need another reminder? no, i'm good. reminder for what? oh. ho ho, yeah! need worker's comp insurance? get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie.com. maria: have a great day appear to thank you to dagan and mark. see you tomorrow. right now "varney & co." begins. take it away, stu. stuart: good morning. the richest person in the world and the most valuable company in the world making headlines this morning. that's elon musk and apple. does point, a cryptocurrency and vetted by couple software engineers. musk tweeted one word and then another tweet, no highs, no lows. does he own this crypto? don't know and if he does he could be accused of the manipulation by tweet. doge coin straight up

after that tweet. it's up about 50% right now. let's get to apple, which i think is a more serious story with reports that the 2 trillion-dollar company is a jumping firmly into the electric car market. apple is not saying that much, but there reports that they have an alliance with kia the korean car company and it would be producing on the commonest electric vehicle arriving in 2024 produced in the us, another example of america's technology giants applying their expertise and money to other industries. apple stock up meanwhile, the rally on wall street continues and at this moment the dow jones will show a gain of about 50, 60 points at the opening bell, nasdaq up strong, 62 points. technology is doing well and the s&p also on the up side. look at the big tech names, premarket.

pretty much all of them except for google going up, just a little bit again this morning. google backing off. now it just turned around, it was backing off a little from its all-time high. big tech up again. heavily shorted stocks i'm going to say they are stabilizing to some degree, stabilizing at prices way way below their recent highs. gamestop, $93 a share. what we have today? will donald trump appear at his senate trial? it's not out of the question. astrazeneca vaccine may slow transmission of the virus. does that mean if you take the vaccine you have less chance of carrying it to others and infecting others? doctor siegel is here and you will meet a young man who turned his stimulus check into $36000 without the help of gamestop. "varney & co." is about to begin. ♪♪

stuart: on the road again, oh, some traffic in new york city on the sixth avenue. not many cars and hardly any people. new york city, 2021. that skid at one of the biggest stories, that's apple, sunday kia getting closer to a deal can you tell us more? susan: it's always a good day when you start with willie nelson. the talk coming from the car guys are not apple. this is the second report in today's. apple is looking to work with kia. we also have local press reporting apple will inject about three and half billion dollars into kia and build the apple car at west point, georgia, which targeted

release in 2024. they are aiming for 100,000 cars a year and it's important to note its going to be a-- it's not going to be acute car with apple technology. apple wants control over the car, chassis, frame and interior technology so kia would be like a contract manufacturer. apple has also reportedly talk to other carmakers and there hasn't been a finalize deal yet. analysts at wedbush, apple analysts came out and said an apple car is inevitable. the question is when, not if we saw kia shares surge with over 23 years he on day which owns kia trades in new york, so that's a way to play it. stuart: all kinds of problem with big tech and censorship, but it seems if you look at this purely economically big tech is doing the right thing with their

expertise and their money see to getting into new businesses if apple does this in 2024-2025 they are entering a multitrillion dollar market especially with these go green by then policies. gm and ford are moving into electric vehicles and apple could come out with a self driving electric car in three years to compete for multitrillion dollar, that's the smart thing to do. stuart: let's go to shah gilani who joins us this thursday morning. shah gilani, let me ask you the same question. we have all kinds of censorship and political problems with big tech. i don't particularly like big brother, but when it comes to your money and economics, i think they are doing exactly the right thing, leading the economy and i think they are leading this market. >> exactly, stuart. they are leading the economy and have led the

economy and they certainly have led the market since 2009 and i think they will continue to do so because of earnings. they are hitting it out of the park at last year earnings were fantastic above expectations with her jacked up towards the end of a quarter. one of my favorite measures is earnings leverage and these companies have leverage with the ability to grow their earnings above the growth of their revenue, 40% growth for amazon, apple, microsoft, google and facebook last quarter, absolutely fantastic. stuart: keep returning to this, are they still leading the home market? that's very good news for almost all shareholders, i mean, what is it 100 million americans have a piece of the action on wall street and those 100 million americans inevitably have a piece of big tech. >> yes. a lot of folks owned them. they are owned in pension funds and 401k's , iras etc. so they have done very well

in for investors and continue to do because they will continue to lead. it's really about the earnings as they are making money in their net profits will continue to grow with cash generation fantastic. of these other companies to own, the best companies, have been and will continue to be for some time to come. stuart: is gamestop totally yesterday story? >> no, i don't think so. what happened with gamestop and some of the other stocks that got caught in the monumental short squeeze, that's really about retail, investors getting into the market, not so much about gamestop although gamestop was their target cover that it's more about retail investors and i think that is fantastic. stuart: shah gilani, i'm sure you've done your-- well yourself with big tech because you've recommended that the five years i've known you. come back soon for her to let me get back to. susan, yet to come into this.

he took a very short break from twitter and he's back with this doge coin thing. he has real influenza. susan: he's back with the flurry with doge soaring 50% thanks to elon musk and his tweets. he says doge is a people's crypto when he followed it up with a tweet superimposed over the famous scene from "the lion king" which is the baby lion representing doge. i think was over-the-top but it works on twitter so doge trading out-- starting off with a techie nerd joe, but i think you can see whence the gamestop-- you can crowd source opportunities and assets especially in the social media millennia we gone world. how long it will last is the tricky part and also part of the risky part of trading doge coin. stuart: you got that right. how long does it last and when does it come

back down to earth if ever? i think it will. that's your world, not mine. ebay, show me that stock i think it's gone straight up this morning. i saw it premarket earlier. look at that, nearly 10% higher. warren, it a must have done well over the holidays, lauren. lauren: an all-time high when the market opens. fourth-quarter revenue just about $3 billion. one in 10 americans have now bought something on ebay whether it was a hard to find out a more refurbished gift so they have this new program where they authenticate an item in that resulted in triple digit growth for their vintage sneakers which have a following and double digit growth for luxury watches. buyers worldwide grew to 185 billion. stuart: i'm trying to get my arms around these global audiences, this global

publishing an hundred and 85 million-- 185 million people use ebay, extraordinary. now look at paypal, another huge pandemic winter. they just closed at their strongest year ever in the stock is up 6%. lauren: and that's an all-time high. 2020 was a record. sales last year, 21 and a half billion dollars. date processed $936 billion in payments for customers stuck at home buying and shopping online. they also introduce new features that were popular, buy now pay later with one and of course you can buy and sell crypto on this site they raised their guidance for 2021 and set a goal of 50 million new customers for this year and investors are plotting. stuart: nearly 6% up, thank you. that to the overall state of the play. in about 20 minutes we open the market and we

will be up across the board, but not that much president bidens cdc director says schools can safely reopen. watch of this. >> safely opening up schools, vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite. stuart: did you hear that? chicago teachers, did you hear that? you don't need to go to the head of the line for vaccination before you go back to teaching kids this thing has dragged on for close to a year and the results of the drag is disastrous. i have a habit that connect "my take" at the top of the 10:00 o'clock hour or could next guest says gamestop surged and it helped him turn his stimulus check into $36000. he's going to explain how he did it after this ♪♪

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to help you maintain comfortable, correct form. that means better results in less time. and there are over 20 exercises to choose from. get gym results at home. no expensive machines, no expensive memberships. go to aerotrainer.com to get yours now. stuart: just joining us and you are looking at green on the market especially the nest egg going up right from the opening bell. big tech doing well. all of them, no huge game like yesterday, but apple, amazon, facebook, google and microsoft on the upside. later today treasury secretary janet yellin meets regulators. this has to be about gamestop and robinhood. susan: also her history of getting paid 700,000 dollars from the citadel for past speeches and citadel accused of pressuring robinhood to restrict

trading in the mean a stock because citadel had to say one of its hedge fund investments which lost a lot of money shorting gamestop and some others. janet yellin said she will ask permission from the agencies before looking into issues that involves citadel and other investment banks which also paid her in the past for speeches, but it's also meeting to discuss market volatility and any new regulation or oversight that might need to be implemented. reminds you of 2008, they gathered all those big bigwigs in one room to tell neiman's and jp morgan to combine. stuart: of age-- politicians jumped all over the last crisis and i think they will do the same thing with this. not a crisis, just a new development in the market. thank you. our next guests-- guest used his stimulus check to invest any made

