advance, decline figures, indices at new highs, new highs that have been expanding. i see nothing that tells me a top is at hand at this juncture. anybody who thinks so is not watching the same market i'm watching. charles: gary, thank you very much, my friend. dow is up 130 points as we hand it over to liz claman and a very special guest. liz: you know what, charles, very special moment for wall street. we are looking at major records in just the next 59 minutes, we will be watching that. history in washington and on wall street. the signing of that phase one trade deal with china propelling the markets to new all-time highs. by the way, the dow right now on pace to close above 29,000 for the first time in history. you guys need to stay with us for this final hour, because all three major indices are heading for record closes. the president calls the $200 billion plus deal a momentous step that will trigger a sea change in international trade. larry kudlow has toiled, cajoled

and negotiated behind the scenes for some 18 months to help craft this first phase. the presidents top economic adviser about to join us live on the north lawn of the white house for his first interview post-signing ceremony. while american farmers have waited for this day as well, about 580 of them could not hold on and had to file for bankruptcy. american farm bureau's scott vanderwal was in the room for the signing. he's here in a fox business exclusive on how the heartland really feels and what farmers want from phase two. and wait until you see the bold-faced names who all showed up for closing arguments in that t-mobile/sprint merger trial. charlie gasparino is there. less than an hour to the closing bell on this history-making day. the world is watching. live from the white house, let's start "the claman countdown."

liz: breaking news. we are now getting pictures of the aftermath of that tall volcano eruption in the philippines sunday that shot lava and ash for miles around the world, prompting large scale evacuations, as entire towns, as you can see, are blanketed in gray ash. crops and homes are damaged or destroyed but the good news is so far, no deaths have been reported yet. we need to tell you that the airport in manila is only partially reopened after the clouds of ash from that volcano forced it to shut down on sunday, leading to hundreds of flight cancellations. as you know, that's a very important business hub in the region. we understand there's a major rush to fly out of that airport. we will get you new details as they become available. to big bank earnings. no repeat of jpmorgan's record numbers. today, bank of america actually had to warn of weak net interest income for the first half of this year. the news dinging shares today

and goldman sachs higher despite reporting, call it a mixed picture here, bigger than expected fall in profit as it set aside more money to cover legal costs from that corruption scandal but they did beat on revenue. target's holiday sales missed the mark due to weakness from seasonal categories like toys, electronics and decorative home items, plus target had to warn that growth for the full quarter would come in less than it had predicted. we do have target down about 7% right now. we should whip it over to mattel, hasbro and best buy. all three of those are moving lower as well, with mattel down about 4.6% on target's news. all right. let me hold it up for you. we now officially have it, the partial trade deal with china, the 86-page deal. president trump and chinese vice premier liu he putting pen to paper on phase one of the china trade pact.

first president trump faced a group of business leaders to tout the accomplishment. listen. >> -- we take a momentous step, one that has never been taken before with china, toward a future of fair and reciprocal trade, as we sign phase one of the historic trade deal between the united states and china. together we are righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security. liz: for months, both sides were tight-lipped on the details, but we have them now. among other things, china has agreed that within 30 days of the deal's signing, it will act on intellectual property theft from american companies and when we say act, we are thinking they have to stop it. china also promises to end limits on foreign equities by april 1st. make that free and clear. either side, by the way, can also pretty much cancel or blow up the deal with just 60 days'

notice. "countdown" has been here at the white house all day reporting on the long-awaited signing and joining us now in his first interview since the ceremony, national economic council director larry kudlow who, as i said, has worked and toiled and cajoled and dare i say negotiated, who knows what it took -- >> last couple years, actually. i know you have fabulous viewership. do they know that you and i used to co-host on another network? liz: can you believe that? >> useful information. full disclosure. liz: finally, we are getting together but you are on the government side. i get to ask the tough questions. first, i want to just simply ask a very simple question here. can you now say that with the signing, the landscape of trade between the u.s. and china is now fair? >> it's certainly fairer and it's more balanced and we do have high hopes. you know, i want to tell you, at the lunch which was not attended by the media, we had a beautiful

