maria: all right. just time to say thank you, dagen, ryan and steve. great show, everybody. the conversation continues tomorrow. see you then. "varney & company" begins now. stu, take it away. stuart: i shall indeed. good morning, maria. good morning, everyone. back to work. that dominates the conversation. the president says a plan to get moving is coming very soon. "the washington post" today reveals an initial strategy from fema and the cdc for reopening parts of the economy in some parts of the country. it is a three-stage plan and it starts next month. the president's talking to all 50 state governors. he will issue guidelines for the country very soon, probably in the next couple of days. it looks like there will be at

least a gradual return based on local conditions starting in may. now, in michigan, protests are expected today and that state's strict stay-at-home orders are in question. that's going to be an indicator of public sentiment after weeks of lockdowns. on the international front, china is now very much in the spotlight. frankly, it's a target. the president's cutting funding for the world health organization. mr. trump says the virus could have been contained in china if the w.h.o. had been more honest. and senator cotton and congressman gallagher introduce a bill today that would end america's dependence on chinese drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients. the virus is clearly changing the u.s./china relationship and everything else, of course. on the market, it is all about back to work, when, where and how. on hopes of a return to work, the dow has moved up close to the 24,000 level. it had dropped to 18,000 level

last month. the dow was up 500 yesterday. looks like all of that gain will be canceled out first thing this morning. the dow is going to open with a 600 point loss. a similar loss in percentage terms for the s&p and also for the nasdaq. now, i've got great news if you live in wisconsin. the average price for a gallon of gas there is down to, this is wisconsin, $1.27 per gallon. don't know how that happened but they are way down. as for the national average, that has come all the way down to $1.84 a gallon. okay. stay right there, everyone. the back-to-work edition of "varney & company" is about to begin. our country's going to be open soon and our country's going to be booming. i will be speaking to all 50

governors very shortly and i will then be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening and a very powerful reopening plan. stuart: let's get started with john lonski, an economist. you heard what the president said about reopening the economy. i want to bring to your attention what goldman sachs is saying today about getting the economy moving on the other side of this virus. they are looking towards a huge gain for the economy in the third quarter, up 19%, in the fourth quarter up 12%. that's an explosive rebound. do you agree with it? >> well, i have no strong reason to disagree with that particular forecast at this point in time. of course, goldman sachs i believe is also forecasting a deep second quarter decline by

real gdp and today's news on retail sales lends support to goldman's downbeat view on second quarter gdp. but as you said, the important thing is that if we can realize growth for two consecutive quarters between 15% and 20%, this economy is on its way back with vigor. stuart: you see, i'm telling you why i highlighted this. i think we know how bad it is. the retail sales were terrible and we all know that this economy is in at the very least a severe recession right now. i'm interested in looking to the other side. that's where the president wants to look. goldman is saying, i mean, i'm astonished, in the third quarter, up 19% for the economy, fourth quarter, up 12%, that would put us back by the end of the year virtually where we were at the start of the year, wouldn't it? in other words, that would erase the effects of the virus.

>> it may not be until 2021 that we begin to return to where we left off at the end of 2019, but i think the important thing is, and the market recognizes this, is that we have some sense of sustained sizeable improvements going forward. that is why the market value of common equity, where the overall u.s. stock market was up by 27% from its low of march 23rd at yesterday's close, it's good news. i think we're moving forward, we're seeing a recovery in the corporate bond market, the high yield bond market's doing much better as well as the investment grade corporate bond market. stuart: all right, john. thank you very much indeed. we appreciate it. see you again soon. now, the airlines, i am told, have agreed on a relief package. susan, do you have the details? susan: -- major airlines have agreed with the treasury in

terms of the actual payment and 30%, $25 billion, that's all they need to pay back. this has been earmarked for the airlines in that $2.2 trillion stimulus package. let's go through the numbers. these are pretty generous terms. for instance, delta is getting $5.4 billion, $1.6 billion will come in a low interest ten-year loan and then the government gets warrants of 1% of delta's stake. that means the government will own a portion of delta. jetblue gets $936 million, american airlines is getting $5.8 billion and $4 billion of that, they don't have to pay back. this comes in direct grants. southwest gets $3.2 billion and the government gets $2.6 million warrants of southwest. eventually they will own a small portion of southwest airlines. let me show you some of the video and how badly airlines are suffering. we know that capacity, that means the amount of flights that have been flown have been cut by 70% on average across the u.s., and flying is down to 95%, near empty planes.

but despite these very generous terms, the airlines actually didn't think they had to pay any part of the $25 billion back to the government. even in 2008 i would argue the banks, even they had to pay back the bailout with interest, but i guess in this case, the government is arguing this is not the airlines' fault. stuart: my goodness, that is amazing video, isn't it. a totally empty plane. i counted maybe six or seven people. good stuff. i still see a deserted sixth avenue behind you, by the way. let's move on. i want to talk to you about the banks. let's start with bank of america. 45% decline in first quarter profit and they are bracing for big loan losses. b of a down 4% on that. as for citigroup, their profit's down 46% in the first quarter. it has to boost its loan loss reserve. there's a stock that's down nearly 3%. that's citi. united health, they are

maintaining their 2020 outlook while it continues to assess the impact of the virus. that stock is up a fraction. up two bucks at $2.72. i want to show you some of the lows hit earlier this year. first of all, apple. they hit a low of $224. that was march 23rd. so the apple low was $224. look at microsoft. it hit a low of $137, march 20th. tesla, they hit a low of $361 on march 18th. walmart, a low of $104 on march 12th. the list goes on. amazon, a low of $1676 on march 12th. i want to bring in shah gilani. we are showing everybody these lows, extraordinary lows on these stocks, and they have completely rebounded. my question is, have we missed the bargains here? >> if you're not in, if you didn't get in and believe me, it wasn't easy money getting in,

certainly it was hard to pick that bottom, that's a fact, i tried to buy some stocks there and i ended up selling too soon. most people did not catch anywhere near the bottom. some people may have caught some of the upswing but i think for the folks who are still in it, who never got out, this is good news. for the traders like me, who missed this, there's a lot of opportunity that just slipped by us. stuart: oh, that sounds like an apology, shah. >> you know, it was in hindsight, it's always easy to see when there's some kind of bottom in but it takes a lot of guts, especially in this kind of environment, to jump in with a lot of money and i frankly just didn't want to take the move. i'm not sure we are done. i love the move so far. i'm actually playing the market to the upside by actually selling puts. i'm hoping that i keep the premium on the put side sell. if these stocks i'm putting puts on go down, that's how i'm playing the market right now because i missed most of the big

move up. stuart: it all depends on getting back to business fairly soon and if goldman's right, a huge rebound in the third and fourth quarters of this year. that will dictate the progress of the market. okay. stay there, shah. got some more for you coming up. let me get to edward lawrence because the big story this week is small businesses getting not exactly bailout money, but rescue money. are they running out of money there? reporter: the short answer is yes. with the demand small businesses have needed with this program, the $350 billion initial pot will run out by tomorrow or friday. there is some urgency here. no deal yet between congress and congressional members. in fact, senators are back at their home states. now, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says he will give senators a 24-hour notice if there is a deal to come back and vote about adding $250 billion to that pot. but let's look at these numbers. these are huge numbers. we are talking about 1,300,000

loans that have been written, each one of those a small business with a need. those loans were $290 billion processed by more than 4800 different lending institutions. in public disclosures today, companies are starting to announce they have gotten these loans. in fact, potbelly, for example, says it applied for and got a $10 million loan under the program. that's the maximum that can be given. now, switching gears to the stimulus checks, the irs is telling me, a senior treasury official saying there are now 80 million americans that got those direct payments as of right now. that payment schedule is ahead of schedule, according to the irs. the other thing is the paper checks also ahead of schedule, going out friday or monday to start with. stu? stuart: here comes the cavalry, as in here comes the money. edward, thank you very much indeed. look at the futures because we are still going to be down about 600 points at the opening bell. the market not responding very much to goldman's prediction of an explosive rebound for the

economy in the latter part of this year. a 600-point loss cancels out yesterday's gain. big guest coming up for you on the show. this will be in our 11:00 hour. mark cuban is with us. i want to know, is he going to run for the presidency? good question. he says he might. first, farmers forced to dump -- that's dairy farmers, of course, dumping milk into rivers. we showed you this earlier. what's that all about? i will ask the agriculture secretary, sonny perdue, next. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from anyone else. so why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms which most pills don't. get all-in-one allergy relief for 24 hours, with flonase.

avoid sick people... and touching your face. there are everyday actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases. visit cdc.gov/covid19. brought to you by the national association of broadcasters and this station. of broadcasters their medicare options...ere people go to learn about before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67? that's the plan! well, you've come to the right place. it's also a great time to learn about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why... medicare part b doesn't pay for everything. only about 80% of your medical costs. this part is up to you... yeah, everyone's a little surprised to learn that one. a medicare supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesn't. that could help cut down on those out-of-your-pocket

medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company today... to request this free, and very helpful, decision guide. and learn about the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. this type of plan lets you say "yes" to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. there are no networks or referrals to worry about. do you accept medicare patients? i sure do! see? you're able to stick with him. like to travel? this kind of plan goes with you anywhere you travel in the country. so go ahead, spend winter somewhere warm. if you're turning 65 soon or over 65 and planning to retire, find out more about the plans that live up to their name. thumbs up to that! remember, the time to prepare is before you go on medicare!

don't wait. get started today. call unitedhealthcare and ask for your free decision guide. learn more about aarp medicare supplement plan options and rates to fit your needs oh, and happy birthday... or retirement... in advance.

stuart: we've got this just coming at us. senator elizabeth warren has formally endorsed joe biden for president. she was the last of his former rivals to give her stamp of approval. looks like they're looking for

unity behind joe biden as the democrat candidate. moments ago, we got news on industrial production. lauren, tell me, i'm sure it's pretty bad. lauren: yeah, it's the worst number since 1946, down in the month of march by 5.4%. that's the march number which is an old number, because most of the country shut down in the middle of march. so the april number will be more telling. nonetheless, march industrial production falling the most that we've seen since 1946, down 5.4%. stuart: that was expected but it's going to get worse for april. thanks very much. the big story today we are covering wall to wall is back to work, when do we go back to work, when do we have some relaxation of the stay-at-home rules. ashley, tell me about the protests against those stay-at-home rules. we are expecting them today in michigan. ashley: yeah. some people in michigan, very

upset with the governor, gretchen whitmer, who they say has taken it too far with her stay-at-home orders. those orders go through now april 30th and they also include things like barring people from crossing the street to visit with neighbors or even driving to see friends and of course, the issue we talked about yesterday was banning the sale of non-essential goods. so people upset saying she's taken it too far, she's threatening michiganders' very existence, they say. they will soon surround the state capitol in michigan, waving flags, carrying signs, honking their horns, generally being disruptive. the governor however says look, we have the third largest number of coronavirus cases, we need to take extreme measures. a lot of folks in michigan not happy with some of their freedoms that are being taken away. stuart: you're right, that will be a gauge of public opinion. let's see how that works out. now, i want to move on. we showed you earlier, we showed you video of milk. there it is, milk being dumped

by farmers. this is in wisconsin, i think. i'm trying to squint. yeah, wisconsin. i want to bring in agriculture secretary sonny perdue. mr. secretary, i've got these pictures of milk being dumped and we are talking about trying to prevent food shortages. what's going on here? >> well, stuart, there's a dislocation of demand. as you know, our restaurants are shut down, our institutional meetings are shut down, university schools all across the country and many of these producers have delivered to processors who serve that community. when there's relocation and misalignment of this demand, we worked as expeditiously as we could to get the milk where it's needed. obviously our retail stores. that's what's happening. when you see milk being dumped, it's the processors that are not able to convert their lines into consumer type packaging. stuart: there is, i believe, a