$36000 in the gamestop surge or. arya hamzelou is with us welcome to the show and congratulations. apparently, you didn't need the stimulus money for essentials, did you? you played the market. >> yes, thank you for having me, stuart. as the onset of the pandemic i knew i was getting the stimulus check and you know, i basically tried to use it to be on the upside of the k shaped recovery and not the bottom side. stuart: you tried to make money by playing the market and you ended up well. what did you buy? did you buy gamestop nancy? >> so, i did recently, but originally i spread my money against a three stocks, only 3000-dollar total that i invested. ipod at&t, i bought plug power and i bought nest

which is cloud i believe and at the moment i just invested in those the stocks and during the end of the year my play on plug power paid off and that's when i started learning how to trade on margin as a beginning investor and i started using my margin to buy gamestop, amc on some other stocks and that's when i started to see real gains. stuart: okay, are you now out of those stocks, out of the market? >> i'm out of amc. i'm still holding onto five shares of gamestop. when it rose a lot last week i had a serious conversation with my wife and i kind of saw the writing on the wall with institutions and what they were doing and what was going on and i never imagined myself being this much up, up my ritual investments, so being a first-time father and using this

money really to try to help my family as a normal person, i had to have a serious conversation with my wife and say hey-- stuart: arya hamzelou, have to jump in. you had a serious conversation with your wife. did she tell you knock off the gambling, it's dangerous? >> no. she didn't say that in those exact terms, but when a stock is up over a thousand% and my original-- i believe i bought gamestop at $35 a share and at one point i sold some shares at $408 a share. you know, when you have to pay for diapers and all of that stuff, you just don't stock and you cut your losses and look

for other long-term investments. stuart: congratulations. you you did well p or q of the retail investors who made some money and that money. that's altogether a good thing, but you do know there's going to be a lot of people annoyed at you because you used taxpayer money to gamble on the stock market. there will be some people not real happy about that. last words to you? >> i understand that, but back in 2008, all of the institutions got bailed out with taxpayer money and they used that money to bring their businesses back up to speed and be successful to this day and i'm using my tax money to do the same thing essentially. stuart: to gamble. okay. >> are not gambling work i did a lot of hard work studying these stocks. stuart: okay. i'm going to leave it there. congratulations.

you made them money, you kept it and good luck. >> thank you. stuart: a sidebar to this story because trouble is brewing for robinhood who's getting hit with a series of lawsuits over that gamestop stock freeze. susan: talk about 30 separate civil lawsuits over trading restrictions in new jersey, florida, california, texas and other states. what they say is that robinhood violated in breach the terms of the contract in their fiduciary duty to their users, they misled investors as well so robinhood said they were forced to restrict trading because of the clearing houses. they suddenly force them to put up 10 times more money overnight to clear these trades and we know robinhood ceo will also testify in two weeks in front of congress on that gamestop controversy and i agree with that, you have to stop using the word gambling because these

people do their research and if they want to lose their money that's their responsibility, is a net? stuart: what research could you do on gamestop to reveal its underlying value, what research? susan: before the stock market was founded people were exchanging information, have you heard this, something is doing that, that is research and these days on social media things haven't changed in the game is played differently. it's not necessarily gambling anymore. stuart: okay. we will return to this discussion at some point in the next couple of hours. we are going to open the market in six and a half minutes and we will go up mostly with the nasdaq up about 40, dow jones up about 30. we will be back. ♪♪

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stuart: just at alphabet. that's google, to me. down this morning, but it's had a run the last couple of days. d.r. barton is with us. that baker on that took them while about $2000 a chair-- share, was in that to some degree

based on youtube which is taken over as a leading channel? >> absolutely, stuart. youtube's ad revenue was up year-over-year 44% and that's over one of the great added generators that's already out there. netflix eats up most of the bandwidth we use, but youtube is gaining on them, up over 20% of total bandwidth goes to youtube so they are juggernaut. stuart: i mean, i discovered it during the pandemic when i got a lot of time at home. i discovered youtube. i had not been on it before, but i have to watch the 52nd ads. i'm not paying the extra to get rid of the ads. me moveon, cosco, i love the store. is still extremely well and you think it's going higher. look at the chart, not done that great but you think it's going up from here, cosco?

>> i do. i think it did really well during parts of the pandemic in that it would pull back and then do well again. i think we are in that cycle now with about a 10% pullback. it's a great place to buy. 86% year-over-year online sales increase 23% total revenue increase in the big one, stuart 7% additional new membership which is their profit engine, that's pure profit and i think we will see a lot more upside out of cosco. stuart: real fast, d.r. barton, on the program last week you said brokers have the right to protect their balance sheets, defending robinhood, i think. did you get a lot of flak because that? >> i was defending their right and i think the way robinhood in particular handled it was ham-handed as they did much more than they probably had to, but they were in an excess stencil crisis getting

their own margin call from the clearing house saying you don't have enough money for the stock you or people are buying. it's actually their regulatory requirement to do that. when i said that i got on twitter and got a couple tweets that got deleted because of their derogatory comments, but it's just new traders learning how the system works. this happens every big bubble. stuart: you have your point of view and that point of view is going to be expressed in congress as soon. thank you. here we go, we are often running. it's thursday morning, february 4 and the february rally continues right from the get-go we have the vast majority of the dow jones 30 on the outside in the dow has gained to 70 points to 30800. that's a percentage gain, almost a quarter of a person with the s&p 500 on the upside to the tune of the 3% and the nasdaq right now opening with again up half

percentage point. the run on the nasdaq. i will start with some of the shorted stocks. where are they this thursday morning? gamestop 89, ansi eight so a little bit of a stabilization writer. vastly lower levels spare car couple more of shorted stock names. of there we go. genius, blackberry, express all of them-- well, no serious price movement there compared to what we have seen recently. may i call that stability in the shorted stocks. show me e.g. acquisition, the richard branson company, i believe. going to be merged with genetics company 23 and me. i think that will be up as well. this is a spac is annette? susan: twelve months ago did we know what a spac was? and now it's in our everyday language so that is a blank check

firm with richard branson combining with 23 and me, a maker of genetic testing kits with a three half billion dollar deal. in the future they will produce drugs and help the future of health, but spac deals are alive and well and looks like richard branson is into spac as a virgin galactic also went public through a different spac. stuart: got its. i think one of the big stories of the day is apple getting into yet another multi- trillion dollar business with the stock up again this morning. susan, repeat the story please of the apple car. susan: we have the second report in two days that looks like an apple car is on his way by 2024, maybe 2025 and yes, they are working with hyundai kia which is a south korea automaker and they look to produce maybe a hundred thousand cars each and every year from west point, georgia. apple is doing the right thing according to web

bush, analysts. he says it's inevitable we will get an apple car he questioned whether the odds were 50/50, but he says now it's a matter of when, not if. apple has to innovate to keep relevant and why not get in multitrillion dollar electric self driving car business especially with these biden policies. stuart: one more item, it's not just going to a kia car with a whole bunch of apple technology on the inside. tell me more. susan: you have interviewed him so he went into and control from the operating system down to the screws and bolts and that's what will be happening. the biggest hyundai kia is a contract made factory. every part is apple and of course apple technology backing this car. stuart: and apple stock is up this morning and so is hyundai's

a stock. apple is a dow jones stock helping the dow jones. we just popped over 100-point game. let me point out a loser this morning, down 7%, big drop. what is the story, susan? susan: we have a downgrade from citigroup down to news-- neutral price target. you still get some left. the chipmaker revenue, but shares are down because it looks like the chip supply will hold back sales this year and possibly even for the first half of 2021. stuart: susan, it's been a real cold snap has meant recently? susan: you would know. stuart: very cold. is that why canada goose is up 23%?

i see those black coats all over the place. susan: they are also very expensive at. baby you get me one. canada goose surging after much better earnings contacting sales and profits and results were helped by strong growth in china. it's colder there as well and also online by with a shift to e-commerce so canada goose, if you are going to do well in any time of the year, you would think it would be now. stuart: well, they are very warm they were really warm you up. susan: is that yes that you will buy a canada goose jacket? stuart: not true. that's a rumor which i think you are putting out and i will have none of it. show me tapestry. tapestry, that's the new name-- it's been there for a couple of years-- of coaching kate spade luxury brands combined.

they just reported, here's the real story and whites of 3%, their online business grew at a triple digit rate compared to the previous year and they put out a call as they are optimistic about shopper demand returning. tapestry is up 3%. ebay and paypal, show me those. look at them go. we are talking serious gains. up 10% on ebay, up 6% on paypal. they could be the stock in the morning. then we have american airlines. we are not flying that much anymore, traveling has really not picked up much and i believe that american is now worried about furloughs. what are we talking about? susan: 13000 jobs might be at risk, that was the memo in a letter sent out by american airlines ceo yesterday. the reason is that he says aid will run out april 1, and that is help they are getting from the us government. this aid, if it's not extended, then they have

to furlough some employees and also american airlines blaming the flow of the vaccine rollout and international travel restrictions are put on because of the new strains of viruses and american airlines said they are still in trouble. stuart: not much movement there. this thursday morning, stability in the shorted stocks and a nice game for the dow jones average 3800 tech stocks doing well. that's what is shaping up to be, stability for the shorted stocks and big tech doing well. the 10 year treasury yield keeps inching up and now, we have 1.14%. i'm not sure if that is a bullish or bearish come of it that's the your price of gold, man, it's done nothing throughout this. today is dropped to an quarter precent and it strong below $1800 per

ounce. it's not a safe harbor. the price of silver spike in the short squeeze. it's come back not exactly to earth but it's $26 an ounce. it had been 30p bitcoin, bitcoin is up again this morning, $37500 a share. interest in crypto this morning is in trying to -- dogecoin promoted by elon musk, up about 50% but bitcoin 37000. oil, i think it touched 56 earlier, 55.88 now and the regular price of gas the been up a bit more $2.44 in national average and then there's this, the chief executive that parler, john matze fired weeks after his-- the social media platform was shut down by big tech. we have details on that coming up.

here is something to fire you up. listen to president biden's climate czar john kerry defending why he flew his private jet to accept an environmental award. watch this. >> it's the only choice for someone like me, the time it takes me too get somewhere, i can't sail across the ocean, i have to fight meet with people and get things done. stuart: another example of rules for at the but not for me. a touch of arrogance to boot. more on that later in the show. ♪♪

