maria: have a great day, everybody. thanks for joining us. "varney & company" begins right now. stuart, take it away. stuart: good morning, maria. good morning, everyone. the virus task force will wind down. the president is pivoting away from phase one, controlling the virus, moving to phase two, reopening the economy. he says you can't shut down forever. now's the time to get the economy moving again. more than 20 states are starting to do just that. look, friday, we are going to see just how bad the shutdown pain really is. we are going to get the worst jobless report in this nation's history, an unemployment rate

likely to hit around 15%. this morning, the private sector reports the loss of 20,236,000 jobs just in april. reopening the economy is designed to try to bring back some or most of those jobs. so here we are. with all the bad economic news breaking around us, what does the market do? well, it rallies. for the third day in a row, the market opens higher. this is a bet on the recovery and a bet on the federal reserve, which is putting at least $4 trillion into the economy, and the treasury which is putting in over $3 trillion. that's called stimulus. investors appear to like it. the dow is going to be up about 140 points. nice gain there. the s&p up 15, nasdaq up about, what, 58, 60. look at this. oil, $23 a barrel. that's where it is now. earlier, it had been at $25. there has been a dramatic fall in supply and a hoped-for pickup in demand as some states start opening up their economies. so that's why we are in the mid

20s for the price of oil. but you can say good-bye to the gas price decline. at least for now. the national average is back up to $1.79. it was $1.75 last week. on the show today, we will bring you the case of the dallas salon owner who defied the rules, opened up and is now sentenced to jail because she would not apologize for it. mike pompeo will speak about the two americans captured in what's called the failed invasion of venezuela. lots to go at this morning. "varney & company" is about to begin. -- great citizens of this country to a certain extent and to a large extent as warriors. they're warriors. we can't keep our country closed. we have to open our country. somebody said oh, we could keep

it for the next 18 months, we could keep it for the next two years. we have a great country. we can't keep it closed. i mean, i've had doctors say why don't we close it for a couple of years. because the united states of america. stuart: watch out there. the president says the country needs to reopen. lots of evidence of that. including the report from disney. they took a big hit to their profits because the theme parks are closed, and other reasons. lauren simonetti, how bad was the hit to disney? tell us, lauren. lauren: a billion dollars if you look at the theme parks. it's amazing because they were open for most of the quarter, until march 12th. and it still cost disney a lot of money. when do they reopen? that's the question. well, it's too early to tell but i can tell you this. in california, theme parks are in phase four of the reopening so we have awhile to go. in florida, there's a state task force looking at how to do this. it includes starting with 50% capacity, telling people over

the age of 65 to stay home, but they are thinking about getting these parks open and ways to do it. stuart: hold on a second, lauren. disney is also saying they want to try to reopen the shanghai disney theme park on may 11th. if they did that, they would restrict capacity, they would restrict the density of people going in. the park can actually hold 80,000 but they are trying to get 24,000 in as of may 11th. so they've got a plan to reopen that particular park but my question to you is, and for everybody, is if they open, how many people will come? i don't think we got an answer to that. lauren: 24,000 out of 80,000 that's normal. that's 30% capacity. will 30% show up, i don't know. in china, they are also expecting them to present these qr codes to basically show their health status. is that something that we adopt right here in the united states? i do not know.

i know it's a privacy invasion in many senses but that might be the direction that we are headed in. yeah, monday, shanghai, they are opening. stuart: it's a question for all businesses. if you open, will people come. we don't know the answer to it at this point. let's transfer our attention to big tech. because susan, come into this, they seem to be least affected by the virus shutdown. big tech. go. susan: confirmed by the earnings that we have seen. apple, alphabet, microsoft, amazon, yes, they saw declines in sales probably in the first three months of this year but are still giving back money to shareholders and those stocks, by the way, are probably more insulated than anybody else. take a look at apple. we are back above $300 a share. don't forget, the record high was $330 so we are pretty close to that. they had an $8.5 bond sale last night, taking advantage of low interest rates. that's how they bring back their $200 billion in cash from

offshore in order to fuel those buy-backs, share buy-backs which they're still doing, up another $50 billion. taking a look at the metrics of the s&p 500, 20% of the index is now concentrated in those big tech names, apple, amazon, facebook, alphabet and microsoft. 20% of the s&p 500 and in just one week we saw close to a quarter of a trillion dollars rotating into these big names. you can say that most of the bounce-back from the depths of march have gone into big tech. stuart: a quarter of a trillion dollars. my goodness me. you know, it looks like big tech is leading this market just as it led the market before the shutdown began. shah gilani is back with us. you say that the big tech companies are going to continue to lead us higher? what do you say? >> absolutely, stuart. as you mentioned, they have led the market higher since 2009. they will continue to lead the market. they are the go-to vehicle for investors because they have everything that's necessary to create huge profits, huge cash flow, tons of stacks of cash, if

you will, and they all have moats pretty much around their businesses. no one is going to get in behind google and challenge google. no one will get in behind facebook and challenge facebook, or microsoft, or netflix, or any of the leaders. and they are going to continue to draw investor attention because they are where the profits are. it's really that simple. they have lifted the market. they will continue. as long as money pours into big tech stocks, the money will continue to go higher. stuart: to me, the problem overall, you open up businesses gradually in america but you can't guarantee that people will use those businesses. a store opens up, will people come in to buy. a restaurant opens up, will people come in to eat. we simply don't know that yet. but shah, i suspect that if the comeback is slow, graand gradua and people are not that willing to go out and buy and eat, i suspect the market may take a hit. what say you? >> yes, stuart, that's entirely possible. really right now, the market is

relying on the big tech stocks. if for any reason investors felt the market underneath the big tech stocks and the big tech stocks come down because there's net selling elsewhere, then the market may falter. i believe that we are going to see the economy get hit in a very hard, ugly way. we know the unemployment numbers are already terrible. i think they are going to get worse. i think if we don't get the economy open, if folks don't get back to work, i believe investors will take a look at the long-term prospects for the economy and say it's probably unlikely that we are going to have any kind of v-shape. if we have an l-shaped recovery, the markets eventually are going to be exhausted and i think there will be some net selling. we're not there yet and i think it will be a function of seeing very ugly economic numbers come out and we have -- the markets so far have discounted all the bad news that's come its way. stuart: look, 20,236,000 private sector jobs lost, lost in april and the market's going to open

higher on the morning that that news is announced. shah gilani, thanks for joining us. i'm sure we will see a lot of you in the near future. thank you. look at general motors. sales down 7% last quarter. that was not that bad, but how are they going to do in the second quarter? ashley, do they have enough money to weather the second quarter storm that they know is coming? ashley: they know it's coming. at the end of the first quarter they had $33.4 billion in cash. the company saying on the conference call this morning that yes, they believe that they have enough to weather the storm of this shutdown. don't forget, detroit and elsewhere shut down mid-march. they burned through $903 million in cash in the first quarter but they are seeing some signs of improvement overseas. in china, for instance, in the month of april, they saw double digit sales numbers. so that provides a lot of optimism as we head towards reopening the factories in the

united states. they are still targeting all the big three auto makers targeting may 18th to begin limited production. stuart: the stock, general motors, up 7%. best in a long time. there's more big names we are following for you. just look at beyond meat. they just had a huge quarter. revenue up 140%. they have nixed their forecast for the rest of the year. they don't know what's going to happen with this virus. look at this. the stock is up 49% in april and it's going to pop again at the open today, up about 9.5%. $109 on beyond meat. activision blizzard, the virus gave their business a boost. people stuck at home. the stock is near a two-year high. their latest release, "call of duty war zone," 60 million players already and that helped them reach the $1.8 billion worth of revenue they got in the first quarter. stock's up 8%. how about electronic arts, another gaming company. they also had a pretty good

quarter but they say the shutdown of sports may affect their bottom line. that stock is down 3%. cvs, nice jump in business. the virus, same store sales are up around 9%. more people looking to fill prescriptions. the company is planning on adding more drive-through testing to their locations. the stock is up 3%. what's the news on uber? i see the stock down a fraction. susan: confirming, stu, that they are going to lay off around 3700 full-time employees. they employ around 22,000 around the world. this has been rumored for awhile that they might be slicing around 20% of their staff. 3700, a little bit under 20% but still significant and dara khosrowshahi will forego his pay for the rest of the year. these are tough times, they admit that, because they are reducing customer support and recruiting teams due to lower trip volumes in the ride segment and the company is enacting a hiring freeze. in some markets, in fact most

markets, some would say at least 30% of ride hailing has been cut because of coronavirus and covid-19, people are stuck at home, told to stay home so they aren't going outside to travel. uber eats isn't really making up for that. some markets, maybe they are up 50% in deliveries, food deliveries, but they have also been retrenching for smaller markets as well in the next few weeks. we will be hearing from uber at the end of the day tomorrow when they release the results. stuart: i would love to jump into a stock that i like, a company that i like and a business that i think will go gangbusters later. i haven't got the courage to jump in yet. all right. happening next hour, secretary of state pompeo holds a news conference on those u.s. mercenaries who attempted allegedly to overthrow the maduro regime in venezuela. we are listening to anything he has to say about china and the origins of the virus, in the next hour, coming up. futures market, we are showing a big gain. well, not huge, but a solid gain, up about 150 points for the dow. up about 70 for the nasdaq. big show coming up for you.

still to come, brian bremberg on the country reopening. judge napolitano on the salon owner in texas who was thrown in jail for reopening early and not apologizing for it. louisiana senator bill cassidy. half the oil companies in his sth state could go bankrupt. we will discuss that. and mike aubrey on home prices. he says they are going up. zillow says they are going down. we will sort it out. the white house now talking about winding down the virus task force as states begin to reopen. is that a good idea at this point? we will get the medical idea, medical opinion, from dr. marc siegel. he joins me next. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from anyone else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler. nothing lasts longer. flonase sensimist. 24 hour non-drowsy allergy relief

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tariffs at a minimum are the greatest negotiating tool that

we have ever devised that were never used for negotiation. president xi only made the deal with us, they are going to buy $250 billion, now, we will have to see what's going on because of what happened. this was done, you know, months before the virus. but we're getting better by $250 billion worth of product. $250 billion. they didn't want to buy from us. they took advantage of our country. now they have to buy and if they don't buy, we'll terminate the deal. very simple. stuart: now they have to buy. if they don't buy, we will terminate the deal, very simple. that's the president, right there. come in, edward lawrence out of our washington bureau, because i want to know if china is buying our stuff the way they're supposed to buy our stuff right now. reporter: yeah. it depends on how you look at the data here. i can tell you that the chinese, or my trade sources are telling me the chinese have made some inquiries about relaxing the amount that they have to buy here. u.s. trade representative official, senior u.s. trade representative official tells me

they have had two meetings, two monthly meetings designated under the phase one trade deal where they work out a range of issues and there are a range of issues that they are working out. i can tell you, though, in one voice from the u.s. trade representative's office to the white house, they have told china that they have to follow through on the deal and that includes buying $200 billion in goods and services that china agreed to in this. now, the chinese data shows for the first three months of this year exports of soybeans, for example, to china was up 210% but then in march, weakness showed. the u.s. agriculture data shows for two weeks in march, there were no exports of china -- no exports of soybeans to china. that's when the coronavirus was really hitting us here. you can also see in april there has been minimal amounts of soybeans going there. the administration is watching this very closely to make sure the chinese follow through and as the president, as you know, talking about possible additional tariffs for china's role in sort of holding back information related to the coronavirus.

