see single-digit returns but you'll have that 10-15% correction not a 4% or 5% drawdown. that doesn't happen. >> ken mahoney we're out of time but we'll talk to you again in 2022 always great to see you. >> great. happy holidays happy new year. >> thank you so much, same to you. and i mean that's going to do it for us today, wow time really flew, lauren simonetti is in for liz claman, and lauren simonetti going to take it from here. over to you. lauren: this is going to be a wild final hour of trading, jackie, because we're looking at the dow jones industrial average and it is so close, hitting its 45th record high this year, the nasdaq, however, continues to lose steam at this hour, and it's a nail biter for the s&p 500. yes, it hit an intraday high, pierced through 4,800 for the first time, but it's now swinging between gains and losses, down just 3 points, cryptocurrency is not feeling the same kind of love bitcoin dropping nearly 4,000 and we'll take a look back at key moments

for this sector this year and then what's ahead next year with executives from coin shares and kracken, and the cdc just changed the recommendations for covid-19 quarantining if you do test positive and if you can get your hands on a covid test we'll be talking to the former head of the american medical association and testing kit company e-med, the ceo dr. paris is here, and if you're planning to stay home for new years eve, with all the covid chaos, reality tv super star paris hilton has got you covered. this friday, you can party on her virtual island on roblox, paris world is hilton's for ey into the metaverse i can't believe i just said that but here we are the metaverse in 2022 is upon us i'm lauren simonetti in for liz claman, the final hour of trade starts right now.

>> again, we're on apple watch. let's take a look at the stock. we're awaiting to see if it hits a $3 trillion market cap. that is a big deal. the number to watch is 182.85 i'm not sure it can make it today, one never knows, apple shares sitting at 179.42. now, if apple reaches that number, that milestone, it becomes the first publicly traded company to be worth $3 trillion, it's unbelievable, but we have other apple news for you. they are now offering online order pickup in-store and limit ed walk-in services and genius support at its major fifth avenue location in new york city after reports that apple was shutting its new york city location because of speaking omicron cases, and the chip stocks they've been on a terror this year, nvidia while down today it's one of the top gainers on the s&p 500 look at that year-to-date chart. it's more than doubled up 130%

in 2021 that gain has prompted research firm to say nvidia should replace netflix as the n in the thing, because the chipmaker, its got more in common with the other names in it versus netflix, which is a streaming giant, and with that, let's get straight to the floor show, we have katarina simonetti, wow we have the same last name, no relation, katarina, as far as i know, but here you are, you're senior vice president at morgan stanley private wealth management and our good friend, our tuesday trader, teddy weisberg, thanks for joining us, guys. teddy, i want to begin with you. should nvidia take the n spot in the fangs and replace netflix >> well i don't have a clue. i would simply say that, you know, if you look, lauren, at the s&p overall this year, you know, its been a very limited group of stocks that have been carrying all the heavy water. there's been a tremendous amount of damage done, and the focus, of course is on the winners not

on the losers but there are a lot more losers than there are winners and i would say if you're slightly negative, you might say the changing the nvidia for netflix is like changing deck chairs on the titanic. i think that it's a mistake to assume that trees will continue to grow to the sky. i mean, nvidia is a great company, its been a great stock. netflix has been a great stock. the bigger question is not whether you should change these stocks, the bigger question is will these limited group of stocks carry the heavy water again in 2022 and i would say that's a tough call. lauren: what do you think about that, katarina? will these popular names, the narrowed leadership if you will of the stock market be a bad stein for 2022? >> well, lauren, to teddy's point, the valuations in some of these tech stocks are definitely

something that we should be paying really close attention to , especially considering the unique environment that we're in. we have said that if accelerating the tempering is about to give us several rate hikes next year, and all of this is happening with the inflation being much higher than we expected, plus all the omicron, the related issues and risks so we are in the environment. we are recommending investors to be a little bit more on the defensive side and growth stocks because of their higher valuations, specifically some of the tech stocks are presenting that additional volatility and might be a little bit more sensitive to any type of fed action versus some type of a defensive play or value plays that the might be preferable going into 2022. lauren: so, tech valuation being called into question today, could be one of the reasons that the nasdaq is down. jpmorgan, teddy, and i don't think you're as bullish as they

