the market is up 250. powell maybe have something to do with that. large parts of recovery have jumped. five seconds to you. >> i think he said all the right things. stuart: he did. turned the market around. hey, neil, my time as up. it is yours now. neil: all right. thank you very much. she is right. he said all the right things so far. that is what markets like. stuart, thank you very much. dow up 250 points. we're getting a couple bullet points greasing the skids, including a report from the world health organization out seconds ago, the number of coronavirus virus cases is down for the sixth straight week, six weeks in a row. virtually all industrialized countries on the planet are seeing a decline in the number of cases reported.

all but two a decline in deaths and hospitalizations as well. this is very, very good news on that front. it has been playing out in the united states for some time. it continues doing so right now. the number of new cases here was 37%. deaths more than 20%. so all good news on that front. we keep telling you about what is happening on the interest rate front and everything else. we'll go into that a little more detail shortly. now comes the national retail federation to say, the more individuals that receive the covid vaccine, the more the economy can come back from the fears of the vaccine, get a load of this, they see retail sales growing more than 6 1/2%. maybe as much as 8.2%, to roughly $4.33 trillion in sales. now, put this into some perspective. they're basing that on nothing more than improvement on the vaccine and the virus front. and that is the wind at the

economy's back, which is kind of, what jerome powell, the fed chairman has been saying as he testified before the house today. so lots to get into. let's get into it with jackie deangelis. hey, jackie. reporter: good afternoon to you, neil. this is what we would call a risk-on day on wall street. you can see the dow higher by 275 points. investors are buying stocks and selling bonds. let's look at the bond part of this story. this is really important. the record low we saw, recent one, march 9th, 2020, .498%. today you're seeing yield at 1.38% t topped 1.4% for the first time in a year. same thing happening with the 30-year as well. march 9th was the low there, .938%. today, 2.23%. remember when investors are selling bonds the yields move higher. you're seeing opposite what is happening in stocks right now. you can see that the fear trade that came on just before the pandemic hit at the worst time

is now unwinding. investors are optimistic about all the things that you mentioned, vaccines, recovery, and feeling like we're really turning a corner here. look at mortgage rates too because the yield on these notes is what indicates where your borrowing costs will be, 2.65% for the weekending january 8th. that was the 30-year mortgage rate as of february 18th. it is up 2.81%. investors are expecting that will increase as long as bond yields and interest rates move up as well. speaking of vaccines, positive news coming out today, j&j covid-19 vaccine one step closer to emergency use authorization. the fda is saying that those requirements have been met an independent group of fda advisors meet on friday will make the final determination. the vaccine is 66.9% effective, 14 days after the single dose vaccination. 66.1% effective. at least 28 days after as well.

finally i want you to take a look at bitcoin here. this is a risk-on trade today but it is getting some movement as well because microstrategy has bought more than a billion dollars of bitcoin. that brings the total to 2.1 billion spent. but the estimate of the value it owns, its holdings are worth 4 billion. this is also coming after square revealed that it purchased 170 million of the cryptocurrency. it broke through 50,000. it is under that level now. wow, the volatility in the name just continues, neil. neil: jackie, thank you very, very much. with the dow up 288 points, a lot buoyed by at least growing confidence a stimulus measure can get done. they might be getting ahead of their legislative skis, whatever happens in the house doesn't mean it is guaranteed event in the senate. different rules. chad pergram, to spell it out. what are you hearing? reporter: good afternoon, neil. we should learn if the democrats

$15 an hour goal for a national wage benchmark makes it into the coronavirus bill. the democrats are using a special bypass to approve the bill called budget reconciliation. these are termed as policy so they can't add to the deficit so they don't qualify. senate majority leader chuck schumer is lobbying for the to get. first step reconciliation, before the parliamentarian. bernie sanders and i are arguing very strongly for $15 and for it to be reconcile ann. we'll await her judgment before we go any further. reporter: it is up to senate parliamentarian elizabeth mcdonough to make the call. most republicans are opposed. >> whether it is $15 or $10, if the government sets the wage above the market wage it causes unemployment. the government shouldn't be in this. the people that get hurt the

worst those most disadvantaged. reporter: that said the new wage standard will likely be in the bill when the house votes on it friday because the house doesn't have to comply with special budget rules. that gives house democrats to say they voted to approve the wage increase but it dropped in the senate. that means it could just be for show. neil? neil: chad, i know it's a mug's game but i always love picking your brain a little bit where this all goes, you say it's the math, it's the math, if you had to be a betting man now, one thing to clear budget committee, one thing to clear in the house, total house, quite another matter to get through in the senate, do you think this all goes through? that the president gets his stimulus plan, might not be exactly 1.9 trillion but he gets it? >> democrats have to make the case to their caucus they have to pass this bill or they immediately imperil the presidency of joe biden. this is the first big legislative initiative here. this is why they need as many

democrats as possible to stick together in the house. they can only lose five votes there they need the democrats in the senate to stick together. keep in mind that you have joe manchin from west virginia and krysten sinema from arizona who oppose this increase in the minimum wage. so if this is in, that's a problem them maybe passing the bill unless you get some republicans. if it is taken out it comes back to the house of representatives. nancy pelosi and probably the president have to say to the democratic caucus we need to pass this, maybe address some other issues like the wage increase another day. we need to pass this now. time is of the essence. keep in mind nancy pelosi has said that we won't have a state of the union address probably until they finish this bill. they want that to be president biden's victory. pass this bill by early march and then his speech comes mid-march. neil? neil: interesting. all right, thank you my friend, very much. chad pergram on all of that. right now the focus is on the house and what it does with this. that is where you find buddy

carter, the georgia republican congressman. also a doctor, part of that vaccine trial. very good to see you again, congressman. i know you're not a fan of this sheer size of this stimulus plan it looks like it would by and large pass the house. mitt romney and others in the senate have been raising concerns about the total tab, whether it is even necessary now given some of the economic improvement. where are you on this? >> well, obviously i feel like it's the wrong amount at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. this is nothing more than a democratic wish-list. look i know, i acknowledge there are still people hurting out there. i know there are still needs out there but it needs to be more focused, more detailed what we're trying to do. if you look at this, only 9% of that $1.9 trillion goes towards public health needs. not evenly that, but if you exclude the stimulus payments only have of it is going to be paid out this year. that makes no sense at all.