they are also watching closely this trade deal and how it's followed through. stuart: it's an issue, what they buy, when they buy it, how much they buy. that is now an issue in the trade talks. got that. edward, thank you. we are getting some clarity on president trump, reports -- on those reports he's looking to scale back the task force. now, he had a four-part tweet just a few moments ago. in part, he said this. the task force will continue on indefinitely with its focus on safety and opening up our country again. we may add or subtract people. dr. marc siegel is with us, fox news medical contributor. doctor, from the medical point of view, you want the task force to continue on indefinitely, or would you rather shut it down? >> i like the idea of it continuing on indefinitely, stuart, from the point of view of advising the president. i think what he's trying to do here, and he's right to do it, is to make the statement that this has been a political football. you have the press conferences and then the political media,

not the medical media, goes crazy trying to analyze every single word, to undermine the president. the real purpose there is to provide information to the american public and to advise the president. i think dr. fauci of nih, dr. redfield of cdc, dr. birx, who is coordinating the task force, i think department of homeland security, i think alex azar of hhs and the vice president, of course, are all still going to be involved. i don't see a step-down here. i think it's an issue of getting out of the political in-fighting and all of this anger that's directed. stuart: get rid of the politics. that would be a huge big deal. right. now, talk to me about pfizer. they are testing their virus on humans -- virus vaccine, i should say, on humans. seems like everybody's getting a vaccine. are we going to end up with multiple vaccines and if we do, who decides which ones we are going to use? >> stuart, this is something you

are very fond of which is called competition. you get a lot of candidates into the marketplace, they are all fighting back and forth who gets the best vaccine. the one pfizer has ahold of is from a german company called biontech. they are expected to start testing volunteers in the united states. it will be up to 8,000 in a month. that is a very interesting, exciting new technology that uses genetic messengering to create a protein and then an antibody. it's brand new. i can't tell you if it's going to work but it looks very promising. some of the older candidates are a little bit -- some of the other candidates are a little older. what's really exciting about the one you are talking about now is that pfizer is involved so that means big guns. johnson & johnson is involved with another one. there's one that's coming out of england, oxford has developed one that another major drug company is involved with. so we have issues here where we have several going on at once. i'm not going to predict which

one wins. dr. fauci at nih likes moderna. that's a small company but that's now going to get huge government backing and it's going into phase two trials. i'm very excited about the idea of matching manufacturing with the science. assi stuart: doc siegel, thanks very much indeed. let me move to gilead sciences. laufrn, gi lauren, gilead is looking to supply the world with remdesivir. how are they going to do that? lauren: they are going to partner in europe and asia and the developing world to license their manufacturing and formula, so these other companies and countries can get remdesivir. rbc, the analysts are not confident that this can be done. they say here in the u.s. where we have the drug and we make the drug, they say only a third of the patients that need it might be able to get it this summer. for gilead, they need to make

this accessible and affordable, they need to get the raw materials from asia and now they are looking for help from the world to help them do that. stuart: thanks very much. the market opens in just a couple of minutes. we will take you there. we are looking at a modest gain across the board. plenty of green. up for the dow, up for the s&p, up for the nasdaq. we'll be right back. hey, can i... hold on one second... sure. okay... okay! safe drivers save 40%!!! guys! guys! check it out. safe drivers save 40%!!! safe drivers save 40%! safe drivers save 40%!!! that's safe drivers save 40%. it is, that's safe drivers save 40%. - he's right there. - it's him! he's here. he's right here. - hi! - hi. hey! - that's totally him. - it's him! that's totally the guy. safe drivers do save 40%. click or call for a quote today.

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stuart: across the board, the worst affected industry is, no question about it, it is travel. now we've got airbnb. susan, layoffs? how many? susan: 1900. we heard from the founder and ceo yesterday saying that revenue forecasts in 2020 is less than half of what it was back last year, in 2019. not a surprise, given the global travel has pretty much halted because of covid-19. now, remember that ipo, a lot of people say that might not happen this year. look, they raised about $2 billion last month in the form of loans, five-year loans from institutional but they're paying pretty high interest rates. think of libor plus 7.5%. on top of that, they sold warrants to private equity funds at 10% plus libor which can convert also into equity in the

future. but if you think about it, they were at a valuation of $31 billion last year, heading no a possible 2020 ipo. they sold those warrants at less than half that valuation. close to half that valuation, at only $18 billion. lot of people question whether or not airbnb can actually go public this year. stuart: i agree, that's a hefty percentage rate to pay on the money you are borrowing. really hefty. we talked about the problems for department stores and now i see lord & taylor. are they in trouble, lauren? lauren: yes. they have been around since 1826 and now once stores are allowed to reopen, 38 lord & taylors will reopen and liquidate. they will sell all of their merchandise at cheap prices to generate cash, then there's a potential bankruptcy filing after that. i want to read you one quote from reuters, because, well, it's grim. they are bracing for a bankruptcy process from which they do not expect to emerge.

so perhaps another casualty of coronavirus. stuart: you're right. that's pretty grim, i've got to say. ten seconds to go. we will open up this market. we are going to open a little bit higher. they are ringing the bell. here we go. three seconds to go on this wednesday morning. we will open, i'm predicting easily that we will open on the upside. i think we have. yes, we have indeed. okay. we are open, off and running, up 150 points, about .66%. above 24,000 again. how about the s&p 500? i'm sure that's higher. yes, it is. a gain of .6%. the nasdaq, we talked a lot about big tech this morning, the nasdaq is up .7%. so tech is doing well. let me see the big tech names, please. the big names there. i'm sure they are on the upside. yes, they are, across the board. apple, microsoft, google, amazon, facebook, all of them on the upside again. how about the cruise lines? are they suffering again? no, they're not. they're up fractionally, 36

cents up for carnival, 50 cents for norwegian, $1 for royal caribbean. that's not exactly a rebound. the airlines, they have been clobbered recently, especially after warren buffett said he's taking all of his money out of all the airlines. they are up a little this morning but when i say a little, i mean a little. united actually is down again. oil stocks, we had a nice rebound for the price of oil and that's been reflected in oil stocks but not this morning. exxon is down 44, chevron 92, p bp24. where has disney opened? it's at $100 a share right there. am i right in saying, look at that, the cruise lines, that's the last disney operation to reopen? lauren: that's what the ceo is saying, that the cruises will come back last because it's the hardest to do. you really draw a crowd in when

you are stuck on a cruise ship. but some ideas about how cruises will look in the future, maybe a doctor's note for some passengers if they have a pre-existing condition or are older. you want to sail, let's hear from your doctor that you're fit. the cdc might say ships have to be a certain age, a certain size. what's the occupancy going to be? what about the buffet? can that still exist? what a cruise looks like will be completely different when we emerge. stuart: a cruise with no buffet? lauren: would you want to go? stuart: i can't imagine it. i've got a winner. it's a big winner. it's beyond meat. that's a big winner. ash, the virus has been real good for their business, has it not? ashley: it really has, although i don't know whether there will be a stampede to the fake meat buffet. nevertheless, beyond meat shares have surged 85% since march 18th. they saw a jump of 141% in first quarter revenue plus now that we

are seeing some problems with the meat supplies of beef and pork in particular, that could mean another boost for the sales of not only beyond meat but also impossible foods. both companies expanding their reach across the country and you know, say what you will, people are trying it more and more. stuart: we've had a long list of restaurant operations that have had problems with the beef supply. do we now add wendy's to that list of problems? ashley: yeah, it's increasingly becoming the case. some analysts took a look at their restaurants and said in 5% to 10% of wendy's restaurants now, it's a chicken only menu. as for wendy's itself, it says they will have a temporarily limited menu in some cases but you know, you look elsewhere, costco limiting shoppers to three fresh meat items, purchases, kroger also imposing a limit of pork and ground beef shoppers, the amount shoppers can buy in those stores, so we

are starting to see that taking effect. certainly with wendy's, and that will probably continue elsewhere. again, good news for the fake meat people. how about plant-based meat instead. stuart: okay. you got it. now, i'm going to follow up with burger king. they've got a plan to get people back into their dining rooms. susan, they plan to make you get an appointment, a reservation to get a table at a fast food joint? susan: this is in italy. think of how popular burgers are in italy. they have 220 restaurants there mostly shut down because of coronavirus so they are testing a table booking app for some of its restaurants in the country, once it fully reopens. that's expected to happen on june 1st. they are hoping burger king is hoping that if you introduce this booking app, it will first of all generate a lot more buzz, then it will make customers more comfortable eating in the restaurant itself, that it's more of a dine-in sort of higher

scale type of experience. but restaurant brands as we know, along with other fast food chains, have really been moving to the mobile ordering, delivery, carryout model and some are saying it's pretty hard to get the customers back in. stuart: what makes a fast food joint upscale? you need a reservation. okay. what we are talking about here across a variety of industries is social distancing. delta, i notice, slightly higher on the stock price this morning. what's delta doing about this social distancing? lauren: they are blocking more than just the middle seat. so on some planes, on some aisles, they will block the aisle and the window as well. first class at 50% capacity. the main cabin at 60% capacity until the end of june. talk about social distancing. that's an empty plane. stuart: i got a friend, somebody texted me actually and said look, they were on a flight from california to new york over the

weekend. there were 12 people on a jumbo jet. that's not many people. that's really spread out for sure. all right. we are five minutes into the session and we are up 120 on the dow industrials. that's about a half percentage point. look at this indicator. the yield on the ten-year treasury, up today, up to .7%. that's a positive sign. money out of bonds, into stocks. the price of gold still hovering around $1700 an ounce. $1696, to be precise. oil, we reached $25 a barrel earlier. now we are at $23.89. we have news on the video game makers. that would be activision blizzard and electronic arts. lauren, they got to have had a pretty good quarter because we are all stuck at home playing games. what have you got? lauren: staying home was certainly good for the earnings report of both companies but you are seeing different reactions in the stock prices today. the reason activision blizzard is up is because the company said their content developers are working from home and they will be able to produce fresh

content. they are also hiring employees. different story at electronic arts. they did mention that madden nfl '20 reached the highest engagement levels in the history of the franchise. but with no live sports, nothing new, these simulation games might struggle going forward. that's why that stock is down about 4.5%. stuart: yes, it is. one little statement like that, down goes your stock, no matter what you are reporting on your report there. all right. we've got the dow up 127 points. that's where we are now. 128. take a look at apple. there's now a new iphone app that could take you on virtual home tours. is that the future of real estate in the post-pandemic world? by the way, zillow says when we get out of this, home prices are going to go down. mike aubrey, who is later on the show, says they will go up. we will discuss the whole real estate sector, coming up in our

