exposure into the small caps that's getting hard today. i think also one stock you can get into early on monday are some of the luxury stocks. ldmh is one of my favorites. charles: there was such a line at louis vuitton at the mall on saturday. anecdotally, i agree with you. i always agree with you. you're great. in the meantime, the market's made a pretty nice rebound after a really shaky start to the session. liz claman, over to you. liz: yeah. there are a couple of names that are just a little bit shaky, right? it's tesla's big day. you know that. it's finally invited to the s&p prom and today's the day. why is the stock flagging? maybe you should be looking at this differently. is this your best chance to get into the stock at a slightly cheaper price? the top voice at s&p index research, howard silverblatt, joins us live. congress making its last-minute push to drag a $900

billion stimulus bill across that finish line at this very moment. right now, we understand the house rules committee is meeting on the bill. once it's approved there, it goes to a full house vote. the stimulus plan, chock full of billions in aid but why, when the restaurant industry is taking an outsized hit, was it left on the outside looking in? the ceo of fat brands, the parent of fatburger and johnny rocket's, so much more, he's about to let loose on this bill. it comes as the fda's approval of the second covid vaccine now has moderna rolling those vials off the factory floor headed to americans most in need. the ceo of cryoport has been picked by 26 vaccine candidates worldwide to keep these precious biologics chilled and safe. he's going to talk about the one thing that truly has surprised him when it comes to moving

super-cold vaccines across the nation. it's a fox business exclusive. the markets are in manic monday mode as we head into this final hour. the dow has already endured a wild 550-point swing. it's up now 63 but the s&p and nasdaq are still in the red. let us get to this breaking news, though. the house rules committee, this is the congressional gateway for bills to pass, just began meeting about five minutes ago, as americans, the markets and businesses wait with bated breath for official word the $900 billion relief package has been passed, we know this, it includes unemployment funds, paycheck protection program cash, and direct payments in checks to americans. let's get to blake burman in washington with more on where the money is and is not going. blake? reporter: liz, 5,593 pages. that is how big this thing is. when you combine the $900 billion covid relief deal with oh, by the way, the $1.4

trillion government spending package, those two combined together, more than 5500 pages. let me go through some of the top lines here. you're right, reauthorization of the ppp loan program, just shy of $300 billion, $284 billion. there's $15 billion for the airline industry as they will have to bring back some 32,000 workers, back on to the job. the same amount of money for live venues, for museums and theaters as well. there will be $600 direct payments for individuals. double that for couples. that $600 amount the same as well if you have a child. a $300 federal plus-up for unemployment insurance, if you lose your job, that the federal government will add on to that. $25 billion for rental assistance and $82 billion going to colleges and schools to cover covid-related costs to make sure their classrooms are open and safe. this was how the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell described it all when he was on the senate

floor earlier this morning. >> no sprawling left wing wish list, no unconstrained bailouts for state and local government, with no connection to covid needs. just smart targeted bipartisan policies. reporter: you will remember back in october, democrats were negotiating with the white house and the white house at that point had a $1.9 trillion offer, meaning $1 trillion more than what democrats agreed to today. the top democrat in the senate, chuck schumer, defended their position by saying that there are, as he put it, three beacons of hope. >> one, soon many americans will have the vaccine. two, joe biden will become president. he has the experience and the empathy to handle the covid crisis and will replace a man who has shown no capacity or even interest in doing so. and three, we are on the verge

of passing another historic bipartisan relief bill to deliver emergency assistance during a time of national emergency. reporter: the house rules committee has been taking this up in the last 15 minutes or so. keep in mind this just posted online, 5500 pages of it, about 30, 40 minutes or so ago. the process is rolling to get this to the president's desk and the white house says that president trump is supportive of the deal. liz? liz: um-hum. i'm actually on page 4. i am not reading 5,000 pages. reporter: i'm on page 11. liz: blake, yeah, well, you got to scrutinize this stuff. you don't want to sign things you haven't read. thank you very much, blake. investors have one eye on d.c. and that bill and then the other on their s&p index funds, because today is a very big day. if you are one -- investors in one of these top-rated funds,

