lunches it was a landline once again. stuart: what i call is ding-ding, ding-ding. that was old fashioned in england. in hong kong, dimwa? remember? my cantonese is rusty, not out of sight. neil, take it please, it is yours. neil: my phone has an italian ring to it. hey. stuart: that's good. really good. neil: thanks. not quite like your singing but it is very close. thank you, my friend. that is a compliment. that's a compliment. we are a lot going on here on corner of wall and broad. the dow is at its lows. world health organization what you call the virus, big twist. whether it is mutating whatever you want to call it there prompted one country after another to stop flights to britain and britain itself

thinking about twice about sending flights out of britain. this might be welcome news, a couple of vaccines out there from pfizer and moderna would address some of the issues in this virus. in other words they would be a potential vaccine for what israel is ailing britain, it is seeing 51% spike in cases week over week. we were monitoring this live on my saturday show on fox news. it was very interesting how it was coming out at the time where boris johnson saying i'm not kidding. we'll have to dramatically scale things back. whatever gatherings you're planning for christmas, you might want to dramatically scale those back. this is serious, folks. keep in mind boris johnson dealt with this virus himself. he knows a thing or two what is serious or not and the mutation issue with it. the variance it has become is confusing a number of top medical experts. we're going to get their read on this but some hopeful news might

account for the dow being well off its lows earlier this morning, both vaccines out there for the time-being, by the way, a group of other the coming along the pike, could, could do the job, get this under control. still too early to tell. we're monitoring those developments as we are the covid relief package they're trying to cobble together in washington. my buddy chad pergram say better said than done. you mead to put it on paper, put it in a binder, you need to read what is in the binder. unless you're a superfast reader like chad pergram, that doesn't happen very quickly. chad on capitol hill with more. hey, chad. reporter: war and peace here but we don't have bill text. we expect that sometime today. we just don't know when. neil, they negotiated for months, finally after weekened sections the house and senate planned to vote today on the fifth round of covid relief, a major component of this bill, are 600-dollar checks sent to

many americans. >> like them bigger but they are significant and they will be going out soon. the president may insist on having his name on the check but make no mistake those checks are from the american people. reporter: here is what is in the bill. most americans will get 600-dollar stimulus payments. those off the job score additional $300 a week. that runs for 2 1/2 months. businesses receive another infusion from paycheck protection program. that is money businesses won't have to repay. the bill extends an eviction moratorium for a month. there is also money to help keep the entertainment industry afloat. there are fights between the parties who got the better of who in these negotiations. >> i don't think that pelosi and schumer got. of what they wanted. there is a little bit of language in there. pelosi spinning things to the members. had all big hopes of spending billions and trillions of

dollars and they just didn't get it. reporter: this will not be the last covid bill. lawmakers are talking about another plan with the biden administration. republicans want a liability shield connected to the pandemic. here is the timing. we think the house of representatives will vote at some point this afternoon in the senate tonight. again you can't vote unless you have bill text, neil. back to you. neil: you know, chad, that seemed like gratuitous slap on nancy pelosi's part the thing president would want his name on the checks. they're not going quietly into the night with each other, are they? that wasn't a reminder about the chilliness of that relationship, that just proved it. reporter: one of the reasons it took for so long to get a deal. they were talking since july here. there is no love lost between nancy pelosi and president trump. keep in mind we don't think they have spoken on the phone or in person since october of last year, more than 15 months ago. keep in mind, you know, i would focus you to the remarks by some

republican senators in congressman, turning up heat on nancy pelosi they could have had a deal maybe before the election had she been willing to do something, she changed her tune as soon as it was clear biden was coming into office in january. neil: if you think about it, she turned her bark on a two trillion dollar plus package. this was is half that. reporter: that's right. some people wonder whether or not they could have gotten that through the house of representatives thankfully. they will get this through tonight probably. neil: chad pergram. it is the season. do we have to get petty for each other? save that for the next hour. jackie deangelis meanwhile following what is going on in britain with the virus mutation. a lot of british authorities were confounded by it, when we were covering live on saturday that is very big theme came across that hospitals were

overwhelmed at the time they really couldn't conclude these various vaccines out there could address. turns out at least the ones from pfizer and moderna potentially can but that has not stopped on going economic concerns that may be, maybe countries should stop accepting flight from britain. new york governor cuomo already urged the feds look into doing just that. so no matter what potential relief might be out there, they're sort of shutting things down economically with her majesty's kingdom, asking questions maybe a little later. jackie kiwanuka monitoring all of this in new york. thank you, jackie. reporter: stocks are lower on the news because it indicates there could be a bumpy road ahead as we try to battle our way through the pandemic. we're off the session lows. the dow down only 117 right now. the new strain of covid-19 emerged in the uk, prompting stricter lockdown measures there

and travel restrictions to other european nations. two concerns, first the health aspect. over the weekend the head of "operation warp speed" saying that the new strain very unlikely to resist the vaccines that have been developed and now being administered under the emergency use authorization from the fda in this country but this new strain is highly contagious. that does set up this rocky start for 2020, which has investors and the globe and the stock market on edge. governor cuomo as you mentioned talking about a travel ban and bill de blasio saying he thinks it is time as well. listen. >> in my view it is time for a travel ban from europe given what we're seeing with this new strain or at minimum a requirement that anyone getting on a plane has proof that they have a negative test coming out of europe. reporter: viruses do tend to mutate. think about the flu virus every year, they try to isolate the worst strains and target those but people still get the flu.

what is being floated right now this vaccine should be effective against the different mutations and different strains but we don't really have all the facts or details just yet. what this does suggest however, that it will be a long hard road. that is what investors are worried about. the longer this goes on, harder it is, longer shutdowns, lockdowns continue the harder on the economy. that is what we're watching as we're heading into the new year. unfortunately we were hoping we would be over the hump, neil. neil: hopefully they will be. to your point, jackie, to illustrate that as jackie was wrapping up at the bottom of your screen british airways will be testing passengers for coronavirus or coronavirus signs on flights to new york's john f. kennedy international airport. that was one of the key demands from new york governor andrew cuomo. expect other states to put similar pressure on carriers that fly into and out of their

cities and states as well but among the first, british airways agreed to test passengers for the virus on flights to new york's jfk airport. dr. tom price with us right now, former health and human services, former georgia congressman. doctor of great importance now, that expertise. doctor, a lot of people are worried what is going on over there in britain could similarly mutate and happen over here. what do you think. >> thanks, good to be with you again, neil. as jackie just said viruses mutate all the time. this is not unusual nor is it unexpected. you and i talked about this and we know this virus has mutated and may mutate again. it is like the annual flu that changes every single year. that is why we get a new flu shot every single year. it is not unusual. it makes the mitigation efforts, washing your hands, wearing a mask, physical distancing and the like much more important but

