maria: thank you to archegos and joseph. have a great day. we will see everyone tomorrow. "varney & co." begins right now. ashley webster is in for stuart. take it away. ashley: thank you. indeed i am actually webster in for stuart to varney and here's the big story, president biden unveiling his more than $2 trillion spending bill disguised as news the structure built, this has progressives written all over it. will he get through congress? we are on it. looking at futures as we get ready to kickoff the second quarter, across the board we are in the green. tech heavy nasdaq off a hundred 51 in the

premarket. warning, this is a disturbing video, a smuggler who drops two small children from a 14-foot high portion of the border wall, just abandoned and dropped. more lawmakers are said to visit the border i'm a but where's the urgency from the white house? we are on that story. good news on the vaccine front as pfizer and bio intact is still 90% effective, six months after you get the shot. it is opening day for baseball and as stuart talks about frequently on the show, people are getting out taking back their freedom. we have turned the corner gets the virus and we will take you live to wrigley field in a yankee stadium. may be stuart isn't one of those locations. with a big three hours ahead. it is thursday, april 1, it's no joke. "varney & co." is about

to begin. ♪♪ ashley: holland notes, classic, makes me feel brand-new. it's a brand-new month. president abiding unveiling the details of his two and a quarter trillion dollar infrastructure plan yesterday saying it will be funded by dramatically raising taxes on american corporations and. no surprise. a new study shows the corporate tax hike could treat our economy and cut nearly 160,000 jobs. let's bring in their good friend brian brenberg. good morning. how badly are we going to be hit by these tax increases? we know corporations, but i have a feeling the middle class will get clobbered as well.

>> i'm glad you said we the cosmic conception is when you raise taxes on corporations somehow it hits wall street but the truth is every time you raise taxes on a business they pass it through to workers in the lower wagers or customers in higher prices or shareholders, americans out hold the company in the retirement plan gets lower returns us would hits all of us in the problem is this corporate tax rate hike puts us at the top of the list of the most packs countries in the world we are ahead of the france again this increase, so in a moment when you are trying to compete, the president is always talk about competition and when you try to compete the last thing you want to do is give yourself the most uncompetitive tax rate in the world. that's what the president is talking about doing here to find , he calls it infrastructure, ashley, but it's like 5%, 10%

infrastructure just like the last stimulus bill, it's not what it's advertised to be. ashley: talking of advertising, president biden calls it the most significant federal jobs investment since world war ii, putting hundreds of thousands of people back to work, the critics will say to your point that you just made, higher taxes depresses economic activity and more importantly they destroy private sector jobs. >> you can call it a federal jobs plan. it's going to grow federal bureaucracy with a lot more people working in dc handling more of your money, but it's not a private sector jobs plan. it's the opposite. accompanies a look around the globe right now saying where can i operate where i wanted to do with the government constantly encroaching on the end this bill goes in the direction of pitting the government in everything and again that just infrastructure, it's healthcare, education,

child care, you name the sector ashley, the government is getting more involved so yes, it is a government jobs program, but it's not a private sector jobs program. that's what people want, that's what ultimately raises wages. stuart: is all this spending really needed because to your point about 25% actually goes to roads and bridges, the actual and the structure. >> look, i'll be spending yet to talk about all of it together. we had 2 trillion last month. we have 2 trillion now and we are talking about 2 trillion more, that is $6 trillion in new spending this year. we don't have any of that money. the president talked about paying for it with the corporate tax rate, he knows he won't do that because he says he will pay for eight years of spending over 15 years of borrowing. we don't need the spending. this economy needs to open and people need to get back to private

sector jobs. stuart: before we go, brian and i want to wish you a happy birthday. i had no idea. what's it like having a birthday on april fools' day? look at the balloons. there goes the budget again. >> so wonderful. it's a surprise every year. thank you so much. i will enjoy this day. stuart: i hope you do. you are a great guest on the show and have been for many years pure a birthday, brian brenberg >> thank you, ashley. ashley: that is the budget for the year on our special graphics. looking at futures, positive for-- modestly so for that best they can as. let's bring in kenny. thank you for joining us this morning. president biden as we just talked about planning to raise the corporate tax from 21 to my 28%, that you say

it's a smoke and mirrors. why do you say that? >> because they don't pay those rates in the first place. the loopholes of a take advantage of the productions, they end up paying somewhere in the high teens, so i guess the conversation should really be instead of raising the rates and leaving the loopholes so they pay less, why do we close loopholes in let them pay what they are supposed to pay and be done with it, but say you are going to raise this rates and do all this stuff when reality they aren't paying 20% anyway. stuart: of course, the other shoe will drop when we find out about personal taxes. there's been a lot of talking out of the side of your mouth with the white house when it comes to who will pay well, but i don't think there's any doubt about it. we will be paying more, the middle class will have to pay more tax. >> they will pay more taxes. we got a hint of that last week when suddenly

the story changed from anyone making less than $400,000 as an individual won't see anywhere in taxes and suddenly that changed and janacek eight that there was confusion because it's really per household so suddenly they widen the net and they will be able to scoop up more taxes-- taxes. in fact, your taxes will rise. i'm just waiting to hear what the next misunderstanding is coming out. stuart: quickly, i have about 20 seconds and looking ahead for the start of the new month in the markets, what are you expecting? >> i expect and i said this in my note i think there will be a rush into some of that the tuneup tech names that have gone clobbered in the first quarter, but i think as we move into earnings season and while i think it will be great, rates will rise and i think it's going to pause the slowdown again in the tech names

and reinvigorate the value. i'm not suggesting to get out of growth, not at all, but i think the value trade is far from over. stuart: very good. thank you. april, by the way, usually a strong month for the markets. thank you for joining us, kenny. president biden set to hold his first cabinet meeting today. let's bring in susan li. good morning to this timing seems to be deliberate speed to good morning. it's a week after his it was confirmed and also to promote the 2 trillion-dollar plus of the structure plan that he just unveiled yesterday. that will likely dominate dc throughout the summer and possibly shape next year's midterm, so lots to talk about. this afternoon's meeting will be distant with masks and held in the east room with 25 people in attendance where

janet-- janet yellen will all be attending in person. cabinet meetings these days are more about getting the government agencies on the same page than actually setting policy. president biden will likely make his priorities and values more clear to his team and for some it will be the first time meeting each other. other members as we know inauguration was shrunk. stuart: it wasn't hopefully they are all wearing nametags. also, back to the vaccine johnson & johnson delaying shipments of the coven vaccine. i guess how many unlikely to we are talking about 15 million doses of this one-shot vaccine. at j&j said about a problem with the production of a key ingredient in its vaccine at a facility during quality checks. j&j scrapped the batch, they say, they say they will still make enough

doses to meet production targets in the us in the coming months. j&j said it was able to meet the target of delivering 20 million vaccine doses in the us spending the last last month and expect to deliver an additional 24 million doses this month of april for a total of 100 million in the first half of this year by make. america needs a supply obviously as states reduce eligibility requirements. i have read some reports, but some states are in dire need of more vaccine doses as they try to get more of their population vaccinated. ashley: and a growing number of states opened it up or anyone, so that explains the shortage. thank you and by the way this also encompass studies showing covid-19 vaccine continues to be more than 90% effective for at least six months so that's good news in both the drugmakers pfizer and by odin tech up this morning. let's check futures. we are in the grain for the first of april.

let's see what happens when the bell actually rings in about 19 minutes. we witnessed elon musk make his famous exodus from california and now he's calling on others across the country to move to texas and work for him. we will have a story coming up. we were warned, then candidate joe biden did promise to get rid of the trumpet tax cuts. here's a reminder. >> on going to start with every version of the trumpet tax cuts. by eliminating some of these tax cuts. i'm going to eliminate the trumpet tax cuts. it's paid for by eliminating tax cuts. ashley: he did say it and is now claiming 83% of those cuts went to the rich, but that is simply not true and we have the numbers to prove it. we will be right back. ♪♪

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ashley: wall street is pricing in $4 trillion of infrastructure spending. as an investor i guess which a stocks could benefit the most 22 sectors according to bank of america, the obvious fake dirt like materials, industrial which usually benefits from investment cycle by the government and an uptick in government spending cycle means there is stock specific names and bank of america said you should choose a stocks sensitive to government spending and again wall street usually bets on these sensitive means so let's take the pipeline worker-- technology

equipment spenders meaning some of the money will go into chip equipment makers like land research. also recommending stocks of the highest sales sensitivity. travel service companies, bookings and amazon, not like they need the recommendation as a lot of people are bullish on amazon. ashley: interesting. thank you. president biden unveiled his two and a quarter trillion dollar infrastructure plan saying it would create millions of good paying jobs but our next guest says it will help the working class less than he thinks. the author of that piece is peter morici and he joins us now. good morning. make your case. >> essentially it's an inefficient program as he just spent

