orbo autny changes in medicines you're taking. the most common side effects are swelling of the arms and legs and confusion. we spoke up and it made all the difference. ask your parkinson's specialist about nuplazid. maria: have a very happy thanksgiving. thanks so much for joining us. my thanks to my awesome panel. "varney & company" begins now. ashley webster in for stuart this morning. i'm not going to bring you any of this thanksgiving dinner because you have your own. ashley: well, yes, but all contributions gratefully received. i will be looking over my shoulder like you did with stu. happy thanksgiving eve. good morning, everyone. indeed, happy thanksgiving eve. we have a jam-packed show. lots of news, of course, affecting your money. let's begin with the market, why not. strong numbers on economic growth. we could see fresh records once again for the dow, s&p and nasdaq, when we open up in just about half an hour from now. by the way, the dow notching 100

record closes under president trump. the president, as we know, well aware of that market success. meanwhile, wind threatening the annual thanksgiving day parade. the big question is, will the balloons fly? that's the big question everyone wants to know. we will tell you what they look at to decide just that. the busiest travel day of the year of course hampered by bad weather, unfortunately, across the west and midwest. we are all over the getaway for you. we also have news on trade. perhaps. i say perhaps progress on getting usmca done. plenty in store for you over the next three hours. how does small business compete in this era of amazon and walmart? we will ask the sba chief on that. plus the ever-popular mark stein here discussing politics at thanksgiving dinner and rocco dispirito on meatless and even cbd options this thanksgiving. just mellow out. i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney. "varney & company" begins right now.

it's always nice to begin by saying the stock market is up again. we just set another record. so we should say that. very substantially up. i think that's 132 times that we've set a record from the time we got elected on that very great day but it's good to know. a lot of people are very happy. we are doing well. our country is doing very well. ashley: very well indeed. that was president trump talking market records at the white house. joining us now, market watcher keith fitz gerald. 30,000 before christmas eve, what do you say? >> tell you what, it's not impossible at this point. i'm very excited to see this. we are talking $10.5 trillion in market capitalization that's been created since the president was inaugurated. ashley: there is also, keith, a ton of money on the sidelines. you've got to be kicking yourself because you are missing out. >> oh, i'm not missing out.

i hope nobody who listens to this program is missing out. there's $3.5 trillion according to the latest estimate i saw. the interesting part about this, it's mainly the professionals who have missed this. they were all smarter than the next guy, the average investor in fact has done very well. especially if they have been in the companies we have talked about. ashley: i was looking at your notes. you say stay the course but one stock you do not like is facebook, calling it the short of the century early next year. why? >> well, i think facebook is in a world of hurt. they have lied about their lies, they lied about stuff they lied about. they can't even keep track of that stuff anymore. they are under heavy legal pressure. regulators are all over them. we still don't have any reasonable or plausible explanations from the ceo if they are going down on political spending it sucks the you-know-what out of them. ashley: other than that, you love it. trump, president trump held a keep america great rally in broward county, florida last night where he lost to hillary, by the way, in 2016.

joining us now, brad blakeman, former deputy assistant to bush 43. brad, welcome. how close -- how important is florida, can you win the presidency if you don't win florida? >> it's real tough for republicans. florida is the way to winning 28 electoral votes. it's hard to make that up in other states, because you have to cobble together states to get that number. so florida is extremely important. i think it's vital. ohio. but the president has been making inroads in places that have been traditionally democrat like michigan and wisconsin. so i believe the president has a record. you just heard keith say the president created $10 trillion worth of growth to our economy. when democrats are talking about spending $50 trillion on medicare for all. ashley: is he getting that message across, though? he's talking about it more but he needs to hammer that home, would you not say? >> no doubt the president is doing the best he can under the circumstances when the oxygen is

sucked out of the atmosphere because the democrats' impeachment. that's within the beltway. if you go to the heartland, americans are worried and concerned about our nation, our economy, but trump has a record. democrats have an impeachment. that's the big difference. ashley: we just got the latest numbers showing the economy is still growing pretty well. gdp revised upwards in the third quarter, 2.1%, capital expenditure investment is going up. as long as it stays the course, the economy, that is, he has a very strong platform, does he not, in the year leading up -- >> yeah, it's all about the economy. it is the economy, stupid. it really is. what democrats don't get is the fact you can't hate a president out of office. you have to offer an alternative. the alternative democrats are offering is not where america is going. we are not a socialist country in 2020 or any time soon. i think donald trump runs on his record. democrats, if they continue this impeachment, i think they hurt themselves and look at the field of democrats. the democratic party is unrecognizable in 2020.

ashley: what do you think the president is giving thanks for tomorrow? >> i think he's giving thanks for the fact americans are much better off today than they were four years ago. they are much better off today than they were last thanksgiving. as americans gather around their table, they should count their blessings that we are at peace, we have a great economy, we have great job opportunities and the growth in the next year is going to be through the roof. ashley: very quickly u said you are having your thanksgiving meal tomorrow with vegans. >> yeah. ashley: you're not vegan. >> no, but they are so kind, they have a vegan table and then they have a traditional table. i partake of both. ashley: they will try and convert you, you know. >> can't happen. ashley: brad blakeman, thank you very much. let's get back to keith fitz gerald. stu has a christmas wish list of stocks that he left behind before he headed out for thanksgiving. that wish list includes disney,

apple and amazon. boy, where could you go wrong with that, right? >> boy, i think all three of those are fabulous choices not only for christmas but all the way into the new year. disney's got the video growth, got the large intellectual property. amazon of course has team bezos and you have everything else moving through the rest of apple. ashley: you also like nvidia, the chip maker. why? >> well, you know, nvidia, everybody thought the cryptocurrency thing was going to go away and chips were overdone. that's not true. demand for ai is growing. they are coming back, overcoming it. the sales channel is being reestablished. i think it comes roaring back in 2020. ashley: very importantly, last question, you are not -- what other stocks do you own, keith? >> personally, yes, family, yes, company recommends but does not own because we don't trade against our clients and no ib relationships. ashley: you are not a vegan, are you? >> no, i'm not but i do eat very carefully because i try to be healthy because it keeps my mind

clear to make better financial decisions. ashley: what a diplomatic answer that is. i just tear into the turkey. that's another story. keith, have a great day tomorrow. thank you for joining us today. >> happy thanksgiving. ashley: same to you. yet another headache for boeing. federal inspectors intend to inspect and sign off on every 737 max before it returns to service. seems fair. the stock, though, down as you can see almost four bucks, down 1% at $369. under armour getting an upgrade from raymond james. let's look at that stock in the premarket. up 3.5%. deere gave a cautious outlook, citing trade. that was enough to pull it down 4.5% in premarket. $168 for deere. let's take a look at the futures. as we said, the economic data just coming out looks pretty good, i'd say, but the dow flat on what would normally be a low volume day. the dow at this point just down four points. the s&p and nasdaq also just slightly higher.

protests in hong kong appear to be abating as a major tunnel connecting the city reopens after being shut down due to all the chaos. what i want to know is, when will president trump sign the pro-democracy hong kong bill and how is that going to impact trade talks? we will talk about that. the world's richest person is no longer bill gates or jeff bezos. he's not even an american. that's your clue. we will tell you who has the top spot coming up. and boston celtics star gordon hayward has credited video games for helping him recover from a broken hand he suffered earlier this month. we will see what dr. marc siegel makes of that, next.

most people think of verizon as a reliable phone company. (woman) but to businesses, we're a reliable partner. we keep companies ready for what's next. (man) we weave security into their business. virtualize their operations. (woman) and build ai customer experiences. we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. like 5g. almost all the fortune 500 partner with us. (woman) when it comes to digital transformation... verizon keeps business ready. ♪

(shaq) (chime) magenta? i hate cartridges! not magenta! not magenta. i'm not going back to the store. magenta! cartridges are so... (buzzer) (vo) the epson ecotank. no more cartridges. it comes with an incredible amount of ink that can save you a lot of frustration. ♪ the epson ecotank. just fill and chill! available at... (groans) hmph... (food grunting menacingly) when the food you love doesn't love you back, stay smooth and fight heartburn fast with tums smoothies. ♪ tum tum-tum tum tums with medicare advantage plans that offer health coaching

and fitness memberships. plus hospital, medical and prescription drug coverage in one simple plan. with monthly plan premiums starting at $0. and wide provider networks, including doctors and hospitals you know and trust. aetna medicare advantage plans call today. we'll send you a $10 visa reward card with no obligation to enroll. medicare annual enrollment ends december 7th. yes! ashley: the commentary is almost as good as the action itself. that was stephen f. austin upsetting number one ranked duke

on duke's home court, no less. they won on the buzzer-beating layup in overtime. judging by the point spread, it was probably one of the biggest if not the biggest upset in college baufblth in 15 years. you can see the emotion on the sidelines there. >> you see coach k's face? ashley: staying on basketball, boston celtics' gordon hayward crediting video games for helping his rehab of his hand injury. dr. marc siegel is here now. i guess -- thanks for being here -- dexterity, apparently his injury was quite severe. he had pins in there and everything. >> pins and plates. ashley: legitimate way to rehab? >> actually, i think so. i will reveal something to you. i love this player, gordon hayward is an excellent player. he's 29 years old, a rising star for the celtics. he's been injury-prone. he broke a leg two years ago, he was an all-star in 2017. now bang, he breaks his hand.

here's the problem. you need the wrist to guide your shot. hayward is also a huge proponent of video games. i on this show have said look, video games are not healthy for teens, for young children, because what happens is you get drawn into that world. but here's one time when i agree with it. he wants to get the dexterity back of his left hand. guess what, and his favorite game, fortnite, guess what that does? with fortnite you're on the controller playing your hands, your fingers, and i think this is legitimate that he may get some dexterity back using that. he wants to get back within a month. i think he may be able to do it. i would vote for this for rehabilitating the wrist. for the wrist. ashley: not just staying in the basement for two months at a time. >> like my son. no. ashley: i want to move on. serious subject. we take a look at the opioid makers as federal prosecutors launching criminal probe. what do you think they will find, doc? >> they've got something here

because there's something called the federal controlled substances act which says drug makers are supposed to really keep an eye on misuse of opioids. keep an eye on. 400,000 people over the last 19 years have killed themselves using opioids. it's rising like this on the curves. over 40,000 last year. who's been keeping an eye on this? not these drug makers. so they are under attack now by federal prosecutors and i can't predict what's going to happen. i think it's legitimate. ashley: it's been going on for 19 years. what role do the doctors play in continuing to prescribe these things? >> i have always said, i said it here, that they are at the center of it. of course, no matter what, i blame on pharmacists for greasing the wheel. it's doctors that hold the pen. doctors made these prescriptions. a lot of them have to be held accountable, what were you prescribing it for, did you know the source of the pain, did you know what this opioid would do, did you know the risk of addiction which is huge. i don't think we were in the dark.

i think doctors should have been really paying more attention. ashley: we know the drug companies are already paying big fines to try to settle lawsuits. now we get into the criminal end. this is not the end, you do not believe? >> this is just the beginning. settlements around the country are occurring but now this is getting really serious with prosecutors involved. this is just the beginning. ashley: stay there a second, doc. this new york city banning the sale of nearly all flavored -- there you go -- nearly all flavored e-cigarettes and by the way, e-liquids. this story goes on and on and on. what is the latest? susan: the ban goes into effect on july 1st. new york city joins 238 municipalities also multiple states across the country. this is of course to get people off vaping. we know in new york state alone that we have seen two people that have died, 291 that have been sickened. most of these cases link back to those that have thc in the cartridges. but in new york city, they are trying to get those underaged smokers from vaping or those potential smokers from vaping.

that is the main thrust of this. new york state has already banned all underaged people from accessing flavored e-cigarettes and flavored, yeah, flavored cartridges. ashley: seems like we carry a story like this every day. by the way, massachusetts governor will be signing some of the toughest laws on flavored tobacco, right? susan: yeah, that's right. this has actually been also endorsed by michael bloomberg, mayor bloomberg, who says basically please, massachusetts, take this step here and take the lead in banning all, talking about flavored tobacco, also flavored vaping devices as well. this is to get those, again, a lot of people say there has been an increase of 50% in those under the age of 18 to get on vapors. ashley: interesting. doc, i know you have spoken in the past about the vapors have actually been quite effective in getting full-time adult smokers off of tobacco. >> i believe in that. ashley: you still believe in that. >> that's the third piece of the story. yes. we as physicians can use it to help people quit. as susan pointed out, teens are

going for the flavors. they get addicted via the flavors and don't even realize half the time there's nicotine in it. the epidemic of illnesses that were occurring, that's from vaping cannabis, thc, marijuana type products, with oils, and now cdc has come out and said you know what the product in those oils is? most of the time it's vitamin e. vitamin e damaging the lungs directly. you have on the one hand the oils of cannabis and thc and marijuana. on the other hand, flavors are addicting our youth and then on the third hand, you have me trying to use them to get people to quit which i still believe in. ashley: all right, doc, thank you so much. and basketball buff. impressed. we have a strong economy, positive trade news and a market in record territory. and take a look at this. this is interesting. a popup mall in the middle of new york city's retail giants. what makes it so special? well, they are small businesses. we will take you inside next. imagine traveling hassle-free with your golf clubs.

