19th, nice in breadth stocks going up versus down and in volume. that should carry the market across the board including the lagging russell to new highs, whether it's in the next three weeks to end the quarter or into the fourth quarter. there's certainly a plausible scenario, charles, where we could see a mini melt up -- >> charles: i'm glad to hear you are so optimistic, paul, as usual. we stay that way as well. my friend and colleague liz claman does as well. over to you, liz. >> liz: you bet, always, always, new york city strong, all of us. thank you very much. markets slipping into the red late in the session, as the dow and the s&p 500 face their fourth straight loss, the longest losing streak since june. the nasdaq slightly higher, but you got to call that flat. it looks like it's about to close negative for a second straight session as we await word from the white house about president joe biden's plan to stop the delta variant in its tracks. we have major news coming from

the white house in this hour. you've got to stay tuned. it could move stocks. the power of the [inaudible] moving stocks. it is on full display at this hour. a disaster gamestop earnings call after the bell yesterday triggered a 10% plunge premarket but the stock traders on reddit have dragged gamestop up off the floor. we will tell you where it is trading. right here on countdown, 24 hours ago, that has wall street chattering and gamestop investors are intrigued. you will hear it right here. el salvador's rollout of bitcoin was bumpy, that's not swaying the believers. yet another country is moving towards the legalization of the original crypto. bitcoin billionaire brock pierce was instrumental in helping the el salvadoran government roll out of its bitcoin as legal

tender. we will talk about how this changes. it's still not clear whether the americans will rush back to the gym. a fox business exclusive on what a guest is seeing and where when it comes to packed fitness classes. first we have to get you the breaking news. the wall street calvary has apparently arrived as we kick off the final hour of trade. after gapping down at the open, take a look at the intraday picture of gamestop, dropping to $178 a share this morning. the meme stock retail trader crowd has mobilized and managed to give gamestop a gain right now. it is up into the green at this very moment, albeit just by 8 cents. but look at the share price. nows a $198 -- now at $198 a share. the drop came after a conference call in which the ceo, the new guy gave no guidance and took no questions. what a difference on how fellow stock ceo adam aaron of amc

handled his recent conference call. coming up, the signal adam aaron gave exclusively here on countdown yesterday that has wall street chattering about an amc gamestop partnership. in the meantime, we have 58 minutes left to trade. investors find themselves caught in a bit of a riptide, major indices in the red as stocks get caught in a taper tug-of-war that has the no tapering this year crowd possibly gaining upper hand. it started this morning when several u.s. airlines who happen to be mixed right now, we do see they have warned this morning of a slowdown in bookings and that ticket sales look anemic. american blaming the delta variant, for the august softness it's now seeing and the reason it is forecasting a steeper than previously estimated revenue decline. united is doing the very same and says it is trimming flying capacity for the rest of the year. look at delta and jetblue, chimed in as well saying third quarter revenue will be at the low end of the forecast.

and then you've got southwest calling for a loss, but all of these names have managed to go into the green. let me just say, though, that today atlanta fed president rafael bostock publicly weighed with the "wall street journal" says while papering the unwinding of the emergency bond purchases to put into place to prop up at the economy back at the worst point of the pandemic will happen this year but don't expect an announcement at the september fomc meeting. and yet this bullish piece of news, weekly jobless claims just out today fell to the lowest level in nearly 18 months. job openings are up. growth and demand look good, but -- and i stress, i'm not an economist, but i'm saying right here, right now, and by the way, i did not feel this way until i saw that covid cases are 300% higher year over year, and that the airlines confess the picture is darkening, they said that this morning. the fed will not taper this year. i really don't think it will. what does that mean for stocks and interest rates?

let's bring in a ceo david trainer and chief financial analyst at bank rate greg mcbride. i feel like the airlines are canary in the coal mine that say people who had rushed to book trips and travel again and get out there and spend money are suddenly halting. that's going to scare off the federal reserve from tapering. >> it is certainly possible, but i still think the fed is going to taper. as you know, rafael bostock alluded to such this morning. new york fed president john williams kind of hinting much the same last night. and i think the timeline lines up that we get a november announcement, a december start to that tapering, you know. nothing's going to happen at the september meeting simply because they need to buy themselves a little bit more time to, you know, read the economic tea leaves in the face of the delta variant. >> liz: but greg, you are looking at interest rates, and when we say interest rates, you have the federal open market committee which does have that september meeting coming up,