11:00 hour. where to for real estate? several states rolling back restrictions today. as the nation works the reopen, i say the race -- no, here's what i'm saying. the pace of people returning to work and returning to stores and restaurants, that's the key to the pace of recovery. that's my opinion. it's a theme throughout the show. is that baby yoda? yes, it is. he's making a comeback. we will explain how, next.

stuart: take a look at nike. the stock is up a little but i don't think it's got anything to do with what they are doing for health care workers. they are actually donating 30,000 pairs of their air zoom pulse sneakers to front line health care workers across the country. they are doing their bit. the stock is up 1%. i really can't believe i'm putting these two words together during a global pandemic. baby yoda. lauren, why are we discussing this?

lauren: sorry. because the mandalorian, season 2 on disney plus, comes out in october and the china supply chains are back up and running and mattel thinks that yeah, they can produce a lot of baby yoda merch in time for the holiday shopping season. stuart: why is the stock down nearly 10%? lauren: okay. all right. this is why. so what are you doing at home? you might be playing board games with your family, not necessarily buying baby yoda or barbie. so in this past quarter that just wrapped, mattel's sales actually fell 14% and they're not exactly sure that demand is going to be where they need it to be for the rest of the year. they say look, we can ramp up production but we're not going to do that if the demand is not there and right now, it's not. stuart: i can understand that. thank you, lauren. we got baby yoda back on the show. how about that. now, i contend that as we urge people to open up the economy

again, the pace at which we open up, the speed at which we are able to open up depends a lot on how many people will go to those businesses and restaurants and bars that are reopening. that's what it depends on. that's my opinion. brian wesbury is with us. what do you think? the pace of recovery depends upon the pace at which we are ready to go back and shop and eat out. >> absolutely, stuart. there's a whole bunch of things going on there, but the real question is how do we measure it, right. so this friday, we will get an employment report, it's going to show 17% unemployment but we have to remember that this is for the month of april and it's from april 12th so it's delayed data. so what i'm doing, what first trust is doing is really looking at what we call high frequency economic data. we get data on a weekly basis, we get data on a daily basis, so for example, rail car traffic,

steel production. we know how many people go through tsa checkpoints at airports. we have retail sales on a weekly basis. we have hotel occupancy, open table releases a new reservation request and we are seeing a lot of green shoots there. almost all of them have bounced off their bottoms and that gives me a lot of hope that this opening up that we begin seeing is working. stuart: that's very important information. because we are just beginning to open up. if you are telling me that people are going back to flying a little, it's not a rush, i understand it, they are going back to hotels, is that the conclusion of the daily information which you get, yes, we are going to the businesses which are opening up? >> yes, stuart. in fact, i mean, we have to put this all in comparison. last year at this time, about

two and a half million people every day were going through airports. right now, it's only 150,000, 160,000. so it's down 90% from where we were last year. however, when we bottomed it was at 85,000 so we almost doubled foot traffic through the airports even though it's still really low. hotels are down 62% from where they were a year ago, but at the bottom, they were down 70%. we're now beginning to see open table, they were locked down 100%. there were no reservations. now they are up to 99. so these are little green shoots, it's the spring, but we're beginning to see as these states open, these data are getting better and i think they will continue. and one last point. when one state opens, the neighboring states are going to get pressure and also, people in

america are done. i mean, napa valley, we have people opening up businesses in disregard for the government's orders. we have a woman in texas go to jail because she wanted her salon open. people are ready to go back to work. i think this is going to put pressure on politicians across the country to open things up and we are going to see this data get better. stuart: i think you're right. interesting that you've got a daily tracking system on key metrics, hotel occupancy, people flying, restaurants, that kind of thing. that's very important information. that gives us the pace of the comeback. mr. wesbury, if you're not careful, you will be a regular every day on this program with your daily information. because it's important. >> i will come back and give it to you any time you want, stuart. stuart: it's important information. we appreciate it. mr. wesbury, thank you very much indeed. all right. shopify, online shopping company. the stock is down but what's the story with them? they were a big winner in the past couple months.

susan: huge winner, doubling since the depths of march. we should talk a lot more about this company. this company saw 210% growth in its earnings that announced after the bell yesterday. 210%. this company sets up e-commerce digital payments for small businesses and according to their cfo, they were doing black friday sales each and every day during this coronavirus threat. how many companies can say that in these times? they are also probably the real challenger to amazon in the future. they are going to set up a distribution network in the u.s. for small businesses and that will collect and ship goods for companies that are part of their network. who does that sound like? they are spending $1 billion in the next five years to do that and also in these covid times they dished out about $200 million in small loans to merchant customers that are suffering in these shutdown times. this is a stock you really have to watch. it's a darling of a lot of investors out there. stuart: absolutely. look on the left-hand side of

the screen. the stock is up 63% since march 28th. today is may 6th. i'm looking at about a six, seven-week period. that's extraordinary. susan: it was closer to 350 in the depths of march. you could have doubled your money pretty much over the last few weeks. this is a stock that a lot of investment advisers talk about. stuart: i should have gone in there but i did not. i got a programming note for you. this is happening tomorrow, 1:00 eastern time. neil cavuto hosts another america works together town hall. his guests, ken langone, bernie maukdz, t marcus, founders of home depot. send your questions to investedinyou@ foxbusiness.com. that should be a fine show. tomorrow, 1:00. coming up at the top of the hour, secretary of state mike pompeo is expected to address what appears to be that failed operation of the u.s. mercenaries, a couple of whom were captured after attempting

to overthrow the maduro regime in venezuela. that's the allegation, anyway. those americans are still in maduro's kuft custody. what will pompeo say about that? we also have news from six flags. they plan to reopen but what will it look like when they do reopen and keep that social distancing in place? very difficult in a theme park. we have the answer. we will tell you what they are going to do after this. 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. and people you can rely on.

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stuart: on your screens, the stock price of draft kings, up 4%. earlier they hit an all-time high. i don't get this, frankly. they're gaming people, online gaming, of course, but what do you gamble on when there's no sports? apparently they've got the answer. the stock is up 3.8% as we speak. now, we have told you about disney and their theme parks. lauren, come in and tell me about six flags. they are trying to reopen. what will their parks look like when they do reopen? lauren: well, six of the six flags will open in the middle of this month. what are they going to look like. you have to call ahead and make a reservation. you can't just show up and get a ticket when you arrive. advanced reservations so they can limit capacity, markers on the floor saying this is what six feet looks like. wear a face mask, get your temperature checked. stuart: you know what, before we

move on, that would be attractive to a lot of people because you don't have long lines. lauren: that's what i said. stuart: you know? lauren: that's exactly what i said. if you can guarantee no crowd, i might be there. stuart: yes. i might be there, too, with the grandkids. all right. another casualty of the virus, the gym business. look at planet fitness. are they down? they are actually up a little bit. any good news from planet fitness? susan: no. well, maybe they can reopen, the phase one reopening under donald trump's, president trump's guidelines but look, it was a really tough day for planet fitness and we did see the earnings come in below estimates. they have already had to furlough most of their employees. the ceo says he will forego his salary and some say, you know, planet fitness might be on the verge like other gyms, especially with peloton threat, they might be going to receivership. stuart: okay. i heard that. now there's this story. this is intriguing. a texas salon owner sentenced to

seven days in jail because she reopened her business against the rules and she would not apologize for doing it. she says feeding my kids is not a selfish thing to do. i have judge napolitano to react to that. you must have seen this one. tesla's elon musk and his partner have just announced the birth of a baby boy. can you guess what they have named him? it's unique. a unique name, to say the least. coming up next hour, secretary of state pompeo holds a news conference. we will bring it to you live. the second hour of "varney & company" after this. a weekend . fifteen minutes until we board. oh yeah, we gotta take off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board. excellent. and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. have a great flight. thanks. we'll see ya. ah, they're getting so smart. choose the app that fits your investing style.

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♪. stuart: i do believe we've turned negative. yes we have, certainly for the dow industrials. we have been open half an hour. now we're down 33. nasdaq and s&p are both high. look at nasdaq. the tech stocks are doing well. nasdaq up two thirds of 1%. half an hour from now we get important reading how much oil we have in storage. demand we're told is picking up. supply is very limited. we'll see if the price, $23 a share, a barrel i should say, we'll see if that holds as we get the numbers on storage supply and demand happening now, minutes from now, it is happening now, secretary of state mike pompeo is holding a news conference. he will cover those alleged u.s. mercenaries who tried allegedly

to overthrow the maduro regime in venezuela. we'll hear what he has to say about that and the china virus origins. market and economy, an astonishing number for you, 23 million people lost their jobs in the private sector in april. that news came out two hours ago. john lonski is with us. these numbers are baked into the market. we know the number is going to be bad and the friday's number will be bad. the market is to upside but it is already baked in, isn't it? >> yes it is. covid-19 related business activity declines will fade away perhaps as early as this may. we'll enter a period of recurring growth amid very low interest rates and that is going to be a positive for equities. stuart: to me, i'm going to repeat this, my assertion here, the pace of the recovery depends

upon the pace which people will go back and buy stuff in the stores, eat in the restaurants. that's what it all depends on, right? >> that's exactly right. and it's also going to depend upon the pace at which employment, payrolls, recover. that will be of great importance. as long as we just have a partial reopening of the u.s. economy it will be nearly impossible to have a v-shaped recovery. but as far as the market is concerned, as far as consumer confidence goes, the progress towards more normalization. stuart: looks like people are going, traveling again. looks like people are buying again when they have the opportunity in those areas where things have opened up. we just heard that, now we're getting 150,000 people going through tsa per day. that is up from a low of 85,000

earlier. there is more people staying in hotels. are we seeing, brian wesbury told us this, are we seeing the first green shoots of recovery, what are you say? >> yes, we are. this morning we had a report on mortgage applications for the purchase of a home and this indicator of potential home buying activity rose for a third consecutive week. it's risen by nearly 21% over the past three weeks. that is a favorable development. still for the latest week, homebuyer mortgage applications are down by 19% from a year ago. nevertheless, that is shallower than the 35% yearly decline of three weeks ago. stuart: okay. no v-shaped recovery for the economy, it is not going to be like that, right? >> the only way you get a v-shaped recovery would be if you had a sudden disappearance of covid-19-related risks. i don't think that's going to

happen. partial reopening implies a partial recovery but the important thing is, things stopped getting worse and instead the situation improves. stuart: got it. john lonski, thank you very much indeed, we appreciate being here. >> thank you. stuart: now i will show you a video. this is america reopening, really. you're looking at crowds, not crowds but lots of people walking along the beaches of california. this was yesterday by the way. governor newsom tuesday allowed three additional orange county beaches to reopen to the public. that is the scene yesterday on the beach. in florida, at least one florida county the beaches reopened but with strict social distancing rules. deputies patrolling beaches there to make sure crowds do not gather. there is a deputy right there. don't gather in crowds. let's get to texas. governor abbott is allowing salons and barbershops to reopen as of friday.

