protest for racial justice. what do you think? >> imagine what those dollars are worth today. those confederate dollars or us dollars? cheryl: they were confederate dollars. >> don't think they are worth anything today. cheryl: final word, nancy. >> i love this. it was an unhappy situation to take the statue down but we found a trove of treasures. cheryl: "varney and company" is up next. ashley webster is in for stuart varney. i will be booking line segments to let you know. ashley: you have on your cornflakes? not so sure. good morning, everyone.

i am ashley webster in for stuart varney. as covid cases search, president biden vacations in delaware. the governor of new jersey, phil murphy enjoying a day vacation in costa rica. where is the leadership? a new study reveals the, cron variant may help them beat delta. we will talk to doctor marty macarrie about some other covid issues showing a slightly muted lower earlier in the free trade. it has come back a little bit. the doubt, the s&p and nasdaq up slightly. we will see how he morning pans out when the bell rings in half an hour. a look at the 10 year treasury yield dropping to one.46 basis points that one.52%.

that dropped 6%, $415, and 37,344. let's look at all you'll. you were hoping for relief at the gas pump think again. a new report reveals $4 gas is on its way next year. nfl icon and legendary coach john madden is dead at 85. we will reflect on his accomplishments throughout his truly remarkable career. a jampacked 3 hours ahead. sarah carter, liz peek, dan crenshaw and joke on shaw to name a few, december 20 ninth 2021, "varney and company" is about to begin. ♪♪ here i go again on my own ♪♪ going down the only road i

have ever known ♪♪ ashley: here i go again, cloudy misty morning in new york city as we take a close-up shot of the empire state building. you can just about make out the spire. just after admitting there is no federal solution to covid president biden took to twitter to town his own federal plan. he says, quote, my administration has the back of every governor fighting covid 19 in their state. last week i rolled out a federal plan to tackle omicron by adding vaccination, booster capacity, hospital equipment, staff and more as a bit of a flip-flop maybe. thanks for joining us. is that not a clear

contradiction to his earlier statement? >> it absolutely is. the biden administration can't stop adding insult to industry. the american people are so frustrated, they need leadership, someone to stand behind what they say, they need to understand the virus. this is coming from a layman. talking to my friends, people i know who have omicron who were vaccinated, who are basically in their home sequestered in their room. they are waiting for somebody to tell them what is going on. i've done everything you asked me to do, on my vaccine. i have the virus again. our children supposed to wear masks or not? is the federal government going to do something? are they not going to do something? i believe president biden just punted it back to the states when he realized we have 257,000 cases this week of omicron and covid 19. the federal mandate which the american people a lot oppose aren't working soap and it back

to the states and leave it to the governors but it seems the governor of new jersey and president biden are vacationing and not really focused on what they need to be doing and that is pulling the american people out of this and some leadership. ashley: leadership. that is the keyword. to the southern border. mexican officials detained 250,000 migrants this year was a quarter of 1 million, 206% increase from last year. you have sources who say migrants are coming across the border not just from central and southern south america but from all over the world. what kind of places? >> last week migrants came across the border from pakistan, they are finding people from north africa. posted a gentleman from saudi arabia who they believe is

connected to a terror cell in yemen. we are seeing people from all over the world and it is frustrating for ice officers and border patrol agents and federal law enforcement officer is where i live in texas, the texas apartment of public safety along the border and even worse, let's talk about the issue of the migrant surge. and covid, you're dealing with covid. aren't being mandated to have a vaccine, showing proof of the vaccine, being released into the united states and as for title 42, that is theater. they are not just keeping them, remain in mexico, and they are being released. ashley: complete insanity and chaos on the border.

appreciate your comments this morning. back to your money, take a look at the futures. very muted opening according to the pre-market, up a tenth of one%. good morning, lauren simonetti. come in. we are in the final days of trading for the year. tell me this. is the nasdaq underperforming? what do you think? >> 22% annual gain on top of what was last year 44%. is this underperforming? yes if you compare it to the s&p 500 which is the s&p is up 27% but it is the first time since 2016 that the s&p gained more annually than the nasdaq. why? i've got two reasons. the vaccine rollout it in march, stay-at-home names that surged in 2020 at the beginning of the year. the second is inflation.

higher interest rates to curb inflation for those big tech stocks and future earnings. if you are looking at the nasdaq and total gain from last year, it is 140%. they say trees don't grow to the sky but we are used to that happening and now 2022 is going to be the year you clip the top of the tree. ashley: maybe. seeing redwood trees for sure. thank you very much. let's check the markets, slightly higher now. we will see if that pans out but i want to bring in john, you say inflation has been underestimated. what do you mean by that and how bad could it get? >> when i go shopping and look at my grocery bills, utility

bills, what i am paying for insurance. inflation is growing by at least 10%. i want to mention consumer price inflation. the methodology to calculate inflation, it would be, roughly 10%. and and are outpacing the growth of wages. ashley: younger workers can adapt to price hikes easier. why is that? >> back to the 1970s. hard to imagine the percentage

of the workforce, those employed who were younger than 35 years of age had risen from 37% in the mid 60s, 50% of the workforce. younger people tend to enjoy bigger wage gains, faster percentage increase by salaries and on top of that they have the advantage of expecting continued income growth for years to come. prices rise higher. they can absorb those price hikes. unfortunately today we have an aging workforce, younger than 35 is down significantly, 35% overall, slower wage growth can't for those price hikes. ashley: thank you for joining us this morning.

some sad news to report, football legend john madden has passed away. you have the details. lauren: the hall of fame coach turned broadcaster was the nfl, he was football to so many americans especially in the 80s and 90s. john madden coached the oakland raiders to a super bowl win in 1977 in two years later he started his broadcasting career for which he won 16 andes. america fell in love with him, his exuberance, his passion for the game and he became the face of man nfl videogames. he got to see what america said before he passed. fox sports aired his documentary and we are told. they don't get to believe, how

it happens after they got to see that documentary. >> what a personality he was. >> has passed away. >> and the group don't pour. and paid his way through, as officer for the capital police. his divide by his wife and children. >> he is such a presence on capital hill. >> checking futures, when the bell rings in 17 minutes.

we shall see. a doctor admits on cnn that president biden dropped the ball on covid testing. roll the tape. >> cannot believe this is where we are two years into the pandemic. everybody saw it coming. we knew we needed more tests. the administration dropped the ball on this. ashley: more on that coming up into new study suggesting omicron could protect you against the more severe delta variant. doctor marty macare he will breakdown those findings after this. ♪♪ ♪ ♪

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ashley: just a handful of people on jacksonville beach in florida. what is seen, sunny and a high of 80 degrees today. not bad for december 20 ninth. quick correction for you. former democrat majority leader harry reid was a senator from nevada. we previously said nebraska. as covid cases rise travelers are facing mass cancellations from airlines. david lee miller is at laguardia international airport. these cancellations persisting today? >> we are seeing more cancellations today, the airline struggling to cope with staff shortages resulting from

the omicron variant as well as problems with the weather especially in the west. today marks the sixth straight day of flight disruptions across the country. according to flightaware yesterday 1200 flights were canceled, 76 were delayed. this morning more problems on the horizon especially hard-hit by the weather. alaska airlines canceled 12% of its flights today. the airline proactively reducing departures from seattle to allow more time to deice aircraft. united has canceled 7%, 157 of its flights for today, jetblue canceled 81 flights. delta 3%, 101 flights. the airline is trying to change aircraft and the roots to try to improve service and for american airlines they s than one% of scheduled now canceled. the tsa screen to million people a day during the christmas holiday. the number is up from a year ago, before the pandemic and

across the country long lines, travelers seem resigned to cancellations and delays. >> i'm supposed to be at work tomorrow. >> let's get getting pushed back to where our connecting flight was no longer going to be on time and we had to rebook. the only way to get out of here. >> the cdc decisions a short quarantine time for people testing positive for covid without symptoms can help the airlines cope with some of the staff shortage. and based on the advice from medical professionals, doctor anthony fauci supports the change in cdc guidelines and 5 days of isolation to wear a mask. ashley: to pick up on david's

point doctor anthony fauci does say the cdc shortened isolation guidelines will get people, and the longer quarantine time was pushed by doctor fauci so why the change of heart? >> they are being practical. four days with delta, new research suggesting with omicron it is three days, and we are going to crush businesses. to deliver a baby, for a more practical approach, they went back and scrambled, it develops symptoms since april of 2020.