they don't have one in october. let's just stress that. what do you suspect will happen with mortgage rates and credit card interest rates, will they start to tick higher or not? >> mortgage rates i think conventional wisdom at least up until recently is when the fed starts to taper, that's going to push those long-term rates up. you know, you're almost seeing an opposite sentiment from that in the markets, in the sense that tapering sooner is seen as a step to tamp down future inflation, so we've seen those long-term bond yields and [inaudible] trades remain at the ultra low levels for a long period of time even as we're getting closer to the tapered time frame. the ten-year treasury is 1.75 in march and it's since pulled back below 1.3, again as we get closer to the tapering timeline. >> liz: david, this morning i looked at the ten year yield at 1.33%. it is at 1.30% that looks like a flight to quality or safety, a

little bit of fear in the market. you can look at the vix, it is moving higher by a couple of percentage points, but it was flat to lower this morning. tell me what investors should do. and do you believe that i'm right and we will not see tapering this year, or that greg is probably possibly right, we might see it at the very last second in december? >> i think at best, you know, we'll see it at the end of the year, but i think, liz, you are right. i think this is largely a political decision. i think if fed chairman powell thinks his job is in jeopardy, he's more likely to want to go ahead and taper. if he feels like his job is secure, he will keep the spigot running. i think is more and more political decision. i think it has less and less to do with economics. i mean, just look at the press conference yesterday when the -- i think the head of the economic department, at the white house, i don't remember the exact title, but prices are fine at grocery stores except for poultry, pork, and meat, you

know, right, so i don't think that the economics have that much to do with it. i think it is all about keeping spirits happy and high, and as long as the white house feels that powell is doing a good job of that, his job is secure and he will keep doing it. if he doesn't think his job is secure and he knows he's going to get fired then he's going to do the right thing because he'd rather be on record to do the right thing. >> liz: i'm going to put aside the fact that it is horrifying to think this would be a political decision, although i know you are a realist. this is our money. this is our portfolios that are at risk here, and they are deciding just because somebody's contract doesn't get re-upped as we say in broadcasting, but what do you do, david, when it comes to a portfolio? do you go with interest rate sensitive names? do you go with a reopening trade or not? >> i think you've got to go with fundamentals. it's the only thing you can sort of stake numbers to, that you can build a model around. everything else is just speculation and guessing and hope. i mean, look what's happening with gamestop.

i mean, it is a joke; right? the stock was down for good reason. it's a mediocre business with an extremely overvalued price. no matter what the new management team does, it is never going to earn or justify its price. and the mean stock investors pushed it back up, right, from zero. we're dealing in a world where money is free. money is what buys people their seat back in congress or the white house, and they know that. there's no politician on record who wants to be in office when the bubble has to be popped. they're going to kick the can down the road to the next guy for as long as they can. that's the world we live in. >> liz: i truly believe that means no tapering this year. greg, david, let's have you back. greg, you may be right, but who wants to be the grinch and announce that around december. we shall see. peloton, let's take a look at that, it is popping as it rolls out its own branded clothing line. the exercise equipment maker announcing it is going to be selling peloton apparel. this is a specific line of workout clothes and accessories adorned with peloton logos and

art work. investors absolutely love this. the stock is up nearly 10% right now. but while peloton is banking on home workouts to continue with full energy, who is going to win the post-pandemic battle in fitness? brick and mortar gyms or on-line fitness sites? the company that could be the one to make the call is here. a ceo that has all kinds of data coming in will reveal what he is seeing right now. closing bell ringing in 50 minutes. dow jones industrials down 118. we do have red on the screen. the transports are suffering, down about 1% or 153 points. s&p lower by 12. the "claman countdown" is coming right back. you better too. that spin class was brutal. well, you can try using the buick's massaging seat.

