it will be another revenue stream. like i said, what is not played high enough, i think instagram play here where they integrate it with facebook on the dating app is huge. stuart: because why? >> when you have, people on instagram posting things about what? food, where they have gone, what they like. it is more targeted. that goes into the algorithm. then they can match you with the right person. different from facebook.

instagram is moving well, popular among all users this is one of those things they can put them together. stuart: how many billion people have access to this? is it literally over a billion? >> for the app itself you mean? stuart: if you wanted to sign up? >> if you wanted to sign up. it is more than that. stuart: potential audience is 2 1/2 billion. >> it is huge, right. stuart: if you get 1% of that, 260 million, 26 million. >> to answer your question though, i think consumers are kind of worried about the data protection piece too. there will be early adopter which always happens. the second piece becomes how facebook addresses the concern. it is real concern they need to be up in front before they get masses to use it. stuart: because you're putting all the personal information out there if you want to meet somebody you might be attracted to. you're on the line. >> technically those are already doing it. now they're being more aware about it, right? that is the difference between this. stuart: how will they write an algorithm to get this person

together with this person? >> it is interesting. even on facebook and instagram now, if you and i like hiking you might end up in my feed, i see you hiking on mountains in new york, mountains in the uk, and i've been there. so more than likely maybe your story will eventually pop up. i don't think it will be any different than the dating app will be. once you sign up in the dating app, not the billions yet, it's a small pool. it becomes, you become lined up a lot more quicker. that person has the option to like it, make a message or just pass just like other dating apps, eharmony and match.com. stuart: you come at this from a management perspective. >> 100%. my wife will tell me i need to be honest. stuart: from a management perspective this is a good move by facebook's management? >> this is the move. this is a game-changing move for them, right? to change, they were, what were they? just a social company. they're now moving into another revenue stream that advertising

dollars they can get. they were already slowing down advertising dollars of last year, coming into the platform of companies wanting to advertise. here is another, if you went to any company, said i could give you another 10 to 20%, say guessing that will be the case, they're not releasing that, you would do it. we know the potential could be more. stuart: fascinating. ryan, that is really good stuff. mr. patel, thanks for joining us. appreciate it. now this, can't believe this one, dmvs, departments of motor vehicles across the country reportedly selling your personal information. come on in, grady trimble. at a dmv in wisconsin. he will tell me what this is all about. tell me. reporter: stuart, you and everybody else likes going to the dmv already. this is another reason to love the process. apparently according to a vice report they're selling your personal information to different companies, things like private investigators, even towing companies if they want to come after you to repossess your

vehicle. what are they selling? they're selling your name, address, date of birth, even vehicle info, so they can track you down based on your vehicle. places like wisconsin according to this report are making tens of millions of dollars off this information. florida, for example, $77 million. they did a bunch of public records requests. that is how they found the information out. what they're doing is perfectly legal. there is driver's privacy protection act. that allows them to do this. there is lot of exemptions in that fact for things like private investigators. they do, all the d in. vs vice talked to, they're saying they're not providing any photos or social security numbers. also, stuart, i want to mention it is pretty rare i would say for a government entity to find a way to generate revenue. as much as this concerns people when it comes to their privacy, at least they're finding a way to make some money. stuart: at least, at least they're doing that.

grady, thank you very much indeed. that is an interesting report. we appreciate it. thank you, sir. let's get to the story about the pennsylvania couple who blew through close to $120,000 in couple weeks, 2 1/2 weeks to be precise. liz, this is the company that suddenly found an extra 120,000 bucks in their checking account. liz: from bb&t. they informed them this was bank teller error. you have to get money back. bb&t tried reaching couple. they ignored the bank reportedly. though face several years in prison for felony theft. here is what they blew the money on. suv, a race car, camper trailer. they paid off bills. paid off friend bills. they burned through it in 2 1/2 weeks time. it's a big overdraft. stuart: they didn't call the bank, say how come we have extra 120,000? they didn't to that. they just spent it. liz: they spent it. stuart: when they were called on it, they didn't want to give it back. liz: they ignored the bank's

phone calls. stuart: seem as bit strict, three felony counts with years in prison. liz: that's correct. you would think if it is an accident you don't spend the money. stuart: i have a question for you, liz. liz: okay. stuart: suppose you found a bag of money, unmarked bills, $120,000 on the side of the road. there is no paper trail there. there is no link. nobody can tell you got the money. would you give it up? liz: i would give it back. stuart: why? >> liz: feel uncomfortable. stuart: you're a good person. liz: you would too right? stuart: i would. actually i would. who knows who the money belongs to. liz: doesn't feel right. stuart: who knows what they would do to come after you to get the money back. move on. we have a guest coming up next who says the far left, quote, is destroying the nation by silencing free speech. he calls it a culture jihad. personally i think that is a bit over the top and i'm going to challenge him. you will see the challenge next.