$15 billion effort that's going to the farmers. i guess that's to support the farmers and help them out in times like this, $15 billion? >> yes, not only with the dairyman that has to dump milk, it's not only financially hurting, it's emotionally hurting. this is their living. that's what they like to do. but we want to have direct payments to farmers but more importantly, as your initial story said, we want to purchase as much of this milk or other protein products, hams and pork products, and move them into where they can be outliutilized food banks and possibly humanitarian aid internationally. stuart: is there going to be a shortage of some meat products, specifically pork, with the closure of that big center, processing plant there? >> we hope not. obviously the united states has a very synchronized, sophisticated supply chain and

for pork particularly, these are just in-demand type of, just-in-time type of systems where the pigs are birthed, weaned, go to feed and then go to slaughter. when you have a slowdown in processing which we are working on to sustain as much as possible there, then you have a backup in that. we think the food supply is safe and sound but we have to be careful that we keep these workers. you mentioned earlier some people are socially distancing, meaning these food supply workers have been working all along in a critical industry, making sure our grocery shelves are stocked and our meat cases are filled. stuart: okay. mr. secretary, thanks very much for joining us on what is clearly a very busy day and vital day, at that. thank you for being here. sonny perdue. thank you, sir. all right. now, we like to keep you up to date on the latest tests for the virus. lauren, you have some news on a new virus test. i think it's being distributed today?

lauren: yes, and it's considered a game changer. here's why. it's a saliva test. being distributed today, fda approved, the first saliva test the fda has green lighted. essentially what this does, it's not painful like some of the swabs that people are getting, and the patient can do it themselves. all you have to do is spit into a tube so it limits contact with that health care worker. it also saves the masks and gloves and swabs and everything else. so as we talk about when to reopen the economy, testing people is going to be key and a saliva test is certainly a way to do that and it's scaleable. stuart: yes. that's huge progress. a saliva test, spit in a test tube, that's the kind of test we are all looking for, i think. lauren, thanks very much indeed. here's what we are covering for you. disney plus, their subscriber list hit 50 million last week. by the way, that was their target for 2023. they have met that target. has netflix finally met its

match? i've got netflix's co-founder on the show coming up later this hour. right now, we are still looking at a selloff on wall street, canceling out yesterday's gain. down about 500 for the dow. we will take you to wall street after this.

stuart: the market opens this wednesday morning in just about three minutes' time. we are looking at a downside move. that's according to futures. maria bartiromo is with us this morning. maria, i maintain that last week, the conversation was all doom and gloom, how terrible the economy is and how bad it's going to be. i think we've shifted. this week, i think the conversation is all about reopening america, which is a much more positive sort of frame of mind for the market, and i think that's why we've seen a nice bounce to near the 24,000 level. what do you say? maria: yeah, i think you're right. i think just having the conversation of how to open it and when to open it is an optimistic theme and that's certainly positive. look, i also think that it's all about expectations, right, and the expectations are now settling in. we are expecting some bad numbers. we know that the economy is shut down and it's going to create perhaps a recession. jamie dimon yesterday saying it is likely that we will have a

severe recession. we had retail sales numbers out today and they were bad but we were expecting it. so it's also about expectations. these banking numbers we got today are not that bad. when you look at the quarter that bank of america had, trading was up, that was a good thing. you want capital remaining solid. they are all raising money for anticipated losses so the banks, while they are negative quarters, i don't think they are as bad as some people expected on the banks and the fact they are raising all this capital, i think longer term will be a positive. yes, they are trading down but a lot of people feel these stocks have hit bottom at this point. stuart: yeah. there's some interesting -- i think we were all expecting this dreadful news on the economy. we are in the second quarter and we all knew it was going to be really bad. goldman sachs comes out today and says yeah, we are going to be down maybe 35% gdp, a shrinkage by one-third in the second quarter, 15% unemployment rate. i think we are all looking to

the other side and goldman is saying look, it's going to be an explosive rebound on the other side of 19% for the economy in the third quarter, another 12% in the fourth quarter. that puts us back just about where we were at the beginning of the year. that would be quite a rebound. maria: well, it would. we will see how the duration is of this coronavirus. we really need to understand better how long this lasts, how long are we going to be shut down and how long will our behavior be different than it was before. but i agree with you, i think we are going to see a snap back once we have clarity on the severity of this disease. stuart: it's just a question of how strong that snap-back is. stay there, please. i want to bring you in when the market opens. the market opens in 30 seconds' time. we are looking at an almost exact cancellation of yesterday's gain. we were up 550 yesterday, down about 560 at the opening bell this morning. we are also looking for a big loss on the nasdaq, 1.7%.

of course, it had a huge gain yesterday. all kinds of indicators coming at us this morning. almost all of it, negative news about the state of the economy right now. but i'd like to look to the other side, how we come out of this. they are ringing that bell and we are now open for business. it's 9:30 eastern time on a wednesday morning. let's see how we get going first off. we are down 550 as expected from the dow, from the futures, that is. as you open up those dow 30, most of them are going to be in the red on the downside. not all of them have opened up yet so our board has a lot of black in there, not opened. those that have opened are down. we are losing 550 on the dow industrials at this moment. that is 2.3%. how about the s&p 500? where is that opened? it's opened up down, down 2.3%, exactly the same as the dow. we have the nasdaq also on the downside to the tune of 1.8%. so i would infer from that that

the tech stocks are not doing as badly as some of the big name issues on the dow. let's have a look at the airlines. they have reached a $25 billion deal with the treasury department. that's the amount of money they are going to get. 70% of it is supporting their payroll. they don't have to repay it. the other 30%, they do have to repay over a long period of time. that's a ten-year period. the government will have a small stake in these airlines. they have responded with a gain almost cross the board except for southwest, which is on the downside slightly. the cruise industry again taking it on the chin. a 6% drop for carnival, 8% royal caribbean, norwegian cruise line down 6%. i don't think they've got any idea yet if they are going to get any government money. have a look at the banks, because some are reporting, as maria suggested. lauren, what have you got on the banks? lauren: yeah, bank of america, citigroup and goldman reporting this morning. if you add jpmorgan and wells

fargo to that, and how much additional money they are setting aside for loan losses, for potential bad loans, it's upwards of $20 billion. so five banks setting aside an additional $20 billion plus in the event that loans do go sour. are the banks being too conservative as they should be, or is this really where we are headed? is it going to be that painful for so many americans and for the country as we battle coronavirus? stuart: it's certainly a big selloff in bank stocks. goldman on the screen at the moment, down a whopping $8, 4.6%. i want to go back to the big names, biggest of big names. apple, microsoft, tesla, amazon, walmart. got to go back to them. they are on the screen right now. susan, you tell me please what was the low for those big name stocks? i think there's a huge rebound here. susan: there has been a huge rebound, absolutely. no argument there. it depends on how you want to gauge the stocks because at one

point, if you want to take a look at intraday lows, apple had an entry point of $212. microsoft was trading at close to $133 level intraday. you had the closes on which was still a very lucrative entry point because you made a lot of money since then. people have been arguing, debating about when we have seen the bottom. some say we saw it on march 18th and march 23rd. in fact, goldman sachs as i mentioned started off this week pretty bullish saying we have seen the worst of it and are still heading towards 3,000 for the s&p at the end of this year. also amazon yesterday hit a milestone which means a record high, also along with walmart as well. so there's bifurcation in terms of technology plays and stay-at-home winners compared to the rest of the market, especially with oil stocks today. stuart: maria, come back into this, please. it looks like we have -- a lot of people have missed the bargain basement price. what do you say? maria: yeah, we rallied off the bottom for sure. there are a few firms out there saying we have seen the bottom

already. given that 20% plus rally off of the lows, maybe we will see a few more days that are negative like we are today, but we haven't reached that bottom that a lot of analysts are saying has been put in. i just want to mention retail sales number. the economy shut down in the middle of march so these numbers reflect the whole month of march. it tells you things will probably look worse for the month of april because it's only half the month that closed down. there are some bright spots and i want to point them out. core retail sales in march actually had a plus sign in front of it. it was up 1.7% month over month instead of falling by 2%. the number was saved by food and by beverage sales, according to peter bookbar who is writing about this right now, as well as online retailing. food, beverages, online retailing doing well. but there was a 51% plunge in clothing sales. there was a 27% drop in restaurants and bars. again, that will decline further

in the month of april, when we get the full month actually gauged. you want to look at these numbers, we expect it, we know the new york manufacturing empire index was just dreadful and again, there too you will see a worse number in april because it was just half the month. but this is all priced into the market, i would say, at this point. i think investors are looking at these numbers, recognizing that things are going to continue to get worse with these economic data but i don't know if you can really trust that these numbers are all that accurate at this point given the fact we are looking at a self-imposed shutdown and we are expecting the snap-back at the end of the year. we have to just grin and bear it right now, look the athese tough numbe numbers and look at where we are and hopefully the month of may numbers will see an increase given that we will see slow openings, that rolling opening, if you will, is what the president is talking about. stuart: i'm not surprised a 50% odd decline in clothing sales. who buys clothing when you are all stuck inside and if you are

on a teleconference, you only need to buy new tops. bottoms are irrelevant. streaming. if ever there was a winner in the age of the virus, it is streaming services. ash, what have you got to tell me about the nbc new streaming service? ashley: yeah. that's true, stu, but timing is everything. nbc universal's peacock service available today but basically no original content, because production has been shut down not only in the u.s. but around the world. we were going to see original content including alec baldwin, christian slater, demi moore, a series produced by tina fey, all of that put on hold until next year. you are going to get all the classics, things like, you know, "30 rock," "parks and recreation," "law and order." you know the shows. the only bright spot, maybe a reboot, i know you will be excited about this, of "punky brewster" and "saved by the bell."

premium service starts at $4.99 but that comes with commercials. commercial-free will be $9.99 a month. they have also been hit hard, of course, by the olympics in tokyo being postponed this year. that was going to be a big part of the presentation on this new streaming service. so this is just a runway, says nbc, for next year. stuart: victim of the virus. ash, thanks very much. check the markets. we have come back a bit on the dow industrials. now we are down 470 points. have a look at the ten-year treasury yield. yesterday, it was .75%. this morning, it's all the way down to .67%. what does that tell you? it tells you money is coming out of the market and stocks and going into the security of treasury bonds. price up, yield down. .67%. now, we have the price of gold rising to what is close to at least the best level since

2012. gold price this morning at $1,748 an ounce. now look at oil. it broke below $20 a barrel earlier this morning and it's still there. $19.87. saudi arabia's energy minister told maria this morning the historic opec agreement will reduce world output by 20 million barrels a day. more than double what had been reported. you are still down to 19 bucks a barrel on oil. we have the dow now down 471 points. maria, thanks very much for being with us this morning. we always appreciate it. see you again real soon. now, following the market, obviously, i want to know and we are going to ask this question again, did we miss the bargains? apple way down there, microsoft, walmart, et cetera, et cetera. i'm asking charles payne in the 11:00 hour, did we miss them? are we going to return to those low prices? let's see what he's got to say. then coming up, mark cuban.

what does he make of the president's plan, the suggestion that would reopen the economy in may? what does he make of that? because he's on the advisory committee. next, though, netflix co-founder mark randolph. the stock hit a 52-week high yesterday. they are benefiting obviously from everybody staying at home and some remarkable hit shows like the one on your screen. we'll be right back. i've got some terrific news for veteran homeowners from newday usa. interest rates have dropped to record lows. newday usa makes it so easy to refinance that one call can save you $2000 a year. newday's va streamline refi lets you refinance without having to verify your income,

without getting your home appraised and without spending one dollar out of pocket to get it done. it is the quickest and easiest refi they've ever offered. one call can save you $2000 a year, every year. witpeople at higher riskng, must take extra precautions. you are at higher risk if you are over 65, or if you have an underlying medical condition. please visit coronavirus.gov for more information.

