keith, we've got to leave it at that. keith keith fitzgerald, great to see you. thank you all so much for watching a very busy hour starting with the president, and moving on to cheryl casone. i have to make a correction, cheryl, forgive me, but biden spoke for one hour and two minutes. i said he was under the one hour mark. a lot of people making money one way or another on that bent, the over or under. apparently he was over by two minutes. so i just had to make that correction. cheryl: daimpled, i think h.r.'s on the phone for you right now, so i'll let you go. [laughter] thank you, david asman. there was a lot happening, as he just mentioned. you know, help is here, hope is on the way, so says president joe biden at the first news conference of his presidency. the president today setting a new coal of vaccinating 200 americans in his first 100 days. we are going to have to full

recap on the wide-ranging news from the east room of the white house. meanwhile, three of the nation's top tech ceo testifying before congress today. what the leaders of facebook, google and twitter had to say about potential regulation of content on their sites. larry kudlow is going to be here to weigh in later in the hour. and it has been a wild rude on wall street today -- ride on wall street. markets are higher right now, can't even keep up. the dow at one point was down as much as 348 points at the low. now take a look at it. we're up 127 points. the s&p's up 16. we're hitting session highs right now. s&p was down 35, the nasdaq was down 175, now the nasdaq is up 14. you've got to today with us for this last hour. these numbers have been very volatile today. we did have some good economic numbers this morning, that is adding to the bulls' case. we are going to talk exclusively to richmond fed president thomas bar kin about where he sees the

american economy headed. and we will introduce you to one man who is playing match maker with military veterans and companies both large and small as members of congress push to help our nation's heroes succeed in business. and we begin at the white house where the president just wrapped up his first news conference about half an hour ago. he was speaking in the east room. 65 days into his presidency, president biden was asked about topics ranging from the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, the economy, he talked about gdp, jobs, china, infrastructure, a lot of questions on immigration. troops in afghanistan and a whole heck of a lot more. but the president boasting that his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan is is the key to giving the american economy a boost. listen. >> since we passed the american rescue plan, we're starting to

see new signs of hope this our economy. since it was passed, a majority, a majority of economic forecasters have significantly increased their projections on the economic growth that's going the take place this year. they're now projecting it will exceed 6%. 6% growth in gdp. cheryl: blake berman joins us live from the white house with all of the highlights. >> reporter: hi there, cheryl. 62 minutes for the president in his very first presence if conference, the president taking questions from ten different reporters. you listed many of the topics that the president got into. you can kind of boil it down to three major topics in particular, infrastructure, immigration and the filibuster. the president making it clear that he wants a major with investment in infrastructure to be his administration's next major legislative priority. and the president suggested that when he unveileds part of that

package next week, it could very well have a focus on climate change. here was the president on infrastructure. >> it's the place where we will be able to significantly increase american productivity, at the same time providing really good jobs for people. but we can't build back to what they used to be. we have to build finish the environment's, global warming's already done significant damage. >> reporter: the issue of immigration started and ended the question and answer part of the press conference. the president tried to make the argument that the surge along the southern border is cyclical and that the u.s. system to deal with it was dismantled by his predecessor. the president says the biden administration will try to address root causes in central america and that negotiations are happening with mexico. >> we're trying to work out now with mexico their willingness to

take more of those families back. we're building back up the capacity that should have been maintained and built upon that trump kiss mantled. -- dismantled. it's going to talk time. >> reporter: the president also suggested at least at this point in time he is not for breaking the filibuster in the senate, or at least for senate democrats doing that which would give democrats in washington free run at legislation. the president says unless -- or at least suggested his position on that could potentially change, as he put it, if there is a lockdown based on complete chaos. by the way, the president made a bit of news as he said it is at least his expectation, as he put it, at this point in time that he will run for president again in 2024 and that the vice president, kamala harris, would be on the ticket. cheryl in. cheryl: and just to confirm, next week the infrastructure bill. >> reporter: next week, the president -- march 31st, which would be next wednesday, the president or at least the white house has announceed he will be going to pittsburgh,

pennsylvania, to unveil his build back better plan. the president today i think slipped and said friday, maybe suggesting tomorrow, but at least the official announcement from the white house, cheryl, is that the build back better plan will be unveiled next week in pittsburgh. cheryl: yeah. we're seeing caterpillar and a lot of infrastructure plays actually jumping op the news. so, you know, initially the markets were kind of quiet, but we're seeing a reaction now. blake burman live from the white house, thank you for that update, sir. let's bring in our floor show, greg swenson and larry silver joining us. it's been a roll roller coaster of a day for the market. we've been down 348 points on the dow at the low. greg, now we're getting this massive turn-around. do you think it was the comments from president biden? do you think that it's just more volatility, we're -- this is just kind of the willing trading session we've got to get used

