maria: welcome back. with the big but the morning, a tourist in new york city shocked to discover her hotel room does not overlook the city is advertised on the air b&b website but directly into a restaurant, this shows diner sitting inches from her. here b&b apologized offering a voucher. dagen: much nicer than many apartments i have lived in. maria: thank you for joining us. "varney and company" begins right now. lauren simonetti target away. lauren: president biden insists his administration was not behind when it came to testing but the lines are long, home tests impossible to find the 500 million tests he is

purchasing will not be here until next month so now the president will meet with private-sector ceos to discuss supply chain issues. we will have a report from the white house. let's check the market. mixed after the 500 point rebound on the dow jones industrial average closing at the highs of the session, the dow is down 49, the s&p down 10, nasdaq down 42. let's look at the 10 year treasury yield continuing to rise up 0.3 basis points to one.46%. bitcoin nearing 50,000 at 48590, down $95. fox news learned illegal migrants are using uber to travel away from the border to be processed by authorities. there is a surge in these pick ups and a lot are going to yuma, arizona. we will talk to mark lamb about that. look at this video.

a family leaving the four seasons in philadelphia is rob on the street as part of a huge lake in crimea the da is claiming there is not a crime problem. kayleigh mcenany and senator bill cassidy coming up on wednesday december 20 second 2021. "varney and company" about to begin. ♪♪ lauren: that is the music we like to hear with christmas just days away. everyone seems depressed. we will try to turn that around with music like that and stories to tell you.

president biden using his speech yesterday to defend his vaccine mandates. >> president biden: i want to start by acknowledging how tired, frustrated and worried you are. i know how you are feeling. are we going to back to march 2020? not much of 2021 but march of 2020 when the pandemic first it? that is like being asked. the answer is no. i know vaccination requirements are unpopular for many. they are not even popular for those are anxious to get them. my administration has put them in place not to control your life but to save your life. neil: let's say good morning to mercedes schlapp. you say it is time for the biden administration to stop scolding and start solving. what should he be doing? what should he be saying? how do we feel better? >> the key is it is up to the

american people to make the best decision based on their conversations with healthcare professionals. most americans do not favor these vaccine mandates. these are an important piece of the puzzle in combating covid. it's not the whole thing. what he needs to be asking for is the fda to authorize these antiviral pills that have been waiting for approval. haven't even convened an advisory meeting that we know are effective and could cut covid death 20. talking about how you invest in these therapeutics was a conversation we are not having enough about because at the end of the day we see many of these breakthrough cases even with people are fully vaccinated and it is troubling. we know that omicron is spreading quickly. the other thing is it is about making sure the hospital workers, that there are enough hospital workers.

when you are pushing up the unvaccinated hospital workers, creating disorders, creating crisis, not helpful in helping to make sure we have enough staff in these hospitals. lauren: those staff are getting omicron and getting sick on top of the vaccine mandate. it is a problem. let's move on. the president made another reference about not being allowed to talk to the media. >> president biden: bring down those costs across the board from child care, child care tax credit. i am not supposed to be having this press conference. >> president biden: lauren: who is in charge here? >> that is the question many people have asked. who was in charge of the white house? the mere fact he always says he is not supposed to be having these press conferences, it is the role of the president to provide direct answers to the

american people to answer the tough questions of the press. i can tell you when i worked with donald trump he was so accessible to the media. was he combative at times? absolutely. never failed to give a response and the press absolutely knew what donald trump was thinking. in this case, president biden is the most scripted president of our lifetimes. we are not getting direct answers. it is all about whatever he can read off of a teleprompter. you have to wonder who is in charge of the white house and obviously his staff is giving him bad advice. lauren: a president who almost spoke to the media too much and one that is hard to say, there is so much bad news, it is in the air. let's bring positivity to people. christmas eve is two days away. tell me something positive about you and your life right now. >> i have 5 beautiful dollars, family, faith and country are

the primary pillars of my life and being able to spend time with family during this time, to celebrate the birth of jesus during this christmas season, to give and think about those people in need, that is the key, and find joy but in all this darkness as president biden says there is light and hope and we as americans are resilient group of people, we will survive this and get through this as a nation. lauren: you are a mom of 5. thank you very much. this morning, president biden is set to meet with his supply chain disruption task force along with ceos of major corporations including fedex, gap, edward lawrence will have headlines from that event.

president biden also said he is hoping to get a version of build back better past. listen. >> president biden: some people, don't hold a grudge, i want to get these out. i still think there's a possibility for bills back better. senator manchin and i are going to get something done. lauren: senator manchen has not responded. he still a no on that bill. let's check the futures. as we do that we bring in david nicholas. we got a gdp, 2.3% growth in the third quarter down from 6.7 the quarter before that. it almost doesn't matter because we are stuck with omicron and how that impacts the market. we don't know. we had a selloff and a rebound yesterday. did we hit the bottom, with the -- turned back up if you will?

>> to keep things in perspective the s&p is only down 2% from its all-time high. from index, at worst it is just noise. we need the market to sell off 10%, there are hundreds of companies in the s&p down 10% to 20%. there are five names that made 50% of returns since april, microsoft, google, nvidia, and tesla. you take those names out of the s&p and it is an ugly market for the year. i don't expect any more selling. a lot of bad news with omicron, interest rates, a lot of positive news, earnings for expectations. real and nominal rates expected to rise and still remain low. it is a perfect set in 2022. lauren: not a lot of people

expected to be hit with another wave of covid 19. can companies pass on those higher costs to consumers and consumers just say okay or our corporate balance sheets at risk here? >> during the 70s what did corporate earnings do when we had high inflation? corporate earnings rose at the same time as inflation but as prices went up, earnings went up as well and the market followed. if omicron covid gets really bad we will see some affected earnings but i don't think the pricing issue is a big issue for the market large companies have pricing power, that is going to show up in earning and that will show up as the market had higher with higher numbers.

lauren: give us a quick story about you, your family, on the holidays? >> three beautiful girls and our son, excited for this christmas together. last year with covid so many of us didn't get to some right with our families. we have our family coming together. we are excited and grateful that jesus came and died and was born on this day. we are grateful for that and what an amazing country we live in, grateful to be here with the freedoms we have. i am hopeful about our future. lauren: merry christmas to your family. one teacher caught on video admitting she brings personal politics into a classroom. >> we always bring in our politics. sometimes with these deep down or more obvious -- maybe it is religious.

lauren: that teacher and her school, we will have that later in the show. president biden claims no one could have predicted omicron's surge in the us. there is the tape. it >> president biden: nobody anticipated this would be as rapid spreading as it did. lauren: it has been here 21 days. what about the countries that have already seen it spread? doctor mark siegel is here to take that on after this. ♪♪ i've spent centuries evolving with the world. that's the nature of being the economy. observing investors choose assets to balance risk and reward. with one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. agile and liquid. a proven protector. an ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions.

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♪♪ merry christmas baby lauren: looks like a ski slope in stillwater pennsylvania. sunny and 33 degrees. not as sunny for the market. not seeing a selloff. s&p down four. a lot of investors left for the holidays. volume will be low. that could exacerbate moves in either direction. walmart, cvs and walgreens limiting the number of take-home covid tests customers can buy because of the surge in demand as we get together for the holidays. you can buy eight at walmart, 6 at cvs or four at walgreens if you can find them. with the holiday weekend just days away, going to americans traveling, hillary vaughan at reagan international airport, hillary, is the surge in

omicron affecting travel plans? >> reporter: doesn't seem like it. if you look at numbers from the transportation security administration this holiday season. airline travel is expected to be almost double what it was last year because consumer confidence is way up even though the omicron variant is gaining ground in positive cases popping up around the country. 4.3 million people pass through airport security checkpoints friday and saturday. that is nearly double. the 2.1 million who did on those dates in 2020 according to the tsa, 2 million people pastor airport security checkpoints daily for five consecutive days leading up to christmas but the white house is trying to make sure people feel comfortable gathering with their families for the holidays on the one condition that they are vaccinated. >> president biden: some

americans are wondering if you can safely celebrate the holidays with your family and friends the answer is yes, you can. if you and those who celebrate with you are vaccinated, particularly if you've gotten your booster shot. if you are vaccinated and following precautions we all know well, you should you comfortable celebrating christmas and the holidays as you plan to. >> reporter: interestingly, since the omicron variant is so dominant in the us the president says he's going to think about and talk with his advisers about potentially reversing travel bands from countries that were put in place to protect americans from getting the laquan variant here. >> president biden doubling down on claims that no one anticipated the surge in omicron. >> is a failure that you don't have adequate tests for everyone to get one if they need one right now? >> president biden: no, it's not.