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comcast business powering possibilities. >> liz: it's still kind of a jump ball for the future of fitness. the players on the court, workout from home superstar peloton, but if you look what it's done, you can see that one year ago, since then, the stock has moved higher by about 24.9%. now in the past 52 weeks,

despite massive gains in the early days of the pandemic versus brick and mortar gym giant, it is getting beaten out by planet fitness, up 28% year over year. as americans look at their situation and say you know what, i'm so over my living room. i'm jogging back to the gym. we are now faced with the delta variant now in play. could this fight for the future fitness turn upside down once again? let's bring in class pass, a service that's been helping fill empty spots in gym and workout studios and classes since 2013. it's a huge business. it's also helped people transition to at-home workouts during the lockdowns. the ceo here now in a fox business exclusive to help us i guess play referee in this battle. fritz, your company could really tip the scales here. tell us what you are seeing when it comes to filling empty spots in group fitness classes right now. >> the last few months have been super promising. obviously, you know, where the

outbreak is hire or where a vaccination up take is lower, there's a little bit less enthusiasm, but once our customers go back to one workout at a studio or a gym, they go back actually at 10% more than they were pre-pandemic. we're seeing really strong rebounds. the last time we spoke, the vast majority of our customers had frozen their class pass memberships. now, over 90% are active subscribers. they are going back to class. so, you know, really i think it is just a matter of time. what we're seeing is that the demand is there, and it's incredibly resilient. when outbreaks get really high, at the hyper local level, you see more hesitation, and -- but as vaccinations continue to get high, and our membership is incredibly highly vaccinated, we are seeing that comfort to get back to class and get back to in person experiences with nine out of ten of the top experiences on class pass being for in-person experiences and appointments. >> liz: you guys work with a lot of different studios everything

from cycle bar to rumble to boot camps, are there specific areas of the country or specific types ofs are -- specific types of classes are people are more comfortable to start to trickle back into the classes and get a full-fledged workout? >> that's a great question. on the genre side, classes that require specialized equipment, instead of something you can do in your living room have extra added appeal. the ones that require a group, immerive sense of community, things that have instructor. 80% say they push themselves harder in class than working out in alone. 75% prefer the instructor and encouragement and accountability. two thirds say access to the equipment, the specialized gear you get from our partners, things like pilates, boxing, rowing, that's really hard to do at home and hard to have a bunch -- a lot of people have a peloton. it is kind of hard to start having, you know, your own studio with many different types

of things. >> liz: fritz, you're working with the department of tourism in singapore. you guys are global at this point. singapore was particularly very strict when it came to things like vaccination, masking, etc., and lockdowns. what are you hearing overall about covid and about vaccinations when it comes to requirements at these classes? >> super interesting question. so yeah, first of all, we're really excited to be partnering with the singapore tourism board. anything that encourages people to get back to these local experiences and drive more revenue to these local businesses that have been suffering is a massive win. singapore and a lot of east asian countries have done a pretty good job. they have taken a more hard core approach as you alluded with lockdowns and requirements. and the stats that we have is the good news is our customers, they want to go back to in person. certainly there's a huge digital business. we have digital, you know, stuff as well. you alluded to peloton, awesome business. our customer is different. they really prefer these

in-person experiences, and they go right back. they are also heavily vaccinated. over 91% of our customers are fully vaccinated. a few percent more are partially or in the process of getting fully vaccinated. 37% of those customers will only go back if there's vaccine requirements. i will say there's less enthusiasm for masking. you know, 27% say they won't attend a class if there's mask requirements. so, you know, there's different restrictions which have different effects. i think we feel pretty good that when our partners decide to call for a vaccine mandate, that's good for the industry regardless of one's, you know, political beliefs or whatever. that's what customers want and that will make them feel safe working out. >> liz: yeah, i for one is dying to get back to barry's boot camp and so are my hips. [laughter] fritz, great to see you. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> liz: fritz landman of class pass. you just heard our floor show traders talking about meat prices. meat prices are on the rise. is this just what's happening

right now? or is there somebody or a company that's to blame? there's a big beef over that very question right now. jeff flock cuts into the fact versus the fiction next. closing bell ringing in 41 minutes. "the claman countdown" is coming right back with the dow down 143 points. s&p lower by 15. ♪ ♪ our retirement plan with voya, keeps us moving forward. hey, kevin! hey, guys! they have customized solutions to help our family's special needs... hey, graduation selfie! well done! and voya stays by our side, keeping us on track for retirement... ...giving us confidence in our future... ...and in kevin's. you ready for your first day on the job? i was born ready. go get 'em, kev. well planned. well invested. well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement.

