the light at the end of the tunnel. they were hoping that this president would be a moderate and would help. we are out of time, sir. it's great to see you. the band is back together. it's been a lot of fun. >> god to see you, jackie, yeah. jackie: that's going to do it for us, you can see the s&p is up 8, the dow is up 109, the nasdaq is down 4 points right now. lauren simonetti is in for liz claman. lauren, i'm going to send it to you. lauren: hi, everybody, welcome to "the claman countdown." the s&p and the dow within striking distance of their all-time highs as the santa claus rally week continues. investors hoping to get to the end of the year on a high note with the s&p 500 beating the dow and the nasdaq for the first time since 2005. tesla ceo and time magazine's man of the year seems to be done selling, we think. elon musk sold another batch of tesla shares as at least $11

billion in taxes. we've got a few more days left until 2021, he could sell again. and from electric to oil, with the traditional energy sector -- the best performing s&p 500 sector up 49%, what lies ahead? portfolio manager and the ceo of a fracking giant. oil wasn't the only hot sector this year. the housing market also on a tear with home prices surging 18%. do the double-digit gains continue next year? or will buyers say enough is enough? and nfl hall of fame coach and broadcasting legend john madden has passed away. we take a look at the man behind the namesake gaming franchise as well. i'm lauren simonetti in for liz claman. the final hour of trade starts now. ♪ ♪ lauren.

lauren: breaking news for you, biogen is jumping on a report from the korean economic daily of a potential buyout deal by samsung group. the report says the deal could be worth over $42 billion. the stock is up 10% on that report. let's go to lived ya hu for somr big movers today, and you're looking at our pop stocks. >> reporter: hey there, lauren. tracking a lot of movement today. elon musk's stock selling spree seems to have come to an end as the world's richest man has finally exercised -- exorcised the last of his stock options that are set to expire next year. musk sold a further $1 billion worth of stocks to pay for taxes. musk also bought $1.6 million worth in shares of his company on tuesday by exercising tesla

options. now, the move comes after musk polled his twitter followers back in november asking if he should sell 10% of his stake in tesla which at the time resulted in a $60 billion hit to the company's market value. musk has now sold a total of $15.6 million -- 15.6 million shares, equaling around $16 billion. he needs to sell 17 million shares in total to reach his target of 10%. if we take a look at tesla share ises today, well, it looks like they're up at the moment two-tenths of a percent. ford pulling ahead of general motors as the company's market cap topped gm's for the first time in more than five years. ford shares have more than doubled this year following the appointment of a new ceo, and the big push is to the ev market. ford shares are trading around a 20-year high but are slightly

down there, you can see. shares of rivian are dropping today after 71,000 customers were told they would have to wait another year for delivery, citing severe supply chain disruptions for delays of its r1t and r1s model with battery pack. it operates a 400-mile range. the news is battering the stock which is down this afternoon just under 4%, looks like 3.8%. now we move from cars to underwear. lingerie maker victoria's scent is having a banner day after the company announced a partnership with gold goldman sachs to buy back $250 million of it stock through an accelerated share repurchase program. the retailer also announced ited had strong holiday sales and reaffirmed its positive fourth

quarter forecast. shares of victoria's secret, they are up more than 13% at the moment, lauren. back to you. lauren: thank you so much, lydia. all right. well, markets flirt right now with record closes. the s&p 500 is set to do something it hasn't done in five years, since 2016, and that is beat the nasdaq on an annual basis. that's a far cry from 2020 when the nasdaq was powered by the work and workout at home stocks like zoom and peloton. we still talk about them, but last year they were up 326 and 430% respectively. what a difference a year makes because they are down and down sharply this year. this narrative has changed on popular to vid place as well. the vaccine tock no derna is down 29% this month. point tech and mauve advantages