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on average on their prescription costs. so call a licensed humana sales agent today at the number on your screen, to see if you're eligible to enroll today. and say yes to getting the right health care coverage without having to wait for it. stuart: it's a modest rally and it's holding. we're up 1/3 of 1%, 26,882. amazon is hiring 30,000 permanent workers in six cities. they all get benefits. they all get paid 15 bucks an hour or more. look at ups, they're hiring one hundred thousand workers for the holidays. combine the two news items. it sure looks good for holiday buying and selling, does it not? our next guest has a new book. it is called, culture jihad. how to stop the left from will killing the nation. fox news radio show host todd starnes wrote it and he is with us now. first of all tell me your theory

how they are destroying the nation, then i will have a go at you. >> that is fair enough. couple years ago i saw what islamic radicals when they came back into iraq. first thing they did was targeted iraqi culture, literally going into my ejumps, turning their history into rubble. i realized that is what the left is doing right here in in country, stuart. look at the war on religious liberty. we've been reporting this for years here at fox business. it is not just the war on religious liberty. this idea you will shove god out of the public marketplace. we're looking at attacks on free speech. we're looking at attacks on art here in this country. in san francisco, the debate over whether or not to paint over a mural of george washington. we're even looking at book banning, not coming from the conservatives but coming from the left. books like "to kill a mockingbird," "little house on the prairie." jerry seinfeld won't step foot on university campus because he is afraid of blowback he might

get by students who might be offended what he says. based on my documentation in culture jihad that is exactly what it is. stuart: but it is not destroying the nation. it is a threat. it is picking around the periphery of our great freedoms but as for destroying us, we're still a constitutional republic. >> for now we are but my concern is, where do we go after 2020, 2024? president trump has done an incredible job of undoing the damage that the obama administration did on this country. remember what obama said. he wanted to fundamentally transform america. he did that. but he did it culturally and socially and president trump is doing an incredible job of undoing the damage. the problem here, stuart, our public school system, the engine being used by the left to push forward all of this change that we're seeing. and if we're not careful, looking at all the data, looking at polling, we reported this in the book, we're looking at a

country that is rapidly moving towards socialism. stuart: seems like it. it does seem like it, i do give you that. why did facebook ban the ads for your book? i believe they did that. >> that's right, they did. my publisher was putting together a facebook live signing with which is popular rage among authors. they wanted to purchase a lot of advertising on facebook to promote the book. however, we were denied and we were told that the name of my book, "culture jihad" violated facebook's community standards. facebook, it is their company, they can do whatever they want to, but they can't get out there saying they support free speech if they're frankly involved in a big tech book banning. stuart: just those two words, "caught ture jihad." put those two words together you can't advertise. it didn't make sense. >> it does when you look what facebook is doing with conservatives in general. they're banning folks left and right on all sorts of things.

my publisher told me they had another book last month, that book was banned by facebook. stuart: we reached out to facebook for a comment. they have not gotten back to us at this point. do you think the ban on your ads might be reversed? they have reversed themselves before? >> they have. they had not in this case. when they filed the appeal, they blocked the publishing house doing anymore ads. they're playing hardball here. i'm not surprised. it goes to the heart of my book. there is an attack on base being values in this country. one of those is free speech. stuart: would i absolutely agree with you. i don't think we reached the point, our constitutional republic which is what we are, i don't think we're being close to being destroyed. >> this book means to save the country. that is what it is all about, saving the country. stuart: todd starnes saving the country single handlely. i will read the book. breaking news, another development on juul, the vaping company. the fda is now officially

getting involved. liz: demanding within 15 working days juul has to get back to them about their marketing of unauthorized modified risk tobacco products to young people, to teenagers. the fda warning identifies a number of statements they picked up from a july 2019 congressional hearing that juul representatives made. the fda is zeroing in hard on juul about its marketing practices. use of nicotine salts. in other words information that popped up at the congressional hearing the fda is moving on it. we have to watch this. stuart: i wonder if the vaping industry itself is threatened by being put out of business? i wonder if you could go that far? i simply don't know. if the next hour we'll have a early juul investor on the show. he blames big pharma what he calls this anti-vaping campaign. former south carolina governor mark sanford will run against president trump on the republican side. we'll get into it with former

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stuart: former governor of suit caroline, mark sanford is running against president trump for the republican nomination. he says the party has lost its way. president trump tweeted about it. here we go. when the former governor of the great state of south carolina mark sanford was reported missing only saying he was hiking on the appalachian trail, found in argentina with his flaming dancer friend, sounded like his political career was over. it was. then he ran for congress and won only to lose his reelect after i tweeted my endorsement on election day for his opponent. take heart. he is back, running for president of the united states. the three stooges, all badly failed candidates will give it a go. come on in former south carolina senator jim demint.

why do you think mark sanford is running? >> stuart, i'm sure mark's heart is in the right place but donald trump is very popular among republican primary voters and from a conservative policy perspective, he has been one of the best presidents in a long, long time. stuart: wait a minute. you think mark sanford's heart is in the right place when he says this kind of thing about the president? >> well, i'm trying to give my friend the benefit of the doubt here. i generally, mark is very principled when it comes to political policy ideas. but in this case, i don't think it will help the country, certainly not help the gop to have, you know, people, coming in like this and attacking him when he has got all he can deal with the mainstream media and the far left. stuart: speaking of south carolina, you say that joe biden must win that state,

if he is going to get the democrat nomination. why is south carolina so important? >> well, south carolina democrats are more middle of the road, moderate democrats. they're not far left. and joe biden is positioning himself to capture those votes all over the country. if he can't win those votes in south carolina, it is very unlikely that he is going to be able to get the votes in primary season to get the nomination. stuart: there is a very strong, very large african-american component to the south carolina demographic i think. >> there certainly is. and joe is, he has built a career, i think serving african-americans. again. it would be important for him to demonstrate in south carolina that he could get african-american votes, as well as more moderate democrats. stuart: do you see him going the distance? >> joe biden? stuart: yeah. >> i think if he has a couple of early losses owe will be out because, he is building his