$2 trillion, 10 deficit is 3 trillion for the sharon interest rates are rising because the bond market won't accept all that borrowing and now he's going to spend maybe five or $600 billion over eight years on infrastructure, but to get that the economy has debate $2 trillion, four times as much because he is spending it in other places. would we get more invested if we told microsoft that for every dollar you spend you have to spend $3 and basically public housing , improving water systems and things of this nature bats what's going on here with a lot of waste. it's the kind of economics that made france what it is, france. [laughter] ashley: we will leave it there for now. another one, president biden bashing president pat-- president trump's tax cuts. >> i got criticized for giving tax breaks to

middle-class and poor folks last time. when trump's tax bill passed 83% of the money went to the top 1%. this is not to target those that made it, not to seek retribution. it's about opening opportunities for everyone else. ashley: you know what, according to the tax policy center, more than 64% of americans actually did get a tax cut under the 2017 law. he has his numbers wrong, peter. >> this is the big lie technique as nancy pelosi said the average person was not getting a tax break, but they were. let's look at the word retribution that he used if we get this program all the things he wants to do to personal taxes, capital gains taxes and so forth. if you are a venture capitalist in california or new york, and then if

you roll them all together your marginal tax rate on basically establishing a new company, you cash out and you get a although gains tax and all that and your marginal tax rate is about 80%. would you invest a lot of money in hoping it would work out so you can do an ipo and get your money back if you then have two base and 80 tax rate? i don't think so. that's retribution if i ever saw and then he put it together with the stuff the democrats want to do on capitol hill with for example in regards to mergers. they would have to prove that it wouldn't be anti- competitive, that it would actually be you know this prove a negative so you wouldn't be able to buy a small company if you are microsoft so the small guy won't be able to cash out. that's how we finance r&d and innovation in america, but that's not what this administration is about.

you have to have a better program here to focus more on woke studies. come to the university of maryland and i will give you the song sheet. america is no longer about making money in barack obama or joe biden's america, it's that simple. 80%, that's retribution. you may have a better chance of starting a new business in hong kong right now. [laughter] ashley: how dare you be successful and create wealth inc. coca-cola is joining delta in speaking out. how many companies have now spoken out? susan: twelve in total so far, some of the largest corporations microsoft, black rock and cbs and this is after 72 african-american black executives led by former american express ceo and

outgoing merck ceo calling on corporations to oppose voting restrictions. microsoft, apple, j.p. morgan among those speaking out and they are concerned in particular about the georgia law limiting the votes for communities of color and minorities. delta flat-out saying it was wrong within georgia's governor dismissing the corporate backlash and encouraging ceos to look at other states and compare the facts he says to georgia ashley: the debate goes on. thank you. susan: money talks as you know. ashley: always. when we come back the opening of the bell with about seven minutes from now and we expect a positive open with all the green on the screen on this april 1. we will be right back. ♪♪

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[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. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ashley: that's a look at the markets as we begin a new quarter, brand-new month. let's bring in dr. barton. historically, april,

when of the strongest months of stocks or do you see the trend continuing? >> i do. it's interesting how strong april has been through the years. you can go back 10 years it's the strongest month, you go back all the way to 1928 and still the second strongest of all the months, so it's a seasonably strong period and i like what's going on. we have the encouragement of the structure built which you have been talking about. the back-and-forth we will have a bath is obvious, but i think the encouragement that we might get something done has a lot of stocks excited all the way to the industrials down to semi conductors. ashley: what about growth stocks versus big tech? the 10 year was down from when it hit 177 earlier this week and now you look at big tech up in the premarket.

would you like to put your money now, what one sector are you looking at? >> i love the rotation back in the tech. we have talked about this for a year. you and i and me and stuart talked about this that we get tech where people rotate out of tech taking profits of the that into cyclical stocks like the industrials and materials stocks. we just had another bout of that coming out of tech into industrials and i think we are about to continue the uptick that we have seen in tech. i like the big tech stocks. i love the semi conductors. i think you can get them a good bargain prices after this last little tech selloff so that's where i'm concentrating my efforts right now. ashley: dr. barton, thank you. as we start this new quarter, it's interesting to see we pointed out just there

that the big tech stock moving nicely higher just ahead of the bell. what about the big recovery stocks in the airline ticket may take them longer to get back on their feet, but here we go as they are clapping and waving, getting ready to start the second quarter. this year is already flying. we are now underway. let's see if we can see that gains play out on the dow jones as we see them click in. certainly more in the green than not read, up 90 points out of the gate. up almost 104 points. johnson & johnson, some lagging, but generally on the upside with s&p 500 at 4000, up about 28 points, is that an intraday high? i think that is, not bad out of the gate. looking at the nasdaq, tech heavy sector we saw on the premarket up one and a quarter precent,

13405 on the nasdaq. pretty good out of the gate on april 1. let's look at micron and western digital, both of nicely, both looking at possible deals with the japanese chip maker and they are about to go public. susan, is this a big deal? susan: yes, $30 billion, pretty big number and they are looking at least western and micron looking to buy the chipmaker in japan according to the "wall street journal" so there's a global scramble taking place not just for chip using cars but memory chips and smartphones and other devices in a deal could be finalized as a soon as this spring in the next few months. we also have micron making more money on sales and also pretty upbeat forecast for this year and that's why the stock is rallying this morning. ashley: nice indeed.

now let's look if we cannot the electric carmakers nio. both of those cars are up nicely. susan: both are delivering a lot more cars than expected. nio delivering 20000 electric cars in the first quarter of this year, up close to 400% from last year and a similar gains, delivering the 13000 the year. that's up almost 400%, but a problem for these carmakers in china is that the global chip supply and shift shortage is affecting some of these names. ashley: 400%, good lord. quantum escape makes lithium batteries and the stock is soaring up 13% plus, is this

because of the deal with loss wagon? susan: lithium battery producer, a huge rally in the stock. it was a bias by just 15% of premarket. the company says it's next the requirement to close a 100 million-dollar investment by volkswagen the auto company will now test quantum state lithium metal cells in their lab and one has deep pocket backers including bill gates. ashley: that's a good person to have. it's like a bond movie. this is an online learning platform and they had a strong debut on the new york stock exchange yesterday. we thought maybe could the street continue, at the half a percent this morning. microsoft just when a u.s. army contract for augmented reality

headsets. much is this deal worth? susan: a lot. i love this deal. $22 billion over 10 years. microsoft will deliver to the u.s. army more than 120,000 of these lens devices that have augmented reality features to help you in the field and of course in battle so that's a great thing for the u.s. army and great technology. the deal follows a contract microsoft got earlier to build prototype headsets of these lenses for the army so it's been a while in the making. the contract is kind of a makeup as well because it comes about 18 months after microsoft also won the contract from the pentagon that could be worth a to 10 billion and they won that over amazon and now amazon sued the us defense department saying it was politically motivated when trump was in office and jeff bezos owned the "washington post". ashley: that was quite a battle.

this story is interesting. apple making changes to its theory feature. susan: we are talking about the new ios operating system update and they are adding two new voice options for you. listen. >> hi, i'm theory. choose the voice you would like me too use. >> hi, choose the voice you would like me too use. >> hi, choose the voice you would like me too use. >> hi, choose the voice you would like me too use. susan: there are four options and before it was two options with a female and male voice, but it seems that they are more energetic younger voices maybe. as for apple, still trading under the 125 level. we had one upgrade coming through saying it's worth $142 because of more innovation to come and yes that

includes the apple car in the future. ashley: interesting, the second version sounded more american to me and the first one more flat and english. susan: really? ashley: , in my ear. who knows. stuart would love that. anyway, thank you. let's look at the dow jones winners if we can. and there they are, sales force at the top, microsoft doing a big deal with the military, walt disney, american express are all of nicely. let's look at the s&p 500 and those stocks leading the way, western digital. of course, marathon, applied materials, micron in that deal and lam research all of nicely. how about the best that?

same groups in their, micron, and so on. nasdaq winners, all but five or 6%. by the way netflix it just purchased of the rights to the ninth out sequel. how much do they spend? susan: north of the $400 million i don't know if you think that's a big price tag, i thought it was a big price tag. wow, a lot of money. ashley: i think it is, even in this day and age. susan: the first edition was quite good, i thought. daniel craig was in it. because it was so popular the first time around it looks like the sequels are worth more and daniel craig is set to reprise his role as the super sleuth investigator. it shows there's this rush and scramble for content for the streaming companies and

we know netflix pays out $13 billion each year for their content to keep the 200 million subscribers paying including the end you. ashley: i saw knives out thoroughly enjoyed it, but you're right content is king. president biden once governors to reinstate their mark-- mask mandate, but with this, mississippi seven-day average avenue in case cases has increased by over 48% since they lifted their mask mandate. the governor has a new message to president biden and he will join me and as i hear in the next hour. did you hear about this? miley cyrus coming in with a wrecking ball giving out $1 million in stocks. we will tell you about how she's going to do it next. ♪♪ ♪♪