also struggling to recover even as covid infections spike to pandemic highs. and one other thing, no market closing this friday as nyse rule 7.2 stipulates when a holiday falls on a saturday, the market will close on the friday before unless unusual business conditions exist such as the end of a monthly or a yearly accounting period. so here we are, we're open for business at the new york stock exchange monday through friday all week. let's do the floor show, shall we? scott bowman, thanks for joining us. >> good afternoon -- lauren: it's the scott show. scott shellady too. look at this, i'm so excited. we have both of you. scott shelladyty, what's going on with these vaccine makers? >> well, i tell you what, we probably should have a whole other show about that. i don't want to be a conspiracy theorist, but it's hard not to

be when you've got so many things like that out there. i think that we're suffering from something called ctsd, covid traumatic stress syndrome, right? i think that you're starting to see a little bit of pushback on anything that's got anything to do with covid no matter how good or bad for you. i don't want to say there's something else there, but everybody that i know it seems like has come down with covid, a lot of them vaccinated, and a lot of people are getting siccef seeing these breakthrough cases. i think that there's going to be some sort of pushback. i call it, like i said, ctsd, and we're all affected. lauren lauren are i have it, i admit. i'm lauren simonetti, i have ctsd when it comes to covid. [laughter] scott bowman, is 2022 finally going to be the year that the

market can stop trading along with the new variant or the vaccine too -- to fight it? >> well, i think that it's still going to play in as we go into 2022. the question's going to really be will there be more variants that follow omicron. and the fact is, yes, people are stress ised out, people are upset at the fact that their plans are are constantly being changed. they can't do what they want to do. we see the cancellation in airline flights, we're seeing people stuck at home. look, how many shows on broadway have been canceled or gone on hiatus while their casts get over being exposed to covid. the fact is there is an awful lot going around that's impacting the economy, impacting the markets. it's not just going away, but hopefully the cycle of this all accelerates. when we get through this a lot quicker, that'll make for a

better recovery in 2032. 2022. lauren: so then, scott shellady, does that make the stay at home plays, many of the names that have completely crateredded this year, they're cheap. are they attractive then in 2022, or are you not going that far? >> i wouldn't go that far. [audio difficulty] to the previous point. and, look, i get sick of putting it out there because i know the people have been beaten up. the american psyche has been bruised here. that's the problem, right? we've got 18 more letters in the greek alphabet to get through here. you've said it too, lauren -- [audio difficulty] number two, yeah, common cases, but we're not seeing hospitalizations and deaths spike like the cases have been. so here's where we're at, we're sick of it. i don't think these at-home plays are going to really come back to life. they might bounce a little bit, but we're going to get back or the american people are going to get their psyche back at least

as much as we possibly can. i put out numbers all the time -- [audio difficulty] in the markets -- the. [audio difficulty] lauren: i think we're having some issues with scott shellady's audio. scott shellady, i'm going to say happy new year to you, and i want to ask scott bowman a couple more questions here. the performance of the dow, it's up six days in a row, it will likely close at another record high today. so, yeah, investors feel beaten up, but they also got really rich this year again because of the way they've played the market. most every sector is up. energy's up 49%. and, hey, wait. oh, i thought we were expected to go, you know, all green and drive, you know, evs all the time, yet traditional energy is up. >> well, again, the factor pipelines, supply chain has had

an impact on the price of gas and oil. also, you know, the fact is that the new administration had reduced the number of pipelines and drilling in the united states, so that's lowered the available supply, pushing up those prices. the fact is, is that more is coming into play than just covid. and the fact was we did see an economic recovery through the year as people, you know, were getting over covid and we had basically a drop in cases during the year, you know, especially during the summer. and that caused a lot of demand. people returning back to work, people going out and doing things more than they did the previous year. so we saw a big jump in demand. that's accounting for a lot of the increase in those prices. and, again, we have these inflationary pressures that are on the market, and let's add one more thing.