whole campaign on this inevitable idea that set only one who can win. i think that is pretty unlikely. what i've seen in my experience in politics, stuart, if everybody knows who you are, and 2/3 of the voters want somebody else, that is a hard road to win a primary. stuart: well-said, mr. senator. thanks for joining us, jim. always a pleasure. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: sure thing. we got to say this, the vaping industry is under real fire after the cdc warned people not to use the products. five possible deaths related to vape having been reported. we'll talk to early juul, that is a vaping company, an early juul investor next hour. reporting strong profits, the consumer is he clearly back. that is right up charles payne's alley with us as well. china, the economy is slowing. xi xinping can't control hong kong. i say he is playing defense to

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stuart: over the weekend, more evidence that china's leader xi jinping is in some trouble. now, of course you wouldn't know it from chinese state-run media, where xi is called the people's leader. that's the kind of hero worship not seen in generations. but that's a mask. concealing a troubled economy, a still-chaotic hong kong and reports of grumbling inside china. those are real problems for a leader facing a u.s. president who will not back down. look what happened over the weekend. tens of thousands marched to the u.s. consulate pleading with president trump to liberate hong kong. the american flag held high as the crowd sang america's

national anthem. the violence continued. vandalism at subway stations, burning barricades, the police again used tear gas. the concession, that is withdrawing the extradition bill, has not solved xi's backyard problem. hong kongers are looking to america for support. yet again, china has resorted to more stimulus to keep its economy going. sunday, more money was released to china's banks. why do that, if the economy is growing at a 6% rate and everything's fine and dandy? answer, it's not growing at 6% despite what beijing says. the "wall street journal" has looked at a variety of indicators suggesting much lower growth, much higher unemployment and a sharp drop in china's exports to america. their economy is struggling. all of this has provoked some grumbling inside china. the international edition of the "new york times" reports hints

of unease in china's leadership. communist dictatorships have a very hard time adjusting to internal criticism. all of this is the backdrop to the trade fight. it surely strengthens president trump's negotiating position. he's playing a strong hand. things are going his way. not so with xi jinping. he's in a corner. his problems are getting worse. my opinion, trump's winning this one. the third hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. stuart: all right. in a moment we will get some reaction to that editorial from christian whiton, state department guy. i want to know if he thinks xi jinping is going to hurt, going to hurt from all of this, and if it affects trade in our, america's favor. first let's bring you up to date on your money. doing quite well this monday morning. the dow at the moment up 96, 97

points, almost triple digits. we are pretty close to 26,900. not bad. our next guest has a problem with the fed cutting rates even further. david nicholas is back with us, nicholas wealth management guy. if you say that the fed keeps cutting, we'll end up like japan in 20 years, with negative rates, you're aware of course that allan greenspan says if we go to zero rate it's no big deal. what's your problem? >> sure, stuart. we have to be careful. history should be our judge. japan has already been through this. they are a great nation to look at. in 1999, japan lowered their rates to essentially zero. well, fast forward, what's happened in japan over the 20 years? well, they have had dismal economic growth, less than 2% growth. the bank of japan owns 40% of all japanese government bonds and here's what's interesting. japan has the highest debt-to-gdp ratio of all the developed world, over 240%. what you have seen is a japan

that's been caught in this sluggish growth, they have tried to raise rates, they have been unable to do it, so i say the u.s. needs to have caution that we don't end up like japan 20 years from now by continuing this cycle of lowering rates to try to come up with some type of utopia for the economy that i think is harder to get to than we think. stuart: our stock market is flirting with all-time record highs, only a couple percentage points away from the dow, the s&p, the nasdaq, all-time record highs, yet we do have very very low interest rates. i don't see why low rates are such a bad thing if we've got such a strong stock market. >> stuart, you are exactly right. low rates are great for the market. i would anticipate the markets to continue to do well with a lower rate environment but it's the other parts of the economy that can hurt. for example, retirees. if you are a retiree right now, gone are the days where you could go to the bank and get a 4% or 5% cd. where do you find yield? investors have to take on more risk in their portfolios which

could end up hurting them down the road. the other thing is the asset prices. we see bubbles in the markets but we also see a bubble in real estate prices. if you are a young person looking for a home now, it's getting harder and harder to find an entry home. why? because when yields are low, investors flock to things like real estate, they sit and hold on real estate because they know the yields they can get from rental income is much better than what they can get anywhere else. markets perform well but other parts of the economy can get hurt. that's the unintended consequences of a low rate environment. stuart: as things stand now, do you expect us to hit record highs soon on the market? >> you know, i mentioned that we would see record highs this year. i think if there's no other major breakdown in trade talks, i think we are close to it. i do think we will break another all-time high for the year. hopefully that should excite investors. i think we will see it without any major headline or breakdown in trade talks. stuart: if there's one stock most investors, if they are in the market, most of them have at

least a tiny piece of apple, whether it's through a mutual fund or some kind of fund investment or own the stock directly. they've got a big deal coming out tomorrow where they are probably going to release another new iphone. you think the stock price is going to go up on this release? >> i don't think the phone's going to be anything groundbreaking. they have some pr issues with what's going on in china currently but i think the stock will continue to do well. here's what's amazing about apple. in 2018, apple's net income was $60 billion in 2018. that means every single day, apple profits about $160 million per day. so i think apple has years to go. they are incredibly profitable. without some breathtaking or groundbreaking technology, they are still printing money left and right. i think there is still upside for the stock. stuart: we have had someone on this program who says apple goes to $350 a share in i think less than two years.