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stuart: i want to show you gamestop and amsc because of the slide with there . they had some stability

earlier but now they are sliding south,. there are losers among the dow jones 30 and i will show you the biggest with merck, united health, microsoft, and j nj on the downside. here are the losers on the s&p, index of 500 companies, these are the big losers headed by have all people call calm down a percent lower. there are some big winners on the dow jones american express, cisco, boeing, goldman sachs up in the big winners on the s&p 500 are aligned technology, ebay and paypal and snap on the upside as well. how about tesla? i don't get this. elon musk is warning when you should not buy his car's. i don't get it. what is he saying? susan: that's the point. he's up provocative or. he says don't buy tesla

doing a production ramp. there may be quality issues he says. hate issues. maybe not the smartest thing to say. also burling will kick off in 2021. shanghai ramping up production and that's probably why stock is up from 800% this year, but also you know what he's like. he tweeted tesla stock was too high in the spring, i mean, you are always in question in terms of what elon musk will do. he went back to tweeting last night about dogecoin. not sure about the proper pronunciation. stuart: okay. i will correct myself. elon musk has been tweeting about dogecoin. i will correct myself. i do move on on because there's an explosion of interest in the electric vehicle market and the private space market. i have some electric vehicle stocks right

now. we have gregg smith with us, futuristic on a guy, a venture capitalist and likes to invest in items of the future. i will start with the electric vehicles as i understand it, you have a piece of this this clean transition corporation by the electric bus maker. you up a piece of that, is the spac? >> good morning. i do. despite the dislocation and fear in the market last week, i think we continue to live in a risk on environment and we need to see the markets work higher. i coined this the year of public venture capital and every day we walk into an incredible private company that's now being made available to retail and public investors, so as it relates to this i think it's incredible company that's being acquired by the spac. there are so many great long-term secular terms that display-- display here.

this will be the year of ev space i guarantee you before the year that we will hear a lot about flying taxis which morgan stanley called a one and a half trillion dollar market opportunity. stuart: have you got a piece of our quite clean transmission or the bus company? >> i have been an investor for the past several years which is a private company and they make electric buses emma which is driven by demand from municipalities both at the national and local level to lower greenhouse gas emissions , clean up their pollution a lower the overall cost of operating these fleas because electric is better for the environment so right now california is mandating all buses ago elected by 2029, new york and chicago 2030 south greater trend outplay. it has real revenue at almost 200 million in revenues last year and a backlog of more than $750 million in buses mostly going to municipalities.

stuart: i had to get to space because i'm looking at felicity buying the rocket company astra. you own a piece of astra what is so attractive about this get together? >> i think it's where the puck is going to quote rescue. many people understand what's happening with space x, the most valuable space company in the world right now and it will become more valuable. there's a scarcity value to publicly traded space companies and again every few weeks or months we see a new spacecome to go public, so it just announced this week that it is acquiring astra and we will continue to see more of these private space companies coming out and being made available to the market, -- stuart: okay and you are in it. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. gregg smith. let's move on to parler. their former ceo, john matze, says he's been

fired or do we know likely to fired friday and he said the decision was not his choice. he founded the parler site in eight-- 2018 is that he wasn't given a next line nation and said he believes he was fired because of the difference of opinion. rebecca mercer who was also probably the main financial background parler, john matze what it more like a free-speech platform while the board headed by mercer wanted more moderation and clean up special after january 6. john matze, here's an interesting graphic joins other high-profile tech founders that have been booted from the companies they have founded. steve jobs made a comeback after he was first kicked out, jack dorsey did the same. he's in good company. stuart: yep, but he's out. thank you. other way, the market keeps advancing come up 170 points on the dow jones.

president biden wants to take america back into the iran nuclear deal and back into the paris climate deal. there is news on both. i will cover it in my 11:00 o'clock "my take". the super bowl is in tampa florida, three days away, but things they are look a bit different because of the pandemic. ashley webster is therefore us with with a live report after this. ♪♪

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stuart: the super bowl this weekend in tampa, florida. they will get 25000 people to attend and so one of the biggest gathering this the start of the pandemic. ashley webster is there. ashley, is a becoming a test of safety in crowds? ashley: well, it is, but listen there aren't going to be a fraction of the people this year than there were last year. normally the super bowl can generate more than $500 million in economic impact on a local community, not this year a reduced crowd and a reduced number of people coming to tampa, for the game. i'm in a live music venue called the crowbar

live concert venue and while florida businesses are open and they are open 100% in some cases, as you know the business of live music with the stage behind me empty and it's been that way for nine or 10 months now. me bring in tom degeorge the owner and operator of the chrome par. you are passionate about live music, but you have had nothing. how are you surviving? >> we were shuttered completely by the state for seven months, so we had to shifts to a lot of merchandise, whatever loans were available. i got some small grants from the county and right now, we lobbied through national independent venue association for the save our stage act which is now called the shuttered venue operator grant and we are waiting on that. ashley: super bowl week, will you get anything i struck? >> no. ashley: nothing? >> no.

we are still operating at 25% capacity and they do have a couple local events with local artists and i have sold my tickets for those, but i would have the same sort of the business whether it was super bowl or not. ashley: thank you and we will have more with other business owners in the area to see how they have survived. yes, florida is open for business, but was happening in new york and california especially with live music is also having an impact here. fascinating stuff. back to you. stuart: i went to know if you have a ticket and are you actually going to attend? we will see later. still to come on the program today, steve cordilleras, doctor marc siegel, brian brandenberg, secondary "varney & co." coming out for you.

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♪. stuart: don't you love it? don't you love it. i will stand my ground. i won't back down. the great and later, tom petty. great way to start the 10:00 hour. it is 10:00 eastern. straight to the markets please. i have got plenty of green. in fact all morning long we've seen the dow industrials march higher. that is 227 points. you're right almost at 31,000. the nasdaq is up 53 points. you got a rally.

plenty of green. how about big tech? that is largely responsible for the nasdaq's rally. amazon down, facebook's down, apple on the strength of the report its deal with kia to produce an apple car, that's pushing that stock up. big tech, it was up. now, actually, it's a little bit lower. now look at the heavily shorted stocks, in particular gamestop, amc. on the downside. gamestop back to 83 bucks a share. amc, $8.31. i will call that a little stability. they're edging lower largely. i think that market frenzy is over. thursday, 10:00 in the morning eastern time, that means mortgage rates. lauren do we have a new record low? lauren: close, close but no cigar. 2.73% is the rate, same as last week for the 30-year fixed-rate

mortgage. the record low is 2.65% just a few weeks ago. these are great rates. homebuyers continue to take advantage especially those looking to refinance. let me give you the average 15 year. rose just a bit. 2.21%. you can say when i first bought a house my interest was 13%. how much was your rate? stuart: 12 1/2%, back in san francisco in the late 1970s. it is assumable mortgage. it was absolutely wonderful, it was 12 1/2% on that time. if ashley were here on the set he could tell us when he got hiss mortgage back in the 80s. it was 16%. my, how times have changed. how about you, you got a mortgage? what rate? lauren: 3 1/2% in 2016. i haven't refinances yet. i haven't, is it a headache?

>> it is a headache. all the banks you have to go there, searching on your computer. drives you up the wall. however shall we move on, lauren? we will. now this. no laughing matter in europe the class system is based on your birth. i hate to say it but america has developed a class system of its own. here social division is increasingly based on money. this trend has been apparent for some time. the pandemic has sharpened the divide. it is most apparent in the great tragedy known as public education. the classroom shutdown has dragged in many places for almost a full year. the results are disasterous for low income people in particular. they are forced to remain in the failing public school system. people with money, they're doing everybody they can to get out. some move to another state. takes money to do that. private school enrollment is growing.

that's expensive. it is growing at cath catholic schools. they try to stay open. the rise of private pods, parents high their own teacher to navigate the difficulties of online learning. too many states the school shutdown was kept in place far too long. i think it was deliberate. signed to make president trump look bad. look at chicago, the teachers union refuses to teach until all their members are vaccinated that prompted a direct response from the cdc. quote, there is increasing data to suggest that schools can reopen safely. that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need be vaccinated. in orders, chicago, big cities, elsewhere, the teachers union is condemning poor people to stay in a failing system and pushing anybody with money out. we've editorialized on this frequently. we do it because getting back to school in the classroom is the primary issue for tens of

millions of people. it is a big issue for the economy. hard to get back to work to stimulate the economy if you have to stay home at your children. ironic, the far left which is supposed to promote upward mobility, opportunity, for poor people, instead condemns them to educational failure and condemns them to stay poor. outrageous. second hour of "varney & company" about to begin. ♪. stuart: all right. want to talk about the impeachment trial of president trump. please note bottom right-hand corner, it is a green day on the market. we're moving higher. president trump's senate trial set to begin next week. steve cortez is with us, a former member of the trump campaign. steve, is it possible, that

president trump, donald j. trump will appear at his own senate trial. would you encourage it? >> it is certainly possi it is not planned. i absolutely encourage it in the strongest possible terms i'm trying to convince the president, former president, privately and publicly he should appear. i will give you a couple reasons. the first nobody deplatformed by the oligarchs of silicone valley. he has a platform. the impeachment itself i think is irresponsible and unconstitutional sham but the senate trial is a platform from which president trump can note just defend himself and but i