now you can, with shipsticks.com! no more lugging your clubs through the airport or risk having your clubs lost or damaged by the airlines. sending your own clubs ahead with shipsticks.com makes it fast & easy to get to your golf destination. with just a few clicks or a phone call, we'll pick up and deliver your clubs on-time, guaranteed, for as low as $39.99. shipsticks.com saves you time and money. make it simple. make it ship sticks. ( ♪ )

( ♪ ) introducing the marilyn monroe collection of fine jewellery. exclusively at zales, the "diamonds are a girl's best friend" store.

ashley: let's take a look at the shares of american express. essentially flat before the opening. the company, by the way, taking over a normally vacant space in new york city to showcase technology aimed at small business. interesting. cheryl casone was there and now she's here to tell us about it.

cheryl: the role of small business is changing, technology is a big part of shopping but retail is changing and it will affect how you go to the store. this looks more like main street 2.0. american express is showcasing the technology of tomorrow that can help businesses of today. we got to sample the tech and the doughnuts that are meant to take the hassle and hunger out of the shopping experience. using artificial intelligence like the doughnut detector that tells you which flavor you would like, an immersive augmented reality software, physical stores can become digital play grounds to market their products and connect with customers. looking for a little character in your bottle of wine? take a peek at the product with the help of an a.r. advertisement. instead of spending all your time circling the clothing rack, time to do some shopping. give the a.r. clothing rack a spin where you shop for almost anything without taking up all

that store space. it doesn't stop there. the tech of the future can help sell the clothes of the future, too. >> we have clothes made out of tents. we are working on using single use plastics. we have a lot of high quality trash in new york and are using it to make high quality products. cheryl: high quality is what customers have come to expect, especially with their technology. >> i thought that was really cool but sometimes technology kills us and you have to keep that in mind. cheryl: the future of main street usa is on its way, but this little glimpse may be the perfect recipe for a shopper with little time and a big appetite. ashley: you got the cookie in. cheryl: looking at these images on a screen, then biometrics was reading my facial imagyry and telling me what i wanted. i could never turn down a doughnut. come on. ashley: come on. thank you very much. we are about five minutes

away from the opening of the indexes. as you can see, kind of flat. the dow flat. s&p just up slightly. same story on the nasdaq. we'll be right back with the opening bell. i'm a regular in my neighborhood. i'm a regular at my local coffee shop and my local barber shop. when you shop small you help support your community - from after school programs to the arts! so become a regular, more regularly. because for every dollar you spend at a small business, an average of 67 cents stays in the community. join me and american express on small business saturday, november 30th, and see how shopping small adds up.

may your holidays glow bright and all your dreams take flight. lease the c 300 sedan for just $399 a month at the mercedes-benz winter event. hurry in today.

ashley: the world's richest person no longer bill gates or jeff bezos. lauren, who gets the title? lauren: bernard arnault, worth about $107 billion. essentially in line with bill gates but we will give him number two by an itty-bitty amount. number one is jeff bezos, obviously. but bernard arnault is the ceo of lvmh. they bought tiffany's for over $16 billion and that boosts his wealth by almost $3 billion. absolutely. ashley: interesting, isn't it. we have talked about this, susan has talked about this issue as well and stu, for that matter. if bezos hadn't got divorced it wouldn't even be a question. susan: no, mackenzie got $35 billion in the divorce. if you add it up, jeff bezos theoretically would still be, i guess if they were still together, the bezoses would be the richest couple in the world. lauren: i don't think any of them care about this stuff. ashley: all right.

you can see they're happy and clapping on the exchanges. the opening bell coming up in just about ten seconds from now. could we have more records today? we likely will. we have had some strong economic data. we will be getting into that as well. the economy booming, the market booming. what's not to like? let's take a look at the big board and the dow 30 stocks as we get under way on thanksgiving eve. god bless all of you here working today and if you are heading out later today, good luck. you can see, more green than red. the dow up modestly, just 11 points. a few stocks in the red as you can see. i see more red than green. that is for sure. take a look at the s&p, if we can. s&p, guess what, all-time high, up another five points at 3145. the gift that keeps on giving. and check the nasdaq. all right. up 21 points, 8 -- justin is talking to me as i'm trying to read the numbers. for some reason i just can't do

it. new all-time high for the dow, s&p and nasdaq. there you go. by the way, not bad, up a quarter percent if i can get it out, 8699 on the nasdaq. yet another headache for dow component boeing. federal inspectors intend to inspect and sign off on every 737 max before it returns to service. that shows boeing losing a little more than 1% at $369. we are, by the way, also showing you stu's christmas watch list. there they are. walt disney, apple and amazon. three pretty strong choices. what could go wrong? all right. still with us, god bless him, market watcher keith fitz gerald, thank you, keith, susan li, lauren simonetti in studio. to you first, keith. look, these stocks, these markets, just keep wanting to go up. what stops this rally that's lasted, what, 11 years? >> well, i tell you, there's a lot of things that could stop it. will they stop it is an entirely different question.

there's tweets, geopolitics, all of which would have stopped it a decade ago. i think this speaks to the resilience of the american people, our economy and our president. susan: by the way, look at the gdp read we got this morning. better than expected. it shows that profits from current production as they say going ahead of estimates. that means companies are making a ton of money. we have seen ten record closes so far just in the month of november and we finally hit thanksgiving and we are not even at the end of the year just yet. lauren: i will build on that. we got the durable goods orders earlier this morning for october as well. a surprise increase. if you look at the capital spending, the business spending -- ashley: i was just going to say that. lauren: huge beat, up 1.2%. it was expected to fall. businesses aren't pulling back, at least in october. ashley: glad you brought that up, because one of the biggest critics of the tax cuts and the rollback of regulations is that companies are not doing anything with that money. they are not reinvesting, they are just making themselves and their stockholders richer. but this shows there is an appetite for capital investment.

>> well, also, too, don't forget the statistics that measure that stuff are outdated and outmoded. i think my theory is they are continuing to invest but they are investing in technology. they are investing in people, investing in areas you can't readily say hey, i got a new wrench, a new doughnut. you can't just count that stuff. ashley: doughnuts. ford, by the way, change of subjects, backing off that tug-of-war rematch with tesla. elon musk is going to do it anyway. wait a minute. didn't ford challenge musk? susan: i believe musk used the f-150 first in his truck advertisement video he posted online. there you go. that's the cyber-truck. the car of the future, as he calls it, basically tugging an f-150 uphill. now, the f-150 has been the bestselling vehicle in the u.s. for the past 42 years. elon musk says the cyber-truck has better tow than the f-150, to which one of the ford executives then tweeted a challenge, saying okay, let's have a tow challenge.

but now backing off of that with ford saying actually that was just a joke. elon musk says let's do it anyway. you know neil degrasse tyson? he weighed into this. he says if you want to judge it by torque and physics, if you are pulling a very heavy truck like an f-150 uphill, it's actually even with torque, you need the weight to support it and that's why it looks better than it does. ashley: keith, despite anything, it's publicity, right? >> i think this is the highest order. ford will get musk-ified if they're not careful. lauren: 250,000 preorders. ashley: yeah. that's right. susan: but again, it's only $100 down in deposit. by the way, the model 3, only half of the cars were ever delivered. preorders don't necessarily translate into actual orders. ashley: we started on the upside on the dow and guess what, we talked it down. we are down 33 points on the dow, 29 points, still above

28,000 at 28,090. under armour got an upgrade from raymond james. that's helping the stock up nicely 5.5%. deere, it gave a cautious outlook, citing trade. looking at how that is being received. not that great. down 4.5%. down eight bucks at $168. by the way, deere's warning of lower profits has caterpillar shares down. caterpillar saying thanks, deere. caterpillar down 1% at $144. take a look at dell, if we can, cutting its guidance for the year. hewlett-packard not having any impact on the stock at all, essentially flat at 20 bucks. take a look at the ten-year yield, shall we not. there's dell, by the way. down on dell. treasury yields. we used to talk about this almost every five minutes. humming along nicely. susan: predictions are we will get to 2% next year. don't forget, jamie dimon said we would get to 4%.

ashley: which means less money going into the bond market and maybe into stocks and elsewhere. susan: it's bullish. a bullish sign. ashley: quickly, let's check gold for you. down another six bucks. no risk out there, i guess. don't need to get into gold. $1461 per ounce. quick check of oil, if we can. i think we get oil inventories today. oil just slightly down at $58.35. we do indeed. thank you. less than two days to black friday and target and walmart taking on amazon in one-day shipping. susan: it's going to be hard because as we know, amazon spends around $1.5 billion to get to one-day shipping. just fourth quarter alone. so they are spending to get your packages sooner. amazon has around ten million items that are available for next day ship. compare that to walmart which only has 220,000 items. target has even less, just 150,000 items that are available next day. and by the way, if you don't order more than $35 worth, you get charged for the shipping. now, as for amazon, basically

will they get market share during these holidays. they already oversee half of e-commerce and some say with its dominance in fast ship, i guess making others spend more and also i think that would be a very attractive way to claw more market share during the holiday shopping season. ashley: interesting. keith, which retailers win the holiday season, do you think? >> well, tell you what, that's a hard pick. i consider amazon a retailer, not just a shipper or marketplace. i think to the point that's just been made, they are forcing the game to be played on their terms. they are forcing others to compete into this one-day shipping arena. that's going to have a real impact on earnings potentially. ashley: i have been told we have shah gilani here. we were hoping to get shah a little earlier. he stayed a little later on the beach. i see the palm trees and ocean behind him. welcome to you, shah. i could ask you the same question. what retailers do you like? >> i like target, walmart and of course, amazon. i think amazon in terms of the stock is underperformed. i think it's ready to pop here.

it's kind of been sideways action. it will have a great fourth quarter, great holiday season. and i think obviously the leader in terms of shipping. a lot of people will turn to them so i expect earnings to be blowout in the fourth quarter. so yeah, those three. the big three. target, walmart, amazon are on top of my list. ashley: i wanted to ask you very quickly, keith said he called facebook the short of the century early next year. he doesn't like it. what's your take on facebook? >> facebook has had its troubles and i have not -- i have been in and out of it. actually, i think the stock may be ready for a pop higher. will it be a long term move higher, could be. i wouldn't say it's the short of the century. i understand keith's reasoning. i agree with a lot of it but i'm probably on the opposite side of this one. ashley: keith, last word to you. >> well, i have known shah for years and i respect it if you take the opposite side of the trade. we will see who owes who a martini. ashley: you can go back to the beach. he's got shorts on under the

shirt and jacket. thank you both, keith and shah, for joining us. really appreciate it. good stuff. quick check of the big board. we started on the upside. it's essentially flat. you know the volume will be low today on getaway day for thanksgiving. the dow off now just 13 points. here's a question. would you book a trip because someone posted cool pictures on instagram? lauren says yes. a growing number of people are actually making travel plans because of people they follow on social media. those people are called influencers and one of them is here to explain the phenomenon. susan is rolling her eyes. trade reps from the u.s., canada and mexico meeting in washington today to discuss the usmca. north dakota senator will join us. his constituents eagerly awaiting the outcome. how long have we been saying that about this trade deal? we will ask what his hopes are in the 11:00 hour. the bill supporting protesters in hong kong on the president's desk. why hasn't he signed it yet? china watcher gordon chang weighs in next.

you're still out there chasing what matters. that's why at aetna, we're committed to taking care of the whole you. with medicare advantage plans that offer health coaching and fitness memberships. plus hospital, medical and prescription drug coverage in one simple plan. with monthly plan premiums starting at $0. aetna medicare advantage plans call today to learn more and we'll send you a $10 visa reward card with no obligation to enroll. medicare annual enrollment ends december 7th.