covid is spreading so rapidly it just happened almost overnight, in the past month. i don't think anybody anticipated that this was going to be as rapidly spreading as it did. all of a sudden it was like everybody rushing to the counter. lauren: doctor mark siegel. this variance was first detected in the us 21 days ago. how did we get so caught offguard here? >> we didn't get caught offguard. first of all we knew about it in south africa and were tracking it in south africa and the top scientists were good about sharing information. we knew how wildly contagious this is and that is what viruses do. they even all in a direction

where they become more transmissible because they want to survive. they are looking for hosts. that is what viruses do. we had every reason to expect this to happen. we knew it was going to swarm here. we saw it happen in the united kingdom the way it did with the alpha variant and the delta variant. we saw this coming down the pike and we also knew we would have this hysteria. we always knew when something like this happens. lauren: can omicron crowd out delta? from what we know so far delta is the worst of the variants, more deadly. can omicron crowd that out with the way viruses mutate? >> it looks like it is. the cdc director said the other day that it is over 80% of the isolates in the united states now which means it rapidly crowded it out because it is out competing it for hosts. that could be good news because omicron seems to be milder. the difficulty is it is also causing more infections and is resistant to some extent to the vaccines which is why everybody has got to get boosted, why we've got to get the pill out,

the pfizer pill and the monoclonal antibodies the target this directly. it has to be out there in bulk. the administration is walking along at a snail's pace. lauren: the fda is expected to come in and approve merck's killer pfizer's pill but how come we only ordered 10 million of the pfizer covid pill? >> i'm disturbed about that have written about that and i think it should be 100 million and that is what we saw under the trump administration were public-private partnership is in advance of the issue. you pre-by, you know that very well, that works well with the vaccines, pfizer knows that model. it has to be done right now, should have been done already. i am targeting the pfizer pill because it is the better pill.

it is clear a inhibitor we use for hiv it was a game changer changed the world for hiv. it is a miracle we have one here. everyone is very excited about it. it is decreasing hospitalization by 90%. we need it in every house in america available along with rapid testing we don't have. rapid tests combined with the ability to have this pill will change the game with the pandemic. lauren: is that because the administration is not talking to the private sector as much as they should be about what is needed? is that why we don't have enough magic pills? >> they are talking about that but haven't got into the model donald trump volunteered. he is the art of the deal, bashing the prior administration, yesterday finally the president acknowledged it and trump was happy to hear it but it is a model changer, a brand-new way to approach it. in advance, pre-by public-private partnership will work in the situation it. it has been proven. lauren: we are coming up against "the opening bell" and we will have it for you next.

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(judith) in this market, you'll find fisher investments is different than other money managers. (other money manager) different how? don't you just ride the wave? (judith) no - we actively manage client portfolios based on our forward-looking views of the market. (other money manager) but you still sell investments that generate high commissions, right? (judith) no, we don't sell commission products. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in our client's best interest. (other money manager) so when do you make more money? only when your clients make more money? (judith) yep, we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments we're clearly different.

lauren: yesterday was a good day, the first time in four days selling off forever, so little today. the dow is down 940 points. can we get it all back, david nicholas told us earlier in the first part that the santa claus rally is on the way, could still happen. what do you say? >> i say absolutely, nicole, lauren, there is -- lauren: okay, lee. >> a lot of upside to the market. the negativity that surrounds it, the fear is showing extreme fear and everywhere you go and everywhere you look, people talk about how nervous they are about the market. the first hurdle is the omicron variant.

in the us or the uk only 14 people hospitalized from this variance which is not enough to fill -- i'm automatically a buyer on any weakness from any covid story. a real hurdle for the market. what we are seeing in front of us, markets up on average. $4 trillion in cash, $1 trillion an ounce buybacks from corporate america, a wall of cash, a santa claus rally, we have a time constraint but this could take off to the upside. lauren: to you think this can happen because of omicron? >> it gets pushed into the first quarter and all of the

sales, in the tri-state area. it is addiction to covid fear mongering. outside of that area the rest of the country is not paying attention and doing much about it. it is a minor hold. this is extremely good news. the fibrous is getting more contagious. lauren: "the opening bell" sounded and stocks are open this wednesday. let's look at how we opened. the dow is down fractionally. fearful, but confused and frustrated and calling it quits for this week.

let's look at the s&p 500 trading down two points and the tech heavy nasdaq is trading down. trying to watch momentum stocks, mixed performance, meta-platforms down one%. david nicholas, this is one of the huge movers along with nvidia. it is up this morning by 2.5%. do we know if elon musk is finally done with 10%? >> we have elon musk offloading another $528 million worth of tesla stocks, taking the 10% stake elon musk said he would sell, that is done, total of $14 billion worth of stock that has been full, $11 billion going to uncle sam for taxes and as for tesla stock, it has been down by a quarter, just before musk put up a twitter

poll saying he was asking people if you should sell 10%. despite the sale, elon musk owns more tesla stock because of the option package from 2012, excellent lucrative package, $6 and change, do the math how much he is making when stock is trading. lauren: i'm doing math for how much he is doing in taxes, $11 billion this year. strong report from car max? >> still strong over the summer time but better sales and better profits, that goes against the slowdown people were predicting for the used car market which has boomed during covid, they produce as many cars, there was a chip shortage and the average used car price rose by 30%. we've seen price spikes at the

highest rate since 1950 this year, carmax says the used-car boom is pulling or should come down a little bit. online makes it a third of car max. lauren: caterpillar shares should be higher because they got an upgrade. value play industrial stock, 240 in their view, 20% upside. and future growth and trillion dollar infrastructure package. more profits with field prices coming down and sector rotation on federal reserve meeting at higher rates anticipated, yields are going up and is a stock. here is blackberry, the highlights from this report. >> i love this stock, break even for blackberry which is cybersecurity and software licensing company.

it was actually better, they broke even, which wall street was anticipating. guidance is weak. for the forecast, that was penciled in. >> darden, olive garden's parent, they got an upgrade. >> darden put in a strong report card. darden is selling garlic bread, or it is a by worth $155 and incoming leadership change and new ceo or catalyst for the stock, people want to get out.

>> they find positivity. a dismal wednesday morning, crypto stocks, slightly in the green. what is going on? >> 49,000 here, we saw bitcoin on the biggest single day rally up 5% with a broader recovery. they are still below 50,000, up 70% on the year and the fact that bitcoin trades, more institutional buyers, the pension fund has gone into that, that means more mainstream adoption and oppenheimer calling coin base global a top pick for next year 2022. remember this is a holiday shortened week with a lot of volatility and upside and it

affects cryptos too soon. lauren: look at the winners on the dow jones industrial average, intel, goldman, microsoft, caterpillar and nike, and the s&p, host hotel and resort, live nation, marathon oil and on the nasdaq, flip the screen. paycheck synopsis and the 10 year treasury yield as the dow is up 11 points. it is one.44%. gold for you up $5 1793, bitcoin, up $60 at 48,00745, oil $71.25, slightly higher, big rally in oil yesterday. natural gas 398 british thermal units. love showing gas prices. are you paying less? i feel like i am paying less in new jersey. the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded 330 and in

california, $4.66. uber drivers tell fox illegal immigrants are hailing rides further into the us from the border. >> we get notification of a pickup, head to the location and there will be a group of 20 plus on the corner waiting for uber and they will hop in and go where they are going. lauren: what can be done about it? we will ask mark lamb later in the show and we will tell you about the elite 57,$000 a year school threatening to expel any student caught violating their mask mandate. they are everywhere in california. what about florida, the sunshine state raked number 2 but my nexest is working to extend that even further. we have that story after this. ♪♪

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>> live look at daytona beach, florida. a new report shows florida has the second highest number of electric vehicle sales in the country. only california beat out florida. from claremont, florida, thanks for joining us. >> appreciate it. lauren: you lead the charge for advanced energy policies in your city so why are evs so popular there? >> everybody loves it. in terms of operating costs electric vehicles are so much

better. your maintenance costs are going down, technology has improved, they've gone so much farther on a single charge. the second in terms of national sales. the advance energy industry employs 150,000 people in the state of florida. >> the bipartisan infrastructure bill that has passed gets florida about $200 million to increase the ability to charge an electric vehicle. what do you plan to do with that money? >> i don't believe florida has received that money but florida as a state takes advantage of

the money being provided to them. we've been so lucky with the desantis administration in the last 18 months. we have essentially taken a look at the needs of our charging infrastructure to identify different core doors to bring more charging stations to help floridians who might be escaping or trying to get away from natural disasters. >> the social infrastructure bill likely a no go included pretty generous tax credits for people that do by electric vehicles. do you expect not getting that extra money will impact sales negatively? >> mainly because technology is improving and changing so much. at the state level we see a number of pieces of legislation in the works right now to make sure sales are continuing to go up and the market will essentially dictate how

electric vehicles are placed on the road and how much more affordable they will be for people who want to purchase them. we have seen prices and the cost of parity become equal in terms of an electric vehicle into internal combustion engine vehicle as well. lauren: how awesome it florida surpassed california, they do things opposite in terms of green technology and number of electric vehicles on the road? that is my positive news or i hope i can help you have positive news to share with us. >> that sounds great. positive news for myself has i just got married last week so i'm super excited about that. this christmas we will hopefully be one for the books. lauren: we could have showed that here. did you have the honeymoon? >> we went to salt lake city, utah.