to? what's going onsome. >> i think it's more typical roll tilt and less of the biden -- volatility and less of the biden press conference. he did mention infrastructure, and that might have been what's driving some of these stocks like caterpillar that you mentioned. but i think, generally speaking, you know, he stayeded away from too much discussion about the so-called stimulus package. he spoke, yes, a lot about infrastructure, but i think he got stuck on immigration9 and the filibuster quite a bit. so so you'll notice, you know, he called the infrastructure package, you know, a way of providing good jobs which i'm a little bit concerned about because, you know, it's the private sector that usually creates jobs. i'm not sure that his comments really are market moving today, but i think in the short term the market should be fine. in the long term is what we should worry about with the tax increases that are on the way. cheryl: larry, i thought his comments about his past conversation with xi jinping was

interesting, what is that relationship going to be. we still don't really know yet. infrastructure and then also stimulus and gdp, larry. he mentioned that 6% call that most economists have for gdp for 2021. >> exactly right. and and the thing is, it's really way out there because, like, gdp consensus, yes, 6%, and you look at new york fed, 5.5%, atlanta's not too far away. but the issue that every we have to deal with is that we have to remember that a lot of it halfway through the pandemic is locally oriented. is this a all front-loaded? is this the best we're going to see, the first half of 2021, because of gdp projections, because of stimulus? infrastructure sounds great, but it's going to take a long time to implement that. so i think the three things we have to continue to look at is the fiscal which consists of monetary policy, taxes, infrastructure, inflation and growth. and so he said a lot of good

things today. it did comfort the markets, but at the end of the day, we have a lot of digging to do and a pathway has just begun. cheryl: i want to get your takes on the energy stockses, i wanted to ask you about the suez canal. as far as oil goes, i'm looking at more pressure on the oil contract. we were down 5% yesterday, now down begun about 4% and change. we've got $9 billion of goods that are stuck in the suez canal that can't get through on a daily basis. this is day three now. >> yeah, no, exactly. and i think that's affecting everything. a million barrels a day pass through the suez canal. i think the market believes that perhaps this is like a short-term thing, they'll figure it out sooner than later, and the oil will continues to pass. we have to keep in mind that the oil price have reached a high over the last two months.

it's more than anything people just scratching their head at, is it demand oriented or really the lack of supply or a little bit of both. having to be stuck the in the suez canal definitely put a monkey wrench into things, but oil hasn't acted the way we would think it would act. cheryl: who would have thought that would have shake taken place. greg swenson, larry shover, gentlemen, great to see you both. thank you. >> thank you. cheryl: well, the golden state kicking off its new net neutrality laws today, but why is the biden administration if jumping into the fray? charlie gasparino's going to break it. and the closing bell going to be ringing, we now have 49 minutes and change to go, and we are up 122. a very, very volatile day. you'll want to stay with us into the close. "claman countdown" coming right back. ♪ ♪

[announcer] durán catches leonard with a big left. ♪♪ 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. and there's nothing down there with you but the choice that will define you. do you stay down? or. do you find, somewhere deep inside of you, the resilience to get up. ♪♪ [announcer] and this fight is a long way from over, leonard is coming back. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪ ♪ ♪♪ it's not "pretty good or nothing." it's not "acceptable or nothing." and it's definitely not "close enough or nothing." mercedes-benz suvs were engineered with only one mission in mind. to be the best. in the category, in the industry... in the world. visit your local mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional lease and financing offers. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. ♪ ♪ we started with computers. we didn't stop at computers. we didn't stop at storage or cloud. we kept going. working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. and help make a hospital come to you, instead of you going to it. so when it comes to your business, you know we'll stop at nothing.

we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa ♪ want to save hundreds on your wireless bill? we're made for. with xfinity mobile, you can. how about saving hundreds on the new samsung galaxy s21 ultra 5g? you can do that too. all on the most reliable network? sure thing! and with fast, nationwide 5g included - at no extra cost? we've got you covered.

so join the carrier rated #1 in customer satisfaction... ...and learn how much you can save at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings. ♪ cheryl: so we have this fox business alert right now. the meme stocks are actually surging today. first let's look at gamestop. the stock is up 46 change.