we've seen labor costs go, rise extremely over the past year, and they're continuing to rise as demand for people, new employees, increases. that alone is adding to the prices that are being passed along in prices to the consumer. lauer. lauren: scott, thank you very much for the time and the perspective. >> happy new year. lauren: appreciate it. yeah. well, happy new year. and another hot story, hot market story this year was the housing market. it is finally going to be -- is it finally going to be cooling off as a leading indicator comes in weaker than expected last month? one month does not a trend make. we're going to talk to a ceo about whether 2022 is the year we see home prices come back down to earth. but first, let's check the big board, and i've got to tell you monday and tuesday were the two lightest volume trading days of the year. today likely even lighter than

those yet the market wants to climb higher. we're looking at another record close for the dow and possibly number 70 this year for the s&p 500. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ 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

every day in business brings something new. ma so get the flexibility ofn. the new mobile service designed for your small business. introducing comcast business mobile.

you get the most reliable network with nationwide 5g included. and you can get unlimited data for just $30 per line per month when you get four lines or mix and match data options. available now for comcast business internet customers with no line-activation fees or term contract required. see if you can save by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. ♪ ♪

lauren: it happened, pending home sales, they slipped last month, decreasing 2.2% from october, and economists were expecting an increase. and then the s&p case shiller 20-city index -- try saying that fast, that's a mouthful -- case shiller, we like to call it, it jumped 18.4% in october on an annual basis. that is the fifth largest gain on record. with the u.s. now experiencing two years of a housing boom, can we make it to year number three? is 2022 the year that it cools off? here to break it down is nitya capital founder zap nil agrawal. happy early new year to you. >> thank you so much. merry christmas and happy holidays. hawn lauren look into your crystal ball,s does the housing market cool off? >> no. in my opinion, i think it stays the way it is. because if you look back at the

fundamentals, you're looking at more than 6.8 million housing shortages in usa right now. and then you add on top of that supply, logistic problems and interest rates at an all-time low. what that means is that a lot of people are looking to buy homes, but at the same time to build those homes the construction cost keeps going higher. and for those developers to make sense to build the high construction costs, i think ultimately the price and the cost passes on to the buyer. lauren: got it. let's talk about interest rates. you have the national association of realtors predicting a 3.7% average rate for the 30-year fixed mortgage. realtor.com has it 3.6 by the end of next year. so that's up from about 3, 3.3 now. can you quantify the impact that that has both on price but also on demand? >> yeah. i think we're in a unique

situation right now, you know? because if you basically talk about it from macroeconomicically, if interest rates were to go up, it definitely should make some impact many terms of the demand from the potential buyers. but given the shortage we have right now close to 7 million, you know, homes, i think it's going to be a unique situation where, ultimately, the demand might not go down, and what might happen is -- because they're very active in the rental market space, i think we're seeing rent growth. of it's really, really, it's kind of, it's increasing on the same patz, maybe even -- pace, maybe even higher than the home prices are. so i think it's just putting a lot of pressure. you know, next year i'm of the opinion that i think interest rates probably we'll see one or two hikes but ultimately shouldn't make an impact in terms of demand for the housing. hawsh lauren i just want you to repeat something. i believe you said we have a 7

million home shortage right now, correct? >> that is correct. hawn lauren and when the numbers settle for 2021, i believe the total of 6 million homes will have been sold? >> that is correct. lauren: there's a huge disparity in those numbers then, no? >> yeah, look, as we're seeing when we're recovering from covid, what we're really seeing is with the interest rates being really, really low and because the developers cannot build or cannot keep pace with the demand, that's what's leading us to the shortage. a lot of people had moved in with their families. now they're looking for housing whether it's apartment rental or a home for themselves or their families. lauren: talk to me about this migration that we've seen from illinois, california, new york, the expensive, cold, typically blue states to states like yours in texas where you're