neil: you skate? >> yes we did. lauren: merry christmas, congratulations to you and your bride. >> have a wonderful christmas as well. lauren: the season of giving, some charities like the salvation army are seeing a drop in donations was lidia who is in herald square, can't get any busier. don't know how busy it is now but what exactly is causing this lack of donations? she's a great dancer. >> reporter: it is busy just ahead of the big christmas holiday, lots of people coming into macy's to do last minute shopping. donations to charity this season appear to be down. hard to know exactly why but experts telling us these could be the head wents felt from labor shortages and rising inflation. we are at one of the iconic locations run by the salvation army. original campaign where they are collecting donations for

the needy. one of the challenges right now are finding enough people to ring the bell. how is this manifesting in the new york area? >> we are grateful for the people who give their time to ring the bell, collect donations from the salvation army. the rise in inflation, the real focus people have on their own needs, some don't have the time or the ability to come out and help the salvation army by ringing the bell. lauren: the group that usually runs this location, 15, two locations now. >> our units are able to stand in new york city across the city and this location has 15 locations they are able to send with the red kettle, this year they cover two and that is because of low volunteers. lauren: donations are down 10% nationwide, in new york down 14% but you hope by talking about this issue it will remind

people about giving this holiday season. >> the symbol of the shield is hope of people who are in need. i hope when people see the shield on the streets of new york or across the nation they will be generous to the salvation army. for people experiencing shortage this season. lauren: what a good reminder and thank you for that. the season of giving is not just during the holidays t all year round. not just now but any time. >> quick programming note, check out my podcast on fox news podcast.com and all podcast platforms. i'm talking to the convoy of hope. we have a gift catalog and you can essentially by startup funds for women in the

developing world to support their own families. check that podcast. coming up sharing in the tradition, stu reeves it was the night before christmas to his grandkids, can't wait for that. what stewart cars the formerly golden state, not just because of rampant crime or the flood of homelessness. we've got the real reason. another reason and it is coming from san francisco right after this. ♪♪ california ♪♪ california ♪♪

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lauren: a theme on this show is the exodus from california and more people flee the golden state. reports show there has not been an influx of residents to replace them. kelly oh great he is in san francisco. state officials have to be concerned about losing residents. >> you would think that the governmental policies are part of what is driving this exodus. this is a problem before the pandemic but since then the

number of folks leaving california increased by 12%. people don't want to move here anymore. the number of folks coming to california decreased by 38%. the biggest drivers the cost of living in san francisco. according to a new analysis a family of four with a combined income of 300,$000 is living paycheck to paycheck in the bay area and that doesn't exhume extravagance. that the class lifestyle. housing is a big driver. the average cost of a home is 1.8 million, 3 times the us average. critics have pointed to california's taxes and business environment, the highest income tax rate in the nation and states like florida and texas kept businesses open during the pandemic, many people dislike how more liberal states handle covid. most recently many blame the state's lack of sentencing policies for driving up the rate of crime. we know crime is a hot button

issue from the rampant homeless problem to lack of safety in many areas. when 300,$000 live paycheck to paycheck less extensive states, become more attractive and many companies are moving to more business friendly states as well, you have oracle, hewlett-packard, dozens of others, when these dynamics change it is less of a golden future for the golden state. the weather is terrible, and that in. lauren: thank you i think. have a good one. the markets treading water, dow up 7 and the nasdaq outperforming a third of one% or 39 points, amazon following other retailers and their limiting the number of at home covid tests you can buy online capping it at 10 per shopper and these things do not come cheap if you can find them.

liz p, congressman byron donald, kayleigh mcenany and mark lamb, 10:00 hour of "varney and company" is next. ♪♪ ♪♪ . . . according to customers. there's only one best network. the only one ranked #1 in reliability 16 times in a row. we are building 5g right.

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♪. lauren: good morning, everybody. it is 10:00 eastern. i'm lauren simonetti in for stuart. we'll get started with bitcoin. start with the market first. it's a mixed bag. we'll switch to bitcoin up half of 1%. taking a look a look at yield oe 10-year treasury, 1.462%. we got the latest read on existing home sales. susan the number? elizabeth: slightly less than anticipated. that was sold in november. again this is the third month of increases. so that is the positive sign but slightly less than what the markets and economists opened for the month. lauren: what about consumer confidence? that is a big one. with inflation and the holidays.

>> producer told me we came in at 115.8 in december. that is stronger than anticipated which economists were only calling for 1130. i think that is pretty positive for consumer sentiment which we know has powered a lot of this economic recovery especially with stimulus checks. i wonder how that, how omicron will play into that in the future? lauren: i think a lot of people might be frustrated. with that they're saying you know what? i'm not going to let this virus affect me going forward. >> but high prices and inflation crimp spending. lauren: thank you. susan, see you in a bit. this president biden defended his plan to combat the surging omicron variant. roll the tape. >> are we going back to march 2020, not this last 2021 but march 2020 when the pandemic first hit? that is what i keep getting asked. the answer is absolutely no. vaccination requirements are unpopular.

my administration put them in place not to control your life but to save your life. lauren: does feel like deja vu for a lot of americans. let's take a look at the new op-ed on foxnews.com, omicron clobbers christmas, dot, dot, dot, and joe biden. author of the piece is liz peek. good morning be. >> happy to join you. lauren: is there a way out of this for the president? can he recover? >> i think there are a couple of things, lauren, i don't think he has the energy or will power to pivot. that is what presidents do in the midterms, approaching the midterms when they feel like they have really lost ground. obviously with his approval rate national the low 40s biden in trouble. democrats know it. you have a record number of people announcing already they are going to resign from congress, not a record historically but in terms of recent years. democrats leaving but you think biden's big hope that the

therapeutics which by the way which he didn't spend much time on which shocked me, the therapeutics for covid which are underway could really help. if six months from now you get covid, you have a test available to you and you can take a pill that basically makes you well again, then i think all, a lot of these problems, a lot of these mandates go away. that would be biden's big hope. on inflation, lauren, there will not be any progress. i don't know why people are thinking inflation will come down so radically. what the fed did was exactly zero in terms of impact and many of the things driving inflation are going to be continuing with us for the next half year if not more. lauren: let's tie this all together, liz. you were talking about the failure so far of build back better, to move forward. that that is an opportunity for the administration to pivot. do you think that vice president kamala harris is trying to do

that? i say that because she was asked recently, do you blame the unvaccinated for what is going on right now? i loved her response. it was a little bit different than we're used to hearing from the white house. she said this isn't the time to cast blame. i saw that as an opportunity for a pivot. what are your thoughts on that? >> well, i think the pivot would have to really address the progressive grip on the democratic party. i see absolutely no indication that biden or kamala harris is willing to confront, elizabeth warren, bernie sanders, aoc, "the squad," the people who are driving their party into oblivion. i think that is what is so astonishing. many elections, most special elections in this past year were considered a test for progressives. they haven't won those elections. in ohio, for example, a moderate beat the progressive who was backed by money interests on the west coast and across the

country. no one is talking about this. progressives are losing and yet joe biden and i think kamala harris are still very much enthralled to them. so pivoting would mean standing up to bernie sanders and possibly a lot of people in the white house who are dictating policy to joe biden and saying no, we don't need this big bill. joe manchin is actually right. that we have to be a little bit careful. by the way, what has happened to the $5 trillion that the government has already approved and spent? wouldn't it make sense, and joe manchin has said to track that money? i think that is something the american people need to hear more about. i'm hoping republicans running in 2022 are really going to make a case that accountability needs to start now. lauren: yeah. liz, we've been asking people all show, our guests, especially ones, familiar with like you, tell us something positive for this holiday season. >> again, lauren what could be more positive than a pill?

