when they think they have to do what's right is not good for the party in power. >> different mandates, okay. the fed is looking at policy -- they should be independent. charles: i say audit the fed. thank you both very, very much. folks, the dow is up 250 points. here's liz claman. liz: thank you very much. it's turn-around tuesday as wall street cuts yesterday's massive losses by more than half. dow jones industrials up 252 points, the s&p gaining 38. look at the nasdaq, up 142. this as the u.s. health secretary says leave the masks at home, the risk of catching the wuhan coronavirus spreading very slowly. that's what he says. and that the risk of catching it is very low. at the same time, secretary azar said the u.s. will expand airport screenings from five to 20 airports in the u.s. now the count is 106, 106 people have died from the virus.

more than 4,500 cases have been confirmed, most in mainland china. the risk to americans is quote, very low but the contagions could have impact on the companies doing business there like perhaps apple. our top tech panel games the outlook for the iphone maker ahead of fourth quarter earnings. president trump rolling out his peace plan to bring peace to the middle east, standing side by side with israel's benjamin netanyahu. trump calls for a two-state solution and put out a plan that articulates that. the president says he was not elected to quote, do small things and that israel has taken a gigantic step toward peace. we will have complete details and what the palestinians think of this. that news is coming in. super bowl liv getting a bit overshadowed by the death of basketball legend kobe bryant. we will have all the action in south beach as the chiefs and 49ers arrive and meet the media for the first time and show what's on their minds. less than an hour to the closing

bell as the markets rise. let's start "the claman countdown." liz: we've got breaking news. there are reports hitting the tape right now that a 7.7 magnitude earthquake has just struck 117 kilometers northwest of jamaica. that works out to be about 72 miles. the u.s. tsunami warning center has issued a warning, not a watch, but a warning for belize, honduras, mexico, jamaica, cuba and the cayman islands. the caymans' disaster management agency telling populations in coastal and low-lying areas to quote, evacuate vertically, meaning get to higher ground, as a precaution. we are efforting video. we will let you know when we get it. let's get to earnings. we picked a bunch of them. investors pumping the brakes on harley davidson after motorcycle sales slipped again in 2019.

for a fifth straight year. the stock is down 3% to $33.83. harley's pretty much struggling with demographic changes as younger folks simply aren't as interested in owning recreational vehicles. to drug maker pfizer. its quarterly profits fell short of expectations for the first time in at least two years. pfizer's stock down 5.33%, little bit of punishment there. company also says it is not planning share repurchases this year. a bit of a breather for beyond meat. remember yesterday was spiking? jpmorgan has downgraded the stock to neutral and cut its price target to $134. right now it's at $119 at the moment. down about 4%. the brokerage says there isn't much upside left for the moment. the stock is up 57% this month alone. to those in the green, we have stocks that help build homes or pretty them up.

pulte homes beating on earnings and hit a new high. oppenheimer upgraded william sonoma to outperform. pulte better by 6.33%. what i want to talk about is what was happening yesterday. after plummeting 549 points at the open, at this time yesterday, the dow was still losing some 400 points, putting the blue chips on pace for their biggest loss since october 2nd, yet today, we got some key economic data that you need to know about. maybe that's why we are seeing green on the screen today. durable goods orders surged 2.4% last month. these are big ticket items, thanks to military aircraft orders which, by the way, jumped, unbelievable, 168%. economists only expected orders to increase .4%. while a major improvement over november orders which were downwardly revised to a drop of 3.1%, the december number did

contract for the seventh month in a row down .9%. we got a more definitive picture for housing at the moment. the s&p case shiller index showed home prices spiked in the month of november, up 2.6% year over year. and consumer confidence snapping back in january, climbing to 131.6 from 126.5 in december. better than expected level of 128. so will anything beat today's economic data or the coronavirus, will it change the fed's current trajectory? we know that fed chief powell, john, is meeting already today with his group. the fed is still fully expected to stand pat in the announcement tomorrow, leaving rates at 1.5% to 1.75%. what do you think? >> yeah, you know, i think the fed always looks for ideas or excuses, something that they can kind of grab their hands on, to stay their course, to stay within the blueprint that they have laid out for us. so coming into this year, the headlines that we have been discussing for quite some time

