half-full as we look into 2021. [closing bell rings] liz: lisa ericsson, thank you very much. gang, both a russell and nasdaq record close here. that will do it for "the claman countdown." we will see you tomorrow. connell: stimulus hopes, also a vaccine rollout really helping to lift stocks today. the fda clearing the path for what would be a second coronavirus vaccine, this one coming from moderna. it is expected to win emergency use approval by friday and that news may be offsetting a little bit the rising virus cases we continue to see. they have spiked to nearly 16.6 million in the united states. any minute now meantime house speaker nancy pelosi meeting with mitch mcconnell and other leaders on cap total hill. they say they will try to negotiate the final version of a covid relief bill. as we look at the numbers at the close investors like that talk finally maybe getting some stimulus done.

shy of a record, just under 340 points at the close, back above 30,200. nasdaq with record close up 155 points. that is one 1/4% for the nasdaq. that is a new record. i'm connell mcshane. good to be with you. welcome to "after the bell." we have a lot to get to this afternoon so time to get to the news happening at this hour. our fox team coverage gerri willis on people who are delaying mortgage payments. edward lawrence and rick reichmuth on the winner storm people are really dreading and stimulus meeting supposed to be starting as we speak. blake. reporter: we may find out whether there will be another covid-19 relief bill or whether the negotiations are continuing to stall. at this hour expecting to meet the four big, big four rather up on capitol hill. that is the top two democrats,

the top two republicans. also involved in the meeting the white house lead negotiator the treasury secretary. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell gave some pretty optimistic tones today, quote, we are not leaving i assure you until we finish this package. both sides agree on is the focus here. replenishing ppp small business loan program, re-upping unemployment benefits and focusing on money for vaccine distribution for states. >> the way forward obviously is to put aside the two things that are the most contentious on each side, liability protection and state and local. we all know the new administration is going to be asking for another package. >> without talking about what will happen in that room i think we need more for distribution. reporter: connell, as you heard from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell it seems right

now if they're taking the contentious issues saying there is going to be a new president at the beginning of the year. we'll deal with those issues then. for now let's try to move forward with what democrats and republicans say needs to happen. connell? connell: all right. we'll watch capitol hill for headlines throughout the entire hour. in terms of the white house you mentioned steve mnuchin is involved. he will call in. what is the white house saying about this deal or potential for a deal? >> reporter: there is not only support here at the white house, connell but democrats or republicans for direct payments, another round for direct payments. i asked white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany if that is red line for president trump or if there is any red line for the president as it relates to the meeting about to be happening and this was her response. >> i'm not going to say it is a red line or not. i won't get ahead of the negotiations but say we're hopeful there is a deal there

the president can look at and support. reporter: white house says they are hopeful, connell. house speaker nancy pelosi did speak with treasury secretary steve mnuchin earlier today when pelosi was asked about that meeting she essentially said well, we've had the talks for a while going on now. we'll see what happens coming out of this. bottom line here, connell, it really seems as if this is sort of the moment when we will know because keep in mind that they still have to get a government funding deal by the end of friday. they're trying to marry the two at this time. connell? connell: backs against the wall. how they get things done. blakes we'll keep an eye. blake burman at the white house. now to the vaccines. vaccines on the move. five hospitals in florida receiving the covid vaccine and critical doses needed to fight the pandemic but what about the hospitals that have not received their doses? edward lawrence live in st. petersburg with more on that. edward? reporter: actually we're in

clearwater here today but i'll tell you that the vaccine has been moving, distributing, literally moving around the nation, upping the ante as it moves. we're talking about 455 sites delivered today of this vaccine. that is up from 145 sites from yesterday. we include today, walgreen's, cvs helping in a deal with the nursing homes, vaccinate those folks. the fda also saying that the moderna vaccine has a very high effective rate, they're very convinced there could be something good lined up in the future that sets up the emergency authorization use at the end of the week. front line workers, those in nursings homes are getting vaccines. first-responders at clearwater fire and rescue they will have to wait possibly until the first or second week of january to get this the division chief here says he really seen over the past two weeks a bump up in tourism in this area, pent-up travel demand so next year they