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ashley: very dramatic, is that? mass exodus. we told you about this, elon musk has been part of that moving from california to texas, but now he wants to be a pied piper and is called down people to follow him. susan: i think a lot of people will given his followers. we love the elon musk. he says come join us treating the tesla manufacturing plant being built will hire more than 10000 and he says please consider moving to greater brownsville and texas and encourage friends to do so. space x is hiring along with tesla, engineers, technicians, builders, supportive all kinds. as for tesla's assignment truck factory , they call it a giga factory where they

will build the truck. also, possibly the battery production, battery cell production in the future so not just tesla but space x and he has said this before, going to texas for lower taxes and getting rid of the group think which he thinks handcuffs silicon valley and doesn't reward their successful ceos or billionaires anymore. ashley: no, they reward them with pretty high taxes, but anyway next one, susan. miley cyrus of all people giving out stocks to fans. susan: she's promoting a million dollars worth of stocks offered by jack dorsey's other company, financial payment company square in their cash app. you can enter a giveaway coinciding with the 15th anniversary of the premier of her television series, hannah montana. she went on twitter to promote this and also on

her instagram profile and she's making stocks cool again. she's not the first one to advertise cash app in the 1 million-dollar giveaway. it was also cardi b and meghan thee stallion, both rap artists that have the controversial performance recently, but this is how you make it relevant to the younger: niels. you bring in celebrities like my rate-- miley cyrus and the rappers like cardi b to target the right demographics. ashley: kind of makes sense. miley cyrus is a long way from hannah montana days that's for sure but she's very talented. let's check the markets as we are moving higher across the board modestly so on the dow jones, but nasdaq pushing forward nicely. impressive. let's bring in mike lee if we can. good to see you.

i read your notes and you say inflation fears are over. how do you say that, make your case. >> i have never been worried about inflation. what you see-- the money supply has increased dramatically over the last year about two to 25%, but the velocity of money has been in steady decline since the great financial crisis. what happened the last time after biden was in the white house they waged jihad on banks and as a result-- the velocity of money never picked up so when you start to print money the way they did you just flooded the zone and in the process of money can't multiply any quicker. combine that with higher taxes and high regulation, output and productivity for the economy collapses so until the velocity of money can really increase dramatically, which has been in steady

decline since 2009, and accelerated through this pandemic, we aren't going to have any real inflation, but when you print money you get financial asset inflation so we are essentially stealing return and growth in financial assets from the future and this leads to an economic malaise, vis-à-vis japan so anyone out there talking about this runaway inflation, ask one simple question, why did it happen in japan over the last 20 plus years? ashley: let me follow up on that, what about the personal savings rate. i was looking at some numbers, average pre-pandemic around 7% to as high as 34% and people are now spending their money. when they can get back to normalcy, won't we see a flood of money coming back into the economy with the savings unleash and the dam burst, could that contemplation?

>> you know, that's a great question and a great way to look at it. if you look at pre-financial crisis in 2006 the savings rate was around 3% and it basically doubled after the financial crisis and i think you will see a permanently higher savings rate after this crisis in this recession and now that there is so much money on balance sheets in the bank and the zone, the banks simply can't lend it out fast enough combined with what i would say is overregulation in the financial sector so that money is not going to multiply click-- quicker and you ask yourself how can i change, well a manufacturing boom with high productivity could turn that on its head, but we're looking at enhanced regulation, a deferral to the rest of the world and much higher corporate tax rates, so the regulatory jihad we saw the last time though what biden was in the white house we will now see that in

the manufacturing sector and small business so i don't see inflation coming anytime soon i'm sure because the rate economy is recovering quicker than the supply chain can handle. what it will look like is happening over the next three or six markets, if the market selloff because those are your market opportunities and supply chains will get back online and be in line with demand a. ashley: very good. thank you. we are out of time but i wanted to get this inflation issue with a lot of people talking about it. good information. thank you. on your screen, by the way, the long list of stuff crammed into president biden's so-called infrastructure plan. critics say paying for it will not only damage the economy, but also hurt the middle class. speaking of the president's plan, tucked in there is a huge

penalty for married couples. we will explain the story next. ♪♪ ♪♪

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ashley: we are 23 minutes into a new session beginning kicking out the second quarter. as you can see the dow jones up modestly, just over 33000. but look at the 10 year treasury yield. earlier this week it went up to 1.77%, which i believe was a 14 month high and now coming back under 1.7 night-- 1.69%. gold is up $12. gold right now at $1727 per ounce. bitcoin, that is also up modestly, up $520, still under 60000 at 59805. looking at oil, the big story as it continues to rise and is up again today above $60.

up nearly 2% with the national price of gas is right around $2.88, 90 cents higher than this time last year and that does take money out of everyone's pocket who drives, of course. season, meme stocks, mft and big tech dominating the first quarter. can you break down? susan: a lot of analysts and investment excerpts: the quarter of fomo, fear of missing out, you just highlighted bitcoin one of the exemplary fomo trades and also gamestop, the saga at the end of january along with the rated wallstreetbets crowd and also nfc, record paid and no one originally knew what was, non- fungible tokens. ickes exemplary of all

the money printing taking place around the world and a lot of the central banks and where the money is going. also, value plays outperforming growth by at least 10 percentage points. a lot of the money has rotated into the reopening trade like travel stocks and the other energy plays a. ashley: got it. very good. guess what our viewers will suffer from fomo if they don't stick around because still ahead tammy bruce, ken cuccinelli, governor of mississippi tate reeves and texas congressman ronny jackson. second hour of "varney & co." is the next. ♪♪ ♪♪

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♪ take the money and run ♪. ashley: go ahead. take the money and run. new york city on a gray day. i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney nfl it is 10:00 on the east coast. get straight to your money. check out the nasdaq up more than 200 points, good for a 1 1/2% gain in the early going. the 10-year treasury yield is slacking off a bit. it was up to 1.77 at one point.

now 1.70 down nearly five basis points. look at big tech, that is driving gains. they're all up nicely. microsoft up 2.25%. facebook up to 300. teddy weisberg says, if facebook gets beyond 304, watch out, we could see others gain momentum as well. amazon is up 1%. good morning for big tech. the price of oil meantime continuing to move up above the 60-dollar mark. up 1.1. up 2% at $60.02 for crude. we're getting a raft of breaking data. susan, begin with manufacturing. >> highest rates in 17 years. i had to do a double-take on this for the ism manufacturing in the month of march. 64.7. that is higher than economists forecast. looking for a read of 61.3. that chose the economy,

especially manufacturing, factory floors are churning out pretty high rates. figuring 10% for gdp expansion in the u.s. for the first three months. ashley: just looking for any market reaction. that is an impressive number. yeah, huge, is the word. let's take a look at mortgage rates. very important. they're on the rise. what have we got. susan: still on the rise. looking at 3.18% for mortgage rates on a 30-year fixed. color commentary from freddy and fannie. mortgage rates remain historically low. they're looking at a pullback in homebuyer demand as a result of mortgage rates going above 3%. they said recently at the start of this year, the demand for homes was 25% above the pre-covid levels. what they have seen is a down-tick. we're only 8% above the pre-covid levels. it's a strong housing market.

it is cooling off. mortgage rates go up and there is less supply. ashley: less supply and less affordability i guess we could say. susan, thank you very much. interesting. now this a new requirement could be coming in you want to travel this summer, a covid passport could be necessary when you hit the road. what do you think of that? let's bring in tammy bruce to get her thoughts. tammy, good morning. what do you make of covid passports? good idea or not? >> good morning. ashley: good morning. >> horrible idea. a remarkably bad idea. this is not just an imposition or irritating. this is a dynamic, you want to talk about trojan horses we talk about that when it comes to biden's tax plan, this is something once again not what it appears to be. i wrote a column about this in "the washington times" a couple weeks ago. this is a dynamic that eliminates individual freedom. keep in mind with the vaccine rates we're going at which is terrific, then with the the

concomitant herd immunity, the mass majority of americans will be fine. there will be some who won't take the vaccine or can't take the vaccine. like me, i'm allergic to the flu shot. i never had a flu shot in my life. in the flu season i take special care knowing i might be at risk. but everyone else is getting the flu shot. bottom line, there is no reason for, first of all to request a passport like that, especially internally in the united states because of the level of immunity we're going to be achieving what it does do, it places you in a position where you have a document from the government that is allowing you to participate in life. that in fact can be removed or revoked. that in fact if you don't have it, you will be looked at as fun you in or funny or rogue, not

behaving properly. this is the antithesis what it means to be american. it's a dangerous proposition. ashley: not the mention the potential for counterfeits which makes the whole system essentially worthless anyway. i want to bring you this story. "new york times" reporting that new york governor andrew cuomo received four million bucks for the book deal all the time while his administration hit the nursing home death toll. let me get your thoughts on that, tammy. >> as we're seeing governor cuomo is a man who manipulates his entire environment, who bullies in his environment. who abuses his power and you're looking at, i think it is fair to say, one could argue this is a certain kind of way to curry favor, that you're going out there, you have got all kinds of power. people think you might be the attorney general. thank god that didn't happen. maybe some day you will be the