ash, what are the conditions he laid down. ashley: hair salons, barbershops, tanning salons, six feet between clients and customers. employees and customers must wear facemasks. they allowed movie theaters and malls operating at 25% capacity. more businesses will be able to reopen in the in ex-two weeks on a limited basis. he is getting criticism, the republican governor from democrats who say, wait a minute, you are moving too quickly, you need to slow down but governor, texas governor greg abbott says, no, the data allow us to do this we're already moving into phase two. stuart: got it, thanks, ashley. staying in texas, a salon owner in dallas was given a week in jail because she opened up early against the rules. when she was dragged into court, she did not apologize for opening up early. that put her in jail for seven

days. a big fine as well. i will take that up in my take at the top of the next hour. all right. i.c.e., teaming up with amazon and 3m. they're trying to combat this fake virus gear that you see. susan, details, please. susan: also pfizer as well. yes, a lot of these companies are getting together to combat counterfeit goods that come into this country. 3m has already filed 10 lawsuits against those that are either price gouging or making fake n95 masks. i.c.e. has intellectual property department, i didn't know that. they said 19,000 suspects, covid-19 related names put counterfeit goods. they received the unauthorized products including ppe. homeland security opened up 15 investigations and arrested 11. there is shortage of mask, gloves, protection gear in this country. they say those taking advantage

of the situation are filing in fake goods into the country and they want that to stop. stuart: got it, susan. i will put the stock price of cv ask. on the screen. it is up two%. up nearly three bucks, that is 2%. they are up but issued a warning a warning not related to the virus. what's the warning, ash? ashley: non-coronavirus health problems because during this pandemic, stu, cvs people are paying less visits to the doctor for routine checkups and treatments. that is especially trouble some for people with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. they say that could lead to costly hospitalizations if they're not treated consistently. interestingly though, the number of people now doing virtual visits to urgent claire clinics is up six-fold. the number of people getting prescriptions at home is up tenfold. so consumer patterns are changing. some may not be so healthy if

you don't have regular checkups. stuart: maybe so, but i can see how that pattern of consumer behavior pat western will stay after let's get to disney, theme parks closed, got that. is the company looking at streaming as its lone bright spot, lauren? lauren: right now yeah, but it is still in the investment phase meaning it is not that profitable. five months, 54.5 million subscribers. in order to continue that rabid growth, something disney would have to explore, something they are exploring, bypassing the theater, offering direct to streaming. the ceo said we're doing that on a case-by-case basis but not for all of our content. but as you saw with universal and "trolls." put it on the streaming service and it was successful. will disney do more of that to

beef up disney plus? stuart: we'll see. 54 million subscribers to disney plus, was that it, 54 million? lauren: 54 1/2 million. stuart: forgot the half million. in five months i still got to say pretty good, that's for sure. lauren: great. stuart: change of subject. you remember the big shortage of respirators, well, we got to get more respirators on to the market. seems ford and 3m are now shipping respirators. ash, what have you got on this? do we still need more? ashley: they are around the country. it is quite impressive, ford may not be able to sell cars but it can crank out health supplies very much-needed. not only air purifying respirators but also gowns for the health care workers. they're now at a point they're producing, which is impressive 200,000 gowns per week and they already shipped out 400,000 of those gowns. they had an order from new jersey for 500,000. so ford and 3m pairing up,

really cranking up the production to get these products where they are needed quickly. it is very impressive. stuart: it is impressive. now as you know secretary of state pompeo is holding a news conference. it is in progress right now. he just said china has done nothing to share information about the origins of the virus. he calls it an ongoing threat. lives could have been saved. now that may account for the turn around in the market. i mean this is a very hard-line on china the secretary of state is taking. we move from up about 100 on the dow to a minus 73. just thinking that maybe his statements on china have something to do with that turn around. we're following oil real closely, have to. here's a headline for you, half the louisiana oil companies say they will go bankrupt. how about that? senator bill cassidy will join us for that subject in our next hour. he is the louisiana senator,

republican. the u.s. and the uk starting post brexit trade negotiations. i'm asking the british ambassador to america what are we going to get out of the deal and what's the progress there? the ambassador coming up on this program. 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. find a stock basedtech. on your interests which most pills don't. or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity. many of life's moments in thare being put on hold. are staying at home, at carvana, we understand that, for some, getting a car just can't wait. to help, we're giving our customers up to 90 days to make their first payment.

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stuart: western wall in jerusalem, it has reopened this week, actually. the most sacred place in jude aism but only 300 people are allowed in at a time and those people worshiping must wear a mask. britain and america are launching formal negotiations for a free-trade agreement between the two. president trump vocal and enthusiastic about this.

dame karen pierce. dame karen is the the british ambassador to the united states. can you tell us about these talks and the shape of a trade deal coming forward? >> well, thank you. like the president, we're very excited by this we've had a lot of good response in congress to the launch of the talks, both democrat and republicans and a lot of interest in the media and across the united states. basically the talks have about 100 negotiators on each side. they will be done in rounds. rounds will be about six weeks apart and the basic idea is that we are as comprehensive as possible looking to get several areas at once and the main areas, for the deal are around goods and services, digital trade and also a lot of work on small and medium-sized enterprises. so as i say we're very excited. we think it's a very good sign

as we stand shoulder to shoulder on the coronavirus, we think this fta, free-trade agreement is food sign of confidence in economic recovery. stuart: madam ambassador, in britain, the virus has killed 32,000 people. that is the largest death toll of any european country. now in america we have got similar impact, a very strong impact on us here and america is blaming china for the pandemic. what about the brits, are you blaming china as well? >> well i think the first thing i would say the numbers are very sad, both in the uk and also here in the u.s. and all of our sympathies go to people who have lost loved ones in the corona crisis. i think there is a lot of work to be done. when we have got on top of the crisis to establish a exactly what happened, where did the

virus come from, how did it take hold so quickly. i know right at the to the start when the crisis started, back at beginning this year there was a world health organization report that the virus first manifested itself in china and i think the general assumption this has come out of china but i think that is something that needs to be done as part of a big lessons learned exercise, how did the virus get started, how did it take hold, what could we have done better to control it but the priority for the moment is very much to concentrate on tackling the pandemic. stuart: i got that, but secretary of state pompeo is holding a news conference as we speak, he just said china is doing nothing to supply the information that we need. madam ambassador, hold on for a second. i will roll that tape. please go. i do apologize. i don't have that sound bite,

ambassador, but the gist of what he is saying is, look, china is doing nothing to supply us with the information we need to get to the bottom of the virus's origin. what kind of pressure are he going to put on the chinese? >> i think everybody would like to have more information out of china, more data. we have had concerns about the lack of transparency. we have had concerns about the disinformation and the fact that there hasn't been as much access to the data as we would all like to see. there are conversations going on among health ministers in g-20. the uk, u.s., as well as china, members of g-20. we need to keep pushing for this data. we need to keep pushing for a lot of cooperation on the medical aspects of coronavirus. and later on when we have got on top of the pandemic, we need to

go back and we need to work out how it all started and what lessons can be learned and what reforms might be needed to the world health system. stuart: madam, there is a lot of talk, i mean, britain has fully socialized medicine. you have the national health service. it is government-run health care in britain. and yet you've got the maximum number of deaths in europe and they're concentrated in britain. we're told here in america, that socialized health care would help deal with the virus but that is not apparently true in britain. would you, any comment on that? >> i wouldn't make a causation between those two things. we have a health service in britain that is absolutely free at the point of delivery, free to everybody in britain and universal health coverage. those are very important goals if you want to tackle something like a pandemic and you want to

insure that everybody who needs it can get treatment. if you look at the international health system, universal health coverage is one of the sustainable development goals. so the template, the framework for improving development across the world, that the u.n. and member-states set up a few years ago. so i think that speaks for itself really. it is a very important part of being able to get ordinary citizens the health care that they need. stuart: that is one of the profound differences between britain and america, socialized health care. there you have it. >> i would not call it socialized health care. it is different as you say. it is national health service in the uk. it is free to everybody at the point of delivery. america has different traditions. it has a different health care system. you know, it is for people to compare the two if they want to. the most important thing is that we cooperate together and get

help to people where it's needed so we can get on top of the pandemic. stuart: madam ams ambassador, thank you very much indeed for being with us this morning. it is truly appreciated. hope you can come again. thank you very much. >> i would love to. thank you very much. stuart: thank you, ma'am. now, susan, come in please. secretary of state pompeo when he talked about china not providing the information we need, do you think that moved the market? susan: making reference as well to commerce and trade relations. pompeo says the countries are starting to understand the risks of doing business with the chinese communist party. we've seen a sharp deterioration between the world's two largest economies, the u.s. and china, throughout this covid-19 with each side blaming each other for starting the virus. don't forget, we still have 25% tariffs on $350 billion worth of chinese goods. we have a phase one trade deal, we know that the chinese are buying agriculture as they stipulated that they would. there are opportunities also maybe, like i guess lift tariffs

on other chinese goods as well. there are concerns in the market that this phase one trade deal may not lead to phase two and there might be more tariffs in the pipeline. stuart: that initially took the market down 100. we have come back a bit. the market is down just 38 points. got that. i will put on the screen a stock price of a drug manufacturer. it is called meso blast. up 5%. patients were tested in a second trial of the drug to treat the virus. tell me more, please, lauren. lauren: yeah, they took 300 patients with very severe coronavirus infections and it is a stem cell therapy. it is given intravenously. they began phase two. the first trial had very promising results. this is another trial. it is looking positive. dozens of companies are working on treatments for coronavirus. mesoblasts is australian company. trades on nasdaq in the u.s. the stock is up 5%.

stuart: yes it is. do you have anything more on gilead sciences? >> they have licensing deals or working on agreements with many other companies in many other countries specifically europe and asia and the developing world so they can get remdesivir which is another promising treatment. it does have fda approval for emergency use to patients around the world that need it and need it fast. it has shown positive signs of helping the most severe cases of coronavirus. so they're working on supplying the world, if you will. not easiest thing to do because the raw materials come from supply chains that are not here in the u.s. stuart: yeah. i saw the stock was up to 84, 85 earlier, last week i should say. now it is at 77. okay, got that. next we're going to get a read how much oil we've got in storage. that means how much have we used, how much have we not used. look at the price, $23 a barrel, down 4%. that is a real retreat from where it was earlier this

morning. we'll get those numbers in just a couple minutes. let's see if the price moves in either direction. we also have news on elon musk's baby. got a picture for you. i don't see much of him. the banner is -- i see elon. we'll make susan pronounce the baby. impossible to pronounce name. wait for it. we're coming back for you.