(shaq) (chime) magenta? i hate cartridges! not magenta! not magenta. i'm not going back to the store. magenta! cartridges are so... (buzzer) (vo) the epson ecotank. no more cartridges. it comes with an incredible amount of ink that can save you a lot of frustration. ♪ the epson ecotank. just fill and chill! available at... step up, please. empty your pockets. looks like you're all set for that business trip. you've got your smartphone, laptop, your other smartphone... woman: is this all the devices you have? your tablet... seriously? smartwatch, your backup tablet, and... woman: anything else in your bag? ...whatever that is. (beeping) this isn't working. introducing samsung mobile workspace solutions. with the galaxy note10 with dex software, you can run your entire business on the one device that does it all. samsung business solutions.

or trips to mars. no commission. delivery drones, or the latest phones. no commission. no matter what you trade, at fidelity you'll pay no commission for online u.s. equity trades. i would just say stay tuned. the day of reckoning will come. ashley: that was papa john founder john schnatter slamming the company that he created. the stock, by the way, up 50% this year. what's going on with this? lauren: take that. he said more than 50% on the year. okay. so the first accusation was that papa john's, his company, the company he founded, changed

their pizza recipe. he said i had all this pizza, it tastes differently. then he slammed the executive team, both his former co-workers. he said they set him up. of course, he was in trouble last year ultimately removed because he was accused of saying the "n" word in a company meeting, among other things. then he hit the current ceo saying he doesn't have passion for quality or pizza. but the point of the story is, he's out. stock's up more than 50%. ashley: unfortunately, he doesn't have the stock to back him up on all of this. they are doing quite well. interesting. thank you. the united states trade representative moving forward on its investigation under section 301 into france's digital services tax and intends to issue a report on monday. susan: right. so do you remember the france digital tax which basically, you are going to tax all these technology companies at 3% of the sales revenue, not profit that we are talking about in france. we know president trump says you are taxing basically american

companies and they had a 90-day truce with the u.s. and france but now the u.s. trade rep is going to look into this, and whether or not it's actually legal as well. i guess is there a way to maybe offset that 3% digital tax. if you think about it, if it's retro active, that's a lot of money for facebook and google and those that make 750 million euros each year. ashley: how european countries make a lot of their money, taxing u.s. companies. all right. interesting. now to this. china's economic growth is cooling off as the trade war takes a toll. growth down to a near 30-year low of 6% in the third quarter. joining us is asia watcher gordon chang. gordon, what makes me interested because i never believe anything that comes out of china when it comes to economic data, they are saying it's down to 6%. how bad is it really? >> well, it could even be negative. we don't really know. the consensus is it's about 3%, maybe 4%. but when you start to look at things like imports, imports

were down 6.4% in october. the sixth straight month of decline. that's important, because that's a crucial indicator of domestic demand. you've got even things like consumption, car sales now down 16 or 17 straight months. there's a lot of signs flashing red. it's clearly not 6.0%. by the way, ash, what they did for 2018, they just revised the 2018 number up by something like $270 billion of gross domestic product which means 2019 numbers now have a much higher base. ashley: listen, the question is, it was asked during this trade impasse, how long can china hang on. they are hurting a lot more than the united states is. but with the type of government you have in place in china, does it really matter? >> they can hang on longer because they do have those currency laws. right now, we are seeing some signs of severe distress inside

the chinese economy. you are starting to see failures and that really means they are sort of at the end of the rope. can they hang on longer, yes, of course they can. but at some point, everything is just going to go. i think if they start to realize that now, they've got to come to terms with president trump at some point in the not too distant future. ashley: they aren't going to give him everything he wants. >> no. i think trump should hang on tough himself because first of all, i don't think we should have a trade deal in the sense that, you know, we have had so many failed trade deals with china and the remedy for, you know, their dishonoring the prior agreements is not to sign up a new one. we should just keep the tariffs up high until they stop stealing our stuff, stop trade violations, all the things they shouldn't be doing. that's the way to go. ashley: stay right there. i want to get into this issue. an update on the protests in hong kong and how that could play into the trade talks. they seem to be abating as a major tunnel has reopened. susan: relatively calm this week in hong kong and really symbolic in that we have this cross

harbor tunnel which is a key transport link in hong kong, reopening after being shut because of the protests and the violence that took place at polytechnic university which is very close to where the tunnel and cross tunnel start. as i mentioned, there's only two tunnels that go through and underneath the waterway, victoria harbor, to get to the other side that connects the two sides. so some would say this is kind of a symbolic reopening of the link between hong kong after the pro-democracy party won a majority of seats in the local city elections. ashley: gordon, come back in. couple of questions for you. a, we see the protests for now abating but you don't think they're over? >> no. because china's reaction to, you know, a sweeping loss at the district council elections is intransigence. that is going to anger the people in hong kong. these protests have gone on now for more than five straight months. really, whatever they were going to abate, beijing would just do

something to inflame people. their statements after the sunday election are not making any friends because clearly, they should be making concessions but they are not willing to. they are blaming the united states, they are blaming all sorts of foreign elements. this is just not a good story. ashley: i want to talk about very quickly hong kong rights bill that's sitting on the president's desk. should he sign it, and how will hong kong or how will china, rather, respond to that? will it anger them a lot? >> of course it will anger china. i think that's probably the reason why the president hasn't signed it yet. but i think that the president's got it all wrong, backwards. now, what he's doing, he's applying four decades of american thinking about china, but there are many voices in china right now that are starting to say the chinese are stalling on the trade bill because they know that will prevent trump from attacking them on hong kong, human rights, democracy, so they are purposely just sort of dragging this out so that they can get trump not to say things. so if president trump wants a

trade deal and i don't think he should but if he wants a trade deal, he should go after them on everything because that raises the cost and that means that eventually, you know, the psychology works. so with china, it's 180 degrees -- ashley: reverse psychology. interesting stuff. thank you very much for being here. appreciate it. thank you. let's take a look at the dow 30. we are still off about 14 points. more stocks in the green than the red but we are slightly lower at the early stage of this session. break and moick and mortars get shoppers to the store by making the trip an experience. we hear that a lot. we will talk to a developer who is building a massive store in new york times square, next. for the tourists. what's going to be so special about it? why will it draw customers? we will get into that next. i'm a regular in my neighborhood. i'm a regular at my local coffee shop and my local barber shop. when you shop small you help support your community - from after school programs to the arts!

so become a regular, more regularly. because for every dollar you spend at a small business, an average of 67 cents stays in the community. join me and american express on small business saturday, november 30th, and see how shopping small adds up. ( ♪ ) ( ♪ ) introducing the marilyn monroe collection of fine jewellery. exclusively at zales, the "diamonds are a girl's best friend" store. exclusively at zales, most people think of verizon as a reliable phone company. (woman) but to businesses, we're a reliable partner. we keep companies ready for what's next. (man) we weave security into their business. virtualize their operations.

(woman) and build ai customer experiences. we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. like 5g. almost all the fortune 500 partner with us. (woman) when it comes to digital transformation... verizon keeps business ready. ♪

ashley: the new york stock exchange wants to do direct listings. what's all that about? to gerri willis down at the exchange. gerri? gerri: that's right, so what they want to do is make it more democratic. we already have direct listings down here, but right now, those deals are limited to big, big, big companies. what would happen, the new york stock exchange wants the reduce the size of these companies and allow them to raise cash in the market. that means smaller, more nimble

companies, maybe in the sweet spot of their growth cycle where they're really ramping up, will come to market and you can be a part of it as an individual investor, because direct listings allow just regular joe blow, me and you, to be in on that very first trade. you know how those ipos work. you had to be in the ipo allocation. what is that? that's like the big investment banks. most of us don't have access to that. but this could make it better for small investors to play in that field. back to you. ashley: very good. great stuff, gerri. thank you very much. with the rise of online shopping, it's getting harder and harder for brick and mortar retailers to get shoppers into their stores. experiential retail is hoping to fix that. that's quite a name. joining is, david horowitz. your company, welcome, develops experimental i guess retail locations where people can actually have an experience. what are we talking about? i said to you in the break, rock climbing, skiing, roller coasters, and you said something

a little more sophisticated. what did you mean? >> yeah. the idea is there's experiences and there's experience in retail. when we talk about the experience economy, people want to have experiences in the real world and they are willing to pay for that. rock climbing, skiing, those are experiences. experiential retail is something different. it's where you are taking a brand and giving people an experience that gives them an affinity for that brand, attracts them to the brand and creates brand loyalty. ashley: again, what are you talking about? what does it involve? >> let me give you the ultimate example. the project we are developing in times square. we are developing a building in times square directly across from tkts on the most trafficked corner in the western hemisphere. the idea being we are going to create a platform where a brand can come and they can communicate with people in the square and in the building, and in doing that, those people who are open to experiences when they come to new york city and when they come to times square can engage with that brand in a very specific way. ashley: you engage with that brand, you are saying the experience is being exposed to

that brand? we're not talking about actual physical experience? >> it can be that as well. if you look, one example, the nike store. the nike store on fifth avenue is a good example because i think what they have created there experience-wise is relevant. they have created something that's visually interesting. they have created -- they change it on the ground floor on a regular basis. you wear their sneakers. you do an activity. you can test their product. ashley: do you build the space or help them with how they brand? >> we are a real estate developer. ashley: you buy the space. >> we buy the space. but we are buying a lot of technology and taking advantage of what times square is. so everything from augmented reality, virtual reality, wifi, being able to interact with your cell phone while in a physical space. ashley: good luck with the project. interesting stuff. david, thank you very much for being here. appreciate it. all right. so there's this question, of course. will the growing fake meat trend extend to thanksgiving dinner tables tomorrow? i hope not but hey, celebrity chef rocco dispirito is here.

we will ask him that question. and some of your questions about turkey day. meantime, colin o'grady, the first human to trek across a antarctica. u & doug ♪ hour 36 in the stakeout. as soon as the homeowners arrive, we'll inform them that liberty mutual customizes home insurance, so they'll only pay for what they need. your turn to keep watch, limu. wake me up if you see anything. [ snoring ] [ loud squawking and siren blaring ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ now you can, with shipsticks.com! no more lugging your clubs through the airport or risk having your clubs lost or damaged by the airlines. sending your own clubs ahead . .

ur clubs on-time, guaranteed, for as low as $39.99. shipsticks.com saves you time and money. make it simple. make it ship sticks. and let me tell you something, rodeo... shipsticks.com saves you time and money. i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. it's just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, it's helped over a million americans. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan, like any other. big difference is how you pay it back. find out how reverse mortgages really work with aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage guide. eliminate monthly mortgage payments, pay bills, medical costs, and more.

call now and get your free info kit. other mortgages are paid each month, but with a reverse mortgage, you can pay whatever you can, when it works for you, or, you can wait, and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. discover the option that's best for you. call today and find out more in aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage loan guide. access tax-free cash and stay in the home you love. you've probably been investing in your home for years... making monthly mortgage payments... doing the right thing... and it's become your family's heart and soul... well, that investment can give you tax-free cash just when you need it. learn how homeowners are strategically using a reverse mortgage loan to cover expenses, pay for healthcare, preserve your portfolio, and so much more. look, reverse mortgages aren't for everyone but i think i've been 'round long enough to know what's what. i'm proud to be a part of aag, i trust 'em,

i think you can too. trust aag for the best reverse mortgage solutions. so you can... retire better. ashley: 10:00 a.m. on the east coast. good morning to you, i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney. if we could move the problemmer up to that would be a god start. it is stuck. there you go. latest read on mortgage rates. susan: i live for it. ashley: what have we got susan? susan: freddie mac slightly higher for mortgage rates. 3.68% for 30-year fixed. up two basis points. if you notice we got better than expected q2 gdp numbers. that means the economy is roaring.

what fannie, freddy says, recent improvement in the economy. lower interest rates, two interest rates cuts this year providing a again till tailwind. rebound over the last few months. ashley: slightly higher. fascinating. susan, very gentle. we have two big stories affecting your money, left side of the screen market highs. right happened side of your screen, capitol hill, seems like back to front to me. big meeting on usmca between top trade officials between the u.s., mexico and canada. we could see real movement on the story today. we see it every day. it could be today. we'll see. toys "r" us, open for business once again. iconic american company opening its doors this morning for the first time since its bankruptcy. myself and my kids spent many an hour of toys "r" us. jackie deangelis is live inside

of the store in paramus, new jersey. jackie. reporter: good morning, ashley. it is iconic. you remember the geoffrey the giraffe. there is a life-sizeed geoffrey walking around. this is not the same size store. those stores were 40,000. this is under 6,000 square feet. the whole experience is. they have food items. almost reminds me of a little bit of dillard's, feels like candyland if you will. they are launching first in new jersey. launching another store in texas next week. 10 more stores to come in 2020. so it's a slowly launch. there are so many people out there wondering will this work? will it resonate with consumers at a time online sales, whole retail market is so competitive, ashley. that is the question. a lot of foot traffic here today. we'll continue to keep you posted. ashley: we hope to get a live

exclusive interview with geoffrey the giraffe. we'll wait for you. reporter: i will try. ashley: i know you can do it. back to the market. stocks in record territory. dow down 20 points. joining us market watcher. rob -- did i get right? >> you did. ashley: you gave me inside scoop. impeachment we talked about it a lot, not so much on this show but others do. trade headlines appear to have not as much impact as they used to. used to go up 200, 300 points with every headline. are you cautious on this market right now? all it wants to do is go up, up and up? >> there is reason it wants to go up. i think positioning was off sides coming into the third quarter. and -- ashley: what do you mean off sides? >> off sides, people were underweight stocks. people were underweight stocks. across the course of the quarter they built positions. they started to see complacency set in. built positions for right reasons.