first real bully president. this is an interesting kind of thing that happens within industry and how cozy they get with politicians because that would not be considered a political donation. it is an outrageous abuse of his power that he would accept that, when he knew what was going on, but of course this is a man as it becomes increasingly suspect with no conscience and it is about money and power and control that manifests orders ends up getting 15,000 people killed. he apparently care, in addition how you treat the people close in your orbit with harrassment and some allege sexual assault, now of course this, this is for, for people like this, whether they're politicians or not, just the tip of the iceberg. ashley: really is. as they like to say, he has dug in there like an alabama tick, you can't get him out despite all of these issues coming his way. tammy, we're out of time. thank you so much for joining us

this morning as always. >> thank you. ashley: thank you. let's take a look at the 10 year treasury yield if we can. as we do, now back as we say, just under 1.7%, let's bring in bob doll, our markets guy. bob you say interest rates will mover regularly higher. make your case, what do you mean? >> so, we had at the end of the year 93 basis points for the 10-year treasury as you just observed. we're around 170. it is still a low number relative to history. as the economy picks up, as inflation starts to rear its ugly head, to some degree that will be irregular as well. path of least resistance for interest rates will continue to be higher. we had a move up, yield down in bond prices. we might get a countertrend ashley, but path is up for interest rates. ashley: you say, bob, that inflation is going to rise at some point, perhaps later this

year or maybe next year. we just had a guest on earlier, michael lee, who said forget about inflation. it is not real. it is already come and gone. what do you say? >> we've got a couple months here where the compares will make inflation like it is heating up but given the strength of the economy, the supply side, the demand side, the money supply, the taxation, you put all of that together it is hard for me to see inflation not moving up some, still to low levels, ashley, relative to history. ashley: yeah. >> but up a few notches from where we have been. that will get people's attention. that is part of why interest rates are creeping higher in my view. ashley: seems to me that the housing market is classic example. too much money, chasing too fewer items, i.e., homes available, natural law of economics means that the prices houses gone through the roof. you could apply, could you not,

that theory to the overall economy in some ways? >> totally agree, layer on top of that the two trillion dollars of excess savings sitting in the hands of u.s. consumers as vaccines continue to roll out, confidence levels pick up, the economy picks up. some of that money will be spent and it will have some tendency to push prices up. ashley: very quickly, bob, still bullish on the market the on mas we head through the year. >> the earnings will be amazing but pes will be a little lower. still a good year. ashley: great stuff as always. bob doll, thank you very much for joining us appreciate it. >> thank you. ashley: susan you've been following today's movers. begin with fubotv. susan: this is stuart as favorite way to watch football or soccer for free. that is why he likes fubotv.

ashley: of course. susan: they just announced a deal to carry all non-nationally televised chicago cubs games this season. the stock is rocketing. check in on big tech, we have the 10-year yield hovering at 1.7, some bays contained. we have not inched up to the 1.8 levels. the rally is risk on. the reason why we have the s&p 500 breaking 4,000, historical milestone in the opening minutes when the bells rang own wall street. so that is a big thing to watch. you know, this might also indicate that we have rerotation back into high-tech growth. which has underperformed the first quarter of this year, compared to the dow and value names like travel and industrials and energy. finally, let's check in on tesla. tesla is rallying today. i also want to note, endeavor, which ownses. ufc, the miss america pageant, they announced elon musk, i don't know where he finds the time to do this, but he will

join their board. this announced in. s1 filing in the ipo which endeavor scrapped in 2019. they will test the markets again with elon musk on board. that is great, you have a marquee name with first or tech richest man on planet. where will he fine time to do that when he has tesla and spacex to deal with? ashley: he will have to do it by zoom. chip shortages, dealing the auto industry, ford will have to close its plants out many and how long. susan: ford closing six plants closing significantly across north america. three weeks some places april to june. they're canceling overtime at other plants or combination of both. that is it what you will fine. the facilities produce a wide range of vehicles. yes that includes the best-selling f-150 pickup and also the ford explorers, the

escapes and edge. those are suv crossovers. in order to alleviate this global chip shortage impacted the global car market 60 billion in sales, tie one semi, one of the largest chip-makers are investing $100 billion in production factories. intel, also spending billions to get rid of the production shortage and ram up production. arizona is likely winner when it comes to states. they will get 20 billion for intel. taiwan semi will invest close to $10 billion in a plant there. samsung is reporting eyeing austin, texas across the lone star state for a 10 billion-dollar investment. ashley: a very popular target indeed. susan: no taxes. ashley: yeah. talk about vaccines if we can. a new study we mentioned this earlier, shows the pfizer biontech covid vaccine continues to be more than 90% effective

for at least six months after getting the initial shots. that is comforting and it is good news. let's take a look if we can ad johnson & johnson. susan, that stock moving down about 1%. 15 million doses had to be thrown out. why? susan: this is after they found a problem with the production of a key ingredient in their vaccine. this was at a baltimore facility during quality checks according to j&j. so as a result they have now scrapped what they called this affected batch. they say they are still on track though to make enough doses to meet the production targets in the u.s. and looking to deliver 100 million in the first six months of this year. isn't that incredible? ashley: that is incredible but too bad they had to throw away ones that didn't work out. susan, thank you. the governor of florida, ron desantis says no way will he enforce covid passports in his state. roll tape. >> you want to go to a movie theater should you have to show

that? no. you want to go to a game? no. want to go to a theme park? no. we're not supportive of that. ashley: i would say he is not. what does the governor of mississippi say? i will ask him when he joins me. coming up, tate reeves. what exactly is crammed into president biden's 2 trillion-dollar plus infrastructure bill? we are reading through it so you don't have to. you can thank us for that. we'll get into those. you can see some of those other items crammed in there. graphic video showing the state of the crisis on the border. isn't this awful. smugglers dropping children from the top of the border wall. then just abandoning them, taking off. we've got a live report from the texas side of the border after this.

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♪. ashley: now this, the surge of migrants crossing over the border is increasing and it is putting pressure on small towns who are not prepared to handle the influx. casey stegall is in texas. casey, you have been talking to law enforcement in some of these small border towns. what are they telling you? reporter: ashley, they say they simply cannot keep up. it is really round the clock, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. used to be the nighttime hours were busier for apprehensions. they were not moving across the border until the sun went down. they're doing it all hours of the day in the middle of broad daylight. there is something to talk about how brazen the smugglers are becoming. the video disturbing to watch, released by border patrol, you

can see smugglers on one side of the wall near el paso dropped two children from a 14-foot tall wall. those two children fell to the ground. they are 3 and 5-year-old girls from ecuador. they are sisters. agents on the u.s. side were able to rescue them and fortunately they were not seriously hurt. officials say this proves that these criminal organizations and these cartels are willing to do anything to make a buck. >> smugglers fees will actually go higher. that is a by-product of this, i further exploitation, not only of the system but the family members. you know, when you think of hope and desperation and if you're willing to separate from one of your kids, that is a heck of a choice to make. reporter: last night the feds also announced that a new emergency intake site will open

in houston at the national association of christian churches. up to 500 unaccompanied minors are set to arrive there later today. so at this point, between dh s&h hs the data is showing us that there are more than 18,000 migrant children in u.s. custody. ashley? ashley: that is remarkable. casey stegall, that is a lot in eagle pass, texas. thank you very much. guess what, it has been eight days now since vice president harris was tapped to oversee the border crisis. she still has not held a press conference or even visited the border. let's bring in ken cuccinelli. ken, where is the leadership here? we were hearing all of these horrible stories every day. we're seeing masses of people. it is not slowing down but where is the leadership? they are playing hot potato. they're all scared to be

identify with this issue. they all know what needs to be done to solve it and that is to slow down the incoming flow but none of them wants to be the person on point, taking the political heat with the radical left, that wants this illegal flow. you and i look at this, we see a mistake a disaster. they see future voters. and this is not unintentional on their part. so, you know, the president gets to pass the buck, right? well the vice president is burying herself like an ostrich on this. she is running from it as fast and hard as you she can. that is what you're seeing, more accurately what you're not seeing. there is no central leadership in dealing with this right now. ashley: because of that, we referenced this several times this morning, this shocking video that casey stegall just showed us released by border patrol agents showing what we're talking about, smugglers abandoning two very young children at the border, dropping

them from a 14-foot fence. what is the biden administration going to do to stop this because right now to your point they haven't really done anything? >> well, so far they haven't. i mean the steps are relatively straightforward. it doesn't mean they're easy but they are straightforward to take. they are just unwilling, they lack the political will to face off with their own radical base to take these basic security steps. we're seeing a growing humanitarian crisis. if you need anymore evidence of just how evil the bastards are who are running this, you watch them just drop those children, 14 feet in the air, you get a sense, very small sense of how little they care about these people, including the children. ashley: yeah. what implications does this have for our border towns, what kind of you know, what kind of, what about homeland security? we know that a lot of migrants come in from central america but