stuart: we were down 600 on the dow when we started the day. now, 13 minutes in, we are down 517. let's have a look at southwest airlines. they are cutting thousands more flights and nearly 5,000 flight attendants have agreed to take time off. that will be next month. that's just about the only airline stock that's not up today, because the others have reached a deal with the governor. i think southwest has as well but that news taking them down 2%. look at marriott.

nearly one-quarter, 25% of their hotels are closed. this is around the world. closed, 25% of them. marriott anticipates even more closures still to come. that stock is down 4.5%. let's go to the streaming wars. definitely on in the era of the virus. people are locked down inside their own homes, obviously. mark randolph is with us. he is the co-founder of netflix, a man who knows whereof he speaks when you talk about streaming. here's my point. netflix is the big, big winner in this streaming war. what do you say? >> well, i got to say, these are certainly interesting times, if you are a streaming company. but listen, i have to point out at least one thing. we celebrated a little anniversary yesterday which shouldn't go without note, which is that yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of when we actually launched the netflix service. april 14th, 1998.

i keep reflecting on how far we've come. certainly this week has been an interesting one. of course, two weeks ago, quibi, that short form video streaming service launched. as you mentioned earlier, peacock is doing its soft launch today. hbo max is coming out in a little bit. it's certainly an exciting time if you are a television watcher. stuart: but nobody, marc, nobody has the content to match netflix. i mean, you keep on -- some of my friends have gone through ozark, they have gone through every episode, binge watched it. now they are on to the next thing. it's always netflix. they are largely ignoring disney plus, even though disney plus is 50 million subscribers already. >> you know, stuart, i don't think it's a correct term to call this a streaming war, because it implies in some way there's going to be a single victor and i genuinely don't believe that's the case. i really think there's room for

multiple services and i actually think it's a good thing. i mean, certainly selfishly, seeing the entrance of disney and hbo and all the other services in some ways is a validation. one of the reasons netflix is so strong on content besides, of course, its huge content spend, is the fact we have been doing it since 2007. so we have a 13-year head start. but it's a validation to us to see everyone else entering. but i think it's really good for consumers and i think the best thing is it's keeping everyone on their toes. stuart: yeah, that's true. next week i think is the netflix earnings report. i think it's next week. i'm told it's going to be spectacular. can you let us into the story? how good's it going to be? >> i'm afraid i have zero insight into what the earnings release is going to be other than what i read, so i'm waiting

as expectantly as you are. it would be hard to imagine that it's not going to be good news. of course, it's coming on top of that birthday present we got yesterday which is netflix not just hitting its 52-week high but hitting its 1,000 week high. i think yesterday was the highest netflix stock has ever been. and in some ways, not surprising. it just shows that it really is catching on. stuart: yes, it really is. even i watch netflix and i'm not much of a streaming kind of guy. marc, it was great having you on the show. come back soon. marc randolph. thank you, sir. appreciate it. we are doing more on the streaming situation, so to speak. lauren, what have we got from amazon on streaming? lauren: okay. there's more than just netflix out there so let me tell you what amazon is doing. they are adding some free hbo content so you don't even need to be a prime member to get full seasons of five key shows,

ballers, big little lies, silicon valley and succession plus ten documentaries, 20 episodes of sesame street and 20 warner brothers movies. let me tell you, the stock is down today. amazon yesterday, all-time high, up 24% this year. first time ever, closing with a $1.1 trillion market cap. stuart: hold on a second. i can get this new video on amazon and i don't -- i get it for free, but i don't have to be a prime member. is that accurate? lauren: correct. correct. so as we are staying at home and as you say, your friends are running through show after show, what do you watch, amazon is saying you know what, you can watch for free, you don't even need to be a paid prime member. we are giving you this at & t content from hbo and warner brothers. stuart: thanks, lauren. here's what we've got coming up for you. first of all, take a look at zoom. okay. your zoom calls could get a lot

more wild for less than $100, a california farm will send a llama or goat to your next video chat. they call it goat to meeting. got that? cute, huh? retail sales, a report came out this morning it is brutal and record-breaking. we will tell you what the historic decline means for the future of shopping. that's next. because you can't get to the theater, we're bringing

the theater home to you, with xfinity movie premiere. there's a world full of other trolls. how different can they be? our brand-new service that lets you watch all the latest movie releases from the comfort of home. trolls world tour available now. i will protect you no matter what, pinky promise. just say xfinity movie premiere into your voice remote to bring the theater to you.

stuart: where are we now? 22 minutes in, i will tell you, we are down 560 points on the dow. take a look at jc penney. might want to cue the organ music here. death watch, maybe. they are hiring financial advisers to deal with their growing debt. the stock is down 25% as we speak at 24 cents per share. retail sales, we got those numbers earlier. 8.7% down in the month of march. that is the largest one-month drop ever. let's get more on retail and bring in gerald storch, who knows more about retail than just about anybody. gerald, welcome back to the program. i read your stuff avidly and you are talking about survival of the biggest. i know you are talking about amazon, right? >> absolutely.

look, you know, the retail report is not a surprise. i actually thought it was pretty good given that people were staying home for half the month. i mean, look who was up. home depot, the building materials guys. that's what we ask people to do, they are getting supplies for cleaning their house there. food and beverage, they are eating at home and drinking at home, trust me. health care, you know, pharmacies. mass merchants, your walmart, hit an all-time high just this week. just yesterday, walmart, target, costco doing great. e-commerce which of course is driven entirely by the incredible performance of amazon which also hit an all-time high. once these consumer patterns have changed, i think a lot of it's going to stick. look who isn't performing. auto and gas. we aren't going anywhere. we're not driving. clothing, there's no point in buying fancy clothes when you're not going out. and the stores were closed for half the month. restaurants and bars. they were closed. department stores, they were closed. besides, they have been losing the battle for a long time and this will only accelerate the

demise of many bricks and mortar chains that were losing before and many mall-based apparel retailers. stuart: just try to predict for me, if you can, consumer behavior when we get back to normal, if there is such a thing any longer. do you think shoppers will return to the malls in the way that they used to shop in malls? >> there are two critical requirements. first, they have to have jobs and money which i count as one thing. they have to be employed. we have to make sure this doesn't turn into kind of an extended economic event and i think the administration and congress has done a great job at that. secondly, you know, i know a lot of about consumer psyche, i studied it for decades. people are scared. they have to feel confidence that they can go out and there, they have to know that somehow, you heard it many, many times, that we've got mass testing going on, that people know it's safe out there. the numbers have to be down, of course, in terms of the infection rate but also, people have to believe it's going to be safe.

i believe our companies, our big corporations, can play a big role. i have not seen a plan that has the kind of mass testing that's really needed. it's one thing to do what the scientists want but that's not going to bring people out. it's not going to bring them to the malls. people have to know it's safe. stuart: yep. malls are in trouble. gerald, thanks very much indeed. i'm pressed on time. we will see you again real soon. thank you, sir. former president obama has endorsed joe biden after all the other candidates dropped out. here's the question. are the democrats really behind joe biden, or is he just the last man standing? i have former dnc chair donna brazile on the show coming up. and more on china being held accountable. we are on that story. we'll be right back. every financial plan needs a cfp® professional -- confident financial plans,

calming financial plans, complete financial plans. they're all possible with a cfp® professional. find yours at letsmakeaplan.org. they're all possible with a cfp® professional. their medicare options...ere people go to learn about before they're on medicare. come on in. . . re supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why... medicare part b doesn't pay for everything. only about 80% of your medical costs. this part is up to you... yeah, everyone's a little surprised to learn that one. a medicare supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesn't. that could help cut down on those out-of-your-pocket medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company today... to request this free, and very helpful, decision guide.

and learn about the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. this type of plan lets you say "yes" to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. there are no networks or referrals to worry about. do you accept medicare patients? i sure do! see? you're able to stick with him. like to travel? this kind of plan goes with you anywhere you travel in the country. so go ahead, spend winter somewhere warm. if you're turning 65 soon or over 65 and planning to retire, find out more about the plans that live up to their name. thumbs up to that! remember, the time to prepare is before you go on medicare! don't wait. get started today. call unitedhealthcare and ask for your free decision guide.

learn more about aarp medicare supplement plan options and rates to fit your needs oh, and happy birthday... or retirement... in advance.

stuart: bang, exactly 10 here on the east coast. the market has been open for 30 minutes. we're down 500 points for the dow industrials that neatly cancels out yesterday's 550 point gain. we have the latest reading on homebuilders sentiment that is an important number. what do you have, ash? ashley: it is pretty sour to say the least for april, stu. we're expecting around 55 on this index. it came in at 30. which means it has plunged 42 points since the march reading of 72. it is the first time it has been below the 50 mark, the confidence in other words, homebuilders have for the housing industry, first time below the 50 mark in almost six years, going back to june of 20

fourth. that is the largest single monthly change ever in the index. went from a read of 72 in march to 30 in april. before the virus hit, frustratingly the housing market was showing real signs of strength that gives you an idea how the virus has taken out some sectors of this economy, stu. stuart: you're right, ash. that tells the story, the largest monthly drop ever. got it. all right, everyone. now this. it is going to happen. parts of the economy in some parts of the country will be reopened and it is likely to begin at least next month. that is what the president wants. that is what federal agencies are planning for. we're getting an early look what that reopening might look like. fema, and the cdc have create what they call a strategy for reopening. "the washington post" reports on

this plan today. it would grabbed all. restricted at first to those parts of the country where the virus has not spread significantly. all right. there is a phase one which between now and may the 1st. a public education campaign to prepare the nation for what is coming. that is phase one. phase two, from may the 1st, to may 15th, ramp up production of test kits and personal protection equipment although that is certainly in progress right now. phase three, the gradual reopening of schools, child care, summer camps, parks, churches, restaurants. social distancing would be maintained and reopening would depend on local conditions. separately, governor newsom in california talked about a staggered reopening in some locations in his state. governor abbott in texas is looking very closely at a reopening in parts of his state. in michigan today there will be

protest about that state's intense restrictions that will indicate the public's frustration and desire to open up and get back to work. i think the conversation has shifted. last week as the virus raged there was a lot of gloom and doom as number of new cases and fatalities went straight up. this week it is more about looking to the other side where america comes out of the virus era and gradually gets back to work. much more positive this week. president trump says he will speak to all 50 state governors and that a quote, powerful reopening plan is coming soon, probably in the next few days. the long-awaited reopening is going to happen. that's the way i see it. now let's bring in hal lambert is with us. let as talk about reopening of the economy. hal, you used to work with senator cruz of texas and i know that texas wants to reopen fairly quickly. what can you tell us about texas >> well we do and we absolutely

need to. if you look at the cases in our state, we had 15,000 people test positive. we had 345 deaths this is a state with 30 million people, the 10th largest economy in the world. so it is a very, very small number. we don't have a pandemic in the state of texas. most states are not, very few people live like new york city lives. most people don't take a subway to work. most people are driving in their cars. we need to practice safe things. we need to wash our hands, that is the number one thing people can do is wash their hands. look, we have 85,000 hospital beds in the state of texas. we're not even close to capacity. i think it is very reasonable and very responsible to begin to reopen the economy. we have millions of people right now that are out of work and have no money. stu, before we did this, we knew that 70% of the country had less than $1000 in savings, 70%. the bulk of people with zero savings are at younger age

