million dollars every christmas season for this song. it was the best move ever. maria: got to be. >> big business. the g rated stuff actually makes the most money. 2019, she recut the video, quarter of 1 billion views. maria: thank you to the fantastic audience for a phenomenal year. "varney and company" begins right now. dave: a very merry christmas to you and yours and good morning, everyone. president biden says donald trump runs again in 2024 it will increase the chances that he will run again. he will be in his early 80s.

meanwhile press secretary jen psaki making headlines. he claims the white house has saved christmas by making sure gifts arrive on time. that is not all. she claims store shelves are 90% stocked. has she been to a store lately? i am guessing not. australia which had some of the most draconian lockdown rules in the world has completely reversed course. prime minister scott morrison saying no to more lockdowns and mandates. the heavy hand of government needs to end. speaking of reversals, larry krasner a couple weeks ago denied there was a crime spiking his city, changing his tune after a democrat congresswoman in that city was actually carjacked that gun point.

let's check the markets. today is the last day of trading for the week. the dow and the s&p and the nasdaq in the green. it is now trading at one.46%, 0.9 basis point increase. it is down 300 points, 48,$750. a great show. congressman andy biggs, ashley moody, congresswoman cat camohck, december 20 third 2021, christmas eve is tomorrow and "varney and company" is about to begin.

dave: must be little richard or chuck berry. they are kind of close in sound. forgive me, that is chuck berry doing run rudolph run two days from christmas. thank you for joining us. i really think this is the biggest news of the day, not the past couple weeks, a dramatic reversal, it is a long way away but could change the way things are happening and changing course on the most draconian covid lockdowns the world has ever seen. lauren simonetti is here to give us the details. what is scott morrison saying? >> reporter: we are starting with good news. our strategy didn't work.

>> we've got to treat australians like adults. we've got to move from a culture of mandates to a culture of responsibility. that is how we live with this virus into the future. >> reporter: omicron raging through australia. you have done what you've supposed to do, you have listened. you are not children. we are going to move on. this christmas we are not going to make you wear a mask when indoors with your friends and family because you are so fed up you are probably not going to listen anyway even if we could police it. enough is enough, personal responsibility as we learn to live with omicron. dave: a seminal moment in the history of the pandemic. i can't think of a bigger phenomenon than what the prime minister has done, 180 degrees reversal of their policies. thank you for that story.

president biden pivoted when asked about senator joe manchin. >> let me turn to build back better. many say it is an agenda in peril because of senator joe manchin. >> president biden: let's talk about what we have done. we have passed more major legislation than anybody in their first year ever ever ever ever. i haven't given up on this. i haven't given up on it. dave: bread blakeman. americans look at all priorities we have now starting with pandemics, dealing with the border situation. i would put the plan way down. do you think the president is getting that message? >> this president is completely out of touch. the white house is ruled by

committee. joe manchin did not just come out of the woodwork and say this is going to work. for five months he has been pleading with the white house. the cbo says it is $5 trillion, not the $2 trillion the white house suggests it is, there'll kind of hidden gimmicks in the year that there are temporary programs. it is a 10 year bill. spending money we don't have, as you point out, the health crisis, economic crisis, inflation, is not the perfect prescription to get democrats to support the bill including kristen sinema from arizona. i think the president is completely out of touch and dozens where the american people are. dave: progressive seem to be where president biden is. they are not giving it up. the president if he listens to

americans, that's not what americans want right now. they won't do anything to help inflation, just make it worse. there are other priorities but can he give up the progressives or are they going to lead him for the next three years. >> they are going to lead him to the path of absolute destruction at the ballot box to the midterms. it is going to be epic but they are not going to give up, learn their listen even if republicans take back both the house and senate because they are going to double down. if you take the calendar, we are done with build back better for 2021. we only have two weeks. after two weeks in january we have the state of the union and then if a deal with and made it is every man and woman for themselves fighting for their own survival in 2022.

dave: the president talked a little bit about what might happen if he decides to run. let me role that tape. >> plan to run for reelection? >> president biden: yes. i am a great respect or of fate. fate has intervened in my life many many times. if i am in the health i'm in now, i am in good health, i would run again. >> that means a rematch against donald trump? >> president biden: you are trying to tempt me now. why what i not run against donald trump? that would increase the prospect of running. dave: will we see a rematch between biden and trump? >> know, we will not. it will neither be biden and it will not be trump. dave: you are saying it will definitely not be donald trump? >> yeah. >> president biden: dave: who will it be? >> i am hoping the governor of florida, desantis.

dave: you word hope. is this all based on hope or something you know? >> i believe republicans will have a big field in 2024 and we will hash it out in the primaries. we have a good bench. we have tim scott from south carolina, desantis from florida. a lot of people itching to run. dave: we've got to move on but fascinating stuff. have a wonderful christmas, thanks for being here. let's check futures and bring in john, consumer spending next year. what is your prediction? >> consumer spending is going to come in under expectations. the forecast of consumer spending growing by 4%, real

consumer spending. in the end that number may be closer to 2% and was will hurt consumer spending in 2024 is price inflation. loss of household purchasing power to higher prices that will catch up with consumer spending. dave: we had this wholesale price increase of almost 10%. are we going to see double-digit inflation in 2024? >> when i go shopping it feels like double digit inflation. i get my utility bill and whatnot it feels like double digit inflation and my sense is the government is guilty of underestimating consumer price inflation and because of that, we are losing more price inflation, losing more to household purchasing power because of price inflation, currently measured moving forward, surprises regarding

real consumer spending will be on the downside. it was up 0.6% before inflation, after inflation there was no change and the annual rate of price index inflation, 5.7%, the fastest since the summer of 1982. dave: some say we are double digit already. we've got to leave it at that. thank you very much. let's check the futures. it looks like we may go out on the upside. all the indexes in the plus category, a third of one%, that is good news on the day before christmas eve. don't worry, the white house says they saved christmas from the supply chain crisis. role tape. >> business gifts arriving on time with your, good news, we saved christmas.

dave: tell that to the count of americans who are still waiting on their presents. omicron taking over new york city breaking the daily covid case record by 30%. president biden insists no one saw omicron coming. new york congressman lees eldon is here to take that on next. ♪♪ nice little presents number for my baby and me ♪♪ ♪♪ (vo) singing, or speaking. reason, or fun.

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the sky, in pennsylvania, it is sunny and 28 degrees, perfect day for a trip down the slopes the day before this christmas eve. markets are looking pretty good. they are up a 12:45%, the doubt, the s&p and the nasdaq, nasdaq has lost a little bit but keep checking in on what is happening. new york city is seeing a staggering rise in omicron cases but president biden to bring down on the claim that no one saw it coming. >> the vice president said in recent days you didn't see delta coming, didn't see omicron coming. how did you get it wrong? >> president biden: how did we get it wrong? nobody saw it coming, nobody in the world saw it coming. dave: nobody in the world. lee zelda and joining us now.

it is coming specifically. what is happening in africa happens here, we are going to have a lot more people testing positive but fewer people getting sick. if i can see it certainly the president of the united states could see it. where is he getting his advice from? >> south africa was telling the world about a new variant called omicron. as a response you had countries all over the world including the united states instantly publicly talking about travel bands with regards to south africa. weeks ago this was a topic of conversation at the white house press briefing room with jen psaki. you also had mayors and governors within the president's own party using it

as justification for new mandates. i remember when bill deblasio was announcing a vaccine mandate using omicron as justification. that was weeks ago. when governor hogle was announcing a new statewide mask mandate, one of the reasons. clearly the entire world was getting a heads up, south africa made it widely known. dave: here is the scary thing, the president is apparently taking advice from kamala harris rather than cdc director doctor wilensky who was saying she saw it coming. it appears even though kamala harris said she didn't see it coming the president is listening to his vp about scientific advice, omicron rather than listening to his cdc director. there is a problem with that. >> the other problem related to your point, one of these is with the vice president is she didn't see problems in front of her face. right now there's no crisis at

the southern border, and she was the border's are. they laugh when faced with these realities with members of the media trying to ask questions and trying to oppose questions to these points. this is an m oh 4 vp harris. doesn't see what is coming, she doesn't see what is right in front of her. dave: it is disturbing from the vp but even more from the president himself. let's talk about the mandates. as i mentioned in the last segment australia has a dramatic reversal on mandates. they were releasing their personal responsibly, new york state and a lot of other states, these very draconian mandates, particularly new york city. will that change now that we know the omicron variant is

spreading like wildfire, it is not a serious as delta. >> i don't see them changing, new mandates come down on top of that. bill deblasio is on his way out of office. with regards to these mandates, governor hogle is considering a statewide vaccine mandate for kids to attend school. it pushes to promote landing -- dave: they are not paying attention to the science either before or after what happens. it is extraordinary. is that why new york is bleeding people and businesses to states like florida but let more focus on personal responsibility than mandates? >> directly related to people

hitting their breaking point, if they moved to texas their money goes further, and impacting people's lives, being able to exist. the heavy hand of government, instilling fear in the population and trying to exert more control, individuals, families and small businesses and others. they are hitting their breaking point and argon. dave: they have 0 tax rates, income tax rate in florida and that is why people are leaving. best of luck, have a wonderful christmas. we are in the green, red as a christmas, too but we are happy to see green on the screen than red right now. all the indices are up a 12:45%, still in the green. "the opening bell" is next.