are going to need that vaccine. >> yeah, i think by the summer we're going to see, as numbers start to you know, start to go down, vaccinations go up, numbers go down, i think more and more people will be traveling. i think we have a busy summerport port he says half of the firefighters are confident they are going to get the vaccine but he believes when they see other front line workers getting vaccinated without issues more will want it. same story at clearwater police department where the police chief said recent survey said 40% of officers don't want it. >> i would like to see it much higher. i would like to see everybody take it. i will take it. we believe it will be safe. we hope once it rolls out, people feel more comfortable with it, at that time maybe they reevaluate that decision. reporter: 2.9 million doses of the pfizer vaccine out this week. next week, once the authorization happens, six million doses of moderna vaccine. hospitals are first, nursing hopes are second, then the first

responder work in the 1-b group. back to you. connell: to your point that was great news today on moderna. do we have a sense, talking about the vaccines that have been rolled out about how many people have actually been vaccinated here in the first couple days? reporter: yeah, this number is growing exponentially but about 70,000 or more. we're talking about tens of thousands of people, all front line workers across the country from those hospitals and now nursing homes started today. so it is going to grow exponentially as we get further. as the vaccine is made, after the initial pushes it will be pushed out, we get 2.9 million doses this week. six million next week. as it is made, it is coming out from those two manufacturers. connell: good update from you. edward lawrence live from clearwater, florida. we have infectious disease director at university of alabama birmingham. glad to have you back on the

show. that is the near-term outlook from edward. remove being them as we can, 70,000 that actually have been vaccinated. bigger picture where do we need the number to be to get control of the virus, what do you think it is? >> we'll need about 65% of the population. we're talking on the north side of about 220 million of us to get vaccinated. it is totally possible. we can do this. in fact we need to do this the barriers getting physical vaccines to the places they need to go. also talking to the public about the safety of the vaccines but the efficacy is absolutely striking. it is miracle how effective these vaccines are. connell: talking about moderna, what did you make of that news today, at 94%, 94.1% effective rate? that gives people like you another option, right? how would you compare that, to pfizer, like i said giving another option on top of what you already have?

>> it is definitely another option. i looked at the graph. it was striking. you go to statistics class. here is the vaccine group. here is a placebo group. in terms of cases you don't need a statistician. it is 95% effective. there are very few vaccines in the world that effective. we need it badly, just like we need this stimulus bill to come through. why? because the public health officials like myself and countless others are saying we need to slow down in terms of opening things up. but the businesses rightly are saying we can't shut down we'll go out of business. so the stimulus money is that bridge. it bridges public health with the business community and we desperately need that. connell: yeah it is interesting to from someone like you a public health expert on that topic because we talk, we'll talk in a few minutes to a restaurant owner that topic comes up all the time and comes up again and we completely understand their point of view and what you're saying it is one

or the other, if we tell you to shut down we have to give you something. we have to give you something to make it through to the other side. >> connell, that is exactly right. we can't ask for that type of sacrifice from, especially small businesses. they might not be able to come back. so we have to have something for them. that is why the strategic alignment between what we need in public health, what we need in the stimulus bill, this has to happen this week or else our cases will continue to go up. you see the hospitals being stressed right now. ours is being stressed but it is not unique. virtually every hospital is brimming at the emergency rooms, in our icu beds. we need to put some water on the fire and to do that, it means we'll have to curtail businesses to agree, we have to have something there for them. connell: all right, explain that to us as best you can from your point of view at least because what the businesses, some of them are, other than the fact they do need the stimulus, they need as much as can be given especially if they're forced to

shut down, before that they argued they maybe shouldn't be forced to shut down, that the data doesn't support necessarily restaurants closing a lot of the transmission of this virus is coming from people's private homes when they get together with family and friends so what is the argument for further restrictions and more shutdowns because it does run up against that pushback from business? >> i will give you some data. with the rates of transmission that we have right now it is 60 to 70 per 100,000. that is enormous. a few months ago we were 15 or 20 per 100,000. what does that mean, 10 people in the room as we are now, the probability one out of the 10 people will be infected just randomly is about 50%. that means you have a one in two chance of 10 people. you get 25 people together you're talking 75 to 80% chance of one person. that is why we're saying really till we're blue in the face we cannot gather in groups of more

