the next flight you take, you won't have haz/mat suits over there with flight attendants. qatar air is doing it. >> keep your feet off of me, all you passengers. maria: great show, everybody. great to see you. thank you so much. have a great day, everybody. "varney & company" begins right now. stu, take it away. seize that day. stuart: wait, wait. maria, you have a fantastic show. you are knocking them flat with big-name guests. i take my hat off to you entirely. congratulations. good morning. maria: thank you so much. stuart: i want to see dagen in a haz/mat suit. that's another story entirely. good morning, maria. good morning, everyone. stocks, a little wobbly late yesterday after moderna's vaccine test results on just eight patients were questioned. maria interviewed the ceo earlier. he offered reassurance the tests on thousands would begin in july. we will have more on that in a moment. as for the market, well, look at this. the rally is back.

the dow is looking for about a 300 point gain right there at the opening bell. s&p up about 34. look at that nasdaq go. technology is doing well, up 104 points. that's premarket for the nasdaq. now, lockdown winners. clearly emerging. lowe's, the home improvement people, headquartered in north carolina. profit up 28%. we stocked up for the lockdown. target, they really organized their online delivery and store pickup operation, lumped together under digital sales, up a whopping 141%. walmart, same story. stockpiling helped them, too. amazon, kings of the online selling business. boy, did they clean up. the stock is near a record high. and the netflix, well, they are the kings of the streaming business. what else are we supposed to do when we are ordered to stay home for weeks on end? there are a lot more virus winners and we will go through them throughout the show. meanwhile, the revolt continues all across the country.

businesses are defying the authorities and opening up despite the rules. it's spreading, even though this gym member ended up in handcuffs. then there's connecticut, which today becomes the last state to loosen the rules. so as of now, it's no longer a national lockdown. it is a gradual national relaxation. "varney & company" is about to begin. stuart: oh, what a start. a busy day like this. let's start with the revolt which is happening all over. first up, remember that gym in new jersey which opened its doors in defiance? it's open again this morning, even though the police handed out citations the first two days, but it's staying open. look at this. one gym member arrested for refusing to give police his name. the owner and the customers say they are going to be back. no backing down. watch this.

>> we worked to fight back against this. this is about small business, this is about constitutional rights. >> i'm not a criminal. i'm a mother of two children who i want to grow up in the united states of america with freedom the way i grew up. stuart: next one, a barbershop in brooklyn, new york, defying the orders of the city, cutting people's hair. police showed up, didn't give the owner a ticket. they just told him close down and then they left. speaking of haircuts, ben roethlisberger, star quarterback for the steelers, he broke lockdown rules to get a trim. the governor of pennsylvania responded. he's not happy. he says no pennsylvanian should risk their life like that, no matter who they are. that's pennsylvania. now, that's the revolt. now the reopening of america. all 50 states have now eased restrictions in one form or another. ash, take me through the states that are easing their rules today, please. ashley: yeah.

you know, the local salon here, the hair salon, agreed to take on this, but then got a message yesterday sorry, they have been delayed again and won't open until sometime in early june. meanwhile, elsewhere in connecticut, yes, restaurants, outdoor only, are now open. offices and retail locations, office space and outdoor recreational activities. as you said, connecticut, one of the last to actually start to reopen, even though on a modest basis. let's take a look at delaware. retail establishments may operate by appointment only now and you can start making appointments from 8:00 a.m. onwards. in kentucky, retail now at 33% capacity and there's a resumption of funeral and memorial services. in new jersey, in-person sales can resume for automobile and motorcycle dealerships, so stu can get out there and buy a car as well as bicycle shops. maybe a bicycle, stu.

stuart: maybe. maybe not. there's new jersey. don't get me started, ash. let's get back to the winners. why not. come on. i will start with lowe's. the stock, it was up big earlier. now, looking at it unchanged. look, they are lockdown winners so lauren, they reported this morning. give me some numbers, please. lauren: here's numbers. okay. online sales up 80% in the quarter. revenue up 11%. same store sales up 12%. the stock had been up 6% in the premarket and i think this is the line that did that. it said we continue to see this momentum in may so the positive trend, people shopping, people doing their own projects, fixing up their homes, that has continued in the month of may, as the lockdowns ease and they have more rural stores versus home depot. it's a little bit easier for them. stuart: target reported this morning.

is it the same story there? lauren: the exception here with target is that they spent a lot of money, $500 million, paying their workers more and investing in cleaning their stores and the like, so that did cut into their profits. but online sales at target were up 141%. they did something that amazon cannot do. 80% of online orders were filled using their stores as fulfillment centers. so you got your order really fast. target is a winner today but the stock price, not up as much as lowe's. stuart: that seems to be working. use your store as a fulfillment center. that's clearly a good operation to be in. all right. look at the market, please. it is what, wednesday morning. we are going to be up triple digits for the dow. triple digits also for the nasdaq composite. shah gilani is with us this wednesday morning. look, i'm optimistic about this great reopening of the american economy. are you? >> yes, very optimistic. it's long overdue. the treasury secretary talked yesterday about permanent damage

could be done to the economy. permanent damage has been done. if you look at all the small businesses that are closed, a lot of those businesses are not going to open. open table, an app through which you can make reservations, also keeps metrics on all the restaurants they do business with and have apps through which people can make those reservations says one in four restaurants that closed will not open. so there is permanent damage that's already been done by the shutdown. we need to end it. we need to open up. obviously the business folks have to be conscious of the health of their customers and customers have to be conscious of the health of the businesses, the employees and one another. then we can do this. stuart: yeah. get me some liability reform, too, because that would really help. >> yes. stuart: all right, shah, stay there. i will can babe back to you in second. royal caribbean on the screens now. i believe there's news about their bookings. susan, i can't believe this is positive but i guess it is. susan: it is positive. bookings for next year, 2021, they say are similar to last year, meaning 2019, and prices

are up mid-single digits compared to 2020. i think that's very positive. they are also very cashed up as well, given how difficult the environment is for cruise lines and that includes being cashed up $2.5 billion on the balance sheet. they also raised another $4 billion in a line of credit and $3 billion by secure bond issuances. so they feel the pressure right now given that their cash burn is around a quarter of a billion dollars each and every month that their ships are docked and not sailing. we know that 45% of those that have canceled itineraries have asked for a cash refund and there are concerns that maybe not all three will survive through this. we heard from norwegian cruise lines, the smallest of the three, royal caribbean, carnival, the two largest. norwegian has said at their annual meeting they have significant head winds to the survival of their business. stuart: some people love cruising. they are going to go cruising no matter what. that's a fact. susan, thank you. let's get to the interesting subject of moderna, the drug company. the stock this morning is down

again, dropping below $70 a share. it fell late yesterday, brought the whole market down with it, after a report questioned their vaccine trial results. well, the ceo spoke with maria earlier this morning. watch this. >> we have been able to go from the sequence of the virus to interim phase one data. we have the green light to go into phase two and we are in final planning to start phase three with thousands of subjects as early as july. stuart: okay. you heard that. thousands of subjects as early as july. that sounded pretty positive to me but the stock has been taken down a bit more. we are down $1.97. $69.70 on moderna premarket. shah gilani, time for you to come back in again. here's my question. does this market rally depend on a vaccine? >> no. it doesn't, stuart. that's i think rather obvious on the face of it.

the market has rallied for quite some time since the march 23rd lows without the prospect of a vaccine. in fact, the market rallied in the face of the likelihood of a vaccine coming maybe 18 months hence. now, we are looking at possibly a lot sooner than that which is great news but the market doesn't need a vaccine. the market needs the economy to open, needs businesses to open, needs consumers to get back doing what they're doing. that's what the market needs to continue to see and it's seeing it so far. that's why we're up again today. stuart: yeah. the faster we get back to work, the faster and more vigorously we open the economy, the better the market rally is likely to be. there's no certainty of that. shah gilani, thanks very much indeed. see you again soon. look what we have got here. the latest on mortgage applications. what have we got, lauren? lauren: another positive number. so there is demand to buy a home, believe it or not. applications to buy a new home rose for the fifth straight week, up 6% last week. more states are opening, there are some open houses, rates are

at historic lows and there's a desire among some people, especially where i am in new jersey, i know several people who have already moved to north carolina and south carolina. that's what's going on across the country. refi down 6% last week. but up 160% on the year. stuart: i'm interested in that theme, moving out of the northeast, new york, new jersey, connecticut, et cetera, et cetera. i think it's a flood. only time will tell but i think it's a flood. all right. here we have amazon. lauren: we are seeing it. stuart: look at them now, amazon is at $2471, far and away another lockdown winner, case closed. they are close to an all-time high this morning. pretty close to $2500 a share. here we go. lockdown loser, big-time, pier 1. i'm going to call them a victim of the virus. they are shutting all their retail locations. that is 540 stores. nobody bought them out so they've got no choice. they are going under. they are gone.

overall, this market continues to move higher. solid gain across the board, up for the dow, up for the s&p and the nasdaq up almost 100 points. now this. one of the most popular podcasts in the whole world will soon become a spotify exclusive. joe rogen signing an incredible $100 million deal with that streaming platform. this is a very big deal and we are all over it. disney springs reopens today. the first step in disney's orlando resorts opening up again. it looks and feels different. will people come? very good question. president trump doubling down on his america first agenda. roll tape. >> the pandemic has shown once again the vital importance of economic independence and bringing supply chains back from china and other countries. stuart: all right. republican law makers agree on that but how is it going to happen? we've got that story 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

stuart: look at the airlines, please. we've got news from the ceo of delta this morning. he was on with maria and he said no u.s. airline will go out of business. he did say he is getting help from the president, but according to congress, the treasury still hasn't given out $46 billion which was allocated to the airline industry. edward lawrence is with us. edward, what are the airlines saying about all this? reporter: yeah, stu, that's coming out of the house oversight committee and in a statement, the house oversight committee said this. they said the treasury department has not disbursed $46 billion it can use to provide loans and loan guarantees to the airlines and industry -- airline industry and businesses critical

to maintaining national security. however, the next paragraph in that says under the payroll support program, the treasury has issued grants and loans which goes to united's statement on this. the first installment of approximately $2.5 billion was received by united on april 21st so some aid is flowing that keeps workers in their jobs, just not to help the companies as a whole. yesterday, the treasury secretary splitting hairs, saying the $500 million that treasury got under the cares act is mainly half allocated but less than half of that has actually been paid out. southwest saying that their revenue in may and june is going to be down about 85% from last year. american airlines saying they are burning through $50 million a day. other air carriers also feeling that same pinch. the money will help but layoffs are coming after the cares act window closes in october. again, the delta ceo said because of this money, when it does flow, no u.s. airline will go out of business. stu? stuart: got it.

edward, thanks very much indeed. next one, the president signs another executive order. this one cuts more red tape. roll tape. >> i will sign an executive order instructing federal agencies to use any and all authority to waive, suspend and eliminate unnecessary regulations that impede economic recovery. i'm also instructing agencies to use the emergency authorities to speed up regulation cuts or new rules that will create jobs and prosperity. stuart: all right. let's bring in the gentleman on the right-hand side of the screen, jon thune, republican, from south dakota. forgive me, but i want to look forward to the next stimulus and i've got some opinions on it. forgive me for droning on like this. first of all, you've got to give liability protection to businesses. second, you can't give states money to fix pre-existing conditions like pensions, and thirdly, no emergency extension of unemployment special pay which keeps people at home.

