what could happen i think we're going to see m & a activity, high trading volume, low growth for banks, rising interest rates which means net interest margin goes up. i think that financials are the place to be. charles: mitch have a fantastic christmas, and a great new year. always appreciate your expertise and as i hand it over to my colleague liz claman, we've got a nice little rally going on. you month what's interesting, liz? bond yields are up, stocks are up including tech stocks this is one of those sessions where everything is up. liz: yeah, you made a great point there. there are some really bad performers over the year, but let's just forget about that for now, charles have a great day. charles: thank you. liz: charles is right the bulls are giving investors an early holiday gift at this hour on this day before the night before christmas. the s&p 500 we need to flag you on this , is about to notch its 68th record of 2021 pumped up today by some really solid

economic data, with stocks at session highs right now, the majors are looking at their third day of gains look at the green on the screen with the dow up 288, the nasdaq up 157, the s&p up 40. as omicron fears fade on wall street, definitely ramp up on main street, the white house is facing some pretty serious criticism at this hour, for fail ing to actually put in the order for 500 million at- home covid testing kits before president biden made the promise that they were going to be there for americans. the president saying he wishes he made the order two months ago , as price gouging abounds for the rapid home testing kits, we're going to get you the very latest from the white house, live. >> but one company is saying forget about the home testing kits with the invasive nasal swabs. we're going to solve that problem. we've got the company developing the covid version of the smoke detector , imagine that, and

the version of a breathalyzer as well. you've gotta hear about this company, the ceo is going to be here in a fox business exclusive and show you how it works and where it stands in getting approval. >> 2021 hands down, the year of the lucid motors, 23 and me, we work among the top names going public not by the old school sort of ipo ways but by the reverse merger. one of the top names in spac world and the spac analyst world is here to predict whether 2022 will out pace this year, but more importantly, he's going to give his serious warning sign that he's sending be spac investors, and it is pretty obvious, he's the one pointing it out though you've gotta hear what he has to say. all right fox business alert, santa and his jolly band of elves are loading the market sleigh with gifts for the bulls right now at this hour as the santa claus rally definitely is adding muscle to its legs. take a look.

tesla, micron, let's call those 5% then the 4% crowd see ing major gains for tesla, micron, viacom cbs, las vegas sands, these names are really giving the s&p 500 the strongest lift at the moment. speaking of which, the s&p as we mentioned is on track to close at an all-time record high, as we said that be the 68th thanks to some solid economic data, bringing a lot of holiday joy and keep in mind here, folks there were 33 record closes last year, so we're on track for 68 this year. new home sales rising in november to their highest level since april, single family homes we should tell you, saw sales up 12.4% as new home prices jumped to a record 416, 900 a piece, orders for big ticket items called durable goods lasting more than three to five years talking about cars, talking about washing machines, et cetera, those orders jumped 2.5% month over month, a really nice move there, but investors

largely ignoring the fact that the fed's preferred inflation gauge ran hot once again. this is called the core cpe, personal consumption expenditure it jumped 4.7% annually in november that's the largest jump in nearly 33 years so inflation is definitely still a thing. let's get to our traders, to see what they're doing on these final days of the year, steven sarge guilfoyle and john gagliar di. guys we're talking about the santa claus rally, it's going to hold for , i guess, new years eve. you've gotta tell me, sarge take it first and what are you buying ahead of that? >> well this is only the first day of the santa claus rally. it goes for another week or so, and on into the first couple days of january. over the last 15 years or so, we've seen an average gain of about .68% over the last week of the year, and it's really specific. you can break this down, you could focus on energy, you could

focus on communications services , you want to stay away from the reit, the defensive sectors, the utilities, the healthcare. they tend to actually come in this week, even if the rest of the market takes off so what i've been doing, i've been initiated northrop grumman, added to lockheed lockheed martin, added conoco phillips, initiated apache, why because the energy space does so well, apache you can break this down by stock, apache actually over 15 years gained 3% in the last week of the year so i'm playing the odds and i'm in apache. liz: john, apache, of course, is a refiner. we know the refiners have showed real strength but you've gotta tell me what you're doing ahead of the end of the year and whether you start to see a little slowing down when it comes to the bull herd, at least in the first weeks of january, or a continued ramp up here. >> liz i believe in santa and i believe in the santa claus rally , and the reason i believe in it so much is human nature,