they come in from elsewhere as well? >> oh, yeah, no, we encounter in one fiscal year when i was there in the leadership we encountered people from 140 different countries coming across that border, including countries like syria and iran. so there are national security issues but there is one other, as these same smugglers and drug cartels drive people across in a planned way across the border, they then run their drugs in another direction and they have completely swamped border patrol with the human trafficking. so the drug trafficking is a whole lot easier for them to accomplish at this point. ashley: i mean to me, ken this is just a never ending stream of humanity. my heart goes out to them. i know they're looking for a better life but we have no plan in place to handle it and the longer it goes on, when you see migrants wearing biden t-shirts as they head north, it will

continue. >> yeah. no question about it. you have never seen people showing up illegally at our borders with the president's t-shirts on before. that tells you all you need to know about the cause of this and the causes can be traced to a single person and that is president joe biden. he shredded the immigration system which is a very complicated system. he shredded it in his first days in office, while they say we inherited a nonfunctional system. no they destroyed the system. it is easy for them to destroy. it is very hard to build. ashley: exactly and to have the gall to blame the trump administration for this, you know, beyond me. ken, thank you so much. we'll be talking about this unfortunately for a while to come. thanks for joining us. >> unfortunately. ashley: yeah, unfortunately indeed. we've been talking a lot on this show about covid passports this morning. coming up next how you can

protect yours from scammers looking to counter fit it. a return to normal, kind of. it is opening day. play ball. we'll take you live to yankee stadium ahead of the first pitch after this. ♪. come on, come on...yes! hey ava, how's my bracket looking? um, i'm trying to find a nicer word for dumpster fire. um, you're not ava. yeah, this is gary, i invested in invesco qqq. a fund that invests in the innovations of the nasdaq-100. like this artificially intelligent home system. you don't have to be an ai voice architect to help dictate the future. any other questions? yes, when will you be leaving? become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq.

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ashley: welcome back, everybody. let's take a quick check of the markets. we've been goaling about an hour. we're positive. dow up .2 of a percent. the s&p hitting all-time high in the session. nasdaq though, tech stocks are leading the rally today. the nasdaq up more than, right around 231 points. show me cvs you already are, thank you. down 1.25%, despite announcing now 10 million covid jabs have been given at cvs pharmacies across 44 states. i was one of those. thank you, cp vs. more people are celebrating after getting the jab, posting pictures online of vaccination cards. why do people do that? it is creating counterfeit cards. of course there is a scam for

everything. with that in mind, bring in mike gunzelman. mike, great to see you this morning. you've been looking into this. these counterfeits are being sold on the dark web, right? >> a lot is happening here, remember a couple months ago during election, big thing on social media, people were showing up i voted stickers. you wanted everybody else to know that i voted. the big thing is the covid selfie. everyone wants to show the covid car so we can hang out and things are back to normal. health and security officials say do not post the covid card selfie. one is, based on information, scammers can get your social security number maybe, of course that is never good. the other reason there is such a high demand out there on the internet for covid cards, that now these scammers are looking at the fonts and also what is on the actual card and they're

duplicating this. so i could be mike gunz getting vaccinated in new york city, somebody could buy a card with my info on it, same font and everything use it for them. but i think one of the troubling things about this ashley, besides that, is that these are not just even on the dark web. we're seeing counterfeit cards pop up on ebay, on ticktock, social media apps and it is being likened to the covid card i consider it like, willy wonka's golden ticket. you want the golden ticket. want to go inside. you want to be able to do something you need that ticket, if you're not in, you're stuck outside. there is such a high demand for the covid cards, real or fake. ashley: what strange times we live in, indeed. gunz, we have to talk sports and march madness. my question to you is, how is your bracket holding up and can anyone beat gonzaga? >> my bracket, most of you will,

they're all done. i was done in the first round. they're terrible. story of my life gonzaga is favorite. they're 14 1/2 favorite for the final four. i think they win the whole thing. people are desiring sports to come back. we're seeing that with with major league baseball. ratings for march madness, sweet 16 up first time in years. a lot of people combining sports along with online sports betting. i bought into penn national. i'm a big barstool sports fan. you guys already had portnoy on. i bought in penn national $7 last year. it is over $100 now, because everybody wants to bet online watching these games or on their mobile app. the online sports gambling is really help build ratings for sports, i believe. ashley: the drinks are on you, gunz with that information. >> i was going to say. with those earnings i take you

out for steak. ashley and gunz, we'll take on new york city together. ashley: it is now been recorded for posterity. so we're going to hold you to it. quickly gunz, are people as excited for march madness this year given the number of fans? you say the ratings are high. i hear still a lot of people talking about it. is it generating excitement? >> i think it is generating excitement because the fact that springtime, spring fever, people are, hear it slowly turn it around, being able to watch sporting events live once again. getting that craze, that fever. we want things back to normal an march into baseball, that means summertime is right around the corner, and that is good for all of us. ashley: great to see you, my friend. gunz. thank you so much. appreciate it. and a perfect segue to go to aishah hasnie. yes it is opening day, at yankee stadium.

today's game is 1:00 p.m. eastern. the question is, how many fans are allowed inside. reporter: ashley, good afternoon to you. not a lot. we're thinking just under 11,000 if every single ticket today is sold. right now you can see behind me some fans are already walking around. some of them actually looking for the ticket booth, i don't think the ticket booth here is open. fans will have to go through a lot of different safety precautions because of course the pandemic. they will have to provide negative covid test, proof of vaccination, get a temperature check and wear a mask, solely distance. all part of the new normal here as the yankees limit attendance to 20% capacity. the average capacity at all ballparks is 28%, depending on the state and local regulations. the washington nationals, for example, at 12%. the kansas city royals at 30%. the texas rangers though, their

home opener next week the stadium will be full. the only team opening at 100% capacity there. of course with some safety protocols as well. president biden was asked about this. he calls it a mistake. listen. >> well, that is a decision they made. i think that is a mistake. they should listen to dr. fauci and the experts. i think it is not responsible. reporter: we know at least five players for the washington nationals are out for their home opener after a player there tested positive for covid. really the bottom line, ashley, the mlb set standards and all these clubs, they really have to abide abide by them if they want to open for the games. the most important thing, ashley, if you root for the right team, that of course the cubbies. do the right thing. ashley: the beloved cubbies. you got it in there.

>> we'll win it! ashley: great day. okay. you heard it here first. big cubs fan. could the teletubbies get into the crypto game? strange. susan has the story. private sector under pressure to speak out on georgia's new voting law or face boycotts. we have a live report after this. ♪.

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it's america's #1 network in public safety. verizon frontline. built right for first responders. ashley: following the passage of georgia's new voting laws, companies based in the state have been facing mounting pressure from so-called voting rights activists to condemn the new laws and now some companies that speak out are facing backlash from lawmakers.

what a mess. lydia hu has been following all of the latest developments. lydia. reporter: hey, ashley. some might say companies like delta and coca-cola are really stuck between a rock and a hard place here after new voting laws passed along party lines last week. a group of black business executives including merck ceo and former american express see, they started imploring corporate leaders to speak out against the new voting law in georgia. critics of the law say it will disproportionately hurt voters of color while supporters say the law expands access and secures elections. for a little background address some claims they heard recently. the law democrats say end voting hours early. that is not true. voting on election day will run from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. which is the same as current polling hours. as for early voting the new laws

require polls stay open 9:00 to five at a minimum. they are free to keep them open longer. the time frame is to establish the vague previous requirement that early voting happen during normal business hours. also a controversial provision the law prohibits food and water. that is true that people won't be able to hand out food and water, also note that poll workers are permitted to set up self-service water stations for people waiting in line. after some critics of the law called for a boycotts of georgia-based companies because they didn't quickly condemn this new law, a number of the companies issued statements yesterday. coca-cola's ceo james quincy said the new georgia voting law is wrong and delta ceo ed bastion called it unacceptable. in a twist, ashley, happening overnight, after delta spoke out critically of the voting law, republicans in georgia's house of representatives voted to strip delta of a tax break worth 10 of millions of dollars annually. it is largely considered a

symbolic move because the senate did not take up the measure before adjourning for the year but some are saying there is a clear signal sent by state lawmakers who passed the new voting measure to corporations in the state. meanwhile georgia governor brian kemp is punching back the law expands access to early voting and makes the process more secure requiring all voters present i.d. when requesting and casting an absentee ballot. this debate after republicans proposed 250 bills in 43 states that address voting. as washington democrats propose a bill that would make voter registration automatic nationwide. that is a measure that republicans say would benefit the democrats. ashley. ashley: wow. it goes around and around. lydia, thank you very much. let's check the markets now if we can. we've been open more than an hour. we're on upside.