what do you say? >> i'm with you, stu. those are all really good, those are really good ideas. no, i mean if we want to get the economy restarted, the liability protection is absolutely critical and clearly, the taxpayers of this country shouldn't be bailing out bad decisions made by policy makers in places like new york and illinois and california, and i think with respect to unemployment, you're right, there are incentives that are created, the wrong incentives, for people to stay on unemployment. we want to encourage them to go back to work so as we structure these programs going forward, we need to make sure there's an incentive for workers to go back to work, not to stay on unemployment. stuart: can you get all of that? because you will have to do a deal with the democrats at some point. >> right. those are all things the democrats are going to be opposed to up here. you know, you saw what happened in the house last week which was just crazy. i mean, they blew into town for 24 hours and passed a $3 trillion gift bag for a lot of their special interests and i think what we have got to focus on are the things that actually

are going to help get this economy going again and get those jobs back so -- but the challenge is going to be, you're right, negotiating with them, it's always going to be about more money and more regulations and more intervention and more government, and that's the challenge that we face in any negotiation, because to get anything out of here obviously with a democrat house and 60 full threshold in the senate, we have to have democrats vote for it. stuart: i know you are very hot on bringing the supply chain back to america from china. please, for our viewers, listen to what the president had to say about that. roll tape, please. >> the pandemic has shown once again the vital importance of economic independence and bringing supply chains back from china and other countries. i probably got elected, one of the primary reasons was that, make america great again, america first, call it whatever you want, but we went way out of bounds. we build a car and we go to 12 countries to build a car. i want to build a car from one country.

we make the parts. stuart: mr. senator, that sounds like a new cold war, doesn't it? >> yes, it does. the president is absolutely right. i think what we learned in this experience is that if we depend upon these unreliable supply chains in places like china, we are going to be in a world of hurt. i think standing up those types of capabilities here in the united states, whether it's pharmaceuticals or medical supplies or for that matter, even food security, this was a lesson. i think we need to take it to heart and we need to be starting to make changes in terms of how we incentivize american companies to build that capacity here in the united states. i think that's going to be one of the great take-aways from this. i hope again that we take it to heart and move into action to change things. stuart: yes, sir. senator thune, thanks for joining us. always appreciate it. shlt >> good to be with you. stuart: i will revisit the liability protection not clause, but idea here. ash, mcdonald's slapped with lawsuits over the virus. can you tell me more, please? ashley: yeah. very quickly, five mcdonald's

workers in chicago filing a class action lawsuit saying that the company failed to cover or at least implement government safety guidelines. they say the company failed to provide adequate hand sanitizer, gloves and masks, and then failed to tell employees when a fellow worker tested positive for the virus. mcdonald's response has been that they say the allegations are completely inaccurate. they say the safety, including wellness checks and protective gear, is and always will be a top priority. so the first of many more. there's also a complaint filed in california for the local osha office as well against mcdonald's. stuart: you can see it coming a mile off. it's open season on anybody who goes back to business for endangering the work force. you can see it coming a mile off. ash, i'm sure we will revisit that later and in many occasions in the future, too. all right. look at this. left-hand side of the screen, there's some good news for you. green across the board. up 300 for the dow, up 100 for the nasdaq.

yeah. we are going up. the rally has resumed this morning. we will tell you all about it after this. i was born in '37... it was a very struggling period of time. up and down. depression to exuberance. and you could name many, many cycles like that over the years. my generation, having come through so many wars and so many things... persistence. it's the heartbeat of this country. stick with it. ♪ and i recently had a heart attack. it changed my life. but i'm a survivor. after my heart attack, my doctor prescribed brilinta. it's for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. brilinta is taken with a low-dose aspirin. no more than 100 milligrams as it affects how well brilinta works.

brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. in a clinical study, brilinta worked better than plavix. brilinta reduced the chance of having another heart attack... ...or dying from one. don't stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor, since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. don't take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. slow heart rhythm has been reported. tell your doctor about bleeding new or unexpected shortness of breath any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. if you recently had a heart attack, ask your doctor if brilinta is right for you. my heart is worth brilinta. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. their medicare options...ere people go to learn about before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67? that's the plan! well, you've come to the right place.

it's also a great time to learn about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why... medicare part b doesn't pay for everything. only about 80% of your medical costs. this part is up to you... yeah, everyone's a little surprised to learn that one. a medicare supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesn't. that could help cut down on those out-of-your-pocket medical costs. call unitedhealthcare insurance company today... to request this free, and very helpful, decision guide. and learn about the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. this type of plan lets you say "yes" to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. there are no networks or referrals to worry about. do you accept medicare patients? i sure do! see? you're able to stick with him.

like to travel? this kind of plan goes with you anywhere you travel in the country. so go ahead, spend winter somewhere warm. if you're turning 65 soon or over 65 and planning to retire, find out more about the plans that live up to their name. thumbs up to that! remember, the time to prepare is before you go on medicare! don't wait. get started today. call unitedhealthcare and ask for your free decision guide. learn more about aarp medicare supplement plan options and rates to fit your needs oh, and happy birthday... or retirement... in advance. stuart: we will open the market in a couple of minutes. right now, i will tell you we are going to be opening higher across the board, 300 up for the dow. right. check those retailers.

lauren, give me -- i think you have a list of lockdown losers, if i'm not mistaken, going out of business. what do you have? lauren: the mall will look a lot different when it is totally reopen. these are the latest in a string of stores that have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. i do want to highlight pier 1 because they are going to liquidate. they are done. in chapter 11 bankruptcy and they are not going to try to reopen. but as jc penney and j. crew and neiman marcus and stage stores, look at this list. i have a feeling this is just some of the list because there are other names we are watching to see if they will soon file chapter 11 next. it's an ugly picture but coronavirus is making winners and losers when it comes to the retail game and how we shop. stuart: you're right. that will make a real difference to the malls when they fully reopen. we know that a lot of the department stores are under pressure. some of them are closing a lot of stores. that will make a difference to

the malls. their anchor store goes and the smaller stores you just listed, they make up a big portion of the mall shopping experience. how long is it since you went to a mall? lauren: a very long time. you know, to take this a step further, it's not just the shopping mall. it's also the bigger cities, where you can just walk down the street and go into mom and pop stores, all different types of stores, many of them are going to be closed as a result. the look of our cities, the look of our shopping centers, it's going to be a lot different when this is finished. there's consolation in the fact the stronger ones, the stores that had made investments ahead of time, it's paying off for them now. walmart, target, amazon, nyou know the deal but for the others, they have to find a new way to do business if they are going to stay in business and that might include just online. stuart: lauren, thanks very much indeed. turn your attention to wall street. 20 seconds to go.

we will open this wednesday morning higher. any moment now, that bell is going to start ringing, that signals, what, ten seconds to go before the market -- there you go -- before it actually opens. now, we had a selloff late late yesterday because of some problems with the moderna vaccine story. but we are rebounding all the way back again today. right from the get-go we are up 313 points as i can see there. we will get to the opening of all the dow 30 stocks in a moment but i will tell you this. the s&p is up 1.25%. that's about the same as the dow industrials. i'm sure the nasdaq is going to go strong this morning, and yes, it is. the nasdaq right now is up, can we get there, yes, we can. we are up 1.3%. that's 123 points. rally across the board this morning. better than 1.25% all over the place. i'm looking at lowe's, big winner today. that's a lockdown winner, actually. during the lockdown, their revenue has surged, especially lately. they have been allowed to stay

open, of course. they are deemed an essential business. that has helped them. lowe's up 4%. target, same story. online sales up 141%. they shelled out about $500 million for precautions against the virus. target up this morning, 1%. amazon, i want to see if it's going to hit an all-time record high. susan, i think it's close. susan: very close to it. so this morning also the fortune 500 rankings has made amazon the number two company in the world by revenue, leapfrogging apple which is pretty hard to do. walmart has been number one for the last eight years but this is another feather in the cap for a stock that just cannot be stopped, because if you take a look at the online orders spiking in the year of coronavirus, as people are stuck at home so they are hiring 175,000 just to keep up with the orders. cloud, by the way, is expected to be another part of their winning strategy which is the biggest contributor to their profit. they had a six-year head start in cloud, 40% of market share

and some see people working off cloud computing in the future as people will stay at home as well because of coronavirus after this. and don't forget about gaming. today we have amazon launching its first big budget game called cre crucible and they also own twitch. stuart: they are into a lot of different pies and areas. that's the truth. show me netflix. we are all stuck at home. it's hard to get off the couch and stop watching netflix and this morning it's up to $454. look, i want to go around the block here for a second. start with me, if i may. i'm getting used to this lockdown. i can't go out, so i'm getting -- it's almost enjoyable to stay home. i'm getting used to it even though i'm bored. how about you, susan? susan: i would say i'm watching more tv than i have ever watched before, but in my morning drive here in the morning, there are more cars on the road, people are using the subway more. i feel like activity is picking up once again and things are getting a little bit back to

normal. stuart: lauren? lauren: i have become a her mitmithermit. i don't even pick up the phone and call people anymore because i feel i have nothing to tell them. isn't that terrible? it's so sad. stuart: ashley? ashley: i'm getting a lot more fresh air, other than watching a lot of netflix, i can sit in the garden and walk the dogs, and any time i can do that, i do it because it feels great to feel the wind in the trees. stuart: i'm on my fourth book and third netflix series but that's just me. let's get back to money, shall we? lauren, come in again, please. what are some other stocks that are winning with everybody stuck at home? lauren: not just netflix. if you look at the overall market, the peak on february 19th, i'm going to share some names that btig found has continued to rise at least 40% since then. blue apron, cooking at home, it's up 136% since february 19th. wayfair, we are decorating.

the marketplace for freelancers, they do it for you. chegg, it's an online text book company. chewy, pet food, get it delivered online. etsy, arts and crafts and other things. these are all winners as we are stuck at home either not calling anybody or reading books and watching, what, three netflix series, you finished? stuart: just three. just three so far. all right. hey, the market's still a winner. look at that, lots of green here. lots of green. the dow is up 300 almost. the s&p is up, the nasdaq is up as well. couple more indicators, as we usually give them to you at this time. the yield on the ten-year treasury stuck at a very narrow range recently, .70% this morning. the price of gold, also in a pretty narrow range, $1748 per ounce. oil, still just above $30 a barrel, holding there. this morning it's at $31 is it? we lost that. $31, $32 a barrel, that's oil. do we have luckin coffee?

they have resumed trading, down nearly 40%. they've got bookkeeping problems back in china and they are way, way down again. next one, spotify. have they got a victory in the world of podcasting. susan, joe rogen, $100 million. tell me. susan: i would say joe rogen got a victory in podcasting. $100 million over multi years, we don't know how long this deal goes for, but joe rogen, he has around 200 million downloads of his podcast each and every month and he says that starting in september, it will be exclusive on spotify on their free app supported system and also their higher premium tiers. joe rogen, he had that infamous pot-smoking episode with elon musk two years ago but actually withheld his podcast from spotify because it just wasn't paying enough. instead he had google's youtube for his video podcasts and getting a lot of revenue from alphabet. alphabet might be a loser here but spotify, this is the tack

they are going after, the podcasting segment, spending half a billion dollars including paying $10 million for a two-year contract with the my favorite murder series on podcast and this is what they expect to -- i guess their strategy going forward, up 42% on u.s. podcast revenue for advertising actually last year to $600 million. stuart: i'm in the wrong business. all right. here we go. johnson & johnson, ashley, pulling their talcum powder complo completely forever? ashley: yes. well, only in north america. outside of north america, they will continue selling it. but here in the united states, the company is being besieged by lawsuits from women who claim the talcum powder ultimately gave them cancer. they had 19,400 suits still outstanding. they have had some big jury decisions against them but they have won some cases. they maintain the talc is safe but they will start selling a cornstarch based version in the

united states and canada as a replacement. but yes, permanently off the shelves here in the u.s. and canada. stuart: okay. we hear it. thanks very much. here's what we've got coming up. first of all, kind of a question for you. did you see this some democrat senator sherrod brown asking secretary mnuchin an outrageous question. watch this, please. >> how many workers should give their lives to increase the gdp or the dow jones by 1,000 points? >> no worker should give their lives to do that, mr. senator. i think your characterization is unfair. stuart: yeah. i agree with that 100%. that characterization was grossly unfair. i'm going to have a go at that in my take, next hour. a newly declassified e-mail from former national security adviser susan rice shows james comey recommended sensitive information on russia be kept away from general michael flynn. and now a resurfaced clip is raising some eyebrows. we will play that clip for you.