it is more flexible with quarantine requirement, doubling down on the mandate with hospitals and healthcare workers. we double down on the vaccine requirements. >> 441,000 cases, i do and at home test, it is a lot higher. >> it is ubiquitous. during a typical flu season, 10% to 20% of the us population will get the flu in a matter of months, we don't test cases and graft them on a daily basis. testing is an important tool but we can't be using testing

when they are ministers limited supply. the government has mixed message saying test everybody for screening universally but we have a limited supply of tests creating a black market and mass hysteria. ashley: a new study showing people who get omicron appear to have better protection against the delta variant. what do you make of that? >> natural immunity works and we are getting the answer to an open system, and the natures vaccine for millions of people worldwide who never get a vaccine and from this new research study out of south africa but if you get omicron your immunity is four times stronger and it is a powerful booster. ashley: fascinating stuff, thank you as always for joining us with your insight.

let's get a check of the future. pointing slightly higher. "the opening bell" will be ringing next. ♪♪ ♪♪ writings on the wall ♪♪

neil: let's check futures with "the opening bell" just minutes away pointing to a slightly higher opening. eddie gabor, you say inflation stays high, good markets for the next month and gain will change. what do you mean by that? >> the market has been getting clear signals over the last month that we are heading into a much different environment next year. that's why i have been pounding the table of repositioning your portfolio versus buying and holding, in a way that you are lowering the volatility. the interesting thing when look at the markets is next month during the rally that we have seen real estate, staples and utilities have been some of the bigger performers. we are already starting to see the flight to safety. next year, we are going to see

gdp start to decelerate. my biggest fear is people are not going to be positioned for that and when you had gdp decelerating and force the titan, that's not going to bode well for risk assets. and extreme volatility in the first 6 months of next year. ashley: we will buckle up but getting back to real estate you say that the best hedge against inflation, right? >> real estate is one of our favorite sectors because the dynamics of real estate are going to continue to be powerful next year. inventory and still near record lows, interest rates stay very low and rents will have to start increasing next year because the appreciation of housing will force more to rent so the best way to profit from it is to own it, it can lower volatility and performance will be well next year. ashley: didn't gold used to be the standard inflation hedge? are you buying gold? >> we will be adding gold in february.

golda is where you want -- things start to break down because that is the ultimate flight to safety. that is why it hasn't performed well the last 12 months. we are going to be adding gold more likely in february because we think that's when the markets are going to start to get extremely turbulent and gold should hold up well in that environment as well. ashley: thank you for your insight this morning. "the opening bell" already ringing but markets getting ready to open and we are open. let's look at those 30 stocks that make up the doubt, more green than red. 13, 12 points. boeing, walt disney early on. salesforce travelers at the top. let's look at the s&p if we can. the s&p has outperformed the nasdaq. will that continue, the s&p up

6 points, let's check the tech heavy nasdaq and see where that sits in the nasdaq of course up 22% on the year, modestly higher up 27 points, 15809. look at the big tech numbers, all of them modestly higher to match the market meta-platform up 3 quarters of one%. let's look at tesla, an interesting stock, always an interesting company. elon musk has not done selling shares. lauren: he likely has 1 million more to sell to reach that twitter goal to sell off 17 million shares. he sold another 934,000 or $1 billion worth and emphasize option that the $6.40 strike price.

to pay uncle sam in the state of california north of $11 billion in taxes and when you're alone and that would be a record. ashley: mister biden says make them pay their fair share. that sounds fair to me. let's check the cruise lines. the cdc cracking down on them. lauren: senator blumenthal of connecticut calling on the cdc to halt temporarily the cruise industry because omicron is surging. we have 89 cases or 89 ships with covid cases. most of those ships already under cdc investigation or observation. what does that mean? it means you have to have one crew member or 0.0 one% of passengers test positive over or twee 7 days of worship of 6500 people that would between 7 positive cases so it is nothing. the question is is this the

latest blow to the industry or does it just below over because you have ship sailing as it is with so many precautions in place, they can't button it up anymore. will people say we will take our chances? ashley: i think you are exactly right. let's switch gears. show me moderna dropping, do you know why? >> the narrative around covid has changed. we have a report from oxford university that says people are far less likely to be hospitalized with omicron versus delta variant. it questions the narrative, if you look at biotech, down in the past 6 days and today, before today down 16% in that time, down 18% over the past 6 days. >> the nation's largest egg

producer, how did they do? >> profits are squeezed by higher costs, they sold more eggs, and the grain costs more. and what you passed along, it will present in the past year. that is the inflation story, they are reading some of the cost of passing a lot of it on too. ashley: they are indeed. let's look at victoria's secret, they announce an excited share repurchase program. >> it reflects confidence. investors agree up 10%.

>> ali baba selling at stake in we vote. >> bloomberg reporting ali baba is considering the sale of 30% stake in china's twitter like social media and advertising company. and sell it to a state owned enterprise caving to china's influence. and >> great stuff, lots to talk about. let's look at the winners if we can. nike, intel, dow, anywhere up 7%. micron, best buy, gap, under armour.

and micron applied materials, up nicely. let's look at the big board. we are up 56 points on the dow. down the 2% gain. after going down for a number of sessions down by four basis points, one.52%. and up 65 points. what a barrel of oil is costing, down $0.18 at $75.80 a barrel. natural gas, up 0.4%, 493 a natural gas. a gain of one%, an average price for a gallon of regular

gas, $3.28, in california the privilege there is pay $4.66, the average price of gas in california thanks to all the taxes. coming up, new york times reporter appears to because calling the us a, que, trash country. we will do you what that is all about. as omicron cases rise 600%, new jersey governor phil murphy on vacation in costa rica and it is not the first time he was caught vacationing during a covid surge. the details on that. and remember when the mayor of washington dc insisted her city was one of the hottest places to live? take a listen. >> people are not -- one of the hardest places to live in america. >> the district has seen the highest population in the entire country.

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>> let's look the big tech plays and modestly higher and on the upside and we bring in our good friend ray weighing who likes to talk all things tech. what tech stocks are you looking at. >> couple categories. i look at automation, the meta-verse, cloud companies. the four categories. google and amazon, amazing stuff because of what is

happening on the cloud side and can't look at stock market, apple hitting the $3 trillion mark and you see a lot of other additional services on that end. ashley: we have big names in tech. there are 600 publicly traded tech companies. and and >> looking at enterprise software company, names like adobe, oracle, and snowflake, data dog, and to businesses and what, consistent revenues.

the clouds of skipton model, these are companies 20% to 30% year-over-year earnings gains. with tech rotations, devalue and margin compression in terms of valuation, looking at the enterprise cloud companies. ashley: what are the biggest challenges facing tech companies, and is that still a concern in the new year. that signaled more regulation. >> the regulation is still a definite risk. i don't know if we will see the breakup of these digital giants. competing for fun with china and they are providing a lot of capabilities whether it is a i knew innovations and technology

and, and not necessarily regulated. not necessarily can't get into healthcare. can't facebook and get into financial services and that is where we will see those restrictions come into play and how we treat data and personal property rights. ashley: it is interesting. house inflation play into this, a number of guests, and what does that play in this particular sector? >> as your inflation hedge. 20% or 30% year over year. margin compression, pe numbers will come down because of interest rates are going. it is going to be better than others who are out there. companies like roadblocks is

going to be very different, or in the chip sector. in the meta-verse category, nvidia will be interesting, unity will be interesting, looking at roadblocks in that space, nintendo and apple in that space. ashley: and also activevision blizzard continues to be a huge market. is that a good place to look at to invest some money? >> what is interesting about the gaming side is those are going to be the eventual meta-verses that pop up and they are the world people will participate in, ba, activevision, blizzard, and movie studios are also creating meta-verses, disney, and other

areas, to be able to participate. ashley: so much information in so a little time. you are a star. really appreciate it as always. same to you. people are leaving washington dc in droves, but meredith in dc. people blaming cid for the exodus. is that the real reason? >> too soon to tell. new data from the census bureau which estimates 20,000 people left dc in the last year. when you look at it, that's largest drop in population based on percentage in the entire country. it reports from 2020 to 21 dc's population dropped close to 3%. 670,000 people live in the district and we spoke with people in dc who say they are not surprised so many people

are moving out. >> it is so different than 2019. it is not that. >> people who have gone to maryland, virginia or other states, more jobs there, with their families. >> dc mayor muriel blouse are rejecting claims people were leaving the city, one of the hottest places to live but those comments were made in august of 2020 before we got this data. dc was not the only place people moved on from the government estimates 319,000 people left new york state. we saw illinois, hawaii, california seeing population declines in the last years of the big question is where is everybody going. the answer may surprise you a little bit. the largest growth percentagewising population, idaho, utah, montana, looks like actually people are moving west.