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dave: a quick check of the market. we are in the green. we will see what happens three minutes from now. let's look ahead to 2022. the big winners particularly on tech. >> i'm not sure there will be winners in 2022. nasdaq outperformed the market up 23%. you are going to next year when you've got three or four interest rate rises, usually not good for high multiple stocks. he want to find companies that are an unusual catalyst for next year. you have to be selective. it is muted. dave: consumers tend to pull back on nonessentials, that includes a lot of stuff the tech community manufacturers make. 's inflation going to hold consumers down and that might

hurt the tech stocks? >> it could. if you have stagflation it is not in acyclical, if cyclical tailwinds turning to head wents that would negatively impact them. they are facing inflation on amazon, big massive retailers facing at this last 4 or 5 months with rising wages and rising input costs. inflation is a factor. going into the beginning of the year you are more muted, tech stocks. dave: let's get to the bright side that perhaps, it is only perhaps, anything could happen with this pandemic but perhaps omicron may be the beginning of the end. it is very catching but if you look at africa and the uk you see hospitalization going down in africa so it may burn fast

and be later in terms of hospitalization and stuff. that means more people can go shopping. that is good news. >> i hope you are right. dave: we don't know. if that does happen. >> there's one reopening trade. the clearest reopening trade and consumer tech sector i look at is still ridesharing and still uber. multiples on trough earnings, still 40% below the ride volume they had 3 covid but if we start commuting, the biggest beneficiary of stocks i look at. dave: what about the labor shortage, how does that affect uber? >> the supply has been coming back. better than you ever had, it is

superhigh, consumers have been willing to pay more for those rides in pre-covid. drivers get better economics. if you get a reopening play demand will create supply. there were two other ideas. and i like amazon. dave: facebook, amazon and uber. have a wonderful holiday. thanks for being here. "the opening bell" is ringing, the dow is up 100 points. only three stocks in the dow industrials are in the red. the rest are in the green. we have much fewer red stocks than green stocks. all the indices are up. the s&p is down hundred, the s&p is up the same.

and and and it is down to 15,546. it is on the upside and you look at the various tech stocks that we have going here. apple and up a bit are up. apple went to unchanged but microsoft, amazon and meta-are on the downside. now let's take a look at tesla. elon musk unloaded even more shares, sold $10 billion worth. >> a total of 14.8 million shares. did he satisfy the twitter goal. a rounding error, still need to

be exercised but if he owns more stock then he started selling it off in november. dave: just for the record, he is spending $11 billion on taxes more than that, doesn't qualify as a freeloader. >> look at the stock, $0.10, giving away a majority of $16 billion state to shareholders, the anti-monopoly crackdown, want to take the pressure off if you will and sending a message we are not as big as you think, might not be good for jay d.com holding 2% down to 17%. dave: good news on the pandemic

front -- >> they have an omicron specific booster shown to be effective kim jung un dose vaccine, pretty good immune responses. it's not approved in the us and two more pieces of news, astrazeneca have a booster effective against omicron and the monoclonal anti-immune therapy. the fda authorized emergency use mark's pill. adult take it, four capsules every 12 hours for five days. the us but 3 million courses of this medicine, don't know how readily it will be available, this is another treatment when you get covid. the pfizer pill, you still need to test to confirm that you have covid to get a prescription for the pill if you can get the pill.

>> you need the test first. and and you have all therapeutics on, for the nation and the world. looking at travel stocks, they are doing well, we could see good progress -- >> we got news the risk of hospitalization. that is giving a boost, for the cruises. dave: nikola or nicola, i'm not sure. did they first make their first truck delivery.

>> it is a big deal. the first delivery was made on friday at the port of los angeles. a milestone, and by the end of the year -- just a few were on your feet, crocs. to buy out their rival. >> no one wants to wear dress shoes even if we are back in the office. >> by emeriti arrival which is called hey, dude, for $2.5 billion. a lot of people think rocks are ugly. dave: okay, comfortable shoe.

>> comfort over fashion catches up with all this and back to normal. lauren: we have become too casual. we are cursing more. we need to bring some formality back. dave: formality and style. i agree hundred%. lauren: new year's resolution. dave: let's look at the dow winners, american express on the upside, almost at a 2% gain, cisco systems doing very well, one.5% gain. caterpillar doing well. the s&p winners, 4% jump with the pandemic over, we have an increase in folks going to las vegas. the nasdaq winners, paychecks, cisco systems, cwd, align technology. there is the dow, 189 points.

a lot of people say with inflation creeping up, it is close to one%. favorably raising rates after the first of the year. gold is a particular. and 48,690. looking at oil, on the pandemic front, omicron not as severe as we thought. natural gas is down quite a bit. 6.5% to the downside on natural gas. natural gas going up when winter months kick in. it is $3.29 and where it is $4.66.

elon musk has choice words. >> california used to be that opportunity, it is becoming more regulation, litigation over taxation. dave: that is not all he said. the full video coming up. a sitting member of congress carjacked at gunpoint in broad daylight in philadelphia but remember the city's da said there was no spike in violence. >> there is not a big spike in crime. there is not a big spike in violent crime. neither of these things is true.

>> is walking past the comments that were untrue. the good news we need, new study suggesting the risk of hospitalization from omicron is far less than with delta. johns hopkins professor doctor marty macarry, he is next, you will see him soon. ♪♪ holiday ♪♪ holiday ♪♪ celebrate ♪♪ (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.

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dave: of course, a lot of you young folks don't know who gene autry is, long time ago. look at the bottom right-hand of the screen, the dow is up 200 points. well above 50%, excuse me, 0.5%

increase in the dow jones industrial average all the markets are up and that is meridian idaho, reversing course, the prime minister slamming mandates. doctor marty macarry, i'm anxious to get his reaction, but i want to roll the tape of the prime minister, what the prime minister justin about moving from the draconian mandate. role tape. >> we have to get past the heavy hand of government and treat australians like adults. to a culture of responsibility. that is how we live with this virus into the future. dave: i never heard anything

more positive since this pandemic. >> i agree. it is so refreshing, people recognizing people putting themselves at risk if you have immunity or unvaccinated you do so at your own individual risk. you can't hold society hostage because of the risk that somebody might contract an infection. we don't need to wage world war iii against the mild virus requiring boosters in college students. 10% to 25% of the population of the united states will get a respiratory pathogen every year in the future probably in perpetuity. we can't have mass hysteria and whatever policies we are justifying we've got to ask do we do that every year? dave: we are continuing to hear double downs on mandates, from the president himself who is taking his mandate case to the

supreme court, new york is doubling down on it. could this be the wake-up call, what we heard from the prime minister for us in the united states? >> many of us hope elections help with the extreme hand of government and failing to recognize we've got to learn to live with this. this is a highly transmissible virus, covid. omicron maybe even more so. it is near impossible to contain it. what we've got to do is learn to live with it and to do so with early treatment. we never heard anything about early treatment beyond a couple old legacy hammers in the toolbox. we have a lot of ways to treat this including glucosamine. dave: i want to give credit to the bureaucracy in the beltway, the fda not only approved the pfizer for emergency use but currently the merck drug which is similar. >> that is right. it is similar, it reduced destiny of the 0 and cut desta 0.

these can be used in combination. dave: you can't get better than that. with omicron finally the president doubling down on his statement that nobody in the world knew what was coming with omicron. we have been talking about this for weeks. >> omicron has been around for months, the news picked up on it 6 weeks ago from south africa. if you are not paying attention before then and that was the first thing you heard of it that would have been plenty of lead time to ramp things up but what you see is a bunch of reactions that are going to be far too late. if you look at the academic growth ceramic ron in south africa, by the time these policies are enacted it will be too late. dave: let's hope we are in a whole new environment a new year. it is only a week away. have a wonderful wonderful holiday season, thank you for joining us, for all the work

you've done for us. you are a real great doctor and researcher. we appreciate it. the who says vaccine booster programs will prolong the covid crisis. why and how? lauren: other parts of the world are struggling to give the first dose and we are talking about third doses. this unequal access could lead to mutations of covid 19. the delta variance came from india. omicron from south africa. we should vaccinate other countries. the comments from who speak to this mismatch of information we are getting was the western world saying get boosted and now you are hearing boosters are bad, because of the mutation. dave: the comments from who? i couldn't resist. omicron infecting the nfl, on the covid list just this week.