today, disney springs reopens but there are some new rules in place. we will tell you what those rules are and is the place still attractive with those rules? in my line of work, i come face to face with a lot of behinds. so i know there's a big need for gas-x maximum strength.

it works fast. relieving pressure, bloating, and discomfort before you know it. so no one needs to know you've got gas. gas-x

stuart: this is a big story. look at facebook. i think that's an all-time high. it's up 4% today. they've got a new feature called facebook shop. this sounds like a new shopping channel. susan: it does. it challenges amazon when it comes to e-commerce. so this allows small businesses, according to mark zuckerberg, to sell their goods on facebook and instagram with their virtual storefronts and eventually that will also take place on whatsapp and messenger in the future, maybe even libra, who knows. but there will be a dedicated shopping tab on instagram as

well, and facebook is teaming up with shopify which is that e-commerce payment platform that's also doing very well. it's a great partnership and merger between two, some would say very innovative tech companies right now and facebook has tried e-commerce before. we had marketplace, i don't know if you ever tried that on the facebook platform. marketplace didn't really spark, ignite as much interest. they are hoping to do that once again, maybe take some market share from amazon, given how well they are doing, but we will see how it goes, right? i think they are behind and they have seen how well amazon has done in these covid times. stuart: yeah, investors expect great results, obviously, because that thing is up 4.3% on a company the size of facebook. that's an extraordinary rally right there. all right. let's move on to disney. disney springs in florida begins to reopen today. they've got new safety measures including increased cleaning, face coverings for everybody, cast and visitors alike, limited contact guest services, you name it, they've got it coming up.

bernie mctiernan is with us, securities guy. if they do all this, will people come with a part of the park that looks like that? >> yeah. that's the big question here. so there's two things. there's the ability to reopen and then the response, if people will come. what we have seen from shanghai, i looked at the tickets this morning and there's only about seven days or sorry, about three days available left for you to buy tickets in may. stuart: i'm sorry. bernie, i have to just break away for a second. it sounds like you are in a cave. we are getting horrible echo. try to fix your mic. we will get back to you. i'm showing walt disney's stock on the screen right now. it's $116 a share. that's up two bucks, 2%. that has been helped, i believe, by the limited opening of the shanghai park and today's opening of the -- partial opening of the florida park. overall, the dow industrials up 300 points. look at that, we are above

24,500. this is a rally all over again. now, late yesterday, the markets sold off because there was some questions about the tests on the vaccine which moderna is developing. some questions about it because it only sampled i think it was eight patients. earlier this morning, maria interviewed the ceo of moderna who said look, in july, we are going to be putting this to the test of thousands of people. that reassured the market to some degree. the market is now coming back this morning. we are up 300 points as we speak. now, let's go to this. we have the video game makers, okay. lockdown winners, surely. come in, kristina partsinevelos. the industry setting new sales records, is that right? kristina: yeah, that's right. i know you have been covering e-sports since the beginning but during the lockdown you are seeing viewership pretty much skyrocket, with a lot of not only just regular video gamers but newbies as well.

you have a captive audience, so that is being reflectd in the share price of a lot of these gaming platforms. for consumer spending, i want to focus on that, for the first quarter of this year, we have spent up to almost $11 billion on video games alone. that is a record for spending when it comes to video games. we are talking about some of the share prices, you are seeing an increase in activision blizzard, electronic arts, take two, some of the games we know like sony's play station now has more than doubled their subscribers versus last year. xbox live announced they had 90 million active monthly users in the month of april. i want to focus on take two because they are set to report after the bell today at 4:30 p.m. eastern time. they operate and own grand theft auto as well as nba 2k. they are expecting their revenue, what the street is expecting is to see a 20% increase in revenue at $582.2 million. the stock hitting an all-time

high. you are for example soo seeing as people try to get in before earnings come out. they have no long-term debt so come full circle, you have all the video gamers but also the traditional sports fans that are just trying to get in to satisfy that competitive itch. stuart: it's a very very big deal. thanks very much indeed. now then, will we get back to bernie? i think we have fixed the microphone problem. before we were so rudely interrupted by myself, i was asking you would people come back to the florida park which is partially reopened today, with all these new sanitization methods? will people come back for that? >> so it will certainly -- ultimately people will come back but we think it will take time. we have revenue profitability for the disney parks getting back to pre-corona levels by fiscal '22. we are seeing some encouraging signs out of shanghai early. looking at ticket sales, what tickets are available for the

remainder of may, only three days, you can choose from. so you know, at least in shanghai they are running at 30% capacity but some encouraging signs early. this is certainly something we will continue to watch. stuart: do you know what the break-even point is for the theme parks, for disney theme parks? if they get 50% attendance, is that break-even? >> yeah, so if i can take you back to your microeconomics class, the way to think about reopening the parks is when the marginal revenue of those parks offsets the marginal costs of reopening. so we think that actually this year, they are going to be running at a loss for the remainder of this fiscal year, then it will be fiscal '21 is when they could actually get back towards profitability. stuart: okay. that's some way off but if that's the way they're going, that's the way they're going. thanks very much. sorry about the mic problem. we will get that fixed in the future. disney's at $117 as of right now.

look at mattel. they are expanding their thank you heroes toy collection to drive donations to front line workers. the new toys include matchbox toy cars, matchbox cars, front line vehicles, mega-construct building sets and thank you heroes uno game. front line workers get a piece of the action from that. all right, this. the gates of graceland reopening in memphis, tennessee. major tourist attraction and of course, they have new rules in place. i'm going to ask the man who runs graceland how he's going to enforce social distancing with all those tourists. look at the airlines. our next guest says this is going to make holiday shopping -- sorry, the retailers. we've got a guest coming up next who says this holiday shopping season will be a disaster. we will let him make his case after this. 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.

stuart: i want to get straight to our guest, who says, his name is doug stevens, by the way. he says that this coming holiday shopping season will be a disaster. doug stevens is the retail prophet and he joins us now. all right, doug, that's a pretty strong word. the holiday shopping season, a disaster. make your case. why is it so bad?

>> look, nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news, stuart, but the fact of the matter is we are dealing with two simultaneous problems here. on the one hand we have a health crisis, obviously. on the second hand, we have an economic worry and so let's just sort of play this out. we have seen malls reopening across the u.s., we have seen stores reopening. what we are seeing is we are seeing occupancy levels that are low, anywhere between 25% and 50%. so clearly, some consumers are willing to go back to stores, back to malls, back to restaurants, but certainly we are not seeing anything close to pre-pandemic levels. the problem in that, obviously, is that there's a minimum operating expense just to open a store, just to open a mall or a department store, there's a minimum threshold of expense and if you're not covering that with revenue, that's going to be a significant problem. why that matters is that we are going to see people who have been furloughed hired back into the retail sector and then we

are going to see layoffs. once retailers discover the fact that revenues are well below what it takes to operate from a cost standpoint, we are going to see significant layoffs in the fourth quarter, and that's going to put a huge drag on spending in the fourth quarter. stuart: okay. well, how about let me just give a counter-argument in brief. come the fourth quarter of this year, a lot of the restrictions on getting into malls and getting into stores will surely have been taken away, and secondly, we'll be flush with cash in this economy because we have pumped a lot in and won't there be a pent-up demand to go shopping and buy stuff? >> not if it means dying. no. and there's going to be a percentage of the population that will resist the urge to return, and it could be a significant percentage. i mean, just the images and videos that we have seen coming

out of shopping centers and malls just in the last few days since they have opened are scary. i mean, lack of ppe, no masks being worn, you know, sort of very close contact in some cases. so on the one hand, sure, there's money being put into the economy, some would argue that it's way too little to give consumers confidence over the long term, and the other aspect of this is that we may find in the fourth quarter that there's actually a flareup of this virus and that actually renews concern around the health crisis. the bottom line, stuart, is until there's a vaccine, we don't go back to normal. stuart: okay. you're not supposed to say only time will tell but that's exactly what i'm going to say. doug stephens, only time will tell. we will see you again later. thanks very much. more "varney" after this.

. . . . ♪ we could never do what they do. but what we can do it be a partner that never quits. verizon is the most reliable network in america. built for interoperability and puts first responders first, giving their calls priority, 24/7. we do what we do best so they can too.

look, this isn't my first rodeo and let me tell you something, i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. it's just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, it's helped over a million americans. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan, like any other. big difference is how you pay it back. does the current economy have you worried about your finances in retirement? learn how senior homeowners are using home equity to improve their monthly cashflow and preserve their savings. other mortgages are paid each month,

but with a reverse mortgage, you can pay whatever you can, when it works for you, or, you can wait, and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. use it to cover health care costs, or to pay off large bills. or just have the money on hand when you need it. call now to receive your free information kit. you've probably been investing in your home for years... making monthly mortgage payments... doing the right thing... and it's become your family's heart and soul... well, that investment can give you tax-free cash just when you need it. if youre over 62, a reverse mortgage loan can be a source of retirement security. act now while home values are high and interest rates are low. look, reverse mortgages aren't for everyone but i think i've been 'round long enough to know what's what. i'm proud to be part of aag, i trust 'em, i think you can too.

trust aag for the best reverse mortgage solutions. call now so you can... retire better stuart: 10:00 on the east coast. the market is open for 30 minutes. we got a lot of green, almost a new high for the day on the dow industrials. up 336. look at nasdaq go, up 168 points. the star performer amongst the tex is facebook. way up this morning. 4 1/2% higher. carrying the nasdaq substantially higher itself. happening this hour disney springs in florida starting to reopen. if we get a live picture of the crowds there we will show it to you. we're also watching the price of oil. 30 minutes from now, we get latest read how much oil we've got in storage.

loose week there was a big drawdown. that was a surprise. that indicates demand for oil and gasoline is rising. we'll have numbers for you. that could be important. reopening story continues. we're following two american icons, notre dame university and graceland. we're talking about both of them but first this. on the republican side it's get back to work quickly and safely. on the democrat side, getting back to work quickly will cost lives. that is a political divide. it goes to the heart of how america recovers and, it is getting personal. watch this exchange between democrat senator sherrod brown and treasury secretary steve mnuchin. >> how many workers should give their lives to increase the gdp or dow jones by 1000 points? >> no workers should give their lives to do that, mr. senator, i think your characterization is

unfair. stuart: there you have it, clear as daylight. to the left the argument is, send them back to work and you have blood on your hands. i think that is grossly unfair. senator brown knows we can never get back to work with zero risk. so what level of risk is acceptable? he is not saying. he is just cynically criticizing. nor does he say anything about the enormous personal cost of being locked down for months on end. arguably, that is really hurting mental health. with rising suicide rates, it is killing people too. what senator brown wants is what speaker pelosi wants, throw more money around so people make more staying at home rather than going back to work. delay the economic recovery. and don't limit an employer's liability, don't do that. the trial lawyers are joined at the hip to the democrats. they are already lining up lawsuits. you exposed my client to risk.