ashley: less people and wide-open spaces, appreciate that report. let's check the markets as we head to the break, moving higher although the nasdaq turning slightly negative, the doubt up 70 points. disturbing new video showing new york police officers kicking a mother and son out of a restaurant over a vaccine mandate. we will get into that. how dependable are these at home covid tests? jerry willis digging into the and has the answer after this. ♪♪ every year we try

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it targets more than just joint pain and treats the multiple symptoms like joint swelling and tenderness, back pain, helps clear skin and helps stop further joint damage. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections—some serious —and the lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. it's good to be moving on. watch me. move, look, and feel better. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. >> not only is there a shortage of covid tests available but the accuracy of those tests are called into question. jerry willis is in new york. good morning to you. one of the issues with the tests? >> one issue, it is not that accurate. when it comes to omicron that's

the problem we are finding right here and this is happening, demand for the test is spiking through the roof. let's hear from the fda. here's what they say about the efficacy of these tests, early data suggests the rapid test a lot of people take do detect the omicron variant but may have reduced sensitivity. meaning they may not find it, the 5 million test the biden administration makes available, more useful than expected. tests are marketed for sale over-the-counter the most popular, the rapid antigen tests have been 85% effective in previous, the gold standard, they can be used in a lab that has effectiveness rate of 97%. testmake is like abbott labs, still scaling approach section, it will take weeks to months to ramp up output. take a look at what i found in

my own pharmacy, it is common all over the country, amazon, walgreens and cvs began limiting the number of tests customers can purchase, showed that many of the rapid antigen tests out of stock, amazon seem to have the tests, and you the most accurate results if you are showing symptoms. it is tricky but at the end is a a lot of people will keep tests. ashley: yes they will, you can find those tests. thank you very much. disney will be reopening another part of their parts. signs of progress. give me the details. >> this one shutdown in march of 2020. it is almost two years later, will reopen january 2nd, 2022.

and that water pack open. >> typhoon lagoon is fun to say. still ahead, texas congressman dan crenshaw, mercedes lab, daniel juergen and always joe concha, all the guests, the 10 am hour of "varney and company" is next. ♪♪ when you come on down ♪♪ who do you need ♪♪ who do you love ♪♪ when you come on down ♪♪ . .

♪ ashley: miss at this, foggy morning in new york city as david bowie, the late great david bowie says let's dance. 10:00 eastern time i'm ashley webster in for stuart varney let's get straight to your money looking at markets. nasdaq ever so slightly down, dow up 85 points and s&p up points. by the way the dow and s&p are on track for record closes. we'll see how that works out. let's take a look at apple if we can. the stock closing in again on

the 3 trillion-dollar mark. 182.86 is the magic number to make that happen. we're at what, a couple of dollars, two dollars and 76 cents away. my math is terrible. we got the latest read on pending home sales. what are they revealing, lauren? lauren: big disappointment. surprisingly fell by 2.2%. give you comparison, that is the november print. october rise of 7 1/2%. a bigger drop than expected pending home sales when the contract is signed but awaiting closing. this is for the month of november, ashley. ashley: thank you, lauren. very interesting. the real estate market may be cooling off just a bit. take a look at this op-ed, biden's first year a bust. five new year's resolutions the president should adopt for all our sakes. i read this piece it made me

laugh, sadly all true. the author of the piece, liz peek. great to see you this morning, liz. thanks for joining us. take us through it. what are your news years resolutions? we begin with number one, you suggested fire somebody. >> good morning, ashley. when your white house is as much trouble as the white house is, somebody's head should roll. biden kept the team intact even after the horrible debacle in afghanistan where 13 american servicemembers were killed, hundreds of afghans killed. someone should have been held accountable. here is the thing, that shows the president is also angry about the disasters piling up under his watch. if he didn't do anything, it makes him weak and indifferent to the terrible problems his white house has encountered. ashley: also on the list, come get away from behind the

teleprompter. what do you mean by that? >> well, look to, have the president of the united states be scolded for going off script, for telling us over and over again, i'm not allowed to do that, i'm not allowed to talk to the press, what in the world he is talking about? he is the president. obviously his public appearances have been very, very small in number compared to obama, compared to trump. he needs to talk to the american people. he needs to explain himself. if he can't do it he shouldn't be in the office. ashley: you want him to watch more tv as well. why? >> the other night when a caller said to him, "let's go brandon," no one commented on this, the astonishing part that biden repeated those words. he said "let's go brandon," i agree. does he not know what that phrase means? is he so out of touch that he doesn't even know what happening

is around him? sometimes it seems like that. if i were he, i would tune in. yes i would watch fox news. find out what the critics are saying, then maybe he could reboot in a more serious way. ashley: very quickly, just want to get this one in, of course you say stop denigrating the usa but also drop the divisiveness. he ran a campaign of uniting the country. that just hasn't happened. >> it hasn't happened at all. polling shows people think we're more divided than ever. he blames republicans all the time. so who is surprised by that outcome? i'm not. ashley: you know it is interesting, liz, he has just done a flip-flop on, the handling of covid. yesterday it was all about it is up to the states which republicans have been saying forever. now do, oh, no, wait a minute, i do have a federal plan. people are already confused and frustrated by the policies. now we have the president going back on basically what he said yesterday.

>> ashley, who is in charge? who is making these decisions? this is something that is puzzled a lot of us for an entire year. we still don't know, with utterances like that, with pivots like that from biden, it is pretty clear he is not making the big decisions. ashley: do you think he is denigrating the usa, getting back to your list of new year's resolutions? in what way he is denigrating the u.s.? >> i don't believe our country is systematically racist. something he repeats at every opportunity. it is slamming to our country. led to distrust about our history, toppling of staff statues, rewriting history. biden need to shut up about that. talk about the things that are great for this country, opportunities for everybody. that is what is key to this country. i don't think biden has much

appreciation of it. real americans do. ashley: couldn't have said it better myself. thank you very much, liz peek. i encourage your viewers to go to foxnews.com, look up the opinion piece, the latest op-ed from liz peek. thank you, liz. >> thanks, ashley. happy new year. ashley: same to you. let's get back to the markets, bring in dennis gartman. dennis, i read your note and it was pretty ominous to be honest with you. you say the blow-off rally is underway. most are calling this a santa claus rally. so what exactly does the blow move off rally mean? >> it is amazing in markets when i watch them 50 years, whether you talk about commodities, whether you talk about bonds, whether you talk about energy, whether you talk about equities, inevitably, i shouldn't say inevitably, last 10% of time frame for any market you get a blast to the upside as volumes

dekline, shorts begin to cover. finally throw up their hands to say i'm wrong. they move to cover, speculators come in and are aggressive buyers. it happens time and time again. i think we're seeing that now as everybody embraces dances with tina. there are plenty of alternatives of the cash is a alternative. stocks with high difference lends are alternative. commodities may be an alternative. gold may be an alternative but right now everybody is embracing, dancing with tina, and i think you're getting the final blow-off rally to the upside. it can continue. i said this before it will continue until it stops. ashley: well, dennis, what about when the bubbles burst and tina sits down from dancing, how bad will the downside be? what kind of move down are we looking at? >> i think we get at least 10, 15, 20% decline when it finally occurs. amazing how many stocks are down