groups. so people are out of money. they don't have food to eat. you're looking people going into food lines to get food. this cannot go on and continue when you have these low numbers you have especially in texas. stuart: well, hal, is there a political divide here? by that i mean, the left, democrats, do they generally favor continuing the lockdown and republicans on the right generally favoring an opening up? i'm asking you really is there such a political divide? >> well there seems to be certainly and if you look what president trump did this past week, it was pretty funny actually. he has been, he has been told by these democratic governors especially and mainstream media he should mandate a closing of every state in the country. every state should be forced to close down and abide by cdc guide lines. he came out, at that time, look, there is constitution, i can't mandate states to do this. when he started getting back on

reopening the economy, i will mandate it and they will have to do what i want. democratic governors weren't crazy, media went crazy, como said they are sued. they said he should mandate it and mandate a reopening they go crazy about it. he came out said look, there is weeks for constitution. he will not mandate for what states do, they fell into it. there is a divide, stuart. for some reason a lot of democratic states, a democratic governors are being harsh on measures and wanting to keep the economy closed longer and longer even though the data doesn't support they need to do that. california 40 million people, fifth largest economy in the world, they have not had huge numbers of cases and huge numbers of death. they had 25,000 cases in the whole state that they have had. does it make sense to continue lock things down if you have -- we're being told, look you can

reopen when the curve flattens. a lot of states haven't even had a curve. the numbers are so low we don't even have a curve. i think it makes sense to look really at reopening. millions of people are hurt by this. there are all kinds of other problems created when you put people into poverty, out of work. you have a lot of other issues around death than you do with that than you do with the risk of the virus at this point. stuart: i think we'll open up fairly soon. maybe next month, partial reopening. hal lambert, thank you very much, appreciate it. i want to bring in republican senator martha mcsally. she is with us this morning. senator, i'm sorry about that. that is -- >> okay, stuart. good morning. stuart: good morning, ma'am. what's the hole-up with new help for small business? can you do anything about it? >> the holdup is chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. as of yesterday over

$250 billion of the $350 billion that we provided to provide immediate relief to small businesses in forgivable loans, to keep people on the payroll, keep them from going under, so the jobs exist when we get on the other side, over $250 billion is already been apportioned out. we need to add more money to this. this should be a an easy thing to do. they're trying to hold it up for other requests, other additions and pots of money that haven't even been sent out yet. i would encourage everybody in california, over $20 billion has been sent out. in new york over 12 billion to small businesses. call chuck schumer around nancy pelosi and tell them stop holding this up. stuart: well, speaker pelosi says that the president's response to the virus is quote almost sinful. and i note that the house is in recess until may the 4th. that is three weeks away. i see this as a major problem to getting help to small business

which needs it. >> i agree. we could pass this we tried last week with a few people on the senate floor so we could practice safe practices but do it unanimously. they tried it last week and schumer objected. so we're going to try again tomorrow. i would encourage everybody both sides of the aisle, america has come together on this these small businesses need our help. put your politics aside. let's get more relief on the way to save these businesses and save these jobs. stuart: senator, would you just stay there for one second. i want to segue away to hillary vaughn who has the latest news on the world health organization and america's cutting funding for it. what do you have, hillary? reporter: stuart, the president announced yesterday there is a 90-day moratorium on any money going from the united states to the world health organization. this is an idea that he floated last week and now it's official. the world health organization will not receive any funding from its largest donor for the

next three months. >> today i'm instructing my administration to halt funding of the world health organization. had w.h.o. done its job to get medical experts into china to objective assess the situation on the ground and to call out china's lack of transparency the outbreak could have been contained this would have sheathed thousands of lives and avoided worldwide economic damage. reporter: the president says that w.h.o. took china's misinformation at face value and protected the country. and at same time triggered what is now a global pandemic he says could have been prevented. he doesn't want to give any money to this organization until they make major reforms. he is considering starting an entirely new global partnership like the world health organization but one that is not influenced by china. stuart, i want to put this money into perspective. the united states is its largest donor by far.

in 2019 they gave 16% of their total budget. by comparison gave just 2%. over the past six years, stuart, the united states has given $2.5 billion to the world health organization. stuart? stuart: hillary vaughn, right there, thanks very much indeed. come back senator mcsally. i believe that you have sent, you and other senators sent a letter to the w.h.o. requesting information on the role in the china coverup. you're part of the effort to hold china accountable, aren't you? >> absolutely. i never trusted a communist in my life and the coverup by the chinese government still to their own people, to america, and to the world is costing lives, stuart. they lied about the behavior of the virus. we still don't know the origins, the extent and w.h.o. was parroting their propaganda saying there is no human-to-human transmission, attacking president trump for his travel ban.

i called for dr. tedros to step down but we also need to understand what is their decision-making process and why do they appear to be complicit with the chinese coverup for this deadly virus? stuart: senator martha mcsally, thanks very much for joining us this morning. always appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: by the way later this hour we have got more on holding china accountable. i'm talking to illinois congressman adam kinzinger. he wants accountability. restaurants, they suffered the biggest impact from the virus shutdown, certainly one of the biggest i am pans. later this hour we get update from the restaurant industry itself. what it could look like going forward. president trump wants to get sports back up and running. in our next hour we'll talk to dallas mavericks owner, mark cuban. he is on the show. president obama formally endorsed joe biden. who will he choose as husband running mate. we'll break it down with former dnc chair, donna brazile.

she is next. edward jones. it's time for investing to feel individual. working day in, day out.e. at&t is here. providing support with advanced services for first responders. and connected temporary hospitals, mobile testing sites and emergency management centers. because until their job is done, it is essential that we all have their backs. it's what we've always done. it's what we'll always do. why accept it frompt an incompyour allergy pills?e else. flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler. nothing lasts longer. flonase sensimist. 24 hour non-drowsy allergy relief

♪ stuart: check that market. we're 47 minutes into the session. this is the session low. we're down 600 points on the dow industrials. look at tesla's stock, way up in otherwise down market. susan, is missouri offering them big bucks to open a plant there. susan: the world is your oyster if you're elon musk. joplin, missouri, offering a billion dollars incentive for tesla to move there or build a cyber truck or gigafactory in joplin which has a population of 50,000. look at the tweet from the head of the chamber of commerce in joplin. hey, elon, we'll offer you a billion bucks. 50% discount on 1000-acre land. 100% tax abatement for 12 years.

state and local tax exemptions. $50 million in payroll savings. they are cheaper here. average hourly wage in joplin is $27.86. less than nashville and less than austin. we know elon musk is scouting a place to built the cyber truck, probably central america and make the crossovers own the east coast. joplin says, why not us? tesla stock outperformed because they got got an upgrade from goldman sachs. goldman sachs initiated coverage because they say it is a buy. they're saying it is outperformance, first mover advantage and outperformance in technology which they say is above the rest. 865, stu. you could have gotten in few weeks ago at 350 or so. stuart: right. that was a low 1/2, wasn't it, down to 350. they're talking about 865. that is amazing. it is up 30 bucks today. susan, thanks very much.

ashley, come in please, what is this about abbott labs? they have a third test, what is it, third test for the virus, is it? ashley: they do. testing blood for antibodies. a million tests go out by end of the week. four million by the end. month and they want to get a better idea the antibody, how long does it stay in your system around does it provide immunity? it is part of a very important test in order to find ultimately the vaccine. but abbott lab sending out the virus screening, antibody screening, today hopefully to get a better idea how this virus works. stuart: ashley, isn't major league baseball, aren't they going to be, i hate to say guinea pigs but research associates for this antibody tests? ashley: they are. guinea pig is one term used. major league baseball employees acreed to take the test

measuring the employees for antibodies. unclear how many players will take part. it is part of a study how the virus is spread across the country. the results are put together by stanford, usc and a supports testing lab. they want to find out about the virus, how it spreads possible immunity. major league baseball is the biggest industry if you like to agree to take part in this research, all right, got it. ashley, thanks very much indeed. let's turn to politics for a moment. president obama has endorsed joe biden. he put it on tape. roll tape please. >> if there is one thing we learned as a country from moments of great crisis is that the spirit of looking out for one another can't be restricted to our homes or our work places or our neighborhoods or our houses of worship. it also has to be reflected in our national government and that's why i'm so proud to endorse joe biden for president of the united states.

stuart: well, look who is with us now, donna brazile. donna, welcome to the show. great to see you. >> hi. stuart: you and i are clearly on opposite sides of the political fence. we can both smile. we'll smile for the next three minutes and that is the way it is going to be. >> thank you. stuart: however i will put this to you, donna, biden and bernie they're divided on policy, and in my opinion they are irrelevant to the virus discussion. the virus discussion is being led by president trump and state governors and the presidential candidate is playing no role in it whatsoever, right? >> well, first of all it is being led by not just the federal government and state governors but also local mayors and public health officials. everyone is vital in this competition, whether you're in office or out of office, it is important that we hear from as many people as possible. we're hearing from corporate america, how to reopen government. we're hearing from academia how

to go reopen schools. it is vital we hear from everybody, whether our the former vice president of the united states who has been through this in terms of the crisis that they faced in 2009 until 2016. we need everybody on deck in this conversation right now. stuart: okay. i'm intrigued about who mr. biden will choose as his vice-presidential candidate. there are lots of candidates in mind. kamala harris, stacey abrams is endorsed by "the washington post" today, i think, certainly they're in favor of her. and there is a whole list on the screen right now. who do you think should be the vp for joe biden? >> well you know, i have been in that position as a former campaign manager. sorry, this is my new dog who hasn't learned when i'm on tv to sit down. i been in the position where you give advice and counsel to the

candidate. i think the vice president has many to choose from. women of valor. women who ran in 2020. i don't have a favorite but i do have a few names that clearly you have on your list that i would look for serious consideration during this process. stuart: donna, it is very important pick. i don't mean to be, you know, i warrant toe got this right. joe biden is 77 years old. if he wins, he will be 78 years old. and he is showing some signs of lack of focus. so whom he chooses as the vice-presidential candidate is very important. by the way, alexandria ocasio-cortez has just said that she wants a much more progressive vice president pick. last word to you? >> i once again, he has been through this process. he hasn't missed any steps in this process. i do believe he will choose a strong candidate. but you know we don't pick based

on number two. we pick based on number one, but number two needs to be ready day one just in case to be president of the united states. he will choose someone who is supremely qualified. i know we will all be pleased with his selection. stuart: donna, don't be such a stranger to the program. we can smile our way through at least an hour. i am looking forward to it. donna, brazeale, thank you very much. >> i watch your program. sometimes i don't understand what is going on wall street and i want explain it to main street. you give me a lot of information, a lot of -- thank you for what you do, stu, thank you so much. stuart: if you had told me that earlier you could have been a coainge of the show for heaven's sake. love you, donna. >> love you too my friend. bless you. stuart: got to check this out. businesses reopening in italy, this after weeks of lockdown.