vanguard s&p 500, spdr s&p 500, i-shares core 500, these are exchange-traded funds, you are now the owner of tesla stock, the biggest company ever to join the s&p 500. but while tesla's addition seems to be a game changer, look at shares of the electric vehicle giant. they are moving lower by about 5% at this hour. what does this all mean for the stock, the s&p and funds where tesla now has a parking space? to our floor show and joining us is s&p dow jones senior index analyst howard silverblatt and new york stock exchange trader scott redler. howard, tesla now the sixth largest publicly listed firm on the index following, what, apple, microsoft, amazon, facebook and alphabet, if you combine its a and c shares. how will tesla's inclusion impact the s&p overall? what can investors be looking for? >> a couple things we already know. reduces the yield slightly, decreases the pe. going forward, the volatility of

the index is expected to increase, okay, because tesla is extremely volatile compared to the rest of the issues. but at the 11th hour that at thes teshgsla moves, it will mo six points. tesla will have a major impact, especially at this level. it is extremely high, as you said, 83 at the beginning of the year, 660 now, down somewhat, about 5% from the high that we put it in on. so the volatility should continue and investors should expect it to have an impact. liz: that is fascinating because i would imagine a lot of investors did not know that. when people look at the s&p and say oh, it's down 14 but look at the dow, it's up 54, you know, there are only 30 stocks in the dow but to have tesla with that much power certainly, i think

that that is certainly significant. scott redler, what will you be looking for in the s&p as we move now with an s&p index that has tesla in it? >> well, as an active trader, we try and edge the action of the s&p. i think a lot of traders like myself, when tesla was finally announced to be included in the s&p, we knew there had to be pretty much force buying in that stock so funds could get balanced with it. that's what you saw over the course of the past month. tesla had a fantastic move, it was fast, it was furious and even on friday, the last few minutes of the day, boom, they gapped it up to 695. so what i'm expecting is, i'm expecting tesla to relax for the next two to four weeks because the force buying isn't enough to keep it going to new highs, in my humble opinion. i think the s&p stocks that were sold to make room for tesla like we discussed last week, remember we discussed threading the needle in friday's close -- liz: chevron. >> microsoft, buying apple, buying amazon, buying some of

the names that were sold, they could actually outperform tesla that i think just had a fantastic monthly move. liz: howard -- >> overall volatility of the s&p, yes, it will probably increase but overall it's healthy to have tesla in there. liz: howard, can you give us some insight as to why it took as long as it did for tesla to get into the s&p 500, even as its market cap ballooned? >> several criteria that we use to the methodology. that's up on the web. we look for companies within the 500 which are different than other indices because it's so large, so heavily invested to be profitable and we look for gaps [ inaudible ]. the company had four quarters, 12 months of high rate of earnings and they just made that with their september numbers. basically we do not have that same criteria if you look at the u.s. indices which tesla is a

member of some of them. but to the 500, we try to keep profitability in there, liquidity in there. there are certain additional criteria to get in. not the same criteria as staying in. there are several companies that don't have anywhere near the market value that it needed to get in, or the profitability. but again, we need certain criteria to get in to reduce the turnover and maintain that the companies going in aren't just somewhat of a hot issue for the week. liz: scott, real quick, the stock is at $658.58. at what level would you recommend people waiting to buy it? >> i would just give it some time. let it prove that it can digest up here after being included in the s&p. it just had a big move for the year, for the month. for me, i have been long the majority of the time. i'm actually flatted and synthetically short, actually. calls the next week or two, it's not going to make new highs.

give it some time. it could be viable but i would think they could buy it probably closer to the 6, 620 range in the weeks ahead versus sitting through the volatile stage i think it could have. liz: sure. yeah. gentlemen, thank you. howard, great to see you on the show. scott, we will see you once again. you know, i don't know if you all know this. i have been covering tesla since 2006. after it went public, it was the most heavily shorted stock forever. i covered it intensely. i finally decided to go take a test drive of the model y but i thought let me bring you guys along for the ride. i have posted my entire experience of doing this ride-along on snapchat and tiktok to see my entire electric vehicle ride, including, i reveal a bunch of little things, too. you got to go on snapchat, follow me,@lizclaman and on

tiktok,'dr tiktok,@redfoxliz. that was a handle some truckers gave me and the media called me that. tell me what you think. it's posted there now. i want you to let me know. i had a great time but there are some things you need to see there. it has been exactly eight days since pfizer's vaccine rolled out here in the u.s., and now it is moderna's turn. coming up, the company that specializes in the [ inaudible ] that keeps these life-saving treatments alive. what the ceo is saying is the most important element in the cold chain. with the closing bell ringing in 48 minutes, the dow still hanging on to green here, up 14 points. remember, it had been down 423 earlier. stay tuned. "the claman countdown" is coming right back. just like your fingertips,