to think this mutated virus isn't already here is a little naive. so i think testing individuals who are flying here from the uk makes all the sense in the world. shutting down flights from the uk i'm not certain is not just closing the door after the horse already left. neil: you know, secretary, the one thing caught my attention saturday when we were first getting these news bulletins coming out of britain, going to boris johnson, the prime minister, was that there was such a sharp uptick in cases. now we've learned about a 51% uptick in cases week over week. that is extremely unusual. i believe certainly in europe, i don't even know here, unprecedented. how do you prepare for something like that? >> well, again we've got more tests. and england does a remarkable job in testing. they have almost universal testing that may be attributed to some of it. however, clearly this is

mutation that is, allows for the virus to be much more transmissible or more easily caught but the good news appears doesn't more severe. the disease that you get, the infection that you get it? more severe and more deadly, and susceptible to the two vaccines we have, pfizer and moderna vaccine that will be distributed over the next couple months. all of that is good news and people ought to recognize that. neil: you know part of that vaccine news and also good news is part of this covid relief package as i'm sure you're aware, secretary calls forbillion dollars to get these vaccines distributed throughout the country. obviously this is a herculean task. how do you think it is going? it. >> it is goings as well as expected at this point this has never been done before. it is important for the historic nature what we're trying to do.

the drib shun system infrastructure for that is state level in our country which presents other challenges. clearly millions of doses will be given each week over the next number of weeks. and i think that we can expect to see some significant decrease in transmission in our society over the next number of months as we get up to tens and literallies hundreds of individuals receiving the vaccine. neil: i would be remiss if i didn't remind you of other breaking news developments, sir. indulge me when we get into stuff in the past. bill barr, outgoing attorney gen-zers no reason for seizure of voting machines because of questions of fraudulent. doesn't see a reason for appointing special counsel to investigate hunter biden on any charges of election fraud. your thoughts? >> i leave final decisions up to those in charge clearly, what we've seen is the nation recognized through the electoral college that president-elect

biden is coming in on january 20th. we look forward to hear in the state of georgia hopefully reelecting senator david perdue and kelly loeffler so we can have the check and balance in the united states senate with a republican majority. and then we can get on with the business at hand. neil: would you mind one way or the other if president trump isn't at joe biden's inauguration, doesn't come to it? >> oh, i think that history and tradition would say that it's much better if the outgoing president participates in the ceremony. it is not, it is not absolutely vital or doesn't affect the legitimacy of an individual being sworn in but for the the the comity of the nation and ability to move forward it would be appropriate. neil: would you be disappointed

if he doesn't? >> the list of things that fulfill my disappointment category from washington are long. neil: okay. that is actually a very good answer. secretary, always a pleasure. hope you have a very merry, safe, healthy christmas. dr. tom price, the former health and human services secretary, former georgia congressman. the dow down 12points. we halved our losses from earlier in the day, actually halved them. anthony chen former economist for jpmorgan. aren't any, do you think vaccines ailing britain or virus variant, how would you describe it? >> well, neil, there is a lot of factors going on. one of them at the opening of the market the s&p was up 64% compared to its low of march 23rd. anytime you see a 60 plus increase in the market any hirsch cup, any concern is obviously going to raise some

attention. the fact that we have a vaccine as dr. tom price mentioned, you in fact mentioned that can in fact address this new strain that is perhaps 70% more contagious that has to be a little bit of a relief for the market. the fact that we have a stimulus package coming on by the way badly-needed since the summer, neil. we have 8% increase of according university estimates people moving into or below the poverty line. clearly we do need some help between now and the time we get the vaccine but still it is a uncertain period when you see this situation occurring. that is what the market did at the open. now showing a little bit of relief. neil: i guess there is concern that if britain has to go in the lockdown measures, they kicked around ideas that harken back to almost a complete lockdown the likes back in march and april,

or something a little softer it could spill over to the rest of european continent. if we're accepting latest bulletins from prime minister johnson that the virus can move very swiftly from one nation to another. now again your vaccine comments notwithstanding, i heard that as well, that is a concern of the markets. are they using it per your comment how fast the s&p, other stocks run up as an excuse to sell? use this as excuseeven though it might not amount to much? >> i think a little bit of all the above. when the market goes up that much, you take a breather almost on anything. i think what happened right now gives policy-makers a real justification to really pursue and certainly recommend mitigation efforts to be a lot more aggressive and really reinforce the logistics of attributing the vaccine. there is no question, they are not, reinfect rate, the

estimates are that will go from below one to maybe 1.2. so the reinfection rate is much, much higher but when you compare where we were in march where all we had was the prospect of stimulus and prospects for a vaccine were very uncertain and now we have stimulus and the prospects for a vaccine are favorable. so we're clearly in a different place here. so i expect any sort of a selloff in the equity market to be a buying opportunity. one last thing i will mention, neil, when you look at the s&p 500 consensus earnings, remember, that for the 2021, the consensus is looking for a 21.7% increase in earnings. that of course is after a small double-digit decline that we experienced, will experience in 2020. so clearly when you look ahead over the next 12 months and beyond, the prospects are much, much brighter. neil: yeah. whether the stocks have run ahead of that expectation, i

guess that we'll soon see. we'll soon see. very good, my friend, for catching up. all major groups have come back right now. treasury yields are off the very big lows of the day. that was flight to quality for a lot of people who were nervous. typically when you have got trouble abroad or fears that a virus is spreading, first reaction the selloff is happening in britain. all indices and other markets felony where from 1 1/2 to as much as 3% for at least in germany. that led to sort of a run to quality, bonds benefiting yields going down. oil collapsed about 5% off of those lows right now. again a predictable, sort of a run-through when people are scared. they sell first. they ask questions later. stay with us. ♪.

♪. neil: all right, we are not the only vaccine game in town. i don't know why we call that a showdown there. the vaccine we're talking about is from china. there are various pharmaceutical companies pool their resources as you know. it's a state-run society. they come up with a vaccine they say is very, very effective. there is no way to prove that.

what we do know they're saying about 400 million of these covid-19 doses are going to be made available in china, but for other countries. drugmakers collectively made that commitment in china t follows on the heels of about 14 million doses of various vaccines that we've seen in this country from the likes of pfizer and moderna. about half a million of those have gotten out into americans arms if you will. 1.1 million worldwide. china continuing a trend that we'll see other countries hit the vaccine ground running. they hope russia is among them as well. russia has not detailed plans for international distribution of its own state-run vaccine again. efficacy we cannot validate. right now, colonel james carafano, heritage foundation vice president. we're looking at this development juxtaposed against what is going on with the coronavirus itself.

if china is coming up with a remedy, a treatment, we should remember that all of this started in china, right, colonel? >> yeah. this really interesting report that came out from some papers that american newspaper publica gotten ahold of detail chinese government essentially lying about the response. if you think about this what this really means about the one thing we know for a fact that the chinese lied what they knew about the disease and didn't prevent people from traveling when they could have. this is more of a smoking gun showing that. if the chinese had been honest up front think of the difference would have happened? we could have gotten a month's earlier start of vaccine. which means by now we wouldn't be rolling it out. americans across the country would have already have it and we could have started testing before the disease got here in an effective way. we could have done tracing to prevent a mass outbreak here. literally we could have prevented the global pandemic if china had been honest up front.