are, but they say, they seen no sell-off in sight. they cite several reasons, first being just the positive seasonality that is the month of january. record buybacks that we've seen this year, and the fact that all this fed hawkish talk and everything going on with omicron , it's just overdone. what do you think? >> well, you know, i said before, your trees simply don't grow to the sky. the markets have been terrific but it is a bit misrepresented this year by the s&p because of the narrow group of stocks that have really done so well and made the s&p look so good. i would agree, i think your other guest from morgan stanley said katarina says what i would like to say a little more eloquently than i would say it but i think we're kind of saying the same thing and just saying it a little differently. i think there are a lot of very interesting companies out there

that basically are not necessarily tech stocks, you know, perhaps it's a tech that will carry the water again next year but the markets are a bit overstretched here, lauren, and realistically,, i just think we're due for a pause and whether that pause is created by higher interest rates, tightening of the fed or some other economic reason, they don't tell us what the reason is , unfortunately, and they never ring a bell, but clearly, there are some problems out there and eventually, they will manifest themselves in the stock market and some of these high fliers are going to pay the price. lauren: yeah. there's the caution, katarina, what do you make of the reopening trade? >> lauren? there's definitely a way to make money in any market, and this is the time to be strategic and to be opportunistic. it is the buyer's market, but we have to understand the sectors that we should be focusing on, and we see the stocks, a

majority of the stocks, trading well off their highs, from earlier this year, and specific sectors like healthcare, like real estate, like financials, present the type of defensive plays that not only are going to be giving us, you know, some type of defensive more conservative type of growth but also with higher yields are going to kind of just allow us to get the real rates that are going to keep up with inflation which is a knee jerk concern going into the next year, so i think that we, you know, without any doubt, prefer value versus growth, prefer large caps versus small caps and defensive play, strategically placed with an investment portfolio and this is not to say that we don't like that. there are some areas that are variable positions but what we need to be looking at is how sustainable the earnings are. this is the time to look at quality, this is the time to look at earnings, and not only earnings in general, but their potential for earnings stability

will they be able to generate the same type of revenue and produce the same type of value right now, and especially considering the fact that the likelihood of anymore stimulus checks are going out is very very low at the moment, seemingly so, so consumer power that was supporting this market, this entire year, which was so great and positive, you know, might no longer be there in 202, we have to be cautious, but strategic and definitely opportunistic. lauren: which means the consumer be weaker because it's not prop ped up by stimulus checks and the like in 2022 but teddy, do we get to the point next year where the market can stop trading off health news, off covid-19 news, and trade for other reasons? >> well, i think it's hard to know what the future holds vis-a-vis covid but i would say we're in a market right now that pretty much is ignoring covid. i mean, we had a very negative

knee jerk reaction to the initial outbreak of the third phase of the covid but we got over that almost in 72 hours. here we are now making new highs and all the popular averages and now maybe it's the santa claus rally at the end of the year, but whatever the reason, at least as far as covid is concerned, i think that is more or less yesterday's story, unless there's a fourth wave out there that none of us know about , that'll be horrible but i can't imagine it can get much worse than what we've already been through, so when the stock market's viewpoint, i think that's sort of yesterday's story lauren: i second that. i don't think it gets any worse than this , and with that being said, hopefully, the new year puts covid-19 and everything that comes with it, vaccines and masks behind us, but i think i'm thinking right now and hoping for that that trees do go to the sky. teddy weisberg, katarina simonet ti, thank you so much for the time. well, markets right now mixed

with only the dow in the green, but by 130 points and that, if it closes right here, gives us the 45th record high of 2021 unbelievable when you look at the closes. we go to lydia hu now with pop stocks for us today, lidia what do you have? reporter: hi there, lauren let's start here, arkk investor ceo cathie wood selling nearly a quarter of a billion dollars worth of stock yesterday as her firm liquidated a large chunk of its holdings across five of its actively-managed etf's and the most significant sales came from software company ui path and robinhood. those stocks all lower today, along with three of the five etf 's which are showing significant losses on the year, and in fact the arkk innovation etf is headed for its worst annual performance since its founding seven years ago. tesla set to seed into a strong