someone else said the thing is going to double in two years. would you go that far? >> you know, it's possible. stuart, they are making so much money. $60 billion in net income? it's hard to find companies that are that profitable without some type, you know, they have a user base that is almost cult-like following that continues to buy their services, their phones. i think we could see it. stuart: do you own apple stock yourself? directly? >> i don't own it but my clients, we own it for our clients. absolutely. stuart: okay. i missed it, by the way. my kids were telling me to buy apple when it was at $57, preseveral splits and of course i missed it and never got back in. thanks for joining us. always appreciate it. see you again soon. >> thanks for having me. stuart: let's get a check on the price of gold. right now, we are down seven bucks at $1508 per ounce. not sure about that quote. thought it might be higher than that. coming up, naieem aslan is

on the show. he says the recent pull-back is a big buying opportunity. you look at bitcoin right now. you can't say the same for bitcoin. once a bitcoin bull, now he's getting concerned, shall we say. he's got groundbreaking research on bitcoin's price. you will hear it only here. keep it on "varney." five vaping related deaths and the cdc and state of new york issuing warnings on vaping products. coming up, we are talking to an early juul investor, that's a vaping company. he says there's some fearmongering going on. in hong kong, protesters holding the american flag high as they sang america's anthem. i say this is not good for xi jinping. but good for president trump. we are asking our state department insider, christian whiton, about that. treasury secretary mnuchin says the threat of recession is out of the way. that confirms my premise that america is still the best game in town. making money guy charles payne coming up. jam-packed hour ahead for you.

the third hour of "varney & company" just getting started. ♪ this is the age of expression. everyone has something to say. but in a world full of talking, shouldn't somebody be listening? so. let's talk. we are edward jones. with one financial advisor per office, we're built for hearing what's important to you. one to one. edward jones. it's time for investing to feel individual.

stuart: the hong kong protests flared up again this weekend. they were burning barricades, tear gas was used, and look, the american flag was held pretty high right there. but, deirdre, i understand these protests are really hurting tourism. deirdre: yeah, down 40%. so that is a big effect. if you want to buy a house in hong kong, the average home price is down 70%. we were talking with one of your guests last week, saying china actually loves this because hong kong was really, is an international center for a lot of western businesses and the more that hong kong fails, the more that china's investment in

mainland cities perhaps becomes more attractive although you still have to deal with all the legal ramifications and i.p. theft. but right now, hong kong is suffering, no other way to say it. stuart: i just don't see it. hong kong is a financial hub because it is relatively free and western oriented and obeys financial rules laid down by the west. shenzhen, where they want to make a new financial center, does not. do we have confidence in shenzhen? i don't think so. staying in hong kong and back to my editorial, top of the hour, in which i said xi jinping i think is in trouble, he's in a corner, which gives america leverage there. christian whiton is with us, former state department offic l official. is my premise there on track? he's in a corner, it's getting worse, therefore, we have more leverage? >> you are absolutely right about that, stu, for the reasons you cited earlier in the hour but also, just one factoid out there, pork prices down 30% -- excuse me, up 30% on the mainland due the a shortage there. swine flu, all these problems

run in packs. china is running into a lot of them now that economists expected that chinese exports would increase in the last quarter year on year. they were actually down 1% and as you pointed out as well, the "wall street journal" out with a report this morning with a lot of what we have long suspected, a lot of economic numbers are fillied up when they come from china. a lot of tremendous financial pressure on xi jinping to make a deal with donald trump. of course working against that is the sort of political need to stay alive and xi jinping has a lot of rice bowls to fill within his party cronies. stuart: you think we get any kind of deal before the election? any kind of deal? >> i'm in the minority on this, but i don't think so, actually. i just think that with political turmoil in hong kong, first of all, that inhibits us somewhat. incidentally, the violence there can be blamed i think at least last night on police over the weekend. they were the ones who issued a permit for a march that was peaceful, then they cut it short long before the permit expired, shut down the trains and that led to violence, than type of thing makes it harder to create

a trade deal. also again, just reforming state-owned enterprises, one of the seven deadly sins that china engages on in trade, that will require reforms that mean xi jinping taking his cronies out of power or at least giving them less money. it's hard for them to do that. i think we should still try to force them to but i think they will try to wait out donald trump. they will be waiting a long time. stuart: yeah. that's a very long time. meanwhile, xi jinping's domestic economic position gets worse. what's this about, i read it in the "new york times," there are grumblings of dissent within china. that's unheard of. >> it is. you know, it's interesting that in the peoples daily, they came out and said anyone saying that the chinese leadership should make concessions to the united states is wrong, that's against the party line. why would you say that if you were negotiating and you wanted to give yourself flexibility? to me that implies that xi jinping is trying to whip his colleagues in the party who are starting the more pragmatic ones

who are less fanatical than him. so i think there is dissent within what looks like this uniform monolithic communist state. stuart: to repeat, you don't think there will be any kind of deal before the election? >> again, i personally don't. i sort of -- part of me hopes we do, in the sense it would be better for our exporters. part of me hopes we don't because i don't think we should be empowering our chief adversary in the world. my money is on no. stuart: we hear you loudly and clearly. thank you, sir. we better take a quick check at some of the retailers. every single name on your screen has been on a tear. bucking that retail ice age trend we talked about. revenue up, meaning once again, the consumer is rebounding, making more money and spending more of it. the retailers are doing pretty well, most of them. starbucks opening up their largest ever store, not in seattle, where is it? deirdre: chicago. it is 43,000 square feet, when it does open which will be mid-november.