we have more evidence that shows that they weren't. neil: they're not even being honest now. to say that china, epicenter, has 95 cases to date, 4700 deaths is preposterous, isn't it? >> look, it is incredibly irresponsible to put out a vaccine which you cannot prove meets the global acceptable standards for vaccine that works. we're going to be many my noising people around the world thinking they have protection from covid, we don't know that is actually true. that actually makes the problem worse. there is real lesson in geopolitics but we can't redo the past. we have a biden team wanting to come in, we want a constructive relationship with china. that has to start with recognizing that china is lying, that they are not interested in playing fair, and that if you are nice to them all that is going to show them you were as

weak and stupid as you were four years ago. neil: i just worry will it happen again. even after all of this that the same kind of thing could happen again, the same secretiveness, could rule again and the world could be vulnerable again. what do you think? >> well, absolutely. we've been through this before. we went through it with sars and several other diseases. so we've seen these recurring outbreaks in modern society and how quickly they move around. the difference is, this is the first one that smacked us in the face which was, which had higher lethality, which we didn't have therapeutics and vaccines for to deal with. so this is a lesson learned is, you have to be prepared for these outbreaks. you cannot depend on countries like china giving you early warning you need. you combine that with the world health organization which completely failed in its mission. biden says we want to rejoin the w.h.o. with none of the problems the w.h.o. has been fixed. that just furthers the problem.

the sad news is that the trump team was actually moving out, creating alternative global structures which would have provided real resilience. so for example, they would work with all the research hospitals in, research hospitals in africa that we built and built out a real global alert network, assessment network. i'm afraid that will die still born within the administration. neil: we'll see what happens. colonel, thank you very much. more importantly, your incredible service to this country. colonel carafano on that. by the way we're talking about the virus, the relief that they have detailed in washington, 900 plus trillion dollar plan to deal with that -- billion dollar. they're getting closer to releasing text of the bill. hundreds of pages. they're not there yet. they put them in hundreds of pages, provide them in a

notebook, provide for anybody to read in the measure if they vote it on it to their liking. we're told this is bipartisan support. the devil in the details. i remember this, prior stimulus measures when they agreed to what they agreed some are aghast. we're not there yet with the text but it is close. ♪. to all the businesses that helped us make it through 2020... thank you for going the extra mile... 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, from all of us at comcast business.

♪. neil: all right. couple of developments we're following very closely. bill barr says he sees no reason for seizure of voting machines or to appoint a special counsel to investigate possibilities of election fraud. he has always told the president he has no doubt such fraud was going on but not of the magnitude that would alter the election outcome. similarly the outgoing attorney general says he doesn't see a need for counsel to investigate

hunter biden. a lot of fast moving developments. rich edson following it all for us in washington. you're in wilmington, right? reporter: i have am in wilmington, neil. all of this you mentioned is going on while the president-elect is trying to figure out who he will select as attorney general. that person will lead a justice department likely going to be investigating his son next year. the transition team says regardless who he chooses the justice department will be independent. >> no decision has been made about who he is going to nominate to be the attorney general. he has been emphatic that that person will oversee an independent department. he will not be discussing an investigation of his son with any attorney general candidates. he will not be discussing it with anyone he is considering for the role. he will not be discussing it with a future attorney general. reporter: some of the names in running for the attorney general spot, former deputy attorney general sally yates, alabama

senator doug jones and judge merrick garland. republicans say regardless who biden selects as attorney general there should be a separate independent investigation into hunter biden. >> his son walked away with millions and millions and millions of dollars worth of contracts and the appearance that gave, i'm not saying there was any illegality, appearance that america's foreign policy can be bought. reporter: but still, neil, with all of that earlier today as you point out you had the attorney general, the current attorney general bill barr saferring there is no need for a special counsel. back to you. neil: rich, thank you very much, rich edson in wilmington, delaware. i want to go to congressman dan meuser, republican from pennsylvania congressman. also a member of the solvers caucus. there is a concept, republicans, democrats getting together to put aside personal differences

political differences getting something done. >> yes. neil: thanks to the congressman we're close to something now. how likely is it that it will get passed as soon as tonight, what do you think? >> well good news it is very certain it will be voted on tonight and i do believe it will be passed. it's a good bill, neil. we've got extended ppp as you well know and i got really hand it to minority leader kevin mccarthy. he saw it through along with the ppp we're getting the expense deduction for businesses on a retroactive basis. that's huge. vaccine distribution and the funding there to assure that as many americans and all north americans for that matter get vaccinated in short order. president trump deserve as tremendous amount of credit there. and there is so much more. there is family stimulus dollars. there is additional unemployment compensation for 10 weeks. there is money for schools. there is money for hospitals. as you mentioned my

problem-solvers caucus really did some great work here, brought alot of people together. we got an excellent bill. we're still here in washington, so but i do think we'll be done tonight. neil: congressman, i have gotten a lot of emails from folks asking about the extension of unemployment benefits, many who tell me they exhausted their state unemployment benefits. are they still able to get these extended federal benefits? >> yes, yes. this is completely federal supplement. now if the states are completely, have used their current unemployment compensation, well that is something they will have to deal with from their own financial standpoint but what we're extending here, is the unemployment compensation itself along with the 300-dollar supplement. i'm not aware of any problem that will exist. neil: all right. so people who were getting you

know, the 600-dollar a week thing, it will be less now. it is $300 a week, but doesn't matter whether they exhausted the state unemployment benefits. this is separate from that, correct? >> 300-dollar supplement yes. it should really work out fine for a 10 week period for those who require unemployment. let's face it, our country is making a comeback but the virus continues. so it is something that is necessary. it was a deal that was brokered, not necessarily perfect. not exactly how i would have done it but but it's a good balance. neil: same with 600-dollar stimulus checks half what they were back on the first wave of the pandemic. >> right. neil: but they, you know would go out. then i believe the income limit was 75,000. it phases out completely at 99,000. is that still the case as far as you know? >> that is still the case. that is exactly how those metrics existed in the first

cares act. by the way, 600-dollar check to each adult, $600 for a child, family of four will get $2400, secretary mnuchin said could start going out by early as next week. neil: all right. >> we're asking people, this isn't about big government programs. we're asking businesses to slow down, not shut down. we got to be safe, we got to be smart. we really have to stay open. that is the best stimulant we could have for a state but during these difficult times this is a package that is going to work for america. neil: good for you, congressman. thank you very much for that update. congressman dan meuser. republican from the beautiful state of pennsylvania. he was optimist iic when no one was. it looked like it would take a intergalactic event to happen. wouldn't you know on the same day we'll see an intergalactic event. take a peek you will see in this country a little after dusk,

this is courtesy matt that helps us with our show, we call him navy, he served his country honorably in the u.s. navy. he is quite the astronomer, takes great pictures. he took these pictures saturday? this is the closest saturn and jupiter appear in better part of 800 years. i refer covering this last time. genghis khan was ruling all of much of asia. they just started building the notre dame cathedral. a good many people in the world saying back then we're not quite sure the world is round. look how far they have come. used to think getting a stimulus package is done, thought it was impossible. look at these two puppies about to touch each other. appear anyway. that is divine intervention. ♪ this is decision tech.