remember -- 46% and change. this was in the middle of the frenzy between the reddit kids -- kids, the reddit rebellion and the hedge funds and the short squeeze there. amc entertainment up about 21.5%. gamestop faltered yesterday when they avoided taking questions on their earnings call which was kind of problematic for some analysts. we're also seeing some other names. as you can see, they're surging in this final hour of trading, that reddit rebellion, i know liz likes to say that. well, tech was under the microscope today, but telecom laws would be the biden administration's next focus, particular california's passage of net neutrality. charlie gasparino joining us with more details, how the biden administration is looking to lobby the very companies they're hoping to regulate. charlie. >> you would think the biden administering would be for -- administration would be for net

neutrality. the obama administration implemented, trump reversed it, biden wants it. net neutrality is a fancy way of saying everything is equal on the internet, you can't throttle services for payment. it's to provide a net that is neutral to everybody, at least downloading stuff. it's very controversial, very complicated. but here's one of the unintended consequences of california doing its own net neutrality law. apparently, in doing so they ended this popular program, free service for veterans. it was some sort of a free service app that veterans were able to access. they couldn't access it because it was designed for veterans under the law, specifically it has to be open to everybody, not just veterans. only veterans can engage in these free services, is they can't be used anymore. this is how weird it is. what we understand is that the biden administration is trying to put the genie back in the bottle as we speak. what they're looking to do is

jawbone telecom companies to figure out a work-around this weird quirk in this net neutrality law that's only in california. again, it could be for the u.s., that still has to come once we get the fcc's need. and if you know anything about tim wu, a longtime consumer advocate, proponent of net neutrality, he's out there lobbying the tech industry association, what's known as the ctia, basically telling them figure something out on this because we're going to look like idiots supporting net neutrality while it screws over veterans. and this act is going on as we speak. whether they can make the work-around, we don't know yet. we do know that the jawboning is going on right now, and if we find out exactly how they deal with this issue, i'll come back and report it. we should point out that lydia moynihan, who broke the story, my producer, actually had a very quick conversation with tim wu

where she asked him the questions, and then he hung up on her. that's nice. the ctia -- [laughter] declined to comment. we should point out tim wu said he's not commenting in a follow-up text she sent him. very fascinating stuff. there's a lot of moving pieces with this crazy legislation. it's not all it's meant to be. net neutrality sounds good on one end, but there are unintended consequences on the other. this is one of them as it is manifesting itself in california. and as you rightly reported, cheryl, that net neutrality law went into effect today, correct? cheryl: yes, today. >> okay. back to you. cheryl: all right. charlie gasparino, thank you very much. transparency should be the name of the game. charlie, thank you. >> you got it. cheryl: well, recovery looking like it is setting in. 684,000 americans filing for unemployment benefits last week, but that's -- it's a big number,

but it's the lowest level of weekly claims since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. actually brought you numbers this morning on" mornings with maria." first time below 700,000 since -- in the last year, since the pandemic. and as unemployment eases, one executive is making it his mission to help america's veterans make their way into the work force, and he's doing this alongside some of the biggest names in business. one of his massive job fairs even going on right now. kevin o'brien will be joining me in moments. the closing bell rungs 41 minutes -- rings 41 minutes from now. ♪ ♪ wealth is breaking ground on your biggest project yet. worth is giving the people who build it a solid foundation. wealth is shutting down the office for mike's retirement party. worth is giving the employee who spent half his life with you, the party of a lifetime.

wealth is watching your business grow. worth is watching your employees grow with it. principal. for all it's worth. ♪ mom and dad left costa rica, 1971. and in 1990, they opened lrazu. when the pandemic hit, pickup and delivery was still viable. that kept us afloat. keeping our diners informed on google was so important. the support from our customers, it honestly kept us going. i will always be grateful for that. ♪ my name is trisha. i'm 70 and i live in mill valley, california.

my biggest passion is gardening. i love to be outdoors. i have jaybirds that come when i call. i know how important it is to feed your body good nutrition. i heard about prevagen and i heard about the research behind it. taking prevagen, i have noticed that i can think clearly. my memory is better. i can say that prevagen is one of the most outstanding supplements i've ever taken. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home.