pay up. the left is exploiting the virus and they're doing it for purely political reasons. they think it is their ticket to beating mr. trump. they have little interest getting economy back on track especially with an election coming. that is what the congressional clash revealed. the left wants to slow undo the recovery so they win in november. steven mnuchin wants to open the economy before the virus kills the economy. my opinion? , open the economy. minimize risk. set people free. it's time. second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪. stuart: new this hour, look at this, national presidential poll. joe biden leads by six points over president trump. now in arizona, picking out that one state, biden 50% support, president trump at 43%. that is just one of several

swing states where joe biden leads. come in mercedes schlapp. mercedes, i don't think you can ignore these polls. you can't say we don't pay attention to them. they're real and president trump's trailing. what do you say? >> well, i mean i can show you public polling where, trump, president trump is winning in battleground states. also we don't put too much stock in these public polls because as we know in 2016 if we would have listened to those pollsters, we would have believed that hillary clinton would have been the president of the united states. so look, stuart, we're at a point we're over five months away from the presidential election. you will see shifts in the polls. reality, is when, you look at enthusiasm, the enthusiasm is clearly on the republican side in terms of what our infrastructure in the campaign, infrastructure we've been able to build in the campaign which has been critical in terms of really motivating and getting

our volunteers trained, ready to go on election day. stuart: i got to say, mercedes, forgive me for droning on about this, joe biden has so many problems with his campaign, with sexual assault allegation, what he was doing in the white house meeting right before president trump took over, he can't can't get it together with a broadcast, glitches all over the place, despite all of that he is in the lead. is it possible that president trump doing something wrong like his tone, his demeanor, attitude towards the press, that possible? >> no. stuart, let me explain something to you, president has taken bold leadership when it comes to the issue of coronavirus. and also in understanding that he is the only one who could rebuild this economy. get this economy going again. you look at the polls, more and more americans trust president trump over joe biden in rebidding this economy. what is the solution of

joe biden? instead of increasing taxes and listening to aoc as his climate czar to push the "green new deal" that we know would cost millions of jobs. we are way, we have time. you're looking at the fact this is almost five to six months out before the election. i'm going to say this again. i can show you polling where we see the president leading in battleground states. we're in a very strong position and at the end of the day the american people have to make a choice. are they going with a guy who is in the basement, who doesn't even have a clear plan for america other than increasing taxes and further destroying our economy? or are we going to stick with president trump who we know has been a leader, and understand the fundamentals of building a strong economy as well as insuring that we protect the american worker and also provide relief to american families during this difficult time. stuart: let me focus on a battleground state which is

michigan. the governor there, governor whitmer, says she is in the run for biden's vice president pick. biden will pick a female running mate, governor of michigan says she is in line. what do you say to that? >> i think you're seeing a lot of these women audition for the vice-presidential role for joe biden. sadly when you even look at governor whitmer's record you see authoritarian rule coming from her state. she went after, for crying out loud she went after a barber and took away his license. you find these unfortunate incidents where even the people in michigan are disappointed with her performance during the coronavirus. look, when you go through these crisis, these national crises, the national emergencies, that is when the true leaders rise. there is no question that president trump has been such a strong leader in insuring that we're able to reopen the economy

safely and responsibly, and at the same time making sure that the states have the resources that they need in order to get through this difficult time. i got to tell you, doesn't matter who biden puts at his vp candidate, all women refuse to or listen to tear a reed's allegations -- tara reade's allegations but support joe biden. at the end of the day doesn't make a difference who isthe ticket with joe biden. the american people will look and see joe biden is a weak democrat. democrats have told me they're very concerned that joe biden is unfit to be president. stuart: that was forceful presentation from you, mercedes. their for being on the show. mercedes schlapp, thanks for being with us. >> thank you very much. stuart: we're looking at real rally here. look at that. the dow is up 370 points, nasdaq, that is up 166 points.

i got to tell you big tech is strong today, especially facebook. can we see royal caribbean, please? i'm not sure what they said but they did report earlier. evidently the market likes. bookings in the future are looking pretty good. stock is up as soon as we mention it. $43 a share. a lot of big winners, including lowe's sales surging during the pandemic. jeff flock is with us. home improvement boom is going on but i'm not part of but i'm sure you are. reporter: we told you on the broadcast a month ago from the home depot making the same point because it was busy. these stores were deemed to be essential businesses. i don't want to say we picked winners and losers. we kept the stores open, really opened the doors. look at numbers, stuart, it is pretty amazing. lowe's and home depot reduced their hours three hours a day.

they actually sold a whole lot more. $19.7 billion of sales this quarter compared to first quarter last year. pretty amazing. same-store sales, up 11.2%, systemwide. 12.3% in the u.s. it is the first time in a year that lowe's as beaten home depot. you know, lauren made the point earlier. there are more lowe's stores out in the country, kind of. home depot has a lot of your ban stores. that may have helped a little bit too. i hate to admit, i have a home renovation project going. i have been at a lowe's or home depot pretty much every day that i'm off, for the past two months. that indicates my lack of planning on one hand, but two, people are getting a lot done out there. stuart: they are. i know a lot of people who have got a home improvement project of some scale going on in their house right now. unfortunately i'm not allowed to pick up a hammer, saw,

screwdriver, not allowed to touch it. jeff, you're always right. mr. flock, thank you, sir. move on to other stay at home staples, i with will call them that. eggs and campbell's soup. these stokes are doing well with everybody stuck at home. that is the point, isn't it. lauren: over the past one year they are certainly higher. eggs, a cheap form of protein. americans are watching their money and stockpiling their refrigerators. cal maine eggs is up. they have since come down, very volatile pricing. campbell soup, this is the comfort food you fill your pantry with, also you share. you sit down on the couch. you watch a show. you share the pop secret, snyder's pretzels and other brands campbell's soup does sell. these are winners among, well, amid the lockdown which -- sort of over now in many places, right?

stuart: yes it is. lauren: i can't really say lockdown anymore. stuart: you can go out in almost more of america. worried about your diet, lauren. good lord. lauren: i went food shopping. people were commenting on what i bought. i had two carts full of snacks. made me happy. like christmas morning, i brought them home panned my kids ransacked everything. stuart: you're too honest. how about las vegas, venetian resort aiming for a june 1st reopening. do we know anything more about that, susan? susan: aiming for the venetian resort and probably the venetian tower will be the first property to reopen. they're missing out a lot of revenue on memorial day weekend. usually 330,000 people pile into vegas, spend a quarter after billion dollars. with the ongoing closures, stay-at-home orders, no one is going to vegas.

venetian and las vegas sands targeting reopening june 1st. they didn't start accepting some of the bookings up until a few days ago. mgm targeting june 1st. caesars more aggressive than everybody else. targeting reopening this weekend for memorial day. now they're looking for maybe next week. i still think that is a little bit too hopeful. stuart: we'll check it out. i want everybody to check out the market. look at that we're almost up 400 points on the dow industrials. facebook is up $10 as we speak. microsoft is up. apple is up. i'm telling you big tech is driving this thing. the dow is now up over 400 points. coming up on the show, we have the founder of a new retail app which launches today. they have raised a lot of money. it is an app that reads you in particular and tailors shopping opportunities to you. it uses artificial intelligence to know you. i like the sound of that.

we'll be talking to the ceo. president trump says he news feels differently about the trade deal with china. should we renegotiate it? i'm asking that question? but first, a newly-declassified email from former national security advisor susan rice shows that she had knowledge of trump campaign surveilance years ago she denied it. we have dug up the clip. we'll show it to you after this. hi, i'm bob harper,

and i recently had a heart attack. it changed my life. but i'm a survivor. after my heart attack, my doctor prescribed brilinta. it's for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. brilinta is taken with a low-dose aspirin. no more than 100 milligrams as it affects how well brilinta works. brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. in a clinical study, brilinta worked better than plavix. brilinta reduced the chance of having another heart attack... ...or dying from one. don't stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor, since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. don't take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. slow heart rhythm has been reported. tell your doctor about bleeding new or unexpected shortness of breath

any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. if you recently had a heart attack, ask your doctor if brilinta is right for you. my heart is worth brilinta. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. 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. shop online from the comfort of your couch, and get your car with touchless delivery

to keep you safe. and for even greater peace of mind, all carvana cars come with a seven-day return policy. so, if you need to keep moving, we're here for you. at carvana-- the safer way to buy a car. robinwithout the commission fees. so, you can start investing today wherever you are - even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood.

stuart: well, you got to check that market because we're going up. look at this, now we're up 30 points. nasdaq is up 168 points. can you show me big tech because that's the story of the day? et cetera specially facebook. they're all up. look at facebook.

that is up $10. that is enormous jump for a company that size. they have got a new project and it is being introduced today, i believe. i think it amounts to a new shopping channel. that is my vernacular for it. that made a big difference to the stock, up 4.6%. goo google up nearly 2%. apple up nearly 1.6%. appeal up to 318. big tech driving market. look at mcdonald's. it has been hit with two class action lawsuits because of virus worker safety. nonetheless the stock is up. johnson & johnson will stop selling talcum baby powder in u.s. an canada because all of all the lawsuits surrounding it. j&j up a fraction. big tech and facebook that is really moving this market. facebook in particular up over $10 a share and the nasdaq is up nearly 10 points, big day.

target same-store sales up 11%. okay, the stock's down but target is a virus lockdown winner i think, lauren. lauren: oh, yeah. they gained strength during the coronavirus. the stock is down because they spent a lot of money to execute everything that they were able to execute. same-store sales up 11%. online, up 140%. same day delivery, whether through shipped, remember that service, there was a walk out because those workers wanted more money and got more money. and drive-up, gains of 278%. certainly a winner when you look at it. one other thing, do you remember years past they would do these clothing tie-ups with fancy designer names like masone? doing it again with love shack fancy, kushne, lisa marie fernandes. that keeps target more hot and

desirable. target appeal. remember? stuart: yeah, we used to call them "tar-shay," because they thought they got delusions of grandeur but they were grand. put it like that. 121 on target's stock right now. something completely different, resurfaced 2017 clip of susan rice denying any knowledge of surveilling the trump campaign. roll tape, please. >> we've been following a disclosure by the chairman of the house intelligence committee, devin nunes that in essence during the final days of the obama administration, during the transition, after president trump had been elected that he and the people around him may have been caught up in surveillance of foreign individuals and that their identities may have been disclosed. do you know anything about this? >> i know nothing about this. stuart: okay. i know nothing about this. that was march 2017.

kt mcfarland on the left, on the right-hand side of the screen. kt, as you know, i will tell owl viewers, there is a newly-declassified email from susan rice which is the day that the inauguration of the new president, where it contradicts what she said later. sort it ought owl for us. what is going on with susan rice, kt? >> she knew they had done something very, very wrong. minutes before she walked out of the west wing of the white house. minutes before i actually walked into that same office, she was writing an email for the record, saying, well, president obama, did everything by the rules. we were all fine. everything was good. it was a cya memorandum because she knew they had done something very wrong. she assumed that people would come looking. she wrote that so it would be uncovered and discovered, hopefully she would be enough to excuse them. i don't think it was. other thing, i read that last

night, and in its entirety, i thought, whoa, this is all about saying played by the rules and we turned over all the information about russia to general flynn and incoming administration. general flynn met with her four times in her office. i joined him for two of those meetings, during the course of those she never talked about russia. she never mentioned it. she knew the entire time they were about to impose sanctions. stuart: you believe that meetings in the white house before president trump was inaugurated, at meet national the white house, a plot was hatched to go after flynn and use him as the way to get to russia, rush, that russia, that is what you think happened? >> yes, i do. and, it wasn't necessarily only flynn. they had, after the election they made up their minds they were going to sabotage the trump presidency with the national security council staff. i saw that when i was there. not only that, they were listening in on general flynn's phone calls. who else they were listening to?

