jet travel in general. there's some upside there. i like that. and i still like, there's an index called the break dry bulk shipping etf, bery. it's a little volatile, but i like that. a lot of movement to go there, so those are names -- charles: the dry bulk index has been sizzling, for sure. jared, thank you so much. we're doing okay, liz claman, as i hand it over to you. liz: i know. hey, it's a monday, we can be okay. [laughter] thanks, charles. we do have -- monday's market madness from stocks to crypto to commodities, right now it's all jelly in this final hour. the s&p 500 turning positive for the month as the dow tracks its third straight win and tech stocks are powering the nasdaq higher. that's why we've got the nasdaq on the bug here. it's gaining 232 points, the biggest percentage gainer up 1.75%. yeah, you do have crude oil going crazy, right?

pushing back above $66 per barrel, it's at 6:5.93 -- 65.93 at the moment. crypto's getting a bitcoin bounce after a wild weekend. our all-star digital currency powell is here to react to not only the massive moves in the currency, but goldman's massive move on making bitcoin official as an asset class. but if bitcoin's really goldman's favorite crypto, they're kind of hinting at something else. another big bank at the same time backs away from bitcoin. buy now, pay later was just a winning formula for a firm during the pandemic, but where will the fin-tech lender focus for? find out when we ask paypal mafia member and now a firm ceo. plus, monster trucks, who doesn't love monster trucks? they're headed back to an arena near you.

the entertainment ceo is here to tell us how he's driving live entertainment forward after the pandemic stuck his business in the mud and, yes, he's right there with the monitor trucks. and why siriusxm is hoping the a social media sensation's tiktok will turn teens on to satellite radio. a partnership is moving them to the upside. first, this fox business alert. okay, guys, if you needed any more proof of how powerful the word of goldman sachs is when it comes to just about all is segments of the market, here it is. take a look at ether. ether is spiking rather significantly here, it is jumping right at this moment far outpacing the recovery in bitcoin. "forbes" reporting at this hour that a leaked report by goldman sachs' global macro research department gives ether, the world's second largest crypto by market cap, a, quote with: high chance of overtaking bitcoin as the dominant store of value, calling ether the amazon of

information. goldman sachs, though, don't get hysterical. it's not turning its back on bitcoin. in fact, this morning they officially deemed bitcoin a new asset class, now officially investable. also slapping coinbase with a buy rating saying the crypto exchange will jump 35% by year end, exceeding $300 per share. right now you do have coinbase moving up to $227.29. but not so fast says hsbc, europe's largest bank. they're way more conservative. the chief executive is now saying crypto is not for us and that the bank has no plans to offer customers cryptocurrency investments saying the entire space is too volatile and lacks transparency. as we watch the mega-banks plant their flags when it comes to crypto, who's going to win this goliath battle? let's bring in analyst gil lauria, d.a. davidson along with co-founder isaiah jackson who is also the author of "bitcoin and

black america." isaiah, let me give this to you first, we got ourselves kind of a seminal moment here. two massive banks each taking a side which one's right, which one wins? >> well, goldman sachs taking a side, i just think it's a nonstarter. bitcoin has gone from $0 to 40,000 without them, and obviously, i don't want care what side they are. if they are partial to see here to yum, that is -- [inaudible] whoever has the most money has a stake in what the code does and how it changes. hsbc not liking bitcoin is a nonstarter as well. again, we didn't need banks to get to this point, and we don't need them now. goldman sachs, to me, is just good promotion because they did have an employee who moved over to coinbase, so this is just them changing the narrative at

this point. liz: could argue everybody's a little behind on this, gil. i mean, maybe the answer lies in the price action when it comes to the power of which of these two banks really is most strong. the power of the price of ether, over the last 12 months the ethereum price has outpaced bitcoin, around 1,000 perth. you do have -- 1,000%. you do have ethereum jumping today while bitcoin is recovering by 17%. what is your thought on this leaked report by goldman that forbes is cussing, and -- discussing, and do you have a sense both can be winners here? >> yeah, i think some of these larger banks have so many different moving parts, you can have one part that believes in crypto and another that doesn't. they're very heavy, and to isaiah's point, it's not going to matter. i have to give ourselves a plug here, da davidson's been active in crypto and and talking about

