61 in more than 13 months. up a better than 1%. my thanks to lee and patrice. thank you. have a great day. we will see you back here tomorrow same time same channel. "varney & co." begins right now. lauren is in for stuart this morning. lauren: good to see you. a good morning. stuart varney is not off today. he will be back a moment. the pandemic retreat continues. the trend is encouraging with the positive news extended across the country. a look at. new cases of coronavirus down 43%, 64000 reported yesterday. death down 29% over a 14 day period. 55 million people have received at least one vaccine shot and with numbers like this, surely the pressures on to ease restrictions and get the economy moving. but, the country has to deal with the continuing

deep freeze your texas suffering with the human story, one of great suffering for those without power as some people are dying in the financial story is the escalating cost of energy. some wind turbines and refineries are frozen shut soap utilities are scrambling to buy electric power wherever they can find it at whatever price. oil and natural gas prices rising and gasoline is on the rise. worse yet, the deep freeze is moving slowly east and north. get ready. to the markets, not much of change, but the dow jones did have another record gain yesterday with features down today, s&p futures down 12, nasdaq down five. look at bitcoin, major gains. it's a broken through the 50000 mark 1,551,000 and now trading at $51735. is bitcoin the new gold? big announcement from

the president at cnn's town hall last night, spend, spend, spend was his message and then spend more. is that inflationary? maybe that's why pitt-- bitcoin's piercing through it $51000. the big show ahead. dave portnoy and martha maccallum interviews. it's wednesday, february 17, "varney & co." is about to begin. ♪♪ lauren: beautiful shot of manhattan almost looks like it's a sunny today and we had sunny news, but first let's get to this, president biden says now is the time to spend and spend big. listen.

>> there is a consensus among economists, left, right and center, in order to grow the economy, a year, two, three, four down new line we can't spend it too much. now is the time we should send, now is the time to go big. it is estimated that if we pass this bill alone, we will create 7 million jobs this year. lauren: he says go big or go home and stuart will have more on this in "my take" at the top of the 10:00 a.m. hour today. next case, a report that elon musk's space x has raised $850 million. susan li, what does that push the evaluation of his space company to? susan: we know stuart is rushing back to the studio. in terms of space x any elon musk talking about $74 million raise, a

valuation so think of as $419-- a penny shy of 420, which we know is a cannabis reference to marijuana day april 20, and a number elon musk a seems to like. remember that infamous mosque tesla tweet taking a private, so that's a number he seems to go back to $74 billion almost double what space x was worth a few months ago in august in the summer months. space x raising cash, $46 million and there was some insane demand according to reports for the new fundraising for space x. investors were literally lining up to give space x any elon musk money. we know that sending rockets and sublicenses spake needs a lot of cash, but also potentially a moneymaker so startling which is satellite beam internet could bring $30 billion a year, that's three times more than what space x might sell each of your sending rockets

into space oh yeah, that's a big number. lauren: and another big number is the price of bitcoin, yet another new high. what's going on? susan: $51000 a coin, 600% up over the past year, doubling in two months, that some crypto fever and jp morgan warning the volatility suggests that the rally may not last your queen need to get rid of the volatility first, but 2021, less volatile than it was in 2017 and also as i was looking through gartner survey as top executives and it shows 85% of corporate america doesn't plan to follow elon musk in using cash to buy bitcoin. looking at some block chain minors in stock that benefit from the rally that we've seen in bitcoin. marathon and right to block chain, the ones that try to get the physical bitcoin see other mining them and as you see in it's doing pretty well.

lauren: look at that with block chain up 14%. institutional investors and companies warming up to crypto. there is aced craze, back to you in a bit susan. looking at futures, slight declines, dow jones down 53 after closing at its eighths at record high the year yesterday. nasdaq down two thirds of 1% acid peaks down quarter of 1%. mark tepper is with us now. >> how are you? lauren: i'm great. i want to talk to you about the canceled culture we have been seeing and to say it kills innovation, which in turn hurts the economy. make your case. >> it does i feel like we are heading down a very dangerous path, very dangerous. right now, i think, we are risk at ruining not only the nation but stifling innovation and not just innovation in business, but innovation

in our day to day lives and if you think about it, this country didn't get to where it is today , businesses didn't get to where they are today, technology didn't get to where it is today by following group think. it's contrarian thoughts that has made the country great. you want to encourage individuality, that's american, but we have all these bullies club decided they are going to in people's career if they say something they disagree with and that is completely un-american and not what we need as a society. lauren: it's nearly impossible to have a social media account and be in the public eye of these days speaking of innovation, i went to get this income let's look at ford shares as they plan to go 100% electric , not in the us, but in europe and they went to do that by 2030. how investing a billion dollars in a german plant making that ford's first fully electric facility in europe with production scheduled to begin in 2023.

we have seen ford, gm and other automakers invested electrification as they try to get ahead of the fossil fueled bands coming in some european countries, mixed performance in the premarket by the automakers. back to you, mark. we did forward and some of the automakers, what about a stock you-- the playboy grew, why are you hot on them? >> i want you to-- you think you know about playboy, take every thing you think you know and throw it out the window, the magazine, hugh hefner, mansions, that's the playboy of old edits over and done with kirk instead, focus on the brand which is an iconic brand, remember the body in the bow tie, iconic brands command premium multiples. look at nike, this is a company that has completely reinvented itself here today they are predominantly an apparel company and they are leading men's apparel brand in china, so when you compare them

to their apparel-- committee hears about a 50% discount because-- lauren: hold on, wait, playboy is the leading apparel brand in china? >> can you believe that? a bunch of hoodies with bunny rabbits, a big seller. huge seller. as soon investors realize this is of the old company and they are an apparel company that makes hoodies with bunny rabbits, they will re- rate higher in the stock could double quickly once investors realize that. lauren: i think you just proved your first point that iconic companies in this case playboy can innovate and therefore be good for the economy. mark, good to see you. >> thank you. lauren: let's get the latest on mortgage applications because they just came in and they have fallen for the second straight week, down 5.1% last week seasonally adjusted, but up 15% from last year. why did we see the fall?

because rates are going up and more and bankers association said 30 year fixed rate rose to the highest level last week since november, causing refinancing to fall 5% last week and they are still up 51% from a year ago, but fewer people in general are refinancing as rates go up so if you look at the reliance-- refinance share of overall mortgage activity falling below the 70% threshold for the first time since october, so you have the higher rates and higher prices perhaps causing the housing market to cool and we also have lumber prices at record, up 170% in the past 10 months. that's pricing some people already struggling out of home spirit president biden is walking back with his press secretary said about school reopening. listen to this. >> those schools may only be open for at least one day a week? >> that's not true. that's what was reported. that's not true. it was a mistake and medication.

lauren: wow, martha maccallum joins stuart in the 11:00 o'clock hour with her reaction to it biden justice said in retail sales are routes. where are we spending all of our money? remember the $600 stimulus checks. we have the numbers for you must look at futures , slight pullback but the day is long and the nasdaq the worst of the bunch, most 1%. stay tuned. stuart varney making his way into the studio any moment now. be right back. ♪♪

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industrial production for the month of january. can you tell me the number? okay. well, we expected to rise half a percent and it did that and then some coming in as stronger than .9%, really no effect on the markets which are set to open down after the eighth record close of the year for the dow jones yesterday and as we wait for the opening bell to sound on wall street on this second trading day of the week, we have shopper five reporting earnings and susan coming of the latest? susan: i love this company. guidance a bit disappointed despite it a blockbuster quarter to end a 2020. is the second largest e-commerce company in north america behind amazon so they are making more money, more self but wall street was a bit disappointed with shopper five forecast were failed growth this year so the vaccine rollout will mean consumers will rotate some of their shopping and spending back to britts and mortar so going out again, would not be something before

i now. i went into a store the other day and it almost felt weird, that i can't scroll looking at all of these close like i had to go to the iraq. i do know how i felt about it. susan: just getting back to normal. lauren: i know. amazon, speaking of online shopping, they are acquiring a competitor to shopper five-- susan: australian -based cell with a z at the end, a kind of does the packet-- back in technology and software so it can create their own website to sell their own goods online in those terms were disclosed, but this also signals a shift when it comes to amazon strategy because they are letting small businesses use their own website to sell rather than pushing them to only use amazon marketplace and its website so shopify's business has boomed.

stock as almost a tripled in the past year and shopify now the biggest company worth $175 billion in just one of the portfolio favorites in the stock market. lauren: and giving about $80 back this morning. susan, thank you and that cues us up or pay for the report. for the month of january, it's the number i had to read several times because it was so much stronger than expected, rising 5.3%. gerald storch is with us jerry, this is the best number we have seen since december, 2011, and when president biden sends-- says a span, sad , spend, where will that money actually go? them $600 stimulus checks and what have you , are we spending that, where's the money going? >> we are doing some of each and i think what struck me in the report beyond the numbers, through the roof and the number i look at which is the right number as a

ceo, i look at the actual dollars spent in january compared to january last year, not this funny thing where they seasonally adjusted , but i think what is clear there is a number before retail was up 11% and that means sales in january were up 11% versus last january before the pandemic, so they are booming for retail goods. what's interesting about where they are spending the money is that it's still very much a pandemic story. what was a big? e-commerce was up 29% this january versus last january. they are spending on building supplies, home improvement, 19%. people are fixing up their homes. grocery up 12%. also, general merchants like walmart etc. up about 10% with department stores mixed into the number, but up high so by those stocks.