that is the thing that bothered me, stu, when they leaked it to the "washington post," i thought they're looking a transcript after classified phone call listening in on general flynn. who else were they listening to? listening to president trump's phone calls. stuart: will we find out who else they were listening to? >> normal what happens in washington. there is scandal. head of the organization says, nothing to see here. we fired guys. rewritten regulations. everything going forward will be fine. this time is too big. president trump promised me personally, in person, on the phone, he was determined to get to the bottom of this what happened. i take him at his word. he doesn't back down from anybody. i don't think he will back down for this. it has reached tipping point. it is too big. more and more people are coming forward with documents. not just anonymous sources but actual documents that are being declassified. so yes this time i think people will be uncovered. we will get to the bottom of this. people will be held accountable. stuart: are you feeling

vindicateed? >> vindicated -- here is what make mee the maddest about this. i was collateral damage. my career was ruined. my retirement savings account is gone, paying for lawyers. but on the other hand i think about, okay maybe eventually this gets good. what were these people doing? they knew the russia thing was a hoax. for two years, almost three years they sabotaged the trump presidency. meanwhile, what was happening during those three years? what were woe not paying attention to? the fact that china was busy taking over the world. that china was attempting to steal all of our technology. that they were turning what were supposed to be just fishing islands in the south china sea, they were militarizing them into military bases so they could seize the whole south china sea as internal chinese lake. these are all the things we were unable to do, democrats, allies in the media, the deep state, call it whatever you want, had us on this wild goose chase for 2 1/2 years. they put us at each other's

throats, when we should have been looking at bigger picture. paying attention to what was really happening in the world. what were we doing? enmeshed, running around a rates track with this little rabbit following the rabbit about the russia hoax which they knew was a fake from the beginning. stuart: come back frequently and explain how this thing unfolds because you explain it very well. we appreciate it. kt mcfarland. see you again real soon. sure thing. totally different subject. you ever heard of the restaurant 11 madison park in new york city? it is one of the best. it is currently closed because of the virus. the man behind the restaurant is coming up. i will ask i am, are you going to reopen, ever? i will ask him. moments from now, we have the latest read of oil in storage. that means how much oil we're using. might make a difference in the price. back after this. ur allergy pill?

flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler. nothing lasts longer. flonase sensimist. 24 hour non-drowsy allergy relief

stuart: let's go straight to ashley. we got big news on oil. what do you have for me, ash? ashley: yeah, a surprise. we were expecting a build of about million barrels. we have drawn down almost five million barrels. down 4.89 million barrels which speaks to demand picking up. so this is and encouraging sign,

it is. it has affected the price. up a buck 38. that is interesting. we drew down, we used five million barrels of oil. that implies very strong demand, looks to me like it anyway. let's stay on oil. stephen schork is with us. this guy is a world class oil analyst and he danes to be with us this morning of that is a big drawdown. that implies demand is really picking up strongly. am i reading it right, stephen? >> i will put out one caveat, stuart. what we've seen past three weeks, barrels moving into the strategic petroleum reserve. nine u.s. oil companies have leased 23 million barrels of space at the spr. what we've seen, had a chance to look at today's numbers but if the pattern holds i suspect barrels, yes, did fall from commercial stocks three pads, five pads, most important one,

cushing, oklahoma where you may take delivery on the nymex but i will be interested to see if more barrels move into the spr. because what has been happening essentially we've been taking oil out of one pocket, spr, just shifting it over, excuse me at cushing, moving it over to the other pocket, spr. clearly demand is picking up. i'm not so sure of a bullish of a driver fundamentally as it first appears. >> i don't want to go overboard on this, but i do notice the price of oil has risen significantly over the past few weeks t has risen all the way around the world. that implies to me that the lockdown is coming to an end that economies are opening up. we're going back to work. that is reflected in the price of oil. that is a global economic indicator. it is a positive global indicator. >> absolutely. demand is picking up as we begin to filter down through the shelter in place standpoints. unfortunately my governor here in pennsylvania wants us all

under house arrest here in the philadelphia area. demand is coming but the big issue how is the demand response and my concern is that the demand response with 27, 28 million commuters no longer have jobs to drive to going into the summer demand will be muted. but in the here and the now, this is a positive that demand is picking up but i also want to put a caveat out there, stu. you always want to know who is buying in this market. yes, we had a nice run in the market, but speculation maining driving this. primarily hedge funds and small retail investors. the crude oil producer has been selling into this rally so that is interesting. stuart: that sure is. 33 bucks a barrel as we speak. stephen schork on oil. thank you very much, sir. >> thank you. stuart: overall the stock market holding on to very solid gains up 384 on the dow. up 164 on the nasdaq. big tech on fire today. for a start, look at facebook. it hit an all-time high earlier.

i think it is there now, 227, up 5%. huge gain for facebook. amazon, i think they also hit a new all-time high, getting closer to $2500 a share. breaking news on carlos phone. what is going own, susan? susan: former u.s. green beret michael taylor and his son peter taylor, were arrested in massachusetts probably for extradition to stand trial in japan for aiding carlos ghosn. remember the high drama caper at end of last year. he was smuggled out in some sort of a instrument case. board ad private jet. stopped in turkey, eventually landing in lebanon. a third person is also being sought as well. his name is george antonzuec for facility it eighting the escape.

carlos ghosn making a highly publicized escape in japan and landing in lebanon. stuart: susan, thank you very much indeed. now this. 11 madison park, truly great restaurant. one of the world's best. it is in new york city. come in the restaurant ture who is with us this morning. will, i'm hering that that restaurant, beautiful restaurant, white table cloth not going to reopen ever. is that halfway accurate? >> you know, i'm here on behalf of the independent restaurant coalition which is -- bunch of people just seven weeks ago and we represent 500,000 independent restaurants across the country. i'm not just talking about the white table cloth restaurants. i'm talking about your local pub where you get drinks with buddies after work, all the way down to the diner here, the pasta joint, all of it. we're all -- stuart: you said they will not all reopen. you said a very large portion

will not reopen. so carry this forward here. i know you were in the meeting yesterday with the president. what specifically did you ask for in terms of help for the restaurants from the president? >> we will reopen if we get the relief we need. we asked for two things. we asked for fixes to the ppp program such they work more effectively for restaurants. it is hard for us to rehire our staff until we're allowed to reopen which as you know many places across the country aren't. we also asked for additional fund of money, specific for restaurants. the restaurant industry is just in more vulnerable place than a lot of other industries. stuart: yeah. >> the ppp, the way i think about it, represents the first half of a bridge to reopening. but what we need is more money to complete that bridge and actually have a chance of getting to the other side of this. stuart: did the president imply, yes you would get the money, yes, you would get that extra help? >> this is what we heard.

that the ppp fixes, they're definitely going to make, but i think the thing we heard mostly is that president trump, vice president pence, they care about the restaurant business, they will do whatever it takes to help us succeed. we're really hopeful that they make good on those commitments. we're not asking for a bailout. we're just asking to be given the funds we need to be put back to work. we want to continue to being a part of every community in this country and a help to create the memories that -- stuart: we all miss you. we miss you. we really do miss you, not just here in new york, but all around the country. we really want you to get back in business. one last one. i don't think you can make a profit, i don't think you can even break even, unless you have 75% capacity in your restaurants. what do you say? >> yeah. i mean, listen restaurants, the reason it is a great business to give money to right now, 90, to

95 cents on every dollar goes right back into the economy. we need to be close to 100% to succeed. why we're asking for a stabilization fund to help us get open, but stay open until we get back to 100%. stuart: will, i have got to cut it short. i'm sorry about that. i really hope you get the help you need, you get back soon. will, thank you. >> thank you. all of you out there, we miss you too. stuart: will, promise you, i will be a big tipper when you come back. that is absolute promise. >> i look forward to that thank you so much. stuart: sure thing, will. thank you. we're following a gym in new jersey that defied orders and stayed open. look at that, one gym member arrested after refusing to give police their name. owners and customers say they will not back down. watch this. >> this is about small business. this is about constitutional rights. >> i'm not a criminal. i'm a mother, of two children. so i want to grow up in united states of america with freedom

the way i grew up. stuart: we're going to follow this revolt every step of the way on this program. first though, graceland, reopening. there are guidelines of course. we'll show you what that looks like. we'll be back.

look, this isn't my first rodeo and let me tell you something, i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. it's just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, it's helped over a million americans. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan, like any other. big difference is how you pay it back. find out how reverse mortgages really work with aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage guide. eliminate monthly mortgage payments, pay bills, medical costs, and more. call now and get your free info kit.

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

trust aag for the best reverse mortgage solutions. call now so you can... retire better ♪. stuart: i remember that, actually. that is elvis of course, "jailhouse rock." why are we playing that? obviously because graceland reopens in memphis this week. by the way, tennessee is lifting restrictions here. large attractions can open in tennessee on may twenty second, as long as they have got social distancing going on.

joel wineshank is with us, elvis presley enterprises owner. great to see you on the program. i have the obvious question. when you reopen with all the social distancing and facemask stuff, do you think people will turn up in the same numbers they used to turn up? >> well in the begin being they won't be able to, with actually limited capacities we're handling for the first period of time, we're going to be down probably 75% of where we normally would, because we're walking into the high season, memorial day to labor day is peak season. we would see 3, 4,000 people a day. even if we sold every ticket we can do now, you're only looking 800 people a day. we want you to come back strong. so till us have you sold many tickets in advance? >> we have. there is such pent-up demand and so many people contacting us but for us, we'll take a hit for next nine months to a year. any attractions you look at will

take a hit. for us we've been working with governor lee and the state of tennessee for a month now trying to figure out the way back. this is about bringing america back. so we would be better off financially very frankly staying closed. stuart: really? >> that doesn't help memphis. that doesn't help the state of tennessee. that doesn't help america come back. we'll be looking to do, best practice, we want people to have a great time. what i say 14 years ago, president bush brought the prime minister of japan to graceland. they had what we would call a royal tour. for the next few weeks everybody will have a royal tour. they will show up. we're going to prove, this is the proving ground. we'll prove people can behave in a safe manner, make everyone comfortable. never mind your beliefs. work with the people around you, so our employees will be safe. customers and guests will be safe. they will have the most amazing sometime they ever had and appreciate graceland like they won't have five years ago,

five-years from now because of limited people that walk through. this is about showing america can come back, and can come back now. stuart: you're taking a hit through absolutely no fault of your own. you have done nothing wrong. but a lot of the hit that is coming your way is because of the sharp decline in tourism. you will not get any visitors from overseas or very, very few. not many people coming from california or from canada, for example. you are taking all kinds of hits here. i really respect you for opening up even though it would be easier and better financially for you if you stayed closed. i think you're a good man. >> listen. it is really not a choice. i've been challenging -- governor lee is a entrepreneur and the state of tennessee is probably the best entrepreneurial state in the union, really amazing for business owners. what i've been doing, challenging other business owners the state of tennessee, if you have the ability to help, you have the obligation to help.

we're even supplying 6500 tennessee businesses with touchless thermometers at costs. in one of my other businesses we have offices in china. we're actually bringing in 20,000 thermometers next week that we're supplying to all the tennessee businesses so they can adhere to the rules. we have obligation, tennessee doesn't have income tax, great place to lives. it relies on sells tax and relies tourism. memphis is the gateway for tennessee for tourism throughout the entire midwest. i have a number of friend who live in new york, new jersey, california, if i can drive there, can you get me a ticket? you would be surprised. i'm flying there myself, friday, basically spend a few hours. there is nothing enjoyable for me than to spend a few hours with the guests. stuart: joel, we appreciate you being on the show. you're a fine advertisement for the great state of tennessee. tell us the progress sir. see you soon.