lunch in the east room, the president said two things i thought of note. first of all, he said right now, today, with the signing of this deal, this is the best moment for u.s./china relations ever. liu he agreed with that. liz: bigger than when nixon went to china? >> i think so. it's funny, when i leave, i'm going to have henry kissinger in my office. he's a very dear friend of mine. he's been a great mentor to me. but the other thing that was noteworthy, what the president said during that lunch, at least that i can tell you, is he believes, potus believes that phase one, that's the tough one, and he feels that phase two will come much more easily because we climbed the mountain for phase one. this has never been done before, ever, it's a historical moment. people will say is it going to work. this is an enforceable agreement. we can go into that if you care

to on the details. but the ground covered in phase one was enormous and you know, we thought we were dead in the water last may and we have come back from that, both sides working very hard to get it done, and the changes in phase one, i mean, we should talk about the i.p. changes and the broad base of -- american exports, the $200 billion number, you know what's in there, it's not just farm stuff, $40 billion to $50 billion. it's $75 billion of manufacturing, okay? it's $50 billion of energy. in fact, potus has assigned me the task to make sure we can move the lng into china. liz: liquid natural gas. >> after the lunch we just had -- liz: he wants china to buy more of that. >> also $40 billion of services, mostly financial services. yes. and liu he, the vice premier of china, agreed to that. they need our energy. we will probably wind up selling them not only nat gas, liquid natural gas, but we will also sell them a lot of coal and we

were talking about the best routes to do that. so this covers, i'm just saying, it's a very wide panoply of activities. liz: what was the most difficult part to get accomplished? by the way, it is significant and newsworthy you are saying phase one will have been much more difficult -- >> i think so. i don't think people appreciate that. liz: how many phases do you expect we have to endure? >> the president mentioned at the lunch he didn't expect a phase three. the reason i emphasize the importance of phase one, i talked to lighthizer, bob lighthizer, my long-term friend, about this, it's never been done before. so getting the first thing done opens the door to everything else. we will see, you know, there are going to be some disputes that will have to be resolved. i have no illusions about that. but getting this done on paper, you've got your 85-page booklet here, it just covers so much ground. here's one for you. okay. intellectual property theft has

been a major stumbling block, okay, a major complaint by the united states -- liz: let's explain to our viewers when companies go into china, they are forced to have a business partner, chinese, on the ground. >> joint venture. and they own the joint venture. liz: the intellectual property, software, ideas, are suddenly stolen by the chinese. >> in many ways, this has happened, they can force the american firm to literally put their blueprint on the table and then of course, the chinese will get their experts in and reverse engineer and steal the technology and that has to stop. liz: but larry, part of this is going to open up china. china says it will open up to financials and services to come in and do business. let's just say jpmorgan, which is of course the platinum standard right now for banks, goes in there, says great, we can do business -- >> platinum. that is better than gold? liz: platinum is more expensive than gold. rhodium is more expensive than all of them. >> just wanted to check. the financial services is the big winner.

lisa: you're telli ar liz: you're telling me the chinese don't want to peek in and see how jpmorgan does what it does and copy it? >> for the first time, the american company, whichever bank it is, whichever investment first, whichever insurance company, will own 100% of the company. so the joint venture problem which gave the chinese a tremendous advantage with respect to intellectual property and forced transfers of technology, that gets solved by the change in ownership. that is so important. i'm hoping that over time, this 100% ownership becomes a model for all these other industries that we will be engaged in. liz: i have to ask about huawei. earlier today right here, steve mnuchin had said huawei, the chinese telecom giant, is not a bargaining chip to trade back and forth, it is a national security issue only. so can you definitively say, larry, that we will not -- that

if the chinese give the president everything he wants, that we will not suddenly see huawei lifted off the blacklist and free to do business once again with everybody? >> well, i don't want to make predictions on that. secretary mnuchin is correct, huawei was never part of the trade negotiation. huawei is much more -- i'm deeply involved in 5g and related matters regarding huawei, huawei is -- i mean, it's a matter of international security because of the spying and so forth. that includes the cyber-hacking. there's a lot going on there. we have said for quite some time with regard to this deal but just with regard to national security, we have the enemy list, we have export controls, we have focused on huawei and we will continue to do so. huawei does not have a good track record, okay? i mean, there are things i can't say to you that they have done in the u.s. to spy on us that are just kind of off the charts, and to be honest with you, liz, as we build out 5g, and we are