are still the same headlines, right. we are talking about elections, impeachment, interest rates, all that stuff. but then you throw in the coronavirus, out of nowhere, and the fed is going to use this as an excuse to talk about global situation that they are going to have to watch. now, are they going to name that specifically in their statement? i don't think so. it will probably come up in the q & a session afterwards. but as always, they like to remain patient, they like to remain data-dependent. we are going to continue to hear these words but right now they have this excuse to kind of pause themselves and say look, let's wait until things pan out, see how it goes and move forward from there. right now we are seeing this rebound back in the market today. the headlines today are quite different from yesterday. we haven't seen that many more negative headlines about the coronavirus, maybe a few like you mentioned, a few more positive headlines. a few more of this, this might be a news cycle headline we will get through. once again, as your lead-in said, earthquake in jamaica. these things come up out of

nowhere on the radar screen that can really move markets and move sentiment. liz: chris, to that point, when you're looking at what's happening in the markets today with green on the screen, the volatility index is down so there is less fear out there, did we miss that big opportunity to buy yesterday when we were down 500 points on the dow? >> well, you got to remember at these levels, 500 points, i mean, from the highs, the record high which was just last week, that was 3%. most people agree 5% moves or less is noise. i would say, you know, if you were worried about a 3% move, imagine a 10% move. a 10% move gets the s&p back down to around 3,000, gets the s&p back down to -- excuse me, gets the dow back down to around 26,500. so plan for that. it's going to happen. we have been on a great trajectory higher for awhile, and so if anything, it was a wakeup call for people, rebalance, make sure you don't have all your money in stocks, and be ready for that so when we do get a bigger correction, it's going to come, i don't know if it's going to come tomorrow or six months from now, that's

going to be an opportunity. liz: yeah. yeah. phil, again, though, there are still more shoes to drop and people should be prepared for that, just as chris said, because you know, at 20 airports in the u.s., they're screening for this thing and i'm not saying that's the worst thing in the world. that's great. that's preparation. that's preparedness. but where do you see the opportunities where you wouldn't be spending too much, that the price to earnings ratio of some of these names, whether it's the big tech names that have run up so much, are actually affordable and at good prices? >> i think that a lot of them. in fact, some of the ones that we -- that have exposure to china, i think, are going to be really really good. because if you look at what's happening in china right now, there's no doubt that the manufacturing sector is going to be taking a hit, the demand for energy's going to be taking a hit, the travel sector, but not so much their technology. when you saw the big drops that we saw in alibaba, you saw on some other tech stocks over

there, that could be a great buying opportunity. one of the sectors that has been doing very good that i follow very closely as you know, is energy. we were very bullish on that sector, but you're going to have to be a lot more cautious right now. even though i believe that the fed is going to try to get ahead of this virus, i think opec will try to get ahead of it, i think they will at least talk about cutting or extending production cuts, i still think the prices are going to struggle because even if we solve the virus, in the next few minutes, we still lost a lot of barrels of oil demand that you're not going to get back. liz: yeah. that's a perfect segue. i will say, props to phil, you mentioned the cheaper chinese stocks. i'm looking at tencent, it's moving higher by 2%. alibaba up 2.33%. yesterday may have been a good window there. good to see you guys. we appreciate it. fox business will have complete coverage of the federal reserve's rate decision tomorrow beginning at 2:00 p.m. eastern. that's followed by the fed chair's news conference at 2:30