bring in lots of green. you're watching movers, starting with nio and expung. susan: both chinese carmakers announcing a 400% jump in the first quarter production numbers this year compared to last year. you have the global chip shortage which might slow things down as we head into the springtime. look at the moves in the stock prices. speaking of chips, we have a possible 30 billion-dollar deal with micron and western digital teaming up to by a japanese/memory chipmaker. those chips go into smartphones and other devices. the journal says a deal could be finalized as early as this spring. in just a matter of months. square signed up pop star miley cyrus to promote the one million dollar stock giveaway. that coincides with the 15th anniversary of "hanna montana." i never watched that on disney but other people did. jack dorsey is smart harnessing power of social media and young

performers to drive users and adoption especially among millenials and gen-z where money will be at the next few years. ashley: yep. know your audience. that is what that is about. susan, announcing when it brings workers back to the office. give me a date. susan: this was really bullish. returning to offices in a limited capacity in the month of april according to google email memo sent out yesterday afternoon. google previously targeted september 1st when they hoped to bring back most of their workers to the large google campuses again. unlike twitter, unlike flak, not remote work forever at google. if employees want to work remotely 14 days a year after that september 1st return they need to get formal permission. they have to apply internally. that is interesting. google is not mandating a vaccine passport. you don't have to get a vaccine in order to make the return back to offices but they're advising

staff to get the jab. they can still return to the office without getting one. i want to compare google to facebook which is targeted maybe a limited return in may. just at the end of march you had uber and microsoft saying you can come back, small percentage much the staff could come back into the headquarters. ashley: definitely a change of attitude from google on that. we can't complete the show without talking about teletubbies getting in the crypto game? susan: yes, favorite story, i love this, this twitter story of the teletubbies. so much alliteration here. twitter was set on fire yesterday when the teletubbies, those multicolored iconic british children's favorites, teased, making announcement that had to do with bitcoin, see that? what do the teletubbies and bitcoin have to do with each other. people were confused and intrigued, that includes

robinhood ceo vlad tenet. what are they doing? we found out this morning. here is the release a tubby coin? isn't that exciting, a token, a official teletubby cryptocurrency made with special hug tech from wild berry labs is here. for every like share comment, the tubby coin is more valuable. i loved it. so fun. now what do you think? you think elon musk will get on board? maybe too good to be true you think because it is april the 1st? ashley: probably. susan: it is a april fool's joke. run down the entire press release to find that out. i really want ad tubby coin. ashley: i know. well, you know what, keep hoping and you might get one, susan. that is what it is all about. the first april fool's one i heard today. other than the botched volkswagen one. thank you very much. let's move on.

president biden wants states like mississippi to bring back their mask mandates, despite data showing that covid cases actually went down after they lifted the mandate. make sense of that. mississippi's governor tate reeves will be here life to react after this. ♪. some say this is my greatest challenge ever. but i've seen centuries of this. with a companion that powers a digital world, traded with a touch. the gold standard, so to speak ;) 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!

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♪. ashley: president biden is calling for states to reinstate their mask mandates. mississippi is one of those states actually that lifted their mandate. look at this, the seven-day average of cove very cases there has dropped more than 48% since the mandate was lifted. the governor there, tate reeves, joins me now. governor, thank you so much for being here. so, my first question of course, are you going to listen to the president? >> well, we're certainly not going to do what he has suggested. it makes absolutely no sense. i think it sort of points towards the true philosophical differences between the biden administration and republican governors across america. they believe that the central government should make all decisions for us.

we believe that individual americans ought to make the decision. they believe that washington knows best. we believe that individual americans know best and the fact is that the numbers in our state simply do not justify the overreach of government. the fact is, and this is what they stated, that, you know, in america there was an uptick of 10% week over week last week. and that there were over 60,000 cases per day. well in mississippi that number is now approximately 200 cases per day. just to put that in perspective for you, mississippi is approximately 1% of the u.s. population and we had .3 of the total cases in america. one size does not fit all. just because cases are going up in new york and new jersey doesn't mean that mississippi ought to take action. ashley: i hear you. now this issue has come up a lot too, the theory of a covid passport. florida governor ron desantis says no way. he would block such a passport.

what about your state, governor? >> well, governor desantis is right. we don't need a vaccination passport. we do need more americans and certainly more mississippians to get the vaccine. the reason our numbers are plummeting. we're seeing a significant number of our constituents gotten vaccine. it's a light at the end of the tunnel. i'm strongly recommending to all of my constituents to get the vaccine. we have put 1.3 million shots in arms in our state. we hope to get more and more as the weeks and months come. the idea of the government requiring a passport to move freely within a free country certainly strikes me as the wrong approach. ashley: 20 seconds, governor. have you turned the corner on covid? >> we have absolutely turned the corner. we're not at the end of the road but we can certainly see the end of the road and what will get us there is more and more americans

getting the vaccine. ashley: very good. very encouraging news indeed, mississippi governor tate reeves. thank you, governor. much appreciate your time. another big hour coming up. we've got texas congressman dr. ronny jackson. san francisco fed president mary dailey. "wall street journal" dan henninger, the one, only, great liz macdonald will be here, emac. officials say new york city could be completely out of this pandemic in six to eight weeks. we have that story in the next hour. ♪. ..

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>> reporter: america is no longer about making money in joe biden or barack obama's america. the corporate tax rate put this at the top of the list of the most taxed countries in the world. when you are trying to compete the last thing you want to do is give yourself the most uncompetitive tax rate in the world. >> i don't see inflation coming anytime soon because this economy is recovering much quicker than the supply chain can handle. >> earnings season will be great, rates are going to rise

and the slowdown in the tech names will reinvigorate the value. >> as vaccines continues rollout the economy picks up. some of that money is going to be spent and there will be some tendency to push the price up. ♪♪ having a good time ♪♪ yeah yeah yeah ♪♪ ashley: don't stop the party. it is 11:00 am on the east coast on thursday april 1st. i am ashley webster in for stuart varney, the opening-day pitcher for the new york yankees today. it is april fools' day. let's get right to your money. lots of green on the screen up one.5%, tech stocks driving the games, the dow and the s&p up modestly but they are up. let's look at big tech names if we can, pretty good, up one% to

2%, microsoft up 2.5%, alphabet/google up a 12:45%. all the big tech names moving higher and now this. critics are raising red flags about president biden's spending in light of his new $2 trillion infrastructure plan. let's get to hillary von on capitol hill. critics do not like this plan but progressives are rallying behind it. what do they hope to get out of this deal? >> progressives want it to be a lot bigger even though this infrastructure and jobs package if passed would be the most expensive spending package in us history, progressives say they wanted to be 4 times bigger, they want a lot more money than the $2.5 trillion president biden says he will pony up to revamp infrastructure and address climate change.

>> that $2.2 trillion over eight years i have serious concerns that it is not enough. we have a truly crippled healthcare system and a planetary crisis and we are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. we can do $10 trillion. >> reporter: it is not more money they want to go to roads and bridges but green energy initiatives. the sunrise movement says this infrastructure package is a step towards the green new deal vision but does not go all the way and they want it too. adam green of the progressive campaign change committee telling me, quote, as an infrastructure plan this was a home run especially since bernie sanders was pushing $1 trillion recently is a climate plan, this is a big down payment which hopefully more to come to meet the urgency of the moment. biden, transportation secretary pete buttigieg at a crossroads

because there is a rival infrastructure package in the house and senate that is a lot greener and a lot bigger than what biden is proposing and it is gaining support from progressives but also moderate democrats, the thrive act sponsored by senator marky and senator debbie dingell who did not sign onto the green new deal but is pushing for this $10 trillion infrastructure green deal that would go a lot further on climate than biden's package, a pledge to cut emissions by half over the next decade and also restrict states use of infrastructure funding so they could not spend it on anything that would be tied to fossil fuel. ashley: thank you very much, hillary vaughan. lots to talk about. listen to how the president plans to pay for his infrastructure plan. take a listen. >> i am proposing a plan where

it rewards work, not just wealth. it built a fair economy that gives everybody a chance to succeed. no one making under 400,$000 will see federal taxes go up period. this is not about penalizing. i have nothing against millionaires and billionaires. ashley: but they don't apparently work for their wealth. let's go to elizabeth mcdonald, great to see you. who are the winners and losers in this plan? liz: the middle class will be the losers. the commerce secretary said middle class taxes will have to go up and democrats will be losers because under clinton when clinton raised taxes they lost the house. under obama they lost the house. in 2010, lost the senate in 2014 when they have done tax

hikes like this. if anybody tries to mislead the american people, tax hikes for the middle class are not coming you can't believe them. you can't believe msnbc your people on cnn, the president's rhetoric here, he has been in office since the nixon administration, he knows how to do rhetoric but the rhetoric is patently false. when you see basically they are going to have to raise taxes on the middle class to pay for this because when you do it on the upper bracket it is only $150 billion if that with the tax rate they are talking about. this is a real curb your enthusiasm moment because they are talking about triple the tax hikes as a percentage of gdp under clinton. that is what biden is talking about. democrats will get walloped in

the midterms if they go ahead with this. ashley: they are indeed to. this is a story that continues to have legs as they say. more than a dozen companies are speaking out about georgia's new voting law but should major companies like koch and dell based in georgia be getting involved? they are stuck between a rock and a hard place on this. liz: they should stick to the facts, 36 states have voter id laws, washington post reporter poll that shows 3 quarters of respondents said they support voter id laws in georgia, two thirds of black people support voter id laws, that is the washington post and the georgia governor is saying absentee balloting and mail in balloting is better than biden's home state of delaware. when you look at the facts of what the georgia reform law is about it is common sense giving people more opportunities to vote. you could vote by mail or absentee. they are spending 17 days of early voting, better than biden's home state of delaware.