despite what scrooge and the grinch will tell you human nature doesn't change. in the last week everyone will scramble to sell their losses, everyone, and you have to look at the things that haven't made money. there's been bear markets everywhere if you look. biotech has been going down since february. chinese internet stocks, cannabis plays, they've all gotten crushed this year so at the end of the year, while everyone else is selling, there are entire newsletters devoted to showing people the stocks as the most beaten down that shouldn't be and those are some areas of interest. liz: well, do you guys look at sort of the losers of this year, the sort of dogs of the dow kind of thing, but talk to me, sarge. when you're looking at gold, for example, well gold is catching it lately because it is definitely a safe haven trade, for the year, it looks to be on traction for a loss. the first time in three years that we've seen it lose here, do you have an outside trade that

seems ridiculous right now but you really kind of are feeling your gut it might be a winner in 2022? >> not an outside trade but as you just mentioned with gold, i like to tell folks to stay between five and 10% of invest able assets in physical gold. i myself am at about 7.5%. even though there's been a tough year and a lot of those dollars that used to go to gold with the folks younger than myself, their alternative investment of choice is cryptocurrency, where my folks my age and older tend to go towards precious metals so that's, there's been less demand from that perspective, although a lot of the central banks still apply it heavily so i do believe i'm not an enemy of crypto, but i do have prices where i become interested in crypto. i'm not just going to go hand over fist because it's down a little bit lately. i do believe gold is something you want to be in, maybe you want some crypto on the side, maybe ethererum because it's useful but i don't think bitcoin which is more of an asset is

something for me but the gold miners is something i do think you want some exposure to because as we go head long into this mid-term future, we really don't know, if it does seem like the fiat currency might catch a bid as monetary policy tightens and fiscal liquidity dries up a little bit but how far can they really go with that? i don't know if we can trust them beyond the first or second quarter. liz: yeah, well look at crypto right now bitcoin up 4%, ethererum up 3%, litecoin up 4.6 % and by the way, three-day drop we're looking at the moment really quick john your 2022 outside the box trade? >> well, i think it's the boring stuff. i have been on a few weeks ago we were talking about it then and its really been proving its way out, utilities, healthcare, staples, the things that no one has cared about in 2021 are starting to look kind of shiny to me in 2022.

liz: good to see both of you and i'm loving the christmas sweater , john, nice. sarge, you know? you've gotta up your game here. thanks guys very much. we got this breaking news. >> how about now? liz: breaking news we've gotta talk about the demand for covid test kits. you tell me, you know that you or at least somebody in your family has been desperately going on the hunt for these things. the search is speaking, and so is price gouging. as the omicron variant official ly reaches all 50 state, we are starting to see very long lines at testing centers all across the nation as americans queue up for work and travel tests. store shelves quickly running out if they have any left. really running low of these at- home tests and people have resorted to hording. amazon, cvs and walgreens are now limiting the number of tests that you are able to buy. reports of price gouging have been flooding in, what should cost about $42 or less, maybe even, is being offered on amazon

, we found at least one, $ 99 and that is for a single home nasal swab test. in an interview with abc news last night president joe biden expressed regret for having promised every american a free test before lining up contracts and placing an order by the government. very hot topic, at the white house press briefing, just a few hours ago, let's get to edward lawrence live at the white house reporter: liz, president joe biden saying the omicron variant caught the administration off guard, two years into the covid pandemic and americans are having trouble now, not only getting those booster shot appointments in some areas but also as you said, getting those covid tests. workplaces, government buildings , airlines, they all added testing requirements and that increased the demand for tests, with the omicron variant, the white house defend ing their actions on testing and pushing back that buying 500 million at-home tests to be delivered in january is not behind the curve.