your lips have a unique print. ...and unique needs. your lips are like no others and need a lip routine that's just right for you. chapstick® has you covered. chapstick®. put your lips first®. some things are good to know. like where to find the cheapest gas in town and which supermarket gives you the most bang for your buck. something else that's good to know? if you have medicare and medicaid you may be able to get more healthcare benefits through a humana medicare advantage plan. call the number on your screen now and speak to a licensed humana sales agent to see if you qualify. learn about plans that could give you more healthcare benefits than you have today. depending on the plan you

choose, you could have your doctor, hospital and prescription drug coverage in one convenient plan. from humana, a company with nearly 60 years of experience in the healthcare industry. you'll have lots of doctors and specialists to choose from. and, if you have medicare and medicaid, a humana plan may give you other important benefits. depending on where you live, they could include dental, vision and hearing coverage. you may also get rides to plan-approved locations; home delivered meals after an in-patient hospital stay; a monthly allowance for purchasing healthy food and beverages; plus an allowance for health and wellness items. everything from over the counter medications and vitamins, to first aid items and personal care products. best of all, if you have medicare and medicaid, you may qualify for multiple opportunities throughout the year to enroll. so if you want more from medicare, call the number on your screen now to speak with a licensed humana

sales agent. learn about humana plans that could give you more healthcare benefits. including coverage for prescription drugs, dental care, eye exams and glasses, hearing aids and more. a licensed humana sales agent will walk you through your options, answer any questions you have and, if you're eligible, help you enroll over the phone. call today and we'll also send this free guide. humana, a more human way to healthcare.

liz: all right. breaking news. you want to know how quickly this vaccine is getting out? the moderna vaccine was approved late friday officially and over the weekend, it is already getting into people's arms.

this is video just in from the east boston neighborhood health center which began vaccinating front line health care workers with the moderna vaccine. of course, the first shots were packed and shipped from tennessee on sunday. unlike pfizer's vaccine which needs subarctic temperatures, moderna's is easier to store. still, the rollout is making the business of cold chain transportation red-hot. cryoports publicly traded, provides distribution and cold storage services for 26 different covid-19 vaccine candidates. it can store cell and gene therapies at temperatures as low as minus 180 degrees celsius. wall street has really warmed up to the stock. it's up 206% this year. cryoport ceo jerry shelton joins us now live and in the background of the shot, you can see a live feed of his manufacturing facility. jerry, welcome. tell me what's going on at your manufacturing facilities right

now. >> well, we are busy. i mean, we are shipping life-saving therapies every day to all parts of the world. we're very busy. liz: i would imagine. can you describe to us the factory level all the way to the end user process? >> absolutely. first of all, i want to just say, you know, our gratitude to pfizer and moderna and also justin johnson, who is coming along very well, according to the data that's being reported for developing these vaccines in incredibly fast times, something that's never been done before. after it's developed it goes through a complicated process of distribution. distribution starts with the packaging, storage of the produc products at the temperature the protocol demands, goes to packaging, from there it's

picked up and goes to trucks and the airlift and to the other end where facts are verified. it's a very complicated process. all the data has to be there to support the protocol and to make sure that efficacy is -- liz: of course. this is a movie we have never seen before. nobody has ever had to transport here in the united states vaccines on such a huge level and certainly as widespread. what has surprised you most since at least pfizer and moderna have been approved, what have you learned in the last let's call it eight days that you did not know before and that you can now take as information for the future? >> actually, we are supply chain experts and temperature control supply chain solutions for the sciences so we were very aware of what the requirements were. the issue is the supply chain

has not been built out adequately. we are building it out. i'm sure we will get there. liz: can i just interrupt you for a second. we've got a live picture right now of president-elect joe biden and his wife jill and they are about to get the vaccine. so as we continue to watch this shot, please continue your thought. >> wonderful. i'm glad they're getting the shot. it's a great demonstration of leadership. i'm happy to see that they're doing that. so we are aware of what the requirements are. the distribution really didn't get a lot of attention early on and we are building out supply chain as i said. we will get there but we're not quite there yet. this is a global problem. this is not just a u.s. problem and people all around the world, logistics companies, supply chain companies all around the world are going to have to be involved. we will be in a position, we are in a position to help wherever, whatever we are needed, but it's going to take a coordinated