some say this is my greatest challenge. governments in record debt; inflation rising, currencies falling. but i've seen centuries of this. with one companion that hedges the risks you choose and those that choose you. the physical seam of a digital world, traded with a touch. my strongest and closest asset. the gold standard, so to speak ;) people call my future uncertain. but there's one thing i am sure of... losing a tooth didn't stop you but your partial can act like a bacteria magnet,

putting natural teeth at risk. new polident propartial helps purify your partial and strengthens and protects natural teeth. so, are you gonna lose another tooth? not on my watch! ♪ cheryl: today's pop stocks begins with a departure. renewable energy firm sunpower ceo tom warper is step -- warner is stepping down after 18 years

with the company. sunpower, as you can see, is up more than 3%. viacomcbs is issuing $3 billion in new shares, actually putting pressure on those shares right now as you can see, stock is down nearly 7%. it cropped about 32% -- dropped about 32% following the announcement on tuesday. today moffett if nathanson cut the target to sell and lowered the price target to $56 a share. viacom is in the red right now. apple was recently awarded a patent for a lidar system that puts the tech giant closer to a self-branded autonomous ev. check in on how other lidar stocks are taking the news. we're looking at luminar, ouster and all of those stocks are higher, in particular ouster's getting a bump of more than 3%.

and the nft craze continues after a filing showed that the media company is going to develop unique digital assets that are linked to its film library. the stock was already surging yesterday on news of an nft partnership between dolphin entertainment and hall hall of e resorts. the stock up more than 17%. well, just under 3,000 veterans just wrapped up interviews with some of the top companies in the nation, companies like amazon, chase, travelers, verizon and the u.s. post office. taking part this a two hour virtual job fair with many of our veterans who are at home, but they're looking to get back into the work force. here to talk about the event is the man behind the push to hire these heros or veteran recruiting managing partner kevin o'brien. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me, cheryl.

cheryl: how did it go today? >> we had about 2700 veterans from all over the world that participated in just two hours. so it's great to see that a lot more energy in the job market and folks aring looking to get back to work. cheryl: what were the companies looking for? whattypes of jobs were they interviewing for in. >> when we do these events, you know, we try to keep them as general as possible to attract as many job seekers as we can, but some of the key jobs that everyone's always looking for are i.t., operations analyst, drivers, we can't find enough of them. skilled labor, but we're having a really tough time with that right now. cheryl: what are some of the challenges the veterans themselves are facing? is there a particular skill set that we're seeing they're lacking, or is there a skill set from their military service that actually is a strength to these companies? >> i think the hottest one right now is logistics and supply

chain just with everything that the government's been involved with between the wars and even the pandemic, right, where we've had to move a lot of access to personnel around a short order of time. that naturally correlates to jobs in supply chain, lo just ins field in the -- logistics field. so that's probably the hottest market. i wouldn't necessarily say there's a hole in the market any different than any job seekers out there, i think the biggest challenge we face is it's so exciting right now to not go back to work with all the money that the government's giving you. if you're making less than $60,000 a year, it's a tough sell telling someone they need to get back to work for less money. cheryl: i have friends that are bartenders that are making more staying at home than they would be if they were working here in new york city right now. let me ask you about these companies, in particular about the pay. is there kind of a range, a pay range? are we seeing that kind of go higher as they really have to hunt for these specific jobs that are in high demand? >> yeah.

i'll give you an example. drivers, for example, almost every company that we work with that needs drivers, they're now taking people without experience meaning they'll help you get your cdl, they're offering 5, 10, even $15,000 sign-on bonuses. the defense contractors with work with are offering sign-on bonuses for i.t. and engineers. so the employers are getting creative, and i think what's driving that is the fact that it's so hard -- the quality people never lost their job. they just happen to be working from home. but the employers that need that talent, they have to get creative. they're upping the pay, whether it's regular pay or sign-on bonuses or snuffs to bring -- incentives to bring people onboard. they're giving $10,000. cheryl: and some of these are six-figure salary jobs, i'm assuming. >> oh, sure. cheryl: a couple of senators pushing this new act, it's called the hire veteran heroes

act of 2021. mike braun from indiana and maggie hassan of new hampshire, they want to see more veterans either work at the v.a. or work in the health care system that supports our nation's veterans. and i think that that's there's kind of a lack of applicants out there as well. it's a connection i hadn't made myself before, and i'm wondering if you're seeing that, because health care skills from the military, that's a pretty good skill set, correct? >> no, it absolutely is. but i think health care when you look at that from the outside in, it's like who wouldn't want that job. but in reality, there's such a shortage of enoughses and health care workers because -- of nurse s and health care workers because we have more jobs than we have people to fill them. you have you have to pull them from something to go to work there. and when you look at the v.a., it's a great place to work because you're giving back. but when you look at the jobs in the private sector, up times the