2022, according to wedbush, which cites the ev maker's success in navigating the chip supply shortage better than any other auto maker over the past six months. now wedbush maintaining a bull ish $1,400 price tag on the stock, saying tesla will continue to be an industry leader and likely own 50% of the potential $5 trillion ev market in the next decade. you can look there, tesla shares are about down about two-tenths of a percent and while tesla is generally accelerating peloton is doing the opposite. the stocks now sitting at $35 after hitting a high of $170 in january, marking a 76% decline this year. the stock is down a further 3% this afternoon, after raymond james says new user subscriptions are likely to fall below what the company has forecast for the quarter. finally, reality star paris

hilton is doing anything but living the simple life these days. the socialite is now living a virtual life on her very own island in the metaverse, which she purchased very at gaming platform roblox. now, hilton dubbed her online virtual paradise "paris world" where she will be dj'ing live this new years eve for fans who choose to ring in the new year with her in the virtual world. you can see here shares of roblox are down almost 5% not quite as enthusiastic but we'll see how many people join her for new years eve, lauren. lauren: will you be one of them? i think that i know the answer to that. >> i think that i might have to pass this time around. i don't know about you but i'll ring it in with my daughter. lauren: happy early new years eve to you, lidia, thank you very much and coming up, goldman sachs plans to require covid boosted shots and mandates twice a week testing as the cdc

shortens its recommendation for covid-19 quarantines we'll talk to the ceo of covid testing kit maker e-med, and the former head of the american medical association dr. patrice harris, about the impact of the new recommendation, but first, let's see the dows been up all day, as much as 224 points, and right now, yes, this be a record close at 36, 434. s&p 500 is a nail biter, "clayman countdown" is coming right back.

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lauren: this is big. new guidelines coming out for covid-19. the cdc now says they've shortened the recommended time that people should isolate when they tested positive and it is regardless of vaccination status it goes from 10 days to five days if they're asymptomatic and also recommending they wear a mask in public for five more days. then there's this. as the omicron variant is spreading really fast the u.s. is now averaging 198, 404 new infections per day. that according to johns hopkins university, and it's 47% higher than a week ago and as americans prepare for another holiday

weekend, covid-19 testing kits are becoming as new years eve swag and champaign. here the former president of the american medical association dr. patrice harris. doctor, that five day quarantine , is that a game changer in how we live with the virus? >> good afternoon and thank you for having me, and clearly, there are some people who will no longer be infectious at five days. i have to tell you i'm a little bit worried. certainly, a healthcare worker will be able to get back to work but healthcare workers are pretty good at wearing their mask, right? so i'm a little worried about that for the general population. we will have to make sure that everyone is committed to wearing a mask beyond the five days, but i tell you and as you noted, i co-founded a company that enabled at-home verified testing we really have to make sure that testing is more available in

this country. that's how we work our way through this pandemic. vaccinations, boosters, and strategic and important testing protocols. lauren: i said about a year ago, dr. harris, and i was being dramatic, and i said, you know, i think we might get to a point in the pandemic where you wake up in the morning, wash your face, brush your teeth and swab your nose, swab your kid's noses , and you put those results on your phone, if it's green that's how you enter the world that day. it feels like we're actually there right now. >> well you know, in a perfect world, we would. everyone would have a six pack if you will, per person, of testing in their medicine cabinet so they will be able to again wake up in the morning especially during this cold and flu season. do you have a cold? do you have the flu? do you have covid? and by the way, as we think about the fda recently

authorizing two pills to treat covid, but you have to make sure you get diagnosed early. your idea, while you may have been joking, it was a great idea lauren: i know. it was scary to say it, and here we are, and as we're talking about testing, and you brought up molnupiravir and paxlovid, you need the test before you can get that covid treatment pill, you have a test that's actually verified. i want you to tell us about it but i also want to tell the view ers that i have young kids. sometimes i would just want, is this covid or is this something else so i have some kits at home i'd test them if it wasn't covid and they weren't very sick, we're talking about just a little bit of a runny nose, i'd send them to school, and then the school nurse would call me, you know, we had to go through the whole thing, and would make me then take my children to the doctor to get an official test because my at-home test wasn't valid. your test is different. tell us how. >> our test is different and in