macro backdrop came in much better than feared. started with ism in october. ashley: right. >> good news today on gdp. durable goods. personal consumption, all these things are breaking kind of to the positive or better than expected. so, when we talk about cautiously optimistic, the caution comes from the fact that a lot of good news is priced in. when you look at earnings, they're, they're at the higher end of the range but they're not completely excessive given the growth. ashley: room to grow. >> there is a lot of good news priced in. remember we had the impeachment process. ashley: right. >> we have the election cycle. we don't have a deal on trade yet. ashley: market ignores it. keeps on moving on up. >> it is economically driven. and earnings driven. earnings this third quarter came in better than expected as well. ashley: yeah. >> so we'll pivot from what i think to be good news to potentially headline risk pen.

i think the probabilities are -- ashley: said that earlier this year. they started using the "r" word, recession. that has gone out of window. >> that is not our view. preconditions for recession don't exist. when i look at it, you have the headline risk. prudence would tell you should think about portfolios, think about taking advantage where we are, just from a price move standpoint. and if you're really tactical, maybe employ some hedging because volatility is low, right? ashley: put it this way, rob, by some accounts, 3 trillion plus dollars on the sidelines a lot more money coming into the market. we get a trade deal done, economy keeps humming along, yes, it could be stronger but hanging in there pretty well, especially compared to the rest of the world. we can continue to move up another leg, right? >> you're painting the other side of the cautiously optimistic which is, positionings is not as off sides as it was. ashley: yeah. >> there is still a lot of cash

on the sidelines. markets tend to pivot in to the slow removal of negative news. right? ashley: i like it. obviously they're getting rid of a lot of. >> thank you. ashley: fda issuing a warning on cbd. the stocks are going higher. what is going on? let's bring in gerri willis. >> this was a big warning from the fda regulators say, cbd can cause liver damage, other harm to the human body. big sell off yesterday. a big recovery throughout the sector. they cited 15 privately-held companies for illegally selling products containing cbd. here is what they said of the listen to this. cbd has the potential to harm you. harm can happen even before you become aware of it. so those stocks sold off, especially ones based in the u.s. who have to deal with the

regulators. the cbd sector in regulatory limbo. we don't know how the fda will finely come out on this. this was not a good preview. ashley: not indeed. gerri, thank you very much. next case, mike bloomberg answering questions from the media for the first time since becoming a candidate. here what he had to say about why he is not running as a republican. roll tape? >> i think it is fair to say that my positions on guns and choice and you go right down the litmus test issues, i certainly could never run as a republican. the old line republican party had was very different from the one today. i don't agree with virtually anything they stand for. i could not do that. ashley: that is the answer. political strategist veronica clearly. thanks for being here. is it too late for mike bloomberg at this stage or not? >> obviously he doesn't seem to think so. he sees what is very apparent

which is the fact there isn't a obvious leader in the democratic race with over a dozen candidates but i would argue the feat he is attempting to overcome is one that is going to be impossible. he is also doing this under the guise of using money, right? that is not something that resonates with the american people today. certainly not the democratic electorate. ashley: certainly not elizabeth warren and bernie sanders who spent time bashing millionaires and billionaires. if you were his political strategist what would you tell him to do? he may be popular on the east and west coast. but there is large percentage of people in middle of america may not warm to him. >> his favorability is 2%. 60 or 70% of democratic voters are familiar with him. he can't blame it on the fact you don't me know. i have to meet you. he missed deadlines for iowa, new hampshire primaries. if way looking for work i would

tell him to run. if i was doing what a good friend would do, it might be too late to be a viable voice. not creating more noise which what this primary has become. ashley: he wouldn't win, you don't think the nomination. who does in your opinion? who goes up against donald trump? >> he sees the fact we don't know who is going to win who do you think? >> probably biden. ashley: joe biden because of his centrist views, polarizing perhaps? >> he has name recognition. you can see through polling we keep getting new front-runners. elizabeth warren, now pete buttigieg. you have consistent second place finisher in joe biden. ashley: quickly what about deval patrick. i had to look at his picture on my phone. you're not hot him entering the race are you? >> i have to question the stability of a candidate like deval patrick to enter the race at this time who has no name recognition, no money. i don't know who is around these candidates like him who encourage them to rin for

office. ashley: hubris. >> on top of that, one of most damning things in his past, his system was the victim of marital rape, not once, not twice, he spoke about the rapist and said, it was a relapse in behavior. this is really, really sad. ashley: we'll leave it right there. veronica, thanks so much. appreciate it. thank you. we brought you a number of social media influencers on this program. later this hour we have one known as the asian anthony bored dane. she books trips for people based on food and experiences. she will be here later this hour. we have another cool story for you. we introduce you to the man who was the first to trek across antarctica all on his own. this week he will begin his next madcap adventure from the drake passage. south of argentina, down to the south poll. good luck on that. next small business saturday is coming up. we'll talk to the head of the small business administration.

how do mom-and-pops compete with giants like amazon and walmart? we'll ask him next. ♪. does your broker offer more than just free trades? fidelity has zero commissions for online u.s. equity trades and etfs, plus zero minimums to open a brokerage account. with value like this, there are zero reasons to invest anywhere else. fidelity.

are critical skills for scientists at 3m. one of the products i helped develop was a softer, more secure diaper closure. as a mom, i knew it had to work. there were babies involved... and they weren't saying much. i envisioned what it's like for babies to have diapers around them. that's what we do at 3m, we listen to people, even those who don't have a voice. at the end of the day, we are people helping people.

with medicare advantage plans that offer health coaching even those who don't have a voice. and fitness memberships. plus hospital, medical and prescription drug coverage in one simple plan. with monthly plan premiums starting at $0. and wide provider networks, including doctors and hospitals you know and trust. aetna medicare advantage plans call today. we'll send you a $10 visa reward card with no obligation to enroll. medicare annual enrollment ends december 7th.

ashley: big explosion at a texas chemical plant. what happened, susan? susan: this is in jefferson county east of houston. a large chemical explosion at this plant, tpc plant. there was a fireball last night. i don't know if we have the dramatic footage from social media. glasses were blown off hinges,

doors blown off houses as well. basically no one was killed. three workers were injured. it rattled a lot of houses for many blocks as you can imagine. at a tpc plant when something blows, it is pretty powerful and the radius pretty wide. ashley: susan, thank you very much. checking the big board. me and everying on the dow. it is down .1 of 1%. the dow at 28,094. less than two days from black friday, big guys, target, walmart, armed with big bargains to separate you and your money. chris pilkington from the small business administration. thank you for joining us. how do small businesses compete with the big behemoths? >> thanks so much for having me today. it is exciting time for small business and small business optimism has never been higher. on small business saturday, over the course of the last 10 years since it has been in existence

to really help, support, kick off the shopping holiday season for small businesses consumers have spent over $100 billion. last year alone, over 100 million americans participated and the best part about that when you shop small in your community, 67 cents of every dollar stays in that community to help support local services. so when you look at where small businesses are right now, incredibly strong economy, historically low unemployment, and a president that is fighting for the american worker, i know we're coming up on thanksgiving, it is a recipe for economic success. ashley: chris, is it harder to generate loyalty among consumers when you have huge stores like amazon throwing every sort of benefit at you? you can get it on sale, have it on the doorstep first thing in the morning, how do you generate, keep loyalty among customers for small business? >> so one of the best things about the sba we're located in 68 district offices all across the country.

we have resource partners. individuals can come in, everything from starting, grows expanding their small business. we sit down, we talk about these issues. we talk about business plans. we talk about access to capital. those small businesses are thriving. one of the best parts about this job, i get to travel all around the country. we talk about all kinds of things, access to capital, trade, workforce. all of these issues. whether i'm in the upper peninsula of michigan at a circuit board company or a cheeseburger shop in miami, florida. these are all issues that come up, but by working closely with the sba, the council for the american worker that the white house is very focused on, we have opportunities to look at different areas for the economy. so, for example, usmca, is something that is incredibly important for small businesses. at this point, entire chapter that is dedicated to small business. that is the first time in history. there are things like ip protections as well as cutting

red tape, to let small businesses export. you see small businesses export about 1/3 of all u.s. exports. over 90% of the companies that actually export. small businesses are in -- ashley: lifeblood of the economy no doubt, chris. another question for you. what are the small business operators telling you about the current state of the economy? >> they're very excited about it. they're excited this president is fighting for them. because unemployment is so historically low they're looking to expand they're looking for workforce opportunities. sba is working closely with ivanka trump and secretary ross on the national council for the american worker as well as other agencies like the department of labor, the department of education, looking to skill, reskill workers to fill 6.7 million jobs this administration created. ashley: because of the gap a little bit on qualified workers, chris, are we seeing less small business being created in this economy because it is hard to find workers that you need?

>> i think with we're finding is the creativity of the small businesses and workers behind them. earlier this month we celebrated national veterans small "business week." the president dedicated an entire cabinet meeting last week to supporting veterans. i think veterans really show that the risk-taking and all of the attributes they had in the military translate directly into what the small businesses need to survive and move forward. ashley: very good. we're out of time of the chris, thank you so much for joining us today. really appreciate it. >> thank you. shop small. ashley: yes. shop small. the busiest travel day in the year, when you face something like that yuck, the weather across much of the country means traffic moving even slower. grady trimble is on the road in the midwest. he will tell us how bad it is really is out there. expected high winds in new york, tomorrow, threatening to ground the famous balloons of the iconic macy's thanksgiving day parade. we have to wait and see.

will the show go on? we'll have to find out. more than 49 million, 49 people wouldn't that be nice, 49 million people hitting the road for the thanksgiving holiday according to aaa. grady trimble will be in chicago with the latest. we'll be right back. (people talking) for every dollar you spend at a small business, an average of 67 cents stays local. shop small and watch it add up. small business saturday by american express is november 30th. ugh, another electronic signature. you have to print, walk, sign, scan, recycle, walk, email yourself... really? more walking, try again, waiting, recycle, walk, email yourself, then get back to your day. or not. this isn't working. introducing samsung paperless workflow solutions.

with the galaxy tab s6, you can sign digital documents on-screen, with a finger or your s pen. samsung business solutions. with a finger or your s pen. 1 in 5 people you meet wear yeah. that many! but right now, is not the time to talk about it. so when you're ready, search 'my denture care'. poligrip and polident. fixed. fresh. and just between us. (shaq) (chime) magenta? i hate cartridges! not magenta! not magenta. i'm not going back to the store. magenta! cartridges are so... (buzzer) (vo) the epson ecotank. no more cartridges. it comes with an incredible amount of ink that can save you a lot of frustration. ♪ the epson ecotank. just fill and chill! available at... be brilliant. be powerful. be the diamond you are. find dazzling deals on diamonds and more.

the zales black friday sale. get 30-50% off everything, including this stunning 7-carat diamond bracelet. exclusively at zales, the diamond store. including this stunning 7-carat diamond bracelet. (people talking) for every dollar you spend at a small business, an average of 67 cents stays local. shop small and watch it add up. small business saturday by american express is november 30th. here, it all starts withello! hi!... how can i help? a data plan for everyone. everyone? everyone. let's send to everyone! wifi up there? uhh. sure, why not? how'd he get out?! a camera might figure it out. that was easy! glad i could help. at xfinity, we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome.

so come ask, shop, discover at your local xfinity store today. ashley: more than 49 million people will hit the road for the holiday. grady trimble in chicago watching them. what have you got, grady? reporter: i don't know what you said or did, right as you were coming to us the road opened in front of us so it is not too bad in chicago right now.

roads are pretty smooth. it will be a little windy today. from to the west, there is pretty bad weather that will get in the way of a lot of people's rides. one thing you don't need to worry about as you're travel something gas prices. they are about as low as they were last year. the national average is 2.59. the lowest state is louisiana. 2.22 there per gallon. in california you pay a lot more, 3.84 is the average there. triple say says 49 million people on the road. the top 10 destinations, places everybody wants to go to. seems like warm weather places. there are two places in hawaii that people are going to and four cities in florida alone. ashley? ashley: i put in an assignment to request for the hawaii figure but they just laughed at me. grady, thank you very much. the roads are pretty good. ah. roads are pretty good in chicago. no snow. not that many vehicles. let's get to another story

we're talking about certainly here in new york. the winds may prevent the iconic big balloons at tomorrow's macy's thanksgiving day parade. what is the decision, lauren? lauren: macy's will make the decision tomorrow morning. if you're one of 3 1/2 million people that attend the raid, we could see them fly, a little bit lower or not at all. 92 years the balloons have flown in the macy's thanksgiving day parade. at one time they did not, 1927. at one time a woman was injured when the gusts were too strong, back in 1997. if the gusts are over 22 miles an hour, there may be a grounding. ashley: we brought awe number of social media influences. stu loves the story. we'll talk to one influencers buildings her following, making travel plans for others, creating food experiences.

she is known as the quote, asian anthony bored. she is up next. creating more work flexibility. we're up with that story next. when i lost my sight, my biggest fear was losing my independence. mmm... good. so i've spent my life developing technology to help the visually impaired. we are so good. we built a guide that uses ibm watson... to help the blind. it is already working in cities like tokyo. my dream is to help millions more people like me.

it is already working in cities like tokyo. most people think of verizon as a reliable phone company. (woman) but to businesses, we're a reliable partner. we keep companies ready for what's next. (man) we weave security into their business. virtualize their operations. (woman) and build ai customer experiences. we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. like 5g. almost all the fortune 500 partner with us. (woman) when it comes to digital transformation... verizon keeps business ready. ♪

♪. ashley: i'm not sure one of the well-known. susan: see more for thanksgiving. come on, come on. ashley: he is not watching. he is says justin. let's get on to this. talk about ruining the mood.

jeremy corbyn, released documents saying the national health service is eligible for post-brexit trade talks. explain. susan: jeremy corbyn was holding papers in his hand. saying they obtained official documents showing that the nhs, the national health service in britain, will be on the table and talked about a post-brexit trade deal. they say that these discussions go all the way back to trade talks in 2017. the u.s. wants total market access to the uk after it leaves the eu. i guess they're anticipating that boris johnson and conservatives will be winning this election. they have a mandate to leave. brexit will finally happen. ashley: boris johnson says no way nhs is on the block. we have to move on, an exciting day. not only freddie mac. check the dow down 24 points but we have weekly oil inventories.