>> what we've been doing over the course of the last four months, even before the president's announcement, is massively increasing our testing capacity. quadrupling since the summer, and what the announcement was the president made just two days ago, was making the biggest investment of any, certainly for us and from any country in the world to address what we see as a surge in demand for tests. reporter: yeah, still, this is what americans are seeing in some cities like new york, and washington, long lines to get a covid test, to make matters worse, more interesting, also, the white house making the announcement about buying the at-home tests but have yet to sign a contract with a testing company to actually buy the test, so we are told that there will be a website in january where americans can request at-home tests. that website has also not been finished yet. also, the tests will not be available at once, press secretary jen psaki says the tests will be offered in bunches and since the government has not signed a contract, she could not say how many free

tests will be available in january. liz? liz: this is a huge problem. the administration was caught flat footed and we had guests two days ago. well actually on tuesday, yeah, two days ago, right, saying big mistake here has been made and it's going to be hard to catch up. edward thank you very much, edward lawrence. well, one thing for sure, 2021, the year of the spac. it is almost over, names from like sofi, the evgo and wheels up, all went public with reverse merger partners. how will 2022 shape up for new companies looking to do the same, and is there a secret warning sign to tell you which ones will boom or bust on the very day they debut? our next guest has it you've gotta hear it. closing bell ringing in 48 minutes, dow jones industrials up 268 points, high of the session 297. we're cooking, folks let's go.

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liz: riddle maker blackstone

flipping a $780 million to go public via reverse merger or spac, with spac partners and the deal is set to close in the second quarter of 2022 and will trade under the ticker symbol blks. the mini barbecue stock boom though really kind of started this year, and there were two names that became very very big. it was weber and trager, they both made their public debuts earlier this summer, summer is the grilling season, timing is good but performance is not necessarily been that good. wood pellet slow cooker trager went public july 29 and has since plummeted 41% and if you flip it over to weber, weber specializing in barbecue grills ban trading in in august 5 and has since cooled down by about 27% to the down side. blackstones blockbuster announcement comes one day after tiktok rival triller made its own announcement it's ready to dive into the public pool via

reverse merger with sea change international, that deal valued at about $5 billion. 2021 though no doubt was the year of the spac, blank check deals took some 600 companies public this year alone , in a fox business exclusive, spac research founder and overall spac guru, ben quasn ick is joining us, am i right it was about 600 or was it more because i know in late august it was 589 of these companies that had gone via spac >> yeah, there were just over 600 spac ipo's this year, remember this is management teams raising capital to go into a trust account and to go out and find an operating business to take public, so ultimately each of those is going to try and consummate their own business combination as an actual operating business. liz: and these 600-some companies valued at about 400 billion in enterprise value, right? do you foresee 2022 being the

same, shrink a little bit, or bigger? >> so it's going to be really hard to match the ipo activity that we saw this year. there's a lot of enthusiasm for spacs inq 1 especially and it's just going to be hard to put that many new teams into the market but there are lots of really well-capitalized interesting spacs out there looking for great deals. they ultimately have a ticking clock so they are all looking to do the best they can and bring an actual operating business into the market so i think we're going to see a lot more on the deal side and then probably it'll be challenging to meet the same activity on the spac ipo side. liz: well, you know, our screen isn't big enough to show how many of these went public but we just saw some in the first half of the year and they included names like we work, sofi, evgo, nerdy, 23 and me and then in the second half you have names like rumble which is a challenge to youtube getting a lot of attention, but as we talk

about what to look for in 2022, you've kind of distilled a warning sign from how investors are starting to behave and when i say investors i'm talking about early investors, before the actual merger takes place and the company goes public. talk about that, and the change that you've seen between the first quarter and quarter that we're in right now, the fourth quarter. >> yeah, i don't know if i'd exactly call it a warning sign but what we're looking at is the actual redemption level, these are blank check ipo's the cash goes into a trust account so the public investors from the ipo have a chance to ask for their cash back if they don't like the deal the management team eventually finds. so back in q 1, we were seeing a moment where people were so excited about spac deals, that they were buying anything that had the name spac attached, almost regardless of fundamental s. that moment has faded and so over the course of the year, we seen strong deal, all deals