p.m., and complete post-game analysis right here on "the claman countdown" at 3:00 p.m. as we just said, perfect segue to oil after hitting a three-month low on fears that the coronavirus would seriously dent demand from china, we are watching the price of oil stabilize at this hour. this is the aftermarket price. remember, this is brent at $59.48. west texas intermediate had been below $53 a barrel. right now we do have it at $53.48. perhaps the stabilization is coming in part on the belief that an important step has been taken toward peace in the middle east. president trump unveiled his much-awaited two-state solution which deems jerusalem the capital of israel but also promises palestinians their own capital in east jerusalem. sounds simple. but it is anything but. blake burman, you are at the white house. does this have a chance of getting off the ground? reporter: not according to the palestinians, liz. before president trump even took to the east room of the white house earlier this morning to

unveil this peace plan, over in gaza, thousands of protesters were taking to the streets rejecting the plan of which the details hadn't even been made public yet. either way, though, the president is hopeful that eventually, at some point down the line, palestinians will come around to this plan that he just unveiled. he did so earlier today, standing next to the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and president trump had this message for the palestinian leader. >> president abbas, i want you to know that if you choose the path to peace, america and many other countries, we will be there, we will be there to help you in so many different ways, and we will be there every step of the way. we will be there to help. reporter: all right. as for the plan, here it is. it calls for a two-state solution with a future palestinian state, though there would have to be benchmarks hit like reducing terrorism.

there is a map now of what would be a contiguous palestinian state, even a proposed tunnel that would connect gaza to the west bank. it also calls for a demilitarized palestinian state in which israel would be immediately tasked with maintaining security. israel would also halt settlements for four years. this is also paired with the $54 billion economic plan the president and the administration rolled out last year but of course, all of this would need palestinian sign-off and for now, they are nowhere near close to that. liz: sometimes that's the way negotiations work. you are far apart, then you start negotiating. blake, thank you very much. we've got a sticky situation for dow component 3m. the closing bell ringing in 48 minutes. the parent of scotch tape, the biggest drag on the dow 30 in this final hour of trade. 3m, which also owns post-it notes among many other companies, reported a 2.6% revenue decline in the fourth

quarter and will eliminate some 1500 jobs due to soft u.s. demand. up next, we have been talking about the death toll from the wuhan coronavirus. it is still rising, even as the u.s. government tries to calm nervous citizens. russell flannery has lived in china for more than 16 years and knows exactly what's going on on the ground there. the forbes shanghai bureau chief is here in a fox business exclusive to give us the true picture from the front lines in the battle against this deadly virus. "the claman countdown" will be right back. ♪

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liz: i told you that we would get you video when it came in from this massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake that was centered between cuba and jamaica. what we didn't know is the video would come in from southern florida. these are live pictures of miami, where people reported they actually felt the buildings moving and swaying. that of course prompted evacuations. we have our fox affiliate there in florida, in miami, with a helicopter up looking at some of these highrise buildings in miami. we do know that the miami city commissioner says eight buildings self-evacuated and the building department is on site

at the moment, checking these buildings. again, the earthquake centered in the caribbean and as we watch all of that, let's flip it over to what's going on with the coronavirus globally. cases are now confirmed in 18 countries. yesterday it was 17, but no new cases in the u.s. however, germany is the latest country to add a confirmed virus in a patient on to the list. the centers for disease control expanding their travel warning, though, to all of china, and now conducting screenings at 20 u.s. airports. hong kong has now closed its land border with china as well. hong kong has a lot of luxury names there. how are they doing? on your screen you see the louis vuitton store. that's been closed for weeks. but it's not because of the viral outbreak. the store has been shuttered due to, of course, the ongoing anti-government protests in the chinese semi-autonomous region. how much will this second of the one-two punch, protests and