>> china is still refusing to share the information we need to keep people safe such as viral isolates, clinical specimens, details about the many covid-19 patients in december 2019. not to mention patient zero. our truth telling calls for transparency are not about politics, not about bullying, it is not about blame. it is about the ongoing needs to save american lives. stuart: tough line on china there. any other headlines from the pompeo news conference, ashley? ashley: yes really tough on china today saying china could have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people around the world from coronavirus. he says countries are now starting to understand the risks of doing business with the chinese communist party. he also went on to say that the

u.s. does not have certainty, is the word he used but there is significant evidence that the coronavirus came from that lab in wuhan, stu. stuart: i got it. look, almost 10:30. bang it is 10:30 eastern time. we're waiting foreniece numbers on oil in storage. did we draw down, did we add to the amount in storage this is important because it affects the price of oil. currently we're at $23.83 per barrel. we have the pumper ins ashley, tell me. ashley: we do. not as much as weigh would see. up another 4.95 million barrels. last week you remember we had nine million barrel add. we're expecting about 7.7 million today. so not as much in that respect. what is that again, sorry? 4.59. i inverted the last two. but still significantly less,

stu, than what we thought. i'm not sure what that will do to the oil prices. crude just slightly lower today but we've seen five straight days of gains. stuart: what we've done we've gone from 23 to $24 a barrel when we got the news of the oil in storage. stephen schork is with us. he is the guy we turn to, what you might call professional analysis of the oil market. stephen, look, are the days of dirt cheap oil gone? by that i mean 10 to $15 a barrel? are we at the point where demand is beginning to pick up, supply is coming down and therefore dirt cheap oil is gone for the foreseeable future? are we there? >> i don't think so, not yet, stuart. i do remain skeptical. keep in mind $23 a barrel, given our most proficient fields here in the united states cannot make money with the rigs currently deployed. the overarching concern i can

see by the end of this quarter 50 million people in this country could be unemployed. that translates into 40 million commuters that are not going to be on the roads. so approximately 35 million fewer cars on the road through the summer. that is not taking into account the number of cars that will not be on the road for people who are still fortunately employed but are still working from home. stuart: okay. >> so as far as demand is concerned the summer is over. so i'm not ruling out another dip lower, that is to say into the teens, maybe even single digits. stuart: so for the benefit of our viewers that don't necessarily follow the oil market that closely, what you're saying is, demand for oil, demand for gasoline, for example, that is a key indicator as to the pace of our economic recovery? and you're suggesting that economic recovery is not as strong as we might like? >> absolutely not. look, the congressional budget office, non-partisan is expecting a 40%, four, zero, percent contraction in the

connie in the second quarter just based on last week's factory order numbers, stuart. the 4.% contraction we saw in gdp in the first quarter, will likely double when we finally get the final numbers given how bad it was in the first quarter. the first half of this year the demand has been absolutely atrocious. to be fair the cbo is predicting v shipped recovery albeit with unemployment in the mid to high teens. i don't see how we get a v-shaped recovery with that few people still unemployed. it will remain that way, high unemployment, 1930sesque unemployment between now and at least into 2021. i'm very skeptical on the economy to rebound. we have a tremendous amount of destruction to this economy. it its going to take much longer for it to recover. stuart: that is a dire prediction, indeed, stephen schork. we'll take it from you. thank you very much indeed. we'll see you real soon.

let's talk gasoline for a second, the national average for a gallon of regular gas is 1.$9. a lot of travel experts think this year will be the year people go on vacation but they drive. jeff flock joins us now. are we talking now about kind of a staycation america this year? reporter: you hit it right on the head, stuart, absolutely and i come to you, speaking of staycations from america's newest national park. this is the indiana dunes. maybe you see beautiful landscape soaring dunes here along lake michigan, in indiana. yes, travel experts say, you know, you got a perfect storm. you just talked about gas prices. you have got cheap gas. you have people afraid of flying, limited flights out there. europe, forget it in terms of travel to europe this summer. and even the folks that operate the airlines. the fellow who founded jetblue airways, who was about to launch another startup airline this summer said, this summer could

be the year of the car, this vacation season. he said, essentially it could be the time that we see the usa in our chevrolet. you have and i are both old enough to perhaps remember that commercial, fame must chevrolet commercial. whether you're in a chevrolet or not, the suspicion people go to places liketh. maybe that gives a boost, stuart, you know, to the national economy a little, we all stay at home, not going to europe, not going around the world. maybe that is a positive. look, america's beauty. drink it in. maybe that is the way to go. stuart: would certainly be cheaper and it would, if you are looking at gasoline under two dollars a gallon, that's cheap by any standard. and if you are driving your own car with your own family, i mean, that takes away the anxiety of getting close to strangers. i mean, staycation. you got it. great report, jeff. as usual. thank you very much. reporter: thank you, sir. stuart: take a trip around the national park. i'm sure it is absolutely

fabulous. all right, general motors in the news, they reported earnings and profits earlier this morning but i want to know when are the car companies going to reopen their factories, at least partially reopen them. what is the timetable on that? ashley, have you have any numbers on that for me? ashley: yes i do. mary barra, 18th, she confirms that talk tock the unions and government officials that is the day they hope to begin limited production restart. they had originally thought that this week, monday, may 4th could have been the date but the union said know. they felt that was too quickly, too fast. they wanted to protect their workers but you know other automakers across the country have gotten going. toyota says they will open their factories in the u.s. may 11th and those non-union workers at kia, hyundai, bmw who operate factories down mainly in the south, they opened on monday

of this week. so detroit, the big three, ford, gm and fiat chrysler, they will be among the last to reopen on may the 1th, assuming they stay with that -- 18th stay with that schedule. stuart: can they sell what they produce? even with limited production, can they sell it? open question right there. ashley: right. stuart: they have a company, marriott, marriott/vacations worldwide, okay? they are furloughing 65% of their workers. yet again, the real difficulty of travel, any kind of travel industry related. really taking it on the chin. delta trying to deal with the anxiety of flying, they're spacing out passengers, blocking seats on all flights, so you are spaced out. the market is not too keen on that, because it lowers revenue for, possible revenue for the flight. delta at 21 this morning. there is a new iphone app.

it can take you on a virtual house tour. is this future of real estate in the post-virus world? i'm asking a realtor, former hgtv host, mike aubry. i will ask him about that in our next hour. we showed you the drone footage yesterday. hundreds of new cars sitting at u.s. ports. that was los angeles i think. nobody is buying them. they're just sitting there because the dealerships are closed. our next guest says dealerships should be able to reopen, if you do it by appointment. he is from new jersey. he will make his case after this

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stuart: someone who lived around the city for a long, long time, i find this absolutely incredible. you are looking at the upper east side of new york city, normally bustling with people and cars. now it has been turned into pedestrian walking zones because there are so few cars on the

road. the kids are going by on skateboards. never seen that before in new york city, but it is happening now. tesla, i find this hard to believe, but the model three from tesla has become the top selling vehicle in britain in month of april. what happened, susan? susan: people need electric cars, mandated by government set to be in place in next few years. one in six new car registrations was a tesla model 3. electric car sales are up 161%. that is despite the fact we're seeing a collapse in car sales in the u.k. new car registrations down 97% in the month of march. people are stuck at home. they don't have jobs. some are losing jobs. they don't have money to spend on new cars. it is the most significant car sales drop in uk history since world war ii. stuart: i'm not surprised at that drop but tesla emerges as the best-selling car in april. that is incredible. i guess if the government says

you have got to buy electric, you have to buy electric. i get that. susan: correct. stuart: it is your job susan to pronounce the name of elon musk's son. go. susan: i'm a big dan brown fan, puzzling past 24 hours, not a good use of time. i can't help it, i'm obsessed. what do you think? we know that this is the name of elon musk's son. if we bring it up in grimes' tweet. there is x, ae symbol stuck together, a-12. so the unknown is the x. how do you pronounce the x? ae is pronounced i or love, artificial intelligence. a-12 is reference to lockheed cia reconness sans plane called arc angle. xi arc angle or x ash arc angel. x has something to do with number 10 in chinese. it is hard to know.

stuart: look i'm sorry i find that absolutely ridiculous that you would saddle a longer with a xae-a-12. that is -- susan: california law says you can only name the child with 26 letters in the english alphabet. this is not the real name on the birth certificate. stuart: good. really pleased to hear that. thanks, susan. i will show you this video again. looks like thousands of cars at the port in los angeles. they're stuck there, we're not buying new cars. largely because dealerships are closed. well we have the new jersey coalition of automotive retailers. they're demanding that governor murphy allow dealerships to reopen. let us reopen, we'll do it by appointment only. james brian appleton is with us representing the coalition. sir, what is the governor saying to you? what is wrong with opening a dealership by appointment, keeping social distance and

wearing masks, what's wrong with that? >> well, frankly, stuart, we don't understand what's going on here. you know, obviously we think the governor and his team done just extraordinary job keeping us informed and keeping us safe. i give the governor a lot of credit for swiftly, decisively moving when this crisis hit in march to, you know, manage the shutdown and address this unprecedented public health threat but we're in an inflection point now. the governor must act just as quickly now to reopen all of the businesses that can operate safely, can help restart the economy, can put people back to work, and not insignificantly generate much-needed revenue for the state of new jersey. that is car dealerships. stuart: you have to be a diplomat, james, i do understand that you can't make accusations against the governor. i understand that but do you think there is an element of politics involved here? democrats generally, new jersey is a thoroughly democrat state

and governor is a democrat, most people are democrats in new jersey, i got that, but they largely err on the side of maximum safety. they don't really care that much about the economy. their stress is on safety. is there an element of politics here? >> i don't think so. look this is not a binary choice. it is no longer simply stay at home, stay safe. it is be smart, stay safe. a hard stop early on when nobody understood exactly how this virus would work made some sense but, at least now, not for all businesses, we know how this virus spreads. we know how to stop the spread. so let's be smart and be safe instead of stay home and be safe. new car dealers in new jersey offered up detailed protocol opening up dealership showrooms by appointment only. that is being done in connecticut, delaware and new york, the true epicenter of the crisis in u.s., near

syracuse, they opened dealerships by appointment sales. by the way i should also note dealerships in new jersey already are adhering to safety measures required under the governor's executive order. they're following strict osha and cdc guidelines in their service departments which have been open. it wouldn't take a whole lot to extend that into the showrooms. stuart: really wouldn't. the other day, you appeared on "fox & friends" on the fox news channel. steve doocy, who was interviewing you, look into the camera, james, because the governor of new jersey is watching. you made your appeal, directly into the camera. what was the response? >> at this point crickets. we haven't heard anything further. you know, again we continue to make the case. by the way, car dealers aren't the only business that is frustrated by the lack of action.