working very hard on that with the private sector, we really feel huawei cannot be a part of that. they cannot be a part of that because -- liz: that's a big statement. >> there's no -- we have learned with all the inventions and innovations in software and computing power, what we used to think was just a bunch of dumb radar antennas far divorced from the core data processing parts, no more. you look ahead two or three years, all the smart companies in this country, they have been fabulous with us, they all know you can't make those distinctions. so the huawei story is going to be a very tough, well-enforced story. the commerce department is putting export controls, export restrictions. i don't frankly think that's going to change. but i will say importantly, that has been separated from the trade talks. mr. mnuchin is exactly right. you can talk to wilbur ross. he will echo that.

liz: i have to quickly ask you two things. you having been in television know we run up against things called hard breaks. number one -- >> go right through the break. liz: the senate is already debating and -- >> start on thursday, friday? liz: i'm asking you. >> i'm hearing thursday or friday. incidentally, usmca in terms of total trade with canada and mexico is really twice as big as trade with china. so it's a hugely important economic event. liz: you're saying it could be as early as thursday for a vote in the senate? >> i'm pretty optimistic about that. i don't run the senate but pretty optimistic about that. liz: you have friends in high places. finally, you -- >> and it's going to add at least half to three quarters of the gdp point and we believe, this fris tis from the council economic advisers, the u.s./china trade deal will add at least, at least half a point of gdp so that in 2020, watch, even though we take a hit boeing in the first quarter,

unfortunately, we are transitioning, we will be transitioning back to the 3% goal we originally had in 2017-2018. liz: charlie gasparino is reporting, his team is reporting that as we head into the election here, that you and the administration will do tax cuts 2.0, specifically a payroll tax reduction as part of election year fiscal stimulus. >> here's what i have said. liz: you just said no. is it a no? >> look, the president directed me to produce what we are calling tax cuts 2.0. it will be published sometime during the campaign as a message for future trump economic growth policies, particularly emphasis on the middle class in his second term. i don't want to do any specifics because there are no specifics. we are pulling it together. i met with -- for 90 minutes with kevin brady, who will undoubtedly be the next ways and means chairman in the new

congress. he was in the last when we got the 2017 tax cut. it will be across the board, it will have a lot of components. there are no specifics. charlie shouldn't be reporting specifics because specifics don't exist. we are looking at a variety of tax cuts, sometimes making permanent, some existing tax cuts, some existing corporate tax cut, there may be new wrinkles we don't know about. no commitments have been made. we are looking at -- i have to consult with our friends in the senate. we are still working internally, treasury and so forth, and some outside experts. he's ahead of the curve. charlie is over his skis. liz: as walter reed -- >> got to pull him back. liz: what is gossip anyway but history running ahead of itself. larry, thank you. >> he's a great friend but he's gotten ahead of the curve. there will be tax cuts 2.0. there will be. liz: thank you very much. the next interview, you will tell me how we will pay for all of this.

>> sure. by growth and prosperity. liz: okay. >> by the way, as you know, it's the low wage earners who are winning the wage growth battle right now. we haven't seen this since the 1980s. most remarkable thing in the world. the low wage earners, they are the biggest winners from the tax cuts and the deregulation and the trade. president trump is protecting the american economy. liz: larry, good to see you. larry kudlow. the famed floor show is up next. the traders get to react to all the news that larry just made. by the way, we are off the highs of the session. we have lost a little air, larry. you didn't have the same golden touch as you did this morning. dow still up 85 points. yes, we are still above 29,000. "the claman countdown" coming right back. any comments doug? yeah. only pay for what you need with liberty mutual. only pay for what you need with liberty mutual. con liberty mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. only pay for what you need... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

the better question would be where do i not listen to it. while i'm eating my breakfast... on the edges of cliffs... on a ski lift... everywhere. for a limited time, go to audible.com to save $50 on your first year of membership.

liz: with phase one and done, let's see how the other markets in the other areas of investment are reacting, because this is rather interesting here. little bit of sell on the news. oil closed lower in see-saw trading as the phase one signing gains were offset by increases in u.s. refined products, more supply, price goes down. spot gold prices are up. usually that's a flight to safety in times of fear.