fact your issue about the need to go somewhere, go to a location to get a test, to risk further infection and let alone if you have issues regarding transportation, is one of the many reasons i co-founded this company, we wanted to make the right thing to do, the easy thing to do, but it is critical as you note that the tests are verified and validated and that's what we do at e-med, my company. we have proctors, guide the test taker through the test. we verify and watch and monitor them taking the test to make sure they are performing the test accurately, that the results are recorded and by the way, we then report those results to the appropriate public health authorities which is another thing that people don't talk enough about, so we believe we are a solution to that very issue that you noted we have verified and validated

testing process with emed. lauren: all right, well, it sounds like we're headed in the right direction. dr. patrice harris thank you for the time. happy early new year to you and your family. >> happy early new year to you, thank you for having me. lauren: of course and let's take a look at the top of the dow jones industrial average today it's boeing after indonesia listed a ban on the 737 max three years after that deadly air crash of a boeing plane, the stock is up 1.3%. boeing and other travel stocks rising today after getting hit pretty hard yesterday, and after thousands of flight cancellation s over christmas weekend, we're going to see if it's getting any better today as we push closer to new years hear, we're live at philadelphia international airport, with jeff flock in just a bit, but first let's check the markets, nasdaq still struggling here, the dow is pushing forward it's up 115 points and man, the s&p 500 is trying to get to number 70 for

record closes this year, and , well, it's down a whole point. anything can happen in these final moments of trading we're coming right back. growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway, there were three things my family encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort.

lauren: travel stocks staging a recovery today after hitting turbulence yesterday, particularly the cruise lines, but today, they are headed higher, and so well, actually, i take that back. royal caribbean has turned just slightly negative, norwegian is down .8%, carnival up by 4% let's take a look at the airlines now are they still moving higher because it was a rough holiday weekend for them and the best performers american airline, up 2.1%, omicron hit the airline crews we saw hundreds of flight, thousands of flight cancellations if you're adding up the entire christmas weekend and now, we're headed into the new years eve weekend and jeff flock is at philadelphia international airport at the american airlines

terminal. jeff, you know, i feel so bad for those people who spent christmas eve in the airport or the airport hotel. are things looking better today? reporter: you know, depends on where you are. the folks that invested in american must have been watching the cancellations today. actually american had very few today i think they've got like 19, among the big three, united had over 100, so did delta, but american did really well today in terms of cancellations, just one out of philadelphia here at the moment. total cancellations were over 1,000 though if you look nationwide and more than 3,000 delays, and that's a problem too my daughter, she had a delayed flight, she was connecting through chicago, to go back to p oland, where she lives and she got stuck there because well , if you miss your connection, it all goes to hell on you. the cancellations are going to continue tomorrow as well, some of the airlines have already

preemptively canceled some flights, including on wednesday, 165 i believe have already been canceled. on thursday, two days away, over 50 flights have already been canceled, so it's going to be a while. these airline workers were getting covid positive even though they weren't sick, and had to go into quarantine for 10 days and now it's five days so maybe that'll help at some point we talked to airline analyst mike boyd also about what he sees down the road in the future he thinks that was a very positive move in terms of air travel. the other thing he thinks the whole mask thing at some point might just go away as well as things perhaps improve. take a listen. >> wearing a mask on an airplane is nonsense because we have no definition of what a mask is, is it a n-95, a bandana , some of the cheap junk we buy from china, we don't know what it is, so we have a

requirement to cover our nose and mouth, but it's not one that does us any good because there are no standards for it. reporter: did he say cheap stuff from china that's blue? i think he did say that. well, at any rate, perhaps i'm going to go off and find a different mask. lauren? lauren: he did say that, jeff, and i think celebrating new year s eve with paris hilton in the roblox metaverse might be the option for people these days jeff flock, thanks. thank you. thank you, thank you. cryptocurrencys are slumping today let's take a look at bitcoin, it is down pretty sharply by $3,300. you can see the others are down too, bitcoin hit an all-time high of more than 69,000 back in november, we had calls for 100,000, we'll discuss the key moments that fueled crypto's record growth this year with the folks who know it best, coin shares chief strategy officer and the crypto exchange

kracken, their ceo david ripley, the closing bell rings in a half an hour, 29 minutes to be exact, and we have markets still mixed, the s&p trying to be positive, nasdaq still down 61, the dow up 126. "clayman countdown" is coming right back.