think he can turn the -- constitution elections in the states were indeed valid. there is opportunity here, one president trump given his skillsets and his charisma can claim like nobody else. he can do it through intermediaries and through attorneys. he can do it better personally. i encourage him, former president trump, go to the well of the senate, make your case directly to the american people. stuart: one last point, steve, i would have thought it was in the interest of the republican party to keep the senate trial going, the longer it runs on the less business that the president can get done through the senate, the more ridiculous it looks to impeach a former president. last word to you? >> i agree. i think that could be a win-win. number one, delay the radical agenda of the jobe job doing things like attacking american energy independence and girls sports but then number two, the more we shine a bright light own

nancy pelosi, on chuck schumer, more the american people will be reviled what they see, the more momentum the america first movement gain 2022 in retaking the both the house and senate. i agree. i want the trial to go on and on personally. stuart: steve, we'll have you back real soon. thanks for joining us today, steve cortes, everyone. >> thank you. stuart: back to the markets. it's a rally. dow is up 230. nasdaq is up. s&p is up. i have a lot of green on the board this thursday morning. this is the february rally. shana sissel is back with us this morning. i want to know, shana, what do you think is the biggest risk to the market right now? >> it continues to be the pandemic and more specifically the effective role out of the vaccine to the population. the quicker it is done here in the u.s. and worldwide the quicker we can get back to quote, unquote normal life, start to get back to work, back

to school and go out and do things. so for me it is absolutely continues to be the pandemic. until we are through this, it will always be having to do with the effects of the virus on the overall markets and economy. stuart: meanwhile, i'm looking at all the profit reports we've been getting the past couple weeks. to me they look pretty good. how about you? >> oh, they look fantastic. as of the end of last week, the last time numbers were available, 40% of the s&p 500 companies had reported earnings. 82% had earnings beats, meaning they beat the consensus estimate, 76% beat on revenue. so consensus numbers from the street are too low. but we know this because the companies even the ones that are missing, like pfizer, are guiding ahead of what estimates were for next quarter. they're saying they will be better than what is expected next quarter.

you're seeing earnings beats that are absolutely monsterous. amazon, earlier this week, they beat the earnings estimates by almost 100%. so, overall, earnings have been fantastic. and then, so it gets back to the appointment we talked about at the end of last year, is the market expensive. the market is only expensive if you have the denominator, that e, the earnings correct and we don't have it correct. it is really hard to say the market is expensive. it is really hard to say the market can't go higher around i believe it will. stuart: okay, i was going to end it right there, i was going to ask the question. do you think it will keep foing higher. you said yes. don't sell yet. keep it there. it is going up. shana, brief, short to the point. that's very good. that's pretty good. see you real soon. the markets up 250 on the dow. that means there has to be some pretty big movers and susan has got the list. susan: paypal and ebay the

stocks of the day don't you think. ebay, strong guidance, increasing dividend and payout to shareholders by 13%. they're buying back their stock, 4 billion extra to buy back program. when you reduce supply, that hikes the price, what you're seeing today. paypal incredible quarter, 16 million new users. the shift to online shopping helping to drive record payment value on paypal and bitcoin adding higher number of accounts. qualcomm, price target still high, $165, when it comes to earnings, qualcomm beats on profit and revenue, yes, but they warn chip supply constraints will hold back sales growth during the first half of this year. not good. penn national, do plan to open casinos in pennsylvania in late 2021, the super bowl will be huge for sports betting this weekend. stuart: yes it will. what do you think about, you

have got the story of the apple car with kia. susan: yeah. stuart: it seems to me that there is going to be enormous demand for chips of all different kinds as we go electric, they're basically a chip on wheels. that's what they are. susan: well -- stuart: have we a real chip shortage here? susan: that is a interesting question. apple is transitioning to making their own chips these days, that is hurting consist like intel. apple is making their own chips going into the marc. first time dumping intel after 15 years together. so there might be a slight bounce with the new need for technology. i would look at more of self-driving suppliers, luminar or fireeye. apple builds their own chips anyway. stuart: what does fireeye have to do with electric cars? susan: autonomous driving, that too. mobileye does that, pardon me, mobileye is the company, they

help scan like luminar does, 3d landscapes and maps for the self-driving cars so they know where they're going. those type of suppliers will do well in the autonomous era. thank you for correcting me. stuart: that's all right. i don't often to get to do that, right. susan: a taste of my own medicine. stuart: nice gain for the nasdaq. plenty of green this morning. then there is this, joe biden, president biden's climate envoy, john kerry, he says it is okay if he travels by private jet. watch this. >> it's the only choice for somebody like me who is traveling the world to win this battle. i can't sail across the ocean. i have to fly to meet with people and get things done. stuart: okay. private planes for me but not for thee. he was on his way by the way to pick up an environmental award in his private jet. we have a bit more on the story. parler's ceo says he has been terminated by the company's

board. big story. we got more on it for you just ahead. washington state has begun giving prisoners and convicted killers the vaccine. what about those over 65 and those who are high-risk? seattle radio show host jason rantz is here. he is outraged by this we'll talk to him next hour. ♪. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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not bad. how about gamestop and amc? they're down today. gamestop back to 81. amc 8.31 per share. these are the shorted stocks. looks like the volatility is cooling down. they're coming down-to-earth. there is this. inmates in washington state getting the covid vaccine before other at-risk groups. jason rantz is with us. he is a seattle radio talk show host. what are the people of seattle and people of washington state think about this? >> reasonable people are outraged by this. right now we've got a significant shortage, like some other states of these vaccines. where you have people who are over the age of 65 who are eligible to get them but they can't get appointments. we've got grand mothers who live in unincorporated parts of the state, who don't have easy access to the internet. they are not able to schedule an appointment. here we are, we have 270 over

the age of 65 who are in jails, including kerry ridgeway a serial killer who says he killed over 80 woman, who is now most likely going to get the vaccine before your grandmother or grandfather. it is pretty out ridge just, it is being -- outrageous, being done in the name of equity. in a state that someone serving jail time for cereal serial killing for a grandma who at the most clipped too many coupons illegally. stuart: that is sarcasm jason. but we'll let you get away with it on this particular occasion. it is a serious story. i want to move on to this. lawmakers in washington state are considering a wealth tax. i've seen it. it takes direct aim at multibillionaires like bill gates, jeff bezos. they all live in the seattle area. i would have thought if you get this kind of billionaire tax

they move, don't they? >> they do. we're talking about a billionaire tax, hits 100 or so people in the state of washington. it is own intangible financial assets, traded options, futures contracts, stocks and bonds. it is not hitting income. they pitch this as an equity flay. we live in a state with a high sales tax. they're saying because we have regressive tax structure which we do, this will sort of even out the playing field. that is not at all what this does. as you will note, someone who read the actual bill they don't include any deduction of taxes for the people who otherwise are being hit. this doesn't actually help folks who are low income. at same time they're making this pitch, this saves the low income folks they're also raising the gas tax upwards of a dollar per gallon. all this is, is a continued attack on the wealthy. it is a continued pushback against big business. all this is going to do is beget future taxes. you go after the billionaires

right now, which is constitutionally dubious, but next year you go after the millionaires. stuart: this has got nothing to do with raising much-needed revenue. it haas has got everything to do with beating up the rich. it won't raise that much revenue either. last 20 seconds to you, jason rantz. >> you're right. it obviously raises some money. the problem all the money comes into washington state. we went into the pandemic with record revenue. that was squandered. the washington state democrats didn't save any of it. we get hit with a pandemic. now they're doing some cleanup. stuart: jason rantz, great to have you on the show. come back soon. we appreciate you being here. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: this is happening. susan has got the news on merck. it is down 1 1/2%. susan: leadership change. ken frazier is retiring on june 30th after leading the

company for the last decade. ceo robert davis will step in taking over as ceo. frazier will stay on as executive chairman. he is one of the few black corporate ceos in america. when he retires, that will leave three african-american ceo's in the fortune 500. merck is getting downgrade by keybanc to hold or sector weight. they had a earnings beat better sales with oncology and vaccines. i think the headline is the leadership change. stuart: got it. thank you very much, susan. merck is down 1 1/2%. 76 bucks a share. senator amy klobuchar unveiled a sweeping antitrust bill. lauren what does it mean for future mergers. lauren: they will be scrutinized more than ever and possibly prevented. it's a warning for facebook, alphabet and amazon specifically because they have been under fear for their monopolistic behavior. so democratic senator klobuchar who is now chair of the senate judiciary subcommittee on

antitrust, she wants stronger laws and more ammunition for enforcers, ftc and doj of those laws. look, her bill faces long odds of getting republican support to pass. this is the opening salvo for the biden administration. how they will come down on big tech and make it harder for any company to merge. an speaking of big tech, many republicans have soured on them recently too. so we'll see what support she gets on the other side of the aisle but things are changing, getting more difficult for companies looking to get bigger and more powerful coming together. stuart: they're getting flak from both sides of the aisle. it has not hurt their stocks close to record highs. lauren, thank you very much indeed. there is this. the former mayor of new york city, mike bloomberg, he says president biden needs to get kids back in the classroom. yes, please. roll tape. >> it is time for jobe to

joe biden to say the kids are the most important things. the president has to stand up to the unions. stuart: yes, yes, yes. well-done, mr. bloomberg. you're right on that. also we're going to cover san francisco. it is suing its own school district, open up the classrooms. that is what this is all about. open up the schools. more on that after this. ♪. your daily dashboard 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.