>> we do. we expected a decline. huge build by 1.572 million. price of oil, $58.18. down about a quarter. ashley: you made that very exciting. lauren: i tried. better than freddie mac? ashley: nothing beats freddie mac. more oil sloshing around in storage. that means they're not being used as much, means perhaps a bit of a slowdown. lauren: the surprise build from the api yesterday. we're swimming in oil. gas prices are down. ashley: but it ain't no freddy, never a freddie mac. we first brought you how instagram influencers were taking the food industry. this person posts places around the world and helps people create their travel plans like a modern-day travel agent. lady shu, thank you for being here. we love influencers. this is fascinating thing. you help people go on dream

trips i guess to places that have specific types of foods. how do you do that? >> yes. well, i started a company called journey which is like a modern-day travel agency. so we personalize your trip to you. in today's instagram economy, it is not just curation what i like but personalization, what it will be like for you. ashley: typically someone comes to you, they say what? i want to travel to asia? i like this kind of food. you would say, you have to go here, is that how it works? >> yes. it is something that we're growing from, what people are wanting on instagram. what is amazing about today's instagram culture, you know what? if you're somebody with young kids and you happen to be wanting to go to tokyo and you're taking on that challenge, there is an instagram influencer out there who is doing the same thing f you're vegan, going to bars -- barcelona, can follow a

vegan. ashley: how many followers do you have by the way. >> 16,000. i would be what they call a micro influencers. ashley: how is business growing? are they coming to you? >> more and more brands coming to my. i work with leverage of brands that want to food, drink, travel, experiences around the world to grow and make money. as a micro influencer and as a consultant, these are people brands are using. you can't just as a brand go to the big influencers with millions of followers. it is in fact the micro influencers have targeted audiences and audiences that trust them extra. it is obvious to audiences now, and consumers that folks like me, i'm not making my whole living off this. ashley: no. how do you make your money? do you get people sponsoring your instagram account or do people pay you for your information on where to travel and where to eat? >> so with journey, people pay

us 25 to $50 a day. their trips. just that. to have everything taken care of through you. everything but the flight. it is very good. there is no alternative to diy, do it yourself or luxury travel agency these days. >> a small amount to pay to get that kind of expert advice? >> small amount to pay. i also help companies grow. so i work as a consultant on top of that. i do work as an influencer. in my spare time i contribute to "forbes." ashley: oh. you don't have much spare time. quickly, what does it take to go from a micro to macro? if 16,000 is micro, what is your next goal for followers? >> it takes time and heart. it takes posting every day consistently. that is all it is, to be an influencer, to change the world, it takes that time and that daily effort. ashley: good luck to you. hopefully we added 50 today. we never know. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you so much. ashley: our next guest by the way says millenials are changing

the workplace by pushing for more flexibility. let's bring in robert moran the brunswick group partner. robert, fascinating stuff. you study trends. why do you think the future of work will break with the traditional office place structure? >> sure, there are a number of things going on here. the future of work will be automated, flexible and highly skilled. that is one thing. those are the big trends. when you look generationally, millenials are these, largest generation in the workforce now and followed by boomers and then gen-x, my folks, much smaller generation. millenials are changing the workforce on just sheer size alone. the things they're pushing for in the workforce are really allowing to us catch up to our technology, in my opinion, already is. the number one thing that millenials want is simply flexibility. flexibility in terms of how they work their hours, remote work,

things like that. and we, it is really about millenial parents. so we know that 33% of moms and 33% of dads, both say that they feel like they need a little bit more work place flexibility in order to be the best parent they can be. i think that is to the good. ashley: that is interesting. companies are being forced into this. we have basically full employment. it is hard these days to find qualified workers. you have to throw out some enticement if you like? >> well, that's true. i think, actually have a double challenge that you raised. it is not just that we're essentially at full employment. it is also that very large number of tech jobs go unfilled every year. so we actually need to help reskill a portion of our workforce to take those jobs. but also attract people in. you know, 60% of employers already have remote work

policies in place. employers are actually adjusting very quickly an agilely to this change and adjusting to what millenial workers say they want in the work place. if you go towards a more flexible workforce which people are working from home more, you also see some interesting economic ripples. so 4.7 million americans already work from home. that is 3.5% of the u.s. workforce. if that increases you could see some stress on the office-based real estate market but also some shifting back of services and businesses towards more residential neighborhoods. people work from home more. so there is an interesting, there is some interesting economic ripples here. ashley: very quickly, robert. i'm out of time. four-day work weeks, is that another request that comes up fairly often? >> yes. well, so it is funny. really quickly, in doing

futurist work, if you go back to the 1970s, we were talking about a four-day work week because of growth, incremental growth of productivity. so we could probably do a four-day work week. i don't think that is in the cards anytime soon because people keep wanting more and more things, including more and more square footage in their homes. that is a story for another day. ashley: robert. thank you very much. thanks for taking time to join us today. we really appreciate it. >> thank you. ashley: daredevil adventurer colin o'grady, weighs the first human to cross the south pole by himself. quite a feat. he is planning to row through the drake passage, the brutal body of water between argentina and antarctica, very dangerous. what kind of preparation goes into a challenge like that. i will ask him later this hour. first the massachusetts state police have a new addition to the force, a dog-like robot called spot. it is scary and pretty creepy. what does a tough new york city

cop think about that? we'll find out next. ♪. le-free with your golf clubs. now you can, with shipsticks.com! no more lugging your clubs through the airport or risk having your clubs lost or damaged by the airlines. sending your own clubs ahead with shipsticks.com makes it fast & easy to get to your golf destination. with just a few clicks or a phone call, we'll pick up and deliver your clubs on-time, guaranteed, for as low as $39.99. shipsticks.com saves you time and money. make it simple. make it ship sticks. (groans) hmph... (food grunting menacingly) when the food you love doesn't love you back, stay smooth and fight heartburn fast with tums smoothies. ♪ tum tum-tum tum tums with tums smoothies. (shaq) (chime) magenta? i hate cartridges!

not magenta! not magenta. i'm not going back to the store. magenta! cartridges are so... (buzzer) (vo) the epson ecotank. no more cartridges. it comes with an incredible amount of ink that can save you a lot of frustration. ♪ the epson ecotank. just fill and chill! available at...

hey fred - it's medicare open enrollment.e. time to compare plans. we're fine with what we have. that's what the johnsons thought until they tried medicare's new plan finder. the johnsons?. we saved a lot on our prescription costs and got extra benefits. how 'bout it, fred. plans change every year. use the new plan finder at medicare.gov . comparing plans really pays. look how much we can save. with medicare advantage plans that offer health coaching and fitness memberships. plus hospital, medical and prescription drug coverage in one simple plan. with monthly plan premiums starting at $0. and wide provider networks, including doctors and hospitals you know and trust. aetna medicare advantage plans

call today. we'll send you a $10 visa reward card with no obligation to enroll. medicare annual enrollment ends december 7th. ashley: take a look at markets for you. kind of a ho-hum day. below the break even line. still less than .1 of 1%. dow at 28,002. michael bloomberg known for cutting crime in new york city, apologized and reversed the position on stop-and-frisk. take a listen. >> look, stop-and-frisk we used two terms in office. it brought down the murder rate. my whole focus was reducing incarceration rate and stopping the murder rate, reducing the murder rate and saving lives what happened in the third term looking back, we sort of got carried away and did a lot more

than we should have. ashley: interesting. "blue lives matter" new york city founder joe imperatrice. feels like it was successful. it, crime was contained within new york city under mayor bloomberg. just threw ray kelly under the bus. >> it was. stop question and frisk is most powerful tool police officers have. a lot of men and women put their lives in jeopardy getting illegal handguns off the street. if him not running for president of the united states this wouldn't happen. he should have done taken head on. i made the decisions for this reason, go forward with it. show how the numbers went down drastically over three terms he had. what people don't understand, stop, question and frisk, police officers can still use. they use it in different terms. ashley: right. >> but it's a tool in the tool box to keep neighborhoods we patrol every single day. ashley: how about this one, starting next year, new york will eliminate bail and pretrial detention for lower level

crimes, which means basically, people accused of many crimes could be just released with their own signature. what is your take on that? >> i don't know who sits and whether albany or whatnot, thinks these decisions are a good thing. ashley: yeah. >> police officers and law enforcement backgrounds to talk to, district attorneys going out on the news saying this will not be a good idea. in a nutshell for people listening that don't know what it is, unless you commit murder or shoot somebody for the most part they will be put back on the street. ashley: right. >> police officer would go out there, stop them. ask for high bail, so that individual couldn't be victim of retaliation or bulger la rise another house. now the person is on the street. not only worry about the person coming back to court but that american in that time frame committing another crime. in my opinion crime rates will go up. police officers will have their hands full. it will get dangerous because these guys don't think there is repercussion. ashley: there are perception in new york things are not as well-run as they are. describe the difference, well,

go back to giuliani, certainly mayor bloomberg and the current mayor, bill de blasio? >> this goes back to the obama administration where for years you throw fuel to the fire, let people think it was okay to disrespect the police officers. go out there and defend the criminals when on video they were seen committing crimes. and now president trump cops in and he defends us, he stands up, i'm with you. i will always have your back. that is what we need. in new york city, going back to lewis being shot and killed, officers turning their backs, this so going on five years in new york city if not. officers need to know they have the superiors best interests in mind and that they have their backs go on the street. you don't want to be the next danny pantale-a doing your job and lose your job. ashley: is new york city more dangerous because the current administration? >> officers go out do the best they can to make the city safe. not a time the officer will turn a blind eye. do i feel criminals are

empowered to commit more crimes? yes. that doesn't mean police officers will go out there to do their best to keep everybody safe. ashley: happy thanksgiving to you. >> you too. ashley: susan, tell me about, hello. susan: hello. ashley: tell me about the new addition to whatever it says, there you go, massachusetts state police department. what is going on? susan: think of "robocop" but a four-legged variety. boston dynamics has a very famous robodog called spot. you have seen it on youtube. millions of views have been watched throughout the years. according to report looks like the massachusetts state police is the first los angeles enforcement agency in the country to put spot to work. they have a 90-day lease. they are basically using spot as part of the agency's bomb squad to go in there. ashley: okay. susan: sniff it out. get it? ashley: very good. susan: just figure the safety of the vicinity where there might be some threats of bombs. but we know that boston dynamics is owned by guess who?

ashley: tell me. susan: softbank and. ashley: that is interesting. could we see these patrolling the beat in new york? >> not for bombs for terrorist activity, active shooters, when you want to save lives or save officers lives make sure the scene is safe that incredible to put in first. at least an officer will not be shot at. that is incredible tool. ashley: is that the future? >> i think there is. there are a lot of things being used not being spoken about but i definitely think policing is going in that direction. ashley: there you go, spot could have a job. joe, thank you very. appreciate it. former president jimmy carter has been released from the hospital, good news. he had successful surgery to relief pressure on his brain. he is being discharged from the hospital. we all wish him very well. remarkable man. now this, new york, knew jersey, connecticut, maryland filed appeals challenging the salt ruling. the cap, of course that is on state and local tax deductions.