the rest will be in fiscal year 22. nothing more than a democratic wish-list. there are needs out there. there is no question about that. that is why the republican senators offered a scaled down version of something that possibly we could compromise on but the democrats simply didn't want that. this is payback if you will for their supporters. neil: congressman, i'm sorry i misstated you're a doctor. you're a pharmacist by training. that is still impressive to anyone looking at it, can i take your opinion how this vaccine rollout is going. it was disrupted by storms last week. back on track we're told. j&j now with its one dose vaccine, the fda clearing it. saying it does live up to those expectations. where do you think we stand on the vaccine front? because right now the supply seems to be, you know, more than enough to meet the demand but it is that final mile to get to folks arms that's frozen

somehow. why is that? >> well, neil, you're exactly right. until you get those shots in the arms, we're not completed. no, it has not gone as we had hoped it would go. it is certainly good news that j&j is going to hopefully get the eua at the end of the week. possibly by saturday. that will be three vaccines that we have in less than a year of "operation warp speed." that is phenomenal. there is no question about it. we need to bump up manufacturing and production. there is no question about that. we need to make sure that we fill in the gaps between the distribution and the administration. making sure that we're doing that. pharmacists are doing their part. they're now able to get extra doses out of the vials. the johnson & johnson vaccine is going to be good for a number of reasons. it is one shot. that is good. secondly, you can keep in the refrigerator under normal refrigerator temperatures up to three months that will make it more accessible a lot easier for

pharmacists and clinicians to administer. neil: all right. congressman, thank you very, very much. watch it very, very closely. you know a little bit more than many. having, you know, gotten the vaccine itself and was a test case in that. so it is an interesting development. i should pass along before i get to my guest here some updates what we're hearing from fed chair jerome powell. he is kind of echo echoing a lot what he was speaking on the senate side. he is speaking in the house. some of the things he talked about this is the year the fed engages with the public on digital dollar. so he is paying close attention to bitcoin as well. speak of which we'll need legislation authorization on such currencies, we have to be very careful in their design we don't undermine market function. if that does sound a little bit familiar to you, janet yellen, treasury secretary, a former federal reserve chair herself,

expressed concern about the wild west nature of bitcoin investing. he is adding his name to the growing list of folks who are concerned there have to be some speed bumps here. something that guides this for investors, so that nothing dangerous can happen. that was my quick read of it. but let's go to francis newton stacy, optimal director of strategy. we also have got steve moore with us. guys i only mention the bitcoin developments an central bank read of this digital currency push, this is the same day a number of people are coming back to bitcoin and buying on the proverbial dip. it is coming back a bit. i am just wondering, steve, when you were in the trump white house were they concerned, were you concerned about this, about the fact that this sort of unbridled digital alternative to standard currencies was gaining

traction or could? >> no. in fact the concern actually comes from the central bankers, the fed and ecb and europe and others around the world that are worried that they're losing their monopoly power here, neil. and so i think what you have got is competition with fiat government currencies. i think it is ba good thing, a healthy thing. you know what it does, neil, these cryptocurrencies not just bitcoin, there are now dozens of them, they're keeping the central bankers and the fed chairman honest. if they get out of control, if we have massive increase in the money supply people will move out of dollars or yuan or euros they will move into these cryptocurrencies. i think it's a positive development because i think competition is always a good thing in any industry, especially with respect to currencies. neil: yeah. i want to get that out, guys. that is the latest. it has not been reported as much as thought on digital currencies

in general. sounds like he is not exactly a fan but he is not going to throw it out yet. he is discuss concerned about it. i do want to talk about the main theme, that he had, francis, that is things look good. don't expect me to do anything wacky. don't expect me not buying up treasury notes and bonds and see this recovery through. he seems to be thinking, francis, a lot of it will depend on the course of the virus and improvements we've seen in these numbers both here and globally. do you agree with that? that that will really set the tone here? it comes back to the buyers, that's it, that is the whole game? >> well i don't think that is the whole game. i think that is very digestible. i think that the virus is very important because i think we have to have an actual reopening across the board. that includes new york and california and every state has to get back to some sense of normalcy in order to withstand the debt creation that we have. you know, we actually have to

have economic growth and gdp rising to you know, mitigate the ratio between debt-to-gdp. i think a more complicated issue is you know, how this liquidity driven market is sustainable. and he is continuing to buy the 120 billion in bonds every month because you just can't drop that off of a cliff because at the end of the day it is debt service. the fed is struck in a catch 22. if yields go up and up. i'm sure he was watching sensitivity of the markets yesterday very closely. if those yields continue higher and higher to the point where they threaten debt service or they threaten papering over this record amount of debt they will come in with yield curve control, meaning buying bonds at a targeted maturity date in order to depress those yields because we're not going to threaten the debt service. but on the other token they have been criticized creating froth

in the markets. they're sort of like intervene, don't intervene. are you going to intervene. don't intervene. that is where he is. the virus is a palatable discussion. >> can i add something to that. neil: real quickly steve, i'm sorry. go ahead. >> i want to get this off my chest. the fed chairman powell keeps saying he is not concerned about inflation. he should go to the gas station look what is happening to the price of gasoline at the pump which is one of those consumer price index items that people look at every day. we are starting to see hints of inflation t worries me is not worried about inflation. neil: maybe he says he is not worried about inflation? >> well, maybe you're right. >> yes. neil: he is quietly worried about it but he doesn't want to tip his hand. don't wander too far. we'll get more on this. just a couple of developments we're following. all the major market averages, including nasdaq are in positive territory right now. some, not all technology stocks

are coming back. there is a battle we'll get to in just a second between who is the world's richest human being. depends on the stock price of amazon, if you're talking about jeff bezos and the stock price of tesla, if you're talking about elon musk. they have reversed roles a couple of times over the last couple days. we'll see how they're doing. whether they keep track of stuff like that. something tells me it is a little too petty. something else tells me, oh, no, it is not petty at all. ♪.

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could do much the same. all this coming at a time states are revving things up. my next guest doesn't get enough attention or respect of what he has been doing quietly, amid controversies and in some other states among democratic and republican governors. i'm not just saying that because i went to high school in danbury, connecticut. i'm talking to governor ned la month, the governor of the beautiful state of connecticut who is quietly, effectively been way ahead of this curve in dealing with it in a bipartisan way. there is a concept. he joins us right now on the phone, governor, good to have you back. >> thank you, neil, for the kind words. neil: apparently coming from both sides. sometimes you hear from both sides negatively too. i will get into that, the idea to skip over tax hikes here in your latest budget. that is some progressives complaining, dealing with that on both sides. back on how you plan to distribute vaccines an make this an age-based approach, what did

you mean by that, governor? >> i met a couple things, neil. first of all 75 and above we have taken care of the vast majority of that population, 65 and above. 90% of the fatalities and complications were related to people 65 and above and on monday we'll go to 55 and above. that is 96%. almost all of the people with comorbidities are also in that age group. so we thought we could quickly and equitiably focus on age and at the same time going to the most underserved communities, making sure -- [inaudible] get vaccinated. neil: how do you get that word out, governor? i'm in new jersey. i don't mean to disparage authorities here. it seems haphazard. no one seems to know the order of events. i get that. there is a rush for these vaccines. how do you deal with that in connecticut? you're dealing with the same.