they have tried this, it's coast called a roastery, the sixth one in the world. it will give you somewhere else to be besides home and work, that's one step up from the normal sort of starbucks experience. they are going to have more experimental food. it's almost a cross between a cafe and proper restaurant. tons of space, obviously, with 43,000 square feet. i want to mention, it's paying off. sales at the cafes open at least a year growing 6% globally in the third quarter. net sales, all-time high, $6.8 billion. the stock is down today, but is up 50% this year. so quietly, they are doing these kind of big-scale experiments. so far they are paying off. one opened in milan which everybody honestly openly mocked because they were saying how can you open a cafe in milan. it's working. shanghai, new york, a few others. stuart: look at that. that chart. that chart is a very nice chart, thank you very much. deirdre: very good-looking chart. they are going to have craft

cocktails. it's a concept, especially in milan. people are like are you crazy bringing coffee to milan. but it's working out for them. stuart: i wonder if that 43,000 square foot starbucks reserve place, i wonder if that's near the bean. have you seen that? deirdre: i have. it's on the magnificent mile. yes. near the park. stuart: i went to chicago a few months ago. first time ever, saw that bean. it's quite a tourist attraction. deirdre: it's a great city. it's really fun. they have art, sports, food. what's there not to like. only thing is the winter, you got to wrap up. stuart: i went the a wedding, had a wonderful time. thank you very much indeed. volkswagen found a way to turn their classic beetle electric. we will tell you about that in a moment. first, another piece of nostalgia. sony celebrating one of its ground-breaking products. 40 years on. the walkman. remember them? we will tell you about its new feature as it comes back, next. ♪ we trust usaa more than any other company out there.

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apple has got its iphone announcement tomorrow. google and facebook are actually facing antitrust allegations from state attorneys general, who hold a press conference on the steps of the supreme court this afternoon. both of them are up, however. amazon is hiring 30,000 permanent workers in six cities. microsoft, though, the fly in the ointment, down $1.25. i don't know why. look at netflix. bank of america says more people signed up during the summer quarter because of here comes "stranger things." netflix up a couple of points. i know 2%, hold on a second, i know this is set in 1980s indiana. deirdre: that's right. stuart: what's so great about it? deirdre: it's a group of kids, there are some supernatural events that take place, you have aliens, you have a young boy vanishing into thin air. that is the first -- that's the whole way this got kicked off. basically, people who are say gen-xers or older millenials

love it because you get a lot of shout-outs to the 1980s and kids in their teens right now love it because it's about teens. something for everyone. all i know is last halloween, a lot of kids, lot of teenagers that i know went at cashinharac from "stranger things" so you know it's a hit. stuart: thank you, deirdre. monday morning, how about a little nostalgia to get you through it? sony bringing back the classic walkman for their 40th anniversary. wait a second. they are bringing it back. there's a special feature? deirdre: you can still use cassettes if you want to. there is a special feature. it has 26 hours of battery life. if you say why do i need to listen to music on another device when i have my phone, 26 hours of battery life is more. there is also a usbc port so if you want to create stuff and for true audiofiles, i can't tell the difference between high-res audio but musicians love it. $900. stuart: forget it. okay. now you've got to tell me about

volkswagen. they are making an electric conversion kit. for the classic beetle. deirdre: they certainly are. microbuses will be next. there have even be chats of an e-porsche conversion kit. they haven't announced it yet but there's an auto show in frankfurt next week so a lot of auto fans waiting to hear the news. there is a german company, e-classics, who will convert your car from diesel or normal fuel to electric. as you know, in europe gasoline is a lot more expensive and the emissions standards are more stringent so it's kind of worth it. stuart: so is electricity. about five times the price of america. all right. bitcoin, where is it now? $10,300 a coin. next, we talk to a guy who said it would break $10,000 and it did. we got some groundbreaking research on the price as well. as for the markets right now, holding to a modest gain.

off the high of the day, but our eternal charles payne joins us after this. at fidelity, we believe your money should always be working harder. that's why, your cash automatically goes into a money market fund when you open a new account. just another reminder of the value you'll find at fidelity. open an account today.