♪ [applause] stuart: that is a feel-good story from overseas. that video shows neighbors applauding a mom and health care worker, this is in britain as she returns from work. more "varney" after this. [cheers and applause] every financial plan needs a cfp® professional -- confident financial plans, calming financial plans, complete financial plans. they're all possible with a cfp® professional. find yours at letsmakeaplan.org.

they're all possible with a cfp® professional. their medicare options...ere people go to learn about before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67? that's the plan! well, you've come to the right place. it's also a great time to learn about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why... medicare part b doesn't pay for everything. only about 80% of your medical costs. this part is up to you... yeah, everyone's a little surprised to learn that one. a medicare supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesn't. that could help cut down on those out-of-your-pocket medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company today... to request this free, and very helpful, decision guide. and learn about the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of

quality and service. this type of plan lets you say "yes" to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. there are no networks or referrals to worry about. do you accept medicare patients? i sure do! see? you're able to stick with him. like to travel? this kind of plan goes with you anywhere you travel in the country. so go ahead, spend winter somewhere warm. if you're turning 65 soon or over 65 and planning to retire, find out more about the plans that live up to their name. thumbs up to that! remember, the time to prepare is before you go on medicare! don't wait. get started today. call unitedhealthcare and ask for your free decision guide. learn more about aarp medicare supplement plan options and rates to fit your needs oh, and happy birthday... or retirement... in advance.

stuart: we've been open for almost exactly one hour and we completely eradicated yesterday's 550 point gain and then some. we're down 666. triple sixes, 23,000 is the level on the dow. take a look at exxon. boosting production of raw materials for medical masks, gowns and hand sanitizer. all well and good but the stock is below $40 a share, down 5%. the obvious reason for that is, the price of oil. it has dropped to $19 a barrel as of this morning. you can't run a major oil company on 19-dollar a barrel oil. you do but the price of your stock comes way, way down. there is news on best buy. come on in please, lauren, what do you have on best buy? lauren: the bad news is they're

furloughing 51,000, mostly part-time workers. even though stores are closed, best buy has been able to retain 70% of annual sales, the online orders are up 250 pest. half of them are curbside pup. i'm bringing this up, when we talk about life after coronavirus, if you have ordered something online and gone to the store and had the order delivered to your car and it is working, and you like it, that could be the new normal when we emerge. stuart: when we emerge. okay, got that. thanks very much, lauren. all morning long we've been talking about the extraordinary fall in the price of oil and the price of gasoline. by the way we reported this morning that the average price for a gallon of gas in wisconsin is all the way down to $1.27. why it is weiss cheapest in the nation i really don't know. but right now we're about to get numbers how much oil we've got in storage.

i think it is going to be an enormous number because you can't sell the stuff. i presume it is in storage. ashley, do you have the numbers yet? ashley: i do. you're absolutely right, stu, this latest number, a build of 19.248 million barrels. almost 20 million barrels. you add that to the 15 million-barrels last week. we're talking about just this last two weeks, 35 million-barrels of crude oil in storage. we're running out of places to put the stuff. and by the way that is the biggest build, weekly build ever recorded. stuart: that is extraordinary and the price of oil down a little bit because of that. you're at 19.87 as we speak. i want to bringing in zane tankel, a frequent guest on the program. he is involved in two different industries. he is involved in the oil industry and in the restaurant industry. zane, i will start with oil. this is an astonishing

situation, $19 a barrel, i got to say that is a catastrophe for american drillers and american frackers. am i right? >> you're 100% right, stuart. you remember i was on air with you, a month or two ago, i said if i could be in another business other than oil i would be. the problem started before covid virus with the russians as you well know and saudis trying to put us out of business at the fracking side. then covid-19 sets in. and that just exacerbates everything times 100. the reality every railcar, to ashley's point, every storage tank available, every ship anchored at sea is now filled with oil, and, here's the deal, stuart. the world was using about 100 million barrels of oil a day before and the saudis are around

10, 11 million barrels. the united states was about 12, 13 and the russians about nine. then the russians and saudis get into this fight which covid-19 which is 20% of the world's oil supply and what you need to understand is -- stuart: okay. looks to me like video froze there. i think zane was about to describe the really very tough situation. are you back, zane? can you hear me? okay. we have lost him. that's unfortunate because zane runs applebee's restaurants in the new york metropolitan area and he was going to tell us, zane, i know you're back in again. we have trouble with the connections here sometimes. we'll work past that. zane, let me move on because it is a catastrophe in the oil market. i got that. i don't see any way around it because we have the huge stockpiles at a very low price.

let's move on to the restaurant business. now you run over, used to be over 40 applebee's restaurants in the new york metropolitan area. what's the situation there? >> well, similar to oil. similar to oil. -- [inaudible]. demand since covid-19. i said oil, stuart, before we cut off is directly related to gdp. is a direct relationship and with gdp there is not an airplane in the sky. there's -- stuart: you know, when you are doing live television from a approximately 12 different locations all the way around the country and maybe five different sources of audio coming at you, you can expect occasional glitch. well we had a glitch right there. so we have to move on but the

gist of zane tankel's story is, he is in two very difficult businesses, oil, which is crashing and the restaurant business which will probably never be the same again. our thanks to zane tankel for at least trying to get on the air to do it right. let's go to susan. now it says on my prompter here you have got news congressry store workers. what's the news? susan: these front line workers have going to store in order to give us a service we all need. unfortunately covid-19 has claimed the lives of 30 grocery store workers across the country. according to one of the largest unions which represents 900,000 grocery store workers in the country. looks like two walmart in employees in chicago died of the coronavirus. kroger says four employees in michigan died because of covid-19 and one whole foods worker tested positive in austin, texas. what is the problem? they surveyed workers, because of social distancing. 85% said customers are not practicing social distancing.

too many customers in the stores all at once. so we know the whole foods and even kroger around the like have tried to, tried to remedy in reducing capacity and limiting number of people that are involved and are allowed in the stores at the same time. now, stu, i don't know about you, there are concerns right now about the supply chain, the food supply chain since we know not only are grocery stores limiting the number of people in them, but what about the actual meat processers as well? we talked about south dakota and smithfield having one of their plants, processing plants, one of the largest in the country being shut down and tyson foods in iowa, because many of their workers contracted the disease. i guess front line workers in grocery stores around meat processers there are concerns across america in terms of where you get your food and how much your food you can get. stuart: yes, there are indeed concerns. we have got a report coming up on cruise line workers and their exposure and the class-action suit which they are about to

launch. that is an interesting story. susan, thanks very much indeed. now, we're hearing from chick-fil-a. lauren, no more, no more cash, that the story, chick-fil-a? lauren: rip cash as a result of coronavirus. it makes sense. some chik-fil-as are saying if you want to come to our drive-through get the order, do it on the app. they don't want to hand cash. that could spread coronavirus. they don't want to touch credit cards. they don't want to give a pen to sign on receipt. do it online some locations because workers quite frankly don't want to handle the cash, i have got to say, coronavirus might put us in that direction, whoever was using cash, we might use it less and less. i mean i picked up an order from a restaurant i will not name the other day, stuart. they handed me my credit card in a little book, like a formal

bill at a restaurant with a pen. i don't want to touch any of it! why can't i pay online? stuart: that is a fair point if we really want to reduce contact, that is all part of the deal here. lauren, thanks very much indeed. here is what we got for you coming up. governor of michigan extending lock-down rules. much more intense. not too many people in the state are happy about it. in fact some are planning a protest today. we have a live report. that will be next. plus should we be holding china accountable for what they were doing with the virus? i'm asking illinois congressman adam kinzinger. he really wants to make china accountable. he is next as well. attention veterans with va loans.

mortgage rates are now at all time lows. by refinancing, you can save $2000 a year -- with one call to newday usa. our team is standing by right now to take your call. and from start to finish, you can do it all without ever leaving the house. with our va streamline refi, there's no income verification. no appraisal. and no out of pocket costs. one call can save you $2000 a year. ♪ stuart: low of the day. we're down minus, no, not quite. we were down 700 points on the dow. that was right after the report

of a massive build in the amount of oil we've got in storage, which pushed the price of oil down to $19 a barrel. that is not good for the economy and the dow reflected that. we come back a bit. we're only down 636 as we speak. let's go to michigan and grady trimble who has a report on the protest against the lockdown in that state. what have you got, grady? reporter: while the protest doesn't officially start for more than an hour. you can see people gathered in front of the state capital building. the real protest, the main protest is planned for the streets. everybody will stay in the cars so they can maintain social distancing and this is their way of processing the stay-at-home order that governor gretchen whitmer passed or put in place. it goes too far. you can go on a sailboat but can't go on a motor boat. you can go on a big box store

but they have to close off areas that sell things like paint and garden section and furniture. they're planning to take to the streets here. they have signs like this on their car, hands off our citizens. again this starts at noon. you can see the enthusiasm from these people here. they're already lining the streets, honking noise, trying to make it clear to the governor this order just goes too far. she has said, she supports the right of free speech of these protesters. she knows people are angry but her whole point is try to stop the spread of this. she hopes they maintain social distancing while they're protesting today, stuart? stuart: good report, grady. there is quite a few people out there, i can see. grady trimble right in the middle of it. let's bring in illinois congressman adam kinzinger. congressman, thanks for joining us. what are your thoughts on that protest we really seemed to be gathering steam there? >> i think it's fine.

it's great, as long as they maintain the social distance but i think, governors need to be aware of something. you know, lockdowns and social distancing standards are important but don't go too far because right now you have population in the whole country that is very willing to do this. it has been very impressive. if you start doing ludicrous things saying you can go on sale boat but not a motor boat for example, people will start questioning the whole order. i think it is great to protest. but every governor needs to be aware to be sane about this. there is some questions, for instance, big box stores in illinois are open but some of the small retail shops are not able to be open. it will be tough to navigate. but let's be sane about it. understand if we have to do the social distancing thing for a longer period of time, people will have to buy into this as well. stuart: congressman, we want to talk a lot about china being held accountable and i know that is what you want, hold them

accountable for their role in the virus in the beginning of it. just for a moment, listen to what larry kudlow told us about holding china accountable. roll tape, please. >> phase one deal, which is proceeding by the way. certainly in in fairness to the chinese we are moving. i'm sure it is slower than otherwise would have been the case. reports are coming in that deal is being implemented. china needs to be held accountable on a number of measures. over a period of time they will be held accountable, there is know request about that. having said that the president is engaging with china. he is speaking with president xi. their relationship remains very positive, so we're working with them. stuart: congressman kinzinger, how would you specifically hold china accountable and for what? >> well, couple of things. first off it is fine for the president to talk to china. the trade deal's good, i support

it but the cost to this economy is going to far exceed any positive trade deal we get from china. china hid the fact this virus existed for over a month. china gave disinformation to the world trade organization which they parroted. we have questions about the origin of the virus. whether it escape ad lack unintentionally or not, wee have to get answers. not just our economy but you will all the world economy, when the embers cool down and we see the damage and it will be trillions of dollars. when china knew this virus existed, they continued to let people fly, literally spread to the entire world, that was as a result of a communist country that doesn't want to admit fault. how do you do it? we have to maintain and protect our supply chains. we haven't made penicillin since 2:00. we get 70% from china. that has to be fixed whether allied country or government support here.

fixing supply chain vulnerabilities and bringing allies in to say things like this, hey, you're producers. incentivize them to locate in countries whether it is around china or back home, we need to make sure that china doesn't hold us in a stranglehold in the future that will be punishment enough for them and their economy. stuart: congressman kinzinger, thanks very much indeed for joining us on two very important subjects. we much appreciate that, sir. see you again real soon. we heard some absolute horror stories about, i'm not quite sure the expression here, bombing zoom broadcasts. dreadful examples of people breaking into your zoom broadcast with the most appalling content. now we've got new security concerns about zoom. lauren, what have we got here? lauren: zoom was not hacked but a bunch, not a bunch but half a million passwords and email addresses were found on the dark

web from other data breaches. what cyber criminals were giving them away for free or selling them less than a penny each. that is how the zoom bombing was happening. cyber thieves were using that information, going into zoom conversations, et cetera and saying nasty things or doing nasty things. northern the less stock up 6% in a down market, stuart. stuart: if they have 500,000 passwords, got them off the dark web, maybe that is partial solution to the zoom bombing problem. maybe that is why the stock is up $8, nearly 6%. all right. overall the market is still down about 600 points. it has been pretty much this way since we opened up about an hour, 19, 20 minutes ago. so we're down 602 at the moment. next, the first class-action lawsuit on behalf of crewmembers from celebrity cruise lines

affected by the virus. that class-action suit has been filed. i want to know, are other front line workers going to start suing as well? i'm asking a maritime lawyer about that next. signed a first-, signed a first-, personalized education center. their award-winning content is tailored to fit your investing goals and interests. and it learns with you, so as you become smarter, so do its recommendations. so it's like my streaming service. well except now, you're binge learning. for a limited time, get up to $800 when you open and fund an account. call 866-300-9417 or visit tdameritrade.com/learn. ♪ i have always wanted to be a teacher. i've been teaching for over 20 years. with everything going on, we've had to alter our classroom settings. we have to transition into virtual learning. on the network, we can have teachers face-to-face with a student in live-time. they can raise their hand and ask questions. they can type questions. we just need to make sure

that the education is continuing. (vo) at verizon, we're here and we're ready to keep students and teachers connected to the world. that's why verizon and "the new york times" are offering 14 million students free digital access to "times" journalism. 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.