v.a. doesn't compete. cheryl: ooh, so it's pay. that's interesting. maybe these two senators -- now i'm going to have to call them up, get them on the show -- [laughter] find out if that's something they're going to need to address. kevin o'brien, thank you for being here. >> thanks again, cheryl. take care. cheryl: thank you for all you do for our veterans out there. well, let's move on to the story of the day. ooh, oil coming back down to earth. we are down, as you can see, about 4.75% right now. crude futures doing all of this of after spiking yesterday on that blockage in the suez with canal. we were jumping 5% yesterday at this time. efforts are underway to dislodge that 220,000 ton, 1300-foot ship, the ever given, from that key trade passageway. the log jam is leaving other traders to search out a new route. a potential $10 billion disruption to the economy. and, oh, by the way, that's a daily number. what richmond fed president

voting member thomas barkin has to say about the latest inflationary threat. closing bell, we are 30 minutes away, and as you can see, we have got green arrows. dow up 178, s&p up 18, nasdaq up9.5. we'll if right back. ♪ so you only pay for what you need. thank you! hey, hey, no, no limu, no limu! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ this isn't just freight. these aren't just shipments. they're promises. big promises. small promises. cuddly shaped promises. each with a time and a place they've been promised to be. and the people of old dominion never turn away a promise. or over promise. or make an empty promise.

we keep them. a promise is everything to old dominion, because it means everything to you. financing the home of your dreams doesn't require going to different lenders. sofi is a one-stop-shop for your finances- designed to work better together. get a home loan or home refi or fund home improvements with a personal loan. all in one place. that's better together. and get lower rates on personal loans when you have sofi money or invest. that's better together. and that's why members choose sofi to help make their dream home a reality.

♪♪

to help make their dream home a reality. these days, we want sophisticated but simple. cutting edge made user friendly. in other words, we want a hybrid. and so do retailers. which is why they're going hybrid, with ibm. a hybrid cloud approach with watson ai helps manage supply chains while predicting demands with ease. from retail to healthcare, businesses are going with a smarter hybrid cloud, using the tools, platform and expertise of ibm. (judith) at fisher investments, we do things differently and other money managers don't understand why. (money manager) because our way works great for us! (judith) but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first.

(money manager) so, what do you provide? cookie cutter portfolios? (judith) nope, we tailor portfolios to our client's needs. (money manager) but you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right? (judith) we don't have those. (money manager) so what's in it for you? (judith) our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments we're clearly different. ♪ cheryl: today's final print of fourth quarter gdp came in at 4.3%, better than expected, policymakers are expecting it to expand about 6.5% in 2021. chairman jerome powell telling npr that as covid economic stimulus and advantage a city nations allow the -- vaccinations allow the u.s. economy to recover, central bankers may be able to pull back emergency support. but how soon could that happen? if let's find out from fomc

voting member and richmond federal reserve president tom barkin. he is here with edward lawrence. take it away, sir. >> reporter: thank you very much. a voting member, ap an important voice on that committee. i want to get right into this talking about inflation, cheryl mentioned the growth could spark inflation. the federal reserve chairman said we'll see a modest surge this year, predicting 2.4%. i filled up my car yesterday with gas, it was almost $1 more a gallon than the last fill-up, that's a lot. could you see inflation prompting a move in the federal funds rate by the end of the year? >> our guidance is really clear, we'd need to see us move toward maximum employment. we're 9.5 million jobs short of that. we'd have to see inflation at 2%, that may happen this year, and we'd have to feel it was

headed sustainably for an overshoot for some time. the i think we're going to see price pressure, but i want to emphasize one thing. there are what people call base effects. we had three deflationary months in the last year, in the next three months we're going to roll over those, so the reported numbers are going to look higher because you've rounded over some weak comps. by the way, the next three months were quite strong the comps. so i think in terms of coming to a settled ground in terms of baseline, that's going to be six months of inflation. and then i think you will see vaccines, fiscal stimulus, warmer weather, pent-up demand free up a set of consumers who are, frankly, like i am, exhausted by being isolated. and you'll see strong spending at a time when you've got supply constraint. that often leads to price pressure. i think we'll see that. but that's -- i just want to remind you, inflation's a longer term phenomenon.