they are up because there is still uncertainty regarding phase two, although larry kudlow just telling us now it would be simpler than phase one but also, the trade and you look at the tariffs that are still in place, that is partially why gold is still higher. palladium, palladium is that stuff that helps catalytic converters convert. it climbed to a record high. let's bring in the traders for our floor show to react to everything that has happened up until now, including larry kudlow's comments just now about phase two and that he doesn't expect to see a phase three. >> well, liz, i think at least as far as the markets are concerned, i think you sort of touched on it, you know, this has been coming for months, for many months. it could simply be a case of sell on the news. i think a lot of of the benefits of this trade bill, even though nobody really got to see it until today, in any kind of depth, pretty much it was priced in because i think it was a

foregone conclusion that eventually it would happen. the very good news is that we are right on the cusp of fourth quarter earnings and so far, they have been terrific, especially with some of the banks. there might be a little let-down in terms of the trade deal being signed market-wise but the very good news is we are off to a pretty good start with fourth quarter earnings and that could really be a catalyst for the market moving higher here. liz: in the end, all roads i always say lead to either the federal reserve which i believe is meeting at the end of this month, or, luke, they all lead to exactly what teddy has just talked about, and that is certainly earnings. having put together just a few of the names that have reported now, can you give us a little bit of a sense of how you feel about the phase one deal, and whether we start to suddenly see almost a huge hoover dam opening of business and commerce among the borders, between the borders of the u.s. and china? >> yeah, that's a great

question, liz, but i don't see it. it's going to take at least a month. if you are a ceo, put yourself in place of a ceo, by the time you interpret this phase one and see what's left in phase two, what that means for your investment, et cetera, it's going to take a few months before anybody makes any big decisions on anything. that's number one. number two, about the fed, if everything is so great, i mean, this china deal had to get done, i agree with all the stuff they said about i.p. theft, you know i have been consistent on that, but if everything is so great, why has the fed balance sheet grown by almost $2 trillion since 2018? when are rates going to get normalized? this market runup has been mostly because real fourth quarter was going to be great but look at the stocks that had good fourth quarters and the way they are projected to 2020, they got hammered a little bit. i don't know what it's going to be like going forward 2020. i want to be a little safer. but when are rates going to get normalized? if everything is so great, if all this stuff is going to happen, why is the fed keeping rates so low?

liz: yeah. well, there's a lot of pressure from a lot of areas -- >> you asked that. liz: maybe some of it behind me in the white house. >> liz, you asked that and you also asked, you also asked how are we going to pay for it, right? those are two huge questions. let's see what the answers are. liz: gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us on the floor show. we do just want to let people know, high of the session, a gain of 187 for the dow. we are up about 81 at the moment. we are coming back live from the white house in just a few minutes. please stay with us. at fidelity, online u.s. stocks and etfs are commission-free. and when you open a new brokerage account, your cash is automatically invested at a great rate. that's why fidelity leads the industry in value while our competition continues to talk. ♪ talk, talk while our competition continues to talk. i learned about myuse grandfather's life. on ancestry and it was a remarkable twentieth-century transformation. he did a lot of living before i knew him. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com

liz: the showdown between speaker of the house nancy pelosi and president trump is officially on. the house approved the measure to send two articles of impeachment to the senate by a vote of 228-193. pelosi also named her seven impeachment managers, headed by former federal prosecutor adam schiff. the white house quickly responding, saying quote, the

only thing speaker pelosi has achieved with this sham illegitimate impeachment process is to prove she is focused on politics instead of the american people. to blake burman. blake, we are talking about the trade deal but that was far from the only big thing happening inside the beltway. reporter: welcome to washington. if that trade deal wasn't big enough, by the way, impeachment was going on. what was so interesting about this, both of them were taking place simultaneously. first off earlier today, over up on capitol hill, nancy pelosi announcing the impeachment managers, essentially the folks, the democrats in the house who will try the case for democrats in the senate against president trump. no real surprise here, as the top manager, there were seven of them total, but really, adam schiff, the chairman of the house intelligence committee and frequent critic of president trump, along with jerry nadler, the chair of the house judiciary committee, two of the seven but really the two especially schiff, who will be spearheading this. so as all of this was playing out, in the house, or just at about the same time, there was