what's not working, department stores, clothing stores down double digits, restaurants down 16% with the lockdowns taking place and then you have gas stations still down. lauren: gases sales will likely be higher because of the freeze we have right now, but do, i mean, department stores are down , clothing sales are down, but cantu imagine jerry getting dressed up again, in my case wearing high heels and going out to a nice fancy dinner may be at the end of summer when we can start putting all this behind us will there be that rebound spending coming? >> watch carefully pick there will be a big pivot. february will be like january, good numbers will be pleased, but it's going to be pandemic february, pre-pandemic you can recall when the pandemic started happening which was march of last year. in march, where some a

source totally shut down is when it will prevent and you will see a huge growth rate in things like clothing, apparel even department stores which overall our long-term difficult problem, so you will see a shift in march and april will be through the roof for retail sales in every single category so yes, you're correct we will have month after month after that of huge retail sales gains in every category including clothing. you can finally dress up and go out. it will be fun. lauren: music to my ears. thank you. as we watch for the opening bell, guess who will be here after the break-- is stuart varney making his way to his own show? oh,, stuart, glad you are back. stuart: thank you. i will see you in a minute.

lauren: we will be right back.

sarah, did you know geico could save you hundreds on car insurance and a whole lot more? hmm. so what are you waiting for? captain ahab to help you find a parking spot? thar she blows! whoops! loading zone. darn it. pull hard to starboard! too small! seriously? because it...ugh. oh! follow him! steady... steady... oh! thunderation! to the northern lot where there be parking spaces as big as whales! geico. see all the ways you could save. stuart: well, well, i see a lot of red especially on the nasdaq futures. at spring in market jason katz, longtime friend. jason, first off i know

a lot of your customers and clients will ask what about spac, what about ipos, bitcoin, gamestop. what to do you tell them? >> literally there hasn't been a day that's gone by in the last month that i have not been asked about those the subject matters and what i'm telling them is proceed with caution. you and i have been around a long time in the retail community is so much better informed than they have ever been, but information can be powerful and also dangerous. i would tread lightly is what i caution. stuart: so you don't jump in with both feet, caution means you tip your tell, maybe. can we leave it at that? >> we can leave it at that, i mean, how many high-quality companies look for spac to go after this point and if you are fortunate enough to get an ipo you really want to chase on the stocks in the aftermarket, so tip your tell at best.

stuart: their point. on looking at futures and i see the nasdaq down 120 points implying big tech isn't doing that well. would you use this dip in big tech and other stocks, would you use this as a buying opportunity? >> i most certainly would. will come i think you need to embrace the volatility and expect it, quite frankly. you want to lean into it, not necessarily into big tech per se, but maybe go smaller go home. you want to be tied to things that are more tied to the physical economy. it's the real economy. on a price to book basis, you haven't seen a discount like this in many years here generally speaking it's an 18% discount to large and right now it's up-- it's a 30% discount. should you buy today? no. should we get out garden-variety drawdown, most certainly embrace that is an opportunity. stuart: over the longer term, coming president biden says now

is the time to spend, spend, spend and we will get a vote on the $1.9 trillion deal probably next week. the fed as we have often said will keep printing. over the longer term you still see stocks going up until at least midyear? >> i think the balance of this year we are extremely constructive. virus cases are down as you have reported. you have seen the acceleration of the rollout and all of that said, next year we have higher taxes for sure on the horizon and at some point administering all this medicine there has to be knockout effects have not very well could be a modicum of inflation certainly higher rates, higher bond yields could compete for stock dollars, so this year remain long, by. let's eat revisit the conversation next year. stuart: i see the 10 year treasury at a one-year high in terms of yield. now, i'm told it's a negative for the overall market. is it, why's it a

negative? >> well, stuart, it's a negative to the extent that at some point bonds compete for stock dollars. it's a negative in that the discount rate in the valuing earnings it's diminished because rates go up, but let's not get bent out of shape. the fact won some odd percent on the 10 year is still store close and if we approach to percent: providing with inflation and i would become concerned. stuart: jason katz, setting our mind at rest. thank you. see you soon. we have 40 seconds in this market opens. this is a wednesday morning february 17, at latest count we will be down. it's not a huge drop of the dow jones, 90 odd points. s&p, still enough 3900 level, down about a half a percentage point. what worries me if i'm bored it all is the nasdaq composite down

130. let's see how that shakes out with big tech and with the lesser technology names on that nasdaq. they will bring that bell and 10 seconds after that or maybe 12 we will be starting the trading session this wednesday morning. glad to be back with you in very sorry i'm late, but my thanks to lauren and susan ashley and everyone else for opening without me. look at the market, right from the get-go we have the opening bell and we are down 120, that's the dow industrials. and a lot of amongst the dow 30. i only see for upside moves in the dow 30 stocks and they were down 120 per the dow jones. s&p 500 percentage lost is about .6%, about two thirds of 1% right at 3900. the nasdaq, down this morning almost 1%. 13900 is the level. quick check, down,

millions remain without power. that's a generator company and they are down this morning, but a huge run-up yesterday. that we which are that. warren buffett making news because he's moving his billions around the market and susan will tell us where he's putting at. susan: verizon, chevron and insurance brokerage and not exactly new economy stocks, but he has to ration pass-- cash somewhere in he's selling a little bit of his apple state. he holds about a hundred billion dollars of appleshare turk apple is still his single largest holding, but he's also getting out of some bank stocks like j.p. morgan, wells fargo and he's still holding onto bank of america at least for now. as for drugmakers, the company is shipping by increasing state in merck, bristol-myers, but he did get out of pfizer and also bear gold was surprising

stocky body into and now out of. stuart: does it do that does the? susan: warren buffett, guess the founder and probably the biggest shareholder in brookshire hathaway, but he has children that do a lot of the children especially with the new economy plays like apple. stuart: apple down a dollar 72, one and a quarter precent, 131 on apple, the deep freeze is sending energy stocks higher. let me see, energy stocks on left-hand side of your screen with oil companies doing well. susan: chevron and exxon mobil as you can see holding onto their dividend which a lot of people like, but the fact we have oil prices at their highest in a year means also more sales and more profits for these names. stuart: i'm a little surprised the market on the downside. when i heard president biden was saying spend, spend, spend i would

have thought that would have translated to into the market. susan: blockbuster retail sales this morning, five times more than expected in the month of january. i think things are too good for the us economy in the us treasury has risen to its-- stuart: is that i'm looking at-- what is it now, near one-year high, one point-- susan: we are up to map 1.3. that changes the value proposition in the calculation for fund managers and wall street because now you have to make sure you are making enough money off of your stock bets at record levels if you buy in to make up for the 1.3% differential so you could make easy money and buying treasuries and have to rethink your stockholder's. also some money is selling out of stock to rotate back into treasuries and bonds because you are getting a bit more. stuart: i was late to get on the show this morning, my file, my

problem, but i normally would check the one year treasury yield. i'd-- i couldn't check it. look at that, 129 now, so it had been a 130. susan: when we had the blockbuster retail sales report because these are just going really well so far in the recovery at least out of the pandemic and spending. stuart: we do have some of the in the news companies that have come out with earnings and among them is helton, the hotel people. they must have been hammered by the pandemic susan: we have the hotel industry saying covid is about nine times worse than 9/11 and hilton worldwide lost money in the last three months of last year, which surprised wall street because they were looking for a small profit as well and also sales falling short looks like disruption continues for hotel companies because people can get on planes and are traveling anywhere. stuart: i would've thought far fewer cases, fewer deaths and i

would have thought maybe it looked towards the reopening plate, i thought maybe the hiltons of this world would be a part of that. susan: we have new variants in the uk, south africa and elsewhere and that's been shutting down travel and restrictions. stuart: okay. the merger between salesforce and slack facing questions from the justice department. that's a problem. with the problem? susan: $27.7 billion acquisition by sales force by slack which is the online chat app that's used by a lot of workplaces around the world and the deal is still too close by july 31, but does this make salesforce to bid with too much control when it comes to business services and business software. stuart: asked the question. susan: i would say this is probably-- i'm not sure how strong this is given salesforce isn't the size of say the googles of the world or facebook

or even amazon, i mean, still in the few hundred billion dollars. stuart: since you started talking its ticked up, now up a fraction, 248. again checking the big board we are often running, six minutes into session on this wednesday morning and we are down a quarter of a percent on the dow jones. price of gold, 1780, this is not your safe harbor here is not a hedge against inflation, this is bitcoin. i'm sure susan told you earlier that bitcoin 51000 and that's where it is now, 51400. stuart: to. susan: up 600% over the past year. susan: that's a hedge, the new gold as they call it where people go for safety and inflation. stuart: not me yet, but you never know. the price of oil, 59.70. prices of oil up. susan: also raising gas prices so you are looking at $2.50 a gallon, up almost 80 cents from