you talked about your gas prices, they go up and down. longer term, rewe going to change inspectations of where prices -- expectations of where prices are. i guess when i talk to businesses in our district, i don't hear them saying, hey, there's a different paradigm here. they're still worried about price transparency and the risk to consumers moving to another provider. they're still worried about the big retailers and whether they'll take a price -- >> reporter: what about all the accommodation? what about with the accommodation though from congress? we're seeing a lot of money being pushed in by congress, next year could we see the rates go up then? >> well, we've given outcome-based guidance, not candidate-based. so we'll see rates move when -- 2% inflation and a modern overshoot for some time. >> reporter: i want to turn to jobs. i know you been doing a lot of

research on jobs mobility. people are working from home, they have been for a long period of time if now, so are those people going to be moving back into the cities, and how does the vaccinations play into this? >> well, i think that cities have survived for thousands of years. they've survived wars, they're survived plagues, and they'll survive this. and so i think you will see people moving back to the citieses. of course, the question is what will happen to rents and what will happen to, you know, rates in those cities. but i think you'll see people coming back to the cities. i would also say that there has been a move toward housing and people investing in housing. one of the stories we've had for the last ten years has been millennials not buying house, you saw people losing money on houses, it's just been less attractive. i i think there's nothing like spending full time in your house or apartment to recognize the value of a better house or a house in general. so i think some of that is

happening for the millennials, so i think we will see continued housing demand even while we see people move back into the e cities. >> reporter: what do you think about people moving for jobs? do you think that mobility is still theresome. >> i am worried about this, but one positive sign is remote working. so one of the challenges we had in '09 was a lot of people displaced particularly in smaller towns and in the rust belt. and you had questions of people moving for the next job. well, the displacement here has been different, and i think with remote working there are a lot of people who are going to be able to get a job that doesn't require moving. where i am worried about mismatch though is, you know, all of the waiters and waitresses and housekeepers and the like, i'm not sure all those jobs will come back, and there's a huge demand for employers in health care, in manufacturing and construction, and the process of getting that group retrained and redeployed into those sectors, that is a place that i'm quite concerned. >> reporter: do you see -- have we avoided long-term scarring with what we've put out in the economy, or where do you

see the scarring coming in? >> well, i'm worried about the redeployment of that group, as i said, and i'd emphasize community college enrollment's actually down this year, and community colleges are the great trainers and redeployers in that population. and so i'm hopeful we'll see a return to are retraining, reskilling. that's one piece. another piece where you're going to see scarring is in the workers yet to come. people who have had to do education remote and haven't had the same kind of experience. and there's a lot of studies that show particularly in math that you don't learn are as fast, you don't learn as well. and i do worry there's a generation that's been out of the classroom for a year, and there'll be scarring in the future because of what they've gone through today. we're doing a series on our web site, we had our third one today, called district dialogues on this particular education thing. i'd encourage interested people to watch. >> reporter: in the last 30 seconds that we have left, and it's a big topic, but do you believe that inflation's going to spike around 2.4%?

is it going to come back down significantly, do you think, in next year? >> i think you will see a spike this year. i think the numbers are hard to know. and i do think you'll see a return closer to normal next year, and then we'll go from there. but you're not going to see extended fiscal stimulus next year. you're not going to see these supply chain disruptions next year. so some of the things driving prices this year just won't be in the mix next year. >> reporter: thomas barkin, i really appreciate you coming on. you herald it, better days ahead, cheryl. cheryl: no. and hopefully kids back in school. definitely heard that loud and clear. gentlemen, thank you very much. edward lawrence, thomas barkin, thank you. >> thanks. cheryl: well, social media taking center stage on capitol hill. what big tech ceos mark zuckerberg, jack dorsey had to say about policies with regard to misinformation and censorship

online. that hearing is still going on and, ooh, there's been some attacks on those ceos. we're going to talk about. closing bell rings in exactly 8 minutes. -- 18 minutes. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ i'm a verizon engineer. we built our 5g nationwide so millions of people could do what they love in verizon 5g quality. and in parts of many cities, we have ultra wideband, the fastest 5g in the world. this is 5g built right. only from verizon.

are you frustrated with your weight and health? it's time for aerotrainer, a more effective total body fitness solution. (announcer) aerotrainer's ergodynamic design and four patented air chambers create maximum muscle activation for better results in less time, all while maintaining safe, correct form. aerotrainer's unique design allows for over 20 exercises for a total body workout. plus, you can easily transition from one exercise to the next. want tighter abs and a stronger back to help relieve pain? do the aerotrainer super crunch. the pre-stretch works your abs even harder,

engaging the entire core. then it's the back extension, super rock, and lower back traction stretch to take the pressure off your spine and stretch muscles. planks are the ultimate total body exercise. start with a wall plank and progress with maximum muscle activation with comfort. work your lower body with the aerosquat or advanced super squat, all while in a safe, ergonomically correct position for maximum results. build your upper body with pushups. aerotrainer is perfect for bridges and total glute workout. (host) need to reduce stress? just stretch and breathe. (announcer) plus, it's a great platform to enhance yoga and pilates moves, even increase flexibility and reduce back pain for golfers. the aerotrainer is tested to support over 500 pounds. train hard, because aerotrainer can take it. it inflates and deflates in less than 30 seconds using the electric pump. aerotrainer works for families, beginners, and athletes. use it anywhere.