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dave: taking a look at 6 avenue in midtown manhattan, not as crowded as christmas, not as crowded as last year at christmas time even though we had much more severe in terms of the delta variance version of the pandemic and we have seen but we have these mandates, very hard mandates in new york stopping a lot of people from coming into new york and doing their job. a big question, what will the weather be like on christmas?

fox whether meteorologist jason fraser joining us now. who is going to see a white christmas? >> this is the number one question i get all the time. you have to head to the pacific northwest to see some of that snow. speak of the west, that is where we are seeing the bulk of some airline delays. this is a big day for a lot of people who are traveling. we have seen some delays in san francisco and los angeles and this is all due to a specific system that is going to push eastward so if you are headed to the west, the farther in land you are closer to the pacific northwest the more likely you will see some snow showers, the more likely you are closer to the coastline and will see some rain showers. on saturday which is christmas, we will see a few delays at seatac and san francisco and possibly across the airport in the northeast and on sunday some major delays across the upper midwest. talking about what is happening

across the pacific northwest, today we see some rain showers and snow showers, rain showers in portland as well as sacramento and even los angeles but it is going to be an absolutely warm christmas for those across the southern plains including places like austin and corpus christi. talking about temperatures in the 80s, it will feel more like summer weather, more like memorial day than christmas and we will get a little bit of snow today, here comes the rain showers, looking more green for many of us in the northeast, rain showers expected for parts of ohio into pennsylvania and new york city. let me be the first to wish you a merry christmas and happy holidays. dave: the weather channel is magnificent, you guys are doing terrific work, have a wonderful new year as well.

jason fraser. florida attorney general ashley moody, arizona congressman andy biggs, governor mike huckabee and the wall street journal's dan heninger. the 10:00 hour of "varney and company" is up next. ♪♪ (vo) the more we do with our phones, the more network quality and reliability matter. and only verizon has been the most awarded for network quality 27 times in a row. that means the best experience with calls, texts and data usage of any major carrier, 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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♪. david: i love that fox christmas tree after all we've been through. it is standing tall and proud. right here in front of our building at fox news on sixth avenue. holly jolly christmas from mr. burl ives. he made it through the '60s, a little bit of the '70s as well. it is a wonderful day for the markets. nice way to end the period right before christmas 2021. all of the markets are up. look at the dow. it is up just about 200 points. bitcoin is trading a little lower. if we could switch to that. it is down $400 to 48,630.

the 10-year treasury is creeping up. there may be a lot more creep happening in 2022 as a result of what the federal reis about to do. it is up 3.6 basis points right now. very close to the 1.5% yield. we are getting a slew of economic headlines coming in fast and furious. lauren simonetti is here to guide us through it. start with consumer sentiment. lauren: university of michigan, 70.6, better than expected. we came off the ten-year low we saw because of inflation. one important thing from here. this rise was primarily because people making less money are optimistic that their paychecks are getting bigger. that is a sign of inflation but when you're looking at the bottom third of wage earners. david: lauren, new home sales

coming in. lauren: weaker. 744,000 on seasonally adjusted basis for november according to the bureau. david: mortgage rates? lauren: came down last week to 3.05%. freddie mac says that is because of omicron. if you have a 3% or change rate that is not affecting your decision to buy a home. david: i would say get it now, rates are clearly going up in 2022. lauren, thank you very much. now this. the white house is celebrating before christmas. they claim the president ended the supply chain crisis. roll tape. >> the much predicted crisis didn't occur. packages are moving. gifts are being delivered. shelves are not empty. sure you can find some shelf where it is empty because of a particular sort of gifts are very popular, i don't know. >> "new york times" said christmas gifts are arriving on time this year. good news we saved christmas. that is because president biden recognized this challenge early.

david: wow, unbelievable, congressman andy biggs, republican from arizona. congressman, should they be celebrating? is the supply chain crisis really over? >> no. they will celebrate anytime they can. the crisis isn't really over. you're sitting up in l.a. and long beach, over 100 container ships still waiting to be unloaded. you still have 80,000 truck drivers missing from action. we still have shortages. i know in arizona and various items you still have inflationary pressures. so, no, they shouldn't be celebrating too soon. david: with all of the labor shortage you will have supply change shortages. there are not people to unload the ships. there are not truckers to take the packages throughout the nation. i mean it is a labor shortage problem. a lot of that was exacerbated by policy moves by this president. >> that is exactly right. so, when we talk about 80,000

truck drivers, everything you buy in a store is trucked somewhere. it is either coming off the cargo ships. it is coming off the rail lines. it is all trucked and we don't have, simply don't have enough truckers to move that stuff. when you don't it will kill your supply chain a bit. david: congressman, listen to general park sy's response how they plan to deal with progressives. >> is there a softer approach dealing with senator manchin and some other democrats in the party who have been very vocal about being disappointed had name? is there a shift in strategy since this all blew up over bullying? >> well, again i wouldn't characterize it that way jackie, i would tell you senator manchin who has won many tough fights in west virginia and i would doubt he is a withering flower on the side of the road. david: sounds like they're challenging manchin, rather than

try to bring him back into the fold. what do you think is likely to happen in 2022 that joe manchin will become a republican or make some deal with the biden administration on bbb? >> i don't think he will necessarily become a republican but it is hard to see that he would come back to a bbb unless it just pared down a ton of spending. the cbo score that threw him off 4 1/2 trillion dollars. that was his estimation looking at it. i don't know that he can make a deal but joe manchin is one tough cookie, i don't think necessarily he would want to leave the democrats no matter how bad the socialists are painting him into a corner to demonize him. that is what they're trying to do. he would be welcome to the republican party because i think he is more conservative than some. our other republican members. david: joe biden will not stand up to the progressives. he has practiced down

practically every issue they have pushed back on. why? i don't know. he said he would run as a centrist. they certainly don't represent the center of this nation. you have to leave it at that. congressman, i want to wish you and yours a very, merry christmas. happy holidays. >> thank you, david. merry christmas to you and yours as well. david: get back to the markets. bring in d.r. barton, you say you're expecting a santa claus rally. how high are we going dr? >> well, david just to be clear in a very merry christmas to you,. david: merry christmas. >> just to be clear coming into christmas is not the traditional santa claus rally. it is the five trading days after christmas butplus the first two trading days of the new year. that seven day period has been traditionally been very strong. since 1950, it has been up 75% of the years.

that is really nice edge. it is usually up on average about 1.3%. so i think it is a time of good cheer and joy and that it's time to put a little extra money to work. david: how do you do that? i know you like trex. give us other specifics, generally looking back where do you put your money? >> yeah, in general one of the stronger places to be in this time of year is more risk on type of stocks like small cap index, the index like iwm, the qqqs, the big tech index. those places typically outperform the broader market a little bit here at the end of the year. david: i asked a previous guest about this. with the concerns of inflation, we may be at double-digit inflation already. we are with wholesale prices. i'm just wondering if we get this roaring inflation continuing, people might cut back on consumer items that

involve the tech community. does that concern you at all? >> i believe it is something we really got to watch heading into the middle to end of first quarter next year, david. i wrote that in my notes to you, that it us one of the big things that we have to watch. that inflation brewing, the bonds tapering, the potential interest rate rises next year will all be things on the radar screen. here is the main thing. we don't want to start paring back while the market is still powering up at all-time highs. we need to look for signposts to get out or trim back later, not start pulling back in anticipation of that fall. david: birthe way, one great thing about no bbb this year, or for the immediate future, no tax increases. we'll continue with the trump tax code which is, at much lower rates than a lot of democrats want. at least for the short term, we're okay on the tax front.