that is really, at the end of the day what solves our nation's mood, by the way you talked about consumer sentiment, it is up from expectations but it has been in the tank, considering where the stock market is and jobs are, consumer sentiment has been horrible. what could change that, getting out from this cloud of obfuscation and uncertainty about covid and a pill could do that. lauren: liz peak, merry christmas. thank you. >> thank you for having me on. lauren: get back to the markets. we bring in bob doll. investors waiting this out, do you think a santa claus rally which bob is technically, final five trading days of the year, couple new year, is that insight still? >> yeah it is seasonally very strong period. i will be surprised if we didn't get some strength that would be a really bad sign, would say the negatives that aaccumulated lauren weighing on the market. i note almost half the stocks in

the s&p 500 are below their 200-day moving average. for technicians that is not a healthy sign. the big averages are close all-time highs but the average stock is not. lauren: pantheon macro put out a note earlier. they said look, the private sector was more resilient to new virus waves, that is good, and high level of immunity and confidence that any near-term economic hit can be recovered later. do you think we can, whatever we lose, do you which we can gain it all back or have there been fundamental and permanent changes caused by the past two years of covid to our economy and our markets? >> as we've seen with the reopening it is bumpy, it is not uniform but lots of stuff came roaring back. in fact there were more industries public companies helped by the pandemic than hurt so there is a lot of latent strains. we still have lots of stimulus in the system, consumers sitting on all that cash, my concern is

not economy and earnings, the question of what multiple, what p-e ratio we put on the earnings in the light of rising interest rates and rising inflation. lauren: where do you see the s&p 500 for year-end 2022? let's look into the future. >> i think it will be flat where it is. i think we'll have a year of churning of difficult. i look at $250 in earnings. i put a 20 p-e on it. i get to 4500. i can't get to 22 pe as people are talking if inflation will get to 5% when the dust settles which i think it will be. lauren: 2021 is the year of upside surprise. the markets have done great. what is the catalyst for 2022 if we're on the path to return being to normal with fed policy, getting everything on track in terms of the supply chain? that might come with some cost

and some market gains, would you agree with that? >> market gains in terms of earnings, yes. i think the economy will be generally fine and earnings will be good on top of gargantuan improvement of 2021. the question do we have higher interest rates to accompany higher inflation? my guess is yes because part of the greatness of the market has been valuations over this bull market have gone up, up, because interest rates have been essentially zero. lauren: speaking of stocks, bob, thank you, very much. speaking of stocks going straight up, amazon, take a look at some movers. susan li your starting with amazon. >> amazon limiting number of covid tests to 10 per customer. there are numerous rush reports, amazon web services is down again, according to down detector. specifically the east region is currently being impacted. i want to show you williams sonoma. that is upgraded to a buy at

luke capital. $205. pretty good up side 22%. apparently covid is a tailwind for the stock going into next year. omicron limiting people eating out, beneficial for people staying at home, buying more at williams sonoma. interesting thought there. american airlines says demand is strong domestically. that is bullish as we head into the holiday peak travel season. lauren, we could see 2 million plus going across the airports according to tsa numbers. lauren: i know. people are just, they're fed up. we saw the reagan international where hillary vaughn was. it is crowded. okay, so let's pivot here. we're talking about apple. did the sec give a big win to apple shareholders? do you have that story? susan: there will be a vote at the next shareholder meeting about use of non-disclosure contracts or harrassment or discrimination cases.

it still needs to be voted on and approved by shareholders. in my experience at shareholder events i wouldn't expect it to pass. i would say shareholders vote with management probably 99.9% of the time. citi hiking the target price of apple. citi is worth $200 with numerous catalysts, possibly like the ar, vr goggles and glasses. many are anticipating in a apple car. lauren: what is the high on the street for apple? is it 210 or to above that? susan: i think 210. lauren: two brokerage services with 210. this boggles my mind, no it doesn't, how we live these days. stolen covid relief funds. how much money are we talking about? susan: it's a lot. $100 billion in covid fraud. the secret service said only recovered $1.2 billion. that is roughly 1% they have

gotten back so far. you have to remember that congress gave out $2.2 trillion in that cares package to help out small businesses and families, for those businesses that were shut down and then people were out of work. now more than a third of that was earmarked for small businesses. so you can imagine, i mean if you're only recovering 1.2 billion out of tt, that is not a whole lot you're getting back. the secret service says they have more than 900 active criminal investigations still on going. they're still trying to retrieve more. lauren: susan, thank you. coming up president biden tells reporters he is not supposed to be answering their questions after giving his covid speech. here is the tape. >> bring down all those costs the cost of work from child care, child care tax credit. i'm not supposed to be having this press conference. lauren: so who is running the show? we'll ask the question to kayleigh mcenany in our next hour. rents are rising at a record rate. that is a lot of rs in one sentence with no signs of

slowing down. landlords are cashing in big time. we'll have the story for you. the mass exodus to florida is causing prices in the sunshine state to soar. anybody going on vacation there knows that. tampa is leading the nation in inflation. we're talking to florida congressman byron donalds about that. ♪. (naj) at fisher investments, our clients know we have their backs. (other money manager) how do your clients know that? (naj) because as a fiduciary, it's our responsibility to always put clients first. (other money manager) so you do it because you have to? (naj) no, we do it because it's the right thing to do. we help clients enjoy a comfortable retirement. (other money manager) sounds like a big responsibility. (naj) one that we don't take lightly. it's why our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. fisher investments is clearly different.

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this wednesday morning. it is cloudy there, 59 degrees. we'll take it. we're showing this because tampa is leading the nation in inflation. madison alworth is in wesley chapel, florida, a mall. madison, how high are prices going there? reporter: lauren, prices are high across the board, everything from housing to retail, that is all up across tampa bay. so the average inflation here in this area sits at 8%. that is card to the national 6.8% inflation. and when you break it down into the categories you see just how bad it has gotten. i'm in a mall. to get to a mall in florida you need a car. well used car prices in tampa, that is up 30% year-over-year. how about gas? tampa bay normally gets they're gas from the ports that usually keeps prices down but not now. gas is up over 69%. how about pesky necessities like food? that is up over 22%.

part of the reason why this area is seeing such high inflation is because of the popularity of the area. while the rest of the country was closed down florida was open. all you have to do is take a look at rent to understand how much population growth this area has seen. so like i mentioned, the world is closed, many people moved to florida, specifically tampa bay. 2020 when we started the pandemic the average median was just $1300. today, the number today, 2021, the median rent sits at $1700. it is a really a catch 22. the people who live here, they get it. it is such an awesome, incredible place to live. it is open, the economy is thriving and free. but because so many people have come in, demand and activity is so high. prices continued to go up. lauren, just in time for all these holiday shoppers to get the gifts under the tree.

lauren: but it is for a good reason, madison. thank you. joining me congressman byron donalds republican from florida. oh, my goodness, congressman, i almost said california. >> don't do that. lauren: i'm thinking, listen to thinking what elon musk just said. he said look, california took everything they had that was so great for granted. they just did. they had innovators there. people with ideas and money. they took it for granted, drove everybody out with bad policy. now you guys, a lot of people in florida, it is the place to be. prices are rising. what is your reaction? what do you do about it? >> look the number one thing we definitely are what california used to being. as florida goes so goes the nation. our problem now is twofold. number one we have crazy spending out of washington, d.c., led by joe biden someone who frankly doesn't know much about economics anyway you about his desire is to spend more money than our economy possibly needs. that affected the entire country. the second thing is, we're in

such demand in florida because so many blue states have gone crazy with respect to the covid protocols. if you live in a blue state, you have the ability to relocate, why would you live in new york? why would you live in illinois? they don't take crime seriously enough. they shut down schools. businesses are shut down. you might as well move to florida if you can. that is what people have done in droves. so it's a great issue, it's a great thing for our state but national economic policies has been a disaster. the reality is, there is no balance amongst the states with respect to just normalcy and how to run sound governments, people have flocked to florida. they flocked to texas. they flocked to arizona. lauren: not just people but companies too, right, congressman? they're leaving new york, for instance, headed to places like west palm beach. >> that is exactly right. palm beach's rents have gone through the roof. all of southwest florida rents gone through the roof. not just for housing but office space. people have seen enough. if you can't just live your life around go to work and enjoy the

fruits of your labor why live in that state? the beauty of our country you have 50 laboratories. one thing proven over the last two years, florida by far, knows how to run a society. the other 49 states, they better catch up. lauren: so if you were to sit down with president biden right now, what would you tell him? >> i would tell him him to nothing. do the hippocratic vote, do no harm. unwind crazy policies. lead with data and facts not political science. that is what my advice to him will be. lauren: he tried to be optimistic in his message yesterday, when you talk about ventilators, therapeutics, that creates panic though you don't mean to. we've been asking our guests, byron, for something positive for our entire show. you have something positive and a very special guest with you. >> i do. i have my son mason with me. come here, closer in the shot.

i have mason with me. we love the cowboys, jerry jones. we love the cowboys. he is with me. my older son, don't want to get on camera he there. my other son picking up mom from the airport. i have darren there. darren, come on, come on. we want to see your handsome face. you can come on camera. hurry up, man. time is money. this is live tv, baby. lauren: get a picture to this. squat down, we want to see his hands and face. >> squat down, man. there you go. lauren: there it is. merry christmas. >> merry christmas, everybody. a beautiful one with your family. i hope santa treats the boys very well. lauren: now this. >> see ya. lauren: rental building owners benefit from strong apartment demand during the pandemic. susan will this carry into the new year. es. susan: especially with the lag time with multiyear long leases.

golden age for multifamily should continue ordering to the analysts. several factors for the strong rental market. you have new families moved out, going to their own places after lockdowns and a hot housing market means that people are being priced out. so they can't afford to buy. so they rent instead. occupancy is a record 97%. rents are up 20% the past 12 months. i didn't know this. this definitely got my attention. you know the equity apartment index of all publicly-traded apartment companies is up 60% this year. lauren: wow. susan: double the return for the s&p 500. those returns are pretty lucrative, definitely attention-grabbing. lauren: susan, thank you. let's check the over all market before we head to break. dow jones industrial average, look it is up 69 points at the moment. so continuing to build after a closing at the highs of the sessions yesterday. and the s&p and the nasdaq are each up by a quarter of 1%. an elite private school is

threatening to expel students who have repeatedly been warned to wear their masks properly. we'll tell you where this is happening. you cannot believe it. a seattle area teacher admits she always brings politics into the classroom, duh. what? seattle guy jason rantz has that report after this. ♪.