it for at least five years, and it's nimble organizations that are going to help the mainstreaming of clip otto. what -- crypto. what comes out of the big banks is too late, to isaiah's point. they weren't there from the beginning, and they're really catching up now, and even that they're doing half heartedly. liz: isaiah with, you could stay away from crypto, you could go into some of the block cain names. of course, the financial tech and these ledgers that track every single move of cryptocurrency, or you could go into marathon digital which, of course, is one to have big crypto miners, you know? if they're positive when it comes to what's going ahead here. you have riot blockchain, hive, so many names here. would you say to people who are a little nervous about going into actual physical cryptocurrency, which is not physical, that they might want to just dip their toe when it comes to some of these equity

participants? >> they may. but, again, you just named a derivative on top of bitcoin. and, again, buy bitcoin directly. until reason for it is to move away from these institutions. again, no, i don't think that is a better investment. whiled you invest in something that invests in bitcoin? just buy it. that's very simple. and you are if you -- if you are scared of the market, don't buy it. we don't need you. we don't care, and i think that's the e nos of bitcoin. -- ethos. americans need to stop being spoiled and think of this as an american currency. it's global. and, honestly, going forward i can't wait to see what happens to the market with or without them. liz: hey, i am all for it being a community-driven type of investment. it's just that when these things turn sour or belly up, it becomes in some cases the

problem of the taxpayer. as long as you guys, everybody's okay with it not and it's sort of on your back, great. but, gil, what or worries some people is the word of, say, an elon musk or mark cuban jumping into the fray, both of them very supportive, but these gyrations caused are a little disconcerting. to that point, it was elon musk about a week ago going on and on about how bitcoin's not so great, it's not great for the environment because of these mining techniques involved, a voluminous amount of electricity. then you've got -- it's still very much amorphous. it doesn't have the regulatory framework. not that it wants it, but where do you see it really going in the short term? if. >> well, in the short term we have to remember that for bitcoin volatility is a feature,

not a bug. the fact that it is volatile, that it's global, that everybody can trade it 24/7, it's completely liquid, all the trading digital, and the volatility is how traders make money, they love the new, they love celebrities speaking up. it's just one of the many news drivers. the chinese government stepping up, those kinds of moves are exactly how traders make money, and traders love bitcoin for specifically that reason. so in the short term, that's going to to be a very positive thing for them and, for instance, for companies like coinbase that what they do is trade crypto. and is so they love the volatility, they love the news flow, they love big spikes and big crashes because that means people are buying and selling on their platform. and for the foreseeable future, that's a major usage of bitcoin. liz: isaiah, we can't ignore what could eventually be regulatory, well, overreach or just certain guide posts and

fencing around this very nascent investment opportunity. and what do you say if that suddenly puts a chill on cryptocurrency? >> i honestly think that the regulatory market is moving backwards. you do not try and stop innovation with regulations, you try to improve it. and i think what's happening is they're trying to control it. i don't think it will work simply because already prohibition doesn't work. going forward, i would like to see more of a digital sand box for companies to grow and hands off of something -- eight years ago when i started. it was not real money and now it is, and now regulators want to show up. i don't think what they're doing is genuine, i think they're being disingenuous, and i think it may affect the price short term, but the long term the -- will not be affected. liz: isaiah, boy, you were early. gil, you and da dadeson early as

well, and that's why we have you to focus on it. big upside moves for just about every cryptocurrency. thanks so much, guys. good to see you. >> thank you. liz: well, if you thought cryptocurrency was complicated, try bipartisan talks over president biden's slimmed-down infrastructure deal. they're reportedly on the brink of collapse as republicans rejected the white house's counteroffer of $1.7 trillion could down from its original $2.3 trillion. to hillary vaughn in washington d.c. any chance of beltway diplomacy behind the scenes could loosen the log jam in time? [laughter] >> reporter: well, republicans are planning to meet today at least to huddle and discussoverrer what the white house put on the table on friday. but you're right, progressives are getting impatient with the wait, and they want to move forward without republican support. but the white house press secretary, jen sackty, saying