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♪. stuart: all right. look at those markets go. nice gain for the dow. you're up 235 points. nasdaq is doing okay, up 41. plenty of green. the city of san francisco suing its own school district to get teachers back in the classroom. claudia cowan is in san francisco. looks like the city is taking action at long last, claudia. what do you say? reporter: that is exactly right, stuart. city officials said enough is enough. saying that the school district as well as the board of education have failed to lay out a comprehensive plan to get students back into classrooms as soon as possible. they say that is a violation

after statewide mandate. thus we have now a lawsuit. it has been nearly 11 months since kids in san francisco, along with millions of others across the nation start stood learn remotely. even san francisco's private schools resumed in-person classes public schools remained closed. the city's own health department said they could open safely with proper precautions. the lawsuit forces district officials to develop a plan and a timeline. >> unfortunately the plan prepared by the san francisco unified school district and adopted by the board of education is ambiguous, empty rhetoric. it's a plan to make a plan and it is legally insufficient. reporter: city leaders say the district's 54,000 students are suffering academically and emotionally and that the school board's priorities are misplaced. last week the board announced it would rename some 44 schools

labeled with names they consider offensive like a abraham lincoln and george washington. but the schools are empty. the school board says their top priority is both the health of students and staff. >> we understand this is painful. we all want to get back. this is an embarrassing day for san francisco. reporter. of what happens next depends on ongoing talks happening with the labor unions and what kind of working conditions teachers will accept previously had said they wanted to wait until san francisco had moved into the less restrictive orange tier to go back to school. that is two tiers away from where we are now, stuart. vaccinations for the entire school staff that is also a sticking point in these on going negotiations. back to you. stuart: amazing. what a mess. claudia, great report. thanks for being with us. let's move on to bring in angela, she is the former press secretary for betsy devos at the

department of education. angela, i get the impression, i want your opinion, if the biden administration simply in the pocket of the teachers union? what do you say? >> that's a great question and it really makes you wonder how these teachers unions are arguing that they're not essential workers. they ought to be terrified somewhere, somewhere, that someone is going to believe them. the decline in standards is harming our students. you see it even here at the leadership institutes of campus reform. we're tracking very closely how this is reverb greating on college campuses and how the decline in standards but grading students will impact the economy and the competitiveness of the american workforce. stuart: after almost a year of being shut out of the classroom, how far behind are students today? >> by a musk concerns sy estimate the average student is forecasted to be about 7 months

behind. but that is not 7 months across the board. those numbers are far worse for black and latino students, students on the margins. there is data that suggests students from high income families, some have actually improved, have outpaced what we would expect for kids in public schools but so many more are falling behind. as you mentioned the biden administration came to a school system that had a plan. the cdc had released the safe reopening guidelines last july. when i was at the department of education i was touring schools as early as last august and seeing how teachers and students had made this work. they had gotten creative. they put their relief funding from congress to good use and they were keeping learning going. stuart: what do you think about this financial class divide? i've been editorializing about this. seems to me that people with money are doing anything they can to get out of the public schools and the teachers union is condemning poor kids to stay

in a failing public school system. i know this is my opinion but do you share it? >> absolutely. if you look at the numbers for support for school choice, you see that support is very, very high, not just for republicans not just for people in a certain income class but across political and economic and racial lines. families are desperate for other options for their children and the teachers unions are making them out to be villains, you're robbing our public schools. no, if the public school is failing your children it is robbing those kids of an education. stuart: i just want to know, if you were the president of the united states, just suppose you were the president, madam president, discuss suppose, what would you do about this? >> this is something that really needs to come from the bottom up. magically made me the president today i would say, that every school needs to be back in

person. the cdc needs to have a stronger voice now in advocating. it is interesting that they very quietly released these safe reopenings guidelines during the trump administration, only now are they being more vocal saying that schools can and should reopen. i would be very, very clear in every community where the teachers unions have kept schools closed and every community where colleges are putting their students at a disadvantage, to say, you know, absolutely not. you have to be back in class. we expect you to do it safely. with he know you're well-equipped to do so. stuart: or else, or else, you forgot two words. there should be some action there. >> or else you're harming these kids. stuart: or else you're out of a job frankly. all right. enough. angela, thank you very much for being with us. i'm getting outspoken here. i appreciate you being here. thanks a lot, angela. good stuff. back to the markets, let's see,

have we got news on the stimulus, susan. what have we got here? susan: republicans are looking to ban stimulus checks for illegal immigrants. also headlines from mitt romney he plans to unveil a plan to provide 3,000-dollars per child according to the washington post. we know we're trading at record levels, mostly to stimulus and checks being put into investors hands. there is debate in terms of the next stimulus package. is it 1.9 trillion, is it 600 billion according to some of these republicans in the senate? i think it is important to note whether 1000-dollar checks or 1400-dollar checks, some of this will flow into the stock market. stuart: and there will be checks. whether they are a 1,000 or 1400, there will be checks. you got that right. thank you, susan. let's move hon to kansas city chief narrowly avoiding disaster on the eve of the super bowl. their barber tested positive for covid in the middle of giving haircuts to players.

ouch. we have the story for you. newly-released video, shows john kerry, president biden's climate envoy defending his use of private jets. roll that tape again. >> it is the only choice for somebody like me who is traveling the world to win this battle. i can't sail across the ocean. i have to fly to meet with people to get things done. stuart: okay. we got the story for you around it is coming at you after this. ♪. the world's first fully autonomous vehicle is almost at the finish line what a ride! i invested in invesco qqq

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♪. stuart: still got a strong gain for the dow industrials up 220 points and i want more on that cap pell car story which seems to be a major issue here. what have we got susan, on the apple car? susan: as a ripple effect with

other carmakers which is down and general motors. apple moving closer to building the apple car becoming a reality. second report in two days they will build in apple car in the state of georgia along with hyundai and kia. targeting 2024, maybe 2025. they're looking to produce 100,000 cars each and every year. a report in the local korean press that apple will inject an invest 3 1/2 billion dollars into kia in this partnership but it is not just the apple car. i think this is something very smart from the world's biggest company. they're not sitting on their hands after that record breaking final three months of last year. they made $100 billion of sales very first time. headlines, stu, they're getting to virtual reality. there is talk, we've seen the reports that a vr headset should also be coming from apple over the next few years as well. do you want to talk about apple or get into other stocks that are moving as well?

stuart: well, i will get to the other stocks, i just want to make the comment i think the big tech companies are doing exactly the right thing economically. they have got an enormous amount of cash an expertise. they're putting it to work to advance the whole economy by putting it to work in other industries. i think it is just teriffic. i think it is a fine thing to do. susan: easy to do when you have $200 billion in cash like apple does. but the fact they're looking, targeting north american factories and car producers, car producers that have built production lines in north america that is a good thing for the u.s. economy. stuart: i think so too. let's get to robinhood, very much in the news, recently. now facing, what is it, 30 lawsuits, susan? tell me more? susan: separate lawsuits, 30 of them over across the america. new jersey, florida, california, texas and others. the plaintiffs in these cases are i have a accusing robinhood of breach of contract, fiduciary

duty, misleading investors when they restricted trading in those meme stocks. robinhood pointed the finger at the clearinghouses. they said they were forced to restrict trading because of them. they were suddenly forced to put up 10 times more money overnight in order to clear the trades. robinhood ceos will testify in two weeks in d.c., in front of congress on the gamestop controversy. we'll be hearing about janet yellen holding these meetings with other regulatory bodies over what to do in terms of possibly new rules and oversight on this gamestop controversy. stuart: we should gamestop is down to 73 this morning. very much on the downside. look at that. 75 now. susan: should note s3 analytics came out with the short interest on gamestop shares. over $20 billion, $23 billion, from what i saw. slightly less in the short positions in gamestop from yesterday. stuart: could you conclude that

the, that the hedge funds won and the little guy lost? i mean is that too simplistic? susan: i think that is really too simplistic. depend on when you bought in the investors in the nine hour. he bought in $35. if you bought in 35 you redoubled your money. wall street bets page, you started to hear flury of gamestop messaging probably in that 35 to 55-dollar realm. stuart: amc dropped below $8 a share. 7.95 right now. thank you, susan. let me get back to the climate envoy, he flew on a private jet to accept an environmental award. what was his response, lauren? he was called out. what did he say to being called out? lauren: he let me preface it was in 2019. i consider it a gem. it is elitist and hypocritical.