kristina partsinevelos here. i is a feeling stuart varney may behind this but what is going on? >> four blue states are appealing. they originally went to sue the irs. they went to sue the treasury secretary last year. then the federal judge said that you know, that case is not going to work with us. so now they're appealing. and they're taking two different paths. they're first saying those salt deductions capped at $10,000 are unconstitutional and doesn't allow them to go ahead with their own tax policies within their states. then the second route that three of those states are trying to defend this work around i guess you could say you create this charitable organization within the state. you can pay the state for local services and then you yourself, can get a tax deduction. so i reached out to the new york city, the new york attorney general, they released a press statement. trying to get a little bit more information, they said it is putting a heavy burden, more specifically on hard-working

middle-class families. often you hear stories about the wealthy leaving these high-taxed states. ashley: every day. >> like connecticut, new york, to go to florida and such. they say it is attacking middle class. for some numbers. back in 2016, connecticut itself, average write off was 19,563. you can see a drastic change going from 19,000 to 10,000. i'm wondering how sympathetic they are in the other state. ah, darn new yorkers. ashley: they're not, bottom line but very interesting stuff. kristina, thank you very much. as we know, thanksgiving about turkey, football, arguing politics with family at the dinner table, isn't that fun? food fight. do trump supporters have the upper hand? i will ask internationally best-selling author mark steyn with his take. don't miss it. we're talking politics. some are serving fake meat. don't raise your eyebrows, kristina. gravy infused with cannabis?

rocco dispirito we will talk to the star chef. we'll talk to the first person to go across antarctica solo. now he will try to go across the drake passage, that body of water between argentina and antarctica. my goodness, he is up next. ♪ i'm a regular in my neighborhood. i'm a regular at my local coffee shop and my local barber shop. when you shop small you help support your community - from after school programs to the arts! so become a regular, more regularly.

because for every dollar you spend at a small business, an average of 67 cents stays in the community. join me and american express on small business saturday, november 30th, and see how shopping small adds up. beyond the routine checkups. beyond the not-so-routine cases. comcast business is helping doctors provide care in whole new ways. all working with a new generation of technologies powered by our gig-speed network. because beyond technology... there is human ingenuity. every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected. to do the extraordinary. take your business beyond. and now for their service to the community, we present limu emu & doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] it's an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need.

and now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ beyond the routine checkups. beyond the not-so-routine cases. comcast business is helping doctors provide care in whole new ways. all working with a new generation of technologies powered by our gig-speed network. because beyond technology... there is human ingenuity. every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected. to do the extraordinary. take your business beyond.

ashley: our next guest was the first to cross antarctica solo. in a week 1/2, he will start an expedition to row the drake passage. if you don't know, that passage between argentina and antarctica, incredibly treacherous. with that said, bring in the man himself in, colin owe brady. author of the impossible first. colin, welcome, tell me why you're doing this? that is always the first question to begin with? >> great to be here. last year i became the first person in history to cross

antarctica solo, unsupported, unaided. wrote a book about it this year, the impossible first. you comes out in january. you can preorder it now. thinking about writing this book, i want to go back to antarctica in a completely difficult way this time. the crossing was the impossible first. the row is the impossible row. i will attempt to be with group of others, the first people in history to cross drake passage completely human powered in a rowboat. for me, the question is why. i'm looking to explore the limits of human potential. ashley: you are doing that how far is the row from argentina to antarctica? >> we're starting in chile. then actually into cape horn, the southern part of chile. that will, crossing is roughly, 6, 700 miles. a little bit hard to tell. there will be rough seas, some currents and winds blowing around. it won't be a perfectly straight

line. somewhere around 6, 700 miles. ashley: how are you protected? that is a very dangerous thing to do. do you have a boat and crew alongside you? >> six of us rowing the boat. three people rowing any given time, 90 minutes on, 9minutes off. it is open hull. the waves are crashing. the boat is self-riding so it comes back up. we invested in all the satellite technology with partnership with discovery. we'll broadcast the thing live while it is happening. ashley: we'll follow your progress. >> if you're home at the holidays, pull up my instagram and colin obrady. eat a little turkey with me getting -- ashley: stay safe. we look forward to you telling about the big adventure. colin, thank you very much. we appreciate it. the trump 2020 campaign has

a brand new member, she is just six days old. baby blake, will be making her first tv appearance with mom. trump 2020 press secretary kate at this mcenany will be here. we'll be back. hey! my focus is on the road, and that's saving me cash with drivewise. who's the dummy now? whoof! whoof! so get allstate where good drivers save 40% for avoiding mayhem, like me. sorry! he's a baby! step up, please. empty your pockets. looks like you're all set for that business trip. you've got your smartphone, laptop, your other smartphone... woman: is this all the devices you have? your tablet... seriously? smartwatch, your backup tablet, and... woman: anything else in your bag? ...whatever that is. (beeping) this isn't working.

introducing samsung mobile workspace solutions. with the galaxy note10 with dex software, you can run your entire business on the one device that does it all. samsung business solutions.

ashley: it is 11:00 in new york, 8:00 a.m. in california. third quarter gdp came out a little earlier. the economy grew 2.1%. that beat the dreaded expectations. let's bring in moody's managing director and chief economist, john lonski. the economy humming along very nicely, thank you very much. >> yes, it is. we also got better than anticipated news on durable goods orders for capital goods, business investment spending may be turning higher and in addition, real consumer spending for the month of october beat expectations. ashley: it's interesting because earlier this year, you were on this very set talking about it, everyone was talking about recession by the end of the

third quarter going into the fourth, we were looking at the dreaded "r" word. nowhere in sight, right? >> we don't see it happening. at the end of last year we had quite a slowdown but real consumer spending went from 3.5%, 1.4%, not going to happen this year. we will keep real consumer spending i think growing by at least 2% annualized in the final quarter of this year which is a pretty darned good thing, telling us that a recession is not yet in sight. ashley: this question for you. the usmca could be voted on before the end of the month, well, if you believe nancy pelosi, and phase one of the china trade deal should be wrapping up soon, we think. how high are we going to go? imagine if those two elements come together. >> those are two big wild cards. it could boost growth by a quarter of a percentage point. ashley: that's all? >> that's important, you know. let's not get too carried away here. i think that's very important because that keeps us safely distanced from a downturn, if that's the case, business confidence will be sufficient for the purpose of continuing to

expand payrolls and boost capital spending. ashley: we also had dire predictions if the president kept the tariff war going. has it had the negative impact you expected it would, or not? on the economy? >> if it did anything, it hurt business sentiment, reduced capital spending. on the other hand, i don't think it had anything negative impact whatsoever on consumer spending. also on price inflation, the idea we boost tariffs, doesn't that mean that consumer prices will grow more quickly. didn't happen. in fact, if we look at the import price index, throw out petroleum products, that's down by more than 1% from a year ago for the month of october. ashley: fascinating. i want to move to another subject. stuart has been tracking, as we know, disney, amazon, apple all week as we have been for awhile. that's his holiday wish list, by the way. you are watching target and walmart. is that right? >> yeah. right. i will say about what stuart is watching, each of those companies is financially strong.

okay? so they have the ability to easily weather any type of storm that they might face over the near term, though i don't think that's going to be the case. target's doing a very good job of positioning itself in retailing space. they seem to have the right combination of quality as well as price with their product offerings and walmart is a giant. never count those guys out. ashley: here's the biggest question of the day. take your time when you answer this. tomorrow thanksgiving, what's your favorite thanksgiving side? >> it has to be stuffing. ashley: stuffing. >> is it bad for you? i really enjoy it. i only get it once a year. ashley: i'm right there with you. enjoy the stuffing and everything else. >> you, too, happy thanksgiving. ashley: let's take a look at this. a botched bootleg -- say it ain't so. lauren: take a look at it. that's like a fake version of baby yoda. totally creepy. $600 on etsy. what is the point of this? disney was supposed to have

their new mascot of their streaming service, mandalorian, baby yoda. this was the breakout store, the toys were supposed to be in stores this week in time for christmas. ashley: that looks very disturbing. lauren: they didn't expect this to be a hit or couldn't get it to market. a lot of plush items and toys coming in 2020, they just missed christmas. that means -- ashley: that's the real one. lauren: etsy and other companies trying to fill in the gap. i think that's the real one. just to be clear, you can get a teeshirt, mug or tote but not a toy. just saying. ashley: let's move on. "the irishman" coming to netflix today, directed by martin scorsese. seems like the hype died down a little bit. deirdre: maybe. tons of stars.

high profile mob picture and we know it's not going to movie theaters. you can only watch this on netflix but justin, fearless producer here, says he thinks this is this year's "bird box" and last year, of course, that was the film with sandra bullock, and most analysts say that probably made netflix several hundred millions of dollars, from what i have seen. "bird box" from december 21st, not exactly the same holiday time period, but in those first few days, was seen by 45 million accounts. so probably more people. but 45 million accounts. so he is saying -- ashley: this is about as big as it gets. a classic film, classic actors. lauren: three and a half hours long. deirdre: you have to be committed. ashley: just push pause. get a cup of tea. deirdre: all kidding aside, that is why people appreciate streaming in their homes.

believe it or not, movie theaters are annoyed it's not going to be, as many other movies are, theaters first, then streaming. they are just going right to streaming. ashley: you can eat popcorn that's not 15 bucks or whatever it is for the average. deirdre: you don't even have to eat popcorn, because you are in your own home. you can eat whatever you want. ashley: thank you very much. next case, president trump getting in the thanksgiving spirit with his annual turkey pardon. and of course, he had to take a little jab at the house's impeachment proceedings. why not. we will play that for you next. classic mr. trump. we know what the president is doing for turkey day. he's down at his mar-a-lago resort for a bit of rest and relaxation. what are you doing? fearful that perhaps a political discussion will rear its ugly head around the dinner table? we have mark steyn on the show. i'm sure he will give us a good workaround for that. and a big meeting today on the usmca between the top trade officials from the u.s., mexico and canada. we could see real movement on this today. we always say that but i think

we could. stay with us. thanksgiving edition of "varney & company" rolling on. ♪ most people think of verizon as a reliable phone company. (woman) but to businesses, we're a reliable partner. we keep companies ready for what's next. (man) we weave security into their business. virtualize their operations. (woman) and build ai customer experiences. we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. like 5g. almost all the fortune 500 partner with us. (woman) when it comes to digital transformation... verizon keeps business ready. ♪

when you're looking for answers, it's good to have help. because the right information, at the right time, may make all the difference. at humana, we know that's especially true when you're looking for a medicare supplement insurance plan. that's why we're offering seven things every medicare supplement should have. it's yours free just for calling the number on your screen. and when you call, a knowledgeable licensed agent-producer can answer any questions you have, and help you choose the plan that's right for you. the call is free, and there's no obligation. you see, medicare covers only about 80 percent of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. that's why so many people purchase medicare supplement insurance plans, like those offered by humana. they're designed to help you save money and pay some of the costs medicare doesn't. depending on the medicare supplement plan you

select, you could have no deductibles or co-payments for doctor visits, hospital stays, emergency care and more. you can keep the doctors you have now, ones you know and trust, with no referrals needed. plus you can get medical care anywhere in the country, even when you're travelling. with humana, you get a competitive monthly premium and personalized service from a healthcare partner working to make healthcare simpler and easier for you. you can chose from a wide range of standardized plans. each one is designed to work seamlessly with medicare and help save you money. so how do ya find the plan that's right for you? one that fits your needs and your budget? call humana now at the number on your screen for this free guide. it's just one of the ways that humana is making healthcare simpler. and when you call, a knowledgeable licensed agent-producer can answer any questions you have, and help you chose the plan that's right for you. the call is free and there's no obligation. you know medicare won't cover all your

medical costs, so call now! and see why a medicare supplement plan from a company like humana, just might be the answer. ashley: yesterday, president trump pardoned turkeys named bread and butter at the white house. great names. he also brought some humor into the ceremony. did he not? deirdre: he sure did. he said the turkeys will remain calm under any condition. we are going to play what the president said. you will understand the context. >> thankfully, bread and butter have been specially raised by the jacksons to remain calm under any condition, which will be very important because they have already received subpoenas

to appear in adam schiff's basement on thursday. ashley: that's just funny. i'm sorry. deirdre: witnesses acknowledging they didn't hear such a condition, trump even had a point that the president indirectly made -- ashley: plead the fifth. funny stuff. by the way, yesterday, stuart and lou dobbs discussed talking politics at the thanksgiving table. great discussion. take a listen. stuart: will you discuss politics around your dinner table? lou: sure. i will probably be permitted to participate. my view is somewhat well known. stuart: do you have a free speech household? lou: not by my choice, but yes. stuart: i think that this year, this thanksgiving, the trump haters are going to be a little more quiet than usual. lou: they surely will be at my house because they won't be invited. ashley: who better to bring in

than the one and only mark steyn. thanksgiving tradition, you talk about politics. it's as old as the country itself, right? >> it's a thanksgiving tradition at stuart's place. he always comes on itching for a fight. i'm never quite so sure. the people i feel sorryiest for, the family in iowa who kamala harris has moved in with basically for thanksgiving. i can tell you, i mean, i live in new hampshire and i do not want some .3% democratic presidential candidate showing up at my house for thanksgiving unless it's joe biden, who is look your crazy uncle at thanksgiving anyway. he can just sit there at the end of the table and threaten to punch corn pop in the kisser and call him esther williams again and people will say that's old uncle joe. he's born for the thanksgiving. ashley: do you have a robust

political conversation around the thanksgiving table? >> well, no, i actually try -- i think it should be for things that are enduring, things that you are thankful for. if people want to, i think the best way to do it, i offer this in the spirit of helpful advice, is that you should actually impose democrat primary debate rules on people so you say well, great aunt mabel, you will have 30 seconds for your opening statement and you better get that -- through with that before your cousin comes in and identifies the turkey as a russian agent and then -- and i feel -- then you say you will have 45 seconds for your rebuttal over the pumpkin pie. by that time, after 20 minutes, people would just rather be heading toward the alcohol. it's also good, if your social

justice kids are coming in with the attitude in old teeshirts and all the rest of it, to enter into the spirit of it and have the turkey announce its pronouns as it's brought into the room, just like democrats. everyone likes that. because we all know what a great sense of humor the social justice transgender and colonialism masters degree studen students, they love, they just love to yuk it up. they can laugh at themselves. ashley: also, you have michael bloomberg now become a part of this discussion. people are saying i quote like mr. bloomberg, i might vote for him. >> i often feel i don't fall asleep early enough on thanksgiving. it's often not until 4:00 in the afternoon so i like to book michael bloomberg to come in for a speech because then i just keel over at about 11:20 in the morning. i have no idea why michael bloomberg is running.