today at this -- jen cac city, saying today at this point the ball is in republicans' court. >> i would say we're eager to see their proposal, and i think it doesn't take anything more than simple math that if they came up by $500 billion and they came up by $50 billion, we have a ways to go. >> reporter: some republicans say they can't agree with the white house over what is infrastructure and what is not. >> -- the white house is really interested in an infrastructure bill. they're more interested in a federal takeover of childcare so they can control the curriculum and a green new deal and end reparations. and that's why we haven't been able to come together. finish but if i see, if i see a real infrastructure bill, i and most of my republican colleagues, we'll pounce on it like a ninja. we just haven't seen one yet.

>> reporter: the group of gop senators negotiating are hinting white house staff might be to blame for derailing progress so far saying, quote: the group seems further apart after two meetings with white house staff than this were after one meeting with president biden. but meanwhile, liz, progressives like senator bernie sanders hinted on sunday that if republicans do not get onboard, he thinks that democrats should move forward on this package alone without any republican support. liz: no, get them onboard please. enough already. we gotta do this together, hillary. thank you very much, hillary vaughn. all right, forget buying on the cheap. dollar general is one of the worst performers on the s&p at this hour. bank of america cutting the discount retailer to underperform. the big bank warning of coming sales pressures and gasoline price rises as a return to commuting sends drivers into convenience stores versus

perusing dollar general's aisles. the stock can is down about 2.75% right now. reopening bringing a whole new set of worries for retailers. affirm ceo mac legend has his fingers directly on the pulse of the consumer. the founder of the buy now/pay later fin-tech is up next on the massive shift he is now seeing when it comes to what people are spending their precious cash on. with the closing bell ringing in 45 minutes and the dow seeing a gain of 247, look at the nasdaq, up 232, are pelotons still hot? we'll ask max right after the break. stay with us on "the claman countdown. ". ♪ ♪

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minutes punched into the positive here after having been down as much as $2. now they're up about a quarter of a percent or 29 cents. as they scratch back here, turns out ohio has been a stand that lands the coveted state of the art facility which will churn out peloton bikes and tread mills. speaking of which, the stock took a dive after peloton announced in early may it would recall all its treadmills after reports of children and pets being pulled underneath the moving tread. but look at this rebound. shares are up 20% since the bottom during that controversy. affirm holdings is one of the biggest fans of the on demand fitness clinic. in the most recent quarter, peloton represented, get this, 18% of gross merchandise volume. and if you look backwards last year, peloton sales accounted for 28% of affirm's fiscal 2020 revenues. let's find out how spending habits are shifting with affirm

ceo max legend. welcome back. your company went public since we last spoke. let's start micro, if we could, and then we'll go macro and big picture. what's been the impact on the firm's business, and have you had conversations with the company on when new treads will be available for your company? >> thank you for having me. i'm excited they are prioritizing safety, i think that's the right thing. and we do a tremendous amount of business together. it's certainly not my job or not that i know exactly when the next version of their product comes out, but i think many people are -- we reduced our third quarter, but i think at this point they're very focused on safety and financially, my guess, the majority of this is behind them.

liz: well, they are one of your biggest partners. and what's interesting about that statement is they used to be your biggest, but you have so many partners now, we could bring in anybody from walmart to target, williams-sonoma. what shift are you seeing, we're going macro here, are you seeing when it comes to consumer spending if you go back, say, eight months during the height of the pandemic to what you're seeing now. >> so what's really interesting is that the u.s. consumer demand is kind of this coiled spring that's now just -- the moment of yes is upon us, and people are dying to travel. so we're seeing lots and lots of growth in the travel industry. it's something to behold. it's literally month to month not quite triple digits, but rapidly growing all across the industry. and from depressed, very, very depressed last year.