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shivering, fever, and upset stomach. talk to your pharmacist or doctor about protecting yourself with shingrix. shingles doesn't care. but we do. >> liz: fox business alert. we have to go back to gamestop right now. really is living up to its meme mania kingpin status at this hour whip sawing from a session low of 178 bucks, 10% loss to what we see now, down just 1 1/2% to $196.12 right now. the wild move follows a mixed quarterly report, where the video game retailer posted a wider than expected net loss of 76 cents a share, but that's not

why the stock, a favorite of the red at wall street's bet's crowd found itself under pressure. shares began tanking after hours yesterday during the conference call when the operator announced there would be no q&a with analysts allowed. the ceo then spoke for about six minutes and six seconds. i timed it and ended by saying we won't be giving guidance at this time. this is really stunning, folks, considering fellow meme stock ceo adam erin of amc theaters just revealed right here on countdown that aside from a 25 million dollars ad campaign, starring nicole kidman, that's brand new, he actually took questions from shareholders on his recent earnings call, a new amc gamestop collab might be in the works from that call. listen. >> as you know, we've been deluged with great suggestions from our new base ever since they really gained control of the company back in april. they suggested that the two of us team up. we took questions on our last

earnings call, not just from analysts but from retail shareholders. that question came up. i said we made contact with gamestop. we have made contact with gamestop. we are talking, but it is too early to say what the shape of some cooperative marketing efforts might be. >> liz: adam erin exclusively here on fox business saying yes something is in the works not ready to talk about. look at amc. it is punching into the green with let's say 34 minutes left of trade, now up 1 1/3% after beginning the session in the red. but we got to get to one of the biggest winners of the day, lulu lemon, look at the stock, up 10 1/2%. investors basically pouring sugar all over the shares after earnings beat and revenue beat on a boost to their full year guidance as well. let's not just a let's work out

company, it's a back to school thing. every high school and college kid wanted to go back to lulu lemon, yes the boys too to get lulu lemon pants. you see the shares there. restoration hardware and love sack, rh surging 8% right now after raising its full year forecast driven by increased at-home demand. and throwing the wet blankets on any doubts over the home improvement movement's ability to survive, love sack is about to close out its best day of percentage gains since april of last year, after posting a surprise second quarter profit. love sack ceo also saying the third quarter is off to a, quote, strong start. the love for love sack in full effect. shares right now up 22.8%. we should check in on meat companies. right now they are on the move after the white house blasted them for, quote, pandemic

profiteering theying say jacked up -- saying they jacked up beef, chicken, pork costs. -- saying they jacked up beef chicken and pork costs. meat producers don't agree with that. jeff flock has more. what are they saying? >> those are new york strip steaks. that's a tenderloin there. that's a prime rib. prices have never been higher. third generation meat purveyor, you say when they say big beef is to blame? you say? >> i say no, big beef is not to blame. >> why do you say that? you do business with those guys. that's where you buy your -- >> yes, i do, we purchase a lot from them. >> wouldn't it be helpful to have more competition? >> definitely, it would be great to have competition with

everything. >> -- think they are profiteering. >> not at all. >> that's what the biden administration says. it says the meat producers are generating record profits during the pandemic at the expense of both consumers, farmers, and ranchers. do you buy it? >> for me i buy everything from them. i don't know what their business is. i worry about my business and taking care of my customers. >> do you think it's more overall inflation as a result of the pandemic? i mean, people are having trouble with supply chain. you know, everybody has trouble in this. prices are rising. we did a fox news poll, which indicates -- and we took this before the folks in afghanistan got crazy, but the poll found that people are most concerned with inflation. that concerns you too; right? >> definitely. definitely because that hurts me with my business. you know, people -- with inflation, prices go up. they are not going to have the tendency to buy my product or eat at the restaurants that i

sell. definitely it scares everybody. >> what am i looking at there? >> that's a porter house. >> how much of the price increase on this, something like this? >> prices have gone up anywhere from on choice i'd say anywhere from 2 to 5 dollars. prime has been ridiculous. >> almost double? >> double, yes. >> i leave you with the strips, the new york strips. these were put in here to age on 8-28-2021. we'll see how much they're worth when they come out. maybe a lot more. liz? >> liz: i will take the fillet minion. put they aside for me. hour and a half away from president biden's speech where he is expected to sign an executive order which will require all federal employees and government contractors to get vaccinated, as he looks to battle the delta variant. the latest cdc numbers show just over 53% of americans are now fully vaccinated. let's get live to the white house and edward lawrence who is