listen to what the now climb at czar said back then. >> it is the only choice for somebody like me who is traveling the world to win this battle. lauren: no one expected him to sail across the ocean to iceland to accept this award but he could have flown commercial which does emit less carbon. it it is this constant parade of elite lawmakers in many instances saying one thing, killing the keystone pipeline, which creates jobs, saying coal workers should learn to code. then doing something different. stuart: the nerve. let me move on to something a little more lightweight, to some people at least. a barber with covid scheduled to cut kansas city chief quarterback patrick mahomes hair. you got the story, lauren, what happened? lauren: let's breathe a sigh of relief. it was a close call. the barber did not know he had

covid when he was cutting the hair of the chiefs players. he got the results of a rapid test mid haircut of another player. that player on the reserve list. patrick mahomes, star quarterback, he was in line for the haircut. everyone had masks on. he is allowed to play on sunday. it is interesting, so many questions. is the big game going to happen if there is a covid outbreak? it looks like the union says, yeah, even if both quarterbacks, mahomes or tom brady have coronavirus or quarantines, they're still playing on sunday. the teams. so the super bowl will happen sunday, no matter what. stuart: imagine what the bookies would do if the things were changed? my goodness. fail to think. i have can't imagine. all right, lauren. scientists are testing, is this true? testing out a new covid jab strategy. mix and match, mixing different first around second doses.

will that work? we'll tell you all about it. doc siegel is with us. he says life may return to normal this summer. what would normal look like? i have no idea but i will ask him. ♪ how great is it that we get to tell everybody how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? i mean it... uh-oh, sorry... oh... what? i'm an emu! no, buddy! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪

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once again, that's golo.com. ♪. stuart: market has been open for 90 minutes, just about. we're up green all over the place this morning. bottom line, the february rally continues this thursday morning. then there is this. we have a new study. it shows astrazeneca covid-19 is likely to quote, slow the transmission of the virus. dr. siegel is with us this morning. doctor, does that mean that you have less chance of carrying the virus on you after you get the vaccine? >> that is exactly what it means, stuart. good morning. i'm very excited about that. that means a 67% decree in positive swabs in those tested after they got the astrazeneca vaccine versus those who didn't. that is what we're looking for. because the real reason to

vaccinate the everybody to protect the community, not just protect you. this is the first study we have that shows that may be the case. we may be able to stamp down the virus across the herd by vaccinating everyone. decreased spread. stuart: in britain, they launched a trial mixing covid vaccine. the trial combines astrazeneca's vaccine with pfizer's vaccine. what do you know about this? is this success? what's going on? >> it is just starting. it is at four and 12 week intervals. i really like the idea. there is such availability issue of these vaccines, right? they're totally different but they have the end result the same. they create a spike protein inside your body that promote as immune response. my prediction this will work. we've seen with the pfizer vaccine 90% immunity after three weeks. with the oxford vaccine, 76% at three months. there is no reason you couldn't mix and match with this. i think it's a very, very

innovative and enterprising study. i think it will show that we have flexibility here. stuart: it is all good news, doctor. there is plenty of good items coming out of the vaccine news but here in america, you still got demand exceeding the supply. a lot of people really upset because they can't get an appointment. when is that going to change? >> it is starting to. we're getting up towards 1.5 million doses a day. stuart, we have to get over two million, towards three million, to get this into everybody's arm by spring and summer. i think the real problem is on the production end. it is fragile vaccine, messenger rna vaccine. you have a lipid nano particle covers it. that takes a while to make. it is fragile. you can't do more with what we're doing having more vaccines in the game. we're starting to get there especially with johnson & johnson gets approved.

especially when the oxford astrazeneca vaccine gets approved which it should. we'll have as many as four or five vaccines. that will help a lot. stuart: i'm quoting you right now, when will normal life return? maybe by summer withing luck and the right steps. doctor, you wrote that. before we get into it, i want to know what do you consider normal? >> well, stuart, i may consider normal still wearing a mask. i know you will ask me that. i think people have to get used to masks for a while. but you know what i'm envisioning here that is existing? we covered part of it. get everybody vaccinated but then let's create immunity cards, you had your vaccine and got over covid. i think 70 million people in the united states probably had some form of covid by the way, even if only 25 million were diagnosed. probably 70 million actually had it and 50 million weren't diagnosed. if you have antibodies or you had the vaccine, i think, as the herd gets immunized we should be

able to liberalize travel. we should be able to say present that sign of vaccination at the airport, get on that plane. i think we'll open things up more and more. the more we vaccinate people. and schools should open now. they seem to be comparatively safe. stuart: absolutely. well-said, doctor. see you real soon, dr. siegel sir. big hour, coming unfor you the 11:00 hour. john barrasso. dan heninger, tomi lahren all on deck. plus president biden wants to take america back into the iran nuke deal and the paris climate deal but he has got really big problems with both of them. i will explain all of that in "my take" at the top of the next hour. ♪

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range i think the way robin hood handled it was ham-handed. it is there regulatory requirements but new traders learning how the system works happened every big bubble. stuart: he made 36,$000 in the game stop surge. >> i never imagined myself being this much off of my original investments. >> some of the other stocks that got caught in the monumental short sweeper. traders and investors getting into the market.

♪♪ want to rock and roll all night ♪♪ and every day ♪♪ i want to rock and roll all night ♪♪ stuart: rock and roll all nice, sounds good, doesn't it? 11:00 eastern time, this is thursday february 4th. we are keeping a close eye on capitol hill. any moment senators schumer and warren will announce their plan to erase some student debt. check your money, still going strong, the s&p up 2 thirds of one% and the dow is up 250 points. now this. president biden wants to take iran -- america back into the iran nuclear deal and take us back into the paris climate deal. he has got big problems with both. look at the news of this day.

this man, assadi is an iranian diplomat sentenced to 20 years in prison for trying to bomb and anti-iran protest in paris which rudy giuliani attended. the bomb carried in a diplomatic bag which can't be searched. it was discovered when he tried to take it into france. how can president biden take us back into an agreement with the government that tried to kill the former president's lawyer? a similar question over the paris climate accord, president biden wants us back in but a new report shows america cut co2 emissions 11% last year, far more than china. why go into an agreement where we have to do even more but china doesn't have to do anything for another 10 years which unless you believe the world comes to a end in a decade this makes no sense. with the iran deal, it is lives

lost, lives threatened and potentially enormous carnage in the future. with the paris climate deal it is jobs lost, energy independence lost with this administration we are going backwards. biden has killed the pipeline, and, we are sending them played loads of cash to sanctions and killing of soleimani. and do they willingly take us back to that. the third hour of varney and company is about to begin. brian brandenberg, i am getting riled up about political moves. what happens to the economy? this is serious stuff.

what happens if we go back to the paris deal? what happens? >> like going back to 2016, back to the future story like the biden administration doesn't want to acknowledge that election happened and american voters have those concerns but the problem is we are moving away from the move to growth that we saw that was so helpful over the past four years and particularly 2019 before the pandemic hit. my concern here is we are getting a lot of policies that have great headline value with international elites but underneath the surface the damage is real whether it is energy policy, the pipeline, the minimum wage debate which is heating up now and i tell you that is going to be a job killer if we go in that direction. this is an administration, they

are starting to challenge what the reality is going to look like we're getting from these policies. stuart: it looks like we are going to get checks. a lot of people will get a lot of checks. do you see inflation down the road because of the money being chucked in the economy? >> this is not getting enough play, economics 101, it is basic, massive growth in the money supply thanks to the fed. massive government spending putting money into people's pockets which they saved a lot of and the regulation and policies that are diminishing productive capacity. the crackdown on energy, increase in minimum wage, things that slowdown supply. when you add those to gather

the inevitable result is prices going up, inflation and if we get that, that becomes that insidious taxon interest rates and bring things to a halt. that is a risk here no one is paying attention to but it seems nobody in the biden administration is paying attention whatsoever but it could have a real effect on average americans. we love the idea of getting a check now but we will hate the idea of the value of our money being eroded if inflation kicks in. stuart: i have been pounding the table and get back to classroom teaching, and the cdc saying teachers don't have to be vaccinated to reopen the schools. it seems to me the teachers union is holding everything up and i am appalled by it and i want your opinion.

>> i would like the biden administration to live by their words, you will follow the data, the science, listen to the experts. the data, the science, the experts are telling us get schools open, get kids back into school. the problem with the biden administration is you can't follow the words. you've got to follow where the political power exists. democratic party the political power is on the left, it is with the big constituencies that get president biden into office, one of them is the teachers union. we are not doing the science thing, not doing the data thing right now. the biden administration is doing the political thing. the problem is it is a reality and a very bad reality. chicago and elsewhere languishing with online education that doesn't work, in the classroom making the progress they need to make at this stage in their life. stuart: i think it is a disgrace.

i know i will see you again real soon. take a look at the markets, you will see the dow is up nearly 300, back above 31,000. the nasdaq doing very well but so too largely is big tech. heather is back with us, to me we are back where we were a couple weeks ago before the frenzy in game stop, big tech leading the market higher. is that where we are? >> facebook, amazon, netflix, google, microsoft, and apple doing well. the market, rough trading on earnings and fundamentals for one, not just flows going into the market, that is what you want to see. some traders would argue the tech sector is oversold because of the shift into value as of late.

there still may be more room to run in the tech sector. i love that we are focused on earnings and i think even post covid, amazon employee in 170,000 people, the news about apple making the electric car, vehicles partnering with hyundai, kia going after tesla and a lot of businesses advertising on facebook and twitter because the stores were shutdown and know what is going out so good or bad it means technology sector can head higher from here. stuart: i have political problems with big tech. i don't like censorship and i don't like monopolies, those words could be applied to big tech companies but what i do like is them using their vast horde of cash to extend into other industries, modernize them if you will and use their expertise like in the car industry.