stuart: absolutely. james, i could use a haircut. >> i -- operate in a safe and effective way. stuart: absolutely. james, i am sorry, i got to go. i need a haircut. i live in new jersey. i cannot get a haircut, even by appointment. i'm with all the way. james brian appleton. thanks very much for coming on the show and making a direct appeal. we'll see if it works. thank you, stuart. >> thank you for your time. stuart: market, total turn around. we were down 100, i think because mike pompeo taking a very hard-line on china, getting nothing out of china as to where this virus came from. that put the market down a hundred. i think that was the reason. now we're back up a hundred at 23,979. get this, mortgage applications edged higher, third week in a row we've seen that. is the real estate market beginning to pick up, do you think? realtor, former hgtv guy, mike aubry, will give us his opinion. let's see if he is talking up

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stuart: yeah, real turnaround. look at that! we were down 100, now we're up 62. volatility right there. 23,940 on the dow. look at beyond meat. it saw a 141% surge in revenue in the first quarter. the stock is going gangbusters. look at that, it is up 17% at 118. they will not forecast the rest of the year. they don't know what will happen with this virus. look at the stock now, 118, up 18%. wendy's, same-store sales are picking up as some customers are returning. investors like that. the stock is up 5.7%. i call that a positive sign. grocery stores around the country, they're limiting the amount of meat you can buy, some of them that is, some local up customers are affected. come in grady trimble. i will say it, where's the beef? kind of corny. what have you got. reporter: they have it here. the people behind me don't want

beyond meat. they want the real thing. the bucher outside of chicago, the limitations, placed on meat pretty muchs in grocery stores across the country, that actually helped business. they have people lining up before the store opens in five minutes from now. but, they have had challenges finding product as well here. they say bone-in pork is especially hard to come by, tragically, bacon might be hard to find because of all the plant closures across the country. here is the owner talking about how difficult things have been finding product. >> a lot of scrambling. we've been in business almost 75 years. so we have good relationships with all of our suppliers. they have been able to keep us kind of stocked with meat right now but i'm still dancing around looking for product everywhere. reporter: and it seems like everyone in the meat industry is stuart. as the owner here put it the meat industry has become the new toilet paper industry.

stuart: oh, okay, nicely-put there. we'll move on. this is for tomorrow, thursday. neil cavuto hosts the "america works together virtual town hall. that is at 1:00 eastern time. special guests, great guys, ken langone, bernie marcus. they founded home depot. if you have got questions, listen to this, send a video to investedinyou@foxbusiness.com. next, las vegas casinos closed. one business launching a sports betting drive-through, drive-through, how will that work? we'll explain it for you. my take on the salon owner texas arrested and jailed for opening too soon. we'll be back. i can save you... lots of money with liberty mutual! we customize your car insurance

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china could have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. china is still refusing to share the information we need to keep people safe, such as viral isolates, clinical specimens and details about the many covid-19 patients in december 2019, not to mention patient zero. every one of us knows the reality. the reality that this came from wuhan. stuart: pretty strong stuff from secretary of state pompeo. china could have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. we're still not getting the information we need. when he said that, he moved the market. we dropped about 100 points on the dow.

we have since recovered and now we are up 38 points. but that was strong stuff from the secretary of state. earlier this morning, a really grim report on private sector job losses. that's an astonishing number. 20,236,000 jobs lost in the month of april, and the biggest hit was taken by the service sector, with 16 million people suddenly thrown out of work. extraordinary stuff. we are keeping a close eye on profits. big names that we're following, peloton, lyft, etsy, wynn, they all announce their financial results after the market closes today. we are on that one for sure. there are three more states easing lockdown restrictions as of today. in arkansas, you can get a haircut or massage therapy. kentucky, resuming out-patient surgery and elective medical procedures today. more services can restart throughout most of tennessee. that's the situation.

more states opening up. all right, everyone. now this. the president announcing this morning the white house virus task force quote, will continue indefinitely, but they're focusing on vaccines and therapies. his focus is now on restarting the economy. now, that's a pivot. that is a shift. ironically, the owner of a salon in dallas is sent to prison for opening up too early and then refusing to apologize for it. look, we are at a turning point in our response to the virus. going from control to opening up. the dallas case shows how intensely business owners feel about opening up and putting food on the table. that is exactly what shelly luther, the salon owner, told the judge. defying the shutdown rules, she had opened her salon to feed her family. she had no income because of the shutdown and had not received government help. she publicly tore up the cease

and desist order. and she was hauled into court. apologize, said the judge. no, said ms. luther. if you think the law is more important than kids getting fed, then please go ahead with your decision. he did. he gave her seven days in jail and a $7,000 fine. regardless of what you think about ms. luther's decision, the case shows the dilemma so many business owners are facing. open up gory bankrupt. now, we don't know if the president is aware of this particular case but the shift in his approach to the crisis reflects the real pain that so many people are feeling as the shutdown drags on and on. on friday, we are going to get the worst unemployment report in this nation's history. that is extraordinary pain. and it begs the question, why can't a business reopen if every precaution is taken? keep your distance, restrict the number of customers allowed in, wear masks, wear gloves,

sanitize constantly. after all, if a business can't convince people that it's safe to come back into the store and safe to be a customer again, what's the point of opening up? it won't do any good at all. one last point. as of friday, texas will allow barber shops and salons to reopen with safety precautions. but the dallas salon owner, ms. luther, who took every precaution, has been sent to the county jail and the dallas morning news reports today that there are 248 confirmed cases of the virus at that jail. incredible. here's what ms. luther said to the judge to get that sentence. >> i have to disagree with you, sir, when you say that i'm selfish, because feeding my kids is not selfish. [ inaudible ] are hungry because they would rather feed their kids. so, sir, if you think the law is more important than kids getting

fed, then please go ahead with your decision but i'm not going to shut the salon. stuart: let's bring in judge andrew napolitano for his take on this. go at it. what's the verdict here, judge? >> you know, i'm smiling here because you and i have a record of consecutive agreements. the behavior of this judge is simply beyond the pale and beyond the ability of this former judge to comprehend or to defend. she was actually incarcerated not for opening up the shop but for defying his order to close the shop. the judge acknowledged that the governor does not have the authority to order her to close the shop but he does, and when he, the judge, an elected judge, not a life appointed judge, told her to open the shop -- to close the shop and she said no, that's

when he put her in jail for defying him, not for defying the governor. so by doing that, he is making policy and he is violating her constitutional right to engage in interstate commerce, practicing a profession that the state has licensed her to practice. using the most aggressive sanitary means available, which you just kindly described. so rather than alleviating pain, this judge exacerbated the pain of this woman by putting her in jail for doing something that as of 8:00 tomorrow morning, would be perfectly lawful in the state of texas. stuart: i suspect, judge, that ms. luther is going to become the poster child for resistance to unlawful behavior, resistance to the lockdown, a rallying cry, a person who is going to represent, i hesitate to use the word the resistance but the call to reopen, get on with it.

she's the poster child for this now. >> you know what really got me on this? not only that the judge was exceeding his authority but that he said i'll make you a deal. if you admit you're selfish i won't put you in jail. that has nothing to do with the judicial function and for him to extort out of her words that go against her moral views in return for not going to jail, is a violation of the canon of judicial ethics. he has no business running his courtroom that way. this woman is an american hero because unlawful power must be resisted, otherwise it gets worse. stuart: my goodness me, judge, this is incredible. what a string of agreements that we have racked up during this virus thing. extraordinary. you're not careful, you will get a reputation for agreeing with me and that won't work for you. all right, judge. we will see you again real soon. that's a promise. judge napolitano. thank you, sir.

all right, i will roll some tape. listen to this. >> i'm viewing our great citizens of this country to a certain extent and to a large extent as warriors. they're warriors. we can't keep our country closed. we have to open our country. somebody said oh, we can keep it for the next 18 months, we can keep it for the next two years. we have a great country. we can't keep it closed. i mean, i've had doctors say why don't we close it for a couple of years. this is the united states of america. stuart: yeah. there you have it. the president there, he was actually speaking at the honeywell mask plant. that was in phoenix, arizona. as we said, he is pushing to reopen the economy. bring in brian bremberg, fox news contributor. look, i think you agree with the idea that we've got to reopen. i want to see it reopen real fast. how about you? >> i do, too, stuart. because a restaurant can't survive on 25% of its business.

a retailer can't survive on 25% of its business. but we've got to be clear about something and this is the problem with the debate right now. too many people who are critics of reopening are acting like businesses simply want to go back to the status quo and that is emphatically not the case. every single business owner that i have talked to, every business that i have stepped into, knows that the normal is going to be new. they are going to have to adapt. what they are asking for is the freedom to discover what that looks like. we can only game plan on paper so long. at some point, you've got to try, that's what the president is saying, that's what businesses are saying, and frankly, it's unavoidable because we cannot continue to persist the way we are doing it right now. stuart: the pace at which we recover, the pace at which the economy comes back, is wholly and largely dependent upon people actually going to the stores that reopen, going on a plane when the flights are available, going to the barbershop. we do have some evidence that we

are seeing people go back to those businesses. what are you seeing? >> you know, that's true, stuart. i will tell you what. look, if you have been to a business in your town, you know this. i have been to some of the ones that are open, that are deemed essential and the fact is, they are doing a great job. you walk in there, it's very clear what you need to do. you need to wear a mask, stay here, don't go here, make sure you distance. when businesses are doing that and they know they need to do it, that gives customers confidence. the faster businesses can show people that it's okay to come back, the faster they will come back and the faster the economy will recover. there's no way to do it besides that. but we've got to give businesses the power to make that case to their customers. in more and more places, they are getting it but in too many places they don't have it still. stuart: very true. new jersey, for example. by the way, we do have evidence that hotel occupancy rates are going up. and that more people are flying. there is hard, hard numbers on

that. so the comeback has begun. brian brenberg, i don't know where you are. is that minnesota? is that where you are? >> linwood, minnesota, stuart. stuart: i knew it. that's fine with me. come on back to the new york area whenever you can. see you soon. thanks very much. a couple of stocks, companies i want to watch for you. electronic arts reported real strong profits last quarter, but they say the true impact of the pandemic is still unclear. electronic arts is down 4%. cvs, they are warning of a surge in non-virus health problems. they say people are going to doctors less, less frequency, for checkups and treatments, and elective surgeries, that's obvious. they expect a surge when this virus starts to go away. cvs up 2.8%. gan, we had them on the show yesterday, an online gaming company, they are down 3%. they debuted yesterday with a pop, big pop.