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♪. neil: forget about what the federal government might do when joe biden gets in whether he will pass along tax hike he is looking at it is already happening in states and cities and income taxes expected to soar in many states and gasoline taxes already are in a lot of states, particularly like a lot of cities like chicago, another one, a third one has already gone into effect. grady trimble is there with more. hey, grady. reporter: neil, illinois has already one of the highest gas taxes in the country. now drivers in chicago on january 1st will pay 3 cents more per gallon. look at national average 2.22 compared to this gas station in the city at 3.19. drivers here already pay substantially more than other

parts of the country this is the third gas tax increase for people in chicago for the last 18 months. the mayor's office is doing everything they can to balance the budget $1.2 billion hole. part of that is raising property taxes. now this gas tax say they will generate 1.2 million in revenue. the illinois policy institutes is against raising taxes that it won't solve the financial woes. public pensions is the problem. we heard that before. the policy institutes did some number crunching, you pay for gas in chicago, you're not only paying for gas, if it is 2.53 for a gallon of gas, you're paying a buck of that in techs, federal, state, county, city taxes. that is a third of your entire receipt when you're at the pump. i know, neil, new jersey recently instituted another gas tax. a lot of places are trying this

as they deal with budget challenges and trying to balance their budgets. people don't really notice it right now because gas prices are so low but in a couple years from now if those prices bump back up, people might start paying attention, neil. neil: all right. thank you, my friend, i think. grady trimble following all of that in chicago. as grady pointed out it is not the only city and or state looking to do that. most are clawing to get revenue anywhere they can and gas is an easy, fast way to get it. gary b. smith follows that very closely. so much i want to get in with you, gary, but i would be remiss if i didn't address what grady was talking about. gas taxes going up, new jersey which already did it hiking taxes on wealthy its have. new york considering doing something like that california, illinois. on and on i go. even if you dodge federal tax hikes you're not going to dodge this, right?

>> yeah, exactly. the only alternative you've seen it in a lot of parts of manhattan, more upscale parts of new jersey people are either moving permanently to places like texas or florida, they're at least making that their second home they might already have their primary home. these states that particularly the ones that have had the most severe reaction to the lockdowns are really suffering. their budgets are really in trouble. neil: you know today is also debut day for tesla as a member of the s&p 500. it's a volatile stock to put in that and it has been whipsawed. i'm wondering, forget about just today how do you see this going? a lot of cautious, index playing only investors do so because it isn't a volatile trading instrument but now it could be. >> right. so you have a stock that is now about a little under 2% of the

s&p. just to, you talked about the volatility. when i started looking at some of the moves that tesla has made, it is really astounding. since the low in may of 2019, neil, the stock is up 1600%. gm in that same period is up 9%. so you know, wanted a little bit more volatility in the s&p you're certainly going to get it with tesla, even at 2% of the weighting. so it's really going to move the index around quite a bit more than it had prior to today. neil: all right. gary b., i wish we had more time, my friend. we're following all these other developments including what is going on with oil slip-sliding away on earns in europe.

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♪. >> we have zero evidence of any spread being traced back to our restaurants. we are disproportionately hurting american people who are wanting to work for no data and no science that ties back to that being the dangerous place. neil: but it is happening for big chains like the waffle house, even small very popular eateries like my next guest, bret crenshaw. social tap eatery co-owner. brent, good to have you. no matter how many statistics they have to restaurants are not to blame, or partially to blame for spike in cases nowhere near the top five contributors, they shut you down, limit your activity. what do you do? >> well you know, that is the million dollar question right now. i mean we're playing out a field where the goalposts are

constantly getting moved. like you said the data doesn't support these decisions it seems much more political or control of small business. we're all getting very frustrated with it. not only with that but with the hypocrisy we're seeing from the local leaders shutting us down and going out to dine. you know, it is time for this to end and let our people get back to work. neil: so what i'm wondering, brent, at least the possibility of aid from washington, small business relief, we're told paycheck protection relief, a good deal of it earmarked for restaurants like yours. would you take advantage of that? >> you know it depends. depends what the circumstances were. we would have to look very carefully as you know, whether these were going to be loans or going to be forgivable, things like that. there is really no reason to over encumber a business with a bleak further ture under the current set of circumstances right now.

we would really want to know more about what the details are of this next package proposed. neil: i know that old cliche, gets darkest before the dawn, spikes in cases here, particularly in britain where they deal with the mutated version of the crisis, comes as vaccines are flooding the planet. it has got to be the best and worst of both worlds for you? >> well, you know, yes and no. we were going through, this was supposed to be a couple week lockdown from the get-go. that is tough enough for most restaurants to withstand. we're going on six, seven months of this and it is just getting bleaker and bleaker for the hospitality business that doesn't have super deep pockets to get through this no matter what we do and again, when you know, like in california when the goalposts keep getting moved, we go from indoor, outdoor dining, then a bunch of people spend a lot of money to

put out, you know, create outdoor dining areas in a time that is five to 10 to $20,000. then get that ripped out from underneath them, it is kicking us while they're down. they're asking us to spend money, telling us we can't use money we just spent. i'm over this. we have to get back to either business as usual or a bullet in the head. neil: oh, man. you will get through it. just hang in there. man, every day, more money lost. brent crenshaw, keep us posted, my friend. meantime you might have noticed that the dow is inching to positive territory. might have something to do with the world health organization saying vaccines out there can address mutated virus that racked britain, has them contemplating shutdowns and lockdowns, the european economy on tenterhooks. a little bit of hope not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right.