the knee-jerk reaction is pressure from the bullying on networks like msnbc or cnn where not sticking to the facts, 36 states having voter id laws. if you stick to the facts of companies jumping in, getting into a political fight about this. ashley: never let the facts get in the way of a good headline as they say. we will be watching you weeknights at 6:00 pm eastern only on fox, great to see you and thanks for joining us this morning. that was liz mcdonald. let's check the markets, heather, thank you for being here. you say we should call president biden's infrastructure plan the green new deal. make your case. >> i am not the only one that says that.

many republicans and even moderate democrats would agree with that as well. some of it is to fund infrastructure, look at roads, coming bridges etc. airports are 20 years old, electrical grid is 100 years old, those things do need upgrades, why are we throwing in community college and targeting education, why are we targeting $174 billion to the electrical vehicle industry. look at tesla, they don't need help. the private sector works well at its best, people want these electrical vehicles, the electrical charging stations does not directly have anything to do with infrastructure and people saying it is a lot more like the green new deal. ashley: you don't think inflation is coming.

>> across the board, look at wages going up, bit coin, an alternative currency, the housing boom is putting a lot of pressure on people who are renting. look at the surge in commodities, pent-up demand, too much money, that is the best initiative of inflation, it is not coming, it is here. ashley: how does this all affect the markets. we have a nice start to the second quarter of the day, where are the markets headed? >> all the massive money printing the markets are heading in one direction and that is higher. you will see the nasdaq pull back a little bit.

the overvaluation in facebook, amazon, netflix, google, investors taking some profits but there is nowhere else to put your money, can't get a return of the bond markets which interest rates are headed higher, baby boomers can't retire because where do you put your money? cash the value of your dollars going down. we use to argue about billions in congress and now we are giving trillions and this is meaningless. it has a consequence. ashley: all right, as always, thank you very much, appreciate it. let's have another look at the markets, let's bring in susan lee. you are watching microsoft. >> reporter: $22 billion deal over ten years for the u.s. army for 120,$000 of high-tech goggles, comes with augmented reality. something like tony stark

inside his iron man suit. to win these rich military contracts, they beat out amazon for the pentagon contract getting a lot of money from the us military, bill gates backed lithium batteriesmaker called quantum escape, up 60% in the premarket and quantum escape has met those requirements for the volkswagen investment and they will start testing the batteries in germany. amazon we have reports coming out in the last hour, amazon had explored reopening a home goods electronic discount store. that competes with bed, bath and beyond, if amazon got into that. the rest of big tech flying as we start a new month, new quarter, travel and energy, power the s&p 500 to the

historical 4000 milestone. ashley: a huge show still to come including an interview with mary daly. the next 6 to 8 weeks, and giving up restrictions that quickly. ronnie jackson got back from the border, he says the migrant facilities are like a covid incubator. he joined me next with his eye-opening trip. ♪♪ ♪♪ 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.

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ashley: back to the border where texas governor greg abbott has operation lone star the effort to stop mexican cartels from smuggling drugs and people into texas. casey steagall is in the lone star state. what can we expect to hear today? >> reporter: we expect to hear about additional resources that could be potentially surge it to this particular area, more on that in a moment. we know the numbers keep going up and up and up across the board. apprehensions, detentions, those are the two obvious ones we talk about but the groups of migrants traveling together are getting larger according to officials as our requests being

made for local law enforcement taking them away from their normal duties to help out federal agencies. here in eagle pass, a community of 20,000, officers assist on medical calls, high-speed chases, foot pursuit, rescues and the rating of stash houses. >> it used to be sporadic here and there. the last several months of an overwhelming. it is an everyday situation now. >> reporter: it changes by the hour and texas governor greg abbott has been sending additional troopers, additional mental health staff and other workers and other resources. that is what operation lone star is about and we expect to get an update on that in terms of additional help on the way. abbott does not mince words

talking about the biden administration causing this surge of migrants and not calling it a crisis, he has been begging and pleading with them to do so. ashley: thank you for the latest on that. let's bring in congressman jackson. you just visited the border. described for us what you saw. >> reporter: i saw a disaster that is only going to get worse over the next few months, the texas delegation, 13 to 15 from the texas delegation down there. we toured with customs and border protection, border patrol, texas troopers and texas national guard, the donna facility at the hhs facility and what i saw was unbelievable. i saw a facility made for 250 people is the capacity of this

facility, it had 5700 people packed into it, people were packed in like sardines lying across the floor, you could not see any floor between them without stacking somebody on top of somebody else that yesterday, they get a lot of these people coming to this facility and elsewhere, 20 to 25% of these people coming in our covid positive and 5% become positive during their stay, they are being pushed out. ashley: in a scenario like that is it possible to stop the spread of covid? >> it is impossible, that is the point. the biden administration are starting a new push for a new mask mandate, talking about

vaccine passports potentially locking people down again and simultaneously the hypocrisy of what they are allowing on the border. why don't we require them to have a test? we will take a step back with our progress. we worked hard for a year particularly in texas to get people back to work and back to school. we tested people, social distance, worn masks, then what we need to do to get our lives back because of this crisis on the border. i could go into more detail. you should see the criminal element, the trafficking, president biden is the trafficker in sheet. that is another tragedy on the border. ashley: it is no surprise the biden administration blamed the trump administration for all of this. regardless that he signed and undid everything to secure the border. i don't understand.

>> he put policies in place that protected us and the main agenda from day one is to go in and appease his far left marxist base and undo what donald trump touched no matter how good it was for taxpaying citizens and this is an example of that. they completely undid all the stuff donald trump put in place to stop these people coming over and i talked to these immigrants yesterday and we asked a variety of questions, and did you know the policy change, the president biden is president, you can come, get there as quickly as you can.

ashley: you are against passports. >> this is an attempt to remove personal freedoms. they can come after everything. your second amendment rights, religious freedom. it will not stop. it is unbelievable we are going down this path. this is something that cannot happen. stuart: you are on a roll, you say president biden is unfit for office, make your case. >> you can tell. we need a leader that inspires confidence not only the american people but among, to maintain our status in this world and maintain national security. he does not do that. he looks frail, he looks week,

going up the steps the other day, he doesn't know where he is or what he is talking about, doesn't know the issues, can't finish sentences. these are issues that happens a lot of people. some people do okay and can live to be 100 years old, some people start losing their cognitive ability and their 70s. i think he is in the latter group. he is the president of the united states but we need to see where he is on this. his medical team needs to step up and do a physical exam into cognitive testing, the press and the medical community demanded that i test donald trump, he scored 30 out of 30 and they should do the same for donald trump -- for president biden. as he cognitively fit to be our president? ashley: we do appreciate it. interesting stuff.

the president's new infrastructure plan, great news for the unions. take a listen to this. >> i am a union guy. i support unions, time they start to get a piece of the action. ashley: dan heninger says president biden's ideas about unions won't work. he will explain next.