they have come back down just a little today. $12 a share on gan. wynn, gaming company, they report their profits late this afternoon. we will be looking on any news of a reopening the casinos in vegas and under what terms. no change for the stock at the moment. there are silicon valley layoffs. that's news to me. i didn't know that. uber, are they part of this group that's laying people off, susan? susan: this morning, uber says they are laying off 3700 of their employees, so that's roughly around 17% of the 22,000 and the 27,000 full-time staff they have around the world. this is really in line with the trend we have seen along with the other gig economy players. so we had lyft saying earlier that they are going to lay off 1,000, then yesterday airbnb said they are going to lay off 25% of their staff. that's 1900 jobs. we know the gig economy and the sharing economy is in big trouble in these covid times. people are not traveling so that hurts airbnb and people are not leaving their homes to go anywhere, and that's hurting ride hailing companies like lyft

and uber with ride hailing down some 80% in a lot of markets across the u.s. and really, around the world as well. also, california is doubling down on their attempt to i guess reclassify employees and drivers at uber and lyft as employees and not just contractors. that means higher costs because you have to pay them for vacation pay and also health benefits and that was announced yesterday as well. so gig economy and sharing economy players are having a really tough time and we will be seeing how tough it is later today when lyft reports after the bell and then tomorrow will be uber. stuart: i find that ridiculous. california is a tech center and here they are cracking down on the industry of the future. i just find that extraordinary. all right. but that's me. peloton. have a look at that stock. where is it today? because they report after the bell this afternoon, i think. ashley, are they going to be a lockdown winner because we are all locked down. ashley: yes, indeed. you are locked down, you want to do your daily exercise. the gyms are closed, so you

decide to click the button and buy that peloton bicycle for $2245 plus you may want to jump in on the streaming classes that are $39 a month. yes, we are expecting sales to jump when they report after the bell today. but just remember, the first quarter will only conclude a couple of weeks at the end of march, mid-march to the end, so we may not see the full extent of how peloton has, you know, gained from this lockdown. but certainly we will see a jump. the company is still not profitable, though. let's not forget that, although their shares have skyrocketed. they are up more than 86% since mid-march. so that is good. but by the way, they broke the record for a single class last month. 23,000 people signed up and took part in a live class. that's just what the lockdown has done for them. stuart: 23,000. big number. all right, ash, thanks. breaking this morning, mortgage

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stuart: earlier this morning, president trump tweeted about the coronavirus task force. we are putting it in yellow exactly the salient point here. the task force will continue on

indefinitely with its focus on safety and opening up our country again. we may add or subtract people. who's with us now? senator from louisiana, bill cassidy, republican from louisiana. are you glad, sir, the task force is continuing? because there were reports we were going to get rid of it. >> i think it probably has value. on the other hand, there's a lot of tools that have been given to states and local government to begin to do what is called containment. there are data systems, they have a lot of money to work on and we have more and more testing flooding the area. if we use the data to put that testing where it should be, we should be able to contain. i think it's less important the task force, more important what begins to happen on the state and local level. stuart: because the president really wants to stress opening up. that's his focus now, open this thing up. open up the economies. sir, on that note, it's called the louisiana oil and gas association and they say about half of louisiana oil businesses expect bankruptcy.

that's a dire prediction. half your oil companies in louisiana, bankrupt? that's dire indeed. >> it is both a function of the demand destruction from coronavirus, people aren't flying, people aren't driving, but also a price war between the saudis and the russians where they were dumping oil at below their cost of production on to world markets. now, you put those two together, and that's a double whammy. you speak of oil producers, i tell you, all the people they employ, let's put a face on it. a lot of working class families sending their kids to better schools, having a better lifestyle, having a better future, is now destroyed as well. that's not just covid but also the saudi/russians but it does point a reason why we need our recovery to come as soon as possible. stuart: your state has probably been hit as hard as almost any. you have been hit with the oil selloff, the oil collapse, i'm going to call it, and you have been hit with a shutdown because of the virus. i'm told your state has suffered more from this, what's going on

now, than you did after katrina. is that accurate? >> yeah. yeah, that's accurate. if you look at moody's financial kind of score of where states are, we are among those hardest hit, top ten, maybe even top one or two. because tourism is a big thing. think of jazzfest in new orleans, i could go on, all those things millions of tourists come to my state during this time of year, they're gone. it kind of points to legislation that i'm supporting, introducing, which would be how do we get support for state and local governments so they don't have to fire firemen, they don't have to fire the police, they don't have to fire sanitation workers. we need them on the job if we are going to have a recovery. stuart: so long as you're not bailing out states which have a dire pension problem from way back when, i think most people would get behind not firing police and fire in this crisis that we're in. senator, look, thanks very much for joining us, as always. we appreciate you being frequently on the program. senator bill cassidy. thank you, sir. now, let's look at wendy's,

the stock price, please. let's have a look at that. i think we are up. yes, we are, 6%. they expect an upward trend in sales at wendy's as more lockdowns are lifted, as we relax more. by the way, they say that it's breakfast that's helping to push their sales higher. stock's up 6%. that's wendy's. disney. their sales dropped 58% compared to last year because of park closures, cruise cancellations, so on down the line. disney plus, however, now has more than 54 million subscribers and they got them in a five-month period. maybe that's helped to turn the stock around. it was down to $98. now it's back up to about $103. right now, the supreme court is hearing oral arguments in a political speech case involving robocalls. all right, ashley. are they going to make these calls stop once and for all? what do you think? ashley: no. the issue on this one, stu, is

all about free speech, the first amendment. does the current ban on robocalls from political, you know, especially from political candidates wanting to give you advice on issues, either political issues, government issues, whatever it is, right now they are banned under federal law. a group of political groups, if you like, an association says you can't ban that, that's freedom of speech. so the supreme court is going to hear that. if they agree with that, then it's going to be open season for your cell phone and all of those calls that are coming in from political groups, especially in an election year. by the way, in 2019 the number of robocalls estimated at 58.5 billion. i think that was just on my phone. by the way, that works out to about 2,000 of these things every second.

so the supreme court is listening or, you know, if they're taping this show, please do not let this go through because our phones will essentially blow up and we are going to get all these political robocalls as well. but they are hearing the case as we speak via teleconference. stuart: i'm fascinated to see how the voting will go within the supreme court. who will vote in which way on this particular issue. fascinating. thanks very much, ash. there's this new report out, look at that on your screens, $10 billion. that's what the airlines, the cash they are burning through every month. burning through $10 billion a month. of course it's because travel is just about ground to a halt. i believe, lauren, you've got some numbers that tell us just how badly flights are suffering right now. lauren: it's going to be a tough recovery for the industry. obviously, the schedules have been cut, even in june, by 80%. on the average flight in the

u.s., there are 17 people. on the average international flight, there have been 29 people. so they are flying empty planes. like i said, the recovery is going to be tough. stuart: i had a message from someone who flew from los angeles to new york, i think it was over the weekend, and he said there were, what, 12 or 13 people on the flight. it was a huge jumbo jet. he said they were really spaced out. everybody was very distant. but that's it. how can you make a profit with 12 or 13 people on a trans continental flight? you just can't. lauren, thank you. take a look at this. you can take a virtual home tour with an iphone app, complete with 3d walk-throughs. could that stimulate some buying of houses or selling? we will discuss it. and the trump administration continues to call out china for starting the pandemic, and not sharing information. what's joe biden saying about china? our next guest says biden's stance could really hurt him in

november. interesting. that's next. what happened daddy?

well, you see here... there's a photo of you and there's a photo of your mommy and then there's a picture of me. but before our story it goes way, way, way back with your great, great, great grandparents.

see this handsome man, his name is william. william fell in love with rose and they had a kid. his name was charles and charles met martha... isn't she pretty? yeah. stuart: backwards and forwards, all over the place this morning, but right now the dow is down 16. the s&p is down a tiny fraction. look at that nasdaq, solid gain. technology's doing well today,

folks. it's up 83 points. that's nearly 1% for the nasdaq. the price of oil, $23 a barrel. earlier this morning, we added, we had news, we added four and a half million barrels of oil to storage. so the storage in number of barrels stored keeps going up and that is pushing the price down. we are at $23 a barrel. as of right now, that's down 5%. tension with china continues to grow. secretary of state pompeo says there is significant evidence the virus came from that chinese lab in wuhan. our next guest says this struggle with china means a problem for joe biden's candidacy. steve cortez is with us, america first spokesman. what's the connection here? lay out your case. biden and china. >> sure. i will, stuart. first of all, amidst this crisis, it's very evident that the american people now see with very clear eyes the threat that the chinese communist party is to the health, economic vitality and national security of the

united states. in a recent poll by the economist, only 3% of americans identify the beijing regime as an ally. now, to tie it into joe biden, unfortunately, for our country, joe biden as a senator, as vice president, all the way until the present day, he has been a complicit and coddling appeaser of the chinese communist party for decades. most recently, i will give you two examples. most recently in late january, when president trump protected our homeland, he very presciently restricted travel here from china, the response of joe biden was to call that quote, hysterical xenophobia. also doing this presidential campaign, during the democratic primary, at an appearance in iowa when he was asked about the leaders of the chinese communist party he said quote, they're not bad folks. folks. so both on the policy side, but then also on the personal side, joe biden is completely compromised and vulnerable on this issue of china and on the personal side, i'm talking of course about hunter biden, and

when we look at the corruption of the private equity deal that joe biden facilitated for his son hunter while he was sitting vice president, i think it frankly makes what went on in the ukraine with burisma, as bad as that was, makes that look like child's play compared to the level of corruption when it comes to the chinese communist party and the biden family. stuart: you laid out your case against joe biden and his problems with various issues. i think democrats are aware of these problems. so my question to you, maybe coming out of left center field here, do you think joe biden will ultimately be the candidate? or will they drop him before? >> that's the $64,000 question, isn't it, right now. here's what i really believe. this is just my intuition. i don't have sources as you might guess within the democratic party, within the dnc but it sure seems to me they are desperately trying to come up with scenarios where they can replace him, largely exactly for this weakness that i'm talking about. as china becomes in many ways the primary issue of this

election, i think in many ways the november vote is going to be a referendum on america's relationship with china and the american people are going to decide do we want to re-elect president trump, who has been tough on china and has been warning our country about the threats of china since even before he got into politics, or do we want to hand the reins of power over to beijing biden because that's unfortunately an appropriate moniker for a globalist like joe biden. so i think the democrats realize that they have a significant problem there and they are trying to concoct ways in which he can be replaced but look, for now, he is the presumptive democratic nominee and i'm going to focus on that and again, stuart, i really can't overstate, you know, i would say, implore americans out there right now, if you have lost a job, if you are worried about losing a job, if you are sick, china did this to you. china did this to you and beijing biden will only make things worse. stuart: all right. steve cortez, thank you very