stuart: we're down across the board. the dow is down 600 points, that is 2 1/2%. a couple of companies in the news this, stock, netflix, just hit an all-time high. in my opinion it is king of the streaming business during the virus era. 428 on netflix. we have ryanair. the company says it assumes there will be reasonable traffic in july and august. the best-case scenario a return to normality in september and october. that is a deep discount airline. they say they are coming back. i want to bring in brian winkelman, a maritime attorney. welcome to the program. good to see you again. you filed a class-action lawsuit for thousands of crewmembers of celebrity cruise ships affected by the virus. are you alleging in your suit that the company failed to protect the workers? is that the basis of your suit? >> absolutely, stuart.

yes. great to be back on the show and, really, there was really alarming lack of urgency by celebrity cruises at a time all of us were social distancing, wearing masks and quarantining on celebrity ships. they were having buffet food service. they were having crew drills that were mandatory. they were having crew parties offering free drinks. what do you think happened? hundreds, if not thousands have been infected by the virus. we filed a class action on the crewmembers in order to protect their rights. stuart: is it possible, michael, that other front line workers could file similar class-action lawsuit? can we expect that coming down the pike? >> i certainly think so, stuart, and i think that was part of our logic for wanting to file this the workers on the ship are sort of hidden workers. for us, i think often we hear they're afraid to come forward and talk for fear of losing their jobs. we wanted to file the case, that they do have rights, they have

remedies, there are people out there ready, willing able to help them. yes, i think there will be other similar actions. stuart: michael, thanks for being with us. sorry it is so short. we wanted to put you on, because i think you opened the floodgates. michael winkelman. appreciate it. big hour coming up for you. president trump wants to get sports back up and running. he wants to do that meeting with sports teams owners. in the next hour dallas mavericks owner is with us, that is mark cuban. sports is not the only thing the president wants to reopen. he is looking to reopen the economy, at least parts of it some places next month. steve moore is on the show. what does he think about reopening? we'll be back. in. ♪ i came across sofi and it was the best decision of my life. i feel cared about as a member. there's no extra costs for it or anything like that. it's all kinda like, through the app.

we're getting a super competitive interest rate on our money. we're able to invest through the same exact platform. ♪ i really liked that they didn't have any hidden or extra fees. ♪ sofi has brought me peace of mind. truly thank you for helping me prepare for whatever the future has in store. it's all because sofi let us see light at the end of the tunnel. - so thank you. - thank you. ♪ ♪

stuart: the move to hold china accountable has begun and it is gathering steam. this will inevitably sour and change the u.s./china relationship. in short, china is accused of lying about the origins of the virus, covering up its responsibility, and by its initial delay, spreading the virus around the world. the first and most obvious casualty of this holding china accountable is the world health organization. president trump is cutting its funding. america gave the world health organization, w.h.o., $453 million in 2019, by far the biggest donor. mr. trump says the virus might have been contained in china if

the world health organization had acted more quickly and more honestly. china's command of vital american supplies, that's also very much in question. senator tom cotton and congressman mike gallagher today introduced what's called the protecting our pharmaceutical supply chain from china act. starting in 2022, it would stop the purchase of drugs or active pharmaceutical ingredients from china. in the pharma business, china is just about done. senator marsha blackburn on this program suggested we should quote, do something about repaying the $1 trillion worth of debt that we owe to china. not sure exactly what that means, but any interruption of america's debt obligations would be dramatic indeed. gerald storch, prominent in the retail industry, says quote, it would be absolute management malpractice to be overreliant on china for so many things. the supply chain has already

started to move away from china and that is a major shift between the two largest economies in the world. by holding china accountable, america is exercising its economic clout. perhaps tipping the balance towards more manufacturing and more jobs in america. it is the virus, unknown just a few months ago, which has changed forever the u.s./china relationship. the third hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. stuart: let's get some more detail on china's role in this virus. ashley, are we getting details of china not warning the public? what have you got? ashley: yeah. the associated press has put out a story based on e-mails and other research that chinese leader knew for six days that they were facing a pandemic but said absolutely nothing and

during that period, we had a huge mass banquet in wuhan, of course the epicenter of the virus itself, that was attended by tens of thousands of people, also during this period thousands, millions began moving across the country for the lunar new year celebrations. many of them going through wuhan. so it wasn't until the seventh day, january 20th, that president xi warned the public. in the meantime, the report says the chinese officials were trying to walk a line between not creating panic and warning the public. there's no doubt the absolute control on information muffled the early warning signs of this pandemic. stuart: while i've got you, ashley, i have seen countless examples where the american media goes after president trump saying you delayed your response to the virus, you cost lives.

i have yet to see the american media go after beijing and say you delayed, you lied, you cost lives. what a difference between the media's reaction to trump and the media's reaction to xi jinping. ashley: yeah. it's because it's donald trump. they're not interested in the chinese leader and this is a story that plays right into their wheelhouse but it's clear as we get more and more information, that the use of the word coverup seems to be appropriate. dragging their feet, trying to downplay and even worse, the w.h.o. taking chinese headlines and information verbatim. stuart: now we've got members of the american media saying oh, this is not the time to go after the world health organization right in the middle of a pandemic. but you know, that's just another example of how america can do nothing right and everybody else can do everything right. i mean, it's just such a

distortion. i just can't handle it. ashley, thanks very much indeed. it's a good theme, holding china accountable. the dow industrials down 650 points. lots of reasons for that. a sharp decline in the price of oil. that's not helping. bank earnings not too good. lauren, have you got news on bank earnings out this morning? lauren: yeah. let me just go through some of what stood out to me. citigroup, one of the banks reported today and of course, for the first quarter they said that final week, the third week in march, credit card spending was down 30%. obviously they are setting aside a lot of money, an additional $4.9 billion in the event they have to cover some bad loans. bank of america, they said their customer deposits increased by a record $12 billion in the quarter to $72 billion. customers are nervous. finally, goldman sachs in their report said this coronavirus downturn will be four times worse than the 2008 financial

crisis. so all in, the three banks reporting today and the two we got yesterday, setting aside an additional $20 billion to cover potential bad loans. stuart? stuart: lauren, hold on a second. bank of america, $12 billion more in their accounts. i guess that's because people are not spending, is that part of the story? lauren: that, too. we got that retail sales report for march which is an old number and we saw that record drop. the only place we're spending, this is a sign of the times, is on food. and beverages, or things you need to work from home. who is going to go out and buy something luxurious in times like this? so spending is being crimped. stuart: yeah. clothing sales were down about 50% or even 57%. lauren, thanks very much indeed. look who's with us now. charles payne, c.p. himself. charles, welcome to the show. good to see you. you're looking spright there.

i want your reaction to going after china. i i'm using that word deliberately because we are going to hold them accountable. that is going to change the fundamental relationship between the two largest economies. are you with me on this? charles: i'm with you 1,000% on this. i think it dovetails very naturally from the so-called trade war which is a war that we were in 20, 30 years and didn't realize it. this morning i read a great piece in australia where they are now saying we need to start being more self-sufficient. the world has been abused by china. they have taken medical products from european countries and then when the pandemic shifts to europe, they sell it back to them or they sell products that don't work or they withhold information. the notion their own cdc didn't report any new cases in early january, you talk about a smoking gun. i'm just glad the world is

realizing it although i'm not sure that these folks that are so imbedded in traditional conservative economic orthodoxy, the folks who always mention adam smith, get it yet. they still think we should let china do anything if they will do it cheaper than we will, despite the problems we have had from lost jobs to depressed america and now we are waiting for them to send us masks. how nuts is that? stuart: how nuts is that. that's a good outcue. wait a second. did you see goldman sachs this morning predicting an extraordinary rebound on the other side of this thing, when we get the economy starting to reopen? they are talking about a 19% jump in gdp in the third quarter and another 12% in the fourth quarter. that's an astonishing rebound. are you on board with that? charles: i am on board with that. listen, the market is informing us what it wants to do, what it thinks the economy can do. we had a classic 50% plus

retracement from the lows. think about this. the s&p rallied 30% from march 23rd until yesterday's high. the market is suggesting that we can handle this, we can come back online in a reasonable time and don't let this become a great depression. we have the economic momentum. we have the wind at our sails. while it will take a little time to get it back, we know what can happen. the market is already telling us what could happen. buckle up for rough times in the near term, but don't despair and think that somehow, we are derailed permanently because i don't think we are. stuart: i wonder if we have missed some of the bargains on the stock market. you know, apple, microsoft, walmart, amazon. charles: if you are going -- here's the thing. i got to tell you, i'm sorry, i got to tell you, we are in and out so i just jumped in there. i could actually see some of your script here. you are asking about the

bargains. let me tell you, i was very aggressive on the way down. we did some disney, some adobe, some more boeing, we had zoom and a lot of stocks that i actually did were already out of them. i don't think, listen, if you don't have the guts to go in when the dow is off 2,000 points, no lament about missing the bottom. think about the long term. again, my number one pet peeve for everyone over the last six weeks is, a, do not lose money. b, if you have the fortitude, get in there and buy quality names on these big selloffs because they will come back. stuart: yeah, but charles, hold on a minute. i'm the guy who bought boeing on the way down, not realizing it would fall another $200 from where i bought it. what do you say to me? why didn't you advise me against such foolishness? charles: you know, i learned after the fact. but here's the thing. you could have added to it at

$100 or $120. listen, boeing has its own issues. we both know that. this pandemic hasn't helped at all but even a name like boeing eventually will be a $300 stock. you held microsoft for over a decade and you were richly rewarded through a few lean years there. that's the moral of the story. stuart: thank you very much indeed, charles. i shall remember that. charles: you got it. see you soon. stuart: you're all right. see you again soon. thanks very much, man. all right. i want news on apple because that's the biggest company in america, the most valuable company in america. there is news and susan, what is it? susan: as expected, they have dropped their cheaper iphone, this is the second generation iphone that they just announced and it starts selling on april 24th. it will only cost you $399, that's the starting price. compare that to close to $1,000 price tag on the iphone 11s. this will come in black, white, red. what i was really impressed with

was the fact the bionic chip, the most sophisticated, fastest running chip system i have seen in any iphone. they are launching it on the new cheaper phone. i found that very interesting. but these quiet releases, it seems like this is the thing to do especially in this coronavirus era because usually they have this big glitzy launch event but because everyone is stuck at home or being told to stay at home and no one is traveling, they are doing this via press release. i want to note also, this is very important for apple's business in these developing markets like india, like china, where a $1,000 phone has been hard to sell, they have been losing market share because of that, and because they are going up against these cheaper home-grown domestic players, so this iphone se starts at $399, will actually get them more market share in the lower cost countries. stuart: interesting move. apple has gone to $284 as of right now. susan, thanks very much indeed. here's what we have for you. we have a big show ahead for you. mark cuban is on the show later

this hour. next, economist stephen moore. he's been appointed to help the trump administration reopen the economy. i want news on that. we'll be right back. there are times when our need to connect really matters. to keep customers and employees in the know. to keep business moving. comcast business is prepared for times like these. powered by the nation's largest gig-speed network. to help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. and a team of experts - here for you 24/7. we've always believed in the power of working together. that's why, when every connection counts... you can count on us.