neil: same, sometimes limited, available supply. how do you keep your constituents up to date on that? elsewhere, a lot of places those constituents get angry no matter what their age? >> neil, keep it simple, keep it clear, so you know what date your age group is available. 45 and above, late march, for example. the way the cdc did it, grocery store workers folks who works in a convenience store? what if i sell groceries in my big box store, am i included or not. pretty soon it involves 2/3 of our population, just wasn't going to work. too many people getting into the funnel at the same time. neil: governor, back to, when you had your state of the state address and said that there were no tax increases planned, republicans welcome that. a lot of democrats did as well, real progressives said it was disappointing to them. this would be an ideal opportunity to have a surtax on

your richest residents, much as phil murphy in new jersey had. but he implemented that last year. no more tax increases this year, but he did do that last year. you opted not to. why? >> a couple of reasons. one, we don't need to do it. i'm providing hundreds of millions of extra money going to our schools. i appreciate it is coming from joe biden not from the taxpayers particular of connecticut but we're making a big difference right now to get those kids back flat game, get our schools open five days a week. we're not shortchanging not-for-profits. we're doing what we can to make a difference right now but with federal funding in our rainy day fund i don't have to raise taxes. that is the first time in a while you had a governor say that. neil: you know, mitt romney had commented on this $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. i don't know whether he was referring to your state in

particular, governor, because you opted not to do that, revenues are looking good. a lot has to do with how you've been running the state. but the fact of the matter he doesn't think something so big is necessary. outgoing senator pat toomey agreed. saying we could certainly use help and more stimulus, not something this massive. what do you make of that? >> i make rather fussing about 1.9 versus 1.3, the timing of this is very important. do it not just for a year but do it over a couple years. maybe that satisfies some of the people that think it is too big. you know we can't put all that money to work in nine months. then you have a cliff at the end of that nine months but let us make a difference on education. let us make a difference in ramping up our social services over a couple of years as we wind down from this pandemic. that would be meaningful. neil: all right. governor, very good to chat with you.

i know we had some difficulties getting our tv shot up with but it was good hearing you again, governor ned lamont, the man who runs the state of connecticut. i'm not just saying because i went to high school there, it is a wonderful state. meantime we're learning more what dr. fauci thinks of the course of the virus. he suggests a lot of the data that is coming in right now to help authorities in this country suggests that long -- systems some who have problems where they can't taste or smell or any of that stuff, could linger for up to nine months. he also has been saying that he meant it when he said masks with a good idea. double masking even better idea. wearing masks period may well to be into next year may be an excellent idea. ♪. ♪ ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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neil: he survived it could be a lot worse. tiger woods has a long road to recovery. matt finn with the latest in california. hey, matt. reporter: right now the golf legend is believed to be inside of this hospital responsive, recovering after surgery and we're learning much more about the extent of tiger woods' injuries, a statement released by his team a doctor writes, quote, mr. woods suffered significant on the other hand injury to his right lower extremity treated during the injury. fractures affecting the upper an lower portions of tibia, fibula bones were stablized by entering a rod to the tibia. additional injuries to the bones in the foot an ankle were stablized with combination of screws and pins. the tiger woods team writes it thanks everyone for the overwhelming support, ucla medical center, and county and fire departments that helped remove woods from suv that

rolled several hundred feet in los angeles. there is no evidence impairment whatsoever, and tiger woods is lucky to be alive based on the horrifying crash scene. sheriff said on that road there have been 13 accidents, since last january, four of them involved injuries. neil: thank you very much. to jim gray, he is a great writer, great sports journalist. very well-connected to tiger woods as well. jim, very good to have you. he has a long road to recovery, my friend and obviously we just want him to get better. golf seems so secondary now in the scheme of things but, a lot of people are asking, will he ever be able to do that? a lot depends on this recovery, right? >> yeah. i think we just have too little information right now, neil, to even make any type of an assessment like that. we don't know how severe the injuries are, what the

rehabilitation will be, what exactly is out of place and is in need of further repair. usually these trauma surgeries lead to several surgeries after and this is just to stop whatever it was at that time from getting worse. plus we also know there is muscle problems as well. so the road to golf is going to be very arduous and very long and the one thing i think also will be difficult for him is the mental side of this because he is used to playing golf at a certain level and so he physically will now try to repair himself, he used to it, he has had 19 surgeries he is used to repairing things injured through golf, not through this type of an accident, you know, jim, much has been said of the ben hogan analogy. that he too survived a car about. went on to golf, went on to win. could you explain that to me? i heard that story. i just, i don't know how much it

could parallel or how much tiger woods want to parallel that? >> well, i'm sure he would want to parallel because it is an amazing, heroic story of a guy who nearly died in a car crash, not too dissimilar what we saw with tiger woods and came back, competed, won again. he is also known where he won the 1948 u.s. open is called hogan's alley at riviera country club. that is where tiger hosts his tournament here. he was here in los angeles at this time out at the genesis open out in riviera. was not able to play. not to dissimilar who to aarnold palmer who has his tournament at bay hill and jack nicklaus at memorial. tiger woods has his there. too far out to project what happens to tiger woods, if it is

anything similar to ben hogan, ben hogan is considered one of the comeback stories, but tiger woods winning a major from 2008, with the surgeries and infidelity, scandal as well as dui to come back and win in 2019 at augusta national after not 11 years not winning a major i think that is the greatest comeback ever. neil: i think you're right. jim gray, good catching up with you even under these circumstances. we'll monitor anything we get from tiger woods' condition from california. we'll pass that along. meantime we talk about good economic numbers. the national retail federation talking about progress on covid getting behind us could lead to a 8% jump in retail sales activity this year. now we get news out of the gap that it plans to build a new distribution center in longview,

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particularly of interest today is about immunity provisions that were put into last year's new york budget bill by governor cuomo and his administration. these provisions literally protected nursing home operators from being sued by victims families and other health care providers, also she hadding them from any legal liability. well all eyes on the general new york hospital association who assemblyman kim says not only is a political donor for democrats, giving $1.15 million to democrats in an effort to, in the gubernatorial race back in 2018 but he says that, that organization lobbied for nursing homes, worked with como for that immunity provision and now they are demanding that this legal immune clause be repealed. they want all the campaign donations from the general new york hospital association that were given to democrats and to cuomo to be returned and they want all the correspondence

between this lobbying group and the governor to be released to the public. listen. >> he gave them a license to kill. that is what the criminal and legal immunity is. it is a license to kill older adults with substandard care knowing that they can't go to jail or be sued by families. >> i continuously hear the governor blaming the workers at the nursing homes who weren't provided the proper ppe, who weren't provided proper guidance, who didn't get any special training. reporter: again the accusation here from kim is that the governor cuomo works with a political donor to protect their business interests in that immunity provision. governor cuomo has denied these allegations. we'll see if he will respond. one last thing, neil, lindsey boil lan, an ex-cuomo aid who worked for administration, wrote