even strengthen your core while watching tv. head to aerotrainer.com now. aerotrainer's unique design allows for over 20 exercises for a total body workout, all while maintaining safe, correct form. now it's your turn to lose weight, look great, and be healthy. get off the floor and get on the aerotrainer. go to aerotrainer.com, that's a-e-r-o-trainer.com. ♪♪ cheryl: beats on earnings and revenue estimates and positive guidance for the current quarter has darden investors hitting the gas into the close. also on the menu as recovery9 from the pandemic sets in, a reinstated dividend. $17 million this worker bonuses and a minimum wage hike to $10 an hour starting next week. the olive garden parent saying it will ultimately raise its minimum wage to $12 an hour by

2022. the clear winner on the s&p for the day, taking a look at that stock. as you can see, it is up about 9%. well, the ceos of facebook, twitter and google back in the congressional hot seat today as they attempt to address the spread of misinformation on their platforms. in a virtual appearance, the three executives faced members of the house energy and commerce committee. at stake, the legal shield that protects their platforms from being held liable for their users' posts known as section 230. that hearing is going on -- i'm sorry, those pictures are from earlier. mark zuckerberg, by the way, offered suggestions on changes that he would support. listen. >> we report on the prevalence of each category of harmful content and how effective our systems are at identifying that content and removing it in advance. and i think the company should be held accountable for having effective systems to do that broadly. the second change that i would

propose is, is creating accountability for the large platforms that have effective systems in place to moderate and remove clearly illegal cop tent. cheryl: taking a look at facebook, google and twitter, kind of a mixed bag. facebook is slightly lower, alphabet up about half a percent, twitter is down 1.25%. with us now, the host of "kudlow," larry kudlow. so, you know, do you think it's time that section 230 gets reformed? larry: yes. cheryl: okay. larry: yes, yes. period, full stop, yes. the stuff i just heard, i didn't -- we were watching biden's press conference today, and that's going to be the theme of our show, so i didn't have time to focus on these testimonies. but, look, if they're going to act as editors and publishers, which is actually what he's saying. he's just trying to make a better mousetrap to be an editor and publisher regarding content. then they have to lose if not all of section 230, the

liability shield, you know, it has to be dramatically downsized so they would be liable. and basically as a free speech person, you know, i'm tired of them using a bunch of excuses. almost all of the penalties from the these guys fall on conservatives. and it's enough already. and congress should act on it. cheryl: well, i mean, they either banned or limited access to your former boss, president donald trump, the former president of the u.s. and, you know, representative mike doyle, when he opened up the hearing, he went right into regulation, and he went right on the attack. he basically blames them for what happened on january 6th. he said to all of them, this is your fault. this was organized on your platforms. you are at fault. do you kind of agree with that attack on these guys? >> is he a democrat? cheryl: he is a democrat. larry: i'll give him credit, okay? i don't know that i'd quite go that far, and we don't have time to talk about that whole business which was extreme he depressing and discouraging and

everyone hated. but i will give mr. doyle credit, he's raising important points. and, again, you know, in the early days these media platforms, social media platforms were just providers of content. okay? open to everybody. and what's happened now, particularly in the last year -- but it started a few years back -- they have become editors and publishers of the very content that they're supposed to put up there. and they're canceling stuff out. so, therefore, they should the lose the liability shield. that's all. and they could get with sued. and we've go to stand the up for free speech, cheryl. we just have to. it's not personal against these guys, but they're playing a little con game today, you know? i'm going to make this mousetrap better, i'm going to have better reporting, i'm going to have better monitoring. i don't want them to monitor. that's not their job. and if they think it is their job, then they should be liable for all kinds of things including slander.