of course the trade deal announced that over here at the white house, it was filled with republican members of congress, including many members of the house and at one point, president trump even looked out to the audience there and said i know that it's great to be here for the big important signing and all, but i kind of need you back up there on capitol hill. he was joking about it. listen here. >> by the way, some of the congressmen may have a vote and it's on the impeachment hoax, so if you want, you can go ahead and vote. i would rather -- frankly, it's not going to matter because it's going very well but i would rather have you voting than sitting here listening to me introduce you. okay? they have a hoax going on over there. let's take care of it. reporter: so that impeachment trial is going to be next week here in washington, by the way, tuesday of course president trump scheduled to be in davos, switzerland, right over there behind you, hogan gidley. all of this happened right here, by the way. he was standing right there and

said that the president, still planning on going to davos but also, we will see what happens. a lot of time between now and tuesday but they are planning on the president going to davos as this impeachment trial would begin here in washington. liz: all the more reason for viewers to stay always with fox business, because blake and edward, all of us are on this story. thank you so much. guess who else is on the story? lou dobbs will be talking impeachment and the china trade deal with vice president mike pence on "lou dobbs tonight" 7:00 p.m. eastern only on fox business. all right. after putting the pedal to the metal for weeks now, tesla falling behind by about 2.6% intraday in the china electric vehicle race. china rears its head already. with the closing bell ringing in about 29 minutes, should tesla's top chinese competitor neo, surging on reports of a new $1 billion funding round, shares actually getting halted just a

couple hours ago on the surge but currently trading up 13%. that of course for neo. their super-charged day creating a bump for tesla's record run. the electric empire's three-day win streak now broken. shares down more than 2% ahead of the close, as i mentioned. in the meantime, elon musk's china foray [ inaudible ] by the tariff tensions but no industry taking more hits than agriculture. billions of dollars worth of soybeans and other crops left for dead in america's farm country as a result of the u.s./china trade war, so what now? now that phase one has been signed, the american farm bureau's vice president, a third generation farmer himself, is going to be here. scott vanderwal will tell us if phase one is enough to get the heartland's blood pumping once again. "the claman countdown" will be right back. since my dvt blood clot i wasn't sure...

was another around the corner? or could things go a different way? i wanted to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis. eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot. almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didn't experience another, and eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. what's around the corner could be worth waiting for. ask your doctor about eliquis.

wean 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

liz: folks, we need to take a look at the s&p 500 intraday. it has just turned negative after having spiked higher by 15 points. you can almost see exactly where it started to fall. larry kudlow was standing here, speaking about the deal, but we are also hearing that china apparently has loopholes to get out of buying that full amount of agriculture from here in the united states, that was promised in the deal, and the loophole may very well be in certain verbiage within the deal, and that verbiage would be quote, depends on market conditions. we've just grabbed edward lawrence here. he's got the headlines. maybe more detail on, i guess, what that actually means. reporter: that's something that liu he said while he was speaking up there with the president. he talked about market conditions. he chose his words very very carefully related to that.

it was very interesting. liz: that could be anything. reporter: exactly. market conditions. but as far as the u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer, he says he will try and stick them to that deal. they have a layout of exactly how many what year, what's supposed to be billed in year two, it's supposed to be this, a total of $77 billion or whatever it is, i actually have the number here. for agriculture, it is $32 billion for two years. so they have benchmarks that they need to make in terms of following through with this agreement. liz: may i just ask, though, that term depending on market conditions, what if their economy turns down for some unrelated reason? could they use that as well, we can't come through with all of those purchases? reporter: that and $26 billion is the most that they have exported or imported from the united states in agriculture, so an increase of $32 billion on top of that is a huge amount. liz: it was also considered, we heard some people talking about the fact that that was rather ambitious. reporter: yes.