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stuart: we really don't have that much movement for stock prices so far this morning. the dow is up 80 odd points. that's about a third of 1%. it's a pretty even split, winners and losers on the big board. i do want to talk bitcoin, though. for this, i want to bring in chief analyst at fink markets. he has been a bitcoin bull. he said yeah, it's going to $10,000 and it did. but now why are you pulling back on your recommendation, your price target for bitcoin? why? >> thanks for having me. i'm not pulling back in the longer term perspective. i'm concerned, a little bit anxious about how the price is reacting with respect to 50-day moving average because we want the price to stay above that specific average in order for this bull run to continue and if that doesn't happen, then the price can easily fall down to

$100 in moving average. by looking at the technical analysis and the price action, it appears to me that it is highly likely for the price to reach the 100 day moving average rather than it breaks above the 50 day moving average. stuart: what's the hundred day moving average? what is it? >> yes. for those of you who don't know, it's basically an average price of an asset over a specific period of time. stuart: but what is that price right now? what is the hundred day moving average price of bitcoin? >> it's in around $8,000 something. stuart: ah. so at the moment it's above the hundred day moving average and you think it might move below the hundred day moving average, right? so you think it might go below $8,000? >> well, i don't specifically think that it is going to go below the hundred day moving average. if that happens obviously it's going to be another huge opportunity for bulls to come back in. but there is another element of this groundbreaking research we have done. the most important moving

averages for institutional traders and retail traders are 50, 100 and 200. this is what everyone pays attention to. but we have done enormous amount of research and we looked at all the moving averages on a daily time frame and said look, which one works the best, the magic number is 242 day moving average. if you would have just bought bitcoin whenever it crosses above that moving average and then sell it just when it drops below that, the gains are over 400,000% from 2014 all the way to 2019. now -- stuart: should i buy the damn thing now, yes or no? >> well, i would say i think any pullback would be a major opportunity for you to get back into this. yes, for sure. stuart: get back into it. i'm not there in the first place. thanks for joining us. i think i got that. i think i'm close to getting it. thank you very much. let me bring in charles payne, host of "making money."

look, i'm sorry, i did not really understand -- i don't get all of that. are you a bitcoin guy or not? charles: i'm not yet. i'm watching it. i was impressed when everyone was worried and the big recession word was being bandied about. lot of money went to bitcoin. it wasn't just all individual investors. i'm intrigued by it, i have been intrigued by it from day one. i don't necessarily buy into the story that this magic mathematical formula will make sure a certain amount it always issued, yada yada but i do believe there's an appetite for it around the world. that's what makes it intriguing. stuart: drug dealers and people -- >> no, no, listen, drug dealers up until now, have made all their money using fiat currency. there was a report if you took any hundred dollar bill it had a certain residue of cocaine on it. i hear those bad stories but i think a lot of regular folks are afraid of governments around the world, and would love a way to be able to transact, do transactions with someone else without the middleman involved.

stuart: that's what bitcoin offers? >> that's what cryptocurrency, that's one of the promises of cryptocurrency. stuart: i see the point. i'm just not ready to jump in. >> me, either. i'm with you there. i'm watching very closely. stuart: exactly. >> people my son's age are gung-ho about it. stuart: yes, but if it was my choice, i would do gold. gold coins. i can bury the things, doesn't matter. i can buy it. i know what i'm doing with it. >> right now you can go online and buy something today with your cryptocurrency. there's a lot of major american companies that accept it. they don't advertise that they do. but you can buy concert tickets today somewhere with bitcoin. you can't do that with your gold coin today at this moment. if you heard that crosby, stills and nash was back together, you would be oh, man, let me check these guys out. just kidding. stuart: you know perfectly well i would not be going. you talk big picture because earlier this morning, with maria, treasury secretary mnuchin says nil, chances of recession, nil. he completely walked away from

it. what do you say? >> i agree 100%. so does jerome powell and so do almost every economist out there. for about two or three weeks they had a lot of talk of the inverted yield curve being an indicator. the real economy, real indicators suggest we are doing extraordinarily well. we do have pockets of weakness we have known about for some time, manufacturing and housing, but the majority of our economy, the consumer, is doing extraordinarily well. we were reminded of that on friday with the jobs report with those wages. stuart: right since the election, 2016, you have been on the show saying we are going up. we are going up. the economy is strong. we are going up. we are going up. you still saying that? >> i feel very good about this stock market right now. i think it's nowhere near where it peaks normally when we do peak and when there's no -- there's no one that's really excited about it which kind of makes me excited but the underpinnings is what i always go back to. the fundamentals are phenomenal.

stuart: stay there for a second. i want to deal with something jpmorgan is doing. they've got this index which tracks how the president's tweets affect the market. deirdre: it's a volatility index. stuart: how do they affect the market? deirdre: they have some key words. china, billion, democrat and great. those are some of the words they are looking for as far as when the president tweets about those subjects, uses those words, what happens. they are really watching the treasury market. yields higher today. they are not alone. bank of america has done the same thing. they are saying because the president tweets often about these topics, and obviously it does affect the market, they are trying to measure it for their client. banks have to keep their own clients just as interested as any other kind of content provider. this is one way to start a conversation. stuart: they say the president's tweets do affect the market because when keywords are used, the algorithm picks up on them -- deirdre: exactly. bond market focused. stuart: especially the bond

market. what does charles payne say about that? charles: you know, i'm not sure about these kind of things. if he's reacting to news, you know, this morning the china news, their economy slows down and he says it's great, we're winning the trade war, they might have set it up where they think they're reacting to his tweet but it might have been the underlying news he was responding to. i'm not so sure how to necessarily read into something like that. it's an intriguing thing. there are so many fun things you can do these days, particularly with algorithms and other things, but i'm just not so sure if it gets to the real reason why -- deirdre: listen, all these banks are fighting for customers, for clients. this gives them a good talking point, too. charles: it does. it does. it's another product, another service that they provide. stuart: by the way, the president has issued 40,000 tweets -- deirdre: since 2016. sometimes more active, sometimes less. stuart: 40,000. charles: carpal tunnel, here we