than five or six. so that means restaurants are in jeopardy. so are bars. they're not safe places to be right now. gyms, religious services, hate to say it with the holidays coming up but we are in a public health emergency. every sense of that word. if we just pull together and do this just for this season, getting us through february into march, where more people can be vaccinated where we can be rescued from this horrible pandemic, if we pull together on that, connell, we will be on the safe side of this but we have to get through this. that is why businesses and restaurants and bars all have to be helped and the federal government is the way to get that done. connell: that is why we're watching what is happening literally at this hour in washington closely. it has taken them so long. maybe they're finally moving. dr. saag, always good to see you from uab. travel is not recommended. that is the warning coming in from the national weather

service for piece coast residents. the region is preparing for a winter storm they say in some spots could drop up to two feet of snow. it starts tomorrow, creating another potential nightmare for business owners already dealing with the covid restrictions so much else. rick reichmuth in the fox weather center this is a tough storm to forecast, hasn't it, rick? what is the latest? rick: they are difficult for a couple of reasons. a lot of time we know nor'easter is coming. center across the pacific. a storm way out there exactly on the east coast is pretty complicated. we do have a better idea because the center of the storm is here across the parts of central plains, bringing snow, not massive know here just yet. that is where the center of the energy is now. it will by tomorrow afternoon the center pull off the coast of the east coast, it will turn into a very classic nor'easter. we have winter storm warn national effect. everywhere you see that pink, down across parts of

north carolina, the southern appalachians, all the way up the northeast. it will be a really close gradient here who gets snow and who does not get snow with this storm. watch how it plays out. this is the future radar. rain across parts of the southeast. we start to see snow around noontime in parts ohio valley, a little bit of snow in the d.c. area and across parts of pennsylvania. tomorrow evening into thursday, when the bulk of this energy comes in. what ending up happening all the time for us in these storms we have big population zones right along the coast. the coast is really complicated, you have ocean water that is warmer, temperature across the land is a lot cooler. how close to the center of that system gets to the coast has really big impacts. we talk about a rain-snow line where some people get rain, snow maybe for a while and rain mixing of it. that keeps the snowfall totals much lower. that happens closer to the coast because you have that influence of the warm ocean water.

so right now for the most part i think our forecast will keep everything mostly snow along the coast and then by the time we get towards thursday it is out of here. let me give you rough ideas what we're looking snowfall totals. bull eye's eye interior section of philadelphia. four to eight inches in new york city. eight to 12 inches boston. northern new england not getting anything. southern new jersey not getting anything. the haves, have-nots might be a difference of 10 to 15 miles here, connell. rough forecasting totals on noreasters. we have one on our hands for tomorrow. connell: yeah. as we said yesterday, we were talking about this, outdoor dining in new york, boston, other places forget about all of this going on. thank you, rick reichmuth. it's a one-two punch for the new york city restaurants. the city's hospitality alliance making a plea for relief as more closures and possibility of a full shut down still loom in the big apple.

coming up we'll talk to one restaurant owner he is deciding to expand his business, not in new york. in another state. with the very first vaccinations underway states and federal governments are facing a crucial task of keeping track of their progress. this hour we have a look what data is being shared around how it is being protected. winter months bringing a new hit to u.s. tourism but some in florida might actually have a reason to strike a more optimistic tone. ♪ lgia. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. wow! what'd you get, ryan? it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual! what does it do bud? it customizes our home insurance so we only pay for what we need! and what did you get, mike? i got a bike. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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independence with peace of mind. call to receive $1,000 off your kohler walk-in bath. and right now we're offering no payments for 18 months. ♪. connell: "fox business alert" as we come back. that meeting is underway now we're told on capitol hill. the congressional leadership and what chad pergram covers capitol hill for us the most significant meeting on covid relief since back in the sumner july. they're meeting right now. nancy pelosi, mitch mcconnell, kevin mccarthy, chuck schumer, steve mnuchin the treasury secretary as blake talked about earlier calling in by phone. chad joins us later in the hour. details as we get bit it but the meeting starting. covid restrictions slamming new york. we talk about all the time. willie daigle is expanding his business but doing so in the