their medicare options...ere people go to learn about before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67? that's the plan! well, you've come to the right place. it's also a great time to learn about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why... medicare part b doesn't pay for everything. only about 80% of your medical costs. this part is up to you... yeah, everyone's a little surprised to learn that one. a medicare supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesn't. that could help cut down on those out-of-your-pocket medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company today... to request this free,

and very helpful, decision guide. and learn about the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. this type of plan lets you say "yes" to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. there are no networks or referrals to worry about. do you accept medicare patients? i sure do! see? you're able to stick with him. like to travel? this kind of plan goes with you anywhere you travel in the country. so go ahead, spend winter somewhere warm. if you're turning 65 soon or over 65 and planning to retire, find out more about the plans that live up to their name. thumbs up to that! remember, the time to prepare is before you go on medicare! don't wait. get started today. call unitedhealthcare and ask for your free decision guide.

learn more about aarp medicare supplement plan options and rates to fit your needs oh, and happy birthday... or retirement... in advance. it's more than just fast. it keeps all your devices running smoothly. with built-in security that protects your kids... ...no matter what they're up to. it protects your info... ...and gives you 24/7 peace of mind... ...that if it's connected, it's protected. even that that pet-camera thingy. [ whines ] can your internet do that? xfinity xfi can because it's... ...simple, easy, awesome. [ barking ]

the worst is over if we continue to do what we're doing. we proved you can stop the beast. and that should be vindicating in some ways, but we stopped the beast by our action and that's why we reduced the curve and the infection rate. it's all subject to what we do. stuart: ashley, come into this, please. governor cuomo said the worst is over. spell it out, please. ashley: well, he does, he says

look, we've shown that we can take some comfort in the fact that we can control the spread of the virus and the only way to do that, he says, is to stay indoors and to use all of the common sense that we have been using over the last several weeks. he says net number of hospitalizations is going down. that is the good news. but he says if people go out again, and we do not ease back into this, he said the infection rate would surge within three days. he says we have to ease into reopening but he says he is optimistic but we have to be careful on how we start to reopen the economy. stuart: so that's new york state. what have we got from california and governor gavin newsom? ashley: well, he too is saying that look, he's looking at plans on how to loosen up some of these stay-at-home orders. to be honest, california has fared better than new york. new york has about a third of all the coronavirus cases in the

country. california has not been hit as hard. but he also says, the california governor, that we are not out of the woods yet but says look, we have to enhance the testing, we have to do contact tracing, we have to work on therapeutic treatments but he says we can create a plan to reopen businesses, schools and other institutions but we have to do it in much the same way as andrew cuomo was saying in new york, ease into it, let science and health officials tell us when we can move forward and do it at a proper pace that doesn't lead to another spike in virus cases. stuart: got it, ash. now, the debate of the day, the debate of the week, is how, when and where do we reopen the economy. stephen moore is with us, economist. he's been named on the economic council of advisers on how to reopen the economy. what's your first criteria, stephen? is it get that economy moving at all costs?

>> well, stuart, let me just make one quick comment, if i may, because i'm chomping at the bit about this andrew cuomo taking some kind of victory lap on containing coronavirus in new york. wait a minute. the governor who has the most cases in the country by a mile, the state that has almost half of the deaths, is taking a victory lap for his treatment of this? i just don't get it. it's like taking the person in the class with the lowest grade and making him president of the class. i'm not sure why he's taking a bow right now. on this -- by the way, governor abbott of texas, he's the guy who should take the bow. he's doing the right thing. i don't know much yet about how this task force is going to operate so i can just speak for myself. the top priority right now, stuart, is we have got to get the economy up and running, hopefully next week, at the latest may 1st, because what our economic projections are showing is that if you keep this economy

shut down into june, the economic calamity is unthinkable. you are talking about basically the rest of 2020 being in a very very severe recession. the economic pain and the misery that would cause would be highly significant so every day that goes by we don't open up the economy, the pain and suffering, the longer the unemployment lines and the more business bankruptcies. stuart: as an economist, look at the goldman sachs report out earlier today. they are saying look, the situation right now is absolutely awful. we got that. we know it's awful. but the other part of their report is an explosive recovery in the third and fourth quarters of this year. they are saying the economy expands 19% in the third quarter, 12% in the fourth quarter. do you go along with that view, an explosive recovery here it comes? >> well, look, goldman sachs

doesn't know what's going to happen with the economy. everybody is kind of shooting in the dark here. i see all these reports, jpmorgan, we have our own projections. it's very difficult to predict these things. i find it somewhat hard to believe we will boom out of this in the third quarter. boy, would i love to see that, but i think too many economists and too many politicians think somehow you're just going to flick the switch, the ignition switch of this $20 trillion economy and it's going to turn right back on. i would love to see that and trump is right, he's a guy who has shown he knows how to grow the economy. boy, did he do that in the first three years of his presidency. but i'm a little bit more skeptical. i think it's going to be really difficult to get the economy up and running really quickly, especially if we go into june and we still don't have companies running, because i have talked to a lot of ceos saying look, even if it's the middle of june, we are still kind of in catch-up mode until at least september. so boy, it's a tough prediction to make. i love the v-shaped recovery and

one of the things we need that steve forbes, i know you have had him on many times on your show and art laffer and i are endorsing the payroll tax suspension the rest of the year to give businesses an incentive to hire and workers an incentive to go back to work as quickly as possible. stuart: you think that's a possibility? extending the payroll protection all the way through the rest of the year because essentially, the payroll protection measures have the government paying the income, paying the wages and salaries, of people affected by -- that's an enormous program. >> no, no, no. we are talking about two separate things, stuart. we're not talking about, when we get americans back to work, hopefully starting next week, that we suspend the payroll tax that they pay. so right now, every worker, you and me and everyone in the country, has 7.5% of our paycheck deducted right from our

check. under this plan, that 7.5% you keep. it's like a pay raise for every worker in america, 7.5%. for employers, it cuts their payroll costs by 7.5%. you are giving an incentive for workers to work more because they get more money, and you are giving an incentive to employers to hire more. i heard earlier on fox business network saying we can't do that because we have so many unemployed people. the point, they are missing the point. the point of this is to get unemployed people back into the labor market by creating a better job market. i know donald trump wants to do that. that's going to be, know laffer, forbes and i will be really pushing on that economic task force. stuart: hey, stephen moore, don't be such a stranger to the show. it was great to have you back again. we will see you again soon. thank you very much indeed. okay. i've got a stock i want you to watch. that would be glaxosmithkline. they are partnering with sanofi

to speed up production of a virus vaccine. they say they will be ready for testing in the second half of this year. stock is still down. procter & gamble, a 6% dividend hike. they will release their earnings earlier, on april 17th. that stock is down one cent at $120 a share. now, dr. anthony fauci says sports can return this summer as long as fans aren't allowed. i will ask dallas mavericks owner mark cuban what he thinks about that. michigan's governor gretchen whitmer is extending the state's lockdown rules and thousands are planning to protest against it this afternoon. we have already seen some of that protest in motion. we've got a live report, another one for you, coming up later.

you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from anyone else. so why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms which most pills don't. get all-in-one allergy relief for 24 hours, with flonase. robinwithout the commission whicfees. so, you can start investing today wherever you are - even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood.

stuart: two hours into the trading session, we are still down on the dow industrials about 600 points. apple right around $284 a share. they've got a new cheaper iphone coming up. susan, you reported this just moments ago. give me some more details, please. susan: this is a big deal. this is america's biggest company and this is their biggest money-making device. the fact they are able to launch

a cheaper iphone, the second generation iphone se costs $399, you get a smaller screen, more powerful chip set as well, and your home button returns. this is a big deal in a time when we are doing more business on our phones, we are conducting a lot of business because we are stuck at home, we are conducting our meetings on this and usage is up 75%. why not offer a cheaper alternative and also, you want to extrapolate this, think about the supply chain as well. despite the disruptions in china in january and february, because of coronavirus, they are still able to release this cheaper phone in the springtime as expected. what about the 5g launch that we were expecting in september, october? it might not be delayed that long. i think the take-away is big tech will probably emerge out of this probably stronger than ever. stuart: very interesting. thank you very much indeed. andrew left is with us. he follows these big tech companies. he's with us now. andrew, that was some pretty good news i just heard on apple. that cheaper phone, the 5g phone

maybe still coming out. do you think apple is a buy at $283? >> it's certainly not a sell. is it a buy, i don't think anything in this market is a certain buy right now. i think there's way too much uncertainty about what's happening. as your guest before me said, i think everyone is still playing this market by remote control, sitting in their homes. we don't know what this country will look like in two, three months when we do open up. would i be rushing out to buy any particular stock? if you own apple, you probably should still own it. it's one of the greatest companies, if not the greatest company in the world. but anything in this market you're looking at right now is a screaming buy? i don't think so with such uncertainty. stuart: okay. last time you were on the show, you recommended apple. you said the stock -- sorry, you recommended amazon. amazon. sorry. you said amazon. this was some weeks ago. amazon just hit a new all-time high, it's almost $2300 a share. okay. you were successful, kudos to

you, you got it right. now we want to know, our viewers want to know what else is andrew left buying, if anything, at this moment? >> i still own amazon. you can own apple. these are great companies. if they go lower, you can buy them. what's more important right now is what i'm shorting, what i'm looking at, what's most vulnerable. i rarely get political on your show but i will right now. the stimulus checks are going out and there's a company called credit acceptance corp out of detroit, michigan that's garnishing the wages of people receiving their stimulus checks, garnishing wages for subprime auto. that's a problem. this must change. politicians watching this show, they should make sure people who need it the most, our essential workers, are not getting their wages garnished by wall street, you know, terrorists for that matter. that's one specific area. and i don't think anyone can be buying any type of casinos.