effort around the world to build out the supply chain. to give you an idea about the complexity of the supply chain, think about d-day. think about world war ii when the allied forces hit the normandy beaches. that was a one-day event, one battle. that battle, that battle for the supply chain to be built took general marshall a year and a half. general marshall and his staff, a year and a half to build out the supply chain, that one battle. what we have here is a war, a war around the world, a global war. so that distribution concept, that distribution supply chain, has to be built out. right now, it's pretty simple. you're going from one metropolitan area to another and then directly to a point of care. but it's going to get much, much more complex as we move forward in getting rid of this covid-19 pandemic. liz: for those who happen to be listening in their cars on xm113, we can just describe the situation to you. here goes the vaccine and there

is president-elect joe biden lifting his shirt sleeve there and you have one of the caregivers about to give him that vaccine. maybe we can take the shot full so people can see as we did for vice president pence just a day or two ago. there we go. simple as that. jerry, you say this shows real leadership. it's interesting, i have been watching the challenges that the supply chain, especially the cold supply chain, have had to deal with. where is the most remote region that you have shipped with your freezer and your operation certainly to keep these things cold? >> we ship to all areas all the time. to challenging locations, some parts of russia, the country of georgia, liberia. we ship to all sorts of locations, wherever the need is, we can go there. liz: okay.

let's just listen in to president-elect joe biden right now. >> -- see how busy and incredible you all are. we owe you big. we really do. and one of the things is i think that the administration deserves some credit getting this off the ground with operation warp speed. i also think that it's worth saying that this gives great hope. i'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available to take the vaccine. there's nothing to worry about. i'm looking forward to the second shot, so is jill. she's had her shot earlier today. she loves shots, i know. i've had so many, it doesn't matter to me. and the important thing is that it's worth stating that you

know, this is just the beginning. it's one thing to get the vaccine out and now moderna is going to be on the road as well. but it's going to take time. it's going to take time. in the meantime, i know, i don't want to sound like a sour note here, but i hope people listen to all the experts and dr. fauci talking about the need to wear masks during this christmas and new year's holidays, wear a mask, socially distance, and if you don't have to travel, don't travel. don't travel. it's really important, because we're still in the thick of this. it's one thing to have a vaccine show up at a hospital. it's another thing to get the vaccine from that vial into a needle into an arm, and there's millions of people out there that are going to need this. front line workers, first.

i just want to thank everyone for all that they've done. you've been real heroes. real heroes and you're among them. thank you. [ shouted questions ] liz: president-elect joe biden tipping his hat and his words to the health caregivers out there. he just did the fist bump. jill biden there as well. joe biden did just say jill had gotten that vaccine earlier today. jerry, give me a final word here. you are trying to keep the supply chain cold but also secure. we know there are some bad actors out there. what are you doing to make sure the hackers can't get in there? >> you know, liz, we supply the most advanced supply chain in the world with our therapy shippers and we are also driven by infommatics.

our intommatics are secure. we monitor every shipment that goes out. we monitor 26 different variables. there are advanced therapy shippers that hold the therapies in cold condition, you see the vapor coming out, nitrogen in vapor form that keeps the temperature at minus 180 degrees celsius for the duration of the travel. we monitor every shipment, every day, every way. we now load data every five minutes from our monitoring system so we know where things a are. so you can count on cryoport for secure shipping. liz: jerry, you and the team are included in our thanks, certainly, for making sure that this gets there safely and once again, the stock has responded beautifully, up 207% year to date and intraday, it's moving higher by another 2.7%.

jerry shelton of cryoport, good luck to you guys. speaking of a global situation, global air carriers, delta, united and american airlines, are sinking into the close. fears over a new strain of the coronavirus in britain forcing the region into a lockdown as other nations in europe ban travelers from the united kingdom. france is going as far as to impose a 48-hour ban on goods coming in and out of its neighbor to the north. the new strain is believed to spread at an even faster pace than the original strain of the deadly virus. israel, did you hear about this, israel has locked down its borders. prime minister benjamin netanyahu who has been vaccinated for covid now warning of a mutation he's calling coronavirus 2. our mideast ally banning all foreign nationals from entry to israel for at least 10 days and asking that any israelis returning to the country from

abroad quarantine in a pre-determined list of hotels where they can be monitored. let us get you to this fox business alert. xpresspa is popping after it announced a collaboration with jetblue airlines for covid-19 testing services at logan international airport. this comes a week after partnering with united airlines. remember, xpresspa was the massager at airports. they shifted their entire business and pivoted to providing testing for covid. the new pop-up testing facility will open early next month at jetblue's terminal c at logan airport. that stock is moving higher by 4%. jetblue of course down .5% with the rest of the airlines. nike shares hit a record early in the session. let's take a look and see how nike is moving at this hour. still up about 4.7% after the sneaker maker's boffo bets on digital paid off in a huge way. online sales soaring more than 80% during the latest period.