headquartered where it has been affordable. is that story changing? as more people move in, it's less affordable. >> yeah, look, we are very active in the sun belt states whether it's texas, las vegas, florida. we're seeing a huge amount of migration especially from states like california and new york, the northeast where i think we're just scratching the surface. i think that migration will really, or really continue, and really i would say that it will pick up pace as we move into 2022 and 2023. lauren: nitya contracted $1.6 billion in acquisitions this year. you're forecasting even more for next year. what exactly are you buying? >> we're very active in multifamily space. so currently we own about 20,000 apartment units across the country. and what we're seeing is, you know, just going back to your with point about housing shortage, you know, look, i think the house prices have gone

up phenomenally over the last year, year and a half and it comes into the question of affordability. so, you know, what we're seeing is the wage growth hasn't really kept pace with the increase in the pricing, the home pricing, house pricing. so for us, you know, we're very active in the rental market space because as more and more people are looking for places to stay and move out of and as they migrate to sun belt states like texas, arizona, vegas and florida, we'll see the growth in the rental amount continue to outpace, you know, the increase in the home prices. lauren: all right. so you're expecting another good year. thank you so much for the time. >> thank you so much. happy holidays. finish. lauren: back at ya. well, new year, new minimum wage. west hollywood hotel workers are set to make the highest minimum wage in the usa. we're going to go there to see what small business owners are saying about the hiefnlgt but

first, let's check the markets. the dow still higher, flirting with record highs. we're coming right back. ♪ ♪ as a professional bull-rider i'm used to taking chances. but when it comes to my insurance i don't. i use liberty mutual, they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. hey tex, can someone else get a turn? yeah, hang on, i'm about to break my own record. yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪

goldshore resources is an emerging gold developer only pay for what you need. with an experienced and successful management team, that's well funded to double the 4 million ounce resource over the next 2 years at their ontario based project. goldshore resources.

♪ lauren: welcome back. west hollywood in will start the new year with, get this, the highest minimum wage for hotel workers at $17.64 an hour starting on monday. critics are worried this mandatory wage hike will hurt small businesses already reeling from the hit and the hit and the hit that they took from the pandemic and the different iterations of it, right? kelly o'grady is at a restaurant to be find out what impact these wage increases are going to have on the restaurant. kelly, what are you hearing? >> reporter: lauren, to play on your hit there, this is going to hit them hard, okay? we're hearing a lot of

frustration amongst these business ownerses. they did talk to the west hollywood city council about this, but they're very frustrated. this is going to cost them a lot. now, i want to show you something here which i thought was pretty interesting. so we've got -- they juice a lot with these lines. someone would actually do this four hours a day four times a week, and now there's a pardon me that actually does this -- a farm that actually does this with the juice -- it's able to last three days longer and it's a lot cheaper. this isn't just happening in southern california, it's happening across the nation. 26 states are hiking the minimum wage, and the inflationary pressures and labor shortages are big factors. many businesses are forced to turn to cheaper automation solutions to make ends meet. i want to bring in one of the business owners. i have is walter here. tell me, you are having to cut jobs and turn to cheaper automation solutions. tell me about some of them.

>> yes. so we have a wonderful kitchen staff or who are paid very high wages. we've had to eliminate about 8% of our labor hours. so the juicing,s for example, now we've contracted with a local california farm, we have automated express sew machines that will -- espresso machines that will automatically make the coffee. our fresh house-made bread, that position is no longer here as of next month. that's going to another restaurant to make next door in l.a. where the wages are 20% different. and then this machine here eliminates two full-time jobs. it does assisted polishing of glass ware. so when we turn the machine on, we take our glasses that are wet and warm out of the dryer, and we go ahead and use the machine which is heated with brushes, and it automates the polishing process. so within about 25% of the time, saving 75%, it takes, oh, 15 seconds, and you can do two at once, and you get fresh,