dr, have a great holiday season. merry christmas to you. thank you so much. we have red and green going on here. we're perfectly matched for christmas. see you later, dr. lauren, you're looking at movers. let's start with hertz. lauren: they exited chapter 11 over the summer. good thing for hertz share holders, david. david: stuart: on. lauren: there was a fire overnight at one of the refineries in baytown, texas. it is 25 miles from houston. four people were injured, and good news they're all in stable condition. that plant refines. 4 million barrels. qud-dile is that it. lauren: they agreed to buy or the they clinical for

$6 million. david: planning to roll out the 5g service from at&t around verizon but boeing and airbus are urging the white house to postpone this. why? lauren: they're concerned for potential interference from the 5g communications. that it could affect the conditions in low visible conditions. possible consequences if they go through with this, 345,000 flights could be canceled or delayed if there is interference. david: wow. that is a big decision to make. lauren: yeah. david: there are always consequences. there are no sew uggs loos, only tradeoffs. lauren, thank you very much. lauren: i have got one more. david: faa. lauren: they're trying to get the boeing 777 back in the air this is a strange story. they're making, recommending that boeing make the engine cover stronger because this is crazy, plane parts actually deattached midair in some

instances and fell into people that live in the suburbs in their backyard. so the engine-maker is a unit of raytheon, pratt & whitney. they're on board with the changes that the faa is saying. united is essentially the only airline that has this particular jet of course. they're not flying it now. david: you want to see santa's sleigh land on your roof but not a piece of an airplane. that is where i draw the line. lauren: we have this big bowl of reindeer food, we put out tonight, tomorrow night, i'm confused. today is christmas eve eve. so we'll do tomorrow night. david: i haven't even said it to you. merry christmas, lauren. lauren: thank you. we're starting, i'm starting to get in the spirit for a while. this is a tough month. david: it has been a tough month. christmas changes everything. lauren, thank you very much. now this, elon musk is slamming california after moving tesla headquarters to texas. roll tape. >> california used to be the land of opportunity and now it is the, has become, is becoming

more so the land of overregulation, overlitigation, overtaxation. >> poop on the sidewalk. >> and scorn. david: we're going to play the full clip coming up. he said a lot more than just that. meanwhile as omicron surges americans are having to wait hours, hours to get a covid test. we've got a report from the white house about how they say they're going to change things. 25 states, meanwhile, including florida, are suing the administration over its vaccine mandate and florida's attorney general just won a small victory in the case. ag ashley moody is going to give us the very latest on her fight against mandates. that's next. ♪.

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♪. david: we're seeing a lot of fall he no. not necessarily falling from the sky, as long as it is on the slopes particularly it is 32 degrees in pennsylvania. they are getting snow on the slopes. fun thing to do on christmas day. the markets are kind of fun. dow jones industrial average is close to 250 to the plus side. 241 to be precise. s&p is up about same percentage wise. about two-thirds of a percentage point. nasdaq has come up as well. good day for the market as we prepare for christmas. we're joined by florida attorney

general ashley moody. attorney general, thank you for joining us. merry christmas, happy holidays to you an yours. you're suing the biden administration over the vaccine mandate. you had a small victory. give us the latest in your case. >> yesterday we received terrific news. a judge in florida agreed the federal contractor mandate is illegal. issued a injunction that protects the federal contractors within our jurisdiction. that is great news. more importantly as you heard yesterday the supreme court is going to hear arguments in osha and the cms vaccine mandates. i think that bodes well for the states that have argued these are illegal. we see relief from our nation's highest court. david: specifically are you pinning your hopes on these incremental victories or are you, is it really going to be up to the supremes to decide what happens nationwide? >> well ultimately we will take

the fight to the supreme court. you're seeing that. you have heard they will hear oral arguments but these injunctions are very important. because you have folks whose livelihoods depend on whether or not they're forced to get this vaccine. so we wanted to take action, take it quickly so folks could see relief before these deadlines took effect. and you saw the most recent vaccine mandate that came out requiring children as young as two years old to wear masks and teachers and staff of our head start program required to take the vaccine. david: now you are in, what a lot of people are calling one of the free states of the united states of america. texas would be another one. not surprisingly they are the red states, the blue states, democrat states, very often are the ones that demand these mandates. we here in new york have to go through all kinds of mandates on all sorts of things with very few exceptions s that causing an even greater flow of immigration

from states like new york and california to florida? >> look, it's no surprise that the decisions and policies that we make in florida are always through the lens of how do we protect our citizens freedom. how do we insure their public safety by enforcing law and order. as you've seen a violent crime increase in smash-and-grab robberies in other states where they're demolishing their criminal justice system and their prosecutors are not prosecuting cases. businesses flee as a result, moving stores from areas because they can't keep up with insurance rates and more of their property is being shoplifted than sold. they will flee to states that will protect them. citizens knee to states that will protect their liberties. results and numbers are showing that. david: you do not have the kind of smash-and-grab robberies and so forth that they do in other states.

are you crediting that you don't have the new bail laws essentially allow people once they're arrested to get out the same day? >> look, we have been clear in florida. we will enforce the law and not only have we said we're not going to adopt soft on crime policies and folks hear that. they hear that message f you have leadsers come out and say we will not go after and prosecute certain crimes criminals pay attention. crime will reflect that we're proactive. i launched with law enforcement, with business leaders a statewide task force to prevent organized retail theft. we have launched a interactive database so we can prosecute and put together complex cases. that is proactive. making sure we're enforcing the law. we're not a reactive state. we'll continue to make good policy decisions based on data and what our law enforcement say they need. david: let me ask you a data information from the omicron

vary rain which -- variant in florida. have hospital admissions gone up as a result of this, the variant as quickly as it spreads less severe than delta. >> we're so fortunate here in florida to have leaders like governor desantis who promoted therapy if you do contract the virus. not only that, he insures that there were state driven resources where folks could go to get treatment if they are thed the virus. now it is readily available. in florida we're paying attention to the science. we're making sure folks know the data regarding not only vaccines but -- david: attorney general, forgive me for interrupting. i want a specific answer, have hospital admissions gone up as a result of the spread of omicron? >> i think florida is dealing with our hospital admissions well. we're dealing with covid like everywhere else in the nation but we have great leadership and people are faring well here. david: okay. all right.

but i still didn't get a specific answer? you don't have the data or has not been accumulated yet? >> certainly you can contact our department of health who has the daily records on that. david: attorney general mooddy, thank you so much for coming. have a wonderful who draigh season. we appreciate you coming here. >> thank you very much. earnings omicron variant continues to spread all over the u.s. ahead of the holidays. people are waiting hours to get tests if they can get one at all. rich edson is at the white house with the very latest. rich? >> reporter: good morning, david. a major part of the administration's strategy is testing. president biden announced a couple days ago that the administration would buy free tests for americans. all they had to do is sign up online and get them. the issue is that "the new york times" is reporting that the administration has yet to sign the contract on those half billion dollar tests. then they may not even get them until maybe a few weeks. still not clear when americans will get online to actually order these tests.

there are major backups, reports across the country of americans unable to get tests, long waits waiting, sold out at stores, no appointments ahead of the christmas season. earlier this month the white house derided the suggestion that the administration send every american a test. in an interview with abc president biden acknowledged he should haverd odded the tests two monthses ago. he said they should got booster shots and suggest that we may need a fourth. >> i listen to the scientists and i'm sure the scientists are paying close attention to that. there may be a need for another booster. that remains to be seen. >> it remains a possibility? >> it remains a possibility. reporter: this on foreign policy. the white house is trying to confront the ongoing humanitarian crisis in afghanistan. this country is facing severe drought and the economy the united nations says in freefall. the biden administration is

easing sanctions stan afghanistan to get more aid into the country. less than five months after the kate out tick withdrawal helping afghans but preventing the taliban from seizing international aid. some diplomats and experts say it is not enough to address what is going on in the country. david: after all we left behind, billions and billions dollars worth of hardware we left behind we'll be sending them -- it is just a very strange situation. rich edson at the white house. thank you very much, rich. now this, united airlines cutting flights ahead of the busiest travel day of the year. we've got the details. the defense department issuing a warning to all servicemembers. get vaccinated or vase consequences. but our next guest says, pushing for 100% compliance is unrealistic. it will harm our military readiness. major general michael maguire here on that.