besides beating estimates, nike also boosted its fiscal 2021 revenue forecast, leading wall street to raise price targets all over the place on the stock. besides nike, goldman sachs and jpmorgan are the top gainers on the dow jones industrials after the federal reserve gave the big banks an a-plus report card, saying it sees quote, strong capital levels following stress test results. the fed also said that banks could start paying out dividends and buy back stock now. so jpmorgan wasting no time at all in doing that, saying it will repurchase $30 billion worth of shares starting in the first quarter. bitcoin, this was interesting, look at it, it's falling you could say pretty substantially, certainly for a one-day loss here. actually it's turned around. it was down a thousand bucks. interesting. now it's up 95. you can see that it's been down in the early session with the intraday chart there, then up, down, now back up again. after it took a milestone of

24,000 over the weekend out, right, it just breached it. some are blaming the new covid-19 virus strain in the uk as a factor. others say could be planned. u.s. treasury rules to restrain the very popular cryptocurrency which has just been on an incredible tear. the pull-back comes as tesla ceo elon musk trolled bitcoin over the weekend, tweeting it was his quote, safe word. almost as b.s. as fiat money. you know, he joins warren buffett or charlie munger who told fox business several years ago that bitcoin is quote, rat poison. pretty expensive rat poison. the covid vaccine is being given free to you and all americans, but not all pharma execs known for their charity. exhibit a, martin shkreli best known for hiking the price of a rare drug by 5,000%. the unbelievable reason he's in the headlines again today and

hint, it has nothing to do with the pharma industry. we are going to tell you. and as congress works to finally nail down nearly a trillion dollars in coronavirus stimulus, there is one glaring hole in the deal and it's got the restaurant industry crying foul. fat brands ceo is next to react in a fox business exclusive. closing bell ringing in 29 minutes. the dow is up 20. russell small caps which had been doing beautifully over the past month, down five points. from fidelity -- a visual snapshot of your investments, key portfolio events, all in one place. because when it's decision time, you need decision tech. only from fidelity.

- any idea how much it will cost? - [doctor] i recommend goodrx. you get free coupons to save on your prescriptions. - goodrx, smart. - [announcer] stop paying too much for your prescriptions. - thanks. - download the free app today.

liz: all right. we've got a fox business alert. can we look in on the rules committee from the house of representatives' zoom meeting right now? what they are doing is mulling the bill at the moment. yes, i mean, they are in their offices certainly but it's not done yet. $900 billion bill, waiting for this relief. it does, though, seem that there

is much-needed help that is coming and is on the way to industries that have been hit very hard by the covid pandemic. except for the restaurant industry. this is an industry where the unemployment rate is 134% higher than the national average. 2.1 million restaurant workers are still without a job. here with exclusive reaction to what industry insiders are calling a deal that falls quote, woefully short of helping reemploy those millions of workers is fat brands ceo andy weederhorn. give me your gut reaction. it appears that there is barely anything for you guys in there. >> this is too little, too late and look, last time it was for three months, maybe, to get you through. it's been ten months. they need to be giving these guys three times as much money as they gave them last time. and the stimulus bill, $600 instead of $1200, it's not going to go anywhere.

it's just not enough to move the needle. liz: i'm stunned because you look and you see that the airlines got $25 billion at the beginning of this and now there is some money in this one, billions for the airlines once again. people don't have to fly. listen, i say save the airlines, definitely. they don't have to fly, though. they have to eat. all of these restaurant workers -- >> it's crazy. there's tens of thousands of people out of work who work in restaurants and the outdoor dining closures, let's not even go there. that doesn't make sense either. the science doesn't support that. you just double or triple hitting these guys. you need to focus on them. congress needs to take care of the restaurant workers and restaurant operators. there are going to be so many restaurants that go out of business. liz: what is it? i mean, i don't want to hit your lobbyists, but you know, did the airline industry have better lobbyists? what message did congress not get here? >> i really don't understand why they are ignoring the restaurant