we have heard that. we have heard that it's ambitious. but you know, it's the whole thing, $200 billion in over two years, we are talking manufacturing, energy, as well as agriculture so it's not just agriculture they are buying, they are buying a ton of other products under this agreement. we will have to see what enforcement mechanisms kick in based on that. that's going to be the issue, because u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer told me they are going to enforce this deal. liz: may i also bring up this point. i don't know if it's just me. it really appears like the u.s. got it very heavily skewed and the president is right when he says we got a great deal, because what did the chinese get out of this beyond maybe one day, all of the tariffs will be dropped? reporter: that's one of the things the president said, that china has been taking advantage of the u.s. for so long, it's time the u.s. has sort of an unbalanced deal. the chinese get currency manipulation off the table, not labeled a currency manipulator.

no tariffs going forward in terms of additional tariffs. they will still have tariffs in place. liz: $380 billion. reporter: $380 billion. the chinese, the dispute mechanism works both ways with the chinese. they get that as well as some access to the u.s. market. liz: and if there's a dispute and it's not fixed, 60 days and they can blow up the whole deal. edward, thank you. reporter: either side. liz: thank you very much. edward lawrence. all right. so american farmers, we have just been talking about all of this, have been breathing a sigh of relief in the past couple of hours, once they saw pen to paper. under the phase one trade agreement, china is on the hook to ramp up agricultural purchases as you heard edward just discuss, that will be both this year and next, but now there are some doubts as we mentioned being cast on all of this. could the heartland be heading for new heartbreak? a man who was in the room for the signing and has been advising the administration on this entire situation is the american farm bureau federation

president, third generation corn and soybean farmer, scott vanderwal. scott joins me now. step in, sir. thank you for being here. >> good afternoon. liz: speak for the farmers. do they like this? are they happy? are they relieved? >> this is a breath of fresh air we have been looking for for a couple years. understand it's not the complete answer yet, it's a big step in the right direction. but for the last two years, soybean farmers especially have really been dealing with poor economic situation because when the trade wars and the tariffs all started, soybean prices dropped about $2. we have been seeing that effect ever since. for the last two years, we have heard rumors going on that we're making progress with china, then it backs off, then we're making a little more progress and it falls apart. this is more of a concrete thing. liz: tell our viewers how this works, how quickly will we start to see these large scale purchases of everything from whether it's sorghum or soy, sorghum being that gluten-free

grain the chinese do buy quite a bit of, or even pork and beef, some of the other things mentioned in the deal. >> sure. like i said, this is the first step. it's going to take time for it to get fully implemented. it's not going to be an immediate thing. but it's going to give the market, we hope -- liz: a couple months? couple weeks? >> oh, it will be a few months, i would say. hopefully, certainly within the next year. but we want the market to realize what's going on and give us all some hope. farmers are looking for a bright light at the end of the tunnel that's not a freight train. we want some hope in this market and some certainty. we have had so much uncertainty the last couple of years. that's what keeps everybody off balance. liz: let's part-timeut a finer some of that uncertainty. about 580 farms last year could not wait much longer. in fact, they filed for what's called chapter 12 bankruptcy. they had to file for bankruptcy. that's just a tragedy, is it not? >> that's right. liz: that was a hike of 24% year over year. i mean, are we wrong to sit there and make that direct

connection that the trade war put 580 american farms out of business? >> it certainly contributed to it. you know, we've got several things that contributed. it was the poor economic conditions to start with. we had very bad weather conditions last couple years and then we had the trade and tariffs thing, and it really, a three-way thing all contributed to that. any bankruptcy is too many. we are certainly concerned about that. but it is a reality of what we are dealing with. and this will be something that will help us hopefully climb back out of that. liz: larry kudlow was standing right where you were and he talked about how the farmers should be absolutely thrilled. what are you hearing from them, and perhaps just as importantly, what do they want to see in phase two? >> well, i think this is going to be cautious optimism on the part of agriculture going forward, at least for awhile. people say well, we have heard this before but now it actually is on paper and the president has signed it. so that's a big thing that gives us a little more certainty. moving on to phase two, we are