polished glasses. now, we weren't looking to do this, but this was forced to save as many jobs as we can with a month off of time, the 45% increase in wages. that's what we're trying to do to survive, and we'll get through it. >> reporter: really impressive machine here, lauren. probably the coolest thing i've ever seen in the kitchening. there you have it, businesses ravaged by the pandemic are finding ways to get through this. the labor group that pushed for this ordinance was able to carve out exceptions for the businesses they represent. so there's a lot of frustration there too. lauren: yeah, yeah. i give it to those business owners, giving it everything they've got over and over againful kelly, thank you so much. well, gas prices got you down, i hate to say it, wait until next year, next summer specifically. gasbuddy predicting a national average of $4 a gallon. we're going to take a look at where oil is headed. after running up 60% this year, yes, it can go a lot higher. let's take a look at the markets, right near the highs of

the session for the dow jones industrial average, looking at another record close and six days of gains there. the s&p 500 looking at its best year since 2013 and another record high. "claman countdown" coming right back. ♪ ♪ on options trading, and look, it feels like i'm just wasting time. that's why td ameritrade designed a first-of-its-kind, personalized education center. oh. their award-winning content is tailored to fit your investing goals and interests. and it learns with you, so as you become smarter, so do its recommendations. so it's like my streaming service. well except now you're binge learning. see how you can become a smarter investor with a personalized education from td ameritrade. visit tdameritrade.com/learn ♪ [ kimberly ] before clearchoice, my dental health was so bad i would be in a lot of pain. i was unable to eat. it was very hard. kimberly came to clearchoice with a bunch of missing teeth,

struggling with pain, with dental disease. clearchoice dental implants solved her dental issues. [ kimberly ] i feel so much better. i feel energized to go outside and play with my daughter. i can ate anything. like, i don't have to worry. clearchoice changed my life. ♪ wait, oh, yes ♪ wait a minute, mr. postman ♪ yeah, yeah, mr. postman - "dear michael, i appreciate your help, patience, and support through the reverse mortgage loan process. you are an asset to aag." this is from helen, a happy customer, who got a reverse mortgage loan from aag. you see, a lot of people aren't sure if a reverse mortgage is really right for them. so michael and all the experts at aag work hard to make sure you understand exactly what you're getting. they want to make sure you're happy.

- [announcer] call aag today and find out how a reverse mortgage can help you eliminate monthly mortgage payments, pay for living expenses, and even high interest credit card bills. call now at the number shown on your screen. - a reverse mortgage with aag can be easier than you might think. or as ann says, "working with folks at aag was like dealing with a friend who had our interests at heart". whether that's for paying off medical costs, or as dennis says, "finally getting that new truck i needed". reverse mortgage loans have helped over a million families get tax-free cash for a better retirement. - [announcer] if you're 62 and own your home, aag could help you get the right loan for extra retirement money. call today for your free no hassle reverse mortgage guide. call the number on your screen. - these letters show why aag has such a high customer satisfaction rating.

"i feel so much better." "it's like a savior to me." so you wrote this. - yes. - thank you, edna. - [announcer] don't wait. see if a reverse mortgage is right for you. call now, the number is on your screen.

♪ ♪ lauren: breaking news, anything can happen in this final hour, and look at this. the dow jones industrial average is at a new intraday high, up almost 170 points. it's not the only winner today. oil price at $p 76 a barreling after government data showed that crude inventory fell last week. there was big demand. the s&p 500 energy sector, it's the up 49% this year. it is the top performer of year fueled by, yes, crude oil prices surging but also natural gas prices, nat gas up 47% year to

date. so we ask what does 2022 bring for black gold? and we bring in liberty oilfield services chairman and ceo chris wright. gentlemen, thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> good afternoon. lauren: good afternoon. if rob, i mean, omicron what? demand is there. what do you see in the new year? >> yeah. if you think about what are we going to see next year, and i think a lot of people think we're going to see inflation, rising interest rates, so what sector in the s&p 500 does well in that scenario? well, the energy sector historically has. i think it's set up really well to once again outperform the other sectors in the s&p 500 driven by really an economic recovery that ultimately needs more oil and gas and, unfortunately, coal. so we see some very strong returns driven by cash flow in the investorss pockets.