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lauren: all right. take another look at the market the here. all three up between a quarter and a third of 1%. come in susan. you're looking at movers. start with octa. susan:cra initiated coverages on octa, think allow you to log in remotely. we use it here. the lockdown trade, popular once again especially with omicron spreading. people are being told to work from home instead. tesla is a outperformer today. we know elon musk sold 10% of the stock he said he would. tesla submitted documents for their german plant approval.

there were reports that the berlin gigafactory would come on line at at at some point this month. days are running out. roblox, pinterest, the growth names are doing pretty well today, the 10-year treasury yield we're still sub1.50 on thatter year note. that helps these stocks, you're not being forced to chase more guaranteed money under u.s. government debt. that is the high-tech names. lauren: state at home plays. susan, thank you. now there is this, one seattle teacher admitted she brings politics into her classroom. >> there are no neutral spaces, right. we always bring in our politics because our history and the systems that we have created mean our identities, our histories are tied to politics. when we walk in the room we carry these biases.

we sometimes walk in the room with deep down, or more obvious biases, maybe racial, maybe religious, they're always with us. lauren: all right. jason rantz joins us now. she doesn't seem to be upset by the backlash that she has been getting. also she doesn't seem to accept that people can evolve and change. >> yeah. i mean she seems to be embracing this. kudos i suppose for acknowledging a bias. every single person has bias but what you're supposed to do is not simply acknowledge it, embrace it, push it as indoctrination of students. you are supposed to hold it back, address it internally, understand you're supposed to create a neutral space in classroom. she says there is no neutral space. something i completely reject and most parents would reject. if this were the opposite idealogical perspective pushed on students in the seattle area, parents would be outraged, school administrators would be

outraged, they would try to get conservative thought out of the classroom. in this case they are defending it, once i got criticized in a piece i got accused of violence because my critsystem is violence and i'm some alt-right figure which is ludicrous. lauren: if you're sitting at home, look at this video, a gram on his wedding day, he is robbed of his rolex at gunpoint outside of his wedding hall, outside of the reception. where did this happen? philadelphia, pennsylvania. three men have been arrested. jason, first off, this has to be organized because how did the thieves know he has a rolex, specifically, right? what do we do about it? >> yeah, well, number of one, it does seem that way, this is part of a string of robberies that perhaps this is connected to. the thing we do about it, making sure we're actually putting criminals in jail. keeping them in jail. in this case you had two of the three, that were out on bail for

previous crimes involving weapons and, why aren't they there? you have rarely krazner, d.a., came out two or three weeks ago celebrating what was going on, claiming there are no problems in philadelphia. had to walk that back. in this case he is calling out the commissioners because they didn't allow for high bail. let's be clear. they asked for high bail in those two cases. they didn't appeal when they got lower bail. number two, larry krazner campaigned on the idea of abolishing the bail system, cash bail system. all of sudden he is trying to pretend he is some sort of champion to keep criminals in jail. he is not. we have to go back to a point which we are reasonable with criminals or suspects. i understand that we have overincarcerated and i certainly understand there are people who don't pose a reasonable threat who have bail reduced. i'm not opposed to that. but we can't go in the direction saying pretty much everyone we're going to go really, really easy. there are some people who are violent, who are very clear

threats. they need to stay in jail to protect future victims from their crime. lauren: jason is there a move to recall the d.a. in philadelphia? there is in wisconsin with that christmas parade massacre. they want that d.a., chisholm removed, because he set really low bail. what about in philadelphia? >> there is the move for the d.a. in l.a. county. i haven't heard anything serious or getting momentum. there is always some kind of rumblings wanting to do something. remember a lot of these cities are very, very far to the left. when you try to push forward you end up getting bullied by some activists who want this to continue. who enjoy the idea of getting rid of the cash bail system and see any kind of pain to be short-term. at the justify it. hey, long term this will actually pay off. now i don't think normal people view things that way. i certainly don't think all of sudden things will get better in the long term. i can't justify it. i don't know how serious people are going after this guy.

they certainly should be putting pressure on his office. as he walking some of these statements back and positions back, that at least show as sign that things are starting to course correct. the question is, can the public continue to put pressure on him? lauren: there is your positive. we're asking everybody for a positive today. that was yours. jason, thank you, good to see you. let's stay on the school theme here. there is an elite 57,000-dollar a year new york city private school, horace mann threatening to expel students over masks. susan, what is going on? are those students vaccinated? susan: horace mann is a 57,000-dollar a year private school in the bronx. they have a zero tolerance policy which will start on january the 3rd. so the school says they have identified students who have worn their masks improperly. the rule will apply to after-school activities. there will be one warning before ultimate expulsion. that does include suspension of two days without remote classes for the first infraction.

second time though, you do have horace mann saying that this will not be the school for you if you do it once again. horace mann had very famous students like betty white, jack kerouac. they are following new york state rules. there is vaccination policy in place but you have to keep your mask on. lauren: any parent reaction, susan? susan: not that i read so far. the focus is out school rules themselves. lauren: susan, thank you. now this, chicago mayor lori lightfoot announced vaccine requirements in chicago for bars, gyms, other indoor public places. anyone five and older needs to show proof they're fully vaccinated. when is this going to affect? here is the good news. it is after the holidays. january 3rd, because i can say right here in new york city, the vaccine mandate kind of messed up a lot of things families would do to celebrate the holidays in new york city. new york sees another record number of covid cases unfortunately, a record number

for the fourth day in a row. i will ask new york city councilman joe borelli if new yorkers can expect more restrictions. trucker industry is expressing an alarm over the trucker crisis. they say the president's plan trying to address the trucker problem is failing to address the root problem. we have that next. ♪.

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send us to varneyviewers@fox.com now this the trucking industry is warning that the white house is not going far enough to fix some of these supply chain issues. edward lawrence at the white house. what is the latest. reporter: right now lauren, the president is meeting with the supply chain industry to see how well the his plan is going. with him is the fedex of, ceo of the yellow corporation, the gap, they represent all aspects of the supply chain. what the president is likely to hear it is slowly starting to unclog the ports. however you know if you bought the last minute gifts the delivery dates are after christmas and there is still supply chain issues. the ceo of the harbor association tells us the new problem now is with empty containers coming back to the docks. listen. >> so ideally they will catch up

at some point in time but right now we're tealing with a net of 100,000 empties that seem to be hanging around both from traditional steamship operators as well as these new entrants into the market from some of these vessels have been chartered by the larger retailers. reporter: chartered. so the solution for larger companies like costco and walmart adding to a new problem of empty containers coming back, taking up space because the charter that dropped them off, well that ship sailed. he eventually says that opening up land about 15 miles away to put containers on trains, moving them off docks will work. that project is about 60 to 90 days from completion at the port of savannah according to the transportation department but it will take longer at the ports long beach, ports of los angeles, find the land, buy the land, build infrastructure to get trains out there. the bipartisan infrastructure bill set aside $17 billion for these projects as well as some others at our ports. but the bottom line there are

still supply chain issues not being fixed. lauren: so you will get your christmas gift from me, edward in 2023. quick question for you. i heard they're thinking of putting punitive fees as incentive to get empty containers out of there? >> right now, those fees you're talking about are containers sitting there full, to move those out. they are thinking now about the empty container fees, so a company that brings the into their store, into their shipping there, bring it back possibly to have a fee. that has not been implemented yet but the ceo of the harbor association does believe that could work also. the problem is sheer volume and space. that is what is all boils down to. lauren: sure does. edward lawrence thank you. edward from the white house. now this, the port in savannah, georgia, they have a new process helping to unclog their ports. susan what are they doing?

susan: pop-up container yards to unload the cargo faster. these are four inland pop-up ports 100-miles away from the north carolina border. they have been effective bringing down number of days waiting nine instead of 12 to clear some of that cargo. port congestion has been a port as edward was talking about. also why goods have been delayed and prices are spiking especially for transport costs. lauren: all sorts of prices are spiking including the ceo of fat brands. he is warning consumers of this very problem but is this increase temporary or should we be worried? susan: no, unfortunately not. high prices for labor, high prices for rent, means you will pay more permanently for your fatburger in the future. government policy we know is hard to roll back especially with temporary spending and price hikes. that is exactly the same when it comes to restaurants as well. the fat brands ceo was on with maria. he told fox business he had to increase his prices by four to