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the middle of new york about two or three blocks away from the all-american christmas tree right in front of our offices here on sixth avenue. if you're in new york, take a picture with our tree, send it to us at varneyviewers@fox.com. just two days until christmas. hopefully we get some of those pictures of yours on air. let's check a great day for the markets. not a particularly spectacular rise in the markets but over a half a percent gain on the dow. exactly half a percent feign on nasdaq right now. up 77 points on the nasdaq. s&p is up well over half a percentage point, up 29 points to 4725. lauren. let's bring you back in. you're looking at other market movers. start with nikola. lauren: huge gains today. they made the first delivery of their battery electric

commercial vehicle. stock up 18%. total transportation services, a california trucking company. they took it. more deliveries on the way if needed. nice gain but the stock is off some 40% today. david: stitch fix, i go got it. lauren: online styling company. you know, i don't want tock ageist but it is for the younger generation i think. i don't use it either. not accuses you of being old because i'm in the same boat, david. shareholder working capital advisors, is the name of the company, they bout another 3 1/2 million or so shares. that is a vote of confidence and the stock is up a bit. david: even if i was younger i don't know if i would know how to. csi corporation? lauren: digital game developer. shares are down sharply, that is one-year low. the other name on that board scientific games which is surging pulled their takeover offer. no deal affecting the share

price. david: exact opposite. lauren, thank you very much. now this the air force denied over 2,000 requests for religious exemptions to the pentagon covid vaccine mandate. the service has not accepted any of the 10,000 requests. that brings us to this headline. 100% covid vaccine compliance is unrealistic and dangerous to military readiness. the it h author of that piece is major general michael maguire. he joins us now this is serious stuff. is our military readiness in danger because of these mandates. >> it is not it is danger because of biden over reach. medical readiness, cannot, can an not be used as a argument to dismiss all these soldiers. i will give you a quick story, david. last night i got a call from a 19-year marine in yuma. he is less than six miles from where people are pouring across

the border illegally. you just mentioned that my service, the air force where i served as commanding general is denying all religious exemptions. these are deeply held beliefs by individuals. these religious liberties are not sacrificed by servicemembers around the risks that we take with this 19 year marine, him not having due process, is unconscionable. when i was the commanding general of the guard i had individual that was in his 19th year of service that was involved with drug use and spousal abuse. by the time his case was ajudicated at the air force secretary level, he was beyond the 20 year point. due process and individual liberties and rights are what everyone of these servicemembers are sworn to protect and defend. the biden administration, the bureaucracy of the secretary of the navy, the secretary of the air force and secretary of the emenblanc denying this risking tens of thousands of soldiers. it is unconstitutional,

unethical and immoral. david: general, specifically i assume that if somebody does stick to their religious beliefs, cannot take the vaccine they would get a less than honorable discharge. tell us what that would mean to a young service person's life going forward? >> yeah. we go back to this young man in yuma. 19 years of active service and deployed. he will be discharged prior to earning his full retirement, yet, a similar marine that may have beat his wife around used drugs will be afforded counsel, due process and by the time the case is adjudicated he is beyond the 20 year point and receives his full military retirement. think about trying to explain that to the wife of this marine that is facing discharge or the tens of thousands that have put in religious exemptions? add to it i'll tell all my friends out there, you can be pro-vaccine and anti-mandate. david: absolutely. >> which is where i'm at. you can be pro vaccine and

anti-mandate. but the idea of the government judging the morality or efficacy of your deeply held religious beliefs is everything we stand against and every religious minority should be chilled by this action by the department of defense. david: as you well know, general, the supreme court is about to take on the issue of vaccine mandates and that may affect what is happening in the military as well. we will wait and see. it is a terrible fate that awaits some of these service people who are just have real serious conscious problems with the vaccine and we wish them the best. thank you for bringing this to our attention, general. appreciate it. we got to leave it. >> -- hope, david, that the military will hold the line in oklahoma. other states will join. will clearly become a states right issue. why i'm in the u.s. senate race. we have to stop this. david: general general mcguire,s for being with us. we appreciate it. some republican senators are

asking president biden on the report of vetting process of afghan refugees, lauren. what do they want to know? lauren: are they vetted? there are national security concerns here. you remember the images, 10 of thousands of people went through the processes after the u.s.'s afghanistan withdrawal. now many of them are scattered throughout the u.s. so a group of six republican senators want details on this vetting process. there have been some reports of crime on military bases. particularly against women. who are these people. where are they. what do you know. what do you ask hem? david: what a mess. i appreciate it. now this australia, as many of you know they impose some of the strictest covid lockdowns in the world but now the prime minister is reversing course. roll tape. >> we've got to get past the heavy hand of government and we've got to treat australians like adults. david: wouldn't that be nice over here. former arkansas governor mike huckabee will take that one

on in our next hour. you don't want to miss that. a groom is robbed in philly on the day of his wedding but the pennsylvania district attorney claims the city doesn't a crime crisis. rolled tape. >> we don't have a crisis of lawlessness. we don't have a crisis of crime. we don't have a crisis of violence. david: why all those air quotes. i don't understand. now a pennsylvania congresswoman was carjacked at gunpoint. we've got that story coming next ♪.

♪ david: now this wonderful story. we're not making this up. the real estate market is booming in a small midwest town where there is christmas here

all year long. the town is called santa claus, indiana. that is where grady trimble is. grady, why are people moving to santa claus? reporter: david, some people are drawn here because of the name. they certainly embrace it with a santa claus statue on just about every corner in town. of course where we are in front of town hall but there is another big reason and that is the low taxes. in fact the governor of indiana is proposing a 125-dollar refund for all hoosier taxpayers because the state's budget surplus is so big. realtors tell us buyers from illinois, california, are surprised how far their money goes here in santa claus. we toured a home on snowball lane, what else, three beds, three baths, listed under $400,000. some of the new construction homes are even more of a fordable.

one realtor said 60 new homes have been built in santa claus in the last 16 months. that is sizable amount when there are only 3,000 people in town. >> they find us because of the unique name. and then they're like, wow, santa claus, i have to check this out. we get the migration that they come. they investigate and they just, they really like what they see the small town charm of what santa claus has to offer. reporter: fun fact i learned about santa claus, indiana, if you address a letter from santa anywhere in the country it will come to the post office about a block that way. you will get a reply. david, i would be remiss if i didn't end my report merry christmas to you from santa claus. david: merry christmas. it is not a white christmas in santa claus? reporter: no. it is chilly. it is chill by but not a white

christmas. david: is still 48 hours, grady. merry christmas to you and yours. we appreciate it. we're only two days away from christmas. mike gunzelman hit the streets to see how many people are shopping for last minute christmas gifts. come in, gunz, were people able to get presents this late. reporter: great to be here, david. here is the thing, i keep running downstairs in my apartment complex to see if my amazon packages are delivered yet. we're two days out, i'm waiting on amazon packages i ordered from weeks ago. i went around new york city to see if other people are having same same issue like i am and or shopping in stores. this is all new, gunz on the go. ♪ you're young, millenial like myself. have you even bothered trying to go to stores or we over stores, all online shopping.

>> all online for me. everything. >> i got most of my shopping but i definitely do more on amazon. >> i'm big online shopper. so it is a little bit easier than that for, than going actually into the stores. >> it was pretty easy. macy's tonight, slow compared to years before. >> i think online shopping has been a little bit stuff. things seem to go out of stock as soon as they come in. >> i do more online because it is scary with everything going on. >> have you had any difficulty finding anything, certain clothes, things you get for people? >> stuff is sold out. shoes, for instance. i tried to get the shoes she is wearing, they were sold out. >> one thing i've been trying to get my partner. >> trying to find the new xbox since last christmas. can't find it anywhere. >> lululemon, please restock them. >> because of everything going on have you changed your plans at all. celebrate christmas holidays

with less people? >> local which is good anyway. seeing a lot less people. >> our plans really haven't changed that much. i mean, i'm in school. so i only get to see them a little bit. >> a lot of my family got covid in the last weeks. my christmas is a little bit cans he would. my immediate family. >> there you have it, david. the amount of online shopping that is supposed to be happening, about $200 billion which would set a record according to experts but a couple things to take away from there real quick. when i was growing up, playstation 2, xbox, those are the big gifts. it might be because of the chip shortages happening overseas you can't find them anywhere. david: right. >> another great gift? you can buy people crypto, bitcoin, ethereum, give them to people. my buddy gave me one, $100 worth of ethereum. merry christmas. david: still one coin is $48,000. i don't think that will be under