25, 30, 40% for the year. what is her name, mrs. wood, her stocks are down 35, 40%. it is not unusual to see stocks go down 25 or 30% in a bear market. do i think there will be a crash? no. absolutely not. do i think there will be a long protracted slow laborious bear market takes us down 10, 15, 20%. i think that ends up happening, yet. there is alternative to dancing with tina. ashley: you say cash, put your money elsewhere. the big question, no one telling us the timing of this but you believe we're in the last inning of this bull run. i mean are we talking couple of months? what's your theory on this? >> it is an interesting how many times market the turn after the turn of the year. i wouldn't be surprised if we turn the new year. people are not paying tax to the fact that the fomc is going to change dramatically. we'll have three new hawks, very

hawkish presidents of regional reserves taking positions, replacing doves on the market. i think the propensity for the fed taking the overnight funds rate by 100 basis points, maybe 150 basis points it changes the dynamic of market. right after the turn of the year, especially the new fomc meetings in mid to late january, the game shall probably change. ashley: wow. bah humbug. oh, well. >> no, no, bah humbug. more honesty and lesson of history. ashley: yeah. i get you. we have been warned as they say. great stuff as always, dennis gartman, thank you very much. appreciate that. let's bring in lauren if we can. thank you, dennis. lauren, you got some movers. begin with didi down more than 5%. lauren: i know. it ipod at 14 just a few months ago. this has been a hurtful couple

months for china's ride-hailing service. they will delist from the new york stock exchange after going public and eventually relist in hong kong, without raising capital or issuing new stock. that according to reports. it is called listing by introduction. that is expected between april and june of next year. i'm also looking at rivian. look at the shares now, ashley. they're having delays with their deliveries, the vehicles with the big battery packs. the stock is down 3 1/3%. here is the deal, some buyers waiting, they preordered this vehicle, the electric pickup, the electric suv. they will have wait until 2023 to get them because rivian is looking at the 71,000 preorders and they're prioritizing those with the big packs that get about 400 miles per charge. they will have to wait until 2023. finally sticking with this space, let's take a look at tesla, yes, elon musk is not

done selling. investors don't always like that down 1%. he sold another billion dollars worth of stock, ashley. ashley: i wish i was on his christmas list. lauren, thank you, bitcoin was just days ago about 51,000. now it is below, right at 48,000. lauren: yeah. ashley: certainly we saw a slump yesterday. what's going on? lauren: what about those calls for 100,000 by the end of the year? remember those, we were talking about that just last month when bitcoin was near that 70,000 record high. now we're at less than half of that 100,000 goal. there is a few things that are happening but a big one is chinese investors are getting out because the exchanges will completely shut down to comply with new rules. it is a blanket ban on the mining of crypto and trading of it. also what do you have at the end of this month and early february? lunar new year. a lot of chinese investors need cash. that is part of what is going on

taking bitcoin down so much. ashley: all right. got it. lauren, thank you. by the way speaking of bitcoin, did you know that the crypto rich are flocking to puerto rico? we'll explain why coming up. also the travel nightmares continuing. hundreds of flights already canceled, thousands delayed, that is just today. we'll have an update on that in just a moment. also a theme we don't usually talk about on this show, people fleeing democrat lock-down states for open states like texas. we've got the numbers, and texas congressman pat fallon will react to them next. ♪. welcome to allstate. where you can pay a little less and enjoy the ride a little more. ♪ ♪

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♪. ashley: there is times square as we listen to elvis, a little less action. a little less talking, a little more action, little less talking i think it goes. times square, pretty empty for what normally would be times square this time of year. look at the markets, the dow trying to extend the five-day winning streak. hanging in there still up 23 points. the nasdaq down basically 100 points, more than half a percent. the s&p also turning negative, about a 10th of a percent. let's look at the cruise lines. they are getting hit as the cdc is investigating 90 ships with covid cases, norwegian, royal

caribbean, familiar names, carnival, royal caribbean down half a percent. now this, the dr. fauci says a vaccine mandate for domestic flights is on the table, yes. lauren, we're hearing from the president, what is he saying about it. lauren: he says he is listening to his advisors, ashley. >> when you might make a decision on domestic travel -- >> [inaudible]. listening to the medical team. lauren: he is being led so we often talk about the ability much the president to be a leader and he is being led by his medical team who is dr. fauci? so we'll see when dr. fauci makes the call about needing a vaccine to get on an airplane. ashley: wow so different from president trump. barely got the comment in the pitch black as he is you can walking away. that is is it from the president

now this we told but the cdc quarantine guidelines cutting time in five days. guess what, the unions are pushing back. steve harrigan joins us now. what are the unions saying, steve? reporter: there is pushback from a number of different unions about the cdc recommendations cuts isolation time for people that have covid but no symptoms in half from 10 days to five days. the largest nurses union in the u.s. is pushing back, saying the move will be basically for patients. the flight attendants union also pushing back as well, especially against the fact there is no requirement, not even a recommendation that people test again after that five days of isolation. the move has really split the airline industry. you have a lot of executives who are pushing hard for the reduction in isolation time to try to keep the planes moving. on the other hand on the front line the flight attendants are saying too dangerous. the president's chief health advisor says the move was

necessary to keep society functioning. >> the purpose of it was give the wave, the extraordinary unprecedented wave of infections that we are experiencing now and will certainly experience more of in the next few weeks, that there is the danger that there will be so many people who are being isolated, who are asymptomatic for the full 10 days, you could have a major negative impact on our ability to keep society running. reporter: cdc had to revise the omicron numbers. now they say it makes up 58% of all new cases, clearly the dominant strain. ashley, back to you. ashley: steve, thank you very much. now take a look at at headline if you can, from "the wall street journal" editorial board. it reads, the great pandemic migration. census data reveals huge shifts out of the most locked down states. it goes to say texas added more

than 382,000 new residents including more than 211,000 from other states, quite remarkable. who better to talk about this than congressman pat fallon. he is a republican from texas. good morning, congressman. people flock to your state, right, because you stayed open. >> yeah. well, ashley, thanks for having me on. you know what we have abundance of in texas? freedom and liberty, my friend, freedom and liberty. we have plenty of room. i'm myself refugee, 30 years i left the peoples republic of massachusetts to enjoy the freedoms of texas. people, ashley, people vote with their feet. that is why they're leaving california, illinois, new jersey, massachusetts in droves. ashley: hopefully not bringing their politics with them. maybe they can think about why they moved in the first place but i have to move. the next one for you, 2021 was a year of foreign policy blunders under president biden. listen to this. >> why are you so confident he

will change his behavior, mr. president? >> i'm not confident. what do you do all the time? when did i say i was confident? nord stream is 99% finished. the idea that anything was going to said or done stop it is not possible. >> squarely stand by your decision to pull out? >> yes i do. ashley: well, congressman, listen you say america's global reputation is essentially been dragged through the mud and 2022 is the time to change that but what are the chances of that happening with this president? >> well, very limited. as you just said in your last segment, ashley, he is being led, he is not leading. that is the scary part about things. the debacle in afghanistan. the dictatorial regimes prove one thing over time, they react to strength and react to weakness. i don't think there is coincidence russia amassed

100,000 troops we've seen on the border of ukraine on exact concessions from ukraine in the west or invade the country. both and neither are acceptable. china is rattling their sabres well. we have energy independence in abundance and then jobe job is dropping that ball. he killed the keystone pipeline and approves the nord stream 2? that doesn't make any sense. ashley: you mentioned russia. the u.s. and russia will hold strategic security talks next month. do you know what that is about? >> probably about they're amassing troops, threatening ukraine. here is a fact that nobody can dispute, in the four years president trump was in the white house, russia didn't have any land grabs. i think they were afraid of him. i think china was as well. i do not think they fear joe biden in the least. ashley: all right. we will have to leave it on that happy note. congressman pat fallon, great to can't up with, sir, appreciate

your time. >> thanks, ashley. happy new year. ashley: same to you. now to you, both omicron and bad weather are forcing thousands of flight cancellations and delays. lauren, you have the latest. lauren: it is bad, ashley. if you look globally nearly 5400 delays today. cancellations 2400. so it is still a mess after one holiday and ahead of another. so many people unfortunately could be spending new year's over in the airport too. they do sell champagne if you're interested. this is a covid induced labor shortage. it is also a case of bad weather. you know what? i feel bad for the airlines right now. they don't know what to do. some people said they shipment have booked so many flights, that they would be able to handle it, with potential lack of crew. this is a lot worse people expected. i feel for the people just trying to get home. ashley: yeah.

there is not enough champagne in the world to cure being stuck in an airport. probably one of the most miserable experiences. i am so glad i afraided any airport, lauren. lauren: with a mask. ashley: with a mask. use it as a siv for the champagne. as the omicron variant rages on, president biden taking it easy in delaware only because his plans to vacation in puerto rico were canceled. oh dear. speaking of puerto rico, it's a tax haven for the crypto rich. i will ask former puerto rico governor how it is changing his country. he is up next. ♪.