6% at his 2300 restaurants. built-in higher commodity costs and businesses have to pay more, you can bet consumers will have to pay more. the good news here the fat brands ceo doesn't think prices will continue to spike and i guess grow at these high levels next year, 2022. lauren: at some point there is consumer pushback, susan. susan: saturation as well. once prices get to a certain level, you can't keep increasing them at that certain rate. lauren: but here's the question, do you roll back those prices? because it is going to be very difficult to find a company who got x-amount for an item to say, yeah, we're cutting prices by 10%. 2 just doesn't happen. susan: as we mentioned it is hard to roll back temporary price hikes. that is pretty much already built into the business model and the profit margins. as you know with report cards and earnings you have to beat each and every year. tough increase prices each and every year. lauren: margins are important. check the markets now as we head to break.

dow jones industrial average still higher by half of 1%. ditto for the nasdaq and s&p 500 on this wednesday morning. three days before christmas day. i had to think about that. i hope it is right. uber drivers are bringing illegal migrants into the border and into our country. arizona sheff mark lam takes that on next hour. louisiana issues, new, indoor, we'll call it guidance. we'll ask senator bill cassidy what he thinks of this guidance and whether it's a mandate. ♪. thinkorswim® by td ameritrade is more than a trading platform. it's an entire trading experience. with innovation that lets you customize interfaces, charts

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lauren: all right. markets holding on right here. we've been at, consistent at these levels, well, since the hour began. so up the dow up half of 1%. nasdaq up .6%. the same .6% for s&p 500 after a winning day yesterday, after days of selling investors kind of like finally said enough and bout the dip if you will. and now this, louisiana issued an indoor mask guidance as

health officials say they're seeing the beginning of a surge because of the omicron variant. we bring in senator bill cassidy, republican from louisiana which has a democratic governor. senator, i ask you, is your state going backwards? >> the state is not going backwards. as a doctor, i am a physician i always recommend we rely upon local health officials. we're seeing an increase in the number of infections but not seeing the increase in the number of hospitalizations. as i gather what the governor has said, state agencies are allowed to recommend that their employees wear masks. not so much a mandate as much of kind of an urge. so i would defer to the state public health officer. lauren: so seems like there is nothing wrong with that, then? i'm fine with that. okay you could recommend wearing a mask. i'm happy to listen. >> my, my push has always been you allow local officials to take the decisions that are important for their locality.

lauren: yeah. >> because they're the ones that are on the ground if you will. and so, so, that is consistent with this principle and i continue to kind of hold that. lauren: i agree with you. pushback would be, granted i'm in a different part of much more blue part of the country, but you know, we've had so many restrictions put on us by local entities happening at the worst time, right ahead of the christmas holiday. we can tell you what it is like where you are, but here people are depressed, they're angry, they're frustrated. the rules keep changing. it is hard to keep up and all we want to do is safely see our friends and family for christmas. >> totally with you on that, totally understand because a lot of the restrictions do not seem to be rational. we need to have a strategy, clearly enunciated, how do we keep hospitals from being overburdened. infection will occur.

strategy has hospitals to keep from being overburdened, line of sight what was being recommended, prevented that from occurring i think they feel better about it. susan: lauren: as a doctor, let me ask you, there is talk for a fully vaccinated individual who does contract coronavirus, should their quarantine be lessened, should it be curtailed? >> i think, we have tests. this is not -- lauren: we don't have tests. we don't. >> no, there is a test you can do the pcr. if you're infected you will know when you're no longer infected. so to ask somebody quarantine for 10 days when they may be pcr negative after three, you could really curtail it after three days. we have this testing. we can we can serially test for

people. lauren: what would be quarantine for positive person. >> serial testing. the players are out there, nba, some -- if they're positive. you ask them to silt. you check them two or three days. if they're negative you allow them to go back. lauren: got it. >> the idea being fully vaccinated your antibodies will take out the virus sooner as opposed to later. if this is the case the people don't have to wait in their room for 10 days. lauren: are you worried, senator, a lot of people who have been able to test themselves with an at-home test because they were able to get one, they're swabbing themselves, oh, you know we're positive, but not getting, going to the doctor and getting an official test. so they're not being counted. so the number of omicron infections right now might actually be a lot higher than it is? >> it might be but really our point is not to prevent infection. we know from this virus that people are going to get infected even if previously immune.

our desire is to prevent the hospitalizations and icu admissions or death. there are strategies, if you clearly enunciate nursing home, immunocome prized, take. deploy the pfizer pill as soon as possible, deploy it where there are hot spots. you actually have a better strategy which is more achievable. lauren: sounds smart. senator, thank you for the time. merry christmas. still ahead kayleigh mcenany, arizona sheriff mark lamb, new york city councilman joe borelli. the 30 hour of "varney" is after this. ♪. -- third hour.

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>> we knew how contagious this is and that is what viruses do. they evolve in a direction where they become more transmissible because they want to survive, they are looking for hosts. >> the president to provide direct answers to the american people. president biden is the most drifted president of our lifetime. you wonder who is in charge of the white house. >> biden is in trouble and democrats know it.

>> as we have seen with the reopening is bumpy my concern is not the economy of earnings but the easy ratio to put on those earnings in light of rising interest rates and rising inflation. >> everywhere you go, how nervous they are about the market. any selloff, the santa claus rally. ♪♪ lauren: is a beautiful shot of the statue of liberty. i am lauren simonetti. you have investors evaluating how severe omicron would be. and the dow is higher by 170 points.

one basis point, one.7%. following his covert address at the white house. >> across the board from childcare, child care tax credit. i am not supposed to be having this press conference. >> who is in charge here? >> clearly not the president. jen psaki early on in the presidency, he doesn't take freewheeling questions. he said that to david axelrod and it is clear there is someone orchestrating the communication strategy, not the president himself. the decision made by the press secretary and chief of staff but it is a bit odd. i would say to donald trump we don't take questions today.

those were the days he seemed to relish taking questions the most. lauren: i expected you to say that. you can't have more polar opposites when you compare trump to biden. a lot of people wanted a change and they got one. the was reported 188,000 new covid cases tuesday alone. president biden claims the white house was caught so off guard with this new variant, omicron, the first detected case was 21 days ago in the us. how are we so caught offguard? >> we shouldn't have been caught off guard. it was robert redfield, former cdc director i worked within the administration who came on

in august, there will be another variant after delta that will be more contagious. this was highly predictable, all the experts said it. there is no reason anyone could have been shot off guard but i wish the president would continue to emphasize and reemphasize that there is a new variant, it is contagious and we are in different place, we have people who are vaccinated. no need for lockdowns but he should emphasize this is a milder version, it is a milder variant. lauren: what is the problem with the testing. >> a huge problem, caused me to open my mouth agape when i heard of this, back during the trump administration, he ordered 500 million tests that donald trump ordered. and and as for the demand for testing, there have not been

purchases at the level that needed to be done, the number we heard from the president yesterday. we are in december and cash should have been ordered in january, february, or signal to the private sector, a significant demand for that. >> the strategy has been our way or no way. and and and is the wrong strategy pursued? >> no doubt about it, at started to change with donald trump. let's partner with the private sector because the federal government doesn't produce these items.

let's have a private partnership mobilize the supply chain with the private sector. that something the republican party does well. we haven't seen that same relationship. that the key to this pandemic and any future pandemic, road. lauren: feel like déjà vu. when the president is talking about ventilators, this is and winter of 2020, this is a lockdowns, i credit the administration, i'm grateful the previous administration got the same thing. there is some good news this holiday season. do you have any good news you would like to share with us? what are you doing for the holidays? >> that was great news the former president thanked biden or giving him credit, nice to do that, that moment there. i'm excited for the holidays, so excited, getting christmas gifts way too late tomorrow and get some downtime, looking forward to the family time.

got to start wrapping. >> see you in just a bit. haley is the cohosting outnumbered on the fox news channel and i will be joining her. see you in a minute. bill gates says he canceled most of his holiday plans after some of his close friends have tested positive and he went on to say on twitter just when it seems life would return to normal we could be entering the worst part of the pandemic. omicron will hit home for all of us. let's bring in and say good morning to mark tepper. good morning. i am trying to be cheery here. this case from bill gates kind of rattled me a little bit. it is honest, he feels frustrated but like all of us, it does send a sense of panic. we are about to hit the worst phase. and having dealt with enough,

i'm asking you this because you just recovered from covid specifically the omicron variant, you already had covid in the past and you are fully vaccinated. what do you make of what bill gates had to say? >> i wonder if that means he's not going to have any of those infamous pool parties during the holiday season. i've had covid twice in 9 months. i'm double vaccinated and my experience is the symptoms are the same as the common cold, they did pack more of the punches and the common cold but the recovery time was much faster than when i had it back in march, it took at least 10 days for me to recover. this was more like four or five days. there's a lot of fear mongering out there and i think overall as a society we need to stop living in fear. covid is probably never going away. it is with us more than likely forever. we have vaccines.