i think when he was mayor of new york, he spent basically three days a week in bermuda. i think he would make an excellent governor of bermuda. i would love to see him as a fellow old school imperialist, you would love to see him in the cocked hat with ostrich feathers but as president he's going nowhere. ashley: really? you don't think he could win? he's not going to win the nomination because his point is and others have said this, the bunch we have out there right now are just not going to win. >> yeah, but you know, if i were to make a semi-serious point today, semi-serious, he's basically running as a social liberal and fiscal conservative. he's like bill weld or christy whitman emerging from the mists of time of the mid 1990s. i would think -- i think that things have flipped since then. there's not a lot of talk about -- if anything, we live in an age where the sweet spot is

actually sort of fiscal liberalism and cultural conservatism because there's not a lot of talk about reforming medicare or social security anymore, and that's -- and trump didn't go there when he was campaigning, and it's interesting to me if you look at all these new european parties, for example, that's the space there. someone like marine le pen is fiscal left and right winger only in a kind of cultural sense. bloomberg seems to be absolutely, and it is almost like the parody globalist. aside from the fact he's a member of the chinese politburo. ashley: the biggest question of all, we have been asking our guests this today, what's your favorite thanksgiving side for the big meal? >> i would have to say brussels sprouts. ashley: really?

>> it's like really difficult to do well. if you overdo them -- ashley: they get soggy. >> soggy, mushy brussels sprouts. that's a deal breaker for me. ashley: if you underdo them, they are rock hard. has to be done perfectly. mark steyn, great stuff as always. don't go away. this is great. president trump just tweeted this and they are all laughing in my ear. an artistic rendition of him fashioned as rocky balboa. can we just go to black? it just broke our tv. he was there as rocky balboa? can we bring it back? there you go. how about that. he's been working out. that's all i can say. >> he's the greatest looking president in -- that's fantastic. ashley: i'm waiting for joe biden's version of that. >> that should be even better. ashley: great stuff. that's from the president, having a great time on this thanksgiving eve. what a great place to leave it.

thanks for being here. >> i will be dreaming of that all thanksgiving. ashley: thank you. quite a shakeup brewing among the world's wealthiest people. amazon's jeff bezos could soon have his throne stolen from him but by whom? zuckerberg, gates, warren buffett? we will tell you, next. ♪ (people talking) for every dollar you spend at a small business, an average of 67 cents stays local. shop small and watch it add up. small business saturday by american express is november 30th. aetto yours a health and wellness with medicare advantage plans designed for the whole you body, mind and spirit.

that means aetna is helping you get ready to be the best grandmother the world has ever known. with medicare advantage plans that come with monthly premiums starting at $0. plus hospital, medical and prescription drug coverage in one simple plan. and wide provider networks including doctors and hospitals you know and trust. plus a limit on your out-of-pocket medical costs. and health coaching and fitness memberships to help you age actively. so you can be ready for what matters most. aetna medicare advantage plans call today. we'll send you a $10 visa reward card with no obligation to enroll. or visit us online at aetnamedicare.com/tv.

(people talking) for every dollar you spend at a small business, an average of 67 cents stays local. shop small and watch it add up.

small business saturday by american express is november 30th.

ashley: how about this. a new person will pass jeff bezos and bill gates to become the world's richest person. who is it? it's not me. lauren: not you. arnault, the lvmh ceo. they just bought tiffany for $16.2 billion so his net worth according to forbes is $107 billion. that puts him number two right under jeff bezos. oh, so close. he could be the world's number one and is almost neck and neck with the number three, bill gates. take that, gates and bezos. mr. arnault is coming for you. the funniest thing about all this, these millionaires don't care by how much their wealth moves each day.

ashley: we are the only ones who care. we do stories on it. there you go. thank you very much. the holiday season of course is the season of giving. while billionaires donate large sums of money, the ratio of their donations may be lower than what the average american donates. you have the numbers? deirdre: yes. the average american, people who give to charities, they give about .33% of his or her salary. so if you compare that to what i'm just going to start with jeff bezos. pre-divorce he was worth about $160 billion. he gave away $131 million last year. if you do the math, that's .1%. so there are people who are willing to complain that he is only giving .1% instead of .33% like the average american. however, $131 million to a charity, i'm sure those charities appreciate that money. i want to put this in context, as senator elizabeth warren's plan as we know taxing the rich, if you are worth $1 billion or more she wants to put a 6%

surcharge on your money, so he would have paid $9.5 billion in 2018. so obviously, $9.5 billion is a lot more than $131 million. ashley: bill gates gives a lot of it. deirdre: warren buffett and bill gates give the most. buffett, 3.9% of his fortune, bill gates, 2.6%. mark succeederbe succeeder zuc if you pay more in taxes, the charities will get stiffed because they will be so aggravated giving away billions, he's not going to give -- we don't know if he would stop or not giving to charity but you understand the mentality of i just gave you a lot of money, government, maybe i don't -- ashley: i don't think it's anyone's business how much someone donates to charity. it's their decision. we shouldn't pick at it. it's none of our business. deirdre: no. i think honestly, from my personal take, i think they are

particularly generous. even mark zuckerberg and his wife will give away 99% of facebook's stock to try to have problems that technology can solve. they are funding all kinds of projects. i think warren buffett and bill gates have taken that giving pledge which is essentially we are going to give away all of our money until we're dead, then if we have some left over, we will give it away after that. lauren: it's not our business. a lot of rich people do small things that make a big difference. for instance, if you do a group dinner and that dinner is $2,000 they give an extra $2,000 as the tip. they do small things like that. deirdre: we had ken langone here a few days ago. if you are a new yorker, at nyu medical center, there's a langone medical center which is state of the art. if you go into any hospital at least in new york city, there's pretty nice facilities thanks to the generosity of others. ashley: we have taken care of this issue. good stuff. thank you very much. big meeting today on usmca

between the top trade officials from the u.s., mexico and canada. coming up, senator john hoeven will join us from his home state of north dakota. bet it's cold today. i want him to clear the air for us. will we get a vote in the house next week for crying out loud? keep it here. ♪ we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it - with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right.

usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa

ashley: the market's opened right around two hours now and not going very far. the dow literally flat or just slightly lower, down four points at 28,116. it is the biggest shopping weekend of the year upon us, but our next guest says holiday shopping isn't all about foot traffic. let's bring in market watcher heather zumarraga. thank you for joining us. i guess my first question is lay out your case. >> hi, ashley. yes, retail sales are really a mixed bag right now. if you look at companies like jc penney and kohl's, for example, they are struggling but target and walmart are doing very well, not just because of foot traffic in the store, but they are ramping up their online sales.

85% of americans are expected to shop this weekend but that's not, as you can imagine, all in store. that's mainly online. that's where people will be shopping this weekend. ashley: what's bigger, heather, is it black friday or cyber-monday? >> well, depends what you're buying. believe it or not, there's what's called extended promotional cycles. retailers have done this every year and they keep extending it, even longer where i'm getting e-mails now saying buy right now, the black friday sales are happening now. that's to beat out their competitors, someone like best buy, for example, is really well-equipped to handle the sales so that they have people buying now and they beat everybody to friday and saturday and hopefully you get all your shopping done now. that's what stores are targeting for people to buy now ahead of thanksgiving. ashley: it seems to be pointing to a pretty strong holiday shopping season. the economic data is good, the sentiment numbers are good.

are you expecting a very positive season? >> yeah, according to the national retail federation, holiday shopping sales should be up 4% this year, average americans will spend about 5% more. that is the estimate. despite we had some data this morning showing that the consumer was a little bit weaker, but online sales, e-commerce, target, for example, up 31% in the last quarter for online sales. that's where all the action is really taking place. you might want to skip out on the apple pie and head to your computer. ashley: yeah, that's never going to happen. do you do mostly your shopping, out of interest, online? >> well, i do, but look, i'm not in new jersey but i hear of these unique in-store experiences like what you guys have with the ski slopes as well as the roller coasters inside in the new new jersey mall. maybe i should head out to the stores. ashley: what's your favorite thanksgiving side? we are asking everyone.

>> i can't cook. i don't know, i'm picking up a ham later from boston market. that's not a side dish but i did speak with one of the show's producer ahead of time. she mentioned she loves sweet potatoes with marshmallows. yummy. ashley: all right. we will let you get away with it. as always, thank you very much. have a great day tomorrow. >> happy thanksgiving. ashley: same to you. sweet potatoes? deirdre: really good. lauren: i also put sausage in my stuffing. ashley: oh, my god. you are out of control. yesterday, by the way, we reported that house speaker nancy pelosi plans to bring a vote on usmca before the end of the month. we will bring in very shortly north dakota senator john hoeven. is he not ready? let's talk -- let's just kind of kick that around a little bit. before we get to the senator, want to talk about the market because we have this record after record after record, no

big surprise today with everyone getting on the road, quiet day on the markets. lauren: anything in the plus column today, is three record highs in a row. the melt up, if you will, santa claus rally. deirdre: the hundredth day of a record for the s&p 500. ashley: we tap-danced. it wasn't pretty but we got through it. north dakota senator john hoeven, thanks for joining us. what the heck is going on with the usmca? so much talk, so little action. is something going to get done and when? >> i sure hope so. we are working really hard to get it. the trade ambassador, robert lighthizer, is meeting with the trade ambassadors from canada and mexico today. they met late last week. they are meeting again today. the word is they are making progress. so we need to keep the push on and try to get this done before year end. it's got to start in the house. we are ready to go in the senate. it's got to start in the house. ashley: do you believe speaker pelosi when she says we could

have this thing coming to a vote before the end of the year? >> well, the good thing is she's saying that we are making progress. what she continues to push is more agreements from mexico in regard to labor. i think they have done a lot already. i think canada is pretty much good to go. there's really no reason not to put this on the house floor. it would get a big bipartisan vote. ashley: yeah, but also, senator, it gives a big win to donald trump and i just have a feeling nancy pelosi is not real thrilled with that. >> i hear you, but isn't this really about the american people and what's good for our economy? this would be good across all sectors, our ag sector, energy, high tech, manufacturing, you name it. ashley: certainly for your state, how important is this deal? >> extremely important. we are a huge ag state. we are a big energy provider. we produce more than 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. we produce energy from a lot of other sources, too. this is a good agreement for us. like i say, for the industrial

states, manufacturing, high tech, you name it. this is a good across all of the different industry sectors. ashley: when you get back from this latest recess, are you confident you will be able to vote reasonably soon? are we that close, do you think? >> i think we are going to get there because again, this is what's good for the country. but we need to keep beating the drum. we need to keep pushing for it. ashley: all right. by the way, senator, before you go, we have had this burning question we are asking all our guests. what's your favorite thanksgiving side? >> my favorite thanksgiving sign? ashley: side. >> oh, side dish. i love stuffing but you know, i love it all. it's one of my absolute favorite meals. since you brought it up, happy thanksgiving to you and to everybody. what a great, it's my favorite holiday. i'm thankful for so many things. ashley: we are indeed. senator, thank you so much. appreciate your time. stuffing. that seems to get the biggest vote. except mark steyn with brussels sprouts.