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♪. ashley: let's take a look at these markets. the dow trying to hang on to the five-day winning streak, it topped 5points. however as you can see the nasdaq is down 58 points. down a third of a percent. s&p slightly lower at 4784.

lauren simonetti come back in. you're watching the stay-at-home stocks. lauren: it has been a really tough year for them. this is, these are names, let's take pell ton, for instance, it was up more than 400% last year. it is down nearly 80% this year and down today. take a look at zoom, zoom down today up 300 plus percent last year. so as the narrative changes, a lot of these stocks saw strong 2020s, 2021 isn't the same. unfortunately they continue to sell as we get to the end of this year. look at insignia systems, ashley, this company manufactures in store signs, for instance, get it, insignia? look at that gain, it is on top of 65% gain. the best month for them since 1991, a gain of more than 400%. why? it is frequently mentioned on

stock twist. it's a popular name. it's a popular short. and finally the number one stock on -- ashley: go on. lauren: go ahead, ashley. ashley: no, go ahead. i want to hear the number one stock. lauren: western digital, leading the s&p 500 today. it is up more that 5%. the ahead of earnings, i can't tell you why on this one, ashley. ashley: okay. we'll take it. you know what? you're one of the best multitaskers, lauren, we're just getting the latest read on weekly oil inventories. do you have the numbers? lauren: yeah. so down by 3 1/2 million in the past week. so this is for our oil supplies. ininventorys falling exactly 3.576 million. look, a lot of that oil is being used by people who are traveling, right? whether they're flying or driving. ashley: yes. lauren: that is the state of affairs right now and we're spending a lot more to use that oil. ashley: we are indeed.

down means there is less in supply and the price goes up. lauren, thank you so much. lauren: yeah. ashley: now this, take a look at crypto millionaires. some of you know this, crypto millionaires are flocking to puerto rico. because if you spend at least half the year on the island you're free of taxes on capital gains. what a deal. the former republican governor of puerto rico, louis fortuno joins me now. good morning to you. governor, is puerto rico the new tax haven now for crypto millionaires? >> stuart if people are moving from california or new york to florida or texas, we want them to consider puerto rico as well. we are part of the u.s. we're american citizens but we do not pay federal income tax. we pay local taxes. what i did during my tenure among other things, promote investors to move to puerto rico

instead of texas or florida, for example. if they become bonafide residents of puerto rico, as you mentioned they will pay no taxes on dividend income, interest income, or on capital gains accrued after they become bonafide residents of puerto rico. we have had thousands upon thousand families moving from mostly high-taxed jurisdictions across america to puerto rico and we're welcoming them. ashley: well governor, puerto rico has a poverty rate around 40%. my question to you is, what does puerto rico get out of it? how do those people benefit from this migration? >> new capital, influx of capital and jobs. on one hand all of these people, these are type-a individuals. they don't sit around watching tv all day. they want to go out and they're investing in the local economy. that is number one.

and i believe in, you know, free cross-pollination. that has been happening during the last 10 years since i signed this law, this bill into law. and secondly, jobs. and there are all sorts of jobs from a, lawyers and accountants and professionals, to people that are you know, intending to, restaurants, what have you, and we believe that is extremely, extremely beneficial to the island. ashley: less taxes, less red tape, it goes a long way and puerto rico getting the benefit of that. governor, thanks so much for take the time to chat with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. ashley: thank you. president biden had to cancel his puerto rican vacation plans by the way as omicron cases surged. bring back in lauren. where is he staying instead? lauren: delaware, his beach house. it will be his 31st trip to

that vacation home this year. look, puerto rico, they have seen covid cases soar 2800% in two weeks time. so now puerto rico is starting to crack down. if you're a visitor there, you have to show proof of a negative test within 48 hours even if you're vaccinated. unvaccinated have to quarantine for seven days. president biden said, a, i don't want to deal with that, even if he gets special arrangements, look at the state of the country now. he needs to be at the white house. ashley: yeah. but he is playing ball with his new puppy on the beach. there you go. lauren, thank you very much. lauren: you said it. ashley: yeah. many are demanding liberal host rachel maddow apologize for saying this back in march. take a listen. >> now we know that the vaccines work well enough that the virus stops with every vaccinated person. the virus does not infect them.

ashley: well that is simply not true but is an apology from rachel maddow wishful thinking? i will ask joe concha that next hour. nfl legend, american icon john madden has died at the age of 85. we will remember his incredible legacy next. ♪♪ care. it has the power to change the way we see things. ♪♪ it inspires us to go further. ♪♪ it has our back. and goes out of its way to help. ♪♪ when you start with care,

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♪. ashley: let's take a look at the markets, the dow hanging in there, up 83 points. s&p essentially flat at 4386. nasdaq continues to move lower, down close to half a percent. now this, nfl legend john madden has passed away at the age of 85. come on in lauren. we understand tribute are pouring in for him. lauren: they truly are. we'll start here. peyton manning says this, quote, i always appreciated his

friendship and support of my football career. never be another like him. may god rest in peace. are you a coach, are you a broadcaster, he sauls said i'm a coach first. fellow hall-of-famer, the dallas cowboys quarterback troy aikman writing this, quote, john madden was a treasure, a gift, incredible friend. what is going viral today, ashley, i don't know if you remember this there was a great clip in 1995, when john madden was making fun of troy aikman's inability to grow a beard. really funny. shows his personality. a lot of people are certainly back to that today. ashley: what a personality was, a force of nature, lauren, thank you very much. let's bring in nick caporelli, the bowl season executive director is with us now. nick, i will start with you.

what do you remember most about john madden? >> any football fan remembers watching john madden, listening to john madden, the thanksgiving day games, handing out chicken legs to mvp. that is iconic. we'll all miss him. ashley: we certainly are. let's move on, nick. college bowl season underway. tonight the pinstripe bowl kicks off at yankee stadium. my first question is, is it full capacity? >> it will not be full capacity. attendance for football games in yanker key stadium is little different than baseball games. there are seats good for baseball not so good for football. the pinstripe bowl has averaged 40,000 fans a game. hard to believe it is 11 years old. if you're in the new york area

today, 3:15, leave work early, go to yankee stadium, you won't regret it. ashley: if the boss has a problem we'll refer them to you, nick. we talk about capacity because we're worried about the spread of omicron. how much is that playing into the bowl season? i mean it is a difficult one to manage? different schools, different teams have different rules. what are your thoughts? >> yeah. i think that has been the biggest problem. obviously the virus has been a problem for all of us the last 18 months. this bowl season is a combination of the virus itself and varying protocols and procedures across the country within different states, within different programs. some programs test all the student athletes on a regular basis. some only test if they're asymptomatic. there seems to be a lot of college football players that feel fine, that want to play, that aren't able to play. that is caused a couple of cancellations so far which has been very unfortunate. ashley: i've been amazed how the

beale -- bowl games expanded from the early days. so many companies wanting to get their name out there, attaching them to a bowl game. are you surprised but how its grown? >> i'm really not. you look at the numbers, how popular college football is in general. 159 million unique viewers. they tend to be educated. 57% have four or more years of college. make household income of $100,000 a year or more. the time of year the bowl games are played, buying season. people are shopping for the holidays as lead-in. tax preparation season is coming after. so many advantages to this time of year, bowl games, they're so popular, people watch them, for sponsors it's a great value. ashley: it really is. college football is the best, there is no doubt about it. nick thanks so much for chatting with us. >> thanks for having me.

bowl season is a celebration of college football, and we're halfway through. ashley: we're halfway through. much more to go yet. nick, thank you very much. by the way one starting quarterback has been added to the covid reserve list. who is it, lauren? lauren: it is carson wentz. the 15th player on the colts covid list. ashley: wow. lauren: look, he should be able to play sunday against the raiders as long as he remains asymptomatic. he is unvaccinated. we have to see how his body reacts. it, you know, these games are determined right now by the cdc and the league and this variant. the colts were looking good. we'll see what happens now. 15 players on the covid list. ashley: as a titans fan, i can't get rid of the colts. they keep winning. lauren, thank you very much. even cnn by the way is bashing the president's response to the omicron surge.

listen. >> i cannot believe this is where we are almost two years into the pandemic. everybody saw it coming. we knew we needed more tests. i think the administration dropped the ball on this. ashley: that was cnn. what is going on? president biden vowed that he would be the one to shut down the pandemic but that's clearly not the case. we're going to have more on that coming up. new report by the way finds oil and natural gas supplies at a 75-year low. it begs the question will we have enough oil and be able to afford it next year? jeff flock, all over that story. his report next. ♪. your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire

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first psoriasis, then psoriatic arthritis. even walking was tough.