travel is back, and people are trying to get out of town. now, you would think there would be a -- last year other than toilet paper and sanitizer, people were buying pelotons, as a matter of fact, and workout equipment for their home, all the various things that made your home a nicer place to be during the lockdowns. it does not appear that those goods are slowing down. in fact, people are buying more connected workout equipment and home wares are still going strong. so i read something that 97% of weddings for 2020 were postponed. and only 7% of the relationships fell apart, so there'll be a massive amount of merchandise, wedding travel in 2021. liz: well, yeah. everybody put their weddings on hold, or they had them and it was zoom, and they wanted to do the dancing and the whole thing. okay, here come two major issues

here. number one, memorial day. and, number two, the official -- well, you could call it the unofficial start of summer. so so you say travel, what else are you seeing? where are you seeing these sort of moving plates, tectonic plates of spending beyond travel >> you know, this may be considered part of travel, but we have a great partner in very bow, and i think -- vrbo, and i think lots of people are just upping to be somewhere else. so i -- itching to be somewhere else. i think you will see a lot of vacation packages being sold. it's a little bit -- people are not just leaving town on business travel, they're trying to go somewhere and stay there there -- for 18 months, 15 months since the lockdown. liz: your stock had a really good pop on day one of trade, popped about 98% when you went public. it has definitely pulled back considerably. you know, i think that when i

look into what you're doing, because you don't charge late fees, i'm interested to know -- and i'm sure at lot of your investors are -- what has been the status of, i guess you could say when people are defaulting on their loans, because you don't hit them hard and say, come on, you're now accruing late fees. i know that's what makes you different. any, any possibility of changing that or tweaking it? >> you know, i don't think so. i think what makes affirm different, you hit the nail on the head, we've never charged a penny of late fees, we don't charge charge deferred interest. we are extraordinarily transparent. every single penny of cost to the consider or to the merchant is entirely visible to them. and when you do the right thing, which we think that's what we're doing, your customers will reward you. our performance is at historical bests. i'm sure some of this is thank to the united states government and its generosity with the monetary policy, but there's

more to it than that. i think the fact that we are equal to -- able to just stand by our customers, and we've seen some tragic stories during the height of the pandemic. they have been paying us back without the need to reis sort to these punitive -- resort to these punitive measures. so we feel very good about the business. we, obviously, posted a fantastic quarter. you mentioned peloton. excluding peloton, we doubled -- [inaudible] so we expect great things without having to charge late fees. liz: well, we're happy for you that the model seems to be working, and we're continuing to follow it. a please come back again. up next, monster trucks return. we have the monster jam trucks and the story of louvre entertainment coming back. -- live entertainment coming back. dow is up 240, we're coming right back.

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liz: fox business alert, the third time's a charm for one out of this world name in today's pop stocks. look at virgin galactic shares fully in orbit at this hour after the third successful test of its bss unity rocket which achieved a speed of mach-3 on saturday. yeah, the stock is going up into orbit by about 272% right now. the -- 27% right now. the spacecraft also completed a smooth landing. the richard branson-backed space tourism start-up stands at $26.69 after a rough couple of weeks. talk about popcorn-worthy action, even though china's dallying wanda group stunned investor audiences on friday by completing exiting in its stake in amc, the red died all-star --

reddit all-star jumping 13.7%. well, you know what? now that the chinese are out, 8 a 5 percent of the company's -- 85% of the company's shares are held by individual investors, but perhaps it was the high octane debut for fast and furious 9 which, by the way, raked in 162 million, more than ring up hoping d -- revving up hopes for release on june 25th. in other movie industry news, amazon is now moving even closer to finally securing its second biggest acquisition in company history. $9 billion purchase of mgm studios. the studio behind the james bond franchise and so much more. if a deal is reached, it would be second only to amazon's $13.7 billion buy of whole foods back

in 2017. amazon popping 1.5% right now. the return of in-person entertainment bringing stocks, right, from live entertainment, talking livenation, disney to msg entertainment all in the green at this hour. msg entertainment up nearly 3%. broadway, the concert industry and amusement parks are not the only ones ready to bring the heat this summer. monitor truck shows and fan disturb monster truck shows are gearing up once again. the organization that is home to monster jam, 'tis -- diss on ice -- disney on ice shut down all live events last year. now with the cdc green light, belt intertake thement is ready to go, belz entertainment. the ceo, that's a big one behind