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neil: all right. at the top of the 1:00 p.m. hour, the dow in positive territory right now. a big comeback from the better than 300 point drubbing we were seeing in stocks, a particular fall-off in all the major averages and a lot of sectors concerned about a mutating virus in britain. it's still mutating, it's still a concern but indications are the world health organization thinks the virus vaccines that are out there can address this,

ease a lot of the concern, and then of course, progress on the covid relief bill in the united states. they got the text or close to it, they plowed through that text and vote on it presumably sometime tonight. blake burman following all of that right now in washington. hey, blake. reporter: hi, neil. we are still awaiting the final details this legislative text to sort of go through all of it but we certainly have a lot of top line headlines and top line figures that come with this $900 billion package. let me go through some of it with you here quickly. another reauthorization, for example, of the ppp loan program, just shy of $300 billion to the tune of $284 billion. $15 billion for airlines which will be a lifeline for them going forward, though they will have to call back some 32,000 people on to the job in order to get that $15 billion. same amount as well for places like theaters, live venues and museums. there will also be $600 direct payments, double that for couples, and then for those who qualify and have children, $600 for the children as well.

a $300 federal plus-up on unemployment insurance. $25 billion for rental assistance and $82 billion to go to colleges and schools for covid related funds. now, republicans didn't get the liability protections they were looking for. democrats didn't get the widespread funding for state and local governments that they were looking for. that was something that the house speaker nancy pelosi lamented on the house floor earlier this morning. listen. >> how could it be that we only have $160 billion for state and local, when we are nearly approaching $1 trillion for ppp, not recognizing that the private sector is connected to the public sector? reporter: one of the last negotiated elements dealt with the lending facilities that were set up during the pandemic. that's going to expire at the end of the year.

that allowed the fed to jump in if need be. republicans were worried that this could potentially be a way in the incoming biden administration for democrats to eventually get what they want in terms of state and local funding and funnel that money to states. >> thanks to our colleague, senator toomey, this legislation washed down some of the temporary emergency powers we lent the federal reserve to make sure our financial system survived last spring. reporter: so when we eventually get the final text here, that will be, for example, one of the items to look at, what exactly is the legislative text, the language as it relates to winding down potentially what the fed can do with these credit facilities. by the way, as it relates to the white house, they have signaled that president trump will sign this $900 billion package when it eventually, we assume, makes its way to his desk. neil? neil: thank you for that, blake burman following all of that. back to this mutating virus and what's going on in britain, it triggered a number of britain's

neighbors to say we will not accept passengers coming in from your country, no offense, and then governor cuomo demanding that those coming into this country from britain be forbidden to do so. he's urged the feds to crack down on this sort of thing. indications are british air will be monitoring all of its flyers for any hint of the covid virus. that might allay some states' concerns about accepting flights from britain but are we getting too ahead of ourselves or panicking too much? let's ask dr. marty mccarey, the price we pay, best-selling author, professor of public health, much, much more. always good to have you. thank you. what do you make of what's going on in britain? should we be worried? the cases there increased more than 50% week over week. that's a tad unusual. what's going on? >> well, good afternoon, neil. look, i do think it's concerning, this virus in

england appears to be more contagious, that is more sticky, although there's no evidence to date to show that it's more lethal. i do think it's a good idea to try to contain a mutated strain that may be more contagious. neil: let me ask you this, doctor. i guess the world health organization has said that the vaccines already out there, presumably the one from pfizer and moderna, to address this, i'm paraphrasing, but should that allay some concerns? >> look, the virus mutation, and there are several mutations that have already been out there, they probably are encompassed by the same vaccine. if not, we can reprogram the genetic code in the mrna vaccines to try to address these viruses and that may be, in fact, what we need to do every two or three years, every three to five years, or every year as we do with seasonal flu. this is a well-known phenomena with viruses. some viruses are very stable, like measles, and others are very fragile like influenza and

the vaccine needs to be modified accordingly. neil: you know, doctor, you are the expert here but i routinely every day take a look at the case counts, death counts from all major countries and i was surprised to learn, maybe i just haven't noticed this, the degree is so obvious that china has reported only 4500, little bit more than that, cases of the virus and i'm wondering how is that possible and the death count among major countries, among any countries, among the lowest on earth? do you believe that? >> well, look, in the past we knew the numbers from china were not reliable, but now we believe they are. look, we talked to the chinese doctors regularly and if you look at the entire pacific rim, south korea, singapore, new zealand, australia, they have very few cases. they have essentially almost extinguished the virus from very strict protocols.

you can do that when you take tough mitigation early. of course, it was more widespread here and we were not able to really -- we did not go down that path. neil: you know, part of the covid relief package, as i'm sure you're aware, includes about $8 billion for distributing the vaccines out to the public. they have had some bumps along the way. i know this is a herculean task but are you okay with the rollout of these vaccines, what's become available to americans thus far? i believe better than half a million doses, 1.1 million worldwide. your thoughts? >> well, neil, i'm not convinced that throwing more money at the distribution is going to really address the problems. look, it's been very clunky but if you look at it, a lot of it is because of the career staff within the government. why is the cdc just yesterday issuing prioritization guidance on who should get the vaccine? they have had nine months for the love of humanity to get this guidance out there and we are hearing about it just yesterday?

our problem is not convincing people to get the vaccine. that is no longer our problem, neil. it wasn't fair to ask people to take a vaccine that was not yet approved when it had not been approved yet. only 28% of americans right now are saying that they are not going to get it and that number is decreasing, and about a third of those are already immune with natural immunity from previous infection. our problem is not convincing people. our problem is getting it to the right people. i'm concerned about the inequities right now where you see some people getting it because they are in positions of power or influence. neil: yeah. that does seem a little obnoxious, all these people paying great sums to get that. but doctor, quick thought on some companies that might demand it of their workers. that for the better part of safety in the workplace, to require workers to get this vaccine. much as our kids are required to have vaccines heading off to school. >> well, it's a totally different ball game than kids getting vaccines for school, and

remember, the vaccine is approved under an emergency use authorization, so it's not really proper for an employer, it's not legitimate for an employer to require a vaccine that's under an emergency use authorization. but some people are going to say they don't want to take it. i respect that decision. i will be taking it. i believe it's entirely safe. i will be getting it after every high risk american is first offered the vaccine. i'm not going to get it now. that is our challenge, getting it to the right people. we should be giving it to people that are 65 first and high risk essential workers, not young people. when you see a post on twitter of a young member of congress getting the vaccine, you should see the inequities right now in the distribution in that photo. neil: well, doctor, you are a good man. thank you very much for all your help. dr. marty makary, "the price we pay" runaway bestseller. take a look at a lot of the issues we've got to examine ethically and financially for

who gets these various vaccines and when and why, to explain all of that. the financial impact of all of this from carol roth, former investment banker, we have jim lecamp, morgan stanley wealth management senior vice president of investments. jim, i will begin with you on how the market really trades back and forth on vaccines and viruses, right. better things look for vaccines, they love it. all of a sudden, surprising, worrisome news, variant of that virus in britain, they sell on it. is this just going to be what happens in the weeks and months ahead? >> i think the market is going to respond quite a bit to stimulus and to vaccines and to the breaking news. and what the response is. i mean, we have had a lot of politicians say look, let's trust the science and if this new vaccine or if this new virus comes out and it starts to threaten the economies again, are you going to have shutdowns, are they going to tell us to watch the science. which science? which scientists?