i think that trend is very positive and i wouldn't want to see it come to a end because of political trouble with big tech. what say you? >> look at section 230 which was antitrust issues, also antitrust issues saying they are too big as government needs to get involved. it was before and will head up that charge and maybe social media can be sued and liable for what people post and that is why you saw censorship from the democratic side. there is regulation and reform coming in the tech sector but the free market works best as you point out when someone like jeff bezos can take a step back and do what he does best which is innovate and become creative and employ more people and it may be disruptive to the economy but if they are able to make the world a better place than they are headed in the

right direction but if they are crushing the little guy, the competition using predatory pricing practices like they have, amazon has in the past, small businesses out of business, you don't want that to happen, that is a problem. stuart: keep the innovation going. if you look at the markets and that is what we do here you see a lot of green, dow is at 31,000 again, nasdaq up 70, s&p up nearly 3/4 of one%. who are the big movers? >> you want to check apple once again, the apple car looks to become reality according to the second report in two days, apple, a question of when, not if but when we will see the apple car but the second report that apple will team up with here, bill be apple car in the state of georgia, targeted relief in 2024, 100,000 cars a year and they will invest $3.5 billion in 2 kia motors

based in south korea. the apple car will be an electric one with self driving capabilities in the future, the morgan stanley has warned if apple does come out with an apple car that is a big problem in big risk for the tesla names of the electric car market we know is going to be a huge opportunity with trillions and trillions, you have traditional carmakers ramping up and teaming up with google and gm going all electric, in 15 years. another thing i want to highlight is penn national hit a record high a bit light on sales in their earnings but they did say they will open those casinos later this year and the super bowl will be a big sports event this weekend. another big mover is the $1,000 jackets, better earnings, online sales and another name you are familiar with, l brands soaring, the company plans to spin up victoria's secret, bath

and body works by august, who knows, candles and lingerie with such a big moneymaker. stuart: who knew? that's not a question, that is a statement. i do want to say that i am looking at amc which is $7 a share and looking at game stop which is $71 a share. that is important, the volatility is still there on the downside. very interesting. thanks a lot. more parents putting their youngsters into private schools. teachers unions refused to return to the classroom. more on that in a moment and energy expert taken to task over president biden's ban on new oil leases. watch this. >> is it fair to characterize president biden's executive order is completely ineffective as a means to address climate change? >> as a practical means it is utterly an effective. stuart: okay, that was senator

john barrasso asking the question, he is on the republican side of the senate energy committee and he joins me after this. ♪♪ ♪♪ going to burn burn burn burn ♪♪

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stuart: senator john barrasso says the biden administration has declared war on american energy and taken a sledgehammer to the economy. the senator joins me now. is the top republican on the senate energy committee what can you actually do about this? can you do something to stop it?

>> absolutely we can. we are going to continue to fight this administration and joe biden and what he is trying to do because he has taken a sledgehammer not just to energy but energy jobs. we are talking about 1 million people who could lose their jobs getting pink slips today. we know people across the country will end up paying more money to heat their homes and drive because of the war against american energy we are seeing from the biden administration. schools in wyoming - all of these things we are going to fight in a number of ways, we will certainly do it in congress. there is a bipartisan group of senators and house members who realize how foolish this approach is. flying around in his private plane and energy workers, 1 million of them that they should go on to work making solar panels and wind turbines, that's not going to do it. today on the senate floor we will have an amendment on the budget bill. starting this, there will be cases in the courts on these

things which we have a bipartisan group of governors who are opposing it as well. there will be a significant push back and fight against what this administration is trying to do to hurt the american economy and send jobs overseas. stuart: senator lindsey graham told fox news he expect mister trump's impeachment trial to run three or four days. he also said, quote, if it runs longer than that it is bad for the country but senator, i would have thought the republicans would want this thing to run on because it exposes what i call the silliness of impeaching a former president have crowds out the business of the biden administration. isn't that the republicans interests? >> the republicans interests to focus on what the american people is concerned about. and getting the coronavirus behind us. in terms of the trial it starts

on tuesday i believe it is unconstitutional. this is a political process, a prosecution based on politics and political revenge. 45 of us in the senate have voted that is unconstitutional. i know how this trial will turn out. the president is at the end going to be acquitted. if this were legitimate he would have the chief justice of the supreme court presiding but we don't. we have a democrat senator who has already voted to convict donald trump the first time he was impeached. we need to get beyond this and get back to the work of the american people. stuart: do you want to see donald trump appear at his own trial in the senate? >> i'm not going to do the strategy for the defense team. they will make those decisions for themselves. let's get to the work of the american people done for them

and this to me, this impeachment is completely unconstitutional. stuart: senator john barrasso, see you again real soon. how about this? parlor's ceo john mass says he was fired by the board. do we know anything more about this firing? >> he was fired on friday and it was not his choice but the board which is controlled by rebecca mercer, the financial backer of parlor, he cofounded parlor in 2018, said he was not given an explanation, a difference in opinion with mercer in particular. it is more of a free speech platform while the board but controlled by mercer needs more moderation and cleanup especially after january 6th.

and other high-profile tech founders have been booted from the company they founded, and uber's travis calnick is in good company. stuart: i wonder where conservatives are now allowed to express their freedom of speech. can't go on facebook or twitter. >> that is a money issue. value proposition totally changed, kicked off amazon and apple and google stores. if i was rebecca mercer i would. a few hundred million dollars into this project, back online to get my returns back. stuart: not at the expense of free speech. >> in her case she says it is free speech that is moderated, that needs to be cleaned up.

nobody what's to see january 6th again, do we? stuart: that is a rhetorical question. it is not about -- who is going to clean up free speech? who is going to do that? who decides what i can say is what you can say publicly? who decides that? i'm not prepared to turn it over to anybody. >> this is probably a longer conversation. stuart: i think so. the producer is saying get on with it. a conversation that has got to be had because censorship in my opinion is a key issue in america. moving on we have a wave of ipos, a zoom competitor just went public, it is on 24 inc.. how is he doing? >> down a little bit, but yesterday it closed 40% above their ipo price. i had never heard of on 24. they have been around for almost 23 years. they make software and that

software host big virtual events where they engage customer interest was they measure if you're engaged by what they are saying by asking questions throughout the event so it is real-time feedback. i think of it like this because everything is remote now, the ability to drive customer intimacy without proximity. this is not a startup and yet they are profitable. it was a solid ipo yesterday. stuart: i wonder how things will turn out when and if we get back to normal. i weasel -- still zooming or on 24ing? i have another one, i've got this for you. the dating site bumble hopes to make its debut on the market next week ipo. tell me, how much is a dating service, repeated dating service how much will they tried to raise?

>> $1 million, pricing their share from $25-$30 a pop. you can make the argument that online dating is a lifeline to many people right now but this is a crowded market. we saw that with masks, they gave an underwhelming forecast but bumble plans to test the nasdaq and public market monday. they have 42 million monthly active users, a female ceo, female board, they do things a little differently and for female makes the first move just so you know though i have never tried it. stuart: a dating service raises $1 billion, that says a great deal about today's society and i will leave it right there. next case the game stop trading frenzy, short squeeze could have an impact on your pension.

it is hard to forget this dad's frustration with remote learning. >> the garbage workers who pick up my freaking trash risk their lives every day more than anyone in the school system. figure it out or get off the podium! stuart: wall street journal guy dan hettinger said more parents in the are losing faith in the public school system. i agree with that, stay right there, more varney after this. ♪♪ enough is enough is enough ♪♪ i can't go on ♪♪ i can't go on ♪♪ enough is enough is enough ♪♪ i have an idea for a trade. oh yeah, you going to place it? not until i'm sure. why don't you call td ameritrade for a strategy gut check? what's that? you run it by an expert, you talk about the risk and potential profit and loss. could've used that before i hired my interior decorator. voila!

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data to suggest schools can safely reopen and safe reopening does not suggest teachers need to be vaccinated. vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for reopening of schools. stuart: take note, chicago teachers, the cdc director saying teachers can safely return to schools without being vaccinated. next case this headline, the tragedy of the schools, many parents are losing faith in the public school system and are pulling their kids out.

talk about crisis in education. the guy who wrote that is dan heninger, seems to me the public school system especially in big cities is collapsing. is that too strong a word? >> i know nothing that is too strong a word. they are in an x essential crisis to be sure. we have been talking for weeks about the failure of schools to reopen, union resistance to reopening and if you look down the surface, some parents are not waiting for that problem to be resolved, data on enrollment has been coming out recently, it is quite striking, the state of california public school and will -- enrollments are down