you, kenneth. you must be so excited. you've already had a couple of monster jam shows. >> we're excitedded. we actually were the first live entertainment to come back last of course, the last week of october. the first was monster jam at at&t stadium. we were socially distanced. we had to get out to figure out how we're going to operate not knowing what the the end game was. so with the vaccinations and everything, we're coming back to full steam. so we have monster jam, we completed our supercross season and had disney on icous out on tour. -- ice out on tour. it's exciting, it's been exhilarating and, i must say, there's pent-up demand. families, when they've come to the shows, i've never seen the responses, the excitement like i see now. liz: i'm mesmerized by gravedigger and megalodon. yeah, i'm a fan, i lived in the

ohio, thank you very much. kenneth, do people have to sign waivers? i know the wwe just started its live shows again, and the ticket purchasers have to acknowledge in a waiver that there is the risk of any infectious disease. do you guys have that as well? >> no, we don't. what we have, actually, is the fed wellness -- feld wellness program, and we've been enacting this. we learned last year, we were the first sports league to complete our entire season, and the last seven races and supercross we did in salt lake city with no audience. but we learned how to work a health program. we hired an epidemiologist, and we had 900 people working there during the month, and we figured out how to keep them safe and then also later on, because we now started having audiences socially distanced, reduced wearing face coverings starting

in october and through all of to our events. from october til the end of april, we played already to a million people in arenas all across the country. liz: well, disney on ice coming back, these are all shows that i took my kids to, and i'm so glad you guys have really, you know, gone and done this too. and i just want to give a shout out to the fact that it was, what, more than a year or two ago that you ended ringling brothers and the elephant program, and you've actually put together the a very incredible elephant organization down in florida. how is that going? >> well, that's going fine, and the elephants have moved up near jacksonville to the white oak conservatory. it's an incredible, beautiful place. but the most important thing now is family entertainment is back, and we're happy to be leading the way.

the learning every week something more how to keep our patrons safe and our company. liz: kenneth feld, great to see you guys doing well, and we'll be watching you. stocks are near session highs as we go to a break. we have so much more, got that come back with us. ♪ ♪ (vo) while you may not be closing on a business deal while taking your mother and daughter on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure — your life is just as unique. your raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your dreams, and the way you care for those you love. so you can live your life. that's life well planned.

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concluded about 30 minutes ago with both sides debating topics such as how to define the app market as well as remedies to the problem at hand with epic suggesting apple and its app store, quote, get rid of those particular anti-competitive restrictions. so when might a ruling come? well, the judge joked that she promised to have this done by august 13th which happens to be the one-year anniversary of apple kicking fortnita off the app store. fortnite. we've got apple shares up 1.7% and epic which is mostly owned by tencent, a chinese conglomerate, jumping about 2%. scott redler and phil flynn, scott, let's discuss some scenarios here. if apple were to win the trial, what happens then, or if apple were to lose it, what happens then? >> well, i think if they win the trial, you're going to get a

positive impact on the stock. the stock's been lagging a little bit. i'm actually long the stock a little bit. i think if it gets above 128, it has room -- maybe back towards the mid 130s. if they lose, i don't think it's that big of a deal. maybe there'll be a short-term move lower, but a lot of people have been debating the fact that epic, you know, they're on the app store, and the app store gets a piece of everybody that's there because it's huge exposure. why shouldn't apple get a beat. the whole question is should they get 30% or should it be less. i was hoping there'd be a little bit of a hybrid solution because they do try and charge hess to small businesses. i kind of think it's going to go in favor of apple, and if that happens, it'll be positive for tech, positive for apple, and i don't think that they, you know, promote monopolistic practices.