from one icon, graceland, to another, notre dame university. grady trimble is with us, on campus, in-person classes resume there this summer, am i right? reporter: that's exactly right, except, i guess you could say the fall semester, summertime august. they're starting two weeks early so the entire fall semester wraps up before thanks giving. some other protocols at place here and other universities across the country, decided to resume in person classes, testing for students and faculty, if they might have the virus. a plan to quarantine those students and faculty, if they do have the virus. masks requirements as well as contact tracing plans in place. here is a look at some of the universities across the country that are deciding to resume in person classes. university of south carolina, university of north carolina, alabama, purdue as well as the entire public university system

in florida. now this decision to resume in-person classes it is as much a financial decision as it is an academic one because the fact of the matter is, universities make more money when students are on campus. they don't make as much money when they're taking online classes like the state university system in california has decided to do for the fall. one question here at notre dame, across the country, that remains is, whether the fighting irish will take to the gridiron, stuart. we still don't know about that. stuart: well i want to know because that is quite a team they got there. grady, thanks so much indeed. the fight is on to keep essential workers on the job in california after governor newsom said they would be the first to lose their job if the state doesn't receive federal aid. there is a story for you. we're following it. talking to the founder of a new retail app launching today. i will tell you all about it. i like the sound of this thing. we'll be back after this.

every financial plan needs a cfp® professional --

confident financial plans, calming financial plans, complete financial plans. they're all possible with a cfp® professional. find yours at letsmakeaplan.org. let's be honest. quitting smoking is hard. like, quitting every monday hard. quitting feels so big. so try making it smaller, and you'll be surprised at how easily starting small can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette.

starting small that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath.g big. [ sigh ] not gonna happen. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath. excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment please... [ finger snaps ] hmm. the kohler walk-in bath features an extra-wide opening and a low step-in at three inches, which is 25 to 60% lower than some leading competitors. the bath fills and drains quickly, while the heated seat soothes your back, neck and shoulders. kohler is an expert in bathing, so you can count on a deep soaking experience. are you seeing this? the kohler walk-in bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohler-certified installer. and it's made by kohler- america's leading plumbing brand. we need this bath. yes. yes you do. a kohler walk-in bath provides independence with peace of mind.

stuart: why is the market up so much? i will give you two reasons, big tech, facebook in particular. straight up. number two, investors like the reopening of america which has reached all 50 states. next one, my next guest launching a new retail shopping

app today. it is called, the yes. it is powered by artificial intelligence. julie bornstein is founder of the yes. julie, let me see if i got this right. i get the app, stick it on my phone here and it speaks to me. it gets to know me using artificial intelligence, known else, just me and sends ideas just to me, is that right? >> that's right. thanks, stuart. stuart: what else are you going to tell me about it? >> the app is a new way to shop. it is a significant improvement to what exists today in e-commerce. basically we're working with hundreds of brands from high to low. we have prada, ralph lauren collection, jimmy choo, we understand your preferences high to low. we make it really fun and is for you to shop and -- stuart: how will you know that? how will you know my

preferences, size, all the rest of it? >> when you download the app you fill out a fun q&a and those data points are really helpful. so that begins the journey with the yes. you have a home feed. each of our home feeds are different. think about spotify, how we love music, we get to have the music we love, this is the same but for fashion. as you continue to shop, you yes and no items you like and don't like and that gives us an ongoing signal to what your fashion preferences are. stuart: we're coming out of the lockdown gradually. during the lockdown apparel did not sell very well. we're all buying sweat pants and pajamas. essentially that is an appearl app, the yes is an apparel app. are you worried about the timing of the introduction? >> the truth is i think we'll already to burn our sweats pretty damn soon. we want to dress up again.

that is trend towards that. that is a great app to play ons you tune yourself over time. whether you're ready to buy now, here in the future, we're here for you. stuart: julie bornstein, great idea. it is called "the yes ," new app. might be great for me. >> thank you. bye-bye. stuart: program note, next thursday the may the 28th, we're holding our own "america works together town hall here on "varney." our guests will be dave ramsey, chris hogan, the ramsey solutions people. send video questions to invested in you @foxbusiness.com. you get my take in a moment about all the free money being handed out to illegals in california. we'll be back. and people you . i'm a dell technologies advisor. me too. me too. me too. and if you're a small business, we're with you.

we are with you. we're with you. we want to help. so we'll be right here. at home. answering your calls. providing support. and standing by you every step of the way. bye bye.

stuart: it is 11:00 eastern time. the market's holding on to a very solid rally. 372 up for the dow, 49 up for the s&p, and 173 points up for the nasdaq. big tech's doing real well. on the opening up front, here we go, four states easing lockdown restrictions today. outdoor restaurants open in connecticut. you can go shopping only by appointment in delaware. in kentucky, retail stores open at 33% capacity and in new jersey, car dealerships are back in business. now you know.

there's the opening up and now this. in california, illegals can now register to receive $500 in emergency state aid. it's limited to $1,000 per household. the initial cost is about $75 million. in seattle, the city council passed a resolution asking for $100 million to help illegals. the states and cities which offer safe haven to anyone who crossed the border now insist that the rest of us pay up. i guess it was bound to happen. the cost of being a welfare state to the world was catching up with sanctuary states before the virus shut everybody down. now the costs are rising. what should we do? senator tom cotton has introduced the no bailout for illegal aliens act. under it, there is no federal aid to any state that gives special assistance to illegals. that would really throw a wrench into the whole sanctuary

movement. in california, the exact opposite. governor newsom says he will lay off firefighters and police officers first if aid from the feds is not forthcoming. pure political posturing here. newsom would lay off first responders first to inflict maximum pain to show how wicked it is to refuse a state in pain. isn't this like the pension crisis? a state gets into trouble through its own mismanagement and then uses the virus crisis to demand a bailout. that's what illinois is doing and now california demands federal money to bail out its sanctuary. it begs the question. what's the priority? in my opinion, the priority is take care of americans first and take care of virus-related problems first. then when the economy recovers, the states can take care of the problem they created, pensions and sanctuaries. never let a good crisis go to

waste. steve hilton is here. you are a california guy. what do you make of this $500 benefit for illegals? what do you say? >> well, i think everything you said is true. it's incredibly important because it's importapart of the which is what these states want is all the political benefit of throwing money around but none of the cost. they want the federal government to pay the price of their generosity, if you can even call it that. actually, it's even worse than you described, because on the one hand, gavin newsom laid out his budget last week. i listened to every word in his presentation. he's basically saying there's going to be a $14 billion budget deficit and he's going to have to make cuts to the programs you mentioned, especially first responders, unless he gets bailed out. nancy pelosi, he's assuming that money, $14 billion, he's assuming that it's going to come from nancy pelosi's $3 trillion

heroes act but it's even worse than that, because nancy pelosi is actually proposing to give california three times as much in her bill, california gets $48 billion. where's that money going to end up? in the pocket of their donors, the public sector unions, exactly as you say, the pensions, their other retirement benefits, for example, health care, also they support them in the elections in november. it is totally corrupt. stuart: it is absolutely wrong. i cannot believe that america will give $48 billion to california of all places. i just can't believe that will happen. even a fraction of that should not be happening. that's just my opinion. tell me about the sports teams which governor newsom is trying to bring to the state. he wants pro sports to open up i think by early june. look, today is may 20th. people still can't get a haircut in california. what's with the time frame here? pro sports by june?

looks unlikely. >> well, i don't want to stand in the way of anything reopening so i want everything to be open as soon as possible. i have been arguing that on my show for weeks now. i think the data and the science all point in that direction. but you're right, you know, if that's going to be happening with sports, then it totally undermines the argument for all these other things that are still being shut down. look at los angeles, where the health director there, the county health director, totally unelected and unaccountable, said things would have to stay shut until the end of july. it's completely ridiculous. especially in those parts of the state that have had hardly any impact from coronavirus. where there's really no reason to shut schools at all, for example. schools, i think, would be my first priority for reopening because you can't get the economy open if schools are closed, because parents can't go out to work. stuart: yet all -- not all the polls but the polls i have seen suggest that people want the lockdown to continue or the

restrictions, put it like that, the restrictions to continue. they are popular. i find that hard to believe, but that's what i'm hearing. >> right. and this is a really important point, because what we are seeing now is the consequence of the climate of fear that is being put out there to what i have described as misinformation from the mainstream media where they have actually not set out the real facts about this virus, who is vulnerable, the fact that most people who even get it get mild or zero symptoms, that there's a certain group of the population we have to be very careful with and protect but for most people, it is not dangerous and those facts haven't been out there. so you've got this climate of fear that suggests that even if you catch it, it's a death sentence. that's simply not true. i think we need to counter that misinformation so that people do realize that the risks are actually for most people very low. stuart: please do. do it on your show. come do it on mine, too. i like this stuff. steve hilton, thank you very much, sir. see you soon. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: the stock market rally continues.

i'm putting oil up on your screen, $33 a barrel. five million barrels of oil taken out of storage, whether that means there's a lot more demand or does it mean the storage is now in some place else, not quite sure. but when the number was released, the price of oil went up a little, up about a buck at the moment at $32.99. i want to tell you about moderna. that stock right now is down just 40 cents. it fell late yesterday, brought most of the market down with it, after a report questioning their vaccine trial results. well, the ceo was on with maria earlier this morning and said this. >> we have been able to go from the sequence of the virus to interim phase one data, the fda has given us a green light to go into phase two and we are in final planning to start phase three with thousands of subjects as early as july. stuart: that's the key point. phase three as early as july,

thousands of people in the test. that's a big deal. the stock now is only down 30 cents. next case, let's talk about target. another lockdown winner, really. online sales up 141% but they shelled out $500 million for precautions against the virus. the stock actually is down two bucks but at $121. has done well recently. staying on profits. lauren, what do we know about financial reports tomorrow? lauren: we get a lot of retailers reporting tomorrow, all different types of stores. this is a wide range on the temperature of the consumer right now. macy's, department store, best buy electronics, tjx, they own home goods and marshall's. these stores typically have large crowds that come to the stores. it's discounted home furnishings and other items. bj's, are you still buying in bulk? and finally packaged foods and meats at hormel foods. wide range of companies reporting tomorrow. stuart: very important stuff. lauren, tell me about pier 1. i think they are going out

completely, is that right? lauren: that is correct. they are in liquidation mode and this list joins them in chapter 11 bankruptcy. jc penney, j. crew, neiman marcus, stage doors, they do operate some department stores, true religion, aldo group, john varvatos. the list continues to grow. bottom line is where are we going to shop when all is said and done? you can't do everything by looking at something on a screen on your phone or computer. you do need to go to the store. what stores are going to be left? stuart: that's a fair point but the ones on your screen, out. very interesting. now, i think this is the most important story of the morning for the market, that is. facebook, look at that, up 5.05%. give me the story, susan. susan: well, facebook is launching facebook shops. they are competing and getting into battle for e-commerce. this is a big deal because don't forget, 2 billion visitors on facebook's platform and instagram's platform each and

every day and now with facebook shops, virtually every business profile on facebook and instagram is now a virtual storefront shop. they can buy and sell on those pages instantly directly as well. don't forget that e-commerce penetration is very -- still very low in the u.s., only about 25% so you can think about the growth in the future, especially if you are using libra to pay for these goods as well. that's another avenue. i'm just thinking of all the different ways facebook can leverage off this and compete in e-commerce. stuart: that's why the stock is now up $11, 5.1%. sounds like they are going to compete with amazon. do i not understand things right? susan: no, you are absolutely right. it's also on whatsapp and messenger and more than two billion people use those services as well. i'm just thinking of all the numbers, just think of all the numbers i have thrown at you. two billion people each and every day buy and sell directly on all of these four different platforms, send money directly in the future, that's what they are hoping with libra. it just seems like facebook taking a cut of all those

transactions, that's a lot of numbers, don't you think? stuart: no wonder the stock is up now $11 a share. quickly, susan, what do you have on tik tok that's new? susan: we know tik tok poached kevin mayer, disney streaming, but don't forget the parent company is worth $140 billion according to private round sources, equivalent to ibm or hsbc. this company, the parent company, the most valuable startup in the world, has about one and a half billion active monthly users on their entire family of apps. that includes tik tok which has been downloaded about two billion times since its launch in 2017. one of the most downloaded apps on the planet. will they go public? they have been thinking about an ipo, although 2020 i think that's pretty much off the table since they are so cashed up with softbank as an investor but they have thought about hiring 40,000 people in the u.s. this year, including kevin mayer, which was probably the most high profile hire you can think of. stuart: at some point you have