state of georgia where there are fewer restrictions and lower taxes. willie is the owner of uncle jack's. he joins us on the show. we talked a lot about your two businesses in the state and georgia. tell us about expanding to georgia and your business there. >> i got back from being in georgia 11 straight days working on finishing up a store being built at peachtree corners at the peachtree town city center. i opened up another location five weeks ago in rosswell, a nice historical city in georgia. i have a duluth lake location been there for four years. i have a fourth location being built in lawrenceville city in georgia. three of these restaurants are in in gwyneth and new york?

mayors, city, calls me personally. the developers. they understand, the community understands how important a restaurant, a place provides service, gives them a place to eat, drink, get away, unwind, have parties, events business meetings and entertainment venue. how important it is to have this in their community. the cities are actually fighting for great operators to execute and make sure this is in their city or town, which a lot of guests say we helped their real estate values. so it is very important compared to how i was always treated in new york. connell: i know you're a new york guy. anybody who listens to you can tell that but would ever leave completely panned do business down there where you think it is more friendly with you? >> in the restaurant industry they're slowly, doing, everything they possibly can to force out -- we talk about small business. then you talk about mid-size business.

they were you can talk about large restaurant groups. there are people with 15 or 20 stores that employ say almost 1000 people. they're being forced out as well. unless you're a publicly traded company under this demise right now it is hard to fund and keep open. not everybody has the benefit of being a publicly-traded company and that is the difference. connell: right so then, we were talking actually, kind of interesting, we're talking to a doctor a few minutes ago about this, we were talking about all the covid stats obviously out there whatnot. right now literally on capitol hill in washington they're talking again about stimulus and maybe they're finally going to get something done, his point was they need to get it done he believes for medical reasons they do need to close. he went through a lot of data on restaurants, being indoor in general, 10 people in a room, the data shown him there is 50% chance you get covid.

he wants to keep gatherings to five people. this is what he said a minute ago. his point was you need to get money to these businesses because we need them to close down. from your point of view of somebody runs businesses do you think that makes sense? is there a different type of balance we need to strike here, what do you think? >> i'm in the restaurant business. i'm in my restaurants. i greet people. i work around people. i build houses in the hamptons. i never stop hugging, embracing people. i have not got covid. i know covid is real but the stress factor and the pressure people are under in this city i believe the way it has been handled is very negatively, right? so you have to have a balance. so when you say okay, a liquor store is a priority but a gym isn't, and a restaurant isn't i have to say that is a little ridiculous. i believe restaurants and gyms on psychiatric level are so

important to people to be able to go out, entertain, have a cocktail, have something to eat, go to a gym, exercise, feel good, be out of this bubble. so everyone's wearing masks, everyone's smarter, better, so to close the city down now while we have the vaccine coming out and they're making millions and millions to be distributed i'm being told 50 to 100 million people can have vaccines over the next 30 to 60 days, why are we closing now? connell: well, we'll see what they do. on top of everything by the way we'll talk about it, going to get hit by a big snowstorm. you get a foot of snow. there goes outdoor dining for a few days. we love having your perspective that balances out -- good luck not only in new york but georgia. >> i just, i have three stores

open during this period, doing minimal business keeping some key employees employed. i just had to chose two of them right now full time. bayside is running little street cafe with minimal heaters trying to do everything it can to survive and stay open. now a snowstorm coming. you know. connell: i know. >> it is ridiculous. connell: one thing on top of the other you're right. we talked about that yesterday with another guy in the city. we get it. willie adgel, thank you, sir. we had a little bit of delay. i'm talking on top of you. willie, thank you. he has been great coming on giving his point of view in the pandemic. he has perspective operating in a couple of different states. fda is expanding the reach of rapid covid tests as well. they granted emergency authorization what will be the first over the counter, fully at