anybody's tree. gunz, thank you very much, my friend. appreciate it. now this, a "wall street journal" op-ed slamming the philadelphia d.a. after a string of crimes calling it a larry krazner christmas. lauren what is going on here? lauren: philadelphia, 544 homicides this year. retail theft up more than 20%. auto theft up more than 15% yet there is no crime according to the d.a., larry krazner. he is bragging that i cut number of criminals in jail since he has been in office by 40%. that is why you get this "wall street journal" headline and the subtext there was, those criminals doing things like stealing a rolex from a groom on his wedding day. can you imagine? and then, the carjacking and robbing of congresswoman mary scanlon at gunpoint. when your constituents feel like victims and a congresswoman is attacked, you have to start scale back what you say. my opinion here, david, this is

an opportunity to start to reverse the lawlessness, right? david: absolutely. when you're bragging about letting violent criminals out on the streets, one thing to let people out who are non-violent criminals, who are not going to do anybody any harm, a lot of people are let out that are really violent criminals doing a lot of people harm. one of them congresswoman. lauren: five people in custody because they found her car. we'll see what happens if a change in tone. david: lauren, appreciate it. look at this, the national average of a price of gallon of regular gas $3.30. who the high gas prices slowing down travel for the holidays? we got our report coming up on that in our 11:00 hour. take a look at this. this tom brady jersey. this jersey could sell for $600,000. golden auctions is here with that and a whole lot more. that is coming next.

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david: it is time for some sports memorabilia. let's bring in ken golden. you have a holiday auction to beat all holiday auctions. start with a lebron james signed patch rookie card. go ahead. >> sure, this card is for all lebron james card, top card, number one card. it is limited to only 99. it is called upper deck exquisite a very high-end brand. it is graded and authenticated by psa. it is the second highest grade they have ever given. it is an 8.5 with a 10 autograph. the card currently i believe has a bid, second day of the auction. it has a bid in the 700,000-dollar range. david: wow. >> we expect it to exceed $2 million. david: we have a lot more to go. we have to speed it up. tom brady, game used jersey. it is photo matched. we know it is the real thing.

signed and enscribed. how much for this? >> brady the goat, this was right before the super bowl win. we expect this to exceed $600,000. david: whoa. i heard 500,000. already gone within hundred thousand above that. boy, oh, boy. that is something. stephen curry, basketball fame. what about this? >> he just broke the record for three pointers, very hot, very popular, this is from the 2018-19 season nba finals here. we expect this to be $75,000 range. david: 75,000. it is not just jerseys. you have a pokemon game first edition who graph. what about this if? >> this is the most popular card, most valuable card, expect it to go in 300,000-dollar range. boxer social media guy logan paul recently paid 3.5 million for a case, for a case of these cards. david: wow. quickly, but he is my favorite of all time, mickey mantle,

number 7. this is his rookie card. tell us about it quickly. >> famous 1952 tops mickey mantle. graded by psa, near mint 7. 700,000 or higher at golden. david: number 7. i had a lifelong love for mickey mantle a great player, a great human being. ken, you did it all in 2 1/2 minutes. have a wonderful holiday, ken. lauren, the first sms text just told as an nft at a paris auction for how much? lauren: $150,000. certainty from a computer, vodafone program. four pounds, remember the big cell phones. this was about 30 years ago. what did it say? merry christmas? david: all right. i still don't understand all this nft stuff. i got to be honest. lauren, thank you very much. still ahead, former governor of

arkansas mike huckabee, florida congresswoman kat cammack and "wall street journalfy," my good buddy, dan heninger here. also, least we forget, joe theismann. how can you forget joe theismann, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. the third hour of "varney" is next. ♪. i've spent centuries evolving with the world. that's the nature of being the economy. observing investors choose assets .. agile and liquid. a proven protector. an ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions.

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>> omicron may be more subtle. it is near impossible to contain it was what we've got to do is learn to live with it and do so with early treatment. >> this president is completely out of touch. this white house is the rules by committee, the president is just a figurehead. >> don't know that he can make a deal but joe manchin is one tough cookie and don't know if you want to leave the democrats no matter how bad the socialists try to paint them into a corner and demonize him. >> right now when i go shopping and get deals like double-digit inflation.

>> it is not the traditional santa claus rally. it is a time of good cheer and joy and time to put a little extra money forward. ♪♪ ♪♪ all i want for christmas is you ♪♪ dave: it is time of joy and marrying us in america as we look at our wonderful christmas tree. at 11:00 on the east coast on christmas eve eve. i'm david asman in for stuart varney. that was look at the all-american christmas tree at fox square. we asked you to send photos of your tree, look at the pictures. we have alice longfield, jane jane, hello, jane, good to see you, and brian wilson sends us this. there is a shot of your self in front of our wonderful tree. we will show more of your photos later on. let's check the market and great news, the markets are improving a bit.

nasdaq is now leading the 3 indexes. it is up 0.3%, s&p up the same and dow jones is up 220, the slowest of all the indexes but has a healthy gain as well. show me the 10 year treasury, yielded up a tiny bit. it is close to that one.5% mark. we expected to go higher as the fed begins to raise rates next year. now this in australia. most draconian lockdown rules, i'm sure you've seen videos of that. they have completely revised, reversed course 180 degrees. prime minister scott morrison saying no to more lockdowns. >> we got to get past the heavy hand of government and treat australians like adults.

we have to move from a culture of mandates to a culture of responsibility. that is how we live with this virus into the future. dave: mike huckabee is with me now. democrats may not be listening to the australian p.m. but the rest of the world is. for him to reverse course so completely as he has done shows clearly that the mandates and lockdowns weren't working. >> people were taking to the streets in australia, they were fed up with it. people in america are fed up with that as well. i loved what he said. it is the era of responsibility and that is the way it out to be in a free country. people will be responsible if they want to be. if they don't they don't have to be. for the rest of us we keep living our lives and i think this is great news from the land down under. dave: we had a 2-year period, a

2-year lesson in the failure of coercive government. it doesn't work. didn't work to increase vaccines. we saw that in america. >> it is more than that, violation of basic fundamental rights that an american has. when we look back on this, some responsible law schools will say that governors and mayors were way over the line in taking action that they didn't have constitutional authority to take. these permanent emergency injunctions are not constitutional. you have to involve all 3 branches of government and in many cases mayors and governors did not do that. they just acted and they acted as if they had been empowered with something they had never been empowered with, some divine decree and there is no such thing as a governor who comes down from mount sinai with two tablets and stone and

say this is the way it is going to be. you have to involve the people as uncomfortable as it may be. dave: can't avoid the fact they acted with a degree of hypocrisy we have never seen even among the political class. violations of their own edicts they were demanding on us rules they were not adhering to themselves and that made it more ridiculous. >> no doubt about that. gavin newsom going out to dinner, yukking it up with his buddies maskless. nancy pelosi going to the salon, gretchen widmer flying to florida having a great time while she was telling people they couldn't go fishing although her husband did. people are sick of it. it is bad enough if government officials impose something they don't have the authority to impose but when they don't impose on themselves they violate the most important principle of leadership, never

ask others to do what you are unwilling to do. dave: the bottom line, with the prime minister of australia said was a seminal moment in history of the pandemic. do you feel the same way? this statement that he has made in the action he is taking will change the way governments around the world behave with the pandemic? >> i truly believe, on the opening day, one of the strictest most direct only and governments in all the world and because he said we would and this is not the way it is going to be, we will let people live in freedom, that ought to start applying to a free nation like the united states. dave: i don't think democrats can ignore what happened nor can the supreme court. they are about to decide on the mandate issue. it could be very interesting.

have a wonderful merry christmas, you and your family and the joyous new year as well. thank you for being here. >> merry christmas to you. let's get a check of the markets, jonathan honecker, great day for the markets. will continue through the new year? >> and >> the s&p is not far from its all-time highs. even if big averages race higher the majority of factors below their 50, and 200 day moving average. you could be seeing what they call windowdressing buying those winters toward the end of the year because we want them on their balance sheet but no denying the market remains

strong despite the head wents we have seen. dave: let's talk about the headwinds. let's talk about inflation because the consequences of inflation first and foremost to americans is dire. a lot of americans are seeing their salary increases diminish and go underwater because of inflation. on the other hand it looks like you may, i have to emphasize that word see the end of the pandemic and that may bring forth another burst of economic activity. >> it is not the pandemic that hurt the economy, it is not even really china or any other exterior. it is government as you pointed out. government created inflation. that is the big wildcard and putting money to work, don't blow your wad in january or february, you start to see the effects and even if you don't get a huge spending bill, they will want to spend and tax. the big uncertainty in 2022 isn't the individuality your creative nature of the american

workforce, and to hold the economy down. dave: one thing about bbb not passing, we haven't seen the tax increases. at least as long as taxes stay where they are, the economy can continue to bubble up. what have you got for us? >> a bond etf that focuses on environmental green bonds and considered as a hedge. whatever happens, democrats or perhaps republicans will want to spend, incentivize, subsidize green energy initiatives. in fixed income one of the few ideas that is working right now, diversification, do your own due diligence. dave: even though you are going against your own ideological beliefs. >> you have to go where the action is.