really have to work a lot harder , strong deals are still able to do interesting things but maybe the weaker deal, the over-valued deals deals struck during the moment when the market was most enthusiastic struggled to gain traction and the way that manifests is at the level of redemption that is the number of public shareholder s who say, you know what? i'll take my cash back, instead of sticking around for shares in the new company, has gone up from something like 10% in q 1 of this year to roughly 60% in q 4 so far. liz: well, this was a disastrous precursor and when i say precursor, i mean the day of the debut for a company like buzzfeed so how is it not a warning sign, ben that investors are pulling up their stakes and taking their tents and going home before the ho-down even begins. >> i think there were a lot of deals that were struck back when there was a huge amount of market enthusiasm and so maybe it is a warning sign for some of those deals that people are

going to take some of their cash and walk away. ultimately sort of two phases to a spac's life. there's the part where the management team is looking for a transaction and then there's the part where they've actually announced a business combination. a good transaction is structured in a way where the management team finds a pipe investment, a private investment and public equity alongside a transaction and what that does is guarantees a minimum capital infusion into the company and it does some lets the public investors sort of feedback off the due dilly diligence that the institutional investors signed up have done so for some deals where they haven't signed up a large amount of private placement, they may struggle to hang on to enough capital to meet the needs of the operating company, so i guess in that sense, you might say it's a warning sign, certainly to the weaker deals in the market. liz: yeah, and let's just keep in mind that the sec is starting to sniff around a

little more intensely, i would say, right? we've got a situation with nickel that months and months ago where the short seller started flagging problems and now the sec is basically scrutinizing proxies in more detail, but ben, please come back in 2022 and we'll revisit this in the first quarter to see how at least things begin to turn out. thank you so much for joining us >> absolutely thanks for having me. liz: have a good holiday. a massive fire at an exxon-mobile plant in texas at a refinery last night sending multiple workers to the hospital we're going to get you a full update on that situation and more, in today's pop stocks with the closing bell ringing in 37 minutes, and the dow still holding gains of 272 points, the s&p still on track for an all-time record close, let's see if that happens, don't move. we are coming right back.

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liz: fox business alert, that huge fire that started at dawn actually it was pre-dawn at an exxon refinery has now been doused however we're starting to get more information about the details of it. this was the scene of the explosion early this morning , when the boom happened at a plant at baytown, in texas it's about 25 miles east of houston, and it triggered the massive blaze. thankfully, no one was killed, but four people were injured, reuters reports sources are pinpointing the explosion to a hydro treater, which had been shutdown on wednesday, because of a bypass line leak and the injured were contractors who were working to repair that leak ing line. the plant was found at 101 years ago and refines about 561,000- barrels per day if you look at crude oil and intraday, these just continued to climb, at the highs of the session at the close up about 2.25%, and

crude oil also closing at the highs of the session we're in the after market now but it's up about 1.5%. the rise in the popularity of super comfy slip-on shoes just too tempting for crocs to kick away, they are buying hey dude, for $2.05 billion in cash and another $450 million in croc shares. investors do not like the fit, even though croc says the deal will be immediately accretive to earnings, falling about 12% hey dude supply chain is heavily exposed to china where shipping delays abound. dos directions for two chinese mega cap stocks in the tech world, media and gaming king tencent is speaking about 6% right now after gifting shareholders an early christmas gift of about $16.4 billion in the form of a dividend. problem is, it comes in the form

of jd.com shares with tencent sold, pairing its stake in the e-commerce giant by nearly 15% so jd stock is tanking about 7% right now. all right with just under eight days left in 2021, it is time to announce the website of the year award. here's the shocker, folks. it ain't google. google has been dethroned by tiktok. think about how many times you google something every day. more people went on tiktok, according to cloud flare, the video sharing app tiktok two -stepped its way past google for the top spot as measured by web traffic another shocker, tiktok rival instagram fell off the list. meta is actually climbing with google up about half a percent as well. what should be on your list every morning firing up my tiktok channel we grabbed the very best business headlines that you need to hear about when you wake up and we kind of put it altogether.

we've had so much fun since we started our tiktok channel just one-year-old, and we have a quarter of a million followers, so check it out my tiktok handle is@redfoxliz. it maybe the covid test disrupt or and it has not yet been approved, but it's waiting in line. we're going to introduce you to the ceo of a company that's developing airborn virus detection systems for schools and offices. this is sort of like the covid version of a smoke detector, and find out what else including a covid breathalyzer you can just use at home. this is a fox business exclusive you've gotta hear how it works closing bell ringing in 29 minutes dow jones industrial holding nice gains of just under 271 points the s&p we're about to see a record, nasdaq having a solid session as well. don't go away we're coming right back.