the busiest travel day of the year has begun. there's rough weather across the country. let's go to adam. are you there? what can we expect? >> i am here. we are tracking two big systems that might delay some travel, really causing a lot of headaches over the next couple days. one of those systems currently moving into the upper midwest. that's rain all out in front of it. this a bit of a fast mover. system two, a much slower moving storm. that's off the west coast. you see basically for the next couple of days, not a lot of movement. that allows a whole lot of snow to pile up in some of the western states. no surprise here, winter storm watches and warnings pretty much across this entire region. there are going to be areas where you see up to two feet of snow widespread probably getting eight inches of snow in a lot of these areas. snow going to be an issue. back to that system that's moving across portions of the eastern half of the country, this one, not so much a snow maker but a big wind maker. these are wind advisories now running across the midwest and getting more and more closer to the midatlantic, running up to new england. that's going to be an issue when

we talk about the macy's day parade. here's what some of the wind speeds are currently. these are gueststs, 53 miles pe hour in chicago. all of this wind, this big system, is going to drift off to the east overnight tonight and into early tomorrow morning. those large balloons, they need to keep winds below, sustained winds, 23 miles an hour, gusts, 34 miles an hour. our forecast is going to be right in that range. we are going to be really talking about a game time decision whether or not we will be able to put the balloons up come tomorrow for the macy's day parade. otherwise, the forecast is looking really nice. 48 degrees, i think a lot of sunshine, eastern half of the country will look pretty good. will we see balloons? we just have to wait and see. they really will be deciding that kind of last minute tomorrow. ashley: game time decision for sure. i guess the forecast doesn't look that great. adam, thank you so much. great stuff. or stuffing. there you go. we are mere hours away now from the big meal. of course we are talking about thanksgiving. up next, celebrity chef rocco

dispirito on the show. he's serving fake meat. get him out of here. or is he? we will want to know what his favorite side is, not sign, side. keep it on "varney." ♪ so ...how are you feeling? on a scale of one to five? one to five? it's more like five million. there's everything from happy

to extremely happy. there's also angry. i'm really angry clive! actually, really angry. thank you. but what if your business could understand what your customers are feeling... and then do something about it. turn problems into opportunities. thanks drone. customers into fanatics change the whole experience. alright who wants to go again? i do! i do! i have a really good feeling about this. (brakes screeching) okay. so, today you're going to leave your phone with a guy named flip. (ding) but it's more than your phone, it's your business, your customer data, your sales figures. and who can forget, those happy hour selfies? not flip. (honking, gasping) this isn't working. introducing samsung business security solutions, with knox software. with the galaxy note10, you can remotely wipe data or lock phones, so your business is secure even when your phone isn't. samsung business solutions.

ashley: the meatless craze is spreading, we understand. with turkey day tomorrow, i want to know if thanksgiving dinner tables will be meatless. i'm sure some will be. let's bring in our favorite chef, rocco dispirito. >> favorite chef? ashley: you know -- >> i thought gordon was your favorite chef. ashley: dispirito here. >> thank you so much. happy thanksgiving. ashley: is fake meat starting to become a big issue at thanksgiving? >> this year will be the largest meatless thanksgiving in our

nation's history. 28% of americans, 28% of americans are considering or going to have a meatless thanksgiving. those are large numbers. ashley: does that surprise you? >> it surprises even me as a chef and plant-based diet advocate. it surprises even me. yeah. ashley: we understand a new marijuana-infused gravy is out. are people really going to serve that? >> i think some people are going to serve that. i get asked a lot of questions about thanksgiving. i love doing thanksgiving 911s and one thing i get asked about -- you know, thanksgiving is full of emergencies. one thing i get asked about, how do you keep the peace at thanksgiving table. i call the thanksgiving table a weapon of mass dysfunction because everybody fights no matter what. i think a little bit of thc in your gravy might be the way to take the high road. you know? ashley: take the high road. and eat more dessert. you are accomplishing lots of things. think about it. you are going into thanksgiving hungry trying to eat as much as you possibly can and if the

gravy gives you the munchies, you know. ashley: okay. viewers wrote some questions about thanksgiving. we want you to answer them. >> no problem. ashley: first one, john k. on facebook asks how many days after thanksgiving is it acceptable to eat leftovers? >> two to three days. i will eat thanksgiving leftovers up to seven days. until there's a light patina of blue mold, i will eat it until it's basically gone bad. ashley: all right. next one. >> my leftovers don't last more than three days. ashley: which accouterment, see how sophisticated viewers are, can you buy beforehand and which are better made, home-made? >> mashed potatoes have to be home-made. you can buy your stuffing outside, from the store, and i think cranberry sauce is something you definitely can buy in the store and make in advance -- or make in advance. it actually gets better. the ridges, all that, we love

that. that's an american tradition. ashley: next question, do you think usmca will be voted on next week in the house? had to throw that in there. no, no, no. you mentioned thanksgiving 911. what do you do with an overcooked bird? >> overcooked turkey is pretty common. everybody overcooks, just about everyone in america overcooks their bird. they are waiting for that little thing to pop out of the breast, and that pops out at a temperature of 160 degrees which is by definition, overcooked. the best thing you can do is slice it thin and pour gravy over it and warm it gently in the oven, sort of submerged in gravy. ashley: browning it. >> basically. turn it into a stew. ashley: sauce or gravy? >> for thanksgiving it's gravy. the proper gravy you make in a pan with a little flour and butter and a roux. ashley: deirdre was wondering what time you can make it tomorrow to cook. >> i do cook every thanksgiving. deirdre: i heard thanksgiving 911.

give us your name. >> you need gravy, stuffing? i always have extras. chestnut stuffing. deirdre: i will know when i'm in the kitchen. ashley: my house first. what's all this? >> after thanksgiving a lot of people start to think about how to stay healthy for a couple weeks until we get to the holiday season. one great way to do it, eat some good for you foods. this is my game-changing nut bread. it's cholesterol free, grain free, gluten free. this is avocado relish. you could live on this bread. ashley: i have high cholesterol, high everything. >> it's a pound and a half a loaf. we created a special discount code for you guys. ashley: good stuff. i'm going to eat that, i think. thank you very much. the fda issuing a new warning against cbd and it's hitting the pot stocks, really changed the gears there. deirdre: yeah. fda says cbd may have the

potential to harm you so they say there's really not enough scientific evidence for the fda to be able to say that it is safe and you know this ingredient is popping up everywhere, drinks, cosmetics, food. so they are saying the fda, just go slowly. they're not exactly sure about everything. more important, i think, the compound may cause liver injury. that seems to be the most extreme thing. it's kind of reading and going along until i saw liver injury, then i paid attention. it could also affect other drugs and they are saying whatever other medications you're taking could be affected. then they say you really shouldn't be drinking if you are also, for example -- drinking alcohol with, for example, a cbd infused drink because they just don't know yet. ashley: that will hurt the cbd industry. a lot of companies out there spent a lot of money -- deirdre: different kinds of food and hospitality. cosmetics as well. it's a big category. ashley: all right. lauren, this story. massachusetts governor charlie

baker signing what has been called the country's toughest flavored tobacco ban. lauren: it is, banning all flavored tobacco and vaping products effective this summer. this is essentially prohibition. there are more than 30 million adults who smoke and for traditional smokers, they would oppose this because vaping has helped them get off of that, but the other story is new york city. they are set to ban all flavored e-cigarettes and e-liquids so if you want to vape in new york city, it has to be the tobacco flavor. why is that important? kids probably aren't going to like that. 1 in 15 middle schoolers here in new york city say they vaped. it's dangerous. ashley: hard to enforce. there are a ton of stores in new york still selling this stuff. deirdre: they sell candy, soda, i mean, as you say, pretty much on every street corner here. lauren: and the cartridges that taste like it. ashley: president trump is in sunrise, florida. he was there last night for another keep america great rally

and of course, he touted the economy, took on the impeachment issue and took a shot at the far left democrats for their war on thanksgiving. we will be asking kayleigh mcenany about that. trump 2020 national press secretary will be here next. ♪ i'm a regular in my neighborhood. i'm a regular at my local coffee shop and my local barber shop. when you shop small you help support your community - from after school programs to the arts! so become a regular, more regularly. because for every dollar you spend at a small business, an average of 67 cents stays in the community. join me and american express on small business saturday, november 30th, and see how shopping small adds up.

hey. ♪hey. you must be steven's phone. now you can take control of your home wifi and get a notification the instant someone new joins your network... only with xfinity xfi. download the xfi app today.

ashley: let's get back to the campaign trail. president trump spoke last night about the democrats' war on thanksgiving. take a listen. >> as we gather together for thanksgiving, you know, some people want to change the name thanksgiving. they don't want to use the term thanksgiving. and that was true also with christmas but now everybody's using christmas again. remember i said that? but now we're going to have to do a little work on thanksgiving. people have different ideas why it shouldn't be called thanksgiving but everybody in this room i know loves the name thanksgiving and we're not changing it. ashley: okay. let's bring in trump 2020 national press secretary kayleigh mcenany. kayleigh, great to see you.

>> hey, ashley. ashley: i remember the war on christmas. it has been a big story. but how big is this war on thanksgiving? i don't know what the president's talking about. >> oh, it's always been there. look, going back to 2016, there is an atlantic article called "thanksgiving a day of inequality" and recounts this war against thanksgiving that's been going on and this year, ashley, you had huffington post saying we got to take a real hard look at thanksgiving and our carbon footprint. there have been liberal criticisms of thanksgiving for awhile now. ashley: back to the rally last night. in broward county, that was a county that he lost to hillary clinton two-thirds to one-third, 60 to 30 or thereabouts. obviously it was a very friendly crowd last night. but how did he get his message out there to the broader community? >> yeah, he gets his message out there by doing rallies just like last night. those are huge events that allow us to increase our voter contact, our ability to reach people by text message, by cell phone and florida is a state

that yes, it's a battleground state but i think it's safe to say it's a trump state. we have seen it trending in the president's direction. last night just helps to facilitate that in terms of growing our voter list. ashley: is the key issue or one of the key issues for the president is the economy. we just got some more economic data today and it's doing just fine. we know how good the employment situation is. but the economic data is strong as well. is that his key message when he gets out on the stump? >> no doubt about it. followed closely by health care and immigration, all top three issues to voters but the economy, i mean, the dow breaking records, unemployment at record lows, consumer confidence at record highs, there is no arguing with the trump economy and it's important, our message is reversible. should a democrat take over, the good that you are seeing in this economy is absolutely reversible and changeable. ashley: big question and probably the most important one of the day. what's your favorite thanksgiving side? >> it's an important question. everything carbohydrate related. mashed potatoes, mac and cheese. my plate is all white and

yellow. ashley: god bless you. by the way, big news from over the weekend. you had your very first child. her name is blake avery gilmartin kayleigh. what a great name. can we get her on tv? >> yes, we can. ashley: her first ever appearance on fox business. >> she wanted to meet uncle ashley. uncle ashley. ashley: congratulations. >> thank you. ashley: how come you're back at work so quickly? how are you feeling? >> you know what, because this is a little baby for trump and she wants to be out there for the president. i'm feeling great. she is on board for this next year. we are so excited for this little blessing. deirdre: congratulations. she's beautiful. lauren: congratulations. have you slept at all? you look wonderful. >> thank you. i have not slept. every three hours my husband has been up feeding with me. we don't sleep. but we do bring her on television to meet uncle ashley and the crew. ashley: congratulations to you and your family. have a great thanksgiving.

>> thank you so much. ashley: more "varney" after this. ♪ this piece is talking to me. yeah? so what do you see? i see an unbelievable opportunity. i see best-in-class platforms and education. i see award-winning service, and a trade desk full of experts, available to answer your toughest questions. . . it? yeah. td ameritrade now offers zero commissions on online trades. ♪ most people think of verizon as a reliable phone company. (woman) but to businesses, we're a reliable partner. we keep companies ready for what's next. (man) we weave security into their business. virtualize their operations. (woman) and build ai customer experiences.

we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. like 5g. almost all the fortune 500 partner with us. (woman) when it comes to digital transformation... verizon keeps business ready. ♪ aetto yours a health and wellness with medicare advantage plans designed for the whole you body, mind and spirit. that means aetna is helping you get ready to be the best grandmother the world has ever known. with medicare advantage plans that come with monthly premiums starting at $0. plus hospital, medical and prescription drug coverage in one simple plan. and wide provider networks including doctors and hospitals you know and trust. plus a limit on your out-of-pocket medical costs. and health coaching and fitness memberships to help you age actively.

so you can be ready for what matters most. aetna medicare advantage plans call today. we'll send you a $10 visa reward card with no obligation to enroll. or visit us online at aetnamedicare.com/tv. ashley: those pancakes. that was deirdre bolton. >> living in singapore. different menu. >> what is favorite thanksgiving side? >> i go with our canadian friend. roast the vegetables. we're doing roasted cauliflower. ashley: that is healthy. >> we try. there is a lot of stuff on the table. >> we do nothing healthy. lasgna. something heavy, carb heavy.

ashley: something said my favorite side. bourbon. >> i like you think that is small. >> flying or roasting a turkey? ashley: come on roasting. roasting. connell mcshane for neil cavuto. connell: i really love stuffing. i could eat it every day of the week if i had to. ashley: that is the sound bite. connell, take it away. connell: welcome everybody, welcome to cavuto coast to coast. i'm connell mcshane. filling in for neil cavuto. gives investors a lot to be thankful whether they like stuffing or not. unemployment at a 50-year low. you have 2