they're just huge, and if you're going to be on their platform, they deserve a little bit of it. if they lose though, then i think people are going to start talking about amazon and their resellers, and there'll be a lot of noise out there. i'd rather see them win than lose. liz: so you could say what happens if apple loses, give me your thought on that, but also because there are other options, there is a google play store, there are other options. if you want to go pay less or what have you, you know, you could go on an android phone. there's a choice, in a way although, yeah, sure, 30% is onerous. some would say absolutely outrageous -- >> -- pay more money to sewn gnu and the other companies -- sony and other companies not involved in this lawsuit. that's kind of the crazy thing. this is really an epic lawsuit. it's really trying to define what these apps are and business going into the future. you know, listen, if apple loses this lawsuit, the revenue that they're going to lose, there was a big loss from epic. they make that in, you know, 48

hours. it's more about defining the future. and what we found during the microsoft, you know, break-up when they had to break up that situation where they had to, you know, break up windows and internet explorer to have other opportunities, that dud create your googles and other type of competitors. so it really does open the door for ingenuity. in a way, i kind of hope that epic wins only because i think it will inspire more people to come into the marketplace and really take it to the next level, and that's what i think epic is trying to do. liz: yeah. it just feels like apple will do fine no matter what. really quickly, scott redler, what do you say to people who say what's wrong with apple's stock? it's not breaking out. it's actually done well year-over-year. >> no, it's just consolidating. listen, last year they did their stock split. consolidate for the last six months or so, i don't think it's unhealthy, i think it's just a

matter of time to go to all-time highs. i like it when it's above the 211-day for active traders -- 21. if you're inactive, trade it like me. there's more opportunity in the short term, and it seem like we're trying to turn this corner now. i we get this case behind us and it goes to apple, i think active traders should be involved. liz: 4% wins for all kinds of names in technology. stay with us, the nasdaq is having a big day. scott, phil, thank you so much. sirius with a tiktok deal? this is big, today tuned. ♪ ♪ stay tuned. ♪ ♪ and plans for a long weekend. at thrivent, we believe money is a tool, not a goal. to learn more, text thrive to 444555, or visit thrivent.com.

that building you're trying to buy, you should ten-x it. ten-x is the world's largest online commercial real estate exchange. and it's fast. if i could, i'd ten-x everything. like our lunch. (laughs) amazing! see it. want it. ten-x it. [typing sounds] [music fades in] [voice of female] my husband ben and i opened ben's chili bowl the very same year that we were married. that's 1958. [voice of male] the chili bowl really has never closed in our history. when the pandemic hit, we had to pivot. and it's been really helpful to keep people updated on google. we wouldn't be here without our wonderful customers. we're really thankful for all of them. [female voices soulfully singing “come on in”]

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[ sigh ] not gonna happen. that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath.

excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment please... [ finger snaps ] hmm. ♪ ♪ the kohler walk-in bath features an extra-wide opening and a low step-in at three inches, which is 25 to 60% lower than some leading competitors. the bath fills and drains quickly, while the heated seat soothes your back, neck and shoulders. kohler is an expert in bathing, so you can count on a deep soaking experience. are you seeing this? the kohler walk-in bath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohler-certified installer. and it's made by kohler- america's leading plumbing brand. we need this bath. yes. yes you do. a kohler walk-in bath provides independence with peace of mind. call... to receive fifty percent off installation. and take advantage of our special offer of no payments for eighteen months. ♪♪ liz: so remember when mtv used

to be the kingmaker of music? now it's tiktok taking that throne and crown. siriusxm hoping the ma'amic will rub off -- magic will rub off, and it is. 3.5% gain for siriusxm. it's going to be launching a new full-time channel this summer called tiktok radio featuring content created by tiktok stars. tiktok creators will also be hosting new playlists on sirius' pandora platform: the midas touch when it comes to music is so strong that this viral video hit featuring fleetwood mac's 1977 classic "dreams" becoming so popular, the song actually climbed back onto billboard's top ten list last october. [laughter] for those of us who remember 1977, this is great because i'm really sick of hearing people say that phil mickelson is aged and yet won at age 50.