here to break down the details of biden's attack on the variant. >> liz, i obtained a copy of the plan that president biden plans to announce in a few hours here. it is a six-pronged plan. i can tell you that press secretary psaki says it will impact american lives. listen. >> this speech isn't just words. he's announcing and i would argue that the bully pulpit for my president can be quite powerful but what the president is announcing is series of bold and ambitious steps to address covid, to save more lives, to protect more people, and that's what the american people can expect to hear from him today. >> and the plan will require that workers and federal government contractors get vaccinated. it also directs osha to mandate that any company with 100 employees or more ensure vaccinations or have weekly tests. that cost could be on those companies. he will talk booster shots. he will also highlight resources to keep schools open, as well as have hhs create a rule to

mandate that those in charge of head start programs are vaccinated. also calling on school systems to mandate vaccines for all school employees, including teachers, plus makes the point that handling covid will mean economic recovery. he's also going to talk about the improvement that he wants to do for patient care and getting more hospitals and whatnot help from the department of defense, specifically more clinicians to help from the dod and those areas that are surging with the delta virus. now, on booster shots, moderna says that it is going to add a flu shot to its booster shot in that one shot there, and some doctors, though, still say it might be too early to talk about that now. just listen. >> when it comes to booster shots, to me, the threshold is to see fully vaccinated people getting breakthrough infections that land them in the hospital, that's just not happening. i do think that there may be a time down the road where there may be a need for booster vaccinations, but i don't think it's going to be on september

20th. >> his key is to get everybody vaccinated first who have at least one dose. 75.2% of the country, 18 years and older, fully vaccinated. 64.4%. now the administration says that they will be ready on september 20th to give out booster shots for the coronavirus. however, the fda has their meeting to approve booster shots three days before that. so some saying they are getting the cart before the horse on this. back to you. >> liz: okay. but let's just put this out there for our business audience. the biden administration is going to order all companies with 100 or more employees to be fully vaccinated. all right. and by the way -- >> that will be a rule through osha. it's a rule coming through osha. and then they are going to mandate that, and so it's going to take some process to get the rule. but that's coming. it is going on -- the cost is on the companies. the federal government is not going to provide the costs of those tests. >> liz: okay. i want to show an intraday of

the dow. why? we're still down 110 points, but when edward broke the news about that, we were down about 130, 140 points. if you look at an intraday of the dow, you will see that up tick off the floor is slight, but, you know, if you look closely, it is pronounced. we're now down 110 points, and we are looking at least at a moment where we shall hear from the president later on this afternoon and get the details from him. in the meantime, el salvador's move to use bitcoin as legal tender off to a rocky start, but it's not stopping yet another nation. this one in europe, from jumping into the crypto craze. up next, the newest country to make the digital currency legal and who bitcoin billionaire brock pierce says could be next. closing bell, 26 minutes away. russell 2,000, the small and mid caps are in the green, up 11 points, but the nasdaq is still

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>> liz: it's been a wild 48 hours for bitcoin. now, right at this moment, bitcoin is up 79 bucks to 46,653. you can see ethereum down about 58. but you've got to really focus on what happened as i say in the last 24 to 36 hours. after ukraine's government announced new policies legalizing and regulating bitcoin and other crypto currencies in that country. so what does that mean? i mean, if you look at this, can the ukraine -- not called the ukraine anymore, it is just ukraine, can they avoid the mistakes el salvador made in what's being described as very messy rollout of bitcoin? how can el salvador pick up the

pieces -- let's not call it a crypto mess. i don't want to overstate it because we have the man who helped shape el salvador's bitcoin policies right here. chairman of the bitcoin foundation who has made hundreds and hundreds of millions investing early on bitcoin. brock, great to have you. am i being too easy or too hard on the ukraine rollout? what happened there? >> well, i mean, i think everybody watched or is watching what happened in el salvador, a country most people probably had never heard of and certainly couldn't find on a map, but because the future belongs to the bulls, because of el salvador's stance on bitcoin, all eyes are on el salvador, and i'm dealing with 30 nations right now, and everyone is eager to see because they recognize certainly in the developing world that the status quo isn't working. there's 4 1/2 billion people or so that are on [inaudible]. we need a system that works for