the dividend yields are double and triple, and that'll be a driver. lauren: chris, talk to me about the supply. can they get the oil that they need? >> yes, absolutely. the u.s. could grow our production significantly of oil, of natural gas, of natural gas liquids. and, of course, higher prices is going to drive that, but it's going to be muted at first both from investor concerns about poor returns the last decade, so our industry's going to be more disciplined. and, of course, we've got growing government and regulatory pressures that are going to check supply as well. and the ultimate effects of that is just higher prices. lauren lauren chris, president biden is calling you on the phone. you pick up, you say, mr. president. he says, what can i do to help you get more oil to the market? how do i make this happen for you? what do you say? >> stop opposing our industry.

there's all sorts of threats. we don't know what the new regulatory environment's going to be, we're trying not to issue permits on federal lands, very hard to get new pipeline infrastructure permitted to move oil and gas around. we've seen where that leads. look at europe right now. tens of thousands of people will freeze to death this winter because they can't afford to heat their homes. this kind of government irrationality about energy is very costly for human well-being. lauren: and, rob, let's bring in natural gas here. and correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't natural gas kind of like the transition to green energy because it uses, it's more energy efficient than oil? pleasure -- >> yeah. so natural gas is very versatile. you can use it for everything from cooking, right, you can make your double-roasted short ribs with it, or you can use it for complex processes like generating electricity in industrial facilities, right? other thing is the world needs

more energy and less carbon. natural gas generates less carbon. it's half of the emissions of coal. but it's also very energy efficient. natural gas generates more energy, and it is plentiful in the u.s. so we have a real economic advantage, an energy advantage here in the u.s. of having a vast supply of natural gas. no other country in the world has it. asia doesn't have it, europe doesn't have it, no other country really has that advantage, and we need to take advantage of it in the next several decades as we transition and the global -- and really we dhi qar p bonnize the globe. lauren: right. and that explains why it's so much more expensive in europe. chris, gasbuddy is predicting $4 a gallon gasoline next year. do you think we get there? >> you know, hard to say. i would say likely, yes. likely, yes. you're still going to be relatively rapid rise in demand for oil, and that probably gets you to around $4 gasoline.

i don't know the future, but i think that's a reasonable guess. lauren: yeah. and i think a lot of drivers are kind of expecting that we'll have to pay that because we've seen what inflation has done to our pocketbooks this year. rob, you have three key energy picks. you want to go through them quickly? >> sure. so the u.s. has ample supply of natural gas, che near energy, the u.s. is going to become the largest lng exporter in the world, we think that's a great way to play it. western midstream partners, high dividend yield, 6%. investors are going to need a lot of income, and then chevron. chevron is an interesting story as bell. chevron -- as well. chevron is not only producing oil and gas, but participating in this decarbonization. and that is really important, i think, for a lot of energy companies. how do companies participate in the trend, a lot of them have

articulated the way that they're going to do it. and as more and more investment is made, i think you'll see investors return back to energy stocks because of the strong appeal and the strong fundamentals that support all of these stocks. lauren: rob, chris, we thank you for the time. happy new year. >> thanks, lauren. happy new year. >> happy new year to you. lauren: a quick reader in here. we have goldman sachs requiring in-person workers, you're going to the office in person, you must get a vaccine booster shot. we're going to get reaction from wall street about that in just a bit. and then longtime senate majority leader harry reid passed away yesterday. the democrat represented nevada in the senate for three decades. reid was essential in getting president obama's health care bill passed, and he pushed through recovery bills during the great recession. he was 82, leaves behind his wife and five children. you're a one-man stitchwork master. but your staffing plan needs to go up a size.

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 hi susan! honey? yeah? matching your job description. i respect that. but that cough looks pretty bad... try this robitussin honey. the real honey you love... plus the powerful cough relief you need. mind if i root through your trash? now get powerful relief with robitussin elderberry.