pathogens, spell pain for china's economy? forbes shanghai bureau chief russell flannery left china last tuesday, just as the virus was taking hold. you have lived in china, greater china, for more than three decades. first tell us what the feel was on the ground when you left. >> well, when i left, there was the anxiety was already brewing and if you were there in 2003 during the sars outbreak, which i was there for, in its entirety, you see the same kind of thing happening. people become very nervous when you're out, when you're in an elevator, when you're in the subway and you're standing next to other people and you're really concerned that you might be getting exposed to a virus that's going to make you quite sick. so that will add more downward pressure to china's growth during the first quarter of the year for sure. china's gdp growth already

running at its lowest rate in about three decades, during the first three months of the year. definitely travel, hotels, retail are all going to be under pressure during the first quarter. liz: to this hong kong point that we are making, now it has shut down the border, the land border with greater china. we know that macao and the checkpoints at macao, the number of tourists visiting, down 89% on sunday. we reported that yesterday. so you pair that with the protests that have been happening. we were talking about apple stores. there's six apple stores in hong kong alone and together, what might that do to that region, and then maybe spread as we say contagion, economic contagion to the rest of china? >> well, i think it's a mixed bag because on the luxury goods side, what you see is reduced spending on luxury goods by mainlanders in hong kong, but on the other side of it, you're

seeing more spending on luxury goods by mainlanders back in the mainland. so net-net, how is that all going to shake out, time will tell. on hong kong's larger trajectory, of course, a big part of the hong kong story over the next several years includes its role as a financial center and also the role of the greater bay initiative. the greater bay initiative was aimed at making the province more like california and getting more tech investment down there. part of the problem from china, a gdp point of view, economic growth, investment point of view, with the protests in hong kong, is it's distracting -- liz: i just want to interrupt you. what you see here is the group of leaders in hong kong, that's carrie lam who is of course the one in charge in hong kong, they are all wearing masks. is that what it's like on the streets there? >> i can't speak to hong kong because i haven't been there,

but for sure, there's just an awful lot of anxiety all over china. the workday, the return to work from the chinese new year has been extended and like i say, people are very nervous about catching or spreading this disease. these are the other people. just to come back to your question about hong kong, it was a big, big, big china policy initiative to turn the province right adjacent to hong kong into a high tech hub and the protests are distracting from that plan and to the extent they are doing that, it's a drag on growth also. liz: all right. russell, thanks. stay safe. i know you're here in d.c. that's good news. we will look forward to hearing from you when you get back to shanghai. we appreciate it. russell flannery of forbes. take a look at this. i mentioned there were six stores in hong kong. there are 42 apple stores in

mainland china, in addition to the six in hong kong. could protests and the coronavirus infect at least apple's conference call as it gets set to report earnings in less than about i guess you call it half an hour. we will bring it up with our all-star apple panel in just a few minutes. nike pays tribute to a fallen star. with about 37 minutes before the closing bell rings, the athletic wear maker and dow component posting a memorial to kobe bryant on the front page of its website. any searches of his name on the page take you to a statement which calls the former laker one of the greatest athletes of his generation. nike says its website has officially sold out of all kobe bryant merchandise following the superstar's death in a helicopter crash on sunday. dow jones industrials up 251 points right now. up next, more on the outpouring of tributes to the former nba star, as investigators, this is a live

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liz: super bowl is not just a huge sports story, it is a massive business story. that's what we do "the claman countdown." we have our bags packed heading for miami for sunday's big game. we will be live from the fox sports compound on south beach friday, 3:00 p.m. eastern ahead of super bowl liv on fox. meanwhile, hard rock stadium is undergoing final preparations and the players are gearing up for the biggest game of their lives, but the talk of the sports world remains the loss of kobe bryant. the biggest offensive stars from both the chiefs and the 49ers feeling the impact of his legacy. listen. >> it's hard to explain exactly what he means to the world, man. i mean, everyone feels for the