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us money reserve is one of the most dependable gold distributors in america. to celebrate your father's birthday and your son as well. >> he left early. >> get into it with harlem. >> richardson, what? ashley: so many actors in that. that was a hit from knives out, terrific stuff. netflix just bought the sql for how much? >> a lot of, $400 million plus for the second and third knives out, the eccentric supersleuth

and director ryan johnson, helms deep and two sequels, one of the biggest deals in streaming history. there was a bidding war with 3 of them, netflix beating out amazon and apple for the first 2 installments, a huge hit, $40 million to make the first knives out, turned out a global profit of $300 million, but streaming is tough competition these days, comcast and nbc universal pulling hit films off of the other competitors keeping all the best content for their own streaming service, you are competing for a lot of eyeballs out there and paying customers willing to pay up for their membership fees. ashley: they have to enjoy what they watch. content is everything. jamie lee curtis, all of them were terrific.

check this op-ed out in the wall street journal. it reads joe biden, which side are you on? once inside joe biden's progressive world everyone will be a they facto member of the teachers union, do whatever you want and the public pays forever. let's bring in the author of that piece, dan heninger, great to see you. who does the president really represent? >> he seems to think he represents mainly union members as he keeps saying in that news conference last week, he said something extraordinary that jumped out at me which was the middle class built america and unions built the middle class. bernie sanders once said joe biden could be one of the most progressive presidents since fdr.

joe biden and bernie sanders in the 1930s, the labor movement then when there was considerable strife between industrial unions and donors of companies, fast forward and look at the reality of what is going on between unions, what we see is middle-class parents, parents of children in schools locked in battle with teachers unions. the cdc said you could reduce social distancing in classroom from 6 feet to 3 feet and american federation of teachers president randi weingarten said they were not going back into the schools. in new jersey having sued school districts which in turn are suing the teachers unions to get those schools reopened. it looked to me you got unions battling not owners but middle-class parents and children.

ashley: i think you are right. the virus, new york city health officials say the city could be in the clear in the next 6 to 8 weeks. the democrats leaders give up restrictions that quickly. >> bill deblasio keeps talking about how to sustain these protocols into the future, keep indoor gems and activities closed for a longer period of time. in new york, does -- is there anyone out there who did not listen for the past year saying we are doing all these protocols, staying quarantines, locked down, restaurants closed until we got to the vaccine and

then the vaccines would immunize us against the virus, the head of the health system in new york city has been saying by the end of may, june, everybody in new york who wants to get vaccinated will. if progressives keep insisting on this compulsive control after most of this is vaccinated we will see civil disobedience in new york on a massive scale, people, owners, actors, broadway is closed, they won't accept stretching these protocols out into the fall, they are not going to do it. ashley: enough is enough as they say. dan heninger, great stuff. thank you for being here this morning. a foxbusiness alert. frontier airlines just opened. >> reporter: it opened at 1861

which was below frontier in their ipo, they price their shares at $19 apiece and that was the bottom end of the price range so that, roughly $4 billion, we have a ticker symbol, ul cc which means ultra low cost carrier. got that? frontier delay their plans with the public last summer but that was when travel was decimated by covid and they are the latest airline because it was another bunch of carriers, country airlines went public last month as well. ashley: next one. makes sense. what about this new partnership between apple and tesla. >> might be a vote of confidence, iconic technology brand, they will use tesla's

battery energy storage system at their california solar farm so the company made this announcement that they are building one of the largest battery project in the country capable of storing 240 megawatt hours of energy. that is enough to power 7000 homes, the solar farm, 85 of these made by tesla, not the carmaker, also bought up solar city which made solar panels in 2016, and a controversial deal at the time. they make up roughly from what i saw 6% of tesla's total sales, the other 95% comes from the car report. ashley: lots of info. president biden slamming the texas rangers for allowing full capacity crowds this season.

take a listen. >> that is a decision they made. i think it is a mistake, they should listen to doctor fauci and the scientists and experts. ashley: former mets pitcher nelson figaro will reopen on reopening baseball coming up and we will have an exclusive tv interview with fed president mary daly so don't go anywhere, more varney right after this.

the 5 quick check of the markets, nice start to the new quarter april 1st, the dow, nasdaq and s&p a new intraday high for the s&p 4005, the nasdaq continuing to move on strongly.

foxbusiness has a exclusive tv interview with mary daly. let's get to edward lawrence in washington. >> joining us again fed reserve president mary daly, very important voice as a voting member of the fomc. her vote will set monetary policy. i want to start with inflation, 2.4% is what the federal reserve said inflation was going to be, market economists are looking at input prices and seeing inflation that will be above that. where will it come this iran is there a level you might change your mind and vote to raise interest rates? >> thank you for having me on this program. on inflation we know there is an expected and importantly temporary rise in inflation coming this year because we

have low ratings of inflation during the worst of covid in 2020. that is the point where we look through that. as policymakers we have to look for temporary increases, sustained improvement in inflation so we can average 2% and meet our price stability goals. >> reporter: the other side of the equation don't forget the 10 million people, 10 million workers on the sidelines still looking for their jobs back. is your focus on that side of the equation and no amount of inflation will cause positive or concern about raising interest rates? >> it is always a balancing act. we have a dual mandate, price stability and full employment. we are always looking at each of those variables and evaluating where they are headed. as i said in my tweet we are not hitting our inflation targets, we are expecting temporary increases in inflation but those will go

back and we still have almost 10 million people on the sidelines looking for jobs in the labor market so we aren't projecting achieving either side in 2021 and that is why the policy is accommodated so we can deliver on those goals and do what we said we would do for the american people. >> reporter: the deficit is growing, $6 trillion last you to this year on the fiscal side that is out and will come out in the economy. is there a level you are concerned about the level of federal debt and does it play to your conversation about raising interest rates and the federal funds rate? >> as an economist i'm thinking of fiscal responsibility so let's look through the fiscal responsibility lens which congress did not. congress has taken bold action to build an active bridge over the pandemic to make sure millions of americans can make

it through to the other side and reengage in economic activity and congress will take up an infrastructure bill and how we can invest in our country as we build our competitiveness as a nation and deliver a better future to future generations, those are very positive things. when i look at the horizon i see decreasing potential output, making sure we can reemerge as an expanding growing nation that works for everyone. >> reporter: climate change, you've done a lot of research on climate change. is there a point you are looking at the effects of climate change on the financial industry but could there be a point where the federal reserve mandates what businesses can invest in and loan based on climate risks? >> think about the federal reserve. we are lenders, not spenders, we don't make our located

decisions, those are the decisions for congress. our job is to understand climate risk and figure out how to do our job best given the risks that we see. >> reporter: appreciate it, mary daly, important voice on the fomc, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> reporter: ashley, send it back to you. ashley: the fed president explaining why they are continuing their accommodative policy. interesting stuff, thank you, appreciate it. it is opening day for baseball, stadiums across the country will welcome back fans with social distancing measures in place, going live to wrigley field. watering the infield coming up next. ♪♪ i don't care if we never get back ♪♪ let me root root root for the home team ♪♪ if they don't win it is a shame

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ashley: go cubs go. it is opening day at wrigley field where grady trimble is. how many fans can get in today? >> reporter: 20% capacity, 10,000 fans at wrigley field which is not what we would hope for an opening day in a normal year but is the biggest event chicago has had in over a year. we should mention as well the mets national game is being postponed because of covid so we are happy the game is going to happen as planned. a graphic that gives you a sense what different teams are doing across the league, 12% for the red sox, kind of an asterisk against the yankees and mets game proving your negative for covid or had the vaccine and the rangers are the big anomaly. they are letting 100% capacity into the stadium. i talked to the president of

business operations for the cubs who tells me 25% is not where they want to be but enough to be in the green for game day, not so much for the total operation. >> that is just for the event itself, not the business as a whole. we are projecting losses again this year just because the business does depend on getting the 3 million people in the building. >> reporter: thinking to last opening day, it was beautiful weather that day and today it is in the 30s, last season was postponed to july so that explains it. ashley: that makes a big difference. sticking with opening-day president biden says the texas rangers decision to allow fans at full capacity for opening-day is a mistake. let's bring in former major

league baseball player nelson figaroa. thank you for joining us. what do you think of that? should all the fans be allowed back in? >> absolutely not. we have to realize it is more important than being overly cautious as we start the season. great hope, great optimism and i get it, you want to do what is best for the fans and the situation in texas trying to open up too soon, wait until more vaccine, more people are able to take part in the game. i like the way other teams are doing it where it is a small amount and they will increase it as we see more vaccines and less covid positive results being found. ashley: obviously you play major league baseball. what is the difference between having fans and hardly any fans at the game? >> for a lot of players it means everything. that is what you see, the adulation of the crowd,

especially home fans. that is everything and if you are a visitor with home-field advantage, to get over being booed all the time for every little thing, that is part of being a professional baseball player, pressure situations. not having fans last year was difficult, the piped in noise was not the same. excited to have fans back for opening-day and more and more fans. ashley: you played your last major league game almost 10 years ago. on opening day like today how much do you miss it? >> big time. the smell in spring training of being on the field, baseball and everything like that. it is opening-day and the excitement is there. based to have a chance. ashley: let's hope we can get all 162 games in this season,

thanks for taking time to chat with us. enjoy the game. we will have more varney right after this. ♪♪ . .

♪. >> all right. plenty of green on the screen. the dow is up nearly half a percent up 131 points. the s&p getting above 4,000,

hitting an all time high earlier today. the nasdaq, tech stocks, nice and strong, up nearly 200 points at 13,439. it is the first trading day of the second quarter. we have minor gains in the first quarter but what a way to start for this quarter. april is apparently a strong month for stocks. so far, so good. neil cavuto, take it away. neil: all right, ashley. thank you. you're right so far so good. there's a lot riding in the advance of the s&p 500, four thousand, first time over that milestone. we'll see if we close that way after the markets put in a heck of a first quarter, if you think about it. the dow up 8%. s&p up close to 6%. nasdaq, thanks to a late month rally, up 3%. the fact this is still going, all these concerns, especially what is happening with the virus abroad. what is happening at the border, worries about all the mon