fixed income, green bond funds are the only ones close to the all-time highs. this is the strongest egg in the basket and one i am looking at now. dave: on a personal note it is a pleasure to know you. it really is. you are a good man. >> thank you to you and all. dave: appreciate it. you've got some movers. >> strong home sales reports, just this morning, sales rising 12% last month. one of the reasons, also the infrastructure bill. dave: tesla, you heard about elon musk. >> the selling shares, investors, it is up 3%. it lost a quarter of the value since early november when you announce the share sales.

dave: fedex and ups. >> getting price target upgrades from bernstein and under deliver this year in terms of share prices. amazon came into the market, but fedex and ups happen had to lower rates because of that. fedex shares are down and ups up 24%. dave: thank you very much. 2 million people boarded planes on wednesday and airports are expected to be busier today. the white house says they won't rule out new travel rules. we have the story of that. researchers warn that florida could go on to see 40,000 new cases every day. what is the ste doing to prepare for? i will ask laura congresswoman kat coming up. aaa saying 109 million americans will travel for the

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:want for christmas is a real good chain ♪♪ dave: you could get a good candy. there is a lot of sand the got on the camera lens and scratched up the lens but that is saint pete beach, florida, 61 and sunny and saint pete is right next to st. petersburg on the west coast of the peninsula. the national gas average standard $3.29 for a gallon of regular.

madison allworth is in tampa. this the slowing travel this year? >> doesn't seem it is slowing americans down. they are ready to celebrate christmas and hit the roads but it is not just the presents under the tree costing them a pretty penny. price of gas is very high for americans. the national average sits at $3.29 was according to gas buddy the national average could get down to $3.25 by christmas day. pretty spectacular but here is the thing. even though it is $0.15 cheaper than a month ago americans will still be paying near record highs the christmas gasoline. according to gas buddy we had the high in 2013 when gas was $3.26 per gallon. that is just one penny more than we expect to pay this year. like i said it is not slowing

down americans. 109 million americans will travel 50 miles this christmas, 34% increases last year. 100 million of them will drive. these are estimates and things can change with the resurgence of covid cases, omicron, that estimate could be impacted. more americans they choose to drive instead of fly were scrap their plans all together but it is not seeming like that will happen. we are also watching this morning the aftermath of the exxon mobil plant accident near houston. the refinery caught fire early this morning injuring four employees with all other staff have been accounted and the company is telling us three of the four seriously injured, we are waiting updates on how they are doing. we will keep you updated as we

hear more. fires at refineries, it could impact the cost of gas, that is something to keep an eye out for as we make our way through the holiday season. dave: appreciate it. researchers at the university of florida are warning the state will see 40,000 new daily covid cases as omicron continues to surge all over the country. congresswoman kat cammac joins us. i'm looking one of these indexes they come out with showing the covid rates and you see this huge spike in florida as you do in many states across the country but the death rate remains extremely low but i don't see on this particular meter hospital rates. do you know if possible rates increased. >> good to see you. we have taken a drastically different approach in florida, under the leadership of governor desantis we are seeing

very low rates of hospitalization and death rates. for example, we have comparable populations, and some are sturdy but we have drastically different policies how we handle it. in new york, just this week they had 4600 hospitalizations and averaging 60 to 70 deaths on a daily basis. compare that to florida where we are under 30 daily deaths and our hospitalizations are sitting at 1400. even though they are seeing surges, the approach is different among the comparable population. for example we put an emphasis on common sense and common sense tells us early treatment saves lives. governor desantis and our leaders in florida made

monoclonal antibody treatment available within two hours of every single resident in the state of florida. we have put a common sense approach, thoughtful, pragmatic approach first by making sure our first responders, health departments and private partners have all the resources available. contrast that to a heavy-handed top-down approach we have seen from big government states like new york and they are seeing higher rates of transmission, higher hospitalization. dave: you are hitting close to home but since i live in new york the point, i had covid and the monoclonal antibody treatment. i call the doctor from the hospital, i won't mention which hospital because i don't want to cause any panic on the part of new yorkers, but he has completely run out of monoclonal antibodies. there is some question as to whether they would be effective

against omicron. some are not as effective as they were against delta but in addition to that you have a labor shortage because of the vaccine mandates. there are 8000 hospital workers that were either fired or quit because of the vaccine mandates and you don't have that with possible workers in florida, do you? >> our state legislature under the leadership of ron desantis put in a situation where we directed workers for a stand against the federal government and the unconstitutional mandate coming down to protect our front-line workers in gainesville, you mention university of florida, my husband is a first responder, he and his crews were under assault by these mandates and we were going to lose 200 police, fire and front-line workers like utility workers and it was because of our position that mandates are, one, unconstitutional, and the decision to vaccinate is a personal choice in consultation with your doctor, that has led us to be a free state where we see people flocking here and we

have this incredible leadership. these monoclonal antibody treatments from various sources, we are not seeing the shortages. dave: now you have the pfizer and merck drug accepted by the fda so there are more therapeutics and that is a good thing. because of the fact you kept open and don't have lockdowns or mandates or labor shortage. i heard you had six times the job growth rate in florida the nation does in general. is that correct? >> you are taking my talking points. if you compare our job growth rate to the nation, we are six times higher and it is because we found the magic sauce, the secret formula which isn't so secretive keeping our doors open, keeping our economy robust and producing, while keeping people free and safe and it all comes down to the

personal freedom every american enjoys especially here in florida and it is the thoughtful -- dave: as you mentioned it is not a secret sauce. it is just common sense become you make it cheaper to do business and you will have more business. cheaper and easier without mandates and you will have more businesses. if you keep the people safe, thank you for being here, appreciate it, merry christmas to you and yours. today's expect it to be the busiest travel day ahead of the christmas holiday, aaa expecting travel to increase 34% over last year, they are not willing out vaccine mandates, and and it could

delay flights and could have additional implications and now to this. united airlines is suspending nine roots from its washington dulles a while shifting 5 more flights to newark airport, the airline citing the ongoing pilot shortage as well as other factors is the reason for making the change. the ceo said united express carriers had to park nearly 100 regional jets due to the ongoing shortage. a major chinese city, 13 million people has to lockdown for covid. and that is what the government says. we have a story coming up. a new survey showing 44% of the company said omicron has forced them to push back or change their reopening plans. the workers have not stepped foot in office in almost two years so is remote work here to stay? that is next.

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dave: my wife is going to love this, you are looking at honolulu, hawaii, 71 degrees. it is cloudy but 71 degrees on the20 third, the eve of christmas eve. it is a nice day, and and the fda -- the treatment regime includes taking four capsules every 12 hours for 5 days. us purchased 3.1 million courses of the drug in short order. the uk seeing 100,000 new daily covid cases on wednesday as

omicron continues to surge, 8000 people were hospitalized, the highest since mid-november. since the pandemic began the uk as highest daily case figures have all come since december 15th but the death rate remaining lower than the peak time year ago and in china, a city that has up operation of 13 million is in lockdown as they tried to control the covid surge there. the outbreak stems from the delta variant and although the numbers are lower than other cities overseas if you believe chinese statistics the city has reported a number of high fevers and high mortality diseases transmitted by rodents lose mainland china has only reported a handful of the micron cases so far but those reports are highly influenced by the communist government. australia's prime minister has reversed course on drug tony

and lockdowns and mandates. >> we got to get past the heavy hand of government, and treat australians, we have to move from a culture of mandates to a culture of responsibility. that is how we live with this virus into the future. dave: that statement by the prime minister is a seminal moment in history of this pandemic. >> it is a big deal because australia has been one of the most locked down countries in the world for the past two years. they have been really really tight on mandates and lockdowns and their economy has been hurt badly. australia is a big country. it is an island at the end of supply chain and i think the prime minister has come to the realization that they have to start treating the pandemic as

more like it is becoming endemic, something they have to figure out how to live with. the australians are tough people. if you give them that responsibility, the people australia will take it and hopefully that attitude will spread including the united states. dave: they can't ignore the lockdowns and mandates haven't worked. they've been tried as hard as they could in australia, they haven't contained the virus, they are creating riots on the streets, and the economy is almost dead. this is a remarkable change. i hope we learn something from it. a new survey showing 44% of companies have either pushed back or altered their return to office plans. some people haven't been in an office for two years. is remote work here to stay? new york city is empty again.