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♪ connell: now to vaccine privacy concerns. there are questions over the kinds of records that the government will keep about vaccinations and also its handling of all the data. fox's mark meredith getting to bottom of this today reporting from washington. mark? reporter: connell, good afternoon. you think of all the work went into getting vaccine approved, get one created but the hard part happens when the government gets vaccine rolled out. when the americans get vaccinated, they get a paper card, a record, date of birth, when you got the dose, what dose it was, who was it administered by. therethere will be a electronict of all of this. that is the data being shared

between the state and health departments as well as the cdc the trump administration insists it is only collecting the minimum amount of data it is needed. will not ask for things like social security numbers and other private medical information. >> i think anytime people release data information out there, and it is important to know where it is going to be used. i don't think this is any exception. the information knowing that this information will be used to look across the u.s., what is our up take look like in terms of vaccines coverage. reporter: that is just one part of all this. that is the government side. think of all the different companies that require you to show something on your phone, whether you get on an airplane a concert, sporting event. that is certainly possible in 2021. however there is already a lot of work being done to make it as secure as possible with groups offering things like, you will see for airlines like united, jetblue, days and weeks ahead will allow to provide some of

that information. we had a chance to talk with some officials working on similar programs who insist this is all about making sure everything is kept safe for your health, and for your data. >> the apps that would allow for a laboratory to supply the information of testing or vaccination and ultimately be able to give that to the customer to share with whomever they wish to share it with. reporter: connell there, is no one size fits all to all of this. we have to see what developed in the days, weeks, months ahead. connell? connell: interesting information. good angle on all of this. mark meredith. joe biden campaigning for a pair of senate runoffs that could make-or-break his policy agenda and the way the administration prepares to handle looming crises. snowbirds are dealing a massive blow to the economy in florida but the sunshine state tourism industry might actually

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♪. connell: tax issues still looming president-elect joe biden campaigning in georgia for the democrats in the senate runoffs that could very well decide what happens early in his administration. certainly will decide control of the senate. we have late-breaking news this afternoon on mayor pete buttigieg and his position in a

biden cabinet. the latest on all of this from hillary vaughn. she is live in atlanta. hillary. reporter: connell, this is president-elect joe biden's first public campaigning into the news about investigation into his son hunter broke. he made it very clear how important the two races here are trying to flip the two senate seats, how important they are getting his agenda through but fox news obtained an email showed that hunter biden failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars that he got from burisma to the irs. one senate republican said the easiest way to clear the air about this for hunter biden just to release his tax returns. >> the bidens continue to claim there is nothing wrong here. there are a couple of things they can do. first of all hunter biden can release his tax returns to see whether or not he ever amended those returns, to report that $400,000. reporter: but there might be a double standard among some democrats who don't feel like hunter is obligated to turn them

over. we talked to people in line outside of this event before it goat started who still want president trump to turn over his tax returns but don't feel the same about hunter's. >> where is donald trump tax returns? >> we're going to investigate families of the president and president-elect, we should have done that with donald trump four years ago. >> as soon as donald trump releases his tax returns i think he set as precedent that possibly could be used to ask hunter biden. >> hundred hunt -- [inaudible] especially after the current administration and their situation. [inaudible] reporter: connell, biden is continuing to fill out his administration. we're learning reports that pete buttigieg is transportation secretary that could hurt biden here because buttigieg struggled

to gain support from african-american leaders from south bend where he used to be mayor released a statement blasting the choice, while pete buttigieg was mayor only awarded black businesses 1% of government contracts during his tenure. connell? connell: hillary vaughn live from atlanta, georgia today. james freeman joins us from "the wall street journal." a fox news contributor. want to talk about georgia, james, if we can. look at it this way, they talk about the first 100 days of the presidency. what would the first 100 days biden presidency look like with a democratic senate versus a republican senate, especially economic policy. what would the difference be? >> people talk about the threat of process, structural changes to the courts end of the filibuster in the senate but the economic implications are really enormous because if you look at the biden campaign promises which could be realized if there is a democratic senate you're