lauren: all right, welcome back. cryptocurrencys in the red today , and much of the month, quite frankly. bitcoin, ethererum, litecoin, xrp, all sharply lower between 6% and 8% its been a rollercoaster year to say the least for cryptos. many bitcoin bulls expected they called for bitcoin to hit 100,000 by the end of the year, just days away now. yet it's sitting at less than half that level. let's fast forward, let's take a look at the new year, specifically, what will 2022 bring when it comes to a spot bitcoin etf?

that's the key question, we bring in coin shares chief strategy officer melton demures, and kracken chief operating officer dave ripley to discuss, so melton i'm going to hit you with a question, and that is, what happened for bitcoin, it seems like we were getting close to there when just last month, we were at nearly 70,000. >> look, i think what happened to bitcoin is what happened across-the-board. tapering, right? people are concerned about macro policy and i think also going into the end of the year, there's uncertainty about just the state of the country overall , politically things feel fragile. i think there's a lot of shifts happening in the financial world , but just broadly, across the american landscape and global market landscape, and so people are taking money off the table, more dry powder on the sidelines than ever, and bitcoin is not immune to that so generally people are worried. lauren: yeah, dave, what leads

when you look at the cryptos? which ones lead in the new year? >> well, i think it's interesting, i think in 2022 there's a lot of new technologies that are coming to the floor. i think probably the most recent one that's grabbed a lot of attention are non-fungible tokens which is technology that's been around for quite sometime, and it's kind of spotting a whole set of new use cases from digital art to virtual world's where people are actually people that own, you know, their own slice of a virtual world to online gaming, where people are actually earning funds by playing games. lauren: let me stay with you then, dave, because you have a new use for nft at kracken. you're developing a marketplace for nft's to be used as collateral for loans, do i have that right? >> yeah, i think that's honestly one of the most interesting things we see for 2022. i mean, by way of analogy, in

the early days of the internet, e-commerce was made so much more powerful by the advent of online media, and e-mail, and we kind of see this reinforcing set of use cases happening in crypto as well, and the one you mentioned is a great example, so someone can purchase a piece of online digital art for $100,000 from sotheby's now and they can turnaround and very seamlessly use that as collateral for a loan, which was extraordinarily difficult in kind of the traditional finance world. lauren: but that means adoption has to be critical for the new year, we're starting to see that now, but i think we have a long way to go. what do you think about that, meltem? >> absolutely, look, what he's describing with nft's this is we've seen it with mortgages, we've seen it with all assets it's just a natural part of

finance becoming more digitized and integrated into our day-to-day lives and really the last two years were the years of investing becoming entertainment, and that's not slowing down. people have money, people want to invest, people are looking at markets, they're sitting at home , we're still in lockdowns so i think this trend is only going to accelerate particularly with crypto, because it makes this so much more accessible, not just to people who are tied into wall street or who are financially savvy, but to every day american whose can now access crypto and nft's on a whole range of platforms with a very small of capital so it's really exciting. lauren: meltem, and i don't know if you can see what we're showing right now but we're showing the most popular cryptocurrencies of the year according to stock twits, and we had one of their executives on yesterday and they found number one was dogecoin followed by bitcoin, and what do you think about dogecoin? >> look, dogecoin and shibaneu

is a perfect example of investing as entertainment. look at meme stocks like amc and gamestop. they are no different. really what resonates with people is narrative and dogecoin and shiba, i won't speak to their technical merit because there aren't that many, there are other cryptocurrencies, but the communities people are buying these things because they like the narrative, they find it entertaining, the price is very low, dogecoin at the beginning of the year cost less than a penny, and so i think again, you see a bunch of people who are new to the world of investing, they like to buy things that resonate with them and the story of a cute little dog on the internet that's a coin is exciting. now, whether or not that's a great long term investment to be determined but i think this is no different from what we've seen in traditional markets as well. lauren: yeah, but dave, the world, well yeah, the richest man on the entire planet, happens to like dogecoin but would you make the case that next year, we and i'm going to