to tell me what those two people were doing on the screen there. some kind of challenge or test by the looks of it. maybe i don't want to know. susan: music dance type of app. we have to get you on tik tok. i think 400 million people use it each and every day right now. stuart: good luck with that. susan li. governor gavin newsom, california guy, threatening to lay off first responders first if the state has to make big budget cuts. should he really be using firefighters as a bargaining chip for more federal money? we will discuss that. 35 senate seats are up for grabs in november. will republicans stand by trump's pandemic response and stay with him to hold on to their majority? what are they going to do? we will find out. we will guess on that. new jersey gym member arrested after breaking stay-at-home rules. the guys at that gym are just a handful of americans around the country leading the revolt to reopen. more on the crisis crusaders after this. turn on my tv and boom,

it's got all my favorite shows right there. i wish my trading platform worked like that. well have you tried thinkorswim? this is totally customizable, so you focus only on what you want. okay, it's got screeners and watchlists. and you can even see how your predictions might affect the value of the stocks you're interested in. now this is what i'm talking about. yeah, it'll free up more time for your... uh, true crime shows? british baking competitions. hm. didn't peg you for a crumpet guy. focus on what matters to you with thinkorswim. ♪ there are times when our need to connect really matters. to keep customers and employees in the know. to keep business moving. comcast business is prepared for times like these. powered by the nation's largest gig-speed network. to help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. and a team of experts - here for you 24/7. we've always believed in the power of working together. that's why, when every connection counts... you can count on us.

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: no, we're not going to take it but i will take that market rally. up 400 on the dow right now. look, i say let's get back to i'm not going to take it. i think we have been cooped up for too long. let's get the latest on what i call a revolt that's happening across the country. first off, a barbershop in brooklyn defied orders of the city, cut people's hair. not supposed to. the police showed up. they didn't give the owner a ticket but they did tell him to close down. then they left. i believe the man is still cutting hair. speaking of haircuts, ben roethlisberger, quarterback of the steelers, he broke lockdown rules, went out and got a trim,

and the governor of pennsylvania said no pennsylvanian should risk their life like that, no matter who they are. okay. what about that gym in new jersey? it opened its doors again this morning even though police handed out citations in the last couple of days, and one gym member was arrested because he refused to give his name to the police. i think they are still open. that's a standoff. martha maccallum is with us, host of "the story" on the fox news channel. martha, i'm calling it a revolt. maybe i'm going a bit far. i see this thing gathering steam. how do you see it? >> yeah, i think you're right, stuart. i think this is activism that's happening in a number of places cross the country, especially places like new jersey and pennsylvania and new york that are still very tightly locked down for these businesses and it goes back to the notion of whether or not the goal was to flatten the curve, to lower the pressure on our hospital systems

which was achieved, we never did reach a moment where we didn't have a ventilator for someone who needed one and that was the panic, you know, that really permeated the country in march, as we saw these numbers and i would point out also that a lot of those numbers were based on models which were then revised downward at the time. so i think you're seeing activism, i think we are seeing standoffs. i think we all want to be wary of where this could go in terms of civil unrest which i do think is a possibility that we need to be prepared for. we need to keep these standoffs with police and these business owners and business goers peaceful, because it does concern me about where this could go. stuart: on that note, i don't want to see guys showing up with rifles and shotguns and intimidating anybody. i don't think that's got any part in this whatsoever. go away, you are a distraction. that's just my opinion. look, all 50 states have now eased restrictions to some degree.

but the question is surely will people get out of the house and go shopping and go to eat out? are they going to respond to this big opening? what do you think? >> you know what, i think they will. i think what we have seen is that there's a lot of pent-up demand that people do want to get out there. look what's happening on the streets of new york city, where you can get takeout cocktails with your takeout food, then people are gathering all over the streets there. i think people have, you know, learned enough about this virus that they can take the calculated risk with their own situation, right. i mean, that's what this comes down to. i think, stuart, that what we are going to move towards in this society as we deal with this virus, because nothing's really changed with the virus, we don't have a solid treatment yet, and we don't have a vaccine, so the only thing that's changed is that things are open now and people are taking that calculated risk. i think we are going to move towards a waiver society, where every time you go to buy something on your phone, you are going to have one more box to click which is the waiver that says yes, i understand that i put myself in the situation, i

went to the gym at my own risk, i went to the pool at my own risk, and i think it's going to be a heyday for lawyers who can formulate the waivers and exonerate these businesses. stuart: one of the most important things, i think, is limiting liability for business owners. i hope to see that in any rescue package for business down the road. martha, i know you are busy. really want to thank you very much for taking part in the show today. great stuff. thank you very much. >> always good to see you, stuart. thanks for having me. stuart: see you, martha. thanks very much. got a couple real big winners on the screen right now. first of all, amazon. i believe that's real close to an all-time record high this morning. now show me facebook, please. that's the huge winner, look at it now. now it's up 12.3%. sorry. $12.36, 5.7%. basically, they have introduced a new shopping channel. it's not called that, but that's what it is. with a gigantic potential

marketplace. that's facebook for you. brand new high, $229 on facebook. that actually is powering the whole market ahead. dow is up 428. rolls royce, yeah, they make those luxury cars. they also make engines for planes. ashley, they are cutting jobs. tell me. ashley: yeah. not a good business to be in right now, even for rolls royce who makes aircraft engines for both boeing and airbus. they are going to cut at least 9,000 jobs out of the global work force of 52,000. so almost 20% of the work force. it's pretty brutal. they say they will have to undergo a basically major reorganization. they say the aviation business, air travel, has just collapsed and even once we get through this, it's going to take a long time, they believe, to get back to pre-virus levels. approximately two-thirds of those employees will be gone in

the united kingdom that does the majority of civil aerospace construction and business, so you know, rolls royce saying that look, we have already given management pay cuts, we are already furloughed a lot of employees, but the bottom line here, as this thing drags out and as the demand for air travel and aircraft continues to be at historic lows, there's just no way they can keep their workers on the books, so 9,000, majority of which will be based in the uk, have lost their jobs. stuart: it's a great story but i have no idea what that chart on the left-hand side of the screen says. unchanged at one cent. not sure about that. we will try to figure it out for you. there you go. it's a foreign company. let's talk clorox. i know where i am with that one. they have a 500% spike in demand because of the pandemic. the ceo says they are taking steps to prevent shortages, if another health disaster strikes. we will tell you all about that coming up.

treasury secretary mnuchin makes it crystal clear, no workers should give their lives to increase the gdp. we will tell you the outrageous reason he had to make that statement in the first place. after this. it's best we stay apart for a bit, but that doesn't mean you're in this alone. we're automatically refunding our customers a portion of their personal auto premiums. we're also offering flexible payment options for those who've been financially affected by the crisis. we look forward to returning to something that feels a little closer to life as we knew it, but until then you can see how we're here to help at libertymutual.com/covid-19. [ piano playing ]

stuart: look at this.

we are actually heading further north. now the dow is up 434 points, that's 1.7%. an even bigger gain for the s&p and a whopping great better than 2% gain for the nasdaq composite. have we got the big techs up there? i want to see facebook again, please. they are now up about 12 bucks a share, heading for $230 per share. that's because they are opening up a new shopping channel. that is a very big deal. okay. there you see it. facebook is at $229. up 5.8%. that is a gigantic move for a company of that size. all the big techs are up, powering the whole market. royal caribbean, what do we have on that? they are down $1.55. even though i believe they've got some pretty good bookings for their cruises next year. casinos. you can now make reservations in atlantic city, tell me more, susan. susan: atlantic city, but not until after memorial day

weekend, and even then, it's actually a soft opening, a soft date about whether or not they can reopen. let's take you through it. may 28th, hard rock hotel and casino says they are taking reservations for that date and beyond but who knows. june 7th, tropicana, caesars resort and hotel, june 18th, the ocean says they are taking reservations for that date and the borgata, considered one of the five-star establishments in atlantic city, being more conservative than most, saying we will take reservations after july 1st. we know casino hotels have been closed completely since governor phil murphy stopped gambling on march 16th. he also said the boardwalks and beaches will reopen this friday, just in time for memorial day, but atlantic city hotels and casinos, they went through the worst april on record with gaming revenue down some 69% and we know in these tough times, they are hoping to restart as soon as possible as well. stuart: i've got to tell you, our reporting on facebook and the shopping channel really having an impact. that stock is now up $13 a

share. 13 bucks higher on facebook. huge. huge. $229.93 is the price i've got right here. susan: this is a big opportunity. we can't say this enough, right, in terms of e-commerce and the lack of penetration, the growth that could come with it. but it's not just facebook. look in the entire tech sector today. apple is up close to 2%. amazon and the rest. stuart: oh, i'm watching carefully. thank you. let's move on to hotels. lauren, what does the ceo of hilton say about bouncing back and occupancy rates? lauren: well, let's show you what he told "the washington post." to get back to 2019 levels, i think it takes three or four years. it's a health crisis and we are not through that, by any means. but maybe the epicenter, then we'll exit into an economic crisis. the company has furloughed over 250,000 workers, 60% of its work force, and to get back, two cs.

contact list technology and cleanliness. necessity te they teamed up with lysol and are collaborating with the mayo clinic. they are using apps to select your room, get into your room, adjust the temperature, turn the lights on. so contactless and clean recovery, three to four years away or 2019 levels recovery, three to four years away. stuart: three to four years away? my goodness me. but the stock is up 2%. the overall market is sharply higher. let's say that. thanks, lauren. listen to what senator sherrod brown asked treasury secretary mnuchin yesterday. just listen to this. roll tape. >> how many workers should give their lives to increase the gdp or the dow jones by 1,000 points? >> no worker should give their lives to do that, mr. senator, and i think your characterization is unfair. stuart: that's the classic political division about how we get our economy up and running

again. when we open it up, the democrats assume that you are going to kill people. that's an extraordinary thing to say. iowa senator joni ernst joins us now. senator, i'm really shocked that question should be asked but it really does go to the heart of this division. forgive me for putting my opinion out here, senator, but look, when we get this new rescue package, i want to see liability protection for employers, i don't want to see any states get bailed out and i don't want to see an extension of emergency unemployment pay that keeps people at home. i'm sorry to put my opinion forward so forcefully right from the get-go but where do you think -- where do you stand on this? >> stuart, i couldn't have said it any better. we do have to balance obviously the safety of workers but then also reopening the economy. it is really important that we get our legs under us and we get the country moving again.

but we can do that safely. i think to presume otherwise is absolutely inaccurate. i think our governors are very concerned about this. the president obviously is very concerned about this but again, we have to get our economy moving. people's livelihoods depend on the economy and so we can do it safely, i am certain of that. what you mentioned as far as liability protections, that must be done. the extension of unemployment insurance, we have to measure that very carefully because we are providing an extraordinary amount of money to people that hopefully will be returning to jobs very soon. stuart: all right, senator. i'm going to change the subject completely after i have come on so strong with my opinions. you've got -- sorry about that, senator. i really am. >> no apology necessary. stuart: you have something called a squeal awards for government waste and abuse. okay. let's change the subject. who is the newest recipient of the award?