behavioral psychologists? are we going to address things that have happened during the shutdown like suicides, depression and things like that? bottom line is the market is responding to what the economic impact of the vaccines and the potential economic impact of the vaccines and the economic impact of the virus itself. we have been responding to stimulus and today, we have a stimulus bill, i like the way the market is behaving here, we were selling off on the morning, we have already recovered from that. the interest rates are still low, inflation is still low, the market is behaving pretty well. it's been pretty resilient. but in answer to your question, it's very news-driven and it will likely remain that way, whether it's news of the vaccines or if it's news of some mu ta mutant virus starting to pop up. neil: i will say, carol, two developments i watched that sort of got us out of the deep, deep selloff, first news out of the world health organization that

the vaccines available might address what's going on with this covid variant going on in britain, and then the news that the text of that covid relief measure was already getting out or soon to get out in washington. what are you to make of all of this? >> well, if you were to look at the pros, the pros are saying they are all in. there's a survey from bank of america that just came out and in terms of the cash position, it's the first time that the respondents were underweight cash since may of 2013 and was at the lowest level since 2020, and looking at a lot of other surveys on the street, you are seeing a lot of bullish optimism. now, me, as you happen to know, i happen to be a contrarian. that makes me very very nervous when everybody is all excited and happy. and i think on top of the stimulus and the vaccine, you have to look around the corner to the beginning of january to this runoff election in georgia,

and there is certainly some thought at least in the predictions market that the republicans keep the senate, but if they don't, that's one of those things, forget vaccine or stimulus, that's going to send everything sideways, so in terms of volatility, over the next few weeks, i certainly don't think that we're out of the weeds. neil: all right. we will watch it closely. guys, i want to thank you very very much. we are following these developments and to both their points, they are dictating the course of markets for the time being with the dow up a little more than 15 points. we are waiting for the release of that full text of the covid-19 relief measure. we are also waiting for those of you watching in the good old united states of america, an opportunity to witness something the world has not been able to quite see for the better part of 800 years. i'm not talking about a bull market. i am talking about jupiter and saturn, our largest planets that are going to appear the closest they have ever looked since the days of galileo.

only 14 years after he invented the telescope. that was the last time we saw these planets appearing to all but touch one another. a unique conjunction as they are calling it. what's odd is this sort of thing happens almost every 20 years. but not like this, not now. everyone in this country is going to get a chance to see it tonight and your next chance, 2080. it won't be nearly as close. i'm just telling you. a buddy that i worked with for a long, long time, i wouldn't call him amateur astronomer, he comes in very very handy, when i asked him if they are physically touching one another, he laughed, guffawed, then said no, it just looks that way, you imbecile. he didn't mean to say that. i heard that. a lot of people say this is the christmas star.

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neil: everyone's wondering what the arrival of joe biden as president of the united states on january 20th, a lot of things are going to change. what about that relationship with china? jackie deangelis has been looking into just that, joins us right now in new york. hey, jackie. jackie: good afternoon to you, neil. what about that relationship, right? a lot of unanswered questions. before the november election, of course, then candidate biden, he took to the stage and he said he was going to be very tough on china. so much so that people said he was ripping a page out of president trump's playbook. biden did criticize trump on tariffs, that was one thing, and he's intimated that he would do things differently but the question is how. he signaled racheting up pressure over china's human rights record. we're not actually going to know what his plan is until after inauguration day. president trump not only fought a tough trade war with china but also he wanted to keep the country in check, he wanted to make sure it didn't have an

unfair advantage and to bring u.s. companies and jobs back on u.s. soil. but even in his last days, the administration is cementing some tough policies on china by blacklisting dozens of chinese firms, banning u.s. investors from buying shares in chinese companies, and sanctioning senior chinese law makers. what about the pandemic when it comes to president-elect biden? he hasn't made any comments on china and how it handled the coronavirus. we do know this, neil. it came from wuhan, china. we also know that internally, china had restricted travel but didn't restrict travel in any way to the rest of the world. now, this morning on "fox & friends" nikki haley summed it up. >> what i do believe strongly is that they knew the virus was out there and they knew they were going to suffer and they didn't want to be the only country that suffered so they let it get out to the rest of the world. i don't doubt that for one second. that's how china is. they want to be dominant across the world and they don't want to be weakened in any way. if they are going to be weakened

they want everybody else to suffer with them. jackie: what will the president-elect do about this? there's a lot of anger especially as we are all suffering on an individual basis as we go through this. the answer to that right now, neil, unclear. neil: jackie, thank you very much. jackie deangelis following all of that in new york. to charlie gasparino, following the attempted sale of directv, who is interested, who is at least kicking the tires. where does this thing stand, charlie? charlie: i will get into that in a minute. here's one clue on china. i just heard jackie's report on how tough or how lax the biden administration will be, is who will be the ambassador to china. if it's bob iger, the disney chief who has been a china dove throughout his career, very strong connections to the chinese government and president xi, if it's iger as has been floated out there, then you know we are going very dovish on china or a lot more dovish than what trump has done in the last

four years. so watch the ambassador to china. if it's iger, that's a huge directional shift. getting into at & t and directv, we should point out at & t bought time warner, hiuge mega-dollar purchase. it has to sell stuff to pay some of the debt down and one of the things it's looking to sell, now that it's learned or at least for the moment it doesn't look as if it's going to sell its cnn subsidiary is directv. that's a satellite cable provider, providing programs via satellite. they bought directv for something like $67 billion a few years back. that's with debt and equity, $67 billion. they're looking to sell it now. they're lucky if they get 15 for it. $15 billion out of that $67 billion. that shows you how much directv's business has evaporated. here's what we know. there are interested parties. from what i understand, apollo management still remains very interested in buying directv or

at least entering into a partnership with at & t. the way this deal works, from what we understand, it's going to be spun out and there's going to be equity partners. one of the initial sort of structures that we heard was that it would be at & t partnering with apollo and dish, charlie ergen's dish. from what we understand, apollo at least for now is not interested in doing a deal that involves dish but it is interested in doing something with at & t where it would pay something along the lines of $10 billion to $15 billion as part of a partnership. again, nothing like the $67 billion they initially sold for, gives you an indication of just the long road back at & t has to deal with some of its debtload which is in the multi billion dollars, if they can't get rid of directv for anything close to what they bought it for. it looks like apollo among others is interested. back to you. neil: charlie gasparino, thank you very very much.

just updating you again on this intergalactic event i have been talking about here, but it is a unique event of this christmas season to see something that many claim that the magi saw visiting jesus all those years ago on the first christmas, that at least is the religious lore. this is concerning jupiter and saturn appearing the closest they have ever appeared at least to the naked eye on earth since 1623. as i mentioned earlier, even though it does happen every 20 years or so, this close, you have to go back to when galileo some 14 years after building the first telescope was watching this for himself. the difference back then, not many people had telescopes and at that time, it was 13 degrees away from the sun, which my good friend and astronomer confidant was telling me would make it

virtually impossible to see from earth. but it is a very different story tonight across much of the planet, where people will have a chance to see for themselves with the naked eye, to see them almost touching even though they are hundreds of millions of miles apart, but a rare intergalactic event, the likes of which some say you have to go back to the magi to appreciate just how big a deal this is. after this. - hi, i'm steve.