♪ lauren: we've got sad news. the legendary nfl coach and legendary broadcaster john madden passed away yesterday. in ten seasons as coach of the then-oakland raiders, maddening led his team to seven afc title games winning the super bowl once in 1977. after retiring from the raiders at just 42 years old, john spent the next three decades as a broadcaster for which he won 16 emmys. in 1988 electronic arts developed the original game john madden football. the madden franchise has sold more than 130 million games equating to more than $4 billion in sales for electronic arts. john madden was a powerhouse no

matter how you look at it. he was 85 years old. wall street is also mourning the loss of another legend. jimmy cain, the former head of investment banking bear stearns, has died at the anal of 87. -- age of 87. he led the bank from the rise of its fame to the downfall during or 2008. joining us now is "the new york post" business reporter lydia moynihan. i mean, when i think of jimmy cain, i think of old school wall street. i think of bridge and smoking cigars and, you know, the power of an old-fashioned handshake. that was jimmy cain, to me. >> yeah. well, it wasn't just cigars he was smoking. he leaves a mixed legacy. he smoked a lot of weed, he was a professional bridge player, as you mentioned. and, you know, he was helming bear stearns at its apex when they were sell anything 2007 for

170 share, it was the fifth largest securities firm on wall street and then, of course, in 2008 he was ousted as the firm began hemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars as their bets on subprime mortgage went south. and just a few months later they were sold for $10 a share. reports that he'd been largely absent during critical moments in 2007 and 2008 when he should have been in the office. instead, he was off playing bridge and golf. so, again, he was a very colorful character, as we mentioned, but leaves a mixed legacy. of course, for better or for worse, he was responsible for some really pivotal moments of wall street history. lauren: yeah. and, you know, some of the great executives and the business titans that we talk abouted today start at bear stearns, right? and moved on to goldman sachs is, which brings me to gold zahn max' -- goldman sachs' david solomon. they have a new policy starting

in february that if you want to work in the office -- and, yes, they want you to work in the office, and so do all the shops around the office. but they're saying you can only come in in person you are fully vaccinated with the booster shot, and they're going to test you twice a week regardless. >> yeah. it's interesting, goldman sachs, obviously, has been the leader in bringing people back to work. as you mentioned earlier, this week they announced anyone in the new york office is going to have to be boosted, so that's kind of recentered the conversation around what safety protocols need to be in place. practically speaking, it's going to be interesting to see how they implement this new policy, right? you're not supposed to get the booster 90 days after you've had covid, and only omicron's been sweeping through new york, so it's unclear whether everyone will be able to be boosted by that february 1st deadline. i think this underscores the fact that there's no excuse to not be in the office, and the executives i'm speaking with are saying this knee-jerk reaction

to omicron where people were pulled back home, that was overblown, right? so now we know omicron is both very mild and we have tremendous therapeutics that can treat it. we have monoclonal antibody therapy, the fda approved several covid drugs, and so all the excuses to say home are sort of gone. and what's interesting is i'm hearing from wall street executives that they're getting ready to dole out bonuses which are often times the majority of compensation for financiers, they're looking at who's coming in to the office. when somebody swipes in, when they swipe out, how often, how many days they're coming in to work, and that's something they're going to look at, and that's a pretty big leverage point that these executives have. so, you know, money talk, and if people are coming in, that's going to help them, and that's real incentive. lauren: everything's changing in realtime for every industry. lydia with, thank you so much for the time. lydia moynihan with the new york

post. we appreciate it. let's take a look at the cruise stocks right now under pressure after the cdc placed at least 86 cruise ships under investigation or observation as omicron surges onboard those ships. but our countdown closer is still bullish on one of the names in the cruising sector. he's going to join us with that next. and check the big board, and if you can, check the nasdaq. it's up. the s&p 500 too. heading into the closing bell, one of the final closing bells of the -- of 2021, in the green. "claman countdown" coming right back. ♪ ♪ - i'm norm. - i'm szasz. [norm] and we live in columbia, missouri. we do consulting, but we also write. [szasz] we take care of ourselves constantly; it's important. we walk three to five times a week, a couple miles at a time. - we've both been taking prevagen for a little

more than 11 years now. after about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didn't notice before. - it's still helping me. i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. . . .