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liz: another big name is pulling out of the consumer electronics show in las vegas which is two weeks ago laptop and mobile phone giant lenovo is dropping out of the january show, which is the largest consumer electronics show in the world. the tech giant cited growing concerns surrounding the spike in covid-19 cases, but for now, cta, the organization, the umbrella organization over c es says the show is still on. the show must go on at least for now and this year more than 100 health-focused companies will be there, showing their wears. they will take center stage to exhibit solutions many of them aimed at improving people's health specifically in tackling the covid virus. this pandemic has just gotten so many companies sort of into

action, but one of the companies still attending ces and looking to make quite the difference, and could be a massive game changer is called optiv. their patented products can detect airborne covid-19 indoors and through non-invasive breathing tests so no putting anything up your nose and twirl ing it around. here to give us an exclusive sneak peak before his ces exhibition is optiv technologies co-founder and ceo conrad bessimer, and this is all jumping at you, is it not? you guys have been getting ready for ces, and suddenly, we're thrilled that you are coming on us first to show us how opteev works let's talk about the two products have you and i want to start with the one like a breathalyzer for covid. explain how it works. >> well, basically, like any breathalyzer, you put the mask up to your face, you breathe

into it, five seconds later or less, as proven by the nih recently in testing, you will have a confirmed result of whether you have flu, covid, or whether you're simply negative. you know right away, you have returned to certainty, you feel safe when you go out, you feel safe after you leave a public place, you know for sure what your situation is. liz: i am looking at a little plastic tube in the middle of this box, so if i understand it, you breathe into that tube. can it detect omicron? >> actually, we're agnostic to the variant, so because they're all spike protein viruses so most of the times people don't care which variant they have, they just know they have covid. have you to isolate the same way you would with any of these just omicron is more transmissible and potentially more deadly to those people that are immune- compromised. liz: okay it's $1,299 when you

start shipping them. >> right i'm sorry, liz. liz: no that's okay. i would assume that this thing, you can use over and over and over again, right? >> yes, the one that you were showing there is for the groups of people that might show up at a door and you can test them one at a time so it be for a business or for a school for example. the individual ones that are there that has the mask that goes on it, you can see the cartridge that comes out , so you're breathing into that cartridge, it has a disc on it, that will classify automatically the battery is below and so you automatically know. our expected retail price on that for the consumer is somewhere between 299 and 359 for the actual consumer device. liz: wow. >> it's designed to be affordable. liz: yeah, and you've also got one that, this is interesting, it's like a smoke detector, for covid. it's called the liberty, and folks, imagine this. you bring this thing in and it

automatically and conrad, you can explain how it works but it will start beeping if covid is detected in classrooms, trading floors, auditoriums and things like that. tell me how this one operates. >> well it's primarily intended for either small space, might be a conference room or a larger space be a classroom and obviously, it's in addition to the personal testing so that you can detect it in a room and it works on the very same principle , we are detecting the spike protein which gives off a unique electrical discharge, and that detection is patented. we record it, we can give an instant analysis of what's going on in the room so that you avoid a classroom exposures, even test the different people using our divisor somebody else 's test and you know for certainty you don't have to close down the whole school, you just proceed with whatever protocol you have to cleans the room to make sure you quarantine the individuals.