talking about perhaps $10 trillion in new spending, 3 to $4 trillion in new taxes. i guess people have sort of stopped caring about debt and deficits and we're very blessed much of the world still loves the u.s. dollar but i think if you're a taxpayer, a voter, you might be concerned at some point there is a fiscal reckoning. connell: almost we're so numb to the big numbers at some point. somebody care about debt and deficits should be pete buttigieg at some point as transportation secretary. he is pushed to spend a lot of money on infrastructure do you think. what type of hand economically is the president-elect being dealt as he takes office? i say that because new survey from chamber of commerce, small businesses anticipate the worst of the pandemic still to come. "axios" wrote about biden's dark winter, takes office with thousands of people dying daily,

full vaccinations months away. they say as well several people around him worry that the light is farther away than most think which could hamper his presidency. all the time we talk about the light at the end. tunnel and how this economy is pretty much raring, ready to go, second half of next year. how do you see it? >> yeah, i don't think he is going to be inheriting an economic crisis. he may want to present it that way in order to justify some green programs that people would otherwise not want to endorse but look, pfizer says they will have 25 million doses of vaccine out this month. you've got other vaccines probably getting approved soon. the ramp up continues. by the time joe biden takes office you may have tens of millions of people inoculated covering essentially all of the highest risk individuals in the country. so i think people may be focused on this for obvious reasons.

this has been kind of the year of covid and year of covid response but i don't think, unless these vaccines, unless there is a huge surprise in terms of they don't work as well as everyone seems to think they will i can't imagine that's the big issue facing his presidency. connell: no. i think you're probably right about that. from everything we know, everything we've seen. quick final point, i don't know if you want to play amateur psychologist on the georgia races dr. freeman, do you think joe biden wants democrats to win? there is theory he wants a republican senate to take the heat off of him from the left side of his party. what do you think? >> he is someone capable, iger, more so than barack obama during that presidency to make deals with republican leaders in the congress. we saw that you mentioned infrastructure. i think that's an area where

something could happen regardless of whether it is republicans or democrats in charge in the senate but, whether he really wants republican senate to give him an excuse to say no to the craziest ideas on his left flank, yeah, could happen. connell: therapist couch behind you there. >> i don't know. connell: james freeman, from "the wall street journal." thank you, sir. see you soon, james. meantime more iphones, apple looking to increase production much their phones by 30% year-over-year for demand of the new 5g models on a new report. apple could make up to 96 million phones in the first half of 2021. how about them apples. up six bucks today on a regular basis for at least eight years.

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speaker's office just yet. this is the biggest meeting since july. first time they got all the big leaders from the house and senate, both sides of the aisle together since they began the process back in july. time is running out. they have to put some sort of package together before the christmas holidays. keep in mind extra unemployment insurance expires the day after christmas. you have the bipartisan proposal put out by coalition of bipartisan senators yesterday. they would approve extra $300 a week for extra four months. i spoke with one congressman in this process they indicated to me that it would be pretty unlikely they leave here without getting something done. the plan to put this on top of a bill to fund the government at the end of the week, connell. connell: now you made a really interesting point early in the day, you made a lot of them chad, it wasn't on our show, so i want to make sure the audience hears it. the electoral college voted yesterday. joe biden officially declared as winner of the presidential race.

mitch mcconnell talked about that today what does that have to do with this? you were able to relate the two to each other. how? >> the certification of joe biden seems to have pried loose the probability of getting a coronavirus deal. the joe biden is president-elect after the electoral college confirmed that. today on the floor senate majority leader mitch mcconnell first time recognized biden would be coming to the white house come january 20th. they talked on the phone today. biden and mitch mcconnell did. keep in mind that they have a long-standing relationship. they worked together many times over the years when they were both in the united states senate. mcconnell said in his remarks today that the next administration, the biden administration would want another bill. so what mitch mcconnell is basically saying today is take what you can get now and negotiate more later and this is where for the time-being it appears mitch mcconnell has dropped his, called it a red line at one point for a liability shield. he believes he can cut a deal