a post online accusing the governor of unwanted kissing, touching, sexually harassing are her. we reached out. not yet heard from the governor's office on this. more controversy embroiling his administration. neil. neil: i was not aware of that one. bryan, thank you very much. bryan llenas in manhattan reporting on the latest travails of the governor. harvey epstein joins us, democratic new york state assembly member. assemblyman thank you very much for taking the time. you're among those who very least want to strip the governor of his emergency powers, right? where does that stand? >> well they mentioned ours expires april 30th. it is my hope at least it will expire then but my expectation is that we need to strip him of those powers earlier. we provided emergency powers early because we weren't sure what was happening last march. it is clear the legislature can function with its legislative duty. we should be allowed to act in

that way. neil: are those powers automatically renewed, assemblyman if you don't muster the votes to challenge them or make take them away? >> no, they automatically expire on april 30th. neil: got it. >> my expectations at least they will expire or my hope is that we act before april 30th which is two months away and to withdraw those powers now. neil: have you talked to the governor yourself? >> no, i have not communicated directly with the governor. neil: his few communications with others includes assemblyman ron kim with whom i chatted, didn't go well. they were pretty nasty. how do you think the governor is reacting and responding to this? >> yeah. i think he unfortunately isn't trying to open up the conversation so we can actually figure out what happened. i think, ron kim said this,

there is some stuff there. we don't 100% know what that is. we know the greater hospitalization pushed for immunity clause. we don't know how that happened. we know that there are lots of conversations that happened, that unique clause happened on the 11th hour. i voted against the budget partially because that was in there. we need more information and we need to have subpoena the government agencies that were involved with the governor's office, what actually happened. 15,000 families who lost loved ones, involved in information that could have been covered up or involved in some kind of conspiracy that could have happened. we don't know, but i think there is a lot of facts out there that people need to hear an answer to. they deserve it. they have lost family. people in nursing homes now. i hear from people every day struggling. we need more information and that is the obligation that the government has to bring forward what has happened and get more

transparency so people can have peace of mind, so the government tried to do the right thing or not. neil: all right. harvey epstein, new york state assembly member, thank you very much for taking the time. keep us posted where this all goes. republicans are the ones largely pushing to impeach the governor although there have been a number of democrats showing they would support that move at the very least though, not support the governor running for a fourth term. he is in the middle of his third term. we'll have a lot more to this, including what is it going on with two stocks of companies that are run by very rich guys, in fact, because of how those stocks are faring, they're keep changing places who is the richest human being on earth. you're watching, you know they say they're not watching. ♪

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♪. neil: you remember when it was

bill gates who was the world's richest man for the longest time? now these two guys, jeff bezos, elon musk, they have been alternating back and forth over the last few weeks depending how their stocks are faring being the world's richest human being. we're told they don't pay attention to that. i think they do. a lot hinges on their stocks are faring right now. for jeff bezos that tells the story. his stock is faring a little bit better than elon musk. musk has narrowed the gap a little bit. a week ago he was out front by a country mile. it can change. these guys no doubt keep track of it. even though they say they don't keep track of it. i don't believe you. francis newton stacy with us, steve moore with us. francis, it is an interesting parlor game for how these guys are doing. when you think about it, their entire wealth is tied up in the stocks. it is just a snapshot of how rich this market has made a lot

of these tech titans and created a whole cottage industry of other billionaires and multimillionaires, who because of the stock of their companies, are doing okay. what do you think? >> yeah. absolutely. it is really interesting. because for a while jeff bezos, bill gates we remember kind of toggled back and forth. between jeff bezos and elon musk, if we look at valuations of the companies, the bulk of their wealth is in the stock price, tesla's valuation is much frothier. when they both hit the 600 billion market cap, amazon, that was back in 2018, tesla was 80 times ebitda, which is you know, a fancy word for how much money they're making and amazon was only 22 times. amazon is also a lot more diversified. going forward if valuations matter, if interests continue to go up, valuations will certainly matter. elon will have a hard time

keeping up with bezos based on that. neil: you know, steve, the backdrop for this has been an just incredible surge in technology investing on the part of americans and investors worldwide. now it took a dip in the beginning of the pandemic, when it first hit. around last more. then quickly recovered. led the way as it was leading the way prior to the pandemic, through the pandemic. now even with these bumps, you know, you hope after the pandemic or the worst of the pandemic, were you surprised when you were in the white house looking, watching that and was the president, that markets, you know, really were very resilient, came back mightily, you know, from those march lows last year? but particularly technology. >> i think we were all shocked. i mean who would have, i don't think any of us, even you, neil, i don't think even you we would have predicted this market today given where we were nine or 10

months. it is a spectacular recovery. you're so right. it is led by technology. you know, this kind of makes you proud to be an american, doesn't it? that these great american entrepreneurs, that is what both of these gentlemen are have been able to create great companies. the really thing amazing about elon musk his companies don't even make money yet. he is a billionaire many times over. his companies are still you know, i don't think any of them are profitable yet. now this is all, as we know, markets are all based on future profitability but that really shows that, investor are making a big bet on elon musk knowing what he is doing. jeff bezos' companies are already spectacularly profitable. neil: we should add that investors were bemoaning amazon not making any money anytime. had great revenues. >> that's true. neil: couple years back it made money. maybe there is a repeat of that

but we'll see. guys, thank you very much. we've got the dow up about 321 points. technology stocks in general with the exception of amazon are clawing their way back but amazon, you know, do not cry for its investors or certainly jeff bezos. so we will keep an eye on that. also keeping an eye on some promising news on the vaccine front. not only improving here but across the world. this represents six weeks in a row we have seen a steady decline in new cases across the globe. after this. ♪. ♪♪ you can spend your life in boxing or any other business, but one day, you're gonna take a hit you didn't see coming. and it won't matter what hit you. what matters is you're down.

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encouraged once we get improvement on that front, things will get back to normal and sort of roughly paraphrasing here. proof of that is word we're getting on some of the big movie makers and what they plan to do about new releases. now, up til now you've been hearing most movies that come out, new movies, are streamed at the same time because so many movie theaters across the country are not open. but we're learning that spider-man: no way home will only, only be in movie theaters this christmas. so you can't stream it, you have to go to a movie theater and buy it to watch it. so that might be another encouraging development, good for spidey and maybe the industry the hopes good for the industry. we shall see, but it is sort of a last future, if you will. [laughter] okay, fine. let's go to jackie deangelis, she can save me from my bad puns here. jackie, it is interesting, consistent in all these stories is the idea it's the virus,

stupid, it's coming out of this, and it's seeing progress from this. we've heard that out of the national retail federation, we're hearing it out of more retailers, so they're optimistic. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, absolutely. and i think the market is reflecting that. since we spoke an hour ago, the dow hit an all-time high, just off that now sitting at 313. the nasdaq climbing higher as well. seems like there's more risk on today. we've got more news about a j&j vaccine that could get emergency use authorization from the fda committee on friday, and the biden administration has already said that it's planning to distribute that very, very quickly. so there is that optimism there, neil. and if you live in new york city which has been one of the most shut down places and you read the post, you saw last night people were allowed to go to the garden to watch a knicks game. having said that, it means people are starting to get back to normal even in the hard-hit