industry in total. delivery and to-go is not what restaurants survive on. they can't make it work. we are not even talking about the landlord problem that exists, right. all these landlords have deferred rent for restaurant operators for months but at some point that's got to be paid. they have mortgages to pay, also. there's no rent relief component of this bill. not if you include it in the ppp or people use it for payroll. it just doesn't work. it's not enough money for small business, particularly for the restaurant industry. liz: yeah. people may look at you and say well, you're not a small business, you are this big chain. no, no, no, you have 670 plus franchisees under these names within your umbrella which of course are johnny rockets and hurricane grill, buffalos, the famed fatburger. what are you hearing from those franchisees? >> they really are trying to make it work. they worked so hard over the summer and into the fall to stay open with delivery to go and outdoor dining rooms and this isn't ppp money for fat brands. this is for the franchisees,

right. they desperately need that assistance. it's just not enough to move the needle. they forced the dining rooms to be closed outdoors and indoors and rely on to-go business just doesn't work. they are trying hard. look, i'm glad they got something done but come on, it should have been months ago and it should be three times as much. they are going to come back in january, great, and give them another round but they need it now. liz: well, you guys set up ghost kitchens which aren't exactly branded but all they do is make the food and then deliver it. that's not a prospect for some of the smaller restaurants out there. those cost money. can i just quickly ask you, president trump had insisted that there was one thing put in this bill and that was basically allowing businesses, business executives, to deduct 100% of business meals, you know, the detractors are calling it the three martini tax deduction, that it helps executives and

their tax deductions but it doesn't help restaurants. where do you stand on that? >> look, the deductions are helpful because it will increase spending at restaurants. but the real point here is if you are spending all this money on the employees and the rent, the way it's supposed to be spent, you shouldn't be taxed on the loan as it's for wigiven because it just washes out. it's not so much the expense of the entertainment that matters, it's how the loan is treated in total for the restaurant operator. it's just got to be a gift in kind to take care of the restaurant operator. liz: andy, we are pulling for you guys. stay in touch. we want to continue to follow this story. thank you so much. >> thank you. happy holidays. liz: you, too. andy wiederhorn of fat brands. from pharma bro to playboy? martin shkreli's jailhouse romance revealed but could the

love connection already have fizzled out? you've got to hear this story. much more coming up on "the claman countdown." and the co-founder and ceo of orca securities joins my everyone talks to liz podcast this week to talk about the recent solarwinds hack and his time training in the exclusive elite israeli unit 8200 of the idf where he learned via the military a very unique way to problem-solve without the presence of technology or google at all. if you listen to this, you may glean some ideas on how to problem-solve in your world. listen on spotify, google and wherever you get your podcasts. closing bell ringing in 19 minutes. the dow briefly turned negative. back now positive by 17 points. we'll be right back. don't go away. got to hear the shkreli story. a. and now with q4 wrapping up, the north pole has to be feeling the heat. it's okay santa, let's workflow it.

workflow it...? -uh-huh. just picture it... with the now platform, we'll have the company you always imagined. efficient, productive, seamless. ok, i'm in. whatever your business is facing... let's workflow it. servicenow.

the we have to find just nosomething else.it. good luck! what does that mean? we are doomed. [laughter] that's it. i figured it out! we're going to give togetherness. that sounds dumb. we're going to take all those family moments and package them. hmm. [laughing] that works.

and if we win, we get to tell you and doug. how liberty mutual customizes car insurance so you only pay for what you need. isn't that what you just did? service! ♪ stand back, i'm gonna show ya ♪ ♪ how doug and limu roll, ya ♪ ♪ you know you got to live it ♪ ♪ if you wanna wi... [ music stops ] time out! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

liz: we are just getting this breaking news. reuters citing sources is reporting that apple is working on a self-driving car and targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that will have its own breakthrough battery technology. it's known as project titan. apparently it began back in 2014 when apple first started to design its own vehicle from scratch. as of now it remains unclear who will assemble the apple-branded car. the stock is moving higher, it had been down much of the session. it is now up just under 1%. sources say apple will rely on a manufacturing partner when it comes to the lidar system. lidar of course is that light detection and radar remote sensing method that sends out a pulse of light to objects that are out there on the road, and then it measures the amount of