last year. stuart: that's another thing i always check before i go on the air and i was a here so i couldn't do it. susan: $2.50, up 80 cents from about a year ago which you won't be happy with. stuart: no, i'm not the dow jones down 100 and when the dow jones is down 100 which are the winners? verizon, chevron, merck, home depot and there are some winners amongst the s&p 500. read them on your screen, left-hand side, there are some winners including neckties therapeutics up 11%. you may remember when barstool dave portnoy called robinhood ceo to go to prison. watch it again. >> to potentially greater the stock at that expense of all of your customers, that's criminal in my mind, flat out criminal. >> hemi- criminals and cracks have been raising

their hand like we just committed a crime, i can give the history of crime, not until they get caught. stuart: tomorrow robinhood along with other top ceos involved in the game. frenzy expected to be grilled by congress. dave portnoy joints are not in the hour. what is going on with the elon musk and dogecoin? we will talk about that, inquiring about this next. ♪♪

stuart: you are on. checking the market, down 120 on the nasdaq. that's what jumps out at me despite a very big jump in retail sales last month, despite that market is down. big tech, largely lower just amazon on the

upside to the tune of a 6%. the rest are down. elon musk in his tweets seem to be having a profound impact on the price of dogecoin. where is it now? susan: roughly 5 cents or so, but we started in 2021 at half a cent and we have rallied to some 900% just this year eight weeks into 2021. it's not just in elon musk. we have others promoting dogecoin online and it started off as a joke in 2013. however, i would say the "wall street journal" came out with an interesting report saying there's a big oil trader in dogecoin, someone has amassed $2.1 billion in dogecoin, roughly 20% of all of dogecoin in circulation right now. stuart: who is a? susan: that's the question. some are guessing mib elon musk given the

account number the identifier is the equivalent to his birthday which is june 28, 1971. however, who knows. we don't need to speculate, but there are lots of easter eggs that-- stuart: someone has to billion dollars worth of dogecoin? susan: yes. stuart: bitcoin, that he $1000 and let's bring in douglas borthwick our crypto guy this wednesday morning. i want to know about elon musk. i want to talk dogecoin, elon musk says by it and it goes to 8 cents a coin then he says a sell it and it comes down to 5 cents a coin. what's going on here? some people have been left holding the bag, the little guy. do you approve of that, i mean, you are in the middle of this crypto market, i won't call it manipulate that-- manipulation but i will call it gross influence. >> you are right there is gross influence, but have you-- when you are

buying something like bitcoin you don't want everyone to know you are buying it so you put everyone's attention on dogecoin, dogecoin is a joke and everyone is making jokes about it and meanwhile he's buying one and a half million dollars with a bitcoin and if he had come out talking about bitcoin it would have gone out more than it has so i think he's playing three card monte it's is rare-- irresponsible. dogecoin is not a serious coin. my company won't list it because we do see it as being a bit of a joke and it has no practical benefits. maybe he's amassing it to have a currency for mars, but that's speculation in the reality is i don't think it's elon musk that has it but i do think he's playing three card monte. stuart: which other crypto's do you list on your exchange which you think are legitimate whereas dogecoin you think is a joke? >> will, bitcoin is the most legitimate and then you have a theory of--

ethereum which is covering a lot of different projects. there is stable coin and i think that will end up being the sort of currency of choice for quite some time in the us. you can own us dc entrance something like 10%. if you only-- owned us dollars in your bank account, you own virtually nothing. stuart: is this alternative to gold, the player against inflation, bitcoin as opposed to gold? >> absolutely a play against inflation and its mobile. try to carry around a billion dollars worth of gold, but you can do that with bitcoin so that is one thing and it's also advisable. you don't have to have a big nuggets in your hand, you could have slivers. you can get little pieces of it, but at the same time it's rallying hard because we are a gas prices-- where are

gas prices to the start of the year? up 70% so either gas prices are going up for the dollar is going down in bitcoin terms gas prices are collapsing. stuart: douglas, you make your case well. thank you. we will see you soon. jeff bezos reclaims the title as the world's richest person. lauren, how does he hit a net worth of $200 billion? lauren: he's very close. do you think he counted? he's worth $191 billion so 1 billion more than elon musk. that made elon musk rain at the top of the list a pretty short stints whereas basils was number one for three years. jeff bezos has held amazon shares in they probably 50% in the past year, he becomes executive chairman this summer. i think they will both hit 200 billion soon,

but i always wonder when you have that much money , do you actually focus on things like that? stuart: i have no idea. if that is a question to me, i simply cannot answer. lauren: high-class problem. stuart: i've imagine if you are phenomenally rich, you realize exactly what you want because you can have anything so what do you really want. i think it would sort you out if you have that kind of money, which i don't. lauren: one can only dream. susan: you can imagine elon musk and jeff bezos must also be aware of how much they are worth every day. stuart: i would think so, within a couple of billion. let's move on. did you catch the debut of kudlow? i was a guest and larry raised this question during our discussion yesterday. watch this, please. >> is president biden the most far left progressive president we have ever had? >> i have been in

america for 40 years and i have to say yes. >> i did not think he would go so far so left so quickly and there is no unity of agenda there. stuart: i think he makes a good point and we will pick up on that conversation when he joins me today on the set right here in new york in the 11:00 o'clock hour. more then 2.5 million people in texas still in the dark and another winter storm system is on its way. janice dean has a live report after this. ♪♪

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stuart: look at that. we are calling it a-- the deep freeze continue wreaking have it with at least 20 dead. 2.5 million still without power: that's just in texas and janice dean is with us. how much longer will the deep freeze last in texas or is it going next line next. janice: another round of wintry weather and a cold arctic air across texas of the gulf coast at least for today and tomorrow things will start to rebound slowly into the weekend. here's the current windchill in the teens

and 20s and the 30s, i mean, it's incredible to see cold temperatures like this for a matter of days, not just a single day and there is a forecast highs, barely passed the freezing mark , so it's still going to be cold and the snow and ice on the ground will remain that way for the next couple of days. look at the current snow depths, current snow cover across the us including a good portion of texas through louisiana and arkansas, even mississippi. there's only a couple states that don't have some sort of snow cover and here's the latest storm bringing snow and ice to east texas, louisiana, arkansas with a measurable snow, three to 6 inches in some areas higher with winter storm warnings from central, east texas into louisiana and all of arkansas towards tennessee, kentucky, mid-atlantic and then here in the northeast thursday into friday where we could get measurable snow. is the most dangerous part of it, the ice,

accumulating ice, a quarter of an inch, half an inch to even an inch of ice and that will be a disaster for our friends across south and then that will move into the mid-atlantic and northeast in and around new york, maybe three to 6 inches, but our concerns are cross the heartland where they just don't have the capability to deal with several days of winter storms and cold. stuart: janice, thank you. don't particularly like the forecast, but we admire you for delivering it. tricep gas on the rise, national average for regular $2.53. it could go higher with this storm continuing. how high are we talking, lauren? lauren: the prediction for gas is 10 to 20 cents at the texas refineries that you saw janice talk about the ice and if they remain off-line for a week. if they stay down for

over a week, we are talking about a 20 plus sent price hike up your gas prices been rising for the past six weeks. remember where texas is, a fifth of the nation's crude oil refining. it happens in texas, home to the biggest oilfield, that production is down two thirds, so everything is frozen and it's become an issue for the country. stuart: it has indeed come a nationwide. thank you. still ahead, liz peek, dave portnoy, martha maccallum, larry kudlow second representative "varney & co." is next. ♪♪ this is decision tech. find a stock based on your interests or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. . .

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♪. stuart: all right. the tantrums. that is a great name. the tantrums. good morning, everybody. 10:00 here in new york city, all along the east coast. i see some red. not as much at the opening bell but there is some red. bitcoin, news of the day, higher, 51,007-- $51,775 per

coin. covid deaths down 29% over that same period. 55 million people have received at least one vaccine shot. i'm sorry, i think that is unadulter rated good news. news on homebuilder sentiment. what do you have for me, lauren? lauren: at one point 84. it measures builder confidence for single family homes this month. buyer demand remains strong but challenged by cost and availability. we're seeing record high lumber prices. one builder in georgia walked away from a contract because he couldn't afford it when the new contract reflected higher prices for materials. that is being exacerbated by uncertainty of when some supplies actually be made available to finish a home. so there is demand but it is being hurt by rising rates and rising prices.