we have an effective treatment plan. we need to go about living our lives and stop living in fear. while bill gates is canceling all his holiday plans i am working on passing a covid test so i can still maintain my holiday plans. what we need to do is mitigate the risk and live with it. lauren: is that the message the market and investors are hearing today? >> i don't know. i think omicron is a pretty big issue but investors are concerned about this new foreign environment we are about to enter into thousand 22. we are looking at high inflation, rising rate environment and most people haven't seen that since the 1970s so it makes sense investors knees are buckling a little bit, the market can't find a sense of direction, a lot of investors are hydrating their portfolio, they are buying safe names that are

generating cash flow rather than hoping a company generates cash flow into 20 years. lauren: defense of gross names are particularly hiring 2022 so which companies? >> valuations suddenly matter again. people have been focused on the price of sales and earnings matter. defensive growth, i prefer that over cyclical because they have to grow. bj's wholesale, those are two consumer staples with pretty good growth. striker in the healthcare sector, talking about elective procedures, orthopedics, those are three defensive names, you can hide out and do pretty well next year. lauren: see you in a little bit. let's look at tesla. elon musk soul enough stock to buy 10% of his shares.

in total musk has offloaded 13.5 million shares of tesla. investors like that. stock is up today. carmack boosted by strong demand as americans continue to buy used cars, stock is down 12% and bernstein analyst upgrade caterpillar to outperform. the gain is it 20187 a share. overwhelming demand for covid testing particularly in new york city but some clinics have to shutdown because they don't have enough staff to do the tests. we have that story for you, 2 million people boarded planes yet again yesterday. much more likely, you are more likely to catch omicron on a flight. will that scare people away? border patrol recorded 1.7 million migrant encounters over the last fiscal year, the highest number in two decades. sheriff mark lamb has a report from arizona next. ♪♪ go your own way

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>> 1.7 million migrants apprehended the southern border in 2021, the highest number in two decades and we've been telling you about it. sheriff mark lamb joined me now. define the migrant situation where you are right now. >> it is a disaster. i am 60 miles off the border on

the south end of my county, i have a native american reservation, from yuma and dell rio, i assure you the cartel has taken advantage of checkpoints to push military age men from who knows what country, who knows what kind of committal history in counties like mine. the item in interstate and i ate interesting the of my county which is where a lot of these illegal drugs in america. lauren: what are you doing about it. and >> we are asking them to do their job. l overturnhae thth rns rnsity,heth f t wh en you ha fee rafefe

uintngcontngir the ahendith ngthe ga ylly, y ty,he y t nu proof pu ddpudd own bordn n uithr >>zo ana i amoreginggingngit ia reservation, they have blm, state trust land, and the only places you could do that is on private land, that's a lot of air in arizona. lauren: it is a disaster as you should. uber drivers telling fox news, illegal migrants are hailing rides further into the us. >> there's notification of a pickup. we have a group of 20 immigrants on the corner.

>> you just heard the uber driver, dozens of migrants are waiting for uber. >> the cartel is being pickup drivers. and you look at it from a business perspective, people say what can they charge those uber drivers, there is no, i tend. they pick up it is hard to charge uber drivers. and they support sheriff's and protect america now.com and help us do our jobs, >> can you repeat that address?

>> that's protectamericanow.com. inks for having me on today. i appreciate it. lauren: i have two more questions for you. the first is how exactly can these uber drivers tell who they are picking up isn't supposed to be here. what are some signs? >> for example in my county, you camouflage carpet shoes, i would say in that area, backpacks, in that place they don't have the same shoes as camouflage clothes. i look to the large groups of 20 like that. that is extremely dangerous. you don't know who these people are or what criminal history they have. i would steer away from those if you can. lauren: you don't know who they are meeting up with. you have depressed us enough.

what are you doing for the holidays? >> i will stay home. i love being at home any chance i get. enjoy it with the family and have a good trip. for all your listeners, america is going to be okay. these are hard times, not the first time we've had hard times. enjoy the time with your family, don't let the government scare you. they create chaos. our own white house is trying to instill fear in people. turn off the news and enjoy the holiday seas with your family. lauren: happy holidays, happy new year. lauren: investors are trying to figure out what that fear is, how severe this division is going to be, stock is rising for day number 2. the fda is set to approve pfizer and merck's covid pills within days. this is the first at home covid

treatment, 90% effective, it would treat higher risk covid patients. israel has started giving out four covid shots for people over the age of 60. germany is talking about this and other people are talking about this. is this the start of endless jabs everywhere you go? >> forever and ever and ever, it is really interesting. big pharma was in everyone's crosshairs a few years ago. suddenly they have a better recurring revenue subscription plan, people go back every 6 months for a long time getting booster shots. i'm not anti-vaccination him. i'm vaccinated. if you feel like a polio vaccine you don't get polio but you get the covid vaccine and people are still getting covid. it is just helping minimize the symptoms.

hopefully we can arrive at a vaccine that is a bit more effective in reducing the severity of symptoms. lauren: or the vaccine comes like the flu shot, some years it works better than others but you have something in you. you might get sick with covid but you are going to be okay. he will likely avoid the hospital and hopefully not going to die. >> especially when you have a pill. 90% efficacy. as long as you take it in the first three days, you've got the vaccine, you've got the pill. covid is going to be here forever. you are probably going to be in a situation where it is a recurring shot that you get every year or every 6 months but we've got to move forward. shutting down the holidays over this is not the answer unless you are sick. if you're sick stay home. lauren: that is the problem. the people supporting your policies because you confuse them, that doesn't help what americans do in the midterms

next year. the administration has ordered 10 million of them. that is it. monoclonal from biotech, only have 50,000 doses on hand. this is one of the problems. vaccination vaccination vaccination, got it. i am boosted. i got it but there need to be other avenues that hopefully move in that direction. stay with us if you are there. back at you in a second. we have basketball star stefan curry releasing this exclusive $300 sneakers but you can only wear them in the meta-verse. a record number of covid cases for the fourth day in a corrected number four days straight, restaurants and shows already closed their doors, that is it, they are done. are new yorkers in for new restrictions? we will get an answer after this. ♪♪

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♪♪ everybody is waiting

♪♪ christmas is here again ♪♪ lauren: looking at the all-american christmas tree outside our headquarters on foxbusiness. if you're in new york city please take a picture with a beautiful tree and send it to us. we might show it on the or, varneyviewers@fox.com is the email address. green arrows for the second day in a. the nasdaq the best performer here is up 3 quarters of one% and susan, you've got movers. start with general motors. >> reporter: gm is expanding their technology platform beyond car sales and they are especially focused when it comes to electric car technology and how they can apply the more broadly. gm is trying to compete for the future of electric against the likes of tesla, volkswagen, or a platform development. fred smith was speaking, the supply chain issues are not all

solved, and he is optimistic for the future. they are positive in the stock for the holiday shifting season especially with pricing power and muscles that they have. amazon is requiring all warehouse workers to where max -- masks, because of increased demand as you can imagine, we discussed this morning they are living customers to 10 at home tests because there has to be enough for everybody to go around. lauren: now this, new york reported nearly 18,000 new covid 19 infections. more than a dozen testing centers are temporarily shutting down. they want to preserve their staff because the staff is getting sick. i want to deck out the nypd, the cops to keep us safe, 8% of

them, and joe borelli is the minority leader. and are we about to see more. >> the city vaccine mandate, private employers goes into effect and companies have to make the choice whether they want to terminate employees for refusing to be vaccinated or give them a medical accommodation, but you are right this is a moment in time we are seeing an uptick in cases, the mayor of the city is continuing to push mandates and restrictions as though there is a crisis at some point the credibility of elected leaders will be called into question when every time there is a new variant they make knee-jerk reactions and the hospitalization don't stand up to a problem.

lauren: what happens to the iconic ball drop in times square? >> they will have some restrictions in place in terms of capacity limits and things like that. people are still willing to party. tourists who want to come to new york are eager to see the ball drop, and visit the restaurant and do other exciting things. lauren: if you are a tourist, the rules keep changing and you spent all this money and time on testing to get urine things are closing down, that has to be the most disappointing thing ever. >> if you're coming from europe. that almost bars any person coming from the eu from going to a show, going to a restaurant or anything, and other elected officials. why they would still come here if they are not able to fund new york this time of year. lauren: that such a good point.

how other cities preparing for omicron? >> there and doing a better job than us. if your city is led by republicans, best of all, for not making mandates and restrictions that is in a better place. the largest healthcare provider in the state and region, and omicron is not a crisis. 450 patients. and thousands and thousands of people crowding the wharfs. in returns of reality. >> and we will read two headlines today.