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neil: all right. what a great day to be witnessing this and my next guest, who has been so excited to get on this show finally because she has traveled the world, i think virtually every country on this planet. she is a great actress, great writer and thinker, but these are two places i suspect that justine shapiro has not been. i'm talking about jupiter and

saturn. they are going to appear the closest they ever have since 1623. no, i was not there to cover that since many of you have been charging that i was, but i did talk to galileo at the time. this was only 14 years after he invented the telescope. he might have been one of the few people on the planet back then to catch this, but now the whole world can catch it, including my good buddy and colleague, matt, aka navy, because he served his country honorably, maybe he should have been part of the sfpace force rather than the navy, but these are some of the images he's gathered for us. i'm sure my next guest, justine, is looking at this saying you know, i could do a documentary on that. she joins us right now. just jivenl justine, thank you for joining us. so good having you. >> it's really nice to spend this time with you, neil. i have long admired your amazing

interview skills. neil: well, all for that, not one tough question, young lady. let me get your take first of all. we always talk about the virus and everything that's going on. we've got the first signs out of britain today that it's mutating. now no country wants to deal with british flyers welcoming to their country, that's gone. i'm beginning to wonder, people hear that sort of thing, i'm not traveling to britain, not going to go to europe, so whatever clamp-down we have had on travel is going to last a while. what do you think? >> well, you know, i have been an observer and participant of the travel industry for 40 years and i love history. it offers great stories and great perspective, and when i look at sort of -- i sort of see the travel industry in three ways. the first way was sort of the advent of the travel industry,

where suddenly people could buy a plane ticket, albeit most of the people who traveled in the first wave of travel had money or they were backpack travelers, and that was sort of in the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s. in the 2000s there was click and fly, where all of a sudden people were hopping on planes like they were hopping on bikes. that was the case for business travel and the case for leisure travel, where suddenly the cost of a flight wasn't prohibitive, people who had a little disposable income could travel. there was a kind of democratization of travel and package holidays made it super easy for people to explore their world and it's in our nature as human beings to want to know what's around us, and that's never going to change. so i think now what sort of

happened during the sort of second wave of travel is the emphasis on museums and monuments and the first wave of travel, people were taking pictures of big ben and the tower of london and buckingham palace but with the second wave of travel with the click and fly wave of travel, it was all about going local and this sort of new status of travel was showing just how local you could be. it wasn't about, you know -- it was about being in the little cafe in the 19th arondissemont. what we are seeing now with the pandemic is the third wave of travel. i think we are seeing the main things, the driving force in travel during the pandemic is safety. people want to feel safe. so people are traveling in their bubble, the sales of rvs is through the roof. airline and hotel bookings are do down. outdoor gear, through the roof.

people are taking time with their families and traveling by vehicle to state parks and national parks and i think we are going to continue to see that, you know, in the fourth wave of travel. i think people are starting to realize that you don't actually have to hop on a plane to have an adventure and certainly, i think the business community has realized that, you know, the benefit of business travel, you know, it just doesn't add up, like jumping on a plane like jumping on a bike to go to a business meeting -- neil: but that worries me, too, because i think in a lot of your work, what we show is when we travel, we break down boundaries. it leads to good things. the more we know and experience in other countries, in this case, the more we are likely to see them in a different light. i forget the time or the moment or the year you came up looking at the israeli-palestinian issue

through the eyes of kids and i thought that was a very unique way to feel for something that, you know, hits all the international hot buttons. you refused to go that route and just see it in another venue. i wonder if we continue to clamp down on getting abroad and traveling and we are locking ourselves in, nothing wrong with domestic travel, to your point, have at it and we all have to be safe, i get that. i just worry that the longer this lasts and every headline we get about problems in britain and all of this, that's a large group of people who will never see stonehenge or parliament or things that are so iconic and conversely, many of those people will not come here to see many of our landmarks. i just worry that this has a far more pervasive impact than an economic one. >> i actually think what we will see in the fourth wave of travel is really exciting, because i think what we are going to see is that people are going to

start moving to places that are outside of their comfort zone because they realize as long as they have a good internet connection and they can sort out the visa issues, you could go to lima, peru and do your work there for a couple of months. you could go to lisbon for a couple of months. you could go to capetown for a couple of months. and -- neil: you suspect a lot of people will do that, though? >> i have a feeling that once people start to realize that the world is really open to them and that doing your work, you know, from your computer in the first place, you could go somewhere else and do that, and what happens then is that it's not just that you are seeing stonehenge but you are meeting the local, you know, baker on your street, you are talking to, you know, the person at the cafe, you might even learn the language of the place that you're in. people, i think it's going to be a really positive thing for

humanity when people realize that they can take themselves anywhere in the world and do their work from their screen, and probably pay a lot less than what they are paying where they're living, you know, certainly where i'm living in berkeley, california. it would be a lot cheaper for me to relocate to mexico city, which is a city that i love and there's great internet connections so why not go there. i feel very hopeful about what this fourth wave is going to bring. i think people aren't going to hop on a plane for a two-hour business meeting. i don't think that's great for families. i don't think that's great for people's physical well-being. i don't think it's great for carbon emission. but i think if people are going to hop on a plane and go some place for a month or two months and get to know the neighborhood that they're living in, that is a great thing for humanity. neil: all right. i feel ashamed because i was looking at the half-empty glass. you are looking at the half-full glass. that's a good way to be. that's a good way to be. all right.

justine, very good having you. justine shapiro, documentary film maker. i love the way she looks at the world. little bit differently, a lot positively. i have a feeling she's already booking a flight to saturn or jupiter. by the time she arranges it, they will be far apart again. the chances of seeing it like we are seeing it now or will later today, will be gone. but again, looking at this, what we could be in store for, that is a heavenly event. first time in 800 years. after this. ♪ ♪ ♪

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neil: all right. it is getting close in georgia right now. senators perdue and loeffler, busy campaigning as they get ready for that and the continued early vote in georgia, i believe already a million plus have done so. jonathan serrie in atlanta with more. hey, jonathan.

reporter: hey, neil. in fact, nearly one and a half million people have either voted early in person or cast absentee ballots. that's rivaling what georgians did at this point during the general election cycle back in november. it suggests that unlike most runoff elections, where interest wanes, people are still very much engaged in these two senate races that will determine the balance of power in the u.s. senate. this afternoon, ivanka trump is campaigning in the atlanta suburbs with incumbent senators david perdue and kelly loeffler and over the weekend, former united nations ambassador nikki haley joined perdue and loeffler on the campaign trail. >> -- defunding the police and cancel culture and she stood up to china and had the president's back. reporter: this afternoon, vice president-elect kamala harris is joining a rally for jon ossoff and raphael warnock.