much indeed. total change of subject. but this is interesting. there's a restaurant in d.c., it specializes if grilled cheese. forget that. it's not important. what they are doing is they are going to court. they are suing their insurance provider. hillary vaughn, come into this, please. report on it, please. is this about the virus? reporter: stuart, it is. in fact, the owner of this grilled cheese restaurant in washington, d.c. paid for business interruption insurance. they have had to close their doors due to the pandemic so they filed a claim with the hartford financial advisory group, their insurer, that they paid for this business interruption insurance. within 36 hours they receive what they call a form letter essentially saying that under their policy they don't apply for coverage due to the pandemic. they are suing them because they won't hand over the cash. we talked to him this morning. >> we felt that we had, like you said, we had purchased the right coverage and we are hopeful and expecting that when we actually did need the hartford that they

would be at our back. we are spending so much of our time trying to figure out a way to get people back to work, trying to figure out if we can reopen again, what the scenario is going to look like, what the model is going to look like. you know, the streets are deserted by the white house. there's nobody left in the offices. there are no tourists. reporter: stuart, this was going to be peak season for them. this is cherry blossom season here in d.c. they are steps away from the white house. they get a lot of tourists coming through here but their doors unfortunately are closed right now. the d.c. city council was looking at drafting legislation that would require businesses or insure ors to pay businesses wi business interruption insurance that would apply under the coronavirus pandemic. they ditched that after hard lobbying from the trade group representing insurers, who says this about why business interruption insurance should not apply due to covid-19. quote, business interruption poelgss do not typically cover losses related to viruses but

rather require that physical damage must have occurred in order to trigger coverage for such losses. so stuart, this actually is a class action lawsuit but we talked to the lawyers representing this owner and many others. dozens of businesses around the country have filed to receive money under their business interruption insurance but have been rejected. about 34% of small businesses do pay into policies that offer business interruption insurance. stuart? stuart: you will hear a lot more about this. hillary vaughn, thanks very much. now then, people are using drive-throughs, getting food, medication safely during the lockdown. drive-throughs. vine-ripe tomatoes, you see it on the screens. now we've got a casino that will launch its very own drive-through for people to place bets. we've got details on that for you coming up. we are told we are moving out of cities, getting away from people during the virus outbreak. but are they going to come back? what happens later? will they come back?

we will ask a realtor mike aubrey about that next. technologies advisor. me too. me too. and if you're a small business, we're with you. standing by you every step of the way. bye bye.

stuart: where's the market? dead flat. we are down five points on the dow industrials. that's where we are as we speak. then there's this. a new iphone app can take you on a 3d virtual tour of houses. come on into this, susan. look, are we going to see a lot more of this in the future? susan: yes. stuart: i'm a little doubtful because -- susan: you are? stuart: if i'm a buyer of a house, want to check the water pressure in the shower. that's the kind of thing, you want to touch and feel this place. susan: that's you. i understand that. i guess that's the traditional way to buy a home. but you know, virtual tours are up 300% since this covid-19 took hold and this really high-end scanning software, they are

installing an app you can use on your iphone and other smartphones in order to do 3d videos and scans. before you had to i don'tuse a camera to do that. now you can do it on your samsung or iphone. stuart: isn't it a filter? you are interested in a house so you have the 3d tour on your phone and if you think you might be interested, then you wait until you can actually go and see it. this iphone app is essentially a filter through which you can feed your own preferences. susan: to a degree. i know of many international buyers that are looking for real estate in cities that they don't live in, and they have relied a lot on those 3d videos and scans to actually get a bearing as to how the apartment looks. maybe they do want an up-close view after they purchase the home but when you are looking at 0% interest rates and there's no way to see these homes in person, a lot of people make do with what they have including high end 3d scans.

stuart: we shall agree to differ. simple as that. weekly mortgage applications, up 7%. that is the third consecutive weekly rise. mike aubrey is with us, a realtor and former hgtv host. look, mike, i know what you're going to say. oh, yes, this is a positive sign for the real estate market. we are going to go up from here. look at that wonderful low mortgage rates. you know, is this really a sign that the real estate market is about to pick up? is it really? >> i think it is, stu. listen, i know i sound like a broken record and you know that i'm always going to come in as you would say and represent my book, but i think that we are in a position right now where people are at home, there's a pent-up demand. remember, coming into this covid thing, we already had inventory that was too low. now you take into account that people are at home and their homes are no longer just going to be where they live. guess what, it's going to be where they work.

and low rates and everything else that you are saying, i think that puts us in a position where people want to buy. stuart: you're ignoring an economic shutdown that's been going on for a couple of months and people don't have any money. >> well, listen, as of the most recent data, you're right. we have 16% of america out of work but i would suggest to you, 84% of people still are working and i think that we are beginning to have those people come to grips with the fact that maybe the two-bedroom apartment they're in isn't big enough. stuart: tell me this. this is an objective question. if you look at the big cities, talking boston, talking new york city, are people leaving? i mean, not en masse leaving but are people filtering out because of the virus? >> i think they are. listen, exodus would be too strong a word. i think these things are cyclic. we saw a movement towards urbanization because the millenials wanted to be in the

city around great restaurants and around great culture. what we are seeing now is that same millenial buying group which again is our biggest buying group in the real estate sector, they are starting to create greater house hold formation. they are getting married, having kids. you then add to that the phenomena of covid-19 and i think we are seeing sort of a movement from cities back into the 'burbs and it's not just based on the disease, it's based on normal shifting patterns of our population and how they are buying. stuart: zillow disagrees with you about the future of the real estate market. zillow are saying that prices will come down 2% to 3% this year. they are contradicting your view of a pickup in the real estate market. >> all right. so here's where i'm at. i think when you look at this sort of doomsday type headline, shame on you, zillow. look, here's the reality. if you look at the fourth quarter of 2019, we were already up 4% to 5% so even if it comes down 2% to 3% this year, we are

still going to be positive. the reality is that i'm going on record right now on this show saying to you we won't see negative prices this year. let's see how long that lasts. stuart: all right. we will take you up on that because you are on videotape, son. we will play it back to you. >> you got it. stuart: mike aubrey, thanks for joining us. sorry i gave you a hard time about talking up your book but that's where we are. see you again soon. thanks very much. >> always a pleasure. stuart: sure thing. i'm going to put etsy up on your screens. the stock is up 112% since, what's that, since april 1st? really? is that right? etsy -- really? what are they up to here? lauren: all-time high, rose 69% last month alone. the news is face masks. they are selling hundreds of thousands of face masks a day but it's not just that. etsy's ceo also said candles, moisturizers, you are constantly washing your hands, then you

moisturize, wall art, gardening. you are saying i don't like that painting or that wall is empty so you are sprucing things up. that business is good right now. citi analysts say traffic now is, well, eclipsing what they see during christmas. stuart: it makes sense. it absolutely makes sense to me. but i just didn't see it coming. i just didn't see it. did you? lauren: there are coronavirus winners and losers but most of the winners are cautioning that the momentum that they're seeing now might not last as people are allowed to go places again. stuart: yeah, i so that poiee t as well. thanks very much. still a minor loss for the dow industrials, up a fraction on the s&p and a very solid gain for tech stocks today. nasdaq is up 1%. that's a big deal. shopify on your screens, solid gain, up $31. 4.5%. they reported large losses for last quarter. not sure i can understand why

the stock is up 4.5% on that one but we'll try to work it out for you. at general motors, their chief executive officer says they are looking to grow their market share in china this year. they were also the only detroit automaker to post a profit. the stock is up 4% on that, $22 on gm. las vegas looking to reopen at, what, 50% capacity in their casinos? they've got a lot of hurdles before they do, including layoffs. we've got that story for you. today, a national nurses day. president trump set to honor those health care heroes in a big way. we will explain what he's up to after the break. ♪ limu emu & doug

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: in just a few minutes, president trump will sign a proclamation in honor of national nurses day. on your screens, left-hand side, the pizza company papa john's. look, they say that their revenue dropped last quarter. that's a surprise. however, they explain it by it hurt their stores in china and south korea, back in january. they were hit with the virus then. that's what hurt their revenue in the first quarter. they've got an explanation so they are now up a buck. nordstrom, oh, more trouble for the department stores. permanently closing 16 stores. they are going to reopen some in

phases, but they are closing 16. department stores, tough go. las vegas casino launches drive-through sports betting as of today, i think. how's that work, susan? susan: well, how it works is that new users will have to sign up for the sports betting app at the valet entrance. you can actually make your bets through the drive-through itself but you have to be a recurring customer. that's what i'm trying to say. you drive up to the window, you deposit your money and then you make your bet or you can do it on the app as well. but you know, in terms of las vegas reopening, we don't have a set target date yet. we know that the shelter in place order expired on april 30th. wynn resorts is planning for a possible reopening of may 25th as a target. someone suggested may 15th but again, nothing concrete. but ufc and nascar racing will get back under way this month. stuart: okay. it's still some way off for the strip to reopen, in any sense of the word. susan, thanks.

heathrow airport in london are testing a new way to screen passengers for the virus. i want to know more about that, ash. ashley: yeah. they are going to try it out in the next couple of weeks. thermal screening technology, checking people's temperature. they are going to try it out in terminal 2 in the immigration hall and then maybe expand from there. also looking at uv sanitation, or those trays in the security area. look, the only way to get this industry back on track is to improve the confidence and the safety, the safety issue is huge for obviously passengers. if they feel safer and they believe that health concerns are being addressed, then they may start coming back. heathrow trying to be proactive. stuart: you got to be confident about going back safely. that's for sure. all right, everyone. more "varney" after this. for jim, comfort is king.

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♪. stuart: tomorrow on this network, 1:00 eastern, america "america works together," virtual town hall. ken langone, bernie marcus, they founded home depot. send video questions to investedinyou@foxbusiness.com. president trump signs a proclamation on national nurses day. lauren what do we have on that? lauren: he will honor that. these people stand on bedside as a patient and give you ire thens to face time family members. national nurses week there are

freebies. we'll throw them up on the screen. thank you for all your help. >> i will second and third that, lauren, thank you very much indeed. other time is up. i'm leaving you with the market indeterminant. not going much in either direction. dow off 65. neil cavuto. sir, it is yours. thank you very much. governor andrew cuomo, he is addressing the press right now. i'm wondering if some of his comments might have spied up the selling. not to overanalyzing here. good news from what you're hearing from the guy who heads number one state for coronavirus cases and deaths. when it comes to the cases they are trending down. when it comes to hospitalizations, 100 fewer than the day before. so that trend continues. it is on the deaths part here that remains very stubbornly high and they're still bouncing around roughly 230, 240 level, they just can't seem to budge from. here is what