certainly interested in the president lowering the tariffs that he said he would do when phase two is finished up so we have an interest in that. but i think the biggest effect on agriculture is going to be phase one, that's in place now. we just want to make sure it's implemented fully and china stays with what they said they are going to do going forward. liz: tell the farmers we are rooting for them. i know it's hard and has been difficult. thank you very much. >> thank you. liz: third generation farmer scott vanderwal with the american farm bureau. thank you very much. charlie gasparino live at the t-mobile/sprint courthouse. the final arguments, he's got it all and who was there. you've got to see that. "the claman countdown" is coming right back. ♪ ♪ ♪

man, i'm thinking tacos. hey hey! you guys look like foodies. would you like to try our trashy back ribs? oh, that sounds great... everything is locally harvested, farm to dumpster to table. uhhh, what do you... what else do you got? (stammering) w-we have a melon rind stew. comes with a pork and bean reduction. yeah, we're going to just do a lap and we'll come back. okay. well, we'll be here. man! why isn't this working? my mouth is watering. i think that's just your rabies flaring up. with geico, the savings keep on going. just like this sequel. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. we got gristle pot pies! wthat's why xfinity hasu made taking your internetself. and tv with you a breeze. really?

yup. you can transfer your service online in about a minute. you can do that? yeah. and with two-hour service appointment windows, it's all on your schedule. awesome. so while moving may still come with its share of headaches... no kidding. we're doing all we can to make moving simple, easy, awesome. go to xfinity.com/moving to get started. that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. nah. not gonna happen. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath. excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment please... [ finger snaps ] hmm. the kohler walk-in bath features an extra-wide opening and a low step-in at three inches, which is 25 to 60% lower than some leading competitors. the bath fills and drains quickly, while the heated seat soothes your back, neck and shoulders. kohler is an expert in bathing, so you can count on a deep soaking experience. are you seeing this? the kohler walk-in bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. everything is installed in as little as a day

by a kohler-certified installer. and it's made by kohler- america's leading plumbing brand. we need this bath. yes. yes you do. a kohler walk-in bath provides independence with peace of mind. liz: all right. so the nasdaq has now fumbled 47

points of gains, it's just slightly negative at the moment. the dow is the only major index right now on track for a record close. stay with me here. we've got to get you this. a mega-merger end game 21 months in the making, playing out in manhattan. attorney general of new york letitia james leading the final charge on why she says t-mobile/sprint's $26 billion tie-up should be turned to dust. charlie gasparino in the thick of the action. you promised you would shove the mic in people's faces outside the courthouse. who did you just get? charlie: well, i just got john legere, your friend, a big viewer of fox business, who was in the courtroom today for the final arguments along the ceo of sprint when the deal went down. this was a fascinating trial, liz. a lot's riding on it. a merger, the future of 5g. i asked john legere who's going to be retiring, as you know, as ceo of t-mobile, i asked him what he thinks the judge, how

he's going to rule and what's going to happen next. will he appeal. here's what he had to say. what's the verdict? >> we'll just have to wait. reporter: how did it go today? charlie: will you guys appeal if you lose? >> that hasn't been determined. reporter: what do you think? >> obviously like anything else, we're going to wait, see what the judge's ruling is. charlie: when is that going to happen, do you know? >> we hope it happens as soon as possible. charlie: does sprint have enough money if they rule against you? do you need financing to get through the next couple months? >> you know, we just finished the trial so you know, we will answer those questions in due course. charlie: guys, that was the former sprint ceo. we did also speak to legere.

we will have that cut later on. listen, bottom line is this. it sounds like from wall street's vantage point, it's not good news for the merger. the street is betting heavily against this. inside the courtroom, the state ags took on charlie ergen, the head of dish. they basically said he's not a reliable guy to start a fourth wireless carrier. but you know, as you heard there, they are weighing all their options. john legere was much more optimistic about winning. he told me point-blank he thinks they won. both are very, very mum on whether they will appeal this. obviously this is a big, big deal if they lose, if they lose the future of 5g is at stake, if they lose the future of m & a in telecom is at stake. you are basically saying a minority of state attorneys general can overrule the federal government. remember, this deal has been approved by the federal government. so a lot is riding on this deal. if it happens, it's a big story. if it doesn't happen, if the states win, it's nuclear, liz.