families involved and may kobe's legacy, the mamb amen taltalitye on forever. >> there was nobody on a peak higher than kobe bryant. liz: jeff has been covering the nba for "usa today" since kobe bryant was still in high school. you had a whole bunch of opportunities to interview him. this must be so difficult for you, too. >> it is difficult and the one thing, liz, is that for a superstar of his magnitude, he was accessible to the media. he understood the media's role. he was always willing to give minutes when he could. liz: yeah. you know, it's fascinating to see what he was, not just on the court but off the court. he was a business star. i think he remained this example for the younger sports stars and not just the nba players of what

you can be after a very short shelf life that many sports do have for these players. >> let's look at it from a couple perspectives. guys who are in their 20s and 30s regardless of sport, but who are elite athletes, they learned from kobe. you heard them talk about the mamba mentality. that was a desire and will to win that transcends basketball. you can carry that over to any sport. as you mentioned, he's a businessman. he didn't necessarily go into tv and talk about the nba, but he had his own media company and he wanted to produce movies, he was into books. so he showed that there are other ways to make money post-career that maybe aren't necessarily traditional routes. liz: oh, yeah. he was going documentaries and films and he wanted to be the best at everything, and he was very humble about that. he would go, as i understood it, and really dig and try to find out from the truly successful

people. does it surprise you he's the talk of miami ahead of the super bowl some. >> no, not at all. when you're that level, your influence does go across sports. it's the same magic johnson had to a generation of athletes in the same way lebron james influenced athletes. lebron and kobe are a little bit closer in age but lebron still had admiration for kobe. when lebron was getting ready to enter the nba and become a superstar. liz: it's a big deal, the fact that the lakers canceled tonight's game with the clippers. we haven't heard a statement, of course, not yet from his family but also, either from the lakers. i'm wondering what happens at the friday game against the trailblazers? do you expect the thinking behind that was let's not rush this, we still need to find out so much more and we want to put together a really appropriate memorial i guess on the first game back. >> yeah. the lakers will do something and it may not be the biggest thing

that they do. obviously kobe bryant will have a statue outside of staples center alongside greats like kareem, magic, jerry west, but those players will be available at some point on friday, maybe not before the game, as sometimes is customary, but after the game. we did see lebron james and other lakers players go on instagram or twitter or other social media and talk about it but they will be available for the media and i think they will give it, kobe was an employee of the lakers for 20 years. he had friendships not only on basketball but on the business side as well. liz: yeah. jeff, i know it's a loss for you personally, having known him all these years. we are sorry for that. we are sorry for the family. it's horrible. but we appreciate your perspective on this. thank you. closing bell ringing in 28 minutes. we do have the dow gaining 261 points. will it hit the high of the session again? a gain of 285? we are getting closer. up next, apple about to roll out

the barrel of fourth quarter earnings as the iphone rang up holiday sales, but did they make santa blush? however, will the coronavirus pour cold water on what should be a boffo day in cupertino? our top tech panel here to run us through all that matters to you and afterwards, you may want to buy or sell the stock before the closing bell. 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

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liz: we are now getting some video out of jamaica. i pulled it up here. this is from the twitter handle my jamaica today. you can see the swimming pool and the water splashing out of it. this is a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit between jamaica and cuba. very very strong earthquake. we do hear from the jamaican ministry that there are at least so far no casualties. that's the good news. but this quake was felt as far

away as miami, where we earlier showed you some buildings that were self-evacuating because they felt some of the swaying. we will keep you posted on more if we get it. let's get to apple. it does not provide unit sales figures for the iphone, but we are getting a glimmer of what may lie ahead. the nikkei asian review is saying that apple has asked suppliers to make as many as 80 million phones in the first half of 2020, that is a 10% increase year over year, but the tech giant faces an unexpected hurdle. its supply chain exposure in china, which could be rattled by the coronavirus. this as apple is set to report fiscal first quarter earnings after the bell. 22 minutes away from that. joining us ahead of that is russell holly, and benchmark investments managing partner kevin kelly. guys, we are going to do a lightning round kind of thing. kevin, what's the number one thing you will be looking at? >> number one thing is gross margins when it comes to apple. they have been able to keep this