time as it bounces back and that way, the car then can understand how close or how far an actual, i don't know, light pole or other car is to it. so apple moving higher but let's take a look at the lidar name in the world here. this is luminar. look at the spike right now. that's tesla. tesla is actually down 6.33%. it had been down just under 5% when we started the show. maybe apple's going to take on tesla when it comes to batteries there for the electric cars but luminar is jumping 21.5% right now. if there is that chance that apple would partner with luminar, ticker symbol lazr, maker of the mobile eye which falls under the intel group, is also using so good news for luminar. can we look at ford and gm? they make electric cars. let's see if apple comes in on

the scene here and what that would do. ford down fractionally. general motors is up about .33%. let us get to this pharma bro story. remember this guy, martin shkreli? kid who wore the hoodie to court? he's finding love and kicking it to the curb behind bars. a former reporter for bloomberg news, christi smythe is saying she not only fell head in love with the former ceo but she quit her job, she divorced her husband, who was in finance, during a nine-month whirlwind between 2018 and 2019 relationship following her meeting with shkreli. now, the former journalist going on the record to talk about a first kiss between the two during a prison visit, freezing her eggs out of concern she would be too old to conceive a child by the end of shkreli's seven-year prison sentence which ends, by the way, in 2025.

she also sold the movie rights to an upcoming book which she hasn't sold the rights to yet about their relationship, but shkreli unhappy with smythe about doing this interview with elle magazine and their time together, issuing a statement through his lawyers, quote, wishing her luck in her future endeavors. that is cold. this is minus 150 degrees celsius cold. okay. we just had to tell you that because this is the guy who raised prices by 5,000% on a life-saving drug and we have pfizer and moderna giving this out for free, the vaccine. so there is a business angle. telecom giant at & t appears to have the winter blues after receiving less than generous offers for the declining asset directv that they are looking to unload. charlie has broken a lot of headlines on this story. what have you got now, charlie? charlie: liz, there's no surprise here on bids for directv. it's a declining asset. they have to sell it because

they need to pay down debt, meaning, they meaning at & t. they were always going to be taken to the woodshed on the bids. we all know that. the question is, will they sell it, who will they sell it to, who is in the best position to buy it. a lot of people in the market thought it was apollo, the big private equity firm. the initial thought was that apollo would team up with dish, charlie ergen's dish, to form some sort of joint venture, and include at & t in the spinoff of directv because at & t wants to keep some ownership stake in this, because remember, they're not going to recoup the entire $49 billion to $67 billion, however you value this, with the debt, that's what they bought it for, directv, in 2015. so here's what we know about apollo. from whant i understand, apollo bid about $12 billion. they are unlikely as of now, this could change, unlikely to rebid. this is where they are. they are not looking to get

forced to up their price. there is some feeling on the apollo side that lots of news leaks out there are forcing them to bid a little higher, that there's other potential stronger bidders. the other thing i hear is that as of now, again, this could change, they are not interested in joining up with charlie ergen's dish. there's not a lot of, let's put this viably, a lot of chemistry between the two companies, apollo and charlie ergen's dish. so if they are going to do something, they are going to do it alone and you know, at & t presumably could be a partner, maybe some other private equity firm. but that's kind of where we are right now. again, fluid situation. i can't say they won't ever rebid. i am hearing they don't plan to rebid. i can't say they won't ever join with charlie ergen because it kind of makes sense to have one satellite provider, right? there's not a lot of demand for this satellite content producing -- content

distribution network given all that's going on with 5g and cable. it makes sense, who knows if they change their mind. as of now, they are not interested. so this is an evolving story. i do also understand that in terms of the deadlines on this, they are very fluid. there's no specific deadline. there's no like reopening of bids. it's just it is what it is. at & t will have to bite the bullet and suck it up and just realize that they don't have a -- they have to pay down debt, they don't have a lot of assets to sell. cnn it looks like that's a very difficult asset to sell right now even though it's doing well in the ratings wars. this is something they would like to get rid of but -- so i guess we'll know in the next couple weeks exactly where this stands. back to you. liz: okay. charlie, you should come along, my test drive, i test drove a model y tesla, which in and of itself is not a big deal, but i actually recorded the whole

thing, i want people to come along for the excellent adventure. liz's excellent adventure. find it on snapchat,@lizclaman or tiktok, redfoxliz. charlie: all the noise we made about tiktok, how come you didn't -- you put it on there, right? liz: we are trying something new here. trying something new. trying to be hipper than you and i actually are. charlie: can't get a driver's license unless you're 16 in new york. tiktok unfortunately is for my kids under 16. liz: this kid, too. all right, charlie. thanks a lot. dow is now down 57. we'll be right back.