use the word continue, correct me if i'm wrong, we continue to see bitcoin kind of separate from the rest of the pack, it becomes the assets you want to hold, not to use to buy a cup of coffee, you want to have it in your portfolio and the rest of the cryptos, for the most part, maybe not ether in there for plain money and gambling a little bit as meltem sort of said. >> yeah, i think that's partly correct, so the piece on bitcoin becoming digital gold and really fulfilling that role at store value absolutely. ethererum a growing set of use cases on top of ethererum, absolutely. i think yes, there are some meme coins out there that can be referred to as just social play, you know, play experiment and what have you, but there's a lot of other tokens out there and cryptocurrency networks that are really meaningful, so solana,

cordana are all ethererum competitors if you will, layer one smart contract platform that are seeing real innovation into adoption where a lot of the new use cases are being built on top of the platforms as well. lauren: my favorite story of the year was when a company setup like brick-and-mortars to help people understand cryptocurrencies, because i think that's where a lot of the public is. we need a cheat sheet here, thank you for giving us one, as best you could. you guys are experts, we do appreciate it. and coming up with inflation rates at the highest rate in four decades believe it or not, more sticker shock lies ahead we'll take a look at the report that's warning that higher food prices are going to kick in as soon as next week. my food shopping bill can't get any bigger than it already is let's check the big board dow is up 152 pushing closer to the highs of the session, "clayman countdown" coming right back.

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lauren: jurors in the ghislain maxell federal sex trafficking trial will be given an extra hour to deliberate as the judge overseeing the case voices concern over the rapid rising covid-19 cases in new york, that could impact trial participants. the jury will deliberate until 6:00 eastern time, if no verdict is reached, and in california, another trial, jurors are right now deliberating for day number five, in the trial of theranos founder elizabeth holmes and faces 11 criminal charges alleging she lied to investors about her company's blood testing technology but as they say in san francisco, you gotta fake it to make it.

we'll see what the jury has to say about that. do you guys remember that popular commercial, pardon me, do you have any grey pupon? well you might not want to share the mustard, in 2022, as food prices are set to soar again in just a matter of days with grey pupon prices reportedly increasing between 6% and 13% we go to gerri willis looking at where food prices are headed next month, because i'm not sure i could spend anymore on food than i already am, gerri. gerri: [laughter] well, you may have to, lauren. good to talk to you. here come the higher prices, no doubt about it. after a year of budget busting inflation for everything from meat to gas, guess what? experts say 2022 will bring even more food inflation. take a look at these numbers. prices for food overall expected to rise 5% in the first half of 2022, and that's going to be painful, and we've already heard

from a number of companies, right? mondelez international said that its cookies candies and other products will have price hikes of 6% to 7%, kraft heinz will raise prices across-the-board with some as high as 20%. general mills, campbell's soup, who isn't on this list, will also raise prices starting next month. so what we're seeing and this is fascinating. so the heavier the product, the more the prices go up, because it costs so much to ship wine, beer, liquor, potatoes, and even celery will carry higher price tags as higher freight and labor costs push the cost of transport up. even pantry staples like mayo and frozen meals will be pricier, get that, and of course, as we look at the supermarkets which operate on a super narrow margin, have been trying to hold the line to keep customers by holding down prices on basics, like milk and eggs and raising prices only on specialty items, but it's not

really clear how long that strategy can hold and how long they can just keep doing that. consumers, of course and the vi ce grip of higher prices after gas rose to its highest level in seven years in november , home heating is speaking with natural gas prices up 158% at its peak in 2021. bottom line the whole idea about the transitory inflation, not so much, and you can bet your bottom dollar that consumers out there are going to be trading down to cheaper custom meat, cheaper cooking oil, as they try to save themselves money, at the grocery store. save a little bit of money for something other than just essentials. lauren? lauren: america will go on a diet starting next month that's our new years resolution because we can't afford to keep eating as much as we used to. i mean i used to let the kids put whatever they want in the food cart, whatever what's a couple more dollars, now i let them do it and when we're at check out and they aren't looking i take stuff out i'm like that's too expensive you