spots, and that is very positive when it comes to the markets and people getting back and this recovery getting back on track. the second issue i think would be the powell comments as well. the markets didn't have so much confidence in powell the other day even though he tried to placate everybody, but i think as that news is kind of digesting, they think powell's going to stay the course, and he's not going to raise rates as quickly as we see these yields moving up. the 10-year is at 1.39 right now, that is far above where it was at its low in 2020, in march before the pandemic really struck us. treasury yields tend to be a bit of a leading indicator on interest rates, they're also going to bring up mortgage rates which, you know, the borrowing cost for people who go out to buy a new home or to refinance, and that's going to skew things within the economy a little bit. but when it comes back and all is said and done, this is about the consumers. the consumers gets out there as the national retail federation projects they are, that's a

great thing. we're fore tsaing sales will -- forecasting sales will exceed $4.3 trillion in 2021. and the latest i've heard is anybody who wants a vaccine will have access to it around july. that's not that far off when you think about it. final pointings i want to make -- point i want to make here, chip shortage in play squeezing automakers in the united states and also worldwide. what biden wants to do is a broad review of supply chains for kit call materials -- critical materials from semiconductors to pharmaceutical and and rare earth minerals to make sure the supplies are being adequately used and getting where they need to be. later on he's going to call for a 100-day review of these supply chains and even a separate one-year review covering six broader sectors. i mean, the semis have had a very good run, invidia's one

example. but you can see qualcomm, all of them in the green to, neil. neil: yeah, you really do realize how much we are dependent on a supply chain that just isn't working. it's come up a number of ways. jackie deangelis, thank you very, very much for that. i want to take you to capitol hill, the battle for this $1.9 trillion stimulus plan if, there's a lot of gobbledygook to this because what works in the house might not work in the senate, and this is ultimately going to finish in the senate. how this whole $15 minimum wage issue is handled. what works in the house height not work in the senate. hillary vaughn has more now from capitol hill. >> reporter: hey, neil. today president biden may find out the state of his $15 federal minimum wage hike and whether or not it can be included in his $1.99 trillion covid relief bill. fox is told that it is very likely that the senate parking lotmenttarian will rule today whether or not this hike can be included in the budget reconciliation bill.

but while senate democrats backing the idea brace for the final word today, ohs not onboard are coming up with a plan b. senator joe manchin says if a minimum wage hike is allowed in the bill, he wants it to drop down from the $15 to $11 an hour. that's less than what president biden and some of manchin's democratic colleagues wanted. >> we have to look at the wages issues on a macroeconomic sense. we get more people vaccinated, i think more employers are going to hire. by the laws of supply and demand, that is going to raise wages. i'm for the president's proposal. >> reporter: some republicans though do support raising the minimum wage. a proposal from senator tom cotton and mitt romney would raise it to $10 an hour but with one condition, requiring employers to use e-verify so they can't hire illegal workers to get around the increase. but not if all senate

republicans are united behind that. >> a $10 minimum wage will cause less unemployment, but it's still a problem. the government shouldn't be in this. and the people who get hurt the worst are those most disadvantaged when you set minimum wage. >> reporter: the byrd rule ultimately will reject including something like a minimum wage hike in this reconciliation package, it will be dropped from the package and what the senate calls those items that get dropped because of the byrd rule? byrd droppings. neil? neil: i see what they did there. hillary vaughn, thank you very much. this is a big what if, but what if this whole thing fails? what if it goes kaput? what if they don't get their differences reck are styled and that $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, the holy grail for this

new administration, what if it just doesn't happen period? scott martin, susan li with me now. i've got to wonder, susan, since the markets have factored in that it's going to happen, it's unlikely that it doesn't can, but it could. the i mean, there are already a number of republicans who have got at least a couple of democrats worried about the price tag. worried about jamming in system of these other features. so then what? >> yeah. what a tangled web we weave, right? don't you like that, neil? [laughter] the markets are anticipating some sort of stimulus whether it's $1.9 trillion or just a few billion, i think they pretty much said that you have to follow the money, and the money's telling you there's going to be money printing coming from either the white house, the government and administration or from the federal reserve as you've heard two days now with jerome powell in front of congress. so i think people are anticipating something. and don't forget, you still have another trillion dollar package, infrastructure, that will be

also discussed and pushed for, apparently, already by the white house. so i think wall street needs something. neil: if they don't get it, so9, of course, mitt romney has a column today talking and bemoaning about all the issues that ores are ignoring -- others are ignoring, that that a lot of this spending, $788, 800 billion worth is meant for 2022. so this idea that we urgently need it now, now, now is out there. so again i'll ask you what i asked susan, if this doesn't come to be because of the trip-ups on these issues, how will the market respond? >> it'll fuel a lot more than just a simple insect bite where you can put some cortisone on it and take careful to it in a few days -- [laughter] yesterday the nasdaq is down about 3.5% in the morning, fed chairman powell starts talking about don't worry about inflation the, we're here for the markets, unemployment is still terrible, etc., etc., meaning we'll be there for you,

mr. and mrs. market, as well as his partner in crime, super dove janet yellen, treasury secretary, who's been out talking about more stimulus, more trillions wherever we can find it, print it, sell it and send it out. so the reality is, neil, this is kind of baked in the markets to a degree, i believe -- >> yeah. >> but the more it's talked about, the more the market loves it. even if chairman powell wants to get out of this situation say, hey, if data changes, maybe we'll change our role or slow our role, the markets freak out. so he's got to stay on the path he's on for now at least. neil: do you think, susan -- that's another superhero analogy, if you think about it, chairman powell's in that role, guarding and protecting the markets. his stance over the last two days is, don't worry, i've got your back. >> that's right. yes, that's exactly what you've heard. you've heard all the right things meaning we're going to stay lower for longer, we're going to continue buying more than $100 billion of bonds each

and every month, and what i took away yesterday was that 6% gdp forecast he made for 2021 saying the recovery in the back half is going to be stronger than the first half, and that will be, by the way, pushed there by the federal -- through by the federal reserve or the white house and the government printing more money. and as we say, you have to follow the money. and what growth managers and what the money's telling you is that it's still going into stock markets. i used the wrong verb there, but you know what i mean. mainly, you have to follow where the money's going, and it's going into stock markets right now and risk assets. neil: so real quickly, scott, do you see that changing? i mean, give me sort of your lay of the land for at least the next few weeks here. >> no, and we're cautious as far as bonds go, neil. so susan's right, it goes into bitcoin coip, gold, things that appreciate when there's so much fed prohibiting. and i love the number -- printing. i love the number, 6% gdp

growth. fed funds rate at zero9 and the fed's buying $100 billion a month. hey, why not start the party and keep it going? >> and by the way, 6% -- just want to follow up on that, neil -- that's almost three time the -- times the average, so that's your v-shaped recovery. neil but we're coming from awful levels, rightsome. >> yeah. neil: it is good. i'm not minimizing that. but, again, you know, it's coming from depressed levels. >> of course. neil: but we'll see. guys, thank you both very, very much. we were talking about how this all coarses through the economy, along comes news out of carnival cruise line that it's extending this pause on cruises from the united states at least right through may 2021. there had been talk maybe as soon as the beginning of next month that they could resume some of those cruises to other locations, at least those departing from the u.s. it ain't happening until at least may 2021.