liz: now, you've had some partnerships already with qualcomm and some of the other chipmakers specifically i'm thinking panasonic, st micro. so there are microchips in these things are you worried at all, considering we've got a chip shortage right now? >> well, we certainly worry about that. we started this whole journey a year ago but we've been lucky enough to have great partners and we met with them during this crisis and obviously you reported on the shortages, supply chain issues throughout the industry. we're lucky enough that people like qualcomm have stepped up and have volunteered to us 500 million of the chips that are available for these units for next year, so we can make sure they get out to every family in the united states, and they stepped right up. in fact, their name is a co- sponsor, partner on our packaging and they are actually

listed on our booth in las vegas liz: okay, so that number 500 million is exactly the same as the one that president biden on tuesday said he had ordered for the nasal swab tests, but apparently, they haven't been ordered yet. the deal is not done, or signed it may have in the last couple hours been, but americans are very very nervous. how soon can you get these into people's hands? emergency use authorization, et cetera, but i guess with the , can we show the one, the handheld one again, brad, if that's possible? that one, you don't need approval for , correct? >> that one we do need approval for. anything that touches the human body and gives a diagnostic result, you need the fda to perview it and review it and so forth. liz: so it's the other one. >> so the room ones will be available and shipping in january, as we're actually shipping the prototypes that were approved via the nih lab test last month, right now, so

they are starting to be available. our partners, we have a partner at an injection molding plant keeping their plant open during christmas and new years break and going to ship you'll see the preview of those at ces, and we're glad for all those people that do make the journey but please keep safe i do want to mention i think the president he is doing the right thing. it maybe a little late, obviously we've been at this for a year and a half now, of trying to run this product to ground testing it, thoroughly in thousands of homes, testing it with the nih lab, so that i understand fully the supply chain issues, so the at-home tests, pcr tests, antigen tests are arrows in the quiver. this , we think, is the final arrow in that quiver to allow people to know with certainty that they should or shouldn't go out, that they shouldn't visit their elderly grandparents and this will slow the whole

spread of the pandemic and make people feel safe again, so hopefully, it's the experience we're selling because we have all been tied up and wrapped up in this for a year, two years now, so it's time to hopefully use this as a tool and one of the tools that's available, the good news about this is it has multiple use. that cartridge will be good for up to 200 tests, then you just put in another cartridge like you do a printer. liz: well, you're doing wonderful things god willing, i will see you at ces if the show can hold but conrad we wish you and the team the best thank you very much for granting us the very first interview to show us your freedom and liberty products i can't wait until this thing is ready, conrad bess imer, and if the name sounds familiar he is the descendant of sir henry bess emer, so i'm sure he be proud of you. folks it's get-away day that

means millions of americans are hopping in their cars or on planes and just minutes away from logging off their computers to hit the road to visit friends and family but get ready to shell out as you gas up as prices at the pump inch closer to record highs we'll take you straight to the sunshine state for a live report , and from boxing gym to fitness mogul i'm joined by anthony geitler on my podcast, download it, listen it's a great inspirational story. stay tuned we're coming right back. 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. an asset more relevant than ever before. gold.

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liz: well, as singer paul simon would say, counting the cars on the new jersey turnpike, take a look at this live shot of the new jersey turnpike, this is

right by newark liberty airport, which is expected to be one of the busiest airports in the world tonight. great because that's where i'm going right after this show. not very great, i know. it's a mad holiday travel rush whether you're on the roads or in the air millions of americans are ready to hit the road to get home in time for christmas if they can. madison alworth is live at a gasoline station in tampa bay where customers i guess are already feeling the pain at the pump. how bad are prices going to get , madison? reporter: liz prices are going to be near historic highs for this time of the year so you might actually despite the traffic around newark might be winning out by being someone whose flying versus the 100 million americans who are going to be driving, because the prices, they're high, they are expected to dip a little bit but like i said, not enough to really make a difference so today, the national average price of gas that is $3.29. it could get down, according to gas buddy, down to $3.25 by

christmas. if that happens, we will be just one cent shy of the historic high for christmas day gas. that number was hit in 2013, americans were paying $3.26 so hopefully, we won't hit that but regardless, the americans i spoke to today at this gas station, they're really feeling the pain at the pump take a listen. >> it's ridiculous, i mean, really with christmas and then gas too. it's ridiculous. >> used to spend $25 for a half a tank now i'm spending about $ 40 for half a tank, so it's just getting crazy. >> we already have to spend money on food and everything else. gas just shouldn't have to be another thing we should have to stress about during the holiday season. reporter: and liz, there also was that fire that happened in texas at a refinery plant there.