what we are talking about is every telecom deal is going to have to have some sort of legal notice in it that 13 state ags, minority of state ags, can stop the deal if they feel, even if the u.s. department of justice antitrust division approves it. that's where we are right now. again, legere was much more positive. i hope we get that tape coming up soon. he thinks they are going to win. again, wall street doesn't. back to you. liz: charlie, you can't see it but sprint's stock is flat as a pancake, and you know, t-mobile is pretty flat, too. looks like investors are just waiting and wondering just what those two deals are. thank you very much. "the claman countdown" will be right back. will we hit dow 29,000 and close there? we are there right now. stay tuned.

this commute's been pretty rough, huh? it's great actually, i've been listening to audible. it's audiobooks, news, meditations... gotta go! ♪ ♪ hey! you know, i do think it's weird you've started commuting when you work from home. i'll be in my office. download audible and start every day off right.

. . liz: okay, everybody. we're just over four minutes away from the closing bell ringing. and we very well could witness

the dow, on track to close above the 29,000 mark for the first time in history. the dow working to eke out another record high as well. the nasdaq also moments ago turning positive once again. but no record in sight yet for the tech-heavy index. we're watching for that as well. meantime beyond meat is being served cold to investors at this hour after a sizzling stock runup since its ipo. let's go to gerri willis who is right there with the news. reporter: liz, that's right. the poster boy of the melt-up, beyond meat shares are tanking. what happened, a bernstein analyst downgraded a shares from buy to hold. doing a favor for investors. shorts are coming after it. 17% of shares are held by shorts. this company had epic valuation, right? we're only 15 days through the trading year, up 43%. they're trading at 350 times

2020 earnings. guess what? this analyst says the responsible thing, comes out, tell people, take your gains here because otherwise shorts are coming for you. there we go. back to you, liz. liz: we'll take it, thank you very much gerri willis. let's bring in harris financial group managing partner jamie cox. here is why we have it. not only barron's named top 10 investors in the state of virginia, but looking at this day, jamie we have the phase one deal signed at chinese stocks. take it away. give us a sense what you look for when you're ready to plunge down money for stocks based in china? >> thank you, liz. welcome to d.c. just across the river from virginia much weave been talking about trade deals from china all day long and what it means for united states. we haven't talked about what it means for china. there are 420 million middle class chinese. there are more middle class

chinese than entire population of the united states. there is all these consumer names in china have been doing just fine but have been given absolutely no credit during the 2019 trade skirmish we had with china. one of them is alibaba, for example. in singles' day which is in november, alibaba racked up $38 billion worth of sales. that is ahn unbelievable amount of money for a company to have in one day in terms of sales. compare to amazon, that is multiples. forget about the consumption engine in china. pay attention to the trade or manufacturing sector. forget about manufacturing, pay attention to consumption that's where you can make a lot of money and in the last quarter of 2019 you saw banks and some underperforming sectors do very well. one of the other sectors did well was emerging markets which is china.

i think you see follow-on. look at companies like baidu or tencent or alibaba, go on to we chat or alipay, you find these companies are not trading at multiples. comparable to what you see in the united states. there is lots of multiple expansion that can propel companies higher. liz: i absolutely hear you with the population and very smart businesses. i'm glad you brought up singles' day for alibaba. there are companies in entire lifespan that never make that much, alibaba makes in a day. tencent has broad business. they're salting money everywhere, whether gaming or retail. but in the end, we're looking here at the united states stock market where we are about to close for the dow jones industrials for 29,000. would you still hold -- here we are. looks like a record once again. on top of it all you like u.s., quickly? >> absolutely. thank unitedhealthcare for

29,000 on the dow. [closing bell rings] >> i think you should not not own stocks at this level. liz: thank you, jamie cox. live from the white house. 29,024. the dow did it. melissa: signed, sealed, delivered. it is deal day on wall street. the deal wall street was waiting for. investors celebrate. all three major averages hit all-time highs as president trump signs phase one trade deal with china. dow looks like it will close, there you go, above 29,000. 29,033. it is that milestone first time ever, marking new record close. i'm melissa francis. what a day. connell: not bad at all. i'm connell mcshane. extra cheering downtown as the bell was ringing. welcome to "after the bell." nasdaq up as well. record territory at the close. nasdaq strong on the record, but still up by seven points. big day with