over the weekend, warnock pushed back on criticism of his sermon, taking his opponent is taking his comments out of context, tweeting kelly loeffler's attacks on our faith are not just disappointing, they are hurtful to black churches across georgia. loeffler responded no one attacked the black church. we simply exposed your record in your own words. president trump has announced he will hold a big rally for senators loeffler and perdue on january 4th. that of course is the evening before these two runoff elections. neil? neil: jonathan, thank you very very much. meantime, you might notice that as he was speaking there, it's the jonathan serrie effect, we are up 81 points on the dow. oil prices which were already down have reversed some earlier losses. still down a little more than 3%. it's the oil thing that intrigues me because it seems to be the world's way of saying because of what's going on in britain with its mutated virus and the like that all of a

sudden, a global recovery will be slowed. let's get the read on that from phil flynn, also susan li. phil, what do you make of what's going on with oil and whether it's telegraphing something like that, a global slowdown or at least a recovery that won't be as fast? >> well, i think that's exactly what it is. but i think right now, if you look at the way the stock market has bounced back and oil has not, that's a real tell-tale sign with the concern about this swaef second wave of lockdowns we are seeing in europe. the biggest concern is the second strain. the market doesn't know how this is going to impact the end game for this virus, right, because the oil market was pricing in the last couple weeks that the virus is coming to an end, people are going to get vaccinated, we will see a comeback midyear full strength. now we are saying wait a second, we don't really know, we need more information, so the oil traders are taking profits and are in wait and see mode until

we get a clearer sign of how this will impact demand. neil: you know, when you look at the markets, i have been listening to you, susan, great runup and they continue to have a great runup, and the comeback today, there's a lot of people in the camp that says you know, 2020 surprised them, this could be this century's new 1920s. what do you think? susan: wow. 1920s, that was the golden era. i know you weren't around then, neil, but look, the price action today has been -- neil: i was. phil and i covered it. we were there at the time. susan: oh, come on. come on. okay. i woke up at 5:00 a.m. this morning and saw futures in the dow down some almost 700 points. the fact we rallied back to now get into positive territory i think is really encouraging. also this week don't forget is a holiday-shortened week. that means most wall street investors close their books for the year on friday. so we are looking at pretty light volume and any knee-jerk reaction gets exaggerated up or down, and don't forget, we are in the back half of the santa claus rally and the back half is

stronger usually than the first two weeks of the month, and december usually after an election goes up 85%. beat that in the 1920s. neil:in credible. phil, zoom, of course, been a big, big beneficiary of the pandemic. we are told that on christmas day and around christmas day, the days around it, it will have record traffic that will, you know, just dwarf the kind of record days it was enjoying during the pandemic. what do you make of that? >> it's good for the stock, sad for a lot of families that have to rely on zoom to get together. in a way it's bittersweet but let's face it, you know, the zoom world is with us right now and with concerns about more shutdowns, you know, stance to home stocks that everybody thought we would be lightening up on just a few weeks ago, may be back in play right now at least for the near term. but yeah, listen, zoom has established itself as the leader of communication right now.

they have been the hot stock. but there's going to be other stay-at-home stocks that will do great as well, neil. take a look at the ones that did great a couple weeks ago. you had amazon, disney, all the stay-at-home stocks are probably going to get another bounce with these concerns about another shutdown in europe. neil: i suspect amazon and some of the others have a leg and a traction to them that goes way beyond the pandemic. susan, what do you think? susan: we are looking at a record retail holiday shopping period this year, probably up some 4% to 10% and record number spent online, as you can imagine. i think nike kind of indicates how well retail is going, especially for those that have really mastered online, nike is probably one of the best performers and main spikes we are seeing on the dow today, record quarter, fantastic quarter in the summer. online sales jumped 85% and china coming back a lot faster. i think the consumer spending is there and you have to play the

right retail game but if you do, you get rewarded. neil: you do indeed. guys, thank you both very very much. stay well, stay healthy. merry christmas to both of you. we will continue to follow these developments, continuing to follow as well the comeback in the markets right now and how pronounced it is. stay with us. the dow at 30,231. to all the businesses that helped us make it through 2020... thank you for going the extra mile... 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, from all of us at comcast business.

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neil: well, they meant well. the new york city school that came up with a number of anti-racism proposals but now is running into a buzz saw of criticism. laura has more. reporter: some people call these recommendations. other people are calling them demands. but this very public -- i'm sorry, private new york city school that costs a lot of money to go to has found itself right in the middle of a major controversy when it comes to what you just described. it's actually led some parents to pull their kids from the school where tuition costs over $54,000 a year. the dalton school posted its commitment to antiracism page in june with a list of proposals after massive social justice demonstrations following the death of george floyd and

reports of student allegations of racism. soon after, some members of the school's faculty suggested additional changes, according to one parent's blog which has been widely circulated including these points, ensuring there's no correlation between race and placement in advanced classes, including courses on black liberation, overhauling the entire curriculum, reading list and student place to reflect diversity and social justice themes, paying the student debt of black faculty, having all employees submit a public anti-racism statement. the k to 12 school says it welcomes the debate but doesn't support all of the language and ideas by faculty members, but does support debate on the topic. telling fox this. what is erroneously being referred to as faculty demand is, in fact, a set of soft starters created this summer by a subset of faculty and staff responding, and dalton isn't the only school to propose such changes. in fact, schools across the

united states this year have issued some similar proposals that address racism and police brutality. we continue to follow it. neil? neil: all right. thank you very much for that. take a quick break here with the dow up about 77 points. some of the original fears about a mutating virus in britain have been eased. they have not been eradicated, though. stay with us. ♪

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♪. neil: all right. they have got 57 parentally the text of that covid-19 relief measure, better than 900 million-dollar measure which they found bipartisan support. let me go through things they apparently found common ground, 26 billion forking a culture, 300 billion for so-called ppe, the paycheck protection program. $8 billion for the vaccine distribution. they will reemploy those 300-dollar a week jobless benefits. they were $600 a week last time. but about $300 over 10 weeks, whether you lost your state unemployment benefits or not. they're kicking around the idea. still an idea hasn't been cemented here, 600-dollar stimulus check.

half what they were at the height of the pandemic. not as many are going to get them. cutoff is $75,000 for individuals, phases out all together at 99,000. that would be 2/3 of the number who got these, relief checks, got them the last go round. we'll see. now to charles. hey, charles. charles: neil, thank you very much, my friend. good afternoon, everyone. i'm charles payne. this is "making money." breaking right now a very busy day for the markets as major indices stumbled out of the gate on a christmas shortened week. it is a remarkable we're. we'll look at trends that could make 2021 a great year for investors. selectivity, folks, that is still the buzzword. we'll have guests that help you zero in on potential winners. all this as the world is cutting off the uk over concerns of a new strain of the coronavirus sent market into deep breath this morning but how worried should we