i had to do something. i started cosentyx®. cosentyx can help you move, look, and feel better... by treating the multiple symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting...get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections some serious... and the lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms... or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms... develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. watch me. ashley: all right. now this, gas buddy predicts the average price of a gallon of gas will reach four bucks by mem mother-in-law day. oh, great. jeff flock at a refinery in south new jersey this morning. jeff, what's behind the forecast? reporter: well, you know, we might just not have enough oil, believe it or not, ashley, even though we used to be energy independent. i'm at the pbf refinery. that is where you make the gas

hear in south jersey. that is behind me what you see is called a cracking unit, those that know anything about refineries will know what that is. part of the process of breaking oil down into gasoline. yes, look at the numbers from our friends at gas buddy. their 2022 forecast americans will spend $76 billion more next year than they spent this year gassing up their cars. what does that break down to for you and me? the average household 300 plus more dollars. you reported how brad it will be memorial day. june will be the worse month. could go as high as $4.13 the average gallon of rig lar nationwide. that would be tremendous increase over last year. i talked to the oil guru andy lipow what is driving that take a listen. >> despite the omicron variant

impacting jet fuel demand with lots of airline cancellations, more people working from home the oil market is looked ahead to 2022 as vaccinations become more widespread. reporter: that will mean of course the demand for oil continues to rise. well the only problem is we've sort of deemphasized finding new oil. in fact mckenzie took a survey of those who do that sort of thing, explore for new oil and invest in it and here's what they said. they say companies will maintain discipline in spending and pay more attention to climate and shareholder pressure to decarbonize operations. if you like that, that's great but you may pay more at the pump. ashley. ashley: yeah. that is exactly right. jeff flock, thank you very much. daniel yergin joins us now. daniel, thank you for being here

with us this morning. you know following up on jeff's report could we see oil prices reach 100 bucks a barrel next year? >> i don't think that's likely at this point unless there is some big geopolitical problem. we actually see the old, the oil balance improving as we go into the first few months of next year. that is really because the u.s. is back, we're going to be energy independent again in 2022. but was we go forward as your report just indicated there is a big problem. investment this year in new oil and gas development, the study we did at ihs market is down 25% from 2019. there is just not enough investment going into oil and gas. what i call preemptive underinvestment. that is, that people will be end up paying that at the gasoline pump. ashley: well, it is kind of easy to understand, is it not?

because this administration is kind of launched a war on the oil industry, has shut downpipe lines and so with that environment, it is not a big surprise that the amount of investment in more oil production is being cut back. you know you mentioned oil independence, under president trump, i thought, it was announced we were oil independent. where do we stand now? >> well we're, we just became slightly under, not independent but a very minor amount, a very tiny amount. this coming year what we're actually seeing the u.s. is back. we're seeing u.s. oil production increasing and that is going to put us in that position again. but you know, you've seen this pivot in the biden administration, which as you say, how shall we put it, indifferent to the oil industry, not interested in it, but they're saying to the oil industry can you increase production? they're worried about inflation,

worried what you're talking about, gasoline prices impact on the 2022 election less than a year away now. ashley: that is good news. we always used to be so dependent on every word opec says. are we still kind of in that position now? >> i think so. basically for the last two years there has been a group called opec plus which has been the determinant of the oil market but now once again, people are writing off the u.s. industry but the u.s. is the world's largest oil producer and it is very reassuring it is coming back although still with that capital discipline. they're not going to go crazy. ashley: right. >> we think coming year could be up almost 900,000 barrels a day from the u.s. ashley: that is a big deal. that is better we should come back. daniel, appreciate your time this morning. >> sure. ashley: now this, you remember greta thunberg, the taking a jab

at president biden. what is she saying. lauren: she did an interview with washington post, do you consider president biden a leader on climate change. let's show you the answer, pretty damning. if you call him a lead, it is strange that people think of joe biden as a leader to for the climate when you see what his administration is doing. the u.s. is expanding fossil fuel infrastructure. i have will just tag it with this, ashley, i think she is a little bit naive because biden is trying to push through climate change and the public's not letting him. ashley: absolutely. lauren, thanks. still ahead, mercedes schlapp, joe concha, texas congressman dan crenshaw. looks like president biden's vaccine mandates are backfiring because more than 30,000 health care workers have been fired. we're only talking about new york state. the third hour of "varney" is next. ♪

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>> everybody embracing and dancing with tina and you're getting that final vista deal blowup to the upside. it can continue. i said before and i will say again it will continue until it stops. >> big tech as your inflation hedge and we will get 20% or 30% year-over-year returns. not all big tech is the same.

>> the price increases are outpacing the growth of wages by more than what is now officially estimated. >> that is why we are pounding the table and repositioning your portfolio versus buying and holding but reposition your portfolio in a way that you lower the volatility. next year we will see gdp start to decelerate and my biggest fear is people will not be repositioned for that. ♪♪ ashley: midtown manhattan, 6 avenue. it is a holiday week with fairly empty for manhattan around new year's. it is 11:00 am on the east coast on this wednesday december 20 ninth. i am ashley webster in for stuart varney, the dow trying to extend its 5-day winning streak.

the s&p up 0.one% but the nasdaq remain slightly lower down 29 points. look at the 10 year treasury going up and down today. it is on the way up, 4.6 basis points, the 10 year now one.53%. it was one.48% yesterday. cdc director doctor rochelle will in ski is defending the decision to shorten quarantine guidelines. >> from what you are saying it sounds like this decision had as much to do with business as it did with the science. >> it had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate. ashley: wolinsky also saying the test after isolation aren't needed because pcr tests can stay positive for up to 12 weeks. let's bring in mercedes

schlapp. there seems to be a lot of confusion around these new guidelines. the confusion goes on. >> the cdc had this problem from starting with covid in 2020, they build an effective testing procedure. they held all their information, not sharing it with outside manufacturers to get testing up and running. talk about a bureaucratic system that has failed in terms of messaging, created such muddled messaging, what happens is more americans are not trusting what doctor fauci is saying, not trusting the cdc, they keep changing the goalposts. it is even offering science, we don't quite know but it is another to be so inadequately

not in adequately prepared to handle what we knew was coming which was the next variant which was omicron and this administration, they didn't see it coming and left them very flat-footed. ashley: in new york state alone, 40,000 healthcare workers have been terminated after refusing to get the jab and the president is deploying military doctors to help with overrun hospitals. it seems like president biden's vaccine mandate is backfiring. >> the problem is the biden administration has no strategy. you compare that to donald trump where he was focused on operation warp speed where he mobilized the ships into the areas where there were hotspots of covid in areas like new york

and in stirring the the resources were being distributed rapidly this is not the case for the biden administration. they have been very reactive, slow to respond and the mere fact they decided the vaccine, forced vaccine mandates, over the health of individuals and making sure adequate number of healthcare workers who are the heroes when covid started, and they don't take into account things like natural immunity or medical exemptions or religious exemptions. that is an outrage and is why you are seeing the supreme court having to weigh in on this come january. ashley: to add to the confusion and the perception they don't know what they are doing today we here president biden has a federal plan to battle the pandemic whereas yesterday it

was all about the states leading their own efforts. >> president biden ran on shutting down the virus or the fact that he had some sort of coordinated national response, criticized donald trump for saying he didn't have that. president biden has failed the american people in this pandemic, on the border and there is no leadership out of this administration and i think it will be an uphill battle for president biden to regain any political footing going into 2022. ashley: we have to leave it right there. we appreciate it. now this. we've all seen this viral video, the oregon man who told president biden let's go brandon at the end of the norad santa trek call. let's roll it again. >> hope you have a wonderful

christmas has well. let's go brandon. >> president biden: let's go brandon, i agree. ashley: it is cringe worthy, is it not? that man is floating a possible run for office. come in, jackie deangelis. what is he saying to that? >> reporter: he was on the todd star and show. his name is jared smack. we have a soundbite of what he said. i will say that for you right now. >> i want to get through this and pray about it and see what god has for me and i strongly believe standing up is the right thing to do here. as long as the message i am portraying is glorifying his name and i will see where it goes once i get out of this tornado. >> reporter: obviously he has been under a lot of scrutiny, saying let's go brandon,

putting that message out there and the president's response. what he is saying is he is open to running for office one day and he will see what happens and the host of the show alluded to the fact that if that happens he might be invited to a certain place in florida. he was alluding to mara lago, donald trump's place of business right now. ashley: i would not be surprised. let's check the markets if we can as we bring in anthony chan who joins us to talk the markets, the dow still up, the nasdaq staying stubbornly lower. what impact do you think the rising omicron variance will have on inflation? >> eventually it will have a dampening effect on inflation and what happens when you increase the amount of traffic in the united states, double or triple?