>> remote work to some extent is here to stay but it has to be a combination of the two. i don't know if you had this experience but i spent many times in the past 6 months calling help desks at the insurance companies or credit card companies. you get somebody who is sitting in the kitchen with a laptop in front of them to answer your questions. it is a terrible experience. they could easily if they were in the office ask the supervisor the answer to this question. and said they have to call them and they call you back. that is terrible. those people have to get back in the office. if people feel they can trust, the reality of this virus and omicron which we are not going

to get to that point people are willing to go back to the office. dave: worse than all of that are the companies that have gone particularly in cities like new york and la and chicago that had the lockdowns, you look at sixth avenue in new york city. this is the day before. it looks like a ghost, i've never seen a day so close to christmas with so little traffic, they are practically empty. this is the responsibility of the worst mayor new york has ever had and the dramatic mandates, adding up to a lockdown in many cases where many have gone out of business particularly restaurants with strict mandates, no exceptions, this falls on double audio. >> to a great extent it is.

i have worked for years in that building and you are right. this time of year you cannot move on the sidewalk in that neighborhood. so many people are enjoying christmas. bill deblasio has used the virus as something to scare people for two years, public schools were closed down for the better part of the year in new york city. people are still frightened of the virus notwithstanding the fact that omicron appears to be much less deadly variant than delta or the one before. it will look like that for a long time in new york until people come to grips with the reality that they are going to have to live with this virus and that means going out on the street. dave: let's go out of this segment on a positive note is the statement of the prime minister showing that freedom is what we need now more than lockdowns.

more than the lack of freedom, more than an oppressive government telling us what to do. the fact that he is choosing freedom is a positive way to end this year. >> what could be better. dave: a wonderful christmas your self. appreciate it. now this was the college football championship team could soon be decided without playing a game. we will claim what is going on and 17 years ago a family built a jar with pocket change and gave it away to someone in need. that small act of kindness has inspired people from all over the country, the man who inspired a great movement joining me next. ♪♪

dave: run run rudolph, kelly clarkson. that is the all-american christmas tree on fox square, we ask you to send in your photos of the tree you delivered. here is now and her family. and michelle. can we switch to michelle. there is michelle and that is sylvia's grandson joshua. he came all the way from austin, texas. and linda and paul, good to see you, keep sending us those photos, we love to see them. it has been 16 years since our next guest launched his

christmas jars movement. what are christmas jars and where did the idea come from? >> 16 years ago, this is our 2021 jar we are getting ready to give away in the next night or two. we filled it with spare change, had no idea i would later decide to pitch our experience into a novel in hopes it might inspire families around the country and around the world, to participate and over the last 16 or 17 years thousands upon thousands of families around the world particularly in the united states have filled jars just like this or maybe like this and giving them to families in need. dave: my wife comes from a poor country, nicaragua. a jar full of change here does not go as far as it does in nicaragua. the transport money that is collected here that might mean a lot more to folks in places

like nicaragua? >> we as fentanyl or paypal to send money to those who can convert it into a currency, digital currency, there's something special about this but the number of families whose lives have been changed. a photo a minute ago above my dear friend mckenna goodman who was serving a mission, i love her so much, in virginia, we met her four years ago. she was feeling a little homesick. my family gave her a christmas jar not because she needed the money but she needed a message. fast forward to earlier this year and this young woman on snowy roads on the interstate was killed in a horrific car accident and now after a hard

year for the family coming to the holidays, those who lost loved ones that first trip can be so tough. a few days ago that knock at the door, someone scampering down the street and on the porch, a christmas shard and a note for the family not because they don't need the money the money is a blessing of course but the real blessing is they were seen, someone was aware of their grief. that is the power and magic of christmas. dave: christmas is all about spirit. these jars indicate that better than anything i've heard recently. thanks for being here. it is a movement and it is a movement. >> merry christmas to you. dave: we are about money to a certain extent and your money is doing pretty well right now.

we only have four dow stocks in the red, the rest are in the green, healthy gain on the nasdaq which is come up to meet the dow and exceed it in terms of percentage gains a great day for the markets. coming up next one of my favorites of all time, nfl legend joe theismann is here with his christmas message, you don't want to miss joe next. ♪♪ doesn't have to be. together, we can create a kinder, more inclusive world for the millions of people on the autism spectrum. go to autismspeaks.org

dave: you are looking at mercy university, 51 degrees and sunny right now. the college football championship could be decided by forfeit. college football announcing of one team has too many covert cases the other team will automatically be declared the winner. if neither team can play, there is no national championship

this season, that's not fun. and they were put on the covid reservist this week. and a 94.6% vaccine rate. super bowl championship, good to see you. that's not a great record for the vaccine mandates, is it? >> it really isn't for this new variant has created issues and problems for those that are vaccinated or not vaccinated. is one of those things we are feeling our way through but the nfl has done a terrific job manufacturing the opportunity to play games. you can talk about colleges as well. colleges have 100 players on their rosters. we've got the same situation, a number of players were out in washington or number of players

out to play the football games. and and to keep the games going, but safety is vitally important. i've been to different facilities and they can do with a candidate since the players, and on the staff, the nfl, college football, they can do what they can to get these games in. dave: i fear the answer but could there be a paz of the season with the nfl because of this new covid variant just like the hockey league has done? >> certainly everything is a possibility. i think the nfl would use that

as a last resort. i don't see it with three games to go. i think they would move games around enough to get the season in. like you say, 140 players and their coaches and staff have had it. hopefully the number will go down. the nfl has changed the protocol so that if you are not symptomatic you have an opportunity to play the game. they are going to do what they can to protect the players but they have done an excellent job doing what they need to to make sure the players are safe, have a chance to play. we don't know enough about the new variant enough as it is. it is such a fluid situation. dave: it has been that way for two years, don't know how much longer we can go on the big like this. what are your plans for the holidays? >> we will spend it with family and my wife and i are headed to florida for little sunshine because it is chilly where we are now. dave: where are you now? >> i can play golf at 45 degrees.

we will spend it with the family and best wishes to everybody out there, merry christmas, safe and happy new year and as has been said before we shall get through this. dave: a pleasure to talk to you. best to you and yours was merry christmas, happy holidays, appreciate it. time for the thursday trivia question. which company was the first to use santa claus in advertising. the possibilities, email your answers to varneyviewers@fox.com for your chance to win a signed copy of all-american christmas, this is the book by sean duffy and rachel campos of, the prize goes to the first correct answer we received. send it in now. ♪♪

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david: before the break we asked which company was the first to use santa claus in advertising? i was thinking coca-cola because they had the best santa claus ever in those commericals. i don't know if we got a picture. we probably don't. that is the answer, coca-cola. today's winner is leo deluca from pennsylvania. leo you will receive a signed company of "all-american christmas" by the duffy's. a great stocking-stuffer. even for you, put it in your own

stocking for one of members of your family. before you go, i want to share with you some of my family photos, starting with 1988. this is beautiful, my late father, bob asman with my stepson, felipe. this is felipe's first christmas in america. he had only known christmases in nicaragua. he and his mother came here. they were chased out of nicaragua by the san today sandinistas. i love this great christmas of 1988. 2013, my late dear mom, nan asman. givinger had a great hug in that christmas. to bring it up to date, my current grandson, elliot, dancing with his father in front of a marine toy that sings the

anthem. we won't play the song for you. but you know it, the halls of mon at that zuma. that is what he is listening to there. perhaps a future marine. my grandson elliot. that is my family, folks. i hope to spend christmas with them, tee pending what happens with omicron. i hope you have a have a wonderful christmas with your family as well. speaking of wonderful, mr. wonderful, neil cavuto joining us. neil, take it away. neil: that is beautiful stuff. stepson falling asleep with your dad that is everyone of my viewers. brought it all home. so good, david. have a wonderful holiday. thanks for all your hard work. always being there. always smiling. what a great human being you are. thank you, david. david: you too. neil: we've been following the same thing you've been following, david, third day up in a row after three down days