come. stuart: he doesn't appear to be suffering from it. charles: i don't think so. i don't think so. there's always the index finger. stuart: when are you on tv again? on this network today? charles: circle back in around 2:00 p.m. stuart: okay. i'll do that for you. charles: we have a big show today. we have the big antitrust thing starting with google, they will spread it out and it does have some serious ramifications. we want to look into that real closely. stuart: if they ever change the business model of facebook and google that affects their bottom line, that stock goes down. in the meantime, doesn't go down. charles: hard to beat them. stuart: all right. couple other markets, we quote them for you all the time. oil, where are we today? $58 a barrel. interesting. that's a gain of close to 3%. $58.10 to be precise. that means maybe the price of gasoline will stop falling. it's down to $2.56, your national average today. it has been falling. with oil going up to $58, i wonder how much longer we will see a downturn in gas prices.

i hope it keeps on going, frankly. if you didn't hate the dmv enough, a new report claims it's making money by selling your private data. details on that coming up for you. first, though, the cdc warning people to stop using e-cigarettes after confirming five vaping-related deaths. we will talk to an early juul investor, that's a vaping company, who says the anti-vaping movement is being funded by big pharma. how about that. ♪ [upbeat action music]

♪ (pilot) we're going to be on the tarmac for another 45 minutes or so.

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investment in, where, chicago? deirdre: this is the first engineering hub for uber outside of san francisco. here we are talking about chicago again. it's a theme. adding 2,000 jobs over the next three years. they are going to be investing at least in property, about $200 million right off the bat. it's going to be at the old main post office for those who know chicago well. stuart: so they are still spending a lot of money, investing a great deal of money even though they have not made anywhere near a profit but that's their business model. keep investing. deirdre: exactly. a lot of sales, no profits. that made people very anxious when it went public. that's why the ipo didn't do so well. in the meantime, they are one of the biggest in their field so it's hard to ignore them. stuart: way under water, though, $32 a share. way down. next case. vaping, five people have now died of a mysterious lung disease said to be related to vaping. the cdc says stop it, don't do it anymore. new york governor cuomo has followed suit. stop it, don't do vaping. i want to play this clip from

"fox & friends "over the weekend of a man whose son went to the hospital from a vaping-related disease. roll tape, please. >> quite frankly, seeing what we have seen, they should be terrified. i'm not going to lie to you. no parent should walk into a hospital room and see what we saw. it's not a pretty sight. the thing that i gathered on all this, obviously they tell us the vaping is obviously doing something to the lung tissue. our son is a very healthy 19-year-old, works out all the time, and his lungs are in certain areas probably irreparably damaged. stuart: dramatic stuff there. bring in gregg smith, early investor in juul, the premier vaping company. it seems to me that vaping itself, regardless of what is vaped, it is the act of vaping that is the problem because you are putting something into your lungs and you don't know whether it's -- how harmful it is.

that's the basic problem. >> i want to make the distinction, there are two types of vaping, vaping of nicotine which has been regulated by the fda. you have the big companies, you mentioned juul, the other products like alta, all these companies regulated, including their manufacturing practices. second, i think it's important to point out we have not seen any of these illnesses in other countries where vaping is mature. for example, last week, uk moved to reassure that british citizens, there haven't been any instances of such illnesses in the uk, this has been isolated to the u.s. a common theme we are seeing, a lot of these illnesses, most are linked to thc. illegal thc. in fact, the cdc hosted a conference call on friday in which we had the fda speak out and say if you are buying these products out of the back of a car, trunk of a car, the street, an alley, i would urge you to think twice about this. stuart: your problem -- not your problem, but the problem for vaping is that anything you put

in there, anything that you -- any kind of vapor that you put into your lungs, might be dangerous. there's an unknown quantification of that danger. that's the problem for the whole industry. >> i think there's an unknown to anything we do every day in life whether it's eating red meat or drinking milk. but as it relates to vaping, i would say the large manufacturers again of nicotine product who are regulated by the fda, what we are seeing is, we are seeing use of vitamin eacetate being used in the illegal street cartridges. people are taking vitamin e, putting them into cartridges. again, these are made in back rooms, black market, not by regulated entities. the vitamin e, when it vaporizes goes into the user's lungs and when it cools down, turns into a grease. that grease is causing harm to the user. i think the majority of illnesses being reported. stuart: why do you say the anti-vaping messages we are

seeing is being funded by big pharma? >> well, i think it's very interesting in this country, you follow the money. there are people out doing good things in this country but you look at certain organizations, certainly tobacco-free kids, look where the funding came from. they were founded by the robert wood johnson foundation, the largest owners of johnson & johnson stock, maker of nicorette gum. you have other pharmaceutical companies funding these organizations to go out and fight against anything that's a non-pharmaceutical solution to this problem. stuart: but the cdc is saying quit the vaping, knock it off until we find out what's going on here. >> yeah. i think the terminology e-cigarettes has been used in sort of a catch-all in the last few weeks. e-sfwrets has been used to also refer not just to cannabis but to nicotine. i think they are doing a great job getting to the bottom of this. there's a lot of state health departments involved right now investigating these claims. but i think what we will see,