with joe biden sometime in january or february, connell. connell: real quick, chad, we also have government funding to get through, right? that is separate from all of this. that is the other thing. reporter: that is the last train leaving the station. friday deadline to fund the government. they have a $1.4 trillion package ready to go. if they get an agreement on coach individual -- covid relief, weigh down heavier than santa's sleigh with all of this on top of it. one thing they have to work out is the 1200-dollar direct payments checks that bernie sanders and josh hawley are calling for. they are unwilling to put out the $1.4 trillion package until they get the covid language. then they put the whole bill out at one time, connell. connell: santa, can carry a lot. even he would have trouble. reporter: carry a lot here on capitol hill too. connell: yes they do. thank you, follow chad on twitter. more likely hear about the covid deal if they get it there than

anywhere else. thank you. chad pergram there. delaying mortgage payments meantime that is another thing we're watching closely. the amount of homeowners requesting forbearance relief hit the highest level since back in august. gerri willis is here with details on it. gerri? reporter: connell, that is right. this is interesting stuff. another sign that the economy could be slowing down. u.s. homeowners wanting to delay their mortgage payments. the mortgage bankers association weekly survey showing that the proportion of mortgage borrowers seeking forbearance, it is higher in the first week of december, rising to the highest level since august. call volume at mortgage debt collection agencies that is at the highest level since mid-april. mba economists saying this latest economic data is showing a slowdown, particularly an increase in layoffs and long-term unemployment, coupled with the latest surge in covid-19 cases. it is not surprising to see more

homeowners looking for relief. now the cares act passed by congress last march allowed homeowners with a federally backed home loan dip or delay mortgage payments, up to a year. but it is important to remember, forbearance is not forgiveness. at some point homeowners have to pay the money back. there are no balloon payments however. even so the total portion of loans in forbearance fell to 5.8% weekend of december 6th. connell? connell: definitely something worth watching. gerri, thank you. gerri willis. we'll be right back. and for the extra pump of caramel. thank you for the good food... and the good karma. thank you for all the deliveries... especially this one. you've reminded us that no matter what, we can always find a way to bounce forward. so thank you, to our customers and to businesses everywhere,

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webster reporting from flagler beach. ashley. >> reporter: yeah. hey, connell. those cause january snow birds coming to florida generate some $3 billion per year, so that is a big loss because the canadian border is closed. they are stuck in the great white north. but we have seen other people in the united states consider their options, and one of those options is to mauve to a warmer -- move to a warmer state with lower taxes. and we're seeing that offset the loss of the canadian money here certainly in florida but elsewhere as well. so that has meant for local businesses, yes, business is down, but maybe not as bad as, certainly, when we began this pandemic. i spoke to a restaurant owner earlier today who said, yes, our business is up, but at least it's steady. take a listen. >> we're down about 30% from last year, so it's definitely affecting us. we're doing the best we can with

what we have. >> reporter: best we can with what we have, connell. but where are they going in florida? if you take a look at the list, number one, tampa. number two, miami/fort lauderdale. and number three, orlando. home prices, as you can imagine, are going up in florida. 42% luxury listings in miami, that's how much they've gone up by, 42%. so many new yorkers have moved down here that down in palm beach they call it hamptons south now. how about that, connell? the hamptons south is officially west palm beach. connell: they'll never get rid of you at this rate. [laughter] they're so reliant -- i hope you're okay. you're not wearing shoes are you? you're very close to the water. >> reporter: no. it's a little chilly. it's not as cold as it would be in canadaing but it's a little chilly right now.

still pretty decent out on the water. you can't beat it. connell: looking good. you're looking good down there, ash. ashley webster. i was worried about you, but you're all right. thanks for watching us as we report the news to you "after the bell" today and every day. we'll see you same time tomorrow. ♪ lou: good evening, everybody. for the first time since the election, joe biden traveling from his home in wilmington, delaware. biden campaigning in atlanta for radical dems john ossoff and raphael warnock in their quest to take control of the u.s. senate. joe biden's trip, however, comes as more questions are being asked about his son hunter biden. federal investigations are now underway into hunter biden's taxes, his ties to foreign countries like china and ukraine as they have been for the past two years, it turns out. top senate