38% gross margin, that's one of the reasons why it's justified right here at 24 times trailing earnings so that's going to be the big number because when we talk about supply chain costs going up, especially with 5g on the horizon, we know 5g will probably be more expensive on the chips inside. that's where i will focus. liz: i can tell you that they are expensive enough, they better have good margins. what's the number one thing you will watch for, you think our viewers should, too, russell? >> the biggest thing for me is services. apple has rolled out a ton of services. we all know services are the way apple will continue to make money as hardware continues to become more expensive and as margins shrink a little. the services, you know, that kind of repeat monthly, you know, revenue is what apple needs right now. whether or not that's working is going to be a big indicator. liz: okay. give me a sense of the wearables and the phone. whip through the hardware. iphones, airpods, airpod pros. kevin, what do you think is going to be a huge seller? >> yeah. i think the airpod pros. everyone is expecting to see a 50% or more push in this area

with the airpod pros for wearables really helping pushing that. they need to deliver on this because the reviews have been great, everybody has been talking about getting a pair. they were sold out over the holidays so that's one of the biggest drivers of this stock as well. liz: what about the watch, russell? you think the apple watch will make a big dent here? >> i think the apple watch continues to be the most successful smartwatch that actually competes with the actual watch market as far as being able to sell units. it is the most popular watch on the planet. apple keeps being able to push out stories month after month after month about how the device is actually literally saving lives. yeah, i think it will continue to be a big deal for apple. liz: anybody going to talk about apple tv plus? it's so young, i don't know if they will even bring it up. somebody on the conference call may. >> so not only is it young but it's something that isn't really making money right now because everyone got it for free this year. so it's something they will hear about as far as how many people are watching things but it's not going to make, you know, kind of a note anywhere until next year when people start paying for it.

liz: julia louis dreffuss has been signed to a lot of things for them. that could juice it. >> it could, but that goes back into another problematic area, where content is king and you have to pay up for content. that could hit the gross margins. when they compete against disney, like netflix, how much money is apple actually willing to compete competitively in this space. is it just a novelty and some people may think that, you know, that's all it is, it's another way to stay in the ecosystem. liz: coronavirus is sort of the elephant in the room. it may be too early to know any impact from that, but we do know that china and greater china contribute about 20% to apple's revenues. russell, do you expect that this may in the next quarter be an issue? >> we know that apple has been working pretty hard to diversify where it's manufacturing all its devices but that's going to take a really long time. the biggest places where, you know, where these phones and watches and head phones and things are coming from is china

right now. so yes, i definitely think that if the coronavirus continues to be a problem in that region, we are definitely going to see shortages, you know, in the not so distant future. liz: let's not ignore the competition. huawei overtook when it comes to games and handset sales, overtook both apple and its chinese competitor. >> yeah. i think that goes back to the biggest problem that apple has in china, and that's actually home-grown competitors. we know that apple wants to go over there and be a top three provider which they're not. think about this. they even built a data center over there. tim cook, multiple conference calls, listen, they will have more people in the middle class than we have citizens in the united states and they are not even a top three player in handsets. they have a big china problem and it has nothing to do with the coronavirus. we are going to have to see how they will try to compete over there in their greater china region. liz: gentlemen, got to run but i will ask you both really quickly. your finger's on the button. is it the sell or the buy button?