don't need that, that's bad for you and i don't want to pay for it. we're on a diet that's it. gerri: good for you. lauren: gerri thank you for the time. gerri: you're welcome. lauren: the steel industry came roaring back in 2021 it's an understatement prices surged on very strong demand our countdown closer has one stop that topped 74% year-to-date, and maybe poised for even more growth. is that inflation? we'll check in with him but first let's check the big boards , the dow, these gains are dwindling sharply higher by 95 points but at the high of the session, we were up 224, s&p 500 trying to get positive, doesn't look like it's going to happen, but you've got eight minutes until the closing bell. anything can happen, in this final hour. we'll be right back. [ kimberly ] before clearchoice, my dental health was so bad i would be in a lot of pain.

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♪. lauren: welcome back to the final few moments of trading. closing bell rings in five minutes. dow up 92. rest of market is negative. so far no records in sight as the dow comes off session highs and the s&p 500 is down by 6 points. dexcom, pen national, are some of the top laggards on the s&p 500. we wanted to point that out to you. so that is where the negativity today. as president biden's build back better plan hangs on by a thread, infrastructure plan, bipartisan one is chugging full speed ahead in the new year. "countdown" closer sass a name that will benefit and boost your portfolio. we have eric marshall. eric what is the name of the company that will benefit from

bif, the bipartisan infrastructure bill? >> one stock with a good out look for next year commercial metals, large etf manufacturer of rebar in north america. they should benefit from the infrastructure bill. anything that uses concrete, uses rebar to reinforce it, they are well-positioned to take advantage of being a low cost producer of rebar. they also use a lot of recycled metal which gives them a cost advantage over a lot of peers out there. lauren: so cmc. i'm looking at one-year chart. seems like they got pensive this year, right, the year-to-date game but you say they will do better in the new year? >> if you look at commercial metals, the stock really had lagged prior to this year over the previous three or four years. we think a lot of the value creation that has occurred

there, specifically in their business through m&a, some other really key investments that they made it will be unlocked here over the next few years. although the stock is up very nicely this we're, it still trades about 10 times earnings. lauren: someone didn't like what you said and they're calling you, eric. is that your phone? >> that's fine. >> tell me about academy sports and outdoors. ticker is aso if we could pop it up. i'm curious why you like this name over other retailers like for instance, dick's sporting goods? >> this is a very inexpensive small cap company. it hasn't been public for very long. they went public about a year ago. it is the time of the ipo they had really, they were facing really a boom from the lockdown. people spent more money on sporting goods and outdoor equipment for hiking and hunting, fishing, all the other

things they sell, kayaks, things like that. that windfall what we like about it, it allowed the company to deleverage their balance sheet, really wipe out a lot of the debt they had had under private equity ownership. it put the company in much better financial shape going forward. we think that should allow them next year to start to reaccelerate store growth. we think it is very inexpensive compared to a dix sporting goods. lauren: before we get to your last pick, eric, how do you feel about small caps in 2022? they are typically more reflecktive of the health of the u.s. economy and consumer. >> i think in general small caps tending to little more tied to industrials, energy, materials, and those areas of the economy that we think have pricing power and should do well in an inflationary environment. we also see m&a activity,

mergers and acquisitions actually picking up because larger companies have really not reinvested in their businesses as aggressively. [closing bell rings] that should really help small cap multiples out there. lauren: eric marshall, the bells are ringing on wall street that is it for "the claman countdown." "kudlow" is next. ♪ david: hello, everyone, welcome to "kudlow." i'm david asman in for larry kudlow. president biden telling governors yesterday he has no real solution to ending the pandemic and it is now in their hands. take a listen. >> there is no federal solution. this gets solved at a state level. i'm looking at governor sununu on the board here. he talks about that a lot. my message to the governors is simple, if you need something, say something. david: so if the states are in charge what's up with tse