cheryl: well, i am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the president's first press conference, news conference, of his presidency. so we'll get that from you in the next hour or fox business, larry. larry: thank you. cheryl: thank you. very much. his special guest today is former omb directer, mick mulvaney. "cud -- kudlow" at 4 p.m. eastern time. well, from tension-filled talks in alaska to ongoing backlash over human rights, china and the world controversy -- word controversy seem almost synonymous these days. and our countdown closer says it is time to leave china stocks and find new energy in the world of etfs. he's got his top tick pings coming up next -- top pucks coming up next. session high at one point, yeah, we're definitely at session highs on the dow, up 248. s&p, there you go, you're watching on your scream, s&p and

nasdaq hitting fresh records as well. closing bell is going to ring this ought minutes from now. -- eight minutes from now. we'll see. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it's not "pretty good or nothing." it's not "acceptable or nothing." and it's definitely not "close enough or nothing." mercedes-benz suvs were engineered with only one mission in mind. to be the best. in the category, in the industry... in the world. visit your local mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional lease and financing offers. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. ♪ ♪ let's meet the defending champs. kim kietz, investor. i invested in invesco qqq a fund that invests in the innovations of the nasdaq-100. like 3d rendering software. become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq. ♪

. . we started with computers. we didn't stop at computers. we didn't stop at storage or cloud. we kept going. working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. and help make a hospital come to you, instead of you going to it. so when it comes to your business, you know we'll stop at nothing.

use a single hr software? nope. we use 11. eleven. why do an expense report from your phone when you can do it from a machine that jams? i just emailed my wife's social security number to the entire company instead of hr, so... please come back. how hard is your business software working for you? with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in one easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com for a free demo. hon? first off, we love each other... if you wake up thinking about the market and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech from fidelity. [ cellphone vibrates ] you'll get proactive alerts for market events before they happen... and insights on every buy and sell decision.

with zero-commission online u.s. stock and etf trades. for smarter trading decisions, get decision tech from fidelity. cheryl: all right. we are now four minutes away from the closing bell. stocks holding near session highs. the dow was down 348 points at its low. take a look at it now. we're up six. new session high for the dow, 252. financials, does trees are sectors leading markets higher in particular. there are the financial names that are really shining right now. citi, b-of-a, goldman as you can see on your screen. adidas, nike, the latest u.s. companies facing blow back in china about comments of shinzhen where the country is accused of serious human rights abuses. the chinese media, singling out

h&m for comments made about the situation in shinzhen. china internet etf, i-shares china etf, down 8 and 4% respectively. bring in the closer, tom lyden, lyden,etf trend. a lot of investors love exchange traded funds, etfs, the best way to play a group. china seems to be a problem for etf investors? >> they have actually done pretty well, especially following up with the press conference with biden, china is under the radar for sure. china has not backed off on trade tariffs. that is probably a good sign. in addition as you point out some labor news that is a scare as well, cheryl. but one of the big news items yesterday was also the fact that the sec is looking at chinese companies and the fact they're not necessarily adhering to u.s.

accounting standards. this came up a few months ago but with a new sec chair, you might get a little more serious on it. they start delisting some of these chinese companies from u.s. exchanges, that is going to be a problem for etfs, they will have to remove them from the indexes. so a lot of things not really lining up well for china investors now and also, when you look at etfs and amount of flows that we've been seeing into china that might be an added concern. cheryl: well, i mentioned adidas, nike, u.s. companies, that once they run afoul of the chinese government, it is game over and these companies depend on the consumer and revenue stream that they get from china. want to move to energy. we've been following this story out of the suez canal and the ship that is still stuck. oil has been really volatile the last couple days but you like energy etfs. you like financial etfs, by the way is a strong group today for

the markets? >> well, they both are. as we're starting to open up. here we're in southern california. we're seeing traffic jams again we haven't seen over a year. it is costing more money to fill up the tank at the gas station. as we continue to open up, we'll definitely see more demand for oil as if we open up around the world that will be better for energy companies. as far as financials, we've seen rates start to creep up. today there was announcement mortgage rates are starting to creep up a little bit too. housing demand is strong. that is all good for banks. banks are more profitable when rates are rising. so a couple etfs, the energy select sector spider xle. we like for energy and also vanguard financial index etf, bfh, those are a couple to consider if you like those sectors. cheryl: we have the fomc's tom barkin on, he was talking about housing, about construction, and how millenials they're building

homes, they're buying homes. all of that is very, very good news. we need that for our economy. [closing bell rings] tom, thank you very much. here we go. not at session highs for the dow. that was 262. we'll take 205 to the upside. s&p up 21 at the close. nasdaq up for 14. that is it for me. ♪. larry: hello, everyone, welcome back to "kudlow." i'm larry kudlow. lots to talk about this evening. first off stocks closed the day higher. that's good, but that all happened way late in the afternoon long after president biden's news conference was concluded. they were basically flat during the newser. i was keeping track. we'll devote to various aspects of president biden's policy statements, lack thereof. i want to begin with something he said that really makes my teeth grind. here is what he said. >> i set a goa