18 minutes before the closing bell rings. apple stock. russell? >> for me, i would just say i would hold. i would hold here. i can't add more, given their pe multiple. it's doubled because of the federal reserve lowering interest rates. liz: okay. that's kevin. russell, what about you? >> i think every year we see pretty much the same thing for the last decade. apple releases numbers, things drop a little, then climb right back up. there may be this, you know, this kind of shake in the beginning where things aren't maybe as excellent as expected but i think it's going to end up continuing to pull up. if you buy now you will continue to be happy. liz: thank you very much. the chicken wars' royal rumble getting a powerful new entrant with 17 minutes to go until the closing bell. up next, the new move by mickey d's that's ruffling the feathers of its fast food competitors. some people say "dress your age."

that's ridiculous. i dress how i feel. yesterday i felt bold with boundless energy. this morning i woke up calm and unbreakable. tomorrow? who knows. age is just an illusion. how you show up for the world, that's what's real.

what's your idea? i put it out there with a godaddy website. make the world you want. liz: the stock market is turning into an all-out game of chicken. wing stocks flying high. north coast research upgrading shares of the fast food chain that sells wings, yes, the a buy and morgan stanley raising its price target by $3 to $93, it's right there right now, at $93.16. trading up about 1.33%. mcdonald's ruffling a few feathers in the chicken sandwich wars. the golden arches adding new chicken mcgriddles and mcchicken biscuit sandwiches to its breakfast menu. the move aimed at fending off increasing competition from, yes, popeyes whose chicken sandwich went viral in 2019. we've got mcdonald's up about 1%. shares of popeyes parent

restaurant brands international is sinking at the moment by 1%, alongside fellow chicken sandwich contender, wendy's down 1%. connell, all this chicken, it sounds like a perfect super bowl menu. connell: what about the mcrib? they're not going to bring that back? liz: people are very passionate about that. connell: on both sides of that issue. make a good tv debate. i know you are excited. that's all that's on your mind, setting up the super bowl parties. we have a big party next hour. there's a lot going on. you talked about apple earnings already which we will have but we have a bunch of stories involving china. not only the coronavirus and the huawei decision from the uk, but this story with the harvard professor and charges that came out today alleging this professor was linked with the chinese government, helping out the government, maybe not disclosing everything that he was doing. anyway, edward lawrence has been doing some digging into that and will have new details when we join you "after the bell." melissa is lurking behind the camera here. she's coming up. then we will have that and the apple earnings. liz: apple earnings and

starbucks. connell: yes. liz: looking forward to it. good to see you, connell. see you and melissa at the top of the hour. "the claman countdown" is coming right back. beyond the numbers to examine investment opportunities firsthand, like biotech. because your investments deserve the full story. t. rowe price invest with confidence. doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacist-recommendeding? memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. tit'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

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liz: huawei is claiming a big win against the white house as britain defies the u.s. government's calls to ban the chinese telecom giant from helping to build out the global 5g revolution. could this move that has not made the trump administration happy wind up helping t-mobile and sprint in their efforts to merge? charlie, i guess if you triandingulatrian trianditria triangulate it we need another competitor. charlie: as you know, there's a state ag case led by new york and california right now going

on in federal court, the case is essentially over, the judge, the u.s. district court judge, is deciding on it. i ran into john legere, the great john legere, t-mobile chief, at the courthouse a week ago. i asked you guys think he's going to win? listen to what he had to say. if you lose, what happens to sprint? >> it's a hypothetical that i don't expect to have to face. charlie: really. you feel confident? >> i feel very confident. charlie: okay. that's what they're saying publicly. i will tell you what is going on behind the scenes because that's usually -- that reflects reality. what i understand from my sources that are close to both companies that both are growing anxious about this merger. they are giving their odds of winning nothing more than 50/50. they could not really reach -- read the judge very well. now, there were some points where he dissed the expert witness of the state ags who tried to argue that this deal by getting rid of one or merging

these two companies, actually eliminating a carrier, that that would lead to higher prices -- liz: even though they have promised, legere has promised no price hikes? charlie: even though there's going to be the creation of dish, creating a 5g network, which state ags are trying to argue would be a weak carrier, the judge kind of didn't like the state ag argument. still, there are other things he said, it makes it very very very difficult for them to read the case and to read the judges. liz: isn't that what a good judge does? charlie: maybe. often judges -- you know what it means? it means he's undecided. that's where they are getting the 50/50s because judges usually react to these cases and give you clues. the judge in the other case, in the at & t/time warner case, when the trump administration was going to stop that merger, clearly was siding with the companies. liz: how does huawei play in, though? [ speaking simultaneously ] charlie: let me just make one