it did affect the gasoline portion of that. the white house says they are monitoring the situation because that could also have a further impact on gas prices as we make our way through this week. liz? liz: madison alworth, thank you very much and folks, say goodbye to 2021 just a few days a was it from that moment. our countdown closer is going to jump into the pages of the history book, before that happens, he's got 70 billion in assets under management and he's about to give you his sure thing stocks for 2022. closing bell eight minutes away, is it a record for the s&p 500? yeah, it sure looks like it right now. we only need to be up about let's see how many, 15 points but guess what, we are up 43 points for the s&p that is a session high right now, the dow charging higher by 304 points, don't move.

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♪. liz: just over four minutes away. aren't we having fun here? before the closing bell rings. you should be, if you're bullish on the markets the s&p 500 is about to close at a record high. in fact there is a comfortable distance between what we need and where we are right now s&p is better by 35 points. we only a gain of 15 points. markets are higher with the nasdaq leading the charge up nearly 3 1/2%. this makes us want to spin forward right? markets merry, bright, in the green as christmas weekend is only a few minutes away. some have to work tomorrow but the markets are closed. our "countdown" closer has billions under management. he has three tech names bringing good tidings of joy to your

portfolio in 2022. 70 billion in exact asset under management. michael vogel sang is here. let's get to the big tech names that you say are definitely sure thing stocks of 2022. >> look the context here is this. the market, the last two years have been christmas, liz. we've had unbelievable conditions, at great market prices, right? we already enjoyed dessert. 2022 could be potentially some vegetables to eat, right? so i'm a little worried about 2022. we're not bearish. so what we think is that a lot of this is going to depend on the path of covid unfortunately as it has for quite a while. so if you want, if you think interest rates are going to stay low and market and economy will sort of take a pause here, then you want to own things like microsoft and google and frankly we like costco a lot for sort of

the trade there around covid and lockdowns. if you think that is your view, if you think the economy will open up, covid will go away we think you go exactly the opposite end of that spectrum. we think about financials and some small regional banks and some small cyclical stuff that is the way we're building our portfolio, so much of it honestly impossible to tell you where the next three to six months are coming from. we're building hedging into our portfolio. does that make sense? liz: 100% but for some some of the big tech cap names are a little rich have when comes to valuations. give me other names, i know you have picks a little more of a fordable for people. >> if you think about banks, regional banks, we like bankozk, we like keycorp. the way regional banks work if interest rates rise here because the economy warms up, because

inflation picks up the con me and we see the long end of the curve rises those banks do really well as their net interest margins expand. you get nice participation with rising interest rates. usually rising interest rates hurt stocks, right? we don't have a great long-term handle where rates are going. we don't think anyone does. we want to take advantage on the side with good, high quality retail banks that will buy leverage to higher interest rates. the idea with microsoft of course and google, yeah, they're expensive about, my goodness they are just cash flow gushers of the best, highest order. liz: we like cash flow. that is a warren buffett thing. michael, you and the whole gang at cap trust a healthy and happy holiday. thank you so much. >> thanks, liz. great fun. enjoy it. merry christmas. liz: i want to thank all of you

as we bump up against this closing bell, what will we see here, the 68th record of the year for the s&p 500. markets are closing the short christmas week higher with a new record as i said for the s&p 500 and a very strong gang for the nasdaq. [closing bell rings] up 129 points, up just 1% and dow up 193. be healthy, be happy. ♪♪ larry: hello, everyone, welcome to "kudlow." i'm larry kudlow. and welcome to our eve of christmas eve show. this has not been a great year for our great country. we'll talk about all of that in just a minute. save america, kill the bill was one of the better things that happened this year. i want to go back and quote president trump's super optimistic message. he did it for thanksgiving but i will edit an substitute christmas. here it is and i