lauren, thank you. look who is here now. jerry howard, ceo of the national association of homebuilders. jerry, seems to me you guys can't build homes fast enough? >> oh, no. especially in the suburbs and exurbs. this flight from the city is creating demand. stuart: you can't build fast enough because you have controls on you in some jurisdictions, right? >> oh, my gosh, stuart, there are some places where it takes years to get a building permit to put the first shovel in the ground. in other places pro-growth states we can build relatively quickly. you've been talking about texas a lot lately. with the weather down there i think you will see probably a slow down in some of the numbers next month. 16% of all the homes built in the united states are built in texas. stuart: we just heard from lauren, the case of someone who agreed, a contractal price at

this level to buy a house. factor in the higher cost of lumber and other things, the price went up, the guy walked away from the deal. are you seeing that? >> we see that all over the country. the example we've seen was in georgia. weave seen it in kansas and mississippi. i talked to builders in idaho and montana, the lumber prices are so under stable and consistently rising, they have the put escalator clauses in the contract and customers can walk away and they're starting to. stuart: you should be happy, this situation you can't build them fast enough but you're not happy. you are under a lot of regulation. you can't build them fast enough and prices rising with inflation but you should be happy but you're not. >> that's right. we're really afraid to be the canary in the coal mine. we're the best performing segment of the economy. if this continues as we hit the spring and real beginning of building season, we're really

worried we'll face a big downturn. >> i want do ask this last one. up until 2005, 2010 homes were getting bigger, new homes were getting bigger. but i understand now they're getting smaller. is that accurate? >> no, it is not actually. they were getting smaller up until the covid pandemic. now with the covid-19 pandemic people are looking for bigger houses because they need an in home office and they an in-home place where they can exercise. so the trend actually reversed itself in the last year or two. stuart: that pandemic, all kinds of impacts as they say. kerry howard, thanks for being with us, thank you very much indeed. quick market check. the dow is down a mere 1points. and now this. it was a full-court press for spend, spend, spend. president biden made his pitch at a cnn town hall. watch this. >> now's the time we should be

spending. now is the time to go big. we can come back. we can come roaring back. it is estimated that if you, we pass this bill alone we'll create seven million jobs this year. so i think bigger and the vast majority of the serious people say bigger is better now, not spending less. stuart: wow. that is pretty clear, isn't it? the money spigot will be opened. that wall of money we've been talking about will be thrown at the economy. okay, then what? well the economy will grow. it is growing already. with another couple trillion bucks arrive the growth will pick up probably. the savings rate will go up too. it is already a high level. people spending less on travel and eating out. when the trillions are mailed out, at least some will go into the savings accounts, bank accounts. some of it will go into stocks. biden's spending plan should keep the market rally going at least in the near term.

however massive spending now sets up problems down the road. first, ah, the debt. it is back. it will be $30 trillion soon. we've been talking about a debt bomb explosion for years. we haven't seen it but we've never gone into debt as far as or fast into this since world war ii. are we sure china and others will lend us the money. of course we could always print what we need, but i have a feeling that would end in tears. don't forget inflation. traditional economics tells us when you throw a lot of money around prices go up. we're seeing some of this already. have you watched corn, soybeans, wheat, lumber, all on the rise. energy prices going up. this is not because of the deep freeze. manufacturers, and service providers they have discovered they have something called pricing power. that is they can raise prices without losing customers. we are already in and inflationary environment to some degree. look at bitcoin. 51,000 bucks?

in the short term, the president's spending plan may make him look good chucking all of that money around will certainly make him popular. longer term watch out. particularly watch the stock market. it is a good indicator what to expect a selloff would be a wake-up call about inflation, out of control speculation, and yes that ever looming debt bomb. second hour of "varney" about to begin. ♪. stuart: i think it is time to bring in liz peek. what would be her reaction. i don't know what her reaction would be to biden saying spend spend. i have a pretty good guess. you don't approve? >> no, stuart i don't. this administration promised to watch the science and abide by the science but they're sure not

abiding with the economic data. what is offensive no one on the democratic side of aisle what is going on in the economy. today we got positive read on retail spending. you had a guest talking about an incredible housing boom. that does not sound like an economy that needs $1.9 trillion in incremental stimulus particularly when a trillion dollars from former bills has yet to be spent. stuart, this is all about bailing out blue states and cities to the tune of $350 billion which you never hear about in this package but which is one of the biggest parts of it. it is also about democrats keeping control of congress in 2022 by basically buying votes. stuart: yep. >> their explanation, excuse, wow, this is popular. yeah, if you tell every able-bodied american below a certain income level that they will get a check for $1400, of course it's popular. that doesn't mean it is the right thing to do. stuart: is it inflationary? are we going to set up a debt

bomb explosion down the road if what do you think? >> it has got to be inflationary. you're pumping so much money into the system via fiscal measures now. in addition to enormous monetary stimulus. the feds balance sheet is up something like 80% year-over-year. this cannot continue. there will eventually be a time when the fed has to haul in incredibly easy monetary policy and i honestly cannot imagine what the markets will do. but we surely don't need to add fuel to the fire. that is what this bill will do. stuart: another area where you and i really agree very strongly is reopening the schools. i just want you to listen along with our viewers. president biden appearing to flip-flop on his school reopening plan. just watch this for a minute. role it. >> your administration set a goal to open the majority of schools in your first 100 days. you're now saying that means those schools may only be open for at least one day a week. >> no that is not true.

that is what was reported. that is it not true. it was a mistake in the communication. stuart: well, liz, in my opinion, youngsters will not be going back to school in the classroom five days a week for the rest of this academic year. we might not even see it in the fall. what do you think? >> that is what it looks likes. it is completely inexcusable. if you want, let's talk economy. if you want to have the economy rebound, stuart, it is very clear you need to open up the schools and open up businesses. that is what gets our economy moving again. not $1.9 trillion in stimulus. biden is not in control of the schools. the teachers unions are in control of the schools. this is an absolutely horrifying thing that has been done, mainly to lower income americans and children of color who are basically falling more than a year behind according to most studies in where they should be. this is inexcusable and biden is on the hook for this.

stuart: liz, thank you very much for joining us again. i hope to see you again really soon. thank you very much indeed. >> thank you, stuart. stuart: quick note. the dow turned around. we're up 33 points. that is a minor leagues push s that 51,900 on bitcoin is that a new high? susan: yeah. it is closing in on 52,000 after crossing 51,000 which was a brand new record for the cryptocurrency. think about it, that is 600% plus over the past year. one year, doubling in two months time. jpmorgan warns that bitcoin volatility suggests that the rally may not last. if you think about it, it is less volatile than it was back in 2017. i was checking gartner's survey executives, 85% of corporate america they don't plan to follow tesla and musk to buy bitcoin. there is a big story making the rounds on wall street. one people might be following tesla is microstrategy. a lot of people are talking about this.

this is an enterprise software-maker and they have been buying bitcoin and other currencies since last summer. one billion dollars in cryptocurrency. stuart: they are down 1%. susan: they plan to sell $6 million of cash and bonds to raise money on the crypto holdings. if they bought one billion back in the summer. do you know how much that is worth now? stuart: a lot. susan: that is thinking as wall street, as a company you can actually use bitcoin as maybe collateral in the future. there might be rethink whether or not you use your cash to buy bitcoin. stuart: block chain technology, up 18%. >> those are miners for cryptocurrency. stuart: you've been looking at big movers of the morning as the dow moves up. what are you watching. >> whale watching. warren buffett part of verizon of his secret holdings. a sizable chunk in chevron, four billion dollars worth.

remember berkshire is 5 billion-dollar company. one of the 10 largest in america. when shifts his money, puts money into different stocks you can imagine they move and so do markets. disappointing guidance from shop pie this morning. second largest e-commerce player after amazon. blocklouser end of 2020. sales growth they guided for this year, 2021 a little bit softer because of good news. there will be more vaccines out there and that means people will return to malls and shops and bricks and mortars and less online shopping. stuart: that is their thinking as the pandemic winds down, vaccines come in, we go back to regular life in the mall. we walk away from online selling. maybe. i'm not sure about that. susan: good news. i want to show you the hot electric car play, quantumscape. this is battery maker backed by bill gates, despite reporting a loss in its first earnings as a public company. the company reported progress when they developed multilayer battery cells. maybe shifting away from

electric and going to something upscale like hydrogen. stuart: here is a question for you and our audience. could it be the next spacex? we're talking about agion. building private space stations and sending paying customers into orbit. that is the latest on the space industry. we have axiom's cofounder. dave portnoy wants answers. he wants to see the guy behind bars. portnoy coming up later. first my next guest is filing a criminal complaint over governor cuomo's coverup of nursing home deaths in new york state. congressman tom reed, what will he do about the coverup? he is with us next. ♪.