more point because this is newsworthy on this deal. affecting these stocks more than huawei. t-mobile officials did have a hard time figuring out the judge. they don't know if they are going to appeal. they have to see the ruling, if they appeal. one other thing. i've gotten this from experts that are close to it. if and when the ruling comes out, when it comes out, it's going to come out and the judge is probably going to announce it after the bell because this ruling, just so you know, hold on to your seats, will impact the stocks either way. if it's a negative ruling, well, it's going to change 5g and the trump administration green-lighted the deal, with all the acoutriments on it, they were fearing the chinese taking over race on 5g. huawei is one -- huawei provides, it is not a 5g, it is not a carrier. it is essentially a company that provides equipment for 5g, but i know, again they're worried

huawei will somehow help a chinese carrier control this space. that is where this is going. if they lose this case, ladies and gentlemen, meaning the companies, hold on to your seats. it is going to be a huge story. if they win it is a big story. it is bigger if they lose because it has implications for 5g. liz: thank you very much, charlie gasparino. a big week for big tech as investors await earnings from microsoft, facebook, tesla, amazon. all set to report earnings in the next 48 hours. today's "countdown" closer says it is the technology sector that continues to outperform and will power your portfolio. let's bring in 125 billion-dollar man, clear bridge investments strategist jeff shulze. good to see you, jeff. you say continue to go in on big tech? >> look at earnings season. earnings will be around 4%. if you look at tech specifically they have beaten by 8%.

by far the best sector. it wasn't sales growth that led to the beats. it was better margins. that was my one issue coming into the earnings season, whether margins would continue deteriorate or get better. clearly you're seeing that is the case. tech is not expensive at this point. if you look large cap tech, google and face back, they outperformed the market every year since 2013. i think that trend will continue. look at last four years of earnings growth. analysts are betting 1.6 times estimates for earnings growth next five-year. it is not expensive. liz: let me big a little bit more deeply here. when you say that tech is is a very broad spectrum. any subsectors you give the viewers may be new entry points. >> i think i.t. and hardware will have a difficulty time-out performing at this point. i think software is the best position given what the last

year performance is where valuations are going forward. that would be my number one pick. liz: what would you avoid? what do you really dislike at the moment? >> i think energy and materials will have a very difficult time moving forward. i know they're cheap from valuation perspective. because something is cheap doesn't mean it can't get cheaper going forward. if you look at energy specifically, with the coronavirus going on right now in china 2003 when sars flared up, you saw decrease of passenger travel by 45%. today the chinese economy has increased by four times. they're much more reliant on passenger travel. so i think that will cause an air pocket in energy supply and demand dynamics. i think you will see lower oil prices. that will weigh on energy shares going forward. liz: our oil trader says exactly that. there is too much of the stuff out there. you have these other black swan issues like coronavirus. demand goes down. thanks for coming on.

>> good to see you. liz: jeff scuulze, clear bridge investments. [closing bell rings] recovered half of yesterday's losses from the massive selloff. tomorrow, the federal reserve interest rate decision. melissa: relief on wall street. stocks surging following a steep selloff as investors turn away from the deadly china virus to earnings season. strong economic data. the dow closing up 189-point, near session highs, right? snapping a five-day losing streak. i'm melissa francis. connell: a little fade at the end. not too much. i'm connell mcshane. markets are down every day. she is back for one. we're back in the green. melissa: i love him. now you see why. connell: s&p and nasdaq both ending up on the day by 1% a little more, for nasdaq, following yesterday which was the worst losses of the year. we'll look at apple throughout the hour. on the day itas