the common theme will be these have been black market illegal thc pods that have been tampered with or manufactured with impurities or in poor manufacturing conditions that led to these illnesses. stuart: again, you have to look at the whole industry. no matter what you put into those pods, no matter what you put in there, any kind of vapor going into your lungs may have an adverse effect. we don't know how adverse it is. if we find out that it is truly adverse, the entire industry is in trouble. >> look, i'm not a smoker. i'm against smoking. but i think that again, if we take cue from other markets particularly the uk where they are trying to promulgate the use of vaping to get citizens off combustible cigarettes, we know cigarettes will kill. right? cigarettes will kill you. half of all the users will die from using cigarettes. so most people look at vaping as a much safer alternative. to smoking combustible cigarettes. that's what the industry is trying to provide. stuart: thanks for being a

stand-up guy, coming on and defending your position. we appreciate that. >> thank you for having me. stuart: all right. check the big board. lost a little bit of the rally, not much. we are up 71 points, about a quarter of 1%. now this. the worst airports for delays, of course we have the ranking. i will tell you now, chicago o'hare came in second worst. we will let you guess as to which one is the worst. we will tell you in a moment. if you didn't like the dmv before, this will not help. a new report says they are making money off your data. back in a moment. ♪ the world is built for you.

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stuart: now at the white house, president trump presenting the medal of valor to six police officers from dayton, ohio, credited with stopping the mass shooter there. that's going on as we speak. we've got a new report from the department of motor vehicles. no, not from them. it's about them. they are selling your information to businesses and private investigators and deirdre, i guess they are making

money. deirdre: honestly, i was scandalized. this is legal, by the way. these laws were passed in the 1990s before we were all so connected by technology and anybody could find you at the point of a pin drop on google. maybe the laws can be changed and there are some legislators who are looking into it. but as you say correctly, dmv is basically selling your name and your address for sure, sometimes it's other information as well, other personal information, to all kinds of businesses on the more let's say lower risk end, towing companies, auto insurance companies. so even though that's annoying, that's not frightening. it's annoying but not frightening. what is, i find frightening, especially for a lot of women, the reporting was quite complete, personal investigators, let's say people have been victims of domestic abuse and somebody wanting to find them and track them down, all they have to go is to the dmv, give a name and address or they can buy it through the personal investigators. stuart: what about that. not good. deirdre: not at all. stuart: now we have a -- let's get back to the airport, shall

we? we've got this worst airports in terms of delays. we told you that chicago o'hare was the second worst. i've got a feeling i know exactly which one is top of the list. deirdre: go ahead. stuart: newark? deirdre: there you go. you won or lost, depending how often you travel from there. there's the list on the screen. you can see the big apple, actually claiming two out of the top five. the worst, newark, laguardia. actually, you know what, i should somehow try to redeem new york. jfk only with the top ten worst. at least there's only two. stuart: i'm surprised to see dallas-ft. worth there. that's an airport i really like. deirdre: it's clean. sometimes honestly, this is not always the airport staff itself. obviously this is influenced by all the companies going in and out of there, influenced by the weather, influenced by numerous other factors. so slightly unfair. that said, 64% of the flights

departed newark on time, which means around 40% didn't. stuart: delayed. deirdre: there you go. stuart: by the way, this afternoon, president trump will be traveling to north carolina ahead of tomorrow's special election there to fill a house seat. this could be a test of the president's own pull with voters, kind of a referendum on him. he's off there this afternoon. more "varney" after this. ♪

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now you're even smarter. this is truecar. stuart: we should talk about what would have been your great-grandfather's or great-grandmother's stock, at&t. they used to set the standard about everything. they were investment for widows and orphans. they were regulated. paid a steady dividend. they were broken up. this, that and the other happened to them.

elliot management bought a 3 billion-dollar stake in at&t, says, look if you adopt our four-part plan, we'll get the stock to $60 a share by 2021. it is at 37 now. the market liked the purchase by elliot management. it is up a buck, 37.25. show me boeing please, i believe that is on the downside again, look at this. down five bucks. 358. they have another problem surfacing. this is the 777? >> 777-x, cargo door failed a stress test failed to open properly. this is part of the faa certification process. more trouble adding to the 737 max concerns. stuart: that takes points off the dow because boeing is a dow stock. netflix, they're up 2%. they're gaining subscribers because of, stranger things. there is only eight episodes of "stranger things."

>> two or three seasons. very much plot driven. they move you along. stuart: we're holding on to a modest gain for the dow industrials. all through the averages, dow, s&p, nasdaq, are a couple percentage points from all-time high. neil, it's yours. neil: thank you, stuart, very much. we're following that. congress back in session. sprinting to avoid another government shutdown that could be in a matter of weeks. we'll explain that. china is starting to negotiate trade with the u.s. is plummeting though. are they ready for a deal because they have to make a deal? there is a lot of give-and-take on that one. stocks as stuart indicated nearlying all-time highs particularly for the dow. s&p about a percent or so away. what is making all of this happen? we're on it. coast to coast is now. the big news not what is going on at the federal level targeting tech but scores of states across the country.