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♪. stuart: yeah. cuomo covid coverup. you have it. good graph. new york congressman tom reed says he is filing a criminal complaint against governor cuomo's aide for the nursing home coverup. congressman reed joins us now. what is your end point here? what are you looking for? do you want to censure the governor, throw him out of office one way, send somebody to jail what is your end point? >> the end point is justice for the 15,000 souls killed by his order that sent the covid positive cases back into nursing

homes in march, stuart. this is like watergate. the technologynal crime was burglary. you had to go through the cover up prosecution. governor cuomo's second-in-command, derosa, a taped confession admitting to criminal activity. we have to go up through the chain. we'll hold governor cuomo accountable but one step at a time because justice demands us get to the bottom of this. >> if you win in court, i really need to know, then what? >> so what we have to do is, we, this corruption has to be torn out by the root and by its branches. we have to hold governor cuomo accountable for these 15,000 deaths. filing a criminal complaint is the first step. look, we were ready to go. we found out her mother is the u.s. attorney for the southern district where her office is. so we're hitting roadblocks. we also found out the hospital association that was advocating for this order to be signed for covid-19 positive patients ordered from hospitals to nursing home, are represented by

her father. so there is tremendous amounts of corruption here that has to be uncovered this is the tip of iceberg. stuart: yes, but governor cuomo stands for re-election in 2022, about 21, 22 months away. i put it to you sir, a new york state democrat always wins. >> well, i'll tell you one party control in albany is coming to an end because people are sick of it. when you have a governor like governor cuomo who is so arrogant and his ego blinds him from being held accountable, apologizing. you saw the press conference the other day. he didn't even apologize to the victims of this horrendous situation. he apologized to the state legislature. how wrong is that? how can you not show empathy for the 15,000 souls you sent, governor cuomo, by your order to their deaths by sending covid-19 positive patients into nursing homes where seniors who were healthy, who were covid negative now died as a result of your order. stuart: congressman, we want to keep up to date with what is

going on here. please come back soon, give us an update on the lawsuit which you're about to file. we appreciate it, sir. >> this is a criminal complaint. justice will be done, stuart. stuart: got it. thank you, congressman. take a look at this, big story of the day across much of the country. that is freezing temperatures. that map doesn't show it very well. but believe me, right there in the blue, pink, whatever that is , turquois, that is gold. ashley, relief is not coming soon. ashley: it may be a pretty color but not pretty to be under it. there is in fact more snow and ice from the south, mid-atlantic, into the northeast over the next several days. we heard that from janice dean. just adding to the misery from a brutal cold-snap. at least 20 people have now died as record breaking cold as overpowered electrical grids in the wake of the last storm that brought all that heavy snow and ice. windchill warnings now extend all the way from canada, down to

mexico. in some cases the effort to stay warm has proven fatal. a grandmother and three children died in a house fair in houston after using a fireplace to try to stay warm. utilities from minnesota to texas using rolling black quotes to counter the demand. so it is freezing, no power. the worst power outages continues to be seen in texas. more than two million homes and businesses still without electricity. the state is now asking fema for 60 generators to help hospitals and nursing homes. on top of all of this, of course, not to be surprised the freezing weather is also delaying the delivery of covid vaccines. it's a mess. it is not over yet, stu. stuart: got that, ashley, thank you. let's have a look at the price of oil. 60 bucks a barrel as of right now. lauren, come in please. the deep freeze. i believe there is a record plunge in oil production because of the deep freeze, is that

accurate? lauren: yes, a record plunge in the amount of oil that we are producing correct. so texas is the energy capital of the country. home to the biggest shale fields which is the permian basin. that production is down 65%. the wellheads, underground operations, the knobs you name it, it is frozen. the refineries, 20% of the refineries are in texas, they're starved for oil they can turn into fuel. the u.s. is down 3 1/2 million barrels a day. some say that will not come on line until monday at the very earliest. another storm on the way. that could bring more ice, more snow to texas. stuart: we hear you. 60 bucks a barrel on oil right now. lauren, thank you. we're hearing prince philip, queen elizabeth's husband, he has been hospitalized. do you have more on this story, please, ash? ashley: what we know buckingham palace says he is in hospital as

a precautionary measure after feeling unwell. the 99-year-old duke expected to remain under care after a few days of observation an rest. sources say the duke of edinborough does not have a coronavirus related illness. he reported walked into the office unaided. he is 99. he has been out of the public sigh since 2017. he turns 100 on june 10th. stuart: 100 years old. extraordinary. thank you, ashley. bill gates says rich nations should be eating 100% synthetic beef. here is -- he is getting roasted for it. we have the story for you, believe me. could axiom be the next space unicorn? they have raised $130 million. they're going all in on sending paying customers into orbit. space tourism. i'm talking to the company's cofounder after this.

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tech stocks. nasdaq's down 160. elon musk's spacex has complete ad massive fund-raising round. they raised a ton of money, believe me. susan, i want to know how much they raised and so what's the company worth? susan: so the company is worth $74 billion and they raised just a few hundred million but here's the interesting part is the stock price or the share was at $419.99 a piece. yes, that is just a penny shy of 420 which is cannabis reference to marijuana day on april 20th. reminds us elon musk likes 420. he had infamous tweet taking tesla private at 420 secured. he had to pay money to the sec for that. that is almost double what spacex was worth a few months ago back in the summer. back in the august he raised cash of $46 billion. in six months he is almost worth

60% more? demand was insane according to reports. investors are literally lining up to give spacex and musk money. $6 billion on the table in just three days. sending rockets, satellites into space is very costly endeavor but also potentially lucrative as you can imagine. stuart: absolutely. susan: crown link is the jewel. that could bring in $30 billion a year that would be 10 times, pardon me, three times more than launching rockets instead. stuart: private space business, really something else. susan: isn't it. stuart: $74 billion for space x. there is more on this listen to this, axiom space, that is the name of the company. they have raised $130 million. cam is the cofounder and executive chair of axiom and he joins us now. cam, i want to know more about your company. you're into space tourism, spending paid passengers into

orbit, secondly you're building private space stations. we got a lot to go at. start with the orbiting paid passengers, go. >> yes, sir. so actually what we're doing with axiom space, sending private astronauts to space is a small part of everything that we do. we really creating a new space economy. low earth orbit ecosystem that involves a lot more than just taking private astronauts to space. but we are taking private astronauts to space and our first mission will be a little bit after the, you know, beginning of the next year. and we're very, very excited about that. stuart: hold on a second, cam. hold on a second. by the beginning of next year, that is 2022, at the beginning of next year, maybe a year from now you will have people, private citizens paying for you to take them into orbit, okay?

i just want to confirm that, early part of next year. >> that is exactly right. stuart: all right. i want to know about this private, you're building private space stations. okay? tell me more about that? >> yeah, as you know the current international space station is going to retire within the next 10 years or so-and-so we started about six years ago thinking about how can we build the first private commercial space station. and so we started axiom space, me and the former program manager for international space station, michael surerdini. we founded this company axiom space. that is exactly correct. we're building the first private commercial space station scheduled to be launched in 2024. stuart: what kind of company or government want as private space

station? >> so this is the first, sort of commercial space station. and we, as you know, we've just raised $130 million and this is going to be a commercial endeavor. stuart: what could you do on it? >> so we have many lines of business. for example, supporting nasa as a government agency is one lines of business. providing manufacturing, if you can imagine. you know, if you can't sort of imagine even three deprinting satellites orbit, launching from space. doing satellite servicing. of course taking astronauts in space. cloud in space as well as cybersecurity in space. there are all lines of space. this is 30 days of internet if you will. stuart: so futuristic to my i can't wrap my arms around it but

if you tell me it is coming soon i believe it. axiom space. thanks for joining us. i want to hear more. i'm intrigued. >> my pleasure. stuart: sure thing. let's change subject completely. that guy left-hand side of the screen. he looks very thin these days. that is bill gates. he wants wealthier countries to move to 100% synthetic beef. ashley this story has got your name written all over it. what is going on? ashley: doesn't it indeed? guess what, it is all about climate change. bill gates says the wealthiest countries should change to eating 100% of synthetic beef to reduce greenhouse greenhouses. gates says you will get used to the different taste which will get better over time. i points to impossible foods. he says certain cattle feed can be used to reduce methane

emissions by 20%. but, oh, yeah, there is a problem. he does admit bacteria produces methane are necessary breaking down the grass that cows eat. so there guess that one. that is why he is pitching faux beef. stu, as they don't touch my yorkshire, certainly the sunday roast will never be the same. stuart: you're exactly right, yorkshire pudding. long time since i heard that one. arc, you're all right. take a look at this, a local health inspector caught dancing moments after telling a brewer to close down. that brewer's owner not happy. he is going to join us next hour. the ceo of robinhood set to be grilled, but that will be virtually before lawmakers on capitol hill. barstool's dave portnoy wants the guy behind bars. portnoy joins me next. ♪

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stuart: look at nasdaq falling further. you're down 182 points. that is 3%. that is a nasdaq downturn 1/2. however tomorrow congress starts those hearings on gamestop. look who is here? dave portnoy barstool sports guy. dave, you want robinhood's ceo vlad tenev to go to jail. do you still think that. >> absolutely. nothing changed my mind. i heard what he said, a lot of people said. you got to say something but nothing has changed my mind. stuart: have you got to get to the bottom of what the funds were doing in telling him, hey, stop the trading? you've got to get to the bottom of what they were doing that made him stop the trading in those stocks, right? >> 100%. i mean he may be a patsy.