you have more accidents but if you have better seatbelts, they are less serious. and less death. financial markets, if you are not in support of the vaccine or against the vaccine, they want to keep people safe and keep them from getting less sick and keep less people from dying. we have a shortage of labor. when people die or get sick, that is the labor force. in the case of death it reduces the labor force permanently. today we have better seatbelts. the vaccine and the antivirals but we have treatments and we have to prevent it so there is something for everyone of every political stripe and that is what the financial markets are saying and despite the omicron virus reaching highest records the economy will be more resilient and the stock market is reflecting what they believe will happen to the economy. ashley: we thought that was going to be the case, we started to gain momentum and

whatever reason, still stuttering out of the block so to speak, that could be the case again in 2022 that we can't seem to get rid of this covid in the sense that we can reopen the economy and operating on all engines. how would you respond to that? >> the way i would respond if you go back to march, what we were doing is shutting down productive capacity of the economy and boosting demand with stimulus, and shortening the amount of time after you test positive which means key people working a lot longer and reducing stimulus. we are talking packages that will spend in 10 years what was spending less than 6 months. average demand is less.

that it spends quicker and burns out quicker, that means when things start looking better there will be more downward pressure on the builder back better america program which means less stimulus. all that would reduce future inflationary pressures. the gdp forecasting 7.6% growth in the first quarter. we have an active supply, we do that to boost the supply and we are doing less to boost aggregate demand, once we get through this, second half of next year, not seeing if inflation goes away but closer to the peak and starts to head down lower. >> i look forward to next year. anthony chan, thanks for your comments.

now this. criminals could soon choose military service as an alternative to jail time. be leave it or not it is under consideration in one republican state. mother and young son are kicked out of a restaurant over new york city's vaccine rules. we have that story. member was one msnbc host said about the vaccines earlier this year? role tape. >> now we know vaccines work well enough that the virus stops with every vaccinated person. the vaccines will get us to the end of this. ashley: critics are demanding rachel maddow apologize. joe concha takes that on next. ♪♪ risk on this position.

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ashley: you are looking at capitol hill. 52 degrees and plenty of crowds around. one physician from brown university tells cnn the president biden dropped the ball on covid testing. >> i cannot believe this is where we are almost two years into the pandemic which everybody saw it coming. the administration dropped the ball on this. ashley: is that the first sign of the apocalypse. does this mean the honeymoon is

over? >> i love how this is news, someone making an obvious statement coming to an obvious conclusion on a major news network that now we have to talk about it. candidate biden slammed donald trump on not having a plan to control the virus, the word he used, control. biden said he had a plan to stop it and that is ridiculous but enough people bought it and we are seeing some folks in media surprised the president biden after a year to prepare for this moment even after a couple months after vanity fair had that report saying there's going to be this winter surgical we should also search our testing and this president rejected that plan, that somehow we can't call this an utter and complete failure because it was when it comes to

testing and all the spirit in the world doesn't matter because you go to your local store and a lot of carriers popping up particularly in strip malls in this country and we see the lines and they go for blocks and blocks. the media can spin this all they want and try to cover for this president but he deserves the criticism he is getting up there should be more of it on other cable news network holdings president accountable the same way they did with his predecessor. ashley: another one for you to chew on. social media users demanding an apology from rachel maddow and ms nbc after the liberal host said in march vaccines would bring the end to the pandemic. >> now we know the vaccines work well enough that the virus stops with every vaccinated person. a vaccinated person gets exposed to the virus. the virus does not infect them, the virus cannot use that person to go anywhere. it cannot use a vaccinated

person as a host to get more people. that means the vaccines will get us to the end of this. ashley: in response to that, rachel campos duffy tweeted will she retract her statement and apologize? dave rubin said, quote, but she was so sure, she read the script off the teleprompter. i am not going to hold my breath on an apology. what do you think? >> never in 1 billion years. we've seen this movie before. rachel maddow was so definitive particularly with all the hand gestures i ever use on segments like these. miss maddow is the highest-rated host on nbc, the skinniest -- and the highest-paid and that gives her tremendous power in the network more than any producer or executive.

what that allows, she says whatever she wants regardless whether it is true or not. we saw it in the movie we saw before was three years of a majority for program being dedicated to trump russia collusion and not alleged, not she's exploring the story, presented as fact and she never apologized for it because her boss is never asked her to apologize for it. most media reporters are allergic to holding her accountable, fact checkers stay away as well because they both lineup with her ideologically. a nice existence to have in this business, if you can get it say what you want and no scrutiny, go figure. ashley: she said it and, she won't given apology. it does point some key things out. appreciate it. one reporter from the new york times is under fire after she appeared to refer to the united states as trash country. what is this about?

>> taylor lorenz was answering questions on and instagram life story, a conservative reporter, free beacon reporter watching that and was able to get a screen grab of what she said in response to a question she got regarding covid. she said yeah, if a global pandemic doesn't help people in this trash country recognize the problems in our healthcare system i don't know what will. that screen grab is going viral. it is a large leap to say the healthcare system is broken. people who manage the system, reforms and changes can be made but to trash the whole system in that way when so many people within healthcare have stepped up to help with this pandemic.

it is seen as outrageous on social media. stuart: it is outrageous. next one, washington post columnist jennifer rubin being roasted on social media over flip-flopping her stance on the surge. >> he is being called a partisan hypocrite and i like that term. haven't heard it before. what she did was do a flip-flop here which we have seen before. she was talking about putting vaccines, boosters, and criticizing the covid 19 denial that was out there early on and the anti-mandate hysteria, but now she's changing her tune and saying stop agonizing over covid cases after months of sounding the alarm. people are pointing to this and saying another flip-flop, misinformation, here we go again.

ashley: this one getting a lot of play today. a video showing a mother and child kicked out of a new york city restaurant by the police. is this because of the vaccine mandate? >> it sure was and this is a huge problem, children that can't be vaccinated, that has become a problem in new york city because they can't eat indoors in restaurants getting out of control so this is at an applebee's in queens and a segment of the nypd cops that were handling this. you have a soundbite, i want to do that. >> the card and the magazine. >> caring a child, traumatizing a child. hope you feel good about yourself, nypd. >> that was a protester that overheard this, her voice and

you are traumatizing the children. this is a difficult situation to be in. the cops are trying to enforce the rules. maybe they are overstepping in some ways. it has gone too far but nobody knows how to handle this was the mandates came from the top. bill deblasio. a couple days left. ashley: it is insane, thanks. we have kids being kicked out of restaurants, the southern border wide open and people walking right in. now this. as new jersey deals with restrictions and a surge in covid cases, where is the governor? he's on vacation in costa rica. another case of rules for thee but not for me. cutting cost-of-living stipends to thousands of troops, difficulties inflation is running rapid. wise biden turning his back on american people's, congressman it navy seal that jan crenshaw takes that on next. ♪♪ ♪♪

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>> you are taking a look at times square two days before the ball drops heralding a new year.

43 degrees and cloudy in new york city. victoria's secret looking at the markets, strong holiday sales, a $250 million stock buyback plan, the dow still on the upside. victoria's secret those comments up 11.5%, $54.12. alaska airlines urging passengers to reschedule their flights if they don't need to fly between now and sunday. they are dealing with staffing and with related problems and carnival says most trip itineraries will not change despite the surge in covid cases, down 3 quarters of one% today. new jersey governor phil murphy slammed for taking a triptych costa rica as omicron cases surge.

is this another example of rules for thee and not for me? >> you can put them on the list with gavin newsom and nancy pelosi who are breaking the rules during the pandemic, phil murphy, governor of new jersey, decided to take in a day trip to costa rica with his family and the state department said you should reconsider your plans to travel they are because of what we are seeing with covid 19 not to mention he is seeing cases spike in the state of new jersey as well. he took a 10 day vacation during the delta variant spike when he went to italy. he was asked about this and said, quote, we are going to spend time together as a family. please god, we need that. he's a human being, we need that to a certain extent but everybody should lockdown and everything should be mandated but you get to break the rules. ashley: the optics are not good.