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thing to cure and make right, but he's alive. he's okay. thank god for seat belts but, again, it's going to be slow going getting out of this one. doug eldridge knows tiger very, very well, knows of his import to the sport, to say nothing of all sports. he is a transcending figure, to put it mildly, doug. a lot of people think when will he get back to -- he's going to have a tough enough time just getting back to some semblance of a normal physical life here. this is a long road, it sounds like. what do you think? >> yes, sir, to say the least. i mean, not to sound corny or cliche, but he's going to have to literally take it one step at a time. you have to remember tiger's 45 and coming off of five back surgeries. there is no such thing as an insignificant back surgery. tiger's gone there through five and now this. it'll be a step by step, day by day process. neil: a lot of people look at these bigger than life figures,

doug, tending to focus on successful athletes whose earnings reclipsed whey -- are eclipsed by what they earn in the sport, but the sponsorships they generate. he was one of the most successful in that category. i'm wondering now how that goes. i mean, there's this rallying around him liking nothing we've seen in prior incidents and maybe because this is not nearly as sordid as much as sad, and i'm just wondering just the impact on, you know, tiger woods just the one-man cottage industry. >> right. well, tiger woods is rare, and if he never swings another golf club again, his legacy's most assuredly established. you have to remember, neil, tiger's changed both the game of golf and the business of golf. right? from a performance standpoint, he's won 15 majors, that's second,82 pga wins, he's won the

masters five times. when he won it in 2019, it had been 14 years since his previous and 22 since his first win. he came around that corner and his little boy shot out at him like a bullet out of a gun, and tiger wrapped up his boy just like his father wraps him up after the first win 22 years earlier. but off the course, tiger's one of very few athletes that have crossed that billion dollar threshold. he has a lifetime deal with nike, and he's one of only three athletes that have actually earned a billion dollars during the course of their career. so from a financial standpoint, all of the sponsors that he lost like in 2009 with all that he's gained in response, tiger, i mean -- [laughter] the way that he realigns the business of the sport, when you look at his first two masters

wins in '97 and '01, those were the highest masters sunday numbers in masters history. so the tiger effect is very real. it's not hyperbole, it's very, very real. neil: you can understand why the golf industry wants him back. all right, we'll see. thank you very much, doug eldridge, on all of this. i want to have you take a peek at midtown manhattan, times square more importantly. a number of hotels in that area have gone out of wiz, obviously -- out of business. but one was crazy enough to say, you know what? we're going to open up, we're going to invest a lot of money here. we see a lot of opportunity here because margaritaville is here. and so is its ceo next. ♪ wasting away again in manager reit a thatville -- margaritaville. ♪ searching for my lost shaker of salt. ♪ some people claim that there's

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neil: all right, i know that all the market averages are up, up and away right now based on what jerome powell says, i think it has something to do with the fact that charlie gasparino is back in our new york city fox news headquarters. i suspect that is a rallying cry. what are you doing, bud? >> reporter: it's nice being back home, as opposed to my home. [laughter] listen, i had to get away from my wife. you know, this is one of the -- let's be real clear here, you know, i love my wife, and i -- but -- neil: sure. >> -- it's nice to get out of the house, okay?

i mean, i'm telling you -- and, by the way, i'm not the only one saying this. i was talking to some people at jpmorgan, and one of the motivating reasons jamie dimon was telling people to get back to the office that he was getting complainses from senior -- complaints from senior executives that divorce rates were going to go through the roof if people couldn't get back to the office. for that very reason, president biden should put all that $1.9 trillion into getting vaccines into everybody's arms so we can go back to work, we can spend money, and we can keep the divorce rate at a reasonable level. that's -- [inaudible conversations] [laughter] neil: [inaudible] >> as you know, the gamestop trading frenzy is not over yet with robinhood and reddit and the insane amount of trading that went into those stocks as we were reporting. there's going to be some regulation, there may with more congressional hearings. and one of the fallouts from

this whole thing, and i think it's odd but it's likely to happen, is short selling may be curtailed, when you profit by doing a stock-trading maneuver when shares decline. that is the on the docket to, essentially, get more regulation. and now the short sellers are fighting back, and one of the most prominent short sellers in the world, his name is jim chanos, close associates -- if you know jim, he's like the guy that, essentially, called the enron scandal. he's very close to president biden. and from what sources are telling the fox business with network, chanos has made the point that if you get rid of short selling, all you're going to do is hurt the small investors. this is chanos' position. agree with it if you want. i agree with some of it. the stock market has far many, many more touts than it does people attacking stocks.

often if you don't have anybody giving the negative view, people will just think tesla, for example, is going to the moon forever and never has to improve its cars or its production. short sellers called tesla out on that and said they were close to bankrupt. tesla got its act together because of the amount of immense pressure by short sellers. and these are some of the arguments that chanos, from what i understand, is making to the white house economic team. i can't tell you if he's going the persuade them, persuade congress. he does have, from what i understand, he's making the same arguments as some selective people on the hill. he's also a making the argument that to if you change the settlement time, everybody's talking about why do we need two days to settle a stock. vlad tenev of robinhood who just had the famous argument with portnoy of barstool sports, if

you have immediate settlement, you'll have no short selling and even more touting in the market, and that'll hurt investors even more. very interesting development that chanos is doing what he's doing, and we'll see if it has any impact, neil. back to to you. neil already some viewers say it looks like you're on a building ledge, and could you go ahead and jump off. [laughter] >> you know, listen -- neil: i guess one of them, your wife. >> listen, if you want to kill me, you'd better put a stake through my heart, and it better be metal. [laughter] just tell them that -- neil: you look good, buddy. >> i'm living forever, baby. i'm jason. remember jason? neil: i had the feeling. [laughter] you are freddy krueger and jason in one. thank you, charlie gasparino. speaking of comebacks, you see what's going on in times square? manager' etaville, it's -- margaritaville right in the