he probably is just a patsy but he is still involved but there is no doubt he was, he was basically being used as a puppet. i think that is what happened with melvin and citadel and all that. so, yes, he still complicit in it, in my mind. stuart: is robinhood finished? >> i heard a lot of things. i think it is finished. somebody will come along to offer an alternative but i don't understand how anybody, any of their client can have any trust. nobody i talked to, nobody who was their typical, you know, bro trader any anybody like that, retail bros, how can you trust this guy again? you can't. stuart: you don't know whether the market frenzy is over yet, but coming out of it, the little guy, a lot of people in the reddit crowd got holding the bag. they are out. how about you. >> 100%. stuart: they got trashed here,

how about you. >> i got trashed in this particular trade. i lost 700 grand and got out. all the little guys, i'med glad they're having hearings, with anything like this time moves along, anger subside a little bit but people got absolutely murdered and lost money i feel like they unfairly lost. i said it last time. it is not so much people invest in the stock market thinking it is automatic, but they didn't know the rules can change. that is the big thing different with this one. they lost money because robinhood changed rules in mid game. stuart: they have moved on though. not just gamestop, amc, not just the heavy action stocks of a week ago, two weeks ago. now it moved on to the pot stocks. is it going to rotate from one group to another? >> yeah, it has moved the pot stocks a little bit. not to the same degree of early ones. there is an element, game the system, get all the momentum

behind it. to my mind what happened with the early stocks, people are not even involved in the stock market were getting involved in it. i don't think that is the case right now with the pot stocks. like tom, dick, harry walking down the street, talking about gamestop, amc that is not really happening right now. stuart: you say you never ever buy bitcoin? >> well i have bitcoin. bitcoin symptommed on my face. i have a back and forth. i bought bitcoin at 11,500. i bought a million dollars of it. i got it. i didn't understand it. the second i got it the thing went to the moon. i sit to watch all the bitcoin guys do the lambada on my face, goes up a billion points a second. stuart: you sound like you've been burned, you don't like it. >> by bitcoin? stuart: no all of the frenzy, gamestop, amc, about pot stocks, bitcoin, dogecoin, i don't care, you sound like you got bit. >> i got bit by amc i just h

didn't get bit by bitcoin. i missed rush. who likes to watch people with all the fun. you go to the casino, craps table celebrating, slapping five having time of life, you're sitting and watching it. that is what i'm doing with bitcoin. stuart: let me update where you stand on the barstool fund. how much money have you raised? >> over 35 million now. 35,000,500, somewhere around there. stuart: we to the report that 92% of the restaurants can't meet rent for february or january. there is lot of open field for you to get out there and help them, right? >> that is not surprising. if you haven't been allowed to have customers for, a year and you can only have outdoor dining in subarctic temperatures, pretty hard to make rent. stuart: look, real fast, i have got 30 seconds to spare here. we did an interview on private space business. axiom space. there is other companies getting into the private space business.

it seems very futuristic to me. how about you? >> you're talking like outer space? stuart: well, you know, sending passengers into orbit. building private space stations. launching satellites commercially making money at it, you're not happy? you were not interested? >> i'm fine with it. listen, barely can see what is happening in the afternoon. talking about sending people into outer space. maybe. i can't wrap my brain around it. sounds great, flying cars and jet "jetsons," what a world. stuart: portnoy at a loss without words. thank you very much. former secretary of state mike pompeii yeah is making a case against beijing holding the 2022 winter olympics. watch this. >> we can have the games someplace else. i'm sure we can find a nation would love to hold it, a nation

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that market still on the downside. the market funned up to mild positive. nasdaq still gown over 1%. warren buffett making some news. occasionally he tells the world where he is putting his money and where his, moving his money out of. susan has got the story. first of all, apple, he is taking some money out? susan: yeah. he is shedding 6% of his apple stake. he still owns over 5% of the world's largest company. that is still worth $120 billion that he has in apple shares. i can see apple down a little bit today. now he raised some of that cash, moving some of that money over to two secret bets it has been revealed. chevron and verizon which are not exactly new economy plays.

chevron as you know is a oil company which has been spiking because of the oil price hike and oil price rally because of the winter storm in texas and verizon. that is interesting, a telco for warren buffett. 4.25%. he also bought into insurer marsh and ma:nan as well. stuart: i can see how, verizon, up 4%. is that on the strength of buffett buying in? susan: it is all on buffett. verizon has a lot of debt. they are hot in tough streaming environment and competition. but that chevron bet was sizable. four billion dollar steak that buffett bought into chevron. stuart: four billion. just like that. susan: he is worth half a trillion dollars. berkshire hathaway is half a trillion dollar company. one of the 10 largest in america. stuart: half a trillion dollars. you know, used to be tens of billions. then it was hundreds of billions. all all of sudden trillions plural. susan: right.

stuart: my goodness me. susan, thank you very much indeed. part of the biden administration school reopening plan figure out how to monitor students and teachers for covid. how do you monitor them? grady trimble has a report from illinois. what is this about thermal imaging. reporter: it takes your temperature, stu. that is one easy way to monitor whether staff, teachers, students, have a temperature when they're coming into schools. so this is the technology here. it is by dubak electrical group. they have been using it since last october at pleasant middle school. how it works. i'm standing in the frame of that camera. we show you on the monitor, it is i can picking up my face and body temperature. right now i don't seem to have a fever. call with d/b/a k. that is easy way to get students through at once and make sure

they don't have temperature. >> it is wonderful. this eliminates hand-held temperature checks. it allows for free flow movement. no bottlenecking at the door. of the students can come in, easily walk through, get their temperature scanned and go on with basses and whatever else. it is very easy for them to get through. it has been great for the schools. reporter: applications for this technology are wide-ranging from schools to manufacturing facilities to office buildings. >> absolutely. we've been in industrial settings. manufacturing like you said. anywhere you have multiple people coming through an entrance at a time. it is great for the facilities to be able to easily scan and take temperatures. and it adds a safeguarded and safety aspect to returning to work, returning to school. returning to stadiums and it has been really, really helpful. reporter: stu, you mentioned this push to get back to in-person learning. this school has been back to

in-person classes for half days since last august. they're looking to expand to full days. they have one one thousand students between this and another cool in the district. they have only had 38 cases of covid. stu. stuart: interesting, thank you very much, grady. one of the interesting stories this week is the extraordinary progress against the pandemic. i mean deaths are down. new cases down. 55 million people have already got at least one vaccine shot. however, there is that winter storm. left-hand side of the screen. something rotten right there. lauren, that has to be slowing down the vaccine roll out, right? >> it is all over the country. so you have some vaccination sites that are closed and some shipments that are delayed because of this cold weather is tying up the hubs in memphis and louisville where the vaccinations go through. then you have inoculation sites in seven states. alabama, illinois, kentucky,

mississippi, oklahoma, tennessee, missouri, temporarily closing down. that is the impact from the storm. but it is 75 and sunny in florida, stuart. some of their vaccinations had to be canceled because of shipping delays. i just spoke to fedex. look, we have contingency plans in place. we're doing the best we can. but a lot of vaccines go through the memphis hub. that is experiencing weather. stuart: look, just very hard to deal with these extreme weather conditions that pop up unexpect edly. you can't fault these guys. lauren, thank you very much indeed. another big hour coming for you. martha maccallum, john barrasso and larry kudlow. larry says president biden is the most progressive in generations. i agree with that. we'll continue the conversation and larry is on the show later. ♪

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>> you need to embrace the volatility and expected and lean into it. >> in any category, it will be fun. >> a positive read on retail spending. you had a guest talking about an incredible housing boom. that does not sound like an

economy that is $1.6 trillion in incremental stimulus. >> heading down a dangerous path. we are at risk of ruining not only the nation but stifling innovation. the problem is all these believes who decided they are going to end people's careers. ♪♪ stuart: i feel good. 11:00 on the east coast. it is wednesday february 17th, nasdaq still way down and a lot of red for the s&p and red for the dow industrials as well. breaking news just coming from the white house look at that. on average this is 1.7 million people per day are getting the jab. earlier this week it was 1.6 million, last week it was one.5. now this.

larry kudlow ran donald trump's economic policy. what does he think of president biden's early policy initiative? reopened his new show on foxbusiness and came right out with it, biden, he says, is the most progressive president in generations. i agree with him. last night biden confirmed his progressive credentials during a cnn townhall, now is the time to spend. we need to spend big, bigger is better now, not spending less. he wants a vote on the $1.9 trillion spending bill, couple that with massive tax increases and you have a tax and spend champion, he was billed as a moderate, the democrats -- pharma bernie sanders couldn't win.

candidate biden turned into a still socialist president. right from day one he turned left. kills pipelines, killed drilling, eventually kill fossil fuels, open the border, start building the wall, keep the lockdown going, pretend the new administration, quote, start from scratch from vaccines. speaks world leaders but not benjamin netanyahu. tax and spend on steroids. the media love that. don't express a conservative opinion. you will be canceled. the socialist will put you down the memory hole. this president is putting capitalism's animal spirit into reverse. biden is imposing the top-down very heavy hand of government. reminds me of europe. those of us who enjoy growth and prosperity this is not good news but how do you do that? i will ask larry kudlow who will join me shortly is the third hour of "varney and company" continues.

take a look at this different and unusual story. mike pompeo says he is open to having another country host the 2022 olympics instead of china. role tape. >> there is almost a year, we can find a nation that would love to host it, a nation that would uphold, working with the ioc and partners across the world to say enough. we are not going to allow this kind of bad behavior to be awarded. stuart: martha joins us now. what the former secretary of state was talking about was a boycott. i don't see president biden boycotting the chinese olympics. do you?