45,000 in new york city. a record. 43,000 in the state of virginia, significantly down in the state of texas and these parents are looking for alternatives, parochial catholic schools, homeschooling, and things like learning paths together a bunch of kids, hire a teacher to teach them, the one room schoolhouse of the nineteenth century. you can see movement here where parents are deciding that they are not going to be involved in the public school system that refuses to teach their children. stuart: it seems we are creating, escalating financial class system. the people who are leaving the public school system are the people with money. they can afford to move to another state. they can afford to hire a pod teacher for their children. meanwhile the teachers union is

condemning poor kids to stay in failing schools. this creates a huge class division. a terrible thing for america. >> in some ways it is an critics of complained about that happening as a result of these transitions but i would like to know where these critics were 30 years ago when the charter school and school choice system, 30 years ago black and hispanic parents in the hardest neighborhoods were already pulling their kids out of public schools and putting them into charters and parochial schools using tax vouchers and scholarship programs. those parents love those charter schools and parochial schools but where were the critics complaining about class disparity when many of us were fighting for the disparities

being - they are passing laws that allow more minority parents for tax credits to opt out of the public school system and send their kids to alternatives whether private schools, parochial schools or their own micro schools. stuart: that is the answer. that is how you do it. see you again soon. back to the markets. i want to look at shorted stocks. look at game stop, $64 a share. look at amc, $7 a share. we have a little stability on downside. christina is with us. >> we know the story retail investors pile into those stocks you mentioned in an attempt to take the wall street hedge funds but could have an

unintended target. your pension fund. american pension funds support so many workers in retirement, the pension funds invest assets on behalf of workers, teachers, firemen, police officers and a lot of hedge funds. invest a small portion of the portfolio or pension funds, invest a small portion of their portfolios in hedge funds, could have a trickle effect on american retirement fund. look at melvyn capital, they bit big game stop would fall in january, they lost 53% of the portfolio. what about exposure for pension fund? $4.5 trillion in state and local pension funds, 7% is invested in pension funds. that is the conservative ratio. some of these pension funds have a larger exposure to hedge funds. eastman kodak at 41% to hedge funds but not all of these

hedge funds, but game stop at amc would fall that there is a big possibility on main street. stuart: thanks very much. look at game stop. the stock price down to $66 a share and there is news on game stop. what have we got? >> what a week for this company. they are taking bank of america keeping that underperformed rating and $10 price target saying when the company reports actual earnings and fundamentals it is not going to look good. they see no reason for all the hype because it can't justify its valuation and down 30%. stuart: you can't justify valuation of game stop at $66 or even 500 for sure.

66, down 25 lead some grocery stores are forced to close because of a mandatory pay raise for workers. employees, customers, they are furious and the matter is headed to court. we will clean it all for you. the super bowl, a business boom to host cities but not this year. in tampa bay they are now preparing to scale back celebrations. ashley webster joins us live. ♪♪ unbreakable ♪♪ unstoppable ♪♪ unthinkable ♪♪ when down get up again ♪♪

>> to make short-term investments, long-term investments, diversify your interests, and try to keep the

big picture in mind. you don't need to become an investor. you were born one. stuart: look at the average robin hood's $5 million, 30-second burble commercial but the redit traders will counter it with their own add. tell me more about that. >> reporter: what they are doing is crowdsourcing their effort to make their own super bowl ad to answer what robin hood just did. they are mad that robin hood is buying your time to celebrate them the retail investor while preventing them from buying some stocks so they raise 28,$000 so far. i'm only laughing because you know what it costs, don't know that his last minute pricing but they need more money. stuart: they would like dueling ads but may not get dueling ads. thanks very much.

let's go to tampa. ashley webster is there already. 25,000 fans will be at the game. is this a litmus test for crowds live venues? >> reporter: i think it is but when you compare this year's super bowl to last year's it was down the road in miami, look at the numbers from miami and see how that would translate to tampa. in miami, and economic -- economic benefit was $572 million or $573 million, immense. the average fan spent $693, that is a lot of money. will that happen in tampa, it is down two thirds. the people coming here would come later and would not do as

much as they would normally do, we are in a historic downtown area in tampa, very quiet indeed. you wouldn't believe the super bowl was going on. it is coming up to noon but every retailers the super bowl may help but it is an effort to survive since last month. they sell vintage clothing and jewelry, i spoke to the owner who said we've done everything we can, business is down 66%. we let most of our staff go but we are hanging on but it is not easy. take a listen. >> what is normally our busiest time of year is our worst time of your in our worst time of your was unlike anything we ever experienced before. it has been really hard. ashley: it has been really hard and another interesting thing quickly as i throw it back to

you, some of these places up to 100% capacity. some stay at 25 or 50. when they go to 100% some people are leery to join the crowd that size. maybe consumer behavior has been changed a little bit. stuart: good point on the spot. a few moments ago democrats called on president biden to the race 50,$000 worth of student loan debt for every borrower. more government interference, is that the answer to the problem? i will ask tommy laren. she is next. ♪♪ laughing all the way to the bank ♪♪ it all seems so funny ♪♪ making it up. saving 50% vs. other carriers with 2 unlimited lines for less than $30 each. call 1-800-t-mobile or go to t-mobile.com/55.

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and we are here today to introduce our proposal to cancel 50,$000 in student debt and take a huge burden off so many people in america. >> president biden has taken good steps in the direction of students but he has to go much further. stuart: that was senate leader chuck schumer with his democrat

colleagues behind him. i sans ilhan omar there. wipeout 50,000 bucks worth of federal student loan debt for every borrower. tomi lahren is with us. wipeout 50,$000 of student debt, for each borrower. if i was young and had a lot of debt i would be in favor of it. what do you say? >> i am young, graduated college in 2014 and i am not in favor of it. i paid back my own student loans, had a degree and got a job and paid it back myself but the government should be involved in this to begin with. the government being involved in it is one of the reasons tuition prices are so high. as soon as the government get involved in any capacity especially now that they want to get forgive student loans that gives colleges and universities no need to have competitive pricing, no need to compete with one another or drop the tuition prices. colleges are getting rich, student still have debt, ultimately somebody has to pay for this.

this is more free free free free money pandering and at the end of the day it doesn't add up, doesn't make sense and i'm completely against it. stuart: i heard the end of senator schumer's soundbite that he wants to go a lot further. it seems to me you go a lot further and president biden is being pushed further and further to the left. how do you feel about that. >> imagine that. i long said president biden has been a puppet and placeholder for the far left but this is the agenda item the rest of those that didn't win the primaries, didn't win the nomination are pushing in this direction they really wanted to go. that's not the direction the american people wanted to go because if they wanted to go in that direction they would have put up a credit candidate like elizabeth warren or any of the other radical far left like bernie sanders, they chose biden because they thought he would be the moderate. he is simply a placeholder for

this liberal wish list he will put in place a lot of through his pen and his phone which is going to cost us a lot of money and agony. stuart: a lot of agony. i like that expression. good lessons on how to speak with an american accent. tomi lahren, we will watch you on your show called no interruption and it is exclusively on fox nation. thanks for your opinion on student loan debt cancellation. see you soon. kroger. what is this? they are closing stores. why? >> rather than giving out a next or $4 a hero in hero pay for frontline grocery workers as mandated by the long beach city council estimate kroger says it will close its two southern california stores, then move angered the long beach mayor. he was proud -- he blasted grocers like kroger for making record profits and that is

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into the classroom pronto because of grocery store workers can face a couple hundred customers wearing masks, teachers can get back in the classroom and face a dozen or 20 students wearing masks and they are not. they won't go back but that is my soapbox to climb on. check vaccine makers, britain is launching a brand-new type of vaccine trial. what is this about? >> oxford university is testing mixing vaccines was they will combine a shot they developed with pfizer's vaccine. the first jab you get is one of them and the second is the other so you have two different vaccines. if they prove to be effective and interchangeable, doctor siegel was optimistic on this. do you have better protection from the virus and they get flexibility with distribution so you can get more shots out there into more arms.

stuart: plenty of good news on vaccines, we are just not inoculating that many people yet. thanks very much. i will tell you this. more varney after this. my husband and i have never eaten healthier. shingles doesn't care. i logged 10,000 steps today. shingles doesn't care. i get as much fresh air as possible. good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but no matter how healthy you feel your immune system declines as you age, increasing your risk for getting shingles. so what can protect you? shingrix protects.

for the first time ever, you can protect yourself from shingles with a vaccine proven to be over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. talk to your pharmacist or doctor about protecting yourself with shingrix. shingles doesn't care. but you should.

...and then what happened daddy? well, you see here... there's a photo of you and there's a photo of your mommy and then there's a picture of me. but before our story it goes way, way, way back with your great, great, great grandparents. see this handsome man, his name is william. william fell in love with rose and they had a kid. his name was charles and charles met martha... isn't she pretty? yeah.

♪♪ i had this hundred thousand dollar student debt. two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in debt. ah, sofi literally changed my life. it was the easiest application process. sofi made it so there's no tradeoff between my dreams and paying student loans. student loans don't have to take over for the rest of your life. thank you for allowing me to get my money right. ♪♪ ♪ stuart: i'm going to call this a tale of two markets on this thursday. first off, you've got the extension of gains by the dow, the nasdaq and the s&p, on the upside there. but look at gamestop and amc, extending their losses. we've got amc right now back to $7 a share, gamestop below $70.

please don't forget to send in your friday feedback stuff. we want to know what you think about the gamestop frenzy. e-mail us, varneyviewers@foxbusiness.com. gamestop, what do you think? market frenzy, what do you think? you've got to tell us, and we'll put it on the air for you. time's up for me. neil, it's yours. neil: all right, stuart, thank you very much. we are watching a couple of things happening right now. of course, janet yellen, the newly-minted treasury secretary, talking with other regulatory agencies including the sec, the federal reserve and on and on at a time when the likes of gamestop and amc are all getting scattered in this market, down at least 20% for each of them. what kind of ideas she's going to come up with and what kind of hearings we're looking at on capitol hill regardless if she does or does not come up with anything at all. then those american