middle of times square, 200 rooms. hotels have been closing down left and right, but this guy's crazy enough to think that, you know what? i think we can make a go of it. john cullen is the manager recentville -- margaritaville ceo. very good to have you, john. congratulations. >> thank you. thank you for having me. neil: it looks like -- and i could be wrong -- you are in the old doubletree times square location. is that right? around 47th street and times square? >> it's actually the old parsons school of design, 40th and seventh avenue right on the corner. neil: okay. my bad, i apologize. these two courtyards my mare yachts -- by marriott, a host of others all shutting down. not you though, why? >> well, we're just very excited to bring the margaritaville

lifestyle to the island of manhattan. people forget it's an island and really can't think of a more appropriate destination for people to be visiting as, hopefully, the coast clears and visiting safely. so we're very excited about it. the only indoor/outdoor pool, heated outdoor pool in times square. neil: it is wild. and i'm just wondering, i mean, you obviously could have pull this or at least delayed this when everything started hitting the fan, and yet you've opted not to. why? >> well, i wish i could say we were prescient enough to know that the vaccine would arrive, but sometimes it's better to have that good fortune and be lucky. you know, our sense is that the coast the clearing now, and i guess, you know, we look at our

glass half full and optimism really is a big part of the dna of what we do. we just felt that the world would come back as it seems to be now. neil: you know, when i look at the facility, of course, it keeps with the theme, the margaritaville theme, it is in manhattan the, after all. it might be an island, but it is not the caribbean. i wonder how you pitched that in an area that's very different than some of your other areas. >> yeah. no, that's really a fair point. the idea really, we say you arrive at margaritaville and you get that shoulders down feeling? it's an escape and, quite honestly, some of our most successful properties are not at the beach, in the smoky mountains, at lakes. neil: okay. >> we just think that to walk into an environment that's relaxing, a sense of escapism

after having had an exciting day in times square and new york is, will be very attractive to people. and, you know, there's a long history going back to trader vic's at the plaza. i'm dating myself. to, you know, new yorkers or needing a change of seenly. neil: yeah -- scenery. neil: yeah. i'm curious, i think bookings can start in june? how are they looking for you? >> uh-huh. you know what? we just started to take them in, and they're happening can i'm, you know, really pleased to stay. and, you know, most of our broader portfolio really is the drive-to destination business, and we've been very fortunate throughout the last year that certainly within the hospitality sector, we've been -- we've performed well because people are driving, have been driving to get away for vacations when they know it's safe.

our brand has been around for a long time and trusted. so we certainly see that people desire to escape and have a good time. neil: all right. i wish you well. the rooms look really cool. i love the giant sandal in the lobby. [laughter] it would take my mind of work. maybe that's a good thing. john cullen, margaritaville ceo. new york needed something like this. i think we all needed something like this to remind us we're coming out of this slowly but surely. a couple of other developments we're following when we look at the market racing ahead at 412 points, it's issues like that which you're hearing out of the margaritaville ceo and other businesses that are optimistic to say the trend is our friend. never mind carnival, it didn't push back its season until the end of the year. a lot of other ventures are talking about eventually turning things around and getting back

to business. this is new york, of course, which will be the life blood for this new margaritaville hotel. it's seeing a pick-up in activity and restaurant participation, it's up to 35% capacity. hotel occupancy, while still a problem there, has bounced back9 from the lows that new york was experiencing when they got down to 10% occupancy, now a little bit knot of 28% -- north of 28%. that is something, no doubt, many in the big apple want to continue. actually, everyone in this country and the world. ♪ ♪ research shows that people remember commercials with exciting stunts. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's something you shouldn't try at home... look, liberty mutual customizes home insurance so we only pay for what we need. it's pretty cool.

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neil: all right. this rally certainly is gaining steam, isn't it? boeing is a big contributor, believe it or not, popping 7% on optimistic forecasts for the rest of the year, the 777

problems not withstanding over that united jet engine failure. we should point out here that with it up over 400 points, a lot of it is based on some improving economic sentiment we're not only getting from the federal reserve chairman, but a host of surrogates9 of the fed. we'll clue you in on that in a little bit, but also positive trends on the virus front. namely, that the number of new cases is down in this country 37% in the latest week, deaths down more than 20% and worldwide cases are down for the sixth consecutive week. all of this on the heels of news right now that all the drugger manufacturers are working with -- drug manufacturers to are working with each other to ramp up advantage seen manufacturing -- vaccine manufacturing to fix some of the delays particularly acute last week with some of the storms across the country. s astrazeneca also saying its drug is showing some effectiveness against the virus itself and some of these variants that you've been hearing a good deal about.

and j&j, the one-shot vaccine is deemed now very effective by the fda. so a lot of potential good news here. but getting those vaccines out still remains a monumental task. steve harrigan with the late from atlanta. hey, steve. >> reporter: neil, and the different states across the u.s. are handling that task with different degrees of success as far as the vaccine rollout dose. at the very top is alaska. 21% of residents of alaska have gotten at least one shot so far. new mexico, 20%. south dakota, 18. if you look at the bottom end of the scale though, right here in georgia all the way down to 11%, tennessee and utah also at 11%. across the nation as a whole, 16% of americans have so far gotten at least one shot. and you mentioned the ramp-up, pfizer and moderna certainly ramping up production rapidly, hitting 14.5 million doses this week. that's up fortune a million doses. johnson & johnson ready to enter with a single of -- single-shot

dose as early as next week, 20 million by the end of march. and, of course, the concerns still remain about the variants, the three already present in the u.s. and this new california variant which could be more contagious and more deadly than the original virus. >> variants have emerged, and available data suggests they are, indeed, more transmissable. questions remain about how these variants will impact vaccinefectiveness, severity of disease and mortality. >> reporter: of course, the big question everybody has, when will there be enough of the vaccine the vaccinate all americans who want to take it. right now the administration is saying that should happen by july. neil? neil: steve harrigan, thank you very much. we were also focusing on on the9 mitt romney we're getting about the virus and where we're going on the vaccine front. the fed chairman was talking about the it today, the fed vice chairman declaring the same thing, essentially. quoting here: the prospects for the economy in 2021 and beyond

have brighten add disease downside to the outlook has diminished. he was making a speech before the u.s. chamber of commerce. he also saidfective vaccines and fiscal relief passed late last year have set the table for stronger growth. so he is very on optimistic, ana lot of that is progress on the virus front. it's a good point to get into with dr. francis collins, national institutes of health director, kind enough to join us today. director, very good to have you. thank you. >> glad to be with you, neil. how can i help? i'm kind of a glass half full myself guy, so we can talk optimistically. especially if that glass has a margarita in it -- [laughter] neil: you and me both on that front, doctor. you know, that's what i've always enjoined in prior chats and listening to you, you always take us back a little bit. you understand the risk, but you also understand the arc and the