everyone. the ukraine is following suit. you have panama with legislation. i mean the list goes on and on and on. it is all happening. as you correctly pointed out, you know, perfection is the enemy of progress. and you know, things are not working perfectly, but so is the way of growth. there's what we call growing pains. be patient. >> liz: let's explain to people really quickly that what happened was you had to download or upload as it were the chivo app which was already filled with $30 worth of bitcoin and then the people of el salvador were able to of course begin using bitcoin as legal tender, so, you know, when you have something like that, you open the gates, sure, the entire situation gets swamped. i get that, but, you know, you just talked about how so many people in el salvador are unbanked. same in third world nations, in many african nations, but ukraine, this is interesting. ukraine has a pretty solid banking system, does it not, and yet they are now opening the

idea up. what is the next step? why would you not see a bigger jump in bitcoin on this news? >> well, i lived in [inaudible] i think it was back in 2010. i spent some time in the ukraine. and like a lot of eastern europe, because of the ussr's engineering background, you've got a lot of great software developers, things are a little bit more advanced for the relative size of their economies. and to point out again, back to el salvador, $30 worth of bitcoin in every wallet for everyone in the country, meaning there's no risk, no down side. so if you want to teach people, you know, how to join the future economy, to join this economy, at least the government has stepped up and said we're going to do it in a way that puts you at no risk. it is a wonderful thing and super excited. we threw an incredible event. you will have to check out the drone show that we put on.

we were in el salvador on that historic day. the years, decades, centuries, millennium to come, we h look back on september 7th, bitcoin day in el salvador as what might have been, you know, ground zero, day zero of what facilitated building a better world that works for everyone. >> liz: maybe, maybe, but here in the u.s., it's a chillier atmosphere for crypto currency. you just had coin base, of course the big platform where people can trade all of the currencies and the cryptos, publicly traded company receive a wells notice from the sec saying get ready we could sue you if you unveil this lend program, which of course is an interest-bearing account that is related to crypto currency. my question to you is, do you fear, gary gensler and the sec, or do you embrace what he's doing, we're already ahead, sure, let's act like grown ups and let's be regulated. >> well, i don't fear, and i

also respect, you know, his role in his situation. what is the role of a regulator? ultimately it is to protect the people. i just hope that he makes smart decisions, you know, sensible decisions that protect the people, but at the same time foster innovation. you know, the united states of america is the capital of innovation. most of these technologies have come from the united states, and we're losing many of our best and brightest because of a regulatory uncertainty, so i just pray that they make smart decisions, and i do believe that he has taken the time to understand what's going on here, and i'm rooting for him to do the right thing for the benefit of all of us because it's really important. it's worth noting from a political perspective that there's now hundreds of millions of people in the world that have crypto currency, tens of millions of americans, and they're very smart. they're very very smart. they do their research, and they never forget. and we're single issue voters. we're going to see in the elections to come, those that stand in the way of progress, those that stand in the way of building a better world, those that standout -- stand outside

of truth are going to see the results in these next elections, and so i'm a fan. i believe that we want to create an all-win situation, where we all win together, and the old and the new, you know, have to pave that path, and so i'm available, and i make myself available to our legislators, our regulators, state and federally to provide them with education because it is human nature to fear that which we don't understand, and we conquer fear with knowledge. >> liz: brock pierce, let's see if gary gensler gives you a call or at least somebody at the sec. great to have you. thank you very much. charlie breaks it next. we are coming right back. that spin class was brutal.

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>> liz: time to talk about the other amc. we're talking about amc networks. we want to show you this intraday chart. look to the far right. you see that spike? that just after charlie gasparino tweeted what he is about to report here, the creator of the walking dead, better call saul, and madmen could be the target of the next big mega media merger. analysts say the company is ripe for sale, but who is buying? gasparino joins us now to break t. give us the news. >> i think there's two reasons why banking source and not just banking sources i talk to plenty of media executives out there, senior media executives why they say amc is for sale. market cap of 2 billion dollars, does not pose a real antitrust concern for example, a disney to buy it, for a viacom cbs, sherry redstone looking to add content to their streaming services so that's one reason why people think it's for sale.