and despite biden's new plan experts say. you have that powerful feeling of enough is enough. and they got the green light to vote in local elections. where do you stand on this. >> it allows citizens the right to vote, and pushing legislation, voting to citizens. our state has had that was a statute of election law on the books, that requires citizenship to vote in elections all over the state. it is unfortunate the city council and the mayor acted in outright defiance of state constitution, we will challenge this in court. we are not going to let this

go. these people are not noncitizens. they are foreign citizens. we should call them what they are, people tending to vote in other cities and countries around the world and the only place they shouldn't be voting is here in new york. >> and the only have to be here for 30 days before they can vote in a local election. >> they have an apartment or something for the residency, need only 30 days of being here to qualify to vote. >> when you are in a pandemic and people are mobile am a working from home, not the same, easy to be here for 30 days. >> you could vote for mayor, and eric adams the mayor of new york city according to his law. lauren: nothing surprises me. it was last year, you two your thanks giving plans and i

member your sister-in-law makes a rhubarb pie because governor cuomo at the time, don't tell me how the borelli's are spending their holiday. what are you doing this year? >> low-key christmas eve at home. and we will be responsible. >> you are from staten island, they have the best pizza story coming up. care to share your favorite staten island pizza place? >> lee's tavern is the best pizza on staten island. i know you know it is. have to meet there sometime. lauren: should i say mine? >> very good, very good. >> merry christmas, good to see you. here's the pizza story.

a one dollar pizza is a staple in new york city. they are on all the street corners, it is pretty good. restaurants raising their prices $0.50. mark tepper, it was the dollar store and now the dollar pizza. inflation has had everybody. >> that is it. you heard the dollar store is raising prices by 25% as well as don't know if they will rebrand as the dollar 25 store. when you look at pizza shop -- pizza shop owners they are facing the uphill battle. they have costs going up, rents are up, when example in the story, 15,$000 a month for rent, that is crazy. for a pizza shop it was $9,500 a month 3 covid and there's only two ways inflation can affect pizza. prices go up for the consumer and you get shrink relation where you buy a place but the slices smaller.

number triangle pieces but maybe you can get one of those little squares for a dollar but nobody really wants the square, you want the triangle. lauren: i will eat any pizza. if you tell me those rent prices, and that is insane. mariah carey's hit song is all i want for christmas is you, i can't think, came out in 1994, still topping the charts. we have details on her new billboard record and consumer electronics show in las vegas in two weeks, major tech companies rolling out at the last minute. will covid sabotage it? ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

some days, you just don't have it. not my uncle, though. he's taking trulicity for his type 2 diabetes and now, he's really on his game. once-weekly trulicity lowers your a1c by helping your body release the insulin it's already making. most people reached an a1c under 7%. plus, trulicity can lower your risk of cardiovascular events. it can also help you lose up to ten pounds. trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. it isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. it's not approved for use in children. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, changes in vision, or diabetic retinopathy. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with sulfonylurea or insulin raises low blood sugar risk. side effects include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration, and may worsen kidney problems. show your world what's truly inside. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity.

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gain 155 points, nasdaq up 140 to the upside and the s&p gaining 34. amazon and meta-facebook, announced they will not send teams the consumer electronics show next month. twitter and pinterest scrapping plans. i'm looking at their return to office policies. i guess this is what they have to do but do you think it is necessary for them to send nobody? >> always woke corporations love hiding from covid. if they send their people and they get sick it is a pr nightmare. but i am surprised they are not throwing on their headsets and attending this in the meta-verse. i said this before and i will say it again. we can't keep shutting the world down every time there is a new variant. we are heading towards a path where the world is shutdown

every december and january. you can't do that. companies and people have to continue living their lives. lauren: you create a new normal when you postpone returning to normal for so long, two years now. you can't just tell parents you are coming back to the office after all this time because they establish a new system, new ways. >> we were promised normalcy, go get your vaccine. once you get your vaccine you won't have to wear masks. that is not true because now everyone has to wear masks again and we are not back to normal and we have to get back there as soon as possible. otherwise you will have more build back better kind of fiscal stimulus plans. we can't continue to fund the economy through stimulus. people have to go to work and live their lives. lauren: stefan curry was just named the nba's all-time 3 point shooter and to celebrate under armour is releasing these

nft sneakers you can wear in the meta-verse and they cost $333. i can't believe i am saying that. >> i wouldn't buy under armour shoes, the real version, definitely not going to buy them at mst meta-verse. stefan curry, kudos to him. i don't like him because i am a caps fan but have respect for him. he is the best shooter of all time but the meta-verse thing is spiraling out of control. i would never in 1 million years by an nft. i need investment like it is only as good as the person who will eventually buy it from you and i don't think there is a market for it. lauren: nhl, hockey players skipping the upcoming in china. they blame the covid surge. the nhl postponed 50 games in recent days because of his omicron surge.

they are skipping the olympics. china does have a policy you quarantine if you test positive. can't believe this is where they are. >> a lot of nhl players opted out of the olympics prior to this most recent surge but it is spreading through hockey, the nfl is experiencing it. i at a cleveland browns -- cleveland browns game, saturday there were so many covid positive players but what needs to happen is you've got all these covid policies that were put into place probably for good reason back in march of 2020. a lot of those policies are outdated. it is time, the nfl did revise

their policy a bit but as a country individual sports leagues and people, we need to look and say things are different. covid is not as nasty as it was two years ago so we need to change policies. lauren: you know what is not different? norad, tracking santa's journey once again around the world and now time for your wednesday trivia question. which country began the tradition of putting up a christmas tree? email your answer to win a signed copy of all american christmas, a new book written by sean duffy and rachel campos duffy, the prize will go to the first correct answer we receive. a must in your medicine cabinet! less sick days! cold coming on? zicam is the #1 cold shortening brand! highly recommend it! zifans love zicam's unique zinc formula. it shortens colds! zicam. zinc that cold!

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lauren: before the break we asked which country began a tradition of putting up the christmas tree, the answer is germany, number 2. the today's winner, christine from florida will be receiving a signed copy with all-american christmas, still have other chances all week long. the record return to the top of the charts.

♪♪ i just want to call my own ♪♪ lauren: all i want for christmas is you by mariah carey made its way to number one on billboard's top 100 logging its top of the charts, the first song in history to have led in three distinct runs on the ranking. got to admit i love this song. to a tradition on this show, not a song but it is close, stuart varney reading it was the night before christmas to his grandchildren. this video is from 2011. stuart: two of my beautiful granddaughters will be with us this christmas, abigail and paige are watching right now. this is for you. it was the night before christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. the stockings were hung by the

chimney with care in hopes that saint nicholas soon would be there. the children were nestled all snug in their beds while visions of sugar crumbs danced in their heads. mom in her kerchief and i in my had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap. went out on the lawn there arose such a clatter i sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. when the what to my wondering eyes should appear but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. then in a twinkling i heard on the roof the prancing and spying of each little hooves. as i drew in my head and was turning around down the chimney saint nicholas came with a bound. he was dressed all in for from his wife to his foot and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes ensued. his eyes, how they twinkled, dimples how mary, his cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry as he had broad face and around billy that shook when he left like able full of

jelly. he spoke not a word but went straight to his work and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk and laying his finger a side of his nose and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. he sprang to his way, his team gave a whistle, and away they flew like a down of us this. i heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight, happy christmas to all and to all a good night. it still brings tears to my eyes especially when you have little abigail and page watching and listening. i wish every one such joy. lauren: ten years later stuart has more grandchildren and one of them sleeps 14 hours a night as he likes to rub in. on your screen, the norad santa tracker keeping tabs on the big guy as he delivers presence around the world. brigadier general eric thank you for joining us. how the center prepare for his big night, the supply chain crisis and everything else. can he do it? >> that it does it every year. a lot of helpers with his

elves, brings them all to bear. lauren: reindeer food we put on our front lawn, does that help? >> of course. anything that motivates the reindeer. no doubt going to get them. lauren: his preferred route. >> his route is something we don't know exactly. going generally from international dateline and west obviously, he keeps the roots secret as he goes along. lauren: is his way electric yet? >> i think it uses the same technology it has been using for centuries. one thing that doesn't change is rudolph at the front which is how we track. lauren: what are your plans for the holidays? >> spending time with family. got my son in from college so we will enjoy time with the kids. lauren: congratulations, thank you. for everything you do, we do appreciate it. thank you to mark tepper, are you there? what are you feeling for the holidays?

>> spending time with family through christmas and the day after christmas we actually head out to vail, colorado to ski for a week which is going to be amazing. i know you've got little ones too but for me the 12 or so days a year i ski with my kids, the best quality time i get with them. for 8 hours a day, no one is on their phone, no one is on their electronics. we are actually talking and having conversations like people used to back in the day. what about you? lauren: right now i have five people speaking in my ear, i am not sure anything you just said and i think i need to wrap this up. so i am going to say mark tepper, merry christmas, whatever you said i'm sure was lovely, thank you for your time, 5, 4, three, two, one.

options? plans we can build on our own, or with help from a financial consultant? like schwab does. uhhh... could we adjust our plan... ...yeah, like if we buy a new house? mmmm... and our son just started working. oh! do you offer a complimentary retirement plan for him? as in free? just like schwab. schwab! look forward to planning with schwab. . .

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