course of improvement. and it does seem real. but people might get cocky hearing this, doctor, right? they might let down their guard. i know you worry about that sort of thing. what do you tell them right now if they're hearing this and they're hearing the big cheese himself talking about it, what do you tell them? >> well, i'm glad to raise the importance of not letting down our guard right now because that could be the biggest mistake. just at the point where things are looking better as you heard in that report with numbers of cases and hospitalizations and even deaths coming down, they're still way too high. this is not the point to say, okay, we're all right, only that we're moving in the right direction. how do you keep moving in the right direction? it takes all of us. get your vaccine as soon as you have the chance to do so, don't wait. and i'm sorry people are tired of hearing it, wear your mask when you're to outside. you might be that person who's spreading the virus without razeeing it. and also -- realizing it. and also watch that indoor

gathering stuff. we've done this over and over again where we start to get enthusiastic, and maybe we jump the gun and start cutting corners and taking risks. let's not do that, america. we're on a good roll right now, let's stay on that pathway. neil: you've been very consistent on the mask thing. i know you were slamming maskless republicans saying, you know, that doesn't help matters any, but a lot of people feel with the vaccines out there and soon herd immunity or whatever they're calling it, doctor, that they don't need to. what grow tell them -- do you tell them? >> first of all, i would say what you feel isn't nearly as important as what the true facts tell you. we have too many situations of opinions that aren't based on evidence. so let's look at the evidence. the evidence is that things are coming could be, but it is -- down, but it is still entirely possible for people to be out there in public who are infected with this virus and don't know it. and the only way we're going to keep such individuals, and it might be any of us, from

spreading it is if they're careful about wearing that mask. it's not about protecting themselves as much as it is protecting everybody from them. even after vaccination. we don't know exactly whether it's still possible for that person to carry the virus. it might be, and until we have better data, masks are still important. i know people are tired of them. i'm tired of them too, but it's a simple measure, it's a life-saving medical dice. just put it on. even if we're overdoing it, that's fine. better than than run the risk of infecting more people. neil: how long do you think we'll be wearing them? [laughter] >> you know, i think when we get to the point where people are gathering together who have all been vaccinated and are all two weeks after their final dose where we do believe that safety is in place, people will be able to take their masks off. but if you're in mixed company where not everybody has reached that point, it's not safe yet, and so we will need to keep wearing them. and that means we're going to

have to get used to this -- or stay used to it, i guess -- you heard the prediction that by july we should have 600 million doses which is enough for 300 million people. that's starting to sound like most people would be able to gather without this risk. but we've got a ways to go. obvious, i have to say this applies if people do decide to take the vaccine. i'm still very worried about the resistance to that from people who have heard various conspiracy theories and who may be holding back for reasons that are bad for them and bad for the company. so, come on, y'all, let's look at the evidence and see what you want to do. i think if you look at the data, you'll say this is something i want for my family and myself. neil: you know, doctor, i think it was a teem magazine -- time magazine article in which you said we're making progress fighting this coronavirus but always preparing for the next one. i'm paraphrasing, but you remindedded us that, you know, getting out of the woods on one

doesn't mean you fall back into the woods and have to deal with another. what did you mean exactly? >> i'm afraid that's what history would tell us. the idea that this very severe pandemic will be the last one ever for humanity is simply not based upon what we've seen in the past. we've had influenza, we've had ebola and zika, and now we've got sars, hers and this -- mers, and this coronavirus. in fact, you could even say we're not done with this one if these merging variants begin to change the character of the virus enough that that matters. and i was going to say if there's one thing i'm worried about in terms of the downward trajectory of all of these measures of the pandemic right now that are really good, is if this b117 variant that first took other in the united kingdom is still on this a path to keep doubling every ten days. and it is more infectious. and so i don't want to see that wonderful downward curve flatten out and start back up again which is another reason to

double down all of these measures including mask wearing, to keep that from happening. it's up to all of us. neil: you know, director, i believe astrazeneca said that its drug has been showing effectiveness against some of these variants. i think all the major companies that have some treatment out have said variations of the same. the same thing. but can they? in other words, is there a difference with some of these morphed versions that are popping up in various places proving more stubborn than we earlier thought? >> well, certainly the version that popped up in south africa is the greatest source of current concern. because we saw the astrazeneca vaccine really didn't seem to be providing protection against that in south africa. fortunately that version -- while it's here in the u.s -- it's not widespread at all, and we want it to stay that way. the vaccines we have in the u.s., the pfizer, moderna and we

hope soon j&j if fda decides to approve it by next week seem to be pretty good in that that regard. there is a little bit of an impact of that south african variant in reducing the level of antibodies that get generated, but probably it should still be good enough to provide protection. but we have to watch that closely. you never know, what's the next one? and is there some variant out there, if we don't get control of this pandemic in a few more months, that's even more resis temperature about the to our therapies and vaccines. that we don't want to have happen. neil: yeah, to say the least. dr. francis collins are, national institutes of health director. i'll see what i can do, talk to the margaritaville ceo that you're looking at that hotel possibly next time you're in new york. [laughter] it's very good talking to you, and thank you for keeping the nation calm through a very anxious period. be well. all right. the up 437 points. i think he added to that, he's

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♪ ♪ neil: all right. you think housing is hot? in florida it is on fire. i mean that in a good way,

expert on all things real estate particularly in florida, katrina, it's going and going and going, isn't it? >> it is. we have people migrating here by the minute. there's high demand, low supply, low interest rates and prices continue to rise. we're also seeing that new home starts are beginning to take place, but the cost of supply and the lead time is basically still lagging. we have the demand which is causing bidding wars, people paying over asking price, closing in as little as a week, doing one-day inspection periods. i've been doing this for 22 years, this is one of the craziest markets aye ever seen and experienced. neil: does it feel too frothy? i don't want to rain on the parade, but that sounds like the end of the last housing boom. >> this time around, neil, people are reevaluating the importance of home after the

pandemic, and they realize that they can work remotely, and also there's an emotional component to this. people realize that the quality of life, their quality of life is more important. so they're beginning to really want more space, more time with family. they don't want to drive in traffic. one of the main requests are actually home office space or space for children, you know, to actually do their the home schooling. so i think this trend's going to continue into 2021 with prices continuing to rise. neil: all right. katrina, i apologize for our truncated time, but you wrapped it up there. >> thanks so much, neil. neil: more after this. ♪ the holidays weren't exactly smooth sledding this year, eh santa? no, but we came through smelling of mistletoe. . .

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neil: all right. we crossed out 32,000. slightly under it right now. let's hope that charles payne doesn't screw this up. charles, my friend, to you. charles: i will try my best not to, that's for sure. thanks a lot, neil. good afternoon, everyone i'm charles payne this is making money. we're seeing an epic tug-of-war in the market yet bulls are winning. many parts of the investment story are changing. reopening stocks absolutely on fire. banks on fire. i've been talking about the commodity super cycle, folks. it is real. we're hearing whispers of 100-dollar oil prices. how do you handle the gyrations. we'll answer the question what ask a value stock? meanwhile president biden meeting with top lawmakers at this hour as he prepares to sign an executive order that will review the u.s. supply chain from everythin f