>> it would be a bold decision and would lay down the marker on how serious he is about pushing back about human rights violations in china and pushing back democracy in hong kong and thailand and these are enormously large opportunities a country gets to be on the world stage. it is a huge propaganda opportunity for china to show off everything it wants to show off in the course of the olympics. michael walsh, congressman florida raised this initially, at one point is it okay to host the international games that are based on values of human decency and competition and everything that should be right and good in terms of international relations. very provocative and something to talk about. do they deserve this privilege or not?

stuart: we should think about if you boycott the china olympics do you kill the olympic movement for good? there's a chance of that and i wouldn't want to see that happen but there is a chance of it happening. >> jimmy carter boycotted the united states to not participate in the elliptic because the soviet union invaded afghanistan, strong statement and crushing blow for athletes training all those years to be in these olympics but we didn't do it in 1936, we participated in the berlin olympics that gave hitler an awesome opportunity to show off himself to the world which was a dangerous moment for the world. it allowed him that propaganda right that perhaps we should reconsider from china. it is an enormous platform, the olympics and something we need to keep considering.

it is a year away and there may be other countries that would love to step up into that void. stuart: it will be a hot debate. the white house is flip-flopping on the reopening plan for schools. i want to listen to vice president harris speaking this morning on the issue. >> how soon can they be reopened? >> our goal is as many k-8 schools as possible will reopen, our goal is 5 days a week. the issue is not statistics but our kids. you got to do everything in our power to reopen our schools. stuart: it is about the kids, the kids education, not the teachers union. i don't see kids returning 5 days a week, in classroom learning until the fall of this year. >> that is heartbreaking. it is easy to say this is our goal. you can yell this is my goal

over and over again and get brownie points for having a goal but these are run by cities and states, not run by the federal government. because that is true, for the president to go back to school, february 2, '02, you promised march 5th. stand up to your promises. we are giving you billions and billions of dollars to reopen schools. they have the entire summer to fix the ventilation system. kids are back in school across the country. kid to have privilege to go to private school or catholic school, they are in school, transmission rates are extremely low. the united states ranks thirtieth in industrialization in math, thirtieth. and eighth in reading. we are in educational decline. our economy, our future we cannot afford to miss more

school and we know kids are bailing out of their classes in remote learning and remote learning experiment is not successful. we need to get realistic about what is going on. stuart: i can tell you are about to pound the table and i'm with you all the way 100%. we are watching you on the story, 3:00 pm eastern fox news today, martha maccallum. check the market again please. a lot of red ink all over the place especially the nasdaq. i want to talk about president biden, cnn townhall last night, spend, spend, spend, got to spend big. i would have thought that was good for the stock market at least in the next few months, no? >> know and i tried to make this point in the past. one thing the market has not cared about much is the fiscal

stimulus side. recall we went all summer thinking of fiscal deal was coming, not getting it. all fall not getting it. we didn't get the $900 deal. after the election, in the meantime eight month had gone by between the two bills, the market was up 6000 points. so much of what happened in this bill is misallocated capital, given the market is worried about it. markets don't care that much about the fiscal deficit you get however this isn't a bill that is going to prime the economy like the ppp program which was targeted toward small businesses. this is on a direct payment to people, $1 trillion of excess savings and then a lot of money going directly to states. more money going than their lost revenue and to mismanage

states like california and new york, i don't think the fiscal stimulus bill he is proposing is something markets are excited about. stuart: i think it is all politics and it will make president biden more popular because he is checking the money out there. it is a set up for 2022, isn't it? >> yes but i have to say, some viewers are not going to like this. i am a conservative republican, but the problem is we can't say anything right now about them spending it excessively because we were putting up with such gigantic deficits under republican control for so long. we lost a lot of that moral authority unfortunately. fiscal management cannot be something we only care about when the other party is in charge. i agree this is 2022, popularity driven, they are saying weird things like we are just willing to air on the side of excess. 1 trillion here, 1 trillion there and soon you are talking about real money. this is silly but we need people who are serious no

matter who is in office. we when we don't have it and we will spend a ton of money and print it too. thanks for joining us, i know we will see you again soon. i am going to follow up on what martha was talking about and vice president harris was talking about, schools. there is a new study that says school closings will have a lasting effect on the economy. i am still saying the teachers unions are setting kids up for future failure. we will get into that later. democrat senator joe manchin standing a princess of policies taking over, the most powerful man in dc, report on that for you. president biden pushing for tougher done -- gun-control and senator john barraza pushing back, the good senator joins us shortly. ♪♪ ♪♪ living in america ♪♪

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stuart: senator joe manchin opposes the $15 an hour minimum wage, opposes scrapping the filibuster, he wants president biden to reconsider the keystone pipeline cancellation. let's go to edward lawrence, senator manchin's home state, is senator manchin the most powerful man in washington? >> i talked to a lot of voters in west virginia. many are concerned he will not do the right thing with his newfound political power.

one of those folks i talked with is the owner of a small hotel in kingwood, west virginia, he believed $15 minimum wage did not belong in a covid relief bill, not even a gradual increase, the president biden pitched lastly. he does not want to give a blank check bailout to any state that mismanaged money. other voters i talked with are concerned about the signal that was sent about canceling the keystone pipeline, another natural gas pipeline that goes through west virginia. it was still waiting on federal permits. >> under senator joe manchin, he did his job as governor, i give him credit. some of those principles, he talked to these people in washington, joe biden got in office, and he didn't run on that. like it is mandated since he

won. >> they double down on that and voters are starting to be a little more vocal -- >> that is is my opinion. >> >> the president trying to entice senator manchin on bridge building and other infrastructure projects which is the next package. stuart: give us this and we will give you that. that is how it works. donald trump releasing a scathing statement against mitch mcconnell. it reads in part mitch is an unsmiling political hack and if republican senators are going to stay with him they will not win again. come on in, senator john

barraza so, you are smiling. how are you going to push back, president biden's progressive agenda, when your party is so clearly clearly split down the middle? >> we need to stick together because of what is happening with the biden administration. they are killing millions of jobs in america, trillions of taxpayer dollars we can't afford to spend it refusing to come to grips with the reality we need to get to get the kids back to school. stuart: how are you going -- >> always have a prescription and donald trump will remain and is very popular in wyoming. when we work to gather we can get as we have three conservative judges, the

economic boom, we need to stick to gather, working together toward victory in the 2022 election in taking the house and senate in stopping this runaway freight train which is the far left liberal agenda of the biden administration. stuart: i wish you luck with your prescription because it will be hard to get everybody back together on the same. the administration is pushing for tougher gun control. they want to register for all guns and make you pay $200 for every gun you already on, how are you pushing back on that? >> what i said during the last campaign, democrats are coming for our weapons and wealth and they are doing it right now.

law-abiding citizens using their constitutional rights, that is what america is about, they are going to fight for our constitutional rights, we are going to fight every day. democrats don't want americans to buy, to on, to transport, to use firearms. all democrats aren't united on this as well. you have democrats in the rocky mountain west who are supportive of our constitutional rights to own and bear arms. united in working against this administration. what you describe is registering all firearms. that is the step toward confiscating all firearms. stuart: are you confident you can push this back? >> i am confident and optimistic and we are not slowing down. we are going to make sure efforts from the clinton administration, the obama administration and the biden administration working to do what is the agenda of the far left in this country and has

been there agenda, fighting our second amendment rights, wanting to ignore the constitution and go after the guns. this isn't new. we are going to stop it. stuart: thanks for being here, appreciate it always. there is a shipping giant called mercy which says it will launch a carbon neutral vessel. how soon? ashley: the shipping giant says it will have a carbon neutral vessel by 2023. that is two years from now and 7 years ahead of schedule. a target of net 0 carbon dioxide emissions. by carbon neutral methanol or bioethanol, it will still be on standard sofa oriole.

all new vessels will be able to run on carbon neutral fuels in the future. it is all about the carbon icing --decarbonizing. stuart: and innovation like that. what is the pronunciation? >> maersk. stuart: i got it. we have some gripping video. that is the legendary casino literally crumbling. where it happened and why it happened. a health inspector starts to dance moment after shutting down a brewery on super bowl sunday and the brewery doesn't do anything wrong. we will be back.