he's young! can we stop calling him old? don't forget to check out my morning market. minute on tiktok. every single morn we do a quick one minute thing, i don't even brush my hair -- as you can tell. follow me on tiktok @redfoxliz for your early morning business update. u-penn health systems is the latest employer to require its workers to get vaccinated. the announcement is being met with some pushback from critics who say it encroaches on employee freedom. lydia hu is live in plainsboro township, new jersey, to tell us why they believe they can force workers to get the shot. >> reporter: hi there, liz. last week when the policy was announced, the ceo of the university of pennsylvania health system said he felt the system needed to take the lead, and this employer mandate requiring our employees across the entire health system to get

the vaccine in order to help end the pandemic. when they did that, they joined a growing lust of other companies that have already issued similar mandates. most of them are health care systems like houston methodist hospital. delta requiring the vaccine for new hires and broad production hamilton requiring it of all employees. lawyers generally say that these mandates are on good legal ground, that companies can do this especially in the health care setting, and that means that employers can use their disciplinary processes to enforce it including possibly termination. watch this. >> the employer has the right to say, well, you can't come to work here, we can only give you a certain amount of time off, and if you don't get vaccinated, you're not going to be able to be employed here anymore. >> reporter: liz, also important to note here any mandate must include an exception for a health reason or

a religious observance. but i'm hearing just within the past 20 minutes from a major health care union that represents members including nurses and nurses' aides and lab technicians that theyly oppose these types of employer mandates although they do encourage their members to get vaccinated. that really underscores the tension here. a lot of people are saying it's a tight rope walk because although it might be on good legal ground, it doesn't mean that they won't get sued from groups of employees who object to this saying this is a violation of their privacy rights or an overreach or possibly even discriminatory when it comes to the application. that's why using some experts right now, liz, saying encouraging the vaccine is really the better course over a mandate. liz. liz: i don't want, i don't want somebody taking care of me and breathing on me if they haven't been vaccinated in a hospital -- [laughter] that's just me. lydia, great to see you. lydia hu. all right, folks, cathi wood's

ark innovation fund has been the talk of the town, but today's countdown closer makes the case for hopping on the ark, one of the lesser known etfs. which one and why in we'll tell you when we return. close bell, we're -- closing bell, we're about six minutes away. ♪ ♪ . .

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♪. liz: cathie woods arc innovation fun may get all the attention lately is is there another ark investment you should add to your buy list? carver ceo randy carver, says you joined me with his cathie wood alternative. talk about the ark innovation financial fund, the ark f fund, why you pick this one. >> thanks, liz. great to be here.

whenever there is a gold rush you can be a miner or you can be the guy selling the picks and shovels and clearly ton of interest in crypto as recently as today. the fed is talking about a crypto dollar. we feel crypto in general still like the wild west. the ark financial fund really provides a way to get those picks and shovels to some of the exchanges in our opinion. liz: yeah. and square. shopify, zillow, paypal, all of these sort of fresh opportunities in there, they're all in the green today but you got to tell me how you see them performing post-pandemic. >> yeah that is a great question. and again, with the cryptos have been all over the place as have some of the home shopping and some of the online types of things. we think post-pandemic, entire area of digital transactions

will continue to grow and again one of the best ways to play it is through some of the broader funds like ark financial and global access one as well. liz: sure. because it encompasses so many good names targeted if you're a believer in the entire sector. i asked because shares are up 75% year-over-year but over the past three months they have lagged about 24% to the downside. are you worried about that at all? >> not really. i think quite frankly it's a buying opportunity. you know? the short run things trade on perception. a lot of negative news, particularly about bitcoin, lost almost half of its value from the high in the last month or so but i think that is a short-term type phenomenon. again you mentioned things like shopify and some of those types of companies who we think will continue to benefit longer term.

liz: randy, i like it. two billion in assets under management. we appreciate you coming over from carver financial services. thanks so much we'll see you another time. [closing bell rings] liz: markets close up to the upside. it is final hour of trade that matters the most. green on the screen with the nasdaq jumping 187 points that is the biggest percentage. ♪. >> hi, everyone, ooh david asman in for larry kudlow today. welcome to "kudlow." we start with breaking news surrounding the origin of the covid pandemic, three researchers around the institute of wuhan virology were hospitalled in september of 2019 according to "wall street journal." rich edson is