the second reason is what just happened. they have a new ceo. they just appointed matt blank, i don't know if you know matt, a long time show time -- >> liz: of course. >> i know him because my wife worked for show time. i'm friends with matt. i have not spoken to him on this. he didn't tell me any of this stuff. >> liz: charlie, who is going to buy it? i'm on the edge of my seat. >> i know that. let me explain why this is pertinent because an interim ceo is going to sell it rather than management, that's how the interim ceo is seen. it -- who is going to buy it? these are the names it will be shopped to if they officially begin to shop it. cbs viacom, walt disney, definitely disney, netflix obviously, comcast because brian robert over at comcast is looking to add to content, he feels kind of like he missed out from what i understand, on the

discovery time warner deal. he may not be able to do a deal with viacom. it might be too big, plus it's messy. remember they both own -- viacom has cbs. comcast has nbc. they will have to get rid of those two. it would be a messy deal. he could buy it because it doesn't overlap with anything. the negative on the deal, liz, is simply this, that's why there's always a fly in the ointment. apparently all those great shows that you talk about, madmen, you know, breaking bad, you know, saul -- what's the one with saul? i haven't watched it. >> liz: better call saul. >> that's it, that one. they are all i leased out and licensed out. it is not really exclusive content. you get the lineal channels, but youon get a lot -- but you don't get a lot of exclusive content. that's a negative on price. that's where we are right now. it's the one piece of media that everybody i know is buzzing about that is going to be shopped. >> liz: we don't have time to go on, but i don't see amazon on your list, which is interesting. >> yeah, i mean, i just think, you know, listen, it is not on

my list. it doesn't mean that it won't happen. it is not on my list because the regulators just hate amazon. the person who runs the ftc and the justice department, antitrust, i mean, just look at their academic and their work about how much they hate amazon, so i don't think they want amazon to get that much bigger. you know what i'm saying? >> liz: okay. charlie, thank you. charlie gasparino, we are coming right back. dow is still down, but just by 110. before we talk about tax-smart investing, what's new? -well, audrey's expecting... -twins! grandparents! we want to put money aside for them, so...change in plans. alright, let's see what we can adjust. ♪♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. okay. mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. lemme guess, change in plans? at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. incomparable design makes it beautiful.

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here as you look forward? >> liz, we think ford is best positioned as the american legacy builders in the chip problem that so many of your viewers will be familiar with but also they have hedged their bets in electric. number one, we have the success with the with the mustang mach e and f-150 lightning will be a huge success. ford announced they will double production from what they originally planned. rivian the first vehicles are due to come out any day are both a pickup truck and suv. rivian talk of the street, ipo worth $80 billion. that is worth a lot more than ford, think about it. with ford you're almost getting a double bet on the ev trade. liz: p-e ratio of seven which makes it very affordable and not overpriced, especially considering rich valuations we see in a lot of u.s. stocks at the moment. i have to ask ed, when you look

what is going on with the chip shortage, these electric vehicles are very chip intensive. the average car uses about 34 chips. i can only imagine how f-150 all electric utilizes. is ford somehow managing this better than some of the other companies out there? >> that is a very good point, liz. i think ford is. one of the things they have done they have been communicating very well with the dealer network. they are gearing their chips to what they know will be selling. so allocating resources as they need. we seen how successful the mustang mach e is. i know they realize how successful the f-150 lightning will be. they are communicating with the dealer network to keep the chips and vehicles in supply. liz: ed, i'm going to broaden the aperture here and talk about the markets. we have a down day, but we are awfully close to all-time records for most of the major indices. do you foresee this continuing?

we do have this argument about whether the fed is or is not going to taper this year. we've seen some slowdown in the airline numbers. they see ticket sales are down. they're at least decelerating. what do you expect from the end of the year for the federal reserve? >> i think the federal reserve is, you know, slightly tapering over the next several months. but i think they back off of that. the big thing we'll not see interest rates rise as soon as a lot of us thought. the fed will keep rates, steady as they can. we'll see inflation. this is a scary time. we don't think inflation will be transient. inflation is here. no longer speculative like we talked about six months ago. it is real. too many people in the market, too many analysts, too many economists were not around 30, 40 years ago. they don't remember the late '70s, '80s, 21% prime rate that concerns us here.

liz: ed, it is wonderful to have you. you and your cohort standing behind you. sorry we didn't get to hear from him. s&p 500, will close down for a fourth straight session. [closing bell rings] the nasdaq is a loser here. that will do it for "the claman countdown." we'll see you here tomorrow. "kudlow" is next. larry: welcome back to "kudlow." i'm larry kudlow. again tonight we turn to the reckless budget reconciliation plan that's under discussion in congress now. of course i continue to argue that passage of this five trillion dollar monstrosity will inflict great damage on the economy. you've got massive spending, no workfare requirements. across the board tax penalties on productive workers, huge new regulatory obstacles, a green new deal that will jack up the

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