they look cheap but there's way too much uncertainty. hopefully we get some political change, protecting -- stuart: okay. okay. can you explain tesla to me? the stock is way up today again. it's gone up 56% in the last seven trading sessions. tell me, what on earth is going on with tesla? >> can you explain tesla to me? as you know, tesla makes cars that run off electricity. there's no explanation. it's a trading mechanism. we saw last night goldman sachs upgraded it. we know auto sales are falling off a cliff right now. we understand people don't have as much of an appetite for higher price cars as we enter into recession, no doubt. but the people who own the stock are believers that it's a disruptive company. they aren't looking two years out, they are looking ten years out. there's no reason to own tesla, there's no reason to short

tesla. you can watch it. if you want to have a vodka, cigarette, go to vegas, go to vegas. that's what tesla is right now. stuart: that's a pretty good explanation. thanks for joining us. appreciate it, always. thanks very much. andrew left. got it. now, earlier this morning we received the latest home builder sentiment survey and flat out, i've got to say, it crashed. it was one of the lowest readings in years and years and years. we will bring in jerry howard, the national association of home builders ceo. i want -- that really was a dreadful number from the home builders and their sentiment because now, that looks forward. that's an extremely bad news for your industry, isn't it? >> yes, we were very, very sad to see the crash happen but we relate it, i think, to the fact that this is also a month into the coronavirus tragedy that we are all living through and i think it's a reflection of the

uncertainty that everybody on your show is talking about today, combined with the fact that most home building firms are excluded from the stimulus programs. so you've got guys looking at an uncertain market and feeling sort of left out of the game when it comes to the government help and that's what brought it down. it's the lowest number since june of 2012, right in the heart of the recession. stuart: as i walk around or drive around, i see construction sites still very much in business. i see the workers right there continuing to build but i think you're calling for a pause on construction. is that correct? and why? >> well, we are calling tomorrow for a stand-down for safety. what we want to demonstrate to policy makers is that residential construction can go on, it can be the engine that brings back this economy and it can be done safely. we can do it in accordance with

the guidelines the president has put out so tomorrow, all around the country on residential construction sites, there will be a pause where the foremen or project manager will sit down with the crew and reemphasize the need to stay safe and to keep their job sites open. we employ millions and millions of hourly wage earners and we think it's our responsibility to keep them in business, to keep the economy going and to do it safely. so that's what we are going to do tomorrow. stuart: real fast, we understand that about two million homeowners have skipped their monthly mortgage payments. just take me through this. what's the impact of that? >> well, the impact of that is it puts a lot of stress on the people who are holding the mortgages and serving the mortgages. that's an issue that has to be addressed. at the same time, the people who have skipped their rental payments puts a huge impact on the people who own those rental

properties, because they're not getting the same forbearance. we have to really have forbearance at both ends of the pipeline to make sure we don't do even more harm than good. stuart: jerry, you have been on the show for a long time and you were always positive about this extraordinary expansion that we are expecting in the housing industry and now this. that's the way it goes at the moment. jerry howard, thanks for joining us. see you again real soon. got it. here's what we have coming up for you. a big-time guest. mark cuban. not only is he on the advisory panel for the president but he's also the owner of the dallas mavericks. he's got something to say about that, too. mark cuban after this. here's huge news for veterans with va loans. mortgage rates have dropped to all time lows.

by refinancing now, you can save $2000 a year. and newday's va streamline refi shortcuts the process. veterans can refinance with no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs. one call could save you $2000 a year.

the plans to reopen the country are close to being finalized. the day will be very close because certain states, as you know, are in much different

condition and in a much different place than other states. it's going to be very very close, maybe even before the date of may 1st. we will hold the governors accountable but again, we're going to be working with them to make sure it works really well. stuart: that's the president. he's saying get on with reopening the economy. joining us now is mark cuban, who is part of this commission or advisory group and mark, welcome to the program. it's great to have you with us. >> thanks for having me. stuart: we had an economist on the program who said look, you've got to start, at least start to reopen this economy pretty quickly because if you don't, the human catastrophe from the depression which we are rapidly entering will be absolutely catastrophic. are you on board with opening, reopening the economy as fast as possible?

>> that's kind of subjective, though, because what i'm on board with is making sure i don't put my employees at risk. their safety is paramount to anything that i do and so if that's tomorrow, three weeks, three months, that's what i'm going to do. there's just nothing more important to me. stuart: so you are going with health concerns rather than economic concerns. your priority is health, right? >> without question. i mean, look, my employees hopefully to some extent are family and i wouldn't ask them to do anything that i wouldn't ask my family to do. now, that said, i'm a capitalist through and through. i'm an entrepreneur. i try to be an innovator. i think we will be able to create new opportunities and the way we did business before probably is going to change. so whatever that day is when the doors open, every entrepreneur in this country is going to try to find a better way to do business. so while i don't think we can just recreate what we did before, i do think we are going

to be able to create an america 2.0 where we do things better, we do things a little bit smarter and we take into consideration the health concerns because i do agree that significant economic toll has significant health consequences. if people can't get to hospitals, if people, you know, suffer from depression, commit suicide, those are horrific endings so we are going to have to innovate. we can't be dogmatic about this and say we are open or we're closed. we've got to rely on that entrepreneurial spirit and say let's find a better way. stuart: you are the owner of the dallas mavericks. everybody knows that. dr. fauci said earlier this morning that sports doesn't start up again this summer unless, unless fans are banned. what do you say to that? >> i'm okay with it. i really am. i think the nba has a moral obligation to come back as soon as we can and because people need sports, we need something

to cheer for, something to get behind communally. all the people rooting in north texas for the dallas mavericks, the dallas cowboys, that's important. if it means not having fans and just streaming it, broadcasting the games on television, i'm all for it because it's good for the psyche. for all the reasons we talked earlier about the side effects of an economic depression and not moving forward, we want to, you know, having sports will help us deal with that, will help us deal with those negative side effects and give people something to get excited about. stuart: as i understand it, the nba does have a plan, like a 25-day program before a very short season. are you on board with that? >> i don't know the details yet. you know, all i know is we are going to have a call here shortly to discuss it and that the commissioner adam silver said you know, he's not really going to entertain alternatives until may 1st. it's just the circumstances we're in, there's so much imperfect information.

sometimes just being patient is the best way to go. i think that's the approach the nba has taken. stuart: you have hinted about running for the presidency. you want to tell us more? >> yeah. there's not a lot more to say. right now, i'm supporting the president. i'm here to help him on his council. whatever i can do as an american citizen, i'm all in. you know, this is a unique time and i give the president credit for asking for help and he called my name and i'm ready to step up to the plate and help. stuart: if you did run for the presidency, as an independent, i can see you smiling here, if you did, i know this is a hypothetical but if you did, you know that would split the vote between the democrat and the independent and you would usher in a second term for president trump, wouldn't you? >> not necessarily. i mean, you know, i'm very conservative on a lot of economic fronts and so if and

when i did, again, it's a long, long, long shot, and i would root against it right now or bet against it right now, but i think a lot of conservatives would be very interested in what i have to say on the economic side. stuart: okay. would you tell us what you've got to say on the economic side? go ahead. this is an economic program. >> well, i will tell you right off the bat, what i would do, i don't know that the ppp program and sba programs are working or what we are doing to try to get businesses back will work. i just think there were a lot of things that create too much friction. i would work with the fed and treasury and banks and install an overdraft protection program and that allows small and medium size businesses in particular to continue business as usual. so rather than having to apply for a loan, then potentially have the banks go through their approval process and have the treasury have to fund the bank after the fact, by just allowing small businesses to continue to write checks knowing they are not going to bounce, for

selected categories, knowing that banks already have fraud administration programs in place, and money laundering programs in place, i think we could do a friction-free approach to keeping the economy open. i think that would be a huge step forward. i think we have to start talking about robotics because when we get back to work, if we are really going to bring manufacturing back here, we can't try to recreate the manufacturing of the past, where we put everybody in assembly lines and pretend there's going to be a lot of manufacturing jobs. we have to invest as a country in robotics because that's the way we are going to be able to bring manufacturing over here and beat the pants off the chinese at what they do best which is low cost manufacturing. so by having a robotics tax of say 12% which mimics what we do for social security taxes, we can put 9% to the social security and treasury fund, 3% reinvested into robotics and allow us to really create an america 2.0 that competes globally in robotics and artificial intelligence and

really establishes us for who we are, as the leader economically in the world. you asked for two minutes. there you go. stuart: no, that was real good stuff. thank you very much indeed. it's rare that we get a high profile guest like yourself who answers specific questions in a specific way. you are a good guy, mark cuban. i don't care what they say. >> i appreciate it. stuart: hold on. we have a virtual town hall, you are doing it with charles payne, next thursday on fox business. right now, viewers can e-mail their questions. i will guarantee you are going to get a lot of questions from our viewers. i want to thank you very much for being on the show. you are a great guest. it's appreciated. thank you very much. >> always a pleasure to be on. thanks for having me. stay safe. assist s stuart: now then, thousands of people in michigan are gathering right now, protesting the governor of that state and her strict lockdown rules. we've got a live report on that coming up next. these days you need faster internet that does all you

expect and way more. that's xfinity xfi. get powerful wifi coverage that leaves no room behind with xfi pods. and now xfi advanced security is free with the xfi gateway, giving you an added layer of network protection, so every device that's connected is protected. that's a $72 a year value. no one else offers this.

faster speed, coverage, and free advanced security at an unbeatable value with xfinity xfi. can your internet do that?

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. ♪ stuart: all right. stocks still down pretty much across the board. we are still down about 2.5% on the dow industrials, 600 points to the south. earlier today, we showed you those protesters gathering in michigan to protest the governor's extended lockdown. it's not supposed to get off the

ground until 12:00 noon, that would be eastern time. grady trimble is there. give us an update, please. reporter: i would say it's in full swing, stuart. they are calling this operation gridlock and they certainly created it on the streets in front of the capitol building. this is the message here today. free michigan and common sense over tyranny. that's what they want the government to see after she passed that executive order which she said is meant to slow the spread of the virus and keep people safe. people here say it goes too far and is too arbitrary. for example, you can go in a sailboat but not in a motorboat. you could get ticketed for that. you can go to the grocery store and big box store but you can't buy things like paint or go into the garden section and if you have a second home, you can't visit that second home even if you don't interact with anybody driving to it. so that's some of what they are protesting here today. you can see they have gathered by the dozens. listen.

>> as soon as you take away a person's right to travel between their homes or to go out and buy seeds to feed their family, then you have people totally dependent on the government and that's not what america is. reporter: governor whitmer has said she supports people's rights of free speech. i do want to point out, though, she wants people to stay safe and that's why they are in their cars, but there's a group of people in front of the capitol building here who have lined up and they are very close to each other. they are certainly not social distancing and that's why there are police here this morning. we are trying to figure out if this is something that they can enforce. stuart? stuart: grady, good stuff right in the middle of it as usual. thank you very much indeed. all right. more "varney" after this.

. . before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67? that's the plan! well, you've come to the right place. it's also a great time to learn about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why... medicare part b doesn't pay for everything. only about 80% of your medical costs. this part is up to you... yeah, everyone's a little surprised to learn that one. a medicare supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesn't. that could help cut down on those out-of-your-pocket

medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company today... to request this free, and very helpful, decision guide. and learn about the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. this type of plan lets you say "yes" to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. there are no networks or referrals to worry about. do you accept medicare patients? i sure do! see? you're able to stick with him. like to travel? this kind of plan goes with you anywhere you travel in the country. so go ahead, spend winter somewhere warm. if you're turning 65 soon or over 65 and planning to retire, find out more about the plans that live up to their name. thumbs up to that! remember, the time to prepare is before you go on medicare!

don't wait. get started today. call unitedhealthcare and ask for your free decision guide. learn more about aarp medicare supplement plan options and rates to fit your needs oh, and happy birthday... or retirement... in advance.

♪. stuart: remind our viewers that you can e-mail investedinyou@foxbusiness.com. that that is if you want to email in questions for mark cuban. he is a doing a town hall, "america works together" we're calling it. it is a virtual town hall obviously t will will be charles payne, next thursday afternoon. i heap you had a chance to listen to mark cuban. interesting ideas about taxing robots. if you have a robot replaces human being, you should tax the

robot the way you tax the human being. i was fascinated about that. he has a lot of good ideas. that is mark cuban. i leave you with the market down 600 points. that is where it has been almost all morning. the nasdaq is down. s&p is down, dow jones is down. red ink across the board. neil, it is yours. neil: a lot of grim economic news and fueling the selloff. we're simply giving back the ground we gained yesterday by and large. the dow putting it way back in perspective here a little more few weeks ago was trading a little more than 18,000. now 23,318. it is a long way from the 30,000 it was flirting with back in february. seems eons ago before the whole coronavirus situation. the states and presidents try to fine tune, exactly how, when to reopen the economy or do it in stages. the details on that are still