hi, this is margaret your dell technologies advisor to listen, is to hear more than what's being said... and offer the answers that make someone feel truly heard. . . inspiring music) - [narrator] just over a decade ago, the nation's iras and 401ks lost around $2.4 trillion. and with rising uncertainty in the world, many fear the next crash is looming. can you trust the stock market alone with something as important as your retirement savings?

luckily, you don't have to. the price of gold is on the move, with some predicting it will double in the future. and as a physical tangible asset, it's less vulnerable to the volatility of the stock market, which makes it a powerful government-approved tool in hedging your retirement savings against loss. call and ask the experts at us money reserve to send you their free information package, it's full of everything that you need to know about getting started on your self-directed ira today. one of the criticisms of traditional ira accounts is that they're typically tied to paper assets that are often unprotected from inflation, or even a market crash. recently, congress passed a bill that created a better solution. it's a new type of ira that allows you many of the same tax benefits of a traditional ira, but without the same types of exposure to market volatility. it's called a self-directed ira. us money reserve agents are knowledgeable in all aspects of self-directed iras, and they can help you from the beginning to the end. - the us money reserve, i highly recommend

it to anybody out there looking for an alternative to these dangerous times. - what they have done for me in my portfolio is i couldn't ask for anything better, i really couldn't. - i would recommend us money reserve without any hesitation or reservation to anyone. i would not use anyone else, honestly. - [narrator] call and ask the experts at us money reserve to send you their free information package. it's full of everything that you need to know about getting started on your self-directed ira today. you don't want to wait for the next market crash. with your money in a secure precious metals account, you can stop worrying about your retirement and start looking forward to it. ♪. liz: all right. look at the semiconductor makers. they are slipping after another big tech company plans to take a page out of apple's book by making its own chips.

ashley, we just had the news that apple is going to be making its own driverless vehicles and possibly batteries to go with it. what are we talking about here? ashley: we're talking about microsoft, liz. reports say that the company is looking to in-house processor in azure cloud division and perhaps devices. amazon this month unveiled new chips that promised to speed up how a.i. algorithms learn from data. and amazon by the way designing other processes for its amazon web services and google, well, google was really ahead of the curve releasing an a.i. processor in 2016 all of this of course not good news for the big chip-makers who have ruled the roost. intel has 90% of the cloud computing market. amd, for example, 25% of the cpu

market. what we're seeing is that these tech giants have more capital, more expertise to take chip-making in-house, in essence the world's largest semiconductor companies are doing business with customers that have superior scale. that is a posh way of putting it. of course the big tech companies are finding even small improvements in performance are worth the effort when used across their massive networks, not to mention the cost savings. intel obviously down this year 22% but look at amd, up 102%. but this trend when companies do it themselves not good for the chip-makers, liz. liz: ashley webster, thank you very much. oil has had a bizarre swing today. about 7% up, down, all around right now. it reversed. it was up 4%. now it is down 3%. i want to bring in "countdown" closer jamie cox. jamie you like chevron, dominion

energy. why? >> liz, i think 2021 will be the year of dividend growth. it has been a horrible, horrible year for oil companies. horrible year for utilities and banks. next year will be the reverse. vaccines will start to take hold, resumption of economic activity, life going back to normal, human interaction for companies that had to take the pain of it cutting dividends in 2020. you will see the resumption of that trade in 2021. i'm very happy and optimistic about these particular companies. i do think, however, oil will be the one laggard. there is going to be a long time before we get back to normal you know, operations in energy but the others, utilities, banks, any type of, tobacco companies, those are really going to do well next year. i think investors could get in ad reasonable prices whereas a lot of other parts of the market are pretty darn expensive right now. liz: you like philip morris

international for that one and as i said, chevron, dominion energy. great to see you, merry christmas. happy holidays. jamie cox, harris financial group managing partner title. [closing bell rings] here is the closing bell. covid mutation fears hit stocks. the dow is up 37. connell: relatively volatile day back and forth on wall street. the dow was fighting gains into the close. looks like it will win the fight. off the session lows. down 423 points early in the session. now closes up on day. this after lawmakers did reach the 900 billion-dollar stimulus agreement. but also today, you have at least 30 countries who have travel restrictions in place with a new strain of covid-19 quickly moving across the uk. that news seemed partly overshadowed another milestone in the fight against coronavirus. moderna's vacci