>> oh, goodness. the new recipients are millionaires who are currently on unemployment insurance, but they are also receiving the additional $600 per week. so it's pretty extraordinary that of course they should receive those unemployment insurance benefits if they have lost their job, they have paid into that system through their payroll taxes, but what we find now is that they are tapping into that additional $600 per week on the backs of our essential workers and those americans that are showing up to work every single day. we don't believe that millionaires should be receiving that bonus and i have a bill that would cut that off. stuart: but you don't want to extend those $600 a week payments way out until the end of the year because that really would keep people at home. i mean, why go to work if you make more at home? >> exactly. i hear that from iowans all

across the state. those employers are trying to reopen their businesses and yet the employees, no fault of their own, but they are saying i am making more on unemployment, why on earth would i go back to work. so making sure again that we are opening the economy safely but we really need to get those employees back to work as well. so extending that through the end of january, i don't see how that does our country any good. stuart: are the farmers in iowa doing okay with the president's $19 billion package? >> the farmers are very grateful. what we saw yesterday with the opening of the program through usda, they will be supported but i've said this many, many times over, you know, that our farmers would rather be producing their goods, getting them to market, trading actively rather than receiving assistance through the

federal government. but now it is a must-do. those farmers actually do need that assistance to maintain their livelihoods and hopefully, we again see the economy turn around very soon, we get the meatpacking plants back up and going, we see our ethanol plants up and going. so many things we really want to get back at. our farmers are resilient, they will make it through, but this assistance does help. stuart: senator joni ernst, again, i'm sorry to forcefully express my opinion right up front but i did it and i do apologize for it. >> you saved me a few words. thank you. stuart: come back and see us soon, please. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: thank you. thank you. a new survey, it says 91% of parents think schools need to be better prepared to switch to virtual learning. how the virus is changing the face of education forever. we've got that story for you and it's coming up shortly. the city of san diego working to kick its reopening

into higher gear as the governor of california drags his feet. we will explain the problem after this. this is decision tech. find a stock based on your interests 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. why accept it frompt an incompyour allergy pills?e else. flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler. nothing lasts longer. flonase sensimist. 24 hour non-drowsy allergy relief

look, this isn't my first rodeo and let me tell you something,

i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. it's just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, it's helped over a million americans. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan, like any other. big difference is how you pay it back. does the current economy have you worried about your finances in retirement? learn how senior homeowners are using home equity to improve their monthly cashflow and preserve their savings. other mortgages are paid each month, but with a reverse mortgage, you can pay whatever you can, when it works for you, or, you can wait, and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. use it to cover health care costs, or to pay off large bills. or just have the money on hand when you need it. call now to receive your free information kit.

you've probably been investing in your home for years... making monthly mortgage payments... doing the right thing... and it's become your family's heart and soul... well, that investment can give you tax-free cash just when you need it. if youre over 62, a reverse mortgage loan can be a source of retirement security. act now while home values are high and interest rates are low. look, reverse mortgages aren't for everyone but i think i've been 'round long enough to know what's what. i'm proud to be part of aag, i trust 'em, i think you can too. trust aag for the best reverse mortgage solutions. call now so you can... retire better

stuart: make no mistake, folks. you are looking at a rally and that rally is powered by big tech and by facebook in particular. this is so important that we put little bug, bottom right-hand corner of the screen so you can see instant quotes on facebook's stock all the time. moments ago, it moved above $230 a share. this is a massive move for a major corporation. why? well, they've got a new shopping channel. it's not actually called that, but that's what it does. with a potential audience of two billion users. that is huge. the stock is going way up, 5.7% as we speak. leads the whole market higher. ford are going to close temporarily one of their assembly plants in chicago.

one day after it reopened. two more employees tested positive for the virus. the company is now disinfecting the plant. no impact on the stock. budget discussions have begun in california. the governor, gavin newsom, says essential services could be cut if he doesn't get a bailout from the federal government. watch this. >> i hope they'll consider this. next time they want to salute and celebrate our heroes, our first responders, our police officers and firefighters, consider the fact that they are the first ones that will be laid off by cities and counties. stuart: that is extraordinary. the first people to be laid off will be your first front line providers, not the bureaucrats, oh, no. it will be cops and firefighters. the mayor of san diego is with us now. your honor, i'm trying to stay calm here, but it seems to me that the governor is playing politics with police officers and firefighters. i don't think that's right. >> we're not going to do that in san diego, stuart. good morning. it's great to be back with you.

i am not, repeat, not going to use our first responders as leverage for a budget play. look, we are going to make some of the reductions that we have to in san diego just like other cities across the country, but we're going to do it thoughtfully, we are going to make those decisions now and we are absolutely 100% going to protect our first responders, our police officers, our firefighters, our lifeguards. look, they have been on the front lines of this pandemic and they deserve and they will get my full support in san diego. stuart: i think we would all join in that. what we tonigdon't want to see e federal government bailing out a state like california for problems which existed before the virus hit. for example, a sanctuary state. you are now supposed to provide money for illegals? i mean, there's something just not right about this, your honor. >> well, i'll tell you, stuart, to that point, we're not waiting for a federal bailout to make decisions now. we took the lead in san diego

several years ago on pension reform. that is working. we proved it can work. those are the types of decisions, those are the reforms that you need to make in local government and state government. that's the right approach. stuart: yes, indeed it is, sir. now, you are the mayor of san diego. i believe you want to accelerate the reopening plan, allowing more in-store shopping, a dine-in restaurant. i know san diego very well. there are hundreds of wonderful outdoor restaurants just dying to open up at full capacity. what's holding you back here? >> well, we are waiting for approval from the governor to move into our phase two. we flattened the curve in san diego. our region has done a remarkable job. again, that's a credit to everyone out there who is following the rules. our hospitals have done a remarkable job. so we are ready to go. we actually had a unanimous vote in our county board of supervisors yesterday saying governor, let us move into an accelerated phase two, let us go into in-store retail. we are ready.

let's go to, you know, restaurant-in dining and people are going to do the right thing. they have proven it over the last several months. that's allowed us as i said to flatten that curve. we have opened our beaches a couple weeks ago, as you and i talked about. we are doing a remarkable job out there, trust in people, give them rules of the road and they will respond accordingly. stuart: it was a pleasure having you on the show. i always wanted to be a weather forecaster in san diego, because it's always 72 and sunny. >> you're welcome, stuart. thank you. stuart: thank you, your honor. see you soon. thank you. all right. i will put ebay stock up on the screen for you. look at that. $43 a share. that's an all-time high. it's one of our lockdown winners. by the way, they now allow you to post a video of your car if you want to sell it on ebay. that's not what's affecting the stock. it's just up for all kinds of good reasons. how about united airlines? listen to this. the ceo says the company doesn't believe there will be a full

recovery until a vaccine is in place. nonetheless, the stock is up 4.8%. then the market overall is way up. quite a few stocks have become winners with everybody stuck at home. we call them couch stocks, if you like. lauren, give me some numbers. start with peloton, maybe. lauren: it's up 58% this year. analysts say when gyms do reopen, they do not expect the peloton craze to die down. in fact, if you look at google searches from mid-march on, people are searching for peloton bikes. so this workout at home phenomenon might be here to stay. that's one of the changes we are seeing during the coronavirus. stuart: okay. how about clorox? lauren: speaking of changes, clorox wipes are everywhere in your house, in your car. another change here to stay. the ceo said to maria this morning that the only issue the company is facing, the only

issue is demand. listen. >> we saw the amount of spikes of up to 500% and no supply chain in our industry is set up to meet nademand like that. help is on the way to make the situation a lot better this summer. importantly also, we have made long-term investments already to help us cope with hopefully cope better with future situations like this should they occur and keep people safe, and to have more products in store next time. lauren: did you ever think that we would have clorox wipes everywhere in our homes? and searching for them when we go to food stores and all types of stores? times have changed. stuart: they sure have. thanks, lauren. i get the point. got it. the virus forcing parents to become teachers almost overnight. a lot of those parents say they just weren't prepared for this.

watch this. >> that's not the way you're supposed to do it, dad. they want us to do it -- >> i don't know that way. why would they change math? math is math. math is math. stuart: oh, yes. so true. can you relate to that? i certainly could. i say learning belongs in the classroom. that's my position. we will discuss that next. now more than ever, you need technology you can rely on. and people you can rely on. i'm a dell technologies advisor. me too. me too. me too. and if you're a small business, we're with you. we are with you. we're with you. we want to help. so we'll be right here. at home. answering your calls. providing support. and standing by you every step of the way. bye bye.

stuart: okay. school is coming back to the classroom. the university of south carolina will reopen its campus in the fall. that's for in-person classes. okay. they will switch to virtual classes after thanksgiving. notre dame, purdue, alabama, university of north carolina campuses are coming back. they will require masks, tracing and contact tracing but they will be back in the classes. staying on education, the gentleman appearing on the screen is john thalen, the ceo of pierson. welcome to the program. very good to see you, sir. >> thanks for having me. stuart: another british accent. i should have known. okay. here we go. i say that education really

belongs in the classroom, face-to-face, face-to-face with teachers right there. do you agree with that? >> i believe that the power of teaching and face-to-face learning is absolutely crucial but i believe this idea that it's either that or online or virtual and it's a choice is a false one, that technology just like it's transformed every other area of our life, has the ability to transform education, to make teachers be the best themselves, free themselves of all the administrative burdens, give them some fantastic insights by which they can help students to do much better, and it makes learning much more engagi engaging, much more enjoyable, much more affordable and opens it up and democratizes it for tens of millions of people around the world. it's not about face-to-face or online. it's about getting the best of both. that's what's the future here. actually, i think this is a

fantastic opportunity this fall because what people saw in march wasn't online learning, it was cobbling together what you could at two days' notice and people did a fantastic job in impossible circumstances. for the fall, let's plan, let's make the best of online learning and face-to-face work together. stuart: so you can almagamate the two? as you say, it's not one or the other. come the fall, and some kids do go back to the classroom, you can still incorporate online learning even in the classroom. is that your message? >> yeah, exactly. we have 75,000 students a year who study in the virtual schools. they are taught by teachers, they get the benefit of face-to-face instruction but they happen to be doing it in a virtual environment. we have over 400,000 undergraduate and graduate students studying for purely online degrees.

they don't set foot on campus but they have very high quality engagement with their faculty. but then you also have millions of students who are on campus who are also using digital coursework, where they get a mix of the two. they are getting the direct engagement with the faculty but they are also learning online. that's the world that young people are going to live in. look at the conversation that you and i are having. it's this blend of the two that matters. stuart: the bottom line is, we are not going back to what we were four or five months ago. we are going forward with an amalgamation of online and face-to-face. i think that's the way it's going to be. i'm sorry i'm out of time. i do apologize. i know who you are, i know you are a very important guy. i know this is a great company, pearson. i hate to cut the time down. with a british accent, too. >> stuart, just before you go, it's 72 degrees and sunny in london so you could have been a weather forecaster here today as well. stuart: you were watching the

show. excellent. john, thank you very much. you come back soon, okay? good to see you. take note of facebook, please. bottom right-hand corner of the screen. we have the bug up. now it's up $13. $230 a share. that's the blockbuster stock of the day. more "varney" after this. so i know there's a big need for gas-x maximum strength. it works fast. relieving pressure, bloating, and discomfort before you know it. so no one needs to know you've got gas. gas-x . .

stuart: ladies and gentlemen, i do hope you join us in the 9:00 hour.

vice president mike pence will join us for exclusive interview. don't miss that, that is the vice president of these here united states of america. as we leave you, there is one stock in particular you got to keep following. it is a blockbuster. it is facebook now up above 230 a share. times up for stuart. neil it is it's yours. neil: thank you, stuart. remember when facebook debuted, it was a bumpy and disaster. look at it now. meantime corner of wall and broad as stuart has been telling you up over 400 points. what greased skids better than expected retail news we got out certainly big names including lowe's. this confirms kind of numbers we've seen out of target, walmart, amazon in and out of all-time highs. retail component of this, pent up consumer apparently it continues even as people still