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>> you are going to tell us the big movers, and -- >> we had a selloff, talent here is one of the winners. they announced the loss, they were hoping to - goldman sachs said it was a by for $34, this is a new big when corporate play, this software maker was buying crypto since last summer. they are using that cash stockpile to raise money, $600 million worth. so far 85% of corporate expect

lives, and -- >> they are raising money, we raised cash, which could be, an economics professor. speaking of bit coin. musk is worth 1 billion less. >> wise tesla in such retreat. you're going to reduce stock holdings because it is not as attractive 1.4%. >> treasury goes to one.3%. >> there is a rotation taking place and reassessment of risk.

and and norwegian is canceling all our tuner areas. the gig economy, after california absolute to classify uber and lift drivers as contractors. >> try not to interrupt me so much so i can get through this. proposition 22, the exemption of gig economies, they won that so they avoid reclassifying their work as a benefit, proposition 22 might be adopted by a companies and other states across america. one lobbying group that represents amazon, apple, walmart and the biggest companies in america might take contract labor wider so that threatens a lot of jobs out there. the grocery chains swapping

hundreds of door dancers and laying off their delivery drivers, then sending contractors into grocery stores to stock shelves so they can lay off employees who are doing that job. stuart: work rules surrounding uber and lift could be unsettling uber and lift. >> it is unsettling other companies, with more contract labor. blue states will be hard because you negotiate with the unions which might be difficult to do. stuart: people have trouble keeping up to speed with proposition 22, what it did. >> contract labor is understandable, displacing salaried employees. stuart: you may understand it. i got that video for you.

los angeles county health inspector caught on camera dancing moment after shutting down a brewery, they were shutdown super bowl sunday. the health inspector -- i am wrong and the brewery was able to stay open but look who is here now, bart avery, the owner of bravery brewing, that was the brewery the young lady tried to shut down and went dancing. do you get an apology? >> not from her but her supervisor call the next day and it was a very hollow apology. he blamed it on a misunderstanding. it was more than a misunderstanding so i don't accept that apology. i have asked people in the county for some kind of help and it is crickets. stuart: you have been devastated financially by these closures and restrictions but i put it to you we have been

running this kind of story for a long long time on this program about people getting really messed up in their business because of restrictions but nothing ever changes. nothing changes at all. >> maybe it is not this story, maybe another story. i would love to keep this alive as long as possible. in california and particularly in la county, has not been working and businesses are dying, we are on the verge of all of us going out of business. stuart: what are the authorities saying? we reported this morning, the number of new cases is down 43%, deaths down 22%, 55 million americans have one vaccination shot. the situation on the pandemic really is improving. it may be short-term but it is

improving dramatically. with this kind of information what do they say to you? >> they don't say anything to us. when they make a decision to shut down and reopen, they give us very little morning. and to lay off and rehire, it is craziness. is a small business owner, my wife and i, wake up in tears some days because we have to be in their 7 days a week. and there is an answer, start letting us do what we do best. people that are not allowed, we are social animals, going into dangerous places to do the same thing, let them come inside. >> are you in a favor of a recall for governor newsom?

>> this is an exclusive. this sounds completely crazy. i'm announcing on your show that i am running for governor of the state of california. stuart: okay. okay. that is news, you broke it right here, you are officially running for governor of california. if and when the recall vote goes through and newsom - >> it will. stuart: as a republican? >> i am a republican but i'm just a normal guy, a small business owner that has gone through almost one year of hell and i think that qualifies me to be governor much more so. stuart: the person who gets the most votes is the winner. has to be over 50%. you are making a point, aren't you?

you are royally fed up with what is going on. you have been hurt personally and wants to make a statement about it so you are running for governor and you announced on this program. >> keep the story in the limelight long enough to make >> with local county and state government. stuart: let me repeat this. bart avery is running for governor of california and he announced on this program. thanks for joining us. this one. vaccinating teenagers is critical to reaching heard immunity. getting them into clinical trials is not easy. president biden wants to spend big. my friend and colleague larry kudlow is on that next. ♪♪ get the show on

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>> now is the time we should be spending. now is the time to grow big. it is estimated that if we pass this bill alone we will create 7 million jobs this year. stuart: president biden saying spend big, really pushing that $1.9 trillion covid relief plan. look who is your, larry kudlow, host of the new foxbusiness show kudlow. spend spend spend. when you heard that what was your first response? >> it is not going to work. the spending fixes help for a

month or two. that is it. stuart: a couple trillion dollars for a couple months? >> a couple months particularly the stuff going to individuals. upper income folks will save but not spend. i'm not opposed to that. lower income folks will spend it. you saw that in retail sales, big job numbers. it only lasts a couple months. we learned that during the obama years, the so-called spending multipliers don't work, they didn't get 4% or 5% growth, they got 2% growth. it doesn't affect the long run incentives, somebody on to think about this. what happens when the music stops? 3 trillion, 1 trillion, the president wants another trillion and lord knows, at some point the music stops, musical chairs. everyone tries to find a chair and someone is left out. that money is not for real for long. so it is going to be pulled out

of the economy, the extent we are living on it, involves hope. it is illusionary. stuart: talking a serious stock market selloff. >> fit stimulus is a different issue for another time. you have this remarkable budget spending stimulus. i say this having just but you've got kids on websites and social media sites buying penny stocks with their cash, welcome them to the market. the trouble is it is not for long. for everybody it is not for long. the only way you get around this problem, if it comes to, got to have long-term economic incentives for taxes and regulations to let people start new companies and create jobs which is the right way to

promote spending. you've got to have pro investment, wealth taxes and doubling capital gain taxes. that is the long run dilemma. nobody is thinking about that and they should. stuart: we don't know when the crunch comes. you can never time the crunch late this year. >> my pal art laugh or has been thinking, the stock market will run terrific. it is good. there is a recovery. there is a risk. there is a risk depending on what the government's economic policies are and you want to start raising everybody's taxes, capital gains taxes, those are the geese that laid

the golden eggs of jobs for every one. minority groups. trump's three years pre-pandemic, the data shows, federal reserve data show clearly the growth that was fostered by investment spending about productivity raised real wages, minority groups have the lowest unemployment rates. inequality shrank -- stuart: nobody knows that. inequality actually did shrink. >> i will be promoting this, sent people straight and offer an alternative vision. people talk about our ka recovery. it is based on short-term fixes. plus the fact we should be opening schools and businesses. >> the major crisis faces our country is education about

children. almost on this of 4-year, in particular lost out big time on this. i don't know if we recover from this? how to recover from years loss of education in a global economy. >> they don't go to work. that is another problem. the very people the president wants to help, at the root of this, the cdc, everyone in the world says that. very disappointing, the other days of the biden presidency, it is an important issue,

school choice, could be religious schools, nonreligious schools, and rewriting american history, reading, writing, arithmetic, scores are not reporting money, school choice, my colleague, secretary of education betsy debvos was great on this. the teachers union don't want school choice. stuart: by executive order you can reverse it. >> former governor scott walker wanted to change collective bargaining. that was a huge reform, they closed the wisconsin capital. they invaded the capital, stopped all business because

want to collective bargaining rather than giving the teachers union everything they want. school choice is the absolute key to better educating our kids and it is in fact the minority schools who will suffer the most because of this and because of that. stuart: i expect to be watching your show on a religious basis 4:00 every afternoon. you've got good subjects. always a pleasure. appreciate it. how about this when? vaccinating teenagers is critical to reaching heard immunity but you try getting them into clinical trials, that is not easy. more on that in just a moment. the dow is down 40 points. ♪♪ hit me with your best shot ♪♪ fire a ♪♪ just over a year ago, i was drowning in credit card debt.

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it's time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. you can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. can it help me fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet. but, can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. will it help me come out swinging? you got this. so, you can really promise better sleep? not promise... prove. and now, during the ultimate sleep number event, save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 0% interest for 24 months on all smart beds. only for a limited time. stuart: that was a casino in atlantic city. what is the full story? ashley: now you see it now you don't, the trump plaza casino

going out with a bang las vegas style implosion. there it goes. it has been shut since 2014, another think them of bankruptcy on the iconic boardwalk in its heyday, a bustling 32 story casino, became the lowest performing casino in the city and by the early 1990s entered into chapter 11 bankruptcy. donald trump cut ties with that particular property in 2009. stuart: come into this one. if you want heard immunity you have to get teenagers in clinical trials. the problem is teens don't want to get into these trials. the problem to don't want to get in or their parents don't want them in the trials.

>> teenagers want their lives to get back to normal so they are raising their hands to get vaccinated and encouraging their friends to do the same. parents might be skeptical, not testing children under the age of 12 yet. they say use my child as a guinea pig, remains to be seen but teenagers are in trials, pfizer and the dharna -- moderna, they hope to have results by summer. of looking good, maybe in time for the new school year there will be a vaccine approved for emergency use but this is the issue with teenagers and kids in general, they are less likely to become infected, less likely to show symptoms, but they do spread the virus, 2.3 million cases in 0-18-year-olds, that is 10% of overall cases, less than 300 kids have died. stuart: we are going to have a special announcement from you just ahead. everybody stay right there.

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stuart: first of all, lauren, come in please. i want to thank you for filling in for me at the top of the show today. my absence was inexcusable although i do have a good excuse. lauren, you're leaving us come friday. i want you to tell our audience

why. lauren: i have inexcusable absence too. i'm having a baby. my third. it's a girl. due any day, now. i will be gone for a few weeks. i will miss you, stuart. stuart: i will miss you too. >> say a prayer. me and three children. stuart: you will learn again, love at first sight, when you see a newborn. love at first sight, congratulations lauren. my time is up, neil, it is yours. neil: good for lauren. i don't want to burst her bush. wait until they become teenagers. enjoy this wonderful moment my friend. that is grade news. here i am, stuart to talk about natural gas. take a look. that is a hard act to follow. that is stuart bombshell with lauren. we have a lot of related futures jumping. nat-gas dipping fro