♪. lauren: the closing bell rings in six minutes. it is looking pretty good. the all five indices in the

green. the dow on pace for a record close. if you're counting would be number 45 this year. s&p 500 also on pace for a record close. it would be number 70 this year. coming out with a bullish call on advanced micro device the chipmaker last week expanded it partnership with global foundries to by $600 million of silicon wafer. needham says the move to expand its margin. our "countdown" closer picks amd. thanks for joining us, chris. absolutely. talk to me about amd. >> you know, focused on graphic visualization, cloud and the like. they're going to continue to benefit from this increased innovation an explosion of data we keep seeing on our ai power

platform. we're seeing data at the consumer level and at the institutional level we're going through this return to a reopening trade phenomena. even with respect to some of those new deals we're quite bullish as we enter 2022 for u.s. stocks. lauren: sticking in the tech space, chris, you also like amberella. want to talk to me about that? >> yeah, amberella focused on visual processing with the continued development of 5g, autonomous driving vehicles, cars, drones, security, robotics, that spells increased demand in 2022 and we're seeing these exposures put on in our a.i. powered etf, i.q. and aq, excited to see these positions kind of adjust as more data comes in. lauren: what do you think about the metaverse?

is 2022 the year of the metaverse or are we not quite there yet? >> you know it will continue to play out and develop but we're not there yet, right? as previously mentioned returning to the office place, there is an increased development of other forms of treatments and vaccines related to covid and so, now, i don't think you know, we're quite there for the metaverse, lauren. lauren: oh, so you think the metaverse is more likely to happen faster if we're locked down longer or feel locked down longer? you're tying it in with the virus? >> well, that, yes, but, that would increase it, right? we would also have to do these virtual assessments and forms but people are missing out on the interaction. we're seeing them once again at the consumer level. we're missing out on, folks are missing out trying to make up for lost time. that is why another one of our

calls is in consumer discretionary space, right? things like constellation brands, high every end liquors, higher end beers, higher end wine. as previously mentioned trips and bookings for things like royal caribbean, right? travelers taking a new risk with the stance on covid. mexico is just announced there are cruise ships with covid cases to dock. we're going once again to reopening trade, a new normal if you will. lauren: yeah. you know, let's go back to constellation brands. i think a lot of people people are drinking more at home but by your prediction when they can finally go out, feel more comfortable being out again. that stock is a winner, it's a defensive play in many senses as a consumer staple but royal caribbean, this cruise story, it is just nuts. i feel like this sector has been

put through the ringer. the cruise lines have done everything they can to keep everybody on board safe. now, apparently you're under observation or investigation by the cdc if, let's say you have a cruise of 6500 passengers, seven test positive. that's it. you're under investigation. i mean, with omicron so fast spreading that is kind of hard not to do. >> that is a definite headwind, lauren, but the data doesn't lie. some of the trips even have wait lists going into the start of 2022. so once again people and families are making their own risk assessments as far as what is going to be acceptable and so we do see that from carnival, from royal caribbean. and again you know, there is the lesser degree of inspections happening at royal caribbean but we still continue to see data supporting upside price movement for rcl. lauren: yeah. real quick if you had a year-end

price target on the s&p 500, what would it be? >> we'll definitely see the 5,000 print but again, that is going to be data dependent. that is what our etfs suggest. [closing bell rings] chris, thanks, have a happy new year, the s&p 500 at record highs. thanks so much for joining us. "kudlow." ♪. david: hello, everyone, welcome to "kudlow." i'm david asman in for larry kudlow today. well the biden administration's regulatory war on american capitalism is threatening to worsen, not improve inflation. and that is a according to democrat larry summers who wrote on twitter, and i'm quoting, the emerging claim that antitrust can combat inflation reflects science denial, ouch. there are many areas like transitory inflation where serious economists can differ but