the pentagon announced cost-of-living stipends for 50,000 troops beginning january 1st. congressman dan crenshaw, republican from texas joins me now. you are a former navy seal. wise the military being treated like this? >> the list to failure goes before this. four months ago is not that far in the rearview mirror when biden botched the afghanistan withdrawal when his military leaders were telling him to do the opposite, we lost 13 marines and had to send 5000 troops back into fix this mess. that with the military is upset about. the story you are referencing is worth getting the facts straight. not a change in policy but a story about inflation. the pentagon follows a formula and that formula gives the stipend, based upon a

comparison between expensive cities and the national average cost-of-living. we all know the cost of living nationally has gone up which means relatively speaking those expensive cities would be taken off the list which is why this is happening, it would take a policy change to change that in the biden administration should do this. worth noting, and the democratic lockdowns, cause permanent disruptions to the supply chain and production capabilities. that is what is happening now. the multibillion-dollar plan increased inflation furthermore by boosting the demand side without doing anything to deal with the supply side. a long list of failures goes on and on at the border with afghanistan, inflation, the attack on american energy. it is frustrating to everybody. ashley: it is indeed. i want your thoughts on this next issue. florida is considering a new bill that would replace jail

time with military service, it would apply to first level low-level offenders, would you support that? >> i'm not a florida legislature, i'm not into millie familiar with that bill but the concept, would require federal intervention, military standards wouldn't allow that to happen and is that good for the force? is that what the forces asking for, what is needed, not so sure it is. when i talked to military leaders, they are looking at a more mature, more capable force that can deal with future threats. don't necessarily need to babysit people who do not want to be there. makes it harder on current military leaders especially at lower levels. i don't jump at the chance to promote the bill like this. it doesn't mean we can't be supportive of community service and other things. at the state level in order to avoid jail time for nonviolent

offenders, that is a worthy conversation. a 5 do you think it could work in texas. >> judges have this discretion all the time and i'm not a state legislature, this is a section, they do this kind of community service, volunteer here, they put people in the military, republicans and democrats can't agree on some levels of criminal justice reform. as long as it is not putting violent people in the streets. 150 people have been killed because liberal judges keep putting criminals out on bail. the bail reform story the past couple years is why crime is rising across america, that is told more and more. liz: ashley: back to the letter, you spoke to blizzard leaders,

military personnel, what is the morale like within the ranks. >> i wouldn't call it great, wouldn't call it terrible. people want to move past afghanistan, and think about future threats. morale is somewhat low because nobody knows what they are doing on the next deployment and it is because we are not involved in any serious way around the globe. specialmost, still deploying a the world and those deployments are not combat deployments but foreign internal defense or simply joint exercises with our allies. will continue to be important. ashley: congressman dan crenshaw, great stuff as always, thanks for joining us. every employee of door theash is required to make one delivery per month, that includes the ceo.

not all workers are happy about it. hotel workers in west hollywood will ring in the new year with the highest minimum wage in the country, $17.60 an hour, more than double the federal minimum wage, but can businesses for afford the pay hike? that is next. ♪♪

♪♪ one more night ♪♪ one more night ♪♪ we have million million ♪♪ ashley: looking at the west view promenade shopping mall in frederick, maryland, 46 degrees

and mostly cloudy. returning your unwanted online gifts is becoming so expensive retailers will let customers know, keep their products and get the refund. >> that is when you know it is really bad, for the supply chain problems. overall spending was up for the holiday season, it is up 11% and returns, it is estimated 3 online purchases was returned in this way, it cost the consumer more than it does the retailer but they can't process the volume they essentially have to process to do this and that is the problem but you saw that parking lot indeed because

people were shopping online ashley: doortheyash is asking employees to make deliveries once a month to keep up with demand. does that mean the ceo will get behind the wheel? >> the leader says this is my policy and i will abide by it too. something they implemented a while ago and it helped out during the pandemic and we are in crunch mode again. but there are some disgruntled employees saying i didn't sign up to do this and i didn't want to do one delivery per month and the ceo has pushed back saying the reason the policies in place is because he wants people that work at the company to have experience doing different things like you and me. we wear 20 different hats here. ashley: we do and we love it.

the national minimum wage stands at 7 and a quarter an hour but beginning january 1st west hollywood is set to raise their wages to nearly $18 an hour for some workers. kelly oh grady is in west hollywood. how could this price hike impact to businesses there? >> it's going to hit them hard. labor is the biggest cost driver for these businesses so they have to find a way to make themselves whole and over the next 18 months the trickle down to hotel workers and other industries and result in a total of a 45% increase versus now as well as mandating a month of time off for workers. this is not just a southern california trend but 26 states taking their minimum wage in 2022, california will reach the highest minimum wage at $15, the labor shortage and

inflation refreshers are big factors and they hiked wages to keep staff. we talked to west hollywood city council and the shift it didn't happen overnight and throughout the process of developing the minimum wage ordinance, receive feedback from business owners and community members and i am here with one of those business owners. i will bring in the owner of restaurant roseline here. what is going to be the impact on your business? >> a job killer. we are proud of all the jobs we create and our workers making overnight, our highest paid workers, $30 to $50 an hour. the problem with this legislation, a $5 increase, goes to the highest paid workers -- >> how are you going to make of that revenue?

>> inflation is already here, cocktail prices up to 17 to $18, dinner prices as well. we are looking at cutting jobs. not opening for underage and investing in on a mission in the kitchen. >> reporter: that is how will impact businesses. the labor group that pushed for this was able to carve out exemptions for the businesses we represent so that has business owners very frustrated here. ashley: a job killer says it all. thanks so much. great report. look at the dow 30, sense of where the market is. home depot on the upside, and fox news asking the people of yuma arizona what they want the

white house to give them for christmas. >> i to make america great again, put up the border wall and finish it. ashley: will yuma follow in the footsteps, start building its own wall. i will ask the mayor of yuma, douglas nichols next.

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ashley: as we take a look at the markets the down the upside, it is down a 12:45%. it is essentially flat, let's check the vaccinemakers if we can. pfizer is down half of one%. doctor fauci says it is important to determine the durability of protection from boosters before discussing a fourth shot but he says it is conceivable we might need an

additional shot. that is the latest from doctor fauci. arizona congressman andy big sounding the alarm about the border crisis, telling fox news, quote, what is happening in yuma, it is so casual, not extraordinary anymore to illegally cross our borders. with that said, douglas nichols joins me now. can you give us an update on the border situation in your city? >> we are averaging 950 people a day that are interdicted by border patrol agents so that is as high as we can handle as a region and a surge above that taught other issues. ashley: fox digital asked people in yuma what they would like for christmas from the president and i will get your thoughts. >> put up the border wall and

finish it. the biggest one i can think of right there. it worked. >> get the senate to work together. ashley: do you want to see the wall being rebuilt. >> we need to have the gaps filled out. 52 gaetz, 7 miles of wall that wasn't as well as the electronics, additional surveillance beyond physical barrier, that all needs to be active because it is very apparent, the neighboring sector in california doesn't have the same issues because there wall system is complete. ashley: another one for you, 17 person military team is headed to yuma to help with climbing covid cases, 22 people tested positive, are you anticipating a big wave coming through?

>> not sure we are anticipating it but there is this natural incline in cases throughout the country. following that wave and our hospital is working to keep up. that gives us more capabilities. ashley: have you heard anything in recent days from the white house? >> my last conversation with the white house, three or four weeks ago. the new commissioner for cvp, we had some engagement and we are looking to bring that engagement up higher, up the chain and looks like we are going to get that activity here hopefully in january.

ashley: we talk about those migrants coming through. are they tested on the border for covid at all? >> they are not tested for covid in border patrol custody. if they go to some of the nonprofits they are tested at that point by the nonprofit and even potentially vaccinated depending upon a lot of criteria but there is no government testing going on. it is all for the nonprofit structure. ashley: we have to leave it there. i live in yuma from 1994 to 97 and very much enjoyed my time. a great little town. i loved it very much. appreciate it. time now for your wednesday trivia question. how many pounds does the times square bowl way? that is a lot of poundage. take a look at that number and we will have the answer for you

after this. . . .

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getting rid of sugar cravings, helps control stress and emotional eating, and losing weight. go to golo.com and see how golo can change your life. that's g-o-l-o.com. ashley: all right. before the break we asked you how many pounds does the times square ball weigh? i went for 1,0082. i was absolutely wrong. the ball itself is covered with a total of 2688 waterford crystal triangles. everything you wanted know about

the few h new year's eve ball. nypd canceled scheduled days off ahead of the new year's celebration of times square. all uniform officers must report according to "new york daily news," 16% of the force, officers, called out sick. if you're planning for time off, not in the new york pd. david asman in for neil cavuto. david. welcome to "cavuto: coast to coast." i'm david asman in for neil cavuto. president biden's team is on cleanup duty after the president said there is no federal solution for covid as the virus surges coast to coast. plus a big gas pain may hit your wallet in the new year. how high gas prices could climb in 2022. the san diego county district attorney is vowing to stand up to the crime surge as zero bai